Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Summer Shoes
I just love colorful summer shoes. I didn't realize that I had so many.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Fish Stick Friday
Ok, so I know it's Tuesday, but that's how we roll around here sometimes. Bear with me and I'll explain the title in a minute.
Have you ever gotten into the habit of eating the same thing for the same occasion? We've gotten into an American Idol food jag. And we've kind of enjoyed it.
Last year it was grilled cheese sandwiches. Not just any old grilled cheese, I'll have you know, we ate the best darn grilled cheese sandwiches ever. You take good bread, add cheese (I like mozzarella, but the rest of the family is more into cheddar), tomatoes and onions and a sprinkle of Italian seasoning. Then you place it carefully on a George Foreman grill, maybe shred a little more cheese on top to add a nice effect, and there you have it. If any cheese oozes out, you need to make sure it gets nice and crispy and black. Or, wrap it around the bread until it gets dark and crispy. Yum! (The George Foreman does really good spinach quesadillas too.)
This year we ended up eating fish sticks during one of the first days of American Idol. And they tasted pretty darn good. They are Van de Kamp's Crunchy Fish Sticks in the blue box. So the kids asked for them the next week. And the next week. And the next. (You get the idea.) They were on a really good sale, so I stocked up on them and bought just enough boxes to get us through the American Idol finale next week. I'd buy more but they are kind of expensive and I think they make me break out.
Now, I'm not really a big fan of fish sticks but these are really good fish sticks. The are even good enough to eat with nothing else on them. And they really are crunchy. We actually fight over who gets the last fish stick. They are NOTHING like the fish sticks from my childhood.
At my elementary school in Nebraska, Alcott Elementary, we had fish sticks every (can you guess which day?) Friday. (You got it right, didn't you?) Apparently we had a large number of Catholic students in the area and it was a religious thing to eat fish on Friday, I guess. I should ask the Catholic family that lives next door if that is the case.
Now these were nasty, soggy, rotten, fishy tasting fish sticks. The only thing that saved fish stick Friday for me as a kid was the chocolate milk they served us as kind of a consolation prize. I still always drink chocolate milk when I eat fish sticks.
It just wouldn't seem right without it.
On an even more disgusting note, the cat threw up on my car today.
I saw a little of it on the hood and upon further inspection I found out that she had originally thrown up on the windshield and then it slid down almost under the top of the hood. That was not a fun thing to clean up, but I figured it would be better to take care of it before it got baked on once the engine warmed up.
I had to hurry because I was on my way to get Austin from preschool and I always time everything down to the minute. I leave at just the right time so I'm there in time to get a parking spot but not too early so I don't have to sit and wait too long.
I need to quit being like that because it gets stressful when something happens that slows me down for a minute. Even something like a neighbor stopping to talk to me or a kid needing to use the bathroom at the last minute will throw me over the edge because it will make me only four minutes early instead of my usual five or six minutes. One of my few OCD tendencies that I'm trying to overcome.
Why is it that these days they call it OCD and in earlier generations they called it "being responsible"?
Have you ever gotten into the habit of eating the same thing for the same occasion? We've gotten into an American Idol food jag. And we've kind of enjoyed it.
Last year it was grilled cheese sandwiches. Not just any old grilled cheese, I'll have you know, we ate the best darn grilled cheese sandwiches ever. You take good bread, add cheese (I like mozzarella, but the rest of the family is more into cheddar), tomatoes and onions and a sprinkle of Italian seasoning. Then you place it carefully on a George Foreman grill, maybe shred a little more cheese on top to add a nice effect, and there you have it. If any cheese oozes out, you need to make sure it gets nice and crispy and black. Or, wrap it around the bread until it gets dark and crispy. Yum! (The George Foreman does really good spinach quesadillas too.)
This year we ended up eating fish sticks during one of the first days of American Idol. And they tasted pretty darn good. They are Van de Kamp's Crunchy Fish Sticks in the blue box. So the kids asked for them the next week. And the next week. And the next. (You get the idea.) They were on a really good sale, so I stocked up on them and bought just enough boxes to get us through the American Idol finale next week. I'd buy more but they are kind of expensive and I think they make me break out.
Now, I'm not really a big fan of fish sticks but these are really good fish sticks. The are even good enough to eat with nothing else on them. And they really are crunchy. We actually fight over who gets the last fish stick. They are NOTHING like the fish sticks from my childhood.
At my elementary school in Nebraska, Alcott Elementary, we had fish sticks every (can you guess which day?) Friday. (You got it right, didn't you?) Apparently we had a large number of Catholic students in the area and it was a religious thing to eat fish on Friday, I guess. I should ask the Catholic family that lives next door if that is the case.
Now these were nasty, soggy, rotten, fishy tasting fish sticks. The only thing that saved fish stick Friday for me as a kid was the chocolate milk they served us as kind of a consolation prize. I still always drink chocolate milk when I eat fish sticks.
It just wouldn't seem right without it.
On an even more disgusting note, the cat threw up on my car today.
I saw a little of it on the hood and upon further inspection I found out that she had originally thrown up on the windshield and then it slid down almost under the top of the hood. That was not a fun thing to clean up, but I figured it would be better to take care of it before it got baked on once the engine warmed up.
I had to hurry because I was on my way to get Austin from preschool and I always time everything down to the minute. I leave at just the right time so I'm there in time to get a parking spot but not too early so I don't have to sit and wait too long.
I need to quit being like that because it gets stressful when something happens that slows me down for a minute. Even something like a neighbor stopping to talk to me or a kid needing to use the bathroom at the last minute will throw me over the edge because it will make me only four minutes early instead of my usual five or six minutes. One of my few OCD tendencies that I'm trying to overcome.
Why is it that these days they call it OCD and in earlier generations they called it "being responsible"?
Monday, May 11, 2009
Mother's Day is Now Officially Over
We woke up this morning and Austin had wet the bed (again).
I started to tell him very gently that he needed to get into the tub and that I was going to have him start wearing pull-ups at night, etc.
This is what I could hear him mumbling from under the covers, where he was hiding:
"Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah."
I started to tell him very gently that he needed to get into the tub and that I was going to have him start wearing pull-ups at night, etc.
This is what I could hear him mumbling from under the covers, where he was hiding:
"Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah."
Sunday, May 10, 2009
An Unfortunate Phone Mishap
A couple of years ago, I needed to call my little brother, Scott, on the phone.
I can't remember the reason, I wish I did, because it might shed some light on why I said what I did in the message. I can remember distinctly what I said, because of what happened when I figured out that I had dialed a wrong number.
Anyway, I dialed the number that I had pulled out of my mental Rolodex (big mistake). I got a generic answering machine message (which I think should be outlawed, by the way) so I left my message.
The message went something like this:
"Scott, this is Holly. I need to talk to you. I forgot to ask you something when I saw you last week and I need to talk to you soon because Todd (one of my other brothers) is being a jerk. Give me a call back soon. Thanks."
Now this message by itself wouldn't be that bad, except for the calling my other brother a jerk part, which I really, honestly don't do very often, and only for very good reasons. I really do wish I could remember what was going on at the time and why I said that.
Okay, so here's the rest of the story.
After I hung up the phone, something didn't seem right. Then I remembered that Scott's answering machine always had his daughter talking on it and it was always the same message, even after the power had been out. I must have mis-dialed, though I knew that I knew the number that I had called.
We have the kind of phone book where you can look up a number to see who it belongs to. So I looked it up.
I had just called my old high school boyfriend's parents.
Oh darn.
Did they have caller i.d.?
Who doesn't these days?
Do they know my married name?
Probably not, but maybe. They had been invited to my wedding and had met my husband so they would have known my last name at one point.
Ok, well that shouldn't be too big of a deal.
Then I started thinking about the message I had left.
Let me just put it here again for reference:
"Scott, this is Holly. I need to talk to you. I forgot to ask you something when I saw you last week and I need to talk to you soon because Todd is being a jerk. Give me a call back soon. Thanks."
Sound innocent enough? Well let me fill you in on a couple of minor details.
My old boyfriend's name: Scott. I was his girlfriend for about three years, all through high school. When his parents hear the name Holly, it's probably me they would think of.
Name of his best friend: Todd. (Todd hated me and was very mean to me in high school because I spent so much time with Scott. Todd was very close to Scott's family. Their families even shared a cabin at Bear Lake, so Scott's parents would naturally think of him when I said the name Todd.)
Can you see where this might be a problem?
Let's just look at this one more time in the context that Scott's parents might take it in:
"Scott (their son), this is Holly (old girlfriend from 25 years ago). I need to talk to you. I forgot to ask you something when I saw you last week (why would we see each other last week?) and I need to talk to you soon because Todd (Scott's best friend) is being a jerk. Give me a call back soon. Thanks."
I wanted to cry! How do I get myself into situations like this when I'm just minding my own business?
Well, I guess that didn't matter right then, what did matter was how I was going to get myself out of the situation.
Here's what I did:
I called the number back and left another message that went something like this:
"Hi, this is Holly. I think I accidentally left a message on your machine by mistake. I was trying to call my brother and I think I must have mis-dialed. Please disregard the previous message."
One thing I learned from this whole episode is not to call anybody a jerk on an answering machine, even if they deserve it.
The other thing I learned is to always look up Scott's (my brother) number before I call him. I'm rather paranoid about that part.
I don't want to have a repeat performance of what happened the first time. (Seriously, am I the only person things like this happen to?)
I can't remember the reason, I wish I did, because it might shed some light on why I said what I did in the message. I can remember distinctly what I said, because of what happened when I figured out that I had dialed a wrong number.
Anyway, I dialed the number that I had pulled out of my mental Rolodex (big mistake). I got a generic answering machine message (which I think should be outlawed, by the way) so I left my message.
The message went something like this:
"Scott, this is Holly. I need to talk to you. I forgot to ask you something when I saw you last week and I need to talk to you soon because Todd (one of my other brothers) is being a jerk. Give me a call back soon. Thanks."
Now this message by itself wouldn't be that bad, except for the calling my other brother a jerk part, which I really, honestly don't do very often, and only for very good reasons. I really do wish I could remember what was going on at the time and why I said that.
Okay, so here's the rest of the story.
After I hung up the phone, something didn't seem right. Then I remembered that Scott's answering machine always had his daughter talking on it and it was always the same message, even after the power had been out. I must have mis-dialed, though I knew that I knew the number that I had called.
We have the kind of phone book where you can look up a number to see who it belongs to. So I looked it up.
I had just called my old high school boyfriend's parents.
Oh darn.
Did they have caller i.d.?
Who doesn't these days?
Do they know my married name?
Probably not, but maybe. They had been invited to my wedding and had met my husband so they would have known my last name at one point.
Ok, well that shouldn't be too big of a deal.
Then I started thinking about the message I had left.
Let me just put it here again for reference:
"Scott, this is Holly. I need to talk to you. I forgot to ask you something when I saw you last week and I need to talk to you soon because Todd is being a jerk. Give me a call back soon. Thanks."
Sound innocent enough? Well let me fill you in on a couple of minor details.
My old boyfriend's name: Scott. I was his girlfriend for about three years, all through high school. When his parents hear the name Holly, it's probably me they would think of.
Name of his best friend: Todd. (Todd hated me and was very mean to me in high school because I spent so much time with Scott. Todd was very close to Scott's family. Their families even shared a cabin at Bear Lake, so Scott's parents would naturally think of him when I said the name Todd.)
Can you see where this might be a problem?
Let's just look at this one more time in the context that Scott's parents might take it in:
"Scott (their son), this is Holly (old girlfriend from 25 years ago). I need to talk to you. I forgot to ask you something when I saw you last week (why would we see each other last week?) and I need to talk to you soon because Todd (Scott's best friend) is being a jerk. Give me a call back soon. Thanks."
I wanted to cry! How do I get myself into situations like this when I'm just minding my own business?
Well, I guess that didn't matter right then, what did matter was how I was going to get myself out of the situation.
Here's what I did:
I called the number back and left another message that went something like this:
"Hi, this is Holly. I think I accidentally left a message on your machine by mistake. I was trying to call my brother and I think I must have mis-dialed. Please disregard the previous message."
One thing I learned from this whole episode is not to call anybody a jerk on an answering machine, even if they deserve it.
The other thing I learned is to always look up Scott's (my brother) number before I call him. I'm rather paranoid about that part.
I don't want to have a repeat performance of what happened the first time. (Seriously, am I the only person things like this happen to?)
Mother's Day 2009
I think I've just learned the trick to this whole Mother's Day business.
All guilt and feelings of inadequacy aside (that's a whole other post), you just need to ask for what you want and, hopefully, you'll get it.
This year I've told my family that I don't want gifts (we don't have the money or space right now), I told them I want TIME and EFFORT. Specifically, time to do whatever I want, with no interruptions, and effort, on their parts, to get stuff done.
It sort of worked this year.
I told them Saturday was my day to do whatever I wanted.
The first thing I wanted to do was color my hair. It's really difficult to find a block of uninterrupted time to do something like that. I also think there are some things my husband and kids don't need to see me doing, so I firmly locked the door behind me and told them not to bother me unless the house was on fire. I don't know how other people get their own hair done. (Oh yes, they go to an actual salon and/or they have kids in school all day and/or husbands who have regular office hours so they know in advance when they will get to be alone for an hour. I like to plan things out! I would be happy if I knew everything I was going to do two weeks in advance. I still don't do well with this fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants lifestyle that we've been living for so many years now.) Anyway I think it's time to camouflage the gray hairs for another six weeks or so, even though I have earned each and every one of them, and then some!
Well, since I had to give up on using permanent color for a while, I've had to go with demi-permanent. One big problem with this for me is that it always goes on so dark. All the brown shades actually look black on me. Every time I color my hair I go with a lighter shade than the one before. I am now down to using a color called Medium Natural Blonde and my hair is still a very dark brown, kind of the color of chocolate, which isn't a bad color at all if you're a candy bar. My favorite question to ask everyone this weekend is what color they think my haircolor is called. I tell them I'll give them ten bucks if they can guess the color. So far nobody has been close yet.
The other thing I wanted (and needed) to do was go through everything in my closet. I needed to rotate the clothes and put the fall and winter things away (yes, I do that semi-annually, don't you?) and then I tried on EACH and EVERY questionable thing in my closet to see if it really still fit, if it looked stupid, etc. One thing I did learn is that my girls, especially Morgan, are pretty good critics when it comes to deciding what to keep. For example, if I walked into Morgan's room to show her something that I had tried on and she burst into laughter, I would know it was time to give it up for good. (I only kept one thing she laughed at because it is a good basic skirt and it just "might" come back in style. The fact that it's almost to my ankles didn't deter me. At least I can always make it shorter, I can't make other things longer.)
This process took about five times longer than necessary because Austin had two friends over to play all day. I had to keep pausing in between wardrobe changes to get them drinks of water, snacks, more snacks, check on the strange thumping sounds coming from his room, etc. It's funny they didn't seem to notice that every time I helped them with something I was wearing something totally different from what I'd had on the last time I helped them. They also had a water fight in the back yard, which was a dumb idea because it was still kind of cold. Young boys don't seem to take cold well.
Next year I'll have to stress the "uninterrupted" time part a little better.
The other technique that worked for me this year was to say "All I want you guys to do for Mother's Day this year is ....." and then tell the kids a specific chore, which they would work at half-heartedly for a while. The beauty of this idea was that they would never really finish a task, so a day or so later I would give them another job and say "This is really all I want for Mother's Day." and again, they would start the job and work at it for a while. I started doing this a good week or so before Mother's Day. They never really finished anything, but they did do (and at least start) a lot of things they wouldn't have done otherwise. The girls did a really good job of cleaning up the kitchen and setting the table nicely one of the days.
The actual Mother's Day turned out to be a nice day. We went to church and had no real mishaps, except for the few minutes when I was in the room with all the Mia Maids and some of their parents, because Morgan was being put into the presidency and they were all getting set apart. During one of the prayers, something someone did reminded me of something funny that had happened at the Fronk adult Christmas party this year and I started giggling somewhat uncontrollably for no apparent reason to everyone else in the room. Luckily I was able to pull myself together a little better than I usually do, so it wasn't too bad. Morgan asked me later what was the matter with me, so I guess it was somewhat noticeable.
For Mother's Day each of the women got a little package of chocolates. They matched my new haircolor quite nicely. And they were tasty too.
After church I took quite a while putting music on the MP3 player that one of my brothers and I had bought for my mom for Mother's Day. Hal came home from church after a while and he cooked steaks on the grill for dinner. They actually turned out really well, even though when he went to shake the grill seasoning on them the lid came off and poured the whole bottle of stuff on the first steak.
After dinner we went to see my mom (my dad is in Korea) and then went to see Hal's mom and dad.
Hal's dad isn't doing well. He's been in advanced stage Prostate Cancer for over a year and a half now. He's really in a lot of pain and not in good shape. We've almost lost him a couple of times recently. He's also really hard for Hal's mom to take care of. She can't leave him alone for very long at all. Things are hard on both of them right now and also very sad to see. Hal's dad and I have very similar temperaments so he has been kind of a kindred spirit all these years we've been married (20 years, this coming October). Hal's mom is very social and outgoing, so staying home this much has really been challenging for her. I think she really needs to interact with people and she has really been missing that lately.
During the visit with Grandma Fronk, she told me something that Austin had said last time he was there, a few days earlier. Austin told her and Hal that one of my brothers had said that "Grandpa was a loser." I wonder where he got that? My brothers barely even know Grandpa Fronk. What goes through that kid's head? Someone please tell me!
We had a nice visit, even though by then Hal and I both had headaches and didn't feel too well. As we headed home my stomach started churning too, kind of like I was getting a migraine.
In the car, Austin was complaining because we wouldn't let him play with any friends today, even though he got to see his cousin, Justin, at Grandma Fronk's. He asked if he could see Madelyn and Chandler Lund and I told him since it was Mother's Day (and Sunday) they would be busy doing things with their mom.
He said, "What? You mean on Mother's Day you have to do whatever your mom wants? I really hate Mother's Day!" and then he started to cry.
So there you go. We came home at about 7:30, Hal fell promptly asleep on the bed and I just crashed too and watched the finale of Celebrity Apprentice, which wasn't that great. When it was over I came down and ate something and got the kids in bed. Hal is still sleeping. I guess this is my uninterrupted time. I'll take advantage of it while I can.
And that's about it for this year.
All guilt and feelings of inadequacy aside (that's a whole other post), you just need to ask for what you want and, hopefully, you'll get it.
This year I've told my family that I don't want gifts (we don't have the money or space right now), I told them I want TIME and EFFORT. Specifically, time to do whatever I want, with no interruptions, and effort, on their parts, to get stuff done.
It sort of worked this year.
I told them Saturday was my day to do whatever I wanted.
The first thing I wanted to do was color my hair. It's really difficult to find a block of uninterrupted time to do something like that. I also think there are some things my husband and kids don't need to see me doing, so I firmly locked the door behind me and told them not to bother me unless the house was on fire. I don't know how other people get their own hair done. (Oh yes, they go to an actual salon and/or they have kids in school all day and/or husbands who have regular office hours so they know in advance when they will get to be alone for an hour. I like to plan things out! I would be happy if I knew everything I was going to do two weeks in advance. I still don't do well with this fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants lifestyle that we've been living for so many years now.) Anyway I think it's time to camouflage the gray hairs for another six weeks or so, even though I have earned each and every one of them, and then some!
Well, since I had to give up on using permanent color for a while, I've had to go with demi-permanent. One big problem with this for me is that it always goes on so dark. All the brown shades actually look black on me. Every time I color my hair I go with a lighter shade than the one before. I am now down to using a color called Medium Natural Blonde and my hair is still a very dark brown, kind of the color of chocolate, which isn't a bad color at all if you're a candy bar. My favorite question to ask everyone this weekend is what color they think my haircolor is called. I tell them I'll give them ten bucks if they can guess the color. So far nobody has been close yet.
The other thing I wanted (and needed) to do was go through everything in my closet. I needed to rotate the clothes and put the fall and winter things away (yes, I do that semi-annually, don't you?) and then I tried on EACH and EVERY questionable thing in my closet to see if it really still fit, if it looked stupid, etc. One thing I did learn is that my girls, especially Morgan, are pretty good critics when it comes to deciding what to keep. For example, if I walked into Morgan's room to show her something that I had tried on and she burst into laughter, I would know it was time to give it up for good. (I only kept one thing she laughed at because it is a good basic skirt and it just "might" come back in style. The fact that it's almost to my ankles didn't deter me. At least I can always make it shorter, I can't make other things longer.)
This process took about five times longer than necessary because Austin had two friends over to play all day. I had to keep pausing in between wardrobe changes to get them drinks of water, snacks, more snacks, check on the strange thumping sounds coming from his room, etc. It's funny they didn't seem to notice that every time I helped them with something I was wearing something totally different from what I'd had on the last time I helped them. They also had a water fight in the back yard, which was a dumb idea because it was still kind of cold. Young boys don't seem to take cold well.
Next year I'll have to stress the "uninterrupted" time part a little better.
The other technique that worked for me this year was to say "All I want you guys to do for Mother's Day this year is ....." and then tell the kids a specific chore, which they would work at half-heartedly for a while. The beauty of this idea was that they would never really finish a task, so a day or so later I would give them another job and say "This is really all I want for Mother's Day." and again, they would start the job and work at it for a while. I started doing this a good week or so before Mother's Day. They never really finished anything, but they did do (and at least start) a lot of things they wouldn't have done otherwise. The girls did a really good job of cleaning up the kitchen and setting the table nicely one of the days.
The actual Mother's Day turned out to be a nice day. We went to church and had no real mishaps, except for the few minutes when I was in the room with all the Mia Maids and some of their parents, because Morgan was being put into the presidency and they were all getting set apart. During one of the prayers, something someone did reminded me of something funny that had happened at the Fronk adult Christmas party this year and I started giggling somewhat uncontrollably for no apparent reason to everyone else in the room. Luckily I was able to pull myself together a little better than I usually do, so it wasn't too bad. Morgan asked me later what was the matter with me, so I guess it was somewhat noticeable.
For Mother's Day each of the women got a little package of chocolates. They matched my new haircolor quite nicely. And they were tasty too.
After church I took quite a while putting music on the MP3 player that one of my brothers and I had bought for my mom for Mother's Day. Hal came home from church after a while and he cooked steaks on the grill for dinner. They actually turned out really well, even though when he went to shake the grill seasoning on them the lid came off and poured the whole bottle of stuff on the first steak.
After dinner we went to see my mom (my dad is in Korea) and then went to see Hal's mom and dad.
Hal's dad isn't doing well. He's been in advanced stage Prostate Cancer for over a year and a half now. He's really in a lot of pain and not in good shape. We've almost lost him a couple of times recently. He's also really hard for Hal's mom to take care of. She can't leave him alone for very long at all. Things are hard on both of them right now and also very sad to see. Hal's dad and I have very similar temperaments so he has been kind of a kindred spirit all these years we've been married (20 years, this coming October). Hal's mom is very social and outgoing, so staying home this much has really been challenging for her. I think she really needs to interact with people and she has really been missing that lately.
During the visit with Grandma Fronk, she told me something that Austin had said last time he was there, a few days earlier. Austin told her and Hal that one of my brothers had said that "Grandpa was a loser." I wonder where he got that? My brothers barely even know Grandpa Fronk. What goes through that kid's head? Someone please tell me!
We had a nice visit, even though by then Hal and I both had headaches and didn't feel too well. As we headed home my stomach started churning too, kind of like I was getting a migraine.
In the car, Austin was complaining because we wouldn't let him play with any friends today, even though he got to see his cousin, Justin, at Grandma Fronk's. He asked if he could see Madelyn and Chandler Lund and I told him since it was Mother's Day (and Sunday) they would be busy doing things with their mom.
He said, "What? You mean on Mother's Day you have to do whatever your mom wants? I really hate Mother's Day!" and then he started to cry.
So there you go. We came home at about 7:30, Hal fell promptly asleep on the bed and I just crashed too and watched the finale of Celebrity Apprentice, which wasn't that great. When it was over I came down and ate something and got the kids in bed. Hal is still sleeping. I guess this is my uninterrupted time. I'll take advantage of it while I can.
And that's about it for this year.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Easter 2009
Easter was emotionally exhausting for me this year, though it really was a pretty good day.
We started off the weekend by doing the usual things, coloring eggs, hiding them, (and then throwing them at things and smashing them when Easter was over), etc.
This is the best shot I was able to get of the kids before church. They weren't thrilled AT ALL to have a picture taken. Morgan's glasses have a worse glare in all the other ones. Ally is going through a "gray" phase. This is the most springy thing I could get her to wear. She is also going through another sort of phase. One that involves her calling me "homie" and saying "yo" a lot and calling us all her "peeps". I hope she moves on to another phase soon. One that doesn't involve saying "Peace out." every time she leaves a room. Enough said about that!
It all started off when Nate Bringhurst blessed the Sacrament for the first time ever. Nate has Williams Disease and is quite an entertaining character. He has finally outgrown the phase where he would go up to bear his testimony and he would throw back his head and then laugh hysterically into the microphone. I kind of miss those days. Anyway, since he has turned 16 he has been asking to bless the Sacrament for a few months now. I actually didn't know that he could read. It took him a few tries and once he calmed down a bit he did fine. I don't think there was a dry eye in the place, except for my parents, who didn't know the situation because they were just visiting, so they just looked confused.
Morgan had to give a talk and she really did an impressive job. She quoted some really good Conference talks and threw in some of her own perspective on the Atonement. She even used terms like "woefully inadequate" in the process. She is very poised when she speaks, much unlike I am. She did such a good job that they commented on it in all the other classes I went to that day. Both teachers in Sunday School even commented on it. I was really proud of her. Unfortunately for me, I also cry when my kids do something that I'm proud of. It's embarrassing.
One of the other speakers told a story that I hate. I really despise it because it is so painful to listen to. It was a story about a man who controlled the switches at a railroad and (long story short) one night he had to make the quick decision of whether to save a whole passenger train full of people or his own son. It is then likened to the Atonement and how Heavenly Father must have felt sending Jesus down to die for all of us. One reason I really hate this story is because I have a little boy that died and I always think of him when I hear it. I sat there just crying, trying to control myself so I wouldn't break out sobbing. I sat and clutched Austin tightly the whole time.
I was quickly running out of clean Kleenex to dab at my eyes and nose. By the time the meeting was over, I was in dire need of cleaning out my nasal cavities, because they were so full of everything I had held back during the meeting. (Unfortunately, when my eyes run, my nose also runs.) I thought I'd be pretty safe putting the Kleenex up my nose during the prayer since nobody would be looking at me then.
Mark Leishman was saying the prayer and just at the second I had my fingers up both sides of my nose (covered with a Kleenex, of course), he said, "And thank you for Sister Fronk..."
What? What was he talking about?
I felt very conspicuous as if everyone had opened their eyes and was staring at me. Well, hopefully they weren't. I'll never know because I kept MY eyes tightly shut out of sheer mortification. It was one of those moments when you can literally hear the blood rushing past your ears.
I finally figured out that he meant Morgan (YOUNG Sister Fronk) for the talk that she had given. Whew.
I made it through Sunday School with only 1/2 a dry Kleenex left, which I promptly went through because I couldn't get that ($@#^) story out of my mind. I was finally down to only soggy Kleenex shreds and the last limp Kleenex that had someone's gum in it and I had probably already used another day, which I ended up having to use because I had nothing else left (I'm not proud).
I made it through about ten minutes of Relief Society, just long enough to hear them say nice things about Morgan's talk again and then I went home, blew my nose properly and pulled myself together somewhat. I then decided to play Easter Bunny, so the kids were pretty impressed to come home from church and see that he had already been there and hidden their baskets. I made it back to church in time to sing the last song and hear the closing prayer in Relief Society.
I'm mad because this is the first year I haven't gotten photos of the kids with their baskets. Last year I was smart and got a picture of the baskets BEFORE they found them, with everything still intact and looking cute. Oh well.
This year Grandpa and Grandma Hendricks came over for dinner and then we had another Easter egg hunt for Austin. We used my china for the first time in a long time. When I put it away, I made it more accessible so we can start using it again. There's no reason to have nice things if they are just packed away, right? I do need to get a better table cloth to use though. The only one I have that is off-white melted in the dryer the last time I used it and I haven't gotten a new one yet. Of course I only think about it when I need a table cloth and there is no time to get one. We have a pretty big table too, so it's hard to find one that is big enough and on sale.
What else? I can't think of anything else, but this is my favorite photo of me from Easter. I think I was fixing my shoe that was falling off and Ally took a picture of me.
We started off the weekend by doing the usual things, coloring eggs, hiding them, (and then throwing them at things and smashing them when Easter was over), etc.
This is the best shot I was able to get of the kids before church. They weren't thrilled AT ALL to have a picture taken. Morgan's glasses have a worse glare in all the other ones. Ally is going through a "gray" phase. This is the most springy thing I could get her to wear. She is also going through another sort of phase. One that involves her calling me "homie" and saying "yo" a lot and calling us all her "peeps". I hope she moves on to another phase soon. One that doesn't involve saying "Peace out." every time she leaves a room. Enough said about that!
It all started off when Nate Bringhurst blessed the Sacrament for the first time ever. Nate has Williams Disease and is quite an entertaining character. He has finally outgrown the phase where he would go up to bear his testimony and he would throw back his head and then laugh hysterically into the microphone. I kind of miss those days. Anyway, since he has turned 16 he has been asking to bless the Sacrament for a few months now. I actually didn't know that he could read. It took him a few tries and once he calmed down a bit he did fine. I don't think there was a dry eye in the place, except for my parents, who didn't know the situation because they were just visiting, so they just looked confused.
Morgan had to give a talk and she really did an impressive job. She quoted some really good Conference talks and threw in some of her own perspective on the Atonement. She even used terms like "woefully inadequate" in the process. She is very poised when she speaks, much unlike I am. She did such a good job that they commented on it in all the other classes I went to that day. Both teachers in Sunday School even commented on it. I was really proud of her. Unfortunately for me, I also cry when my kids do something that I'm proud of. It's embarrassing.
One of the other speakers told a story that I hate. I really despise it because it is so painful to listen to. It was a story about a man who controlled the switches at a railroad and (long story short) one night he had to make the quick decision of whether to save a whole passenger train full of people or his own son. It is then likened to the Atonement and how Heavenly Father must have felt sending Jesus down to die for all of us. One reason I really hate this story is because I have a little boy that died and I always think of him when I hear it. I sat there just crying, trying to control myself so I wouldn't break out sobbing. I sat and clutched Austin tightly the whole time.
I was quickly running out of clean Kleenex to dab at my eyes and nose. By the time the meeting was over, I was in dire need of cleaning out my nasal cavities, because they were so full of everything I had held back during the meeting. (Unfortunately, when my eyes run, my nose also runs.) I thought I'd be pretty safe putting the Kleenex up my nose during the prayer since nobody would be looking at me then.
Mark Leishman was saying the prayer and just at the second I had my fingers up both sides of my nose (covered with a Kleenex, of course), he said, "And thank you for Sister Fronk..."
What? What was he talking about?
I felt very conspicuous as if everyone had opened their eyes and was staring at me. Well, hopefully they weren't. I'll never know because I kept MY eyes tightly shut out of sheer mortification. It was one of those moments when you can literally hear the blood rushing past your ears.
I finally figured out that he meant Morgan (YOUNG Sister Fronk) for the talk that she had given. Whew.
I made it through Sunday School with only 1/2 a dry Kleenex left, which I promptly went through because I couldn't get that ($@#^) story out of my mind. I was finally down to only soggy Kleenex shreds and the last limp Kleenex that had someone's gum in it and I had probably already used another day, which I ended up having to use because I had nothing else left (I'm not proud).
I made it through about ten minutes of Relief Society, just long enough to hear them say nice things about Morgan's talk again and then I went home, blew my nose properly and pulled myself together somewhat. I then decided to play Easter Bunny, so the kids were pretty impressed to come home from church and see that he had already been there and hidden their baskets. I made it back to church in time to sing the last song and hear the closing prayer in Relief Society.
I'm mad because this is the first year I haven't gotten photos of the kids with their baskets. Last year I was smart and got a picture of the baskets BEFORE they found them, with everything still intact and looking cute. Oh well.
This year Grandpa and Grandma Hendricks came over for dinner and then we had another Easter egg hunt for Austin. We used my china for the first time in a long time. When I put it away, I made it more accessible so we can start using it again. There's no reason to have nice things if they are just packed away, right? I do need to get a better table cloth to use though. The only one I have that is off-white melted in the dryer the last time I used it and I haven't gotten a new one yet. Of course I only think about it when I need a table cloth and there is no time to get one. We have a pretty big table too, so it's hard to find one that is big enough and on sale.
What else? I can't think of anything else, but this is my favorite photo of me from Easter. I think I was fixing my shoe that was falling off and Ally took a picture of me.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Preschool Chatter
The other day I was driving Austin and Kate Daines, the girl we carpool with, to school. Kate was telling us that her mom was putting water in bottles because their water was going to be off that day.
She then started listing all the other beverages in their fridge. Austin had just one question for her:
"Hey Kate, any alcohol?"
Upon further questioning, I found out that Austin had learned about the Word of Wisdom and that alcohol was bad for us, in church the day before.
Of course, the way he asked sounded like he was interested in trying some, so I was a little concerned about that.
That afternoon I was driving past our neighbors', the Saraivas', house and waved to their teenage son.
She then started listing all the other beverages in their fridge. Austin had just one question for her:
"Hey Kate, any alcohol?"
Upon further questioning, I found out that Austin had learned about the Word of Wisdom and that alcohol was bad for us, in church the day before.
Of course, the way he asked sounded like he was interested in trying some, so I was a little concerned about that.
That afternoon I was driving past our neighbors', the Saraivas', house and waved to their teenage son.
Austin plays with their daughter, Drianna, and had seen Derek before, so I was a little surprised when he said to me, "Do you even KNOW that guy?"
I'll have to be careful so I don't wave to real strangers in front of him, I guess.
The next time Austin went to preschool, he came home and asked me what a math geek was. I told him it was someone who was good at math.
I then asked him where he had heard the term (thinking it must have been from t.v.) and he said, "Connor called me that."
"Why did he call you that?", I asked, feeling so proud.
"Because I told him a math problem."
"Which one?"
"One plus two equals five."
Friday, May 1, 2009
Spring Flowers
I'd love to post some photos of my beautiful tulips here, but they still haven't bloomed! I feel like we are the only house in the neighborhood where they haven't shown their faces yet.
I kind of feel like the Giant in the story where his garden never bloomed until he let a little boy play in the corner of it.
Maybe this is a sign that I should be nicer to the neighbor kids.
Hopefully in the next day or so we'll see some action because I LOVE my tulips. They are definitely my favorite flowers.
On another note, I just realized that I forgot to write about Easter. I'll have to do that soon before I forget all the good parts. (Morgan gave a really good talk and I thought I got caught with my finger in my nose. Details later.)
I can't write about it now because I am packing to go to Salt Lake to go see the play Wicked! Can't wait.
Have a great weekend!
I kind of feel like the Giant in the story where his garden never bloomed until he let a little boy play in the corner of it.
Maybe this is a sign that I should be nicer to the neighbor kids.
Hopefully in the next day or so we'll see some action because I LOVE my tulips. They are definitely my favorite flowers.
On another note, I just realized that I forgot to write about Easter. I'll have to do that soon before I forget all the good parts. (Morgan gave a really good talk and I thought I got caught with my finger in my nose. Details later.)
I can't write about it now because I am packing to go to Salt Lake to go see the play Wicked! Can't wait.
Have a great weekend!
Mother's Day Already?
Ally came home from Activity Days with a special surprise for me for Mother's Day that she promptly hid. She also generously offered me a piece of taffy.
An hour or so later I saw her munching on some more pieces of taffy.
That night she asked if she could give me my Mother's Day gift early, because she said it would be for the best. Of course I said yes.
Look at how cute it is!
That girl is more like me than she will ever know.
An hour or so later I saw her munching on some more pieces of taffy.
That night she asked if she could give me my Mother's Day gift early, because she said it would be for the best. Of course I said yes.
Look at how cute it is!
That girl is more like me than she will ever know.
Trick Pony
For some reason my younger kids have been pulling the feathers out of my feather duster lately instead of using them for the intended purpose. One day I found Morgan in this getup. It's what I lovingly like to call her "Trick Pony" look.
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