Sometimes You Just Need Something to Laugh About

(Do not read this if you don't understand Too Tired to Care Kind of Humor :) I have never been one who has dealt well with having a lot on my plate, especially when it involves driving all over creation in one day. With 5 kids now, and Erik on the High Council (meaning that he's generally not home very much anymore), running around has become inevitable. Sigh. This weekend was one of those times. Erik went to a Camporee in Wickenburg, so I had the kiddies all to myself. We started Saturday off by arriving at Joseph's soccer game at 7:30 a.m. It was also picture day, and the staff coordinators had us running all over Rio Vista Park looking for the photo location. It turns out that it was right next to where the game was to be played, just over a little knoll, where nobody could see it. Joseph's game went well. It was a tie, 1-1, with Thres scoring our one point in the last 2 seconds of the game. Very exciting! From there we hit a couple of garage sales, got home, viewed the mess that had been created in my absence - sigh, again - and left to drop Christine off to warm up for her volleyball tournament. Dropped her off, and took everyone else to the Sunrise Mountain Library. Quickly checked out books (no small task), and headed back for Christine's game. Made it just in time, and watched a greatly intense game against Frontier. They won the 1st game, we won the 2nd, and they slaughtered us the 3rd. Christine and a bunch of her team mates never got to play - only the core group played, but we were proud of Christine for the support she provided from the bench. We're proud of her for trying out, for sticking with it, for putting in her full effort, and for not becoming bitter & crushed or prideful & boastful about their losses or their wins. Good job Christine! I was toast by the time I got home. It had been an emotionally exhausting evening with Joseph, the night before, and I've been feeling a little sleep deprived as of late. But, I had promised to take Rebekah to the Dollar Tree, so off we went. I was dragging through the store- maybe it was even shuffling. I was tired, and by the time we finished there, I was in need of something to wake me up. And that's when it happened . . . There by the check-out was a display of disgusting candy to give out for Halloween - gummy brains and such - and a box of Boogies. Yep, boogers. The box boasted a flavorful aray of all colors, shapes, and sizes. I couldn't help myself, I began laughing out loud, good belly chuckles. I was laughing so hard that other people in line were craning their necks to see what I was laughing at. I checked out the entire box, secretly contemplating who I could buy that box for, when I discovered this added note from the manufacturer on the back, "Picked out especially for you." I couldn't quit laughing, and in fact the thought has carried me through the rest of the weekend. Here's the actual description from a candy site on the web: Picked out especially for you.... Tangy gummy boogies that look and feel like real chunks of snot! Each box of boogers includes 3 fabulous flavors: Snottermelon, Sour Green Boogy, and Lemon Loogy. Just place a gummy boogy on your finger and start munching! So delicious, with a touch of saltiness.... just like real boogies.... wait a minute.... how would I know? hee hee hee (we're only kidding about the salt). The largest boogers measure about 1 inch long. Amazing! From there we headed over to the GAIN night at Rio Vista Park (safety/community awareness). Erik was helping with a booth about Emergency Preparedness, sponsored by our stake. The kids had a lot of fun, getting all sorts of freebies, and playing on the inflatables. James was really brave and went on a really tall Shark slide inflatable; he's still talking about how his bangs were flapping in the wind as he came down the slide. We left there about 7:30 to drop Christine off at the Cheesecake Factory for a Beehive activity, and then finally went home. Long day - long night. I was still pretty pooped on Sunday, and ended up taking about a 2-3 hour nap. I only nap once a month, and yesterday was the day. We got our act together as a family, and actually sat down for scriptures study together. It was nice, and nobody moved after family prayer, we all just kind of hung around together, lounging and interacting. During this time I asked James if he wanted a little back scratch. Earlier at church, he had been having a very difficult time settling down, and I had remembered when Jonathon, Ashley & Jacob had been with us - they had the funniest back scratches, and they loved them. So, I started making up back scratch designs on his back: the firecracker, the steering wheel, the ghost, etc. He loved it. So, lastnight I started giving him funny back scratches again. The other kids got into the action as well, and then on a whim, I made up a new one that goes along with the Cherry Tree poem. "Way up high in the cherry tree, two little cherries were looking at me. I shook that tree just as hard as I could, down came the cherries, Um. They're good." Jackpot! James was laughing hysterically, and Rebekah and Joseph were clammoring to have it done as well. I don't know how long we sat there as a family giving eachother the Cherry Tree. Somehow it was hillarious. Then in a lame effort to switch gears and get them off to bed, I said, "Okay, we're done, and it's time for bed. But for security reasons, your name will be changed. You now will be known as . . ." You see, the kids like this cartoon called The Secret Show. It is about 2 secret agents who save the world from terribly ridiculous things. It's a hoot to watch. Their boss receives a new name everyday for security reasons, and it is always something funny like, Cuddlebunny, Coochie-woochie, or something else silly (see the side bar for The Secret Show link, where you can hear the name of the day. When you go into the site, click on the manhole, and then go into the Briefing Room). So, last night Rebekah became Hanky-wanky, James turned into Twinkle Toes, Joseph changed to Pink Tutu, Christine was known as Fuzzy Wuzzy Had No Hair, and Erik became Plop Plop Fizz Fizz. In retaliation, they huddled up to create a great name for me. They had a couple names that they were trying to spit out, amid their laughs, when I countered, "There's no way you come up with anything worse than I did!" Joseph's eyebrows raised, and without consulting anyone else, retorted, "Oh yeah, Chicken Butt." He caught me so off guard that I couldn't quit laughing. It took awhile after that to calm everyone down enough to go to bed. As they finally started trickling out of the room, I mentioned to Erik, "That was crazy! I think we were all just missing each other. It was just fun to be together again." Sometimes - you just need something to LAUGH about!