Pony Draft

This is how we get the kids to bed every night. Behold our collection of ponies! 

Tonight we had 30 ponies lined up on Eliza's crib. That's just the ones we could find.

Then Ben flips a coin and Anna usually calls tails, whoever wins the coin flip gets to pick one pony. Then they switch off picking two ponies at a time until all the candidates are chosen.

Here is Eliza picking some. Calvin does not get to participate, he is a supportive observer.

Here is Anna showing her choices.

Obviously, this was all Ben's idea, he likes to keep tabs on the ponies and it leads to fair and equitable distribution of ponies for bedtime.

Fire hats

Ben just came home with these firemen hats from firehouse subs and all the kids got one. Eliza couldn't put hers on the right way.

oh man, aren't blurry phone pictures the best?

Fishing with grampa

We checked off one of our summer To-Do's yesterday, we went fishing with Grampa. We'll have to go with Ben sometime later. We drove up Payson Canyon to Maple Lake, it was quiet and beautiful, I couldn't remember the last time I had spent time in the mountains.

We caught 3 little "nemo's" that all got released back into the water.

Recipes That Don't Work - PB pancakes

As I melted the peanut butter and added it to the pancake batter I was pretty sure I was at the beginning of a Breakfast Revolution! 

But... it turns out that the peanut butter made the batter really thick and gluey and I thought, maybe there is a reason I have never heard of these before.

After pouring the batter into the pan they did NOT spread out and thin. Somehow the batter was less viscous than plain peanut butter would have been. It just sat there in a pile. So I spread it with a fork and waited and waited and waited for it to cook all the way through. 

Flipping them was also a pain, because they were so heavy they would fall apart, losing pancake limbs all over the place! One just gave up the ghost and collapsed into itself, folded in half like a taco shell. 

The tragedy of all this is that they DIDN'T EVEN TASTE PEANUT BUTTERY! So it was all for naught. And I cried maple syrup tears.

So learn from my experience, this is a recipe that doesn't work.

Compare, Contrast

Tonight was such a 180 from last night. We were pretty busy today, we had to get ready for and go to a bridal shower for my sister. Again, we were late getting home but the kids were well fed, had boxes of candy on their laps and a cup of water in their hands.
I told them we would go right to bed when we got home, but Anna asked about reading stories - I tried to put her off saying that I would read all the books tomorrow but, to her credit, instead of whining, she bargained. She said if I read stories, she would give me a back massage. Can't turn that down! So when we finally got our teeth brushed and pajamas on and Calvin in bed, I read books and Anna gave me back massages and foot massages - stuff she had seen on them do on My Little Pony called "hoof-icures". It was great, everyone was happy and relaxed and I let them stay up past 10:00 because we were having a good time. It was fun to have some silly giggle time with the kids, especially when they offer massages!

Tired Children and Tired Moms

Tonight we left a very very fun Family Reunion Extravaganza in Park City. Everyone had a great time, we played, we laughed, we swam. Some babies napped. Some 5 year olds did not. Which leads me to our departure, which is still very fresh in my mind, as I have only been home for 20 minutes.

Anna wanted to play at the park one more time.
I said "No"
Anna whined and screamed and begged and tantrum-ed for 20 minutes until we drove away from the park.

We started down the canyon, Anna told me she did not have dessert.
I said, "Sorry, there was dessert at dinner, you should have had some"
Anna whined and *screamed* and begged and tantrum-ed for AN HOUR.

Until we got out of the canyon, then the baby sitting next to her started up, because, fancy this - he couldn't sleep because someone had been screaming right next to him!

And what did this 5 year old do? Did she offer him his bottle? Did she try to distract him or play with him? No, she sat straight up in her chair and covered her ears. My favorite was when she said "It would be easier to drive if he wasn't SCREAMING"

At this point I was speeding home, mostly on the chance that I would get pulled over and maybe talk the friendly police officer into taking me in to the station for the night. He probably would have when he heard the chaos I was immersed in.

At the reunion I heard my cousin Steve talking about how his wife went out of town and he had all 5 of his kids. He talked about how just relentless it is to stay home, there is ALWAYS someone that is hungry and there is ALWAYS some mess to clean up and there is ALWAYS someone with bathroom issues he was even getting up in the night with the baby. Eventually he said he wanted to just curl up in the fetal position and hope that it would all disappear. I laughed when I heard this, not because it was funny, but because it's so true, and it was nice to hear it acknowledged for once. I kind of can't believe that everyone doesn't know how very hard it is and how it just never stops.

So we finally got home and into bed an hour and half after bed time, so I definitely recognize that all this was a product of over-tiredness. My point is not that I have terrible children. My point is this: Why don't my terrible children just go to sleep when they are tired? Why must they fight it?

Calvin and his Grandpa

This is Calvin. He's so cute.

This is Calvin's grandpa Richard. 

The end.

Greenest thumb

Look what my Dad and I built! Dad gave me the tools and the boards and the knowledge and I put it together.

I filled it up with the compost I've been brewing and after I planted the tomatoes I noticed some little sprouts coming up that are not weeds. I think they might be...watermelon? Not sure, but they are all over. I'm basically so good at gardening, I don't even have to plant seeds anymore.

Landscaping

Continuing my re-landscaping efforts I planted some bushes in this troublesome garden bed on the side of the house. I wanted something low maintenance. I got 6 bushes for about $6 each. Two boxwoods and 3 euonymus - which I mostly picked because I like to pronounce the name. Euonymus. Is the plural euonymi? 

In any case I am very excited to check this off my list. 

On Being Nice

My birthday was Saturday, Mother's Day was Sunday. Sunday night Anna said "finally we can stop being nice to you!"

Oh. Is that what that was?

Fairy garden

We made a fairy garden. We keep going back and forth between fairies existing and not existing. Anyway, we got a rusty red wagon, some small plants and some birdhouses which we hand-painted. Throw in some rock pathways and boom! Fairy garden.

Just something cute

Eliza did something very cute tonight. She was in my bedroom while I was in the kitchen, she came out to tell me something was "bleh", I told her to clean it up or wait until I could. I wandered in a few minutes later to see that my nightstand had been cleared off and everything was on the floor. I asked Anna to put it all back, I assumed that was the "bleh" (They have been surprisingly cooperative this week while Ben has been gone). Later Eliza wanted to show me something that she had no word for so she took my by the hand and led me to the coat closet. I opened it, she pointed up and said "blue". I lifted her up and she pointed to the swifter duster. Now I understood.
Last week, in a fit of productivity, Eliza and I cleaned off an dusted my nightstand. I taught her the ins and outs of dusting and de-cluttering. She took it to heart I guess.
I gave her the duster that she had requested and followed her back to my room. I peeked in and saw that she had taken everything off again and put it all on the floor. Now she was dusting. She caught me looking so I asked if I could take a picture. She said no. When I got out my iPod she more vehemently said "no!" But I took it anyway because she's such a cutie.

Exploding Egg (RTDW)

Anna and I made some cookies tonight. I measured out the sugar while she thawed the butter in the microwave and added it to the bowl. Then I got out the eggs, I cracked one and handed her the other. I turned to throw my shells away when I heard hers crack, then silence. I turned back and saw half the shell in her hand. I hurriedly turned off the mixer as she stood there stunned, then she stated: "it was an exploding egg"

The Most Beautiful Woman I Ever Saw

Honestly, this is kind of an off-topic post, but I remembered this woman today and thought, someday my kids might benefit from hearing about her.

Of course, Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder, but this was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. Ben and I were out together over a year ago, I can't remember when, we were at a fancy sushi restaurant in Salt Lake when this woman walked in. She was possibly late 20's to early 30's, the first thing I noticed about her was her shirt.

She honestly seemed a bit underdressed for this restaurant but she was totally confident. She was trim, not large but also not bone skinny. Her hair was short, but very clean and simple.

Her face was what captivated me most. Her eyes were bright and open, you could tell she was kind and gracious. She wore very little make-up, and just small jewels in her ears. She had a kind and genuine smile. I kept finding myself peeking over at her during dinner. She was polite with her dining companion, listening to what he said, not overpowering the conversation with idle laughter or immature silliness. She was just the most attractive woman I have ever seen and it wasn't because she was wearing anything special or adorning herself with expensive or gaudy accessories. If I had dared, I would have walked up to her and said "Excuse me, but you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, and I just want you to know that." And, because she was kind, she would have just smiled and said "thank you".

Compassionate Eliza

We are watching Conference and to keep me awake during this musical number I will tell you what Eliza just did.
I let the girls bring down all the hair paraphernalia and comb my hair and decorate their hair and etc. So Eliza started tickling Ben's back after combing his hair (and trying to put a bow in it) and apparently it felt good so he got some shivers.
Eliza's reaction: "Oh!" walks around him, picks up a quilt and puts it on him. I explained that she thought his shiver was him saying he was cold - just how she would have done -  so she covered him with a blanket. (He already had a big warm quilt covering him)

Have I mentioned she is adorable?
Seriously, a lot of people don't know that because she's ridiculously shy around the general public. She is simultaneously hilarious and adorable.

EasterFest2013

Easter is so FUN! Here we are dying eggs Friday afternoon. I had a lot of extra energy that day, and it's a good thing. I boiled 10 eggs and none of them broke, until Eliza dropped one. But that beats our record.

Eliza, clearly, has a future in modeling.

You cannot beat that smile.

Anna did a great job decorating her eggs.

Saturday morning I hid eggs in the yard for the girls.

And Calvin played cheerleader while they searched

Happy Easter! Always Be Awesome!

Calvin: 7 months

These pictures are about 3 weeks old, but this was Calvin at 7 months. 

 He liked getting up on his toes while learning to crawl. He is now crawling with good form 3 weeks later.

 Eliza loves to play with Calvin and they spend time in his crib once in a while. These are classics.

How it's done

How 5 year olds peel oranges:

How a 2 year old peels an orange:

March Madness inspired Fitness Game

For every:

• 2 point basket - do 5 squats  

• 3 point basket - do 10 pushups 

•  Foul shots - jog until they have been shot 

•  Turnover - do 10 lunges 

•  Time-out - do 15 shoulder presses

Other exercises you could swap in may include:
Bicep curls
Rows
Reverse lunges
kickups
leg raises
sit ups
crunches
etc...

 

Calvin and Eliza

Eliza and Calvin are thick as thieves these days. Anna accused her of "hogging" the baby, but the truth is, Anna has never showed too much interest. Eliza likes to kiss or hug or squeeze his cheeks all day. I assume these two will always be close because they are so close in age and I look forward to watching them play together. Poor Anna wishes Eliza was older, or at least more communicative but they are getting pretty good at playing together too.

Zoobee zoobee zoo

We went to the Zoo! The weather was comparably beautiful (50) so we packed a lunch and went on up. There were plenty of people there but it wasn't crowded, which was wonderful while we checked out the new section with bears and etc. half of the zoo is under construction for the new African savannah habitat which is going to be awesome, opening 2014. Fortunately it is the boring half, no train rides or playground though we could see all the animals.