Conference, Crayons, a Trip to Town

So, this past weekend was General Conference. We had all four general sessions on TV, but I think I might have actually seen a total of one full session (if that). Some of that was my own fault (stayed up too late, woke up too early and was super tired). Some of that was the kids (fighting, playing and causing general chaos). I wish I could say that just having it on in the house brought a peaceful spirit, but I can't really even say that. I did love Elder Ballard's talk on mothers. I think I will print that one out and blow it up for N. I also loved seeing a different side of President Monson. I loved that he talked about his wife and family. I couldn't believe all that he has been through recently and marveled at how he was/is able to handle all the stress.

During conference, we gave the kids pictures and stuff to color. Now, we got new crayons for Christmas and the kids haven't broken or peeled them. Until now. K decided he needed to break all of them. Then, he decided he needed to throw them all over the house. So, I asked him to help me pick them up and he refused. I threatened to throw them away, but I think the kids have caught on to me making threats I'm not going to follow through with (need to work on that). I decided that crayons aren't that expensive and I could afford to follow through in this instance. So, I started to throw them away. H started crying, "Please, mom, don't throw away our crayons. We neeeeed them." Of course she didn't bother to help pick them up. I kept throwing them away and what does K do? He starts helping me throw them away! UGH!

On Monday we went to N's parents' house to spend the night and run some errands "in town." We heard that Jamba Juice was giving away free smoothies Tuesday from 6-10am and we decided to take the kids. H was so excited to get a smoothie. Well, we got to Jamba and H said, "I changed my mind. I don't want a smoothie anymore." She wouldn't even try one! K loved his. From there, I went with my sister to go to the distribution center to help her buy garments and temple clothes (she is going through on Saturday). I don't know that I was much help to her since garments are such a personal preference kind of thing, but I told her what I like and tried to help her out. Then it was on to pizza night at my parents' house while N went to work. Every Tuesday my parents have pizza night and whoever can make it comes. It is a lot of fun and gets the fam together quite often. The kids love it because they play outside all day long with their cousins. I love it because I get to see my family and get caught up on all the family gossip.

Sleep cont'd.

So I got off the computer and this is what I found. I love spontaneous nap time. I might regret it tonight though. :)

Sleep! Sweet, beautiful sleep! (and other not so fun things)

Last night M slept through the night. It was wonderful! I put him to bed at 7pm and he didn't even stir until about 5:30-6ish this morning. I really can't complain because lately he has only been waking up once in the night to eat so it hasn't been bad. Hopefully, this new sleep pattern will stick. Now...if I could just figure out how to get the other 2 kids to go to bed earlier.

On a very different note, I ventured out today with H and K. We went to Walmart to buy formula for M and look around at everything else in the store. Well, H decided to teach K a new "game" called "Grab It." Anytime I got close to something they would yell "Grab It!" and try to pull it off the shelf. It made steering very difficult and me very angry. Then, at one point during our excursion, we were walking along and I had to stop abruptly so as not to crash carts with an older lady. Well, stopping abruptly and flip flops don't quite go together and I nearly fell to the ground trying to stop. I actually screamed which scared the other lady and embarrassed the heck out of me. Then, as if the trip hadn't been stressful enough, we made our way up to the check out. I decided to do the self check out and as I started scanning items I realized that H had opened one of the cans of formula and had lost the lid. Nice. At the same time, K was trying to help me and started pushing buttons on the scanner pad thing. Apparently, he thought we were buying yellow onions. So after I fixed the scanner thing I reached in for the pizza we were buying and saw that K had ripped the plastic open and was eating the cheese off it! Argh. I vowed that I would never take both of them shopping together again. Of course, I say that pretty much every time I go shopping with both of them and invariably I take them both the next time I go. I think I am a glutton for punishment. Well, that or a mom.

What a Day!

I gained new respect for my mom today. My mom had 8 kids in 11 years with only 1 set of twins. Yikes, I know! Today, I had 7 kids under 7 with what would be considered 1 set of twins. Tiffin went to the hospital today because of some pains she was having in her chest and back. I watched her 3 plus Skylar, whom Tiffin normally watches after school. You should have seen me walking to the bus stop with Hailey, Kade, Amberly and Carrigan while slinging Matthew. Of course, as soon as we got to the bus stop Hailey and Amberly both told me they had to go potty and couldn't wait. Fortunately, they did (thanks to some silent prayers on their behalf). We all survived, but I think I might have gone temporarily insane. It was very loud at my house and there was quite a mess when all was said and done. Side note: They didn't find anything wrong with Tiffin, but are treating her as if she has a back injury. Her girls went to stay with the in-laws for a couple of days and I am on bus stop duty for a couple of days.

Making Memories

There is an article in the April Ensign about making memories with your kids and how important it is. Nathan and I decided that we want to do fun things with the kids more often, including at least one "big" thing each month. By big I mean more than just going to the park or riding bikes outside.

Last month we went to a place called "Pump It Up." It is basically a huge building with a few inflatable bounce houses for the kids (and adults) to play on. We made plans to go and decided to invite Heidi and Preston to come along. The kids had so much fun. Nathan got to play with them, but Heidi and I had to stay off because we didn't have socks. We found out later that we could have bought a pair of socks so we could play. Maybe next time.

After "Pump It Up" we went with G-ma and G-pa E to the Desert Botanical Gardens to see the butterfly exhibit. The kids loved being in a garden with butterflies flying everywhere. The butterflies would even land on us if we were still enough.

Then, yesterday we took the kids bowling. Heidi had a coupon for free bowling for 10 people so we decided to take Carrigan and Amberly with us to meet her and Preston. Hailey had really been enjoying bowling on the Wii and couldn't wait to go real bowling. All of the kids had so much fun. They wouldn't use the 6 lb balls, though, and opted instead for the "prettier" 13 and 14 lb balls. After bowling we went to McDonalds for ice cream cones and then to G-ma and G-pa W's house for dinner and playing.

I'm not sure what we'll do this next month, but hopefully the kids will enjoy it and have many fond memories from their childhoods.