School's Out!!!

The last couple weeks of school were almost more than I could handle. And I only have 2 in school!!!   I felt like I had something going on almost every single day, from performances to picnics to fieldtrips, that by the time it was over, I was breathing a huge sigh of relief.

Here are the kids getting on the bus for the last time this school year, and although we have a crazy June ahead of us, I am so glad to have them home for a break from school!

These are pictures from Dallin's class picnic.  His teacher did a great job with this--she had a friend of hers (a former Olympic Gymnast) come to the park and juggle and do some amazing tricks for the kids.  Then he taught anyone who wanted to learn how to juggle.  She also had pinatas for her class--one for the girls and one for the boys.

The girls lucked out--theirs wasn't hanging over the sand.

Dallin & his teacher, Mrs. Grindstaff

It was funny when Arthur met her, he commented to me afterward that with a name like Mrs. Grindstaff he was expecting someone who looked more elderly with orthopedic shoes and big glasses.  But Dallin made sure I knew (several times through-out the year) that his teacher, Mrs. Grindstaff, is younger than me, but that I am still shorter than her.  Thanks, for that Dallin.

A Bad Attitude and a Blessing

So, I totally got suckered into going on Daphne's last field trip of the year.  It was a trip for the whole first grade to the Aquarium and Botanical Gardens, and the information that came home said no siblings allowed.  I told Daphne that I was sure it would be fun, but I wasn't going on this one.

I was surprised when I got an email from her teacher asking if I was "still planning on going to the field trip."  I told her no because I already owe all my friends for watching the boys for all of my Doctor appointments, and so wouldn't be getting someone to watch Daphne's siblings.  She wrote back and told me that since it was the end of the year field-trip they were making exceptions and parents could meet the class there at the Gardens and siblings could come along, AND that Daphne was really looking forward to me being there.

Hmm.  Walking around the gardens for hours, eight months pregnant, trying to keep track of my boys in a crowd of first graders.  Not gonna lie--it's not my idea of fun.  But I caved and said I'd be there.

I really drug my feet getting out of bed that morning.  I was just dreading it.  Even if I did survive, I'd get home with an hour to get everybody settled and catch my breath before the first of five piano students arrived.  sigh . . . no rest for the weary.  (you should hear violins playing somewhere in your head.)  Arthur gave me a pep talk about how if I decided to have a bad time, I would, so I should just go and try to make the best of it.

So after the older ones were on the bus to school, I packed a surprisingly yummy lunch (despite the fact that we were kind of short on groceries,) and loaded up the car and we even got to the Aquarium on time.  Daphne was really excited to have us there, and for awhile everything was good-albeit somewhat stressful trying to keep track of Sean.  He's not much smaller than most of the those 1st graders, so he sort of blended in.

When we got to the butterfly pavillion, I opted to wait outside with the boys because pushing a stroller around in there is so cumbersome.  But before I knew it, I saw Sean inside the pavillion.  Don't know how he found the door since it isn't entirely obvious, but he did.  So I parked the stroller outside, pulled out Hayden and my bag, and went in to enjoy the butterflies after all.

We were having a great time finding lots of butterflies, and Sean was having a great time hanging out with Daphne.  Then there came a time when I noticed Sean wasn't with Daphne anymore and I realized that I hadn't gotten a visual on Sean for awhile.  I walked around the pavilion checking all the kids with blue shirts, and none of them was Sean.  I asked another mom, my friend Amber, if she saw him anywhere, and she didn't see him either.

So I grabbed Hayden, and we booked it out of the pavilion, and started searching.  I backtracked because I figured he'd be by the miniature train tracks trying to spot the trains (that weren't running that particular day.)  I ran, pushing the stroller, looking all over the path, and calling his name.  He was nowhere to be seen.

(The miniature train tracks that were so captivating just a short while before)

I was feeling so flustered, and a lot of negative thoughts came crushing through my mind like, "I just knew something like this was gonna happen."  And "What a sight am I with two little boys that I can hardly manage and 8 months pregnant with the next one."  And "Wouldn't you know it, the time I have to lose one is when I'm on a field trip with tons of other parents from school, who are all thinking, why in the world is that woman having another one!?!"  But amidst all of that, I thought to pray for Heavenly Father to help me know where to look.  And the first thought that came to my head was to head back to the front gate and report a missing child.

The lady at the front was very helpful.  She came right out of her booth and walked me into an office where we called security and recruited a couple more people to help spread out and look for him.  I told them he was four years old and was wearing a blue shirt, brown shoes and had short dark hair.

Well,  right as we all re-entered the gardens, I saw him walking down a path we hadn't been on, holding hands with one of the gardeners.  I was so relieved to see him and thanked the gardner over and over.  She said he was clear in the back all alone by the real train tracks used by the train that takes people from the Zoo to the Gardens.  She said, "I thought he must have wandered away, and I'd better bring him up front because I'm sure someone was looking for him."  I'm so glad she was the one who found him and not someone scary.  What a blessing!

While we were eating lunch on the big grassy area in the middle of the park, we saw this mother duck and her 12 little ones making their way to the duck pond.  It may have even been more than twelve--I couldn't even fit them all in one shot--  Unlike one of my sons, these little guys were staying VERY close to their mother-- They also had an escort of three gardeners helping clear their way to the pond, making sure that no little kids separated the group or stepped on those little ducklings.

It might have been my favorite part of the field trip.  (Besides finding Sean, of course!) And I think I might have been a little envious of that mother duck.  All of her children following close behind her PLUS an escort to get her safely to her destination.  Of course, I pointed out to Sean how those little ducks were staying close to their mom so they were safe.  

Well, the rest of the field trip passed uneventfully, (thank goodness!) Sean did much better staying by me, and even though I felt pretty unsettled for the rest of the day, I even survived my piano lessons in the afternoon.  I am so thankful that Heavenly Father answers prayers, and that directed me on where I should go to find my son, and brought us all home safely.

Space Jam

Daphne's Space Jam Performance:

I'd originally planned to take the boys to watch her performance, but that morning I was thinking that if I actually wanted to see any of it, I should not take them. So my friend Amber kept them for me so I could go see the performance. (Thanks, Amber!)

I ended up sitting next to some friends who brought their son (same age as Sean) who sat there good as gold on his dad's lap through the entire 50 minute performance. And I thought: I am SOOO GLAD I didn't try to bring my guys. It would have been really embarrassing.

So Daphne's 1st grade class teamed up with a neighboring 2nd grade class, and learned 15 songs in preparation for their presentation of Space Jam! I couldn't believe how much music those kids learned! She was so excited to perform it and came home singing the songs every day. Here is the song that she had a special part in. (She is Mercury, #1)

My favorite thing about this recording is that if you listen closely, you can hear Daphne totally nailing those high notes. When the melody gets really high, most of the kids stay down in a comfortable range and say the words kind-of monotone. But Daphne sails right up there and gets those high notes. Go Daphne! (just FYI: this song is 4 minutes long. But Daphne's part is right at the beginning, so if you get bored, you can turn it off. Or if you want to learn about the planets, this is a good way to get a 4 minute overview of our Solar system. :)

Primary Temple Activity

In May, our ward primary had a temple activity where we went to our Albuquerque Temple for a tour of the temple grounds. Since Arthur was working on repairing something, I had all the kids with me. I had been hoping Hayden could have stayed home with Dad, so I could really focus on helping Sean focus and be attentive.

Instead I spent a lot of the tour just trying to keep Sean and Hayden to stay with the group. One would wander off, and the other would follow, so I felt like I just kept chasing them and hauling them back to the group, trying to get them interested in ANYTHING nearby. (Look Sean, can you find a star on the temple? Hayden see these flowers? They are yellow!)

Sometimes I wonder how much of my effort is worth it . . . maybe I should have just dropped Dallin & Daphne off to take the tour and kept Sean and Hayden home. It certainly would have been a more reverent atmosphere for the poor primary kids who went on the tour in the same group as us. Anyway, Dallin & Daphne learned some cool stuff, and if nothing else, now whenever we drive past the temple, Hayden says, "Mom! The TEMPLE!"

Much to the children's disappointment, the fountain was off that day, I'm guessing due to the wind, but something cool that I learned is that every temple has a water feature. The fountains at the temples are symbolic of Christ, who is the Living Water.

I love the temple, and the peaceful feelings I have there that make me feel a bit closer to Heaven . . . even when I'm chasing around a couple of crazy little guys.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

Who has the most fingerprints of them all?

Dallin, Daphne and I cleaned the bathrooms on Saturday.  My bathroom had been especially neglected--the amount of time since its previous cleaning shall hereby remain undocumented because it would probably turn your stomach.  Anyway, at the end of the day, I was so happy that all the bathrooms smelled good and  were sparkling clean.  I kept peeking in the bathrooms to admire my handiwork.

But by Sunday morning Hayden couldn't resist any longer:

(one of his siblings took this incriminating photo)

Here's the thing:  If the mirror has finger prints on it already, there is no temptation to wipe dirty fingers on it.  But when a mirror is clean, apparently, it's just begging to be smeared.  

I've been thinking about this phenomenon and have come to this conclusion:  It's like a skier who is going down the mountain and off to one side, sees a beautiful patch of fresh powder without any tracks in it.  You just almost can't help yourself from going over to that patch of untouched snow and making the first tracks.  I think it's like that when a kid sees a  freshly cleaned mirror.  He just has to be the one to make the first tracks on the mirror.  Once the tracks are there, the temptation isn't nearly so irresistible.

When I saw my messed up mirror Sunday morning, at first I wanted to sell Hayden to the gypsies.  But then I thought that would be a heinous thing to do, especially on a Sunday, so instead I resigned myself to the fact that for now, I'll just have to be content with mirrors that stay clean for very short amounts of time.

Happy Birthday Mom!

My mother, Loween

My mom was the 3rd of 14 kids.  

She's right there in the middle of the first five.

I love this picture with all of those stair-stepper girls and their cute Easter Bonnets.  

(I think they are Easter bonnets.)

Me and my mom.  I was about 5 in this picture.

Mom and her six girls . . .

And her three boys.

Love you Mom!

Hope you have a great Birthday!

Tweezer Adventures

I have had two tweezer adventures this week, and have come to the conclusion that if there is one tool that is essential for all mothers to have, I think I'd have to say tweezers:

Adventure 1: 

Sean and his friend Ray were upstairs in the playroom, when Ray came downstairs crying.  At first I thought maybe the boys were fighting, but he had his finger up his nose and told me there was something stuck there.  I felt his nose, but didn't feel anything, and had him try blowing, but as Ray said, "Only boogers" came.  So I got a flashlight, and took a look, and sure enough something was up there.

As we were heading upstairs to retrieve the tweezers, Ray tells me, "Sean-o has something in his nose too."  

"Sean!" I called. "Do you have something in your nose too?"

He replied, "Yeah, but I'm not scared like Ray."

??  um, still good to tell your mom if there is a foreign object stuck in your nose.

So I brought those boys into my bathroom and had them lay on my lap.  Sean went first (since he wasn't scared, and I thought it might help Ray out to watch Sean undergo the procedure.)  With Arthur's special headband flashlight, (I don't know the official term) and my tweezers in hand, I was ready to go.  A few minutes later, the extractions were complete, and this is what came out of those boys' noses:

They are these random little lego pieces.  They were up there pretty good, too. 

 Adventure 2:

While I was teaching a piano lesson this week, Hayden (who is no longer napping, much to my sorrow) suddenly began crying and came limping into the living room.  I could see he'd gotten something stuck in his foot, but I couldn't really tell what.  Again, I went for the tweezers, but he was in a lot more pain than the other boys were and wouldn't let me get it out.

I decided to just hold him until my lessons were done, since we were almost done with the last lesson.  After my students left, I went to investigate.  I found a box of toothpicks had been emptied onto the floor, and concluded that he had stepped on one and that's what was in his foot.  It had broken off very close to the skin, so much so that it was impossible to grab even with my trusty tweezers.

I tried soaking his foot in salt water,  hoping it might draw out the toothpick enough for me to get a hold of it.  He hated the salt water, so that didn't last very long.  Then I tried again, multiple times, to hold him still enough to get the toothpick out, but he was just thrashing around and kept saying, "Don't get it out! Don't get it out!"

Finally, I thought to call my neighbors and see if somebody could come hold Hayden for me while I tried to get it out of his foot.  Simone, answered the phone. She is a darling and very tiny cheerleader, so I asked, "Is there anybody home who is strong enough to hold Hayden still for me while I get a toothpick out of his foot?"  She said, "Oh yeah, Olivia is here!  She'll be right over."  Olivia is a couple of years older than Simone, plays basketball and softball and yes, she is a strong girl.  Thank heaven!

When Olivia got  here, she held Hayden for me like a straight jacket, but he was still kicking his foot around and screaming, so for several very long minutes, I just kept trying to get a hold on that toothpick.  I'd just about given up when Olivia suggested trying to numb his foot with ice and the try again.  So we numbed it for a little bit, and then went back to the couch to try one last time.

This time, I finally was able to get a little bit of a grip on the toothpick stub.  I think it took me something like 2 eternal minutes (the minutes seem REALLY LONG when your little boy is thrashing and screaming his head off) to keep grabbing and grabbing and pulling it out little by little, until finally we got it out!  And it was at least 1/4 inch long jammed straight up into his foot.  No wonder, that little guy was crying.  I felt so bad for him, but once in was out, he felt soooo much better.  

Here is Hayden a day after his injury, and you can see the little red hole where the toothpick resided for almost an hour of his life.  He keeps telling me that his "owie is all better!"

I feel so thankful for Olivia, bless her heart, and for the good ole' tweezers!

Little Red Caboose

Mom told me it's about time I got some new pictures up on the blog.  We've been busy with lots of stuff, but I haven't been taking very many pictures lately.  However, here are a few from our Family Night this past week.

This year, Arthur is playing softball with a team called "The Saints."  When the games are early enough, we take everyone down to watch.  This Monday night his game was at 6:30 so we brought the crew down to cheer for their Dad.  Unfortunately, the younger kids don't really get it, and were more interested in the "Little Red Caboose" that is sitting there at the fields.  Maybe as the season gets on, they'll get better at cheering.

Daddy and Hayden playing catch after the game.

The amazing "Little Red Caboose."

Shepherds and Superheroes

1. Shepherds

This last Monday for family night, Dallin was in charge of the lesson.  He used the Friend Magazine to choose his lesson topic, which was about how Jesus is like a Shepherd, and we are like the sheep.  And how Jesus looks for the lost sheep (us) and wants them to be with him so they can be safe and happy.  We also talked about what it meant to "feed his sheep," and how if we love Jesus then we will help him find and feed his sheep.

Then for the activity we played hide 'n' seek.  (Although not intentional, it tied in very nicely with the lesson topic.)  I thought I was being pretty clever to hide next to the black entertainment center, since I was wearing a black shirt that day.  I figured it was like camouflage.  But as Dallin came into the family room he looked around the corner at me completely unsurprised and said, "What-up Mom.  I knew where you were because of your black bump."  Guess I'm really starting to stick out.

2. Super Hero

Today I took Sean in to get the last shot he needs before school, and as is our tradition, if the immunized person is brave, we get ice cream at McDonald's.  And since Sean didn't even whimper, he talked me into letting them play on the McDonald's playground.  I don't like those playgrounds because they are all those tunnels you crawl through and it's impossible to get your kid out if they choose not to come down.

Well, Hayden crawled in before I'd even paid for the ice cream, so when I got in there, I heard him crying desperately because he'd gotten stuck somewhere, and didn't know how to get down.  So Sean was a very good brother, and went to find him and help him come down.  I loved seeing how patient Sean was with Hayden as he led him out of the play structure.  Hayden's cheeks were tear-streaked when he finally emerged from the slide, but his smile just lit up his face when he realized he'd made it out!  I told Sean what a good brother he was to rescue Hayden from being stuck.  And Sean said, "I was like a super hero, Mom, because that's what superheroes do--they rescue people!"

And so we see that Shepherds and Super Heroes have a lot in common.  They rescue people (and sheep) who are lost or stuck or scared or who've wandered somewhere on their own and wish they hadn't.  (Sean was MY super hero today too, because if I'd have gone in after Hayden, there's no saying if I could actually fit back out.)

3.  Lastly, on an unrelated topic, Sean made me smile the other day when he YELLED to Hayden, "HAYDEN, IF YOU DON'T STOP YELLING, THE SPIRIT WILL GO AWAY FROM OUR HOUSE!!!"  Although he was kind of missing the point, I'm glad that he remembers some of the little "life lessons" we talk about throughout our days.  I guess sometimes they really are listening even when it seems like they aren't.

3 a.m.

It snowed yesterday.  It was the last day of April, and it snowed!  So naturally, I worried about my garden--last year we didn't get fruit on any of our trees because there was a freeze while the blossoms were on.  So this year, I was watching carefully and was so happy to hear the bees busily at work on all our fruit trees.  And I've been checking to see the blossoms turn into tiny little peaches, cherries, apples and pears!  There are so many we will definitely have to thin them out.  So if this weather destroys my fruit again, I'm going to be SO SAD!!!  In addition to the fruit, we've already planted tomatoes, peppers, basil, and berries.  So far everything has seemed okay, except the peppers--I think they prefer much hotter weather than we've been having.  So I figured for good measure, I would cover the plants with grocery bags so they wouldn't freeze.

Well, last night I woke up to hear the heater come on--it hasn't come on for a  month or more, so it smelled kind of funny.  Well, as I lay there in my nice comfy bed, it dawned on me that if the heater was coming on, it was probably pretty cold outside.  And I'd totally forgotten to cover the plants!  So I lay there for probably a half an hour, debating whether or not I should go out and cover them.  I knew I'd be kicking myself if I didn't do it and they died.  So I lay there a little longer counting in my head how many grocery bags I'd need, and rationalizing that if the heater didn't come back on, I'd just not worry about it.  But the heater did come back on, so I left my warm bed, put on my robe, and a jacket, and went outside to cover my precious plants at 3 a.m.

Of course, after you go for a 3 a.m. stroll outside, you don't fall right back to sleep.  I had a million things going through my head--stake choir, children's music theater, (what if we can't find a performance venue?) I hope Sean does alright at the preschool I signed him up for next year . . .  I hear someone wander into my room around 4 and get a drink of water from my bathtub faucet  (I guess it's easier to reach than the sink faucet?)--I carried Hayden back to his bed to tuck him in, more thinking . . .  laundry to fold, rooms to clean, YW lessons to prepare, find a new eye doctor for me and Dallin, piano recital next week, all interspersed with, "just relax--you can't do anything about it now. . ." It would be nice if I could physically switch my mind off.

I don't know when I finally fell asleep, but I do know it was very hard to wake up this morning.  With all that thinking, I guess I feel somewhat justified to still be in my pajamas at 11 a.m.  Better get a move-on, though.  Clearly, I have plenty to keep me busy.