Ty's Birthday Breakfast

My feeble attempt at getting the house sold. Flowers.

Ty's 5th Birthday Party

 We played games. Friend Hyke

 Mummy wrap

 John

 Cute shot of Ellie and Briggs.

.

 We decorated paper boats and floated them down the gutter. (notice the pathetic for sale sign in the yard. Sniff.)

 It was pretty cute seeing them all following their boats

 Lovely La Posada. Below, Ty got a new Indiana Jones T-shirt from the twins and had to put it on right now! Annika was embarrassed and covered her eyes. I love Charlie laughing in this one.

 special gift from Annika...

 And Grandpa

The cake . Which was an odd choice because he wasn't especially into "How to Train Your Dragon". His theme was the Backyardigans and we couldn't find a Backyardigans cake. I buy my cakes. I don't make them myself. Sorry kids.

Flowers on Grandma's grave

Ty's Birthday list

While in the toy section of Target, I handed Ty my phone and asked him to take pictures of things he would like for his birthday. He got some pretty interesting shots, if you can ignore the auto-focus problems!

"Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" Game. He loves these books.


Epic Mickey video game

Some kinds of Donkey Kong game, I can't quite make it out...
Remote control Luigi car.
Speed boat Zhu Zhu pet.
Guess Who Star Wars (our kids have been playing a lot of board games lately.)
Pix-o's
Play-doh set.


I thought some of his choices were interesting, but they definitely show that he likes crafty toys and games. He's not in much of an action figure or cars kind of phase right now.

Why I Could Use a Little Chocolate...

So it's been 4 weeks since we started this new adventure where Brian lives somewhere else during the week and only comes home on weekends. I'm not sure I can even think of anything clever to say, I'm so exhausted, so I'll just lay it out for you:

Week 1: I was running on adrenaline and faith and the week went surprisingly well.

Week 2: This week was post-bank failure so I was reeling with the emotional backlash of 12 years hard work with nothing to show for it. Any savings and retirement are gone. Add to that a huge lack of respect and ignorance from the community and you get one angry week.

Week 3: I'd like to call this the jaded week. This was the week I said, "Brian? Brian who? Are you talking about my husband? I'm doing just fine on my own. Who needs a companion?"

Week 4 (the present): Never mind what I said last week. I'm lonely. I'm impatient. I'm over my kids.

So now that I've laid out my raw emotions for all of the blogosphere to read and judge, I will tell you that despite my complaints, I know that what we are doing is the right thing, and because of that some blessings have come.

I have been empowered and able to do things that I normally wouldn't do if Brian were here. Today one such task involved a crescent wrench, a socket wrench, and a Makita drill. I fixed a fence and I fixed it good.

I've dealt with sub-contractors and gotten some drywall work done in the garage.

I've dealt with real estate agents, and quite frankly, gotten this house ready and on the market by myself. If this house sells (and I stress the if ) it will be because of my efforts. That may sound arrogant and self-centered, but that is only because of my weak mastery of the written language, because it's supposed to sound confidant.

That is another blessing. I don't normally do confidant.

Up until recently, I've done ok with the kids. I've been able to pace myself and they have really stepped up to the plate. But recently, I find myself feeling pecked to death by the incessant questions because I'm the only one around to answer them. When I texted Brian how tired I was of the questions (because that's how we communicate) he cutely responded, "I'm realizing that smart kids come at a price." Cute. But no consolation when you are expected to answer simultaneously, and in rapid fire, questions like:

"Mom, what color do you get when you mix blue and purple?"
"Mom, how close together were your contractions right before you had me?"
"Mom, what happens if you shoot a monster?"
"Mom, what time of day was I born?"
"Mom, what were the last five books you have read?"
"Mom, do you have an unlimited amount of money on you debit card, or do you eventually run out of money?"
"Mom, where's my (insert 5 million nouns)?"


And what's the first thing I hear in the morning when I wake up in my lonely cold bed?

"Mom?"





You do realize that's a question, right?


(For those just tuning in, the bank Brian worked for here in San Luis Obispo for the past 12 years was recently taken over by the FDIC. Because of that he was forced to take a new job in the Sacramento area. The job started one month ago, but we decided that the kids and I would stay behind in order to finish school and get the house sold. So Brian lives with my parents during the week and comes home on weekends so we can try and act like a normal family for a couple of days. Once school is over, we will be moving the family to the Sacramento area, or more specifically, Elk Grove. We think.)

February Catch up

 Our ward family heart attacked us while we were gone at Grandma's funeral. We felt very loved.

 Kade and Kellen would catch lizards at church using long blades of grass, then let Briggs and Ty hold them.

 On the bus ride up to Hearst Castle

Ty manning the camera.

Moom

Brian and I kind of played a mean trick on Ashlynn.

And we've been doing it for years.

The fact is, we weren't trying to be mean. We were actually being a little selfish.

You see, for years now, Ashlynn has thought the word "Baptize" is pronounced "Bathtize". Years and years. It makes sense, right? The act is performed in a giant bathtub, so it is easy to see where the confusion originated. Brian and I always thought it was cute, so we never corrected her.

Mean?

We figured when she got a little older she would figure out her mistake.

Not the case.

When she started reading, we told ourselves, "Now she'll figure it out." She didn't. And I don't really blame her. Anyone who is at all familiar with the English language and lovely words like "receipt" or "colonel" can understand.

Then when she turned eight and was going to get baptized, we considered correcting her, but by that point it was just too cute (and perhaps a little too late...)

Today at church she came to me nearly in tears. "Mom! I'm going to kill Dad. He just told me the other day that the correct word is 'bathtize' and my teachers were laughing at me because I kept saying 'bathtize'!" (for the record, she doesn't have mean teachers, she has mean parents. Her teachers have known her all her life and love her like she is part of their family. Thank you Steele family!)

So maybe that is where we messed up. We tried to milk the cute factor too much.

As we were discussing it after church, there were all sorts of dramatic "How Could You!" accusation flying around. We explained that we thought it was sweet and cute. She came back with, "Mom! I'm almost ten years old! I should know the correct pronunciation of the word 'baptize! Next time you should correct me!!!"

We said fair enough.

Then I added, "Since we are on the subject, it is pronounced 'Moom' not 'Mom'".

Even though her back was turned to us, I could see she was smiling!