I have been away from my computer for a few days, so I wasn’t able to post all the congratulations, but this week is another one of our big birthdayful weeks. There are many others with birthdays this week of course, but the three big ones for me are the 23rd (My Russian “Mother” Tania’s birthday), the 24th (My actual biological mother and her little sister’s birthdays), and today (my little sister’s birthday). So, best of all to my ladies. Glad you were all born (even you, Sarah 
).
Archive for July, 2008
After another late night to end the long weekend, I was somehow able to ignore the lightning storm beginning as I got into bed around 12:30 and fall fast asleep. This was fine, until about 3 am when I realized that I was awake and the tornado sirens were going off! I woke up Josh and asked him to check his phone for weather alerts and to see if he could figure out what the danger was. While he stumbled around with that I looked out our bedroom window just in time to see our swimming pool–full of water–get blown up, flipped over, and tossed across the yard! That sufficiently freaked me out! I have tried several times and several ways to move or turn over the pool to make it empty faster, even when there is just enough water in it to cover the bottom it is insanely difficult to move at all or flip all the way over, and this time the pool was really full from our party the other night. The yard was instantly flooded. That’s when I leapt out of bed and went for the kids. It seemed to take FOR-E-VER! Jacob didn’t want to wake up and Elise wanted to bring all kinds of stuffed animals with her to the basement. And once again, the timing was most unfortunate! We’d had all the laundry done before the weekend, but after all the parties and water play etc, there was a huge mound of wet and filthy laundry covering the basement floor. So there was very little room for us, other than on top of the messy mass. Also, 3:30 am is hardly the time I want to wake up my kids for an hour of family panic in the basement! They got thirsty, they had to pee, the wanted to eat, they kept getting in each other’s way, in short, they were then wide awake! After the storm had passed and we were finally able to safely go back upstairs to our beds, the kids did finally settle down and go back to sleep. Josh slept through most of it all anyway (on top of the laundry). When I got back to my room I checked out the window again and although my pool had flown out of view (it lodged itself under our deck, so we didn’t lose it) something else that looked even larger had been deposited in the field just behind our yard. It looked like just a big black mass, until a particularly bright lightning revealed that it was someone’s huge trampoline!
We celebrated Josh’s graduation yesterday. He is now the official holder of a Master’s degree in Business Administration, and we are so proud of him! The ceremony was graciously brief (an hour and a half) and well-attended on Josh’s behalf. I took all four kids and was joined by the four Wheelers, Josh’s parents and grandmother, his uncle and two cousins, and his brother Jason’s family. We know that many of you who could not be with us physically were with us in spirit and have supported us throughout this long and tedious process. (And of course, I have pictures to share! I haven’t had a chance to crop them all yet, but here you go!)
Last night on my way home from scrapbooking at a friend’s house, I listened to one of my new Russian Pop cd’s that I got for my birthday from my Russian sister Lena. I had it cranked fairly loud so I could try to sing along and not hear myself mess-up. I’ve been listening to this one cd quite a lot this Summer, and I’d been trying to figure out the lyrics so I could sing along and I got to thinking that maybe it would help to bring back some of my Russian language speaking abilities. So, when I got home and everyone else was in bed (after catching up on SYTYCD! –I’m nervous for Mark this week.) I got one of those hyper-focus bugs and fervently searched online for the lyrics to my cd. After messing around with finding one song here or there, I FINALLY hit the jackpot! I found the group’s actual website which had the lyrics to every song on the cd! So I pasted them all into a word-esque document (which was a lot harder and more time consuming than it should have been! Whatever we have on our computer is NOT what I’m used to working with!) and finally went up to bed just about when Josh was needing to get up (around 4-430)! Then this morning after the kids got me up I came back to the computer and copied my cd into my media library so now I can listen to it and read the words at the same time! Only right now my brain is too tired to do it.
I now remember why for nigh a decade I have shyed away from Panchero’s mexican grill. (Mexican is lowercase on their logo, not ’cause I didn’t know better ) I don’t like it. It’s just not what I’ve come to love and expect in a burrito. And Kate, since I know exactly what you are going to comment about, I preemptively strike you by saying ONCE AGAIN, that I am sorry and I guarantee that I would rather sit in a hospital with you than go to Pancheros again. I’m sorry we lost that moment, but look how far we’ve come since then.
I was at Hy-Vee with all the kids (’cause you know, I’m INSANE like that!) when Josh called. He was working a quick haircut into his lunch hour and, though he remembered the coupon, he forgot the debit card! So I shuttled over to Fantastic Sam’s and parked and waited. I had been under the impression that he was nearly finished, but that must not have been the case. I waited quite some time and the kids seemed to get louder and louder despite my calls for quiet. I zoned out as I was trying to turn my ears off and it occured to me that I hadn’t eaten anything since my banana at 8:30am. It was now past 2:30pm. When I “came to” I focused in on the Panchero’s right next to Fantastic Sam’s in the strip mall. (Ankeny is way full of strip malls!) And suddenly that sounded so good. So when Josh finally emerged, hair newly coiffed (and in pieces ALL over his forehead!) I paid his bill and then he sat with the kids while I ran in for a burrito. Now he had to get back to work, so I didn’t have time to eat my monster burrito until getting it home, so there was a bit of anticipation–or, nervousness. In truth, what I ordered could have been a cold mess. Although, based on their available ingredients, it could have been way worse. It’s palatable. But not exactly good, and certainly not worth paying for. I’m eating it right now, and I think my favorite part about it was watching the lady press the tortilla. Oh, and the Mr. Pibb is good.
You know, that time when you have a really really crappy day at home, one so bad that you develop a headache that keeps you up at night. And then while you’re laying there trying desperately to fall asleep–mostly just so you won’t feel your head anymore, your mind goes all Dickens and starts working one of those awful yet inspiring guilt numbers on you about how your time on this Earth is limited and you don’t know when it’ll be up. You know, like “A Christmas Carol” without all the spirited visitors (then you have that brief moment of panic where you check in with as many of your vitals as you can to make sure that THIS is not your moment of expiration!) Then as your panic settles you start working on your new resolutions: I want my family to know how much I love them and how special they are to me. I will not yell at my kids. I will kiss my spouse. I will be more actively involved. I will clear up the clutter that is bogging me down and I will live proactively. This is my life, it’s up to me to make it worth something. If I’m so unhappy now, then I should change! And then your meds finally kick in and you drift off to sleep and have a dream that makes you very uncomfortable but shows you that you can live through some awfully uncomfortable situations so when you wake up you feel kicked in the butt and ready to share your revelations! You try sqeezing the new ideas into your children–trying to explain to them while giving them hugs as though you never held them before and you have to make up for it. Of course after several minutes they start to roll their eyes and arch their backs and try to get away to play.
Anyway, I’m not dead yet, and I’m going to try to start LIVING again. (and LOVING.) There may be some awkward moments to get through in order to make some progress, but things won’t just get better on their own. So here I go…
Today is Chris Wheeler’s BIRTHDAY!!!!! And now he is old just like the rest of us Unfortunately we are not able to actually be with you to celebrate today, but we are definately with you in spirit and hope that you are having a fabu day! We look forward to some fun with you next weekend! (You should TOTALLY bring Singstar!!!)
Ok, my blog is not going to become a political forum–I am the first to admit that I should be the last person people listen to about our party politics. But I do feel slightly compelled to explain just a little bit about my last post. First of all, it was posted in a rash and heated manner and I would like to apologize for apparently offending my husband causing him to offend me because I did NOT remember what he was referencing and then putting it all out here for all of you which may have embarrassed him and made you all uncomfortable as well especially since you were given no context. You see, Josh and I were raised on opposite sides of the political fence so to speak. It’s not generally a huge issue in our relationship because we tend to agree on (or avoid) most issues, but it can make interacting with in-laws…interesting. Election years are always worse. I believe that Josh and I are both registered as “Independants” or undecided or whatever. But when issues do get raised, at least the initial reaction is for Josh to lean toward the side of his upbringing, and I, to mine. And at this point you may have realized that if we bother to get into a quarrel, the exchanges can get pretty ridiculous.
For my Republican readers, do you all think that all “dog-whackers” (people who apparently have sex with dogs) are Democrats?
For my Democrat readers, do any of you have sex with or condone the act of humans having sex with dogs?
Don’t ask me where this is coming from. It’s a long story.
We had a nice long holiday weekend. After celebrating Elena’s birthday on Tuesday, I spent Wednesday doing laundry and packing everyone for our trip to the east coast (east coast of Iowa that is). We left that afternoon and arrived at the Wheelers. Kate and I took the kids outside to play frisbee and we let Josh and Chris go to “cheap sushi night.” Thursday morning we packed up again and continued on to Muscatine. We dropped the kids off at my folks’ and they immediately began to run around with the new neighbor kids (a new family has just moved in next to my parents. The father of the family is someone that Josh and my sister went to school with–he and his wife now have three children very close to the ages of our younger three, in fact, their oldest daughter and our Elise have the same birthday and now claim to be twins!) while Josh and I kept our lunch date to meet Danaka, Becky & her husband Steve–it was Steve’s first time in Muscatine so naturally we had Peking. We spent the afternoon visiting with our friends (and Steve PROMISED to send me copies of the pictures that we took since I couldn’t find my camera which I had packed just for the occasion and of course found the moment they all left!) Friday (the 4th!), I woke up at 6 not feeling terribly well so I went back to sleep for a few more hours. I admit that even after getting up and going, I don’t really remember what we did until it was time to go to the parade. Elena and I rode on the trolley with the Wheelers and the Democrats (who had obtained the trolley’s services for the parade) and Josh took the older kids to watch the parade until the trolley passed by and they hopped onboard with the rest of us. After the parade, we had dinner with my folks, topped off with strawberry shortcake and ice cream in honor of Josh’s graduation and Elena’s birthday. Then it was time to head downtown for the fireworks. Typical Muscatine display I’d say. I got pretty good parking and Cameron and I opted to sit in the van while the others walked down to the riverfront. As it turns out, I had a better view than Josh ended up with. So I took a few pics. 
This shows my vantage point. 
And Cameron’s 
After the fireworks we went back to Coralville and stayed with the Wheelers. Saturday morning we had a brunch (of sorts) with more friends Drew and wife Erin, and the boys watched the Nathan’s Famous 4th of July hot dog eating contest (yuk!!!) then Kate and I sent Josh and Chris on a guys’ night out to celebrate for Josh’s finishing classes and Chris’ birthday. They went to Ruby Tuesday’s and saw “Get Smart.” I crashed soon after they got back home, but then woke up again later to Josh watching “I Legend.” I couldn’t sleep through it once I was up even though I tried, so although I didn’t actually see much of it, I can tell you from what I heard that I didn’t like it. Sunday morning we packed up again and took our kids to “Wayne’s” or Dairy Mart for a little lunch and ice cream treat before continuing on to Wayland for a visit with my grandparents. 
Grandpa taught us the nut-cracking secrets of 90-year-old men, and Grandma made us some pink lemonade. We had a very nice visit and the kids were fairly well behaved. We stayed later than we had originally intended and so we had to rush off somewhat abruptly to get back to Coralville where Kate and her kids were waiting patiently for us to pick them up and bring them home with us for a few days this week! 