Yatta! ("I did it!" in Japanese)

This past week was the week for some serious arms up in the air and screaming, "Yatta!"

I will list my top three:

First:
Finished first semester of school, didn't do too bad on my finals, didn't kill the kids with all the stress, with the added benefit of being so stressed out that I lost a couple pounds. I finished the semester with three A's and one B. Of course, that B is in my Anatomy and Physiology lecture, I've never worked harder for a B or been more proud.

Second:
I fixed the toilet. Again, but really fixed the problem. The handle broke again and instead of just putting on a new handle I found out what was causing the handle to break. An old gasket in the tank. Replaced gasket, new handle, and learned how to stop it from running. I used to have to lift the lid to flush the toilet and then wait around to fix the running. Now I stay purely to thrill at the sound of a completely working flush.

Third:
Survived first girl slumber party. DD turned eight last week and instead of some big party, I told her she could invite three friends to sleep over. I had this thing planned. Asked a friend to let the boys sleep over at her house so I could focus solely on the girls. They watched movies, played on the computer, video games, ate pizza, other various junk, and we made bracelets/necklaces with little picture frame charms for a picture of DD and whoever made the jewelry. And they were even quiet when I told them it was time to be quiet, I think I properly scared them with my I-am-the-crankiest-person-in-the-world speech. The next day was a little more challenging, they were all very tired including the boys. Everyone was all blood-shot eyes by the end of the day. None of them have ever stayed up that late before. They had a blast. Even if DD was having some serious entitlement issues, one more thing to work on.

Hunkered down

I am in full finals study mode. I have only four more days until I will be able to say I have survived my first semester back at school. I wasn't really feeling that much pressure, all my grades are pretty set. My English grade is right on the border of A/B, but I feel good with Hamlet so I am not that worried. I think I will be alright. I am very confident in my Algebra class that I will be fine. The final is accumulative and I have gotten A's on every test. To my surprise, I was the only one in the class to get an A on the last test. The test that I took early so I could go to the presidential rally. I was feeling the normal amount of stress going into my Anatomy final, it is on the last two chapters. I have a very solid B, so I just wanted to hang onto that. I emailed my professor to double-check that my grade was what I thought it was. I had figured an A was mathematically impossible but apparently he does some last minute curving. He told me that if I do very well on the final an A is not out of the question. So pressure back on.

As Sunday is a absolute no-study day, I can just veg out and post today. Especially since we didn't make it to church. A special thanks to Bug, throwing up at the Ward Christmas party last night. I can't tell you how good he is at telling me that he is feeling sick and that he needs to get to the toilet. He hasn't thrown up on the floor in years, leave it to now so we can be in public for that to fall through. He's not really sick, but that's a whole other story.

Here's the point just some lists of updates I wanted to share:

I did not get my flat screen TV, I wasn't impressed by the black Friday sales. The cheapest I saw was $100 off the cheapest I've been able to find on a normal day. That is not enough a savings for me to deal with crazy. I will wait it out a little bit more.

Way back on Veteran's Day, there was a program for Punx year group at school...



I just thought this was so funny. Do you see the arrow pointing to where you can see that tiny patch of Punx's head? He is standing on the highest tier there and the girls in front of him are a step lower and still that much taller than him. I just wanted a picture. We got there all early so we could sit in the front row so I could get some good pictures and maybe a video. And then this is all I could see. Then my battery died right after I took this picture. They sang very well though, it was a nice little program.

Then right before Thanksgiving I took the boys to go to the Presidential rally. DD had a field trip at school so I let her choose which she would rather do. She informed me that she had studied all about the President at school so she pretty much knew what he was going to say. It was a lot easier, I must say, with only two of them rather than all three. Especially since we stood there for about two hours before he came and then it took another two hours after before we could get back to out car. All for a twenty minute speech.

That morning as I was helping the boys get ready, I was explaining that they should dress nice. Not church nice, but let's not wear jeans. Note to self: it is so alright to wear jeans and comfortable shoes. I wore heels and was sore for two days. I was picking a nice outfit for Bug and just threw some random underwear at him, probably SpongeBob, and he picks them up and hands them back to me and says, "Mom, these are not nice underwear."



While we waited for the President. A very nice woman stood with us the whole time and even gave the boys a snack. They had sent out an email that we could bring food so I didn't but then they didn't even care. They had food there but I wasn't going to give up our spot to try and find our way to the snack tent at the back of the crowds.



As good a picture as I could get with the camera zoomed in and held over my head. As the President came in, a couple awesome soldiers reached back and picked up the boys to hold them up high so they could see him walk in. They pick them up one more time later on so they could look again. It was really nice, I can't pick up Punx like that anymore.



When it was over, we didn't even try to get to the buses I thought we could just sit down on the bleachers and wait while all the hordes moo'ed their way along. All those people just stood there forever. A friend and her family found us and we all waited out on the side together while the kids ran around.



One thing all the crowds missed by trying to get out of there so fast was watching Air Force One take off. We were right there. I think the boys liked that. Then when the crowds finally started moving we thought we should get in line. Then all the soldiers started yelling, civilians, make a hole. Next thing we knew they all got out of the way and kept telling us to move up front. All civilians to the front. We kept getting pushed to the front until we were at the front of the line. We felt bad about that so we moved to the side. Then the buses came, it turned out everyone had been waiting until Air Force One had taken off, no one had left that whole time we had just been sitting around waiting for everyone to leave. Then everyone got all crazy to get on the buses so my friend's family and us, we moved to the side again. Next thing we knew another bus pulls up and stops right in front of us. So we just got in. It was hard not to laugh at all the impatient people pushing and trying so hard to get on that first bus when we just stood back and watched then one came to us. My friend's husband said, this is what an evacuation would be like, except that no one here is scared. That was a scary thought.

I really liked taking the boys to go see the President. Politics aside, I thought it was a cool experience for them. DD, of course, cried about it when she got home and thought the boys had more fun then she did. Not much of a surprise.

That's about it. Classes are over, so I do have a lot of free time to freak out and study. It turns out I am not that great at studying for prolonged periods of time at home. I think though that being on this side of the weekend and seeing finals so close will help me focus. Not so much tomorrow, though, mom day with a friend, I am going to see Twilight again.