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I've been putting Katie on the toilet for the past 6 months or so. She has never had a problem with sitting on it, but has never actually "gone." But, this morning, she took the initiative of taking off her own diaper and sitting on it without me even prompting her. She then peed in it! Yay, Katie!
Aaron and I just got the script for the preview performance of Love on the Prairie. We're understudying the leads for the second preview performance, as the leading man can't be there (they are having us do it as a couple, although the lead girl could have been there).
Anyway, the script is an hour long. My part is not too bad, but Aaron has about double the lines that I have. He's a bit nervous. The leads have been working on these lines for a few weeks already, and now we're getting this with less than two weeks to go. We only have one song to learn, but I'd rather learn songs than lines. This is going to be an interesting next two weeks.
On Saturday, the Kukachka clan came over for our annual "cousins party." This is where we celebrate all of the kids' birthdays at once, so we don't have to all try to get together for each birthday, as that was getting really complicated, with so many kids.
This year, it was held on Connie's birthday. She turned 29 again this year. ;-) She said that Luke (her youngest) wished her a "Happy Father's Day" instead of a "Happy Birthday." I hope she enjoyed the day. It occurred to me afterward that we should have sung to her. We normally sing to everyone when we do cake, but this year we did s'mores instead, and I totally spaced the singing part.
During the party, some of the younger kids noticed a chirping sound coming from the storm sewer in the back of our yard. They checked it out, and it turned out there was a robin stuck down there. I laid out some thin pieces of wood for it to climb up on, but they were too steep. On the third try (and once the robin realized I was trying to help, not poke it), when it got on the wood, I thought to use leverage to slowly lift the bird up to the top of the grate. When it got to the top, it hopped across the grate, then sang to me for a minute or so before leaving for the next yard. I felt very well-thanked. I noticed then that it had a fuzzy head, and wasn't fully grown yet. It hopped a few feet away, and then a momma bird came out from behind a tree and hopped over to it, gave it a few pecks, and led it back over to the tree. What a fun experience!
Today, William threw up in church. I'm hoping it was just a reaction to so much junk food yesterday. I really can't afford a sick family this week, as it is going to be a busy one. We have rehearsal Mon., Tues. and Thurs. nights. Wednesday afternoon I have my advising and registration session at Normandale. Wednesday night Aaron, Kelly Ammott and I will be rehearsing our song for Sacrament Meeting next Sunday. After that, the Ammotts are going to help me de-bone 10 rotisserie chickens for the zone conference luncheon I'm putting on for 75 missionaries on Thursday. I will also be doing most of the shopping for the luncheon tomorrow or Tuesday, depending on whether I get my couponing done early enough to get out tomorrow. And that's just my schedule. There's plenty more going on for the kids, too. I'm in for a busy week, but I'm up for busy this week - provided we don't have a whole wave of stomach flu.
This morning at 2:45am in Eagan, a 3-year-old child was found walking along Highway 55. At 5:30am, his parents discovered he was missing and called the police. They said he got out by using an electric garage door opener. The child is being held by social services for the next 72 hours while they investigate the parents.
This doesn't seem fair to me. In fact, it outright disturbs me. I thought that there must be something the article didn't say, like the parents looked like they were stoned or something when they came to get their child. So, I called Dakota County social services to find out. They told me that they don't just do this, that the police have to tell them to take the child into custody and do an investigation. They suggested I talk to the police. So I called them. They said that when they can't find the parents, they place the child with social services, and have no control over when the child is released. "That's funny," I said. "Social services just told me it was the other way around."
This could happen to you or me. In fact, I am awfully lucky it hasn't happened to me. I have had three-year-olds escape the house by going into the garage (the door of which they figured out how to open, despite the child safety doorknob), finding a car door unlocked, and opening the garage with the opener on the visor, just as they have seen me do. I have had a three-year-old sneak out after dusk, when I thought he was asleep, only to have a neighbor call and tell me that my child is two blocks entertaining a crowd of people, including the sheriff.
I told the person at the Eagan police department that I thought that it was unfair to keep a 3-year-old from his parents for three days for escaping home without another reason. She told me that there are unexpensive things a person can do to keep their child from escaping the house. I told her that nothing is ever foolproof, and that this just isn't right. She told me that she had gotten my voice mail, and that she really didn't need to further the conversation. As I hadn't called her previously, I told her that this was my first call, and this just shows that other people are concerned with this, as well.
I got off the phone feeling like this isn't really the free country we think it is. I cried.
I am afraid for the day when Katie figures out how to use a child safety doorknob.
I want to start a public blog with coupon and sale specials for the Waconia area. Does anyone have a great idea for a name?
Aaron and I auditioned for CVFT's melodrama, "Love on the Prairie," on Monday. I found out tonight that we both got parts as townspeople. Aaron has some lines, and I have some solos. Very exciting!
The director called to ask if our kids could be in it, too. We were hoping they would ask! The younger five will all be participating, although Katie and Aidan will be starting out on a trial basis to see if they can handle it. William and Dallin are extremely excited about it. Ben wasn't so sure he wanted to be in it, but when I explained what a melodrama is, he changed his mind. Tristin and Brandon won't be involved, as they have scout camp the 2nd week of the run, and they preferred that to being in a musical. Maybe someday they'll change their minds, like after seeing this melodrama. ;-)
Rehearsals will be Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays for six weeks, starting next week. The show runs July 30, 31, and August 5, 6, 7, 8.
Did I mention I'm excited? It is so great that so many of the kids will be able to participate with us!
As I may have mentioned, Tristin made it into The Current, which is Waconia High School's JV show choir. They are having an awesome fundraiser for people who shop at Kwik Trip. The school was able to purchase gift cards at a 10% discount. You pay full price for the gift card, and use the entire face value of your purchase. Tristin gets 10% of your purchase deposited into his choir account. For example, you buy a $100 gift card for $100. You get to spend $100. Tristin gets $10 in his choir account. You lose nothing, and Tristin gains $10. As show choir will cost $675, this is a great deal for us, especially since we already buy gas, milk, eggs, bread and bananas at Kwik Trip.
Aaron, Tristin and Brandon took off with Reo (Aaron's Dad) for the Boundary Waters this afternoon. As always happens when Aaron strands me with young children, I got fidgety and needed something to spend my mental strength on. As I was browsing through the Freebies 2 Deals website, I noticed a bunch of Walgreens deals that I could make some money on.
C. Scott Grow is an excellent teacher. He brings power with him when he speaks. He also likes putting people on the spot. For example, me. With no notice, at the Saturday evening adult session of our stake conference, he called me up to the stand to give a talk on how to be a mother of seven children when your husband is on the high council and travels a lot, and to bear my testimony.
I have spent the evening stewing after yet another Scout Court of Honor where my children were missing multiple awards. I have been thinking that if I were the bishop, I'd replace the Scoutmaster with someone who could do it right. If it were me (which it couldn't be, seeing as how it is kind of a gender-specific role), I would make sure that all of the boys got their Scoutmaster Conferences in the month before the Court of Honor. I would make sure that all of the records were updated in Troopmaster, and that all of the awards were picked up from the Scout Shop. Then, I wouldn't have to watch Brandon be disappointed for an entire year while his Boy Scout badge was not awarded to him, and also not get the merit badge he earned over the winter. I wouldn't have to watch Tristin be disappointed when he only got two out of three of his completed merit badges.
My friend Analisa came over last week, and we made bread together. She has a great recipe that is super easy to make. Here it is:
Aaron's interview went very well. The offer has not been made yet, as things will have to go through human resources before that can happen, but we'll just say that the interview was less of an interview, and more of a product and market familiarization. The market looks a lot better than the report Aaron got from the market analysis firm led Microboards to believe.
Last night at around 9:30pm, Aaron got a message from the Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Primera, one of Microboards' top two competitors (Microboards used to be a distributor for Primera, but when Microboards bought a manufacturing facility and started building competitive products, Primera cut them off). He said he's looking for a Business Development Manager for Latin America, and thought Aaron was just the person. It isn't for their CD/DVD line, but a label printer line. Microboards briefly explored the market last year, but the president didn't want to put an investment into developing it, so it never went anywhere.
Aaron had his interview on Monday. He and the Director of Marketing were very much on the same page. She asked him a lot of questions which allowed him to demonstrate his knowledge of the industry and his competence in marketing. After asking him some questions about how he would handle some lead-generating, she started taking notes, as if he were a consultant, rather than an interviewee. Unfortunately, he was pretty sure he was more suited to her position than the manager position for which he was interviewing.
Aaron's interview was postponed to Monday, so there won't be any news today.
Aaron had a phone interview with Gov Delivery's HR screener last week, and got a call for an in-person interview for the Marketing Manager position. He scheduled it for Thursday at 3pm. We're not sure whether it will be a position he will really be interested in or not. The Marketing Director is actually less experienced than he is, so it might not be a good fit. She doesn't have an MBA, either, so it might be awkward for her to hire him.
I bet that, upon reading the headline of this post, you assumed it was going to be about one of the boys. Well, you were wrong.
It's been a great six years, or year and a half, whichever way you want to look at it.
Thus begins the book I've just started reading, "In Defense of Food." It seems kind of strange to tell people to eat food, but the book pointed out that most of what is sold in the grocery stores today isn't actually food. In fact, from 1906-1973, there was a law that any food that was modified from its original form must be labeled as "imitation" food. Anyone for some imitation ham (processed, water added, etc.)? imitation sour cream (low-fat sour cream)? imitation butter (margarine)? Suddenly, you wouldn't be so quick to purchase that imitation milk (skim, 1%, 2%).
