Brenden's Study Trip

Brenden's class went to the Pumpkin Patch this past Thursday. The funny thing was the only thing we didn't see was a pumpkin patch. Go figure!
There were baby chickens as well as a lot of other animals.
It was the only day this past week there was biting wind. Without the wind the temp would have been fine.
It was a cold hayride we enjoyed. I thought we were going to the patch, but no, just to see some bees huddling together for warmth.
We had just exited the corn maze. Another mother and I took over when then mom in charge ended up getting up back to the entrance instead of the exit. It helps to have an idea where the exit is. (They gave a map, however there were no landmarks so once we made a few turns with twenty kids we had no idea where we were in the maze.)

Brenden did get to "pick" a pumpkin to take home. I thought he picked a small one. Turns out he had the right idea. The kids had to carry them back to the bus. Quite a few kids struggled. Brenden was just fine.

Haunted House

Every year our library has a reading program and one of the prizes you can pick is haunted museum passes. We always get those first and use it for FHE. On Tuesdays they run friendly hours all day so we go after Jeff gets home. Usually we FREEZE while waiting outside in the dark. This year we made it there at 5 and there was NO LINE! We walked right in. It was nice.
You can't take pics in the haunted house, but there was a photo op at the end. Friendly hours means all lights on, and the people who would usually scare you just talk about the stuff in that area or say hi. This year's theme was The Ghostly Grande Hotel. At the end they get a "goody" bag and a prize.
Natalie wasn't scared of any of it. Even with lights on the red paint for blood and beheaded people - or heads in bowls - can be kind of frightening to a child.
In one month this staircase will become a large double slide. Our family can't wait. We go at least once a week after the slide opens until they close it a week into January.

Day Three - retakes & treats

Saturday morning I made my family retake our family pictures (see sidebar). Inorder to ensure cooperation (family pics are hard anyway - but twice in one month is harder) I gave a bribe. If they smiled, looked where I told them, sat where I told them and didn't complain they would get a surprise.

Can you guess what it was? The Old Spaghetti Factory!!! They're open for lunch now so after pics we drove down the street and enjoyed.
Jeremy forgot that he didn't like the mac and cheese here and ordered it. But he made the best of it. Natalie loved it!!
I was a bit upset at myself for forgetting t-shirts for the girls. But all the spaghetti stains came out with shout! Hooray!!!

Both time we went downtown to the canal for pics the free parking was being used for paid parking. Luckily, we have a zoo membership with a huge parking lot. We can park there for free and it only takes about five minutes (leisure) to walk to the canal from there. This zoo membership has sure came in handy - it's worth it for all the free downtown parking we've gotten.

This was the end of our little vacation. It was wonderful.

Day Two - Zoo Boo & Camping

For Friday Jeff took the day off so we ran errands in the morning and had breakfast at McDonald's. That was a very large treat. Errands took most of the morning so we had lunch and put Natalie down for a nap. Actually we put everyone down for a nap - but the others read in their beds. It was nice - for us. Then we dressed up and went to the zoo. Which was decked out for the Halloween Holiday.

A pirate, ninja and witch going through the hay maze
Enjoying the bounce house
and a little pumpkin bowling. (I love my zoo membership!)
And no trip to Zoo Boo is complete without trick or treating in the Plains. Natalie went as an elephant, but anytime I out the hood up she struggled until she yanked it off. We left it down.
It wasn't too cold, and the rain held off so we had a lot of fun. We were supposed to go camping - but a new a/c & furnance booted that. So we went home and set up the tent in our own backyard. I heated up a pizza in the oven and we watched a movie before we trekked outside to the tent. I really tried to enjoy these "luxories" that I wouldn't have if we really went camping - but it just wasn't the same. But it was FUN!!!

And the best part about camping in your own backyard? No packing!!!!!

Day One - cupcakes & snakes

The kids had Thursday and Friday off of school so I planned some fun activities. We had playdates and then during Natalie's nap we frosted cupcakes.
I was proud of myself for letting them do it on their own without any "help" from me. I have a problem letting them make a mess when I could do it "with" them and minimize the mess.
The table had frosting in places where I wondered how it even got there - but everyone had fun!

After Natalie woke up we ran to the library just to get a book I had on hold. To our delight there was a reptile show going on in the annex of the library so we headed there first. All three older children touhced a snake!! And me without my camera because I had taken it out of purse to take pictures of the cupcakes!!
We had fun and ran into five of Brenden's calssmates there as well. I finally was able to met the quad's mother and Brenden is hopeful that I will soon set up a playdate for him. I mean three boys to play with all at once and the mom seems to think her daughter will be happy to play with Anna.
What I thought was ironic was a statement Tiffany, the quad's mom, made after inquiring on my childrens ages. "Wow! You are simply amazing!" I mean the woman had four infants at once!!! How hard can one at a time be compared to that? I have older kids that help.
Then the best part of the day for the boys was after Jeff came home from work. They are really into Transformers, but I didn't want them watching the movie to their disappointment. However, there was nothing wrong with watching the last fight scene - and they loved it. (Jeff works late on Thursdays so the girls were asleep because Anna said "I don't want to watch Transformers!")

The Short and Long of it...

The short version is that Natalie's hair is now long enough to do this!!

Boys Night/Girls Night

Jeremy gave his presentation at school and did a great job! All these kids in his class did a good job and listening to the answers and questions part was amusing.










Jeff had a scouting camping trip almost fall through. Only two scouts went! So last minute he decided to let the boys tag along.








They had a fun time hanging out with dad and the the two older boys. They came back full of knowledge!








Since the boys were camping and Natalie was sick we put her to bed and Anna and I watched Cinderella and painted our nails.








It's a must for a girl's night out with Anna. I also introduced her to orange chocolate sticks. She slept on her floor in leu of camping. Then in the morning we went to the Museum and had a fun couple hours there. It was a good weekend.

Say Cheese

We decided to take family pictures before conference today. Can you see the two problems in these pictures? 1) Natalie was NOT cooperating 2) I have new glasses and decided for the FIRST time to pay for transistion lenses. I forgot they turn to sunglasses outside.

Guess we're going to have to go back for round two. First time for everything

Family Outing

Jeff got off work early on Wednesday so we headed to the museum to see a new exhibit.
They had a table where you could make your own robots, but the heads were too heavy and they flopped right over.
Here are a few of our creative creations. They stood! Jeff's is on your left and mine on your right.

Kristiana and Brenden made some robots too.

There were lots of different robots and videos of robots. It was very interactive and kept their attention. This particular room is for older kids and often the exhibits in here are more interesting to me than them, but this time it was inclusive. Even Natalie was just fine.

Jeremy was fascinated by these little robots. They had light sensors on them and the table was set up so that if you did it right they would go round and round. It was harder than you might think.
Natalie was fascinated by this robot arm. You chose between three shape puzzles and then hit go. The object was to build your puzzle and hit the done button faster than the robot. It was two sided and the robot arm would race two people with two puzzles at the same time. It was neat.
Jeremy enjoyed this robot as well. We spent a lot of time watching him. Jeff finally was able to beat the robot!

And when the evening was wearing on and walking became tiresome the floor was always right there for a quick break.

It was a fun way to spend time together. And the soup was ready in the crock pot when we walked in the door. You just can't beat coming home to the smell of something delicious and knowing you can satisfy all your hungry monsters immediately.

From the mouths of Babes

So things have been hectic, crazy, hair pulling, frustration growing and sleep deprived around here the past few weeks. I cannot even remember the last night I was able to sleep thru. It seems like we hit a low. And it was topped off by Jeremy waking up with a horrible cough and fever today. Which actually was a nice blessing. For me. I feel bad for him.

But because he didn't go to school today I got so much housework done. Why can't I do this when he's at school? I haven't figured it out, except that then I'm dictated by his schedule where I can go and what I can do. We, all five of us, had a great day together...but I was anxious for it to end. I had been up with a screaming baby for an hour last night and while I managed a short nap (three kids don't nap) I was ready for an early evening.

Jeff worked late so I fed, bathed, and played with the kids. Then it was crunch time. Scripture memory, scriptures, prayer and bed. I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. All I had to do was quickly get through everything and then I could relax. Scripture memory went fast and quick since right now we've replaced it with memorizing their parts for the primary program and they already know them at this point. Scriptures. Yes! a short chapter. Only one and a half pages. I knew it would only take a few mminutes.

By verse five Jeremy interrupts. I'm a little put out. I want him to sit quiet and listen! But I listen (with only half an ear) to what he has to say. It's a question about a phrase I just read. Doesn't he know at this point that I explain the entire chapter AFTER I'm done reading it? A little frustrated I answer his question because I hated being put off when I was his age. Okay, we can move on. Not five verses later he interrupts again! ARGH!

"It seems to me that he's talking about doing good things mom."

Mouth drops open. We have been reading scriptures with our children for years. NEVER before has he wanted to have a discussion! So we spent the next ten minutes reading a verse or two and then discussing it - even Brenden and Anna jumped in with their thoughts. Scriptures took three times as long as normal - but I felt I had better spiritually fed my children.

And a plus? Bedtime was easier. All four children were ASLEEP before EIGHT! Lately that has been a struggle. Jeff came home to a clean, quiet, peaceful house where we both could relax and enjoy each others company.

Sometimes I get caught up in the doing of something and forget the purpose behind it. It's like I walk around with a mental checklist trying to check everything off and forgo the why it's supposed to be done. Christ did say we would be taught from "the mouth of babes". Jeremy taught me tonight and we were both better off for it. Thanks Jeremy.

To tell the truth...or not?

Jeremy waited a long time for his first tooth to fall out. It only happened about ten days ago or so. The next one followed exactly seven days later. He has another loose tooth, but it looks like it will be awhile before it falls out. Then yesterday we were given some bad news.

Jeremy has been complaining that his tooth hurt all weekend. It was a molar and it had a filling. So yesterday I took him in and he refused to open his mouth for an x-ray and the dentist wasn't willing to even try to make him. So I called my old dentist that I know is great with kids. (we only switched because he doesn't accept our insurance) After fifteen to twenty minutes of conjoling (they were sooooo patient) and me being there holding his hand he let them take a x-ray.

The tooth was not in good shape. The filling had cracked and the infection was inside the entire tooth. They referred us to an oral surgeon to extract the tooth. The dentist suggested I not tell Jeremy we were going to pull the tooth, only that another dentist needed to look at it and let that dentist tell Jeremy.

I agreed with that. Jeremy can be very nervous, however sometimes not knowing is worse than knowing. Jeremy's tooth hurt a lot. Enough to not make us come back another day which is their policy with kids. However, after the dentist said the words "pull it" Jeremy lost it. It took me forty minutes to calm him down and let them do it. I had all four kids with me, and many helpful nurses who were extremely patient. Once he calmed down he was fine. Nitrous made it so that he didn't feel a thing. He was all smiles. His tooth no longer hurt.

I think that if we hadn't told him what was going on, simply that we were going to fix his tooth things would have been easier. Would that have been wrong?

So the toothfairy made a third visit to our house last night and kindly left the plastic tooth container that Jeremy received to take his tooth home in. Today, all is well. He's at school and still all smiles. And Jeremy has been very careful to make sure that he brushes each and every tooth correctly.