In theory, it was a good idea.

We've had beautiful weather this weekend. The kind of weather that makes you just want to put everything on hold and soak it all in. But, life must go on.

Yesterday was a busy day with soccer games and baseball practice. I hate missing my workouts (they aren't doing much for my waistline but they sure do a lot for my sanity) so I had a GREAT idea.

Since Cannon and Brynnley had games at almost the same time, and since the soccer field is only 1.5 miles from our house, I decided I'd get my workout in on the way to/from the game.

I left Addysen home with Kenzie and off we went -- Cambrie in her carseat in the jogger, Brynnley crammed in next to her, Cannon on his bike behind us, water bottles, cellphone, blanket, lawnchair, and cleats tucked into the back of the stroller.

It didn't take me long to realize running was a bit harder with all that stuff. It also didn't take long for me to realize we were having an "adventure" that we wouldn't be repeating anytime soon.

Now, I knew when we set out that there weren't sidewalks part of the way. But that was ok because there is a large gravel area along the road -- making it safe enough to travel. Of course, I didn't factor in the 3 days of rain we'd just had -- or even considered the huge potholes we'd have to traverse.

As if that wasn't enough, much to my dismay, as we turned the corner, I realized there were NO sidewalks all along the road leading to the soccer fields. Not only did we have to dodge potholes and, as Cannon pointed out, mailboxes, we now had cars coming from both directions. (Soccer is a big deal here!)

Suffice it to say, I got a better workout than I'd planned.

My apologies to all of you who traveled this way yesterday around 10:30 and 12:30 pm. Yep, (as a certain friend pointed out at church today,) I was the crazy lady with all the kids running down the middle of the road yesterday.

Live and learn.

Day of rest? Not likely.

Sundays are supposed to be a day of rest, right?

Well, let's just say that anytime all 6 of us (7 if Greg isn't at work) have to be dressed and out the door by 8:30, it's not-so-restful.
This morning actually ran rather smoothly. I made it to bed at a decent time last night - so, despite wondering why I had set the alarm for 6:30 on a school day, (what can I say? Feeding a baby and having a husband leave for work in the middle of the night messes up one's clear thinking, especially when the alarm goes off) things started out rather well. The kids were cooperative, I fed Cambrie and we were out the door on time. (Notice, there is no mention of the state of the kitchen which greeted me upon our arrival home.)

Something happened in the car -- not sure what -- but the beast came out in 3 out of 5 children. The first few minutes of the meeting were rough -- but thanks to Grandma's help, we eventually settled in.
Upon returning home, as I gathered bags and books and children out of the car, I was greeted with the lovely news, "MOOOOMMM. We're locked out. Someone locked the door leading into the house."
Oh. Great. The house key is on my old keychain. Right inside the door. Hmmm...what to do?
We tried many things, even borrowed some screwdrivers from the neighbor with the hopes of picking the lock. (A good thief I would not make.) No luck.
Finally, as a last resort, I pulled the screen off the window and Cannon climbed in.

So much for rest.

Due to the nice weather, thankfully, the windows were open. Unfortunately, the wind wreaked havoc on a few plants and a glass vase, but at least we could eat lunch.

Then came naptime...that most blissful time of day when, if all the stars align, everything is quiet, at least for a few minutes.

Just as Cambrie was falling into a deep sleep, I heard a loud scream. Whether you have children or not - you can tell the difference. This was not a "you-took-the-remote-from-me-and-I-want-it-back" sort of scream. Nor was it a playful scream. It was a "I-am-in-some-serious-pain-here" kind of scream and it was coming from Brynnley. I quickly lept out of bed, careful not to wake Cambrie and ran down the stairs (all the while thinking, "please be ok - and please stop screaming so that you don't wake the two sleeping children.")

Addysen was on her way to get me and quickly reported, "Brynnley stapled her finger."

Shiish.

I pulled Brynnley into the bathroom to survey the injury (and to shut the door in order to drown out the wails) and was relieved (?) to find that the staple was only secured on one end. In the back of my mind, I had the fleeting thought that you aren't supposed to remove the object when you have a puncture wound. (Is that even right? Girls camp first aid classes were a long time ago). Needless to say, I held Brynnley tight and pulled the protrusion from her skin. The sight of the blood was enough to set her off all over again, but alas, eventually, she realized she was going to live. Now, whether or not she'll have learned from this mistake -- that remains to be seen.

So much for rest.

I finally gave up resting after about the 100th door slamming shut (remember the open windows?) It's a wonder Cambrie and Kenzie stayed asleep. But, no complaints from me. I am in my element with sunshine and blue skies and open windows.

Showing our religion

As a kid, I thought only large Mormon families drove suburbans. As an adult, that thinking has become a reality. A week ago, thanks to the winning bid on ebay and my father-in-law's 24 hour trip to FL to pick it up, we said goodbye to driving our Pontiac Montana and said hello to driving this suburban.

Can I just say how nice it is to have working windshield wipers? Windows that go up? A complete bumper? Working A/C and heater?

Our Montana served us well for many years, but after our car accident 2 years ago, it was never the same.

15 hours after mopping the floor

Seriously. What part of "stay out of the refrigerator" do you not understand?

Hope

All in the name of a good cause

Last night was the scout spaghetti dinner at church.
Good sports that they are, Greg and his dad each took a pie in the face.
As Grandpa pointed out, he essentially paid for his own pie to the face -- since Grandma was the winning bidder on both pie auctions.

Upon returning to the table after smearing Greg with the pie, Cannon said, "That felt really good." Go figure.

Wanna lose weight? Get Braces

As long as I can remember, Greg has wanted to get braces.
He got them last week. (Better late than never, right?)

The list of exclusions is long and includes many of his favorites:
*gum
*doritos
*popcorn
*apples and carrots unless cut into small pieces
*pizza crust
*sugary food items
*pop
*hard candy
*snickers
*chips
*caramels
*Now-n-Laters
*gummy bears
*hard pretzels
*bagels

The list goes on.

Hmm...I should pretend I just got braces as well.
I'm no dummy, I can see a correlation between NOT eating these kinds of foods -- and losing 10 pounds.

Perhaps I will join him in his abstinence of these foods....
As soon as the Easter candy is out of the house.

Visitors from down south

We had a great time with Josh, Rachel, Whitney and Connor this past weekend. We're so glad they visited for Spring Break - sacrificing the 80's of Las Vegas for the 40's and 50's of Cleveland. My only regret was that we have to sleep. I would have loved to stay up chatting and playing all night long.

These pictures are totally out of order, but I wasn't interested in taking the time to correct them. So, for what it's worth...here's a little recap.

** I seem to have lost B's picture**



Coloring eggs - -Brynnley decided it was simply easier to dip her entire hand in, rather than use the spoon or egg dipper. That's my Brynnley - so efficient and determined to do it her own way.



Cambrie's 'rolls' are rarely exposed due to Cleveland weather. But watch out -- with a warming trend coming, she'll be showing some skin -- and she's got a lot of (DARLING) skin to show.
Flying kites was so fun - - although very cold. We only had a few mishaps - such as indicated in the above picture. Greg spent several minutes getting Brynnley's kite out of the tree, only to have it fly back again. At one point, we realized that all kids, except for Addysen, had gone back in the house. It was kind of funny to see 5 adults flying and reeling in kites in the backyard...without a young child in sight.
Kenzie quickly figured out that many of the eggs Grandpa had hidden were empty. She ran around shaking them first, if there was no noise, she threw them back on the lawn. We aren't raising any dummies around here.
Too bad we only have Connor's arm in this picture!
We visited Amish country on another beautiful (albeit, crisp) day. Although I say "we" toured Heini's Cheese Chalet, the reality is that I sat in the car and fed Cambrie while the others took the tour. I did, however, make it inside to sample 50+ kinds of cheese they have available for purchase. Some cheese was delicious -- other cheese, not so much. (We all agreed that the chocolate cheese - a.k.a. 'chocolate cream cheese fudge' was awesome.)

We visited the "Healing Power of Jesus Christ" sculptural display in Kirtland. It was impressive. Before any of you locals get worried that I broke the rules...the sister missionary gave us permission to take pictures when it was only our group viewing the sculptures.

After Kirtland, we went to Squire's Castle. Again, I fed Cambrie in the car while the others toured the castle. I can't wait to get a cd with Rachel's pictures...I took my camera everywhere we went - but didn't take many pictures. Apparently, Cambrie was hungry, or needed changing much of the time!
We took advantage of the warmest day (and Greg's only day off) and went fishing at Village Green, part of the Metroparks. It was a beautiful spring day -- making me all the more ready for permanent nice weather!
Even Cambrie saw the light of day -- a rare thing for her.
Just ignore the fact that I didn't wash Kenzie's face after eating cheetos.
Our only casualty was a lost fishing pole and reel. Greg dropped it while trying to untangle Cannon's reel.

Have you checked the children?

Last night, I was working in the office. Addysen was babysitting Cambrie in the family room and Greg was at the priesthood session of conference.
Apparently, despite my thinking they were in bed, Brynnley and Kenzie were busy "redecorating" the upstairs hallway.
Never a dull moment with those two around.

The grading period ended on Friday and as a result of good report cards, Greg suggested we take the kids to a movie. That has indeed become a rare treat around. I honestly can't remember the last movie I saw in a theater and, on the rare date night, I usually opt NOT to go to a movie for fear I will just fall asleep anyway.
Truth be told, I think Greg just wanted an excuse to go and see "Monsters vs. Aliens." I didn't even know what it was. (How can a mother of 5 not know what the latest Disney/Pixar movie is?) When they mentioned it was in 3-D - I asked, "What's it rated? Are the kids going to be scared?" Clueless, I am.
So, off we went. Have I mentioned that movies are a rare treat? Do you have any idea what it costs to take a family of 7 (even if you aren't paying for one child) to a MATINEE? Oh my goodness. Oh, and did I mention that it costs EXTRA for the 3-D glasses? What a way to make a buck (or$15)-- especially since they offer a recycling container for the glasses after the movie.
I about choked when Greg told me the ticket prices (after purchasing them). This was all one day after attending the budgeting class at church, no less. But of course, there was no going back so we took off to find our seats.
I should add that Greg is a really fun date. You don't just get the movie and plastic glasses with him...you get popcorn and a drink, as well as candy. So, after finding our seats, he took Cannon and Addysen to get a snack.
**Let me interject -- we've been talking about the economy a lot lately. The kids have talked a lot about it in school and they've asked a lot of questions. We have many friends and family members who have lost jobs, etc. It's on their 8 and 10-year-old minds. So, how sweet is it that when Greg went to pay for the popcorn, Cannon pulled a couple of dollars out of his wallet and said, "Here Dad, I can help with that."**
Anyway - the movie was fun. I enjoyed the 3-D effects more than the actual storyline. Kenzie opted not to wear the glasses because, "things in the movie kept trying to get me." Cambrie was a trooper during her first "real" movie and didn't make a peep. All-in-all, a fun family date night - despite the expense. And, we're glad for the good report cards.

Just a sidenote: our kids wanted to keep their 3-D glasses to play with. But, we quickly gathered them all up (no recycling for us) to put them in a safe spot -- just in case we ever attempt to go to another 3-D movie.
Better yet, perhaps in these rough economic times, we should post an ad on Craig's List to rent our glasses. We'll only charge $2.00 per pair, rather than the $3.50 the theater charged.

Unless, of course, you are our friend and a loyal reader of our blog. We'll be happy to let you borrow them.

You light up my life

Enough said.

District Pinewood Derby

Yesterday was the district pinewood derby race. I felt somewhat guilty for not taking all the kids to watch. Greg took Cannon, armed with the video camera and digital, and off they went. Upon returning, he confirmed that it was packed and that not taking Brynnley, and Kenzie in particular, to Dave and Busters (an adult Chuck E. Cheese) on a Saturday morning was indeed, a good decision.
Cannon's car took 50th - out of 76 cars. Not too bad for the first time.

We've got ourselves a comedian

I should have known something was up when Cannon came downstairs this morning and immediately got himself some breakfast. Coming downstairs quickly isn't the issue. It's the getting himself some breakfast that he struggles with. Usually, he'll wander around the kitchen, opening doors and cupboards, chatting away...without ever getting some food. It usually takes many comments from me...which become stricter sounding the more times I have to say it...before he'll grab a bowl of cereal or some fruit. Often, he'll put waffles in the toaster about 7 minutes before the bus is due to drive down the street.

But no, not today. He quickly poured himself some cereal and sat down to eat as the rest of us streamed in and went about our morning routine.

Kenzie said she wanted Bran Flakes so I grabbed a bowl and began pouring her some. I did a double-take when Wheat Chex filled her bowl. I checked the box again to see if I had grabbed the wrong one (they are both blue boxes)...and then I realized...It's April Fools. About that time, I looked up to see one "oh-so-proud-of-himself-smiling-8-year-old." He could hardly contain his excitement.

Then, he quickly pointed out that he had switched ALL of the cereals into different boxes. What a jokester!

Good thing we don't pour our milk first.

Oh - and how's this for another April Fool's joke? I just posted this on Addysen's blog. Skip the April -- just go for the fool.