Relaxing day with Jim and Pirate John at a table outside Dolcetto, by David

*** Guest author David ***

An hour past midday in August, sitting on the veranda at Dolcetto at the Conrad Singapore Orchard Hotel.  Finally a day off to relax.

It rained right before the sun hit its peak, pealing a few degrees from the cement walkways and tarred roads. The breeze carries much of the moisture away and dries the surface. this eighty-eight-degree day is far more tolerable than all of the last week. Still persistently humid, the air is fresh and renewed. 

Though spending a few minutes to record these moments in word and stanza, I have taken in quite the opposite, spending the lazy wet Saturday morning on my quest to reintroduce imagination with classics I enjoyed in my youth. 

Now two-thirds of the way through Robert Louis Stevenson's story of young Jim Hawkins and his antagonist Long John Silver, I wonder how it will conclude. Yet I know, as these words have been seen and absorbed into my consciousness before.

I am sure the lush tropical environment of Singapore surroundings has affected the words I am rereading this day in an unusually spiritual way. As I read of Jim's struggle making his way back to the Hispaniola anchored off the shore of Skeleton Island he is observing the sails catch and the release of the wind over and over again. This is a sure sign they are not being attended to. 

I feel that very breeze turn to wind again and again while my mind pauses to reenter my bodily presence. The lack of care today has also left my sails untrue and unmanned. Or am I too, in that small craft fashioned by Ben Gunn while he has awaited his rescue marooned on that rarely visited rock?

Thankful for a quiet and peaceful weekend abroad, I shall again return to my reading and find myself on that island with Jim and that fascinating yet wicked Long Jon Silver once more.

***

David is in Singapore. I didn't realize how close Singapore is to the equator. It's tropical. Approaching the 2 week mark, he was told to stay another week.

I'm now less than 48 hours from picking him up at the airport and I am just counting down the minutes until I see his gorgeous face. 2,820 minutes and counting...

Christmas Season

Its right around November 15^th every year that we start seeing the “Countdown to Christmas” messages everywhere. The stores have already pulled out all the Christmas stuff and by the time we get to Thanksgiving, we’re hearing the music everywhere. I don’t think it’s a huge secret that I’m not a big fan of Christmas, I don’t like the pressure to make my house look a certain way and spend a bunch of money on stuff we don’t need. But. Mostly I try to keep my sentiments to myself. Last year, the five of us all finally officially gave up on celebrating with Santa. The youngest kid knows. We (the parents) can stop trying so hard to hide everything (we were never very good at that) and we can just be up front about the packages that keep arriving at our doorstep leading up to the big day. So that was a step towards making Christmas all around better this year.

David and the kids worked SO HARD to get everything ready. Many dozens of cookies made (thanks Eli, Shelly, David). Dishes and more dishes (thank  you Faithful Dishwasher for all your hard work!). Vacuum the living room, again and again (thanks Archer J). All the windows washed (Wow! David!!!). Laundry, more dishes, more vacuuming, dusting.

Now on to the real joy of Christmas, what we all know we’re supposed to be enjoying, but it gets lost in the stress… Family Time. Time Together.

It happened this year – we really had a chance to ENJOY each other. Nana came on Christmas Eve, along with Bampa and Grandma Shell and we had a wonderful evening together. The stories, the silliness, so many hugs for everyone. Archer snuggled up next to Nana for an hour or two while we watched a show, then everyone headed off to bed.

Then on Christmas Day, it was the Fortiers’ turn to take over the house – little by little they trickled in and the house warmed up. We were missing only 2 of the entire clan and with a group that large, I’d say that was an amazing accomplishment. To have just about everyone there was amazing. Christmas has changed so much over the years that I’ve been a part of this family. All of the grandchildren are growing up, there’s not so much screaming (with joy) and crying. Not so much of all the kids mobbing Christopher’s legs and wrestling him to the ground to pile on top of the oldest cousin. There’s more talk of dating (bleh!! I don’t wanna know!!), jobs, travelling and the BIG topic this year is who is newly driving, or about to be driving, or could be driving by now but isn’t… 

After food and presents, the kids found a game to play together and this is where I have to say, I could not have pictured this 15 years ago. I probably would not have said, “It’s great that they’re all playing video games!” We always hear about kids and “too much screen time.” But Christopher told his cousins that he wanted to spend some time with them and they ALL (that’s 9 kids aged 9 through 25) piled into the boys’ bedroom for a game on their phones/tablets/computers. They found a game that all of them could play together. Screen time, yes. FUN TIME with cousins, DEFINITELY. We had such a great time, I was sorry to kick everyone out at 9:00 because some of us had to work the next day.

I would say it was definitely one of the best Christmases yet – so much wonderful family time connecting with everyone. Thanks to all who came over, brought stuff and just hung out. And most of all, thank you to Elijah, Shelly, Archer and David for ALL of your hard work keeping the house clean and ready to entertain. My wonderful children never complained even once. Not when I  interrupted their playtime to do more chores, not when we asked Shelly to give up her room while Nana stays with us, not when I asked someone to come to the grocery store with me AGAIN. I have the most wonderful family.

The Great F5 Baking Day

Shelly watches The Great British Baking Show. David just received the stand mixer that he's wanted forever. Shelly's been bringing home cookie recipe books from the library and used book sales. Eli has been perusing Shelly's books. And Christmas is rapidly approaching.

All of these things have joined to form the perfect cookie baking storm and it came together yesterday. Five or 8 different kinds of cookies, 3 bakers working in shifts to bake 80 or 100 cookies in 10 hours. Even more impressive, they cleaned as they went and the kitchen was in better shape when the whole event has concluded, than before they had started. Way to go Bakers!!

The Great Freeze of 2019

Well. Winter has arrived. A weekend or two ago, I promised Eli that I'd take him sledding to enjoy the Big Snow that we'd just gotten. We went, loved flying down the hills and had so many laughs together, I loved it! Hiking up the hill, trying to hit each other on the way down, tipping over and rolling through the snow, coming home to hot chocolate, what's not to love?? (Timeline - Sledding on Jan 20. Two major snowfalls in the few days preceding that.)

Next - the cold. Wind Chill of 20 below and guess what? School was CANCELLED. Snow day! Actually, technically Freeze Day! Or whatever. They're off of school on Friday. (Timeline - Cold on Jan. 28) The kids stayed home, the parents went to work.

Did I mention - David left for CANADA on Thursday? (That's Jan. 27 for those of us keeping track.) Who goes NORTH in January? We're not fans of winter. And David went to Canada. Colder? It's practically the edge of the world. Anyway, we're at work, the kids are home loving the weather that cancelled school. The weather people predict snow and cold and we're Wisconsinites so we roll our eyes. We complain about how the grocery stores are mobbed by everyone who thinks they'll be snowed in for the next 2 weeks so they'd better stock up now.We participate in the mobbing by stopping at the store for "just a couple essentials."

On Sunday we heeded the call of the local homeless shelter that's asked for extra food and blankets due to the increased number of people needing shelter. As we got to the shelter we join a line of people going into the building, everyone carrying bags stuffed with food, blankets, hats and gloves. I look around amazed at our community's response to the call for help. We get inside and see one of the gentlemen who runs the shelter standing there with wide eyes and a look of awe of his face. He's dumbfounded at the response. He tells us to just pile our things "over there." In the pile of bags of food, bedding, everything they asked for.

I walked out hoping the kids saw how one family can help another. Or how a community can come together to do something wonderful when we join together. Or how we should recognize the blessings that we have in our lives and never take them for granted. We have a warm home with a furnace that works and a fridge and cupboards that are fully stocked with food. We are so blessed.

Sunday night the call came. No school Monday - Snow Day! Archer asked if I wanted him to clear off the driveway in the morning and I accepted the offer. They were saying 8-10 inches of snow was on the way and they weren't wrong. Monday morning (Jan. 28, in the timeline...) we were greeted with a driveway filled with snow. As I started getting ready for work, I heard the snowblower start, then quit. I heard it start and die again a couple more times. Last week it seemed to work just fine, but now? I finished getting ready for work. I went outside to find Archer shoveling the snow. He apologized but also told me he was only going to do half - the left half, the half that needed to be cleared for me to get the van out. We shoveled together, I called my boss to inform him that my street still hadn't been plowed and I didn't know when I'd be able to leave the house. There was a wall of 10 inches of snow at the end of my driveway. Archer called Bampa to ask for advice about the snowblower and through a series of questions, trying again, and more questions, we finally figured it out. The auger was frozen with ice surrounding it. The chute was blocked by a solid chunk of ice. It would have to be thawed out before we could use it again, and there was only colder weather in the future. And that was when the Story was revealed to me.

Archer finally told me. The last time it snowed (Jan. 18th-ish?) he had offered to clear off the driveway, and when I got home, it was BEAUTIFULLY cleared. Even the sidewalk. Even around the mailbox. Not a speck of snow out of place. I bragged to everyone what a great job he had done. I paid him a big fat $20 bill for his wonderful work. I was the proudest mom you've ever seen. And when it came time to snowblow the driveway again, it turns out the snowblower hadn't been cleared out from the last time.  We stood in the garage trying to chip away at the ice with a stick, after we'd already shoveled the left half of the driveway together and the plow came and filled it all in again and we had shoveled more. And we were chipping away at the ice in the snowblower. And he finally couldn't take it anymore, and he confessed. He wasn't the one who had cleared the driveway last week, but he'd been told to take the money and not tell Mom anything about it. And he hadn't cleaned out the snowblower, or whatever. And when I heard this whole story all I could do was laugh. Only a perfect storm of record snowfall and record cold and someone doing a favor for someone else that turned into another kind of problem of frozen blocks of ice inside the equipment... Only then could this whole story have come out about Archer accepting payment for a job he didn't do and who would have even guessed? I laughed, and called Bampa to let him know the details of the kerfuffle and later called Shelly to tell her to take a hairdryer out to the garage to thaw out the snowblower. She said it took her an hour and a half. And now we're back in business

So where were we on the timeline? Tuesday, I guess, Jan. 28. It is going to be just as cold as it was on Friday, but school is now IN SESSION. I look at the forecast and see that at the time the kids will be getting off the buses, there will be a wind chill of 30 below. I make a decision that I've never done before. I keep ALL THREE kids home from school. I will not have them walking 2 or 3 blocks in weather that can cause frostbite in five minutes. So they stay home. I give them assignments and warnings and leave them to the warm cozies of home while classmates are off to school. As far as I can tell, none of them changed out of their jammies all day. When I got home and walked from the garage to the mailbox and back, my nose and fingers were already staring to hurt and I know I made the right decision to keep them home and order them, "DO NOT go outside today." No one talked about anything but the weather all day long at work. And this afternoon, I received a call from the school district. No school Wednesday. Wind chill will be 50-55 below zero tomorrow afternoon. The last time it was this cold in WI was 35 years ago, too long ago for even me (the old mom of the group) to remember it. I've never heard of weather this cold. (I looked it up. The last time it was this cold in WI was 1984. I definitely don't remember that.)

So I'm declaring it. This is The Major Freeze of 2019. Someday when I'm old and grey and rocking in my rocking chair, I'll be telling of The Great Freeze of 2019 when we had three major snowstorms in a week and four days of 50 below zero the very next week and it'll only be the very slightest of exaggerations. (We really did have three major snowfalls in seven days. Only one day of 50 below zero. So far.)

In the meantime, I'm waiting for the 41 degree heatwave they say is coming this weekend, hopefully that'll melt the mountain of snow in front of my front door so we can welcome a visitor or two again sometime soon.

P.S. Did I mention? This whole time, David has been in Halifax. When I look at the map, I feel like he's on the edge of the world. He's farther east even than Maine. I know it's irrational, but sometimes I have this weird feeling that he's going to fall off the edge of the earth. And it's warmer there, even though it's north of here. Twenty Three Degrees Fahrenheit. With the perspective of 55 below, 23 above feels like a luxury, practically beach weather. Just don't fall off the edge when you're visiting the beach in that balmy 23 degree weather that you've got over there, David. Come home soon, join us! I heard today that it's colder here than in Antarctica, and that's a once in a lifetime chance, to say you've been somewhere colder than Antarctica!

Friend Time

We ordered pizzas for the kids, hopped in the Party Bus (aka Family Van) and went out for a a few hours without the kids. All the inside jokes and teasing each other for past indiscretions and complimenting the outfits and it was just a wonderful evening. Thanks Girls! And also thanks Husbands.   :)

The next day David treated me to a Brewer's game. We're at the end of September but it's practically 100 degrees so we roasted our way through a great afternoon. Thanks honey! And thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for one last Pool Day before the season ends.

Major Project

It has been too long since David and I had a Big Project to keep us up late at night once the kids are in bed. Since we now only have one kid at home, we thought it would be a good time to start… Painting. Shelly’s been asking for a new look in her room for years. Now that she’s finally gone for the week, why not see what we can do on a little makeover for her? Here’s hoping we can get it all done and the paint’s dry by the time she’s home in a week!

Fast forward through five frantic days of painting late into the night, poor Eli entertaining himself until bedtime and us parents getting paint in our hair but almost no paint in the carpet. We managed to even fix up the curtain rod, organize her closet and clothes.

Shelly and Archer both arrived home on Saturday morning. Finally, the day of the big reveal. We announced our plan to stop home so the kids could change their clothes before going out for lunch. Shelly started proclaiming that something was different. Before she ever got near her bedroom. She noticed that a chair had been moved and we had new placemats on the table. But finally, we managed to get her to wander into her room. And there she stopped. In the doorway. Silent. It seemed like she would never speak, and doubt started creeping in - wait - doesn't she like the colors? She picked them out herself! Finally, she turned to us, and very softly said "thank you." She loved it so much that she could barely speak. And that was thanks enough for us. She hadn't suspected anything. She had waited for years. And now, she has a brand new room to enjoy for the next 25 years. Because I'm not planning on painting it again anytime soon.

So, what's next? The boys have begun picking out paint colors. I don't know if I'm up for that yet. Anyone else wanna come paint? We'll feed you!!

Habitat Day

The company I work for strives to encourage people to serve their community through volunteer work. Since I started there, fourteen months ago, I have attempted to support this mission and once every two or three months I suggest we spend a day working for Habitat for Humanity. Habitat does new construction, but also rehabs older houses that are in disrepair. Finally, after a year of asking the question - when can we do this? - we managed to put together a team of seven people. We all showed up at a house in Milwaukee and spent the day painting. We painted the entire thing. Three bedrooms, bathroom, hallways, living room and kitchen. There were some really bad parts like a few spiders, moldy ceiling and walls, stains splattered everywhere. But mostly there were some really GREAT parts like meeting new people, working hard with each other to do this great thing for someone else. The house still has a lot of work ahead of it, but it was nice to contribute in our small way to helping a family get on their feet with their own place to live. I still have paint in my hair. I wonder when we can do it again?  ;)

P.S. While I was off painting, David and Archer were at a Highway Cleanup with the Scouts. It’s really disheartening how much garbage people toss out their windows with no regard for their communities. It’s really wonderful when a group of people can come together and clean it up. It was nice to hear about the people who honked in support or shouted thanks to the boys as they drove by. Perhaps our own kids will learn to pick up after themselves, after seeing the mess it makes when others don’t?

Grandma's Famous Chicken Salad

David introduced this recipe to me long ago, way back before kids, etc. etc. The story is that his mom would make it the day after Thanksgiving, using turkey and all the leftover ingredients that they had from the day before. It's one that we both love, it's easy and kind of quick, and you don't actually need to measure anything. Whenever we've brought this to a family event, people seem to love it. Or, they're just being nice?

Here goes.

Grandma Sue's Famous Chicken Salad

Ingredients
About 1 lb chicken breast
Celery, Onion
Grapes halved (or Apples, diced)
Cashews (or Carrots)
Mayo, Mustard, Salt and Pepper

Instructions
1. Cook the chicken breast with whatever seasonings you like (Italian, basil, whatever smells good)
2. Set aside one of the chicken breasts for the kids that don't like chicken salad
3. Cut up all the remaining ingredients, mix it all together, add some mayo mustard salt pepper to taste

Why we love it
No measuring required! A nice fresh meal in the heat of the summer. And with the option to leave some of the chicken to the side for some of the kids, it's a meal we can all enjoy. (3 stars because 2 of the kids prefer the chicken to the chicken salad)

  

Scouting Again

Eli's scouting experience is keeping him busy...

Fire Station Visit

Scouting For Food bag handout day, we had to call in reinforcements (cousins) to help get the job done. Thanks Cuz!

Eli's car was one of the top 3 in his Pack so he was able to compete in the District Derby. Also, our family ran the event. We've done this before so it was all routine and there weren't too many big surprises.

Well, there was one big surprise. There was a promise made to the competitors that there would be a Blue Angel fly-by before the racing commenced.


Thanks to the Angels (and the boys who will not be named for making this possible!).

Eli registers his car.

Shelly and friend Claire run the concession table, selling hot dogs, popcorn, candy and beverages.

David did a fantastic job of coordinating everything and the whole event went off without a hitch. The boys in Archer's Troop were key in keeping everything running smoothly. Another day of great memories for all involved!

While the Cat's Away - Day One

The Cat, aka The Dad (he doesn't even like cats, this whole analogy might not work...) is away for six days. I said to David, what will I do without you? He said, what you always do. Meaning, our schedule rolls on, school, work, homework, laundry, bickering, laughing, did I miss anything? I told the kids that Dad is the one who reminds me to be nice to them, and without him around, who knows what's going to happen. Maybe pizza for dinner every night. (For real. I really thought about that. Except I don't even like pizza that much, so maybe not. Maybe ramen noodles instead.)

Anyway. On my way home from work I saw approximately 147 people out walking their dogs because it was a balmy 43. I was inspired to get outside and told the kids they had to go for a walk with me. They agreed, on the condition that they would get shamrock shakes afterwards. We proceeded on our 0.8 mile walk and Eli wiped out only three times. We had dinner, went grocery shopping, found a new turtle friend (his name is Fasty because, um, he can jump really high?) and the kids were thrilled when we FINALLY picked up their shakes. Bonus - We listened to Queen on the ride home. Awe. Some.

We played a lot tonight. We fooled around and there was almost no crying and we all just spent a couple hours being silly. Everybody said lots of funny stuff and I remember almost none of it. Shelly told a story about how her class got to use tablets in the library at school today, and Mr. Librarian was very protective of these devices and asked everyone to be extra careful. "They're my babies, please be very gentle with them." Class Comedian jumps in and asks, "Did you marry a flatscreen TV?" Mr. Librarian worked very hard to hide the smile on his face but all the kids knew that he thought it was funny too.

Shelly and Elijah and I were sitting on the couch and Shelly decided she wanted to watch TV and told Little Brother to go get the remote. He immediately got the remote and brought it to her and then, without any judgement, just asked the question. "Shelly, are you just lazy or what?" Can you hear it? The honesty and the curiosity in his voice? Shelly, without missing a beat, launches into a little speech about humans and how they're just naturally lazy and that's just how people are and yes, she's lazy. Can you hear the matter of fact justification in her voice? And as she goes on, he curls into the corner of the couch and covers his face with a pillow and I hear him say, sadly now, disappointed in his sister's answer, "I just don't think that's how it should be." Hugs all around for everyone. And quit being lazy!

The Cat, The Dad, called to let us know he made it to LAX and he had a few spare minutes to chat with us before he had to head off for work stuff. I guess we're all keeping busy without each other, but I'm definitely counting down the days till the cat is home again.

Eli the Author

Eli regularly brings home new books, this time around he was kind enough to read it to me. Enjoy!

P.S. A little side story. Several years ago David told me a story about when he was in elementary school (I can't remember what grade or what teacher). Whenever his teacher would read a story to the class, she would say "A Great Story by Wonderful Author" and the whole class would say together, "Thank you Wonderful Author!". David liked this and said we should carry on the tradition with our kids. So when I read to our kids, I say it also. "Horton Hears a Who by Dr. Seuss". For the LONGEST time, Eli would get annoyed by this. Then he would get REALLY irritated, then it escalated to him shouting "Oh no, don't say it! Don't say it!" and I'd be laughing and he'd be climbing on me trying to put his hands over my mouth but I'd always somehow manage to say it and then finally, one day... One day he just joined in. And I'd say, "Hello Ninja by N. D. Wilson, illustrated by Forrest Dickison" and he would say "Thank you N. D. Wilson, thank you Forrest Dickison." And now that's our tradition. And that's why I said "Thank you Elijah Graham Fortier", because that's how it was done when David was a kid, and that's how we do things today.

Lion Cubs Explore Gadgets & Gizmos

Hey, did you know that Elijah is now a Cub Scout? Also, David is a leader. Their first outing together was to the Betty Brinn Museum in Milwaukee to learn about gadgets and gizmos.

David brought a collection of gadgets for the kids to guess what they are and what they do, that was the educational part. The rest was supposed to be educational but was mostly just exploring. They all had fun, I think - once we got upstairs the kids all scattered and we didn't see most of them until lunch time.

Running All Summer

My obsession with running continues to seep into every single part of my life. Every little twinge is a question - is that an injury? Every possible variable weighed - what's the best outfit? Do I have the wrong kind of socks? Are my songs in the right order? Go to bed early so I can wake up early and run before it gets too hot. Eat spaghetti and not pizza. Eggs for breakfast, not yogurt.

 

This blog is supposed to be for and about the kids. Every extra second that I have on the computer is spent reading about the best training plans, diet, shoes. No time for writing about the kids. And yet I'm constantly thinking about how I can get them to come with me on the next run, drag them along when I look for better running sunglasses.

 

Run. Run. Run. Tomorrow I run 12. (I've never run that far before. One year ago I would have sworn I'd NEVER do it.) I just added new music to my playlist. As I listen to it, I'm about jumping out of my skin to get out there and run it NOW. In two weeks I will run 13.1 with my best running partner, advisor, encourager. He's started calling me Coach as I lecture him about not lifting heavy stuff because I don't want him to claim injury in two weeks.

 

Let's go! Let's go! I CANNOT WAIT to see that finish line, to cross that line with Dad, to know that we ran it together and NOTHING can match that experience - training together, achieving that goal together. Something we never thought we'd do. And here we are. LET'S DO THIS THING!!

 

P.S. Thanks to Mom for sending me the inspirational posters and always telling us we're doing great. Thanks to David for listening to my never ending discussion on every stupid little detail. Thanks to Archer and Shelly and Elijah for cheering us on, EVEN when you're biking alongside me and I KNOW you don't want to be there. Thank you to EVERYONE. You sure help make the journey more fun. I love you guys!!

Sum Sum Summerfest

We dropped the kids off with Grandma Sue and had a grown ups only day with a visit to Summerfest. What a treat! Good food, good music, and a fantastic time together. Thanks David!

Birthdays Galore

For the first time ever I baked my husband a cake on his birthday. Yes, last year I tried, messed it up despite the fact that it was JUST A MIX IN A BOX, and he ended up baking it himself. (Sorry Honey!) This year I made a Boston Cream Pie cake and it doesn't look so pretty but it did taste pretty good, and after 11 years of marriage I can finally say that I did it once - baked him a cake. Thank you for your everlasting patience, David, and Happy Birthday to the most wonderful husband and father I could ever imagine!

Just a short two weeks later, E celebrated his FOURTH birthday!! What!! No longer baby, toddler, preschooler, now this grown up kid is in school, learning everything and telling us all he already knows. This beautiful boy is so precious, with his huge smile that lights up his face, and lights up everyone else around him. He was very specific about the cake he wanted, but the most important element was the "pintles." It MUST have sprinkles or it just wouldn't be good enough. David baked and decorated that one, my skills are clearly not up to par to deliver on Eli's high demands.

Happy birthday to you both!

The Men in My Life

There's a time for dressing up...

And a time for letting it all hang out...

Grill, Anyone?

We didn't have a grill and Memorial Day rolled around... Spur of the moment we decided to grill out, bought a little grill and tasked the boys with assembly. They did a great job with only minor interventions from Dad. We enjoyed a nice dinner with hamburgers and other traditional Memorial Day stuff. Happy Summer!

The Nightly Parade

Every night there's the parade of children in and out of our room. They're supposed to be in bed, they can't seem to stay there. Tonight they followed, one after the other...

Archer: Dad, Eli got into my bed and I told him to get in his own bed but he won't get in his own bed.
   Close on Archer's heels
Elijah: Dad, I got in Archer's bed and he told me to get in my own bed but I won't get in my own bed.

   Much laughing, sorry I know this is not how parenting is supposed to work but E followed Arch so he could tattle on himself???

There were instructions to go back to bed, Archer would allow Eli to climb into bed with him and Dad would move Eli in fifteen minutes.

Five minutes later (maybe less), the parade commences.

Archer: Dad, Eli keeps hitting me and he won't stop.
   Again close on Archer's heels
Elijah: Dad, I was hitting Archer.

   Again I know we shouldn't laugh, this is why he doesn't take us seriously, Archer is both angry and laughing at the story that's unfolding. However, I have work to do, I don't want a third parade in five minutes and so...

Game over - Mom steps in and shoos the boys off to bed, their own beds, no more talking, laughing, sitting up, asking for water, anything. Bed time.

Five minutes later -
Both boys fast asleep. Victory!





Followed by an appearance by Shelly. Sigh. They'll ALL be asleep eventually, right?
Bad dream discussed, daughter led back to bed, tucked in between her puppy, giraffe, cardinal, doll (anyone else?). Hugs, kisses, song, for real bedtime.

Goodnight world!

Lyrics

Remember when we went to see this?



Everything is awesome!
   Everything is cool when you're part of a team
Everything is awesome!
   When you're livin' your dream

That was exactly one month ago. Every day since then, we've been singing this song. E knows almost the whole thing and often sings it on his own. Last night I took some liberties and adjusted the lyrics to fit our current activity.

Everything is bedtime!
   Everything is cool when you're goin' to sleep
Everything is bedtime!
   When you're havin' sweet dreams

I sat on Archer's bed while I sang this, I continued singing as Eli protested that I was singing it wrong, I kept singing while he started singing the real version of it trying to drown me out. I gave the kids each their hugs and kisses and walked out.

Elijah immediately started calling for Dad. Dad. Dad. Dad!

I told David his son was calling him, and David went in to see what was going on. David came to me later with a serious issue. "Mom was singing it wrong. This is how it goes. Listen. Everything is awesome... (insert entire song here) So you have to tell her, ok? She was doing it wrong. You have to tell her. Ok Dad? Ok? Tell her, ok?" Elijah was pretty shaken up by my change to the lyrics. Of course now I can just barely resist singing my version at every chance I get, but I guess I need to back off, I'm sure its not really good to intentionally antagonize your kids. (For the record, I sang my version to David and he thought it was funny.)

So who is going to break the news to him about our song, Twinkle Twinkle Little Toes?

Twinkle twinkle little toes
   You can stick them up your nose
   Don't they smell so nice and sweet
   They can be a tasty treat
Twinkle twinkle little toes
   You can stick them up your nose

Last Minute Movie

We started discussing the movie selection for our weekly movie night, Archer talked about checking to see if The Leg@ Movie was out yet. "It came out in the theater awhile ago, so its probably out now." I knew he was wrong, it only came out a couple of weeks ago and there's no way it would be available to rent yet. David started browsing something on his phone, then handed it to me. 9:30 was highlighted in red. It was the theater website with show times listed. We proceeded to have a discussion all in secret code, right in front of the kids, without them ever catching on to what we were talking about. Finally the answer was yes, we would go, it was 7:45, we'd be out pretty late but it didn't matter, what are weekends for, if not for staying out late?

Kids were told to get ready, shocked responses followed by a scramble to get ready, find shoes and out the door! A quick stop on the way for some candy, then a stop at the concession stand once we were in for popcorn and drinks. Archer and Shelly wanted to sit in the very front row. We overruled them and picked seats in the middle. The compromise was that the kids sat in the row in front of us, so we could pass candy to them and they'd be within arm's reach. Elijah decided to sit with the kids and then it started, we enjoyed the movie, everything was awesome, and that's a wrap!



It was a fun movie, not nearly as corny as I'd expected, there were funny even for the grown ups. Definitely worth the late night spur of the moment trip across town.