AAAAAAAAUGHHHHHH!

It's 2:00 AM, and I just ruined the 24 beautiful Valentine cupcakes I made for Andrew's class party tomorrow...I mean, today. I just finished putting the last candy heart on the top and was carefully carrying the pan to the dining table, when one tipped over. It was like a horrifying slow-motion domino effect and they all came crashing down.

I'm going to go cry now.

College...or No College?

Andrew and I had a very important discussion about his future today over breakfast:

Andrew: "Mom, how much does college cost?"

Summer: "It's pretty expensive. When Mommy and Daddy went to college at Weber State, it was about $2500 a year. But that's a pretty cheap college and it will be much more expensive when you go to college. Daddy's medical school was about $20,000 a year."

Andrew: (eyes popping out of his head) "Do you think I could get a scholarship?"

Summer: "Sure! If you keep working hard and doing well in school like you do."

Andrew: (thinking for a moment) "Well, my plan is to be on Deal or No Deal before college. Winning the million dollars would definitely help!"

Yeah, we like watching Deal or no Deal at our house. I know it's old news, but it was so fun watching this girl win the million! The re-run of this episode was on TV the other night. Don't tell anyone, but I was seriously in tears because I was so happy for her! She's so stinkin' cute!

Part II - Curse You, Ohio Winter!

The fun continues!

So...Bryan was driving the van to work the other day...wait, let me back up a bit...

Bryan was driving home from work in the Escort last week, when he hit a GIANT pothole. Ya know, the ones that could almost swallow your car whole - Cleveland roads are famous for them! He wasn't able to swerve because of the cars on either side of him, so he hit it hard and knocked the wheels out of alignment, or something. Now it makes a lovely knocking sound when you drive.

SO...not wanting to drive the injured car until we could get it fixed, Bryan drove the van to work (the day after the whole gutter incident, by the way). On the way down the hill on our street, he hit a slippery spot and tried to brake, but van didn't slow at all (Did I mention that the van is in desperate need of new tires? We've been putting it off and putting it off for a couple months now)! He hit head-on at full speed into a large snow bank, and smashed the front bumper (that's not gonna be cheap)! He was also hopelessly stuck in the snow.

While trying to dig the van out, a truck pulled up and the man inside asked Bryan if he could use a hand. He gratefully accepted, and the man helped tow the van out of the snow bank with his truck. Bryan surveyed the damage on the fron of the van and then thanked the man for his help.

Man: "You're welcome. Do you have anything to tip me with?" (what?!)

Bryan, a little surprised: "Um...I'm sorry, I don't have any cash with me."

Man: "I'll take a check." (WHAT?!)

Bryan: "I don't have a checkbook with me either."

Man: "Well, you said you lived close by, right? You could go home and get me some money." (Are. You. Kidding. Me?!)

Bryan, being the sweet guy he is, came home, found our last $10 bill (the one we were going to buy toilet paper with), and gave it to the man. When Bryan told me the story, I was floored! I know times are tough right now; maybe the guy really needed it. If so, I'm glad we could help. But whatever happened to helping out your neighbor and random acts of kindness? I don't know. Maybe I've got it all wrong.

P.S. Now, nobody go out and buy us toilet paper! We just got our tax refund and Bryan's paycheck comes this week, so we are fine!

Curse You, Ohio Winter!

Have you ever had one of those days where things just don't go right, and then, just when you think it can't get any worse, it does, and then it does again, and then it does again? That's how yesterday was. Well, I guess it actually started the day before yesterday.

Summer and I had just laid down to bed when suddenly, there's a loud scraping coming from up on the roof. In Utah, I would have been worried, but out here it's a normal occurrence once or twice each Winter as the snow that has piled up on the steep roof finally breaks loose from the shingles and slides down onto the ground. The first year we lived here, the snow broke loose and caught the heavy, ice-filled gutters on the front of the house, ripping one side away from the house and down. The gutter subsequently swung out away from the house, and then back like a giant pendulum, slamming against the front side of the house and missing the front bay window by just inches. That repair cost over $500, and that's with me doing the work myself. Anyway, this year, I thought the snow had just come down and I didn't worry much about it - at least not until the next morning.

During the night, I hear Logan crying, so I get up to find Summer bathing him in the tub. I look at my watch to find it's 3:00AM, and I shoot her a perplexed look. "He threw up" she tells me, "all over. EVERYWHERE." (Summer says,"Memo to me: In the future when your child is crying for a hug in the middle of the night, check to see if he is covered in vomit BEFORE hugging and kissing him on the head! Just, eew!)

Later that morning, Andrew is also sick, throwing up multiple times, and both Summer and I feel nauseated most of the day. Oh, I almost forgot, Logan and Hannah both had several blow outs each during the course of the day.

Anyway, back to the story - I got up and looked out the window only to see our rear gutters demolished across the back lawn. "How can this story get any worse," you might ask yourself. Well, as the ice-filled gutters fell from the back of the house, they fell right onto the power line supplying the house, ripping the large metal conduit from the electrical meter, bending the meter housing, and strewing a live power line across the driveway. As a little added bonus, it broke the lines going to the garage, so that the garage no longer had electricity. We called the city to come shut off the power, but they said that these repairs would be the responsibility of the homeowner, and that the city doesn't cover any of it. Great!!

I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure those power lines are not supposed to be laying across by backyard!

(sarcasm implied). So while we're waiting for the power company to come, I figure I'll just get some of the ice/snow moved away from the gutter so that we can get them off the power lines once the electric company comes. I stayed three or four feet from the wires at all times, but began shoveling some of the snow away from the gutter. After about 10 minutes of moving snow, I stuck my shovel into the snow to move another load and several sparks fly up into the air. Luckily, my hands were holding the fiberglass handle of the shovel and I didn't get shocked, but it was enough to convince me to rethink my plan to remove some of the snow.

After three or four hours, the power company showed up and shut off the power. I went out and started yanking on the gutters, trying to get them out from underneath the heavy snow and ice. In the process of yanking them out from the snow, my left hand slid along one of the aluminum edges, slicing into the finger. I started dripping blood across the driveway, examining the wound as I went inside to get some gauze.

It looked fairly deep, and I felt it would likely benefit from a few stitches, however I didn't want to pay the $50 copay to spend 4 hours in the waiting room for a resident to throw a few stitches in my finger. I dug into my first aid kit, pulled out some betadine anti-microbial wash, some lidocaine, and some suture. Then, I washed it out, numbed it up, and put in a couple of stitches. It should be good as new in a few weeks.

After the finger incident, I got back to work cleaning up the mess. After removing the gutters, I ran to Home Depot and blew $180 buying supplies to repair the mess. At around 8 PM, I finally finished replacing the conduit & wires, and re-wiring the garage. ("I held the flashlight!" - Summer again.) By then, we had been without power (and thus heat in the house) for several hours, and the kids were freezing! We called the power company to come flip the power back on and they tell us they can be there at around 12:30 AM. Again, GREAT!!!

I go in the house to rest... in the dark.... and wait... and wait.... and wait. Just before midnight, the guy shows up, takes a look at the box, and tells me he doesn't see an inspection tag on the electrical meter. "I'm not supposed to hook you back up until you get the job inspected" he tells me, matter of factly. I explain that we have a 11 month old baby inside that's not only cold, but sick, and that there's no way we'll be able to get an inspector out after midnight. Fortunately, he had a little sympathy, and he reconnected the power. We talked for about 20 minutes while he reconnected everything, and he turned out to be a really nice guy. I'm just really grateful that he turned the power back on. It was a life-saver!

Anyway, I still need to put together and hang a new set of gutters for the back of the house, but at least we have electricity. After all the drama, I guess the old adage still applies, "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger." If that's the case, I'm I freakin' MUSCLE MAN!!!

So I saw this video of a kid who got sedation for a dental procedure, and it was hilarious. Both Summer and I were laughing so hard. It's great.

Good To Know He's Learning Something...

At the grocery store tonight, Logan helped me count the gallons of milk in our cart:

Logan: "One...Two...Three! Just like me! I'm three!"

Summer: "Yeah! That's right!"

Logan: "And the Cheetah Girls have three, and the Jonas Brothers have three!"

Who says you can't learn anything from the Disney Channel!

Logan's Potty Party

Logan filled his potty chart!!! That's over 88 stickers for using the potty! He has even been wearing underwear at night and keeping them dry. I think it's safe to say that Logan is potty trained!Logan chose to go to Chuck E. Cheese last night to celebrate this big milestone. Yay, Logan! We are so proud of you!

Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

...Andrew had a birthday party!

As each guest arrived, we taped a Star Wars character to their back. They had to ask each other only 'yes' or 'no' questions in order to guess who they were. Then they got to wear their character on their front.

Hello, Princess Leia!

To test out our Younglings' shooting skills, each one had a chance to sit in the "pilot seat" to try to hit the space ships.

Once they proved their shooting skills, they were asked to save the Universe by destroying the Death Star. (Bryan painted this Death Star, by the way. Awesome, huh?!)

The next mission was to follow clues to rescue 10 Jedi action figures who were being held captive in various places throughout the house.
Luke Skywalker was freezing until these young Padawans came to the rescue!

For dinner, we had "Pizza the Hutt" and "Yoda Soda".

Logan got pretty upset when Andrew opened his presents: "I don't have any presents in my hands!"

Good thing Nana was there to make it all better!

The Padawans had passed all their tests, so they were presented with balloon "lightsabers." For practice, they were told to use nothing but the Force and their lightsabers to keep a balloon from touching the ground...

...and as you can imagine, all chaos broke loose!

The birthday Boy, in his best Jedi pose!

We ran out of time for the TIE Fighter cakes, so we sent one home with each guest, along with a little Darth Vader backpack ($1.00 at Target!!!), Star Wars goodies, pretzel "lightsabers", and their balloon lightsaber.