pool party at my place.

Hey just wanted to show ya'll who came a swimming last night - and couldn't get out!  A SKUNK! 

I had friends over this morning and one of the little girls came in the house asking us mommies why there was a skunk in the pool. Of course, we didn't hear her (listen) until the 3rd time she asked. Then we were horrified to see it!  The baby must have fallen in last night, swam over to the top stair and couldn't get out! He was shivering like crazy. I didn't know what to do and was highly distressed both at the thought of him dying/drowning and having a freaking SKUNK IN MY POOL so I did what any woman would do. I ran out front to flag down the first male I saw! It happened to be a landscaping crew working on my neighbors yard who came, lifted him out and dropped him gently over the fence, back to freedom. I'd worry about hypothermia except it is 105 degrees outside so I think he'll warm up pretty quick. And no one was hurt/sprayed. So now we know we have skunks roaming the neighborhood while we sleep. Lovely.

Poolman has been notified and is coming to shock the pool with chlorine. Gross.

Anyone up for a pool party/swim lessons at my house anymore?!

Shelly's Birthday Rodeo

Michelle went to a rodeo this summer and caught cowboy fever! She mentioned after, somewhat jokingly, how much fun she thought it'd to be one of those rodeo girls who gets all dressed up and rides the fast horses around while holding a big flag - or doing the barrel racing. Boy, did we laugh. Who'd have thought Michelle would like rodeos?! We secretly couldn't let that theme die and surprised her with a "fancy" birthday dinner out at the one and only restaurant in town  (Scottsdale) that has a mechanical bull!  Ha!  What a fun place to eat. We took turns riding the bull (I came home with a bad back and Tyler couldn't walk right for three days), enjoyed THE tallest stack of cotton candy I'd ever seen, and had smores out by the fire for dessert. Happy 19th Birthday, Cowgirl! ;) We love you.

Making my case for SAHMs

Readers beware: this one is gonna be bias. But it may still be worth the read.  I've been thinking about hitting a subject and this afternoon feels right (I got some of the saddest news from my BYU bf - see her blog link to the right, "darcee and brent". Its a reminder about the frailty of life and preciousness of family).

I'm making my case for being a stay-at-home-mom!

1 - From a mom perspective:

Holding your newborn and looking ahead at your baby's first 5 years, it definitely feels like good a long time (in the toddler stage days feel like years but years feel like days). But take my word for it, looking back at your child's first five years, it feels like the blink of an eye. Crap, my baby turns 10 years old next month!! This is my thought: why not step away from the workforce to be home with your little ones just until they go to all day school if you can't do longer? It might be 5 years, 7 or 8 if you have two or more kids. But what is that in the long run?  A drop in the bucket of our adult life, but everything in building the foundation of our little ones. Won't it be nice to know you were there.

2 - From a marriage perspective:

It's got to be proven that one's home-life is better/more pleasant/smoother when the wife is at home. She's got the daytime to do laundry, get groceries, make the family a decent dinner and teach the babies things like how to use the potty and stop sucking their fingers. She can pay bills, deal with doctors, home repairs, exercise, and do some stuff she enjoys, like socialize.  At the end of the day, the home is taken care of and that makes everyone happier.  A happy life is a happy wife. And if you're not happy at home? A change of attitude should do the trick. Remember, it's not forever and it is truly a blessing to be home caring for your sweet babies.  Find some new hobbies, make friends, develop new talents. Sew something! ;)

3 - From the daycare providers perspective:

Some may know that I spent a decent chunk of my working days employed at Kindercare. I love kids and was studying child development at school. I worked with about every age group 6 weeks - school age for some period of time and when it was time for me to quit when I delivered Luke, my attitude towards daycare was good. I knew I had been a loving teacher and I knew the little ones had a pretty good life there. But then  I had Luke. I remember going in to visit my friends and the kids with my new little baby and I was sick when I left. Suddenly the ratios (even 1:4) were too big! The babies spent far too much time in the swings! The two years old who was sleepy and feverish, lying on the carpet waiting for his mommy to come pick him up needed to be home, wrapped his mommy's arms! I felt so bad about all the kids who spend day in a day out looking at the same 4 walls - we called it preschool and we said we were keeping things exciting with the curriculum, but the bottom line is, its the same toys, same space, same faces day in and day out 10 hours a day. It gets old.

Whats worse, I mentioned the ratios, in Utah infants were 1 teacher to 4 infants. Two-year-olds were 1:7, 4- year-olds were 1:15. Even at 1:4, its the naughty/fussy ones who get the most attention. The teachers are doing the best they can and they have to tend to the ones who need it most. The easy ones, hate to say it, swing a lot. Or sit on the floor. Or play alone. Until someone cries, they're fine, the teachers have plenty of other ones to care for.

Super sad when you consider how different life is at home with mom.

4 - From a financial perspective:

I completely and entirely understand that most moms go back to work because they need to. But do they really need to?  Sell a car, drop daddy off and pick him up. Get an apartment/a more affordable place to live. I'm not saying these things would be easy, I haven't done them myself, but I can vouch for the fact that if you cut back and choose carefully, living on one income CAN work!

Many Mormon moms stay home. Many Mormon moms have a lot of kids. Many Mormon moms have no debt. Many Mormon moms pay 10% of their family's income in tithing every month. And it can't be the money we save not buying alcohol that's making all the difference. ;) It IS possible to live on one income and make ends meet. And our children would much rather have us over that new toy.

In conclusion (since I feel like I'm writing a persuasive essay now), I think it is safe to say a mom will never regret staying home her your babies, but she very well may regret not.  And the hard part about watching our kids grow up is there is no rewind button.

Do it! Stay home!! Our kids will thanks us for it someday.

Why blankies gone (and baba is back!!)

Dee, the reason blankie has to go is because Claire instictively now sucks her finger the second she gets a hold of the corners of her blankie. So without the blankie, I'm hoping she won't suck her fingers. However, like a little addict gone three days without her blankie, she found the corner of the towel which was wrapped around my head as I dressed her yesterday morning, and she grabbed it, then popped her fingers in her mouth! Yikes. Now she's open to any corner on any material!  Glad I've started the yucky finger stuff.

The bottle is back now because it was too sad listening to her cry at night. I figured get the blankie/finger habit to stop which is the main goal, and I can ditch the bottles again later. Those are easy to lose in comparison.

Ashley has her contraption in now. She, like always, impresses me with her attitude and willingness to endure annoying things. She slept well last night, and despite talking and eating being almost impossible, is pleasant. Yay!

In other big news, we got Claire a big girl potty today and she has, on her own, gathered all of her dollies to show them how to use it. Like a real two-year-old girl (almost) she has been chattering and playing with her imagination and those dollies and potty all afternoon!  Talk about adorable.

She has also colored all over her body with Jake's Mr. Smelly markers and locked herself into the bathroom a few times (found the lock button). Its been a good day.

Taking on the fingers!

When Jake and Ashley needed to learn to ride their bikes without training wheels I had two options. A, do it separately, one at a time. Or B, rip the band-aid off and hack them out together. I opted for option A. We removed their training wheels on the same night and I started running.  I ran and ran with them to and from school for at least three weeks. Poor Luke got suckered into pushing the stroller each way while I did my best to keep the kids on wheels upright and away from cars.  Thankfully, they both learned and we all came out alive. And that phase, for them, is over with forever.

This month I'm opting for the same approach but for a different challenge: the fingers. Ashley has been a finger sucker since the womb. We know that because, as some may remember, she was born with her two bottom teeth and they were already a little bit crooked, at the angle her finger goes in at! So that's been a part of who she is her whole life! And try as we might over the years to stop it, we have landed in the orthodontic chair. This Thursday she is getting the dreaded apparatus. The one with the pokey things that make it so she has to stop.

There's been some build-up to Thursday though as we've gone in the last two weeks to have spacers put between her molars. Her teeth have been sore and that has gotten her mentally adjusting to this whole idea of orthodontic work. She's a little nervous, but ready to take it on.

So since Ashley is quitting cold turkey in two nights I figured I may as well get Claire to stop too! Starting two Thursdays ago (which was the first day of Ashley's spacers) baba went bye-bye. Claire asked about it for a few days but I told her babas are for the babies. And it really hasn't been an issue (she's nearly two for pete's sake!). I'm pretty sure someone else (me/daddy) was more attached to the bottle than she was, although she is our precious infant!!!

The blankie though - that's the finger sucking trigger - and I knew it would be more painful. Surprisingly, after I cut it (into a thin strip!) and started leaving it in her bed whenever she was awake, I noticed NO finger sucking during the day. If she doesn't have blankie she doesn't suck. Who knew?!  So like a little camel inching my nose into her tent, I've made blankie less and less apart of her life. And today - blankie went bye-bye with daddy on the airplane. Can you believe it?

It's actually up on the top shelf of the kitchen cupboard, but only I know that. Claire went to nap and to bed tonight NO blankie and NO bottle. And I'm hoping NO fingers (hard to tell!). She cried for a while at bedtime which was sad, but I went in to rock her and sing to her a second time and she went quietly like a good girl after that.  I need to borrow a video monitor to know for sure what she's doing when she sleeps, but I am hoping she is not sucking. If she is, I'm afraid the yucky tasting stuff will have to go on...

So soon Ashley will be going through her withdrawals and I may have some longer nights ahead of me. But we will be hacking it out. And a month from now I hope finger sucking will be a thing of the past for this family!!  Keep us in your prayers! :)

Luke is 10!

Luke is 10! A decade now I've been his mother. How awesome is that? He is a gift!! My life is at least 10 times better because he is in it. It will be 20 times better when he is 20 and 100 times better when he is 100 and I can see the life he led and all the little Luke posterity we've got running around. I do look     forward to watching what this boy does with his years on earth. He's got it.

Luke is not the average 10 year old boy. He has a smart, smart mind and a strong, righteous spirit. He wants to do good. He loves to earn praise and he loves to help out.  Luke has charisma! He makes friends easily and people are drawn to him because of his great smile, fun sense-of-humor and great laugh. 

He impresses me with his neatness, his awareness of other peoples' needs and his attentiveness to his baby sister. Those two have a special bond. But man, he is a good brother to Ashley and Jake too. Such a great son to have as the oldest in our family.

Luke loves to have fun! He is playing flag-football this fall and having a sports birthday party this year in the church gym. Sports are his favorite. He plays baseball and swims and enjoys scouts, piano, writing, math, reading and playing board/card games - and winning. He does like to win!

Luke is special. People, teachers, relatives see something special in him and they tell me all the time. And if I'm being honest, I can't take much credit for him since Luke came this way. He is a special boy dropped from heaven. We love you Luke!!  Happy Birthday, son.

(This post is 3 weeks early because I wanted it to be included in his blog book b-day gift - 1st decade of life). Yes, his birthday is September 8th. :)

A post-it a day keeps the nagging away.

 Picture in your mind a second Pinocchio saying,
"I'm a real boy now!" That's the line that has been playing over and over in my mind the last two weeks since school began again, only mine says, "I'm a real MOM now!"  Holy cow.  Am I ever a mom.

I know I'm not the first woman to raise four children. Nor am I the first person to juggle 6 human lives and their schedules. But this is the first time I have ever done it. And it ain't easy! I'll tell you that much.

How my mother raised five. And my mother in law. And the Duggar woman raising 19. It's impressive.
That's all I have to say.

So school started last Monday and I thought my busy season was over. In fact that's what I intended my back to school post title to be. Wrong. Summer was busy but only because every days' entertainment was up to me. I had eight blue eyes looking up to me for a plan. Now it is the opposite. In the blink of an eye I became the facilitator of everyone else's life. No longer am the children's whole world (like I was when they were little like our Claire Bear). My life is now their lives. I am the mom-taxi. I am officially a soccer mom. 

So it goes like this. Since last week was a train-wreck and I felt like a fool on more than one occasion being late for, missing completely, or dropping off the wrong kid at their activities, I've developed a plan:

1- Electronics are gone. Again. No-can-do Monday thru Thursday.  It simplifies my life not battling with them and keeps the house quieter. The kids sleep in later and play with each other more. Done.

2 - My giant white board in the kitchen is no longer for knick-knacks and notes. It has be transformed into a gigantic at-a-glance family calendar. Color coded and broken down by the half hour once school lets out. I need to see clearly and often where we are headed next. Major improvement.

3 - The constant after school nagging had to end. It was only a week and a half - but that was enough. I got myself some post-it notes and told the kids to expect one written for them each afternoon.  I highlight their to-dos (piano, homework, dishwasher) and expect them to be done by bed-time. No nagging. Peace on earth.

And thank goodness it's working! Now I feel like I can at least resemble the duck upon the water: graceful above water while paddling like heck underneath it. Graceful...

Beyond raising the 4 children, I do have a few extracurricular activities. I'll admit, I have a few of my own interests... (wink, wink). I am teaching swim lessons (which I love), running the babysitting co-op (which I need), and trying to gut this house (which is therapeutic, as is writing this post). I was also just called into Young Women's so that is a big adjustment and time demand I wasn't originally planning on for this fall (but what a blessing). And in my spare time (which is only about one time every two months) I do a workout video. And I'm trying to be off white sugar and flour (but that's only when I'm not really hungry).

I love to climb into bed at night. Exhausted as always because I've poured myself into my family, my home, my life. Because I am a MOM! A real, bonafied M-O-M. Lucky am I. And happy to have my health!! 

Can I just say that much? So happy to have my health!

Our fabulous trip to Denver!

We got to squeeze one last trip into the summer and made it over to Denver to celebrate my grandma Tutu's 86th birthday. We were all really excited to go on the airplane and the kids were wonderful, thank heavens, because I was alone with them on the way there! Here they are - all smiles, minus Claire who wasn't happy to be strapped in her stroller.

 We arrived in town just in time for the party Sunday night where everyone gathered at Heather's. After so many years away from my dad's family it was wonderful to be near them again! Aunt Debbie made a monster chocolate cake...

 And Tutu came dressed for the occasion!

 All the boy cousins had no problem getting to know each other. Before long they were buddies playing tag and baseball all over the back yard.

We were lucky to get a great-grandkids picture with Tutu and Frank.

 The next day we went over to Uncle Brad's house to see his beehives and try his delicious honey! Wow.

 The bees were for the boys. The American Girl store was for the girls!! And how lucky are we that Aunt Debbie works there?! Ashley was thrilled to let her doll Emily get her ears pierced and loved looking at the store so much she couldn't take her eyes off the merchandise even for a picture!

 We went across the way to the restaurant and had a little dessert with Ashley and Kate and their dolls. What a fun treat.

 Before long Heather and I got down to business crafting and shopping. We had a great time preparing my family to take family photos - and boy did they turn out nice! Heather, THANK YOU!!

 The weather?... oh the weather, what a treat to get away from Phoenix in August. We enjoyed cooler sunny days with afternoon rain storms nearly every day. And I encouraged my kids to soak them up - literally.

 One of my favorite stops was Bellevue Park. The day was beautiful and the kids had a ball on the train, in the petting zoo and wading through the creek looking for craw-dads. Which meant Heather and I had a few good hours of chatting together.

 We kept going... hitting Littleton museum the next day

 and Casa Bonita (and old favorite and good memory from my childhood) that night.

 Thank heavens Daddy came into town Thursday - we were missing him!  And I was exhausted! ;)  First stop as a family, the gorgeous Denver Temple.

 Then a visit to see Tutu again and get a few more photos.

 We went to downtown Denver Saturday 16th street mall to eat and window shop.

 And Jake pulled up a seat by the hobos playing instruments. No problem there, just had himself a seat...  They looked so surprised, they handed him a shaker to play along and we just smiled and took pictures.

 And when all was said and done we were wiped out. It was a week jam packed with fun and memories with family. And we made it home just in time to start a new school year the very next day. Wow.

I say "Happy!", You say "Birthday!"