April 28, 2011

Was it something I said?

It was a rare moment indeed.

I conned, threatened, bribed, asked my brother and his wife to come down and watch the kids so Hubby and I could run to a few stores where children would not be welcome. Like a place that sells stone, tile, and marble.

I can just imagine the room they have in the back where they accept organ donations to cover the cost of broken items.

We've been working on the basement you see. Well, correction, hubby's been working on the basement. I've been cheering him on from the stairs.... and the living room couch.

Home Depot was our last stop. Hubby went off to find something while I waited at the paint counter for a sample can of the color we are considering for the basement family room.

Since we had already been walking around for a while, my back was letting me how utterly unhappy it was with me and was punishing me accordingly. Kind of like the scale does after too much cookie dough. So, I leaned over onto the counter to relieve some of the pressure from my back.

Just then, a young woman standing next to me, also waiting for some paint, looked over and started up a conversation.

"How far along are you?"


"Oh, I have about four to five weeks left."

Scrunching her face up in pity, she started in on her cute little story of how she totally understands and she remembers how hard pregnancy was. Then putting her hands on the car seat in her cart she explained that her son was only six weeks old so yes, she still remembers just how very difficult pregnancy was and encouraged me to hang strong because it's almost over and goes on and on about just how worth it it is in the end.

She totally had the new mommy glow going for her, all chipper and happy.

I smiled and replied that this one was actually my fifth, and so I think my back just hates me for torturing it so.

Eyes snapping wide open and mouth dropping to the floor she stuttered, "Oh..... wow... I, uh, I would never have guessed that! Wow... yah.... I just... never would have guessed."

She was clearly appraising my face trying to gauge my age.

After that she wouldn't talk or look at me.

I couldn't help but chuckle, was it something I said?

April 26, 2011

Egg Monsters


I tell ya what, there is something about decorating eggs that is so thoroughly exciting, so completely thrilling to my children that only threatening them with the loss of decorating privileges keeps them from plunging their hands into the dye or doing a little taste testing of the different colors.


Then again, maybe I should let them taste it, I'm sure the vinegar would be far less appealing then they believe.

Well, one would hope. But there's no guarantees when it comes to kids.

Scary.



Once all the eggs were dyed to every one's satisfaction, next came the decorating!


I really was impressed with everyone's creativity.


Especially hubby. I didn't know he had it in him! Who would of thought his engineering brain could conger up such impressive right-brained thinking!


He doesn't realize it yet, but he just dug himself a hole with mother's day, our anniversary, and my birthday all coming up here in the next few months.

Now that I know the right side of his brain actually works, I had better be impressed. MWAH HA HA HA!!!



Is it just me, or does this look incredibly similar to a family photo?


Well, minus a few a kids. Don't go getting any crazy ideas now, I'm not sure how many more pregnancies I can handle! My sanity is questionable as it is.


They were so proud.


MONSTER FACES!!




Yup, family photo if I've ever seen one.

Even hubby took this picture of a couple of the eggs we made, saying this was indeed us.


Strangely, this explains a lot about our marriage.

April 25, 2011

Easter in a nut shell.

It was one of those weekends where a thousand things were going on at once, a lot of them last minute or unexpected. But in a good way! We had a lot of fun.

Of course, I attribute a lot of it to that fact that Mr. Sunshine finally showed his face! If I could reach him, I'd slap him for taking to long to show up. Some people are so rude.  But I think he read my thoughts since the rest of this week is cold, windy, rainy, with chances of snow. The two inches we got last week were enough to have me crying. At the rate this week is looking, the kid's Easter candy might not last very long.

Errr... not that I would have anything to do with it's disappearance! *cough* Honest!

But let's not dwell on the perpetrator of disappearing Easter candy, we'll just skip ahead to Easter morning.


I confess, I have only ever bought my kids "new Easter clothes" once, about three years ago. It's not something I tend to think about, perhaps because it wasn't a tradition in my family.

Still, it all worked out this year. I pulled out the dresses and bow ties from my brother's wedding back in November, which I don't think they had worn since that time.

They were just so stinking cute (Which they get of me, obviously. Err... the cute part, not the stinking part) I just had to take some pictures.

And... take 5!


And... take 84!


And... take 638!


Oh well, we tried.


Apparently, "smile" means "show off your big muscles" to boys, and "pose like a princess" to girls. Which... now that I think about it, makes a lot of things much more clear to me. Still, who knew?


Almost from the moment they woke up Easter morning, the kids were asking about the Easter egg hunt, begging, pleading, crying for it to take place already.

After church.

After lunch.

After Uncle Abe and Aunt Annie get here.

After dinner.

We're all about torture around here.

We unexpectedly and last minute had another family join us for dinner and the egg hunt, and that was also a lot of fun.

Of course, notice how, at this moment right before my children were let loose of the Easter eggs, that their poor friends were totally forgotten as they about busted at the seams, itching for the go ahead.

Who are their parents anyway? Some kids and their manners.


I tried my darndest to get pictures of them finding eggs. But do you know how hard it is to get a good picture of running kids on a candy mission?

I mean honestly, sometimes I think I expect too much of myself.


 Here is my cute sister-in-law helping Alayna.


Some images should never be made available to the public eye.

I'm pretty sure in this picture, the boys already have three or four eggs worth of candy in their mouths. They were totally ignoring me. They were too intent on cataloging their catch.

It's all about inventory, you know?

I can appreciate that.



Some people's brothers.........


At the end of the day, we were all exhausted, but it had been fun, a good day.

I know this for a fact because I only had to scold Hubby four times for making silly faces at the camera before he finally stopped.

Of course, then Savannah had to help him know what to do after that.

"Smile Daddy!"


I hope you all had a great Easter too!

We will have to continue the festivities tonight for Family Home Evening, since we haven't had a chance to dye our Easter eggs yet.

And believe me, the kids have made me aware of the fact.


Now, if I could just get the kids to stop asking me for their Easter candy until after 11am, that would be awesome.

Then again, I have such high expectations of them.

April 22, 2011

Flashback Friday - Mud Bath

 Just think, some people pay a whole lot of money for one of these.


I always got mine for free.

It's made me who I am today.

Now go, and be clean.

April 19, 2011

Of bums and bellies

In church on Sunday, Jacob was starting to get restless as his wiggles began escaping. At one point, he turned around in the bench and started watching the people behind us. I leaned over and asked him to turn back around.

Looking up at me and in his whinniest voice declared, "I can't! My bum is getting hot!"


Oh man, I just hate when that happens, don't you?

~~~

Yesterday, I was playing with Jacob, pretending to try and shoot him with the nerf gun.

I say pretend because I didn't have any bullets.

At one point, he turned and stuck his little tush at me, shook it and chanted, "You can't get me!"

Aiming my bullet-less nerf gun at his bum, I pulled the trigger.

"Ha! Got ya!" I yelled!

"Nuh uh!" He retorted, "You just got my bum shield!" 


Bum shield? Cool, I want to know where I can get me one!

~~~~~

I was just putting my shirt on when Joseph suddenly bursts out laughing.  "Hahahaha!! Mommy, you have a big, fat, belly! You look like...." He then proceeded to puff out his cheeks and hold his arms out in front of him like he was holding a ginormous ball.

I can't tell you how much my self-esteem was boosted that day.

~~~~~

Savannah approached me and asked, "Mom? How does the baby come out of your belly?"

.............ummm...................... well........................ err.......................*switching to elevator music now*

I'll just leave out the rest of that conversation.

April 18, 2011

It's all about priorities


Having a plastic kitchen table has its benefits.

For almost the entire week last week, it looked like this.


You may now wipe the horrified expression from your face and close your mouth before you catch a fly.

I hadn't meant for it to happen, honest! It just... happened!

I think it was Monday when Savannah brought home these broken pieces of wood and insisted she get to keep them because she wanted to build something.

Fine, I'm not one to mess with creativity. Kids need to be allowed to explore!

That's why my children know a 9-volt battery stuck to your tongue will give you a zing.

Eh hem... er, not that I've ever encouraged such behavior... *cough*

But the next day, she decided she wanted to paint them. Of course, you can't allow one child the option of playing with paint before the others start bellowing and wondering where their paint is!

So, I brought out the paints.

For the first couple of days, I meant to clean it all up, really I did!

But after noticing how many HOURS, yes HOURS the kids were spending at the table each day coloring and painting, I just couldn't bring myself to mess with a good thing.

I have priorities you know.

Important priorities.
Sleep is something you just learn not to put high on your list.

You take what you can get when you can get it.


I'm an excellent power-naper.

(In case you're wondering, the table is now spotless and the kids are bored. Time to think of something else they can do. Hmmm... now where did I put that battery....)

April 16, 2011

A weekend with the Fam - Part 2

For part one, click HERE. You know you want to.

We left off last post with Alayna only allowing me three hours of sleep Saturday night.

*yawn* I think I still have sleep deprivation from that night. Hang on a sec, I gotta go take a nap.........

Five seconds later. ('Cause it's just not safe to take naps longer than that)

*zzzzz snort, wipe off drool*

Okay, where were we?

Since church started at 8am Sunday,  and I was obviously awake early,  I went ahead and put frozen spoons under my eyes and caked on about twelve pounds of make-up to hide the dark circles that took up residence there the night before.

Okay not really, but I should have.

I'm thinkin' make-up was first invented by a tired, dark-circle-eyed mother.

So were bras.

Anyhow, church really was quite relaxing since Alayna just sat with this handsome guy and calmly drew pictures the whole time.


My brother and I are used to people thinking we are a couple. For some reason, when we were teenagers, one of the most common things we heard after we got to know someone new was, "I thought you two were a couple, or even newlyweds!"

Awkwaaaaaard......

I guess that's what happens when you actually get along with your siblings.

So I'm sure as we sat together with Alayna, people came to the same conclusion. Oh well, what can you do.

After church and Logan's baby blessing, we all met up for lunch.

Even the baby.


 And here sit two of my four brothers. You can almost read their thoughts.

Oh great, here comes mom with her camera...  (my mom took these pictures)


Is she still taking pictures?

Mmmm hummm!

Oh man... tell me when it's over!

And that is my sweet sister-in-law, has been since November.

Poor girl, you can tell she's been married to my brother too long already.


Sheesh! Taking pictures of these guys is like trying to take family pictures with my kids!

*Note family picture at top of blog.

See what I mean? All you have to do it throw in one more brother and all is lost.


In professional terms, boys are weird.

Back on the normal end of things, Alayna was in heaven having found my sister's sparkly heels. She could barely walk in them they were so tall, but that didn't stop her from trying!


I even got to see one of my very best girlfriends ever. She has been one of my besties since I was 12 years old. She came down just to see me.

Well, okay fine, so she really came to see my family, especially my parents, but I like to think it was all for me. Me, me me, cause that's what it's all about!

Some people are so snobby.

Not me of course.


And when lunch was over, it was time for me and Alayna to go. My parents were staying a few more days but I had to get back. So I hitched a ride home with my brother and sis-in-law, who lives near us.

Alayna was going to miss Uncle Caleb though. He was headed back to Virginia.

 

Alayna and I slept most of the way home. 

Sleep, it was bliss. I had almost forgotten what it was like.

Later that week, Thursday afternoon to be exact, my parents once again stopped by our place to breakup their 10 hour drive home.

My youngest brother Hyrum, who is the only one still at home and whom my kids affectionately call Uncle Hyroom, is always a huge hit around here.

He's one of the few left who are both willing and able to physically play with my kids.

He is sorely missed.

Thursday night my parents treated us by taking us out to dinner. My children of course thought it was heaven and were so hyper they kept running into people while we waited for a table.

After receiving a few glares, I finally lined them against the wall and we played "Simon says".

I'm not ashamed, not even when I said, "Simon says, shake your bum!" and then demonstrated. I guess those who could see us got dinner and a show.  Lucky.


And yes, Savannah really is wearing bunny ears.

Of course when my mom brought out her camera, it all digressed from there.


But that also when it becomes the most fun.

All in all, we had a great time.

The End.

P.S. Thanks mom for letting me use all your pictures!
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