Sunday Reflections 12/9/2012

Little known fact for those non-Patrick Swayze lovers out there (or for those of you who have never seen the movie like me), Red Dawn was filmed (1984) in the mountains of New Mexico and Colorado.  And so, in the event of a Russian invasion Brad has set the children to work building a secret fort deep in the woods near our new home where we may seek shelter should we be driven into the cold by communist paratroopers. 

They're loving it.  It started out with one room and has turned into a four room fort large enough for even Brad and I to enter.  All of the children (Kenzie was MIA at a birthday party for these shots) have been working on it every spare minute they have.  They even have made a special club only for those who can keep it secret because similar forts in the neighborhood have been dismantled by the HOA nazis in the neighborhood.  Ours is SUPER SECRET.  Brad found the spot.  He is so good at finding secret places that one day even he may be unable to find it

Some other quick bullet points for now:

• Brad found his helmet along with $1000 worth of other motorcycle equipment in the gas dryer we have lugged around with us for four years that we were just about to take to the dump.  He says he was walking by the dryer one day when he felt influenced by the force to stop and contemplate the wherebouts of his new motorcycle helmet, bent over and opened the door to find his treasure.  Phew!
• We went house hunting on Friday and left disheartened to see what half a million dollars will buy in this area.  One might wonder if the first house we toured might have been built by some errant polygamist who continually built additions to the house over the last 62 years of its existance.  While it was fun to wander around the labrynth in an attempt to make some sense of what room went where, it came off a little lego-landish as if a seven year old had come up with the design.  Brad was thinking positive as we walked through the home visualizing the renovations he could do until we got to the master bedroom.  I stepped in briefly only to find myself dry heaving from the stench of cat urine.  Our realtor too, found herself unable to enter and actually had to exit the home to take a few hits from her inhaler.  It was for sale for $550k.
• Ben got in trouble on the bus the other day and his sister informed me of it.  I told him to go to his room to write an apology note to the bus driver.  His note: "Dear Mr. Harison, I am very sorry for what I did on the bus yesterday.  I will try not to do it ever again.  P.S. My sister told on me."  It was almost exactly what I would have liked him to say but his sister saw it before I did and apparently it must have been found wanting because I found it marked up and discarded and beside it a sample letter written by McKenzie for Ben to follow.  It read, "Dear Mr. Harrison, I am very sorry I was bad on the bus.  I was very rude to you and to the children asking me to stop.  I will try my best to never sing again.  I promise to be on my best behavior for the rest of the school year.  Sincerely, Benjamin Belt"  Then below she outlined the form for him to follow:  "1.Intro  2. Apology  3.  What you did wrong.  4.  "I will try to..."  5. "I promise..."  6.  Sincerely, Benjamin."  I love it when my kids do the parenting.
• Speaking of McKenzie she gave a talk in primary today and wrote it all by herself.  It was the first primary talk a child of mine has every written completely by themself and she did pretty good.  I was proud.
• I've never liked machine gun kisses.  I can't say the same for Brad.  He's machine gun kissing me right now and looking at me as if I'm crazy because I'm pushing him away.  I think he wants me to end this post but before I end...
• I'm giving my first Christmas party ever and would love some ideas for fun activities.  It's for adults only.  If you have any ideas, please feel free to comment.  Thanks!