FAMILY EVENTS

Today, Josh is coming home,

and my sister is moving away.

I can't say where she's moving because 

she hasn't announced it to her blog fans yet,

but you can rest assured when I found out where,

I was super happy for her.

In the meantime, my J man will be home in his bed tonight.

That thought makes me really happy.

I haven't seen my kid for 3 months now.

That's too long, BTW.

I sure wish we lived close enough for him to visit

on the weekends.

Sadly, he'll only be with us for a week,

and only 3 days of that week

because the rest of the time

he's doing the whole

get-a-group-of-guys-and-go-climbing

thing.

Bummer.

But at least we have him for 3 days.

Then, he'll fly outta here, and back to TX

to start working for a year.

Stupid in-state resident tuition!!

We're taking a family trip 

(for the 3 days we have him)

and we'll be doing some fun hiking.

So we bought our little guy these

and now he can come along too!

without cracking his little paws like usual.

We went over and said bye bye to Mindy and her fam yesterday.

I'm not gonna lie - it was a sad moment.

I've never lived somewhere by family and had them move away.

This is a first for me.

Usually it's us moving away from family

and that's way easier and more fun - 

although still hard.

It won't be the same with them gone.

THE LATEST ON THIS GUY

This kid

has been busy this year at school in Austin.

He has finished one of the four years he has to complete

in order to become a Petroleum Engineer

and make lots of money. 

:)

We're so proud of him.

Currently,

he is in Oklahoma

(only 60 miles from the big tornado that wreaked

havoc there two days ago! - yikes!)

being courted by Haliburton.

Do you know who that is?

According to Josh,

he's never been treated better.

This is a team of students who travel there for the week

and get 'shown the process'

and get to explore things which I can't remember

like flac stuff and other big words Josh used when explaining it to me.

This is what I do remember.

They are trying to convince the students to come work for them

when they finish their school

The way they do this is by treating them like kings

and 'showing off the wealth of the company'

by putting them up in these glorious bungalows

and feeding them like kings

(Josh says he's never eaten better in his life,

which BTW Josh - you shouldn't really say that to your mom).

Josh is flying straight home on Friday when it's all said and done.

The plan was for him to catch a taxi to the airport

(50 miles away),

because his tour group is going back another way on the bus.

But when Haliburton found out his plan,

they told him that's ridiculous.

We'll drive you to the airport.

And so it is when you're studying petroleum engineering I guess.

Let the good life begin for this kid.

FAMILY TOGETHER

Every once-in-a-while

my family gets together.

(I love how it looks like Ash's arm is cut off, and check out Ani's face)

We threw an impromptu 

BBQ/come watch Mart with his bees party

the other day,

and a few of the family showed up to play.

 I love stuff like this - 

no stress, just fun.

(Mart showing off his new queen, and my dad's "Oh-that's-really-interesting" expression.)

I'm glad we could have a moment.

SIDEWALK CHALK/PAINT

Step 1:

Get all sidewalk chalks

Step 2: Mash up chalks with rock and place in bucket.

Step 3: Add water

Wah Lah.

Instant Sidewalk Paint.

And messy at that.

MAKING MASKS

My favorite is when 

the friend holds your face down

with one hand

and traces your face onto the paper

with the other.

Awesome.

I COME FROM GOOD GENES

Meet my grandpa.

Grandpa Lake.

My mom's dad.

The last two years,

Ani has lucked out by having her play

land at the same time as his annual visit to Utah.

Which means, her great-grandpa gets to come see her

do her thing.

I remember meeting my Great Grandpa when I was like 10.

He was old, and didn't leave his house much.

But he was alive.

There aren't many people who can say that about their 

great-grandparents.

My family lives forever.

I had one great grandma who lived to be 108.

(Great-Grandma Lake)

(his mom)

I even have a five-generation picture somewhere.

(where is that?)

That's good genes, my friends.

Good genes.

YESTERDAY WAS MY ANNIVERSARY

Yesterday marked the day that,

14 years ago,

I tied the knot with

the perfect guy for me.

(him)

It also marked the 2nd year in a row 

that I've completely forgotten my anniversary.

Ugh.

I suck.

Mart on the other hand,

bought me beautiful flowers, a card, and perfume.

And took the whole. day. off. to spend with me.
Then he finished off the day by
reminiscing all about our wedding day
and our 14 years together.

Like I said.

Perfect.

I really really love that guy.

And I totally DO. NOT. deserve him.

Haha - but I got him anyway!

I SPEND A LOTTA TIME HERE IN THE SPRING

It's like my favorite place to shop.

And my checking account will verify that.

CREATIVE PLAY

I remember being a kid

back in the days before video games

and 20,000 TV channels

and Tivo and DVR recorders

(even before VIDEO recorders!!  GASP!)
and back in those days

we spent a lot more time outside doing what people might call

CREATIVE PLAY.

We just called it fun.

Gathering in the street to play kickball or baseball

while the sun was up,

then, as darkness started to fall,

everyone's feet coming together in a circle

someone pointing to the toes while rhythmically chanting

 "Engine Engine Number 9, going down Chicago Line..."

or 

"My mother and your mother were out hanging clothes..."

in order to pick the teams for Capture the Flag.

Those were the good ol' days.

(Did I seriously just say that?)

Sometimes I feel like my kids really missed out on life

thanks to video games, and TV, and kidnappings, 

and kids who just plain have too many activities to play anymore.

But this kid.

This Cassie.

She's had it different.

Probably because she's my youngest,

and I haven't started her in all that nonsense stuff yet.

And probably because she's had the most stable childhood 

of all my children.

And probably because I've learned better

and I refuse to turn that TV on.

She plays.

And she plays hard - 

and she make fun out of anything.

Even a stack of mulch bags.

 

Or maybe I should say,

ESPECIALLY a stack of mulch bags.

EWWWWWWWW

20 years.

4 kids.

You would think you've seen it all.

Then one day, you find this

hiding in your kids' head.

Ewww...

CREEPY.

A few tears

and a pair of tweezers later,

and that sucker is dead and gone.

Leaves me feeling crawly though.

Thanks for the new experience Cass.

ANI IN THE LITTLE MERMAID

Every spring, Ani starts her crazy time of the year.

She is always one of the leads in her school play

which takes up tons of time.

She practices for it pretty much from the beginning of January

until the end of April.

At the time, she's also preparing her concerto

for the Concerto Festival

which happens right about the same time.

It's a crazy time of year for her,

and I'm always glad to have my kid back

when it's all over.

But after all the work and prep,

it sure is fun to see what she turns out.

Here she is in her play this year.

And a little sampling of what she did:

My favorite is how she is pulling up her pants the whole time.  

Silly Ani

TWO WEEKS AGO

I never know when she's coming to town

cuz she's spontaneous like that.

So whenever I get the phone call 

that she's here

and 'wanna hang out?'

I get pretty excited 

and drop whatever I can drop

to make it happen.

We've been friends for 13 years now.

Thirteen!

That's almost as many years as I've been married.

We joke that after our husbands die,

(we're certain we'll both outlive them)

that we will be the old biddy grandmas in a nursing home together

stirring up trouble and whistling at the young male nurses.

I really hope that happens.

Come back soon Michele!  I miss you already!

UM...I COULD BE WRONG....BUT....

...it that a peace sign in that grenade???

IT'S TUESDAY AND I'M BEFUDDLED

Is befuddled even a word?

I don't know but it sounds good so I'm going with it.

There is so much up in the air for us right now.

Mart has a possibility of a job in Houston.

It requires tons of travel.

We THINK it might be enough money for me to stop teaching.

We are waiting to hear more on it.

We're anxious and wondering what the next chapter holds for us

if there is a next chapter.

It's hard to say what's going to happen.

We don't know a lot, 

and what we know is that they (his boss)

still doesn't know much about this job.

It would be with the same company.

Just a different job

and 'a significant pay raise'.

Which, who knows what that means.

We don't know when they're filling the job.

They've said "Maybe by the end of summer?"

And then, they shipped him off to Houston last week

to work with the guy there that he'd be working with.

It's very up in the air right now,

and it's stressing me out.

I want answers!!

So I can make plans!!

I'm a planner people!

Help me out!

WE MADE CREPES FOR BREAKFAST

...And they were GOOD!

UH OH...GUESS WHAT I FOUND

Today I heard about
THIS little joint.

This must be investigated.

immediately.

WELCOME TO YOUR NEW HOME, BEES.

(music credit: Liberace: The Golden Age of Television: Flight of the Bumble Bee Boogie)
Start buzzin' little bees!  Make some honey!!

HOME BUILDER PET PEEVES

1. An outlet directly underneath a towel rack.

Seriously?  What genius thought that one up?

Can you say, "fire hazard"?

2. An outlet on the LEFT side of the cupboard

when most people are RIGHT handed

and most plugs are coming out of the 

RIGHT side of the appliances.

So annoying working around that cord!!

LIFE LATELY

Happy May Day.

It's May first.

For some reason, I feel like that's something worth noting.

It's currently 35 degrees,

with a forecasted high of 55 today.

I can't believe it's still that cold here.

It's depressing.

Mart has been out of town

(again)

for two days now,

and the house is, as usual, boring and sad without him.

Hurry up and come home Mart!!

In spite of it, my girls have

(again)

stepped up to the plate and filled in for him beautifully

while I've been busy teaching.

I'm pretty lucky to have the amazing kids I have.

I spent an hour on the phone with the J man last night.

He's really a good son.  

I'm glad to have him too.

Thankfully, Chester dog is my protector

and spreads out in the middle of my bed at night

so I feel safe enough to sleep a little bit.

Still, I'm napping during the day.

Mart's bees are back, 

but they've been hiding out in their hive 

because, people, it's cold out there!

(and windy! go away wind!)

I've been having an unusual amount of problems and frustrations

with my piano parents lately,

and it leaves me wanting to find a job during the day

and fire them all!!  

but then, I remember I don't really want a job during the day either.

I just plain don't want to work.

I admit it.  I'm lazy.

I want to be a kept woman.

I keep wearing capris.

I'm optimistic like that.

I'm sad my sister is leaving.

Even if we don't see much of each other,

there's something about not having that option anymore

that's a real bummer.

LITTLE TRINKETS OF A LITTLE LIFE

Sometimes,

if I can get past being bugged by the constant clutter

of having a little person around,

I actually take a minute and enjoy the treasures I find

scattered around my house.

Here was one I saw recently:

Cass' precious umbrella tossed to the side 

after she took it with her to school on a rainy day,

only to discover that rainy + windy = hard to hold an umbrella.

She loves that umbrella though,

and so, I love it too.