Let Me Explain. No, There Is Too Much. Let Me Sum Up.

It's been a long while since I have posted, unless you count my last post about something that happened a year ago. We've actually done a lot since the Piece of Cake incident.

First, we returned to live in the United States. It's been an interesting six months full of football, school, driving all over town, family, holidays, vacations, and adjustments. If someone would have told me that I would be just as culture shocked moving back to the country of my birth as I had been when I arrived in Paraguay, I would have said, "Cra-zy!" But it's been an adjustment. The sheer volume of ready to eat breakfast cereal in the grocery store is ASTOUNDING! Seriously, a whole aisle devoted to sugary goodness. And that's just cereal. The driving here is generally more polite and restrained, but I am doing tons more of it, we lived in a hotel for three months, and I have two kids attending high school (which makes me feel old, which is an adjustment, but not necessarily because I am living back in the United States; it might just be that I am old). We did make a detour in Florida to visit Mickey and friends, and had a fantastic time.

Second, we have played and watched a lot of football. Chris, Sam, and Marcus all played last fall, we had approximately ten practices and three games each week. I love football!

Chris's football injury.

Sam is out there, I promise.

At the championship game.

Third, school. I mentioned the two kids in high school; my other two are in elementary school at the Open Classroom: ocslc.org. We love school (right boys?) and especially love that we are back to attending with cousins and friends. I get to spend two mornings a week with the younger two boys, and we stay busy driving from school to school to school to home. Noah is going to the McKee Language School, http://www.mckeeschool.com/, to keep up with his Spanish skills. It's been a challenging year for me because kindergarten is half-day in the morning, and then Spanish in the afternoon. I get to eat school lunch with him, then drive him to Spanish. I love kindergarten, but I am looking forward to having all the kids at school, all day long.

Reading.

Finally, the house. I'm not happy about the house right now. I think I'm going to live out of the moving boxes forever and ever. I don't want to unpack, I have put it off since the end of October, and now I am used to the chaos. I'm not used to the chaos; I don't want to deal with the chaos. My one New Year's resolution is to get the house in some sort of order. Fortunately, I have 10-plus, months to worry about it.

There's more, but it's all details: field trips, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, birthdays, I ran a marathon, my sister had her first baby, and vacation. Oh, and Kevin working (living) in Mexico City since October. But details, right?

At Great Salt Lake. Salt is bad!

Corn maze!

Charizard.

Baby Oliver.

Christmas morning.

On the road to Hana, Hawaii.

Punta del Este

An entire year ago we visited Punta del Este, Uruguay. We hung out at the beach, got sunburned (wearing sunscreen, strong sun), saw a fun Carnaval parade, and had a generally fantastic time (if you like, you can ask Sam about the cute and tiny jellyfish, as a rebuttal to the fantastic time statement).



Hanging out on the giant hand in the sand.


These boys LOVE the ocean!

Having Your Cake

Yesterday when we were packing, I asked Noah to come and help me with his toys. He refused, and told me it would be boring. I told him to just come and help me, it will be a piece of cake. He said, "Yeah, a really hard one, that you have to cut with a saw."

More Noah

Noah went to play at his friend's house. When I went to pick him up he told my that he played with a cool puzzle, and could I buy him one, please. I asked him where his friend got it. He said, "On the internet." I said okay, I will asked his mom and find out which website. Noah said to me, "I think you just type www.coolpuzzles.com. I'm sure they sell them there."

Wrong. Just, wrong.

For all of you who need a laugh today, read this:

http://kryptonsgirl.blogspot.com/2009/04/goinggreen.html

If You Would Have Been Thinking, You Wouldn't Have Thought That.

I have been thinking. And reading blogs. And wasting time, in general. But back to the blog reading, I often read a blog called Diet Cake. It's full of humor, fun, and great tips for healthy eating. You should check it out (side note: I'm sure that all three of you reading this already check it out. I’m just giving credit and all that). Anyway, one or two of the posts I read a while back (months, actually) have had me thinking. The posts are about making plans to achieve health and weight loss goals, and contain a quotation from Anderson Cooper that states, "Hope is not a plan." What I got out of reading these posts is this: no matter what I do, I will never accomplish anything unless I move past the "I hope" stage and actually do something: Make a Plan.

Okay, a small admission, I am actually good about making plans. I have plans. I have life plans, plans for my children, and plans to lose weight. I like to plan, think about the plan, and spend a little more time thinking about the plan. What I lack is the actual doing part of the plan. I'm truly going to work on the doing part of my efforts for my 2009 resolution. I am, honestly. After I think about it for a little while.

However, my point today is this: wouldn't it be fantastic if you could actually think or your plans into reality? I could think myself healthy, strong, and wealthy, not living in Paraguay, organized, clean, and the mother of four perfectly perfect children. Also, I would have beautiful, flowing, artistic-looking, and legible handwriting, be able to run an eight minute mile for more than three miles, and cook delicious, nutritious meals every night. And then, all that thinking and time wasting I've been doing lately would really pay off.

You Keep Using That Word. I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means.

Last week Noah and my nephew, Bennett stayed with me while the rest of the boys stayed with my brother and sister-in-law. I was having a lazy morning, reading in bed, when I overheard this conversation:

Bennett: “What was that noise?” after the furnace had kicked on. “Was it wain?”

Noah: “Do you mean Wayne, my mom’s dad?”

Bennett: “You mean Grandpa?”

Noah: “Yeah.”

Bennett: “No, you know the stuff that falls from the sky?”

Noah: “Oh, you mean wain.”

Funny, funny boys. They were great to have with me for the day. I was highly entertained.