I've learned over the years that Mother's Day is just like any other day and the key to enjoying it is to enjoy what it's all about. Being a mom with all the work, joy, and drudgery it entails! Dode had to speak in church so he spent the morning going over his talk one last time. He was pretty nervous about his topic. He'd been given the topic "Mothers" and chose to make his talk on "Imperfect Mothers". He didn't know if he'd be able to pull off telling all the women there has never been a perfect mother and never will be one without offending the ladies in the congregation. After church, he got a lot of compliments and even a week later, someone told him she's enjoying being "perfectly imperfect!"
After church, we had the Dickson relatives over for a family dinner. I'd made several salads the day before, Dode did the BBQing and Sharon, Sheri, and Viv brought desserts they'd purchased the night before at their ward's dessert auction. It was a nice easy meal. The best part was that Grandma and Grandpa Dickson felt up to hanging out and visiting afterwards. Randy and Lisa surprised us as we were getting ready to eat by calling to tell us they were coming down to. It was a very fun night.
all the mothers gathered together
Track Meet
Anasatya had another track meet on Wednesday and this is the first time I've gone to one where it wasn't raining. Hooray! She was pretty excited because her Grandma Sharon, Aunt Sheri, Uncle Joel, Seth and Ellie came to cheer her on. She substituted on the 4x100 relay race at the last minute when one of their runners didn't show up. She's never even practiced the event so she was pretty nervous. She was the 2nd runner and when she got the baton, she took off running with everything she had in her. Only about 25 yards into the race, she got her feet tangled up and went down on the track. She lay there for a bit, realized she still had the baton in her hand, and got up and finished the race. She was pretty shaken up by the experience but she had a lot of people come up to her and tell her how proud they were that she got up and finished the race. When she got back to where I was timing the event, she had a good cry. I held her and told her it's the mark of an athlete to try so hard and that everyone falls. I don't know if she believed me but it was a good experience for her to have.
Dishwasher woes
Part of the nighttime routine is to run the dishwasher. Thursday night we started it and went to bed. A while later, one of the girls went to use the bathroom and smelt smoke. She came to our room to tell us and under reactors that we are, we said, "Don't worry about it, go to bed." Then I noticed that when they'd opened our door, I could smell smoke too, electrical fire smoke. Dode headed downstairs and found the kitchen and dining area filled with smoke. He started throwing open windows and looking for the source. I came down and started looking. After a few minutes, I noticed that there were black marks on the front of the dishwasher and a bubble where the plastic had melted. Sure enough, it had self destructed. When Dode took it apart, he found a lot of melted and burnt components.
the inside of your dishwasher should NOT look like this!
He also found a heat sensitive fuse which had shut off the electricity and stopped the fire from getting out of control. I'm very thankful for that fuse! It took days for our house to not smell of electrical fire. Dode was able to order parts for the dishwasher so hopefully soon I'll be back to using it. In the mean time, I'm stuck hand washing everything. It's a big bummer! I took all the silverware out of the drawer and replaced it with plastic. I also made a tray for drinking glasses with each person's name under where their glass goes. That way, I'm not stuck with as many glasses to wash. Every little bit helps!
Time for the 6 month mommy report card
Every time I take the kids to the dentist, I feel like I'm getting graded on my mom skills when I hear how their teeth are doing. I can't tell you how many times I've been told that I need to floss their teeth or help them brush or make sure they take their fluoride. I ask them to brush their teeth twice a day, remind them several times but flossing, helping and fluoride are not things I do. I have six kids but the only one who remembers on his own to brush is Jacob. I'd have thought 14 years old was old enough to hate morning breath but Anastaya and Isaac sure don't seem to care. Well, I got a good report card this time, no cavities! Yeah me (and the kids).
On the way home from the dentist, I saw a truck with two Vespas in their trailer. I mentioned them to Isaac and told him I'd love to have a scooter. He was shocked. "What do you need a scooter for, we have the Trail 90's." I explained that the 90's just don't have the cool look of a scooter. He told me, "Well, I guess we could stick a piece of plastic on the front so it'd look like a scooter." I told him that just wasn't going to work for me and reminded him that the 90's aren't street legal at this time. He said, "Well once we fix the headlight, tail light, speedometer, and blinkers you'll be good to go." He is so like his dad. All they care about is, "Is it functional?" If the answer is "Yes", then it's good enough for them. I like a bit more style.
Vespa
Trail 90, just not as cute!
Saturday
Saturday morning, Dode went with Isaac's scout troop mountain biking at the Pilchuck Tree Farm. Isaac's troop is going mountain biking as part of their high adventure activity in June so this was a training ride. Dode is an expert at the Pilchuck Tree Farm, having mapped the bike trails. In fact, when you go to Cycling Magazine and click on the tree farm, Dode's map comes up! Just a little bit famous! There was a wide range of ability on the ride, one boy hadn't even been on a bike in at least four years while some were happily bombing down the trails. One of the boys bent the rim of his wheel almost in half. They were as far from the car as you could get, several miles in. Dode spent quite a bit of time straightening it out so they could make it back to the car.
Elizabeth got to do one of her favorite things Saturday morning, go fishing. Her grandpa Lynn picked her up bright and early and took her to a kid's fishing derby at Twin Lakes. She caught four fish and had a wonderful time. Thanks Grandpa.
While the rest of the family was gone, I took Anastaya, William and Miriam to the YMCA. We dropped the littles off in child care and did some strength training followed by a Zumba class. I love Zumba but Anastaya wasn't so enthused. She didn't push herself very hard and had a bit of a sulky attitude. Oh the joys of parenting a teenager! Sufficiently exercised, we picked up the littles and went swimming. Miriam loves to try to swim but she has such a hard time floating. Once we were chilled, we headed to the hot tub. It didn't take long for a lifeguard to come over and make a blanket statement that all children under 7 years of age can only sit on the sides. I just smiled. We didn't let Miriam in the tub until her birthday, in fact she wanted to go to the YMCA on her birthday just to use it!
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