It's Not All Unicorn Farts

My daughter once told me she thought rainbows were unicorn farts.  Quite frankly that's a mental picture I'll never be able to undo...but since it mostly makes me laugh I'll take it.

Life wouldn't be quite the ride without the drop after you click, click, click up the happiness coaster.  So this week I got my drop that turns life into a thrill ride.  My outdoor grill kicked the bucket and died right as grilling weather was starting to make its debut.  It barely blipped on my radar until halfway through mowing my yard later in the week, my lawn mower made a horrible noise and ejected with fierce velocity some flying metal shrapnel.  Fun times. 

Travis took me out to dinner on Tuesday night so I wouldn't be so bummed and then we went to Lowe's and Wal-Mart to shop for new ones.  The irony of spending more money to make me feel better about spending money is not lost on me, but hey it works.  So to each their own.  And as we finished our little "date night"  I rode out of the store on a flatbed cart with our lawn mower and new gas grill, pretending it was a huge lion I was riding and singing...Katy Perry's "Roar" as Travis wheeled me through the parking lot.  Yep, I still have fun dating my husband.

Well tonight Travis calls me and says the car broke down.  Never is there a convenient time for this type of thing, but it was at a pretty inconvenient time.  He was close enough to his appointment, dropping our foster daughter off for a parent visit, that he walked her the rest of the way there, called me to come pick him up and tow the lot of them home.  In the meantime...Texted me this pic claiming that based on the sound he heard before the car stopped working that it was a certain part, walked to the parts store - bought it and watched the YouTube video on how to fix it.

tow when "swyping" autocorrects to toe or you're

Well nothing makes our marriage stronger like shared "that's life" challenges.  So I called and got out of my meeting and got the duct tape he asked for and went.  I swear we would either be the totally crazy couple or the kick butt couple on Amazing Race.  I can go either way...if you can imagine it.  Yea, I thought you could.  But we towed his car from downtown Lancaster to Manheim on the highway, on the back roads and through our subdivision like champs.  Saved $200 on a tow.  Yea, don't ask about our expired AAA membership.  Who needs it anyway, right?!?!  And laughed as my gas light came on mid-tow.  Also the irony that my car with over 200,000 miles is towing the one with less than 100.000 miles.

 

On the way home, I phoned my friend to see if she could bring my two kids home from play practice, what with our unexpected delays in schedule.  She laughed and said...bad things happen in three, right?  You're done.  I laughed with her assuming she was right until I walked in the door, saw a box from Amazon with a part for our refrigerator to get the water dispenser working again and saw that my computer had shut down and rebooted again for no reason.  That's right the blasted thing is on the fritz.

So maybe my drop isn't done yet.  There's still a little thrill left in this ride.  But you know what, I'll take my Unicorn Farts, because each day I'm learning it's all about perspective.  And you know...he's halfway done fixing the car already!

 

Survivor - On a Small Scale

A group of students in our school go on a series of field trips starting in 3rd or 4th grade.  Each year they go to Lancaster County Central Park, where they learn a series of outdoor and survival skills: edible plants, identifying water sources, building shelters, starting fires, using non-natural resources, etc...

This year Bella had the culminating fieldtrip where the kids had to prove they were paying attention and teams competed to finish all the tasks.  Seriously I was help making fire by rubbing two sticks together.  It had rained tons the day before and was sprinkling off and on that day.  Not conducive to fire building and as soon as we left our fire it went out.  It was insane, but tons of fun.

Cartoon Symbolism

Today Bella went to a friend's house after church.  Later in the night when I went to pick her up, they were finishing up a game.  I joined in and we were all laughing.  Bella turned out to have a lot of random knowledge floating around in her brain.

...the Declaration of Independence was written on Hemp

...Winnie the Pooh was written about mental illness
Christopher Robbins - schizophrenic
Winnie the Pooh - Impulsivity with obsessive fixations
Piglet - Anxiety Disorder
Owl - Dyslexia (I don't know that I consider this mental illness, but...)
Tigger - ADHD
Rabbit - OCD
Eeyore - Depressive Disorder

Each of these characters were used to express different emotions that Christopher was experiencing.  Holy Bananas blowing my mind here.  It does sort of explain why I didn't relate to Winnie the Pooh much when I was younger.

...SpongeBob Squarepants is about the 7 deadly sins
1. Sloth - Patrick
2. Wrath - Squidward
3. Greed - Mr. Krabs
4. Envy - Plankton
5. Gluttony - Gary
6. Pride - Sandy
7. Lust - SpongeBob

...potatoes originated in Peru in 5000-8000BC

So it was quite an interesting game.  One in which I learned a lot and realized I knew a lot about nothing in particular.  My perfect kind of fun.

Going to Space

One night in March, I came home from somewhere and saw this.

Upon a brief inspection, I figure it was some kind of rocket launcher.

Indeed I was right.

This month with the nicer weather it was put to good use.

The kids loved it and played for almost two hours launching.

 

Since its initial unveiling, they have been planning modifications.

I'm sure it will make another debut.

I love what my husband can find to do and build for less than $10.

Road Show, Selfies and All That Jazz

Last month, Travis and I were the stake reps to head up Road Show, which is basically a 24 hour created skit, music, choreography, etc...performed by each of the wards in our stake - church terms that mean a congregation and geographical area that comprises 8-12ish congregations.  The theme was Disney/Pixar movies.  The end result was awesome.

We went to the Poconos to visit the Egberts, who are awesome and who we already miss, we celebrated Bella's birthday up there and had tons of fun.

Women's Club had a great little speaker on the history of hats.  She had quire a collection and we had so much fun trying them on.  Don't I look fetching?

Then the first week of April was Read Across America Week and Dr. Suess' birthday.  Kody's teacher always makes green eggs and hams for the kids to try.  Kody was not a fan, despite his liking both foods when not green.  What a punk!

Bella grew big enough for a full size violin.  We tested out over twenty different ones and settled on one we both loved.  It was not cheap, but it could have been so much worse.  Here's hoping she makes my investment worth it.

We also celebrated Easter with some egg hunts and candy.

Our school had an art show.  It was quite awesome.  Made me want to get all crafty, creative again.  But alas no time, energy or money for that.  I have bigger and more important goals that require those aforementioned resources.  But it was an urge I hadn't felt in a long time and so surprised me.

Apparently I practiced the art of selfies.  I think I am terrible at single selfies.  It's fine with my hubster, a kid or others, but when it is just me - it feels super awkward.

And last we had a Pinewood Derby.  Issac was over in weight, we had to last minute saw up the car to get it to work.  It raced horribly.  He put it on the track backwards which didn't help and lost every round.  But he had fun, we followed it up with a trip to Buffalo Wild Wings and his picture and care made it into the local paper. 

So here we are trundling along. 

Chavez/Carlock Wedding

Jessika, was one of my favorite sister missionaries ever.  But of course I never called her by her first name until she got off her mission and came back to visit us with her sister, Merilyn (pic 1).  Then I went up to New Jersey and New York for her wedding.  The reception was the night before.  Because they are Latino, they could dance and we all did.  Notice my sweaty glow in the 2nd picture.

 

Then the next day, I drove into Manhattan (pic 3), paid $40.00 to park and went to the Manhattan Temple (pic 4) to witness their wedding.  It was my first time at the temple and it was so different but very cool nonetheless.  I love this couple (pic 5) and how good they are for and to one another.  I love the attitude that this girl can flash (pic 6) in fun and that is why we are friends.  Last I love how close she is to her family (pic 7).  She is just so amazing.

 

Many congrats to the happy couple.  Love you guys!

 

This and That Ketchup (in no particular order)

Book Fair - I was the chairperson.  It was fraught with bad weather and lots of glitches, but it went well and is done.  Hallelujah!

Holocaust Museum and Valentine's Day- Valentine's Day we made balloons with the kids' names and after popping them they read their favorite things that Travis and I like about them.  This made Wyatt feel like a rock star and proved to be a great idea.  Then we went to the Holocaust Museum to teach them about what too little love will look like in the world and because it's awesome.  Then in commemoration of our engagement on VDay and our marriage, we went to the temple.





Cooking Lasagna - I tried using whole wheat pasta.  Travis was not a fan, the others mainly indifferent.  But if you are going to make homemade lasagna, why not make tons and freeze for later and for taking to people.

Cell Project - Wyatt had to draw or design a plant and animal cell.  Well why not make huge chocolate chips cookies with frosting to illustrate it more perfectly and win class favor and teacher bonus points.  There were some other really cool ones made of Jell-O and other food items.

Bowling RPA - Foster families have quarterly family building activities.  Two events ago, we did bowling.  The kids really are starting to take to it.  Not great, but we no longer need bumpers.  Bella masters it for at least one frame and grabs a strike.



School Vday Party - Games, playing and food - what's not to love?

Arrow of Light - Wyatt got his arrow of light, despite being postponed eat least 2 times.  He was so cute and happy.  As was I.  My kids are growing too fast!

Fasnacht Day  - the key is the real mashed potatoes used in the dough.  I made fewer than ever before this year, still 100.  Still I need all the fancy coatings (glaze, powdered sugar, cinnamon sugar).

Jump Rope for Heart - the school does a fundraiser for heart health awareness.  They do all kinds of activities, but one gym class is devoted to jumping rope and having a healthy snack.  This is Issac and his "rat pack" group of friends.  Cute boys!