Excuses:
1. I don't remember 90% of the last month, therefore cannot be held responsible!
2. Changing 8,692,478 diapers, many of which were really too dangerous to have to encounter, but I still braved them anyway.
3. Breaking up 6,139 fights (this would have been more if the older boys were here more than every other weekend).
4. Listened to 15,986,212,903 tantrums...oh, how the terrible twos are upon us!!!
5. Typed too many lines of medical transcription to count, but probably around the 15,000 range...it sure feels like that should be a higher number, probably because for half the time I am fighting off and trying to get Fuss to entertain himself or peacefully take a nap!
6. Called my mother crying because "I just can't take it anymore! He is awful!" and asking "Will he always be this disobedient!" (mostly meaning Fuss, but occasionally meaning D).
7. Attended 18 family parties/dinners.
8. Took the boys to Idaho for a sledding trip.
9. Done 693,412 loads of laundry.
10. Attempted to clean my house for hours on end...only to find as soon as I have a room cleaned satisfactorily and moved on to a new room, the clean one that I just left was redestroyed in seconds by Fuss and/or his brothers.
11. Relaxed in a comatose state (this I am guessing was about an hour or two a day, but am not really aware of it. I have just been told by D that I am there--I think it is really like 10 minutes a day.)
12. Leveled up 12 levels on Mob Wars on Facebook (stupid addictions)!
13. Attended one baby shower.
14. Ate dinner at Lucy's house (yes, I had dinner at the ex-wife's house when Olie was ordained to the office of a deacon...that should get us--me, D, his parents, and his sister and her family--all an award for keeping the peace and being polite under strenuously awkward circumstances.)
15. Had a completely (well 99.9%) green dinner at my parents' house in honor of today...St. Patrick's Day!
Last night my mom thought that it would be a fun idea to have a St. Patty's Day party. We have never had one before and I don't know if we will again, but it sure was an adventure!! Each of us had an assignment to wear green and to bring one green pot luck item for our green dinner. My mom made pasta with chicken alfredo sauce...green alfredo sauce. My older brother brought green grapes, green apples, and green pears with Cool Whip mixed with green yogurt to dip them in. I brought green frosted sugar cookies, because let's face it...I'm all about the sweets! Gillette brought a fantastic green spinach salad. Fluff made a green coffee cake, which under normal circumstances I would have been afraid to try, but it was actually quite delicious. Agee brought green cucumbers in vinegar (which is a family favorite for us). KM brought green honeydew melon. And my cousin brought green Jello (all Mormon stereotypes aside, it was delicious as well). My mom also provide regular colored rolls with green butter, which my brother and brother-in-law used to frost one of the cookies and trick my nephew into eating...so rude! Martha Stewart, I am sure, would not have approved of our lack of color combinations or somewhat strange combinations of foods, but seriously what does she know about having fun and breaking rules! I have never before had an entirely green meal, nor did I think I would enjoy it, but boy was I wrong! There is something delicious about the creativity it takes to pull a meal like this one off, and I did learn that alfredo is good no matter what color it is (at least if it is that color intentionally)!
My mom, being the great grandma that she is, also taught her grandchildren the story of a leprechaun who has to hide his gold. She told them that on St. Patrick's Day Eve he looks for a leprechaun house that is nicely decorated, and if he finds one that he thinks is good enough, he will place his gold coins in it to hide them so they don't get stolen. She then provided each child with small boxes, markers, and stickers to create and decorate houses for the leprechaun. She told each of them that they needed to place their leprechaun houses on their front porches to see if they were good enough to hide gold in. This morning 14 children were pleasantly surprised when they opened up those houses and found bags of gold (chocolate) coins inside. I am sure their grandma must have told the leprechaun where the houses would be. So, as I make up excuses and justify my lack of commitment to my blog, my mom has planned ahead, gotten supplies, and provided each parent with the necessary items to fulfill the story that she told her grandchildren for a holiday that is not widely celebrated as a major holiday! Although I have never before celebrated St. Patrick's Day...I think this is a tradition that will carry on! Time passes by too quickly! I find that for me it is time to relax and enjoy even the smallest things!! (and recommit to blogging--I hope!)
