Looooooong weekend

The Monday after Valentine's Day was President's Day and for the first time in......I don't even remember, but a LONG time.......the kids got President's Day off of school.

That night a snow front was supposed to be coming through. 

I needed to go grocery shopping for the weekly menu anyway so I ventured out that Monday. WHAT A PACKED STORE!!!!! HOLY COW! Everyone was acting like we were going to be snowed in for 3 weeks. I just got my usual grocery trip worth of groceries (read: a WHOLE cart full) and went to check out. 

A lady looked at my cart and said, "Stocking up for the storm huh?"

"No, just a regular feeding-my-family shopping trip".

I left her looking rather confused.

Anyway, it started snow-raining after dark. The kids were SO excited to go out into it.......in shorts?

It was cold pretty fast and the roads were slippery enough to slide around on and the kids had a blast.

The boys actually stayed outside until 10:30pm maybe? I don't know, Brooks and I went to bed. ;) They were working on a hockey rink though with the hose and bricks and mud.

Kellyn, not wanting to be left out ventured outside as well dressed in the outfit she insisted on wearing. My personal favorite part is the one croc and the Cinderella glass slipper.

And, as expected, she didn't last very long.

Tuesday school was cancelled. No surprise there.

Here is Royce and Aleeya trying out the hockey rink that apparently wasn't as good as last year's.

(Royce outside in his swimsuit.....do you think I need to invest in snow clothing?......nah.)

You would THINK the hockey rink would've ROCKED because we had a TON of ice. I mean, that's basically what the storm WAS!

But there was still enough snow to get dad with snowballs when he got home.

From Saturday morning through all the snow days there was a LOT of sliding down the stairs in sleeping bags.

And I pretty much mean my stairs have been ridden down at least over a thousand times.

We are talking hours......

The girls got jump ropes for Valentine's Day so there was a lot of practicing of that. I pretty much have heard every lame jump rope recess song on the face of the planet now. There was ONE proud-mom moment with one of them though. Aleeya sang this, 

"Ice cream, Ice Cream with a cherry on top,

How many boyfriends do I.......have?"

CLEARLY the word "got" was supposed to go there, but we've been working on her using it correctly. haha

Royce, the kid that picks up EVERYTHING fast would keep trying to sneak away the jump ropes so he could figure out how to do it. He actually got two in a row which was better then Iris could do that first day. He puts a LOT of work into it though, here's a video (with a special surprise at the end for you) of him with the jumprope...... 

Oh, and then there was that one night when after a day of winter/wet things everywhere and the house pretty much trashed that Brooks got a call from a news station and wanted to interview a doctor (about the flu) at our house.....in a 1/2 hour. That was fun. 

After he told me it kinda went like this, "Okay troops. Here we go. Emerson- clear the table. Bronson-clean the living room. Camden-you have the tv too. Aleena-Sweep the dining room. Iris- entertain Everly in your room. Royce and Kellyn- time for bed." 

I while I mopped the floors in the rooms they would see I could hear the boys plotting outside to ambush the news crew with snowballs when they arrived. 

Thank goodness for my mom-radar-like ears.

The news crew was grateful I foiled that plan.....obviously.

Oh, and in all the days (they are running together, were there 3 days cancelled and President's Day? I can't remember. But the the day(s) they DID go to school there was a 2 hour delay. School from 10-2-ish? Not to shabby.), there was a LOT of this in front of the TV.

I can just SEE their brain cells dying in this picture.

One snow day it was time to get some energy out, so I was grateful when a friend said to meet up at Gravitopia to jump their energy out.

It made everyone so happy.

Except when Kellyn got scared on the balance beam (1 foot from the beginning).....

Aaaaaaand when you get beaned by a dodge ball.........

but besides THAT, it was just what the doctor (and this mother) ordered.

(Oh and school was cancelled Tuesday of this week too with a large storm coming in tonight, school is cancelled for Thursday and my BEST guess would be for Friday as well. If not, there will be a 2-hour delay for sure. Here we go again.....)

Valentines Day

Valentine's Day was actually the first time Bronson went to the temple (with Brooks) to do baptisms for the dead. I was so excited for him.

But probably NOT as excited as everyone was waaaaaaaiting at home for them to come home so they can find their Valentines from us.

As always, I write a quick poem with a bunch of hints in there and they have to find which one is the spot where their things are hidden.

or if they can't read like Royce and Kellyn, they get one of my masterpiece-artworks....

I guess one good thing came of the previous lice issue........it makes for great subject material to write about.....

Apparently Emerson's class has been learning about Haikus. Emerson is quirky sometimes.....that's a given, but just the day before Valentines Day he decided to write 12 Haikus. He spent a good hour+ on them. So he was the only one who didn't get a rhyming poem......of course he got a haiku.

The older 3 boys each got a safe/money box with a key (REALLY durable) to hide all their things/money/gum. The poor boys have younger siblings who scavenger and there's really no place to hide things from them in their room.

Royce found his in the bath (couldn't you tell by the picture I drew?!?!) which is appropriate because he got a few bath toys/bubble bath since he spends a LOT of his day in the bath. He jumps in the shower with Bronson in the morning, takes a fun-bath with Kellyn in the morning and usually jumps in with Camden at night. No one can say "no" to that kid.

The girls were pretty excited about their things.

ESPECIALLY the jump ropes.

Kellyn had a pile of things on her bed along with a balloon. 

She didn't really care about anything else EXCEPT the balloon. It made her the happiest little girl in the whole world.

Patience

Apparently I don't have a lot of patience.

Or at least according to my kids........

I've been reading a biography on a man named Russell M. Nelson.

Many people know him, but those who do not, he was a famous heart surgeon (the man who pioneered open heart surgeon, actually), father of 10 kids and currently an Apostle of Jesus Christ. 

Last night I was reading the part about how he and his children described their wife/mom, Dantzel. 

They kept saying things like most patient person ever, angelic, never raised her voice, never complained about dad not being there, things in order and basically never made a mistake. 

She MUST be something else because 

1) she NEVER saw her husband during his medical training. And heart surgery residency is forever long before they ever had those cap on working hours.

2) She had 9 girls and then 1 boy. AND ANYONE who deals with that amount of estrogen on a daily basis has my NEVER-ending respect. Because she went through having a 7 year old girl 9 TIMES OVER!!!!! (I can't imagine)

Well, I started thinking, I wonder what my kids would say of ME!!! Because all the stuff I read about her, I had a sneaky suspicion would never be the memories of my kids for me.

The 4 older kids were in a room and I asked them,

" Would you guys say that I am patient?"

Basically in unison all three boys said, "Oh NO NO NO!" and Aleeya said, "Yes! I think you are! I think you are patient!" (she's such a pleaser. She knew that was the answer I wanted)

"Really? You don't think I'm patient? I mean, I could reeeeeally lose it with some of the things you all do and I don't, but okay. If you don't think 'patient' describes me, what two words do you think DO describe me?"

They basically couldn't think of ANYTHING at first so I made them think of two things. After a while Bronson said, "You are nice.......and a good cook."

"Oh, okay, thanks. Camden, what two things would you say described me?"

Camden: "YES, I would DEFINITELY say you are nice, but I can't tell you why I think you are because then you would stop doing it."

"Go ahead, why do you think I'm so nice?"

Camden: "Well, sometimes you forget to make us recite our scripture before we can watch tv or play the kindle and dad NEVER forgets to make us say our scripture. And the other thing?.......um.......You are really fast. You can put your make-up on fast in the van to church, you get us out the door fast, you make our food fast, you clean up fast. You are just fast."

"Wow. All right. Emerson, are you sure you don't think I'm patient?"

Emerson: "DEFINITELY. Because you yell 'Shut up'".

"WHAT?! Emerson, I have NEVER yelled that." 

(Although I have WANTED to many many times)

Emerson: "Yes, you did. When you were popping out Camden in the hospital you yelled 'Shut Up' to dad."

"Emerson, a woman can yell whatever she wants when she is popping out a baby, and you can quote me on that. But back to the two things. So what WOULD you say to I am?"

Emerson: "Yea, okay, I guess you're nice. anddddddd.......um.........what do you call the word when you have a lot of babies?"

"Fertile."

Emerson: "Yea, you're fertile."

(This coming from the kid that asked me last month if I had a baby in my belly yet. I told him I didn't and he lost it and yelled, "WHAT?! Have you been taking that medicine to stop babies from going in your belly?" 

WHAT?!?!?!? Where in the WORLD did he hear about that?!?!?! I have NEVER talked about that stuff with him. Wonder where he heard that.)

Okay, so far according to my boys I am, 

Nice (three times over)

a good cook

fast

and fertile

(Sounds like a perfect epitaph to me, right?)

Then I asked Aleeya. She said I was "Good and patient."

I asked her if she KNEW what patient really meant and she said,

"Oh yea. It's when one of us are in the bathroom and you are waiting to go and you just wait and not yell, 'GET OUT OF THERE, I have to go NOW!' "

Yes, I AM a mom that allow my kids to eliminate without interruption. If only they got their 

"fast"-ness from me, and then I wouldn't have to wait as long for them to finish!

Early Valentine's Day

Last summer/fall a friend got a group from church together large enough to buy Wicked Tickets at the Group Discount rate. 

I've been holding onto those tickets since October WAITING for February 12th to come around. Brooks and I decided it would be our Valentines date together.

Then in December I get a text from Brooks saying something about how he needs a wedding ring. 

Brooks has gone through THREE rings and losing them all. We just never bought him a replacement for.....um......3 years? Turns out working in the rest home reminded him he needed a new one (good thing those ladies are old, or I would have to pummel them for hitting on my husband). ;)

Well, it got me thinking, if I'm going to buy him a ring it mind as well be for Valentine's Day, right? I found this cool guy online that takes coins or replicas of coins and makes rings out of them. They looked pretty awesome. PLUS, I found a ring made out of a replica of the first coin in the Continental US! I thought it was pretty neat how it had all the names of the 13 colonies on it. It looks wedding-band-ish, right? 

Plus, he LOVES Revolutionary War/history stuff. Perfect. I ordered one.

When it arrived I couldn't wait to give it to him on Valentine's, so I gave it to him last week.

Leeeeeeeeet's just say it wasn't exactly what I pictured.

First of all, it was HUGE and HEAVY. It FIT over his knuckle (his knuckle his HUGE) fine but it took up the WHOLE finger. 

I wish I had my camera on him. It was priceless. I could tell immediately he didn't like it but he TRIED to act grateful. When I saw it on his finger we both just started laughing.

WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?!?!?

Clearly, I wasn't. Like, not even a little. Of COURSE he wouldn't like it, he hates ALL things gaudy and excessive. 

I thought I was out the money and it would be one of those stories we would laugh about for a while, but he suggested I TRY to return it to get my money back. 

And it worked. With the money I got back I bought the boys, Brooks and I some Harlem Globetrotter Tickets in March. So Happy Valentine's Day to us, right?

(I'm thinking of permanent marker-ing a ring on Brooks while he's sleeping.....)

But the night for Wicked finally arrived and I was SOOOO excited to be going. The group of us all sat together (7th row....AMAZING seats) so it felt like a Girls' Night on one side of me AND a date on the other.

I told Brooks I was going to paint my face green to go to it and he said he wouldn't sit by me if I did.

#partypooper

Turns out that night was the night of Brooks' championship Churchball basketball game too.....that he missed. He said there was no way he would've missed going to Wicked with me and seeing me get so excited. (Although he didn't ALWAYS see me enjoying it since he kept needing to catch some "shut eye". He assured me he was still listening though and he remembered it from the last time we saw it in New York. Poor guy was so tired from work lately)

Can I just say I reeeeeeeally needed this date? This NIGHT AWAY!!!!  It was a HECK of a week for me ever since Aleeya got lice from a kid at school. 

Yes, I said LICE!!!!!

(thank you 1st grade)

Ugh. So so so gross. Our first encounter, and hopefully last.

I've spent all week washing EVERYTHING in hot water, steaming everything, clearing her chest of drawers to wash it all and Iris' since they share a room, combing through her head, washing her hair, rubbing prescription goop on it, washing everyone's bedding AGAIN and AGAIN every night. And I thought my laundry pile was large LAST week with the puke-bug! Oh no, that was just warm-up. 

But I can FINALLY say, they are gone and no one else got them!!!! Gosh, that is SO lucky, and I realize how awful it COULD have been.

Did I mention I needed the Wicked date?

Well, now you realize how much!

No Encore Please

Last weekend STARTED how really well.

Like EXACTLY how I wanted it to.....

For the first time in 18 months Brooks and I drove to Columbia, SC and went to the temple together. 

My friend who is a sucker SO nice watched my 8 + her 5 for the 7 hours. When we got home at 11pm my kids were all asleep in their beds. It's fun to have a friend to swap with, but she's also my friend that I sometimes go with as well and leave our husbands with the kids. haha

(and the random guy photographer clearly didn't get a good picture but Brooks REFUSES to take a selfie......like he will DIE a selfie-less life, I promise.)

The next day was a family day, with NOTHING on the calendar. No work, games, parties, nada.  It was nice to just go on some walking/hiking trails with all the kids.

Kellyn started out all smiles..... (and yes, skirts are appropriate hiking attire for her)

Until there was a TEENY incline....and because the family knows we're only as fast as Kellyn is when we go on hikes, she spent a lot of time on sibling's backs. Spoiled princess.

It really was a nice day and meant even MORE to me because I knew we were going into one of the "Bad" work weeks where we don't see Brooks much at all.

He also has to cover on Sunday during church.....which I have to mentally talk myself into my you-can-do-it attitude before braving the 3 hours by myself.

Besides the estrogen meltdown by my daughter before church it actually was a really easy day at church.

We get home and later in the afternoon people start acting all tired-like....which maybe we kept them up too late the night before.....?

Then I get a text from Brooks saying that they will actually let him come home for a few hours! YAY.

He got home JUST in time to snuggle everyone and watch the laying around unfold.

Okay, but first let me zoom in on Brooks over there, because I couldn't stop laughing....

Kellyn laid in this exact position for over 20 minutes!!!!!! I'm STILL giggling looking at this. haahaha

We ate dinner (grits/eggs/meat.....this is an important detail as you will find out later)

Right after Kellyn puked all over Brooks. She was pathetic.

She kept puking and puking. Probably 8 times that night. She would puke and then scoot over and just point to it without saying a word.

Then Emerson started. Then Iris. Both made it to the toilet. (Iris doesn't have very good aim though).

It was like Brooks came home RIGHT in time to help me clean up everyone's puke. Then Royce started puking. Brooks and I just kept going from spill to spill and I just kept saying, "Oh honey, I'm SOOOOO glad you came home today. Aren't you?" and he would laugh.

I kept thinking, WHY DID I FEED THEM GRITS AND EGGS?!?!?!

(here Brooks is getting the "chunks" out in the toilet.....something I don't "do")

At one point Iris was in our bathroom puking in around the toilet and Emerson was in the only other bathroom getting ready to puke. But Royce comes rushing in and needed the toilet that very moment (because I REALLY was tired of the floor spills)

He didn't exactly make it and puked on the floor/rug on his way to the toilet and then got flat out angry because he's puking. (He is one of those ONERY sick people).  Emerson to get out of his way jumped up on the ledge in the bathroom.

Upon seeing Roycey throw-up everywhere Emerson started letting lose but didn't have anywhere to go except hang his head over the top of the shower.

Poor kids.

And even POORER kids that they have a mom to come in a take a picture and start quietly laughing (at how ridiculous this was) as I was rubbing his back. Like we have never been hit like this before and run out of toilets to puke in!!!!

I was just so grateful Brooks was home because I really DO hate cleaning up puke. 

I had been texting my friend Laura at the time all this started so ended up taking all these pictures to give her the play-by-play. Next thing I know there's two bags of soup/crackers/coloring supplies/paper/markers/snacks on my doorstep that she left me, which definitely came in handy the next morning.

Anyway, back to Sunday night. I had been watching my kids drop like flies and the only ones left were Camden, Aleeya, Bronson, Brooks, me and Everly.

During the night didn't disappoint though..... Aleeya doesn't run too fast when she's sleepy so there was kinda a puke pathway to the bathroom for me. Meanwhile Camden is puking in a bowl downstairs and I'm starting to feel awful. I just threw a few towels over Aleeya's misses and went to my own bathroom to empty out my innerds. I was up a few times that night for myself but I tried to keep it down because Brooks had to get up and be at work by 4a.m.

The next day Brooks and Bronson got a milder form of it, but by Tuesday morning we were all back to 100%. I was marveling at the whole thing though, on how amazing our bodies are. Everyone's really bounced back quickly and I'm grateful it was over fast. It never was really too overwhelming or stressful just because they. were. sick....and kids get sick. I can't expect them to be healthy all the time or act like it's the end of the world. I'm just shocked this was the first throw-up bug we've gotten all winter!

The ultimate winner though is Everly. She never got a thing!!!!

The ultimate loser? My laundry pile. Hands down.

As good as my weekend started out last time, I just would PREFER not to have an encore performance for this weekend. 

YMCA Basketball

Watching three of my boys play basketball is pretty entertaining to me. I really enjoy it actually, which is why the YMCA is a perfect league for my family  because 

1)they have childcare for some of the younger kids since we are members there, and 

2)  they always start their games with a prayer. It's so cute.

Emerson is in the front right.....the scrawny white kid with the curved back like his dad.

Apparently in the 10-11 year old league they are too cool to hold hands for prayer?

(Bronson top right, and Camden is the hidden blonde head at about 9 o'clock)

Camden and Bronson play on the same team and I love how Bronson will always find Camden to pass the ball to. Camden is really the man when it comes to defense. He has NO fear no matter HOW big the kid he is defending....I promise you, he will be UP IN THEIR FACE and making bathroom noises with his mouth when they shoot to throw them off. 

My boys usually play defense on the same side as well, so I like seeing those two work together to trap a guy on the sideline. They have a LOT of practice of doing that around the house here.... 

(Camden on the right)

And if you EVER need to find Bronson on the court, you just need to look for bright socks and shoes (that he bought) aaaaaaaaand BOOM! you found him.

When they have afternoon games the childcare is closed so we have Royce and Kellyn with us then We like to call them our "liabilities".......because Royce likes to sneak off and pull the fire alarm (true story....thankfully it was when Brooks was alone at a game with him). 

And Kellyn likes to sneak around and grab everyone's phones.....

Like I said, I feel better when those two are in the toy room playing so I can watch the game.

Here is Brooks at halftime giving Bronson the pointers that he apparently NEEDS to have and could NOT wait until the end of the game.

Which now that Bronson is 12 he plays in the Young Men's basketball at our church now. Brooks is the coach for our ward/congregation and can give Bronson all the pointers he needs now during the game. Bronson is by far the youngest out there, but still one of the better ones. (Yep, I did, I JUST because THAT mom sitting here bragging on him.....I need to stop.)

I added this picture because you can see how little he is poking out around the blue guy in front.

And then there's Emerson......

This kid is a CRACK UP!

After the first practice he told me their team name is the Minotaurs. 

Okay, I thought, never heard THAT!

Then he explained that the coach and the rest of the team decided on "The Bulls" but Emerson told them that they are NOT animals and that they should be the Minotaurs so they can be half bull and half human. Anyway, Minotaurs it is because he can convince anyone to do anything.

He was the teeniest guy out there and STILL he was the one bossing everyone around the court. He told me he was their team captain because they all listen to him. (Yes, the loudest kid usually DOES get listened to.)

Here he is, with his coach in the background with an empty bench. 

They had 5 kids on their team so they played the whole game every time. 

But the other moms when they found out he was my child would say, "Oh he's yours. Now THAT kid has a lot of heart." He really did. He put his whole self into to bossing everyone around. 

He must get THAT from his dad....

(Here is Brooks in his game. He played for 1st Presbyterian Church here in a church league. I LOOOOOVE watching that ol' man play)

But back to Emerson......did I mention he puts everything he has into his games?

Well, he does.....even into his shots.

 I would say it's sad to see basketball season over with, but basketball season is ALWAYS here in this house in our driveway after school. :)