Thankful Day #11

1.  I am grateful for service even when I get a little crabby about the whole thing.  We spent the entire day yesterday painting over at Heather's house while she is out of town.  It is starting to look much better - brighter and cleaner as each room is painted.  The kitchen looks great and Ollie's room just needs the trim painted.  I am calling the color in his room "electric celery".  The crabby part came in when I realized we were not going to get outside before dark and I still had to run to four different stores for Max's science fair project.  Good-bye Saturday.

2. I am grateful for Heather's cute neighbor who invited Calvin and Sophie to their first Oregon birthday party.  They had a great time and felt very included which is so important.

3. I am grateful for the relatively mild weather.  It rained all afternoon, but we are still just wearing fleece jackets or raincoats and I have not had to break out the gloves or hats yet.  Very few people use umbrellas here - they are all just used to the rain I suppose.

4. I am grateful for infuriating kids.  Max decided to try locking all of the interior doors at Heather's house yesterday - because he is eleven and a boy.  He was extremely pleased that he could unlock the doors with a bobby pin or screwdriver.  It was extremely annoying to find the door locked when we needed to get into the bathroom to wash paint stained hands or back into Ollie's room etc. By the end of the afternoon, Max was in the doghouse because he would NOT STOP. 

When we finally got home, way past bedtime, Koo had already been home and left for a party.  Once all of the kids were finally in bed, Max came down to sheepishly let me know he had locked Koo's bedroom door and could not get it unlocked.  On one hand, I was angry as he had been told to STOP LOCKING ALL THE DOORS - on the other hand, I had a hard time not laughing as I text-ed Koo.  "Bad news.  Max locked your bedroom.  Can't unlock it."

A couple of google searches, a few You Tube videos and threats of retaliation over the phone from Auntie Koo and Max finally got her door open - 10 minutes before Koo got home.  Phew.

5.  I am grateful for drive-ins with the kids.  As we were driving around last night looking for all of the items on Max's science fair list, we saw a Sonic and pulled in for dinner in the car.  It was our first experience with Sonic and I doubt we will be back.  The food was gag inducing-ly bad.  Horrid.  Disgusting.  I will say the pumpkin pie milkshake was quite tasty but it cannot erase the memory of that food!