A fun math problem

We're all about word problems in third grade plus right now we are starting to learn about expressions and equations.

So, what do you get if you have late nights at the theater plus insomnia fueled mornings times too many plus pajama day at school (dress up days are the worst--the kids get so hyped up)?

You get one very short blog post.

I will add a picture though.  These lovely ladies came to Mark's show last night.

Carolina, Desi, Marianne and Mark

I am so grateful to have family come to Mark's show.  For one thing I love to have dinner with them and catch up while we're waiting in the line for the bathroom during the intermission.  Also, it makes me feel loved that they love Mark.

Carolina said, "It was so cute!  I looked down and saw you and my mom wiping your tears."

Hey.  Just wait Lina.  Pretty soon you'll be a shameless crier too.  I think it's your birthright.

Another show

Friday, Braeden, Anna, Emma, Olivia and all her family except Ruben came to Mark's show.

It's one of my favorite shows my kids have been in.  And bonus, I understood more of the story the second time around.

By next Saturday, I'll be an expert.  You can ask me anything.

Omar traded off sitting on Olivia's or Edgar's laps so he could see.  When Marius was singing about being the only one left behind, Omar whispered to Olivia, "I wish Mark had been the one to survive!"

Emma cried when Mark died on the barricade.  I definitely flinch and squeeze Adam's hand, but Emma cried.  She loves her boy.

Some judges from some high school theater association (I don't really understand it) were there so Mark just had a few minutes to greet us then he had to go be "adjudicated" which sounds serious, but drama kids are...well, dramatic.

A few weeks ago, the boys who played the students had a mandatory bonding time that their director insisted on.  They got together and ate pizza and played video games.

I think it worked.

Since we didn't have much time with Mark, we took a quick but requisite picture of Mark and Anna.

Anna reminds me of the lyrics from the kids' song by Justin Roberts Cartwheels and Somersaults.

Well, we never really knew

How much we needed you

We also quickly took this picture and I was fumbling in the weird light and trying to squeeze everyone in and Mark was saying, "I've got to go!"

And his friends were walking by and saying, "We've got to go!"

Some of them are looking at me and some of them are looking at Olivia, but we got them!

Anna, Emma, Mark, Omar, Braeden, Marcos, Liliana and Ammon

Grateful Friday

I am glad for many things.

I'm grateful for my warm house and sturdy car and lack of traffic/recess duty.

Winter has us in its grip.  I am protected from the worst of it and I appreciate that.  We had both recesses inside yesterday which is kind of the worst, but I'm also glad to keep the kiddos warm and safe.  (I just wish we only had inside recess on days we have PE.  Can that be a new rule?)

I'm grateful for modern medicine.

Wow.  Mark was super sick and he took some antibiotics and improved dramatically.  I'm also grateful for doctors who listen to me when the rapid strep test comes back negative but I say, "I think he has strep."

Because my kids have had strep one or twelve times.

I'm grateful I've been able to stay healthy despite spending my days with coughing sniffling children.

I credit Wellness Formula which is this supplement I take and it wards off illness.  I would be in a multilevel marketing scheme for this stuff.  (Not really.  I will never have a money making opportunity for you.)

I don't know if it is the placebo effect or what and I don't really care, because I'm here for it.

I'm grateful for my students that laugh at my dumb jokes, hug me, doggedly try to pass off their multiplication facts, demand answers when they don't understand, and remind me to send someone for the lunch crate.  (Every day.  I seriously forget every day.)

I'm grateful for one sweet girl who drew Lehi's vision when I had them draw a picture to illustrate our vocabulary word, realized.  These kids are the best.  The best.

I'm grateful we picked Pleasant Grove High School.  We mostly picked it for the performing arts and we weren't wrong.

Les Miserables knocked my socks off.   It was just well done.  Opening night was thrilling and I was for sure wiping my tears when the lights came up but I think most of the audience was also wiping their tears so I was not alone.

When Mark was up on the top of the barricade fighting for the revolution, I kept thinking he should get down and hide behind it.  Another boy was down there handing up rifles.  Why didn't Mark get down and do that?

It didn't matter that my brain 100% knew it was a play.  My motherly instincts wanted him to stop being foolhardy.

I'm grateful for the support of family for Mark.  Last night my parents came to the show, tonight Olivia's family and our college kids are coming.  Monday, Marianne and Carolina and Desi are coming and next week Geri will be here.  The wreath of love that surrounds Mark via his family matters to him and to me.

I fumbled for my phone and was too slow so I only got this one picture. If you're only going to get one picture, one of the two Marks isn't bad.

He hasn't been allowed to cut his hair.  Adam said we'll cut it after the last show.  I said I don't have the upper body strength for that.  That kid has a lot of hair.

Finally, I'm grateful Les Mis has good music.  Because that stuff is in my brain and I still have 5 shows to go.

Momming

It isn't that often that my kids really need me it seems (I mean lately--for awhile there, I was keeping them alive), but yesterday, I had to pull up my mom boots and report for duty.

I left work around 4:45 and got home at 8:00.

I stopped by the grocery store on the way home and Adam called.  While we were talking, Mark texted that he was throwing up.

He had been sick with a bad sore throat and just general exhaustion that we chalked up to being in a musical that is trying to kill him--besides him dying with all the other revolutionaries every show.

Throwing up on top of the rest sounded like strep throat to me.  I swung by the school and got him.  The night before opening night it's not easy to get someone out of rehearsal, I don't care who you are.

But I squared my shoulders and played my mom card.  I drove him straight to the walk in clinic.  He threw up twice in the waiting room which you would think would help you jump the line but only caused them to keep handing us little bags for him to throw up in.

After a very long wait while he took a little nap on the bed in the exam room and I read the New York Times on my phone and scrolled Facebook and thought for not the first time that I should always have a book with me, we were released with an antibiotic prescription.  I dropped him off at home and went to the grocery store to get sick food for him.  I quizzed him about what he wanted to eat (he had to eat something with the medicine) and the only thing I could get him to commit to were jello and french bread and bananas.

And he doesn't even like bananas.

I went to the grocery store and got everything (including bananas) and also some chicken soup and popsicles and Cinnamon Toast Crunch which I never buy, but my baby is sick.

(I bought the store brand of Cinnamon Toast Crunch.  I mean, I love the kid but I'm still cheap.)

When Adam got home from his young men activity, we made sure Mark was tucked in with extra Capri Suns in case his blood sugar went low and our eye on his monitor in case it went high.  We went to the school to get his car and at 9:00, they were still there, rehearsing.

I can't tell you how glad I was that my Mark was home in bed.  I hope the antibiotics do the trick and he'll be feeling better for opening night!

Reading Emma's book

On my poster of 100 Epic Reads is A Fault in our Stars by John Green.  I grabbed it from the shelf in Emma's room so I could continue my quest to read every one of the 100 Epic Reads.

This is what it's like to read one of Emma's books:

She crosses out offensive words with a sharpie.

She marks a lot(!) of things with sticky notes.

This was tucked between the pages.

Sometimes you borrow your daughter's book and you just end up loving her more.

What do you do on a snow day

First, there wasn't that much snow.  We got a skiff.  There was a lot more snow in other places in the district but Pleasant Grove is usually...pleasant...when it comes to snow.

We went to McDonald's for breakfast.  Adam and I took our laptops and did some work and Mark  used Adam's iPad and worked on homework.

I texted the kids our new business venture.

If you ever need something named, ask Emma.

I got a lot of work done and took sips of Adam's Diet Coke intermittently.  Adam said to Mark, "See, that's why I got a Diet Coke because I knew your mom would want some."

How to be a good husband life hacks.  Adam could do a podcast.

I also got caught up on a bunch of things at home (including ironing!  That's been a long time coming), I worked on family history with my incomparable friend Marie Louise, and I had a quiet easy day.

It was nice.

In the evening we played Boggle.  Mark had never played before.  How is that possible?  When we were tallying up points, Enoch called to chat.

I told him about Boggle and about how I'd won and about how I always win.  (If you can't brag to your brothers, who can you brag to?  Answer:  Your sisters, your kids, your spouse....)

Enoch said, "I always win when we play Boggle too."

I said, "I wonder who would win if we played."

He said, "I would."

I don't know about that, but I know if there was a contest about who had the most unabashed self confidence, Enoch would win.

Every time.

Snow day!

This is the first time in the 5 1/2 years we've lived here that school has been cancelled because of snow.  The Alpine School District usually just says, "Well, drive safely!"

But today, 4-8 inches are predicted and we're home.  I may feel less wonderful about it when we have to make up the day during spring break, but today it feels perfect.  Mark has been burning the candle at both ends and with opening night on Thursday this week promises to be one of late night rehearsals.

As for me, I have thought of about 30,000 (ballpark figure) things I can catch up with today and I would also love to just sit and read a bit.

How marvelous does that sound?

It's a sweater and jeans, cozy sock kind of day and I am glad.