Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch

My uber fun and spunky sister, Kathleen (not to be confused with my boring, lame non-existant sister) started her week off strong.  For a woman watching 6 kids ages 11, 8, 6, 4, 3 and 1, she was pretty ambitious.

She took all the kids to the store and bought a pool.

She even made a collage and pictures.  Healthy snacks!  Hair done!  She's a better mom to 6 than I am to 4.

 

I received amazing e-mails like this:

"Glad you made it!! Is it all you hoped it would be??
What would you do if you came home and I had made a display case for Dustin's work trophies??
My kids are awake, yours are snoozing.
Love you!!"

and

"Sadie: what's even the point of dancing if you can't dance like me and Olivia?"

and

"HELLO! We miss you! What did you do today?? Sadie earned a dollar. She was perfect. At Travis' house they played pretty, pretty princess and Nate won. Also, they played evil Lucy and went to McDonalds for dinner. At McDonalds they played dragons and knights. Ellie went swimming for 5 hours and cheated at Monopoly. We played party Monopoly at home and Sadie went bankrupt multiple times. Luke freaked out over the iPad and iPod and iPhone allllll dayyyyyy long. He loves technology. There was naked swimming in the pool. We also cleaned rooms. Hurray! They were perfect!

Sadie says: I got a dollar, pay up. I liked the unicorn picture you sent. I miss you a lot. 

Nate: What did I get from Germany, I really want to know? I love you. Cry, cry, cry, cry, cry. (He didn't really cry) 

Ellie: Hi mom! How's it going? Do you like my hair today? (Sarcasm) So really mom, what'd you do today? I love you lots. More than anything in the world. I'm going to go play piano. Bye. 

Luke: I love you. I love the black iPad. 

Love you!!!"

 

And then the e-mails stopped.  Because whatever Olivia brought that made her look like this:

 

. . . took down my sister and sweet Nora as well.  We're saying flu because none of my kids got it and we all got flu shots.  Get your flu shots kids.

She didn't get to bake the cookie dough I made her. Or eat the chocolate croissants I left so she could feel like she was in Paris with us.

 And yet somehow, even while deathly ill, my sister is STILL more fun than me.  They went to the movies.  Made Father's Day gifts. Got donuts (which you knew she was sick if she didn't think Bosa donuts was all that). And decorated plates.

And she didn't even tell me how bad it was because she just wanted me to have fun.

My girlfriends were amazing as well.  They took my kids to church, and brought in dinners and even bought the kool aid that stained my daughters' hair.

I woke up to the following text messages: "What if I dyed the tips of Ellie's hair purple?"

 

Next message: "I dyed Ellie's tips purple with kool aid." "Sara bought the kool aid.  She's an accomplice." 

 

Next message: "And mom okayed it.  Sadie chickened out and washed her out."

Well here's what we've learned about kool aid.  It doesn't come out. Even if you wash it out right away.  And if you dye only the right half of your head and try to wash it out it just turns pink. You can't bleach it out and you can't dye over it.  Good thing my girls ROCK the hair.

 

 

We're trying to decide if this beats the time my dad shaved Luke bald.

I'm sure my sister's recount of the week would be much more entertaining and well written, but I'm pretty sure she'll never write about it because all she wants to do is forget it ever happened.