Oil Change

Ok, so yesterday my husband mentioned that he had to change the oil in the car before going on a trip this morning and he didn't want to do. I piped in "I'll do it" - thinking 2 things. A: How hard could it be, and B: It'd be a good skill to have in life.

Yeah.

So, I tell him to just verbally walk me through it. We start by putting on the emergency brake, jacking up the car (both no prob) and then he says "grab your wrench and take off the bolt on the oil pan." Ok... so I find it and start to pull.

Nothing.

I'm pulling with one hand, then with two, my legs are even off the ground as I'm trying with my entire body to get this stupid bolt off. (and mind you our driveway is paved but it's one of those... I don't know... like chipped paving... it's a rough surface and sucks to lay on.) All the while my husband's saying stuff like "Ya ok? Counter-clockwise... Ya got it?" To which I'm silently TRYING to get this stinkin' bolt off.

Then my 2 year old daughter says "Why are you doing that Mommy" ever so innocently and I reply, "Because I can do anything Daddy can do and probably better". (I glance out and see my patient and amused husband smiling (he's knows I'm slightly competitive).

So, still can't get the bolt off but I'll be DARNED if I ask for his help! Alas, after a neck injury and 10 minutes of trying with all my being, he said "Would you JUST let me help you?" and I relented.

Not happy.

He loosened it for me and I got back under the car.

Now I want you to understand that he's the kind of person who tells you stuff 30 seconds too late for it to actually help. So as I loosen the bolt the rest of the way and it shoots off into the catch pan (now filling with dirty oil) he says "Now you're gonna want to be careful not to drop the bolt in the pan or you'll have to get pretty messy getting it out."

Thanks, Dear.

So it goes on like this.

Now, I want to point out that I have a head-cold. I feel like crap. My body is resting on this rough payment. There's bugs crawling all over me. I'm already ENTIRELY stressed out about our move, and life in general lately. And now I'm in over my head with this (but obviously won't admit!) My husband is at it again with the "Counter clock wise. COUNTER CLOCK WISE." Saying it like some idiot who tries to talk to foreigners in English and thinks they'll understand better if they speak really slowly and really loudly. And I'm trying to patiently reply "I AM going counter clock wise."

At the same time, two chubby little purple-nail-polished feet stand but inches from me as my daughter sings over-and-over-and-over "Zippity Doo Da" and plays with something under the hood of the car thus making smutz fall in my eyes. And, again, patiently I'm trying to say stuff like "Honey. H...Honey. HONEY. Stop playing with that. Stop. No, stop please stuff is falling in Mommy's eyes. Honey.... Ok, could we sing a different song?..." (To no avail).

So whatever. Anyway, the oil got changed but as I was finishing up my husband's like "See, it costs about $30 to have that done at the shop and you just did it for $9" all proud. To myself I'm thinking "$21 bucks. $21 stinkin' bucks. Are you kidding me?! That's all."

I think that is one thing I will pay to have done from now on! :)

Bored

Last night Rob and I were bored so we decided to finger paint our front window together.

I won't tell you who did what or the significance of each images as those are private (between loooovers :)

And yes, we had to erase it immediately and destroy all evidence so that our children wouldn't get any bright ideas!

My "Yoots"

Most of you know that I am one of the youth leaders at Mt. Zion and I just had to take a minute to blog about how much joy these kids bring to my life. I was talking about some of them to my husband last night (about how wild and crazy they are!) and he commented that whenever I talk about the youth group I grin from ear-to-ear. And he's right. Youth ministry is awesome because the kids are honest and fun and creative. If they love something, they'll tell you. If they hate something, they'll tell you. There's no reading between the lines or guessing with youth. They are genuine and that's what I love about them!

Here are some shots from Youth Unplugged this last Sunday. (We were planting trees at the church).

And one of the boys found this in the woods by the church and was so proud of it :)

Here's one of my all time favorite photos of the YU kids: The girls rode one too many twirly rides at Knobels! And they stayed like this for about 20 minutes! Too funny!

This last one the boys made me take cuz they were so amused by it (also from Knobels).

And these kids are not just fun, they are deep. They think about life and the state of the world all the time. They consistantly surprise me with how much compassion they have for others. I love their ernest desire for something REAL with Christ and not just going through the religious motions. We used to "teach" them the bible lessons and they came to us and said they'd rather discuss the bible together as a group! How awesome is that?! They want to be part of it, not zoning out as someone drones on.

I'm not trying to say they're perfect, they're still normal kids. They're wild, they're messy, they're rude at times. But I don't care. I love you Youth Unplugged! You teach ME each time I'm with you more about Jesus!

Wedding, Grandmas, and Animals Galore!

We traveled home this weekend so we could be present at Joel and Mimi's wedding. Joel is one of our bestest friend ever :) and we are so happy to see him so happy! It was great to see so many of our old friends and family.

Our daughter was one of the first ones out on the dance floor and soon many others joined her, including our son who charmed the ladies (of all ages) with his wicked moves!

I love this picture: My hubby having fun with two of his oldest/dearest friends in the whole world - Delphine and Chris.

We also visited both of our mother's for Mother's Day - the first two pictures are the kids at Rob's Mom's with her "surprises" for them! (Which they LOVED.)
These are two cute ones of my Mom and daughter snuggling right before bed last night.

While in the area we also dropped in on our new friends the Jackson's who go to the church Rob is starting at in July and let the kids get to know their many animals.

Check out the horns on that beast!! YIKES.

And this last shot is cute to me (but you might not agree...) It's our hamster Teddy sleeping on the ride home... (that's his head to the right... dark circle is his ear... little slit his eye...) Oh well. It was really cute to me!

Beautiful Baltimore County

Rob saw this little deer by our wood pile this morning (we have a herd of about 20 that we can watch eat every morning).

I snapped this picture and it got me in a wild-life-photography-mood. So Rob, our daughter, and I rode around this morning taking shots of animals on various local farms. It was very cool. (Our son was in preschool, if you were wonderin'). The one of our daughter and the dog is one of Rob's favorites! I was really diggin' the peacock... What's your favorite?

Starting to Pack

Most of you know that we are moving to Candor NY in June and this week I've started the task of packing. I've found it easiest to just load everything into these bins - very easy to carry, seal, and stack. Of course my kids find them very useful as well. I walked into the room the other day to find them like this (watching PBS' "Word World").

FYI: We are trying to move with as little as possible so if you want or need anything just ask. I know we don't want to move with our sleeper-sofa (seen in the two photos below.) It's navy blue and has a queen sized pull out bed. There's nothing wrong with it - we've just never been a huge fan of it and don't want to move with it. If you want it you can have it, just let me know. (I could take a better photo and email it to you if you're interested (I'm just too lazy tonight!)

We don't want to move with the TV you see in the first photo either. It's 27" and same deal as the couch - works great, just don't want to move with it. If you want it - give me a shout.

Also up for grabs: A dresser, a kid's outdoor picnic table, a crib mattress, a high chair, and probably anything else you name... never hurts to ask, right?! Seriously, ask.