Last Day of School!

I used to worry that as an adult I wouldn't appreciate the fabulously lazy days of summer. My worries were in vain. I CANNOT WAIT for school to be out tomorrow. 3 months off from waking, prodding, nagging, finding 1 missing shoe, retrieving homework from underneath the couch, packing lunch, cruelly torturing the girls (aka doing their hair), and shoving food down 4 little throats, finding something to throw over my pajamas, throwing the whole family into the car only to discover the baby is stinky and leaking, changing baby in record time, all to be late anyway. No more homework, permission slips, carpools, and figuring out what to do with two little ones while volunteering in two big ones' classes. No more anxiety about getting kids to bed ontime on "school nights".

Yes, in a few months I'll be writing a post about the adventures of taking 4 kids grocery shopping, and bored and bickering children, but for now -- I've never LOVED summer more!

Oh, and congratulations to Anna and Abby on a job well done in 3rd Grade and Kindergarten! I guess they did some work too.

Perhaps their teachers also deserve a little credit for doing a little something as well. :)

To all of us, happy LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!

Birds and Brits

Last night Abby went with me to the grocery store. While we were shopping she noticed a bird flying around above us in the store. She was fascinated by the fact that it was inside. Shortly after that, I heard two ladies next to us speaking to each other in a British accent. I motioned for Abby to listen and she was again fascinated. We finished our shopping and drove home.

The second we got home, she burst through the door and said, "Anna, there were birds and English people there!" You just never know what you're going to see at this grocery store of ours.

Benny's First Steps - Update

Update:

He hasn't walked much since the footage below was taken, but last night we were at my parents' house with several other family members and he was sort of just playing around when we heard him yelling for our attention. We looked over to see him leaning his backside against a couch and as soon as he had everyone's attention he grinned and took off with a few steps. What a show-off!

Benny's First Steps

Lookey here! Pardon the laundry, but how cute is that?

Hans and Franz Was It?

The kids found some batting and put it to good use.

I'm All Grown Up

I think I might officially be an adult because:

1. I actually purchased flowers for the graves.

2. I figured out that Chrysanthemums and Mums are the same thing.

3. I asked the produce man for help picking a good watermelon and smiled and nodded that I totally heard the difference in the sound when he knocked on a good one vs. a not as good one.

4. My kids are having "late nights".

5. I signed three kids up for soccer last week.

Little Stink

Tonight I looked over at Ben and could tell he had something in his mouth. "Ben, what do you have?" I said. He smiled and took a penny out of his mouth and held it out to me. Just before I got within reach, he smiled again and shoved it back into his mouth. He doesn't know how to walk or grow hair, but he's figured out how to tease? Should I be worried?

The Adventures of Benny

Most of you who are reading this probably already heard about Benny's great escape. For those who haven't heard this yet, read on. He's 13 months old and can't walk and yet we still managed to lose him...at church...on Mother's Day (just for a few terrifying minutes, but still...).

Sacrament meeting had just ended and John and Jamie (Brennan's parents) were leaving and our kids were going to their classes. After we got them all sent off Brennan and I turned to each other only to discover that neither of us had Benjamin. I sat there stunned for about 10 seconds not really believing it, then panic set me into motion. I ran out one side of the chapel to see if he was with Jamie, then I quickly decided she wouldn't have taken him back to the house without discussing it with one of us. I ran back into the chapel and started looking under pews. Cute young women kept coming up and asking me if I'd gotten my Mother's Day gift. I managed to not scream "I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE STUPID GIFT, FIND MY BABY!" Instead I sort of mumbled something incoherent as I brushed by them. After looking under all the benches, I felt my panic rising and was close to screaming and yelling right there in the chapel when I looked back and saw Brennan holding my darling little fugitive.

Evidently the little stink had managed to crawl out the other side of the chapel and out the doors where a friend of mine saw him cruising down the SIDEWALK around the church (not the one close to the street, but a few seconds more...) . He can't open the big doors going outside so all we can figure is he slipped out with a group exiting at just the right moment. Thankfully, someone noticed him and asked "whose baby is that?" My friend recognized him and brought him back in and handed him safely off to Daddy.

Happy Mother's Day to me.

Brennan's First Campout

So Brennan has a new church calling and it's High Adventure Scout Leader or something like that. Basically his job is to coordinate all the campouts for the 16-18 year old boys in our ward. There's only one problem, Brennan doesn't camp. When the YM's president met with him to explain what he would be doing, Brennan couldn't quit laughing. He told the YM's President that he was about to have the first woman in the YM's organization.

Well, they had their first campout and Brennan made it home alive and actually loved it. They went repelling "Aussie Style" and one boy almost smacked into the ground which caused Brennan to "accidentally swear." He doesn't think more than a few people heard his little slip. Another boy filled a 2 liter pop bottle with liter fluid and threw it into the fire for a flame-thrower effect. Brennan was the only leader still up when the episode happened and wasn't aware what was happening until flames started shooting out of the fire and onto nearby blankets. The boy panicked and froze somehow they managed to stomp out all of the flames before it got away from them.

Ummm, not sure if my boys will EVER be allowed to go on these campouts.

Maybe I Can Do It Again

So yesterday I drafted a post all about the things I HATE about my job. I was whining about things like laundry and making dinner every night. That's truly how I felt yesterday, and still do,there are just certain things I HATE. Maybe I'll finish and post it someday, but not today because just before I went to bed, Benny woke up crying. I went in and he was really upset, so I picked him up and rocked him. You'd think that maybe that would be old by now. It isn't. He snuggled into me while I smelled and kissed his big bald head and his big blue eyes slowly closed. There it was 11:30 at night after a really long day, but somehow I felt revitalized.

Then I remembered the day before when Anna had melted down and I actually managed to be patient and empathetic. I watched her countenance change from one of despair and darkness to a look of security and feeling loved. Instead of feeling irritated and anxious that it was past her bedtime I felt peacful and energized.

Maybe laundry and dinner aren't so bad, maybe I can do it again tomorrow.

Hello!

Hey, I don't really know what I'm doing. I've blogged before, but somebody else did all the set-up stuff. So, welcome and bear with me.

I'm excited,I've missed blogging and need an outlet like this. I can't promise it will be inspiring or even well-written, but if you're bored check out what's going on around our house. I can guarantee some pretty entertaining subject matters.