Mom and Son activity

Well, it was supposed to be a father/son activity, but Russ had a bad headache and asked if I would mind taking Jimmy for him.

Jimmy had two passes for a free game of bowling, so we went bowling. Which, if I had remembered, I might have suggested Jimmy wait on because of his sore shoulders. Didn't seem to bother him though. Kind of fun thing about this bowling alley is that they can program it so certain players get the bumpers and the others don't. Of course, that meant that I didn't get the joy of having no gutter balls. Yeah, I'm not the best bowler. I was doing really well though. At least for the first two frames. Got spares on both. The first ball of the third frame I also did well. Got 9. I was feeling a little bad because that meant that I was going to beat Jimmy by a lot. Yeah, there was no need for that. The next 6 balls were gutter balls. Yes, that's right, I said 6 gutter balls. In a row. Really wished I had the bumpers then. At least I got a spare in the last frame. Jimmy ended up beating me by 4 points. He was thrilled.

Jimmy's ball kept getting stuck behind the pins and wouldn't feed back to us. I finally found a second ball for him to use in those cases. This picture is of his first turn.
Right after his turn when he knocked down most of the pins.
After we bowled our game, we went to the arcade in the bowling alley. Here's Jimmy doing the skeet ball. Lovely form.
Afterward, we stopped at 7-11 and got slurpees. I really need to get out more. I had a sore muscle the next day from bowling. Sigh.

Thursday Night Sleepover

Thursday night we watched some friend's children so they could go away overnight. The kids seemed to have a lot of fun that night as we had the kids all sleep in the family room. Well, except for Dylan and their baby, who we had sleep in Dylan's room. Russ played Duck, Duck, Goose with them and then they put on a movie and were pretty good. Got a really early start to the day on Friday when the baby woke up and wanted Russ and not me only he had to go to work. After which everyone got up. I think Dylan just scared her trying to grab her pacifier. Once he took a nap (much earlier than usual because of getting up early), she was fine and was fine even after he woke up again. I was just a little surprised that the girls were happy to come back Friday night while I was gone to a girl's night out. Maybe they just like our back yard. :)

Here's a picture of Russ getting ready to play the game with them. As you can tell, we had already set up the sleeping area.

1st Grade Program

The 1st grade had their spring program yesterday. They did a little play called "Once Upon a Lily Pad." Emma has been very excited about it. She told me enough about it that I knew ahead of time which song was her favorite. Emma's class were turtles, as you may be able to see in this picture.

Russ took the day off so he could watch Emma in it. She's become quite the Daddy's girl, so I think she was thrilled that he was able to go.

She had one speaking line in the play. Here's a video with her saying her part, followed by a song. Okay, watching the video, it looks like Russ just missed her saying her line. Her line was right before they took off their shells. I think. Guess I should finish watching the video, huh?

Late Night for Russ and Jimmy

The kids love to have Russ go out and jump on the trampoline with them. They will beg and beg to have him go out. Last night they didn't have to ask much and Russ went out and was jumping with them. They usually have a lot of fun. And they did last night. Well, most of them did, anyway. Jimmy, not so much. He was having a hard evening anyway. Had been playing with the soccer ball and managed to trip over it. I've done that before. Besides not feeling very good, you feel rather silly and kind of hope no one saw.

Anyway, Russ was jumping with Jimmy and had a hold of his hands and jumped up real quick, thinking Jimmy was jumping up with him. Only he wasn't. Ouch. Makes me think that when I thought a couple of minutes earlier that I should go out and get them all in because it was bedtime that I should have done it. Only I didn't. I had Dylan in the tub and decided to let him play a little longer.

Russ came in carrying Jimmy who was very clearly in pain. We were afraid he had dislocated his shoulders as it hurt him to move his arms at all. So after getting the girls in bed, Russ took Jimmy to the ER. Okay, it took a bit longer than that and they didn't leave here until about 10:15. It was close to midnight when they got home. Luckily, it was just a muscle strain. They gave him some ice packs that he can strap to his arms and shoulders to help with the pain. And yes, Russ let Jimmy stay home from school today. I don't blame him. I can't imagine it would be any fun to be at school when it hurts to move. Granted, he doesn't seem to be hurting as much today, but still.

Made for an interesting and late night, to say the least.

Secret Neighbor

Last night, not long after we got all of the kids in bed (they weren't asleep but at least they were in bed), the doorbell rang. Okay, it rang several times quickly, if that makes any sense at all. Russ answered the door. I heard him mutter, "What's this?" as he was walking back toward me. Someone had left an envelope at the door and was gone by the time Russ got to the door. He took long enough that they probably didn't have to run all that fast. This picture shows what was inside the envelope. Jimmy came up a minute later asking who was at the door. I think it scared him. I told him someone left a card at the door. He asked who. I said honestly, "I don't know." I'm not sure he believed me though. Fun to get these things. Goes to show that people are really nice. So thanks to our secret neighbor, whoever you are.

Crawling!

Well, sort of. It's more of a scoot. Here's a short video that shows how he "crawls." The banging you hear is me tapping on a toy to get his attention so he will go to it. Not that you were wondering or anything.

Last week stuff

A lot happened last week that I haven't had a chance to write about. Some of it was good, some of it wasn't.

Easter morning, the mother of my friend Lisa passed away from breast cancer. I have known her nearly my entire life. She was a neat lady who was always upbeat and positive and always had a smile. Her funeral was on Friday. Russ and I went to the viewing the night before because he wasn't able to attend the funeral (thanks Michelle for watching our kids that night and to Myrna and Linda for watching them so I could go to the funeral) and I went to the funeral. Listening to the stories at the funeral, I couldn't help but think that it would be good to be like she was.

Friday evening and Saturday afternoon we were able to go with our friends and neighbors, the Jones family, as they went through the temple the first time and were sealed as a family (thanks to Steve and Amy for watching the kids Friday evening and Mom and Dad for watching them on Saturday). We are grateful that we were able to be there with them. They both spoke in church yesterday. I was sick and unable to go, but I heard that they both did a really good job. Wish I could have been there.

Saturday morning Steve and Amy took Jimmy with them to the Museum of Natural History on the University of Utah campus. After watching all of my kids the night before (they were even brave enough to take them all to a movie), I'm a little amazed they still had the energy to take Jimmy (and his cousin Sadie) the next morning. Jimmy says he had a lot of fun.

Dog-Sitting

This past weekend we watched a friend's (Monica) dog, Hope while they went out of town for a wedding. Jimmy was very excited. Actually, all of my kids were excited. Except for Dylan, who was somewhat afraid of her (which I thought was kind of funny since Xena was much bigger than Hope). Jimmy slept over at my parent's the night before with two of his cousins. I have never seen my girls rush out the door so quickly to leave to go back home as they did when we went to pick him up. They were excited to get back to play with Hope. And that's what they did almost the entire time she was here. My kids never played with Xena like they did Hope, but that's mostly because Xena was old and wouldn't play long, if at all. Sure, she'd play tug-of-war with me, but never would with the kids.

This first picture is of Jimmy playing with Hope. Actually, I think she stopped playing for a minute for a break. My kids really wore her out.
These next two are of Lys playing with Hope. Hope really seemed to like to run down the hall with Lys. Especially with her rope. Lys would have one end, Hope would have the other and they would run up and down the hall.

Monica and Michael were very nice and gave the girls a little stuffed animal dog and bubbles and Jimmy a stuffed animal husky (he keeps saying how he wants a husky, which is one reason he was excited to watch Hope) and a mini rosebush for me for watching Hope. Made for an entertaining weekend.

Strawberry jam

I was at the store today to get some more medicine for Dylan (see Easter post) when I discovered that they were having a good sale on a flat of strawberries. Basically 8 pounds of strawberries for $8. Having just run out of my last good homemade strawberry jam (I say good because I do have a container left from a batch that didn't turn out very well), I couldn't pass up the chance to get some to make more. Unfortunately, I'm going to need to run back to the store because I didn't get enough containers or pectin for the jam. I still have 3 1/2 pounds of strawberries to make into jam. A little less and I would consider just eating them. But the jam is so good. I'm already craving toast with jam....

Easter stuff

At our house, the Easter Bunny usually comes on the Saturday before Easter. I have always liked it that way (besides having the Easter Bunny come on Saturday when I was growing up) because I think it helps keep the bunny separate from the stuff on Sunday. I don't have a problem with Santa stuff on Christmas, but Christmas isn't on a Sunday every year. Anyway, here are a few pictures from coloring eggs and then the stuff from this morning.

Lys is concentrating on her egg. She was actually sick that day, but still quite happy to color eggs.
The kids coloring eggs.
Searching for the eggs this morning. Love the expression on Molly's face.
Lys with Hope, the dog we are watching for the weekend.
He really wanted to make a much goofier expression than this one. Really, he did.
She couldn't quite reach that egg by herself.
Showing off a discovered egg.
Looking through the stuff in their baskets.
Dylan holding a toy from a basket. He's not feeling well today, but is still a happy kid.

Dinosaur Park

With it being a nice day yesterday and with the kids out of school for spring break (plus having a gift certificate that was close to expiring), I decided to head up to the Dinosaur Park in Ogden. Don't know why I didn't think that a whole lot of other people would have the same idea. But it wasn't bad.

At first the girls were a little scared. The background noise in the museum part particularly had Molly nervous. Once we got outside, they had a much better time. In fact, they keep asking me if they can go again sometime. I think next time I'll wait until Russ can come too. Not that I had a hard time by myself or anything. I didn't. The kids were very good and stayed right with me and listened very well. I had Lys and Dylan in my double stroller so I spent a lot of my time wondering who was missing as I counted the three others walking by. Every time I would think, "Oh, duh. The other two are in the stroller." Just for some reason when you start to count your children to make sure they are all still with you, it helps to count those in the stroller before starting to look around to see where the missing two have gone off to.

After the park, we stopped and got some ice cream. It was warm enough out to need the air conditioning in the car, which currently isn't working. The ice cream was a nice way to cool us all off quickly. Doesn't hurt that it tasted good, too.

Here are a few pictures from the Dinosaur park:

All of the kids posing on top of a dinosaur coming out of the egg in the playground section of the park. Jimmy and Emma posing with a Woolly Rhino in the museum section. Molly and Lys didn't want to go near it. Emma was a little nervous, but did anyway.
The four posing in front of a dinosaur. Jimmy says it was a Spinosaur. It wasn't, but I can't remember what kind. Ah well.
Here the three (Emma didn't want to do this) are pretending they are scared and getting attacked.
A little side note, this happens to be my 300th post. Didn't seem that long ago that I was writing my 200th. Woo hoo.

Happy Birthday to Me

I have a very nice husband and nice children. First thing this morning, Jimmy decided he wanted to bring me breakfast in bed and had Russ help him make it. He included a card that said that I'm getting old like his dad. The girls very cheerfully made birthday cards for me. Russ bought me a summer outfit and made an appointment for me to go get a pedicure and a manicure. He wanted to make an appointment for me to get my hair done, but said he wasn't able to do that.

And Russ managed to talk me into waiting until today to eat the cake. Almost as soon as I was up, the kids were asking if they could have it yet. Kind of along the lines of, "Oh, it's your birthday today? Cake!!!"

Last night we went out to dinner for my birthday. Jimmy was quite happy (as evident by the maniacal laughter) to tell the waitress that it was my birthday so that they would sing to me. After eating a large meal, the huge ice cream dessert they brought me looked even bigger. It was yummy though. Brownie with ice cream, fudge sauce and whipped cream all served up in a bowl-sized goblet. I might have taken a picture of it. Had I taken along my camera. Which I would have done, had the battery been charged. Should charge that up, huh.

All in all, it's been a good birthday.

Jimmy's belated SEP Conference

I went over to the school late yesterday afternoon to have a quick SEP Conference since his teacher had been out sick when they were originally scheduled. I've got to admit, I enjoy his more than I do Emma's. His teacher had nothing but good to say about Jimmy. Said he always checks to see what he is in charge of doing for the day and gets it done and that he's always happy and gets his work done. I was good. I didn't stop and ask if we were talking about the same child here.

Okay, I didn't really want to ask that question. It did flash through my mind briefly and I chuckled to myself, but he really is a good kid. I was thinking last night that I really ought to tell him how I appreciate how he goes to bed when we tell him to. I was thinking this after 2 hours of fighting his sisters to go to sleep. We will give them a snack and drink at bedtime if they go right to bed. They've gotten the drink the past few nights but have lost the snack. And story from their dad (who, by the way, can be quite creative in the stories he makes up for them. They still occasionally talk about the story he made up involving the Kool-Aid man). For some reason they think it's okay to play and chatter away to each other instead of going to sleep. Makes me wonder if I should let them stay up a little longer before bed. I'd just get them up earlier, but I would have to get up earlier and I'm not really a morning person.

Anyway, back to the conference...Jimmy's teacher went on about how talented he is with writing and figures he'll be good in drama as he gets older, too. Jimmy told me earlier that she had said to him that if he's not a writer when he grows up, he'll surely be an actor. He reads his stories very well in class.

After the conference, Jimmy and I went over to the new Dick's Market. There was quite a line at the bakery. I was afraid I wouldn't get the eclairs I was after. But I was able to get some. I also figured that since my birthday is coming up, I could get myself a cake. And so I did. For some reason Russ and Jimmy think we need to wait until it's actually my birthday to eat it though. I'm thinking we should just eat it now. Don't you?

New Niece!

My sister, Stacey, had her 5th child today. A baby girl (after 4 boys) they've decided to name Abigail Ann. She was induced exactly 4 weeks early because of antibody problems. Despite being 4 weeks early, she weighs 6 pounds, 3 ounces. (Dylan was born a week before his due date and weighed only one ounce more.) I think she looks a lot like her dad, complete with the dimpled chin. Guess that means Bryce would have made a cute girl. :) Congrats Stacey and Bryce!

April Birthdays

Happy birthday this month to:

Stacey (and me sans makeup or anything to make myself look decent and yet I'm posting this picture...I know, I'm insane)

and Lizzie!
Stacey is scheduled to be induced to have her baby tomorrow, so I should add a happy birthday to her baby (as far as I know she's still going to be named Abigail). And happy birthday to my aunt, Evelyn!