20 years...

Hubby and I have been married 20 years now.  Friends of mine sent their condolences to hubby...  but added that he certainly can't complain about the years being dull!

Sooooo... how do you celebrate 20 years with a houseful of teens?  We solved that dilema.  Gadget Girl cut her hair.  REALLY cut her hair...  Ten minutes before hubby arrived home to head out for dinner, I had a hysterical, crying child with a funny looking head of hair.  What to do?  Walk out on the crying child or postpone 20th anniversary dinner?  Ok... I'm a sucker for tears.  And hubby didn't cry when I told him we'd be leaving a little late.  He did stomp around a bit and mutter my name in vain under his breath, but no tears.  I can handle stomping.  A couple hours later, the hair was reasonably mended, the kids were fed and we finally got to leave....  Hmmmm... yeah.... Never a dull moment around our house!

A few days later, the long anticipated prom arrived.  Oldest child looked beautiful!  In all her preadolescent dreams, she never anticipated going to her junior (or senior) prom 8 months pregnant.  Boy... I sure didn't either!  But she had a wonderful time.  Her feet got tired from all the dancing!

Gadget Girl helped out with the horse-drawn carriage rides as a groom.  She's on the far right with the new hair do... 

As we were snapping photos at the prom, hubby and I did a quick kid count.  Youngest was sleeping over at a friends house, Sassy Girl was spending the night with Nana and Boppa and oldest two were busy with prom.  We had a second chance at going out for our anniversary!  The second celebration was relaxed and unhurried.  I guess 20 years comes with plenty of time for second chances.  Or, perhaps, without second chances, we never could have made it 20 years...

A few more quick things that have made me smile in the past weeks...

One day, the teacher I am working with left early for a class.  A few minutes after she left, a child came back from the restroom with an answer for me.  (An answer?  I didn't remember asking any questions....)  But she had a very serious message to relay.  Miss G. was still in the office and she wanted this kiddo to tell me that I was "mag...ni...fi...cent!"  Love it!  What fun to see the utter seriousness of a child trying to pronounce such a long and wonderful word :o)

Our family almost always eats dinner together.  Sometimes it is rushed and busy with people heading off in different directions.  But last week, we had an evening with all 4 girls sitting around the table for half an hour after everyone finished.  Laughing, talking, sharing.  Sassy girl was giggling & giggling at her sisters and adding her cheery, "bo!  bo!  bo!" to the chatter.  It was wonderful!

And oldest child sorted all eight loads of clean laundry one day.  Without being asked!  She just wanted to give me a hand!

And, band.  On Tuesday, our conductor stopped mid-song to laugh at the trombone section.  (I know we're goofy, but most of our joking around is between songs.)  This song was a doozy.  I guess our looks of extreme focus and utter determination to hit the right notes was pretty commical....  Gotta love a band that can laugh together!

Well... I have to run!  Have a good day!  Enjoy laughs about little things!

A very content Mother's Day weekend!

My brain is fuzzy and content... not up to the task of writing a mini essay about happy thoughts.  So, today is just a happy thoughts outline! 

Family... I love family.  My parents stopped in unannounced at about 6:30 Friday night.  Dinner was almost ready.  It was hot and tasty.  There was plenty.  Whew!  A little pat on the back here.  It looked like I was organized and on the ball.  They could just have easily caught us pouring cereal into bowls...

Oh... and my parents absconded with our youngest two children since they were there and the kiddos were clamouring to visit!  Which just happened to leave me free to sneak out for breakfast Saturday morning with a buddy.  Actually, since we already had breakfast plans, it left Saturday morning free for second kiddo to sleep until 11:00.  Hmmm... I tried calling a couple of times to ask her to shut off the coffee pot.  I guess 9:00 is a little early for 15-year-olds...  (Oldest kid was taking SATs.)

Saturday night we collected the kids from my parents and celebrated Mother's Day/Dad's Birthday.  Mostly we goofed around, ate too much, played some vicious games of cards and talked half the night.  And second kiddo got to drive the tractor for the wagon ride!

We drove to youngest  kiddo's favorite place, the pond.  This kid could spend HOURS catching salamanders and polliwogs.  She was popular with the boys in 3rd and 4th grade.  When I got to school to pick her up at the end of the day, I only had to look in the center of a knot of boys to find her.  She was the kid in the middle holding the amphibians. 

Today was beautiful!  Sunny and bright!  A great day to strip all the sheets, blankets, comforters and bed spreads off all the beds.  Right before heading to church.  What was I thinking???  Eight loads later, I am still working on that little project.  Which puts me behind on the REST of the laundry before the work week even begins...  But the sheets smell wonderful after hanging outside to dry.  I love the first hung-outside load of the year!  Who am I kidding?  I love any hung-outside load of laundry!

Somehow, I got roped into Acolyte training on Mother's Day.  Probably because the guy I work with is.... ummmm... a GUY.  But it really was a wonderful morning.  I visited with the moms and ran little-kid-intervention.  ("Hey, Little Buddy!  Let's move out of the aisle before we trip a newbie acolyte and someone gets impaled by a cross...") 

The afternoon was relaxed and wonderful.  I'm a little hokey, but I love the peaceful monotony of hanging laundry.  And all four kiddos wanted to spend some time hanging out with me.  Maybe they were humoring me for Mother's Day.  But each of them wound up just hanging around chatting with me at some point.

And hubby cooked.  That needs no further details.  He could feed me hot dogs and beans (ick!) and I would be thrilled not to have to cook them.  'Course, I wouldn't actually EAT them either...  But I would be thrilled to have dinner on the table without banging the pans around myself.  And he actually pulled off spaghettii.  Impressive!  The kids even managed to convince him that Mother's Day would be a great time to go to the Real Twist.  (Funny logic since I am not a big fan of icecream :o)

Well... I hope all my mother-friends had a wonderful day today!  I am still loving kindergarten.  My days are full of kids in my lap and hands to hold.  Love it!  Love it!  Love it!

Have a happy day!