Spare Time

I decided to let the kids experience a "first" today.  Can you guess what we did?  These pictures did not turn out well at all.  My phone cam usually rocks but I think the lighting was too low in the bowling joint.  Oops!  I gave it away.  Now you know...we went bowling.  They loved it.  It was a HUGE hit with tiny Lucas.  We'll definitely be doing this again.

I just think this picture turned out so cool.  All I did was use the flash.  It's got a real "disco bowling" feel to it.  But it makes me wonder what's going on with the shoes that made the pic turn out so shiny.  My first thought:  radioactivity.  I'll update later if toes start shriveling up and falling off.

We took a drive out to South Jordan and saw the new Oquirrh Mountain temple.  No, they don't have play equipment on the temple grounds (but why don't they?).  We stopped at a park.   The kids were joking, "Mommy!  We're trapped in this net and can't get out!"  My response to myself:  "Now's my chance.  The car's just 150 feet away."   Wasn't it just about four weeks ago I was eagerly awaiting their return home?  I'll shut up now.

Hallie and Livvi's first day of school.  Even as I'm typing this, I'm realizing I didn't get any of Ben on HIS FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN.  What a pitiful excuse I am.  But it's not my fault.  It's the dang school district.  Whose lame idea was it to start kindergarten a whole week later than everyone else?  Don't they know how that messes up my system?   'pparently not.

We hiked last Saturday morning.  Once we got to the top, everyone was happy.  But there were at least two complainers all the way up.  If you know my kids, you know who the culprits were.  We still had a fun time.  Beautiful view.

A couple of Sundays ago, we jumped in the car and went to the Provo temple grounds.  First I made the kids pose for some sweet shots in front of the flowers and fountains, but then it was off to the hills to roll down.  Mommy, too.  Aside from a few of us experiencing some nausea afterward, we mostly agreed that hill-rolling is a must-do-again.

Gag Me With a Jelly Shoe

The eighties are back!

Ack! Why are the eighties back?  Click here.

...and then there were five.

I've mentioned to several people lately that it was very easy for me to slip into single girl mode when my kids left at the start of summer. How quickly I forgot how it feels to have to race against the clock from 4am til 11pm day in and day out. It was easy to get used to having no one to care for but me. There was hardly any laundry. Almost NO cooking. I think I only had to take the trash out to the street maybe three times while they were gone. Since their return, incidentally, it's full three days after the garbage truck empties it. (How can these tiny little creatures generate so dang much refuse? It's mind boggling). It took me half as long to get ready in the mornings and I got twice as much sleep.

But none of this is shocking to anyone who has children. It's just life. It's what I signed up for-- what we all signed up for. So, while I'm still adjusting to being a mother of four--again--after a long reprieve, I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm tired and overwhelmed and short a few hours every day, but most of all just plain glad that the cubs are back in the den with mamma bear.

Winter is around the corner.

Bears don't eat their young, do they?


There are a lot of pictures here. I've been doing some catching up.

Hallie and Livvi got new haircuts today for school. Look at the cute girls with the stacked bobs! We're in Utah now. We basically have two options: the big tease or the stacked bob. I think you know which way I lean on this one.

Having lunch at the pizza factory after haircuts (and numerous other exhausting errands). This is a classic Livvi face. I just wish the lighting wasn't so horrible. Also, that Hallie's finger wasn't in the foreground. Curse you, cell phone cam!

The fam got together at the park for a family night-slash-belated celebration of Livvi's 7th birthday. I love this picture of Livvi. Look how pretty she is.

My niece, Emma. Doesn't get much cuter than that. Way to work the pigtails, Em.

Uncle Jim bought fishing poles for the kids and taught them to fish (thank you, Uncle Jim!). Ben was reelin' them in!

We went with Auntie Jenna and her boys to a park that's typically a hot-spot for sledding in winter. Can you see why? Hallie looks like a deflated balloon near the bottom of the hill.

LATE-BREAKING ADDITION TO THIS POST:

Livvi's new friend, Randi is here playing for the first time. She just came up behind me and said, "Hey, you're really pretty." Randi will be playing at our house a lot, I think.

If You're Happy and You Know It, Tease Your Hair

Click here for my take on the whole Utah hair thing.

All That Glitters Is...PURE EEEVIIIILLLL!!!!

I have a house full of children who are all, apparently, in the "creative" phases of life. They love to generate stuff, and lots of it. If it involves markers, crayons, paintbrushes, beads, fabric, or wood, my children (minus Lucas) are all over it like the mustard to the ham. Oh, and glue, too. Let's not forget the glue.

I'm not gonna lie. I won't be winning any mother-of-the-year awards any time soon. I don't love craft projects so much. When my oldest daughter screeched the words, "Mommy! I found the craft box in the garage!" the other day, I felt the acid churning in my stomach. I thought I had stacked an adequate number of empty boxes on top of it when we moved in 10 months ago. Guess not. Drat.

Our beloved, dreaded craft box contains all of the above mentioned items and then some, plus a bonus: GLITTER. I was going to use an exclamation point there, but that would indicate some excitement or enthusiasm on my part. I don't like glitter. To quote a flair button on a friend's Facebook page, "Glitter is the herpes of craft supplies." I don't feel the need to elaborate on that. It stands on its own.

In a world where I have approximately four to five hours every night at home to cook, do laundry, pick up toys, clean up messes, post to my blog (uh huh, that's a have-to), exercise, do dishes, give baths, help with homework, run errands, cuddle my kids, change diapers, and perform countless other not-so-trivial tasks, the sight of glitter tubes and paint containers emerging from the craft box is enough to send me straight to my room with an Ambien-laced cup of chamomile.

But...

I reeeeeally want that mother-of-the-year award. This is my year. I can feel it.

So I fake the glitter love, for their sakes. I watch them work their sparkly magic, my countertops and floors acting as the unwilling canvas for their masterpieces. Some of it even ends up on the hundreds of sheets of plain white paper that they kipe from my printer.

Ever tried to extract glitter from linoleum? Or a five-year-old's scalp? Don't bother.

They're Baa-aaack!

After two short, never-ending months...my little babes made it home Sunday night...safe and sound.

I know, I know, I really should try to look happier about it...

Monday morning, bright and early, first order of business was HAIRCUTS! I've never been much into the 'long, cascading locks' look for my little boys. If I wanted to...and if I was a mean mom...I could have put pigtails on their heads. That just ain't right. So off to their respective torture chairs they went.

Look at all that hair falling onto my tiny Lucas' shoulders! Sick! Once the hair was off and the scalp was exposed, a substantial layer of sand and grit was revealed. Not a big shock. Typical Lucas. He likes to throw handfuls of dirt straight up in the air. There's only one place for it to land. And it does. I'm just grateful he hadn't turned into a walking Chia pet by the time I got to him. I expected little green things to start sprouting from his head at any moment.

Gosh how I missed this little Precious Moments face.I hauled the babes with me to BYU campus afterward and we took a walk over to the life sciences building to see some fish tanks. Not the most impressive fish tanks I've ever encountered, but my kids were sufficiently amused.

I loved Loved LOVED fixing their hair Monday morning. Cute little girls.

Welcome home, my little angels. I missed you.

Now, your mommy's off to take a nap.

Yeah, right.