Thursday, August 6, 2009

The Union

It's official. I knew it would be happening sooner or later. Our kids have organized themselves. I've seen the signs. The one-at-a-time-questions-so-mom-can-get-no-peace days. The waking up one at a time, and as soon as one goes to sleep, another wakes up game. The sending of the union representative to ask for more rights and privileges. The work stoppages. The contract negotiations. The grievances.
Why, just the other day, Joey came to me (I'll refer to Ben and I as "Management" from now on, and the kids as "the Union") with a very serious grievance. We were leaving Grandma Jane's house after playing with the Utah cousins, and with hands on hips, he said, "Mom! You are ruining my life! You are taking all the fun out!" I told him to have his Union Rep file a formal written grievance and hand it in to top management (Ben). I'll get back to him in a couple of months. We'll go through the mediation process, and I'm hoping it won't result in a strike.
I will keep you informed of all future Union/Management issues.

Picnics and All That Good Stuff

Last week we had some family come over for a picnic. The kids enjoyed my new garage sale find. This Little Tykes picnic table was $10 at a garage sale, in perfect shape! I was going to give it away, but we decided to keep it. It's the perfect size for the little ones. Sometimes you can hit it big at garage sales.
Anyway, we have had a great time with Ben's East Coast family. And the kids always enjoy the cousins, of course.
The week ended on Saturday with a call for Ben and I to meet a counselor in the Stake Presidency before church on Sunday. I had that sinking feeling, and realized that the "big calling" I had felt coming on was Ben's, not mine. Sure enough, he was sustained as a counselor in our bishopric on Sunday. So far it hasn't been too bad, only two nights this week he's been gone. That's not much different than usual.
Here's some pictures of the fun we had this week. We went to Lake Elmo today and got good and dirty, but our camera is broken and Haley's wasn't charged. I'll try to do better!

Painting our beautiful pottery with Lindsey's kids:


It's been a fun week. Hope next week is just as good!