Oh, Shuck.

It seems fitting that I inadvertently taught the boys the word "crap" this week, because that one word sums up the week fairly well.

Don't get me wrong, it wasn't ALL bad. The drive from Boise to Vancouver went surprisingly smoothly. It's all about managing expectations. And praying. I was anticipating a difficult experience, so I was thrilled when it went well. The boys were really good. Really, really good. I only got sleepy for the last hour of the drive, at about 11:00 at night. Shaun drove the huge moving truck with our Honda on a trailer, and I followed with the kids.

At one point we stopped for gas and then decided to venture straight across the busy street for dinner. Shaun waited for a break in the traffic and headed out. I followed close behind, forgetting that he wasn't able to move as quickly as a car would. Thus I found myself with the van perpendicular to the center turn lane, traffic appearing from both directions.

"Oh, crap," I said. You wouldn't believe the amount of attention and concern this remark engendered in my passengers.

"What's the matter, mommy? What happened? Crap?"

We eventually got across the street without incident, Willem happily singing, "Crap, crap crap crap crap" all along the way.

Nels readily accepted my admonition to not use the word "crap" himself, and didn't even mention the incident to Shaun when we met inside for dinner. In fact, he waited until the next day at Mother's Day brunch to bring it up. About 20 or so of Shaun's extended family were gathered to celebrate at Shaun's grandparents' retirement home.

In his best "just making conversation" voice, Nels turned to his grandma and said, "Mommy said a bad word when we were driving."

"What did she say?"

He leaned in, and in a stage whisper, said "Crap."

Lucky for me that's about the worst language I let fly under stress. And it's not that I think it's so awful that I said it. It's just a bit unseemly for my 4 and 2 year-old boys to go around saying.

After brunch Shaun unloaded about 75% of the moving truck's contents himself while I scrubbed the kitchen, which was dirty and stinky upon our arrival.

On Monday, Shaun's cousin Jason and his family came and helped us with the rest of the work. The best part was that their boys played with ours, keeping Nels and Willem happy and entertained all day. The boys fell into bed at 6:30 and were down for the night!

I crept into their room at 9:00 to put Nels' training pants on him. (Yes, we're still working on getting through the night dry.) He propped himself up on his arm and said, "Oh, shuck! I went to bed without my training pants!" He's said it a few more times this week. I don't know where it came from, but I'm glad it's here. I'm thinking it'll make a great replacement for "crap."

Well, now at least you know we're here, and I'm thankful to have that drive behind us. I'll have to gather my energy for the next post, in which I will explicate the many ways in which this week has been so shucked up.