I have emerged from my sign making cave with bleary eyes, a messy home, a mound of dirty laundry and an empty fridge. I do however have an extra $1400 dollars in my pocket, so that should ease my burdens a bit.
The last two weeks have been fun, festive, hectic, and crazy in true Christensen style.
Warning: This is the longest post eva......
Last Saturday - Trunk 'r Treat
The kids donned their Halloween costumes and we headed to the church for the activities. After a parade of costumes the kids got down to business. Caleb was especially wide eyed, after realizing that a simple catch phraze "twick o tweat" would produce such amazing results, and a full bucket of candy. Each car he went to he uttered the same phraze and yet these crazy people kept giving him candy. I must also mention that he was incredibly polite and thanked each person. Wow, we must have taught him something. Daniel and Josh also brought in a big haul, and Natalie was perfectly content with one lollipop.
Last Monday - Pumpkin Patch
A very important part of Halloween is to find the perfect pumpkin. So we made our way to a pumpkin patch near us that not only had a wide selection of big orange pumpkins, but also livestock, games, and a bounce house. Can you get anything more perfect? I splurged and purchased tickets, and the boys were allowed two rides each. All three found their way to the bounce house, and Natalie and I checked out geese, ducks, and piggies in the meantime. Caleb finished up his second choice with a ride on a battery powered John Deere, and Josh and Daniel played different midway games to earn prizes.
Last Wednesday - Pumpkin Carving
After we had six perfect pumpkins (they were anything but perfect) we know had to viciously attack them with sharp objects in order to turn them into the perfect jack o' lanterns. Dave pulled out the dremel tool, and the boys started tracing on the pumpkins. Natalie helped spread the pumpkin guts all over the table, and may have even tried a bit. We ended up with a spiderman pumpkin, a barfing pumpkin, two lopsided pumpkins that now had stems for noses, and even two little ones to round out the bunch.
Last Thursday - Disneyland
We have had the conversation for quite some time on whether to purchase Annual Passports. Dave works really hard, and hardly ever takes time off. We also needed a big splurge that the kids and us could enjoy more than once. I had extra money coming in from sign work, and this was the perfect answer to "What do we get the kids for Christmas, that aren't toys?" , (although it may be hard to remind the kids come Christmas that this is their big gift. Thank goodness for Santa.)
After I finished up parent conferences at the school early Thursday morning for both boys (no school for the kids on Thursday or Friday), we packed up our snacks and drinks and got in the car. After a short 25 minute ride we had arrived at the "Happiest Place on Earth". We entered with our pre-printed tickets and got our pictures taken for our passports. It was official, we can come back again, and again!!
We started at California Adventure, and then made our way over to Disneyland. The lines were short, and the kids rode tons of rides. Thanks to Caleb's height he was able to go on Star Tours, Space Mountain, and Matterhorn, even if his eyes were closed the entire time. Natalie was so cute walking around and grinning from ear to ear at all the sights, sounds and colors. The park was decorated for Halloween, and their were pumpkins everywhere. It was such a fun day.
Last Friday - HALLOWEEN
We had a mellow morning, and slept off our Disneyland late night. Grandma and Grandpa Pescar came up that evening to see the kids in their costumes and help us pass out candy to the few trick o' treaters we had. Daniel was Master Chief from HALO, Josh was the Black Spider-Man (not to be confused with the evil Venom), Caleb was Spider-Man, and Natalie was Pooh Bear dressed as a Honeybee. All three boys have worn this costume although she was the first old enough to walk in it. The kids having been spoiled from the easy Trunk 'r Treat were already "tired" after just a few houses. We made the evening short and quick, and returned to check out our goodies, and enjoy a few treats from Grandma and Grandpa as well.
Monday - The fun begins!!
After putting away the Halloween decorations, and pulling out Thanksgiving it was time for mommy to get to work on her signs. I had an order to complete for a Super Saturday on the 8th for a ward in Corona. I wasn't too stressed, my deadline for shipping was Wednesday via Priority Mail, and if things got too crazy I could always make the hour drive to hand deliver them. Well crazy it got..
Tuesday - Crazy Starts..
By Tuesday afternoon I had most of the signs cut for my order and was planning to start weeding (pulling off the extra vinyl) that evening after the kiddies went to bed. Dave had school and I would have a quiet house. I had shared a few e-mails from another customer who's Super Saturday was on the 15th, wanting to know if order had shipped yet. I thought she was being super prepared wanting them an entire tweek and half before the event. Well Tuesday evening I finally e-mailed her, and in BOLD print JUST WANTED TO CONFIRM THAT YOUR EVENT IS NEXT SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15TH. Unfortunately I received an e-mail that I was incorrect, and their original date was the 15th, but it had changed to the 8th. Somehow that date of the 15th had stuck in my head, and sure enough as I went back through the e-mails it clearly stated that their date was the 8th. The even bigger problem was that she was in Texas, and I hadn't even started. I stopped work on the other order and got busy. I worked till about 1am before heading to bed, and worked feverishly the entire next morning.
Wednesday - Visit with Amy & Doug
About noon I realized that no matter how hard I worked, the order wasn't going out today. We had made plans to meet up with Amy & Doug at Disneyland, (since we now have passes and can do that kind of thing.)
The original plan was to pick up Daniel from school after 2, then pick up Dave from work and meet up with them. This was before my big OOPS. I was hoping to get the order finsihed, but with kids needing my attention throughout the day, it was nearly impossible to cut and weed over 100 signs in less than 8 hours. I threw up my hands and took a much needed break. I would eat the cost of overnight shipping, and enjoy the afternoon at Disneyland with family.
We met up with Amy & Doug and kids in FantasyLand. We leisurely walked around the park and enjoyed rides that we had been on a zillion times before, and ones we had never tried before like "Finding Nemo". It took us back to when we were kids riding the big yellow submarines, that had now been retro fitted with new technology and kid friendly visuals like Nemo & Dory.
Josh and Tom held hands as we strolled through the park, and shared stories and observations of the rides as only little boys and "cool cousins" can do. As the sky darkened and Little Miss fell asleep in the stroller we fit in a few more rides, and then it was time to go. We finished off the evening with a California favorite "In n' Out" and then back home to crash.
Thursday - I Did It!!After a fun day of play I got back to work, and finished my Texas order by lunchtime. I printed out my FedEx label and dropped it off. DONE. Now I just needed to finish my other order and drive it to Corona. I worked all that evening, and into the next day. Friday - I'm exhausted..My original plan was to finish it on Friday, then drive it over after Daniel got home from school, and be back in time to enjoy a date night with my honey. My new catch praze has changed, it's now "There's been a slight change in plans..".When you're in a rush nothing seems to go according to plan. Caleb was tearing the house apart, Natalie was tired and wanting mommy's undivided attention, and I was grumpy, tired and so ready be done with this all. Tired of fighting it all, I kept taking breaks. I am a mommy first, and that is how it should be.
Caleb finally stopped his tirade on the house and took a nap, and Natalie now content with her over indulgence of attention was happily playing on her own. I had called the babysitter and had postponed our date night to Saturday, and the new plan was that Dave would come home and the entire fam would drive to Corona. The order got done later than planned, and after a call from work that needed Dave's attention we left around 9pm. We dropped off the order, and she was extremely appreciative. She was still up with her family having movie night, so I was grateful that she didn't mind the later hour. We arrived home with four sleeping kids and ready to climb into bed. It was after all 11:30pm.Saturday - Really, you've got to be kidding..Saturday morning as Dave got ready to head to class at the extremely early hour of 6:30am, he felt the need to wake me up. My Corona lady had called twice already and it was even 7am yet. As I spoke on the phone and tried to hide my early morning raspy voice she informed me that half the order was missing. That can't be. I ran out to the car, and then looked on the dining room table only to see the missing half she was inquiring about sitting there. Really, you've got to be kidding me. I laughed as I hung up the phone and promised to drive it to her before their craft day started at 10am. Dave thought I was crazy laughing about it. But honestly what more could I do. I coralled the kids into the car, and off we went on another adventure. The orders have been delivered and or received. I am done, for this week anyway. I look forward to a date tonight with my honey, and the big 'ol steak that I will treat myself to after all this hard work.
We did enjoy two great days and more to come at Disneyland with this money, and it has definitley been an experience. I'll answer the e-mails later, and hopefully there won't be anymore suprises like this next week, but who knows maybe I'll be saying:"There's been a slight change in plans.."
