Author: eaumaison (Page 28 of 207)

I feel like my days are nonstop since…early May?  Today I packed it full: yoga class in the AM, then a quick change before selling my car.  Sniff!  Sad to see my Versa go, but after driving my van for a week the Versa seemed so small cramped!  I felt like Alice, suddenly too large for her house.  I went down to Carmax and they offered me a fair trade, and got it all done in an hour’s time.  I had just enough time to scarf down lunch before taking the kids to the library for a special show.

As part of their Summer Reading events, we saw Magic Rob!  I registered the kids a while ago, figuring magic was a slam dunk way to spend Friday afternoon in June.  Jack was excited by Sam dug in his heels.  He loosened up when I allowed him to bring some blocks in a fanny pack “for my entertainment.”  After less than two minutes Sam had forgotten his blocks.  He even shot up his hand to volunteer (along with most every other kid, neither of my boys got a turn to help).  I did not expect the magician to be a version of Chris Farley for kids, but the kids were rolling on the floor with laughter.  After the show, during the meet-and-greet with Presto the bunny, I embarrassed Jack by telling Rob that Jack is an aspiring magician too.   Rob was genuinely excited to hear about that and pulled Jack aside to ask him about his tricks and to give him a trick coloring book to take home.  Jack was glowing with pride.  Pictures and video of the show are below.

The Golden library where we saw the show is right along Clear Creek, so the boys waded a little bit.  They were shocked how cold the water was.  It’s snow-melt, guys!

Home in the afternoon gave me a chance to sit down and do my billing work for a while, plying the kids with backyard hammock-time and popsicles.  Then Ben and I blitzed through the house cleaning.  A brief but intense summer storm had me running to shut windows, and we lost power for a few seconds.  After the storm lifted I went to the bank to deposit my car check and get McDonald’s for the boys.  Ben and I enjoyed Indian take-out with his friends.  We hosted Gloomhaven at our house tonight.  Between serving and cleaning up the kids, helping set up their movie, and baths later in the night, I had a few moments to myself to eat samosas and watch some youtube.  I’m ready for a slower weekend tomorrow!  Just a birthday party at lunch and an Alamo movie with the fam on the schedule.

My folks invited me to come to New York with them last weekend.  Ben offered to keep the kids at home, and the Masons came over to help out with them.  It felt so strange not to have little kids to manage and extra items in my luggage to care for them.

It was a fantastic trip!  Tons of great shopping and experiences.  We saw Tootsie and Hadestown on Broadway.  We saw the Camp costume exhibit at the Met and I got some extra time in the European halls (I’m usually dead-tired by the time I get up there, so I went straight there this time.)  We ate a ton of great food – so many delicious pastries!  We visited two unique yarn shops and I had to borrow an extra bag to get all my yarn home.  There were a few street festivals too.  Here’s some pictures from the trip:

Sometimes I feel like everything is changing.  In the last month:

• We became a two-cat household
• I started yoga, and make it to those classes more often than zumba
• My last child finished Kindergarten
• My oldest is officially a “tween” (according to the library’s summer reading program)
• We got a new car
• We got new callings at church (Ben is leaving primary after 6 years in this ward, I’m leaving YW after 3 years, we will both be Youth Sunday School teachers)

All good stuff!  I’m not complaining!  But I think it justifies how completely exhausted I have felt recently.

Despite the hectic weeks with new cats, school ending, and a birthday party to host, we have been shopping for a new car.  My little Nissan finally needed some significant work (new struts), giving me just cause to replace it.  We’ve been wanting a minivan for years.  Ben and I did deep research into SUVs, crossovers, and all the available minivans on the market.  Then we had to locate a car on the market that best matched the features we wanted.  After hours of reading, looking, driving, and haggling, we took home the perfect new car!

A Chrysler Pacifica Touring Plus.  It has a heated steering wheel for me and a DVD player for the kids.  It has power doors and a back-up camera – these are pretty standard nowadays but a total luxury for me!  We wanted cloth seats and the easy to stow flat bucket seats in the back.  I love being in a higher position on the road and having SO MUCH ROOM.  Sam is finally able to buckle himself into his booster seat because in my old car it was too cramped and squashy for him to reach.

I quickly added some minivan essentials: trash bag suspended from the front arm rests, and a tennis ball to help park in the garage.  Some things can’t be improved upon with technology 😉

Ben took a picture of my old car side by side as we were leaving.  They low-balled a trade-in offer, so we’re going to figure out selling it after life calms down a little more.

I looked back in my blog to the last time I got a new car.  Might as well update the timeline:

Saturday we celebrated Jack’s 9th birthday by playing mini-golf with friends!  This was the first time we held the party away from the house, with a smaller group of friends.  It was a total success!  Adventure Golf gave us a wonderful experience.

I made the cake on Friday. Jack requested a chocolate cat-cake that looks like Freddy.  The ears are made of Kit-Kat bars.

Dylan, Grady, Kingston, Jack, and Addie.  Ruby joined us later in the clubhouse after her soccer game.

Ben took Sam and his friend, Elias, on another course at their own pace.  They started tearing through the tees as soon as we started, so we decided everyone would be happier split up for a while.  

There’s a volcano that erupts every 10 minutes.  A few of us have never seen it, so the group decided to wait for eruption.  They patiently waited 8 minutes for the big show.  It was much bigger than I expected!

Jack was obviously impressed too.

After an hour of golf, we got to our reserved clubhouse.  It had cable TV, a popcorn machine, a soda machine (UNLIMITED JUICE -Buster Bluth), and balloons all set up.  

Our host brought pizza and utensils.  I loved how hands-off the party was for me!

We had the clubhouse for 90 minutes, so I suggested we bring Jack’s Beyblades for a grand tournament.  Most of them hadn’t played before and it was a fun diversion.

Cake time, and then presents and goodie bags were passed around.  For the last half hour the kids took ice cream vouchers to concessions for a soft-serve treat, then played in the Mine Maze until parents arrived.  No tears – even from Jack!  It was a slam dunk party.  (Especially with all the snow and rain this May, right up until Thursday we were wearing heavy coats!  But Friday and Saturday were sunny and warm, just perfect).

Sam and Jack wanted to bring balloons home for the kitties.  Freddy had a good time.

Not so washable.

And feeling a lot less coy after a brisk bath scrub.

The second to last day of school, I’m sitting in the parking lot, waiting to pick up the boys, when I get this message from Sam’s Kindergarten teacher:

“Your son may have had a little too much fun this afternoon! You’ll see soon! Sorry…”

Hoo-boy, can’t wait, I replied.

She was very apologetic and swears she would have stopped him, but he was very fast. I don’t doubt it. Ah well. Here’s hoping those markers are washable! What a way to end the school year.

oh my gosh…

You guys…

It’s happening!!!

My hard work has paid off!! In two weeks they have gone from hissing constantly to cuddle neighbors. I predict by next winter they will be snuggle buddies!

Jack’s third grade class has been studying native Americans for their last social studies unit. So today we went to Tocabe to try some authentic fry bread and wojapi sauce. Delicious!

The end of the school year means lots of projects being shared and brought home, and lots of events to attend. Thursday was a triple whammy (plus piano lesson!). I went to the community fair and the student-led conferences.

Bounce houses at the fair:

The kids loved showing off their work to me.

They boys earn many points during the year for good behavior and are trying to spend them all. Jack’s favorite prize is to have lunch with the teacher. Sam always chooses to bring a stuffy to school for the day. I didn’t even know there were other choices until I saw this poster in his classroom:

I think these choices are hilarious! A pen for a day – wow!

That same day we went to the scouts year end picnic, where Jack officially advanced to Webelos. They had a hot dog dinner, then skits and s’mores.