The Great Flood and the 4th of July

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The Flood

We had quite the adventure last month when our basement flooded because of a broken sprinkler pipe. About 2:00 in the afternoon Libby came upstairs and said, “Mom, there’s something you should see in the basement.”  She was not overly concerned and so I was not overly concerned.  I was busy working on something and I am what my husband calls “Stair Lazy” so I just said “Can you just tell me what it is, please?” She couldn’t describe it and so Levi went down to check it out.  He came running back upstairs yelling, “There’s water coming into the basement!!!”  Well that got my stair lazy self down to the basement real quick.  Sure enough, our window well was filling up with water and gushing through the window.  The same window sill where our TV, DVD player and Wii sit.  The same window that sits above all my thousands of picture books. I ran out to Rock’s office (this was one of those times when I am very very grateful he works from home) to get his help and then ran back downstairs yelling orders to the kids.  “Bring towels!” When they brought me one towel: “ALL the towels, not just ONE!” I ripped the tv and all the other electrical equipment off the windowsill and stuffed towels in to stop the water.

After finding Lake Hymas in our back yard, Rock turned off the water, jumped in the window well and started bailing water with the “help” of the boys. Honestly the most work during this whole process was getting the kids to move quickly.  They were too awestruck by the water gushing everywhere. Luckily the water in the window well receded pretty quickly and we only had water about a foot into the basement carpeting.  Our neighbor has had this happen four times! and each time it has gotten the entire room wet. We were very lucky.   We pulled the carpet back and blew fans on it for a week.  Even though our DVD player and wii were practically swimming on the window sill, they were miraculously not damaged.  The only real damage was to my beloved books.

This is what your patio looks like after a flood when you were once a school teacher who owns half a library’s worth of books.

Two days later I went downstairs to check on the carpet and found a puddle in front of my basement fridge.  The old beast had finally bit the dust.  This time instead of running towels down the stairs we were running food up the stairs.  I was not too sad about this one because it meant I could finally replace the main fridge in the kitchen with one I actually want!

Two days after that, I found a puddle of water next to our master bedroom toilet.  Call the Plumber!

So all in about a week’s time we had to have the sprinkler guys, the appliance repairman AND the plumber out to our house.  I’m sure the neighbors thought we were remodeling.  Sigh.  Nope.
Bad things come in three’s, right?



The 4th of July

We had a great 4th of July visiting family and celebrating our freedom.

Twins!  Bought these shirts at Ford’s Theatre in D.C.

Two cute little Wesels

One cute little Hymas
And one festive front porch
God Bless America!

Cade Goes to Washington D.C. Day 3 & 4

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Wednesday morning we woke up to reports that congressmen had been shot at a baseball practice in the same town as our hotel!  We decided not to be afraid and headed out into the city anyway.  We did a mad dash through the Smithsonian Natural History Museum and a slightly less mad dash through the American History Museum. 

These beautiful gems were a highlight for everyone.
The Logan Sapphire is the 2nd largest blue sapphire in the world.  It is 2 1/2 inches long and 1 3/4 inches wide.  423 carats!!!
The Burmese Ruby and Diamond Bracelet
We saw the Hope Diamond too but honestly it was not that exciting in the museum.
This picture I found online actually makes it look pretty, don’t you agree, Alli?
The American History Museum is full of artifacts from our history.  Here are just a few I liked:

Indiana Jones hat and whip
To remind you why these are significant at our house see here:

The hat Lincoln wore the night he was shot

The Presidents section was very cool. 
But I was shocked to find the exhibit of the First Ladys’ gowns was also really cool.  They had one from every first lady.
Martha Washington
Mary Lincoln
They even had a sun stone from the Nauvoo Temple!

I wish we had been able to spend more time in the Smithsonians, but we had a tour scheduled at Ford’s Theatre we did not want to miss.

Took this picture in the middle of Pennsylvania Ave. on our walk.
This one is much better and a lot closer.
Ford’s Theatre was one of my favorite things on this trip. I’ve always been fascinated with the story of this place.  Our tour guide was amazing and made the whole story come alive.  Cade and Alli loved it too.  My pictures were terrible so here are some better ones.

It was fascinating to see the door Booth used to get into the box.  And to walk up the very stairs they carried Lincoln down after he was shot.

Such a tiny gun to kill such a great man.  They have this on display there.
Across the street is the Peterson House where Lincoln actually died.  This is said to be the most accurate drawing of that night.
Alli and I were a little disappointed we did not get to see the blood stained pillow he died on, but in writing this blog post I discovered that it WAS there!!!  It just wasn’t in the room with the bed and so we missed it somehow.  So here ya go, Alli.  
As you walk out of the Peterson House you go down this winding staircase.
Can you guess what the books are about?
All the books ever written about Lincoln!  The sheer volume is mind boggling.

After Ford’s Theatre, Alli decided to hit the Smithsonians some more while the rest of us went to the Nationals baseball game.  I was not very excited about this event beforehand, but it was actually pretty fun!  The subway was a sea of red-people dressed up for the game.  The Nationals are my kind of baseball team.  It’s all about America, lots of national pride goin on. The mascot is a bald eagle and they have the “Running President’s Race” every game starring these American presidents:
And everything is red, white and blue!
   

 These cute ladies sat in front of us.  I just had to take a picture.  

They were giving out free tank tops at the game and Cade, who was sure he would die from the heat and humidity in D.C. put his on right away.  This boy, who LOVES baseball, was determined to stay for the entire game.  The moms were not too keen on that idea.  We were fine giving everyone a taste of the game, but baseball is a very long game and we didn’t want to deal with drunk crowds at the end. I was gearing up for a fight with Cade about it, but the sun did my fighting for me.  For a few hours it was cool and pleasant where we were sitting, but then the sun moved and it got really hot again. All the kids were happy to leave before the end of the game thanks to the heat.
I never did hear if the Nationals won or not.  That’s how into baseball I am.  But with a team like that, I could maybe convert.  It was fun to experience the great American pastime with so much patriotism.
On our last day in D.C. we went to the National History Day Award Ceremony. This was THREE HOURS LONG!  But seeing as how I’d missed the first two award ceremonies here in Idaho, I suffered through this one in silence.  Idaho didn’t win any awards, but it was exciting and tense for the boys to wait and hope.  They all handled the loss very gracefully.  And were thrilled to have just gotten the chance to compete.  The highlight of the award ceremony was the parade at the beginning where all the kids marched around the floor of the auditorium.  Cade was even on the jumbotron!

Our flight home that afternoon was pretty uneventful, though we did have to run very fast to make our connection in Phoenix.  The kids all enjoyed the moving walkways and I have to admit they came in handy as we were running for our lives down the terminals.
A few last general thoughts and details about the trip.  
The subway was so much easier to tackle for Alli and I with our experience in the New York City subways.  However, there was one entrance that always gave everyone trouble.  The card reader was so finicky that every single one of us had trouble at some point and the big black dude with the yellow vest sitting in the booth would have to come out and tell us we were doing it wrong.  I made the mistake of teasing him about his faulty turn style before I had any trouble myself.  And sure enough the next time we came through he was there and I had trouble.  We got into a little face off that I think made the other moms a little nervous.  I was just joking around and he was too… I think.  
The subways and crowds did freak the other moms out quite a bit, however.  They both had a younger child in addition to their middle schooler and were worried about getting separated.  They made me look like the “Free Range Kid Mom” in comparison. I don’t know whether Cade remembered the subways at all from NYC but he sure wanted to lead out everywhere we went, above and below ground. His need for freedom, his hubris, and his lack of skill was disconcerting to all of the adults and in an attempt to keep the other moms calm I started sounding like a broken record, “Slow down!”, “Stay with the group!”  He thought he was old enough not to have to stay with mommy.  I would be sugar coating this blog post if I said that did not cause lots of arguing between mother and son and sometimes even nephew and aunt.  But in our defense, this is the same kid who at five years old had an assigned adult every time we went into NYC whose only job was to keep track of him. He tends toward the oblivious.  
We never did make it to the Jefferson Memorial.  We tried several times but were just too hot or too tired.  I even bought a bag of peanut butter M & M’s so I could leave them on the steps of the Jefferson for Cade to find and eat just like he did the first time we went there when he was five or six. Back then he caused quite the freak out by eating a peanut M & M off the steps when he was supposedly allergic to peanuts.  We have found out since that he is not allergic and I thought it would be a fun joke.  Well, the US Capitol security guards did not find my little joke cute and they confiscated my M & M’s.  NO FOOD ALLOWED.  Those dumb candies cost me almost $5.00 in the hotel gift store!!!  Sigh.  
And that, was D.C.  I think Cade had a good time despite his mother making him pose in front of every monument for a picture.  Oh, and despite the fact that I wouldn’t leave him at the Nationals game-alone- and let him find his way back to our hotel an hour away. Life is rough as a kid. Especially when you get to go to Washington D.C.

Cade Goes to Washington Day 2

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First thing Tuesday morning we headed to Arlington National Cemetery.  
It was the hottest day of our trip so we opted for a drive on the tram rather than walking the whole cemetery.  It is a beautiful, sacred place and I learned a lot.  For instance, I had no idea that Arlington was once Robert E. Lee’s family property.  When the war began he fled south after refusing the generalship for the Northern Army.  The North then confiscated his property for unpaid taxes of less than 100.00!  They buried their dead there so that Lee couldn’t ever return to his home.  So Sad!!!
The Lee Home
This is the view of Washington from the Lee Home.  John F. Kennedy loved this spot so much his wife had him buried at the bottom of this hill.
We were able to see the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier.  
Very Cool. 

These soldiers stand guard 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.  You’ll see in the video how little they move as they walk. Someone told us that in a snow storm they get at least a foot of snow on top of their hats! 
The changing of the guard.  Watch till the end cause it’s pretty cool how close we were.
An amphitheater near the tomb.
No.  He’s not taller..yet.

Love this one of Alli.  I’m so glad she came with us.  She kept me sane when things got difficult.

   

After Arlington we headed to the National Air and Space Museum.  This was a highlight for Cade.

The boys from LSMS

The original Wright Brothers Kitty Hawk air plane was the ONLY thing Cade asked me to take his picture in front of the entire trip.  He really thought this was cool.  He loved seeing all the space ships, shuttles and NASA stuff.  As of right now he wants to be an aerospace engineer.  
While killing time waiting to see the monuments at night we made a very happy discovery for all three of us.  SHAKE SHACK!!!!!!!  Our favorite place to eat in all of New York City was in D.C.!!!  I think we ate here at least 3 times in 5 days.  🙂  Ahhh.  Heaven.  And the best part was there was no line! You have to wait 40+ minutes in NYC but the people of D.C. must not be aware of how amazing their shakes are yet.   

The monuments at night were worth the wait.  However if you ever go to D.C, don’t go with Alli or I because the reflecting pool will be empty if you do.  That’s right.  The last time she and I went to D.C. in 2011 it was empty for reconstruction.  😦  We were so looking forward to seeing it full this time. Monday of THIS trip, the pool was full.  And you’ll remember that we almost made it there, but the kids were too tired so we stopped.  But Tuesday morning when we woke up and checked the weather report we found a notice that said 80 ducklings had died the night before in some kind of freak algae growing in the pool in the extreme heat.  So they drained the pool!!!  I hoped all day the report was wrong, but it was not.  By the time we got there that night it was almost empty.  Not quite, though. There was a little bit of water in the very middle and if you took your picture just right you could get a reflection.  I’m going to blame Alli.  Our air conditioning always breaks when she stays at our house.  I think there’s a connection.

Cade ‘n’ Abe

I think being in this big room inside the monument was the hottest/sweatiest I have EVER been in my life. If you look closely, my skin is actually melting off of me.  But Abe is always worth it.  
I just finished reading Team of Rivals and I absolutely LOVE this great man. His monument is my favorite.

Last picture of the night.  World War II and Washington.
Stay tuned for our dash through the American History Museum and Natural History Museum, our tour of Ford’s Theater and the Nationals Baseball game.

Cade Goes to Washington D.C. Day 1

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Finally the trip you’ve all been waiting to see!  Our trip to Washington D.C. for the National History Day Competition.  To sum it up in just a few words; It was Hot.  It was Humid. And it was Hard Work (lots and lots and lots of walking). But it was Awesome.

Here’s another shot of the medal winner and his snazzy medal.
First day in D.C.
We made this big trip with the other two boys who made the NHD website with Cade and their moms.  Here are the boys just after their website was judged at the University of Maryland.
They had the very first time slot for judging so they got the hard part out of the way and had the rest of the time up until the award ceremony on Thursday to sight see.  
First stop-the Capital
 They still have these in the lobby!
“Hey kids, these are telephone booths!”  “What’s a telephone booth?”
Waiting for the tour at our Representative’s office

Cade’s NHD project last year was on Apollo 13 so we had to get a picture.

The stairway a President Elect walks down to be inaugurated.

Paintings in the rotunda
The Senate Chamber
The highlight of the capital tour was getting to visit the Senate Chamber while the senate was in session.  We got to hear Chuck Schumer (who I heartily disagree with on almost every issue) blathering on about the evil Republicans new healthcare bill.  Ordinarily I do not enjoy listening to what this man has to say but it was REALLY awesome to to hear a senator speaking in the chamber especially because I disagreed with him!

This giant lady is the statue on top of the capital.  She is HUGE!!!

One interesting fact we learned on our tour that I did not know is that in the days right after 9/11 we thought the white house was the other target in D.C. but since then intelligence has proven that it was actually the capital building that was the other target.  Congress was in session and it would have been a tremendous loss of life and leaders had they succeeded.  They have a plaque up in the capital to honor those who stopped that from happening on flight 93.  I continue to be amazed and moved by the acts of heroism from that horrific day.  So grateful for those who sacrificed.
After the capital we headed down the mall.

The Washington Monument was closed when we took the kids six years ago and it is STILL closed.  It is now closed indefinitely due to safety issues with the elevator.  So Sad.I remember going up to the top as a girl with my dad.  I wonder if he does? 
If you look hard you can see the capital in the distance.

WW II Memorial

By the end of this first day we were all exhausted. We were going to hit the Lincoln Memorial next but the kids were done.   It had been a long, hot day.  So we headed home. The eighteen hour traveling day the previous day had really done us in.  
These two cuties looked like we all felt.  Too bad we couldn’t all sleep like that.
Stay tuned for Day 2-Arlington Cemetery, the Air and Space Museum and the Monuments at night!

May Madness

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As you all know, the end of the school year is full of lots of activities.  Thanks to Girl’s camp planning and my trip to D.C. with Cade I have not been able to blog about them, so I will start there today.

Three Recitals and a Race

Liberty’s Spring Dance Recital


Dad’s are SO ridiculous, don’t you agree?
The Performance

Levi’s Pinewood Derby
The Race

Cade’s Piano Recital
Reagan’s Cello Recital
And…..The Last Day of School! 

Mr. Hymas is Going to Washington and He’s Taking the Camp Director with Him

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I love history, especially US history.  As evidence of this I submit to the court
Exhibit A. The very first book I ever bought from the Scholastic book order was a book about Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. I was 9.  Morbid, I know.
Exhibit B. My roommates found me reading a book called “We Hold These Truths” by Mortimer Adler when I was a freshman in college and were dumbstruck when they found out I was reading it for fun.
Exhibit C. I taught my 1st and 3rd grade children everything I could cram into their heads about US history during the years we homeschooled in New Jersey and then took them to every sight I could get them to. When it was time to visit Washington D.C. and Philadelphia I crammed as much constitutional history into their heads as I could.  I made them memorize the Declaration of Independence and the Preamble to the constitution.  I was one proud mama when my two boys could answer all the questions the tour guide asked when we visited Constitution Hall in Philadelphia. When they wouldn’t let me take pictures of my boys in front of the Constitution and Declaration at the National Archives I seriously considered life in prison and the ruination of said documents by flash photography just to get the photo.
Exhibit D.  I am on my fourth time through all seven seasons of West Wing.
Exhibit E. I convinced my husband to let me name our one and only daughter Liberty.

Image result for mr. smith goes to washington

Lastly, Exhibit F. It should come as no surprise that Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is one of my all time favorite movies. I showed it to my boys way back when they were little and of course it didn’t mean much to them at all.  Needless to say, I have been waiting for the day when I could take the boys back to D.C. when they were old enough to really get it and appreciate it.  It’s an expensive trip and one I didn’t think would happen for a while yet, if it happened at all.

So imagine my surprise and delight when Cade and his two friends won 2nd place in the State National History Day competition and they get to go on to Washington DC to compete in the national competition. Woohoo! Pretty Darn Awesome!  I was not at the awards ceremony that day and was waiting to hear how they’d done when I got a text from Cade that just said, “Wegoin2DC!!!” Not even two seconds later I got a text from Rock, who was with Cade, that said, “Oh Boy”.
Here is the link to the boys’ website  Cecil D. Andrus: The Stand Against Nuclear Waste Storage

He was thrilled out of his mind that it was a real medal and not plastic.  LOL

It should be a no brainer that Cade’s nerdy mother should be the one to take him to D.C. but unfortunately it was not.  In January was asked to be our ward/church’s Girl’s Camp director.  This is a huge job even when you know the girls you are going to be working with, have spent a decent amount of time in Young Women’s and have gone to Girl’s Camp some time in the last 25 years.  I fit none of that criteria.  But this has turned out to be one of the best callings I’ve ever had.  The inspiration has flowed, the relationships have blossomed and I LOVE this job that many women run from. Where’s the dilemma you ask?  Girl’s Camp is the SAME week as Cade’s trip.  Out of an entire summer it has to be the same week?!  I was torn.

So, I prayed about it and the answer came immediately, before I was even done speaking my prayer. I was reminded that I have been praying the last few months for a way to connect with my Caderade, who is in that tough tween stage.
This was it.

After that, the decision was easy. I’m a mother forever but a camp director for just a few months.  And even though I have put a ton of thought and work into girl’s camp and it breaks my heart not to see it all come together, I’m going to D.C. with Cade for this incredible opportunity.

Mr. Hymas is going to Washington and he’s taking the camp director with him!

The Niagara Falls of the West and the Scenic Byway That Wasn’t

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Our Spring Break this year was pretty dull as breaks go, (no broken bones, for example) but we did take a day trip to see Shoshone Falls in Twin Falls, ID.  We have been to the falls before and when they claim they are “the Niagara Falls of the West” I tend to roll my eyes, having spent some time at the real deal.  But, as I told my kids, remember all that snow that sat in our yard and on our roads for what felt like months on end this winter?  Well, multiply that by a big number up in the mountains, and then melt it all, and that’s how you get the Shoshone Falls we saw last week. WOW!!! This actually did come close to at least one section of Niagara Falls.  It was truly amazing. They told us it hasn’t been this full in decades. Rock says he’s good now for a lifetime.  No need to go back, cause it will never be this good again.  My New York relatives will roll over in their graves at that jaded opinion, but to each his own I guess.
 

So here’s the proof.

If you look closely you can see Rock and Liberty waiving.
On our way to the falls we took a much lauded scenic byway and I learned something about either myself or Idaho or both. Washington’s scenic byways must have spoiled me and set the bar very high indeed, cause this “scenic byway” was pretty sad. There were a few small waterfalls and farmland, farms, more farmland and more farms. We kept checking the road signs to make sure we hadn’t taken a wrong turn, wondering what all the fuss was about.  Boy was I underwhelmed.  Now, to give Idaho some credit, a state that has the Sawtooths, the Tetons and Red Fish Lake, there must be some good scenic byways around.  We’ll have to keep looking I guess.

Valentine’s Day, Tofu, the Plague, and Visitors

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I know you are thinking, “What the heck can all those things have to do with each other.  Keep reading.

I have been seriously remiss in blogging about our wonderful Valentine’s Day date.  Rock never ceases to and impress and delight with his date ideas and it’s not just on Valentine’s day.  How many husbands do you know who take you on a date on top of your own roof to watch the sunset?  This Valentine’s Day was no different.  We went to “Paint Night” which typically is a night where you go to a restaurant or bar and drink while an artist teaches you how to paint a picture.  I can’t figure out why being drunk can help you paint better, but we skipped the drinks and just did the painting.  I have never done anything like this before and it was so fun!  And now we have a beautiful painting that we made together to put up in our house!  Love you, Rock!

The Almost Blank Canvas

He painted one side and I painted the other

The finished product!
Shortly after Valentine’s Day I drove down to Utah to go to Time Out for Women (or Tofu as Alli likes to call it.)  We had a ton of fun and Alli actually enjoyed herself!  She was skeptical but now she is a true believer!  (that was just to make you gag, Al, did it work?)  We listened to some amazing music and fantastic speakers and I got to hang out with one of my favorite people!  Scratch that, two of my favorites.  Saturday we went to dinner with Sarin too.  Olive Garden is great even two nights in a row!  I will NEVER get tired of their salad, breadsticks and Gnocci soup!   And while I was enjoying one birthday present, I found my other one!  While down in Utah I finally found the table I want!  It is ordered and on it’s way.  Thanks again to Rock for both of my fabulous presents.
Here is Alli, SUPER excited to finally have her very own TOFW bag.  Aren’t ya jealous?
The end of February was a black hole for us.  Liberty was super sick with the flu for a week and then Levi was super sick with the flu the next week and then Rock and I were sick with a cold the following week.  And that’s when Rock’s parents were planning to come visit on their way to WA.  They skipped our house on the way over to avoid our plague-like conditions, but stayed on the way back.  We were all sick and no fun, but it is always good to see them!  While we laid around sick, they managed to find a way to entertain themselves.
While my brother is off learning how to fly Black Hawk helicopters for the national guard (and getting full night’s sleep and hiking every weekend) his wife has been up to her eyeballs in nursing school. Last weekend we watched two of my nephews while Penny was working.  Though I had a pretty sleepless night the first night, all in all it was fun to have them and all the kids enjoyed themselves.  I feel bad because these pics are all of Bryce, but Lincoln didn’t stick around long enough in any one place for me to take any of him.  He was Levi’s little shadow the whole weekend.  Super cute!
We were so proud of ourselves for getting this cutie to actually eat something!  
Then the next day he wouldn’t eat another one.  Sigh.

Over the Hill

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At my Dad’s 40th surprise birthday party, I was given the assignment of putting the “hill” in front of the door for my him to step “over” as he came in the house.  For some reason it is a very vivid memory. Well I have now stepped over that proverbial hill myself.  It’s an odd feeling.  I don’t feel old.  Until I look at Tom Cruise, my teenage heartthrobs who has grown even older.  I don’t feel old…until I look in the mirror and find gray hair.  More than one of them.  I don’t feel old…until I realize I have to get a mammogram this year. I don’t feel old until… I have to listen to the Oldies stations to find 80’s and 90’s music.  I could go on.  It’s weird to “be old” but not to feel it. Nevertheless, here I am.

Rock asked me months ago what I wanted for my 40th birthday party.  I said anything but a surprise party.  So he orchestrated the best possible 40th birthday for me..  It was perfect.  Every day the week of my birthday I got a new surprise.  On Monday he and the kids surprised me by taking me to dinner. I had gotten Liberty all dressed and ready for dance, I had gotten the chicken out to thaw and they whisked me away to Red Robin.  Then Rock handed me a catalog from Ethan Allen and Cade gave me an origami table to tell me that I get a new dining room table for my present this year!

Woohoo!  Now I won’t have to worry about any of my guests falling flat on their rear ends when one of my chairs breaks.

On Tuesday I was supposed to watch my nephew for a few hours.  Instead of Penny, my two good friends Adrianne and Barbara showed up with black balloons and informed me that they were kidnapping me for the entire day!  Almost in tears I told them I couldn’t go because I was watching my nephew.  They just laughed and informed me that THEY were the nephew.  Rock had set it up weeks ago!

On Tuesday I was supposed to watch my nephew for a few hours.  Instead of my sister in law, my two good friends Adrianne and Barbara showed up bearing gifts and black balloons and informed me that they were kidnapping me for the entire day!  Almost in tears I told them I couldn’t go because I was watching my nephew.  They just laughed and said THEY were the nephew.  Rock had gotten Penny to help with the surprise weeks before!  We spent a great day eating out, furniture shopping, eating some more and then going to a movie.  I was so grateful to my friends’ husbands and families for sharing them with me for a whole day.  I know that was a sacrifice.

 These awesome balloons lasted for 3 weeks!
A card to make all my Richardson Aunts proud.

Wednesday I received two email surprises.  The first was a hilarious comic strip written by my sister, Alli, informing me that she was going to Time Out For Women with me for my birthday present.  I love TOFW or Tofu, as she likes to call it.  When Alli asked me months ago what “we” were going to do for my 40th birthday she was shocked that I hadn’t planned some momentous trip to mark the occasion.  She’s never going to let me live that down, but she graciously agreed to go to TOFW with me when Rock asked her to.  The second email was a Bed, Bath and Beyond gift card from my in-laws.  Buying stuff for my house is my favorite way to spend money!

Thursday was my birthday and my parents showed up that evening to take me to dinner.  I’m pretty sure that hasn’t happened, just me and them, since I was about two!  

Friday was dinner at Tucanos with Derek and Penny (who I share a birthday with).  That has become a tradition that I love! 

And Saturday Rock took me shopping for our new table.  He does not enjoy shopping so this was a real treat!

I had such a fabulous week.  I don’t even think I made dinner the entire week!  I really have the best husband in the world.  Thank you, Rock, for making this big milestone special in the perfect way for me.  

The Toothless Ballerina Who Loves to Party

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Liberty was busy in January.  
She lost her top two teeth:
She finished sewing the pig Reagan gave her for Christmas:
And she performed in her ballet recital.
I volunteered to help watch little ballerinas back stage this time so I got to see her having fun with her classmates.

Here is the actual performance.  She is in the front middle.

Dinner at Pizza Hut (her choice) after the show.

This girl is always planning parties.  At least once a week she writes down her plans, makes decorations and begs us to come to her party.  A few weeks ago she and Levi really got into planning one for the whole family.  Turns out, it was one of those few happy family moments that we are sometimes blessed with.  Everyone got along and had fun!  There was actual laughter!!
We played pin the tail on the bunny,
and wheelbarrow racing.

There was an animal guessing game and of course, a dance.  All her parties include a dance performance.  Many include singing and dancing.  Usually songs she has made up herself.  She assigned me as light technician this time. My job was to dim and un-dim the lights for the performance. A very complicated task that requires training.  Lift up on the dimmer switch when the music starts and push down when it ends.  I felt very important.  Oh, and food.  There is always either a treat she has made with mom or a random assortment of cereal and snack food mixed together in a Libby made Chex mix.  At the end, the party devolved into chaos when the brothers decided to have a dart gun fight.  She wasn’t very happy with that.  But what can an only girl do except… join in.
Love my party planner dancin queen.