Monkeys, Indians, Adventures & the Countdown

The pretend game of the week was Lion King. Jane is always “the monkey.” She stands on something high--the table, the counter, the couch, the stairs--and sings at the top of her lungs, which is loud because Jane has had a lot of practice screaming since her birth, “Nants ingonyama bagithi baba” She actually has the tone quality and the rhythm spot on. This girl may be headed to broadway, the youngest Rafiki yet! Although my ear drums are ringing, it is nice to know that the show made a lasting impression on the girls. Kate joins in the game, but she is usually in the role of Kate the Indian. After all, Indians fit into any game, right?

The preparations for the American Indian birthday party are in full swing. I learned with our Snow Party earlier this year that the best part about putting on a party for kids is seeing their excitement and anticipation build as the party approaches. We are having a lot of fun with this one! Even I am getting excited. I stayed up late last night sewing Indian pouches. Kate is counting down the days until the party and literally praying for good weather. Jane’s not quite as into it, but she requested balloons.

Josh has been studying like mad this week. He took one big, nasty final on Friday and has his last one is tomorrow. What a relief that will be! After several late nights of studying this week, I decided that instead of going to bed I would stay up with Josh for moral support. He studied at one end of the table and I sewed at the other.

I am beginning to learn what an anomaly Josh is for starting work so quickly after graduation. I thought it was funny before and typical of my dear husband who would work overtime if he were flipping hamburgers at McDonald’s. But this week I learned something new. I guess most MBA students go to great lengths to delay their start dates. They travel the world, go hang out on a beach for a few months, or just do nothing but enjoy a break from life. We were at lunch with some friends, who are also graduating, and one of them asked Josh what his summer plans were. He said, “Well, actually, I’m starting on the 16th.” Our friend’s jaw dropped. He exclaimed, “That’s you! I heard someone was doing that!” I laughed so hard. Josh is in the rumor mill at Wharton!

One of Josh’s best friends, Josh Paulsen, came through Philly this week for a conference. He had dinner with us one evening, hung out and did laundry another evening, got my Josh out of bed at 5:30 in the morning to go swimming one day, and ran around the Schuylkill River loop with Josh yesterday morning. We didn’t have enough time together, but it was fun to reconnect a little. My girls are begging to have him come back because he had and iPad and let them read books on it. This is the same friend that introduced us to the iMac several years ago. ☺

I am finally starting to feel like we are wrapping things up here. Each adventure we go on, I realize that this may be the last time we come to this spot and I snap a few extra pictures. We went to Linvilla Orchards this week and I had to buy Apple Cider donuts. One of the Japanese families we had over for our first Thanksgiving in Philly invited us to lunch. We had a great time, but it will probably be the last time we see them. We went to the Little Explorers program at Bartrum’s Garden. Kate told the teacher this was “our last time because we were moving to Texas”, and I almost cried. I hauled the camera along yesterday as I biked the Schuylkill River loop to take pictures of Boat House Row. Today was our last day in our ward. We spoke in sacrament meeting and delivered notes the girls had written to their primary teachers and friends. Jane hasn’t had a nap all week because we have been trying to cram activities into every available moment.

I spent a lot of time this week with my friend, Lori Mortensen. We went swimming, cooked, made future plans, and hung out at the playground. She taught me her family’s secret salsa recipe--don’t tell anyone! Then we went upstairs and played “My Sister’s Closet.” One thing that amazes me about Lori is how much I love her. She was in the Miss America pageant and I was Miss Anti-Cheerleader. We are true kindred spirits. We connect on so many levels and our strengths compliment each other. Anyway, the whole point of this is...how many chances will I have to have a one on one fashion consult with Miss America! Friday evening I picked Josh up after he finished his final and we went out to Lori’s house for homemade Mexican food: taquitos, enchiladas, fresh salsa, and horchata. It was the stuff dreams are made of. Then we put the girls to bed upstairs and played scrabble. Lori and Todd kept us entertained with NFL stories and impersonations. After each round we would have a “commercial break” and Todd would have us all rolling with laughter. Another great moment was Josh looking at his scrabble letters and saying, “Can we spell CEO’s names? I am pretty close to Immelt.” Lori came right back with, “Can we make up names for puppies?” We had a great evening, a welcome break at the end of busy and stressful week.

Yesterday Kate and I ran errands together. We saw two girls who had set up a lemonade stand. One of my life rules is that I have to stop at lemonade stands whenever I see them. I stopped and gave the girls a dollar, but told them I didn’t want lemonade since I was driving, just like my mother used to do. Kate started asking me questions and I explained what a lemonade stand was. She went quiet for a few seconds and then said, “I want to have a stand with Makenna, but I don’t want to sell lemonade. I want to have an enchilada stand!”

Happy Mother’s Day. Josh didn’t even buy himself a running stroller this year. I guess we are saving up all our celebrations for this weekend. We super excited to see a few of you in the next couple of days! The countdown to graduation has begun...7 short days!