More freezing action

I'm going to make lasagna for dinner tonight and I will be making a second one to put in the freezer, just like I did with the chicken divan yesterday.

Hayley didn't seem to quite grasp the concept of freezer dinners. She kept asking when we were going to eat the second divan casserole. I said I didn't know. Then she asked, "Then why do you have it?"

Me: "To save for a busy day."

H: "Why not just order pizza?"

Me: "Because I want to save pizza ordering for Saturdays."

H: "But you have more time to cook on Saturday."

Me: "I don't want to cook on Saturday"

H: "Then order pizza."

Me: "Go away."

We also have the same type of roundabout discussions regarding wearing leg warmers and shorts in wintertime (or early springtime), only I'm the puzzled one--Why have leg warmers when you can just wear socks and longer pants? Hayley: "Because I want to wear shorts..."

And then I had to go to bed because I got a circular-argument-induced headache.

Mom, I think Hayley needs some of those knitted arm-warmers from your weird knitting pattern book so she can wear t-shirts in cold weather.

Why is working 4.25 hours a day so hard?

This post is in no way a cry for help. I am not at the end of my rope. I do not complain of serious issues that threaten my well-being on this blog. This the place where I whine superficially about superficial things or I post stuff that if my children had said it, I would tell them 1) chill, 2) wah (in my most sarcastic voice), or 3) if you would like to complain, please complain to the cats because I don't have time to hear it. Or I post about the kids.

I've been working outside the home since September and I still can't seem to get a schedule down. I've had a tough time adapting to being gone part of the day. It's taken me 7 months to finally realize that I can do only three things per day. 1) Seminary and all that pertains unto it, 2) work, and 3) make dinner. And sometimes, only two of those things.

Today, because I did not fall into a sleep-deprived coma as I did yesterday and the day before, I was able to make dinner. Hooray for me!

Not only that....

get this....

I made TWO dinners!

I made a double batch of chicken divan so that I have ONE IN THE FREEZER. I am amazed at myself. I almost can't wait for the day when I will be strapped for time but I can still pull off a homemade dinner because I had the foresight today to make an extra casserole.

A big thank you to Jim who manages to take up the slack (even though him doing the laundry means that currently I own ZERO pairs of unshrunken mittens). Someday, I'll get the hang of juggling work and household duties.

My biggest complaint about working (after the complaint about finding it hard to manage my time) is that I don't get to be home when the kids get home from school. And I don't get to pick up Hayley from her after-school band commitments. I consider it my right and duty to be home but alas, I cannot.

(the mother in me is rolling her eyes and saying, "Oh my, your life is SO. HARD."

I leave you with a picture Matt drew for a school assignment (social studies perhaps?). He had to draw himself as a Greek.

He managed to make himself look Greek AND Japanese at the same time.

Three cheers for the internet!

Because you can steal--uh, copy--pictures of your daughter in Chicago (who lost the camera) from other people's websites.

Here she is on the bus with her roommate for the trip.
And here she is, touching that mirrored bean sculpture.
The group went to a dinner theater with a medieval theme. Their section was green so they rooted for the green knight, who turned out to be the bad guy. He doesn't look so bad in this picture.
No band trip is complete without actually playing something.
Back on the bus. Hayley looks embarrassed.
And she was because everyone on the bus was singing Happy Birthday to her. The week before the trip, I mentioned to the band director that the band trip would coincide with Hayley's birthday and asked if there was any way I could smuggle a cake on the bus. He suggested Hostess cupcake-like treats and also suggested we keep it a secret. It was a good plan! I bought treats and had Matt get them to the band teacher before the trip (he did his secretive part well--Hayley did not suspect a thing). On her birthday in the afternoon, Mr. H got up in the front of the bus and announced Hayley's birthday and everyone sang and got treats.

Hayley had a very good time. And I'm glad that I got to see some pictures.

What could have been

I was all geared up to post pictures of inside the new Target Field. Pictures taken FROM FIELD LEVEL. Pictures of the locker room, of the complicated guts of the place.

But it had to snow yesterday. It had to snow so hard that bus drivers, who usually can deal with anything because they have to deal with 70+ rowdy disrespectful annoying school-age children every single day TWICE (and sometimes more), were afraid to take to the road.

The field trip I was supposed to go on with work was canceled. I was very sad.

Then I got sent home from work six hours early and I perked right up.

And my sewing machine and I had some quality time together. But I didn't take pictures of that, so all you get today is a bunch of words.

Cake face

The birthday dinner and the cake are now done. Yes, they were a day late, but last night Hayley wasn't in the mood for sugar, and I hadn't had the time or energy to make anything.

But today I was able to get up the necessary energy required to celebrate a proper Evans family birthday.
I hadn't decided on a cake design until today. Yes it's her face, but mostly it's an homage to the drawings she does of herself. Hayley thought it was a little weird to eat her own face, but once we carved it up, she was ok with it, even to the point of fiddling with the lips and making funny mouth pictures and giving herself a fondant mustache.

Happy birthday a day late to my littlest girl!

Off go the braces

Before braces:
After braces (and a haircut)

And no pictures from a trip to Chicago because someone LOST THE CAMERA. I am very upset.

Dashing through the rain,

In my blue decrepit van,
Working's such a pain,
Yes, I'm working for "the man."

I have no idea what I just wrote. But sing it to the tune of "Dashing through the snow" because that's what I did.

Gotta work 8 hours today, friends. Gotta go grocery shopping too. And get ready to receive Hayley back from her band trip into my empty arms.

So no blogging today. You might get lucky tomorrow though because I only work 5 hours and Paul gets his braces off! I might have to show off his teeth. Pics from Hayley's band trip might be forthcoming too, but that depends on how many pictures she took and of what. You never know what a 14 year-old will do with technology. (SHE'S 14! TODAY!) And by the way, she hasn't texted ONCE since she left. We've texted her and not received answers. Cheeky girl.

Have a fabulous day. Happy Birfday to Hayley! Any suggestions for a cake theme? Please?

She picked a fine time to leave me

....a reference to a song my sixth grade teacher sang for us as the punchline of a joke. I can't remember exactly how the joke went, but it was something like "What did the guy say to his broken shoe? You picked a fine time to leave me, loose heel." I never got the joke until much later when I heard Kenny Rogers sing the song on the radio.

All this to say that Hayley is now probably checking into a hotel in Chicago. The middle school honor band is officially on their band trip. I don't have any pictures of her getting on the bus because I wasn't there. (a fine mother I am!) The kids left right after school--they brought their gear to school with them, and since I was at seminary, I couldn't send the little girl off. Her daddy did the sending off. Even then, I suppose I could have gone to the official loading of the bus after school, but, oh yeah, I was working.

Speaking of work, I went on a field trip today. We traveled in two school buses and the other bus hit a car. We second busers didn't even realize what had happened, until the kids from the other bus got on our bus. No one was hurt, fortunately. The lady of the vehicle hit by the bus lost all her groceries though. Literally. They were strewn across the road. Two milk cartons and a bag of oranges were two of the most recognizable items.

Secondly, we saw a play about Irish immigrants and the male lead was a FANTASTIC Irish hard-shoe dancer (fantastic insofar as I could tell. I'm not really knowledgeable in the art of Irish hard-shoe dancing. Or soft-shoe either). His feet were flying across the stage. After the play, during the Q and A with the audience, he fielded a request to do the Moonwalk, and he happily obliged.

And that was my day. And the coughing. I coughed a lot. Oh, and a kid threw up on the bus on the way home.

The mashed potatoes were a deep deep green

The St. Patrick's Day dinner was successful. Successful in that I got everything made in time, in spite of teaching seminary this morning and working seven hours today (finished at 6 p.m.).

Even the rainbow jello. It took three days, but I did it.

This is the table before we began dinner.
This is the rainbow jello. I love rainbow jello.
I was supposed to work 9 hours today, but was able to pare off 2 hours. With that extra two hours at home, I made a grasshopper fudge cake. I've never made it before, but I saw it on a recipe calendar and thought it looked good.
And here is a series of pictures from dinner featuring Hayley and Matt (Paul was working). Dinner with these two is never quiet. Or boring.
Hayley says the above picture is Matt's future facebook profile picture (he's not on facebook yet).

In the last few days, I've noticed Matt is turning into a teenager. He may still be behind size-wise, but I've noticed a little shadow on his upper lip and his face is lengthening. Oh Lord have mercy upon my soul--my baby is approaching puberty!

Hayley leaves tomorrow for Chicago (band trip). Can you imagine the excitement? Her packing list includes an inordinate amount of candy. I don't know where she's going to get it. She is taking a camera, though, and will hopefully take lots of pictures.

Happy wearing o' the green!

I'll leave you with one last picture:

My torso aches from coughing.

I'm just checking in to say that I was sick all weekend, and I'm still not at full functional capability, but I did go to seminary and work today and I have to go grocery shopping.

This week is going to be a bugger of a week. I'm working 9 hours (not including seminary) Wednesday and Thursday and 8 (again not including seminary) hours on Friday. So if I don't post much this week, that's why. (fortunately I have all of Wednesday's seminary lesson prepared and half of Thursday's)(Band trip meeting Tuesday, and St. Patty's day dinner on Thursday)(Hayley leaves Friday afternoon)(Just blogging about the week is wearing me out!)(Woe to me!)(must put on a happy face and jump right in to the hecticity)(I can do this)

Smiles, everyone! Smiles!

PS to my mother: Thanks for the leftovers. I hope your cake was edible. What did you think of the "caterpillar" on it? Hayley and Matt had fun with the fondant.

Picture of your birthday cake later. Although I know that you know what it looked like.

It was a band concert miracle!

Three kids in three different bands.....

.....and ALL of them played on the same night!

The All-District Band Concert is a traditional meeting of the bands, partly to show the beginning band students what lies ahead if they continue with band. Because this is such a large event, it is held in the high school gym. This gym has a walking track around the upper floor, which is where I hung out. I could wander around instead of sitting in one place. Since I had children in all the bands, I needed different vantage points, and the track offered me that option.

So let us start the picture dump!

First off, the disaster of sixth graders left this off to one corner:
Here is Matt in the sixth grade band. The band has 216 members but they did their best to stay together musically.
This is the middle school Honor Band with Hayley on bassoon. Her face is partially blocked by the instrument.
And Paul on the horn in the Wind Ensemble:
And here is an instruction sheet on Paul's music stand. (I can get pretty close with my zoom lens)
Here is what the band setup looked like (the sixth grade band is the big one):Can you find Hayley, Matt, and Paul? (Clicking on the picture will maybe make it larger and easier to find them)

Did you find them?

Be honest.

You couldn't pick them out, could you?

OK, I've circled them for you.


One more picture. It's of sheet music for a piece the Wind Ensemble played (Paul's group). It's the 3rd trombone part and on paper it looks kinda boring. This song, called "Xerxes" was by far, THE BEST song I have ever heard at a band concert. And they played it GREAT. I wish I could describe it to you. It has a middle eastern, Persian sound to it.

I talked to the band director afterward, and told him that it was phenomenal. He said the music was "pricey" but he knew he had to have it after hearing it.

All the bands did well, and I was a happy mama to get three kids' worth of music in one night.

Deflationary view

On Monday, I went on a field trip for work. Guess where I went?

Can you tell from this picture?
How about this one?
Yep, we went to the deflated marshmallow of downtown Minneapolis. I didn't get a skyline picture of the Metrodome, but I'll tell you the building sure looks a lot smaller without its signature teflon roof.

The field trip did not include going into the seats; the pictures were taken through glass doors. We were there to rollerskate/rollerblade around on the cement floors of the hallway that circumnavigates the field. I didn't skate at all; I walked laps and helped injured children. And looked through the glass doors onto the field and took pictures with my cell phone. The doors to the field were all strapped shut. There is nothing that makes me want to go through a door more than having a lock on it.

On the way home, the bus driver and one of the other chaperones discussed the ultimate fate of the ripped roof. Will there be a permanent roof on the Metrodome, or will the new roof be inflatable?

Sunday evening with a cat and Jim's new toy and Matt's face

Hmmm. I haven't posted kitty pictures lately. Most of the time I think I've had Servo on the blog. Today it's Magic's turn. Boy, was he happy (not really).

I don't know if you can tell in this picture, but Magic is kind of a big cat. You can tell, thought, that he loves Paul. He relaxes completely on Paul's lap.
Magic doesn't like Hayley.While I was torturing the cat with the camera, Jim was playing with his new toy. He got it for his birthday, courtesy of his parents. He calls it "Lizzard" (and yes, it is spelled correctly. "Lizzard" is a nickname Jim acquired in high school). He calls his iTunes playlist "Old Man Music," which I find funny.
One last photo. Matt. There is nothing I could say about this picture that would adequately explain it.

Gearing up for the green

Hayley asked me last night if we are going to have a St. Patrick's day dinner this year. She remembered last year's dinner (even the corned beef--which she referred to as "that meat") and wanted a reprise.

She said it's not because she thinks St. Patrick's Day is a huge holiday; she just "likes special dinners."

It's hard not to oblige when the kids like to make something fun into a tradition. If only they viewed the Weekly Job Chart in the same light.

Argyle and flowers and grunge

In theory, girl children are fun, cute, pink, enamored of dressing up and looking glamorous, and full of squeals.

In reality, they try to wear this to church:which causes their mothers to do the squealing and not from seeing teen heartthrobs with their shirts off.

I must concede that there is a minute amount of pink on the dress.

I still made her change.

Did she make it?

So another middle school newsletter came out. Do you remember that Hayley has appeared in 4 out of 6 issues? Click here to refresh your memory on the subject on Hayley appearing in the newsletter. I know you are all waiting to hear if she made it into the March issue.

Yes.

That makes 5 out of 7 issues.

We had quite a laugh about it. We think that the person who puts the newsletter together seeks out pictures that include Hayley.

Here is the picture. You can choose to view either the picture in its natural form or in its labeled form.

Natural first:


Labeled form:
The picture was celebrating "I Love to Read" month. I don't know what pajama pants and stuffed animals has to do with reading....

Catching up, one band concert at a time

A couple weeks ago, Matt participated in his first band concert as a trombonist. I have a couple of pictures to share from the concert. The band did well for their first time ever playing together as a large group in front of an audience.

Matt is actually playing in this picture, which I have labeled.

And here's what he does when he is not playing:
He fiddles around, mooshing his face into the trombone slide. He can't just sit and listen. He was pressing his eyeball up against the circular metal thing. I don't know why, and when I asked him about it, he didn't know why either.

Dwelt a miner, forty-niner

Someone had a birthday yesterday. He needed a cake. Sadly for him, I've been too busy to do anything except work and teach seminary and sleep.

So his cake didn't get done until today. Wanna see?

I could have done a "miner, 49er" cake, but I thought the football team cake was more his style.

Jim actually came up with the idea for a "49er" cake while we were out to dinner on Saturday. His words were "I'll be a 49er in a few days." And I thought that was a good idea for a 49th birthday (it also helps that he is from the Bay Area and is a 49er fan).

There. I blogged. All you who called me or emailed me or messaged me in some way with concern over my blog absence can now back off. Just kidding! I thank you for contacting me!