This week I got my first taste of life as a soccer mom. Alex was enrolled in "All Sports Camp" through the community center,
which ran every day for an hour at the park closest to our house. He LOVED it. And even though it did seem to eat up a big fat chunk of my day, I didn't mind it so much. It gave Genoa and I some one-on-one time and forced me to take her to the park every day, which is her favorite place on earth.
Did I mention that Alex loved it? They did a different sport every day: soccer, t-ball, flag football, field hockey, these weird butt-scooters, but Alex's favorite day, by far, was Friday, when they filled up several big buckets with water and passed out sponges for the kids to soak and then throw at the counselors. It was basically as if you'd given the child a pony.
Alex is also on his very first T-Ball team, complete with games and practices and snack mothers and everything. So far it's pretty awesome, the best part being that none of the kids is even six yet and none of them have ANY CLUE how to play baseball. Someone hits the ball and then either all the kids stand there looking at the sky or they all rush the ball at the same time. I'm not a fan of sports and can't envision myself being an enthusiastic soccer mom, but man, laughing at my kid's expense? PRICELESS.
You'd think Genoa would be a pain in the butt during practices and games, but so far, she's been great. There's this adorable little toddler named Zack for her chase after, so that totally helps.
So that's basically going to be our summer. Alex has a few more camps. We'll have T-ball twice a week. But the best news is that in a few weeks, we're going to California to stay with my parents while my brother visits from China with his family! I'll get to hang out with these guys (and Elita too)!
I forgot to mention that the doggy downers worked WONDERFULLY well on The Ren. I gave him the first one on the third of July, right after we heard the first explosion. It took less than an hour to kick in and from that point on, he was chilaxin' and relaxin'. The best part was that at some point he picked up his ball (always a blue rubber racquetball) and kept it in his mouth all night long. He couldn't walk straight and he looked stoned out of his gourd, but he seemed oblivious to the fireworks and that was all that mattered.
The bad news is that we've woken up to crap on the carpet every day since. At first I thought it was because he was nervous and didn't want to go outside to use his regular facilities. But I was wrong. He's pissed off about something! This is typical Harry behavior. Have I ever told the story about how when we first got Harry, he would crap and piss in Dave's shoes every night? GOOD TIMES. This is what he does to let us know he NOT HAPPY WITH THE STATE OF THE UNION. Fortunately, we're smarter than him and he'll be spending the rest of the day in the garage as punishment. It usually works.
Another downer is that I'm not going to Blogher. I didn't think I really WANTED to go, so I didn't even bother to see what Dave thought about it, but now I regret it. I wish I was going!
As the neighborhood BBQ came to a close, I started to notice that putting one foot in front of another was getting difficult. My feet didn't hurt that bad, but I'd had little sleep for three days and had been up since 6AM that morning without ONCE sitting down. I felt slow and by 1:30, I thought I was going to pass out. I walked the kids home and put Alex down for his nap, during which time I was able to lay prone for approximately 12 minutes. It was the only rest I would get for the rest of the day. Surprisingly? It didn't even bother me! My second wind turned into a third wind which turned into a 42nd wind. (I didn't end up really crashing until Sunday). It was just funny because I thought I'd never even make the walk home from the parade and I ended up doing just fine.
Lynne, her daughter Erica, Genoa and I all went to Fred Meyer to buy stuff for potato salad. I also decided to make another one of those breakfast casseroles since the double recipe, the one that required two pounds of sausage, two bags of hashbrowns and two dozen eggs, was already gone and everyone would wake up just as hungry the next day. Guess how many eggs I bought over the course of the two days we had company? EIGHT DOZEN EGGS. ALL GONE.
Anyway, afterwards we came home and started boiling potatoes. We were expecting Lynne's mom's friend Brandy at 4:00 and I would've taken pictures of the potato salad making process, but we got off to a late start and had to keep running the kids across the street to put things in Carol's new fridge to cool off. My fridge was chock full with no room for so much as a slice of cheese, much less a giant bowl of potatoes. Anyway, Lynne made her famous potato salad, a recipe much adored by my husband. Here's the weird thing: I never thought I liked potato salad, mainly because every recipe I've ever seen calls for green onions and I can't stand green onions. They give me the shivers. But having watched Lynne make hers the last time she was here, I realized that I could make a few modifications to her recipe and by doing so, I learned that I LOVE potato salad.
So Lynne made her pretty potato salad with green onions and bacon and black olives. And I made mine, which is basically just glorified egg salad. Hers looks SO MUCH BETTER than mine and it disappeared faster, during which time my husband got that stupid Dueling Banjos tune stuck in our heads all day.
Nothing like a little Deliverance to make your 4th of July special!
Anyway, we had a great time cooking and the kids were all behaving well. Genoa eventually fell asleep right on Erica's chest. Then Brandy and Wayne came and we served dinner and I eventually got to sit down at the table and stuff my face full of Dave's flank steak and potato salad and beans and salad and bread and COCKTAILS. I basically didn't get up again until it was time for fireworks. We were having such a great time at the table that my face hurt from laughing.
The fireworks were even more spectacular the second night, but the kids and the moms were a little less enthusiastic. Instead of setting everything up and then blowing it all of in one big show, the dudes would just pick something out of a box and blow it up. It made for an incredibly SLOW fireworks display and by around 11:30, the kids were totally done. Jack and little Erica had fallen asleep in spite of the noise and Genoa was miserable to even have her eyes open. Eventually we went in and put the kids to bed and promptly crashed out to the sound of explosions going off in the front yard.
The next morning was another huge breakfast followed by a relaxing day. The guys all went to the gun range and the kids watched movies. In the afternoon, we took the little ones to the OMSI to run off some steam and see the dinosaur exhibit. After everyone was tucked in and settled, we took the big kids to the movies while Carol babysat the youngins. We saw Hancock at Cinetopia and it was great. (I got to sit down for two whole hours!) I also really enjoyed the movie and Lynne totally NAILED the plot twist before it even happened.
Lynne and John are leaving this morning to finish their drive back to California. We'll all be sad to see them go!
I've been debating whether or not to do a big fat recap post of our 4th of July festivities, but we'll just have to see how it goes. [ASIDE: Genoa is sitting on the naughty spot right now and since I won't come let her off when she calls out for Mommy, she's yelling, "AMANDA!" over and over again. She's been calling me by my first name constantly since our company arrived.]
On Thursday, I woke up to a giant spray of dog crap all over my rug. Harry's nerves were to blame (he was too scared to go outside before bed) and it left me with not one, but FOUR squares of FLOR carpet soaked with nastiness. And can I say for the record that FLOR rugs are worth their weight in gold? Because instead of calling an emergency carpet cleaner out to our house before all our company got here, I simply picked up the FLOR tiles, sprayed them with Method all-purpose cleaner and used the pressure nozzle on our garden hose to clean them off. I left them in the sun to dry. It was LIKE MAGIC.
Anyway, I rushed the kids off to Fred Meyer with me for some last minute shopping then our neighborhood friends came over to decorate our bikes for the parade. Then all of our company was mercifully late in getting here, so I was able to pick up Harry's doggy downers before laying down with Genoa for a half an hour, which was all I needed to recover from my few days of manic household preparation.
Then the first set of cousins got here and the kids were thrilled. I gave them a bath and then let them loose in the backyard with a big pile of legos. Meanwhile, Genoa and her cousin Erica pushed their dog Rosie all around the house in Genoa's buggy. Later Dave's brother arrived with the cavalry and we had a giant lasagna dinner. It was good, but I'll never make it without spicy sausage again. (No one asked for the recipe!) After dinner, we all hung out and relaxed in the backyard waiting for it to get dark.
That night, Cousin John impressed us all with his insane pyromaniac skills by setting of a bazillion fireworks in the front yard. Sadly, even before it all got started, we had a small tragedy and our second burn in as many days. John gave his six-year-old daughter the punk to hold onto while he set up the fireworks in the street. Alex and Erica were so excited that before long, I walked off the front porch to find my son screaming hysterically and running around in pain. I rushed him into the house and to see the burn and get cold water on it. His brush with the punk was totally an accident, but one that obviously could've been prevented if either Dave or I had done what we both thought was right and not let John give his daughter the burning hot poker in the first place. Alex will be fine, but we'll be doing everything we can to prevent his face from scarring. In any event, he recovered quickly and it made no visible dent in his overwhelming enthusiasm for the 4th of July.
The next day was the ACTUAL fourth of July and we started the day off with a bang by having a ginourmously huge breakfast. I made two casseroles, one sausage and egg and one French toast and they were both big hits. Next chance I get, I promise to share the recipes. After that I rushed around getting everyone set for the neighborhood parade that I had helped organize. The kids LOVED it and I was doubly happy to live in such a family-friendly place. (Click the photo above to see the full set of neighborhood parade and BBQ pictures).
More coming soon! I have to go feed my family. AGAIN.
It's simply the act of using a pumice stone to scrub the mineral deposits out of a toilet. It's literally the ONLY way I can get the rim around the toilet to disappear. And I have to say? It's about the most satisfying job in the house.
Well, I finished everything on my list yesterday! Then I also made 3 lasagnas, went to the liquor store and washed all the floors in the downstairs. My house is officially clean. So clean, in fact, that I've locked the children out of their very own bedrooms. They are guest rooms until further notice.
I also learned yesterday afternoon that we're expecting three more people. Dave's cousin John and his two kids are coming for the festivities as well! Which means I'm cooking for 14 now. It also means Alex and Genoa will get to see their cousins again, cousins I was sure we'd almost never see now that we live out of California.
The good news is that my house is clean and I got everything ready early. The bad news is that I did. not. sleep. AT. ALL. last night. Since I'd already made up all the beds, my plan was to sleep on an air mattress with Genoa while Alex slept with Dave. I went to bed at around midnight and by 1:30, I was sleeping on the floor. The air had gone out of the mattress! I tossed and turned, too tired to do anything about it, until almost three when I realized I needed to actually SLEEP, not just lay there and sweat. So I took all the covers off our air mattress and threw them on top of the perfectly made (and steamed!) bed in Genoa's room, where I attempted to fall asleep.
CUE MOTHER NATURE.
By the time I was just nodding off, FINALLY, for the night, a huge rainstorm started. Lightning had been flashing all night (while I lay there in the dark I could see it) and the thunder was so constant, it became background noise. Anyway, when the rain started in that torrential downpour mode, Dave and I each bolted from our respective beds to close the windows upstairs.
When I was finally getting back to sleep for the eleventeenth time, the stupid fan started squeaking and I couldn't fall asleep until I stomped in and switched fans with Dave, since he'd been using the squeaky fan for weeks without it bothering him.
So yeah. THREE HOURS OF SLEEP! Fortunately, I'll be too busy today to even notice I'm tired.
Loaded the dishwasher and hand-washed a bunch of pots & pans I've been putting off.
Scrubbed my kitchen cabinets & drawers, all 24 of them, of all that nasty kid crust and dripped coffee (and orange marker and some kind of mud that I couldn't figure out).
Cleaned the grill on the fridge and the kitchen baseboards and the A/C register next to the pantry.
Cleaned the banister, every single rail of it.
Watched Emma & Haley for a few hours so their mom could start her new job. (Although really it was like I had two babysitters for three hours, which was awesome!)
Made six hot dogs for four kids. With strawberries!
Decorated the house for the 4th of July (with great help from Haley and Emma!)
Hosted the Geek Squad dude. Again. Who (mis)informed us that the DVD player was bad and the fact that it won't play a DVD for more than 30 seconds without losing its signal was because it needed to be replaced.
Replaced our front door knobs/handle/deadbolt assembly. No more brass!
Spray painted a few pieces of the old assembly that I still wanted to use.
Took the kids to the hardware store for pumice stones, tomato cages and copies of keys for the new lock.
Came home to find Dave locked out of his own house! (and complaining that he didn't like how I'd installed the lock. More on that when I take pictures.)
Set up four tomato cages in my garden and re-planted the watermelon and pumpkin plants with new ones I bought at the hardware store (the ones I planted from seeds hadn't been doing well).
Left Dave to make dinner while I returned our DVD player to Best Buy.
Came home and installed the new DVD player only to find I couldn't get it to work properly either, even though it was a different brand.
Ate dinner (it was that TJ's garlic chicken thing that all you do is heat up and serve) in approximately 90 seconds.
Went upstairs to purge toys and clean the kids' bedrooms. Alex's room was DESTROYED. Literally every toy he owned (yes, past tense because he no longer owns quite so many) was on the floor and it took me over an hour to get it all sorted and put away. I dusted as I went.
In Genoa's room, I realized she was out of room for all the toys she got for her birthday (I hadn't seen the floor since before her party!). I ended up taking all her blankets (around 15 of them!) and folded them on hangers in the closet to make more room on her shelves.
Went back to Best Buy to return the DVD player and get another one.
Ran to Kohl's while I was out to find some vinyl tablecloths for the 4th.
Installed the new DVD player only to find it didn't work either!
Made an angry phone call to the manager of our local Best Buy. Remind me again why I paid $200 for a Geek Squad installation and yet my TV doesn't play DVD's yet?
Made a grocery list and headed to Fred Meyer. At 10:00 PM.
Came home, put away groceries and collapsed.
Here's my list for today: MAGIC 2PM PROGRESS UPDATE!
Call the vet and get an Rx for Harry. (I'll be picking it up on the way to T-ball)
Call my friend Callie to cancel park play date.
Help Carol get ready for her company (Lynne's parents will be staying at her house). (Carol decided she'd rather spend her day picking paint colors! Gah!)
Finish washing the sheets and make the beds for our company. (In progress! One bed is made, but when I pulled the clean sheets out of the closet for the other bed, they smelled musty so I'm rewashing them.)
Vacuum upstairs.
Clean the guest bathroom & pumice the toilet.
Vacuum the stairs.
Vacuum the downstairs.
Wash our throw rugs.
Dust the TV and family room.
Wipe the crust off the leather couches.
Fold and put away four loads of laundry.
Clean the downstairs bathroom.
Go to Costco for flank steak.
Go to Wal-Mart for a flag and some Soy Vay.
Take Alex to T-ball practice. (at 5PM)
I also already:
Reinstalled our flag pole because I couldn't find any poles small enough for the existing bracket.
Also went to Target because Wal-Mart didn't have the plain comforter I needed.
Took the kids to Sonic for lunch (to make up for using the TV as a babysitter all day).
Cut up a bunch of cauliflower to serve with the BBQ on the 4th.
Accidentally dropped the clothes steamer while steaming pillow cases and burned my poor baby girl on the arm! She's fine but MAN what a stupid horrible accident!! I've actually done it to myself before, so I know exactly how she feels.
