CrAzY hAiR dAy!

This week is Red Ribbon Week at school, and in addition to making sure the kids wear their red ribbons to remember to be Drug Free, they get to do some other fun things. Yesterday was "Hat Day" and today was "Crazy Hair Day." We love crazy hair day. Sometimes it's hard to come up with for B since his hair is so short, but we managed to do some sweet spikes this time. Eryn did her own, and it was definitely a crazy looking 'do. K's was fun. She wasn't sure how crazy she really wanted to be, but she decided that a bunch of bows would be crazy enough.

Coming soon: Fall Break Activities.

I Am Blessed

What a week! We had Fall Break last Thursday, Friday... and clear through Monday! It was super fun, and I'll post some pics from a couple of activities soon. I just need to write about how grateful I am for sweet kids. Although Fall Break was fun, I fell behind on a few important things. I fell even FURTHER behind when my wonderful Photoshop decided to just die. Dead. Right in the middle of editing. It's been struggling for a couple of weeks now, and I've nearly pulled all my hair out just trying to get it to work. Then yesterday, it really decided to quit. It froze up and then an error message came up saying that my License wouldn't work anymore. Oh boy. I tried un-installing, re-installing, doing all kinds of other weird things... and nothing would work. It just kept telling me the same thing. I finally decided that I would just have to upgrade to the newer version. I bought it online, and finally got the download link and began to download it. Well, it didn't want to cooperate. I had to try it three times... I was getting SO FRUSTRATED. Between that, and a couple of kiddos fighting in the other room, and some other craziness going on, I totally lost it! Unfortunately my frustration was obvious to everyone. It wasn't pretty, and I felt terrible and totally broke down in tears (probably TMI, but seriously... I guess it's just the way life goes sometimes). Well, I went back to the computer to try and get things figured out. I heard my kids head downstairs... well, all but one of them. I finally got things figured out (after having to download a program just to open up the files I needed) and headed back into the kitchen. I couldn't believe what I saw. There was Kaitlyn wiping down the counter tops and table, having already loaded the sink-full of dirty dishes into the dishwasher. The kitchen was spotless. This sweet girl has a knack for knowing when Mom needs a little bit of help. She doesn't say a word, just goes to work. I walked over to her and hugged her tightly while blinking back tears. She really is such a thoughtful girl, and I am so grateful for her.

Don't think that I'm not grateful for my other kids, though. Eryn really tried to help keep the boys from fighting and getting into trouble, knowing that I was busy and stressed... and both boys gave me a hug and told me that they were sorry I was having a hard day. They are all so sweet. I am so lucky to be their mom, and I am grateful that they forgive me when I'm not the most patient mom in the world.

Feels like a long time...

It has only been a week, but it feels like forever since I've blogged. Thankfully I've recovered from the infamous gravy incident, however Eryn noticed that there is still a spot or two on her shoes that I missed. Oops! We have definitely been busy, however... I've been taking family pictures for people (including our own), forgetting to do important things (like go in and decorate desks for kids' birthdays in Kaitlyn's class - I'm the birthday mom, and I totally failed on Monday. Good thing K's teacher was on top of things, and good thing she forgave me), trying to conquer the continuously growing mountain of laundry that I just can't seem to whittle down, and counting down to Fall Break!! Oh, how we need it. We had planned a trip to Denver to see Jared's grandfather. He is battling lymphoma, and we thought we should go see him... it's been way too long. However, he is very tired, and all the constant visitors are just adding to the exhaustion, so we have decided to put it off. I guess we'll just enjoy sleeping in here at home. We are planning to have a movie night, and go to Trafalga. Should be fun ;)

It's the time of year for School Pictures... and guess what? I don't buy them. Oh, they're cute and all, but they all look the same, and I can just go out and do my own kids. Hopefully during this wonderful fall break I'll get my other kids done, but I started with Hayden (since he's out of school by noon... and we picked a nice overcast day to go out. He earned a dollar to spend at the dollar store for being so awesome!)

So here are a couple of Hayden's "official" Kindergarten pictures. There are a few others on my photography blog HERE

The Great Gravy Incident

I wish I had a picture. Really I do. If I had a picture (which I was actually very tempted to take...) there would not need to be much explaining. Well, maybe that's not entirely true.

Let me start at the very beginning. We and some of our friends in the neighborhood have organized a little dinner group where each of us has a day to cook dinner for everyone else. This has been SUCH a blessing! Three days out of the week, I don't have to make dinner. It just shows up at my doorstep all warm and yummy and ready to eat. It makes me so happy :) Wednesdays are MY day to cook, and boy oh boy was today going to be good! Around 9:30 this morning, I put 4 juicy roasts in to cook. Within an hour my house smelled like heaven! I went about my day as usual until BAM! The power goes out! The only thing I could think was "NOOOOOOOO!" This was around 2:30-ish in the afternoon. I knew the roasts weren't done, and I hadn't even started peeling potatoes. I was worried. I ended up peeling potatoes in the dark while my kids tried to see to do their homework with just the cloud-covered light shining through the kitchen window. Just as I finished peeling my last couple of potatoes the lights came back on. WHEW!!

Well, as luck would have it, I also had to be at the school for Hayden's SEP with his teacher. I called everyone to let them know that dinner would be just a little bit late, but amazingly I was out the door by 5:50 making the deliveries!

As I turned the corner, I heard something tip over in the back, but I was sure that since lids were on bowls, it would not be a problem. However, as I opened up my sliding door to reach in for the goods, there it was. All over the carpet. GRAVY! (Let me assure you, however, that this is NOT the gravy that constituted the "incident.") "Okay, Jen," I thought to myself. "No big deal. I'll deliver the other meals and hurry home and quickly make some more." I knew one of our families wasn't home and I was just supposed to leave their dinner on their counter. I left them a note saying: "I'll be right back with the gravy!"

I calmly walked into my kitchen, put some of the yummy broth from the roast that was left for us into a pot, and started the gravy. It only took a few minutes. MAN it smelled good! I poured it into a bowl, placed the lid on top, and began walking toward the door. Suddenly, the steam from inside forced the lid off and in my surprise at the flying lid, I pretty much THREW the entire bowl of gravy into the air, simultaneously screaming "NOOOOOO!" as I melted into a sobbing heap on the floor.

Here's where the picture would have come in handy. There was basically a sea of gravy right on the floor in front of me, and my kids looked in shock at the splashes of yummy brown goodness that now painted several walls, jackets, backpacks, shoes and the kitchen door. Oh, and my pants were pretty much covered as well. Seriously? Really? Please someone pinch me and wake me from this nightmare!

Dang! No such luck. I quickly (and I mean really quickly) made just one more batch of gravy, mopped a spot that I could walk through and delivered the gravy. By this time the ridiculousness (is that a word) of the situation finally sank in and I started laughing. But I knew what awaited me back at home. The fallout from a gravy bomb. I scrubbed and scrubbed (and managed to melt a pot-holder that I accidentally left on the stove, which I had accidentally left on, filling the house with smoke - but we aren't mentioning that part, right?) The worst part? I hadn't even been able to make any potatoes for my own family. We had roast, with gravy, and a few green beans. I have no more tears left, and I'm still finding gravy in places that I didn't realize even existed. Oh, and I think it's gonna be a long time before I make gravy again.