Make Yourself Heard

The kids like to talk, all the time, at full volume. None of them seem particularly aware that anyone else is talking, nor do they seem to care. Except for Sophie. She cares quite a bit about me listening to her. I discovered this during dinner a few nights ago.

The other three were talking, as was Bryan. I was sitting quietly, trying to hear snatches of everything. Sophie had already moved her chair close to mine so she could lay her sleepy head on my shoulder. That's why she was able to reach out, touch my arm, and say with a pleading gleam in her eye, "Listen to meeee! Listen to Sophie!"

And so I did.

Incognito

Lesson Learned... Maybe

We got locked out again today, the same situation as a week and a half ago. Bryan had his house key at work, but since I had the code to the lock box I figured I would be fine.

Here's something new I learned today: the code resets each day.

The girls and I hung out in the garage watching Little Einsteins until Bryan came home and rescued us.

We now have four copies of the key.

The Day of Me

Today is my birthday. I joke that I love my birthday way more than any adult should, but it's kind of true. I really do love my birthday. We did most of our celebrating on Saturday, but there were a few moments of party today: a play date with a friend this morning that included a lovely and thoughtful gift, an ice cream bar in the afternoon with another friend while our kids ate popsicles and played around us, a surprise birthday dinner from Bryan when we got home from swimming lessons.

We carpooled to the first day of cub scout camp this morning. As the little boy that we were shuttling got into the car, I asked the boys, "Hey guys, did you tell Max what day it is?"

"Oh yeah," Peter answered, "it's our Mom's birthday. She's...really old."

Happy birthday to me!

Party Night

Last Saturday we had a full day in Chicago. While we were gallivanting about, our house was being shown to prospective renters. There were several appointments that day, so we were glad to be busy elsewhere.

As we drove home we talked about how tired and sore and sun kissed we all felt. Our plan was to bathe the kids quickly, get them into bed, and soak our grownup feet. We pulled into the garage, turned off the car, and got ready to pile out of the van. I hadn't gotten out yet when Bryan yelled.

The door from the garage to the house was locked.

We don't have a key to that door, we never got one. And because we always come in through the garage door and not the front door, we hadn't brought the house key. It never occurred to us that one of the people coming to see the house would lock the door to the garage.

We were locked out.

Bryan and I spent the next hour calling, texting, and emailing our landlord asking for a way into the house. I tried to keep the kids occupied in the backyard and the van and the front yard and the sidewalks in our neighborhood while Bryan made several attempts to get into the house. As luck would have it, I'm totally neurotic about making sure all the windows are locked. And we heard nothing from our landlord. As the sun was going down and the bugs were feasting on us, we decided we needed to find a plan B.

Bryan looked up available hotel rooms while I called people in our ward. Not only did we need a place to stay, I also needed someone to print and cutout paper bowties to attach to bags of Skittles and handout to the men at church on Father's Day. That's right, I was responsible for that little project. Thankfully I had all the candy in the back of the van, but all of my other supplies were locked in the house.

My friend came to my rescue. She found, printed, cutout, and delivered over seventy cute Father's Day tags. While she worked on that, I called the Relief Society president. I explained the situation and hadn't even had a chance to ask before she told us we could come sleep at her house. I thanked her and said yes. Then we drove our tired bodies over to Walmart and Bryan sat in the van with the kids while I dashed through the store finding the least expensive pajamas and church clothes I could.

It's expensive to completely clothe six people for a day and a night.

We hauled ourselves to the RS president's house and carried our children and our Walmart wardrobe up the stairs of their large, lovely home. They had beds for all of us and even a crib for Sophie. Everyone bathed and showered and tried to settle down while I gathered our clothes to wash. Poor Sophie was so exhausted she was loudly giddy. Bryan ended up snuggling with her until she fell asleep. After my shower I headed downstairs to check on the laundry that our host had started for us. While I waited to transfer the load to the dryer I tied about half of the Father's Day goodies. By one o'clock in the morning I was so tired I could barely think straight. I decided I would just get up early and finish the rest of the candy then.

Sometime around midnight we got a text from the landlord. His phone had died and he was very apologetic. He sent us the code to the lockbox that currently resides on our front porch, a handy tool for the real estate agents but rather mocking for us as we tried to break into our own house earlier in the evening. Because of the late hour, and because the kids were already asleep, we decided to just go to sleep and try it in the morning.

I woke up after a sound sleep and went to downstairs to retrieve our laundry from the dryer. My friend, the RS President, is an early riser. She was just tying the last Father's Day treat when I rounded the corner into the kitchen. I was relieved to not have to finish that on my own.

Thankfully we were able to get in the house before church, so not everyone had to use their Walmart finery for church.

And that's why we were all heavy-lidded zombies on Father's Day.

Reading + Walking = Definitely My Child

In the Windy City

We spent Friday evening and all day Saturday at an MBA reunion for those that live within a reasonable driving distance of Chicago. As a group, we ate Chicago dogs at Portillo's and deep-dish pizza at Giordano's. We also spent time in downtown Chicago, a first for our little family. It only took us ten months to get there.

On Navy Pier

Chicago River

Peter really liked this big building near Cloud Gate and asked to have his picture taken with it. When he walked to a different vantage point, he discovered it was actually two buildings, one in front of the other.

Speaking of Cloud Gate...

"Look Mom! I'm holding up the Bean!"

Cooper was proud to be the photographer for this picture.

The whole family at the Bean, officially known as Cloud Gate.

Phoebe was worn out from a full day of walking, so Bryan helped her out.

It was a fun, full, exhausting weekend. Most of us didn't get sunburns, though I did experience a burn underneath my hair, which was a wildly uncomfortable first. We were glad to get back to the car to rest our weary feet.

Day of the Dad

Father's Day began with a rather exhausting adventure that will be detailed in a later blog post. After church we came home and Bryan prepared his own fancy Father's Day dinner while I helped Sophie take a nap and wrangled the other kids. Cooper assisted Bryan in the kitchen. He was pleased to stir a pot that had actual fire under it. I think that made him feel grownup.

 The kids all were excited to secretly sign cards for Bryan while he got dinner ready and then deliver gifts to him. It was a very low-key day, but it ended with brownies, so that has to mean it was successful, right?

A Plan

Bryan has a job! He has accepted a position in the same office he worked at last year. That means it's back to the East Coast for us. We don't know the exact timing of the move, nor do we have a place to live, but at least we have a job!

A Father's Love

Happy Father's Day.

"Look! My Have Pockets!"

Heavy on the Vocals

My children are completely obsessed with these two songs and the groups that performed them. Sophie heard the first one playing off my phone a few days ago and ran in saying, "Oh! Star Wars! It's my favorite!"



The kids pick this one apart to figure out all the songs that it holds. And they're now much more interested in knowing how to sing correctly than they were before.

Listen While You Work

I went Visiting Teaching today after the kids were done with their morning swimming lessons. My companion wouldn't be joining us, so the responsibility of scheduling the visit and sharing a spiritual message fell to me. As is so often the case in my life, too many other items ( and people) demanded my attention and I didn't begin to prepare my message until we were driving from the pool to the home of the sister I was going to visit.

I found the lesson for this month in my LDS library app on my phone. As we pulled out of our parking place at the city pool, the lesson started to play over the speakers of the car. My kids have developed amazing talents for blocking out sounds, mainly by talking over the top of them. That's what they did during my lesson prep. I called to the back of the van several times for them to be quiet, sometimes I was calm, sometimes not so much.

They finally listened and Cooper realized what I was doing.

Cooper: Mom? What are you listening to? (pause of understanding) Is this for Visiting Teacher? (to Peter in the back seat) She's cheating! I can't believe she's cheating! Mom, this is cheating.

Phoebe: (in a voice full of experience) Oh no Cooper, she does this all the time.

Ninja Princess

Love You In Spite of...

Phoebe repeatedly complained today about the way her brothers smell. Apparently she just realized they are sometimes an odoriferous group of humans. As the sister to three brothers, I've had this knowledge for many years. Although she returned to the topic several times throughout the day, my favorite happened this afternoon.

Phoebe: Mom, the boys smell so bad! I really think we should spend more time outside.

Me: Why? To get away from the smell?

Phoebe: Yes! It smells so bad in here. Why does Peter stink? (pause) How old will I be when Peter's your age?

Me: When Peter is 35 you'll be 30.

Phoebe: (now in a weepy voice) I'll miss Peter so much!

Me: Why? Where is he going?

Phoebe: (sniffling) I don't know.  He might be married. And I'll miss him! But we should really get out of this house, because it stinks!

While the Big Kids Learn to Swim

At the Car Wash

Once upon a time I went to get my car washed. This was no ordinary car wash, this was a pay-inside-only car wash. However, since a bandit must have whisked away the appropriate signage, I didn't know what made this car wash special. I just thought it was busted.

After spending a few minutes fiddling with what I assumed was the pay machine and having no luck, I decided to take my business elsewhere. My boys, strong-minded young men that they are, called to me with loud voices that I should simply drive through the empty car wash so we could leave. However, the car wash looked ominous and I feared that without the proper code to use the car wash, driving though it might damage the van. Additionally, the day had already been full to the brim of similarly direct and bossy statements, so I decided to back-up, because an obstinate parent sets a lovely example for their equally obstinate offspring.

The reverse of the vehicle went smoothly, which was to be expected. I am an excellent backer-upper of cars and vans. I am not, however, very good at judging proximity to curbs. This very-special-not-busted car wash had another fancy feature: sharp, elevated curbs.

And that, dear reader, is when I ripped the trim off the side of my van. Well, mostly ripped. I had to manually yank it free of its remaining earthly tether since, in addition to missing informational signs and functioning external card readers, that particular gas station didn't have any screwdrivers.

The moral of our tale of adventure and woe?

Don't wash your car.

Young Skywalker

Last night as I tucked her in, Sophie informed me that she had named the baby doll in her arms.

"Goodnight Darth Vader. Are you okay, Darth Vader? Are you hungry? Oh, Darth Vader, you want a blanket? Mama, this baby name Darth Vader. Say goodnight to Darth Vader."

I of course said goodnight to the bald, naked baby doll that was lovingly wrapped in a My Little Pony blanket. We'll do our best to keep her from the dark side.

The Unknown

Today was a hard day. Occasionally I write about the rough days, but more often than not I cheat and post a quick happy picture of the kids and then go numb my emotions by reading Facebook. That's what I wanted to do tonight as well, but it appears I'm making a different choice.

These hard days have been coming fast and furious lately. I could say it's because the kids are out of school or because the TV is broken or because everybody at my house wants to be in charge and nobody wants to listen, but those are simply parts of the whole. There are so many factors that go into the day feeling like it WILL NEVER END. I can't write about all of them, because they aren't all solely my burdens to bear, but I can write about one.

This is the last rotation for Bryan's program. I've written in the past about how difficult moving so often is, and I still feel that way. On the other hand, we've had many wonderful experiences that never would have happened if we'd stayed in one place. Ever the optimist, eh? Finding the silver lining is my natural default setting. That's what I do every time a friend or family member asks where we're going next, but it's growing more and more challenging.

See, we were told that we would have an assignment in place by April 22. Today is June 6, and we still don't know. To make the situation even more exciting we had to give notice that we would not be renewing our lease (just in case we need to move) and would/will probably move next month.

Do you hear that? It's the sound of my heart palpitating in a frantic, panic inducing rhythm.

I'm not the only one freaking out about it. Bryan is probably feeling the stress most of all, but the kids are certainly anxious. Our immediate future is a path that drops off into darkness. Every friend and family member I talk to asks: have you heard? do you know?

I will send a mass text/email/well choreographed flash mob to notify my community at large when we know the plan.

Until then, I live in a state of emotional paralysis. Do I start preparing the kids emotionally to move? Do I plan the summer? Do I ready our belongings for a relocation? Do I look for places to live in the various possible locations we might end up? Do I bucket list the heck out of Illinois? Do I focus on spending as much time with our friends as we can while we're here?

Too many questions freeze my brain, just ask my kids. Sometimes they'll all come at me with simultaneous queries and I have to yell out, "Stop! This is overwhelming!"

That's what I want to shout at this job situation, "Stop! This is overwhelming!"

Perhaps a better choice would be, "Hurry! This is overwhelming!"

Breakfast, Anyone?

Murphy's Law

The Screen Time Plan was amazing. The kids were motivated and my house was cleaner than it's been in a while. However, thanks to a certain two-year-old who sometimes throws remotes, this is what the screen looks like now.

Their motivation was much lower today. We might need to rethink the plan...

I Looked Out the Window and What Did I See?*

My kids swinging bow-staffs not so carefully!
Break had brought me such a big surprise,
Ninjas training right before my eyes.
The sticks came from the garden, out by the fence.
I've tried to throw them out and will do so hence.
I said no to a show, so they got back at me,
My kids swinging bow-staffs not so carefully!

*No children or parents were harmed during the activity that inspired this post. Any thoughts of revenge from the children were the creation of the lyricist and not a reflection their actual character. Mostly.