The Party.

This was 2 of 5's birthday present to himself. Sunday night he fell, I'm not sure what he was doing, and put his tooth through his lip. Trent had to pull his lip off of his tooth. I'm just glad he didn't damage his teeth. Boy does a mouth bleed. I didn't think it was going to stop until he bled out. These are the things dads are good for. Man this thing was fat this morning.

We did a birthday party for the 2 oldest on Saturday. It was a crazy day starting with spraying insulation in the attic. Thank goodness for Mark, who came over at 4:30 and took over my part so I could start bathing and feeding my kids before party kids came over at 6. I think this is the last year we do a combined party. I don't think I was going to be able to listen to girls scream and slam doors because boys were annoying them. We did Sunday's a movie, a water balloon game, then fireworks. there are some perks to having kids close to the 4th of July.

Sorry if your kids came home stinking like fire and sulfur.

Mothers Of Children With Disabilities

I was just sitting here minding my own business while taking a break from blowing insulation into the attic, and decided to browse a few blogs. I came across this, on a blog of a UT mom with a son with DS. I guess I needed to cry today still.

Blessings promised to mothers of children with disabilities.
I speak a word to mothers who have little children who are handicapped, children whose little bodies were born incompletely formed or whose little minds are limited. No one knows the depth of agony that you have suffered. By way of consolation, I read from scripture: Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation. For after much tribulation come the blessings. Wherefore the day cometh that ye shall be crowned with much glory;the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand. Blessings will be extended to mothers such as you who have given tender and affectionate love to handicapped children. Trials such as these bring a reverence for life, a new depth of compassion and motherhood. I hope this brings anyone peace who is in need of it today and everyday. I also feel, personally, that in the next life blessings, we can't even imagine, will be given to our little children who have had to suffer here on this earth. I have truly learned a reverence for life with the birth of Sam.

Attic

So, our project for the past 2 weeks has been insulating the attic. And by 'we' I mean, Trent. Because as you can see, I couldn't fit in there, in my current state. He told me he had to crawl along the plank he set down to get in to the back of the house so he could fix a few wiring problems before we sprayed the insulation. I thought he was exaggerating. The hole in the ceiling is where out old swamp cooler vented, He thought central would be the best access, since it's in the middle of our house, that's where he went in. His other option was at the far East of the house in our closet.

I got up there and took pictures last night. It was no exaggeration. There's not even enough space to crawl on your hands and knees.

Unless you are under a foot on your hands and knees.

He said he's run across all sorts of fun stuff, dead mice, spiders...... This is why you marry a man, that can fix things. It saves you tons of money, we figure after the rebate, we won't be out of pocket anything, and you get to tell people your husband can fix things. And I admire him. It reminds me why I love him so much. He can pretty much do anything.

Counting Down

2 days until Kristy (sister) 's birthday
4 days until 1 and 2 of 5's birthday party.
3 days until kindergarten is out
2 days of 4 of 5's preschool down,
6 left to go
5 days until 2 of 5's 8th birthday
7 days until 1 of 5's 9th birthday
8 days until 4 of 5's 4th birthday
9 days until school is out
11 days until 2 of 5's baptism
14 day's until MY birthday
16 days until brother Mikey's birthday
21 days until my moms birthday.

Then I just noticed I have 85 day until this baby is due
75 days if my dr. still induces 10 days early.
Let the counting down to insanity begin

Father's Day and What Nots

I have decided that dad's really do have the good life. For the most part, as I see it. Maybe because I'm in my shoes. Don't most of you think your dad is perfect? Especially growing up, my dad could do no wrong. We were always so happy when he came home. I love to see my kids react that same way when Trent comes home. Now, think back, way back to the last time your kids reacted this way, when YOU came home. Don't get me wrong, 4 of 5 ALWAYS comes running when I come home. But the others are like ehh. ( but rarely leave with out them in tow, but that's besides the point) Here's my theory. Did you spend most of your time with your mom growing up? ( I'm not talking about my situation as a kid, that was very different, but I'm taking reference from my kids life) Was she the one that made you make your bed, do the dishes, shower, brush your teeth and hair? To sum it up, "nag" Did your dad ever make you do that stuff? Would your dad have noticed if you didn't brush your hair? jk. My point is, mom's kind of get a bad rap. I'm hoping that it's true for me, as it is for others, kids start appreciating their moms when they move out and realize everything the did. You probably didn't spend enough time with your dad to see his flaws. No, I wouldn't trade jobs. I love the time I get to spend with my kids. I love teaching them the importance of shower teeth hair clean clothes. It just makes their perception of me different than of their dad. I love that they think their dad is cool. He is. I think the same thing. They always want him to take them camping or fishing or just to the store. I don't blame them, which ever one of us got to go to the store with my dad, got a treat (to make sure we ate before we got home and someone saw) Dad's are cool. I would not want to do my job with out Trent, and in reality, I couldn't. Here are some of his Father's day scores. These are what make it worth while.

He ended up with 2 birds, the one that he rescued that we have now had for a week. And since it's started trying to fly we had to get it a cage. SO off to DI we went. Nothing there, so KSL was next, where we found this one, with a parakeet included. It didn't want it's picture taken, which is weird, it spends 20 hrs a day looking in it's mirror.

Seating Assignment

We decided last night to move the kids seats around in the car. We didn't realize by doing this we would be disturbing the pecking order in the house. We told them all where to sit when we bought the car with the promise of a rearrangement the next month. Well, 5 months later we did it. And man, what a catastrophe. It was almost as bad as making them sit some where else for dinner. And for some reason, the one who "looses" is the one that ends up sitting next to 4 of 5. I can understand. If you sit next to her in the car, you have to buckle her ( I know we are so mean) which is why we are moving them around. We want to promote them helping her. Right now we get zero participation when it comes to her. When you sit next to her at dinner, you end up with her food on your plate and her sitting so close, she's practically on you lap.
I have seen other families where the kids come see what the problem is when the younger sibling cries. Why don't my kids do that? Or offer to help get one of them dressed in the morning. Or pour them a bowl of cereal because they are sitting right there. Is it because I have always done everything for them, so there was never a need for them to help, so now it's a burden? Anyway, I think it's important for them to learn how to help one another, with out the fight.
So back to seat rearrangement. 1 of 5 acted like we had just taken all of her most precious things and smashed them. Have you ever seen a 9 yr old temper tantrum. Not cool. DO we force her to be nice, helpful, considerate to her little sister? Is that too much to ask from a kid that age? If 2 of 5 got that seat, it would have been the same fight. And 3 of 5 just spent the last 5 months there, so he was used to it, so it wasn't a battle. Any suggestions on how to get the kids to be more helpful? Or is that one of those things they are either born with, or not. Or you start when they are 2, or it doesn't happen? How do you promote kindness, consideration, and usefulness in your home?
Or am I just blowing things way out of proportion, and this is just normal?

Serious About Cereal

5 of 5 is serious about her cereal. She will only eat it if it's in a bowl, and has milk on it. She has to have a spoon in one hand, and she will use it for the first 2 minutes, then she'll speed things up by using her hands.

This made me sad. She doesn't look like my baby anymore. Actually, I ran into a friend I hadn't seen in about a year yesterday and I found myself a little jealous that her kids were all past the diaper stage.

Adopted

SO yesterday morning as Trent was taking cans out to the street, he came across 2 baby sparrows that had fallen out of the nest. They landed right under the pine tree in our from yard, the place our cat uses as his "box". He thought they were dead, since none of them were moving. Last night after he got home from serving at the Temple open house, we decided to take a walk for FHE, and he showed me where these birds were, well one of them was alive. We couldn't in good conscious leave this bird our in the cat box..... That was a death sentence. So we are now the proud owner or a week old baby sparrow. To me, this seems like an overwhelming amount of pressure. Trent is much better at this kind of stuff than I am. I wish he could take it to work. How do I keep this animal alive? Well, first off when we woke up, it was lethargic, so I went out and got the heat lamp from when we had chicks. That perked it right up. Then it wanted to eat. I have never witnessed this in person, but it stretched out it's little bare neck and open real wide. Luckily we also have chicken food. We put some in a syringe with water and fed it with a dropper. It's still alive...... Man this is hard.

We also had a major achievement yesterday. I told 4 of 5 she couldn't go out side until she was dressed. So, she went down stairs and got herself dressed. Underwear on the right way, pants on... i was quite impressed.

Is it March?

I though, how do I prove how cold and wet it's been. Should I take a picture of the mushrooms growing in the front yard? Maybe a picture of the grass I haven't mowed in 3 weeks. Nah, so here's the thermostat at 9 am this morning. I was so tempted to turn the furnace on. We keep the heat at 68 in the winter, so I'm a bit chilly. It is warmer than it was when we got up at 7.

I really love this weather, I'm not complaining. I noticed the Jordan River up to it's banks, and looking about ready to spill over. But wouldn't you prefer cold and wet, to hot and dry? The heat will be upon us soon enough. And I haven't had to water the garden in weeks.

My other thought? To cable or not to cable. We have a converter box, but it doesn't pick up much because of where our house sits in the valley. DO I care? Not really, but the kids like to sit in front of the idiot box in the morning after they are ready for school, and waiting until it's time to leave. I have found a package through Comcast for 13 bucks a month, but do we want it, or need it. So far I'm not impressed with the digital switch. All the channels are at different volumes, so unless you remember to adjust before you change channels, you have some problems. And we now get 5 BYU stations, 22 Spanish channels, 2 KSL channels, and an infrequent channel 14. Not much to work with. But I guess I haven't watched more than channel 5 in years, and my kids watch KBYU cartoons, and Little House On the Prairie. So we have all we need. I think cable would promote more TV watching. But It would be nice to clean the house before company, or before a trip, then tell the kids to go watch TV for a bit, and have it stay clean. But that's just the lazy mom speaking.

We have a fun weekend, sleepless but fun. We went up to Silver Lake with some friends to help put bunk beds in their family cabin. Between the 2 families we have 10 kids. Ages, 9, 8, 7, 7, 6, 4, 3, 2, 16 months, and 7 months. SO it was busy. I don't think I sat down more than 2 hrs the whole time we were there. Plus, you don't sleep well 6 months pregnant, and in a strange bed. The kids were all really good, but meal times were chaotic, and messy. It was good to spend time with friends, it is now time to get some things done around the house that we have neglected for the past month. Now if we could get a dry weekend here.....

Seriously????

A thought or 2.......

Do we build the ark now? Or wait until it's too late.
We have to wait until Monday to hear about 4 of 5's culture.
She is now on a 20 day regimen of antibiotics.
This particular one, doesn't even have a name, it's just SM X300 or something to that effect.
We have to keep her out of the sun for those weeks, because of how sensitive it will make her to the sun.
5 of 5 choked at dinner tonight for so long, she turned purple. Can I just say thank goodness for Trent. Then after he took care of her, she threw up.
I am not feeding my kids ever again, with out his supervision. Oh wait, I guess I need to get rid of Polly pockets and marbles too.
I need to go to the store so we can get ready to go up to the B's cabin so Trent can help build their bunk beds.
I don't think we have been home 1 weekend since the beginning of May.
Our ground is so water saturated, we're worried about over watering the garden. Our furrows just fill when it rains now
I guess religion is a controversial topic
I was in no way saying having a party on Sunday was wrong. Just odd for UT folks, no offense intended, and I was not trying to start a debate. I hope we can just all be happy, and let everyone be.........

Odd in UT

I say odd in UT, because anywhere else, it probably happens a lot. My 8 yr old, Well, close to 8, was invited to a party. (I know weird huh? jk that's not the weird part)
For_______
Date Sunday June 14th
Time 3pm.

So for all you non Utahans, 50% of Utah is LDS. We consider the Sabbath day a holy day, and we spend the day doing things with family, recuperating from the week, and just having down time, We don't shop, we don't go to amusement parks We don't do anything that would cause others to have to work. Some families don't turn the TV on, to take as break from the outside world. So it seems that having a birthday party on Sunday would exclude a big portion of this boy friends. I wonder if this was a way to let him have a big party, knowing that everyone wouldn't show up. Maybe he's the only kid that falls into that catagory, who was invited.

Don't You Love This

Weather? I love that I woke up yesterday morning, and it was 65. inside. 51 outside. I love that our high is 75. I love that it rains at the drop of a dime, sometime when the sky is clear overhead. I love when you get the occasional hail. I love that I don't have to water or mow. I love that the weeds are easy to pull because the ground is wet. I love the sound of rain on my roof. I love the smell of rain when it first starts. I love the rainbows. I love that I haven't had to run the AC more than 1 week this year.

On My Mind Monday

These are pictures from our trip west, on Saturday with the Harrison family. We just went and explored the SW side of the Oquirrah's. I had never been to a few of these places, like Clover and Eureka. Pretty cool. We stopped at Ophir again to go see some things we missed last time.

And ran across this. Yes, that is a tarantula. I didn't realize we even had these out here.

Oh, and for Cascade.... we ended up stopping in Santaquin for dinner, and ended up at some 50's diner that was really quite good. I think they were a little overwhelmed with 9 stir crazy kids, but the food was great. And we were wondering what that enormous abandoned building on the side of the mountain was out by Elberta? It's up the hill from the warm springs.

Note Worthy

Okay, so is this an freakishly large Lego man, or an obscenely small egg. Something is wrong with our chickens. Remember the chicken egg we got a few months ago? And we have gotten bigger ones than that. But this, is just weird.

And you want to talk about unsupervised children for a moment..... I pulled brownies out of the over, then went to finish a game with 3 of 5, when I hear this scream. Apparently 4 of 5 didn't want to wait for her wonie. Then I took a picture of it, and she wanted 6 more. I think the camera made it feel better.

And last. Can we have a conversation about spitting? I already know how, so that is not what I wanted to talk about. My problem is that 4 and 5 of 5 also know how, and have decided that it's the appropriate thing to do with all beverages. I am at a loss as to how to get them to stop. I will come into the kitchen and find puddles all over the floor, of spit milk water, whatever. I spent a week giving them only supervised drinks, but man, that stinks. As soon as I'm not looking, back to spitting. sigh... I do that a lot these days. sigh.

Ice Cream for Breakfast

Me: Do you want ice cream?
4 0f 5: Hooray!
me: alright go sit down at the table.
4 of 5: thank you mom
me:you're welcome, now go sit down
4 of 5: thank you mom; 9:05 am
4 of 5: thank you mom ;9:07 am
4 of 5: thank you mom; 9:10 am
4of 5: thank you mom; 9:13 am.

At least I know she's grateful. And sometimes, a morning just calls for ice cream, dontcha think?

Caught

Nothing is safe........

On My Mind Monday

I know, I have done a lot of post about making things. SO why should today be any different.
Actually, I read a blog pretty frequently of a person who blogs a lot about her woes. And After reading the blog I wonder, how is her situation any different than any of ours, I hope I don't complain as much. If I do, let me know, because I would be mad at myself if I gave the impression that I truly grateful for everything I have. And we do have a lot . We may not have nice cars or a fancy expensive house, or go out to eat weekly, or take vacations, or name brand clothes. But we do have a car that fits our family, a home that accommodates our needs, we have home cooked meals 3 square ones a day, and I LOVE our ghost town excursions, and I do buy name brand clothes if I run across some in good repair at DI. Or if you consider Jumping Beans a name brand. SO here are the things we made this week. The girls got jumpers, 1 of 5 is too old for a jumper, so I made her a matching skirt. I don't know how to make boys shirts, yet. I love that Trent indulges my change in hobbies. He let me buy supplies to make ribbons, yarn when I make blankets, fabric for sewing. In return, I try to do it as inexpensively as possible. Buying yarn only when it's on sale, buying remnants for a pattern I want to make, and making ribbons only cost about 30 bucks to get started. And I promise I will not pick up an expensive hobby, like scrap booking, or violin making, furniture building. Although learning to make a violin does sound interesting........