Another Sitcom Day

Late last night we got a phone call from a friend visiting from out-of-town, so we invited him for dinner.  I found a roast in the freezer and put it on the counter to thaw.  I would figure the rest out tomorrow (today).  I went to bed early, woke up early, and planned on an ordinary day.  Nope. 

We’re studying nutrition right now… grains and beans, to be exact… so for co-op the kids cooked up some beans and rice, much to my little Colombiana’s delight.  That didn’t go as planned.  The beans weren’t done until two hours after co-op.  The rice was not the kind listed in the directions and needed WAY more water.  Nothing worse than crunchy rice… okay, I can think of several things much worse than crunchy rice, but still.

Outside we went to have games with the bean bags my sons had sewn on the sewing machine all by themselves. (Does a mother’s heart good!)  BUT…. the child in charge of clearing the grass of the dog’s deposits had not done her job… in a LOOOOOOONG while, I discovered.  That doesn’t do my mother’s heart good at all.  After my dog doodoo duty, the games began.  One bean bag on the two-story roof out of 9 is not bad odds either.

Off to the ortho to get Keeve’s braces taken off!  What an exciting day!  I took pictures at home and in the office….. but it wasn’t the removal day after all.  WHAT?  Seems two teeth are “flaring”… honestly, I couldn’t see it, but I’m just a mom.  So two brackets were repositioned and two more months of braces are at hand.  Here are the pictures of the day Keeve was supposed to get his braces off:

And even in the office…. the assistant later told me she wondered why I was taking pictures.  Great.

I arrived home an hour earlier than planned to troubled news.  Friend #1 is in the hospital with breathing problems…  friend #2 went to be with her because her husband is out-of-town.  Friends #3 and #4 picked up her two children at their schools.  Friend #5 picked up Friend #2’s younger children from school.  Friend #6 was supposed to be picking up the eldest child of Friend #2…. buuuuuut, while she waited in line for her children, a fire truck pulls into the school parking lot and blocks her in.  Somehow the eldest child of Friend #2 found out and called my daughter to come and pick her up.  I wasn’t home yet, so she told her that she didn’t have a car.  THEN I arrived and saved the day.  My daughter took off in a flash to save her friend stranded at school.  Forty minutes later I get a panicked call from Friend #6 who didn’t know if the eldest child of Friend #2 was still stranded at the school.  While reassuring her that all was well, the phone dropped from my shoulder into the bowl of flour/sugar that I was mixing to make a cake.  Nice.  Never done that before!

Then my sweet hubby calls and reports that our out-of-town guest is bringing a friend with him….. perfect.  I’m serving a new type of cake “Pumpkin Phone Dip Cake.”  It should be good.

If I make it to bed tonight, one thing will have gone as planned!  :o)

My Baby Girl is 16!

This has been the week of the 16th birthday that will go down in the Crosby Hall of Phame.   I hope the boys don’t remember all that we did this week when they turn 16!  It started with birthday shopping for the right outfit!  Check!  (as seen above….. thanks, Dad and Mom!)  Then as all good homeschooling families, we tied four field trips into two days including two shows in Vegas.  I’m still exhausted, but it was fabulous!

We started early Wed. morning with a tour of the Hoover Dam (just what all 16 year old girls have on their birthday lists!)  It was highly entertaining due to the company we kept.  (See the video on FB)  The dam tour was closely followed in cultural importance by the tour of Ethel M Chocolate factory!  Whoooo Hooooo!  THAT was yummy.  Not to mention the botanical gardens right out the door from the chocolates.  See how much Larisa enjoyed it:

(Special guest appearance by Mary.)

Then the FUN began.  We checked into our hotel and prepared for the evening’s festivities…. Phantom of the Opera.  Back in the day, when I was 15, Larry was our music minister at our church in California.  Well, today, much to Larisa’s joy and thrill, Larry is Ubaldi Piangi in Phantom.  He royally hooked up Larisa with the make-up artist of the show and she got to go backstage and sit with the Phantom while he got purtied up for the performance.  AMAZING!

The costumes for Phantom were totally over the top!  That’s Larry in his $8K fat suit.  He was hilarious.  Every time he came on stage I laughed before he even sang or acted…. he’s so perfect for that part! If that wasn’t enough…. Larry found us after the show and took us up on the stage and explained all the fancy shmancy props hanging everywhere above the sides of the stage.  (It probably has a theatrical name that he told us, but I was busy looking around for frayed ropes.)  Amazing show!

Day #2:  (Larisa’s actual 16th birthday.)  Rick, the boys and I went to tour the Shelby manufacturing plant while Larisa slept in.  She refused to go to a car factory on her birthday.  :o)  Whatever, little princess!  Then the boys went swimming before they dropped off Larisa and I at the Belagio to see the fabulous sights and window shop at the exorbitant shops.  WOW!  Larisa chose the Hard Rock Cafe for her birthday dinner and we were seated on the balcony overlooking the strip.  (And can I just make a thumbs up comment for Las Vegas cleaning up their billboards and taxi signs.  We haven’t been there for 6 years and it is WAY more family friendly now.)

The evening wrapped up with The Lion King show.  And can I just say that their costume designers are some of the most creative people!  If you can go see Lion King…. GO!  And pay more to sit in the front so you can really see all the details in their amazing costumes. 

The evening ended at 11:00 p.m. with McDonald’s ice cream, a birthday song and a gift unwrapping in the Albertson’s parking lot.  WOW.  We arrived home at 4:00 a.m. and I actually drove the last three hours!  Thankfully I uncovered my Lakewood CD and sang two times all the way through it.  I love that album.  And why do we still call them albums?

Friday night, we had a sleep over/tie dye/birthday party for Larisa…. see why I’m exhausted?  What a GREAT week.  And please, no one mention all this to my boys from 2011 on.

Twenty-One Years of Sweet Righteous Monogamy

Today is our 21st anniversary.  I thought I would take a few moments to reminisce about May 9, 1987. 

It was a sunny day in Sunnyvale, California and the wedding was set for 2:00.  Rick came knocking at my parent’s front door at 9:00 a.m. for his wedding day haircut from me.  I’m sure he was adding up all the haircut money that he would save over his lifetime by marrying a woman who runs with scissors.

The photographer arrived at the house to take pictures of me, my family and the bridesmaids: Christy, Connie, Jan, Kathy and Deidre.  Most of them were taken in the bricked courtyard on white wrought iron chairs.  Arriving next at my parent’s home was Rick’s family… we all just looked at each other for a while……. they were misinformed about where they were to be for pictures, so they rushed off to the church.

The wedding party gathered at the church before the ceremony for pictures, so as not to make the guests wait later on.   Our church at that time was also a school so we were married in the sanctuasium.  I was walked slowly down the aisle right over the volleyball and basketball court where I spent many an athletic hour during high school.  Lunch was basically forgotten in the photography/wedding schedule and we ended up eating McDonald’s burgers in the girl’s locker room right before the ceremony.

Finally 2:00 arrived, the gym filled with friends and family.  Right before my dad and I entered, he turned to me and said, “If there’s any reason that you need to leave, I’ll go with you right now.”  Wasn’t that nice?!  My last out, but I declined the offer.  Thanks anyway, Dad.

It was a Canadian/American wedding, so we signed the registry for the Canadians and later I smashed cake in Rick’s face for the Americans.  I never told Rick ahead of time about the USA cake-smashing-in-face tradition until after the wedding.  The only glitch the entire day was that the dry ice melted before it was to be added to the punch fountain.

We said “I do.”  We kissed.  We greeted everyone in attendance.  We ate cake and listened to a few good stories from our past.  We threw the bouquet, garter belt and were out of there by 5:00 in my brother’s blue Corvette.  When our guests started throwing bird seed at us, my brother took off his tux jacket and tried to cover the T-top of his car.  :o)  Sorry, Rob. 

I do remember that my face totally hurt because of smiling for an entire day.  I think I’ll dig out the 21 year old video and pop some popcorn for tonight’s family entertainment.

Thanks, Rickey, for being my knight in shining armor, brave and true.  I love you.  XOXO Lin

www.LindaCrosby.com