Sunday Lessons

Woke up to a flat tire on my car yesterday.  It had been a slow leak the day before but now it was real.  I knew we had one trip left with it, right to the tire fix it repair shop, as they call it in children's literature.  Now that we know how to use the air compressor I knew we could fill it up and leave immediately.  Yes, we are real adults now, can use the compressor!  Anyway, before we did that we had to somehow all get to mass in Sean's Civic.  What kind of fool buys a second car that doesn't hold the entire family?  This one, and her husband.  I also told Sean he could get something with four wheel drive before what is sure to be a stellar winter but he is holding firm to his bonus money.  Oh wait, the bonus is late.  His LAST October bonus, bittersweet, as next October we will be preparing to transition to civilian life and thus won't take it.

Anyway, Sean shuttled us in shifts to church which is thankfully close by so Patrick didn't have long to play in the mud puddle outside while we waited for our turn.  Then I figured we'd be shelling out a bit for a new tire which reminded me of how there were many years in which that would have put us in a panic.  PS Money does buy happiness. Not worrying about how a $200 tire could mess up your tightly budgeted month is something I appreciate very much.  And then of course it turns out there was just a screw in the tire and it was $23 to patch it.  That never would have happened during med school years, oh no, I know we had to replace a full set at one point, so they would all "match".  Suckers.  Anyway, all is fine now and I can commence driving children again.

The other lesson yesterday was teaching Megan to make cupcakes from a mix.  As a rule I am not a fan of mixes but it was caramel apple, a seasonal one in cute packaging, so I picked it up.  And then I realized that Megan is in fifth grade, at some point she needs to learn how to survive on her own and yes, baking from a box is part of that.  She did great and I didn't get my hands messy and she was so proud.  Now to train her as my sous chef.  I am feeling a bit like Ina these days,  when she makes real meals for Jeffrey, the world's luckiest man.  It's easier to be Ina with a sous chef.  Chop chop, children!

Oh we also taught the middles a lesson last night and held firm to making them try the vegetables at dinner.  Yes, sweet potatoes, which they loved as babies but gag on now.  I guess Anna never did finish hers but she also didn't get dessert and went to bed early.  Patrick finally finished all of his after talk of trophies and winning and being like his idol (whom we may exaggerate stories about for greater effect).   Sean even made him open up his mouth Fear Factor style to prove he finished them.

In keeping with church lessons I did a very thorough cleaning of my closet and got rid of everything that I bought at the last minute before an event and don't like enough to wear again, along with all the stuff that makes me feel guilty when I never get around to wearing it.  The ladies at the Budget Shop behind the girls' school assure me that lots of people come in shopping so I hope some of it gets worn again because it is expensive stuff that was worn once.  And now I am going to avoid shopping at the last minute and stop the cycle.  If I plan enough I will just rent the runway some more, lots of casual options for $30.  Barely more than a screw in the tire!  Wish they did rentals back in the day...

After Auction Report

There's a little army humor for you, AAR.  Anyway, we wore our SYR best, the uniform that everyone wore at some point to a dance at ND... I will scan in a photo from those days to prove it later.

I just realized that I'd never Rent the Runway for a college dance though, can't imagine how many drinks would get spilled on it.  The Catholic school auction was WAY more tame but still really fun this year.  I didn't even drink, kind of thinking the red wine was communion wine which is better when just a sip....  We did win a few things we wanted and a few things that may show up as gag gifts later.  Sean got box seats for the KSU game in a couple weeks which makes up for not getting tickets this year.  With the deployment we didn't bother with any tickets at all, ND or KSU.  On track to play each other in a bowl game though, that won't get awkward around here.  We tried to win a pig roast and then later found out that we lost to a group we know so they invited us to join in and host the party too so that will be fun.  And I won't have to clean my house for it.  Wait, unless they asked us so we could have the party here, ha?

We also won a computer for the kids to get them to stop using mine for school work.  They lost some letters to the ancient laptop they'd been using so this is kind of a necessity but we will still make them earn it somehow.  The kids also love those creepy face things that you put on tree trunks and I guess we were the only ones to bid on it.  Our friends were talking about it when Sean came back with our box of winnings and I pulled it out for some big laughs.  I will post a photo of that when we find a tree trunk to decorate.  Neighbor's yard?  The top item was something I will be nice and not post a photo of.  It is a craft item and someone spent a lot of time making it but it's hilarious and tacky.  Destined for white elephant gift!

Happiness Project

I just started this book called The Happiness Project and I am enjoying reading how this very logical gal is trying to maximize happiness in her life.  Just her personal experiences putting all the happiness and inspirational quotes and studies to work, interesting to see what is successful for her.  Of course I love how many of the tips I already do or started doing while Sean was gone, like making sleep a priority and organizing everything.  Anyway, now I am focusing on things I can do now that he is home, just enjoying life more after it was so crappy for so long.  So I will spare you all the quotes and crap, you can figure out what ones I've been inspired by I'm sure, and will just go right to some concrete things I have done lately.

First of all, I upgraded my plan to borrow a dress or wear an old dress that wasn't quite right to the Catholic school auction this weekend by renting a designer dress.  Yes, for a Catholic school auction in Kansas.  (Insert your own inspiration quote here).  I have always admired the Herve Ledger dresses and I found one that is only slightly inappropriate.  I also added on a back-up dress for only $25 in case I bust the zipper on the way out of the house.  I will post pictures later of course.  They arrived yesterday and I had one on when Sean stopped home for lunch after going on Megan's field trip (more on that later), just a preview for him of what life will be like when he works from home.  Anyway, now I am really looking forward to going out and I think I will just rent dresses for every occasion from now on, they have tons that are for more casual events too.  I know better than to think I can buy a dress, when I can even find one I like, and wear it many times.  The best I ever do is find someone to pass the dress on to so they can enjoy it too.  If I have inspired anyone, you can save $20 by going from this link to sign up.

http://www.renttherunway.com/referral/koenigkeenan

Of course I get $20 if you rent, so there is some more happiness.  Oh and if none of your dresses fit you do get a credit to rent again.  I was concerned about that.  I also loved that I could add on a second dress for $25.  You can usually get each dress in two sizes also to make sure something fits.

Another fun thing I've done lately is sign up for the Must Have Box from Popsugar.  Go here to check it out (and make me happy with referral rewards, then you can tell your friends and get rewards too!):

http://popsu.gr/zCv

Anyway, every month this pop culture  website puts together their favorite new items valued around $100 and you only pay about $35, depending on what subscription you get.  I loved what they've had in their boxes so far and I can't wait for my first box to arrive in a few weeks.  I rarely get any surprises so this is exciting for me.  And I figure it's a small splurge compared to filling my gas tank lately.  Oh and if you sign up use this code to save $5:  REFER5

Now for some things I have done that don't involve spending money.  I have involved Sean in this too. Since he missed the kids so much while he was gone, I jumped on that motivation and signed him up to help on some field trips.  I know it's a pain to get out of your normal routine and make the effort to go so he was grumbling a little but I know in the end he made some great memories with the kids and they were so thrilled that he went.  Now I am trying to motivate myself to do more with the kids but more often than not I can't bring the little ones along and so far this lack of extended day at preschool has interfered with everything I could do.

In general we are just making an effort to not overschedule ourselves with stuff we don't like to do and we've stopped wasting time on chores that don't really have to be done.  Lots of time just sitting outside with a Bold Rock.  Sean is easing back into the moonlighting so he isn't too overwhelmed or tired and since I'm using to not having the extra moonlighting money this is fine with me.  The fact that he's making any money at all is huge but he better not lose it all in Vegas later this month...

That's enough for now but I will end with a photo of Patrick's booby trapped room that I walked into a couple weeks ago.  He somehow tied his shade to the basketball hoop thing and his water bottle to the other string (out of frame).  He told me that was so he could easily grab his water when he wanted it in bed.

Friday Catch Up

Lots of random stuff not worthy of a separate post, so here we go.  Sean is continuing with no soda which he stopped drinking in Djibouti because he got 14 hours of sleep each night and no longer needed the caffeine.  However, back home he is not getting that much sleep so he agreed to try my green tea and seems to like it.  So before he has a shift I make sure there is a pitcher to get him through it.  I am almost out so I just ordered more and I love a website that asks if I want to use my "store credit" towards my purchase.  Umm, yes?  It must be from ordering so much because I certainly haven't returned anything.  This is kind of like my hair place where they finally asked me if I wanted to redeem some of my points.  Points?  I had saved up quite a few apparently since I had never used them before.  Love these secret reward programs, unless I never find out about them.  And then I hate those places.  If only I knew what places those were...

Now for the photo part of the day:

 Best in-laws ever brought us our favorite cider (have I mentioned this?) for our birthdays.  I'm so glad they like to drive out here...

 Delivery man enjoying a break with his favorite Buddy's glass from Friday Night Lights.  Oh we miss that show but I'm kind of excited to watch that Nashville one with the wife on it.  Also excited to head to Nashville in a few weeks to visit Krauts and Stouts!

 Finally burned all the sticks in the fire pit.  If there is a fire ban going on right now, then this is a photo from last year.

 Nana and Emily, doing her thinking pose.

 Everyone was cleaned up for family photos with Beth as we won a big portrait at an auction before Sean deployed.  It was rained out a couple weeks ago so we rescheduled and as luck would have it, we were able to squeeze Nana and Pops in for some shots.  These are obviously the shots I took while we were waiting for Beth to arrive.

 Always fun trying to get four kids to cooperate at once.  I hope Beth had better luck than I did!

 We also tried to get good individual shots of Megan and Emily to go with the big ones we got of Patrick and Anna back before Sean left.

 Patrick was mad that Beth wasn't taking individual shots of him too so I had to appease him and get some myself.  You can see his level of cooperation here.

 Sean brought us out a Bold Rock to split when things were getting tense with the kids.

 They are such double trouble, but look so innocent here.

 And here.

 This is more like Patrick.

 And this crazy pose...

 Poor guy, you can see his little scar from stitches still, above the eye on the right.  I didn't even touch up this photo, he has rosy cheeks from racing around.

 I am really hoping we got some good shots of Megan because I feel this is the last time she will look like a child, starting to really grow now and she'll be a teen before we know it.  Tiffany pointed out that this is the age when you want to get that family portrait to have up forever, not when your oldest goes off to college and already looks like an adult.  Oh the pressure to get a good family shot now...

And this is how we got Patrick through the photo shoot... by increasing the number of Hersey bars we would give him.  I think he ended up with five of those little ones which he then broke up and piled up and then ate.  Sean wanted to put him to bed sleeping on a towel because he was pretty sure there would be barf in the night.  But there wasn't, what a trooper!

It's a festival!

 First act we saw.  This was about the time that I told myself I was staying for the blog fodder.

 Umm, Renaissance costumes combined with Furries convention?  I'm out.

 Sean was a sport and went on some rides with the kids.  Took him a while to recover from the spinning one.

 No adults allowed on this one thankfully.  Apparently Emily threw up on the merry-go-round at our local park when the sitter took her there during our party last weekend, so I was a little worried about this ride.  (Ahem, who is going to comment with the Andrea story?  Flying swings and barf, an old favorite.)

 Just a random photo because I love her in a hat.

 Archery in my coat and boots.  Love that she's my size for some things now, we can share and I can buy more!

 Aim high.

 Aim at Sponge Bob.  Really.  He was painted on the target.

 All four in a flying swan.  Hmm, makes a mom a little nervous to have them all on the same sketchy ride.

 This is for Manhattan Heather.  She knows why.

 Tried to post this photo first, blogger angry at me for posting so many at once so it is seeking revenge.  Anyway, here is the whole crew besides me.  Of course I was in costume as you already saw.

 Patrick not so sure about the flying dragon.

 Here he is headed to slay the dragon.

 Now he is being made a knight and he has the paper ribbon to prove it.  Unless it ripped.

 Sean has been talking about the sword fighting area ever since he took the girls last year to this.  Patrick enjoyed it of course and this older boy was a good sport and played with him without hurting him.

 Here Emily is confused when Patrick tells her, "get my back".  Oh, she'll get his back all right.

 Patrick picking out his sword and shield as a birthday gift from Nana and Pops.

 I don't want to think about what he is going to do with this.

 That's enough horse riding for my kids.

Umm, furry handcuffs?  At least they were up high so the kids didn't ask to buy them.

My cup runneth over

I will do a full update later, just busy having a great visit with the Bold Rock delivery team.  Ten cases, so grateful.  In other weekend activities, this is a shot from the Renaissance Festival on Saturday.

Wednesdays lazy too

Wow, we are all about doing as little as possible these days.  Nothing like six months apart to remind us that it's important to just hang out together.  Of course it helps that the weather is perfect for enjoying our backyard.  That can end at any moment.  I am also getting used to having time to myself a couple mornings a week and finally getting to catch up with friends I haven't seen enough of lately.  Nothing like spontaneous friends who can meet up at the last minute.  I need to get better at planning though.

In other news, Patrick has taken to booby trapping his room with string and ribbons.  Never quite sure what I'm going to walk into in the morning.  Emily is enjoying not getting up early to take the girls to school.  She resisted getting up at 8:30 this morning until I reminded her that it was her school day.  Then she squealed and did the double fist pump.  At least I don't have to feel guilty dropping her off so I can get a break.  Anna asked me to dry her hair after her shower tonight.  This is a milestone.  Megan is getting more interested in what she wears to school and is all about borrowing my boots since we wear the same size now.  Whatever, now I can go buy more boots.  Nana and Pops are coming on the Bold Rock Cider Express this weekend and there may be some Renaissance Fair action.  Not sure how Emily and I feel about that yet.  Emily may prefer to go shopping in KC, we'll see.  I think that is all the updates for now.  I am feeling much more normal these days so the ranting posts should decrease.  Should.