I try.

Angelina Jolie, rocking her $2.5 million dollar emeralds and Elie Saab dress.

Me, rocking my $2.50 Kohl's plastic green earrings and $10 Target black dress.

Just another day on suburbia's red carpet.

The Backyardigans

Andrew has been bugging Glenn to set the tent up in the backyard for a while now. We finally had a committment-free, rain-free Friday night, so Glenn decided to oblige the boy. Andrew recruited Tyler, who I am happy to say, is still willing to spend time with his crazy 7 year old cousin.

The boys were equipped with pillows, sleeping bags, Footprint, Cracker Jacks, juice boxes, and a movie. Glenn had the air mattress that stayed inflated for all of 20 minutes.


With the girls were nestled away at various cousin's houses across the viewing area, I had a quiet night indoors with my ice cream and TV shows that Glenn will have nothing to do with.

I had a lovely sleep, just getting a little cold in the early morning hours with no one to snuggle.

Little did I know that my snuggle partner had given up on the flat air mattress and hard ground around 6:30 AM when the boys came inside to play the PS3. But he unselfishly left me alone to my undisturbed sleep and crawled into Brooke's bed.

Can ya blame him? She's got the best bed in the house anyway.

So for all, or at least most, involved, it was a pleasant evening. And Andrew has finally had his tent fix.

I call that a bargain.

I earned some money last week. From Walgreens. They paid me to shop at their store, yes they did.

These two tubes of toothpaste were $3. You get $3 worth of register rewards with each purchase. That makes the toothpaste free. And then I had two coupons, one for 75 cents and one for $1. I earned a whole $1.75. I could make a living off that.

I have been making a more conscious effort to save our pennies here and there where I can. And a couple websites I have found are making it a little easier for me. I loaded this and this into my Google reader and I get updates about all the weekly deals. Walgreen's, Rite Aid, Target, CVS, it's all there. They will tell you what's on sale and even coordinate coupons for you. Print a couple coupons here and snip a couple there, and you're on your way.

I have gone through phases in my couponing, more off than on. But now that there are people out in Bloggersville who are doing a lot of the work for me, I'm kind of getting excited about it!

And the getting paid to shop? That is a bargain. The best I ever had.

Swimfan

From the first meet of the season...

Leah's 50 Breast

Emma's 50 Free


Emma and Leah both swim the 50 back

Stranded at the Swim Meet

As we headed to the rec center for the swim meet tonight, a severe weather alert interrupted our usual fine radio programming and the skies grew darker and darker overhead. The pool is an indoor one, so the meet would not need to be cancelled when the rain started, but it would mean some logistical changes. Normally the swimmers hang out and line up for their events outside. A bad storm means everyone moves inside. The kids lay their towels out around the baby pool and the lazy river and line up for their events in the corner by the diving well.

And since tonight I was helping organize those children for their events, that meant I was inside as well. In a hot, hot sauna of an indoor pool. That was a lot of fun for me, especially since I was meeting a lot of new people. Sweat dripping down your forehead doesn't make the greatest impression.

But in spite of the lack of room, lack of a separate PA system to call the kids over, and general chaos,I was having fun and things were going well. The sky continued to darken and then the rain hit. Hard. Along with the thunder and lightening. The storm was to pass quickly, so they continued on with the meet.

And then the lights went out. And then came back on. And then went out again.

It was at this point they decided to stop the action. Just for 20 minutes. I escaped the boiler room for the air-conditioned lobby and began chatting with a friend. All of a sudden I looked over and see one of my favorite swimmers in tears. It seems all the noise and confusion and darkness caused a rise in anxiety. I reassured her we were safe in the rec center, safer than if we got in the car and drove home in the storm. We wiped tears and hugged and she went back to hanging with her friends by the baby pool.

As the meet ended so did the storm. Both were pretty unforgettable.

Since I have been working at the last couple of meets, I haven't been able to take any pictures. But I have some video from the first meet that I will be posting soon.

Drum Roll Please......

.....And the winner is.....

(Oh boy do I feel the pressure to make this as good as you think it's going to be.)

OK, so officially the winner is The Cracks Begin To Show. However, my extremely clever daughter suggested I combine all stories into one and call it Baseball Begins to Show a Full Dancing Queen. So that is just what I am going to do. Enjoy!

There's a new team in town. The Lake Erie Crushers. They are not a minor league farm team. No, they are part of the Frontier League, something somebody somewhere thought up. But their new "stadium" is in Avon, and the tickets are cheap. So we decided to take the kids (and Grandma and Grandpa) out to the ball game for Family Home Evening. And Dollar Dog Night.

As far as made-up-league ball games go, it was pretty fun. We were intrigued by the astro turf, the fact that "we" were playing the Traverse City Beach Bums, and that the players have host families. (What are they, exchange students? BYU Young Ambassadors?) Andrew was convinced he was going to catch a ball (what else is new?) and almost did courtesy of his dad, but Glenn decided to not fight another young boy. The girls kept themselves occupied with Grandpa's camera. The kids got to go out on the field to sing "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" during the 7th inning stretch. Most everyone consumed dollar dogs, but nothing else, because outside food was not allowed. And all the while, there was a game being played.

I, however, had trouble focusing on the game...the main reason we were there. With no Sizemore or Hafner, my mind kind of wandered. But there was plenty going on around me, plenty to keep my attention. Like all the drunks. From the old guy two sections over who frequently stood up and started singing, to the young man with multiple multiple piercings behind us who tried to argue with the ump on a close call (and here I have to ask why? it's not like we're fighting for the pennant), to the young dad and his baby in front of us.

A young dad and his baby. I just couldn't stop watching them. His wife was there, too, and she was holding the baby most of the time, but she handed her over to a man who had been drinking. Now, I do not have one iota of personal experience with alcohol consumption and its effects on the body. But if they tell you not to get behind the wheel after just one drink, shouldn't you maybe not be holding a baby? Even if it's yours? Especially if it's yours? It is moments like these that I am so very grateful I am a teetotaler. (Now after a long summer day with all the kids all over the place...that could be another issue.)

Thursday night was the first swim meet of the summer. Emma and Leah each swam four events (50M this year!). It was a crazy, hot evening. And there was a crazy, hot mess who plopped herself down right in front of us. Now, I can typically overlook situations such as this. Turn a blind eye to fashion faux-pas and TMBI (Too Much Body Information). But I am telling you, that in this case, it was absolutely impossible to ignore. The woman was out of control. Both with her backside and out her mouth. It was very distracting, especially during those long stretches of time with no Franklin swimming.

Two Franklins swimming at the same time!

The meet was over at 8:30. Jill had left at 7:30 to fulfill her duty as chaperone at the youth conference dance. Glenn was already there, playing DJ. I was supposed to be there, too. But I had a dilemma. Four dilemmas, to be exact. Do I take them home and stick them in front of the TV? Do I put them to bed first? I was getting a little stressed out over it all, so I decided to haul us all to the church and just check in with Glenn.

And then I saw my cute little sister standing there. I shared many a church dance with one of my little sisters back in the day, but being nine years older than the other little sis, well, this was our first dance together. A little different now, though. No more moshing or running from certain individuals of the opposite gender, but comparing notes from our experiences, almost a decade apart. We got the latest gossip from the young women in the ward that she is now serving with, and we hung out by the food table munching yummy nachos. And while she and her baby bump couldn't really dance, I couldn't help myself, especially when Brooke came running over to me for "Poker Face."

So much for getting the kids home and in bed. We stayed till the very end, because at that point we had to gather up the girls that were assigned to sleep at our house for the next two nights. Six of them.

Not much trouble from these half dozen high schoolers. Except for when one would suddenly appear in my house during the day. Not merely at my house. Like at the front door. Announcing themselves with a knock. No, twice she was just all of a sudden there in the family room, silently and stealthily. This particular young lady had a flair for the dramatic. And apparently sprained her ankle so bad that it warranted a trip to the ER. And crutches. And she could put absolutely no weight on it at all, except for the times when she did (when she thought no one was looking).

Saturday morning, the girls took all their stuff with them when they went back to the church, as they would be returning to their own homes at noon. The injured girl, however, simply couldn't take her things with her, you know, being on crutches and all, so she was going to pick everything up later. In my desire to expedite the process of clearing out the house, I thought I'd put all her belongings by the front door. But this:
was the state of said belongings. I couldn't even find a duffel bag or suitcase to stuff everything in. Did she only have grocery bags to carry everything? But what about the plastic hanger, blanket and sleeping bag, and Boppy? Somehow it all made it out the door. The only evidence of our overly stuffed house was a toothbrush and a sink full of hair.

And so, faithful readers, there you have it. You made it happen. You made this whole post possible by caring enough to hear me make something out of the whole lotta nothing that happened last week.

Thank you so much for playing, and in the future, please don't make me come up with cheesy gimmicks just to get more comments!

Flashback

(While you are all eagerly awaiting the results of the blog poll, I thought I'd keep you occupied with a short and sweet little number. Thanks to all who have voted so far, although I know there's more of you out there. My Sitemeter tells me so! I will be composing the golden post this evening...)

Remember a waaaay back (like maybe 2, 3 weeks ago) when Andrew was in 1st grade? At the end of the school year there was a recognition assembly. I thought it was for the fourth graders, and not having one this year, I did not attend. Melissa, however, did happen to have a fourth grader, and did attend the assembly. And, being the attentive, loving aunt that she is, snapped a couple of pictures of Andrew receiving an award for serving as a peace ambassador for his class this year.
Peace ambassador, huh? Interesting.

Thanks for being a good example to your friends at school, Andrew. Is there any way you can try to be a peace ambassador at home this summer.....?

Won't you come out and play with me?

It's a lazy Saturday morning.

I've got another week of summer under my belt.

And I haven't blogged since Sunday.

Is it because all the days just run together? Is it because I'm just too busy refereeing and taxiing and convincing children that I am not their social director?

Who knows.

But in my old age, I'm feeling a bit adventurous. So I thought we'd spice things up a bit.

You, my faithful readers, get to vote on what my next blog post will be. Here are your choices:

Baseball, Brewskies, and Babies
Is anyone safe anymore?

Full House
How we doubled our occupancy overnight

The Cracks Begin To Show
and other distractions at Emma's and Leah's first swim meet

Dancing Queens
Cutting a rug with my pregnant little sister

Leave a comment as to which interesting, intriguing, and incredibly hilarious story from this past week you'd like to hear about. And friends, this is only going to work if I get lots of votes. A comment from my mother and the occasional sister-in-law is just not going to cut it. So I need all my readers to come out of the woodwork, stand up, and be counted.

Just humor me.

And make this a blog you can believe in.

You've got till Monday morning.....

It's my party, I'll eat ice cream if I want to.

The new face of 29 (for the 6th year)

I have been celebrating my own birthday all weekend, thank you very much. It really started earlier this week, with frequent reminders to my children that my birthday was on Sunday. Hey, you gotta keep it fresh in their minds. And who else can you bug that much about your birthday without someone telling you to pipe down?

I discovered that Mitchell's added a new ice cream flavor--cake batter. This, my friends, is right up my alley. And with some birthday money specifically dedicated to my Mitchell's obsession arriving in the mail (thank you, Flemings!), He's Just Not That Into You available from the library, and two sisters coming over for pizza and movie night, I requested that we make a party of it. We settled in with our scoops of heavenly goodness and 2 hour-long chick flick. But the new flavor was weird (it had actual cake in it) and the movie was ridiculous (it had the Mac guy in it). So although it was a great way to (start) celebrate(ing) my birthday, I was left a little unsatisfied in the treat department.

Only one way to remedy the situation...go back for more.

I don't care what you think. I am firmly entrenched in my 30's now and I can have Mitchell's two nights in a row if I want. And the second time around (caramel fudge brownie and double chocolate chunk) was everything I wanted it to be. It was the perfect topping on a day of an early-morning 5K with Melissa, Andrew's baseball game, shopping with the girls, and a couple of parties. The weekend of birthday goodness was almost complete....

Today, the day, was comprised of a stressful sharing time, a nap snuck in right after church, and a scrumdillyumptious dinner with the fam. The dinner deserves its own blog post, really. We were fed well. And then my traditional penuche-frosted cake...

Just me and a few of my peeps...photo courtesy of Emma

And now...

...turn out the lights, the party's over. It's going to be a while before I get Mitchell's again. I mean, Jill's birthday isn't for another month...

Summer of "24"

I'm federal agent Mom,
and today is the longest day of my life.

*All events happen in real time.

6:00-7:00 AM Torture begins immediately in early morning exercise class. Despite the extreme physical cruelty, I make it out alive. Barely.

7:00-8:00 AM The insurgents are quiet while I shower and get ready. Are they planning their attack?

8:00-8:30 AM One insurgent is ready extremely early for swim team practice and begins circling me, making silent demands. I diffuse the situation by shooing her from my room.

8:30-9:00 AM We begin patrolling the city streets, dropping off two insurgents at the pool. In an attempt to distract the other two, we head to the beach, where we meet some of my allies. I appreciate the back up. The skies overhead are threatening.

9:00-10:00 AM The insurgents play nicely in the sand with their fellow rebels. Then the rain begins to fall. I worry that the swimmers will be stranded and cold, so I encourage the insurgents to gather their buckets and shovels so that we can rescue their cohorts. They get distracted and take an inordinate amount of time. I must speak strongly in order for them to follow the proper authority.

10:30 AM-2:30 PM We have nothing planned. This is when the rebellion is most likely to arise. Two insurgents are in a constant state of bickering, their technique of choice when it comes to weakening the opposition. I have to run an errand during this time, and take the insurgents hostage in the van. At home, I am tormented by my own boredom, which leads to laziness and a strong desire to eat. I succumb. This could very well be the end of my heretofore successful weight loss attempts. I half-heartily fight off the guilt by telling myself that it's my birthday (on Sunday) and free eating is my gift to myself (along with an extra 5 pounds). That war will never be over.

2:30-3:00 PM I decide the best technique is to divide and conquer. I recruit my newest ally to harbor two insurgents, while one insurgent has piano lessons, and the other insurgent stays home to play with a couple of younger cohorts. This doesn't go over well. One insurgent tries to negotiate the terms of the arrangement, and not without a struggle.

3:00-4:00 PM I try to keep the younger insurgents at bay with some sensory input: a plastic container with whole wheat berries (a la a preschool sand/rice table). However, while I am battling a biochemical agent on the stairwell banister, the insurgents cause an explosion. In a surprising twist, one insurgent shows a change of heart and volunteers to vacuum.

4:00-6:00 PM It is time to rescue my fellow agent from the other insurgents. Before leaving, I stop in the bathroom. The youngest insurgent follows and begins interrogating me through the door. (This is where Jack Bauer gets it right. There is no time for pit stops.) There is a bit of down time while the insurgents play outside. My ally and I regroup with talk of non-terrorist activity. Upon leaving, we phone ahead to my partner, who is now back at base. He agrees to prepare the insurgent's last meal.

6:00-7:00 PM Before the meal is served, one insurgent decides to take some irrational anger out on the piano, pounding out "Can-Can" and "Black Forest Polka" for the one millionth time. This is the equivalent of Chinese water torture. She resists numerous requests for her to stop. The meal is surprisingly uneventful.

7:00-8:00 PM I set the terms for TV watching tonight. The insurgents must complete their after-dinner chores and shower within a set amount of time. One insurgent decides she is also an agent and begins ordering another insurgent around. Her privileges are threatened, but she gets it under control. However, this attempt at policing distracts her to the point that she places the bowl of leftover food in the sink and turns the water on it. For the second night in a row, the insurgent foiled my plans for a future meal. The insurgents are successful in meeting my terms and the TV watching begins.

8:30-9:00 PM We herd the insurgents upstairs to read from the agency's instruction manual, but are interrupted by a call from my Counter-Terrorist Unit leader. During the call, the insurgents scatter, and by the time the call is over, the rebellion is in full force. We squeeze one verse a piece from each and incarcerate them in their beds. It seems my work may be done.

9:00-10:00 PM Not to go down without a fight, one insurgent makes two more trips downstairs to bombard me with unnecessary questions. I am just about to surrender when she slips back upstairs, and I am finally left to debrief with my partner and my shows.

10:00-11:00 PM In the still of the night, I consider the foe. They are worthy opponents, with clever tactics and surprise attacks. Like Jack, will I be destined to face the same assaults day after day, all summer long?

Will it kill me in the end?

Will I conquer the enemy?

Or will I just walk off into the sunset...

The wait is over.

The last game of four square.

The last recess.

The last lunch in the cafeteria.
The last bus ride.

The last bike ride.

The first (and second and third) popsicles.

We are ready for...

THE
FIRST
DAY
OF
SUMMER!!!

I Spy With My Little Eye...

...a bunny nest in our front yard!

Glenn came in the house today and said he thought he might have run over something with the lawn mower. There was a lot of fluffy fur, but no other carnage, so we kind of dug around in the grass. Lo and behold, there was a nest buried down in the lawn. Three, no--four, no--maybe six little bunnies all snuggled up with each other.

"Can we keep 'em, Mom? Can we?"

Well, Andrew, she...
...might have something to say about that. Yep, the mother stopped by later to feed the young'uns. And inspect the stick that Glenn and Andrew used to mark the spot in the yard.
What a good mama bunny. Except for the fact that she picked the middle of the front yard to build a home for her babies. Wasn't there anywhere more protected? Like maybe under the trampoline?

(Right, Jake?)

Ballet Recitals and Big Fat Heads

This weekend was Brooke's ballet recital. But no, despite the fact that she has indeed inherited the rather large Moeck cranium, her head is merely big, not fat. Watch this and see whose fat head I am referring to...



Wasn't that a brilliant performance by Brooke, Sydney, and the rest of the class? Weren't you captivated by their dancing? And now aren't you wondering how the whole thing ended?!?!

Fortunately I got to see it all today. And it ended with Brooke front and center, a huge smile on her face. Her whole class was fabulous. In fact, it was a very so-you-think-you-can-dance recital!

The ballerinas in full make-up

Backstage

The finale

I may never get over the fact that some overly excited mother hen blocked my only recording of Brooke's recital. It's pretty irritating, but I guess not enough to order the $25 DVD. Anyway, what's important here is that Brooke worked hard all year, had fun with her cousin, and may have found something she loves to do....dance.

Andrew at the Bat

Andrew had three hits in three at-bats, some good plays in the field,

and a huge entourage in tow for his game Thursday.

Keeping in touch.

Dear Santa,

I want a telescope and markers for Christmas.
I know I am writing this in spring which is early.
Can I call you Santey Claus?
Well, Santey Claus, thank you for the Wii. We play it all the time.
How are your elves?
Have I been a good boy?
My sisters and me say hi.
Just wanted to check in.
Bye.

Love,
Andrew Franklin