No More Nursery

Patrick planted his feet and refused to even go down the hall to the church nursery today. He used to love going and in fact would cry when I dropped the girls off for CCD on Wednesdays because he would want to go in and play. Well, last week someone with a booming voice (I bet the locals can guess who has the loudest booming voice in town) was trying to get his son to stay in there and he freaked Patrick out so he refused to stay. Apparently Patrick has not forgotten this, but since he was better behaved than his sisters today, it wasn't so bad. Anna was making shadow puppets during mass, using the back of some older lady as her screen and then she got lost on her way back from communion because she was mad at me and trying to get away.

Way better than my friends during school mass who would pick gum from the bottom of the pew and then flick little pieces onto the back of the person in front of them. I just need to keep it all in perspective...

Local News and Speculation

In addition to being more social, I also subscribed to the local paper this year in an attempt to be more involved. Really came in handy last night as I was able to participate in a lively discussion about the mayor of Ogden whose opponent did not think to run a background check on him. Only later did they find out that he had done "hard time" twice. One of our friends thinks he needs to run against this guy next time, on the platform to bring McDonald's to the main drag so he can get a healthy breakfast on the way to work each day. I really think he just wants to be mayor so the cops won't give him a ticket for going 33 in the 30 zone.

Other things I learned last night: every ENT in town recommends alcohol for a sore throat. I'm pretty sure one of them thinks alcohol cures most things. Emily is not a fan of cajun food so once again (it's a conspiracy) I skipped that part of the evening. She seems to enjoy wine though, even the cheap stuff. She is sleeping through the night now so don't worry, I am sure the wine was long gone by the time she got up, relax.

Oh, I also caught someone bidding on her own item in the silent auction, dinner at her house. She said she was bidding on behalf of a friend. Yes, I am guessing that "friend" is her husband who would rather pay money than host dinner at their house. Just kidding! I only say this because that is exactly what Sean would do. I didn't bid on anything in either auction because someone took my number away when I picked up a wine glass. Sean was interested in the round of golf with the course designer of the place he just joined but it included golfing with two Wildcat Legends. He thought that would just be awkward since he has no clue who they are. Also, he'd have to refrain from saying, "this hole SUCKS" when he has a bad shot, lest the course designer point out that it is in fact his driving skills that suck. (And no Sean, you do not need to buy ANOTHER new driver to fix that.)

I also ran into someone who told me she likes reading my blog because it is so true. Yes, it is all true... who knew life could be so crazy and yet boring at the same time?! This kind lady is the one who had a baby when I had Emily and towards the end when people were asking me how many babies I was having, she looked like I did at 3 months. Oh, it is good to not be pregnant anymore! Cheers!

Level Three

In our attempts to be more social this year, we went out to the Boys & Girls Club casino night auction thing, which meant leaving all the kids at home. I can't remember who asked me this, but someone there wondered if we had just one sitter watching them. Come on people, I don't have that many kids... and only one of them is two years old. This did involve a level 3 sitter though, one who has worked in a daycare with 16 two year olds, which makes my kids seem like a relaxing evening. Emily was down for the night, Patrick was almost ready for bed and the girls are practically self-sufficient (well, at least they are potty trained). Our level 2 sitter watches just the 3 older ones for weekly date night and we don't think a level 4 sitter exists, which is why we will never get a weekend trip away from the kids. I am looking for a level 1 sitter though, someone to go with me to the pool this summer to help with Patrick. Feel free to pass on recommendations! I pay well and won't make her change the diapers...

Messing up my bed

He can't resist messing up the pillows and I often finding him hiding behind them all... with a bag of cereal.

Observant

I don't think this lady has ever dusted her ceiling fans... and people, she has lived here three and a half years.

Discovering Hands

Oh, hands, sweet hands, what trouble we will get into someday...

Hoarders (again)

I was just telling Sean about our friend who thinks she knows a real live hoarder who lives near us. She has seen stuff piled up in front of his windows and the garage appears to be full of crap too. So every time we drive by now we are craning our necks to check it out. I now realize that I can't let this friend see my storage room or she will turn us in too. Actually, that would be great, we'd finally get that junk out of there. This is how the episode would go (they always go back and forth between two hoarding houses on each episode).

House one: some poor mentally ill woman, sitting on the floor picking craft beads out of the first of thousands of trash bags... her psychologist trying to convince her to throw something, ANYTHING, away

House two: the psychologist surveys the Keenan storage room... asks how to start, the woman of the house says, "either trash it or send it to Goodwill, you guys make the call, I'm going to go check my email". Yes, hoarders due to a unique combination of laziness and lack of a truck to haul it away. Compelling television viewing.