Okay. Well, after yesterday’s extremely grim entry, I figure I won’t recite the sad tale of how my dad told me he was divorcing my mother when I was 11.

Instead, a few random tidbits from life here in the Pacific Northwest.

Yesterday, Zach arrives home from school and blurts out, “Mom, I got my symbol moved!”

At kindergarten, their behavior is recorded as a happy face, a sad face or a not-so-happy face. If they do something they shouldn’t, they get their symbol moved from happy to sad or not-so-happy. He’s been so proud that he’s never had to move his symbol. Until yesterday. The “not-so-happy” face was circled.

“Oh no! What happened?”

And he told me excitedly that Dominick accidentally knocked over his dominoes and so Zach yelled, “DOMINICK!” Dominick got in trouble, too. So did David.

Now, a quick word about David. David is Zach’s new best friend. My neighbor who volunteers in the classroom says David is “exuberant.” David’s mother described him to me as “active.” I asked Zach once, “What kind of boy is David?” And Zach said, “He loves action!

The sheet in Zach’s folder said, “He was loud and talkative all day!” So, I had a little talk with him and he promised to be on his best behavior again.

On an unrelated note, today I overhead Zach mention to himself something about a picture of him “when I used to be cute.” I said, “Hey, what are you talking about? When you used to be cute?”

And he said, “Mom, that picture was when I was three and I used to be cute. Now, I’m not cute. I’m cool!”

Meanwhile, Grace has decided that she’d like to be outside in the backyard most of the day. We went out two separate times today and brrrrr, it was chilly! When she asked to go outside and I said no, she cried and screamed and flung herself toward me. And no nap today at all. Not even ten minutes during our noon nursing. This is her new pattern. No nap at all, but then she’ll sleep for 12-14 hours at night.

I started exercising yesterday on my new Schwinn exercise bike. Today is my second day. I’m going to ride it every day, unless I’m sick. Once I managed to do that for a solid year. I rode an exercise bike every single day, no matter what. I only quit when I got pneumonia.

So, no more doom and gloom for today. But there’s always tomorrow!

Sunday means church in our family. By a miracle, I had my family seated in the front row at 9:30 a.m. Even my husband (the pastor) came up and said, “Why are you here so early?” I said, “Hey, if they are all ready, I leave!” So, there we were, fifteen minutes early.

My plan backfired, though. Babygirl had enough of it all before they even got to the congregational prayer. I took her and YoungestBoy downstairs to the nursery. YoungestBoy wanted to go back upstairs, so I allowed him, knowing the the adult I left in charge of my twins would also watch out for him.

That is how it happened that I missed one of our church’s funniest moments!

Every Sunday, there is time allotted for individuals in the congregation to stand and give thanks. YoungestBoy noticed something happening, people raising their hands, so he, my new Kindergarten Boy, raised his hand. The woman at the pulpit saw his hand and acknowledged him.

He stood up and then said, “I’m not sure what the question is. What’s the question?”

The woman told him, “This is the time we tell about what we’re thankful for. Do you have something you are thankful for?”

I’m told that he said, “Oh. I’m thankful for electricity!” The congregation burst into laughter. This kid is probably going to be a stand-up comedian. He loved it!

I adore my youngest boy.

Today, he was sad when he came home from school. He’d taken a Yu-gi-oh card to school to show a friend and I’d put it in his backpack for him. He watched me do it. But he couldn’t locate it at school. He was so upset that he hadn’t been able to show it to his friend, David.

“That’s okay,” I said, “You can try again tomorrow.”

“No, I can’t!” he said.

“Why not?” I said. “You have school tomorrow.”

“Mom! I don’t. Look in my folder.”

Then he got out his red folder that the teacher sends home every day with the day’s homework and other papers. I opened it and saw the new homework for the day. The completed homework from yesterday. Nothing else. He pointed and said, “See?!”

I said, “Honey, I don’t see anything.”

“Mom, right there! It says Stay Home.”

Sure enough, it did say “Stay Home” on one pocket of the folder. On the other pocket of the folder, it says, “Bring Back.” This is so we know which papers should stay home and which ones he needs to bring back. I laughed.

“Sweetie, that just means those papers are supposed to stay home!”

He looked so relieved and wiped his eyes. Tragedy averted. (The perils of learning to read!)

My sons are big fans of the self-created potion. That explains why we go through an enormous amount of shampoo and bar soap. They spent long bathtimes in the tub, mixing and stirring and gouging out lumps of soap. Voila! A potion! And tub potions inevitably equal clean kids, so I never complain. Well, hardly ever.

Today, twin boys came over to play with my twin boys and YoungestBoy. These twins are 8 years old, YoungestBoy is almost 6 and my twins are 10. Per their usual routine, they all went outside in the backyard to play. Our snow has melted in our new 45 degree weather. The kids went coatless.

They played wild games, running past the patio door, kicking balls, swinging sticks, yelling. I’d peer outside and see them all red-cheeked with soggy pant legs and muddy shoes. Babygirl stood at the patio door and begged to go outside, but I vetoed her plans. She’d just get run over by a big boy. I took her for a walk in her stroller instead, but it was too chilly to go far. She resumed her post at the sliding glass door, whining.

Eventually, the afternoon light faded and it was time for the twins to go home. Everyone was wet and muddy, so my husband ran bathwater and called YoungestBoy inside for the first bath. When YoungestBoy was immersed in the tub, my husband came downstairs and said, “Kids are so funny. YoungestBoy just said to me, ‘We were making a stinky potion outside. (Pause.) Would you care if we peed into a bucket?'”

We just laughed because really, what can you do?

When TwinboyA and TwinboyB came inside a short time later, I caught them off-guard and said, “So, who peed in the bucket?” TwinboyA said, “We all did.”

“Why?” I said.

“Because we wanted to make a really stinky potion.”

Well, that explains that. They claim that it was their friends’ idea. Yeah, sure it was. Nothing cures the winter blues like peeing in a backyard bucket to make a smelly potion. Funny, though. I’ve never seen this idea in Family Fun.