Sunday, October 3, 2010

All sorts of eventful-ness have been happening around here lately: Yesterday was Buhler Frolic, with all of the accompanying chaos, to compound the typical chaos that already reigns supreme here.  For the first time in many years, we did not ride in a fire truck in the parade - Lauren and her cousin made a float (with lots of help from Stuart) and drove it BY THEMSELVES in the parade. They turned Grandpa and Grandma's golf cart into an enormous hay bale to advertise Grandpa's hay mowing service.  (I'm not sure that Grandpa actually WANTS any more customers, but the kids were so gung-ho about the whole thing that we couldn't bear to rein them in).  They were so responsible about getting it done, spray painting it, making signs, etc.  Lauren and Stuart did all kinds of research to find out how to say "Paint the Town Pink" in Low German.  "Paint the Town Pink" was the theme of the parade, and it had to be featured on your float if you wanted a chance to win the prize for best float.  Lauren decided a couple of days before the parade that she wanted to write it in Low German as a surprise for Grandpa and Grandma.

They were so careful while driving in the parade - I'd been a little concerned that the sheer euphoria of driving without an adult in a PARADE might lead to silliness, but they are both such little type-A kiddos - they did an amazing job.  By the end, Justin was waving with his left hand out the window and driving with his right hand. Lauren said that he told her he would wave out the window, but wouldn't look out because he didn't want to get distracted from his driving. :)

So then after the parade, Lauren and I went back to the Frolic to play on all of the inflatable toys in the afternoon.  Katelyn and Blake went to his rugby game in Wichita in the afternoon, so I got to watch their 4-week old baby for a few hours.  I took her back to the Frolic with us - it's amazing how tiny she seems - 8 pounds seems like nothing.  So I sat on the ground by the fire station with a bunch of other moms and passed around the baby and watched Lauren on the bouncy toys. All of a sudden she same running to me, screaming hysterically that she had been stung.  We've thought for years that she is probably allergic to bee stings, because her grandpa is, and she is terribly sensitive to mosquito bites.  So I asked one of the other moms to watch baby Ella, grabbed L and started running for home, since I hadn't brought her sting kit along with us.  Then I realized that we were beside the fire station and that if she was going to have an allergic reaction, it would probably be safest to have it there, rather than somewhere between there and our house, with no cell phone. So we stopped for a few minutes to see if she began to have a hard time breathing or anything.  She was doing okay, so we ran for home and wiped her finger down, and she was fine.  THANK GOODNESS.  So, now we
know that she probably isn't allergic, which is a huge weight lifted off of my shoulders.

We have 2 of the pups left at our house - a black and a brown. They are going to their new house this week, I think, or maybe next week.  In an unusual twist, all of them have gone in pairs, except for 1.  We are super attached to these two, since we have had them by themselves for a couple of weeks and gotten to spend more time playing with them.  It's going to be hard to see them go.  We call them Brown and Black, since we told Lauren that she can't name them.  :)

We are making the semi-annual "closet switch-over" this weekend, which throws us into all kinds of craziness.  We only have 2 closets in our house and Lauren & I share one of them.  That doesn't give us much room for clothing storage, so spring and fall are always a challenge, to decide which clothing to pack up and which we'll use.  I've been running, and a bunch of my clothes don't fit anymore, which is good news, but it adds an additional section of Rubbermaid tubs as I try to figure out what to keep and what still fits. 
I'm really excited that Stuart thinks he might get his car running pretty soon, so we might get to do a little racing yet this season. This is my favorite time of the year to go to the track - no worries about bad weather like in the spring, and no scorching heat like in the summer.  I'm hoping that we might go to Kansas City and maybe to Oklahoma or Texas yet this fall.  Having that travel time with my family is one of my favorite things in life - no other distractions, lots of conversation time, new experiences together.  And we're pretty familiar with the track in KC, so it's nice to go there and know where everything is. 
Well, I have my menu for the week planned out and my accompanying grocery list made -time to head for town and gather food for the week.  I'm trying to motivate myself with the idea that if I get it done early, maybe we can head to Grandpa & Grandma's for s'mores by a bonfire this evening.  :)