Random Update- St. Patrick Meets Easter

So, it's time to interrupt the nonsense in my brain to tell what's happening at our house. I am so confused, within a week we are having two holidays. Did Easter move up with Daylight Savings Time (DST)? I looked it up. In 325 AD some ecclesiastical hierarchy got together and planned their calendar based on what they called Ecclesiastical Full Moons (EFM's) Then they planned Easter to fall the Sunday after the Paschal Full Moon (PFM). I don't know when the heck those are, but it means that it can vary between March 22 and April 18. I'm still pretty confused, but at least I know it's never going to meet up with Valentines or anything and that it is not attached to DST. Whew! That was a relief to me, especially the evil DST. I hate that thing. My sleep is as messed up as a newborn baby over it. I need Arizona! Do any of my sibs remember Uncle Laurence giving us the lecture on this? Now, when you go back to Utah, you have to be missionaries for the true time. The rest of them may switch, but you just stay on Mountain Standard Time. So everyone else will be an hour off, just keep setting a good example and explain to them about the right time.
Anyhow, St. Patrick's I even forgot to put green on me and my kids, because I was too busy having my 19th wedding anniversary to remember things like that. We escaped for a while to an Italian restaurant then came home and sent everyone to bed. It was fun. As we say, 19 years less of eternity to go!
So what else has been going on? Tuesday I was driving with the Things to pick up their brothers from school. We smelled smoke because our windows were open (yay! It's warm!), and there was something smoky going on out there. Thing 1 says, "What's that smell?" Me-"It smells like smoke." Thing 2-"It smells like dinner!" Did I mention that the night before, I told Enigma to remind me of the rice while I ran to find out why I owed fines at the library and turns out she is no better at remembering than me. It burned. To a crisp. Lucky for me, I got to go out to eat that night, remember? Thing 1 was nice enough to elaborate explaining something about "smantulas" that Sponge Bob uses to make crabby patties. So, as he channeled from Thing 2 and I translated by the gift of tongues into English, what Thing 2 really meant was- "It smells like a barbecue!" Whew! I was going to have to give up the cooking career there for a moment. (Someday I will finish my manuscript- The Espinoza Family Cookbook and Guide to Interior Decorating. The ONLY book I plan to write. I think. At least for the general public. Before I die I have to finish a book for my kids.)
Back to this week, my mind is really wandering. SO, Tuesday night, I took Gigio to perform in a fourth grade program. Let me just say that his track record is not good. In Kindergarten, he stood there and GLARED! I will really have to look for a clip of this. (OK, Due to time constraints, this will give you the general idea. Except it was a bigger frown.) In Second Grade, he hid and then created a scene and nearly knocked out the lighting for the show. BUT in fourth grade, he smiled and sang and did all the actions and was a model student! Whew!
Now this week we are a veritable traveling circus, because next up was Carino who was invited to break dance with the High School group at an assembly. He was a little scared after falling on his face at home the night before, and I worried because he gets stage fright and cries when having to speak in public, even things like book reports. He asked Papi for a blessing and the next day, he did great. He was a sensation. He was so into it, and luckily the song stopped before he could try the risky moves he just saw the big guys do. What a ham. Enigma says everyone was asking about him and wanted to see more of him. So maybe we should get him into some lessons?? I've wanted to for a long time. Hope it happens this summer.
Someone channeled Paul Klee this week but later had no memory of it whatsoever, just a purple thumb, after Paul decided that what our house really needed to tie it together was a purple racing stripe running all over the upstairs of our house and ending in a funky little design on either side of the Things' room. I don't know what was in that marker, but it won't even come off the fridge. I was just telling Papi to hold off on some grandiose home improvement ideas, so I can only hope this reinforced my message.I have been pouring all my $ into my daughter's coffers to keep her in proper fitting attire and all and her car with gas. Now Gigio has ripped all his school pants. GRRRR! We were supposed to see the specialist again for Enigma, but 2 weeks = 2 months to the receptionist. She was sick some more, so spent her Saturday morning in tardy makeups again. She is learning how difficult it is to reverse things like shorter haircuts and black hair dye. It is a real lesson in look before you leap and delayed gratification.(She was attacked by a wild pen artist too! No one and no thing is safe when they wield the markers.)
Oh! and I actually exercised one day. I am trying to fling away a lot of paper at my house and get things a little more in control and in the process found some exercise equipment and even used it once. And, on another note, I got my hair cut. Then my 5 year old took my picture. See, on my sidebar? Most of the pictures of me in the last decade are of my backside or me looking down, so all you see is my hair in my face. Or they are just of my nose, or they are too too weird looking. So, having a good hair day once a year, and only having 5 year olds around, I let 'em try it. I forgot to keep my eyes opened all the way though. Smiling at kids does that to me. Maybe that's why I can't see anything anymore, I squeeze my eyes together too much when I smile. My point is, I do have eyes in the sockets there. Some day I'll have to take a picture of them.
So the laundry has been backed up and is almost caught up at 1:01 am which is still 12:01 really, because a pull up made it's way into the wash. I could do a commercial for those guys now. I washed, and I swear I saw the timer on the thing at 32 minutes remaining. Then when I went to move the wash, (3 hours later, 'cause I forgot to set MY timer) almost everything was dry. Weird. I was sure I had washed that load. I saw it washing. It's never dried that fast on it's own, so just in case, I do a quick wash setting to redo it. Ya know, it was barely damp when I moved everything, but the dryer ran for a few minutes and stopped. So I open it and there are little gel pellets all over. It finally exploded after sucking up two wash runs of water. Amazing, isn't it? Except if your child gets in your bed at night with one of them on, they will still manage to pee more than two loads worth of water and soak out all over your bed. Maybe I better not do a commercial after all.
Another thing I've been doing is praying for a little boy named Coleman. He is one of Julian's carepage buddies, and he has a twin brother so I took an interest in him too. Monday he had a stem cell transplant and it is a miserable week or two after. He is so sick but being so brave. He is one amazing kid and I am so hoping this will work and all be worth it.
So another exciting thing that happened was the big TV died ( a while back), but finally Papi moved a little TV in on the wall to replace it. The kids got to watch "Wonderdog" on it to test it out. This move was inspired by the DVD/VCR falling on the floor in the upstairs room I never wanted it in any how. See what a little patience and perseverance will do for you? It was only in the wrong place for about 7 years. Now that those arrangements are in place, we have room for the new table soccer that a friend who borrowed our truck donated to us. Too bad one of the balls is already stuck in my bathroom sink drain. We also were awarded some hand me down clothes for the boys. One t-shirt is so Carino, it says, I DO ALL MY OWN STUNTS with a stick figure wiping out below it. Another is definitely Gigio's. It says I DECIDED TO PUT MYSELF IN CHARGE. Too bad there were no khaki slacks... But I'm really grateful.
Saturday we had the extended family over for barbecue and egg hunting. There was way too much stuff. It was a blast. I got some edible grass for the baskets, because I was out of my ever living mind at the time and did you know it is just as irritating as the plastic stuff when it's all over my floor? Except it is easier to sweep up, or get your kids to eat off the floor. My sister left a cooler full of punch for us. Everyone was so delighted because the juice ran out and I didn't run out and buy more, I just showed them the sink and explained that water was THE original drink. I think they are all afraid they are undiagnosed diabetics who might go into insulin shock at any moment, the way they live for that stuff.
Tomorrow is Sunday and we will just enjoy the day and watch some Easter DVD's. Next week I am going to do our Easter things we should have done this week but didn't. Then I will post about them. Next year I will teach my kids about St. Patrick's day and use all the great ideas I read about on other people's blogs. (Right!) I love Easter because I love it's message of renewal and hope. I was thinking about how in juvenile court cases are announced as the state in the interest of _____(the name of the juvenile). In adult court, it's the state vs. ____ (defendant). The thing is, the state still holds out hope of rehabilitating and improving the lives of the minors. They have given up on the adults. But, in God's court, we're all still juveniles. And Jesus is our mediator. He's been there, and he knows us and he loves us. SO, thanks to Him and his infinite sacrifice, there is hope for all of us. I'm lazy so the illustrations will be up on Monday PST (Procrastinator's Standard Time). Happy Easter Everyone!