Back by popular demand

Wow! I didn’t think anyone really read this thing, but apparently I have been missed in my blogging absence. That makes a girl feel good :-) Thanks all!

Let’s see. What have we been doing lately? I guess the big news is our trip to Arizona. We are going to try and come out for spring break, which is the third week in March. We are quite excited. Classes are going well, the kids are doing well in school- much better than everyone else’s, I’m sure ;-), and John got a promotion at work, along with 2 separate (small, but “statistically significant”) pay raises. Good Job, Honey!

The kids were discussing Abraham Lincoln a couple days ago, and I learned that he is famous because he invented the penny*. Thanks, Collin, for that history lesson. I guess I missed that tidbit in my history classes. And to think, I thought his role in resolving the Civil War and keeping our struggling young nation intact was the reason we celebrate him. Shows how much I know…

The other, other day, I took all four of the kids to Big Box Mart to purchase something so important that I felt it necessary to take all four kids with me, but unfortunately cannot remember what it was. Anyway…I had all four kids with me- Cai-Lo was in her carrier in the back of the cart, Cait-o was sitting in the front, and a boy on each side, holding on to the cart. At some point during the trip, Cam and Cait decided they hated each other and needed to inform each other, along with everyone within earshot, of their newly discovered distain for each other’s presence. Their conversation went something like this:
Cam (after asking nicely several times): Quit touching my spot, Cait!
Cait: I hate you, big fatty**.
Cam: I hate you more!
Cait: I hate you so much I want to pull your hair!
Cam: I hate you so much I want to squish your eyes!
Cait: I hate you so much I want to punch you!
Cam: I hate you so much I want to push you!
Cait: Oh yeah! I hate you so much I want to pop a balloon in your face!!!!

You know you've made your sister mad when she wants to pop a balloon in your face. Sounds like you blew it, Cam... As I was writing that, I remembered why I was unable to recall our purchase from that day- we put our stuff back and walked out. You win some, you lose some, right?

I hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine’s Day! In honor of Valentine’s Day, leave a Valentine’s Day memory as a comment. Just for playing along, I’ll leave mine:

When John and I first started dating (aka about half way through our engagement) we celebrated our first Valentine’s Day together. We took a trip to Phoenix (aka East Mesa/ Tempe) to celebrate this milestone. As we were looking for a place to enjoy our first Valentine’s Day dinner, we soon realized that we should have made a reservation- every place was either booked or had 2-4 hour waits. So we ended up at The Old Country Buffet. And we were the youngest ones there by about 40 years. Although I tease him about it occasionally, it was nice to spend our first Valentine’s Day surrounded by these older couples. Silver-haired men with hearing aides and blue haired women with walkers. The restaurant was running a special that day. If you had been married at least 50 years, your meal was free. We tried to get them to believe we were celebrating our 50th, but for some reason, they weren’t quite buying it… So we told each other we would be back in 50 years- if for no other reason than to enjoy the free meal. 8 down, 42 to go :-)

*he has since been corrected. I have no idea why he thought Lincoln invented the penny!

**I have no idea why she insists on calling everyone "Big Fatty". John and I are both a bit lot on the "voluptuous" side, so we don't call anyone fat in our house. I think she picked it up from Sponge Bob.