Is it 11:00 am yet?

I've been asking myself that question every ten minutes since 4:00 pm yesterday afternoon when I dropped Will off for a birthday-slumber party. (ugh. it's only 8:20 am)

When Will came home with the invitation last week, he was happy as a clam. He couldn't WAIT to attend his classmate's bowling and birthday party. Since I don't know a lot of families yet outside of sports, I started quizzing Will about the birthday boy. Both Will and Charlie attested that he was a nice boy. *good* After examining the class picture, I verified he appeared clean with combed hair. *good* I called and spoke to his mother on the phone - it went well. *good*, and after I agreed he could go, I also found out his mom volunteers in Will's classroom. *good*. So, I wasn't thinking too much about it until yesterday when I was following my GPS trying to find their house. We headed a few miles out of town where the houses started getting farther and farther apart - mainly a farming area. No biggie. Of course, none of the homesteads had house numbers on them, so as my GPS target came and went with no house in sight, I started to get a little worried. I kept creeping along, and as the nearest house started to come into view, DREAD filled my whole body. At first glance, I saw something like this:


Now, I'm exaggerating a little bit here, but the house to my left - the only house around my 'target' was clearly in disrepair. The siding was falling off, it desperately needed painting, Storm windows were missing, it had rusty chain link fences all over... it was bad. BAD. I kept driving... "That cannot be the house, that cannot be the house", I chanted to myself as I turned around to go by again.

On my second pass... I saw this:

Wonderful. There were like 20 cats perched all over the front of this place. Don't get me wrong, I like cats, but this was ridiculous. They were EVERYWHERE! omg omg omg omg. I pulled into the next driveway (a different house) and sat trying to collect my thoughts. I double checked my GPS, the party invitation, and surrounding area. It had to be it. Since I wasn't pulling into that place if I didn't have to, the only thing left to do was to call the mom - and hopefully she'd laugh at my bad direction following, and reroute me to a cute little house with a picket fence.

Nope.

The conversation went something like this:

ME: "Hi there, I think I'm lost..."
HER: "Are you driving a black van?"
ME: (omg omg omg omg) "Do you have a lot of cats outside?"
HER: "What?"
ME: "Do you have lots of cats outside?"
HER: (laughing) "Ohh hahaha I don't know - probably. It's the white house to your left, blue roof, red truck outside"

OMG.

I turned the van around and started heading towards catland. As I crept closer, I got the full view of the property, and this time... I saw THIS:


OMG! Seriously, what was I going to do???

I couldn't just keep driving - I was just talking to her on the phone! Aggggghhhh!

I pulled in the curvy driveway, wondering how the heck I was going to get back out of the driveway since both sides were barricaded with JUNK. I put the van in park and just sat there. Where's that magic wand when you need it? Think think think! As I started to re-quiz Will in the van (and continued to just sit there), two kids ran out of the house making a beeline for us. Think think think! And before I had time to say Jack Robinson, they'd opened our van doors from the outside (drat!), and started harping for Will to get out.

Will got out, and I trudged behind him carting the present. We approached the side door and walked through a porch area which was heaped top to bottom with junk on both sides. omg. And as we stepped into the kitchen, my heart sank as I saw the inside was no better than the out. Clutter EVERYWHERE. Heaps of clutter. I did a quick scan of my surroundings as I continued to think think think! I could see the sub-floor in parts of the kitchen where the old linoleum was coming off. There were two giant slobbering dogs running around, and one licked me. Blech! I communicated my dislike of licking dogs to the mom and tried to keep a pleasant smile plastered on my face. It was tough. I stalled. I nervously chatted about their bowling plans and reiterated that my cell phone number was in his bag if he needed me (PLEASE NEED ME WILL). She nodded and chatted and happily shoo'd me out the door.

AAAGGGGHHHHHH!

I got back in the van with a pounding heart. Questions flooded my head. Why didn't I do more research before agreeing he could go? They can still be a nice family, right? He'll be okay, right? Do I make up some weird excuse and go back and get him? Will he have fleas when he comes home?

Even though I called and spoke with Will last night while he was bowling, (and he sounded like he was having a great time) I didn't get the greatest sleep last night.

Is it 11:00 am yet?

Nothing but Net! (well...actually rim, but who's counting!)

Yesterday marked the close of Will's basketball season. As you know, I've been doing my fair share of complaining about running kids here and there for practices, so I can't say I was too devastated to wave my final goodbyes to the YMCA gym. (Hasta la vista, baby!)

However, as I sit here and review the past few months in my head, I can't help but be pretty proud of Will and his team. They went from a group of mostly unsure kids to a team of passers, dribblers, shooters, screeners and hustlers! Woot! Even Will got the ball a few times yesterday, and he actually took a shot! (he almost made it too!) And while we still have a lot to learn, hats off to the BIG improvements our team made!

Cereal Knock Out!

In researching DIY games to play for an upcoming PTO event, I put the kids to 'work' trying a few of them out. This game was a BIG hit with all three kids!

Charlie and Will really liked trying to stack all the weird shaped boxes

Adding the face into the mix was an added bonus!

All of them loved knocking them down!

Even Jake put his 'game face' on!!!

Would it, could it, should it?

I couldn't sleep last night for two reasons.

1. Our dog (*grumble*)
2. The last article I read in our local paper.

I knew that budget cuts were hitting our school, and every other school in Iowa, since the lovely governor made a 10% cut across the board. I'm sure that looks all great on his pretty little budget paper, but when the particulars are printed in black and white for the paper - it looks just about as horrible as you can get!

Cutting a million dollars from an annual budget - yes that's right! a MILLION! - causes these wonderful ideas to be put on the table for implementation:

- make one of the principals a part time position (what?!)
- cut 8 teachers, resulting in larger class sizes (24 kids isn't large enough already?!)
- eliminate one bus route, causing even LONGER bus rides (we all know how I feel about that!)
- eliminate the ENTIRE elementary art program (I am sick about it!!!)
- eliminate 7th grade athletics
- cut one of the elementary reading coaches

Since art is at the top of my kid's FAVORITE things to do (and Will wants to be an artist as an adult), I am especially distraught over that cut. They already only have it once every 6 days, which is less than it was at his old school. So it got me to thinking... why can't art be a class kids take outside of school, similar to dance? Would parents pay for it? Could I start a kid's art studio? Would it make it? Etc, etc etc. Last year, I looked for such a summer class for our kids when we lived in Cedar Rapids through the community college. It was nothing like what I wanted. I wanted REAL instruction, like perspective, depth, technique, etc -- not a 'sit here and draw whatever you want while I babysit you' class. It was a total waste of time.

So, I'm mulling all this over in my head. Would such a place make it?

Making Friends

I just did the math in my head, and I figure we've been in our new house for about seven-ish months. Wow, it doesn't seem like that long. It has to be true though, because just yesterday I pulled out the ol' paint fan to flip through the 950 thousand or so colors to select something for our hall bath, kids bath and kid's bedrooms. It's pretty much like clockwork. Every time I've gotten the inkling to paint, it takes me about six months to actually get after it. So here we are.

I got to thinking about paint Thursday evening while visiting with another mom at basketball practice. I had every intention of dropping Will off and heading home for the hour and a half, but decided instead to seize the opportunity to make a friend with the only other mom sitting and waiting. I had met her before, but I got the chance to talk to her that night at length and just visit. It was fun! I've really been making an effort to meet and talk with other parents every chance I get. Ben gets annoyed with my questioning him every time he comes home from a kid's practice, "Did you talk to any parents?" His answer is usually "no". Hmph. I also question our kids a lot - trying to figure out who their friends are so we can plan some play dates or something. I feel a little like the friend nazi! :-)

So today, I'm feeling pretty good about stuff. Will's having a friend over after basketball this morning, and Charlie's going to a friend's after baseball this afternoon! Is it no coincidence that I've introduced myself and chatted with both kids' parents at practices? I think not! It's worrrrking!

Happy Birthday to Me

Yesterday I turned another year older. THIRTY FIVE! Yikes. That's big! I made a point of reminding Ben what a "big" birthday this was, and when he took the kids shopping for three hours on my behalf, I have to admit - I had some expectations.

Of course the kids were all excited about my birthday finally arriving - they'd been crossing out the days on their calendar every night (how cute!). So when they came marching out with something behind their back yesterday morning with Dad in tow, I was genuinely curious as to what it might be. *Drumroll* With an uncertain look on his face, Will handed over an unwrapped electric toothbrush. Huh? I looked at Ben for clarification. "It's a gag" he said. Will chimed in, "Mom, I said it as a joke but then Dad said we should really get it". I of course acted thrilled with the toothbrush and thanked the kids for the gift and cards while sending mental darts at Ben... HILARIOUS.

I had learned earlier in the week that the kids had a grandiose plan of taking me out to dinner and buying me a cake, but it quickly became clear yesterday that their plan had not been formalized. I reassured the kids that we'd either buy or make a cake, and that maybe we could go out for lunch since school had been canceled. That sounded good to them. After cleaning up our messy playroom and discussing ideas on how to better utilize the space, we ended up going out for lunch at a new restaurant I suggested. The food was really good, and the whole experience actually turned out to be fun (sometimes with three kids, dinner out can be the opposite of fun). With a moderately improved mood, we then headed to the store in search of items to retro-fit our playroom into a play/exercise room... and a cake.

On the way home, Charlie listed off all the reasons why he loves me - so sweet. And when we got home, Will presented me with a birthday picture he'd been working on all week - awwwww. Ben brought the treadmill in and put together a stand for the new TV, Will and Jake inflated my exercise ball and Charlie completed a segment from my new workout video - 10 Minute Butt & Legs. After that, we all headed upstairs for cake, and everyone sang their hearts out while we watched the candles burn and spark. We finished off the day by getting in our PJ's and watching an episode of Spongebob on our new little TV in the dark.

ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL.

Buckle Up!

Lately, I'm starting to feel the effects of becoming a non-stop shuttle for my kids. I've heard other parents complain about all the running they do to get their kids here and there, but without having done much myself, I can't say I've had much sympathy. My answer was simple: Don't let them go out for so much crap!

WELL (*throat clearing*), I now find myself eating my own words. I am getting glimpses of my future with two boys in back to back grades-- playing sports, and it's making me cringe! Not only does living in the country add time to all my trips, but practices and games are scattered between two towns, making coordination a little difficult. Throw piano lessons in there and it makes it complete. I often find myself asking, "When are we supposed to eat dinner?!"

And as far as saying "NO". Yeah. Am I really going to look Charlie in his sad little face and tell him he can't go out for baseball (*because they're nuts and started practicing in FEBRUARY*) because he's currently going out for basketball? It's not his fault the seasons are overlapping at this age. Obviously whoever is coordinating baseball doesn't have a kid in basketball right now! But really, it won't matter in the end. As soon as basketball finishes up, baseball with increase in practices and games... so it's a wash. I just need to just suck it up - and accept the fact that I just added one more hat to my current array... a taxi driver's hat.

Maybe those beavers ain't so bad after all

I think I might have changed my mind about our beavers. I might actually have to take back all the nasty things I've said about them. I said MIGHT. I still have yet to see what our beaver pond (aka beaver mess) will look like this Spring, so I can't fully commit quite yet to loving beavers.

My reason for this sudden change of heart came about after last weekend - the older kids and Ben headed outside for some fresh air and ATV riding. Will was riding his dirtbike and Charlie and Ben were on the 4-wheeler. I could hear them riding all around and yelling and laughing while I hung out cleaning inside while Jacob napped. On one of my trips in to my bathroom to put away towels, I caught a glimpse out the window of the 4-wheeler doing donuts like crazy out on the FROZEN beaver pond. Huh? The kids were hooting and hollering as Ben used his 'zamboni' to smooth out the ice and clear the snow so the kids could play. Huh.

When Jacob woke up, we headed out to see what was going on. WOW. I could not believe how cool this little 'skating rink' was. The kids were taking turns running and sliding on the ice - having a total blast. Check it out:

Now if only we had some ice skates!!