Inside the Whine House

I don't know if my perception is off, but it seems like my kids get really whiny when Kent has been gone for a few days. It may just be that he isn't there to balance me out and my nerves get stressed more than usual. Or it may be that they miss him and they get tired of just dealing with me and not having Dad to pal around with. Either way, it's a good thing I had a class last night because I couldn't take the whining and crying anymore. I made the kids eat dinner in silence and raise their hand if they were ready to say something calmly. That was the only way I could think of to keep myself calm too.
Looking back two or three years, the first time Kent was away in Haiti for two weeks, I remember the entire second week being bad this way--and I probably didn't keep myself very calm with the kids. This time, it was only a few hours yesterday afternoon that I felt like letting the kids finish each other off while I hid under the covers. So that's improvement, right? We've really had fun together the rest of the week, and I've gotten a lot of cleaning done at night! I just have to say I am so grateful to not be a single mom. The only way I would ever be in that circumstance is if Kent died, and then at least I would have the insurance money to hire Alice from the Brady Bunch to help me out.
(I miss him!)

Adventure Tuesday

We normally take our Adventure Days on Saturdays, but I couldn't pass up a great deal: Thanksgiving Point was charging $2 for each of its attractions on Tuesdays in August. So with the proper motivation, my kids got their work done quickly after school and we headed up to Lehi for some farm fun. Sure we missed Kent, but he's living it up in Baja, Mexico this week, so I don't feel too bad.

We saw all sorts of farm animals and the kids--mine, not the goats--each got to ride a pony. I don't know the consensus on the favorite farm activity, but I thought the bunnies were awfully cute; the large, working horses were impressive; and the kids loved milking a real, live Jersey cow.

After seeing all the chickens, we felt inspired to head to Village Inn for some eggs. (The library's coupons for free kids' meals helped too.) There we are with an eight-page menu and at least that many options for the kids' menu, and four of the five of them all choose the exact same thing: funny face pancake with sausage and scrambled eggs. Those pancakes must have been funny because by the time we were passing around two pieces of pie for dessert, everyone was giggling and making "hilarious" kid jokes. I contributed with an easy one-liner that involved the word "bathroom" and it had Pink gasping for air, she was laughing so hard. I could easily be a stand-up comic if my audience were elementary-aged students. In keeping with the idea of Thanksgiving Point, I'm thankful that we had a great evening and that we came home with no "souvenirs" on our shoes!

It Can't Be!

I'm in denial that we are reaching the end of summer. Sure it's mostly dark when I get up to work in the yard now, but I've even managed to ignore the sun's late arrival each day. I guess with the first day of school today, I better start accepting that soon I'll be shoveling snow and stressing about Christmas shopping. But before it feels like Fall, we're squeezing in all the summer fun we can.

We spent Monday afternoon at Seven Peaks water park with our friends the Spadaforas and then had a late dinner eating outside at Dairy Queen. Last night we hosted a street party BBQ in an effort to mingle the non-LDS neighbors with the rest of us who see each other at Church and in our callings all week. It didn't work. Only the active ward members on our little street showed up, so then we invited the missionaries who were riding by. We did use up a good portion of the food that was left over from Kent's work picnic last Saturday, so that part was a success, as was visiting with the friends who did come. (That was a big tangent!)

Tonight, when we should have been organizing school uniforms and packing lunches, we instead stayed out late playing with friends and finishing off a HUGE watermelon. I will not give up summer without a fight!