Harry, Eliza and Frank

I'm not sure of the details, but for some reason the kids all got to dress as their favorite book character today. And of course, none of my children told me this ahead of time. They told me at bedtime last night. Lex's teacher had written a note about it on their weekly homework sheet, but we didn't do homework on Monday. But what's even worse about the fact that it was on their weekly homework sheet is that I could've seen it on Friday. I'm the one who stuffs the homework packets each week, so how I missed it - I don't know. Anyway, this is what our kids decided to dress as.

Tanis - Tanis has always enjoyed Harry Potter. We did things a little backwards in this family and let him watch the movies first, then he decided to read the books. When he decided to read the book, he read and read and read. I've never seen him so 'into' anything. So it was fun to watch and hear about the story from his perspective. So Tanis decided to dress as Harry Potter. (Thank goodness for Halloween Costumes and out of date glasses!) Shaylyn - For Christmas a couple years ago, Eric's mom and dad gave Shaylyn some simplified classics books. It took her a bit to get around to reading them, but when she did - she went full force. Yesterday, when they mentioned today, she said she was going to be Alice from Alice In Wonderland because that was her favorite. So when I woke up this morning I was figuring out how to dress her as Alice. When I got out of bed, (waking up and getting out of bed are usually 2 different time frames for me) Shaylyn informed me she wanted to be Eliza from Pygmalion. I've never even read that book so I have no idea what it's about. Thankfully the book had some illustrations, so we did our best. Shaylyn got inventive and decided that one of her "Princess Dresses" that Eric's mom made for her (also a Christmas gift one year) would work. However, she refused to wear tights and nice shoes. Lex - I had no idea what Lex was going to dress as. He doesn't read and I'm not a very good parent and I don't really read with my kids. So I was suprised this morning when Lex had it all worked out. He was going to be a Hardy Boy. Smart kid. He knows about the Hardy Boys because his aunt and uncle sent him a Hardy Boy story for his birthday awhile ago and for part of one of Eric's gift I bought him a small comic book ::ahem:: graphic novel of The Hardy Boys and Lex has really enjoyed that (And hey, I did read Eric's book with him). So Lex decided he wanted to be Frank Hardy. We tried our best. All in all, I'd have to say not too bad for last minute notice. Eh?

What Happens Next...

We've Been Down This Road Before...

So with Eric's new found obsession, he had a friend tell him that he had a pistol that he rarely used and didn't really like that he'd sell to Eric for $100. Of course, Eric was all over that! It was a good $150 less than what he was looking into spending. And again, Eric couldn't wait and HAD to get the gun on Friday. Friday we drove up to Layton (which is where his buddy lives) in the rain/snow/slush. Because of the weather Eric decided to flip the 4-wheel drive on. After a little bit, we started smelling a burnt smell (Which we've smelled before - just stay with story) so Eric pulled over and turned the 4- wheel drive off. We got to his buddy's home with no issues to speak of. Eric got the gun and visited with his buddy for a few minutes and then we were headed home. After 5 minutes of driving the wheels completely locked up. Luckily Eric could feel it going and was able to pull off to the side of the road. And just a luckily we were in a fairly residential area so the speeds weren't horrific and we weren't stranded on the freeway. We are both very ticked off. This 4-wheel drive issue has been 'fixed' 3 or 4 times in the last 2 months. The first time it happened we were one the freeway and started smelling the burning, it wasn't until a day or so later that Eric realized it was the 4- wheel drive. The next time it happened we were on our way to a family event around New Years and this time the wheels did lock up. The third time Eric was on his way home from work in a bad storm and the wheels didn't lock up but it was burning again. I won't tell you how many thousands of dollars we've put into repairs and had it supposedly fixed. HA!

Anyway, we would normally call Eric's dad with this issue, but his dad had been in the hospital all week with some health problems. So Eric tried calling his brother's cell phone. Well his brother never answered. So Eric decided to call the home phone hoping his brother would answer. To his surprise his Dad answered. Eric just tried to get his brother on the phone without telling his Dad too much (His Dad had just gotten out of the hospital, remember). I am not totally sure of what happened next as I was on my phone trying to get the older kids taken care of, because I KNEW we wouldn't be home by the time school got out.

Somehow Eric got talking with his brothers girlfriend and the next thing we knew Eric's dad was calling him back. His Dad (Who HAS to help out when he can) told Eric that AAA would be a better service than Roadside Assistance. But to get AAA's help, the card holder (Eric's Dad) has to be present. We were so hoping not to get Eric's dad involved because of his health, but we failed. While we waited the 45 minutes or so for our rescuers, we had lunch at Arby's and totally loitered in the building. We got back to Eric's parents around 6:00 and then borrowed his Dad's van to get up back home. We didn't get home until close to 8:00. In and of itself the car issue stressed us out. But then it was also the Pinewood Derby night. That started at 6:30. Luckily our good friends - who took the kids for us all night - also had to go to the Pinewood Derby, so they just took our kids as well. Eric and I had done some of the last minute things getting Tanis' car ready before we left so all Tanis had to do was put stickers on it and the weights on it. Eric was going to do all the weights and last minute fixes when we got home after getting the gun. Well that didn't happen and because of that Tanis' car didn't even cross the finish line his first two races. :(

I was so sad to hear that. And I was even more upset that I wasn't there for him and for his last Pinewood Derby race in Cub Scouts. Thankfully Tanis didn't hold it against us and posed for a picture with his car and 'award' when we all got home.

We decided that we needed a way to blow off some stress. So we decided that Saturday morning we would take the kids shooting. (I told you Eric is obsessed!!!) There is an outdoor place about 20 minutes from our house where Eric had gone shooting the first time. He took us there. It wasn't crowded and we found a nice, secluded spot. The kids had fun just running around outside. Eric and I were able to shoot off some stress. The 3 older kids even got the chance to shoot off Daddy's rifle, which some enjoyed more than others. We also brought Daddy's little bb type gun for the kids to shoot off while Daddy and Mommy were shooting the real guns. And yes, there was one parent keeping an eye on the kids at all times. Eric even redeemed himself by getting a picture of me with the pistol.

After shooting we had to run a few errands and go to a few stores. We had a yummy dinner at Cafe Rio and afterwards we headed to my parents house to celebrate my Dad and sisters birthdays. It was a nice family day and much needed after the Friday we had.

What Happens Next...

Out With The Old, In With The New

On March 4, 2011, I was finally able to get rid of something old and replace it with something new, all thanks to part of our tax refund!


We replaced these:


(I know they look disgusting...but I wasn't going to clean them off when they were being taken away. Yes, I'm THAT lazy.)

With these:


I am now in HEAVEN!!! And look, I've even got a load of towels in the washer! That'll make Eric happy.

Our old machines were dying a slow and painful death. The washing machine had issues getting things clean and had problems spinning. (I probably sped up it's death by over filling the machine, by whatever - I'm lazy, I want to get things done ASAP) The dryer took FOREVER to dry anything. Then when I thought a load was dry, I'd find it still wasn't - so then clothes sat in the washing machine for way too long. It was just an annoying process and I put laundry off as much as I could.

These new machines are AWESOME! They sense how heavy the loads are and adjusts the washing and drying times to fit. I've only had to do the touch up dry once or twice in the 3 weeks that we've had them. That is saying A LOT. I'm also actually doing laundry almost daily. It feels good to feel 'caught up' on laundry after so many years.

I also took the opportunity to paint the laundry room. I loved the purple I put in the girls' room and found it calming, so I put it in the laundry room and it just helps this place feel more like home. I also decided to put up this saying on the wall opposite the washer and dryer:


I saw/heard it somewhere and thought it quite humorous and so I used it. Shaylyn thought it was a serious statement at first. Hahaha. And....and.... get this....the font I used for the word 'pants' that's my own handwriting! Simple things like that excite me.

While we're on the subject of old vs. new...

I took this old Family Home Evening chart (completely missing everyones name hangers):


And replaced it with this:


I repainted over the old one and found new name hanger things for everyone. Now we've just got to actually START having 'official' Family Home Evenings.

I also decided to make a chore chart of sorts. It's something that Eric and I have talked about for a long time and I just never took the time to sit down and figure out what jobs I wanted the kids to have. But, after seeing this, I knew I wanted to do something similar. This is what I came up with:




I am LOVING it! Plus, it has been great with the kids. Of course, knowing that they will be paid for doing it helps. However, the moment they walk in the door from school they want to choose the sticks and get started on their jobs. It has cut down on a lot of yelling, screaming, fighting and no one doing what I ask them to do. They know exactly what needs to be done and they do it. The only fighting now is when the boys have to work together to clean their room.

If you want more info on where to find supplies and such you can look on my 'craft blog'.

What Happens Next...

Trigger Happy

It all started with something the men have termed 'Manrichment.' The smart men of this ward decided to go shooting one blustery March morning. Eric was psyched and couldn't wait for Saturday to arrive. He got in touch with his 'favorite' uncle to ask if he could borrow some guns or better yet, come with.

Well his uncle said that Eric could borrow a gun and that he'd see if he could work it out to go with him. As the days neared closer to Saturday, Eric decided he'd much rather buy his own gun rather than borrow his uncle's. He's wanted a gun for awhile, but it's never really been at the tippity top of his list - until this wonderful outing.

So with some of our tax refund in 'hand' he headed out to a gun shop on Thursday evening. He came home with some sort of rifle. All night Thursday and all of Friday Eric was prepping his gun for Saturday. I was surprised he pulled himself away to go help aforementioned uncle with a project on Friday night.

Saturday came and off Eric went. And he was gone for 3 or 4 hours. When he came home, he was so excited and couldn't wait to go again. Thus he made plans for us to go on a date - - to a shooting range...

Now, I am a good sport and he promised me dinner - so I agreed. Plus to see how excited he was to share something he was so avid about with me, made me want to do it just for him.

So last Saturday, March 19th, we had our date. Eric's brother and his girlfriend took all the kids (minus Ailey) to the Living Planet Aquarium and Eric's parents took care of Ailey for the day.

We got to the shooting range and Eric said that we could rent a smaller gun to try out as well since I wasn't so thrilled at the idea of shooting his rifle the whole time. Plus, he wanted to try out another type of gun as well. So we rented a pistol. I wanted to try a gun like the cops always have in cop shows.

First shot was made by me WITH the pistol, and it was actually kind of exciting. Here's my shots:



Then Eric took his turn with the pistol.



Eric then decided it was time for me to try the rifle. DISLIKED it. I guess I was standing wrong at first and so Eric corrected my stance. After getting in the correct position - shooting the rifle irritated my already not so trusty back, so I opted to only use the pistol from then on out. It was something I never thought I'd do in my entire life, so that was cool to have done something like that.

I LOVED the pistol and told Eric that if we ever went again, we'd have to use a pistol for me. So now... Eric is searching to find a pistol that we can both sort of agree on. He thinks then he'll get me to go shooting with him more often. HAHAHA!

Here's me with that stinkin' rifle - can you blame me for not liking it so much? Eric was SUPPOSED to take a picture of me with the pistol - apparently he didn't....Makes me mad...



After our shooting match we headed to an early dinner. It was so nice to not be interrupted by kids. We haven't had a real date since our anniversary in November. We usually go to lunch on Fridays because Eric is off every Friday, but at those lunches we are trying to keep Nate from going crazy and trying to keep Ailey happy by stuffing food in her face. So to actually have a meal without shouting over kids was nice.

After dinner Eric let me go shopping, while I dragged him along. I got a few new items and it was nice to actually hear what Eric liked and what he didn't like so much. I bought a new dress that ended up being just a little too small for me and while it looked 'okay' on, I felt really uncomfortable in it. It is now serving as my incentive to keep exercising.

We were both feeling pretty tired and run down so we decided to call it a day. We headed back to Eric's parents to pick up the kids only to find that they weren't back yet. So we just chilled with Ailey and it was nice to have that one on one time with her.

All in all, it was a great date and I'm not quite as scared of guns as I used to be....Although, they do still scare me... And Eric, well Eric is totally obsessed right now. In the years Cabella's has been in Utah - we had been once. We've now been there 3 or 4 times in the last week and a half if that tells you anything.

What Happens Next...

This Is Why I'm Lucky...

I could leave things like that, but I won't.

Last week was a difficult week for me - to say the least. I can't remember the first half of the week, but Wednesday through Friday is permanently etched in my brain.

Ailey did not feel well on Wednesday or Thursday and in fact still wasn't feel great on Friday, either. This meant that she was attached at the hip (quite literally) all day long. And when she wasn't attached at the hip she was napping. Now, if I was a smart better person I would've taken the opportunity to clean while she was sleeping, but because I was so worn out all I could do was rest as well.

Ailey being sick would be enough for me - on it's own - however, Nathaniel decided to be extra 'nice' to me these two days as well.

It wore me down quite physically and emotionally. I'd look around at this messy house and get frustrated that nothing was done, but as soon as I started anything - Ailey got upset. Then the whole cycle started over again. I was at that point where you don't know if you want to cry or scream or which one will do you the most good.

Because of all this it meant that St. Patrick's Day wasn't that exciting at our house. The kids all wore their new shirts (minus Ailey...I put hers back at the store and forgot to get a different one) and so did I - even though I didn't get ready for the day until 5:00 p.m. I had great plans to have breakfast for dinner and color it all green, but because of the day I had - I opted to get pizza instead. Real festive, right?

So why in the heck does all that make me lucky?

I am just lucky to be the mom of 5 wonderful (most of the time) kids.

I have a 10 year old that is THE biggest helper EVER! Especially when I am stressed to the max. At these moments in time he is always asking what he can do to help. LOVE THAT!!!


I have a 9 year old that is TERRIFIC with her baby brother and can get him calmed down no matter what his issue is. She is so cute with him and can always take over for a bit for me when I've had enough of his 'tude.


I have a 6 year old who knows when I need to hear sweet little things, especially words like a very sincere, "I'm sorry." Followed with the action of doing what he was supposed to do in the first place.

I have a 2 year old who makes the cutest little faces and makes me forget why I'm upset with him in the first place.

I have a sweet 10 month old baby who actually WANTS to be around me and loves me no matter what. (Even if I haven't showered all day and I've been less than pleasant).


That, my friends, is why I'm so lucky!!! And no pot of gold could EVER replace all of that!!!

What Happens Next...

Whoopsie Daisy er.... Shilo

So in all the craziness that was our month of February I kinda forgot to mention something...

Ailey turned 9 months old on February 13th!!! 9 months and now within just a few days she's going to be 10 months old. I think I shall cry now...


Anyway, when we took Ailey to her dr. appt. things looked good and she is growing well. She has slimmed down some, but is still tall. (Big suprise, right? HA!)

Her 9 nine month stats were:

- Weighs: 19 lbs. 11 oz.
- Height: 29 inches

At 9 months she:

• Cruises the furniture CONSTANTLY
• Is a super fast crawler
• Loves to be with her big brothers and sister
• Has a fairly regular routine
• LOVES bathtime
• Wants to walk, but gets scared
• Has 4 teeth - Oddly the first two that popped up on top aren't the middle teeth, but the teeth next to them. At the current time she looks like she has fangs.
• Says 'Dada' constantly
• Likes to see pictures of babies and people that she knows
• Enjoys helping unload the dishwasher (A little too much)

Hopefully at her 1 year mark I'll be on top of things...

What Happens Next...

Something's Not Wired Right...

This is a story about this cute little thing:


Yes folks, that is Shaylyn when she was about 1 1/2. Besides the fact that her baby sister is almost an identical clone, she is scar free.

Does that seem like an odd thing to say? Perhaps, but this little girl has seen her share of concrete and other objects that just seem to cause injuries. Like the time she fell down the window well or when she got smacked by a thrown toy car. She so does not fit the mold of girly girl. She is ALWAYS getting hurt in some way.

Today was no different.

We had a bad morning this morning. Tanis was busy playing a video game, Shaylyn was watching Tanis play and Lex was busy watching Pokemon. Tanis was ready for school - minus the shoes and socks. Shaylyn was ready for school - minus the shoes and socks. Lex was totally unready. I asked him to get ready a number of times and he ignored me. Finally when he learned he had to leave 5 minutes ago he got ready. I think I need to make some rules like, "NO TV OR MOVIES UNTIL YOU ARE COMPLETELY, 100% , TOTALLY READY FOR SCHOOL."

So the kids left for school about 5 minutes late. This meant that Shaylyn and Tanis were stressing out not wanting to be late. I got them out the door and was like, 'FINALLY'!

About 5 minutes later the front door opens and Shaylyn starts walking in. My response was, "What the heck?" after which I heard a neighbor (who was right behind Shaylyn, without my knowing) say, "She fell down and was bleeding. I cleaned it off a bit, but I figured she should probably come back home and I sent the other kids to school."

Shaylyn's face looked like this (only bloody):


--And no, I didn't take this picture right then - I waited until she got home from school. --

Apparently they were running to school and she fell. The poor girl. She was pretty shaken up and in tears AND worried about being late. I told her I'd send a note and thn she calmed down. Luckily she wasn't too scraped up, but one little area got scraped up a bit more than the others - thus the bandaid.

I am just amazed at how often this girl is getting hurt. I thought it was the boys that were supposed to be in constant bruises, scrapes and bandaids. In this family it's the little girl. Somehow the wiring in our genes must've gotten messed up because Shaylyn has had more cuts and stuff than her brothers. It's craziness I tell ya!

Oh, and for the record - Shaylyn says she feels much better now. Just in case any of you thought I was heartless and recording my daughter's pain instead of making her feel all better. :D

What Happens Next...

CHAOS

Chaos pretty much runs my life. I'm not exaggerating that either...

- I don't really adhere to a schedule because I don't really like to, but that means things can get pretty chaotic.
- I have 5 kids, chaos pretty much comes with the territory there.
- My thoughts are always scattered and thus my brain feels chaotic at times.

However, none of that is the reason for this post. It's just an interesting side note. No, the reason for this post is because I suffer from CHAOS. Confused? Let me spell it out for you...

C - Can't
H - Have
A - Anyone
O - Over
S - Syndrome

Yup, that is me. When I saw that on Flylady's website I about flipped. I totally feel that way and it's just getting worse. In some ways I feel like I should just always stay home and then I wouldn't feel so CHAOTIC.

Here's the story. I grew up in a clean house. It wasn't decorated cutesy or anything but it was ALWAYS clean. My mother is a bit of a perfectionist and her house was one of those things that wasn't going to be dirty. Now, we weren't made to be slaves by any means growing up, but we were all expected to do certain jobs to keep our home clean and Saturday's were cleaning days. I HATED Saturday's. I dreaded them every week.

So, when I got married I decided I didn't HAVE to clean every Saturday anymore, and I wasn't going to. And I didn't - most of the time. Occasionally I decided I really needed to clean and I would, but I didn't make a weekly habit out of it by any means.

By the time Tanis was born, I did a very mediocre job of keeping the place we were living in clean. It wasn't health hazardous or anything like that, but I didn't really do a good job of putting things away and all that fun stuff.

I eventually figured out that I needed to be a better mom and that our home needed to be at least straightened every day. So, that's about all the happens. I straighten our house. It is clean enough, but it's not CLEAN. We have odds and ends everywhere in some sort of space and things aren't just lying all over the floor (most days).

However, I know my home isn't CLEAN. I keep going to other people's homes in the ward and I am in awe. They all look so cutesy (which would be easy enough for me to accomplish IF I had money) and CLEAN. I don't know how some of these people do it. They have just as many kids as I do and yet, it stays clean.

I know that part of our problem is that we only have one floor of livable space, so there's not a lot of room. The other problem I have is quite simply that I get overwhelmed and I'd much rather 'play' than clean.

As mentioned before I straighten the house daily, but by the time the kids get home from school - you wouldn't be able to tell I did a dang thing. Then I get mad because I don't want to straighten the house 5 times a day. It's hard enough for me to get the motivation to do it once.

The basement is such a disaster and I mean DISASTER! I've had it cleaned and organized quite a number of times since we moved in, but since it isn't finished the kids have no physical boundaries so things get EVERYWHERE. Their toys are all over the place. Things that I had stored under the stairs have been gotten into. It takes SOOO much time to get it all organized again and it stays that way for all of 3 days. I get so angry and frustrated that I just don't have the desire to do it again. I KNOW it NEEDS to be done, I just can't find the desire because I'm sick of taking so much time doing something just to have it undone in such a small amount of time.

Now, I don't know why I'm sharing this. I guess just because I need to get it off my chest and out of my CHAOTIC brain. I guess I also feel guilty. Guilty that I never offer my home for any girl's nights or anything. It's that and because I don't think anyone would show up...But that's another story.

So anyway, any of you who are reading and wondering why I never offer my home for anything - now you know why.

What Happens Next...