My aliens make spaceships...

Speaking of messes...

Melissa M. showed her mess of laundry recently, but mine is in so many small, unimpressive piles that I'm embarrassed to even start taking pictures. Then I'd have to actually track down all of the piles. And then I'd need a nap...

So instead, I'm posting another "hot spot" of mine...the piles and piles and piles of my kids' schoolwork!! I threw lots of it away, but I still have TONS. Here are piles of work from THIS school year:

See the clear tub under the papers in that last picture? Yep, those are papers from PREVIOUS years. I don't know why this is so hard for me. I am usually good about wanting to get rid of things and periodically purging my piles. But not school papers. I do throw many of them away as soon as I get them, but obviously not nearly enough! I don't know what I think I'll save them for, but I just am not ready to part with them. I do have an abnormal affinity for worksheets ("busy work"), so maybe that's why I can't part with them.

Surprise!! (alternate title: They sure are good liars!)

The Saturday before Easter, we headed to BG since it was "the only weekend I could get out of working all day", according to my husband, the tax accountant. So, we planned to visit the Smallings for Easter, and my mom was going to have lunch with us at their house after church Sunday. Shirley called Thursday or Friday and said they were having "some kind of egg hunt for the kids at the church on Saturday afternoon at 2, so make sure Jared can be home in time to make it for that." I talked to Mom Saturday morning before we left and she said, "I'll probably just see you Sunday after church."

We showed up at the site of the "Easter Egg Hunt" but there were no cars there yet. The church van was there, so Jared said, "They probably parked at church and drove over since there's not much room to park here. I'll go see if there's anyone here yet before we unload the kids." So he did, and after a 1.2 second "conversation" with "someone from church" at the door, he returned and said that "everyone was on their way and we should go on in".

ALL LIES.

I sent the kids in and paused to put on some mascara and lip gloss so I would look halfway alive. I walked in the door and...

SURPRISE!!

Huh?! What?! Who?! There's Shirley, she should be here, but wait, why is MY mom here? And people who don't even go to church here. And there are balloons?? And they just yelled "Surprise!!" I am a little slow, but I finally figured out it was a surprise 30th birthday party...for ME. I have never had a surprise party before, and I typically do NOT like to be surprised, but it was fun!! The kids, of course, were NOT in on it, or it would not have been a surprise :-) But Jared, Mom and Shirley were quite the smooth-talkers! I had no idea. They all thought, for various reasons (I'd gotten my hair cut randomly the day before, I dressed the boys in shorts that day even though it was FREEZING and I "knew" the egg hunt was outside, etc), but I had NO clue. I'm so gullible.

Unfortunately, I have no pictures, but I hope Mom, Shirley, Crystal and Heather will have some. Thanks to my sweet friends who were there to celebrate with me and to the Moms (mine and Jared's) for taking care of everything. And thanks to my sweet husband for planning it and knowing that even though I said I didn't want a party, I really did! I learned later that he'd had big plans for a big shabang, but since it was Easter weekend AND his busy season, it just didn't happen as he'd planned. That's what I get for being born before April 15th.

I got several special presents, not the least of which was my grandmother's diamond ring, which my mom has worn all of my life and now passed on to me. She decided at some point before my 29th birthday that she wanted to give it to me now, while she's alive, to see me enjoy having it. So she decided my 30th birthday would be an appropriately important milestone. She had the band changed to white gold (it was yellow), so I hardly recognized it when I saw it in the box! Thank you, Mama, for sharing something so special with me. I think of you, and of Mama Jean, every time I look down. It still takes a second to register that it's my hand and not yours I'm seeing, since I saw it on your hand for so many years!

And finally, I'll leave you with a fun and special gift from my kids, with a little help from Dani/Mom. While they were at her house over Spring Break, she asked them some questions and recorded their answers. Here they are:

1. How old is mommy going to be on her birthday?

Madeline: 30

Noah: 30

Jack: 2

2. What does mommy want for her birthday?

A new camera because her old one broke

Stuff like when she's getting married, like rings and necklaces

Pirates

3. What kind of party would mommy like to have?

A calm one because we're usually loud; a normal one or maybe a surprise party because she doesn't do that much stuff that's real fun

A "Thank You, Mom" party

A pirate party

4. If you could get mommy anything in the world, what would it be?

A card that says, "I love you and I'm sorry for the times I've yelled at you, and I still love you even when you kinda yell at me when you're mad."

A special ring that has a mommy, and a daddy, and 3 children on it...doesn't that sounds sweet?

A pirate