Preston Trip

I worked on painting McKenzie's room while she was gone. I still haven't done the stenciling. Maybe now that the kids are in school I can get it finished? ...I will post a picture of it when it is completed.

8/14-18/09
In mid-August, we drove to Preston to pick up McKenzie. It was so fun for the kids to visit with their Grandparents again. We got to spend the night in their Oakley house, then picnic and hike in the City of Rocks. Megan learned not to grab onto a cactus for support. We also went out to the American West Heritage Center near Logan, UT. The kids got to listen to a Mountain Man tell them about trapping beavers for beaver felt hats, watch Native Americans dance, and talk to a Pioneer Woman about living in a dugout. To top it all off, they got to ride horses again!

We also got to check out a farm restored as it was in 1917. I wasn't expecting how small the rooms were, especially when you consider how many kids most families had. I'm grateful for my modern day vacuum and washing machines. Megan sure loved being with her grandparents. She wanted to ride with them whenever she could, and she loved to hold their hands while we were exploring.

Camping

8/28-29/09
We finished our summer by finally fulfilling the children's wishes to go camping and "climb a mountain!" It was all they had hoped for and more.

So, that's our summer. It was fun, it was busy, and I have mixed feelings about it being over. I don't expect that anyone really made it to the end of these posts, but if you did, thanks for sticking it out!

Where's Mason?

Thomas came inside a little while ago and said, "Mom, you should go see Mason. He's outside." Okay, I thought, so I went and looked outside. I didn't see Mason, and he didn't appear to be in trouble, so I went back to helping McKenzie on her homework. Then I heard Mason yell "Mommy!" I looked out the back door all around our yard and still didn't see him. I thought, "I'll go out in just a minute." and went back to helping McKenzie. Again, Mason yelled, "Mommyyy!" He sounded a little distressed, so I checked on both sides of the yard and still didn't see him. I went back inside because he was clearly not outside. I couldn't figure out where he was yelling from. The bathroom? Finally he yelled, "MOM-MEEEEEE!" The sound was clearly coming from outside. Finally I saw him. Do you?

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He's on the fencepost.

Now He Is Really, Truly 5 Years Old.

May 17, 2009. Thomas turned 5 for real. He is a great kid. I love him so much. He is a sensitive little guy who loves to give hugs and tell us how much he loves us. He loves to play the Wii, and loves playing with his siblings and friends. He is adventurous. He enjoys climbing anything. He climbs the trampoline net, the big climbing rock at the park, other big rocks, counters, stairway bannisters, closet shelves, you name it. I'm waiting for the day when I'll find him on our roof. I feel so blessed to have him as my son, to have the opportunity to share life with his fun, caring spirit.

Thomas was anxious to celebrate his birthday and find out what other surprises were awaiting him. He opened his gifts after blowing out the trick candles again, and again, and again (with everyone's help).


We added to his collection of Star Wars action figures, and gave him the Lego version of Anakin's Jedi Starfighter, complete with Lego Anakin and R2-D2. Afterwards, the kids jumped on the trampoline with the sprinkler spraying them from underneath.

Notice how Megan wore her black dress shoes.

His grandma handmade this apron for him.

As you can see, Thomas enjoys hamming it up for the camera.

She embroidered a spider on it because he likes Spiderman so much and it was the closest she could get to that. I think it's very cute! Now we'll have to make some cookies so he can have an excuse to wear it. Megan can wear hers, as well. We had plenty of cake left over, so we went to our friends' house and shared it with them. It was another great day.

Our Jedi Knight turned 5!

Thomas turned 5 two Sundays ago. He was so excited. He's been counting down for months. (Sounds a little like me.) He is obsessed with Lego Star Wars, so naturally we threw a Star Wars party for him. He invited 5 friends to come to the Jedi Training Facility to celebrate his birthday with cake and games. I was still working on decorating the Costco cake when his friends arrived, so they ran outside and played for a bit in the Jedi Temple (trampoline). Michael made some cool Padawan costumes for Thomas, Mason, McKenzie, and all our guests. Their training began by using their lightsabers to keep balloons in the air.

Once they were tired of that, we moved on to saving Princess Leia and Padme from some latex orbs, but three out of the six Padawans (including my own) promptly covered their ears and moaned about how they didn't like popping balloons. So we nixed that game and moved on to the podracers. The boys raced in wagons in teams across the lawn and back, switching places at the turnaround point.

The wagons weren't equal, so we wound up pushing them to make them go faster. No winners, no losers, just plain fun. Next up was the obstacle course. This was the most difficult part of training. The Padawans were split into two relay teams. I don't think many 5-year olds have much experience with relays, because this was a tough crowd. It took a bit for them to grasp the concept. Anyway, they began by racing across the patio on a speedracer,

then shimmying through a tube,

crawling under a balloon compactor,

going over, under, and over some beams,

weaving between galactic stools,

running in between ladder rungs, and then finally balancing their way up a beam to their teammates.

This was by far their most favorite activity. They wanted to do it over and over. At last we went in to open the presents, sing Happy Birthday and enjoy the cake.

The whole party was so much fun. The kids were great and Thomas had such a blast. It was challenging to explain to him afterwards that he was still 4 years old, and that we would be celebrating his 5th birthday as a family on his actual birthday, when he would really be 5. The day after his birthday, he wondered if he was still 5, or if he was 4 again.

(Maybe we shouldn't have used trick candles on his cake!)

Here is a shot of the cake before we put candles in the palm of Yoda's hand.

Happy Mother's Day!

One of my friends recently blogged some of her thoughts on motherhood. I loved what she wrote, so here is a link to her post so you can read it too! I really liked when she mentioned having some days where she feels like crawling under a rock, and having other days where it seems like she's got this figured out. Most days seem to have moments of both for me. She mentioned so many other things that I could relate to. Great post, Tiffani.

I hope you had a great Mother's Day. I enjoyed mine. After church and lunch, Michael brought in presents for me and asked if I was ready to open them. The cake wasn't made yet, the kids were finishing up their lunch, the counters were messy, and there didn't seem to be a single place in our home to take pictures without clutter in the background. I said, "Wait, where's the fanfare?" Michael immediately made a trumpet with his hands and blurted out a long loud regal fanfare for me, followed by his booming voice "Gather one and all for the opening of the Mother's Day presents!" with more fanfare after that. The kids thought it was hilarious. When he finished, they said, "Do it again! Do it again!"

Now that I had my fanfare, we proceeded with opening the presents and cards. I figured, this is life. This is my life. I need to just live in the moments of it and not worry about how clean my house is or whether everything is done in a proper order. Who sets up the order of things, anyway? Cake is not necessary to open presents.

Honestly, to me the best part of the whole day was seeing the cards McKenzie and Thomas had made for me, and reading what they wrote. They were precious. McKenzie thought she was capturing the entire moment on the camcorder, but either the record button didn't get pushed at all until the end, or it got pushed twice in the beginning. So, this is another one just for the books. At least I have the cards, which I sincerely promised to keep forever and plan to scrapbook at this month's craft night.

We tried to get a Mother's Day picture with all the children and me, but Megan was past due for her nap. She refused to smile and soon pitched a fit. The moment was so typical for me that we just laughed. Then I comforted her and took her to her room for a nap. She fell asleep in my arms. That was a sweet Mother's Day moment. It's been quite a while since I've had a child fall asleep in my arms.

Here we are finding the humor as Megan screams "NOOOO!" to being prompted to smile.

And here is Megan being comforted.

What a sweetie.

Note to Future Self

We took the kids to A&W/KFC today for 90cent rootbeer floats, and overpriced overcooked chicken. There was a long line, so the kids and I went to wait at a table. McKenzie and her friend were awesome. They are almost 8 and just turned 8. Thomas was pretty good. He is almost 5. Mason (3.5) and Megan (2) were all over the place. I was able to keep them occupied for a short while, but soon they wanted to run around the restaurant and climb on other tables and chairs, and scream. (Of course I didn't let them run all willy nilly, but it was difficult to keep them in check. I was tied up with Thomas, Mason and Megan while Michael stood in line and ordered the food.) When the food came, Megan poured half of her rootbeer float on herself. She got very upset about it and cried loudly. Mason kept tilting his glass too much, and spooning out his drink, spilling it all over him. Neither one wanted to eat much. Thomas and McKenzie weren't too impressed with the food, either.

So, my note to my future self is this: DO NOT TAKE CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF 5 TO A RESTAURANT WITHOUT A PLAY AREA. And in case I've blocked out my young motherhood when I am older, may I remind myself to have compassion on families with young children. Believe that the parents are doing the best they know how, and offer kind smiles and support where possible. Kids are kids, not little adults.