Cry, and you cry alone

Tonight I had William and Emma go out in the backyard and clean up the winter's worth of dog poop back there. If the kids want to keep the dog they must be responsible for her. Emma started whining about it, then worked hard enough at it to actually really cry. Pretty impressive I thought. Although my being impressed with her actor like skills would not in any way sway my insistence that she help clean the yard. So as I was out cooking the hamburgers on the grill, I listened to Emma crying about dog poop (yes literally crying) and William laughing at the absurdity of it all.

Being the super empathetic mother I am, I ran and got the camera to save this moment for posterity. Than laughed as I took pictures.

Emma had to try the scarf to keep from smelling the foul job

The other kids thoroughly enjoyed the show as well.

Finally I have to mention William's comment made to me on my birthday. I was sitting on the couch opening a gift from my in laws when William said, "Happy Birthday Mom...you're great.". He gave me a hug then paused for a moment and said, "ugh it smells like old lady here." What a charmer. Thankfully he was talking about the smell of the face scrub I was unwrapping! 

Party Animal

Yesterday was Emma's 9th birthday party. Five of my kids plus seven of her friends does not a quiet house make. It was like a raging hurricane for 2hrs, and my house looked like it at the end. Just like we have bad to know the good. I have extreme loudness to know the relative peace my house can have with 6 kids still living here. I hope my kids remember their birthday parties as fun days. Not ones where their mother is snappy before the party, even though I often am. I just can't wait for it to be over. But when it is I'm glad we did it. I know I loved birthdays as a kid, I don't remember how my mom was..so I have hope. I love that Emma and I were each other's presents on our birthdays. Even if I have to make the birthday cake on my birthday every year...she is definitely worth it!

mini cake decorating

Emma's own birthday cake creation

I'll never be vegetarian

Not meaning to insult vegetarians (they did fight in WWII for us...just kidding, my kids always confuse veterans with vegetarians and veterinarians), but I have to say I love a good steak, and that would always be the clincher for me. Tonight Nathan took me to the best steak place I have ever eaten at...e..v..e..r! I had a filet mignon, it was the holy grail of steak dinners. The soup to start was famazing, that is fantastic and amazing all rolled into one bowl of creamy deliciousness. It was apple rutabaga soup. Sounds weird, tastes divine. The seasoning was so perfect I wanted to beg the chef for the recipe. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. The meat came with some vegetables, and really it was so good I have to admit, I looked up and down the road on our way out to see if the village was worth living in. Happy Birthday meal to me! I thought of taking a picture of Nathan and I there for posterity but once the food came out I stopped thinking of cameras. I did find some pics of the food though. And that is what really matters...

My super tasty filet mignon
this one has more bernaise sauce than mine did

delicious apple rutabaga soup

Birthdays

I feel like we are into birthday season in our family. Emma's birthday party is this friday at our house. I should really plan to do something fun with the kids, she really is worth the effort. I'm just not that creative. My idea of creative and fun is power tools, sanding painting, etc. Generally I try to avoid power tools for children. So what else could we do that is fun? I was looking through some old pictures that I still have (since my hard drive died before I thought to back it up and I lost years of baby pics) and I found this one

Emma's fourth birthday I think. Allison looked so little, and now she is almost 7! I wish I could freeze time with my little ones. I love their funny sayings and playfulness. My house is always messy, and there is always someone who needs help with something. But I really think being a mother is like a charity boot camp. A mother is at work 24 hours a day, we start our "conditioning" from the time those babies come to us, going without sleep, feeding, changing, bathing... For years we have the opportunity to think of others before ourselves as we go throughout our day. No other role is so streamlined in changing a person's very nature. I feel like I have changed so much in good ways, and still have much to do.

Frozen

Kate woke this morning crying. She said her mouth was hurting and didn't want to eat anything. I quickly checked her hands and feet to make sure I didn't have to quarantine her, then checked her mouth. She has one huge canker sore right where her bottom lip meets the gumline...ouch! We went out and bought some anbesol. So the first bit came kind of fast so she got too much, and her bottom lip and tongue were frozen. I should have grabbed my camera because she was drooling on herself and sticking her tongue out to see if it was still there. I was laughing so hard she started laughing and drooling more. On the upside her mouth didn't hurt anymore.

Of all the things I did today, my most favorite was laying in my bed this afternoon with my little canker girl and reading stories. I hope one day when I lose my mind...this memory will be spared.

Eat your veggies

Dinners around here have been kind of simple this week. Burritos with fresh veggies, homemade pizza with fresh veggies, roast chicken with veggies...noticing a pattern? My kids are pretty good about eating vegetables, thankfully. I just could not make more effort than a main dish...lost interest.

Dad is truly inspirational at the dinner table, teaching all sorts of manners

Tonight Nathan and I went to the temple. I love going there. No place on earth is more peaceful. We had a great talk on the way there, and caught up with each other's lives. I really have to remember that just because I talk to myself a lot (I have heard that is 'healthy'), I still have to fill my husband in on the things that me, myself, and I have come up with. I just tend to forget that no one was there when I was sounding so brilliant.

Winter wonderland

This spring has been nothing but winter. More and more and more snow. Last night it snowed all night, heavy and wet and lots of it. The kids came into our bedroom this morning and reported it was still snowing! They asked if we could move somewhere warm, where you get real spring at spring time. We started talking more at the breakfast table of where we should live instead. The kids had to point out the peril that might befall us living in these places: California might fall into the ocean, Florida has poisonous snakes and spiders, and alligators in "every pond". We covered a few, then Nathan suggested Hawaii to which Michael quickly said, "...but coconuts give you diarrhea."

I guess we're staying.