Ding dong....

Just in case you thought it was all doom and gloom in my life and I'd lost my edge as a blogger, I've written a song for you about the very happy day I'm having. Remember in the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy's house falls on the wicked witch of the East and all the munchkins sang? Well, think of that tune....
Ding dong, the pigs are gone! Which old pigs? The guinea pigs!
Ding dong, the guinea pigs are gone!!
Wake up you lazy pigs, rub your eyes, get out of your (urine-drenched) bed.
Wake up, you're going on a ride! You're going where the rabid dogs go!
Let's hope it doesn't end up with Euthanasia, yo-ho!
Let's open up and air the place out, clean and disinfect!
Ding dong the merry-oh, sing it high, sing it low.
Let them know the guinea pigs are gone!
Yea, I know my songwriting skills aren't quite Taylor Swift yet, but I like to think maybe I'm onto a more Bob Dylan vibe, everyday America thing.
The important thing here is that we are back to being a one pet household with out any more Pet Cemetery shenanigans.

sad

I've had a hard time over the last couple of months. You know that saying 'be careful what you wish for because you might just get it all'? It's been slowly dawning on me that perhaps I got most of what I set out to get. Growing up, all I ever wanted to do was get married, move to a house with a big yard (maybe we didn't quite get the yard I had in mind) and have lots of babies. I wanted to be able to check the box that said "homemaker" when asked about my employment status. This was the goal all along. I've been darting around town with my hubby, puppy and babies in our minivan in suburbia thinking I'd already arrived.
Last fall my gynecologist called and informed that I had pre-cancerous cervical cells. After a few months of tests and waiting and more tests and more waiting I had a hysterectomy last Monday. I had no idea just how hard this whole thing was going to be.
Then a letter arrived from the elementary school informing me of the registration information I need to prepare so the boys could start Kindergarten in the fall. I obviously have known for years now when they would begin school but it just hit me in the gut that my baby boys will ride the bus and be gone half the day. Cameron will be gone the entire day and the boys will be gone 4 hours a day. Normally there would be some sort of celebration with caffeine involved but I'm still feeling sad.
My days of having crazy toddlers to entertain are going too fast now. I want time to stop and just stay here because I never planned beyond this part. Even though we've been through our struggles, I truly believe that I've gotten everything and I'm so grateful. But now I need a new wish, dream, goal or inspiration. What should I do now?

Home

My grandma Mickey passed away yesterday. I feel like anything I say on this blog wouldn't do justice to describe just how much I love her and how wonderful she is. Because both my parents worked, I spent every single day at Grandma and Grandpa's house from the time I was born till I was in the first grade. Their house was more of a home than anywhere else I've ever lived. Tucked away on a private lane, literally over the river and through the woods.
My grandma always tried to make an artist out of me. That never did pan out but she was able to teach me a love of poetry. For lack of anything else to say, I want to share this poem that reminds me of Grandma Mickey.

Home
by Edgar A. Guest

It takes a heap o' livin' in a house t' make it home,
A heap o' sun an' shadder, an' ye sometimes have t' roam
Afore ye really 'preciate the things ye lef' behind,
An' hunger fer 'em somehow, with 'em allus on yer mind.
It don't make any differunce how rich ye get t' be,
How much yer chairs an' tables cost, how great yer luxury;
It ain't home t' ye, though it be the palace of a king,
Until somehow yer soul is sort o' wrapped round everything.

Home ain't a place that gold can buy or get up in a minute;
Afore it's home there's got t' be a heap o' livin' in it;
Within the walls there's got t' be some babies born, and then
Right there ye've got t' bring 'em up t' women good, an' men;
And gradjerly as time goes on, ye find ye wouldn't part
With anything they ever used—they've grown into yer heart:
The old high chairs, the playthings, too, the little shoes they wore
Ye hoard; an' if ye could ye'd keep the thumb-marks on the door.

Ye've got t' weep t' make it home, ye've got t' sit an' sigh
An' watch beside a loved one's bed, an' know that Death is nigh;
An' in the stillness o' the night t' see Death's angel come,
An' close the eyes o' her that smiled, an' leave her sweet voice dumb.
Fer these are scenes that grip the heart, an'when yer tears are dried,
Ye find the home is dearer than it was, an' sanctified;
An' tuggin' at ye always are the pleasant memories
O' her that was an' is no more—ye can't escape from these.

Ye've got t' sing an' dance fer years, ye've got t' romp an' play,
An' learn t' love the things ye have by usin' 'em each day;
Even the roses 'round the porch must blossom year by year
Afore they 'come a part o' ye, suggestin' someone dear
Who used t' love 'em long ago, an' trained 'em jes t' run
The way they do, so's they would get the early mornin' sun;
Ye've got t' love each brick an' stone from cellar up t' dome:
It takes a heap o' livin' in a house t' make it home.

Aloha!

Aloha! Greetings from Hawaii! I am typing this from a balcony overlooking the ocean with a sunburn from hours at the beach. We are having such a great time. Eric has been reading up on Pearl Harbor and was very excited to see the USS Arizona Memorial.



I've seen Pearl Harbor a couple of times before so I was more excited about my Hawaiian favorite....Motsumotos shaved ice!!! Here I am on the North Shore in heaven with my tasty treat.

In the hotel lobby we found what would have been Luke's favorite Hawaiian spot....the sharks! (Sorry Lukie, maybe you can come next time.)

We are having so much fun just being lazy. We miss the kids but it's nice to get out of the cold weather and just be together. It's good to know that Eric and I still like each other. He still makes me laugh and I can still find EVERYTHING he loses. It's those little things that I seem to forget when I'm home. The scenery helps too.

We went to a a luau last night and had a blast!

Mahalo to everyone who has helped us out with our kids and dog while we're away. We love you and we'll bring you back a nice tan. Love you!

girlfriends

Kelly, Cynthia, Laurie, Colleen, Julie and Allison

I went out to dinner with some of my girlfriends from high school the other night.

Whenever we get together we have such a great time, but there was a little bit of a reality check when the conversation is no longer about boys and school. All we talk about is our kids! There are 16 kids between all of us! When did we become grown-ups?

We missed you Britt!

much about nothing

I am Scrooge because I enjoy getting my normal life back after the holidays every bit as much as I enjoy the actual holidays. (Maybe more because there is no shopping to be done.) I have to sit on my hands to not take down the Christmas tree on December 26th. And don't even get me started on the excitement of school starting back up....

Most Utahans understand that there is a grace period for taking down the exterior Christmas lights. We just switch out the holiday wreath for a glittery heart and call them Valentine's lights. But not me. I was out on a rickety ladder with a chisel and ice melt trying to take those blasted lights down. They were frozen into the rain gutters! The irony of 'ice cycle' lights was not wasted on me. My hands are all scrapped up from the ice and chisel and I swear I will never be warm again. WHY OH WHY DO I LIVE IN THE ARTIC TUNDRA????

I'm finishing up with my little rant here, I promise. But I have to tell you about dinner tonight. Eric is out of town so I let the kids choose whatever they wanted for dinner. Cameron had a chicken pot pie, Luke wanted ONLY PEAS (I don't know where he came from), and Adam wanted an English muffin. Easy enough. Got everyone their food and sat down to eat my own English muffin and found this:

That's Adam's English muffin spread with peanut butter and topped with peas. Leave it to Adam to get all mavericky (thank you Sarah Palin) in the kitchen. The most amazing part is that he ate it!!!

Chirstmas Eve...Wimmer style

We here at the Wimmer household pride ourselves on being able to laugh at our own craziness/stupidity.
T'was the night before Christmas.... Brett and Melissa's family from San Diego were staying at our house for a few days. They have three boys all around my kids' ages. They normally sleep down in the basement all together but under strong suspicions that Santa might be making a present drop in the basement, we herded all the kids into Luke and Adam's bedroom. It took a long while, but the children were finally snug in their beds (or on the floor with a blanket and pillow as the case may be) with visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads.
We were in and out of the storage room retrieving and setting up presents and hunting down batteries when I noticed that Molly was really intent on chewing something. Upon further inspection I realized she was happily gnawing on a block of Decon. Mouse poison. Midnight. Christmas Eve. My visions of sugarplums quickly turned to visions of dead dog on Christmas morning. So I called poison control and the lady assured me that it was probably too small of an amount to do any damage to a dog unless that dog was under ten pounds. Hmmmm.....six pounds is definitely less than ten pounds. At that point she told me to call the vet. Midnight. Christmas Eve. Being the hard-hearted witch that I am, I decided to give her lots of water and see how she was in the morning.
Eric and I were off to bed by about 1:00 am. We laid there for a few minutes wondering if the kids were now old enough that they might try to sneak down the stairs without us when they woke up. Then I had a brilliant idea. There is still a lock on the outside of the boys' door - we'll just lock it and they can knock in the morning so we're sure to wake up and have the video camera rolling before they even come out of the bedroom! Genius!
At 2:00 am there arose such a clatter, I flew from my bed to see what was the matter. Let's just say that our prisoners were not taking a long winter's nap... Lights were on, kids were crying. Jacob and Carter were scared to death that Uncle Eric and Aunt Laurie had locked them in a bedroom. Cameron had to pee. Adam had thrown up all over himself and Luke. Bahumbug! The only thing worse than trying to get six Santa-believers to go to sleep on Christmas Eve is having to do it twice!
When morning FINALLY rolled around, a very merry Christmas was had by all! And when Molly came running around the corner to give us all Christmas kisses, completely unfettered by the poisoning, Brett exclaimed, "IT'S ANOTHER CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!!" And it was.