Birthday Party Before the Birthday

Zach turns 4 tomorrow!

We had a birthday party for him this evening with my parents. All of the presents he opened this evening were from my parents and my grandmother.


When Eleanor got her Nintendo for Christmas, I told Zach that he could get a Nintendo when he turns 5. Well, he has proved since then that he can play on it just as well as Eleanor, so he was very happy to open this...

Zach was not interested in his cake after opening his Nintendo, but we convinced him that the rest of us were interested in his cake, so he let us sing to him...

and he blew out his candles...

and then he was off to play with his Nintendo.

Kate enjoyed the cake.

Zach did, too...he decided he wanted a piece right before we read our scriptures and had family prayer. Since he was reverent during both, we let him have a piece.

Having the Nintendos is nice at bedtime. Zoe and Emily can either read in the living room from 7-8pm or they can go in their room and play on their Nintendos from 7-8pm. Eleanor has been able to play on her Nintendo from 7-8pm in her bed and Zach watches her. Now he can play on his own Nintendo during that time and he is so excited! I'm glad, too because things settle down quickly at 7:00 when the kids have their Nintendo playing time to look forward to.

Trying to stay balanced

I have felt lately that I'm not getting done what I want to/need to everyday and this blog is proof since I haven't written since Tuesday. I've thought about making a chart of the things I want to accomplish everyday, but I have yet to do that either. It's important to me to have a balanced day meeting physical, spiritual, and emotional needs for myself and for the kids. It can be overwhelming to think of ALL the things that need to get done each week. It helps me to stay focused and to be productive when I take one day at a time and set little goals for each day, but lately I have just felt overwhelmed. Finding the balance between cleaning and taking care of/playing with the kids can be tricky and stressful. Wednesday, I spent the majority of the day cleaning the kids' room. It really needed it! I did take time to play with Zach, but I had a hard time enjoying that time because I was surrounded by messes that needed to be put away and I was focused on what needed to get done. Yesterday, I had a few things I wanted to get done, but I never got around to them. I did play more with the kids, which was fun, but at the end of the day I focused on what didn't get done. I feel good about my day when I am able to do a little bit of cleaning, a little bit of playing with the kids, a little bit of blogging, a little bit of preparing for my Sunday School lesson, and when I take the time to pray and read the scriptures.

Anyway, here are a few highlights from the week. Awhile ago, I played a game with Eleanor after school that I made up to find out more about her day. I told her I would tell her something about my day and then she had to tell me something about hers. She thought it was fun and I had fun because I learned specific things about her day. It was funny because I had noticed a lot of marker on her hands and arms the day before and when we were playing this game, she told me that her class couldn't use the markers anymore. Why she had marker all over her made sense after that! I think the kids in her class took advantage of the sub they had while her teacher was out due to surgery. I'm glad Mrs. Pelletier is back now! So, Wednesday night as we ate dinner Eleanor thought it would be fun for us to go around the table and share something about our day. It was fun! That was my cleaning day and I had found some things of Eleanor's that had gone missing, so I revealed to her what I had found during this game. One of the things I had found was her Nintendo pen...which is now missing again!

Yesterday morning, I loved watching Kate sit in the middle of the living room with a basket full of board books. She took one out, looked at it, then put it aside and picked up another one. She was so content and so cute.

Jerry and Judy came over for a visit yesterday. They brought Zach a toy crocodile that grows in water and a little toy robot for his birthday, which is tomorrow. Zach has been counting down the days this week! Zach was afraid the toy crocodile was going to bite him, but after awhile he realized it wasn't going to bite him and he played with it. Kate loved the crocodile, which caused fighting between Zach, who didn't want to touch the crocodile, but didn't want Kate touching it either, and Kate, who kept taking the crocodile to play with it. Now the crocodile is sitting in water to grow.

I took Zoe to Activity Days last night (I've been calling Activity Days Achievement, but I am going to call it by it's updated name now...you know like calling Enrichment meeting Homemaking meeting because old habits are hard to break...) at Sunshine's house. I took Zach with me to play with Kai and Koa. Zoe and Kayla made a crossword puzzle to use during a Family Home Evening lesson. We stayed an extra hour when it was done, so Zoe could play with Kai and Koa. She loves playing with them and being at Sunshine's home! I didn't mind because I enjoy visiting with Sunshine. Matt had his High Council meeting last night, but he asked if he could call in because his car won't start, so we are down to just the Yukon running right now.

We are disconnecting our phone today, so for those of you who have our number, you'll be getting a new number soon...unless you are long distance because we're only going to have local calling. We'll probably get a calling card for long distance calling at some point. We have Vonage, which is a bargain, but it connects through our cable and we are disconnecting our cable next week. It was a hard decision to make since we won't have internet in our home anymore, which means I won't be able to update my blog everyday...or every few days, and get on Facebook everyday, etc..., but we are focusing on needs right now and having the internet hooked up at home is not a need...really, it's not. I'm hoping to get over to my parents' house once a week to update my blog and get on the internet. We have one more week to enjoy this luxury!

Pure Joy

My day actually went as planned. I cleaned in the morning and we had nap time in the afternoon. I made Zach a tent in the living room after I put Kate in her crib for a nap. I read a few books to Zach under the tent and then I covered him up. I laid down with Noah and fed him, and then we all fell asleep. I woke up right before the girls got home. I thought Zach would wake up when the girls got home, but he slept for a few more hours. I took a picture of Zach and Noah right before the girls got home and right before Noah woke up.


The memorable moment of the day was when I was on the internet with Zoe, helping her e-mail her birthday wish list to her grandma and I turned my head just in time to see Kate showering the living room with shredded carrots. She was having the time of her life!

3 is quieter than 6

Yesterday was a busy, loud, long day. I got A LOT of laundry done, but I heard A LOT of crying from Noah and other children while I did it. I haven't had a full laundry day in a long time because it's exhausting, but when I was sending kids to the dirty laundry baskets on Sunday to find tights and sweaters, I knew a full laundry day had to be done.

The kids did a good job of entertaining themselves for the most part. They watched a few movies and got on YouTube for a brief time, but most of the time they played...and argued...and ate. The older 4 kids went outside to play in the late afternoon, but it was very cold outside, so they didn't last too long out in the snow.

I had told Zach on Sunday that we would try out my new exercise mat and exercise tape on Monday, so he kept asking me about it yesterday. I finally told him that I would get it all out and he could exercise while I put away laundry. He was happy until Kate insisted on being on the mat, too. A little later, Eleanor was exercising on the mat to one of my FIRM videos. It was so cute when she was doing stomach crunches and I heard her say, "Ow! This hurts my belly!"



Snow is still lightly falling from the sky, but Zoe, Emily, and Eleanor are on their way to school. I was sending them to school whether there was school today or not. :-) This is the second day that I have woken up with a sinus headache. I'm planning on getting the bathroom cleaned this morning and then the kids and I are going to take a nap together again this afternoon.

Emily's Post

Emily updated her blog.

Zoe's Post

Zoe updated her blog.

Again

March is coming in like a lion. We have another snow day today! Zoe's reaction after she found out today is a snow day..."It is?! Awesome!" Eleanor's response was..."This is just like last Monday!" Yes, I am well aware. Emily is just tired because she couldn't find her blankie last night at bedtime and she didn't sleep well last night. I think she will appreciate her day to catch up on rest AFTER she gets over her grumpiness. Zach is happy to have his sisters home today to keep him company.

Now for some notes from the past couple of days.

Sunday: Our kids do a lot better in Sacrament meeting when they don't bring anything into the chapel with them...even scriptures. Zoe and Emily are capable of having their scriptures with them, but the younger children end up fighting over them eventually and make noise flipping through the pages. Yesterday was a good reminder to make sure nothing gets brought into Sacrament meeting.

Emily was the first Primary child to share her testimony during Sacrament meeting. Zoe shared her testimony as well. Eleanor wanted to get up, but she was scared. She wanted me to help her, but I told her that she was not ready to get up and share HER testimony if she needed my help. I don't think children should get up in testimony meeting just because all the other children are doing it. I want my children to share their testimonies when they realize what a testimony is and they realize that they have one. Then they can share it.

Zoe wrote her own talk for Primary and I was able to hear it yesterday. She did a wonderful job! Matt left Priesthood early to hear it, but he ended up missing it. He did bring Zach into the bathroom to go potty. When Zach came out, he was very upset that Primary was over. He wanted the closing song and closing prayer to be done over again and he cried A LOT about it.

Sonia gave us a bunch of clothes for Zach. She said she had 3 different dreams that gave her the impression that she should go through her son's clothes and give the clothes he had outgrown to us. Interesting. I haven't gone through the clothes yet, but I wonder what is in there that Zach is in need of.
Kristen gave us a girls size 6 snowsuit. I am truly grateful for all of the people who think of us and give us clothing.

Saturday: I had a great time at Women's Conference. My mom came to pick me up and after several attempts to get out of our driveway, we were on our way. Noah came with us, too of course. Our Stake Relief Society President, April Boulier spoke to us and then we attended 2 classes. I watched part of "The Best 3 Hours" by John Bytheway and then I made a couple of cards. When we finished our cards, my Aunt Tonia and I went into the karaoke room to listen since our card making class got out early. My mom was in there listening, too with Noah. The women were really getting into their singing! We then gathered for lunch and ate yummy soup, bread, and salad. The big hit was the chocolate fountain. YUMMY! I sat with my mom, Patti, Dodie, and Courtney and we had a great time chatting. The women in our branch are awesome! We had one more class after lunch, so we all went to the laughter yoga class. Cheryl Crabtree taught the class and I could listen to her all day long. It was such a fun class! For our closing, we gathered in the chapel for a song and a few testimonies. I went to Women's Conference with the goal of filling my cup and it was overflowing when I left.

My mom and I stopped at the grocery store before coming home. My mom was sweet and bought us some groceries. Matt and I are both blessed with generous parents.
There was an older man at the grocery store who stopped to talk with me while I was waiting for my mom to pick out some Salmon. He was a good man as he tried to give me a pocket sized Bible for Noah. I refused it as I explained that we have scriptures at home to read to him. I agreed that it was very important to read the scriptures to our children and to teach them about the Savior. Yes, very important.

I have a wonderful husband! He spent Saturday morning from 8am to 12:30pm at 4 different basketball practices with 5 kids. Eleanor, Emily, and Zoe had their last practices in Orland and Eleanor and Emily had their first practices in Bucksport. Zoe is done with basketball practice now, but Emily and Eleanor have 3 more practices.

Friday: I made brownies with Zach and Kate. I didn't realize that Zach wanted to help with the butter until AFTER I had put the butter in a bowl and melted it. Zach cried about it as we finished making the brownies. I decided we were all going to take a nap after we made the brownies, so I read a story and then put Kate down for a nap. Then I made a bed for Zach in the living room and one for myself and Noah. We all laid down and I fed Noah to sleep. The phone rang. I ignored it. I think I fell asleep, but I was awake when the phone rang again. I ignored it. It rang again, so I got up and answered it. It was the school nurse. Of course. The one time I settle us all down to relax and sleep, and the one afternoon I ignore the phone, it would be the school nurse trying to get a hold of me. Luckily, it wasn't about anything serious. Zoe developed a rash/hives just after lunch. When I talked with the nurse, school was about to end in 15 minutes, so I told the nurse it was okay to give Zoe some Benadryl and then have Zoe come home on the bus as usual. After thinking about it, I was glad I ignored the first call because I would have ended up getting all of the kids in the car to go get Zoe from school, instead of having a peaceful few hours. We're not sure what caused Zoe's rash and she still has patches of it here and there, but it's minor.

I think you are caught up on our happenings now. Besides having all of the kids home today, my day will be filled with laundry, laundry, and more laundry.

Will Noah walk before he crawls?

Noah's getting braver.



Now for some random notes...

Zach calls Raisin Bran ~ Raisin Brown.

As part of my "Spring" cleaning yesterday, I took all of the food out of the food pantry, cleaned the shelves and walls, and organized the food as I put it back in. It looks much better!

I have a cold and spend most of my time sneezing, but I'd rather be sneezing than coughing.

The last 2 Sundays, the kids have brought home flower pots and seeds from their Primary classes. We have growth from one of them! (the 2nd from left) I must admit that I was skeptical that anything would grow. We're much better at growing trees.


I prepared my Sunday School lesson this morning, so now I can go to Women's Conference tomorrow and enjoy it. :-)

Slow down, Noah!

When Zach was looking through a book this morning he said, "I can't wait until I can read!" His sisters' love of reading is a great example to him.

Zach, Kate, Noah, and I went to Storytime this morning. We were the only ones there today. Zach was in a talkative mood when we arrived, so he spent the first 5 minutes talking. He kept saying he had a question and then he would tell Mrs. Spooner something. Kate and Zach took turns sitting in the rocking chair throughout storytime. I was a bit surprised at how well they shared the chair. Noah slept the entire time, which was nice.

Speaking of Noah, he has learned something new today.

I first noticed him like this on Eleanor's chair. I did a double take because I wasn't expecting to see him like that! I also saw him crawl this afternoon, but he still prefers to plop down on his belly to move forward.

Zoe, Emily, and Eleanor had a half day of school today. They have gone to school 1 full day since February 12th! It's no wonder they are still in school the middle of June!

I didn't have to do the dishes this evening thanks to Zoe and Emily. They cannot be in the bathroom together when it's time to get ready for bed without getting into trouble. I could hear them fooling around and then Zoe came out to show me her soaked shirt, which of course was Emily's fault. I skipped the 4 strikes and went straight to "You both are doing dishes this evening". I had them pick from 2 pieces of paper that said "Put away" and "Wash". Emily put away the dishes and Zoe washed them. So, Matt will come home to a clean kitchen later. :-)

The kids (mostly Emily) picked up the living room and their bedroom, so they were able to watch "The Brady Bunch" before going to bed. I think Zach was a bit bored, but the girls enjoyed it. I usually let all of the kids stay up until 8:00 when Matt is coming home late, which is what they did this evening.

Help

I want to change my header, but I have no idea how. How do I make one WITHOUT SPENDING ANY MONEY???

I feel a cold coming on

Noah can now go from his knees and hands to a sitting position. He follows me around the house by getting on his knees and then plopping down on his stomach. He is also starting to say "mama", but it often comes out as "mba mba"

We forgot to have Eleanor bring her penny house project to school today for 100s day! She's going to bring it in tomorrow.

Eleanor brought home her math-a-thon workbook today. She was so excited to have "homework" to do! She finished the entire book before washing dishes and going outside to play.

Poor Kate has had diarrhea the past couple of days.

I tried vacuuming today, but our vacuum is not working right. I did the best I could with the hose part that is working.

I went to visit teach Priel Johnson this evening and then I went to visit my mom. We played Phase 10 and then we watched "Glenn Beck" which she had taped earlier in the day. It was my first time watching the show and I enjoyed it.

I became a Great-Aunt today. Andi Michelle Osborne was born at 2:45pm. She is beautiful.

I am grateful for autosave since Noah just turned the computer off while I was typing this!

The kids are back to school

The girls managed to get out the door on time this morning even though we got up a half hour late. They are on the bus heading to school. :-)

Remember the snowman that was made on Thursday?...

Here he is with his wife yesterday...

The kids had a lot of fun yesterday making snow forts in the deep snow. Zach loves being outside with Zoe and Emily. Eleanor likes to play outside, too, but she never lasts as long as her siblings. Usually one of the kids comes in crying at some point because of a fight, but they got along great yesterday.

I did a lot of baking/cooking yesterday. I helped Zoe make cinnamon rolls in the morning...not the from scratch kind like Matt made, but the open the can and stick it in the oven kind. Zach wanted cake for his Family Home Evening treat, so I baked my first cake from scratch. It was pretty good. The kids helped decorate it. The H is hard to see, but it says FHE.

I also made macaroni and cheese for lunch and pizza for dinner. I have no plans to cook anything today.

On Sunday afternoon, Zoe made a diorama about the creation. She used it for her lesson last night. She did such a great job!


Here is a random picture of Eleanor and Noah. It is so sweet!


I have a sore on my tongue and my throat is a bit sore, but I got a lot of sleep last night and I am motivated to get some cleaning done today.

Vacation Extended

No school today. My plan is to sleep...HA! Kate never went back to bed last night. She would fall into a light sleep on my chair and then wake up when I would try to go to bed. Noah woke up, so at 2:30 when our power went out, I brought Kate and Noah to bed with me. The power came back on about a half hour after going out and I was glad because Noah was awake and he was restless with me holding him in the dark. I came out into the living room and fell asleep on the floor while he played. He eventually fell asleep on the floor as well and we slept until just after 6am.

The lights are flickering

It is snowing. We're supposed to get heavy snow and wind from 12-2am. It's supposed to snow throughout the morning. I think tomorrow is going to be a snow day.

Our power went off for just a second this morning as we were getting ready for church...long enough to have to reset all the clocks. So annoying!, although Matt was the one who reset them.

My lesson went okay today, but with more preparation it would have been better, so my goal this week is to spend at least 15 minutes a day preparing for next week's lesson. I read most of the scriptures that are part of the reading assignment for next week, but then I fell asleep. I'm typing this as I'm trying to wake up. Noah fell asleep, too, but is now awake, so we could be up for awhile.

Matt, Zoe, Emily, and Zach went to church in Machias today. They got home right after I did, which surprised me because usually they get home a few hours after I do. They have shortened their meetings in Machias, so they now meet for an hour and a half. There are no kids in the Machias primary, so our kids are usually the only kids there, unless there are other visitors. So the sharing time part of primary would last 2 hours because there are no primary classes. 2 hours is a long time to keep kids busy learning through activities and songs. Our kids always come home from Machias with fun papers from the activities they did, but I'm sure Sister Brown is grateful for the shortened time she'll have primary now when our kids are there. Matt is over Machias, so he goes once a month, although he went twice this month because his speaking assignment was there.

Noah isn't officially crawling yet, but he has a few new tricks.


He is so close to sitting from a crawling position. My mom said he did it today while I was teaching my lesson, but I haven't seen him do it yet.

Aimee gave Kate a teddy bear right before Sacrament meeting today. During the meeting, Kate tugged on the bottom of my shirt and insisted that I nurse her teddy bear! Aimee gave me this cute bag, a pilates video, weight balls, and soap. Aimee gave the soap to Eleanor after Eleanor wondered what was for her when Kate received the teddy bear. I've never done Pilates before, but I'm willing to give it a try.


Kate is now up. She was crying in bed, so I brought her into the living room and she is now watching the animated version of "Lazarus". I'm hoping she'll fall back asleep while watching the movie.

Emily's teacher, Mrs. Wight brought us over a few bags of clothes this afternoon. She has triplets that are in high school, so Zoe will get to wear the clothes first. Some of the clothes are too big for Zoe, but we will put them away until she grows into them. Zoe was just wishing the other day that she had a robe, so when Zoe pulled a robe out from the bag, she was very excited!

I wore a sweater today that Tiffany gave to me. We are surrounded by such generous and thoughtful people!

Eleanor, Emily, and Zoe had their basketball practices yesterday and then the kids and I went over to my parents' house and Matt headed to work. We watched high school tournament games, my mom and I played a couple of games of Phase 10, the kids watched movies, and we ate yummy food. During Family Council this evening, Zach mentioned how much fun it is to go to "Grammie's house". We all agree. :-)

Vacation is almost over

Zach slept until 12:30 this morning. I was still up with Noah when he woke up. An hour later, Noah was asleep and I was ready for bed, but Zach was of course wide awake. He was in a good mood, though. I got him set up to play on the computer and then I went to bed. He came in a while later and told me he was done playing on the computer. I put a Dora video on for him and then again went to bed. He didn't wake me up again until 6:30. I guess he fell asleep on my chair at some point after I put the video in for him.

One thing I wanted to do today was grind some wheat and I did it! I haven't been super productive lately and I am getting behind on everything, but we now have wheat flour to make delicious bread. Zach, Eleanor, and Emily helped me. The process involves plugging in our wheat grinder and hooking it to the bucket that came with the grinder, turning the grinder on, scooping out a cupful of wheat, dumping it into the grinder, and repeating the scooping and dumping process 4 times. When the wheat is gone and grinder makes a higher pitched sound, we count to 10 before shutting off the grinder. Then we turn the grinder off, unhook the bucket, dump the flour into a 5 gallon bucket, hook the grinder bucket back to the grinder, and turn the grinder on again. Then we repeat the scooping and dumping process. This is the second time Zach has helped me grind wheat and I think he could do it himself if he wanted to.

I am thankful for the wheat that the Booths gave to us!

At 12:45 (our meeting time was 12:40, but somehow I missed the turn at Russell Hill Road and ended up going all the way into town and then heading to Orland), we met Tiffany at the Shell gas station to pick up Zoe and bring her home. I found out that Zoe and Morgan had fun playing together yesterday afternoon and evening until Morgan started throwing up around 8pm. Zoe spent the rest of the time there playing with the dog and Morgan's little brother, Nathan.

I'm glad we went for a ride this afternoon because Noah fell asleep in the car and then took a 3 hour nap. I was able to get the kids fed, eat some soup, do the dishes, put away laundry, work on my lesson, and I put the fairy hooks and paper holders back up on the wall that had fallen down. I got serious this time and used screws instead of nails. It felt great to get so much done! The kids took turns playing on the computer and Zoe, Emily, and Zach went outside for a bit before dinner. Eleanor and I worked on making a picture of a house out of 100 pennies for her 100th day of school on Monday. Eleanor counted out 100 pennies, but I need to recount the pennies on the picture because after talking on the phone with Capital One while gluing pennies to the paper, I heard Eleanor say 103. There are pennies left over, so I think there are 90 something pennies actually.


Zoe and Emily worked on their Math-a-thon books today. We have yet to attempt to collect any pledges, and they are due on Monday.

Emily is the one who gets the most strikes these days and ends up doing some cleaning in the kitchen before bed. She had a meltdown this evening when we told her she was washing the dishes. She hates washing the dishes, which is why we chose that job. I think we have been too easy on her in the past because she doesn't seem to mind getting strikes. Her American Girl doll and her Nintendo went into timeout before she started the dishes and her blanket was next, but she got up to do the dishes before Matt could get his hands on it. Emily was putting up such a fuss before and while washing the dishes that Eleanor exclaimed about Emily, "She is freaky!" Spoken just like a teenager.

Noah is crying...

Fun in a snowstorm

Matt spent the day with us today since he couldn't get to work in his Saab because of the snow. If he had something important to do, he would have taken the Yukon, but he didn't and the kids and I had plans in Ellsworth today, so Matt came along. But before we left, Zach and Zoe built a snowman...our first this winter!

They built a wife for the snowman, but I didn't get a picture of the two of them.

Zoe had Achievement at 11am at the church. Zoe, Morgan, Summer, and Kayla each decorated a binder to keep a record of their activities they do during their activity days. Zoe already has a page done about the pillow case she made. Their siblings and the adults hung out in the gym and played. We had snacks, played with basketballs, and when all the kids insisted on leaving the gym, Matt started a tame version of "Buffalo" with the kids. We ate a quick lunch of SpaghettiOs and then most of us headed to "The Grand" for the $1 movie, which we thought was going to be "The Tale of Despereaux", but ended up being a showing of "Wall-E" because the other movie was broken. I was not excited to watch "Wall-E" again, but I wasn't about to tell the kids we weren't staying, so "Wall-E" it was. Zach was very excited! I actually enjoyed the movie this time around and I thought it was pretty funny. I think Zach and Kate were the loudest in the theater as they exclaimed "Wall-E" throughout the movie. I kept Kate happy with Swedish Fish through some of it. Matt took Noah window shopping while the rest of us watched the movie. Here are a few pictures of the kids before the show. It was so dark that I couldn't see them, so I just aimed the camera in their direction and hoped for the best. Here is Kate saying cheese...

To my right was Zoe, Morgan, Emily, and Brittyn (with Summer behind them)...

To my left was Tiffany, and I got a picture of Zach, Eleanor, and some of Nathan...

The show was beginning when I snapped the picture. Eleanor was scared at the end of the movie and I remembered that she was scared at the end the last time we saw it. She insisted on sitting with me, which lasted about a second until Kate noticed, so Eleanor sat on the corner of my seat and Kate sat on my lap.

Zoe went home with Morgan after the movie to spend the night. Zoe was so worried that the snow was going to ruin her fun plans today, but we were all willing to go ahead with them, which made Zoe very happy! Emily on the other hand became grouchy on the way home and complained that she was bored and that she was going to be bored the rest of the evening. Eleanor joined in with her. Emily is in her glory when she is watching a movie or playing on the computer, but she couldn't do either when we got home and she didn't have Zoe here to distract her, so she was miserable, and she made the rest of us miserable! We made chocolate chip cookies and we ate dinner, but it wasn't until she was on the computer after cleaning up and getting ready for bed that she had fun.

Zach fell asleep on the way home and he is still asleep...6 hours later! I really hope he continues to sleep until the morning.

It feels like tomorrow should be Sunday since we had a family day today, but I'm glad it's not because I still need to prepare my Sunday School lesson. I left my lesson manual and scriptures at the church today...thank goodness I can read my lesson on the internet!

I know I am being watched over (along with my family) when I leave the bathroom at church and the door shuts on Eleanor's fingers, who is right behind me, but she isn't seriously hurt, and the little piece of plastic that I see on the floor at home gets forgotten about and doesn't get picked up and then Noah finds it and tries to eat it, but I get it out before any serious damage is done. Thank you!

Another day of life

A Netflix tip I learned last week here works! This is what I learned...Use the #1 position as a placeholder. When a DVD gets bumped from “Saved Movies” to the regular queue, there is a release date listed on the right hand side, usually a few weeks away. If it is a movie that I am just chomping at the bit to see, I will bump it up to the #1 position in my queue even before it’s released. That way I am sure to be one of the first people to get it. The longer the movie sits at your #1 position, the higher priority you get in receiving it.
I wasn't expecting to see the title "High School Musical 3" when I opened our Netflix movie yesterday, but there it was and the kids were so excited! I moved this movie, which hadn't been released yet, to the #1 spot as suggested and we received it the day the DVD was released. Cool! We opened the movie too late last night to watch it, so the kids watched it right after they got up this morning. I didn't like it as much as the first 2 movies, but the kids liked it just as much. Eleanor is now waiting for High School Musical 4...she'll be waiting a long time.

We made it out of the house today. I dropped Zoe, Emily, and Eleanor off at the Miles Lane school for open gym and then I took Zach, Kate, and Noah to storytime. It has been so long since we have been to storytime that Mrs. Spooner kept calling Kate...Kaitlyn. After storytime, I brought the younger kids into the gym to run around a bit before coming home for lunch. The older 3 were exhausted after 2 hours of practicing basketball! Zoe got some one on one coaching while there, which was fun to watch.

Zoe has been skiing with my skies lately. She is realizing that it is harder than it looks!...it would probably be easier if she had skies that actually fit her.

Zach has Spring Fever. He is ready to get out and SWING!

I have started my "Spring" cleaning. I am scrubbing my house top to bottom. The kids helped wash walls this evening. I didn't ask any of them to do it, they just thought it looked FUN. Zoe asked me if I thought the walls would ever be shiny again and I said no, and she agreed.

I cut Kate's hair this evening. I haven't decided if it looks better than before. I tried to get a picture of Kate when she was awake, but she wouldn't keep still...like when I was cutting her hair...so I was able to snap a shot when she fell asleep. I'm hoping Matt will touch it up a bit when Kate gets her bath Saturday night because the more I look at Kate's hair, the more I realize I did a really bad job.


Matt is working late...the kids are asleep, except Noah...Noah is crying...

A Day of Activities

I wrote different activities on strips of paper and put them in a small paper bag. The kids took turns picking out a strip throughout the day and we did whatever activity was picked. I let Eleanor pick first since she is a middle child and she doesn't get to go first very often. We started out watching an episode of "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody". Then The Very Hungry Caterpillar game was picked. The older girls didn't want to play at first, but after I reminded them that I was playing, too, their attitudes changed and I think we all had a fun time playing. Bella Dancerella was picked next and we all cheered along with the video. We then watched an episode of "The Suite Life on Deck". Legos were then picked and there was some more mumbling, but we all had fun once the legos were out and we were playing. We ate a snack and then we made a marble run. Then we watched an episode of "Pink Panther". Zach loves watching "Pink Panther", so after he picked Read a Story, he whined that he wanted to watch another episode of "Pink Panther", so I let the kids watch another episode. They ended up watching several episodes while I toasted English muffins for lunch. We read "The Magic Hat" after lunch and then the kids each made a card to send to someone. Zoe read an Arthur book to everyone while I talked with my sister, Donna on the phone. Then the High School Musical dance mat was picked. I ended my call with Donna when Kate insisted on getting on the mat when it wasn't her turn, which created chaos. Kate was a challenge during many of the activities. We played Jenga, Attack Uno, and Go Fish. I let the kids watch 3 more episodes of "The Suite Life on Deck" and then I put our Netflix account on hold. The kids were not happy about this and actual tears came out of Emily's eyes, but it had to be done. Picking activities out of the bag just wasn't appealing anymore knowing that they couldn't watch any more shows. Emily played with her Hannah Montana video game and Eleanor got on the Nick Jr. website. I was tired and was actually ready to be done playing, so I was happy to let everyone veg out on video/computer games. Zach had picked "Don't Break the Ice" out of the bag and Zoe wanted to play it, so the two of us played one game. It was fun to have a balance today between tv and games. The kids had fun playing the games once we were playing them, but the thought of playing them at first wasn't too appealing. Zoe enjoys playing games more than her siblings. It was a long day, but I'm glad we had a plan and we did a lot of activities together.

Binkie-Free FOREVER

Life is back to normal here. By late morning on Friday, Eleanor was feeling much better. We're wondering if she was sick because of all the candy/donuts she ate on Thursday or if she caught the "bug" that is going around her school or a combination of both. This experience has made her more aware of what she eats now, so I think that is a good thing. The kids are still dealing with colds (Zoe is at the beginning of hers and is very stuffed up), but we are up and functioning.

Zoe and Emily had their Valentine parties at school Friday morning and then at 11:45 February vacation began. Emily went over to Daisy's house and had lots of fun! They went to the Children's Museum, they walked around the mall, the were given $5 to spend at the Grasshopper shop where Emily bought colored rocks and mood rings, Daisy's mom painted their nails, they ate pizza for dinner and watched "Wall-E".

Zoe came home and we watched "Dirty Jobs" and then later on the kids watched "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody". Zoe didn't have as much fun as Emily, but she handled it well. Emily shared her rocks when she got home and since Eleanor was supposed to go with Emily to hang out with Daisy's sister, Anna, Emily brought home a mood ring for Eleanor.

Saturday morning was busy with basketball. The girls received Valentine's and candy from their coaches. Eleanor didn't get to play Valentine games during her practice as she had hoped, so the Valentine card and candy she received after practice made up for that.

Eleanor and Zach spent the night at my parents' home Saturday night and Zoe and Emily got to hang out there for a few hours during the day. We had homemade pizza for dinner (I LOVE the taste of food in restaurants/fast food places, but I like the pizza I make much better than any pizza at a restaurant/pizza place around here.) and Zoe and Emily watched "Underdog".

I gave a talk in church yesterday and I taught my Sunday School lesson. They both went well, but I was happy when they were over and I could relax and enjoy the rest of the day. We went over to my parents' home for a late lunch/early dinner. Zoe and Emily stayed behind for a sleepover while the rest of us came home. Eleanor was falling asleep in her chair at 6pm, so without the older girls here, we were able to convince Eleanor, Zach, and Kate that it was bedtime. The were in bed at 6:30 and asleep by 7pm. :-)

We can now mention the "B" word (Binkie) without Kate freaking out and crying for it. She is a chatterbox now that her mouth is free to talk. It's also nice to see her entire face. I am so glad that Noah doesn't have a binkie that we would have to take away in the future.

The Facts

Matt left for Boston yesterday to attend a Law Conference.
The younger kids, including Noah have colds.
Noah slept a lot yesterday.
Noah and I were awake until 2am this morning.
Kate was awake on and off throughout the night calling for me.
I woke up at 4:45am to Kate and Eleanor calling for me.
Eleanor threw up in the toilet.
It is 5am and Eleanor, Zach, and Kate are watching "Meet Diego".
Noah is sitting on my lap.
Eleanor is staying home today.
Playdates are going to be canceled.
Matt will be home early tomorrow morning.