Nothing Is Ever Easy

Are you sitting down? I know this is really going to come to a shock to you, but here goes.... Zack, my biggest baby, got his drivers license Friday. Breathe...In...Out...In...Out... I truly don't know why they give little boys drivers licenses, but they did. He won't be 16 until next month, but now he has it. And, it was something we had to work for. The nice officer that does the driving test only does the driving part on Thursdays and Fridays from 12:30-2:30. We were encouraged by veteran parents to, "get there early". Roger took Zack at 12:10. Now the reason that Roger took Zack is that I am basically freaked out the entire time I'm in the car and Zack is behind the wheel. It's not because he's a bad driver...he's not bad, just inexperienced and I don't handle it well. Meanwhile, Roger reads...or is looking at the pretty scenery... I sit in the back seat trying to see over Roger's head so I can have enough time to brace myself if needed. Anyway, when they arrived for the test, there were already 3 people in front of him. There was no way they were going to finish by 1:00 so Roger could go to the hospital. So, he called in the backup! Me! Drat those cellphones!! I was instructed to bring the van to the test so Roger could take it to work and Zack could drive the Toyota. Unfortunately, I was right in the middle of defrosting the freezer and had coolers and sacks of sweating food all around me. I quickly gave Zane a crash course in how to us a blow dryer to melt ice and how to put everything back in the freezer. My younger kids wanted to go to the library for the afternoon movie at 2:00. "Surely I'll be home by 1:30", I told myself. I couldn't be more wrong! The officer finally got to Zack at 1:30. I figured we were still ok. Each test was taking about 15 minutes. That would still give me enough time to take Zack back to work, pick up the kids and take them to the library, then hi-ho home to get the food in the freezer. We were good... Unfortunately, the nice officer pointed out that we had a tail light that wouldn't seem to light up! And no, you can't take the driving test with a busted out tail light. The nice officer told me I could go get it fixed and then come back. So, I took Zack to work with no license. On my way to pick up the kids, Roger called and said I should come back to pick up Zack and let him take the test in the van! Genius! So, I drop off the kids at the library, pick up Zack and go back to the test. The nice officer is happy to let him test but needs to see our insurance and registration. After Zack gives it to him, the nice officer kindly points out that our registration is EXPIRED! And no, you can't take the test with expired registration. I KNOW I put the registration in the van...where is it??? So, we prepare to drive off and I find it. This year it is not printed on the obvious yellow paper that we are used to...it's on white paper, and it's smaller, so we had overlooked it. So, we turn around and head back. It's 3:00 now. Did I mention that the armory where the test is given is unairconditioned? And, there's nowhere to sit inside, so everyone just sits on the porch, on the ground? And, that the bank thermometer read 97 degrees when I passed it the first time? The nice officer agrees to let Zack test, but puts him at the end of the line. At 3:30, I jump in the van and go to the library to pick up the kids. They want to stay at the library, so I drive BACK to the armory. We finally do the test, pass, and leave the parking lot at 4:30. I pick up the kids from the library and imagine all the defrosted food in my kitchen. Thankfully, Zane had stuffed it all back into the freezer. Even with all that food in the freezer, we went out to eat that night.

The Sounds of Summer

What a great holiday weekend! I love it when the holiday falls on a Friday. It fools my brain into feeling like Friday is Saturday. Then, on Friday night, it's so exciting to realize, "Hey! It's only Friday! We get one more day!!" Even though Sunday is technically part of the weekend, to me it's not really a "free" day. When you have to get up and get dressed up and make a real lunch...well...it's just different. I do try to do the resting thing on Sundays. I used to do all my grocery shopping on Sundays, but that is definitely NOT resting...so I stopped. Not stopped shopping, but shopping on Sundays.

We went to our friend's house for dinner and to watch the big firework show from their backyard. Burgers and potato salad...watermelon and homemade ice cream...swimming until dark...loading sleepy kids into the van after great (not to mention free) fireworks... Lovely.

We worked on the yard this weekend. A couple months ago, my friend Wendy had a girls' night out at her house around her fire pit. It was great!! We do quite a bit of burning and have a mound in the backyard, so I told Roger we should make a little pit like Wendy's. We had some of those bricks that go around a tree...so we used them to go around the fire. As usual, Roger's idea was a little bigger than mine...so now about 20 people could sit around it. We've already used it for smores twice. We had another family over last night with their 3 kiddos... Our boys and their boys with chocolate smeared all over their faces...riding bikes and chasing hundreds of fireflies... Perfect.

Speaking of perfect... I had mentioned in my last post that I got my little bird feeders up and going. I was sitting on the back step this afternoon trying to sit really still so some of the birdies would come to the feeder. The dogs were laying at my feet, asleep. Zane came out and was sitting next to me and I was explaining to him that you have to be really still and quiet so the birds will forget you're there...then they'll come and eat. So, there we sat...trying to be really quiet, listening to the sounds of nature, when all of a sudden, the dog gave us a 3 second fart! Talk about spoiling the moment!! I never really thought about it, but I guess dogs can get gas too. We tried to compose ourselves, but she did it 3 more times!! Well, no birdies were coming near us, so we went inside.

Finally, tonight we got everyone and a visiting little friend loaded into the van to go hit tennis balls at the courts. Naturally, 5 minutes after we arrived, my 6 year old announced that he had to go to the bathroom. We realized that he'd never had the opportunity to pee outside. So, Roger took him behind a tree. All I heard was a lot of giggling. He has officially joined the "pee on a tree" club. If he's anything like my other boys, I'll have to explain that the tree is only if there aren't any bathrooms around...It shouldn't be the first choice...and it surely shouldn't be in the neighbor's yard!

Fireworks, lots of giggling, chasing fireflies, dogs farting... What a great summer so far!