Back to School 2011

Where did the summer go? Was I in complete denial or just procrastinating? Who could you find at Walmart last night at 11:30 buying school supplies. I have just decided that life would be so boring if I didn't try and get the most I could out of each hour of the day.

Okay... who am I kiddin? This morning was a total debocal@! I had set the alarm to go and run at 5 but after getting home after midnight and getting everything put together for the kids first day of school, I decided to press snooze when the alarm sounded at 4:30. In fact, I kinda wanted to throw the phone across the room... but didn't have enough energy!

So rather than reset the alarm for 6:15, which is the time Mick was planning on waking up for his hair cut, I just turned it off totally. Thank goodness it was the first day of school rather than the 2nd, 3rd, 10th, or last... Had it not been the excitement of the first day of school I'm pretty sure Mick would have made the same conscious choice as I did and just turned his alarm off. However, he tapped me on the shoulder at 6:15 at which time I asked for 15 more minutes (like that would help after only getting 3 hours... what was I thinking? Oh ya... I wasn't). I know what I was thinking; I was thinking that last year we would set the alarm for 6:30 and have PLENTY of time to be ready. So I arise from the dead and give Mick his haircut as Eric gets the other boys up and in the shower. Macee... being the ever so responsible, planner that she is had already showered the night before. So I finish Micks haircut, crimp Macee's hair at her request and think to myself "Lovely, it's only 7:30. We will definitely be out the door in 15 minutes."

But wait... Life took some VERY unexpected turns the last couple months with work. The last 7 years I have worked out of my house. I forgot to take into consideration that not only did the kids need to be ready this morning but so did I. Every year before my schedule was as follows:

Gym/Workout 5 - 6

Clean House 6 - 6:30

Wake kids up and get them to school 6:30 - 8

Work ALL DAY

And then catch a quick shower before my husband came home for the day before 6. I know that sounds totally disgusting so don't judge... there were a few days I could sneak a quick shower but once I started taking phone calls and sat down at the computer... I was done... no chance of smelling fresh for awhile! So I guess I should get to the point... WE WERE GOING TO BE LATE BECAUSE I HAD YET TO SHOWER. Being the fabulous hubby that he is, my husband took care of breakfast for the kids while I took a quick shower and pulled the hair back in it's beautiful messy bun. In the midts the rush I remind Mick a couple times to check the bus route... just in case the bus stop changed or the time. It was 7:50. At this point we are thinking Mick probably missed his stop but we could make the 2nd stop at 7:55 so no time to take pictures of the kids AT the house. We jump in the car and drive a little quickly down the street (I'm so sorry neighbors. I am the person that cusses every time someone flies down the street so shame on me... FOR REAL).

Of course there was no one at the bus stop... which at this point is still ok because it's 7:50 and school doesn't start until 8:10. I tell the elementary kids that I would drop them off at the school and get pictures but would need to leave rather than walk everyone to their classes. Well, I do have a child that has a little anxiety about school. This big, tough boy has issues EVERY year. This year was not going to be an exception. I tell Maddog to hold back the tears and let Mick know that I will be back in 5. So here they are... Sun in eyes and ALL....

Here is beautiful Macee. She is a 5th grader this year (Heaven help me... the day this one goes to Jr. High I will hold my breath until she is 25). Her teacher is Miss. Hilde.... something. She is a new teacher and Macee is very excited.

They were a little bummed that Bai and her weren't in the same class BUT... their classes are right next door so they decided it would be ok. That and Macee has a couple cute boyzzzzzz..... (uuuuugggggghhhhhhh).

And here is my cuter than crap McGwire.... Seriously.... look at this little 1st grader. I asked him if he was nervous about going to school all day and he said, "no mom... it's only 8 hours." LOL... He has Mrs. P. who was Maddux's 1st grade teacher last year. This, to me, is a little like a double edged sword... the GOOD is that I have developed a great relationship with Joelle (Mrs. P.) She LOVED Maddog and is cuter than can be. So I think she kinda likes us. The BAD would be that McGwire is NOT the same quiet, studious, brilliant, focused child like Maddog. He is pretty much the opposite. McGwire is VERY social, very playful, very easily distracted. We have to work very hard with Gwy to keep him up with his class level. So watch out Mrs. P. Prepare yourself to be blindsided by this little stack of energy!

And then there is Maddog. My big 2nd grader. He has Mrs. Sucher who is a young, cute thing! We have heard nothing but good about her so I am sure Maddog will be just fine. Hopefully he can overcome quickly whatever anxieties he has about school. Mick was annoyed that Maddog got a little teary this morning and on our drive from Meadow to Willowcreek I had to remind Mick that he was the kid that struggled EVERY first day of school until 3rd grade. Maddog is just a big softy.

And of course Mick is too big for me to take his first day of school picture so maybe I will make him when he gets home... We shall see.

So we did it. Another first day of school where we were late, missed the bus and still living to talk and laugh about it. I love my kiddos to the end of the earth and am so proud of each of them. I always hated when they went back to school because I love to hear them running around upstairs and taking a little break to have lunch or lay with them when it was nap time but due to the changes in life I'm not able to have those small luxuries anymore. I feel a little bad to say that I was ok to send them back to school this year. I guess it's my guilty conscience saying that it's ok for me to be away because they are in school.

But then there are the 2 little dudes. Murphy and Mayser are going to miss their brothers and sister SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO badly. Where did my babies go?

Florida - National Champions!!!

Hot Shots Dance studio went to Florida 3 years ago to compete in this Contest of Champions. I was 37 weeks pregnant with Murphy and ended up flying home early because I was deathly sick. That's why I was sooooooooo EXCITED for this trip with my Macee girl. The girls did phenomenal and won the titel of "Grand Champions." They also won $3000 and were invited to participate in the 2011 Thanksgiving Macey's day Parade.

I need to say thank you to all the people at home that took care of my other little kiddos... chicken pox and all.... The day we flew out Mick called and said, "Mom, I think Murphy has the pox." The next morning he texted me to let me know that poor Gwy had them also.... The competition was held at Disney's Wide World of Sports. This picture was taken super early (7am). These girls had all spent the prior day on airplanes... and still looked smashingly beautiful and ready at 6 am this morning. I think the adrenaline was definitely running high at this point.
This venue is also the home of Spring Training for the Atlanta Braves.... I snuck away during a break and watched a Braves - BlueJays game in 80 degree weather. Very Therapeutic... especially since when we left Utah it was 30 degrees and snowing!

And to end the evening the girls took home 24 trophies and alot of cash! They are amazingly talented girlies...

And the next 3 days were spend at the parks. It was so great to spend my time with Macee. I felt bad for her friends at times because she really could have cared less about riding with certain girls or hanging out with anyone besides her mommy.... Pretty stinking fun!

Here's a group of them after riding the Rockin Roller Coaster for the first time. I think if I counted correctly we rode this ride 12 times in the 2 days we were at the park. It was Macee's favorite ride!

She kept saying, "I better get my picture taken with so and so for the boys." I think that although she had this excuse... she really liked getting her pictures taken with the characters.... and if I am wrong.... why did she insist on standing in lines to do so?

The first 2 days at the park her goal was to eat a Turkey Leg.... we walked everywhere trying to find these. We were finally able to find them and holy cow did she enjoy. I am sure there was not one piece of meat left on that Turkey Leg...

Below is a couple pics of us with Mickey and Minnie... This night the park stayed open for "Disney Guests" until 3 am... Of course, being the crazy woman that I am.... we closed the park... It was so very fun! We went on Splash Mountain 3 times at midnight...

Every time we would go to get on a ride they would ask how many of us there were. It was so fun to see the workers jaws drop when we would say 50 something... It was such a great time.

Here is my beautiful Macee at the Epcot center. I feel so lucky that we were able to do this... just the two of us. When we got back to Utah and she went up to her bedroom she came and gave me a "REAL" big hug and said, "Mom, thank you so much for this week. I love you."

Happiest Place on Earth... Magical Memories made...

Presidents Day Baseball Tournament & the ChickenPox...

So... a couple weeks after returning from Indianapolis Macee broke out with the chicken pox.... she was COVERED from head to toe... literally.... they swarmed to her head and her feet... and her back and her belly.... EVERYWHERE.... This happened the week we were heading down to St George for the boys first baseball tournamentThe worst part about Miss Macee and her chicken pox is that we were sharing a condo with the Hansens AND we were taking along friends of Mick and Macee's. We were so lucky to be able to hang with Ryan, Mel and the kids. My boys loved having their girls AND Broc with us all week.
I'm sure they were glad when the weekend was over but it was so fun! Unfortunately we only got one day of baseball in since it SNOWED... yes SNOWED... in St. George... but that doesn't mean we didn't have a great weekend.
The condo we stayed at had the pool and hot tub outside the back door and since no one else was crazy enough to swim in the snow we had it to ourselves. I can't count the numerous hours our kids spent in that pool. I went down with them a couple times and the pool was as warm as a bath tub and the hot tub.... almost too hot at times. This is the last day.... it was the first day Macee could even get out of bed.... she was so miserable.

This is a pic of all the kiddos at Pirates Island... we went with a few friends from the Marshalls and had a great time.

These are the little Marshalls... such cute boyz....

I thought this picture of Justice giving Maddux a "boost" was hilarious!

And here are the cute girls.

Mays and his best friend Broc.... these boys are like 2 peas in a pod!

So although not much ball was played.... we had a great time! Thanks Hansens for putting up with us!

Happy SUPER late 10th Birthday Miss Macee

So once again I am late on the Birthday post. Don't get me wrong... I thought several times about just skipping it but due to the "journaling" aspect of my blog figured I better take some time and get it done. Rather than a birthday party for Macee this year I took her to Indianapolis for a Tremaine Dance Convention. It was supposed to be a surprise but that didn't really work out.Last July in Vegas Macee received a cool scholarship that paid for her to attend any Tremaine conventions tuition free. Rather than spend a ton of money for a party I decided this would be kind of fun. There was another amazing dancer at the studio that had also received a scholarship I asked if they would like to join. The funnest part about that is that it was Joanna (above), Hannah's moms, birthday the same day as Macee so we just went for a big party... and LOTS of hours of dancing!

The girls chose to eat at PF Changs for the birthday dinner... they are silly.

This was one of their favorite instructors... Derrick... we were walking up to our rooms one day when he was waiting at the elevator...

PF Changs at dinner...

I'm not sure if you can see behind us but it was the state capitol... super cool building. I was mad I didn't get a picture in the daytime.

And this was Hannah and Macee on the flight. It was fun to just go hang out with Macee for a quick weekend away. It was cold as could be but super fun... I'm hoping she will remember her 10th birthday as being a bit special. I love this girl to death!

Surgery was a Success

So today was Mr. Murphy's big day! We were scheduled for surgery this morning at 8 am. Murphy didn't want any part of waking up so we simply wrapped him in his blanket, put some socks on and out the door we went. We left early due to the roads being horrendous from last nights storm. It was a good idea because they were just big sheets of ice.

We arrived... carried Murphy in asleep.... still no interest in waking up from the little guy. They did his pre-op... we met with the anesthesiologist and then waited... and waited... and waited... and waited for the doc. He FINALLY arrived at 9:50. At first I was totally fine and I knew the roads were awful but after that hour and a half hit I was just ticked BECAUSE....

When Murphy first work up around 8:30 he was sooo happy and in great spirits. They gave him his Buzz Lightyear mask (the thing that goes over your nose to give you the gas) and he played with it and breathed heavy in it like Darth Vador.... the more time that passed, the more Murphy wanted something to eat... he started getting grouchy and by the time the doc did arrive he REALLY wanted to go home. At one point he said, "Mom... I want to go home. I'm better... I not sick any mo so I don't need sugry (Murphy language)." I told him we had to stay until he had surgery and he kept telling me no. So at that point I just said, "well then go out and tell the nurse you want to go home." I thought he would be shy and just come snuggle but not Murphy... he marched right out that door and found the first nurse he could and let her know he was ready to go home!

The doc showed up and talked to us a bit. He explained it would take appx an hour. So then we have to go one way and Murphy has to go the other. This is the part I am not good at... especially when my baby is screaming and crying and saying.... "I want you mommy... I need you mommy." Eric saw the tears coming to my eyes and wasn't super sympathetic. He said, "Come on Jess... it's a simple procedure... he will be fine."

I don't care it it's this, tonsils, appendectomy! I hate sending my kids off to go under the knife and I'm pretty sure I will forever!!! So we then go to the waiting room and wait... and wait... and wait... after about an hour fifteen the receptionist said, "is anyone in here with Murphy?" I told her I was and proceeded to gather all the stuff. After I had everything in my hands she said, "oh... he's not done but the Dr. did want me to come and assure you that things are fine but it is taking longer than expected."

It took about 2 hours and unlike my other children he came of the anesthesia VERY well. And since that time I have been BEGGING him to sit on the couch and quit jumping around and quit bouncing off the walls.

They had said he would be groggy most of the day and would want to just lay there which was ok and actually really good for him. Pretty sure Murphy had the opposite effect. He finally closed his eyes at 11 tonight for the first time since he got out of surgery and that was a fight to get him to lay down. If it weren't for the big gauze pad on the side of his face you would have never known anything happened to him.

The doctor did explain the the cyst had been sent off for the biopsy and we would get results early next week. He was super positive. He had tried making a small incision to drain the cyst but due it being on his peroda gland (?) he did have to cut a bit more to remove. But that was good news because they didn't have to make the big cut like they had originally thought. He said it was the size of a large marble?????

So anyway things are great. We truly appreciate all the offers for help with the kids. Thanks to everyone who has taken my kids the last couple days to help out. I love my friends and family!

Merry Christmas

So we weren't able to make our annual trip to Disney this year due to our long vaca in Cooperstown (so worth missing Disney). So this year for Christmas Santa was thinking that he would surprise the kiddos and give them tickets to Disneyland. We had heard that the week between Christmas and New Years was the busiest week of the year so we decided to avoid that traffic and be at Disney on the 23rd, 24th and 25th... Bad IDEA! I'm not going to complain because hey... we were in Disneyland for Christmas right? What I will say is that I would highly recommend that you DON"T do it! Dec 23rd was the first day in 7 days it hadn't poured rain in Anaheim... therefore.. the people were out! Super busy!

Dec 24th wasn't as bad as the 23rd. The park closed early that night due to Christmas Eve so I think many people didn't want to spend the money when the park closed 3 hours early (that's actually what someone at Disney told me... lol). Christmas day..... ZOOO!!!! It was like a bunch of little ants walking around trying to get from point A to point B.

On a positive note... It was Murphy's first trip to Disney and he LLLLLLLOOOOOOVVVVVVEEEEEDDDD it!

We have always been all about the Characters at Disneyland. We purchase the autograph book right when we get there and we try and get those puppies full before we leave! We have a collection of years in our bookcase and it is seriously my kiddos FAVORITE things to look at and show to family! The funniest thing about that is you need to notice Murphy in most of these pics. He didn't "not like" the characters... he just wasn't so sure about them. I had to constantly tell him to look at mom rather than crank his neck and make sure the character wasn't going to take him. It was great!

We left for our trip on Tues the 21st and stayed in Vegas that night. It's always nice to break up that 9 hour drive. The weather was a bit rainy for us but it was heartbreaking driving through St. George and southern California. They had just experienced tumultuous rain and I cannot tell you the amounts of water... flooding... mud slides... road closures that we saw. What an awful time to go through something like that.

Ok... back to positive. We stopped in Barstow because I had forgot to grab the pile of sweatshirts in the laundry room before we left.

Which meant each child only had 1 sweatshirt... we knew this wouldn't work and of course I love an excuse to stop at the outlets so we took a little break there and then went on our way. We arrived in Anaheim fairly early and checked into our hotel.
It was awesome. We had a family suite with 2 rooms so in one room there were 2 Queen beds but in the kiddos room they had bunk beds, full on bottom, twin on top... a desk area and then a small kids table with chairs. It was their own little playroom! We did love the room!

This pic was Christmas Eve. The 4 little guys got matching Mickey and Friends PJ's along with their stuffed animal friends.

Oh... and then their is our rebel Mays. On his list to Santa was a Red Sox hat. How could I possibly bring myself to fulfill that wish? I will admit, I did it behind his fathers back and figured this was one of those situations it would be easier to ask forgiveness rather than permission. He sported that hat around the rest of the week like he was the coolest cat on the planet!

We surprised the kids again and did the Character Breakfast Christmas morning. We had originally told them that we wouldn't be able to do it this year due to cost but had done so well budget wise that we had enough the last day to do this. I am so glad we took the extra time to sit and have a good breakfast on Christmas! That's the hardest thing about this trip. I was talking with Eric after and we both felt like we missed out on the whole "Christmas Magic." I know that probably sounds corny but there wasn't a tree... the kids did wake up to stockings and a few small things to open but there was no time to sit and play or talk about our Saviour as we normally would... it was just hurry off to the park early before it gets packed.

Anyone that has gone to Disneyland know that it is very worth it to wake up early because between 8 - 10 am it's soooooo much slower than the rest of the day. The prior 2 days we had spent the entire day in the park and then left for the hotel at around 8 or 9.

The park also slows down after 10 pm so we decided since it was our last day and so crowded
we would go early.... go home for naps and then go back late. We figured we could wear the kids out so they would sleep well on the ride home the next day.

Well... the plan would have worked perfectly had it not started down pouring about an hour after we got back to the park that night. The rain wasn't bad but getting wet and then being in the cold just wasn't going to cut it for anyone so we retired early again that day and called it a trip.

So I will say the lights and decorations were unbelievable! I cannot believe that I didn't spend more time and take pictures of all of that but I was too worried about capturing these smiley happy faces!!

Bugs Life... this is always one of our favorites because we love going in and taking goofy pictures with our "BUG EYES." Murphy LOVED the 3D movie... Mays had just woke up and was a bit grumpy... and McGwire, who was not afraid to go on any ride and is my daredevil, started crying and refused to put on his glasses because he thought it was sooooooo scary! Kind of comical. You can tell that Maddogs thing right now is the rabbit finger ears behind the head. There is a picture of Macee somewhere here he is doing the same thing!

Murphy in his cute Santa hat and glasses. He didn't want to return the glasses.

We made it down to Toon Town the last night and got to hang with Mickey for a bit! When we were leaving Murphy turned around and ran and hugged Mickey. He said, "Mickey... thank you for letting us see your house."

I wish I would have been quick enough to get that on camera because it was too cute! We were actually just going through Mickey's house and didn't know that we would get the chance to see him at the end! It was kinda fun!

I look at this picture and think... Holy Cow... that's alot of people!

So the nice thing about this year was that Mick and Macee had their phones so we would fast pass rides for them and either Eric or I would go and then the other would stay with the boys.

Gwy and Mays were tall enough to ride everything except for Indiana Jones and Screaming and McGwire was all about doing it all. Not Mays... He HATED most every ride there except for Buzz Lightyear! So that did make it a little difficult because whoever wasn't riding was with Murphy and Mays and with it being so busy it was a bit stressful to make sure you had a grasp on both. I've never been a fan of those little backpacks with leashes that people put on kids but there were a few times I wished I had one for a few minutes. We were also able to let Mick, Macee and Maddux go fast pass a ride while Eric and I took the boys to do something else. The kids love Tower of Terror so the little boys and I (or Eric) did Monsters Inc probably 20 times!

This was Murphy waiting for our shuttle after a long day playing at the park!

Here it is... Maddux at work! We tried another fun project with Macees hair the first night we got there and this is pretty much the "do" for the week. We didn't have to do anything with her hair the entire trip except for fix the messy bun daily... which I am a professional at because a messy bun is my hairstyle of preference! I'm so lazy right?

We had originally thought we would wake up early Sunday (the 26th) and drive the entire way home. Well... we missed the entire wake up early but still figured we were fine to go all the way home.

That was until we went 10 miles and couldn't get out of California. It literally took us 9 hours to get from Anaheim to St. George. This is a 5 hr drive max. I had noted at one point we had driven 120 miles in 4 hours. I know ridiculous. The crazy part about it was that there were no accidents. I think that the entire world that was at Disney decided to drive home the same time we did! If we would have known that we would drive this slow in the entire time (20 - 30 mph) we probably would have done something different.
We just kept thinking that eventually it would pick up... Oh no... we were very.... very.... wrong. So by the time we hit Mesquite we decided we would surprise the kids and stay in St. George. We called and booked a room and then decided to break the news. The response was, "No... I want to get home" and "Ahhhhhhh we can make it... let's just drive home" and "Mom... I already made plans tonight." Seriously... I was shocked.

Eric and I just laughed and decided oh well... we are the drivers and we were very done after 10 hours in the car. Murphy had been screaming from Vegas to Mesquite... he was very done! So we stayed in St George anyway!

We woke up the next morning and got on the road early. It was an easy drive and we returned home safely.

(McGwire hiding in the BIG ornaments)

So as much as I didn't LOVE the trip.... the kids had fun... we made some memories. We've done it once so we don't ever need to worry about doing it again LOL!!!

I love these kiddos so much and Mick and Macee where such HUGE helps. In case you are wondering... we did fill up our autograph books and are already enjoying looking at everything. You will notice Mick wasn't super thrilled about taking pictures with the characters so he did get out of a few photos. I bought Macee and Maddux little photo albums that they will be able to just fill up with pictures from the trips without the autographs! They think they are too big for that.

I so hope everyone had a wonderfully, awesome Christmas and a safe and fun New Year. I apologize for the plethora of pictures. I took over 300 down there and it was so hard to pick and choose!!! LOL!!!