It's Friday

Yes, it's Friday, hallelujah.  The end of a whirlwind of a week.  We went straight from having Naomi here for three days, into the Memorial Day holiday, to a Tuesday that felt like a Monday... except not, because we were in Seattle all day.  Then a day at home (mostly) before going back to Seattle yesterday.

I just loooove getting a nine-in-the-morning appointment (eyes roll) because TRAFFIC.  If we leave at 6am we miss most of it, (if that doesn't make sense, look here), and we really dodged a bullet this time.  Three lanes southbound had to be closed Thursday morning when an expansion joint broke, leading to this:

(Photo from same link)

See all those red brake lights?  We must have got off the freeway right before it backed up to the U district.  By the time we left Children's, the southbound traffic was piled up a few more miles to the north, but we were going the other way. Ugh.  I'd much rather sit in the waiting room with tea and a good book than be stuck in that mess.  And our fabulous audie even took us back early (which we don't expect, but sure appreciate!)

She tweaked Tate's program a bit (raised the levels) and sent us on our way.  We'll be seeing her again next week.  One hundred and eighty miles, round trip, if we don't make any other stops.  Fun times.  Fortunately, today's appointment (the third one this week) was local.  Tate gets his therapy at WWU, which is awesome for lots of reasons, and not just because it saves us another weekly drive to Seattle.

Dr. Peters, (who is also fabulous), challenges Tate - always encouraging without babying.  And hearing loss and rehab isn't just her job, she's living it too.  Today's appointment was a lot of talking and catching up.  Then we got down to work.  This is how it goes:

She has Tate remove his left CI - the ear that's been implanted for two years - and try to listen just with the right ear.  She covers her face (embroidery hoop with black fabric) so Tate can't read her lips (because he's a stellar lip-reader) and reads him a list of words.  Little words I don't remember - words like "cat" or "top", with three sounds.  Tate tells her what he thinks she said.  They're all words he knows, but no context.  And he amazes me by getting at least one of the three sounds and sometimes two in every word.  

Cheek.

Chip?

Close, cheek.

Cheep.

Good.

She reads him a list of ten simple sentences.  The context helps and he gets 87% of the words correct.

And then he averts his eyes so he doesn't have to "listen" any more, because it is such hard work.  Crazy hard.  But he's doing great :D

He's had his processor for three days.  Three days.

Meanwhile, while I'm shlepping around to appointments and dropping boys off at jobs and trying to keep the fridge full and the laundry empty, Kerry is doing this...

... flying out to a little island in the San Juans with a client.  Some of the San Juan Islands have permanent residents and ferry service, but most don't.  Many are tiny, and some - like this one - can only be reached by private boat or private plane.

He got to check in with another one of his projects, already under construction.  

The last time he was there it was an hour's drive to a marina, and then an hour by power boat.  But by plane?  Fifteen minutes.  And what a gorgeous day to fly.

And a perfect day to be doing this.  Four loads of this.

And I should be checking in on the garden, because WEEDS.  That can be tomorrow's chore.

How's your Friday?

On The Road Again... A Tate Update

Tate.

He amazes me time after time.  

I've mentioned that he's healed up just fine from the surgery.  Better than fine.

The most likely side-effect of CI surgery is dizziness, which makes sense as they're poking around in your inner ear (hello vestibular disturbance).  If Tate hadn't told me he'd felt it a little, I'd never have known.  In Tate's world, "dizziness" translates to "for the first day or two after surgery, I couldn't just vault out of bed, but had to sit up, wait a second or two, and then stand".  Gee.  I'm (happily) underwhelmed.  

Also, he came home with tylenol, double-strength ibuprofen, and "real" pain meds.  Which he took twice, with my encouragement, before going to bed.  Any time I'd ask him about pain he'd have to stop whatever he was doing and really think about it.  On a scale of one to ten... one, or maybe two.

And the actual incision?  I showed you a pic just shortly after surgery (HERE, if you're interested).  and now?  Practically invisible.  If a bit of the skin looks kind of yellowish, that's probably what's left of the glue.

With healing accomplished, we headed back down to Children's for Tate's post-op.  We really like Tate's surgeon - David Horn.  I know, I must be getting old, because he looks like he just graduated high school, but that's no reflection on his knowledge or skills, which are fabulous.  And he explains everything so that we can understand it, without being condescending or childish.  Awesome.

He checked the incision, asked about dizziness, and checked Tate's facial expressions.  (Too bad I didn't get a pic of THAT!)  Another possible side-effect can be nerve damage, but Tate's face is still nicely symmetrical and functioning normally :D  That appointment took all of about five minutes, and Tate was cleared to proceed to his audiologist for activation.

Activation!

Guess who else we really like?  Tate's audiologist, Kerri Corkrum.  Okay, I caught her at a funny moment - she's totally adorable - she was undoubtedly explaining something.  Because I'll tell you what, learning about all this new technology is kind of like drinking from a fire hydrant.  And Kerri is so wonderful and patient about the whole thing.  She tells us how it works, shows us how it works, walks us through it, and is just great with Tate.

I think I mentioned there are sixteen electrodes.  I believe it's possible to tweak each one individually, but for now she programmed them in groups of four.  Tate has a little chart (probably really helpful for the littler ones) to indicate how the sound feels to him.  Because it doesn't just sound loud or quiet, it feels loud or quiet, too.  Those nerves haven't been stimulated for awhile, so we start low and slow, and gradually ramp up to more stimulation.

That's Tate's new Com-pilot he's holding, and they're discussing its many capabilities.  Amazing.

Kerri is a treasure.  Always upbeat and encouraging.  She notices things (like Tate wearing contacts now, instead of glasses) and really listens to questions and concerns.

We like Dr. Horn - he also communicates well and treats Tate like the near-adult he is - but we have a lot more contact with Kerri.  Especially just now, when his appointments - his mappings - are so frequent.  As his nerves and brain adjust to the new input, his program will be tweaked continuously.  His activation was yesterday, we'll be down again tomorrow, and again next Tuesday, and so on.  Whew!   Good thing we like Kerri so much!

Reminds me of a verse from Psalm 16,

The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;

surely I have a delightful inheritance.

Memorial Day Weekend

In our county, Memorial Day Weekend is famous for a gigantic relay race called Ski-to-Sea.  Five hundred teams, each with eight members (there is no iron-man division) makes for a crazy amount of activity.  And loving crowds as I do (*ahem*), I was happy to let my brother and SIL join the mayhem while we had a Naomi visit, from Saturday until Monday.

Unlike my boys, she doesn't seem to like sitting still and being read to, but guess who she'll sit with?

Tate.  

Though he doesn't dote on her quite like Gunnar does, 

she willingly sits with him and listens to stories, like The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

And I love listening to the way he moderates his voice for her :D

Somehow I failed to get a pic of her with Wyatt.  She has a particular interest in Wyatt because he can sound so much like her dad.

Of course, these two...

... have a very special relationship :D

And she loooooves "Papa".

No pic of him, either.

(Fail.)

And Grandma.

Grandma is also occasionally allowed to read to her.

Briefly.

  

Usually she does this with books.

Grandma noticed.

See how she's holding the book?

Like the daycare worker, so all the kids can see.

She loves goofing around with Gunnar.

Now it's about 50/50,

Guh-guh

or

GunNAR.

Heavy emphasis on the second syllable,

which she only adds sometimes.

But she can say it - very cute.

We had another performance on the stair/stage.

I think this was the Itsy-Bitsy-Spider.

Possibly concluded with a

"How big is Naomi?"

"Soooooo big."

Took her to church with us on Sunday, where she is always warmly welcomed.

In fact, she kind of remembered her visit a month ago.

That time, it was Pastor Bert's birthday and we all had cake.

The cake was decorated with butterflies, one of which was probably plastic and ended up clipped to his lapel.  Pastor Bert is very friendly - gentle and kind with the kids, but I'm sure he can appear intimidating.  He's a big guy, with a big voice.  Naomi was intrigued by him, but kind of scared.  The butterfly broke the ice.

So when she saw him this time she looked long and hard and said, "Buh-fly".

Butterfly.

Yep.  She remembered him.

Funny thing, though... there's always a couple moments of "greet your neighbor" early in the church service, and lots of visiting afterwards.  That's my best guess for why my brother emailed me, laughing, and wondering why on earth his own daughter grabbed his hand and said,

Nice to meetchu!

Yah.  It was a fun weekend.

Meanwhile...

... we DID have a family BBQ, 

but Wyatt, Tate, and Gunnar spent the whole day

(in pouring rain for most of the day, no less)

volunteering at the nearby

Festival of Flags.

It's amazing.

1600 flags line the cemetery.

And not just any flags.

Those are flags given to deceased veterans' next of kin,

on behalf of the President,

in honor of the veteran's service.

1600 of them.

Tate was pretty glad to get to chat with local veteran Joe Moser.

And, followed it up that evening by watching

The Monuments Men.

Just Dandy

Yesterday morning I cancelled school, which I can do, being the teacher (and the principal, and the counselor and all.)  You see, our Garden Fail has been weighing heavily on my mind.  (I know guilt isn't unique to moms, but I think we're pretty good at it.)  Anyway, with a couple of nice days on the forecast, and rain and a Naomi visit coming this weekend, well... it was time. (Duh duh duuuuuh.... I do my own theme music, like Kronk in The Emperor's New Groove, so - you know - humor me.)

Tate, Gunnar and I headed off to the local newspaper to get some end-rolls, and off to THE local garden spot to get starts.  It didn't look like much, when we loaded it all into the van, but looks can be deceiving, or so I've been told.  We hauled it all over to the neighbors and proceeded to attempt to get down to work.

Let me make one thing perfectly clear:

WE ARE NOOBS.

Planting a few annuals and perennials in the flower beds around the house is completely different.  And the weeds, oh the weeds!  (Feel the drama for me, will ya?)  The thing is, winter seems to last forever, and spring is pretty cold and rainy.  Which means, plants are pretty dormant for a long, long time.  And I got complacent.  Then, about the time we were down at Children's hospital for our little adventure, we had a stretch of warm weather.  The days are getting ridiculously long, the temp is climbing, and it's still wet.  Which means:  WEED EXPLOSION.

I know, I know, you could all see that coming a mile away, but again...

WE ARE NOOBS.

Tate rototilled for a couple of hours, while Gunnar and I weeded by hand.  See, our sweet neighbor has some perennials in the garden - lilies, roses, raspberries (my favorite!) and we can't just napalm the whole thing and start over, y'know?  (Though Gunnar keeps asking.)  I should've counted how many buckets of weeds we hauled off and dumped.  The bedstraw (sticky weed, velcro weed, whatev) is CRAZY, plus chickweed, dodder, some awful viney morning-glory-like things, and what I really hate - buttercups.  They spread like crazy and are nearly impossible to pull out.  Ack.  And we couldn't finish.

Had to dash off, shower and pick up Wyatt to go to an appointment (more on that later - fun!) so we had to leave it half-done, but Gunnar and I put in another three hours today and got everything planted.  Do you want to know what we have?

I mean, nobody's making you read this, right?

Tomatoes - cherry and bigger ones
Romaine lettuce
Garlic  (planted earlier)
Copra onions  (planted earlier)
(Stargazer ilies - already there)
Butternut squash
Carrots
Head lettuce and celery
Bush peas (because the #$%^ snails got my climbing peas)
More onions - red and white
Red peppers
Cucumbers
(Saving a row for later carrots)
Blue lake beans
Pumpkins
(Raspberries and roses - already there)

And yes, I'm pretty sure we've bitten off more than we can chew.  Insanity.

We also rolled out the newspaper between all the rows, in the (vain?) hope of it contributing to weed control, watered everything, and spread slug/snail bait.  Because I loathe gastropods.  (I hope you're channeling Jim Carey, in The Grinch, when you hear "loooooathe".)

Meanwhile, Tate and Gunnar spent two or three hours yesterday working for my parents (removing and stacking concrete roof tile).  Also yesterday, Kerry and all three boys spent a couple of hours doing yard work (mowing, raking, weed whacking) at the CAP building.

Today, while Gunnar and I were in the garden, Tate and Wyatt were mowing for another neighbor and are now off at work at the speedway.  Thursday night motocross - sometimes I can hear it from the house.

I think we will all be officially exhausted tonight.  Except for Kerry, who mostly works sitting down. Therefore, we will BBQ tonight, because that's his job.


Days like this, I wish again that I had a despachante.  That's something I heard of in a John Grisham book.  Apparently, in Brazil "the system" is so corrupt and inefficient (don't be offended, Brazil, we're close on your heels) that it takes forever and a day to do the most ordinary things, like renew your driver's license, vote, or get a building permit (which is pretty much the seventh layer of Dante's hell here, too.)  So a despachante will do these things for you.  He will stand in line, and he knows who to slip a little bribe to, to get to the front of the line, or to make things happen.  Wouldn't it be nice to have someone do all the boring, time-consuming, mundane tasks that clutter up our lives?  Well, okay, I have trouble with the bribe part, but the efficiency part?  I'm all over that.

Meanwhile, I have a Mother Load of things to sort out and accomplish - Tate needs some questions answered about working at the CAP "boot camp" this summer, and the Cadet Officer (i.e. not an adult) who assured Tate he checks his email daily has NOT responded for over a week.  I need to figure out how to get the (meager amount of) money out of Wyatt's minuscule college fund for next year.  (More later.  Oh yeah, I already said that.  But I mean it.)  Gunnar needs help writing an essay to apply for scholarship money towards boot camp (it is not cheap to go to "camp" on a military base, sleep in old barracks, and wake up at 5am for PT each day.)  And by "help" I mean I will give him some direction, but I won't be writing it for him.  Wyatt needs an appointment at the eye doctor.  Someone needs a wart frozen.  Two boys need annual well-checks.  I need to coordinate Tate's summer therapy (for his CI).

And I'm sure there is more.  Do you see why I want a secretary?!

I'm not complaining.  That stuff is my job.  It's just kind of piled up right now.


But the fun news that I kept alluding to?  Wyatt is registered for classes at the community college for next fall!

I have a college student in the house!

We met with an advisor, talked about what direction he might want to head, and got him scheduled for three classes:
* English 101 (get it OVER WITH AND OUT OF THE WAY because he does not love English class)
* Precalc - he's not officially registered, because he has to take the placement test.  I think he'll do fine on the test, and even if he doesn't the advisor said they could waiver him in based on straight A's in all his math classes.
And, for Social Science credit,
* Criminal Justice
That's the one he's really intrigued by, and may end up changing the course he's plotting.  We'll see.

I'm just thrilled they were able to arrange his schedule efficiently with all morning classes so he can look for a job for the afternoons.

The End.

Change is Good... And Funny

Is it weird to post photos of the bedroom?

I don't see anything in these that is too personal or private.

Nothing too revealing.

But I'll tell you a funny story.

This is the new bedroom arrangement.

(Because I know how important this is to everyone. *eyes roll*)

Our bed was against the wall, beneath the painting of the church.

Now it's here - under the windows.  So I can snuggle under the quilt with the window open and fresh air blowing across my face, and almost feel like I'm sleeping outside.  Without the rain.  Or bugs.

Kerry sleeps on the left (as you look).  So the first night the bed was moved, he woke up in the middle of the night and proceeded to walk into the corner of the room.

(I woke up and watched him.)

I wondered if he'd heard something and was going to look out the window, but no.

He just stood there for a moment, confused.

Then turned around and made his way to the bathroom.

Since - you know - it's not right beside the bed anymore.

He laughed about it later.

Do you move your furniture around?

Well, I Didn't See That Coming

When someone rings the doorbell in the middle of the day, it's probably some kind of salesman, so I'm always wary.  But this guy was dressed too casually to be selling something.

It was one of those friend of a friend of a friend things.  They'd found a rabbit in their neighborhood and nobody had claimed it.  They already have several pets and the rabbit needed a home or it was going to the Humane Society.  The friend (of a friend, etc.) knew that we had recently lost a rabbit and were set up for two... so why not?  The boys are thrilled :D

And so Poe has come to stay.  I'm saying "he", though we haven't investigated closely.  The only catch is, Poe is quite a bit bigger than Polly.  Definitely not a Holland Lop!  and I don't know if he's full grown or going to get even bigger.  I think he'll do all right in Podger's cage... unless he keeps growing.  We'll see.

He seems gentle and appears healthy.  And look at his pretty fur - black with silver flecks!  Does anybody know what kind of rabbit he is?  The next pic is kind of blurry, but you can see his body shape.  And he can hold his ears up, so he's definitely not a lop.

He has a differently shaped head than Podger or Polly - longer and narrower.

Any ideas?

It's kind of funny.  When Podger died we talked about getting another rabbit.  I like the bunnies, and they're pretty low-maintenance pets, but... rabbits can live for several years, and as much as I love baby bunnies, the boys are growing up and going to be "launching" over the next few years.  So we were leaning toward no-new-bunny.

 But one landed on our doorstep.  And he needed a home.  And - I hope - he's already an adult.  Seems like it was meant to be.

Mothers Day Happened

Mother's Day?  Or Mothers' Day?

(a grammatical dilemma)

And a whole lot of fun.

Even when it falls right after a brief hospital stay.

In fact, it was so much fun, I took no pictures.  These are from Kerry.

Not a single picture of the cute, tropical theme decorations - because I found some fun stuff at the Dollar Tree. You might wonder what does "tropical" have to do with "Mother's/Mothers' Day" and I'll tell you - nothing.  But I'm a mom and I thought they were kind of fun, so that was that.

The cousins came and brought a RC car that knocked the boys' socks off, it went so fast.  And that kept people occupied (and apparently laughing uproariously) while we got the food ready.

And friends?  If you're intimidated about hospitality and hosting groups?

Make it easy.

POTLUCK.

I baked a whole bunch of potatoes before church, and then left them in two crockpots on low.

They do turn kind of brownish in the crockpot, (you've been warned), but taste just fine. 

Everybody brought drinks, sides, toppings, and desserts,

and that was that.

Leaving plenty of time for relaxing with Grandma, who is tickling two boys' backs at once,

and for chasing that crazy RC car up and down the street.

And talking, and talking, and talking.

Because my family is really good at that.

(Sometimes too good...)

But I love that we're all interested and involved in each other's lives.

It's always strange to me to be with people who have to have activities planned.

Activities are fun.  Nothing wrong with that.

But it's sad when people don't know how to just BE together.

Home is my favorite place to be.

Grasshopper Days

Grasshopper Days

For today, Monday, May 19, 2014

Outside my window...  clouds in the sky and clouds of dogwood blossoms out my window, a few sprinkles of rain, a cooler day.

Hearing...  the birds.  I love listening to the birds.

Pondering...  our summer calendar... already filling up.

Praying...  for everyone in the house to work diligently and efficiently, when it's so tempting to slack off this time of year.

Thankful...  Wyatt spent a fabulous weekend doing this...

You can find him if you know where to look - sort of centered under the sail on the left, standing alone, in dark shirt.  He loved it.  More pics later.

Wearing...  blue jeans, navy t-shirt (maybe need some long sleeves today), socks and my crocs (slippers).

Creating...  a plan of attack of the garden.  We'd better act quickly if there's any hope!

Going...  to pick up Wyatt from school and then be HOME.  Everybody home, getting stuff done.

Looking forward to...  next week Tate gets his new processors.  We have to remind ourselves that it will be a transition for both ears.  Things will undoubtedly sound different even in the ear that's already used to the CI with new processors - new technology.

In the kitchen...  pork chops for tonight :D

In the learning rooms...  Gunnar has already finished his language/grammar book and Tate is right on his heels.  Tate will be finishing his math and his science this week, and Gunnar finishes science next week (or this week, if we work ahead a little).  They both have a few books left to read for history, but they love reading, so that's no chore.

Around the house...  I'm not the only one who likes change.  Gunnar wants to rearrange the living room and has made a plan with my little paper models, but I told him we have to wait on that.  We're having another Naomi visit next weekend and we use the couch to block access to the big cracked window.  So no moving furniture until A.V. (After Visit).

I've made little scale drawings of most of the rooms in the house, and cut out scale models (just flat rectangles) that are our furniture so we can try things out on paper before actually moving things.  Crazy? Practical?  Does anyone else do this?  I started when we had our first house, with a TINY bedroom - 9'4" by 9'8".  I was trying to figure out how we could fit things in there.  It started out as a cozy little nursery - just perfect for a crib, changing table, little dresser, and a toy box.  But the family grew...  we swapped for awhile and used it for the master bedroom.  But then we fit three boys in there.  Bunk beds, crib, two dressers... but the changing table had to go out in the hallway.

We moved.  The end.

The Mother Load... 
*  the garden is weighing heavily on my mind - those weeds, they torment me.
*  must get Tate and Gunnar both registered for Cascade Falcon Encampment (paperwork, paperwork, and more paperwork!)
*  must cull through Wyatt's homeschool work and figure out what he's caught up on and what he's... not
*  try new bread recipe
*  go through piles of paperwork in office
*  get Wyatt over to the community college to register for next year
*  spray for deer around our yard (oh, the stink!)
*  take another load to Goodwill to finally finish my 40 bags in (more than) 40 days
*  get boys to try on shorts for summer (what do they have, what do they need)
*  get fresh fruit and veggies
*  carry on.  And on.  And on.  *sigh*

Noticing that... the clutter is breeding again *bigger sigh*

Something to remember for later...  hearing Naomi on the phone saying, "Wuv-oo Ju-wee" :D

Something fun to share...  Tate DID get chosen to work at Cascade Falcon!  I'm so proud of him!  Apparently a lot more cadets apply to work than they can choose, but (working in Tate's favor), I think more of them want positions on the command side (flight and drill sergeants), than the support side (D-Fac/dining facility, logistics, public affairs, mission staff, etc.)  Tate got his first choice - logistics.

A favorite quote for today...  Tate and Gunnar were visiting friends yesterday and got to see one of the bunnies we gave away last summer.  Remember Fluff-Daddy?

Who *ahem* turned out to be Mrs. Fluff-daddy, and has been re-named.  They came home, excited to tell me...

Mom!  We saw The Bunion!

Or is it The Bunyan?

Not sure how they spell it, but funny either way!

One of my favorite things...  FINISHING things.  Like school ;D

A Bible verse... 

Let us not become weary in doing good,

for at the proper time

we will reap a harvest

if we do not give up.  

Galatians 6:9

A few plans for the rest of the week...  plodding along through our homeschool work, a plan of attack for the garden (sunnier days coming), CAP, jobs at the Speedway, and a Naomi weekend :D

A peek into my world...  well, not exactly MY world...  My brother Dave took this photo of his office building in Bellevue (near Seattle).  Isn't it cool?!

Garden Fail

Oops.

We have a sweet neighbor that turned into a snowbird this year.  She went south after Christmas, and won't be back until June.  And hearing of our deer woes (eating everything around here) she offered us the use of her fully-fenced garden, along with lots of helpful advice.

And oh gracious, we are failing miserably.  The onions and garlic seem to be doing okay, but all the peas I planted back in March?  I think the snails have been feasting.  I found two, chewed up little vines that haven't even grown tall enough to reach the mesh (for them to climb).  Is it too late to plant more and try again?

I think she told us not to bother planting most things until June, because let's face it, May is a cruel tease.  It will feel like summer for a week or two, and everybody thinks WOO-HOO IT'S SUMMER ALREADY!  But, no.

It will rain until the Fourth of July.

But guess what happens in the mean time?

Weeds.

They're EVERYWHERE.  And huge.  Tate and I weeded for about an hour and hardly made a dent.  I think tomorrow we'll just go rototill again and start over.  Because OOPS.  I think we need to be over there pretty much every single day, and I'm not sure how that's going to work out, but we'll try.

We'll try.

Not the actual garden, which is about six times this big.  *sigh*

Because good grief.  How is it that this sweet little widow, in her seventies (I think, but maybe closer to eighty), recovering from cancer, can make her garden so beautiful and productive every year and we can't grow a row of peas?


But in better news, it's a perfect spring day.  The sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, and Wyatt is sailing.  The teacher in charge actually ASKED ME TO GO AS A CHAPERONE and I declined.  Because I know Wyatt wants his space, and that's a good thing.  So he better appreciate it, and have a fabulous time!  (Wyatt, you owe me for that.)

And in other good news, Tate and Gunnar helped me move the furniture around in my (and Kerry's) bedroom, which we've never done before.  Really, it "works" best the way we always have it (practical) but sometimes I just need a change.  Especially a free change, that you can un-change easily.  And even better - Kerry, who kind of hates change - is okay with it.


And now that I have weeded at the garden and at home, cleaned the bathroom, done five loads of laundry (one to go), prepped the next week of school, partially tidied my office, and re-made the bed with spring sheets, we are going out to dinner.  Somewhere on the cheap end of the spectrum, for sure.  But OUT.

Brain Dump. Deep Thoughts... or Not

1.  I believe I mentioned...

... yes, obviously I did.

I think I am spending a little too much time enjoying my Mother's Day/anniversary/birthday gift.  And the boys are spending a little (or a lot) too much time enjoying the computer they bought.

They explain it this way:

New Toy Privileges

Is that a thing at your house?  When you get something new, you get more time with it than you might later.  And you don't have to share it.  Much.

Maybe that sounds bad, but the boys share pretty much everything.  Except underwear and toothbrushes.  (Because that would be gross.)  So not sharing something new is fine by me.  And they usually share anyway.

But me?  I'm not sure I'm sharing my computer.  (Since they have their own brand spankin' new one.)

2.  They have discovered the Akinator.  Think of a character and he will find it.  He even figured out 

... remember Rosie?  The Jetson's maid?  Awesome.

But we stumped him with Jimmy Doolittle.  (The Doolittle Raid, WWII.)

3.  We are going on vacation to the Oregon Coast this summer, and I want to do this:

And by that I mean, "I want the boys to do this."  They'll need something to do, right?

4.  Can you find me?

And who on earth took this picture?  Professional studio?  Good grief - nearly half the photo is flooring.

And, yes, the teacher in front (in pink) is in fact wearing a strapless tube-top type thing.  To school.  Okay, yes, it's an ALL GIRLS school, but really?  (Victoria Park Ladies College, aka Saint Joachim's High School, now Ursula Frayne Catholic College.  Which is a high school.)

5.  Wyatt and Tate are both at work.  At the Speedway, as in Motocross.  It's so quiet and still this afternoon that I can hear it from the house.  Yah.  And no, we aren't really a motocross family, but it's a sweet little job working the gate for just a few hours a week.  And honestly, I was just a little nervous sending Tate off to work, just a week after his surgery.  (Which I don't mean to keep mentioning, but it's on my mind.)  The thing is, after the first surgery he bounced back really fast - like this time.  But every once in awhile (like 4 or 5 times over the next year) he would feel nauseous - like he had motion sickness.  He would lie down for awhile, and in 20 minutes or so he would be fine.  And so I kind of wonder if that will "hit" again, and when.  Because it wasn't really a big deal, except that Tate is kind of (okay, REALLY) stubborn.  And I worry that if he felt dizzy on the job, he'd be too embarrassed to tell someone.  And they would totally understand if he needed to sit down or lie down.  They're good people.


6.  And then I tell myself to QUIT WORRYING already.  But I still do.


7.  Gunnar wants to go to Encampment this summer.  And oh boy, that's something I'm working really hard not to worry about.  Because, you know, he's the youngest and he's not as much of a go-getter as his brothers.  How will he handle being awakened at 5:30 for morning PT, being yelled at constantly for two or three days (until all the drill sergeants lose their voices - ha ha), because no matter what you do you can't do it right, the heat is insane (for us northerners), everywhere you go you RUN, and the whole no privacy thing.  Stronger boys have cracked, and called their parents begging to be picked up.  I'm really hoping Tate gets some kind of job down there where Gunnar will see him once in awhile.  They deliberately separate siblings, but if he can even just SEE him.  *sigh*


8.  Hurray for leftovers.  Thank you, Grandma Grasshopper, we are  having Taco Salad tonight with the leftover taco meat from Mother's Day baked potatoes.

What are you having for dinner?

How I Overcame Stage Fright, by Naomi