April Vacation

Well, April vacation didn't go quite as planned, but we had some good days. The kids and I spent Monday here at my parents' with my mom. She had the day off for Patriots' Day. The kids watched movies and TV and they ate, and ate, and ate. They tend to do that when we are here. My mom and I played a few games of Phase 10. It's nice that Noah is getting old enough to entertain himself and to sit in the high chair and eat so I don't need to nurse him while playing a game now. Most of the time that works out anyway.

Zoe and I had this conversation Monday morning...
Zoe: "Did you always want 6 kids?"
Me: "Well, I started out wanting 8, and then I wanted 5, and I ended up with 6."
Zoe: "I think you should go back to wanting 8. I want more siblings."
Me: "No thank you.
Zoe: "Why not? The pain?"
Me: "Yes, and I'm done with babies."

For FHE, Eleanor was on the lesson, so I got out my FHE idea basket (which could use some simplifying) right before FHE and I found a lesson that was given to us from Kris and her family one year for Christmas. The lesson "I am a Child of God" had an activity idea, so I asked Eleanor if she wanted to do that for her lesson and she said yes. Eleanor would choose someone in our family and then the rest of us would say 1 thing to describe that person. I said that Zoe is smart, Emily is helpful at home and at school, Eleanor is fun, Zach is independent, Noah knows how to crawl, and Matt is handsome. Kate was off playing on her own. I don't remember what everyone said about everyone else, but Zach said that Matt has handsome clothes, Emily started to be negative when she was describing Eleanor, but then she changed her wording to be more positive and said Eleanor likes to be inside when everyone else is outside. Zach said that Noah is cute. Zach has a hard time leaving Noah alone lately. Zach is always hugging or kissing Noah or carrying him around, which is sweet, except it always makes Noah cry. When Zoe described something about me she said, I think you should have 2 more kids. The point of the activity was to remember that we are all different, but we are all children of God and He loves us all. I thought it was a great lesson considering it was very last minute.

On Tuesday, we were supposed to go visit Tasha and her kids in Deer Isle, but Emily woke up sick, so we stayed home. I wasn't sure if Emily had some type of stomach bug or if she ate too much the previous day. The kids watched movies all day and I cleaned. It rained all day. I was cleaning in the bathroom when I heard Emily throwing up in the hallway. I was so thankful she was carrying the throw up bucket because I had blocked the door to the bathroom with the laundry baskets to keep Kate out of the bathroom. Matt said Emily should earn a medal for that one.

I read a book to Kate in the afternoon. Whenever I would point to an animal that she didn't know she would say "mommy". When Kate is hurt or embarrassed and someone asks her if she is okay she'll say, "No, I want mommy!"

My conversation with Eleanor in the evening...
Eleanor: "I can't wait to be a mom. I'm going to marry Nathan!(Dauk) He's nice."
I think Nathan is a great choice. :-)

Everyone was healthy again on Wednesday. It was still rainy outside, so I took the kids to the Children's Museum in the afternoon. I didn't bring a camera because I just wanted to enjoy the kids and not worry about taking pictures. Well, I wished I had my camera when Kate was in the Goodnight Moon room, sitting in a chair with 3 stuffed bears each sitting in a chair and Kate was singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" to them. It was such a precious moment! This was the first time for Noah to be able to get down and explore at the museum. The Goodnight Moon room was perfect for him because it wasn't crowded. It's a room for children 5 and under, so it's more peaceful in there. The kids were happy to get out of the house and to be active all afternoon. When we got home, Matt was in the process of putting our pizzas together. Everyone is happy when we have pizza for dinner. :-)

Noah woke up in the middle of the night, but he didn' want to nurse like usual. Then he threw up on me. Matt asked if he spit up or threw up. He threw up, but it was mostly liquid. I got up with him and got out container that I converted into a Noah sized throw up bucket. He threw up in it once and then fell asleep. We went back to bed and slept lightly the rest of the night worrying that Noah was going to throw up on me again. He nursed after he threw up, which made me nervous to feed him, but he went to sleep and didn't throw up again. He did have a fever all day Thursday. Eleanor was also sick on Thursday. She slept most of the day and threw up once. I happened to be in the living room when she was acting like she was going to be sick, so I moved the bucket in front of her. I'm not sure if she would have used the bucket if I hadn't been there. This was another day that our plans were changed because we were supposed to go to Sunshine's so Zoe and Emily could work on their skirts and the other kids could play together. Zoe and Emily were not happy when they found out we were staying home! I held Noah all day while listening to Glenn Beck and reading. In the last week or so, I finished "Lone Survivor", read "Walk 2 moons", and I am now reading "Shanna", which is my mom's favorite book. It was a cloudy day on Thursday, but not raining, so the kids were in and out of the house all day.

Zoe was reading my 2006 blog that is in a binder when she gasped and said to me, "You were married when you married Dad?!"
I froze. Am I really going to have this conversation?
Me: "I was married when I met your Dad."
Zoe: "Wow!...Are you serious?...You mean I could have had a different Dad?"
Emily was listening closely.
Me: "Or a different Mom"
Zoe: "That is so weird! What was the guy's name?"
Me: "Ron"
Zoe: "Is he the one in Grammie's scrapbook that you went to the dance or prom with?"
Me: "Was my dress blue?"
Zoe: "Yes"
Me: "Yes"
Zoe: "Did you marry Ron in the temple?"
Me: "No"
Zoe was shocked! This was the time to remind her why it is so important to find the right guy who will take her to the temple. I made a mistake, but fortunately I have a happy ending. I really didn't think I would have this conversation for a long time...or never.

Zoe had softball practice Thursday evening. I sat in the Yukon and watched her while holding Noah. It was the first time I watched Zoe practice softball. She did very well condering she has very little experience. My parents stayed for most of the practice, so my mom sat with me in the Yukon.

Eleanor felt much better yesterday, but Noah still had a fever and wasn't his active self. The sun came out, so we had our first ice cream of the season at the Dairy Port. Before we got in the Yukon to go to the park, Zoe said her hip hurt and she had a hard time walking. We went to the park and all of the kids got out to play, but Zoe stayed in the Yukon. I told her I would let the kids play for a little while and then we would go home. The kids played for about 10 minutes and then I went to check on Zoe. She was near tears and said she was in a lot of pain. Where she pointed to earlier made me wonder if something was going on with her appendix, but I wasn't sure if it was the right side or not. I rounded up the kids, which was not an easy task, and we headed for the doctor's office, which wasn't far away. I parked and was ready to go into the office when Zoe said she was better. I asked her if she was better because we couldn't afford the doctor's visit or if she was better because she wasn't in pain anymore. She said she felt better, so we headed back to the park. I'm not sure if she just had a cramp or if she was having growing pains or what, but parking in front of the doctor's office seemed to be the miracle cure. If only all the cures were that easy and cheap! A high school baseball game was about to start when we got back to the park, so I watched some of the game while the kids played. The park was crowded with lots of kids who were happy to see the sun and to be outside! The game was called in the 5th inning. I think the score was 15 to 3, Bucksport beating George Stevens Academy. The kids and I went to the grocery store where we ended up getting much more than bread and an Enterprise (the local paper) and we also picked up 3 Redbox movies. We got a Dora movie for the younger kids, "Space Buddies" for all of the kids, and Matt and I watched "Nick and Nora's infinite playlist", which we thought was good.

We had a pattern of healthy day, sick day all week, so we anticipated someone to be sick today, but the pattern has been broken and everyone is healthy. Noah is pretty much back to full health. Kate had a slight fever in the morning, but she has been fine all day. Matt took Zoe, Emily, and Zach fishing this morning. I got my lesson all put together. I love it when I don't have to work on my lesson Saturday evening! My parents and I took the kids to the circus this afternoon. Zoe brought home 5 free tickets from her teacher a few weeks ago, which made it possible to go. Everyone in her class got a ticket and then Mrs. Lalonde gave Zoe some extra tickets, which was so thoughtful of her! We had a great time. The last time we went to the circus was on Emily's 2nd birthday and it wasn't that great. It has improved a lot and I was pleasantly surprised. Eleanor loved the fact that a family was part of the circus and I think she was ready to sign us up. I suppose we could shoot targets or something. There was an act where the announcer said "You'll see it, but you won't believe it." A couple came out and the lady kept changing outfits when she was hidden behind a curtain of sorts, but the changes happened so fast that Eleanor exclaimed, "He's right! I see it, but I don't believe it!" It was amazing and I'm curious how it was done. The kids ate snow cones and cotton candy and collected as many balloons as they could, which kept popping. Noah was cranky through much of the show, but his noise just blended in with the show and crowd. Kate didn't really know what to think of the show, but the older kids really enjoyed it. I think Zach enjoyed eating cotton candy.

My parents came over after the circus and we ate hot dogs with macaroni salad and jello salad. It was nice to feed them for a change. I escaped after dinner to blog. Noah is still cranky, so it hasn't been totally peaceful, though.