Handy Mommy....sort of

This morning after Royce's and Iris' morning naps I got them all ready to run to 4 stores: The Dollar Tree, CVS, Harris Teeter, then Krispy Kreme......in THAT order (For obvious reasons, the carts slowly get bigger and bigger if I need to "contain" more kids and the doughnut shop at the end for the "bribe" and to use up our free doughnut coupons)

I fed Royce and told Emerson to let Iris out of the bathroom, because she's a door-closing-police and can't open them.

Well, in this case, neither could Emerson, because

IRIS LOCKED HERSELF IN THE BATHROOM!!!!

Yes, my one year old was in there.

I pulled out the hanger and shoved it in there, but wasn't sure what I was supposed to do beyond that. So being the Handy Mommy that I am, took off the door knob. See? (and do you see Iris who is soooo mad at me now that she wouldn't even look at me)

I took a knife, a tool and my finger and jiggled and pushed, and shoved and everything else I could think of. It didn't work.

I started thinking, this might make my life easier to have Iris in there and I could actually get the house clean and it could STAY clean. Plus, I could sneak snacks through that hole.

The ONLY hangup with this plan is that I couldn't fit her blankey through the hole for naps. Darn.

So I walked over to our elderly neighbors (the ones that have never had children and sit and look out the window watching mine all day for entertainment....... he says it's better then tv anyway) and had them come over and help me.

They must've jiggled differently then I did, because the door popped open and who did Iris run to? Ms. Jane........the master jiggling door opener that she is.

On their way out the door Mr. Ron said, "Melissa, you should write a book."

(Oh, and upon inspecting the bathroom Iris had plenty of entertainment w/ all the curlers all over)

Great. Now I can go run my errands, right?

I put Royce in his carseat and turned around when I heard a door slam.

Yep, Iris in the bathroom AGAIN!!!!

How does this even happen?! By this time, she was MAD AT ME. (Although I didn't do a THING!) So I grabbed the knife and tried to remember how Ms. Jane jiggled......and it wasn't working. By this time, it all seemed so ridiculous that I couldn't stop laughing. I couldn't even hold my knife still to get in the little holes because it was so funny.

Aleeya grabbed the camera and took this picture (among other pictures that she took that I just now discovered) of me trying to get it open. I normally would've been bugged that she got the camera down, because I don't like her messing with it, but I'm actually glad now that she documented this moment. I maybe tried for 5 more minutes until "POP"! It came open.

I waited for Iris to run to my rescuing arms and she just stomped right past me down the hallway......furious.

Now THAT is gratitude for ya.

Well whatdoya know.....

Whenever my Mommy comes to visit and everyone sees her they always say how much we look alike. I've never thought we've looked THAT much alike, considering I think my sisters look a lot more like her then myself. However, when I tried to pull up our last picture together, I came up with this one when Iris was born 1.5 years ago.

Whether we look alike or not, it doesn't matter, because I've turned into my mother more then I thought.

Back up a little: for a Valentine's game one of the questions for Brooks was, "What does Melissa do that is most like her mother?"

Brooks answered: have babies (there are 8 of us)

I answered: talk a lot.

(we didn't get a point for THAT question!)

However, I think the thing I'm MOST grateful that she has is her ability to laugh at life, her family and herself. I'm pretty sure she passed that on to me as well (Example to follow later)

When I was a senior in high school I had a date with a guy on Friday night and a scholarship interview the next morning and all day.....in high school, it was a pretty important week! I still remember being soooooo mad at her when I came down the stairs for the date with no eyelashes and she just laughed at me.

Apparently when you curl your eyelashes you should NOT sneeze. So take note.

I couldn't believe it. All I had was a big ol' line of eyeliner to try to cover my lack of eyelashes and I definitely looked weird.

The next day I drove down to Snow College for my interview and actually got the spot to help recruit for them and received a full scholarship. Later, the girl and advisor that helped pick the squad told me that while they were deciding who to pick, she kept referring to me as "eyelash girl", since I made a big ol' joke about it all.

What does this mean for my kids?

Well, it means they will be laughed at and laughed with. Because if you're eventually going to laugh about it, why not start earlier, right?

Poor Camden wasn't too thrilled about this whole idea the other morning though.

I dropped Bronson and him off at the bus stop a little while back. He has this thing he does that he gives me a million hugs and then while walking to the door he just turns around and waves 2 or 3 times. The Yeti was pulled up a little too far, so he had to step out of the walkway a little to wave at me and make sure I was waving back.

Then he turned around to run (literally) on in and

WHAM!

That kid ran RIGHT smack into a pole and immediately his hand went to his forehead and his face began to melt.

What did I do you ask? What did I learn from my mom?

I laughed.

(Wouldn't you have?!?!?)

Poor Camden came back to the van, so I could kiss the starts of what was going to be a good knot. I kissed it, laughed and w/o mercy sent him on his way to school.

He wasn't EXACTLY thrilled I was laughing, but I honestly couldn't stop. It was like Funniest Home Videos material for SURE!

However, when he got home and told dad about it, he was laughing.

So thanks mom, for giving me the gift of laughing, because she's right,

If you're going to laugh about it later, mind as well start now.

President's Day

So I guess to go along w/ President's Day Emerson's preschool class (taught by the ever-talented and AWESOME Andrea), learned about America, Presidents, the flag, patriotism, etc.

When he got in the Yeti he said

"Mom did you know that George Washington was the FIRST prophet of the United States of America?!?!"

Me- "No, Emerson he was the first PRESIDENT"

Emerson- "Who was the second president?"

Me- "John Adams"

(I started getting worried here wondering if I would be able to remember more presidents in order because I KNEW he was going to keep asking until I was stumped)

Emerson- "Who was the 3rd?.................Oh wait, I already know who it was. It was John Taylor. Because it says in the song, 'John Taylor came 3rd we know'. "

Man, life is NEVER dull with kids!

2 pieces of advice

#1- If you EVER have your boy in scouts, do NOT use the shortest stitch length to sew on the patches and do NOT use the exact same color of string to sew on the patch. Okay, so if you want it to look good and stay on, you might want to, but if there is ANY bit of sympathy in you for the mom that gets the shirt from the D.I. and then has to unpick all those patches.......PLEASE don't. Please. It will take her forever.

#2- If you're going to dial a wrong number at 1:30 a.m., do NOT pick a house that has 6 kids sleeping and wake up one of the WORST ones (Iris) to wake up. Because you see, she gets her "feelings hurt" when you tell her to be quiet. And DEFINITELY don't have the nerve to call TWICE in a row........especially after the first time calling and the answering machine says, "Hola, this is the ______ casa. Please leave a message!" Do you THINK that would give you a HINT that it's the WRONG NUMBER?!?!?

If you just follow these two bits of advice, the world will be a better place for it.

Thanks. Signed,

One Who Cares.

2 months

I just took him to his 2 month appt. this week (even though he was 2 months on the 5th of Feb.) and this giggly little thing weighs in at a whoppin'............

drumroll for my heavy weight champion please.....................

11 pounds.

We grow them skinny around here, but hey, at least he still thinks his daddy is funny when he says, "Say cheese!"

I love this picture of him because it's like he's drunk with happiness. He should be though, he's pretty loved around here.

This weather....

Is sure making it hard for us to ever THINK of moving away from here.

Here is the family outside on Sunday evening throwing the football.........well, okay, Brooks (and Royce in the carrier) and Bronson are throwing the football. Camden happens to be sitting on the bucket that Emerson is IN and has been rolling down the hill .............boys. Gotta love 'em.

Where were the girls you ask? They're stuck in the car at the bottom of the driveway, not understanding that the battery was dead.

My little Valentine (in pigtails....happy day!)

And the weather has been so nice Emerson and Aleeya have been seen running outside in their swimsuits to get in the wading pool.......

and if you're REALLY lucky, you would've been able to see Aleeya, in her backwards and inside-out swimsuit. What? You missed it? Okay, I'll share the joys I get out of watching these rascals.

(why she poses in EVERY picture w/ her legs spread is beyond me.....)

AND the Yeti has these permanent fixtures in the back to stop off at a park or play at any time we want. They definitely came in handy while we were all out waiting in the Yeti for Bronson's piano lesson to get over. I just watched them ride around in her driveway.

I know, I know you're jealous. Now don't you wish you had a Yeti too?!?!? ;)

But don't worry, there's plenty of room for YOUR bikes in there too!

And how exciting is this?!?!

My tulip plants are coming up!!!!

HAPPY SPRING TO ME.....my FAVORITE SEASON!

Is it just me........

Or does Camden and Royce look a LOT a like?!?!?

Here is Camden (and obviously Bronson) when he was younger

And here he is now...........with his mini-me.

Thankfully Royce's temperament isn't like Camden's was as a baby. That child could scream w/ the best of them and comes second only to Iris as a baby! :)

(That's actually what is so exciting about babies/kids......they are ALL different!)

I couldn't resist

So as many of you know, I love to "coupon" and it gives me a huge high. I do it weekly but obviously don't post pictures EVERY week. But this morning in a matter of a hour (I collected/printed coupons for about 45 minutes then headed to the store) I got all this for a total of $24 at Harris Teeter and Walgreens:

- 6 pkgs of diapers (9.37) at Walgreens and $14 for the rest at Harris Teeter

- 14 cereal

- 2 cookie dough

-1 yogurt

- 1 Cleaner

- 4 soup

- 2 frozen veggies

And it FEELS SOOOOOO good. Very few things give me a high like a good deal. :)

However the TRICK is fitting all that in the cart w/ the 4 younger kids!

(With those 6 pkgs. my diaper stockpile is up to 33 pkgs that I've been building up since last summer whenever I see a deal. WA-HOO!!!!)

OH HAPPY DAY!

Okay, how exciting is this? (not to mention, cute)

Yep, that would be a sort of high pony tail in her mullet-head! AAAAAAAND yesterday I put in pigtails.....well sort of. But they're not TOO embarrassing I can't take her out in public with them. Wow, this is an exciting moment in my house......yes indeed it is.

And I would just like to share how.....um.....exciting it is to live w/ Aleeya. She was invited to a "Princess b-day party" and asked to dress up as one. Knowing full well she has PLENTY of options in that department, I sent her to her room to dress up as a princess so we could go.

Here is how she came out:

It's kind of a ghetto/rockstar/ballerina/scary princess look. Don't you think?

(and yes, I KNOW her tongue is LONG!)

So what did I do? I let her go like that, of course.....and let me tell you something.....she sure....um.....stuck out.

I've also been thinking a lot of the different stages of parenting lately. I'm noticing that it's easier in most aspects to have a newborn for me now because I know what to expect and how to get MOST of the results I'm after......but on the other hand, it's getting a little trickier.

Trickier for the reason that have now have “older” kids that have places to go and people to see. I remember after having Bronson, Camden, Emerson and Aleeya I could technically just hang out at home for as long as I wanted (anyone that knows me knows that it didn't happen like that, but in THEORY, I had the option to do that. ) Even after I had Iris, it was summer vacation, so I wasn't doing the school thing, but I WAS doing summer sports. So now when I have a baby, I will know more what's coming. Because afterall, the kids STILL have to go to school and be picked up, they STILL need to make it to basketball, piano, preschool, scouts and whatever else. (and all the kids get the great opportunity of coming as well) Some things were so simple then and I miss always having the family to myself, determining schedules, and really only leaving the house because I CHOSE to etc. Afterall, I've mentioned before I'm a minimalist right? Well, I like things simple.

Then I started thinking how this is JUST THE BEGINNING of all the events, activities and taxi-running for the next 20 years of my life. I know in 5-10 years I'll think back to THIS time and think how simple and nice it is that I have 4 sweethearts at home w/ me during the day, that I can always get a nap during the day if I wanted while they all nap, that even my oldest ones still like to snuggle me and have me rub their heads/backs/necks, that when I drop Bronson and Camden off at the bus stop I get the BIGGEST hugs and strongest ones known to man, that my kids are SO excited to see me when I pick them up, and that they all just LOVE newborn babies and help me out so much......and they actually are TRULY helpful.

I think that's why parenting is so fun, because EVERY stage has something so wonderful to offer and once it's over, it is definitely missed. However, thinking back to those times made me realize how precious this one is too. And we ALL need reminders like that every once and while.

MAJOR sista bonding

My awesome sister Jess flew all the way out from Utah to go to the US National Figure Skating Competition with me!!!! We used to watch skating ALL the time growing up and despite us feeling like JUNK with the flu (I was just starting to get over it and my sister just getting it......we felt like junk) we had the BEST time............okay, so maybe we couldn't scream, squeal and act like 12-year-old girls as much as we wanted w/ no voices, but we did our best to embarrass ourselves.

Here we are the first night......Men's short program Championship.

The next day was an ALL DAY THING: Pairs short and long programs, Ice Dancing and Women's Long Program Championships.

Here we are sitting next to our newly made Pentacostal friends. They were awesome.

and it was the WEIRDEST thing, because my ticket SAID to make sure to dress like a Sprite can. So I obeyed.

And BECAUSE I dressed like a Sprite can, they awarded me by telling me I could go down and skate with Rachel Flatt (who must've been told to dress like a Bubbly Strawberry Fanta can)!!!!

How cool is that, right?!?!?Buuuuuuuut, since I forgot my skates, I told HER to come to me. She made me feel a little.....well......more covered.

Then at lunch time, we went outside to get our lunch out of the bushes that we stashed since they didn't allow us to take in food.

Lucky me though, I took my pump and had a refrigerated section that the security people didn't check. Infact, their faces were so funny when they started checking my bag. The conversation went like this:

Me: "Hi"

Guard Man: "Let me check your bag please."

Me: "Okay........(noticing his confused look), It's my pump"

Guard Man: (obviously didn't hear what I just said) "I've never seen a bag like this. How do you open it."

I opened it and then said again, "It's my pump"

(he kept trying to get it open)

......"for my milk".

Guard Man: "Oh, oh, oh (clearly embarrassed), then go right on in."

Thank you Mr. Guard Man, and thank you for letting me bring in my yogurt, red vines, jellybeans and Clementines. You know, the essentials.

And can YOU BELIEVE I could actually leave this sweet face behind for a WHOLE DAY?!?!?

Brooks was actually feeling the effects of the flu all the day, along w/ Royce, so those two were a miserable pair. This flu has been a vicious and no-respector-of-persons kind of thing that started over 2 weeks ago and STILL lingers here.

But really, my weekend w/ my sister was the best. The girls ESPECIALLY loved my sister, wouldn't leave her alone and I don't think I could COUNT how many Uno, Connect 4 and Spot It games Jess played with my boys. I have missed her like crazy so it was sooooo nice to have her here!!!!