Anyone Still There?

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Hahahaha. It's been a while, I know. I always have grand intentions of keeping things up to date here, but inevitably life gets busy, there's never enough time, and all sorts of other cliches. And while I've fallen behind on my one post average per month, it's better late than never. Right? Right?? So without further adieu...

"Mom tends to forget stuff, so keep that in mind." -- Ethan

The problem with going so long in between blog posts is that I start to forget all the little anecdotes I was going to try and record for posterity’s sake. And even with the bigger and more important events, the details start to become fuzzy and I eventually forget all kinds of things. Which is why I laughed out loud when I overheard Ethan levy out the above words of wisdom to Sophie over Spring Break. Because it's so true. And true to form, I don't even remember what they were talking about when he said it. Here's what I do remember from the last couple of months:

·      Scott's Kidney Stone. Kind of hard to forget that one! Fortunately this bad boy didn’t strike until a couple of nights after we got home from our New Orleans trip. One night in the ER (we seriously need a punch card), some pain meds, and a bunch of water downed helped Scott to finally pass the stone a couple weeks later. Now he’s part of a super exclusive club that almost makes me feel left out. Hahahaha. 

·      Blue and Gold Dinner. Ethan’s first Blue and Gold dinner for cubscouts was a success. The theme for the night was “the Circus” and each boy (yeah right – you know it was each mom) was supposed to make a cake and decorate it accordingly. I found a super easy idea online for a circus ticket and tons of red food coloring later we had a cake! I can’t even remember where Scott was that night – although I think he was bummed to miss out on the fun – but dragging all 5 kids to an event like that by myself won’t be happening again. And that’s a fact.

·      An Art Fair to Remember. This year, both Ethan and Grace made it in! Hahaha. I know Ethan was happy. He felt a little left out last year when Grace's art was chosen for display and his wasn't.

·      My Double Sweet Sixteen. In other words I hit the big 3-2. My dad was in town for the day and his gift of watching the little ones so I could go shopping was greatly appreciated! I took advantage of his offer and hit up a nearby quilting store and stocked up on some fabric. Other birthday highlights included a menu for the month of March made by Ethan -- he's heard me complain on more than one occasion how much I hate making it and he took matters into his own hands to help me out. It was actually a really cute idea and very sweet and thoughtful even if it wasn't altogether practical. Scott and I celebrated later that weekend with dinner and a Barnes & Noble trip and then a week or so after that Natalie and I finally went and checked out a local cupcake bar that won an episode of Cupcake Wars on Food Network. It was awesome.

·      Finished a New Quilt. I finished this quilt for a good friend of mine who had a baby girl 2 days after my birthday.  This could be my very favorite quilt I've ever made.  I used the "starburst pattern" tutorial from Film in the Fridge. 

·      Spring Break was Sprung. I was worried it was going to kill me this year -- mostly because Scott had to go out of town for a last minute work trip -- but I surprisingly survived it quite well.  And we even had some fun. My initial plans for deep spring cleaning were scrapped almost from the get go once I realized that it would be easier to do it when everyone was BACK in school.  In its stead we managed to squeeze in a trip to the Botanical Gardens with some friends and even braved an outing (in the rain) to the Art Museum to see some mummies and armor where I continued my streak of being a "Fun Mom" and let them each pick out a souvenir from the museum store. Having a lot of kids is starting to get expensive.

 Rollin' on the River.

Poor little guy spent most of his time chilling in the stroller using the diaper bag flap as his sun visor.

LOVE this picture!  Hahaha.

 Enjoying a little picnic lunch. 

·      Lover Boy Learned to Crawl -- Army Style. This cute little fella is fast! He's also my only baby to do a true army crawl. It's kind of hilarious. We affectionately call him our little swiffer sweeper because of how much dirt he picks up as he works his way around the floor. He has figured out where the snack and cereal cabinets are and makes a daily beeline for the food that is inevitably dropped on the kitchen floor after each and every meal (and snack). Who needs a dog, right? Hahahaha.

 

·      Grace taught me how to pick her lock. After a frustrating attempt to get Grace to stay in her room for a time-out one day, I finally just locked her door (from the outside in). When she reappeared downstairs laughing just a few minutes later, I realized she must have snuck another bobby pin into her room. In order to find it and eliminate it from her room, I knew I'd have to trick her. So, I pretended to be amazed and impressed that she escaped by picking her lock and asked her to teach me how to do it. She quickly complied and after she demonstrated her technique I practiced once or twice myself and then unobtrusively stole the bobby pin away leaving Grace none the wiser.

·      Sophie's Birthday Photo Shoot. I finally got around to taking Sophie's picture for her birthday frame on the mantle. She cooperated for the first little bit, but quickly morphed into an angry elf and forced the shoot into a grinding halt. Luckily, I managed to get enough decent shots to choose from for the keeper.

·      An Easter Egg Hunt. Our neighborhood put on a hunt and even though it felt like my kids comprised half the number there, it was still a lot of fun for the kids. For future reference, it's probably not a good idea to put chocolate-y stuff in easter eggs that will be laying out in the sun on a hot day. Just to let you know.

 

·      A Haircut or Two. After the Easter Egg hunt was over, I decided it was time to do something about the girls' hair. I couldn't even remember the last time either one had gotten a trim, so I decided to really splurge and took them to Great Clips rather than just doing it myself. The end result? Eh. The good news is they were both really happy with their results. Sophie's haircut looks NOTHING like the picture we showed the lady -- she cut it MUCH shorter than I would have liked. And it's a bit too layered and "punk-y" to match Sophie's personality (in my opinion).  But she loves it and I guess that's all that matters. All in all, I was glad I had already taken her birthday pictures. Grace's hair looks really cute and is exactly like the picture we showed her hairstylist. It's basically a short little a-line bob which suits her really well, I think. She was thrilled with her end result and had the added enjoyment of making fun of Sophie's hair for the first 2 or 3 days afterwards -- telling her things like "you look like a boy," and "your hair is ugly." Fun stuff like that. The good thing about hair is that it grows. And Sophie's haircut has grown on me already. Hahaha.

 

·      General Conference. Aaaahhhh. Conference time. One of my favorite times of year. And also one of the hardest times to actually enjoy. This year we decided to have the kids actually sit through and watch both sessions on Sunday. By having different stations for the kids to rotate through with each talk, it actually worked out pretty well. Except for with number one son, that is. The one who theoretically should have been the most capable of sitting and listening and cooperating had the hardest time of all. I can't even remember everything he was throwing a fit about, but it was ridiculous. I think even he realized that by the end. Hahaha. Oh well, we have another six months to try and get them ready for it...

And that's a wrap folks. I'd really love to start blogging again on a much more regular basis. Stay tuned to see how that goes. Hahahaha.