Repayed

Our Daddy was out of town for his birthday.  But when he got back his little boys had this waiting for him.  Matthew did all the decorating himself (except the lettering).  

I dyed the frosting per his request.  At first when he asked for "army green" I thought it might be a challenge, but then I thought of all my other coloring woes and remembered, army green has to be the easiest thing in the world to make, since that's the color I get every time I try to make something else fancy.

So I bagged up his frosting and away he went.  He worked long and hard, and Will helped with the occasional finger swipe.  Man was he proud when he finished. Chris was proud of him too.  And happy to be home.  So everyone got rewarded, for making cake or just for being a great boy.  They were well compensated.

Summer Wrap-Up

I'm behind, and I have to do a review.  You don't have to read it.  I've gotten so used to the immediacy of blogs that when I click on to something that happened weeks prior I think, What--this is old news, this happened ages ago--and a little of the meaning is lost.  And here I am about to cover things that happened months ago--I am already bored with my own post, but I continue none the less since this is my best effort at scrapbook/journaling and it's for posterity (so be honest :).

Movie quotes aside, here goes.  I'm starting at the end of the summer, we'll see if I ever make it to the beginning. 

We ended our summer with our Air Show tradition which this year nicely coincided with Joseph's birthday.  Number 3.

I'm dumbfounded.  Number 3.  He's got the attitude to go with it.  

Even now as I am typing, watching them through the window of the parent room at gymnastics, Joseph is standing in line behind Will and periodically poking Will in the shoulder and then hiding his hand a giggling.  Rascal.  Anyway, back to the air show.

My favorite part is having them fly so close that even after they pass the sound is still rattling around in your chest.  Matthew's favorite part was getting up close with a Sherman Tank,

 an old B-17 (the Memphis Bell), the rescue helicopters,

and watching the Harrier stand still in the air and rotate in front of us. 

 (Chest cavity was rattling around for about an hour after that.)  Little Moo has been so enamoured of the military of late that he and I took a special date up to the fabric store so he could pick out his own fabrics he had spied a few weeks earlier for a quilt.  They all star jets, rockets, and weaponry.  This makes me slightly nervous but on the flip side, he was at the fabric store sifting through textiles--I'm hoping the two things balance each other out.

After the air show we headed home for some pizza, cake and party for the littlest Moo.

I sourced out his birthday cake this year and it was a total triumph--thanks Aunt Becky!

He's still talking about it.  If anyone asks him how old he is, he skips the number and goes right to "I had a dinosaur birthday!"

Chris and the older boys went and did a little shopping for Joseph.  The first present he opened was a football 

and he was gone.

Uninterested in any other presents.  My pleas the only thing keeping him seated on the grass.  But he was not letting go of the ball--completely gave up unwrapping his own gifts.

Once he saw it was a helicopter he was a little more interested, but still not enough to let go of the ball.

And the steam roller didn't even garner a one hand welcome.  He gave it a glance but both palms stayed firmly planted on the foot ball.

So the rest of the time was spent throwing balls, catching balls, kicking balls, and batting balls.

And of course, we finished it off with a great game of steamroller thanks to Ben. 

 I wish you could flip through these pictures fast--it's better than a movie.

Birthday Wishes From Afar

I was going through an old box in the basement and found this (if you click on it you can read it bigger)--apparently from our sacrine coated dating days (I embarrass myself a little with the ridiculous reference to Browning--honestly, did I say those things?  I thought I was much more level headed and even, much more Elinor Dashwood than Marianne, oh well).

In any case, it made me smile.  And remember all the early reasons I loved you.  And remember all the silly ways I had of showing it. 

 In case you can't read it, here were 10 ways I had to show I loved you back in our Chatham Towne days--I'll spare you the laughing comments I would add to each now, I'm sure you'll have your own . . .

10.  If you had a 2:00 A.M. craving for them, I would make you brownies from the box.

9.  If one of the girls you home-taught talked as long and as fast as Annie Kennedy (Ashley's friend from next door) and needed to vent, I would come over and listen to her while you went and got a pop.

8.  If all the gas stations and grocery stores around Provo closed for some bizarre reason I would drive to Nephi to get you cherry filled powdered doughnuts and milk.

7.  If you came by my house at 1:00 A.M. after an extremely long and tiring day with a hand written 12 page paper detailing the wonderful new qualities of carbon fiber piping that was due at 10:00 the next morning I would stay up all night typing it for you (and love it!).  (I hope that wasn't a run-on sentence.)

6.  If the Dodge broke down and you were stuck driving the Saturn, I would put in a lumbar support system for your back.

5.  If you needed to test your hand cycle for oscillations at high speeds but didn't want to get hurt I would be your crash test dummy.

4.  If you were stuck at my house in the middle of winter and our heater was broken I would sew all my sweatshirts together to make one for you.

3.  If we got caught at Stewart Falls again after dark without a flashlight and you sprained your ankle I would use all my girls' camp knowledge to cut down some small Aspen trees, make a stretcher, and haul you back to the car. 

2.  If you needed a kidney I would give you one of mine.

1.  If you really wanted to, I would face the roaches, pestilence, disease, and amoebas and travel to Guatemala with you.

Still love you to pieces.  Have a HAPPY BIRTHDAY.  I love you.

your Emmy

Foiled

I tried to wake up early today.  But then one baby and then another came into my room sleepy eyed, crawled into bed with me, and miraculously fell asleep again snuggled up against me.  So I didn't get up.  Then I was running late.  So I showered quicker than usual, jumped out, and found I was running later.  Then when I started to brush my wet hair I found a nice spot of soap still in there--how did I miss that?  So I tossed my head back under the shower to rinse it and ended up getting my whole body wet again. 

Rats.

It's going to be one of those days, I thought.

But then I thought of something else.  

You might not win yet, FATE.  Or KARMA.  Or WHATEVER it is that conspires against me.  

Because--Today, today I am wearing my RED pants.  And when I wear my red pants I always win.

So I put on my red pants, got my boy on the bus, and went to change the laundry.

And then I found money in the dryer.

Ha Ha.  I WIN.  

Thank you Red Pants.