Crying over spilled milk

Who ever said don't cry over spilled milk wasn't at my house this morning. I had just finished cleaning the floors when my son (trying to put it in the fridge) dropped the nearly full gallon of milk. Our lovely ceramic tile floor (which I'd love to jackhammer out of there) was as unforgiving as ever as it split open the jug. My son grabbed the jug in a confused effort to stop the catastrophe and held it out in mid-air nearly crying b/c he didn't know what to do. I ran over and grabbed the jug, turning it on its side so no more milk would spill. Then I had to tell him to just leave before I said something I shouldn't. The milk was everywhere, undercabinets, baseboards, the fridge. I won't tell you what other lovely sites were behind the fridge when I pulled it out. Let's just say it took a long time to clean up the mess. But my floors are freshly mopped again. So, in the end I didn't cry over spilled milk...but I sure wanted to curse over it. Waaah! Waaah! Waaah!

A Room with Room

Last week my boys wanted more play space in their bedroom (on the floor) so they asked me to restack their bunkbeds. I told them I'd move them if they completely reorganized their closets, drawers, bookshelves and cleaned out under the beds. They enthusiastically began. What a way to get them to clean and dejunk! Nice and easy! It did provide more space and they like the change. It was more of a challenge than I thought it'd be because I forgot I had to add the rails to the top bunk and the ladder. All in all, we were done before dad got home from work and the boys were anxious to show him. The before pics are mid clean out so things are a bit disheveled.

My Achilles Heal

Well, I guess my "Achilles Heal" (my weakness) today is actually my Achilles heal...I have tendonitis in my achilles tendon in my left ankle. It started from all the walking in Paris and was quite painful by the end of the week. I guess I should've done some yoga each morning before our treks out. Anyway, I gave it a rest for a week when I got home because I was sick and not exercising (sinus stuff). Yesterday I was finally feeling good so I hit the gym again and did a slow 4 mile jog on the treadmill. Today it's back...the painful tendon. Not fun. The only thing to do for it is rest. So I'm going to get my butt kicked in the new Nike challenge my hubby just instigated with his siblings and I. No running for me for a while. I just wish my gym had a pool...I guess I'll have to drive a little farther.

4 year old Island Princess

We finally gave our youngest her 4th birthday party (she turned 4 while we were in Paris). She chose a "Barbie Island Princess" Theme (after the movie...anyone with little girls would know this). She also requested a Barbie Island Princess cake. After a failed attempt at an angel food cake (overflowed onto the oven bottom)...I made a rainbow chip cake and turned it into the Island Princess herself. It took a little while but the result was worth it. She loved it.

Haircut

Our 9 year old has been growing out his hair for a while now. He consents to let me trim it off and on. The other day he consented and then decided to have it all chopped...he was tired of the hair in his eyes and of the tangles. I thought he looked pretty handsome with it down to his ears but past the neckline was getting a little much. So I didn't argue. I just cut...making sure to check the length with him every step of the way. I knew it was his idea but I didn't want him to say I'd done anything he didn't ask for. He looks soooo different to me now. Here are the before and after shots (the before are old pictures I had). He wouldn't let anyone come in the bathroom until it was all cut so he could surprise them. He was excited for the shock factor at school too. You should've seen the pile of hair on the floor...I cut off 3-4 inches and his hair is VERY thick.

HEATER FIXED

Well, $650 bucks later, our house temp is finally above 60 degrees. We're closing in on 70 and my toes are thawing out. Still haven't put back up the chirping smoke detectors. I feel like I'm now a million years behind on getting things back in order after being gone so long. That's what Monday will be for, right?

Paris - Day Six (and homecoming)

Our last day in Paris didn't start out so well. It was very rainy and I didn't put the umbrella in my bag that day before heading out. Every other time we tried to use an umbrella, the winds would just turn it inside out. Well, this day there was rain, BUT no winds. It would've been the perfect time to use the umbrella. Instead, we got wet.

We started out trying to go to the Pantheon and had even checked the opening times the previous night. We got there (wet of course) and they said they were closed until 3 pm (this was at about noon). So we explored the church nearby and then headed back over to the Louvre to get out of the rain. We finally got to see the Pantheon that afternoon and were glad we did. It's impressive. It houses Foucault's pendulum and the tombs of many great men in the crypts below it (like authors Victor Hugo & Alexander Dumas, and Louis Braille, the inventor of braille).

We wandered the city for the rest of the night eating the best crepe yet, and the "best Fallafel in the world." The weather greatly improved by this time and it was the perfect end to our stay in Paris.



Saturday morning we got up at about 7 am (11pm Friday night in Utah) and grabbed a few loaves of bread from the bakery on the corner. Then we began the long journey home. No incidents in our travel, just long flights and very little sleep until arriving home at 10 pm Saturday night. By the way, Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker were on our flight home from New York to Utah. They were very nice to people and people seemed to try to give them their space. She's a skinny little thing and Broderick has gone quite gray. We finally went to bed at 11 pm making it a full 24 hours...we were exhausted.

Our kids welcomed us home in high style with signs and cards and hugs. It was great. But then we found out our furnace must be broken because the temp in our house was 58 degrees. We bundled up in long johns and double jammies for bed and tons of blankets on top. Our house is still freezing and it's going to cost us over $500 to get the furnace fixed today. Aside from the cold house, the stupid smoke detectors kept chirping at 3 am. We don't know why. Maybe we'll catch up on sleep today sometime.