Michael's Birthday!

See the pictures?  Imagine drifts of presents and oodles of pampering.  It's a pretty vision, isn't it? Too bad it didn't happen.  Between Grace's birthday and Michael's birthday sharing with Mother's Day, he got horribly neglected.  I'm sorry.  I still love him.  For presents he got two bags of chips with cash taped to them.  Yes, I am a horrible person.  He did want cash though, so that's something.

I didn't even make him a cake, but that's only because he requested churros.  I can make funnel cakes and elephant ears without breaking a sweat, meaning we never buy these items at the fair.  I was willing to try my hand at churros.  The dough isn't even that hard to make, especially as I rolled it out into snakes instead of piping it.  Then I started frying it, and continued frying it, and an hour later was still frying some.  Holy cow!  Without a dedicated deep fryer these things take forever to make.  The lovely people at the fair can have my six dollars for a big red Solo cup full of churros.  It is completely worth the money. This is not a game I ever want to play again.  Michael enjoyed them, though.

Then we went for a family bike ride.  We started out with blue skies and a benevolent sun and ended up in a torrential downpour with hail pelting us from above.  By the time we got home, we all had puddles of water in our shoes and were soaked to the skin.  We had to ring out our clothes on the back porch, as it looked like we had gone swimming fully clothed.  We believe in creating memorable birthdays, one way or another.

Date Night

Michael and I make it a point to go on a date once a week.  "Date" is a very weak term, though.  Usually, we end up at Winco or Home Depot.  Occasionally we manage to attend a movie at the cheap theater.  Even more occasionally, we manage a meal.  We are lame.

Michael learned the Idaho Historical Society was hosting movie night at the Old Idaho Penitentiary, including a self-guided tour/scavenger hunt and a showing of The Princess Bride.  He knows I love The Princess Bride, so he scored some tickets, which sold out very quickly.  I'm not the only one with a deep love for Fezzik.

Two gorgeous people wandering around an old prison.  Just your everyday picture.

Have to do the duckface.  It's a real talent to be able to embarrass my children, even when they aren't with me.

We were so interested in the Pen we almost missed the movie.  I've never been out there without a kid or two, so I didn't realize how interesting it was.  Thankfully, they pushed the start time of the movie back fifteen minutes, so we didn't miss a moment.

We settled in with some popcorn and enjoyed the movie.  Some of the patrons were enjoying the movie at a loud volume and quoting almost in time with the movie.  That was a little tedious, but it was still fun.  Plus, I think this counts as a real date!

Zombies

I didn't do choir, tennis, swimming, or orchestra when I was younger.  I am so proud of my kids doing all these activities, though.  I have sat, and sat, and sat and cheered these little creatures on.  This year Ethan took a drama class and they presented a play to the school and teachers.  Drama was something I did in high school.  I remember building sets, memorizing lines, creating costumes, and creating something out of nothing, with next-to-no budget.  Watching Ethan perform in his play brought it all back.  I am proud of everything they do, but it was fun to watch something that I also understood all of the back story and work to create.  I'm not anymore proud of his play than of Libby's violin playing, but I think I understand it better.

Ethan is monologging to his teammates and trying to inspire them to great heights!  They were underwhelmed.

He also managed to have his legs eaten off.

No worries, though, they were back in the next scene.  And this time he has a knife!

Maybe not the sturdiest knife in the world.

It's always bad form to threaten the narrator.  Ethan, aka Sam, must have missed this lesson.

Applause for a job well done.  Ethan had one of the more complicated parts in the play and I was awfully proud of him. He projected well, had a great stage presence, and was fun to watch.  As a completely unbiased opinion, I think him and his friend Memo (the other tall young man in plaid) managed to steal the show.

Competition

Two years in and Grace still loves gymnastics.  Sam tolerates it.  Grace gleefully signed up for a small competition while Sam had no desire to compete (although that did change after he saw his sister's medal). The girls (all of the competitors were girls this time) did not compete against each other, but for points on their score card.  Grace earned, on average, 15/10 in each division.  I think it might be time to make her compete in the next level!

Year of Sickness

For the last two years, I feel like we have avoided most of the major illnesses.  I was hopeful the kids were past the point of bringing home every little bug.  I was wrong.  This has been our year of sicknesses. For the last two weeks we have been battling a disgusting stomach bug.  See Sam sleeping on the bathroom floor, right in front of the toilet?  Honestly, with this foul virus, camping out in the bathroom seemed to be the only logical recourse.

When Sam felt well enough to move from the bathroom, he brought a bowl with him, in case of emergencies.  There were numerous emergencies.  I happened to mention to a couple of people that we were fighting a stomach bug.

The next day this was anonymously delivered on our doorstep. It made me a little teary eyed, just because I felt so cared for.  By this time Sam was feeling better, but never fear, Grace quickly succumbed, followed by me, and then a week later (and a day before his large choir trip) Ethan was attacked.  Thankfully, his only lasted 24 hours, so he was still able to go on his trip.

I'm hopeful that we are over all of our illnesses, and we can enjoy the rest of the year in good health!