Aesop's Fables

Tonight was Droid’s 4^th grade music program.  They did several musical sketches of

Aesop’s fables, like “The Tortoise and the Hare”

and “The Lion and the Mouse”,

“The Ant and the Grasshopper 

and “The boy who cried wolf”.

 It was so cute!

The children all nailed their parts, no one hesitated on their lines, or even looked nervous at speaking into a microphone, on top of that, they were good actors… they were so funny! 

I was so impressed with how well rehearsed they all were.  It was the best elementary program that I’ve ever seen. 

I smiled all night tonight.  It was so much fun to see such good performances and our children learning such great morals from the stories. 

Just Checking In

Okay.  It's super late, and to be honest I was seriously considering just skipping posting tonight, but... I made a promise to myself, and if I start making excuses now, I know that I will continue.

I am really excited tonight.

I wrote a children's song for the kids in my church to sing last October for their big Primary Program, and although I wasn't totally happy with the accompaniment, the kids still made the song sound great.

I was told by several people at my church that I needed to try to get it published.  I looked into it, and my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is having a music competition in several different categories including children's songs. 

I called up my amazing sis-in-law who has this sweet computer program where she can write music and print it, and make it look all professional, so I asked her if she would be willing to do that for me so my submission wouldn't look completely amateur, and I asked her to look it over and feel free to give me any suggestions.

She is amazing... did I already mention that?

With her help we were able to change just a few chords in the song to make it more full and interesting, and less redundant.  She typed it up, and just e-mailed me the finished copy! 

I'm so excited!

I'm going to mail in my submission in the next day or two.  I'll let you all know when it's actually in the mail. 

So... wish me luck on my very first music competition!!!

Science is Maddening

Okay.  So, today wasn’t so much a dance around the house with a smile on my face kind of day.

For the past month I’ve known… and my son has known about an upcoming science fair.  It’s taking place on the 31^st of March, however he has a booklet that he was supposed to fill out and turn in on the 22^nd… yeah, tomorrow.

It’s about a 15 page booklet asking all kinds of questions… it’s pretty much the entire science project that is due tomorrow, minus the poster board.

For a month now, pretty much every day I’ve been asking Droid to get going on his science project.  Every day I got the same answer, “I’ll do it later.”  Of course he was sitting in front of a video game which was totally demanding all of his attention. 

I really wanted this to be his project, and I wanted him to initiate working on it, however, I totally forgot about the darn booklet that was due before the 31^st. 

Sunday I remembered it, and we sat down and scoured the internet looking for science projects.

We found that both lemons and potatoes have the power to light up a small LED light bulb, which we thought was cool, so we thought we would set up lemons and potatoes side by side and see which one was more powerful… which one can keep the light bulb lit for the longest period of time.

So after I dropped off the boys at school this morning I hurried off to Home Depot and bought some copper wire, to connect the pennies and galvanized nails (which I already had) to the light bulb.

Once the boys got home from school I was excited to get this project started.  I knew that it would take some time to get all the wires connected, time how long the light bulbs stayed lit, and then record all his findings into this booklet.

Of course as soon as we sat down I realized that I had forgotten to buy the little light bulbs! 

So I put all four kids into the van (Droid and Oz were fighting over something and they were driving me nuts). 

I decided to run a few errands before heading back to Home Depot for the light bulbs.  I needed to get to the bank and deposit a check, and then return some books to the library that was due today.  As I pulled into the bank drive threw I opened up my purse only to discover that I didn’t have my wallet on me.  I had forgotten that I had taken it out to pay a couple of bills this afternoon! 

Crap!

The boys were still bickering with each other and I had to tell myself to try to keep my cool.  I drove across the street to the library and ran my due books in, then jumped back into the van and drove the 10 minutes back home to get my wallet.

By then it was 5:00 and my Little Charge is usually picked up between 5:30-6:00ish.  I decided that I should have enough time to get to Home Depot before his Mom arrived.  I double checked to make sure I had my cell phone on me, just in case she called. 

I skipped the bank and went straight to the Depot.  Ran inside, with all four of them in tow, and found the light bulbs… I picked up a couple different sizes just in case one of them didn’t work.

Knowing that I wasn’t going to have much time to cook I stopped by the Taco Bell drive through and all the kids picked out their favorites.

I got home right at 5:30 and did a small happy dance knowing that I beat my Little Charge’s Mom back to my house.

The kids all ate, and Droid was devastated to discover that they had messed up his order.  They didn’t give him the burrito he wanted. 

After a 10 minute ordeal of him trying to steal one of Oz’s burritos, things finally chilled out a bit.

We were finally able to sit down and start assaulting our fruits and veggies with copper, and zinc and wires.

After an hour of trying EVERYTHING I couldn’t get so much as half a watt out of the 4 lemons that I had hooked together.  In complete desperation I ran BACK to Home Depot, for the third time that day, and picked up some hard core copper wire to use instead of the pennies.  I bought some freaking expensive galvanized screws, more copper wire (much of ours was getting pretty messed up) and MORE light bulbs, just in case it was our bulb that was the problem.

I also stopped by the grocery store and bought a big bag of lemons…  the ones we had were getting pretty mangled.

I got home around 7:00 and was getting pretty worried that it was going to be a long night.

I KNEW that this was going to work this time. 

I set up the experiment so confident that this was going to be the moment when we would bring forth light from fruit.

With unreserved confidence I touched the wires to the light bulb.

Nothing happened.

I switched the wires around.

Nothing happened.

I touched the wires to Doc’s voltage meter…

Nothing happened!

NOTHING!

Okay… don’t panic.  I read that light bulbs can be hard… but small alarm clocks or calculators are easier. 

I grabbed the boys small single battery alarm clock and touched the wires to it… just like the guy on youtube.

Nothing Happened!

I ripped Doc’s old calculator apart…

And I couldn’t figure out how to take out the funky circular battery, so I dropped that idea.

I looked back at the botched science experiment.

I looked at the clock.

8:30.

I looked at Droid’s monstrous booklet laying on the corner of the table.

There was no way we were going to get this done tonight.

I told Droid I was done.  And it served him right for waiting ‘till the last minute to do his work.

Of course I sat on my bed for all of 2 minutes before I started looking up super fast and easy science projects on my computer.

Droid picked up his “Mythbuster Science Fair Book” and started thumbing through it… and he came across one called, “Is milk really the best way to stop chili peppers from burning your mouth?”

He asked if he could do it.

Sure… why not?

So, he downed a sixteenth of a teaspoon of cayenne pepper… chewed it for 5 seconds and then downed ½ cup of milk while I timed how long it took for the burn to subside.

Once the burning was gone he did it again, this time drinking water.

We found that milk is definitely the better way to go when ones mouth is on fire.

But… we had to test the result to make sure it was accurate so…

He had to repeat the test again.

Yep… definitely Milk is the better way to go.

So… Droid has completed his science project.

Nope, it’s not as cool as produce lighting up the house, but… I have to say, after all the stress he put me through today, it did make me smile… just a little… to see him squirm. 

That is multitasking if I’ve ever seen it… punishing your kid while completing their procrastinated science project…

I know… I’m a devious little thing aren’t I?

Weekend Surprise

My sister made a spontaneous trip up here to visit this weekend.  Her hubby is in the air force and is stationed in Dayton which is only 3 hours away from us.  Considering the rest of our family is almost 3000 miles away in Arizona, we are practically neighbors. 

Now let me tell you about my sister… who I think I’ll call “Pollyanna”. 

She’s my older sister by two years, and she’s pretty dang amazing.

She is so patient.  She is so understanding and kind.  She is always there for me with a listening ear and great advice.  We went to college together and were each others first roommates.  … okay, so it wasn’t always BFF land, we’ve definitely had our up’s and downs, but over the last several years, especially as we have both lived so far from family we’ve bonded in a way that I don’t think many sisters get a chance to do.  We relate to each other on a whole new level now. 

I’m also totally in awe of my sister. 

She, like me, is a stay at home mom. 

She, like me, has 3 children (although her two oldest are identical twin girls). 

She, like me, has to deal with a husbands stressful job, and having him gone a lot.  She, like me, has a lot on her plate… but, she’s got a few more elements to her job.

Her sweet hubby is getting to be deployed to Afghanistan in a few months.  She’s in the process of preparing to truly be completely on her own for at least 6 consecutive months… something that I can’t even being to imagine.  On top of that she is completely unsure if she’s going to be getting a pay check in April because of government budget cuts that are taking place, so she has to worry about her finances… and to top it all off, as if preparing to be a single mom isn’t enough… all three of her children are autistic.

I really don’t know how she does it.  She balances their school schedules, their therapy appointments, and all the other responsibilities that come with Motherhood.  I have so many hard days balancing it all with all that's on my plate... I have no idea how she can handle the many added elements that I can barely comprehend. 

And she does it gracefully.

She’s a saint.  What can I say?

It was so nice to see her and her hubby and her children.  We didn’t do much as far as activities go.  We pretty much just chilled out all day.  I taught Pollyanna how to make some cute hair bows for her girls.  That night we went out and collected some firewood and we started a fire in the fire place and watched a movie. 

It was so relaxing.  It was like a one day mini vacation. 

The only member of the family that I think was a little upset over the visit was poor Otis who was locked in the dining room all day to keep him from scaring the kids too much.  J

It was a short visit, but it was wonderful.

I’m so grateful tonight for family, especially surprise visits from a sister!

The Best Things Happen When You're Dancing

It’s that time of year.

The once a year occasion that I get to say, “I was RIGHT!”  And really have been right!

Take a deep breath, close your eyes, and enjoy the sensation of complete bliss.

I was RIGHT!

Yesterday I had such a fantastic night with my hubby.

It was perfect.

My little charge was picked up early, so that gave me more time than I anticipated to pick out the right dress for the President’s Ball.  I ended up going with a floor length, form fitting dark blue dress with a few floral embellishments crawling down the side.  I curled my hair and pulled half back with a couple bobby pins, and accented it with a silver flower pin.  I slipped in some long white (fake) pearl earrings, and a circular diamond necklace that Oz had given me and my accessories were complete.  Last but not least I slipped on some satin 3 inch black Charlotte Rouse heels (that look great, but kill my arches) and I was just about ready to go.

I love playing dress up.  I don’t get to do it very often, so when the opportunity presents its self, I take advantage.

Makeup wise I tried to keep it simple, but did bust out a dark blue, almost black smoky eye look, with a bright blue subtle accent near the tear duct.  I was pretty happy with the way it all tied together.

As vane as it may sound… I was pretty happy with how I looked… and that just doesn’t happen very often.

The Ball was so much fun.  We sat with 3 other couples from our ward, and it was fun getting to know them better.  Dinner was pretty good, but I came for the dancing.

There was a live band there, and I’m super bummed that I didn’t get the name of it.  They played a bunch of older dance favorites like, “My Girl” and “Soul Man”.  There was this older guy there that had moves like Michael Jackson.  I can’t believe how much energy this guy had.  I couldn’t help myself… I had to dance with him.  He was HILARIOUS!  We grooved, bopped and got down all over the dance floor.  I laughed so hard.  I’ve never danced with a 60ish old man, but…  I may have to do it more often… so much FUN!

My favorite part of the night was of course dancing with Doc. 

He is such a good dancer. 

He held me up close during the slow songs and threw me around while we swung dance during the fast ones.  I missed so much dancing with him. 

The first time I ever danced with Doc was at college.  We went to a school dance with a big group of friends.  We were neighbors, and we were friends… that’s it, but I heard that he knew how to country swing dance and I LOVE to swing.  I’m more of a lindy hop kind of girl, but I’m good at “street swing” where you combine all the different styles of swing dance into one dance… and you just switch it up as you go.  I was pretty sad about going to college and not having anyone to swing with, so I told Doc that he had to dance with me at least once.

Finally a new Kenny Chesney song came on and Doc kept his word and asked me to dance.  It took a short time to get a feel for each other’s style, but he was a really good leader.  We were really getting going when all the sudden we heard Kenny sing out, “She thinks my tractors sexy!  It really turns her on.”  We both started laughing so hard.  It was such a random and unexpected lyric it took us both by surprise.  It took a short time to stop laughing, but finally we finished the dance, and I was impressed with his dancing. 

As our group walked back to our apartments after the dance I have to admit I looked at Doc a little differently… He didn’t have a tractor… but his smile sure was/is sexy.

The first time I started having feelings for him that was a little more than friends was when we were dancing, so every time we dance I remember our first dance, laughing, and how that tractor was sexy.

Last night as I fell back in love swing dancing in my sweethearts arms I also learned an important lesson…

I’m getting too old to head bang.

My neck is killing me.

 

The Luck of the Irish

The weather today was beautiful and sunny, but I was feeling a little blue from a rough morning with the boys.

That’s about the time Jewel called me up and told me to pack a picnic lunch for the kids and to meet her at the track… we were going running.

I got there around 12:30 with Little Princess, my Little Charge, and Ottis in tow.  I set up the picnic basket and cute red and white blanket on the ground and got the kids situated and started jogging… slowly with Jewel.

It was a perfect day.  It was about 66 degrees!  And, though my legs are very sore, I felt so much better.

So much so that after the kids got home from school we met up at the track again this evening and let the kids run around too. 

After being cooped up in the house for so long I think we all needed to feel the sun on our face, and a cool breeze… without needing a coat.

I have to say I’m super proud of Oz.  He ran a mile!  All the other kids stopped running after only 1 lap, but little Oz was like the energizer bunny and he just kept going and going.

As far as weather is concerned we definitely had the “luck of the Irish” with us today… now I just wish I had my man round to kiss tonight.

By the way.  I’m so super excited because Doc has tomorrow night off and our church is have a big “President’s Ball”!  It’s a yearly event here, and last year we couldn’t go because, of course, Doc had to work. 

I’m going to have to go through my closet and see what I can pull together.  I haven’t been dancing in so long, and I miss it so much!  I used to be quite the swing dancer… I hope tonight to find out whether or not I still have it.  J

So reader, I may not be posting tomorrow night, as, hopefully I will be having a late night with my hubby… hopefully you will be too!

A Walk in the Park

The sun came out today!  I’ve been aching for this day for 5 months now.  So, when Droid was picked up to go to    I loaded Oz, Little Princess and Ottis into the van and we headed to the park.

This was his first outing at the park, and he LOVED it! 

He chased the kids around the playground, and we ran around the baseball field.  Oz had fun holding the leash and running down a walking trail while Little Princess and I tried to keep up.

It was still a little cool outside, about 49 degrees, but with our coats on it felt perfect out.

Today was a great taste of things to come.  I’m so excited for the warmer weather.  I can’t wait to start running again, swimming, and planting my garden.  I’m even looking forward to mowing my lawn!

This little taste of Spring definitely makes my heart dance.