Birthdays, Circus, Weather, blah, blah, blah

I have only just begun this post and already feel overwhelmed. I have a lot to cover and I don't know how long I get to sit here undetected!

I'm typing without my glasses on. I've worn glasses (or contacts) since the end of my 1st year of college. That's 15 years! I only take them off to sleep or shower and sometimes to swim. So I went in for a check up today and mentioned that I get headaches. My 4-year-old glasses are still a strong prescription for me. Since my dominate eye is near-sighted (the other is 20/20), the doctor recommended taking my glasses off for computer use and reading. Well, that is something I never even thought of! So I'm giving it a try. We'll see if I get fewer headaches. Now I have to wear them on my head like a granny so I don't lose them or have them stolen by some little gremlin!

I know you've all been dieing to hear about Daniel's birthday. How is it that he's 8 years old already? He was supposed to have his party on his birthday, but we all became infected with the plague, so it got postponed until the next week. So we celebrated the official day with an ice cream cake from the grocery store. It's heavy on sugar but light on love. Sorry, Daniel! I just was feeling too rotten to be a fun Mom. And as you know, ice cream cakes are kept in the freezer, so if you try to cut them after only a couple of minutes to thaw you get this. It's an exercise cake! Isometric exercises for every 8 year old. Join me in my campaign.

This Monday we were able to hold the birthday party and did so in grand style. The boys each got to pick some antennae, we played games and had cake. Daniel got several very nice gifts and has been busy with them for the past two days.

This was the UFO cake I made and here was how we decorated the living room.


Here they are playing a balloon game. I made them get on their knees so no one would suffer a nasty (lack of) space injury. We played other games outside in the wind, but the balloon game had to be indoors.







It was Chad's birthday on Friday. We surprised him with some balloons and candy at work. Doesn't he look surprised? (Wow. Everyone looks so happy...it's painful!)







Daniel has started a month of baseball. They only play on Tuesday and Thursday nights. It started June 3rd. There have been 3 nights of games so far, but two of those were cancelled for bad weather. Not a great record!



Rebekah recently spilled her milk. She's never heard the common expression regarding crying over it. Rebekah was upset, Shadow and Trouble were delighted!

We went to the Shrine Circus again yesterday afternoon. It was our 3rd annual visit. You can revisit our first and second visits on these posts. We got there a little late because Leah had to continue her 2 hour tantrum on the living room floor and then Nathan said he had to go potty. Since Nathan's having his turn with diarrhea, we didn't tell him to hold it. Then we had to leave early to get to a cancelled baseball game. It was very cold and WINDY. Folks in the east are cancelling school because it's so hot, folks in the midwest are trading in their homes for boats and in Idaho, we're going to the circus in coats and blankets...on June 10th!

I snapped some secret shots of the performers in the wind. I even got a short video of them fighting the wind and cancelling a performance. It's a bad angle because it was "undercover." The kids still enjoyed themselves and complained that we were leaving before it was over. We gobbled up some high-end nachos in a vain attempt to warm up (the only time I'm willing to pay $3 for one tiny serving of nachos).



And what did I wake up to this morning? Before I tell you, I want you to know that I spent over $70 on vegetable plants for the garden which we planted on Monday night ("The prophet said to plant a garden..."). We worked out there for a good part of the evening then set the water to it. For treats we roasted marshmallows and made s'mores on the fire pit I got Chad for his birthday. We had an informal discussion on baptism (since Daniel's big day is this Saturday). And then I saw this at 8 AM.

What are the chances the 5 tomato, 3 peppers, watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumbers, squash, pumpkins and 18 corn plants survived? I haven't even been able to go out and look. Thanks a lot IDAHO!!! Nine days until SUMMER!

Chad is in Las Vegas today. To compensate, I took the kids (yes, all 5 of them...and I even brought the same 5 home) shopping. Our biggest trip was to Wal-Mart. That's where I got my eye exam. I held Joseph on my lap and the other 4 played out in the waiting area. From there we went to a restaurant for lunch. It was me and 5 kids and the worst thing that happened was I had to order an extra bowl of jello to keep Rebekah in the "fair" zone. We had 3 people express surprise at how well behaved the kids were. Truthfully, I wouldn't have even attempted it if I didn't think they would behave, but it was nice (and a relief) that they did.

I'm sure there are other things I wanted to share, but the post has gotten rather long and the time has gotten away from me. I think it's taken over 2 hours to finish this because of kids and phone calls. I was hoping to make it to the library tonight, but I doubt we'll get dinner done in time. Now we have something to do tomorrow!

I apologize for the crazy paragraphs. Blogger does that to me sometimes and I'm not up for the fight tonight!