Tuesday, April 26, 2011

A Rule Of Etiquette That I Never Thought I'd Have to Make

No peeing at the dinner table.

So Much Stuff

Quotes of the week:

1) Ross: "We boys have to be able to laugh off a certain amount of pain."

2) Justice: "He bit me twice and I only hit him on the head. Grammy, I want you to deal with it. I don't want my dad to deal with it."


The other night when we were having a chill out snuggle session on the couch, Justice and Clayton kept pushing each other out of the way so that they could snuggle with me. Poor Bruce, alone on his part of the couch says "Doesn't anyone want to snuggle with me?"

Clayton walked off and came back a minute later with his giant truck. "Here Dad," he said as he tucked the truck in to snuggle with Bruce. He then continued in the Pile on Mommy game.

Today after we dropped Ross and Mark off at school, we paused at a stop sign in front of the clinic where we had Ally spayed several months ago. Ally looked over at that place and growled. Lol! Do you think she actually remembered that place??


Okay here are the pictures from the last couple of weeks, in reverse chronological order. I don't feel like rearranging them, so deal with it.

Here we are in our Easter finery. (We are standing on a hill. I may be tall, but I don't tower over my family quite like that.) You know, it's a mean trick to give kids a bunch of candy and then dress them up in new clothes (courtesy of Grammy) and not let them touch all of that candy, lest they spoil their new duds. None-the-less, two of our boys had gum on their shirts by the time we got to church. Oh, and what does it say when your children develop bed-head while at church?

The kids left out carrots for the Easter Bunny, and they left a note saying "...there is a chocolate egg in the freezer on top of the bacon."

The Easter Bunny wrote back "Thanks, I love bacon!" When the kids checked in the morning, the egg was still there, but the bacon was all gone.


In other news, Lydia did her first triathlon this weekend. Her middle school put it on. As the youngest Zilla, she borrowed my tri-suit and did Team Godzilla proud, taking second place!


Okay, is it just me, or is she totally my daughter?Lydia is also busy doing track. Surprisingly, she ended up being a thrower as well as a runner. In spite of her thin build, she's actually pretty good at it.


Okay, I REALLY owe my sister-in-law an apology! Sorry Liz!!!! People are going to stop allowing their kids to come to our house. It seems that nobody can escape clean. I'll have to do a better job of making sure that they are wearing my kids' old, jumpin' in puddles clothes before going outside. It was too late by the time we found them, so since the damage was done, why make them stop? They were having so much fun! (For the record, I did soak that shirt in spray -n-wash and give him a shower before sending him back to Grandma's house.)


The boys are loving Justice and Clayton's new bunk beds. Ross and Mark haven't slept in their own room since we got these. (Not that they did much of that in the first place. That's why we got the full size bed on the bottom.) Gotta love a good craigslist deal!

This is a nutso hail storm. Bruce stood at the window and shouted "Oh HAIL!" Now the kids have another favorite fake swear. Sigh!


It's that time of year again, and I've been having a ball going on field trips with the kids. Ross' class went to the City Museum. It was a blast! I also went on Mark's field trip, but I left the camera at home. Poo!


Yesterday I tried making my own bubble solution and improvising my own bubble wands (we didn't have any of that stuff around). It was a total bust. I only got one stinking bubble; it started raining on us; and then when Justice and Clayton decided to dunk their heads into the bubble solution, it ended our "bubble" session real quick.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

No Wonder She's So Hyper

The dog found the Easter Bunny's stash.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

WTFreak?!

When Justice, Clayton, and myself are the only people home, finding an open bottle of crazy glue on the floor is probably not a sign of good things waiting to be discovered.

It's Official

At the tender age of 35, I have just submitted a piece of music for copyright for the very first time. Ain't I big stuff!

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Small Miracles

I'll be honest. I struggle with a bad attitude. I spend my life taking care of young ones. There is ALWAYS a to-do list longer than my entire life. With a husband, five kids and a fixer-upper of a house, I simply can't do all of the things that need to get done around here. From time to time, it REALLY gets me down, and I feel like a failure in every single aspect of my life.

I know that really I have a great life. I have a husband who is truly my best friend, I have five healthy kids. I have my health, I have the gospel, and really what more can one person ask for. More often than not, I'm okay, but from time to time, the responsibility of it all gets to me. I have some serious ambitions of my own and almost no time to work on the things that I want to learn to do. I crave solitude and time to work on my music. Okay, I'm rambling...

Sometimes my attitude just down right sucks. One night a week ago or so, I was having a particularly bad night. My list was just weighing on me, the house was messy, the two littlest kids just wouldn't go to bed, and I was frustrated and mad, mad, mad. I was wondering if I would ever be allowed to do the things that I wanted to do with my time. I was in a bad, bad, bad state of mind, and I just could not stop feeling put out, stepped upon, unappreciated and no end used.

I went to my room in tears and not knowing any other way out, I turned to prayer. The thought "cast your burdens on the Lord" came to my mind. In tears I told the lord that I just could not stop feeling this way. I just couldn't do it on my own. As I asked for help, really wanting to stop feeling so mean inside, it was like I could literally feel those bad feelings leaving one by one. Where there had been a long list of things that I had wanted to complain about, now there was nothing. I'm sure that I could go and dredge up every one of those feelings again, and feel all of that nastiness again, and to be honest, I have from time to time. But for the time, they were just gone. It's a testament to prayer and the Lord's ability to lift burdens.

Okay fast forward to today, when I am once again a jerk. Clayton kept me up much of the night last night, I had neglected my scriptures, and I was just exhausted in every sense of the word. I can't tell you how much I depend upon church to help me feel better, to give me a new sense of perspective, to point me, and to give me the energy to keep on keepin' on. Let me diverge slightly for just a second. You always hear women in the church saying how much they love Primary (the classes for children ages 3-11). I have spent the vast majority of my adult life involved in teaching Primary in one capacity or another, and to be perfectly honest, I just haven't really felt that way. It's horrible. I stink! Maybe that's why I just keep getting called back to Primary, or maybe that's all I'm fit for, I don't know. I tend to feel like I get my fill of little people in my regular life. When I'm not in Primary, I really enjoy Relief Society (the class for women 18 and up). I feel uplifted and like I finally have a little bit of time to spend with grown up women. In R.S. the classes are geared to me, and I soak it up. In Primary, the classes are geared to little children, and to be honest, the last thing I feel like doing is dealing with more little people. It's completely horrible, I know. I shouldn't have such a bad attitude, but I really struggle with these feelings.

ANYWAY, I am SOOOO rambling today. Feel free to not read my stupidity. So when I was called away from my beloved R.S. a few months ago to teach the Sunbeams (3 year olds), I was honestly less than thrilled. (I'm so going to hell!) I go every week, and I do my best, but I just don't look forward to it. Today I was tired physically, spiritually, and I felt like I could really use a boost. I just did not want to teach my class today, and I prayed for the Lord to help me once again stop feeling that way. I begged the Lord to feed me spiritually.

On to my class I went, just wishing to be somewhere else. My lesson was about how we are thankful that Jesus made birds and insects. I just did not want to do it today. Feeling tired, I closed my manual, and took the kids outside to look for some real birds and insects. The weather was beautiful, and bam right there in the parking lot were two geese. They let us get within about six feet of them. We talked about how Jesus made the birds, we listened to bird sounds. Then we saw some real live bees collecting nectar. We talked about how the bees made honey and helped the flowers to grow. It was actually a fun lesson. I actually enjoyed my primary class!

Oh and if you actually held on through all of my drivel this long, you deserve this funny thing that happened in Primary today. As he was coloring today, Brady, one of my three year olds, decided to "write his name" on his picture. "B-R-A-T. That spells me!" he says. Lol! I told his mom (my cousin Brooke who is also in Primary), and she jokingly said "Well that's about right."

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Harry Mom

Clayton has reached the stage of constantly playing pretend. He is always Ben 10, Kevin Levin, Super Why, etc. Ben 10 has been his favorite for a while. When he's in Ben 10 mode everything is "Ben 10." I am his "Ben 10 Mom;" he eats "Ben 10 cereal;" he jumps on his "Ben 10 bed." You get the picture.

Lately he's been pretending to be Harry Potter a lot. But somehow this one just doesn't have the same ring. I am his "Harry Mom;" he eats "Harry Cereal"...

Oh and since we are talking about HP, in-case you missed it on FB, my kids and I can't stop watching this video:

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Justice-isms

Apparently it is now a requirement for J & C to wear swimming goggles in the shower.

Today as we were driving along, we passed a 'Stop' sign. Justice says, "What is that sign trying to say? I think it's saying 'Stop,' 'cause his family just won't stop talking."

I always tell my children that they are my favorite of whatever age they are. For example, when Mark had just turned five, I told him "Mark, you used to be my favorite four year old, but you aren't any more." Oh how his poor little face fell! "Now you're my favorite five year old!"

Justice has been trying to play along, but apparently he doesn't know how old I am. Last week he kept telling me that I was his favorite 15 year old. "But Justice, I'm not fifteen!"

This week I'm his favorite fifty five year old. :( For the record, I am neither fifteen nor fifty five. I'm somewhere in the middle.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Pennies From Heaven (and Other Mildly Bloggable Stuff)

Apparently it's either been raining pennies from Heaven, or I have a magical dehumidifier that turns water into pennies and dimes. Either way, let it rain baby!

I am my father's daughter after all! I used to make fun of my dad because he's such a penny pincher that he has been known to cut open a tube of toothpaste to get out the last little bit. I forgot that we were almost out of toothpaste, the last time I went to the store... and alas the day came when I just couldn't squeeze any more out of that dang tube. Thanks for the idea Dad!


Here's just a cute picture of my boys eating the left over chocolate after I had finished making cake balls.

We seem to have a knack for picking out incredibly patient. Good thing too. You HAVE to be patient pets and no end tolerant to survive at our house!

Oh yeah, last week Bruce's parents took Justice and Clayton over night and then on a trip to the zoo. What a glorious day! They had a good time. When I asked them to tell me about their day, this is what I got:

"It was fun. Mom, gorillas' butts are DISGUSTING!"

(He meant baboons.) Of all the things to remember!

Sunday, April 03, 2011

Springy

ALL of my children are outside playing together, completely of their own accord. I love this on so many levels!

In other news, the kids and I cut up a bunch of different colored ribbons and strewed them all over the yard. Not being familiar with the habits of birds, I'm not sure of the timing of the thing, but we're hoping that they use them in their nests. It will be cool to see 1: if they use them; 2: How far will our ribbons go? Will they stay around in our immediate area? Will they travel down the street? Will they wind up around town? We'll be looking for nests with red, pink and blue ribbons woven in.

LOTR Awesomeness!!

We went to Powell Symphony Hall last night with our three oldest children to see The Fellowship of the Rings with the music played live with the orchestra and a HUGE live choir. It was just the just one of the coolest things EVER!!! It was exactly like watching the movie on a big screen, but the entire soundtrack was LIVE!!! We hung around afterward showing the kids the view from the balcony. When we came down, the place was mostly cleared, and we got to see a BUNCH of REALLY cool props used in the real movie. We talked to the guy who owns them. He confirmed that they were genuine, and he let us hold Sting to take a picture. SOO Frickin' cool! One of my very favorite movies with REAL music. .... SO COOL!
Us holding the REAL Sting. SO AWESOME!!


Us with a REAL Ring Wraith Costume.


\He also had the real shards of Narcil (sp??) and the sword once it was remade. He had a pair of Hobbit's feet, a bunch of cool helmets, an orc mask, and a bunch of other cool stuff. I can't imagine how much he paid for that collection! The swords were all knotched out from being used in the movie. Okay, I'm geeking out.
He had Orlando Bloom's knife / sword thing too.

Friday, April 01, 2011

April Fool's Day

We barricaded the door while Bruce was out this morning.