Maniacal Musings of a Mother of Many

Brooke has been picking up on some interesting behavior and phrases lately.  Being the littlest in a large household means you have to learn very quickly and very young how to defend yourself.  She has 2 different things she likes to say when the kids are getting into her personal space.  She started saying them a lot about a week ago.  The first one, and most often heard, is:  ”Go Potty! NOOOoooow!”  Sometimes she adds, “Wight Nooooooow!”  The other one makes a lot more sense:  ”Go ‘way!”  The trouble with her yelling these things at her siblings is that she is so dang cute when she says them, and the way she says them, that it completely amuses everyone.  We all end up giggling or snickering.  Jenna decided to start saying, “Go Potty, NOOOW!” when she’s irritated too.  So now Brooke is totally confused about how to properly use these words.

Before you go thinking that I ORDER people to the toilet, I must make sure that you understand that I NEVER force anyone to the potty.  However, in the morning, when the slow-pokes are taking their time and making us late for school, I will holler,  ”Get in the bathroom and ____” fill in the blank with: brush you hair, teeth, finish getting ready, etc.  There’s probably been a time or two when I also added a nice, loud, NOOOOOOOW! when we were getting close to Tardy Time. :0D  And when I’m hollering, they usually go do what I’ve ordered them to do.  So little Brookie thinks that if she orders them to the potty, they’ll get out of her face.  At least, that’s what I think she thinks. :o)

1: “Cheese!”

2: “Hey! Nenna, NO!”

3: “Go ‘way!”

4: “Cheese!”

In that order!

Warning: One big monster of a post, but there are lots of pictures.  So just keep scrolling down.

Just a few quick little highlights from our summer vacation (which I can’t believe is over already!)

14th anniversary at a Bed and Breakfast in San Clemente. Very peaceful trip.  A bit too pricey because we were overlooking the beach, but would probably do it again for the experience.

Hair cuts. The girls decided to go extremely short for several reasons: 1) Elizabeth cut her hair and they liked it a lot. 2) It’s a pain to have long hair at our local pool which makes you wear it in a ponytail.  3) It was long enough to donate IF we went short enough….which Ashley REALLY wanted to do.  Afterward she told me she wanted it to look like Alice from Twilight.  (Ah!)  I was really nervous, but am pleased with how it turned out.

Good ol’ swim lessons! Tyler lucked out with the same teacher from last year for one of his sessions.  And she’s his favorite, Jenny or Jen.  He cooperates for her.  She has patience with him and that makes it more relaxing for me.  She’s also my favorite!  I don’t have any near-drowning stories this year.  PHEW!  This was the most relaxing time I’ve had since Tyler started to walk!

Family Vacation - Utah - New Babies

We went to Utah for Owen’s blessing and turned it into our whirlwind vacation.  We went to Bryce Canyon, through ??Red Canyon??, to get to Kodachrome, then on to Cedar Breaks, Springville, visited friends in Sandy, stopped by This is the Place Monument at closing time on Pioneer day, drove past the SLC temple really quickly (through tons of construction), went to the Dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point (where our hotel was), visited with cousins, Played with some fireworks (a huge highlight of the trip for the kids since they aren’t legal where we live), drove through Provo Canyon to Heber City (which looks like a place I’d like to live in!!!!!!!!! No joke!) with a 20 - 30 minute stop in North Las Vegas to meet baby Michael (unfortunately, no pics though.)  We drove over 1500 miles.  And all of this took place in about 5 days.

But the biggest, life-changing thing that happened this summer……………was……………….our bathroom.

This has been going on for about a year:

We decided to take a closer look under the tiles.  (Andrew had already looked under the house and couldn’t see any noticeable damage.) And this is what we found:

BLACK MOLD = BAAAAAAD!  Floor rot - also bad!  SOOOOOoooo….. It’s time to do something about it.

If we’re going to be doing anything to that bathroom, we might as well do it right, RIGHT?  So, after several different plans and changes in plans, we came up with one that we like.  It shrinks our master closet, borrows a foot from the master, and takes away the convenient walk-through to the laundry room.  BUT it gets us a much more comfortable bathroom with room for a SIX foot tub (for Andrew) and the feeling of actually having a master bathroom!  PLUS, we’ll be able to convert part of the closet space into a PANTRY for the kitchen!  A family of 7 NEEEEEEEEDS pantry space more than an extra foot in the Master bedroom!

The Bathroom Before:

The Closet Before (mostly emptied):

We tried to leave it as functional as possible for as long as possible, so the shower and toilet stayed till the last possible moments.

The demolition began the first week of July.  Construction continues today.  I’m not getting my hopes up about it getting finished before Christmas.  But the current plan, if correct, would be complete in October.  Again, I’m not holding my breath!

Jenna turned 11!

And finally, the first day of school.  We started earlier than ever this year.  It used to be that the first day of school was always the day after Labor Day.  I think it should still be that way.  But someone in the School District would rather start when it still feels like summer!  So we had a MOMENTOUS first day of school.  It was Tyler’s first day of kindergarten!!!!! AND Chris’ first day of Jr. High!  Tension was high.

Everyone had a great first day.  We’ve survived the first week.  No one got lost or sent to the Principal’s office.  All in all, we had a great summer!

WATCH FOR BATHROOM REMODELING PROGRESS/UPDATES SOON. (I can blog more often now because I finally figured out how to work our new computer, which is a Mac, and totally new to me!  When it comes to uploading blog pics, Macs are WAY more confusing than PC’s.  But there are a lot of cool things about Macs too, once you figure them out cuz everything about them is backwards.  So I’d actually suggest having BOTH when you have kids in school.)

Andrew and I just rented this movie.

(The music my blog should be playing is from the movie.  ”Guramayle” by Gigi, an Ethiopian singer.)

WOW!  I highly recommend it.

Genocide is not still happening . . . at least that’s what I believed until I found out more about the war in Sudan.

It’s about the Lost Boys of Sudan (ages 3-13) who were driven out of their homes to avoid being killed (by an extermination order) and WALKED! first to Ethiopia and then to a refugee camp in Kenya…….BAREFOOT, starving, carrying younger boys on their shoulders, without food or water, in the desert, as walking skin and bone…

I can’t imagine running TO Ethiopia. That’s where all the starving children in Africa were when I was a kid.

There are a few of these “boys,” now adults, who have been given an opportunity to come to the US.  The movie shows a bit of their experience as children and adjusting to our culture without losing their own, and their efforts to be reunited with family, and how they try to help their families, friends and country.

If you’re in the mood for something to remind you that you’ve got NOTHING to complain about, this is PERFECT.

Man, is my life a cinch.  And, of course, it reminds me of how rich we are and how much easier it will be to fit through the eye of a needle than to get into heaven!

If that doesn’t sell you…it’s narrated by Nicole Kidman and one of the producers is Brad Pitt….but don’t let that deter you either.

Let me know what you think of it.

First ya gotta find a … ?????

Pawprint!

Right ’cause that’s the first…

Clue!

Then we put it in our … notebook!

‘Cause they’re Blue’s clues… Blue’s clues……

Cause when we use our minds and take a step at a time,

We can do any THING… that we wanna do!

Tyler definitely thinks he can do anything that he wants to do.

He has discovered our Blue’s Clues computer game and was really enjoying it.

He decided one night while brushing his teeth, ALONE, in the bathroom. (Do you see our first mistake?) That he would make pawprints (clues) and leave them all over the house for Mommy & Daddy to discover.  We found the first paw-print (AFTER he was asleep) right in the middle of the TV screen.  What did he make the print with?  Wetted-down TOOTHPASTE.  They were on the TV, across the entertainment center, on the fireplace sides and front, on the mirror above the fire place and started getting fainter and fainter from there on.  I was not really happy about the mess he made. But I thought it was a pretty clever idea…for a nutty 5-year-old.  Andrew and I started wiping up the mess and then went into our room and saw our mirror!

The kid made no fewer than 50 pawprints that night!  We snickered about it (our second mistake) because it didn’t do any real harm (it’s not spray-paint, after-all).  I talked to him about not doing it ever again in the morning.

So the next night while brushing his teeth, ALONE, AGAIN!!!  He thought he’d do it again.  This time he headed into the office.  There was one pawprint on the computer screen and one right in the middle of the keyboard……..with gunk in the gaps next to the keys.  We found them while he was still awake this time and he got yelled at, by ME, of course.  We had ANOTHER talk about it.  I think he understands that it isn’t funny anymore because there have been no more toothpaste prints found.  But he wanted to know how he could make pawprints to play Blue’s Clues in real life.  So with Ashley’s help, they made pawprints out of construction paper.  Now we’re finding little scraps of blue paper ALL OVER THE HOUSE.

Am I annoyed?  Nope.  Amused.  Boy have things changed, right?

Hey, I’m just glad he didn’t use glow-in-the-dark SPRAY PAINT, like Christian did at that age.  That was all along our new chair rail in the boys room, on the new bunk beds, on the back sides of the bedroom doors, across the fireplace (before Andrew covered the bricks) and randomly sprayed in the air.  We couldn’t see most of the paint until is was DARK, of course.  So we were finding new Christian “clues” for MONTHS.  We still have ONE of them left in the hallway near the light switch.  In case anyone has ever wondered what that strange smear is across the wall and why I don’t wipe it off….I can’t.  It’s paint.  It glows though, which is cool.

Pictures will be coming soon, but just a warning: they’ll be disgusting!

I’ll never understand why bad things happen in three’s.  But, they always do.  Sometimes even 4’s.  As soon as an appliance breaks down, we wait for the second and third one. Or for a car, OR for Tyler to break something or for a kid to get sick…or…or…or…!

Today we found out Jenna’s throat culture from Friday is starting to look like Strep.  Andrew’s car was broken into last night.  AND Ashley has a Staph infection on her foot.

What the heck!?

Last month it was a talk, a lesson and a stomach bug all at once. Then Brooke had a bladder infection and some other little problems.  Then she bit nearly all the way through her lip on Thursday.  I should have known that her issues weren’t going to happen alone without some other stresses too.  When I had no appointments on the calendar for last week, I KNEW we’d end up at the Doctor’s office UNscheduled.  And sure enough, Jenna’s throat hurt bad enough for concern . . . I should have just blocked office time at the doctor and filled in the child’s name when we arrived.  Maybe I should just have standing appointments booked at the Doctor every other week.  My father-in-law hears my voice on the line and says, “Uh oh, Becky, what’s going on NOW?” 

All I can say is THANK HEAVEN FOR GRANDPA-DOCTOR!  Seriously, that has been one of the most awesome blessings of my life.  Especially when I walked into the Medicenter (for Ash’s foot), saw 20 sick people, walked in behind one that looked like she was green and going to throw up, heard another one of them cough, and started to have a panic attack worrying about Swine flu!  I turned around and left without signing Ash in.  I just thought, “Even if it IS staph, she won’t die before tomorrow.  And we could get any number of diseases if we stay here.”  Then I tried calling Grandpa-Doctor and he was able to check her out right away.  WHAT A BLESSING!  Never mind the lack of doctor’s bills, he saves my NERVES.

THANK YOU BRUCE!!!!!!!

Here are the pictures.  Sorry they’re a bit blurry.   Apparently when my camera battery is getting low, it doesn’t like to focus.  But maybe it’s a good thing since they’re pretty gross.

Strep is BREWING!

Staph is BREWING

Andrew’s gonna have a windy 25-30 mile drive to work tomorrow.

Counting my blessing:

Antibiotics are awesome; we have several doctors in the family; Andrew’s car will be completely taken care of by work; Our home is warm, dry & comfy; We have enough food to eat; Our sins can be forgiven; Heavenly Father knows my woes, probably laughs at me, and will help me whenever I need Him!

Be of Good Cheer!

Beach 4-25-09

Endure to the end.  It’s 2 whole minutes long, but you’ll be cracking up at the end!

Oh, so sad for Mommy!  But Brooke had a Happy 2nd Birthday.

 
My Montage 4/29/09

Next year she’ll understand about blowing out candles.  This year is quite humorous.  She’s just totally SCARED!

Enjoying her b-day cheesecake…”Cheeeese!”

We got Brookie her first undies and a kitchen for her b-day. 

She loved it, but of course the BOX was almost MORE fun!

Happy Birthday my sweet baby girl!

You are always such a joy and we are grateful Heavenly Father blessed our lives with YOU!

I totally wish gum would get recalled. 

It’s at least getting BANNED!! from my house.  I’m totally not kidding.  The 3 older kids can CHEW their gum, but I’m keeping it high up in my closet where Tyler and Brooke can’t find it! 

The kids (all 5) got their very own packs of gum from a loving auntie for Easter.  We love aunties.  We love special treats.  We totally appreciate being thought of.  But now, we HATE gum!

Tyler, the Terrific(ally bored and therefore constantly on the lookout for something NEW to explore, tear apart, or break) took his gum, his sisters’ gum, and his brother’s gum.  [He also snuck their chocolate hollow bunnies (also gifts) and got major diarrhea!]

What did he do with all of that gum?  WELL, HE DIDN’T CHEW IT FOR VERY LONG.  He chewed it just long enough to get it sticky and then…..

I don’t have a picture of the carpet, but it’s a good thing my carpet is already the color of peanut butter so that I could get some of it out before having to take the scissors to the rest.  How mad did it make me?  Well, we bought the new carpet in AUGUST!  It’s not even a year old!  And it wasn’t cheap.

And then……..

Thankfully it came out of the plug-y thingies easily enough.  But, you can see the sliminess on them.

And then…

Why the knob?  I have NO idea!

And then….

Sorry about the sideways pics.

And then…I think I found all of the packages of gum and HID them!

If he has a stash somewhere else, I’ll be finding out soon.

Tyler’s allergist wants us to try going wheat-free for a while and see if some of his symptoms go away.  We’ll being doing this next week.  But, in preparation, I decided to try making gluten-free pancakes last week. 

They LOOK fine, right?  What did they taste like?

Well, Tyler said, “These taste WEIRD” and wouldn’t eat more than 1/2 of one.  Do you know this boy?  Have you seen his appetite?  Well, I found a way to kill it!

Jenna, who’s more adventurous, was trying to be kind and said they were a little like oatmeal. 

My description?  I think they TASTE just like a cow-pie SMELLS.  Yup, it was like eating cow poop!  EVEN with 1/2 cup of syrup soaking into them!

Can YOU think of an easy, quick, kid-friendly meal, that’s not totally flavorless and does NOT use the following ingredients: milk or any milk products (casein, whey, etc.), soy or any soy products (soy is even in chicken broth and spaghetti sauce and cooking spray, of course Mayo and Miracle Whip, almost all salad dressings, etc.), chocolate, peanuts, bananas, or wheat (including: bread crumbs, bran, cereal extract, couscous, cracker meal, enriched flour, farina, gluten, graham flour, high gluten flour, high protein flour, spelt, vital gluten, wheat bran, wheat germ, wheat gluten, wheat malt, wheat starch, whole wheat flour.)

  Think of your favorite meal, I’ll BET that unless you have celiac disease, your favorite meal includes at least one of those ingredients. 

I know I’m thinking negatively.  I’ll try to think about this positively. 

 What Tyler CAN eat includes: fresh fruits (except bananas & kiwi), fresh veggies, meats, corn and corn-based cereals and noodles, rice and rice-based cereals and noodles, baked potatoes, home-made spaghetti sauce, and jello, if we want him high on sugar.

Ugh. Boring.  I’m bored just thinking about eating it. Maybe this will help me lose the 12th pound (the one I’m stuck on.)