Talented

Crying erupted from the hallway and Ian came running to me bawling. Kyra pushed him (after he had been picking on her for 5 minutes) and he fell on top of his remote control car breaking it beyond repair.

All the other kids came to investigate and discovered Ian in tears over his broken toy. When all their "solutions" to fix it wouldn't work, they did the next best thing...stole his thunder.

Within seconds all of them were lamenting treasured toys of long ago. Broken dolls, balls, lost papers. You name it; we cried about it. Five kids crying, uncontrollably. I tried to be empathetic, but when no one was looking I snickered, a lot.

Eric was the most emotional. He cried and cried over the transformer ball that he accidentally aired up so much it popped. Apparently he "wanted to keep it as a memory," but his super-mean dad made him throw it away.


P.S. As I tucked Eric in bed tonight he told me a secret. "Hey Mom, did you know I got a new talent today. I can cry whenever I want." Let me tell you, he is very, very talented.

Prized Possessions

My children each earned a dollar and were itching to go spend their money.

Their choices are so different and yet perfect for each of them.

Tara purchased two abridged novels: Anne of Green Gables and Little Women (She is almost done with Little Women because it has been 90 minutes, but promised to save Anne of Green Gables for our car ride to Oklahoma in a few days.)

Eric's dart gun is adding to his collection of Army/GIJOE paraphernalia. By the end of the day he was throwing objects into the air and shooting them out of the sky. His dad was impressed when he shot down the remote controlled helicopter.

Ian got a shark place mat which he is convinced is a map to get to sharks. Ian would like to swim with sharks (and beat them up...his words, not mine.) if he could.

Amy bought new flip flops. She has had a shoe fetish her whole life. At the ripe age of 9mos she would kick and scream if I put on the wrong pair of shoes. Now we pick shoes first and then match the clothes.

School's out for Summer

Yesterday was the first day of no school. Yeah! Guess what? We made it until 9:30am before Tara declared, "I'm bored. There's nothing to do; summer is boring." I looked around at the mound of dishes I was still working on from breakfast and realized it might be a long summer.

This morning I had a plan. All the kids were up and pulling weeds in the front yard before 8am. Today they promised they weren't bored anymore. Eric also informed me that, "We are the only kids in our whole neighborhood who have to do chores."

At least they aren't bored.

Entrepreneurial Spirit

It's thriving in our house. You know how I know? I witnessed it first hand.

Tara set up the ironing board, collected several toys (most of them belonged to her brothers), and then told her siblings they could purchase the toys from her.

She made $1.76 selling toys to her siblings. Toys they already own.

You know what I thought when I saw the mini thrift store in my living room? "Wow, Tara is just like her Dad."

What is worse Tara selling the toys or the kids buying them?

Cinnamon Rolls

Who doesn't like homemade cinnamon rolls? Exactly.

I decided to make some Saturday morning as a way to show my family how much I love them. Fortunately, I have a recipe that can be finished in one hour, so my whole day wouldn't be in the kitchen.

However, Tara decided that she wanted to help bake. It is amazing how much fun you can have cooking with your children, but you have to double the time it takes to prepare the food. Maybe triple the time.


We had Cinnamon Rolls for lunch.

Happy New Year!

We enjoyed Family Movie Night and Sparkling Cider as we rang in the New Year. Amy and Kyra fell asleep, but the big three celebrated the new year along with Halifax, Canada before they went to bed at 10pm.

Since I'm losing anyway...

It's a losing battle.

I can't possibly keep the house clean with all five kids home
all day
with no scheduled activities.

So today I gave in and let it get as bad as it could
and then a little worse.

Don't judge me if find a piece of popcorn on
a random shelf
or
under my couch.

Just know we made a family memory
and some of it is still left over.

This scene was repeated too many times to count...I still feel scratchy thinking of all the popcorn pieces that ended up down my shirt.


It is more fun to throw popcorn if you are jumping off a stool!

There will always be a fight over the weapon.

And tears from the loser.

I recommend a better shield than your foot.

I think they had fun...

weekend fun and iphones

Jared and I caught the Christmas spirit during our Carol of Lights weekend and treated the kids to an afternoon at Holland Gardens picking out Christmas ornaments for the year and visiting Santa. Yes, that was the best picture...jeez it is hard to get 5 kids looking at you at the same time.


We also treated them to a movie, in the theater. That is a BIG deal at our house because it has happened, counting Saturday, once. We saw Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. If you ask the kids what movie they saw you will get that entire title. It was fun to have that experience as a family.

As the day was winding to a close, I asked Eric what his favorite part of the trip was. I'm expecting accolades for allowing him to go to the Carol of Lights, visit Santa, get a Christmas ornament, or watch a movie...in a theater no less. His answer:

"Playing on Uncle Brent's iphone. The car racing game is SOOO COOL!"



Nice, we could have done that for free!

Anyone with a desire to laugh and a tough stomach read on...

My car smells like laundry detergent because I washed all five of my carseats. Not because I am that good of a house keeper, but out of sheer necessity.

Let's start by saying my poor brother in law got sick as a dog the day after Thanksgiving. Then my niece and nephew followed suit. We made it a day and a half without symptoms, so I assumed we were going to be just fine.

The morning we were supposed to leave, I felt wrong and spent some quality time with the toilet. Jared wanted to stay until everyone felt better, but since it was Sunday morning and with a family of 7 it could take 3 days for everyone to get the nasty bug and get well again, I thought we should hurry up and out run it.

Jared was right...he always is.

We were about 2 hours into our should-be-7-hour-trip-home-turned-into-8.5-hours when Amy lost her lunch (I'll spare you the details). The result was musical carseats. Tara moved to the passenger seat, Eric and his carseat to the second row and I then occupied the vacant seat next to Amy. Let me tell you that if you have been vomiting and trying to feel better the best thing you can do is sit in the way back of a mini van next to a toddler who is covered in her own vomit. Yep, guaranteed to help you feel better in a hurry!

Out running the bug just meant that Tara, Amy, Eric, Kyra and I all got to vomit on the side of the road or into gallon sized ziplocks. We packed a lot and used all but one.

It is amazing what can be funny in hindsight. Like Jared trying to cover his ears while driving with his elbows whenever heaving noises were made. I'm surprised, really, that he didn't get sick. Throw-up and Jared DON'T mix.

Ian didn't get sick. He has a stomach of steal. You have to have a tough stomach if you choose to drink from puddles, which he does. He doesn't like being in such close proximity to others whose stomachs are less durable, though. "I don't want to sit by anyone who is throwing up," he begged. Let's see, 7 seats, 5 vomiters, sorry kid. Not gonna happen. I was thinking, "If you figure out that car seat configuration you are guaranteed a spot in Mensa International."

The best learning experience is awarded to Jared for the following scenario.

When we finally got home and everyone was bathed (except me...Moms don't get that luxury until all is done), I sat down on the couch to feed a hungry Kyra. Amy walked up to us and vomited. I wasn't prepared for that, so I caught it in my hands. Yep, it's gross but that's what moms do. We catch throw up in our hands so we don't have to clean the carpet, couch, kid, baby, etc. With my hands full and dripping half eaten food, I yelled for Jared to get me a bowl.

He did.
Quickly too I might add.

However, he brought me the popcorn bowl. It is the only bowl in the house that has cracks all through the plastic. It doesn't matter with popcorn. It DOES matter with vomit. So, now I have hands covered in the vomit residue that didn't fall into the bowl, a bowl leaking vomit, a newborn covered in vomit, an 18mos old vomiting, and a 3 yr old hovering. Yikes! It might have been better in the car. At least there I had ziplocks to do the catching. My hands would have been clean and the bags didn't leak. Yuck.

Everything worked out. Amy, the carpet, Kyra, and I all got cleaned. In that order too, I think. And Jared now knows that the popcorn bowl isn't water tight. Good info to have at random moments in life!

Flu Shots

So I know all of you lay awake at night, like I do, thinking of ways to torture, torment, and trouble your children.

Apparently last night I had an epiphany. I found a way to do exactly that to ALL FIVE of my children in a single day. "How, How!" I hear you chanting. And since the answer is so simple, I will share it with you.

Shots. Lots and lots of shots.

We went to the doctor for Kyra's 2 month checkup and I figured, "Hey why not get flu shots for the big kids too?" I already had Ian and Amy with me, so it would be so easy.

HERE IS HOW IT UNFOLDED:

The nurse comes to administer the torture. I volunteer to go first to show Ian and Amy how incredibly easy it is to get stuck with a long, sharp needle then have serum shoved into your muscle. I'm thoughtful like that.

She asks who should go after me. "Ian, you're up." Let the crying begin. Especially when his arms are pinned above his head and his legs are in the nurse's vice grip. NICE. Ian loves being forced to do things he doesn't like.

So now that Ian is screaming, let's move onto Amy and repeat the previous procedure. I know you are curious so I'll tell you. Amy doesn't kick as hard as Ian, but hard enough to help me break a sweat. And finally Kyra who is the least dramatic even though she gets 5 shots instead of one AND has to take an oral vaccination as well.

The volume in our exam room is roughly comparable to a BCS bowl game tied in the last 5 seconds with one team poised to score. I shout over the screaming, wailing, and whimpering children to the nurse, "it might take a minute for us to get out of here." Then I attempt to calm everyone down. You know how I got Ian to stop crying? All of your best guesses: McD's happy meals, park play time, and candy until you vomit are all wrong. I promised to make Tara and Eric suffer the same fate as him. Then he laughed. (I'm serious people.)

After school I picked up two unsuspecting children and drove to the doctor's office, again. Of course Tara and Eric figured out why we were there and were grateful, appreciative, and moved to tears by my concern for them. They showed all of this emotion by calling me "mean".

The office staff at the pediatrician's office see me so frequently they do me favors (like squeezing me into the schedule even though they don't do the flu shot clinic today.) I felt honored, but really I know that they are counting on me to provide their Christmas bonuses so they are buttering me up. 'Tis the Season and all.

We get escorted back and the same nurse gets assigned to us, again. Poor thing. She however is a woman I understand. When Tara started screaming before the needle was even brandished, the nurse said "I'll give you two shots if you don't stop." I was wondering how appropriate it was to ask if we could be BFF's if I don't know her name. Seriously, I think I fell in love.

So that is how I did it. I tortured all of my kids in ONE day. You can do it too if you like.

The hyper halloweener - problem solved

Jared offered to take the kids "camping" in the backyard. It sounded like a good idea at 3pm; at 9:30pm when I was on my 4th trip out to the tent, (this time with 5 blankets, 3 cups, a glasses case, and everyone's special lovey) I was beginning to wonder.

Then I saw Eric's face and it was all worth it.



I was surprised (beyond belief) that no one came inside. Especially since Tara was worrying about the fact that "this isn't my normal bed" and Eric was cold, etc. Huge hats off to my wonderful husband for giving me a night sleep interrupted by only 1 kid instead of 5!

I love you Jared.

Pumpkin Carving

We carved our pumpkin this year at the church. It was fun and chaotic.

The boys help Dad carve



I always get the gut scooping job



Tara holds the finished Jack-o-lantern (which she designed)



Ian did what all little kids do at church activities...RUN



Until the boys got caught by the REF!