A Belated Birthday Letter

Sorry for disappearing everyone. Things have been busy! 

On Sunday, this dude had a birthday and we celebrated him in the best possible way we could have imagined. Because we were traveling I didn't write his letter on time. 

Dear Goose, 

12 seems awfully big. It's a good thing you are still small. Gangly yes, that preteen-ness is there. But I am delighted you're still cuddly. 

The one thing about you I appreciate so much is your consistency. You still love walruses. And penguins. And Disney, Peanuts and Lego... all the things you've always loved. And it makes gift-giving super easy and more complicated all at the same time. You are SO my kid who loves to do laundry and use Downy Unstoppables. The memory of you running towards them in Costco will forever make me smile. I am so glad to experience these moments with you. 

This past year we added a Nintendo Switch to the family and we're working together to navigate healthy screen time limits. And you've surprised me honestly by how well you're doing with it. 

You are still so kind and observant. I know you don't come out of your shell much but those of us who get to know you and love you are the luckiest. You have such a big heart. I cannot believe that you are 12 and I can't believe you are going to middle school! What the heck? 

I am so glad that we got to celebrate you with penguins. Giving you the freedom to spend as much time as you wanted with them was the best I think for you and me. You got to take in the wonderfulness of the penguins and I got to bask in the glory of you. You were so happy and chill. And even with crowds of loud toddlers near you... you just had tunnel vision for the birds. And I got to watch you. It was my absolute favorite seeing you so happy and contented.

I love you so much. I am so glad God put you on this Earth for me to love and know. I hope you had the best birthday! 

Love Mom

What In the World Wal-Mart?

I don't regularly shop at Wal-Mart. 

It's not that I don't appreciate having a location with a million things at deep discounts readily available. But it's just geographically undesirable to our house. 

And has what I consider to be the absolute worst parking lot in town. I am convinced I am moments away from a car accident if I even glance too hard at the lot. Never mind driving in. It makes me nervous and I don't like it. 

But this weekend I got some targeted ads from Wal-Mart. Ranging from crazy to crazier. I have no idea why they thought I would be in the market for such things. Let's take a look at them shall we? 

Okay, so the first one was a commercial soft-serve machine. I do like soft-serve. But I don't own an Ice Cream Cottage so the point is pretty moot. 

Soft serve mix sold separately. 

The next thing Wal-Mart thought I'd like was the $29,990 tiny home kit. With a spiral staircase. 

Let me assure you that should I be interested in spending nearly $30 K it would not be on a tiny home kit. On top of that, it's not even a particularly cute tiny home. Though I do like the blue accent trim. 

Following that curiosity, is this lazy bed. I love sleeping. It's my favorite thing. But this just looks impractical.

Cozy, yes. But how would you clean it? Where would you put it? Is it meant to replace your bed and mattress altogether? Is it meant to come out when you have guests? So many more questions than answers. And I clicked on it... it's not even in stock. They flagged this ad as something for me to see and it's not even something you can purchase!

But then Wal-Mart followed up that bed/couch/pillow thing with a blender that looked old in 1986. It's the off-white color for me. I am pretty sure my parents had this blender. Seriously. 

I supposed everything old is new again. 

Let it be known, I know I am weird. But I always order drinks with no ice. I just don't like things to be too cold and as it melts it waters everything down. So Wal-Mart suggesting this nugget ice maker was funny too. 

You might remember for her 8th birthday, M got a countertop ice maker of her very own. She LOVES ice. And so does Husband. So this suggestion isn't the worst of the bunch but I personally am not that interested in it. 

Another thing I am not interested in: the 5 gallon bucket of pickles.

I honestly don't really care for pickles anyway. And I definitely would have no use for a 5-gallon bucket of them that needs to be kept refrigerated. I am not a restaurant. 

I genuinely don't think our yard is big enough for this inflatable waterslide/pool thing either. It does looks like it would be fun though!! 

But why is it in a desert? Who's running a hose out to this thing? This was the best landscape they could photoshop the slide into? Highly suspect. 

So Wal-Mart. What in the world are you thinking with your targeted ads? At least they were good for a laugh! 

A Low Key Mother's Day

It was about as low-key a Mother's Day as you can get. About a week ago, C decided that we should go see Unsung Hero to celebrate the day. So we did. 

After a sleep-in and my traditional breakfast pizza to start the day. Then time with my family at a movie. 

Now, I don't think any of us knew that it was going to be quite so much about how awesome the Smallbone mom was in their story but it made it even more appropriate. We genuinely enjoyed the movie! 

We also made a list of all the movies coming out in the next few months that we want to see. There are a lot so get used to this particular shot of all of us. 

I hope however you celebrated, you had a great Mother's Day. 

Our Week

Our week started off with a bang. It was the final in-service of the year so no school. Because of that, I introduced the kids to the secrets of Costco. We pulled into the lot at 9:30 and I got gas. I then parked the car in "my" spot. (Does everyone have a spot or general area they prefer in a lot?) 

And we waited. At 9:45 we got out of the car and went to the sidewalk outside of the store. So when the store that was supposed to open at 10:00 opened at 9:50 we were the third set of people in the door. Because I had the kids with me we meandered more than I would have typically. But still, we left Costco at 10:14. The parking lot was now crowded and swarms of people were moving in. 

And we were leaving. 

It is the most magical way to shop Costco. 

The only photo my phone took on Monday was this gem. As M had to clean a particular corner of her room in order to go buy a basketball. 

She did manage to get it clean. She paid for the ball with her own money. Then she played outside for a long time with said ball. 

Tuesday brought a beautiful day. I wore the truth on my shirt when we went to piano. 

And then we went to Cracker Barrel because it would have been fiscally irresponsible not to. 

We had a gift card and kids eat free promotion. By girl math, it was a free meal. 

Wednesday was our last Family Faith night and I spent the day crafting a giant rosary out of pool noodles. 

And any time you can pray as a large group life is pretty good right?!

Yesterday I went with my friends to see Lauren Daigle in concert. 

Was it my smartest choice to go with my friends an hour and a half away to see a musician that is fine but not my favorite? Probably not. But I am still glad I went. 

We had determined in December when we got the tickets that we'd stay under $100 a ticket and honestly, I thought our seats were pretty great. 

I honestly would have been mad to be on a floor seat because the chairs were set up "to the front" but the stage was clearly in the middle. Taylor Swift managed to figure it out. The poor people on the floor had to keep turning around. 

Ellie Holcomb was the opener. And then when she was done there was a whole drawn-out commercial pitch to sponsor children with a speaker, filmed projections and a DJ underscoring it. It was emotionally gripping. 

But then you guys the speaker said "Let's sponsor 500 kids tonight!" and the volunteers would come out with the pictures of kids to sponsor. And he said, "kids just raise your hands and use your parent's credit card!" I'm all for sponsoring kids but come on. How on Earth can you say that in a crowded venue full of Christian children?! It was uncomfortable and I didn't appreciate the manipulation of small people who cannot actually make that decision. 

Lauren used projections on her screen. And I genuinely appreciated how the lights looked over the crowd. 

While I was off galavanting with my friends my peeps at home were at member night at the museum. 

And they had a really nice time! Apparently, that movie was the best one they've ever seen at the museum so that's fun. I will have to try and catch it. 

Today is May Crowning which has nothing to do with my job and as I don't have a second or eighth-grader also doesn't concern me as a parent! So I just am going to go and sit in the balcony, bask in the cuteness, and call it good. 

These two smiley people brought their flowers for Mary and I hope they have a great Friday. Just as I hope YOU have a great Friday. 

BizTown

So on Friday, C and the other 5th and 4th graders at his school got to go to BizTown. A 4-hour simulation of working and paying bills. It's the culmination of a semester of work. They've learned how to write checks, interview for a job, run a business meeting etc. 

C was hired as the editor of the newspaper. The whole newspaper team was named Bizzy News. 

And I was lucky enough to chaperone for the day at BizTown. Everyone was assigned a different place to work from their child, which I admit, was a good call. 

Oh man, some of the kids were very sweet. But also absolutely clueless. Which, actually, makes them perfect at being CEOs. All the kids had to dress professionally. So C and Husband decided to dress the same. 

C took his job very seriously and even packed his own bag lunch that morning. 

I had to go early for training. 

I was assigned the Professional Offices. In our office we had a CEO and CFO (every office had one of those) a real estate agent, investment agent, CPA, Non-Profit Organization Manager and Insurance Agent. 

Other businesses included: radio station, newspaper, cafe, factory, bank, ag center, health and wellness center, municipalities, variety shop, City Hall, 

Every role had its own checklist and tasks they were meant to complete and all together the teamwork would lead to each business paying off its loan and hopefully turning a profit. Many businesses even had goods to sell and small storefronts for the kids to use their paychecks on. 

Here was C coming to sell me a subscription to the newspaper. 

Here he was at his break waiting in line to mail his letter. (Everyone was in charge of writing a letter to someone prior to coming to BizTown. The mail carrier delivered them all.) 

Here he is hard at work at his office. 

This is when he was out and about shopping for some of the junk treasures one can buy with BizTown money. 

During the second "town meeting" he was recognized as being one of the hard workers and got an extra $2! 

At the Professional Office, the things kids learned was that "Work is hard." And "I just liked the lunch break." My favorite was "There's a lot to remember to get a job done, pay the bills and still have fun." 

Each kid was given timed breaks and that is when they could shop, vote, go to the bank and get money, eat lunch, mail their letters... etc. 

I was most surprised by how kids I wouldn't expect to be hard workers totally rocked BizTown and how poorly some of the other kids did, who I would have expected to be great. So another real-life lesson there. 

All in all, a great field trip and hands-on learning experience for them! I can't wait for it to be M's turn. 

I Made It!

 This weekend was a long one for me! First Communion. 

3 Masses. 41 kids. 

4 last-minute baptismal candles were needed. 

And in the end, all these sweethearts received Jesus for the first time! 

If you're looking really closely at these pics on the steps you can see me. Or my hands. See I am the person standing on the other side of the door keeping people out of the pictures. 

I will tell you, it was 100% less stressful than it was last year. I think simply not having a first communicant of my own is primarily the reason. But even still. I got to Friday and I was convinced I had forgotten to do something. (I hadn't.) 

I took a good nap yesterday afternoon! 

Out With The Fam

Sometimes my favorite times with my family are when we go out. So we did. And we chatted and enjoyed each other so much. 

One of our burger joints added an arcade. Now I admit, it opened in early April. And I legit thought it was an April Fool's Day joke because it seemed really weird that they would do that. 

But they did and they have Skee Ball. I love Skee ball! 

They also had an automatic vending machine for the lame ticket-based prizes. That was actually super fun to watch. Both kids ended up with squishy fruit stress ball things. Definitely the best of the possibilities!