Oh, No! Not Again!!!

There is something about being in Salt Lake City during the last week of February that makes my mind LoOpY.  I'm not sure if it's spending an entire Saturday at CBYC scrapbooking that muddles my brain, or if it's the eagerness and excitement of all of the SHOPPING that the "big city" offers.

Whatever the reason, due to my LoOpYness,
I locked my keys in my van again this year.


Last year, I was so excited to be at the Expo, that I slid open the van door, threw the keys on the seat, grabbed my scrappy supplies and slammed the door shut.  My stomach lurched as I looked through the tinted window at my keys dangling on the edge of the seat! 


What do you do when your spare set of keys are 300 miles away?


I did what any good scrapbooker would do;  I took a picture of the keys in my van and turned and ran back into the Expo Center to start scrapping!  I just knew some great inspiration would reveal itself later on.


Like Magic, the answer came as I watched officers come and go to the event in the next venue.  There was a Safe Kid's Convention going on and every precinct in the vicinity had sent their finest to talk to the kiddos.


I know, because I met every single one of them as I went from group to group hoping against all hope that one might have a Slim Jim and rescue me from my stupidity.


My last hope came in the form of a moustached man in a blue uniform looking something like the hero in a 70s cartoon.  Actually, they all looked like that.


The lock was popped, and I was saved and able to go home for a year and drive back down for another fabulous time at CBYC scrapbooking the day away.


After a successful crop, the shopping began.

I was introduced to a store called Hobby Lobby.  I had never met Hobby Lobby before. 

As I drove into the parking lot, I could almost smell the aroma of raffia and glue sticks, paper and unfinished wood projects.  My eyes glazed over and I glided to the front doors where I inhaled deeply. 


I was not disappointed!


I shopped.
I paid.
I left.I pushed my heaping cart with one hand as I groped in my pocket, then my purse, then my pockets again searching for my keys. 


My sweet daughter peered into the drivers side and shook her head and said "Uh, Oh!"


I knew . . .


. . . I had done it again!


Did you know that if you go to the dealership and smile sweetly, and ask really nicely (and show proof that the van actually is yours), they will use your VIN # to cut you a new key? 


Did I mention that the guy was born in Idaho Falls.

Yesterday was one of those days.  I was taking a serious look at myself (perhaps too seriously), and finding myself lacking.  I was questioning my motherhood ability and feeling very down.  It's amazing how teenage words can do that to a mother.

I knew that if I only waited until tomorrow things would be better.  They almost always are.  A new dawn brings new light on the day.

The sun rose on me this morning as I was kissing my little boys for school. 

Hunter gave me a kiss and said in a big voice, "You raised us well, Mom."

Now, I wouldn't really consider a 9-year-old to be exactly raised, but the words made my heart pulse all the way up to the back of my eyes and the pressure made them sting.

Not to be outdone, Connor gave me a big hug and said "I love you waaaay more than you love me!"

That really got my emotion going, so to quell it I told him, with a crooked grin, that he was a liar and that I loved him the mostest.

I realized then what a gift from God these two little boys are to me and that God knows me well enough to prompt those darlings to say the exact things I needed to hear most.

Although it was snowing when I woke up this morning, the sun was shining through bringing the dawn of this new day. 

It made me feel that maybe . . . just maybe, I'm not such a lacking mother after all.

We'll see how they feel when they are teenagers.

 

Photo Valentines 2011

Goods and Bads

That's how we create stimulating conversation at the dinner table in our house.

With everyone running in a million different directions throughout the day, it is important for everyone to put on the brakes at 6 PM for dinner.

After the fighting has ceased over who has to put the cups on the table, and all of the last minute items like the salt and the pitcher of water are placed on the table, my family sits down, bows their heads over their plates, and starts shoveling food into their mouths as fast as they can (after a blessing, of course).

They aren't much for words if left to their own devices (or maybe this just means that I am a marvelous cook).

I must intervene if I am to know any information about the enormous portion of time that my children (and husband) spend away from me each day.

So we do "Goods and Bads".

It's quite simple, really.  We start at one end of the table and each person gets to share one good thing and one bad thing that happened to them that day. 

Sometimes the flood gates open up and one person (uh hem, husband) will drone on and on until we are all bored to tears.  

But usually after a moment of quiet thoughtfulness, something good and something bad will be blurted out and then the shoveling will resume.

I am never disappointed by the wide range of topics that these two little questions will produce.

Tonight's topics included:
Incisors (pronounced in-scissors).  This was the good and bad since Hunter painfully bit down and loosened his tooth;
Connor imagines making his teacher faint by cleaning up around his desk.  The teacher faints and falls on him while he's doing the splits--OUCH (Okay, that one was weird!); 
Emily was very, very amazed that she got second chair in band playing the flute (we encourage our children to go for second place);
And when all else fails, they resort to saying that their good is this "very delicious dinner."

Try it with your family tonight!

"COLD" Day

Since temperatures were well-below MINUS 20 degrees, school was cancelled.

When we lived in VA, school got cancelled at the hint of snow.  It was fun.  The kids would spend the day outside sledding down the hill in our backyard.  The snow was wet and heavy and perfect for making families of snowmen, snow-women, and snow-children.  School would resume when the roads were clear and most of the snow had melted from the yard.

In Idaho, school doesn't usually get cancelled for snow.  Snow Plow Men wait eagerly each night with their plows and sand ready to tackle the most severe storms.  They consider it a personal challenge to keep the roads clear enough for those big yellow buses to safely transport Idaho's children to school.

Snow Plow Men do not however, hold any chance against plunging temperatures.  No amount of sleepless plowing nor sand pouring can remedy the wind chill.

So, what do Idaho children do on a "Cold" Day?  Parents with sense keep their kids inside watching movies or reading in front of the fireplace while piled high with blankets.

MY children decided to get out the sleds and snowboards and play in the front yard.

I'm sure the people driving by just shook their heads at the senseless parents allowing their children to play outside during such extreme temperatures.

I grabbed the camera to document the moment.  After all, how many places in the world can you actually snowboard on your front lawn?

Idaho Skin

"PUT ON YOUR COAT!"  I yell as my teenager is about to leave.  "You're hoodie isn't warm enough for today!"

"I will be FINE!"  My teen yells back with a scowl on his face. "MOTHERS!"  I'm sure he's thinking.

I know his car still won't be warm by the time he reaches the school.  It is cold today.  Wind chill makes it less than 20 below outside.  I  had woken up early and turned on the radio.  I wondered why school wasn't cancelled.

He calls me during the day and asks me to bring him some lunch money.  Normally, I wouldn't dream of hampering my child's ability to be responsible, but this morning, he was looking a little thin.

I sit in the parking lot of the school and wait for him to come out.  I know the period has ended because students begin streaming out the doors and cross the parking lot in front of me. 

I start to count.  One . . . Two . . . . Three. . .  I have now seen exactly THREE teenagers with appropriate clothing for the weather.  Three warm coats among the swirl and swarm of bodies. 

In my heated van, I snuggle deeper into my knee length, fur lined hood down coat.  I start thinking of percentages.  10% with warm coats, 60% in hoodies, 30% in SHORT SLEEVE SHIRTS!

Idaho sure raises some tough skinned kids!