My areas of expertise: organizing, parenting

I'm an organizer from way back.
So one of the first things I did was create a spreadsheet that showed which people would be at the house on which nights. Over the next few weeks, there would be boys coming and going, Scott and Diana making one last trip back to Missouri, Curt arriving from NZ, my younger brother and his family arriving from Hawaii, and 4 relatives arriving from Illinois. Some people would be staying at a hotel, some would be at the house, and some live in town but would be here for meals. My head hurt just trying to keep track of who needed to be picked up or dropped off at the Seattle or Bellingham airports ... not to mention there was a limited number of cars available to drive in the snowy conditions. See what I mean? I couldn't keep it all straight without having it laid out in a nice grid. Everyone made fun of my beautiful spreadsheet, but they sure used it a lot! Apparently my fondness of spreadsheets had even been a topic of conversation at Christmas time, especially the detailed travel itinerary I made for our 6 week trip to Europe in 1995 with the boys.

I also got to practice my parenting skills on Scott's two girls when he and Diana were out of town. Let's face it, I've raised 4 boys and I've taught middle school, so two girls for five days is no sweat. Add Grandma's experience to the equation and we're an unbeatable duo. In the morning, I'd ask the younger one if she'd brushed her teeth yet. She'd answer yes. About ten minutes later, I'd hear Grandma asking if she'd brushed her teeth yet. She's say YES. The poor thing. We really tag-teamed them. Just like the good ol' days when my own boys were littler, I was driving the girls to swim practice and to school. (The girls go to the same school I attended, and the same school all four of my boys attended. In fact, the older daughter has the same extraordinay teacher that #4 son had ten years ago) I was doing such a good job parenting that when Grandma told the younger one that her parents were expected back the following day, she replied, "Oh good. Only one more day with Aunt Megan as my mom." Which I consider a compliment.