What happens when I sleep July 2015

As a parent you can never second guess what will occur in a day or night for this matter.
When I woke up in the morning I found all my boys snuggled up together and I thought to myself, "Oh how cute".
Then I headed to the bathroom and found this note.
This is one of those times where I didn't really want to know what the story was.  I was just going to get a feel for the situation when everyone was awake.
I never did find out the reason for the note. Once everyone was awake they were all acting like nothing happened.  Life with children is never boring.

swing into the sunset Aug 2014

As summer come closer to its end the kids tend to get restless.  This particular day the boys were being extra buggy and I knew if I didn't get them out someone was going to explode.  I had them walk down to the school to teach them some ultimate frisbee with my new cheater frisbee. Lets just say they were terrible.  They argued over who was on whose team, they didn't understand how to play and they got mad when their teammate missed their mark.  So we bagged the firisbee idea and just played on the playground.  I was surprised that they didn't know how to hand upside down on the web or the monkey bars.  I guess that's a girl thing.  So I taught them the fine art of being upside down. and we finished off the day swinging into the sunset.  Its days like this that I need to remember to stop what I am doing and just go play with my kids.  Don't let the electronics take up their play time because its easy.  When they do that they don't learn how to be kids, how to play like a kid.  I will try harder to make more time for just play.  Old school play.

Conference

General Conference for our church can often be a struggle with the kids. As a mother I want them to sit and listen to soak up any knowledge/inspiration they can get.  As a person I just want them to not distract me so I can listen and gain knowledge/inspiration.  I have tried all the packets and pre-conference crafts and really they just end up being a lot of work for me.  They may work for some people, but for us less is more. So I start with the good old conference BINGO that I get as a print off at sugardoodle.net  Then I put my little bowl of pennies up by the TV and let the kids in on the word of the day.  (they get a penny each time they hear the word) This trick actually works the best for us.  It turns into a competition for the older ones causing them to listen more carefully. I know one of these days I am going to have to raise the price per word but for now a penny is working.

On Sunday we whipped out these haunted gingerbread houses.  I love them.  They come as a kit all ready assembled at Walmart and the kids just decorate them.  It is so worth the $8 a house for me to get an hour of undisturbed conference wisdom.  Thankfully it comes out in the Ensign because lets face it, if your a mom you don't get to hear everything.

Ewwww

During one of our hikes at Moab I pointed out all the cow chips.  I told the children that in pioneer times they used these to help start their fires.  It was usually the children's job to gather them from the fields.  My kids thought that was so cool and started to act like good little pioneer children and gather the cow chips to use in our fire.  As they proudly held one up for me to see I let them know that a "chip" is really poop.  They dropped that chip as if it were a hot coal squealing Ewww!  "Mom you let us touch that?"  They wanted to immediately wash their hands or at least use some hand sanitizer.  I got such a kick out of their reaction.

Quidditch

My kids tend to go in phases of what peaks their interest. Once they get onto something they practically obsess over it.  Their latest obsession is Harry Potter.  This one tends to come back around every so often. At least this time they have everything they need because of the last time Harry Potter was the all time favorite subject.  They have been playing lots of wizard chess, and with their new skates they started playing Quidditch.  Basically they skate around the driveway with brooms trying imagine balls flying at them while they track down the snitch (one of those water splash balls).

They came in to ask if I could be the referee.  I went out their only to find out that they really wanted me to throw balls at them and try to knock them off their brooms.  As a person around a lot of children sometimes, Sometimes, when they are extra difficult you think of this stuff, but you never act upon it.  I looked around for the hidden camera to see if I was being punked.  I couldn't see any incriminating devices so I went for it.  I gathered all the soft and squishy balls I could find and started chucking them at the kids.  It was a lot like dodge ball on brooms.

fire

The kids really wanted to build a fire in the backyard today.  They cleaned out the fire pit and stacked a bunch of sticks in it then came to ask us if we could build a fire.  I looked at Scott and said "that's your territory."  Now I know how to build a fire.  I have built thousands of fires.  Growing up we had a real wood burning fireplace that was our main source of heat for the winter.  Whoever was the first person awake had the responsibility of making the fire.  Same goes to the first person who came home on a cold day, needless to say my fire making skills are excellent!  However when it comes to our kids I feel like Scott should be the one to supervise and teach all fire making skills.

He went out there a little begrudgingly at first, then thought what a great learning opportunity, plus a great way to clean up all those branches that fall off our willow tree.  I came out after everything was started and moving along.  Peter would pick up a tiny stick and ask if he could throw it in the fire.  "Yes Peter, that's okay to put in."  He would pick up another tiny stick and ask the same question.  This went on over and over again.  I thought about getting annoyed and then realized it was a good thing he was asking about everything he wanted to put in the fire, it would keep him safe.

After all the lawn was cleaned up of debris we asked the kids about ways they can put out a fire.  Water of course was the first answer, then there was a pause, a long pause.  So we gave them some suggestions.  The one they thought was the funniest was what my brothers call the "boy scout fire extinguisher."  Pee on it.  Of course as soon as I said the word pee they all lost it.  What is it with boys and potty words?  After they calmed down a little I ask matter-of-factly "Well do you want to try it out?  William pee on the fire."  Enough said, it was like I told them they just won the lottery.  Brennen didn't even hesitate.  He was not going to take any chances of me backing out.  I asked our newest potty trainer if he wanted to pee on the fire.  A resounding YES followed by a fit of giggles came from the little rascal.  When I helped him with his pants he was laughing SO hard he almost couldn't breathe.  Who knew peeing on a fire was so funny?

imagination

I love the wonder of imagination.  How it can turn every ordinary into an amazing adventure.  Since we have had such a wonderful non-winter Winter my kids have been spending a lot of time outdoors playing like real kids.  (I always say play like a real kid, meaning like when I was little and played games outside, play like the time before electronics started to take over.)  In doing so their imaginations have come alive and I love it.  However I guess I forgot how real a child's imagination can be, for instance.  William, Brennen, and the neighbor boys were riding their wheels on the driveway.  They started playing a variation of demolition derby when William told Brennen he didn't have enough  "money" to buy rocket boosters for his scooter.  Brennen was devastated,  he came crying to me and I told him to just tell William he had enough "money"  Apparently that didn't go well.  He came back crying again.  After three times of Brennen coming to me crying and the frustration growing I reached into my "wallet"  and handed him enough "money" to buy the rocket boosters.  He held out his hand and gladly accepted the "money" so William could not refute him.
Just yesterday ALL the boys were playing on the trampoline in a robot wrestling match. (They were the robots) They said there was a ring of fire around the trampoline.  This time it was Peter that came crying to me, he couldn't get on the tramp because of the "fire".  He was terrified.  I got everyones attention and told them to turn off the fire so Peter could get on.  Which they did until the next match, then here came Peter again afraid of the "fire"  We walked hand in hand over to the tramp when he pulled me back because the "fire" was hot and he didn't want me to get burned.
Now, that Peter has his rocket boosters he "flies" all around the house and yard.  The look on his face shows me how real it all is to him.
I find myself marveling about the wonderful world of a child's imagination.  I worry that the more electronics they are exposed to, the more they will loose that gift of imagination.  I realize now it is my job to help nurture that gift and provide opportunities for them to use it.

Pre school

I am in a joy school group where I teach preschool a few times a year at my house.  My time had come up again with the letter Q.  Could I get a more difficult letter to teach 3-4year olds?  I guess its easy to draw but I had a hard tome coming up with things that 8 four year old boys would like.   What's up with all the boys?   I teach the 6 year old class in primary ALL BOYS, eight of them.  We have 8 boys in preschool and 3 plus the neighbor kids on a daily basis ALL BOYS.  I guess if it was girls I would probably go postal.  Back to preschool.
 I started the day dressed as a queen, complete with cape and gold crown.  They all looked at me VERY strange.  Once I had their attention I asked them, what am I?  I got lots of shouts of "a princess"  kind of I said.  What is a princesses mom called?  . . . lots of blank and confused stares, finally one kid pipes up "mom?"  I had to laugh.  Of course, because all moms are called moms.  Once I straightened them out and informed them that I was a QUEEN I got the "oh" look and then was totally ignored.  I had the wrong target audience.  If they had been girls it would have been a totally different story.
My trouble was finding boy words that started with Q.  We started to make a quilt with not very much enthusiasm so I went to my good stuff, animals.   All kids like animals so we talked about what a duck says then we all followed like good little ducks quacking through the whole house.
My second day of preschool for that week I was totally stumped.  (We teach the same letter for 2 days)  So I tried to appeal to boys by using a Quarterback scenario, they hated it.  I tried pin the tail on the Q.  It was received a little better but they did NOT want to be blindfolded. (insert sigh)  Finally lightning struck.  I found a bunch of quarters and we played toss the quarter into the hat.  If you made it you got to keep your quarter.  Winner Winner.  turns out all kids love money especially shiny money.  We probably played 10 rounds of that game. (although the kids only got to keep one quarter.)
Pre-school is one of those things. .. I think I like it, I am good at it, but I don't think I could do it for very long.  I do love to watch kids learn,  I like to be creative and think up different things but I am usually done with kids at the witching hour (for me its more like the hours between 6 and 10pm)

sugar cookies

What to do with a bunch of kids on Christmas break with no snow to play in? Make sugar cookies of course. I find it best just to give the kids their own blob of dough and let them roll and cut it out themselves. They don’t always turn out the prettiest but the kids are proud of them and the cookies are going to be eaten anyway. They really had a great time deciding and creating their own shapes. Ellie our sculptor decided to make a baby Jesus in a manger. The boys stuck with the cutters we had on hand. Then it was time for frosting. Some took their time and make the cookies extra cute. Some, just slapped what ever color was closest on their cookie, and some (Peter) just shoveled the frosting in his mouth or piled it on his cookie and then licked it off over and over again. Either way the kids had a good time and I felt like I was doing my part in being a good mom and keeping the kids out of trouble.

The down side is having all those cookies in the house. More than half of the cookies were gone by the next day. Although no one fessed up as to who ate them all.  Between you and me I think it was a group effort

christmas outfits

I love this picture.  By boys and their boots

I had to get some pictures of my kids in their Christmas outfits. Dont they look cute?

leaves

I raked a huge pile of leaves in the backyard for the kids to play in before I disposed of them. (it doesn't look huge in the pictures but it started out 4ft tall x 6ft wide x 7ft long)  I started with the leaf blower but when the pile got too big I had to use the good old fashioned rake to really hoist the leaves on top of each other.  It took me about an hour but we had a great pile when I was done.  I asked the little boys if they wanted to play in the leaves. They weren't exactly sure what I was asking so I just picked them up and threw them right into the pile.  They were totally buried.  At first they were scared until I reached in and pulled them out by their feet.  After the initial shock it was tons of fun.  So much so that the neighbors climbed through to fence to join us.  After 20 minutes of playing in the leaves I remembered to get my camera and make some memories.

If they could just stay little

Brennens expression looks just like my dad in this pic

My favorite time of year is here and I am so excited.  I LOVE the fall.  I love the smells, the colors, the food, the clothes, the weather.  I just love everything about the fall. I love that I can leave my windows open all day and night to let that fresh air enter my house.  I think most improtantly I love the fact that it is not too hot or cold to play outside.  I had a couple of nephews over and all the boys just spent the whole time outside being boys.  You know shooting guns and whatnot.  I had to grab to camera and head out there to snap a few fun moments.  I can't help but let my mind wander to when these little guys grow up and go on missions and start having little boys of their own. If they could just stay little. 

 

Discovery Park

 

My sister and I went to a discovery park in PG.  Many years ago I used to live right by this park and it is still just as cool as I remember it. They have all kinds of spinners and climbing apparatuses. Every square inch is covered in some new fun way to learn about the world around us. There are cool facts about nature and animals at each station.  They have fun things like kaleidoscopes hidden in random posts, sound tubes that carry your voice to the other end of the park. Obstacle courses and much much more.  My favorite is the interactive musics things surprise surprise. There are quiet a few and they are made up of  all kinds of things you would find in a junk yard.  The best part was how much fun the kids had.  Look at the pure joy on their faces as they swung on the tire swing, They could have kept that up all day long.

balancing the Universe

 I am always wary when I have a feeling of life is good . Don't get me wrong I am grateful for these precious times, but I have been around long enough to know that when I recognize these times something around the corner will come up so I don't get too comfortable.
Yesterday is a good example of that.  I was having a good day thinking how happy I was with all my relationships.  I was getting into routines and staying on top of all things that needed to get done.  I was just all around feeling good about how things were going. I even stated that in my prayers that I was happy and grateful for how things were developing. Then Brennen chose the dark side.  We had a terrible horrible no good very bad day.  I was tempted to stick him in a box and ship him to Australia.  He started by "forgetting" to use the toilet, more than once.  Then he was just down right nasty to his little brother constantly fighting, hurting, and fighting with everyone including me.  He was defiant and showed no remorse when he was doing something I did NOT approve of.  Peter noticing my frustration turned on the charm trying to balance out the universe by constantly giving me loves and saying the sweetest "I love you mommy's" (I swear its the only thing that saved me that day)  The last straw was while I was grocery shopping Brennen terrorized his brother while simultaneously dismantling the store.  I started checking out while the boys played with the redbox machine right next to the register I was at.  As I was unloading my cart the two of them disappeared.  They were no where to be found. (guess who was the instigator.)  I searched the front of the store, paused my search to pay the cashier then ran around the store with my full cart calling their names.  I finally found them OUTSIDE in the middle of the parking lot throwing rocks at cars!! It took everything in me not to spank his butt black and blue. I was shaking with frustration.  Thank goodness daddy was home by the time I got home.  I really needed someone to take over.
On the flip side, today as I was outside doing the lawn I marveled at my barefooted Huck fin boys running amuck in the orchard and climbing trees, and feeding apples to the horses.  Just playing wonderfully in the great outdoors.  Shouts of joy and sounds of laughter echoing throughout the backyard.  I couldn't help but think how great it is that they can just play like kids should be able to play.  With plenty of space to play and run wild.  Not a care in the world. And that I could witness it like a bee on a flower.
 Maybe its just me that one day I am ready to give up and the next I am hungry for more. Or maybe its just the universe trying to balance itself out. Thankgoodness for tomorrows.