Responsibility comes with a price

When we found out Shawn would be going to Vegas for a conference we talked about me going.  The conversations ended pretty quickly once we realized Shawn would be making several trips this next year to interview for fellowships and its going to be expensive.  (when will this ever end!)
 Anyways today I woke up to Caroline telling me her throat hurt at 5:30.  She sounded genuinely sick so I told her I'd take her temperature when it was time to wake up, honestly I thought she got strep yet again.  Then at about 6:30 Graham runs upstairs to tell me yucky stuff came out of Caroline's mouth. I wasn't fully awake so didn't think much of it until Caroline came up crying saying she had thrown up.  Awesome.  She had gotten some in her hair so she jumped in the shower while I headed downstairs to clean up.  And just in case you were wondering no she did not make it to the toilet.  NASTY!  So after cleaning the carpets and the rug and couch cushions all was well.  Luckily nothing happened after that, and hopefully it'll stay that way.
Then tonight while getting the kids ready for bed I asked Devin if he had tooted, because the boys room really smelled bad and I wanted to make sure they didn't hide unwashed really dirty underwear somewhere.  Instead of anwsering my question he stuck his bum in my face and said, "Smell it."  So instead of waking up in a nice swanky hotel I got to clean up puke and have bums stuck in my face.  I think Shawn got the better end of the deal here.

Lost Vegas

Things are pretty low key around here.  The only exciting thing going on is Shawn having to go to a conference while on vacation.  We're pretty bummed it cut vacation short but I'm sure he'll learn some stuff so it'll be worth it.  Anyways we were talking about Shawn going out of town and talking about Las Vegas.  Devin got a little confused or didn't hear me right and goes, "Lost Vegas?'  "Could they not find it at first and then they found it."  We're still working on pronouncing things.  Then before going to the airport I told Graham where we were going and he said, "Oh that's the place where your mom goes." I guess one of the strongest associations he has with Grandma is taking her to the airport, but who knows.   And since the kids were sad about dad leaving I healed their little hearts with pizza, hopefully the trend of being easy to please will last a while, I love it.

Just Me and My Boys

Today has been a nice quiet day.  No preschools, no other kids to watch, just hanging out with my boys.  These are my favorite days.  I love having nothing to do other than just clean up a little, go to the park, and listen to the funny things they say.  I like posting about these days so when I have days when I want to scream into a pillow because they're driving me crazy I have some good memories to laugh at and bring me back to sanity.

We started by going to playgroup but apparently everyone else thought it was too cold and didn't show up.  Its ok because we found a creek to play in and they boys had a great time jumping all over the rocks and throwing leaves and sticks in the water.

Here is Devin waiting for his leaves to come through from the other side.  I"m pretty sure he could have done this for HOURS.  And yes he wears his helmet when not riding his bike, in his defense he was riding it earlier, just didn't want to stop to take it off.

We headed to Costco and while watching my 3 and 5 year old down their own hot dog each I realized how grateful I am that Shawn will make enough money in the future to feed these boys when they're bigger.  I can't imagine how much we are going to spend on food when they're teenagers.  Devin also saw a picture of the Michelin man in the tire section and said, "A guy made out of toilet paper? That's weird."  Yes, yes it is. 

My favorite part of the day was when we were getting in the car to go home Devin said we could go to any store I wanted to.  That coming from the child that usually throws a huge fit when I tell he we have to go anywhere was a very welcomed change.  

Don't be fooled we did have a few less than perfect moments like when Graham fell head first out of the shopping cart at the store.  Not one of my strongest parenting moments seeing as I was checking out the selection of Starburst jellybeans.  He's fine, maybe not quite as smart as before but generally ok.

Caroline's B-day

My little girl turned 7 today.  Seven!  Its making me feel old, that and all the wrinkles on my face.  I love this girl so much and I really hoped she had a great birthday.  We spent the weekend watching her play basketball, throwing a party, and finally just having some family time.  I finally remembered to bring my camera to everything as well, its a miracle!

Caroline playing some defense.  Go #30!

She's getting pretty good at shooting, and scored another basket this weekend!

Here she is at her party.  In my head having seven, 7 year olds was going to be a lot easier, in reality it wasn't.  She had a great time so all the craziness was well worth it. I'd do anything for this girl.

Shawn was even able to make it home tonight to have a few minutes together as a family.  He did fall asleep about 5 seconds after opening presents.  Here she is enjoying a new birthday present.  Thanks to everyone for all the calls, emails, and texts, they really made her day.  Happy Birthday Caroline, please don't grow up too fast!

Valentine's Day

Does anyone remember my post about Valentine's Day last year?  Probably not but I do VERY clearly and it wasn't the greatest.  I was determined to make this year better and it was.  The kids loved their cute little gifts we gave them in the morning and Shawn and I enjoyed a night of excellent food and relaxation while the kids watched a show.  It was a magical night.  Here are a few pictures of the highlights of the day.

Devin put together his Star Wars puzzle several times and was so excited each time.

Graham "cleaning" the bowl for me while I was making dessert.

Be still my heart, triple chocolate mousse cake.  Its a new favorite.  Is it sad that I take pictures of my food? 

And super juicy freshly ground burgers.  Did you know you can ground your own beef in a food processor?  It was cool and won't happen again anytime soon but fun nonetheless.   I love getting to make new foods and hanging out with Shawn which means I love Valentine's Day.  Shawn even remembered this year, that may have to do with the fact I made it clear I wanted him to acknowledge the holiday this year.  He came through and brought home flowers which is very uncharacteristic.  He's also treating me to a scale which sounds awful but I had asked for one a while ago and I surprised him with a cheese slicer, we dream big around here.  It really is the thought that counts! 

Alright already

Ok I'm really going to do a better job of blogging.  Shawn goes back to a real schedule tomorrow so I'll have ample time to blog and complain about how much he's gone.  Just kidding, I'll try and keep that to a minimum.  Its been weird I feel like everyday is pretty busy but I really can't think of much to blog about.  Honestly if I carried around a recording device all day I'd have plenty to write because it turns out kids are HILARIOUS.  I just can't remember what they've said longer than 5 minutes.  Anyways, enough rambling, this weekend was pretty full of fun stuff so I'll fill you in.

Caroline had another basketball game on Saturday and she scored her first basket!  I was so proud of her and even a little proud of myself for not going too crazy when it happened.  I did jump up and down a little though.  And of course forgot to take a picture, I stink I'll do better next week.  She's doing great and really loving it which makes it even more fun.  This game was really quite funny because a girl on the opposite team was having a hard time figuring out what to do.   When her team was on offense she was guarding Caroline.  It was pretty funny and I think Caroline was pretty confused by it.

After Caroline's game we came home and had some of the kids friends over for a while, like 5 hours a while.  And since 3 extra kids didn't seem like enough I told another friend they could bring their child over and play too, the more the merrier at that point. It honestly wasn't too bad because at this age having friends over just distracts my kids from fighting and everyone has a great time, not exactly the quiet Saturday I had imagined, but the kids had a blast so I'll call it a win.  And I now have a few people offering to watch my kids so it all works out.

Today was busy as well, Caroline and I went to her friend's baptism today after church and it was beautiful and I also learned I will not be able to give a talk at Caroline's baptism next year because I'm pretty sure I'll be sobbing uncontrollably.  I don't know what's wrong with me but even at Caroline's friends baptism I was getting choked up.  I think its because I know it'll be here too soon and she just seems to be growing up too fast.

While Caroline and I were gone Shawn stayed home and built Legos with they boys.  If you want to be Devin's friend build legos with him.  I've never seen that kid happier.  Shawn built him a rocket and its all Devin can talk and think about, its adorable.  And Graham wants to eat dessert all day, or at least before dinner. Today when I told him dinner was ready he said, "But I want to eat dessert first."  He and my mom are kindred spirits.  Sorry for such a lengthy post and no pictures, but like I said earlier I'll do better.

Snow Day

Today I was woken up by my phone ringing at 5:30 AM.  So naturally I thought someone had died and was thoroughly worried.  Much to my relief it was just the school calling to inform us that school was cancelled.  Whew!  So instead of freaking out I went straight back to bed and slept in.  Caroline would have been thrilled but today at school she was supposed to be wearing pajamas so she was a little disappointed, then she saw the snow and wanted to do nothing but run around in it.  We had grand plans and headed to Costco after the van sat in the sun and melted from the ice cube state it was in.  After Costco we hung out and had a nice party in the playroom watching a movie and having a fancy dinner of roasted potatoes and yogurt, and at the kids request they are now sleeping in the playroom.  They think its the coolest thing ever.  I really love how easy they are to please.

All the kids wanted to take turns scraping snow off the car with our wonderful state of the art ice scrapper, the rubber spatula from the kitchen.

Devin was the only one that wanted to taste it.  I told him that was gross and his response was, "Its just water."  Too true.

Graham even made sure he got his turn.