Ah, The Simple Joys

For weeks this was the activity of choice at our house, cup stacking.

Now why do I spend money on toys? $2 for 200 cups...what can beat that?

Amelia's Perfect Spot

Every child likes to have their own special place...somewhere to hang out and do "their thing".

Amelia is no exception to this. We have a little table that is perfect for her to hang out under. It is just big enough for her and a few toys. The kids often don't even know she is there, unless she makes noise to alert them.

She won't fit for long, but until then this is Amelia's perfect spot.

Run Gabriel, RUN!

These photos were from an earlier track meet in March. It was not a beautiful spring day here. It was soooo very cold.
There were 11 schools participating and the meet was an hour away. We didn't get home until midnight. (And then the older kids wanted hot chocolate to warm up.)

Thankfully some friends from church lived 5 minutes from the track. When a cold front moved through and the temps plummeted they offered to take Simon and Oliver to their house until the meet was over. My friend also lent me a huge, warm coat that Katrina, Abagail and Amelia wrapped up in for the rest of the meet.

I felt most sorry for the runners...running in their shorts and t-shirts. Although Gabriel said that when he was actually running he was pretty warm.

District Track Meet

We attended Gabriel's final track meet in early April. It was a gorgeous day.

Gabriel ran the 200 meter dash, the 800 meter dash (placing 5th), and the mile run (placing 3rd). He has done a great job this year and looks forward to running again next year.

Note: I personally do NOT consider running 800 meters a "dash". Of course I don't "dash" much at all, unless some child is falling down the stairs or running into the street...

Hunting the Eggs

Each Easter the kids come home from church and sit at the top of the stairs to await the Easter egg hunt.

When Gabriel was 2 and Katrina was a baby I filmed the hunt. Now it is "required" that I film the event each year. The kids like to see how they have grown each year through watching these little home movies. Of course I cannot watch them. The combination of kids running around and the camera trying to catch them gives me motion sickness...

Some of the kids suggested that next year we come home from church, eat a healthy lunch, and then do the egg hunt. They realized (FINALLY) that candy on an empty stomach doesn't feel all that great. - Hmmm, maybe mom and dad do know a thing or two. They also commented on how little candy they got this year. We found toothbrushes, fruit snacks, crackers and a little candy.

Worked for me.

Musical Musing

We are having our nightly devotional. It is Simon's turn to pick the song. He chooses "Joy to the World", goes over to the piano and plays for us as we sing.

It was so cool.

All the older kids like to pick songs they can play on the piano. I would so much rather hear them argue over whose turn it is to play the piano then whose turn it is to play on the computer!!! Music to a mother's ears.

Maybe someday we will be able to do piano lessons...unfortunately, the teacher has to be paid. Until then I'll enjoy listening to the children plink away.

Two Words...

Into EVERYTHING!

If someone wanted me to describe Ameila in two words those are the two I would choose today. She has reached the stage where she unloads the laundry baskets, clears out kitchen cabinets, takes all the books off the lower bookshelves, opens the DVD cabinet and empties it out, tries to check out the trash can (no luck yet - thank goodness!). She crawls around the house leaving a path of destruction in her wake.

Now, I have encountered this stage before - 5 times. I knew it was coming...that doesn't mean I'll enjoy it.

She has also become much more vocal. At least I know where she is in her path of destruction...it is accompanied by loud "Ah, Ah, Ah, Ah, Ah, Ah, Ah..." She especially enjoys standing at the gate at the top of the stairwell and listening to her "Ah" echo loudly back to her.

Two other words to describe Amelia: absolutely adorable! She is standing at my leg, smiling up to me (tongue out of course). I do love my little girl.

Hang Time

On any given day - at any given time - I always know where to look for Simon.

He is always outside "swinging" on our swing set (note: the swings are not on...)

He has callouses on top of callouses - better than when he would come in each day with bleeding hands and cry because they hurt - then right back out the next day...

Amelia's New Room

Sweet Amelia has been sleeping in a corner of my room since birth. She has done very well - as long as she can't see anyone. As she got older I put a red blanket over the rails so she wouldn't know if anyone was in the room. This helped her sleep happily through the night.

A couple of months ago Amelia began to get wise. She discovered that she could move this "red thing" and see people on the other side. She began to wake up at night and peek out at me. Once she was starting to pull herself up she would pull the whole blanket down. At night she would wake up, remove the blanket and cry at me until I woke up and picked her up. This began to happen multiple times a night. Even when the room was completely dark - she still knew that I was only a few feet away. (See unhappy baby photo below.)



Now, I knew my baby. I knew that if she couldn't see me she would go back to sleep, happily, all by herself. It was time she got her own room. The problem was that with six kids in the house, there were no empty rooms to be had.

It became so bad we couldn't even sleep in our room anymore. I was tense thinking that every time one of us coughed or made ANY noise she would wake up. Our room had become totally off-limits during Amelia's naps and bedtime. After about a week of Allen sleeping on the downstairs couch and me sleeping on the upstairs couch I knew something had to change - quick.

Then inspiration struck. Allen and I have a rather large walk-in closet. If we were to rearrange it (and seriously clean out the junk) there would be enough room for a crib against one wall.

I went to work the next day. Now Amelia has her own "room". Amelia is happy, Allen is happy, and I am happy - and we are all sleeping through the night again. (See happy baby photo below.)

Conference Weekend with Cousins

Two times a year my church has a General Conference weekend where meetings are broadcast via satellite or internet.

This particular Conference weekend Allen's brother was moving so all the big boys went to help out. The young cousins came over to watch conference together and play in between sessions.

I thought it was so great that the four girls, Katrina, Abagail, Karoleena, and Manissa, were so intent about working on their Conference packets - church themed coloring pages and activities that related to Conference. The four boys, Simon, Oliver, Tomas, and Ryan, were more interested in playing together. That was ok though; they worked really hard to keep it quiet so we could hear.

In between sessions the kids got out all kinds of things to do...castle, Lego's, dinosaurs, trains, games, puzzles, marbles, balls...you name it - it was out. They also played outside and spent time in one of our larger trees.

It was a fun way for the kids to spend a Saturday.

Prepping for Idaho

Prepping to go to Idaho...

Let's see...
ticket - check
transportation arrangements made - check
kids arrangements made (babysitting) - check
back-up kids arrangements made - check

packed - no
laundry even done - no
figured out what I want to bring, so I can wash it, so I can pack - no
schedule for dad - no
prep all stuff for kids school activities so dad doesn't have to worry about it - no
even looked at calendar to see what kids activities/school schedule is - no
house clean - no (was on Saturday, not so much today)
quick food in kitchen so dad doesn't get pizza or McD's each night - no

feel like doing any of the above - not really, a bit of a brain fog today.

LOVE going to visit...don't look forward to prepping for a visit.
Can't wait to leave though!!!!

April Fools!

April Fool's is much anticipated around my house. When the children were young I told them stories of pranks my family would play on each other...like the time we created a web of string over my little sister and brother while they slept, or replacing salt with sugar, or writing "April Fool's" on all the bathroom mirrors in my mother's nice lipstick, or setting clocks to a different time...

We have started a rich tradition in our family of pranks as well. The kids are old enough to get in on the act too, which makes it really fun. All day long I hear random comments followed by shouts of "April Fool's!" and peals of laughter.



This year I procrastinated (forgot) to come up with a prank until April 1. A quick search at Family Fun brought some ideas - this is one of my favorite sources for kid-friendly pranks. Oliver and I went shopping for dinner.

I dished up the kids plates with the following:
fish sticks (sugar creme wafers covered in peanut butter and coated with corn flakes)
mashed potatoes and gravy (ice cream with carmel sauce)
mixed veggies (starburst candy cut in shapes)

The kids were delighted with the concept of eating dessert first! The catch was that they had to eat the real equivalent of their faux dinner. I have not seen the kids eat veggies so readily in a long time. The prank received 4 thumbs up...Abagail gave it a thumbs down that was immediately followed by, "April Fool's!" Simon even licked his plate clean.


Not to be outdone...Abagail and Katrina painted (smeared) football stripes on their faces to surprise me. They were originally going to try to pass them off as bruises but realized I might not buy that...

Gabriel also dabbled in tricks. He tried to hide rubber spiders in his sisters beds - but got caught. Then he attempted to set my clock off an hour - caught. Finally he did set my clock, but it was back an hour. I was surprised to glance at the time before falling asleep and seeing that it was an hour earlier. Glad I caught it though or we would have been late, late, late this morning...