Doing time for Dirty money

The kids had a lot of energy Sunday morning and after taking it out on each other I decided to put them to work.
I put salt in one bowl.  vinegar in another.  and water to rinse.   They each were armed with a rag and an old toothbrush.    This little task kept them busy for almost 45 minutes.  
Do you think they'll know if I pull out the same money and tell them it's dirty and needs to be cleaned ? :)

This is my shifty eye kid.    Ryan can give you a look and you know he's thinking up something.  A lot of times he does it from the side.   Mostly I laugh.  Until I have to get him out of whatever it is he was thinking up.

I think this is a nice shade don't you ? 

Nathan ate his sisters strawberry jello.  

 I loved how it made him look like he was wearing lipstick. 

M is for Monster

This is for grandma who asked what the boys have done lately.






Then it was time to get our hands dirty. Practice drawing M's.
(they aren't only opposite in hair and eye color, these two)
Spencer LUH-UH-UHVed playing in the shaving cream.

Cameron...not so much.


Well, until I convinced him it looked like snowman poop.

They sort by shapes and then by color.



The End !

mostly Wordless Wednesday

You can lead a child to vegetables.......(a lot like a horse to water, only with more crying)

Sydney's unbirthday birthday party.

We planned to have this great unbirthday Alice in wonderland kind of birthday party for Syd and some of her closest girlfriends.  
We were originally going to stay in the hotel presidential suite downtown.  Take Syd's friends to see the new Alice in Wonderland movie and then have a tea party back at the room.   Swim maybe.   Pizza.  Watch the original movie and end with a sleepover in the hotel.
Doesn't that sound AWESOME !!!
Well then we went to Disneyland which is WAY more fun....and it didn't matter because this was all planned MONTHS ago and as the movie got closer to release we realized we couldn't take Syd to it. Much too scary for her.

SOOOO. we planned an "original" alice in wonderland unbirthday party.    We had this whole idea to build a tunnel going from our back door doggy door to the garage door doggy door.  maybe 8 ft long.  and have them crawl through it, like it was the rabbit hole.   When they emerged in the backyard there would be chinese lanterns and butterflies hanging and a table for tea.    Well our wonderful 60 degree day came.  and it was 60 degrees.  however it was a kite flying kind of day and we didn't want our chinese lanterns or the sandwiches to end up at the next door neighbors house.
So we had an impromtu change of plans and everything was set up downstairs.
We used one piece of the tunnel and put up a blanket in the doorway to the playroom and had everyone crawl through it instead.
I dressed up like the female "savers" dressed mad hatter.  and did everything from squirt one of the girls right in the eye with silly string to let them all drink out of tea cups, only to yell "clean cups, move down, clean cups"  and they would all change seats.
We played a few games and then we were able to sit and visit with the moms.   It was a lot of fun.   We barely pulled it off, but we did it and I'm glad we did.

blah blah blah.....and now PICTURRRRRES !

making our mad hatter hats before the tea party


Tea party right after the silly string fight (it was supposed to be outside remember, but what is a party without silly string I ask you.  No really.  what kind of a party doesn't have silly string ?)

I call this..."At 6, I'm already embarassed of my mother"
and I like how Syd's friend's smile is similar to the Cheshire cat behind her :) ha ha

This is during one of our several "clean cups, move down" episodes...and also to show you my SuhWEEET outfit.

I suppose this picture works too.
SERIOUSLY, am I the only one with this face in 9 out of 10 pictures.  Good night nurse.

Well, it is a MAD hatter tea party.  Show me MAD

GOOD mad, right ?

Not so mad.  kind of holding back a laugh mad.

This is past mad and to the, I'll go all crazy on you, mad.

This picture is titled simply, "Defiance"   Because when I ask her to smile she frowns, show me mad and I get a sandwich smile.

And of course the girlie girl purses and makeup and heart shaped pillows that Syd was thrilled about.
Next year we're going to classic skating.

Sydney's 6th Birthday

My first ever....layered - chocolate/chocolate cake. Per Sydney's request to have one like the ones on Pollyanna and Matilda.

After I put all of the ingredients away...I added 3 eggs, water and oil and mixed on medium for 2 minutes. :) twice. as it was a 4 layer cake.

Pictorially skipped steps : cut to level, froze (cakes are MUCH easier and less crumby to work with when they are frozen) iced, spread, spread, spread, spread,

A present was pushed in to the side of the cake and it had to be fixed....so it's not perfect. but it's my first time EVER and I was proud and Sydney was happy :)

While I was frosting it Syd came in from playing out back and said, "WOW mom ! That looks great. Thank you for making my cake mom." SUCH a thoughtful little person.

The end.

We went to Grandma Blanchards for Spaghetti, cake and icecream.

Grandma Bessie, Aunt Jo, Aunt Liz, Cousin's Matthew and Emma were there.

Syd looking at her new fairy plant and grow garden she got from her Aunt.
Her brothers ;-) picked out the perfection and operation game.
J and I loved those games when we were little. (what ? they were picked for her not for us. jeeze)

Aunt Jo Jo

MONEY !!!!! That's my girl.

Thanking Grandma Bessie

Money money mon-ay ! She's only 6. how is money so important at such a young age.

FIRE !

"One thing kids like is to be tricked. For instance, I was going to take my little nephew to DisneyLand, but instead I drove him to an old burned-out warehouse. "Oh, no," I said, "DisneyLand burned down." He cried and cried, but I think that deep down he thought it was a pretty good joke. I started to drive over to the real DisneyLand, but it was getting pretty late."


Deep thoughts, by Jack Handey

I know that really has nothing to do with this post. That it has something to do with fire...and we just got back from Disneyland is what made me do it.

So to add to the night terrors, yes they are back. Not every night, no pattern yet...but back none the less. If she's not terroring, she nightmaring. She will come in our room shaking with fear about something she's just dreamt about. NOW. Sydney is terrified of our house burning up at night. She has this fear about her beloved piggy and her new Jessie doll being melted away in a fire.
I feel so terrible for this little girl. She gets NO peace at night. (neither do we unfortunately) but seriously, I feel horrible for her and what she's going through.
To help with this new fire issue I planned a fire alarm preparedness family meeting. Tonight we all got into bed. Well I didn't. I stuck a hanger up into the smoke detector and listened to the kids giggle and scream and run in circles and then narrated what was going to happen.
J's job is to grab Nathan and get the big boys outside. I run in and get Syd and Ryan. who am I kidding...I CARRY Ryan from my bed and get Sydney. (ahem)
We were all standing out front freezing and there was this relief that fell over my sweet little baby girl's face.
When we came inside I explained how to get out of the house if me and mommy J were outside visiting with neighbors (AKA already dead because we had succumbed to the fire)
I realized how much I depend on that 5 3/4 year old. I told her she needed to get Ryan out (oh who am I kidding, he died in our bed with me mommy J and Nathan) and head to the boys room to get them outside.
I explained how smoke rises and its safer on the ground. I told her about stop drop and roll, never run. Putting the back of your hand on doors. Breaking the window in your bedroom to get out if all exits are blocked. I told it all to her and pretty much her alone because at this point both boys had stopped listening and were gathering all of their blankets and pillows and piling them in my doorway.
I tested them...."Spencer, what do you do if there's a lot of smoke"
Spencer's response....(yelling with his scratchy no voice)"SMOKE IN A HOUSE, SMOKE IN A HOUSE"
"ummm, NO, you get down buddy. Crawl like a tiger, fast outside"
Both boys started growling and wrestling in the pile of blankets like tigers and Sydney quietly sat in my lap and started in with, "What if there's fire everywhere and I can't get out...what if you don't help me get out. What if I die?"
I told her that fire is scary and it's ok to be scared. That the best thing we can do is to be prepared. And that we have a family plan now...so we'll all work together to be safe.
I didn't see the contented look that I saw out on the front lawn. but I do think it helped.
JEEZE ! Such big issues for such a little person.

OK. GOOD STUFF TO REPORT !
This is Sydney's report card. Because today I just love her whole guts out.

Today the kids went out back and played. It was warmer than usual and OH MAN do I need them to get outside. SPRING FEVAH !
Everyone had come in but Syd and Nathan. I looked out the window to check on them and I see Syd hoisting Nathan up as high as she can to put him in the baby swing. The kids not little. He's damn near the same weight as his big brothers. (no lie)
She couldn't quite get him in it so she set him down and started lower on his body. (was I scared he would topple...yeah...but it was worth it to witness the kind effort Sydney was putting forth)
I think the thing that stuck out was that Nathan put his arms up to be held. He was 100% on her side and trusted her completely.
She did get him in the swing...not a bruise...and she pushed him for the next 10 minutes. Too high at times. yeah..was I scared...a little....but he was loving every minute of it.

This is the best story of the day. Sydney and Cam seem to butt heads the most. Sydney is controlling and Cameron is more independent than Spencer. When they don't see eye to eye....someone gets hit in the eye. Usually one hits the other and then the hit is returned...maybe a kick or a jab. It's like a bad game of tennis with fits.
For a while Sydney noticed and would comment on how Cam didn't like her. He really didn't. He wouldn't even let her be nice to him. He just didn't trust her. She has worked very hard to gain his trust back. Playing with him. Working things out instead of yelling and hitting. I've been very proud at the progress they've made. (Cam isn't the one who really needed to work at their relationship, it really had to come from Syd)
ANY WAYS. Tonight I was playing with the 3 older kids. The game was....they would roll the big huge work out ball to me and then run. I would hurl the ball at their backs, sometimes knocking them over.
IT WAS SO MUCH FUN !
Cam wasn't having as much fun as me. He was thrown to the ground early on and cried and cried.
Sydney was laying on the floor in front of me in the beginning begging me to tickle her when I wasn't bowling with the boys. Cam came in and laid next to me and cried and cried. Syd got up and teamed up with Spencer. (oh, Spencer came in and yelled, with his raspy no voice, "MAMA ! That TOO hard !" making sure I knew I had hurt Cam...SUCH a sweet kid)
Ok. So Cam just kept crying. He really didn't fall hard. He is just getting over being sick and was a little more sensitive tonight. I tried for like 10 minutes to get him to go play again. In fact...I think once he did go...but as soon as the ball hit him he returned crying. (hee hee...I know you are thinking I'm ruthless. I was having so much fun)
I gave up on trying to get him to laugh and rejoin the other two, when Syd comes in and bends down and softly says, "Cam, are you ok ? I'm sorry if you got hurt. Why don't you come and play...it's really fun. Come on buddy" and she gently grabbed his hands and helped him up. AND HE LET HER. and he ran to the door to dodge the ball. Syd then stood face forward and as I hurled the ball she stood in front of Cam and deflected the ball with her hands. She blocked the ball from hitting him at least 3 times before he asked to be hit. He fell (aka was knocked) to the floor, Syd helped him up and said, "it's fun huh buddy?" Cam laughed and agreed and we played for the next 20-30 minutes with no tears....until my arms hurt. :)

I worry so often about my kids and their CONSTANT fighting. I worry that they are mean and I worry that they won't like each other. but they can be SO thoughtful and kind to each other. I need to remember that. And that's why I'm typing it for you tonight.

OK. to end with a little humor.
another jack handey. because I can't get enough of him. and because this is one I hadn't heard before.

Children need encouragement. If a kid gets an answer right, tell him it was a lucky guess. That way he develops a good, lucky feeling.
Yet another, Deep Thought, by Jack Handey

My boo !

Disneyland !

If I started from the beginning this post would be a mile long. I'm going to make it as short as I can being a long winding kind of gal with a lot of pictures :)

We drove to Las Vegas and planned on staying overnight and finishing the drive the next morning. Everyone seemed to be great so we just kept on going. By the time we arrived at our destination we were ready to be there. It was a long drive. We had the same arrangement on the return and did end up stopping in St George for the night breaking up the trip. Poor Ryan wouldn't have lasted another 5 hours.

We decided since we had a whole extra day in LA to hit the zoo. What a GREAT zoo. Seriously, all of their animals were awake and showing off. Our animals are depressed here.


Even the koala's were awake. They sleep 22 hrs of the day. What are the chances really.








VERY funny story.