True Love

Sixteen years ago right now, Scott was curled up on the floor of our honeymoon suite bathroom having just puked his guts out for like the 20th time.  Womp womp.  Hahaha.  Poor little lamb.  The great wedding stomach bug of April 2002 struck with a furious vengeance the day before our big day and continued on for the next week as it hit random family members from both of our sides before finally petering out and leaving everyone alone.  I think it was Scott's brother who was the first one to be sick, but whether it was Adam or Kristin who passed it along, Scott got hit with his first wave of queasiness with 20 minutes left in our reception.  He barely made it to the bathroom on time before puking in the sink and for the rest of our {wedding} night, the hits kept coming.

Luckily, he was feeling slightly better by the time we had to board our flight the next morning for Hawaii, and by the time we got over our jet lag, he was feeling back to normal and we were able to enjoy our week in Paradise.  :)  One of these days we'll have to go back.  Until then, we'll just have to keep making every day paradise up in this joint!

(We celebrated on Saturday at The Cheesecake Factory.  Cliche, perhaps, but so delish.)

The Tweedlearium

Those kids!  They are simultaneously exasperating and hilariously entertaining.  While trying to figure out the rooming situation for the kids in the new house, I jokingly referred to Alex and Jane's room as "The Tweedlearium."  Well, apparently they LOVED that and have officially started planning for the best bedroom ever!  I found them intently working on the above plan one morning when they had woken up extra early for school and  I laughed out loud as I read through their list:

The Tweedlearium

Includes:

*  Stuffed animal fort

*  Nintendo switch (if we can save up money) 

*  T.V. 

*  Chromebook

Who's Allowed???

*  Tweedle dee (Jane)

*  Tweedle dum (Alex)

Hahahahahaha.  I can't wait to see how they put that plan into action -- especially when they try to squeeze Isaac in, too.   ;)  

Weekend Antics

What happens when your designated babysitter (aka Grace) is at a friend's house for the night and you have to go with your back up babysitter (aka Ethan)?  Well, let's just say that none of the kids had been put to bed yet at 10:40 when he texted asking when we were going to be home AND when we finally got home 20 minutes later, we were greeted with messes everywhere and a toddler with a hairful of sunflower oil. Yes.  You read that right.  Hahahaha.

Friday night, some friends of ours invited us over for a last hurrah before we move.  We had a game night with lots of yummy snacks and it was so much fun that it helped us in letting the terrible babysitting slide.  Haha.  While we were gaming it up, Ethan was doing his own gaming (on the computer) while Sophie and the three youngers were watching a movie for Movie Night.  According to my inside source (aka Sophie), Ethan didn't get off the computer until 9:15 and then just moved from the iMac in computer room to his Chromebook on the family room stairs.  Popcorn was the snack of the evening, and since Sophie is allergic to dairy, we always use sunflower oil to flavor it rather than butter.  Let's just say that they tend to be a little heavy-handed with the oil when I'm not around to help them, and there was evidence of that all over the counters, couches, carpet, and Isaac's hair  -- apparently he dumped the not-so-empty popcorn bowl on top of his head to make a "hat."  Those kids!

According to Sophie, Alex and Jane fell asleep on the couch and she's the one who had to wake them up and move them upstairs, and by the time we got home, the only ones still awake were 1.0 and 2.0 (aka Ethan and Isaac).  After cleaning up as much of the mess as we could, we got Isaac to bed and then crashed ourselves.  

(Pictures really do not do justice to the amount of oil in his hair.)

Saturday was full of its own antics, thanks to Grace who had been gone all day at the amusement park with a friend from school.  Before those antics creeped up, however, we gave Ethan a chance to redeem himself with babysitting again that night (this time with all three younger ones asleep before we left for a movie) and he did a MUCH better job even with being pulled into the drama of the night. You see, 10 minutes into our movie, we got a phone call and then a text from Ethan informing us that the mother of Grace's friend had just come by the house to see if we had heard anything from them.  The plan was for us to pick them up at 10 when the park closed, and even though Grace texted me around 3 saying that her phone was at 1%, she was quick to text me from two different friends' phones to let me know where I could get ahold of her.  Meanwhile, Grace's friend was supposed to be checking in with her mom every hour, and when this mom came over to the house, Ethan said she was freaking out because she hadn't heard from the girls in over 3 hours.  The rest of the movie was a blur of me trying to text anyone I could think of who might have kids at the amusement park who would be with them so that we could track them down, to no avail.  Since we knew Grace's phone was dead -- and assumed her friend's phone was, too -- Scott was not too worried and figured we'd follow the plan and just go and pick them up at 10 as planned.  I was slightly more panicky, and as we got out of the movie and raced to the Park, I started making phone calls and discovered that the other parents were already there with park security trying to track them down.

We had literally just parked and were walking up to the entrance when I got a text from Grace -- completely oblivious to everything that had transpired over the last hour and half -- asking where we were and that they were hanging out in the Starbucks inside the Park while their phones were charging.  Say what???  Oh Grace.  She didn't even believe me when I told her that security had been looking for them and that we were all worried.  By the time we got through the entrance, the girls were with the other parents and the security officer was giving them a pretty stern talking to about responsibility and checking in with parents and following the plans that have been set, etc.  In the future, I think both girls will be a little more on top of taking a time out to charge phones if that's what needs to be done.

Anyway, it was quite the weekend!  Hahaha.  Never a dull moment around here.  It's hard to believe that our countdown to the move is at the less-than-one-month mark.  School is out on May 18th, and May 19th we'll be heading on out.  Now we've just got to get through state testing this week, my baby brother's wedding next week (!), end of year projects and teacher appreciation the week after that, and then one more week and we're done.  I feel like we've been caught up in a whirlwind since February and I'm finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  My only hope is that once we get into that light, the whirlwind will leave us alone for a little bit...

Guilt Trips

Yesterday, the Tweedles got the best of me and guilted me into bringing them McDonald's and eating lunch with them at school.  For the past couple of weeks, Jane has been crying to me that it's not fair that I never come to eat lunch with them and that ALL her friends have had their parents come in, and since Isaac has preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays, why can't I just do it then?

I finally got sick enough of the sob fest that I decided a little quid pro quo could save the day.  I told Jane and Alex that if they made their beds before school and fixed up their room to look "perfect" (in case we had any showings), I would have time to swing by McDonald's and go eat with them before picking up Isaac.  With half my work taken care of for me (Ethan and Grace have been leaving their rooms perfect every morning, and Sophie pitched in with her bed yesterday as well), I was able to get the whole house show ready in about an hour after I had dropped Dumplin' off to school.

After my daily chores were done, I decided to kill two birds with one stone and stop by The Home Depot that's right next to the McDonald's to grab some EZ Seed to fix the grass situation that has been glaring out at us from the backyard, ever since we hauled away the trampoline and play set.  I timed things JUST right, finishing up at the store and then going through the drive-thru with enough time to even sit with Sophie at lunch, even though she wasn't the one begging.  I didn't want her feeling left out that the Tweedles got all my attention for lunch, but I shouldn't have worried.  If anything, I think Sophie was embarrassed to have me show up in the cafeteria unannounced.  Hahaha.  She eventually let me sit at her table with her friends, and I was able to chat with them all for a bit before the 1st graders came in, but I could tell that she probably would have been just as happy if I hadn't come for her at all.  Womp.  Womp.  Hahaha.

 I pretty much made her take a picture with me.

In line with her friends, going back to class.

Alex, on the other hand, was a different story!  He {and his friends} were a super energetic bunch of kiddos who were super stoked that I was there and had brought McDonald's.  I learned all KINDS of stuff from his friends while there (like seriously, SO much stuff) and it was quite an entertaining little interlude.

Fifteen minutes later, the 3rd graders arrived in the cafeteria and I bid Alex and company farewell to go and sit with Jane.  Jane, meanwhile, was more excited than Alex and Sophie combined -- after all, I had finally made her dreams come true by bringing her lunch.  After grabbing her happy meal, she promptly swiped my phone and started taking selfies with her friends.  Hahahaha.

In the end, it was a lot of fun, and I'm glad Jane guilted me into eating lunch with them at school.  Now I just hope they don't expect this to happen EVERY Tuesday and Thursday.  ;)

Hoppy Easter

After spending the bulk of our Spring Break week house hunting, we headed on up to the cousins' on Friday for the long Easter weekend.  It was an extra special Easter because it was also General Conference {which is my favorite time of year} and even more extra special because we were able to sustain our newly called prophet and president of the church, Russell M. Nelson in a solemn assembly on Saturday morning.  It was really cool to be with family during the Assembly, rather than just by our own selves watching from home like we normally would, and I really felt the Spirit as we all stood together and sustained our leader.  

We haven't gone to the cousins' for Conference in a VERY long time, because my children tend to not watch at all and are distracting and aggravating to ME while I'M trying to watch and listen, but this time around they really pulled themselves together!  It probably helps a ton that they're all a bit older and I'd also like to think that they're starting to feel the magnitude of how wonderful these Conferences always are.  A mother can dream, right?  ;)  Hahaha.

(Alex needed me to take a picture of this tiny Rubik's cube he got in his basket.)

Anywho, it was a really lovely and relaxing weekend to spend together and the kids were all excited that the Easter Bunny found us even though we weren't at our house.  It may look as though the bunny really phoned things in this year, but that's only because she kind of did.  Hahaha.  Everyone was happy, though, and that's all that matters.  

It's hard to believe we're already in April!  We are officially in the downward slide towards end-of-school-year, and with that the countdown to the Move is on.  Six more weeks, people.  Six more weeks...

{We came home to find THIS jewel in the mailbox -- LESS than 6 weeks left for this lovely couple before they tie the knot.  I can't believe my baby brother is getting married!}

Spring Break Road Trip

Well, folks -- we've bought a house!  This Spring Break took us to our new destination down South.  We decided that we might as well make our house hunting trip a family affair, since the move will affect the whole family, and we took the kids with us to check out the area and start getting familiar with it.  My fingers were mostly crossed for Ethan's sake, since I know he's taking this change the hardest.  My prayer the whole time we were there was that he would find at least ONE thing to be excited about in our new city.  Spoiler alert -- the jury is still out.  Womp womp.  Hahaha.  In all honesty, though, I think this trip has helped to at least baby step his way to a better outlook on "the move."  By the time we're actually out there for good, I'm hoping that it will be an easier transition now that we've seen what it's like and are becoming familiar with it.

 It was SNOWING as we took off last Saturday on our trip. BOOOOO!

The DVD player in the car came in EXTRA handy on this EXTRA long trip in the car.

But enough about all that.  I'm sure the thing everyone is dying to see is pictures, right?  Haha.  Have no fear, I took plenty.  ;) Before we get to that, though, I have to give a quick description of the rental house we stayed in for the week.  {And I can't believe I didn't take any pictures of it!}  By renting a house on VRBO vs. staying in a hotel, we figured we'd bother fewer people with our raucous crew -- especially since we'd be leaving Ethan and Grace in charge on the two days we were out house hunting with our realtor.  The rental house itself was like a time machine.  It was built in the 60's and I'm pretty sure most of the details were the original.  It smelled like old people -- but not in a BAD way -- and it was full of knick knacks and odds and ends that added to the vintage charm.  Aside from worrying the whole time that the toddler was going to destroy precious heirlooms, it was quite a fun place to stay.  Not to mention it was super convenient for getting to all the places we needed to go.

 Front Porch!

 (I'm in love with this front door.)

Front Entry Way

Monday and Tuesday of last week saw Scott and I out with our realtor, sifting through the houses we had checked out online prior to coming.  By day 2 we had narrowed things down to 3 top choices, and on Wednesday we took the kids with us to check them out, too.  It was fun seeing their reactions and hearing their feedback, and even more exciting to see that -- in the end -- everyone was in total agreement on the house we should buy!

 Dining Room

 Living Room

 Office

 Family Room

My personal favorite thing about the house is the location (it's only 8 minutes from Scott's new office) and the fact that, if they want, we're close enough for the younger ones to walk to school.  And the second best part is that the kitchen has all the features I was hoping for -- a large island, DOUBLE OVENS (!), and a farmhouse style sink.  Bam! What????  Hahaha.  The only downfall to me is that I wish the backyard were a little bigger.  Nevertheless, the kids assure me that it's the same size as our current yard (which I'm not so sure is true, but maybe it is), and it's big enough to fit the promised trampoline we said we'd be getting as the reward for completing our Book of Mormon challenge last year.

 Kitchen

 Back Deck

Yard. (Which is fenced in and I'm THRILLED for Isaac's sake.)

 Nice, big upstairs Bonus Room.

 (The younger kids made themselves RIGHT at home while we were here.)

 With a little nook for my Arts and Crafts-ers.

 Sophie and Grace have claimed this room.

 Ethan will be in this one.

 And I think we're going to try and fit the Tweedles and Isaac in this one.  Wish us luck.  Hahaha.

Master Bedroom

Aside from the excitement of house hunting, the kids were thrilled to have some Spring Break fun as well by hitting up a local trampoline park not once, but twice while we were in town.  Isaac in particular was a HUGE fan and it was hilarious to hear him asking every single day if we could go back.  We finished off our week by driving up to the cousins' house in Indiana to spend Easter/Conference weekend with them (and for the kids to have their "Spring Bash") and we enjoyed being with family for such a special occasion.  We'll miss being so close when we move.  :(

 Trampoline socks!

 (Those foam pits are SUPER hard to get out of, FYI.)

All in all, I'd say we had a rather fabulous Spring Break!  (Now if only our house HERE would sell --  Hashtag fingers crossed!)