Tyler the Turtle Mummy

I just read my post from last night and it doesn't even make sense to me. Oh well. I am so tired. I was so glad that I was all done with costumes last night. Today was going to be a relaxing, have fun with the kids day before they went back tomorrow. Then Tyler came to me with that look on his face. I asked him what was wrong. That was a pointless question. That kid doesn't talk when he is sad or upset. He simply goes into what I refer to as "Turtle Mode". I could tell he was very upset. After several minutes of carefully prodding, I read his body language and ventriloquism to mean that he hated his Halloween costume. Never mind that he told me a month ago he wanted to be a vampire. And never mind that I had asked him more than once if he was sure before I bought the stuff. Now the tags are ripped off and the teeth have his slobber on them. So I am stuck. At first I told him he just needed to get over it and be a vampire this year. But after several hours of his turtle mode, I couldn't take it any more, and I asked him what he wanted to be. A Ghost. I wasn't sure how I would do it because they cannot wear masks to school. So I suggested a few alternatives and he settled on a mummy. How hard could that be? So off we went to Wal-Mart and then to Target to track down the needed supplies. After only five hours, his costume is almost done! I wish I had gone with the ghost. And next year, they have all been instructed that they will choose something we already have.

Fall Break

What do soccer games, toys, bridges, temple square, and pumpkins have in common? You'll never guess...that was my weekend. The kids have been out of school since Friday and they don't go back until Halloween. We have had a good time, but I don't know how much the teachers will enjoy them coming back wired on Wednesday!

Saturday was Hailey's first indoor soccer game. If you can even call it soccer. It is so different than the game we are used to watching her play. But it was a lot of fun! If you blink, you could miss something. It is so fast paced! It will take some getting used to the fact that you can kick it against the wall and the ball is still in play. Even though they didn't win, she had a blast!

After her game I ran some errands trying to round up what I still needed for some Halloween costumes. When I got back, Randy had taken all the kids to our friend's house while he helped them repair some sheet rock. I took advantage of the quiet house and cleaned out the toy closet. I was in it pretty deep when Randy returned, so he took the 5 oldest for a hike. I worked from 1-6 PM on that thing! I loaded up Randy's Jeep with toys and coats to send to DI. When the kids got home, they were quite surprised to see an almost empty toy room! Why is it that they don't care about a single toy until they are gone? Most of the toys are simply locked in a closet and they will each get to choose a bin every week or so to rotate through. I just can't take it any more! You figure, we have been collecting toys for 11 and a half years. That is 36 birthdays each with and average of three presents, Christmas X 37 with and average of 5 gifts each. That is about 284 toys. Each with an average of 10 pieces (all numbers being extremely conservative.) So I have 2,840 pieces to pick up 365 days a year. For eleven years. That is 11,402,600 toys I have picked up! OK, so these numbers may not be statistically accurate, but it gives you an idea, anyway!

Sunday was our Stake Conference. The thought of wrestling 6 kids in the dark for two hours seemed more than I could take. I know this is poor rationalization on my part, but our Sunday turned out to be very spiritually uplifting. More so than if we had opted for the wrestling, I think. We went to Salt Lake and watched them move the bridge over I-215 for a little while. It was compared to watching paint dry. It was moving pretty slowly, but when you are married to a civil engineer, these things are exciting.

After that, we went to Temple Square. Can I just say, this may be our new tradition? It was awesome! The kids loved it! After discovering acorns (Nathan recognized them from Ice Age!) we toured the visitor's centers. It has been a couple years since we have done that. Standing in front of the Christus, I showed Nathan that prints in his Jesus' hands and feet, and told him the story of the cruxifiction. I don't think he had ever heard that before- at least not that he comprehended. He just sat there staring for while. Then last night at dinner he asked what happened to the bad men that put the nails in Jesus' hands and feet.


We also went to a presentation on families that we had never been to before. You walked from room to room of a family's home watching different little clips about families. I was glad the lights were off because I got pretty emotional- as soon as we walked into the nursery. And I went down hill from there. The Spirit in there was incredible. I would love to take our friends there someday.

Hannah came down with a fever when we got home. She was acting a little strange there saying she was tired and wanted to lie down. She must have known they were all going to get flu shots today. Lucky for everyone I had to cancel the appointment!

My sister came over for dinner and then we made spiders out of suckers and some cheesecloth ghosts.

I spent a good part of today making a pumpkin costume. After only a few sewing machine glitches, I finished it. Hailey loves it. Randy took off work a little early and we went to the pumpkin patch to get our pumpkins. As always, the kids had a great time. Emma said, "cheese!" every time she saw the camera. She thought she was pretty funny.

Hannah wandered around for a while and then I asked her if I could help her find one. She said, "I'm trying to find one without dirt on it." That's my Hannah! And when it came to for carving, she wanted gloves on. It has always made me laugh- she is my one and only thumb sucker. yet, she can't stand things on her hands. Whenever she would take her thumb and finger out of her mouth, she would dry them off on her 'fluffy'. Yet if anyone else slobbered on her things, it had their 'germs' on it and she wanted it washed! Silly Hannah!

Snow Tanks

When we are driving in the car, Nathan loves to look for the water tanks on the hill by our house. He knows what they are for as I explained to the kids that they hold water for our homes. When he sees them he gets really excited and says, "There's the water tangs!" So the other day, he spotted them and then asked, "Mom, where are the snow tangs what give us ice?" I am amazed at the thought process of this little guy! He is so stinkin' smart!

All four of my kids in school entered the Reflections contest. Maybe that is why I was on my soap box the other day. I hate deadlines! It is just too stressful. Especially when trying to keep my home running smoothly, they are like little speed bumps.

The theme was "I Can Make a Difference". They all enjoyed doing it. Casey's was a required assignment. He drew a picture of himself and some fellow scouts and helpers removing a wrecked car from the canyon. He has already decided this will be his Eagle project. I didn't think to take a photo of it before he turned it in, so I'll post when when we get it back.

Hailey wrote a song. She just sat down at the piano one day, and out it came! Then she wrote some lyrics about being drug free, being a good friend and doing your part. She helped me on the computer enter in the notation. It was a great learning experience. Then my brother helped us record it and put it on CD. She may be the only one in the school that entered a musical composition.

Tyler made a sculpture of a cheetah out of Model Magic. It was really cute! Again, forgot to take a picture of it. His title was "I Can Help Endangered Cheetahs". He wrote that when he grow up, he wants to work in wildlife. I hope he actually does. I remember when I was younger, I wanted to work with baby tigers. He really loves "big cats"!

And Hannah drew a picture of herself and a few friends taking out the garbage (can you tell what has been the emphasis at my house lately?!) I love her little people! It is sad when their drawings evolve to more life-like looking pictures.

Emma has discovered independence. She walks around the house like one of the big kids. She even throws tantrums. At 16 pounds, she just seems too tiny to have figured that out! I guess I was hoping my 'baby' would just always be sweet and cuddly and never go through the toddler stage! What could I really expect? She has some good teachers!

Randy has been really busy with work. Not only is he still working on I-15, but now he is the project manager for the new Riverdale Road project. That is pretty intense. They have until January to complete the design. then construction will begin.

I am excited to be in primary. We had our first presidency meeting yesterday and a stake leadership training last night. The Spirit really touched me when one of the stake ladies was bearing her testimony that the Lord bought us with his life, and we need to pay him back with our service. Sometimes I think we lose sight of why we are serving. I now I have grumbled a few times about Randy's calling as scoutmaster. I try not to, and I think once I realized how much he enjoys it, I realized that was unfair of me. I hope I can keep things in perspective. After the meeting, a group of us went to TGI Friday's for dessert. It was tons of fun! I love being able to get out like that every once in a while. And Randy is always so sweet and lets me go. He has never once murmured about it. I am pretty lucky!

Allergies

When I was a kid, I hated milk. I still don't love it, but it's OK. But when I was in elementary school, it was awful! The milk sat out on a table at lunch and got warm and you had to take one. The only way you could get out of it was if you were allergic. So I used to try and tell the lunch ladies that I was allergic so I could have the ever so delicious Tampico :) ...not sure why I thought that would be better...

Last week, Hailey was getting on Hannah for not flushing the toilet. Hannah has always been afraid of flushing and now she thinks it will overflow if she puts toilet paper in. So she throws it in the trash. Now, I know this is perfectly acceptable in say...Brazil. But I don't want her leaving little presents in the garbage at other peoples' homes. So, here was Hailey enforcing the toilet rules we have in our home: "Did you wipe, flush and wash?" To which Hannah replies, "I'm allergic to flushing!"

I'm a 'Home'maker!

Ok, after that last post, I didn't want to sound too negative, so I'll leave you on a more positive note. Today, I went to pick Tyler up form a friend's house. I have met his freind's mom a few times before, but today was the first time I had been to their house. I was amazed at the cleanliness of her home....she has three boys. Need I say more? Anyway, I complimented her on it and she commented how hard she works at it. Then I asked her if she worked outside the home as well. She replied, "I'm a homemaker! And I love it!" It hit me today that the term 'homemaker' has been replaced by the 'politically correct' term "stay-at-home mom". I am guilty myself of using that phrase. Moms that work and moms that stay home. Is that all the world sees? I am here to say, there is much more than that! We are making our homes. And we work hard at it- making them havens for our families, a place they want to be. From now on, I will not make the mistake of calling myself a 'stay-at-home mom'. I am a HOMEMAKER!

My Soap Box

Please bear with me while I get on my soap box for a minute....I've been thinking a lot lately. Our life seems so busy, I feel we need to simplify. I have a friend who e-mailed me saying that she was contemplating home-schooling to simplify her life. She wanted me to talk out of it, the problem is- I agree with her. Now, this seems totally opposite of what you would think. I'm not saying either one of us would actually go through with it. I am very appreciative for my kids' teachers and the creativity, diversity and insight they have. But along with that comes a whole lot of fluff. Busy work.

I have already been to elementary school, and I don't care to do it again. But there is no way my kids can accomplish these extra assignments on their own. So I am stuck helping them. I use the word 'stuck' not because I feel raising and teaching my children is a burden, but because I feel they should get that done at school. If the teacher wants my 5th grader to write a 5 page report on Alabama, and prepare a 30 minute presentation, then teach him how. Don't send him home with a daunting task of reporting on a state he has no interest in. I am not the one coming up with this assignment, so don't make me do the work. I personally think elementary kids are too young for homework. And yet, I spend hours every day helping my elementary-aged kids with homework. You know something is wrong when your kindergartner comes home and tells you they didn't have recess because they didn't have time. And then she pulls out a folder full of homework she needs to do! How ironic that his very teacher won't have snack time because she doesn't want to contribute to childhood obesity in America! What happened to singing songs, eating gingerbread cookies and milk, and painting masterpieces?! I really don't care if she learns to read by Christmas. I would rather she enjoy being 5.

Then we hear the big push for family dinner and how crucial that is for children. You know, it is not the extra-curricular activities that keep us from having that quality time as much as all the extra school work. I think music lessons and sports are a better use of their time than more homework. They sit for a good portion of the time they are at school. When they get home from school, the last thing they need is to sit at the table or desk and do the very thing they have spent the last 7 hours doing! Let them go to karate or soccer or tumbling or whatever they enjoy doing! They aren't kids for long.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Saturday was cold and frigid. We spent the morning and early afternoon finishing up some little 'projects' around the house. We even had our lawn aerated. By the late afternoon we made a run to Costco. Our whole family went (except Hailey, who was at soccer practice.) I think that was the first time EVER. Randy couldn't wait to get out. Little did he know the kids were behaving extremely well! By the time we got back home, it was snowing. Randy even turned on the Christmas music!

It didn't seem like much, so I was surprised when Hailey came in the house asking for the 'snowman kit'.

And by the time I was finished making dinner, Tyler had created a giant snowball! (With a little help!)

You can't see it well in the picture, but it is a 'chocolate chip' snowball. Filled with little chips of dirt and grass from the aeration.

I don't even have everyone's Halloween costumes. Let alone snow clothes. It was a good trial run to see what we are missing. Casey was wearing my snow boots, and poor Nathan has no coat. You would think I should have one. After all, he has two older brothers. But we have somehow managed to lose not one, but two coats in his size! By Sunday, it was all melted except the snowball in the yard.

Yesterday, I was sustained and set apart as the first counselor in the primary presidency. I am really excited about it. We have a great president! There is a link to her (mommamin) blog on the right. I went to school with the other counselor and secretary. They are both awesome, too! I have one more pack meeting tomorrow. It has been fun to be in Cub Scouts, but I know primary is where I am suppose to be. When I was set apart, the bishop emphasized over and over about the importance of stressing the Savior in the the children's lives, and strengthening their testimonies. I think for these kids, more than ever, they will have to rely on a strong testimony early in their lives. There are so many temptations out there, that they have to be strong. I remember when I was in seminary we were always told we were save for the last days for a reason. I was never quite sure what they meant because things didn't seem that hard for me. But looking back, I realize I had a solid testimony. And things are just that much more difficult for my kids. I pray I can teach them and prepare them to face the challenges that lie ahead.

It is hard to believe October is almost over. The holidays are approaching fast. While it is my favorite time of year, I can't help but feel a little sad. Where has the time gone? Emma is getting more independent, and Nathan acts so old. My kids are getting bigger faster than I can even imagine. My older ones seem to be getting more immature by the day and the younger ones are getting more mature. How can that be? They are each so different, yet I love them all the same.