Mission Impossible

This is your mission should you choose to accept it:

With your husband gone, you must help a five-year-old do dishes. You must also help the same child build a leprechaun trap. Bathe four children and arrange all food for a funeral that will occur in two days. In your free time, assist the 10-year-old with her debate research. A three-year-old and a one-year-old will do all in their power to sabotage your efforts. You have 2 hours until lights-out.

Good luck.

And actually, you don't have a choice.

It has been a while...

Wow, I can't believe I haven't written here for 10 days! The night of the election, I composed a blog entry in my mind while in the shower, but I was too tired to really write it down when I got out!

Ben was out of town last weekend. His company sent him to Chicago for the election. He was originally going for customer service on the poll machines, but he ended up driving deliveries of election materials instead. We were kind of mystified why they didn't have some locals do that! While he was gone, Missy and Sunny both got a stomach flu. Fun for me! I didn't feel to great on Monday, either. I was glad when he got home on Wednesday!!!

Almost Over!

Well, the week without Ben is almost over! He will be coming home tonight about 7:00. YAY! Really, though, we have a had a very fun week! I think that too often I am just in a rut, going about my daily life. I don't make many plans unless they are thrust upon me. This week, though, I knew I would go crazy if I was stuck in the house all with with 4 kids and no relief in the evenings. I figured that if I could get out during the day, I could handle the evenings.

Tuesday turned out great. My helper did come. She kept the girls occupied during Buster's nap so I could prepare for my real estate appointment. After Buster woke up, we headed out to the laundromat to wash the smoky sleeping bags and kitty-pooped blankets. Buster was an angel. Unfortunately, the girls fought some more and gave the sitter a hard time for at least part of it! I came home and left Buster, too, while I headed off to my meeting. It went well, but they're still deciding if they will hire me or another agent.

Wednesday I called my friend, Karen, and suggested we get together. She felt more like having people over than getting her kids in the car, so we headed up to Bountiful. While there, I realized that it was July 23, the day of big Pioneer Day festivities in Bountiful. We played with friends, went to dinner at Arctic Circle, watched part of the parade, and went to my parents' house for fireworks. Phew! I wish I had been more prepared for the all-day nature of the adventure, but we had a great time!!!

Thursday morning we got up and got ready to leave. I had promised the kids we would sleep over with my parents that night. We had fun playing at their house with the Wii and my 11-year-old nephew who was visiting. We even went to the park after dinner. I think the kids had fun being out in the dark! Friday was also spent at my parents' house. My dad got free tickets to the Salt Lake Bees game, so we went to about 3 innings of that. We didn't see a whole lot of the game, but the experience was fun. The kids said they wouldn't mind going again, and that, to me, is a successful outing. We were very tired by the time we came home, but eventually everyone was in bed. The house got pretty messy this week with all the coming and going, so I stayed up till 2am doing some cleaning. We got some more done today, but it's still not perfect!

This morning our ward had the annual Pioneer Day Breakfast and Primary Bike Parade. We had to get up earlier than we have been to get there, but we made it and had lots of fun!!! I did succeed in staying busy enough that I didn't mope around. I have missed Ben, but I haven't been depressed over it, which is good. I am VERY excited for him to come home, though!!!!!

Some days are better than others

Have you ever had a day where the kids seem determined to get into trouble? This morning I helped Sunny wash her hands after breakfast, and she protested when I tried to turn off the water. I figured I could let her play for a couple of minutes. Next thing I knew, Missy and Sunny had filled up the sink with soapy water and were swimming their toothbrushes in it. I was planning on buying new toothbrushes today anyway, so I didn't stop them. After changing Buster's diaper, I hear someone complaining about suds in their hair. Sure enough, they had gotten bored with the toothbrushes and were smearing suds up their arms and in their hair. Bath time! Now it's one argument after another in the play room. They just can't agree on the rules of play today.

Some hard days I wonder if it's my exhaustion or some other factor that results in a faster loss of patience. This was definitely out of the ordinary. And why can they play happily together one day, and the next is a series of fights?

Yesterday actually went quite well even though Ben is gone. The girls all pitched in to do their Saturday work and played happily while I worked. I'm glad I have help coming today to deal with all their petty arguments while I actually accomplish something. Speaking of which, I should wrap this up.

One more thing, though... Every night we ask the kids what their favorite part of the day was. Kandy is usually decisive, Missy takes time to ponder the day, and Sunny is pretty random. Last night as I was tucking them in, skunk smell started to come in through the cooler. When I asked Sunny what her favorite part of the day was, she said, "Smelling the skunk!" with a huge grin on her face. What a comedienne!!!

Buster and Sunny both ended up in bed with me this morning.

Quotable Quotes II, Kendrick Camping, and other thoughts

**Disclaimer: I just finished reading a Junie B. Jones book. So I apologize if this just sounds too much like her.**

Quote

I asked Sunny which VeggieTales movie she wanted to watch. "Jonah," she replied, "but I'm pro'ly gonna cry."

"Why?"

"'Cuz you're pro'ly gonna put on the wrong one."

I don't know where she got that idea...I was putting Jonah in the player.

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Camping

We had an AWESOME Kendrick camp at Strawberry Reservoir this past weekend!!! We got up there Friday for dinner and left Saturday after dinner. It was great to spend time with family, and Ben and the girls had fun fishing. Unfortunately, they didn't catch anything. There was a water balloon fight, a treasure hunt, good food, games, and conversation. I'm glad we only slept there one night, though, because all the air went out of our air mattress. My hip is still sore!

We bought a huge new tent big enough for our whole family. Missy and Kandy got to sleep in Grandma and Grandpa's trailer, but we kept Sunny and Buster with us across the way so they wouldn't disturb anyone. This tent sleeps 8 people and divides into 3 rooms. I highly doubt we will ever need to buy another one. I don't think we'll have more than 8 people in our family, and it is in more danger of getting lost than wearing out.

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Other Thoughts

A few weeks ago my friend was complaining about having her husband gone on business. Although my husband hasn't traveled much in our marriage, I knew he was going to be leaving soon. Soon as in this week! He left this afternoon. We went to Sacrament Meeting, and then I had to drive him to the airport. The kids begged us to let them stay at Church and go to Primary. Oh, twist my arm! We asked their teachers and the Primary President if that was okay, and they said it was. We took Sunny and Buster with us, of course. Ben will be gone until Saturday night. I find it kind of funny that in the 9 years we have been married, we had never been apart for more than 3 nights, I think. This summer the kids and I went to Montana for a whole week in June, and now he is going away for a whole week! And my parents are out of town until Tuesday...

Thank goodness for neighbors! We have a wonderful girl in our ward who has agreed to come help me some this week. I am very grateful because tomorrow I will have an enormous to-do list. See, we went camping on Friday night and arrived back late Saturday. (I'm getting to that in a moment.) And Ben was leaving on business today. So Thursday and Friday were spent in preparation for the trips. Packing, shopping, and keeping the kids out of my hair by letting them make a mess of certain parts of the house. Once the blessed toy room was so full they couldn't walk in there, they started carting toys to other rooms (against the rules...).

Also, while we were camping, our nice neighbor across the street fed our cat. Unfortunately, I forgot to tell her that our cat does not have a litter box (we can't count on him to use it if he does), so he does his business outside. This means that if you feed him, you have to wait until he is done and let him back out. We can't feed him outside because all the strays will steal his food. Anyway, she must have locked him in because he left us several "packages" in the living room. On blankets behind the couch. Now I have to wash blankets and deodorize the carpet. I'm mostly mad at myself for not telling her this vital bit of information. I mean, who can blame the cat when he has nowhere else to go? He can't hold it all day...

To top it off, I have an appointment with some prospective real estate clients in the evening. I need to finish preparing the presentation and find a babysitter. (The aforementioned neighbor girl has to work in the evenings, and we had to leave church before I could ask her sister.)

I am dreading this week and hoping I can be more patient than part of me wants to be. Like my friend, part of me wants to be mopey, but I know that will only make the week go slower.