The New MAN cave

Mom gone performing + Bored Sunday Afternoon = 
Rearranging bedroom furniture.

Lest anyone think it unstable.... a demonstration was in order:

Dad came in to check the seismic stability.  Really??  The left side of the couch is resting on a 1/2 inch platform, and the dresser is practically cardboard... but the true support (these "engineers" claim) is the pressure between the wall and the bunk bed.  I know, right??!!

Nobody told me having boys was like this.  I think they like seeing me freak out or something.

I Heart You Day

Hap Hap Happy Day.
Valentines Day.

I'm not a hopeless romantic, but I love any excuse for sugar cookies and creative outlets!  Getting spoiled by Michael is always a bonus.

He totally scored this year.  Friday night, under a street light, he gave me a beautiful necklace with our children's names and a wrist corsage.  (It sounds really romantic -and it was- but we found ourselves last minute with no babysitters so our date consisted of walking down the street and back instead of going to a dance.  Sad.)

And we all are very excited about the Valentines the kids are passing out this year.  We saw this on the internet and I found out my sister in law did the exact same thing!!  Great minds think alike!

First we started with taking a photo like this:

Just add sucker, and WALAH!

Same site had another cute idea that Jessica adopted:

candy hearts box turned ipod

This morning we gave the kids small boxes of chocolate and I was telling Jackson that it's so he knows that we love him- forever. He warmly hugged me back and told me "I'll love YOU forever, mom."

I'm totally converted to Valentines Day.

p.s.  Today marks our 3rd anniversary of living in our house!  Now THAT was a memorable Valentine's Day.  The moving truck slid down the driveway, huge storm, into the cable truck.  Lovely.  Police showing up on our first day here.  "Hi, We're the Rices!!"

Boys. Girls. The Valentines Spirit is in HYPER DRIVE.

It's begun.

L-O-V-E in my own children's lives.

Last weekend, Aubrey got a phone call from a boy.  A BOY!?  This is a first at our house.  He asked if she'd be his valentine (she and I both don't quite know what that means) and she said "yes" since she "didn't want to be rude".  Wha the what?  Apparently when she went to school on Monday she found out that several girls had gotten asked by the boys in the class over the weekend.   So... it's kinda sweet, kinda teenage preview, kinda not her thing, and kinda been played down so she won't get teased to death by older siblings.

 

And here is the even bigger HEADLINER news for Valentine 2011:

Benson went to the High School Sweethearts Dance.  He asked Keanne with a puzzle within a puzzle.

She had to put together a puzzle (no box, no picture) and on the back of the puzzle was his message:

Top Half

Bottom Half

She responded with a bag of taffy that had conversation sayings on the wrappers and ONE of them, so tiny had the word YES underlined.  Very cute Utah style asking to dance stuff.

Anywho-  

The dance was last night.  Keanne's a great girl and they made a fine looking couple, all matchy. 

Which leads to the headliner.

Benson came home from the date, said it was really fun, but that he had never been on such a strange group date, nor will he ever EVER have such a strange group date that could top this.

C'mon, Benson.  You are 16.  Ya got years to have crazy group dates.  Trust me, there will be some doozies.  What could have happened?

 ........

Well.... right before dinner, ONE OF THE COUPLES got E-N-G-A-G-E-D.  AT 16 YEARS OLD!!  RING AND EVERYTHING!!  No joke.  I asked him like 20 times.  It'll be a two year engagement, but hey.  Getting an education is important....

I would SO ground Benson if he got engaged right now.

I really really wanted to post a group picture, but in the interest of protecting these KIDS from embarrassment I had to hold back. Especially since I really hope they will save this for a "most embarrassing moment divulge" in 30 years and not really go through with it.

But, really?!

Cupid is workin' OT, folks.  Watch those arrows.

Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds

We finally got Beatles Rockband for Christmas, and why we waited I don't really know.

My kids are now familiar with some awesome CLASSIC rock literature, and that brings a tear to my eye.  (My teen years were spent with the Beatles, birkenstocks and all....)

As a special note, Josh, as a school officer, entertained the entire junior high student body with "Yellow Submarine" during a lull at a school assembly... thank you Rockband.

SO.

I had a thought.  Gather up my professional musician friends and have a rockband party, and see if their mad skills on the violin give them any advantage.  We could smoke the levels (so to speak).

 Prego Kiersten, rockin the drums

I was worried it would put her into labor

Sarah Jane, guitar extraordinaire

I wanted her to get crazy jumping off furniture but she's too refined for that

I had to be the vocalist since I knew the words

I pretty much scored 100%, not to brag

My basement was turned into a psychedelic sub woofin par-tay minus the daisies.

Wish I had a disco ball.  Next party.

Gotta love musicians and their tenacious drive when challenged.  

I swear, the auditions for the orchestra should include a sight reading test using this game.  Maybe even for the singers, too.  I'll have to bring it up.

River Journey

The mood of this post is brought to you by way of writing and listening to Laura Veirs, "When You Give Your Heart".   Thanks Maryn.

I love getting inspired to do more of what I love and less of what I don't.  It feels so close I can touch it, but as I step back to make sure I proceed with the right foot... I look up... it's slipped further away.

Why do I hesitate to seize what I clearly know I want?...what will clearly bring me more joy?

I wonder.

Maybe I think I need permission to selfishly develop myself in my journey while having the responsibility of overseeing others' journeys.  My journey can't possibly be over and yet somehow I think it's supposed to be complete in order to help others to navigate theirs that have just begun.

But I'm thinking Bigger.  Maybe our journeys or routines become like a river that follows familiar grooves, only to cut deeper grooves over time.  Deep grooves like sandstone canyon walls in the Narrows.  I might splash out but never divert, hard as I may try.

Until...  I build a dam, something concrete and identifiable and permanent that forces me to find new ways down the hill.  No more the path of least resistance.  Some parts of me may find their way around the dam and continue to follow the familiar grooves, but mostly I am trickling through the grass, hitting boulders and trying to collect myself.

I long to be a river again, but stronger, calmer, more deep and sure.  A river that my children can sail swiftly and take them forward to begin their own journeys beyond me.


Yes, I wrote a serious post.  Just had to get it out, think it out.  I predict in approximately 3 minutes I will re-read this post and want to delete it.

Hey Benson and Josh-- Don't watch this.

Do you like to mountain bike?  I don't.  (Well, I've never tried it, but uphill looks like a beast.)
Do you like heights?  I don't. 
Do you like jumping into ponds?  I don't.  (Too smelly.)

But I love this video.  It's summery.  It's risky.  And I forget for a minute that I'm not 19 and want to join in the fun.

With all this arctic cold, who's ready for summer?

-13.4