I Miss Him When He's Gone

Jeremy had a shorter trip recently. He was gone for only a few days and was only a state away.

I still miss him when he's gone but I'm happy when he comes home. I love him so much.

While he was at this fair convention, he built a one man band out of balloons. It was based on a real entertainer, Eric Haines. Eric's website is funmanband.com 

He wasn't at the convention but so many people were sending him pictures of the balloon sculpture before Jeremy could even send him one. Jeremy had talked to him in advance about basing a balloon sculpture on him. This is one of the pictures Eric sent to Jeremy to use as a reference picture.

 

Isn't that so cool? Eric really liked the balloon sculpture. 

Along with the one man band, Jeremy built a few animals following him. I can't get over how much I love the cow. 

The chicken is dancing- it turns on a turn table.

I do love seeing what my husband creates. That's Balloon Guy Entertainment. He is so awesome. 

Superheroes

Jet declared himself a superhero one day so I let him know he was "Awesome Kid." Since he was awesome kid, I told him I was "Super Mom." So we went around like this for a while.

Jet: Awesome Kid!

Me: and Super Mom!

Jet: Awesome Kid!

Me: and Super Mom!

Lazy(?) Mom's Day

Last year, I had a glorious Lazy Mom's Day. Jet and I went juggling up Nebo Loop. Someone else took care of dinner. What a nice day off.

This year I had plans for Lazy Mom's Day on September 3. I was going to have another day off with my baby. Well, wouldn't you know it, with school starting this year lots of people are getting sick so I had a child home from school that day.

So when Jeremy texted me later in the day to tell me I needed to celebrate somehow, I responded, "I did celebrate. I did dishes, fed people, took people to and from school and bus, put away laundry, gave baby a nap, picked up library items, etc. etc. etc. What more do you expect from a lazy mom. Actually now I am resting. I'm tired."

So after I made dinner for the kids, Jeremy brought me home a Winco salad so I could really relax at the end of the day. 

That salad really hit the spot. Have I mentioned my husband is awesome?

My Husband is Awesome

I love my husband. I love that he is the father of our children. My husband is awesome and the kids didn't even write "my husband is awesome." I did. Sometimes they will randomly write that sentence when I've stepped away from the blog. Most of the time I leave it in unless the sentence doesn't fit with what I'm talking about in that spot in the post.

Here are some of the ways my husband, their father, was awesome on Father's Day this year.

He took us all to church and taught his Primary class.

He requested a salad bar for dinner that day and he cut up a lot of the vegetables himself.

He was pleased with his gift (The Book of Mormon on CDs so he can listen to it in the car) and the many layers of wrapping paper (one layer decorated by each child).

He also liked the flower in vase picture Lucky made for him (like Lucky made for me for Mother's Day except my vase didn't have a mustache on it).

He played Breath of the Wild so the kids could watch him. They love watching him play The Legend of Zelda games.

My husband is awesome.

Spring Break- Monday and Tuesday

For Spring Break I explained to the kids that we can do cleaning in the morning, get some outside time in the afternoon, and watch a movie in the evening. Simple enough, right? Um... yeah. Sure.

When dealing with multiple people who have their own interests or ways of doing things and weather that doesn't always cooperate and a mom who wants to fit holiday celebrating into the activities, sometimes things don't go exactly right. The kids and I planned out our week and... we adapted.

So this is the fun we did have on Monday and Tuesday (because I'm guessing you don't care as much about what cleaning we did):

Monday, the kids and I went for a drive. While we drove, Jr. had us play a game. One person calls out a word on a sign (since we were in the middle of the city for a while, it worked out). Whatever letter that word ends in, another person calls out a word they see on a sign that begins with that letter. You can't call out two words in a row, you have to wait until someone else finds a word before you can do it again. It was pretty fun until we reached "DQ." We were not on a road with a Quick Quack Car Wash, which would have made it simple, so we had to wait until after our outing to continue the game when we did pass a Quick Quack Car Wash on the way home. 

Our outing? We drove up to Big Springs Park and played frisbee. We had "Daddy" there with us as well as Flat Stanley who came home with Lucky for Spring Break.

After we got home we did get to watch a movie. 

Since April 5 was Gold Star Spouse's Day, I printed out a gold star to put on Jeremy's shirt when he got home. 

He is a most terrific spouse. When I'm in the middle of writing a blog post, if I step away (which often happens- Mom, here), some of my kids will sometimes come in and add "My husband is awesome." See, they know it. Sometimes I leave it in. Sometimes I take it out (my husband is still awesome, though) if it really doesn't fit what I was writing right then. So if you're reading my blog and a random "My husband is awesome" is in a blog post, my kids probably wrote it and it's true.

I didn't realize it but while I was making dinner that night, Jr. came up and put a gold star on my back. Aww. What a sweetie.

Tuesday, it snowed. We didn't get out like we planned. I did make a quick trip to the Provo Library to pick up some things that were being held for us. April 6 was Library Workers Day. See my post from March 25 of this year to read my opinion on library workers.

April 6 was also National Carbonara Day. I did make carbornara with French bread on the side.

That evening we colored hard boiled eggs with crayons.

April 6 was also the anniversary of the invention of the Twinkie but I totally forgot to get out the Twinkies to celebrate.

"And I've Never Been to Boston in the Fall"

International Talk Like a Pirate Day, September 19.

5th year in a row of going to Thanksgiving Point to hand out balloon swords to kids who talk like a pirate to us.  This year we went to the Museum of Ancient Life again.
This year, Jeremy did the costume a little bit different.  He didn't make it to fit himself.  He didn't make it to fit me.  He made it to fit Lucky.  When given the option, Lucky was sooooooo excited about the idea of wearing the costume.  Jeremy based the costume on Pa Grape, one of "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" from "VeggieTales."

Since Lucky's three, Jeremy built the costume so it was easy to get on and off.  If Lucky got tired of hopping around (he knew that veggies don't have feet), he could slip out of the bottom of the costume.  Every time he saw someone coming, though, he would slide back in and hop toward them.

I think he had a good time.  He did need a couple breaks where I took him into the actual museum part of the museum not just the lobby.  The pirate costume was able to stand up even without someone in it.  Yeah, my husband is awesome to build it like that.

After Thanksgiving Point, we headed down to the Orem Library.  Jeremy read Lucky a few books... while he was wearing the costume.  So cute.  It was only a little disturbing while Lucky picked out the books and put them back.  He stuck his hand out the middle of Pa Grape's face.  Jeremy had built the costume so Lucky could see out a hole in the face but which wasn't noticeable to people looking at the costume from the outside.  Have I mentioned my husband is awesome?

This year also marked the first year Jr. Jr. did not accompany us since he has all day school now, not just half day.  We also didn't pick the kids up from school with the costume.  Since some kids can't help but poke and pull balloons (4 years of balloon costume experience talking), we thought it might not be safe for our little guy to wear the costume for that.  Some traditions stay the same, some change.

We forgot about getting donuts which has also become tradition.  We stopped going to Krispy Kreme a few years ago to get free donuts since it took too long, so we've just been buying donuts the last few years.  This year Krispy Kreme didn't do the free donut thing for Talk Like a Pirate Day anyway.
While Nichole and Jr. were at mutual and scouts, Jeremy got some donuts so we had donuts before bed.  I didn't take a picture.

Between piratey costuming and scouts and mutual, we went to dinner at a friends' house.  The dad in this particular family does carving.  One of the things he carves is the inside of golf balls.  Did you know the inside of golf balls could be carved?  Cool, right?  Because of the holiday, he gave us a pirate he carved and painted.  It's so cool.

So it was a good Talk Like a Pirate Day.  We did so much that day, which is not surprising.  We're pretty busy people... as you know because I keep telling you.

What did you do for International Talk Like a Pirate Day this year?

Happy Birthday to Awesome!

Now that's talent!

Happy 396 Months!