Fri-Yay?

Well, this picture kind of sums up the day.  In a total, epic-ly failing mom move, I left Isaac unattended for a few minutes this afternoon while I was in the computer room registering Grace and myself for the Girls on the Run 5K in a couple weeks.  All was well for the first couple of minutes (while I could hear him playing with the play-doh bucket that Alex had left out), but before long I heard a terrified "hurt" cry and ran to see what was wrong.  I rounded the corner into the kitchen to find the following horrifying scene -- Isaac sitting on the table, holding a pair of kitchen scissors, with blood gushing like a fountain from his nose.  I couldn't figure out at first where he had hurt himself because there was so much blood covering his nose and his mouth, but I eventually determined that he must have finagled the scissors open enough to snip right at the bottom center of his nose where it connects to the upper lip.  It looked absolutely gruesome, but I was reassured by the fact that he wasn't freaking out enough for it to be super serious.  I think face wounds are known for bleeding a ton, right????  Because there was so much blood coming out of that nose!  Thankfully, it stopped bleeding after a minute or two and I didn't have to debate anymore whether or not it would need a stitch or two.  I'm just grateful that was all that happened because my mind keeps running through the different scenarios of how much WORSE it could have been.

{You know it had to have been pretty bad if I didn't even waste time taking pictures for the blog while it was still bleeding.}

The sad thing is, this was just the capstone for a pretty crappy past 24 hours for the poor little sugar bug. Yesterday found him with a stomach bug -- with throw up AND diarrhea -- and today he passed the baton to Alex and Sophie, who both started puking their guts out during our family viewing of The Amazing Race tonight.  Add that to red zone son number one -- who gave himself a free pass on making a sandwich for lunch today and as a result has been {blood sugar} crashing all afternoon and freaking out at everyone and everything all evening long -- and pretty much the only redeeming things about this day are that we finally got our van back (yay!), Grace is out for the night at a Young Women activity, and Jane has already had strep throat this week and will hopefully miss out on this bug.  Hahaha.  Now let's just hope that this weekend isn't entirely ruined -- Scott and I still have a 15th anniversary to celebrate!

Poor little lamb.

Phone Dump

It's officially time to dump out all the excess photos from my phone and anecdotes from my brain.  The school year is winding down and busy-ness is winding up, and if I don't start blogging now I may never start back up again.  Next week begins the month of May, and with it will come field trips, field day, 6th Grade Recognition, Kindergarten Sing, end of year projects, Teacher Appreciation, and last days of school.  It's a lot to keep track of and I feel like I'm already behind!  So without further adieu, here we go:

• The Daddy Daughter Dance was a few weeks ago, and Sophie and Jane were thrilled to head to the Sock Hop with Scott.  The chocolate fountain was a big hit, as was posing with the car hop cutouts.  Hahaha.  Unlike my dancing date with Alex, however, the girls were more than willing to cut a rug with their pops on the dance floor.

• Ethan and Grace have been trying to get me up to speed with the world of social media and as a result, I've spent the last couple of weeks starting and losing various "streaks" of snap chatting with the two of them. I'll be honest -- I still don't get the point of SnapChat, but as Ethan has informed me, he doesn't get Facebook.  So, I guess that's just the generational gap.  Hahaha.

• Grace dug up her Kindergarten yearbook photo for 6th Grade Recognition purposes, and even though she's had a joyous time mocking that sweater vest of hers, I think she looks absolutely adorable.  :)

• There are always TONS of superflous shots of Shoo Shoo on my phone, because there's always something entertaining to text to Scott during the day.  Such as when he takes his clothes off in the crib while he's supposed to be to taking a nap.  Or when he climbs up on the the counter to get ahold of some Canadian Bacon to take a huge bite out of.  

• After Jane earned 100 points for doing various things around the house, she was SUPER stoked for her trip to the Dollar Store a few weeks ago to pick out a treasure as a reward.  In the end, she went with a mini white board and one of those pens that can change between 5 or 6 different colors of ink, but I think she should have stuck with this adorable hat.  ;)

• While hunting for some pictures for an anniversary project, I came across a few oldies but goodies.  Isaac clearly gets his crazy little curls from me and Ethan was pretty much the cutest little toddler ever.  One of these days, I want to get around to back blogging from the very beginning of our family's existence.  Then we'll have a family record with all the cute pictures and memories of when Ethan and Grace were babies, too.  

 Preshy presh!

• Track is underway, and we've beat our record from last year already by attending TWO of Ethan's meets so far!  Isaac is more than a bit difficult to contain at these kinds of venues, but I do really enjoy seeing all the events being run.  

• And finally, our 15th Anniversary is this Sunday and I went ahead and finally redecorated the mantle in celebration of our upcoming day.  The kids have really loved looking at all the pictures I hung up on the bunting from our early dating days, engagement, and wedding, and I have to admit -- I haven't minded taking a trip down memory lane myself.  :)  

And that is all for tonight.  I'm so tired and my brain is not working very well, so I feel like this is super disjointed and possibly incoherent, but at least it's posted and I'm kind of caught up.  :)  Until next time...

Family Portraits

Tonight, I promised Jane I would "do something fun" with her if she met the challenge I gave her to finish her homework packet in the 15 minutes I set on my phone timer while I got Alex in bed.  And since Jane LOVES to start art projects at bedtime, the "fun thing" she came up with was drawing pictures of the whole family, using the eye stickers she got in her Easter basket.  She assigned Ethan, Alex, Sophie, and herself to me, and she drew Scott, myself, Isaac, and Grace.  The results are almost better than actual family pictures.  ;)

I thought I'd use the following masterpieces as a framework to give you a run-down on what everyone has been up to these days...

Isaac has been LOVING the warmer weather and the opportunity it has given him to play outside more and to walk down to the neighborhood playground and "swing-a-swing-a-swing-a."  The kids keep hounding me to cut his hair, but I just can't bear to part with the curls yet.  So I've given them an 18-month deadline.  If I can pull the trigger, come May 10th Shoo Shoo will be getting his first haircut.

Alex's Mario obsession is still going strong and in case anyone is wondering, he is no longer into superheroes.  Hahaha.  He has been doing AWESOME lately with his anxiety and worrying and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he will manage our triumphant return back to the gym's Kids Klub in a couple weeks' time without any flare-ups.  A mother can always dream, right?  Hahaha.

Jane had a super stellar start to the day this morning when she got dressed right away on her own, came downstairs and poured Alex's cereal for him, STARTED MAKING HER OWN LUNCH, and got her own cereal to boot.  For the record -- this NEVER happens.  When I came down and saw her industrious little self in action, I made sure to really overplay my dramatic reaction to her good deeds, and she totally ate it up.  Hahaha.

Sophie had her first "Kidz Home Alone" class after school today and came home knowing how to give herself the Heimlich Maneuver should she ever need it.  When I picked her up and asked her if the class was interesting or kind of weird, she said it was a little of both.  Hahaha.  She has been super helpful lately with taking care of the baby and I'm grateful for any help I can get!

Grace continues to be a marvelous work and a wonder, and keeps us on our toes on the regular.  After a complete refusal/borderline meltdown on her part last week to even contemplate attending her "6th Grade Recognition Night"/Graduation next month (because heaven forbid she would have to wear a dress) she has done a complete 180 and is now totally on board.  And has even turned the reins over to me to find her a new dress.  Although we'll see if she really means that.  ;)

Ethan, meanwhile, is continuing to plug away at his plans to earn enough money to buy an iPhone 7 by the end of June.  It has ensured that I can count on him for babysitting on a weekly basis and he's pretty much the only kid who regularly completes his chores in order to earn his allowance to go towards that phone, so I'm not complaining.  Although it WOULD be nice of he were earning some of those funds from someone OTHER than us.  Hahaha.

The biggest excitement on my plate right now is that I'm going to Book Club on Saturday night, and I didn't even have to organize it!  The invite fell right into my lap and I'm super stoked.  It's been a couple of years since I've participated in one and I can't wait to talk about books with other people again!  Because I'm kind of a dork like that.  Hahaha.

And finally, Scott's {seasonal} allergies have been hitting him with full force in the last week or so and as a result, he spends most of his waking day (and night) with a wet washcloth over his face to keep the pollen away and help him to breathe.  I'm thinking it JUST might be time for him to go to an allergist and maybe start getting some shots again.

And that's a wrap!  Until next time...

Easter Dump

Another Easter has come and gone and with it all the requisite activities and celebrations.  Hunts were had, the bunny came, and new traditions were started to boot!  In a departure from the past, we did Easter baskets on Saturday, so that we wouldn't have to rush before church on Sunday and to say the kids were excited to have the bunny come a whole day early would be an understatement.  Hahaha.  For our actual Easter Sunday, we had a mostly lovely day in spite of our scrambling to get to church with no van.  Thankfully, we were able to bum a ride with a friend who lives in the neighborhood and we made it there and back in one piece.  As an added bonus, Grace spoke in sacrament meeting -- and did a lovely job -- and we all enjoyed the "Resurrection Rolls" she made for us after church, following a recipe she got from Mutual the week before.

SO, that's the basic outline of our holiday!  Now it's time for the photo dump.  ;)  First up?...

•  The Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt

 Ready to jump the gun!

 The toddler got a head start.  :)

 Success!

• A Package from Papi

 The kids LOVE that he cushions his packages with candy and not packing peanuts.  ;)

• Easter Baskets

 (Clearly posing on the stairs was NOT enjoyed by everyone.  Hahahaha.)

 It was so cute -- Isaac went straight for the basketball in his basket.  :)

 That spirograph was possibly the biggest hit of all the baskets.

 Whoopie cushions are ALWAYS a crowd pleaser.  Hahaha.

 Grace was pretty stoked about her Bath and Body Works haul.  As well as that We Love Disney cd of cover songs from Disney movies.

 Meanwhile, our resident Mario lover was pretty stoked to add two new Mario shirts to his collection.

• Resurrection Rolls

 Grace was insistent that only SHE could make the rolls.

 Marshmallows dipped in butter and cinnamon sugar, then wrapped up in a crescent roll created a delicious treat for us that was a tangible Easter reminder of the empty tomb.

The melted-away-marshmallow really did create a hollow pocket in the roll!

And that was our Easter holiday!  Now that we're back to the daily grind, I think we're all counting down the days until school is out.  We've been planning an EPIC east coast road trip for the summer, but with the current car issues, we may need to cut parts (or possibly all) of it out.  :(  We're all pretty bummed, but hopeful we can still make SOMETHING work.  Especially since we found "Lenny the car guy" who's going to replace our engine for half the price the car shop quoted us.  So fingers crossed we can still salvage our plans!