Dancing in the Rain and Bowling like Superman

Dancing in the Rain and Bowling like Superman

March 20, 2011

It is amazing how much crap junk one home can accumulate in one year!

Before I worked, I always spent spring break cleaning and organizing the whole house. The past couple of year that I have worked, I have saved the spring cleaning for summer and actually relaxed over my spring break (usually doing a puzzle). Not sure what happened to me this year. Somehow my brain and OCD kicked in to hyper drive and there was no turning back.

I went through almost every inch of this home and cleaned and scrubbed and organized. I also threw out quite a bit of stuff and we cleared the whole right side of the shed for garage sale items (which is growing by leaps and bounds). Again, the idea is to simplify.

Every room is done except the storage room (which I was bummed about not being able to finish). But everything else looks really nice. Now I need to find a good way to enforce it to stay this way! The kids helped quite a bit. I think they liked having some input on where things go and how we would fix things up. They actually got pretty excited about it.

I don’t have a “decorator’s” bone in my whole body.

Anyone who knows me knows I can organize like nobody’s business. However, interior decorating is, um…a huge weakness of mine. This year I decided I would try anyway. I’m always up for a challenge right? I figure with my brain and Kayla’s amazing gift with decorating, we might just be able to do it.

(New decorative floral silk pillows)

So, my brain (which never seems to sleep) went to work on tons of ideas to redecorate and update our home. Kayla and I had so much fun doing this together and I couldn’t be more pleased with the results. I will show some pics.

(New kitchen table decor)

(New flat screen monitor to replace huge old monitor)

I love vinyl lettering!!! This (and candles) have become my new love. We arranged this (see pic) and put up the lettering yesterday. Our other lettering should be here Monday. It says, “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass…it’s a about learning to dance in the rain”. I love that and it seems so fitting with our family and the current thunderstorm outside.

I also put up a new inspirational poster in the exercise room that says “Persistence: Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful."- Mark Twain

Tyler can bowl like Superman

Every Spring Break we try to do something fun as a family. This year we chose bowling. We had so much fun! Our 2^nd game, we did a crazy game where we did all sorts of things like : bowled left-handed, granny style, backwards granny, zigzag off the bumpers, using the smallest ball we could find, using the heaviest, etc. One time, when we were doing the smallest ball, Tyler took his steps, made a huge swing backwards, and literally went flying down the lane with his one arm forward and still attached to the ball. He looked like Superman and he was completely face down by the time he finished. We couldn’t stop laughing. THAT’S when I should have taken the picture, right??

(Bob Bowling)

(Tyler Bowling)

(Alayna Bowling)

(He actually asked me if he had “bling” and a “grill” if he would look cool)

We also went to Pancheros- one of our favorite places to eat.

(With burritos as big as your face)

(Chips and Salsa Girl!)

Raspberry white chocolate cinnamon rolls sound like a bite of heaven

Every once in a while, I feel domestic. It doesn’t happen often, so when I get that urge I have to jump on it. I have been gearing myself up for trying to make homemade raspberry white chocolate cinnamon rolls. I was 1^st introduced to these when some sweet ladies brought them to my brothers as a taste test to sell at the new movie theater/café. Man was I glad I was there to help “test” them out. I will let you know how mine turnout- wish me luck!

I’m getting old…

I used to be able to run like the energizer bunny with no problems at all. This week, I strained a muscle in my shoulder, yanked a tendon in my arm, and pulled a muscle in my back (all while trying to move heavy stuff). For a few days, I looked like a hunched over, one-armed lady with a crazed look in her eyes.

Hey- where did everything go?

We realized today that Spring Break is over! Where did it go?? I also completely missed St. Patrick’s’ Day- where did that go? We are heading into another busy month. The girls start HS tennis tomorrow (if the rain lets up) and Marisa starts in the pit orchestra for the musical “Oklahoma” this year. Tyler has several show choir performances as well as the elementary tour this week. I am COUNTING DOWN the days until summer and praying I will get a new job for next year. Only time I will tell. Until then, I just plan to dance in the rain….

(It was FINALLY warm enough to go outside!)

(Tyler and Alayna made for me)

Storm Trooper Blooper

Excelsior 7th Grade Choir 2011

Excelsior 7th Grade Jazz Band 2011

Cathartic Cleaning in a Galaxy Far, Far Away

May the force be with you!

Our Star Wars Marathon Madness was a giant success! I think we had over 16 teenagers throughout the day. We started off the day at 7:30 AM with a big pancake breakfast. There was much debate as to which movie should be watched 1^st, and the order that won was 4,5,6,1,2,3. I took a picture at the beginning of each movie to document the day. We also played the Imperial March when people arrived and Tyler greeted them in costume at the door.

(Star wars/Easter)

(pancake breakfast)

(Alyssa, the winner of the costume prize)

It was amazing how many memories those movies brought back. I remember the shock of learning Darth Vader was Luke’s father! I remember my brother Jonathan trying to be Bobofet. I remember the star wars figurines my brothers had. It was fun watching with the younger generation and chuckling at their responses. There were some pretty funny youth in our group who made comments through the whole thing. One even showed us a place where a storm trooper hit his head on a doorway and we all died laughing. We (ty, Alayna and I) also attacked everyone with silly string during the 3^rd one. We had to keep everyone awake right?

(1st movie –episode 4)

(2nd movie- episode 5)

(3rd movie-episode 6- notice Austin with the cookie princess leia ears)

(4th movie- episode 1)

(5th movie- episode 2)

(6th movie- episode 3)

Have you ever seen those traveling ants or beetles that consume everything in their path within seconds? Well, I witnessed the human version of that yesterday. We served sandwiches for lunch, pizza for dinner, and cupcakes and ice cream for dessert. Each time a movie ended the herd of “human beetles” came up, ransacked the food, and disappeared. 6 pizzas gone in the blink of an eye. It was hilarious! They also brought more junk food than I have ever seen I my life and it was all gone! They are now debating what the next marathon should be. But I think we need a place with more room. They were packed like sardines.

(I put a sign on the door in the morning. I wrote it in blue.  At night when I took it down, i found that one of the kids added the last part)

(The entrance to our “movie theater”)

(Taking a jog around the block to get the blood flowing)

Here is an awesome youtube video we found. Warning: It is hilarious but will get stuck in your head for days to come.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk5_OSsawz4

Cathartic cleaning

My friend worded it beautifully this week when she said that there is “healing power that comes from going through all the rooms and decluttering.” It really makes me feel good even though by the end of each day I am so sore I can barely move. My goal/theme this year is “Simplify, Simplify, Simplify!” I feel like we need to do that to our home and family life. Life gets so busy and we tend to let it overtake our lives.

Anyway, this week we got a ton done. I even attempted some interior decorating and thanks to Kayla’s gifted aesthetic eye, I am pleased with the things we came up with. I still don’t love the exercise room, but as Bob pointed out, it is functional. How do you make an exercise room “aesthetically pleasing?”

(Wall next to bookshelf downstairs)

(took 2 hours to organize all the jewelry in the house- not easy when you have 4 girls)

(The shoe nightmare- Marisa is no longer allowed to buy any shoes.  Most were hers)

We have the big 6 still left to do this week: shed, storage room, kitchen, garage, laundry room, and the bathrooms. AND we will attempt our first garage sale ever this summer.

More stuff

*Tyler had a choir concert on Monday and he even had a solo! He did such a beautiful job!

*Kayla gave a beautiful talk today in church about the importance of education. She did a wonderful job. It was surprising that we were all up and on time considering the girls and I went to bed at 2 AND we had stupid daylight savings. The things we will do to support our children, right?

* SPRING BREAK!!! HALLELUJAH!!!

*Alayna won some “gold medals” at the winter Olympics night this week for activity days.

* SPRING BREAK!!! HALLELUJAH!!!

Linn Mar Freshman Band 2011

“Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing.”

March 6, 2011

“Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing.”
—Phyllis Diller

Tyler’s baby

Tyler brought home the real care baby this week for FCS (family consumer science) class. These babies are amazing! I remember bringing an egg home for my home ec class and I passed if it didn’t break. These babies cry like a real baby, suck a bottle like a real baby, and everything is computerized. Tyler had to wear a wrist monitor. Every time the baby cried, he had to scan the monitor on the baby to register he was attending to it. He was surprised that the baby fed so long and for so often (his arms hurt). He was surprised how hard it was to carry the baby in the carrier (his arms hurt). He was surprised how often he had to rock it for fussiness (his arms hurt). He was up a good portion of the night. He and the bay spent the night on the couch watching cartoons. I love that baby!

Crafts and fun

Yesterday, Tyler and Bob went to Iowa City for an all day scout merit badge clinic. Kayla was at a sleepover with friends for 26 hours. Marisa worked Th/F/and S for several hours. So, Alayna was bored. So, she called and invited Jessica to play. They had a great time playing dress up, pretending they lived in Greece, and doing fun crafts. It was adorable.

(Ninja princess jump-roper)

Spring Cleaning Bug

Beware!! The spring cleaning bug bit me in the butt!! I don’t know what happens to me, but every year but it finds me! It took us 3 days, but we redid Alayna and Kayla’s room. Now that Alayna is older, we set up a vanity for makeup, hair supplies, and nail polish. It looks great. I’ll get pics later. We cleaned out every box and cleaned every square inch. It looks great and much less cluttered. It has taken 2 days to get through Tyler’s. He is a crap collector because everything has a great “memory” associated with it. He has lots of treasure boxes! Somehow I had superhuman strength yesterday and rearranged all his furniture yesterday when he was gone. The computer room is next- as soon as I finish my final project.

(Cinnamon sticks saying “I love mom”.  Awww!)

Brag corner

*Marisa got a 32 on her ACT! A 34 on the English portion!

*Tyler got his results from his band solo and got the “Excellence” ribbon!

*We had a fantastic parent conference for Alayna. She is way above her class and doing an amazing job!

*Tyler had 2 solos in his jazz band concert!!

*Kayla has been practicing her clarinet extra hard the past couple of weeks. She had auditions Friday and we are eagerly awaiting the results.

*Marisa was once again selected into a special honors orchestra. However, the performance is prom night. Now she doesn’t know what to do.