Greatest Mother's Day Present Ever

Chad did a good job this year for mother's day. I think there is no better gift to give to a mother than the gift of less work (hypothetically). Hopefully the "Ruby" lasts long enough for us to get the hang of setting up the room for her to work. It will be hard keeping the kids away since there is nothing more exciting to a kid than an object that moves on its own. I'm sure they will once they get tired of picking up before turning it on.

Last Class

I finally finished the last class of the MBA program. It has been a long two year's worth of class, some good, some bad, but it is great to be done with the classroom learning. One take-home final between me and that diploma!

The Kind of Mom I Am

As parents I think we always come away with some taint from our childhood. There is always some THING or things that our parents did to us that shape our decisions with our children in some way. There are some that take those things and vow to never ever submit there children to such torture. I think the general reasoning is "why would I do that to my child when I hated it so much?"
Then there are those who force those same experiences on their children. The reasoning being "if I had to suffer, then they must suffer too! HA HA HA! "(think evil maniacal laughter here).
Thus, our little G-man started piano lessons back in September. He had his first recital on Saturday and did a wonderful job. Unfortunately for him it has just started. I guarantee there will be 5:45am practices. There have already been practice sessions led by the dictator (aka mom) requiring precision during practice. He will be required to learn to play in church and if I have my way I will pass on the curse of playing the organ. Although in all honesty I'm probably cursing my future daughter-in-law to sit by herself as he gets a free ride up on the stand. Its like being in the bishopric without any real responsibility.
G-man is actually quite good and its been fun watching everything click. He's really excited because I promised to write out the theme to Star Wars into an arrangement he can play. I'll have to hang that over his head for a while. Or at least make it hard enough that he will have to work hard for the next few months to get good enough to play it. This is definitely one of my dreams for my children although I hope I have the sense to not make it a requirement of those who really hate it. I am lucky enough to love playing the piano/organ and I hope I can pass that on to my kids.
Next up on the torture list: Spring Cleaning!!

Happy Butchering!

In celebration of Scooch's fist birthday he got his hair chopped off. It started out as a trim and ended as a shave. I'm remembering now why G-man never had long hair. I am no good with scissors. I inevitably end up chopping off a chunck somewhere that is impossible to blend in. His new haircut makes him look really big. Now I have a one year old that walks like a toddler and looks like a toddler. Plus he likes to do things like bite my fingers when I won't let him do what he wants and use his new walking skills to move my pantry items onto the end table. Where did my baby go?

Easter Adventure

I spent the past weekend with my sister Ruth and her husband Brady. The trip started out poorly and ended badly, but was lots of fun in the middle. I left the two oldest with my parents and took Scooch on his first airplane ride. I had never flown with one of my kids by myself and was a little nervous. I made sure I had everything I needed to get Scooch through the flight including his birth certificate to verify he was indeed my child. Unfortunately I forgot to double check I had the proof that I was his mother and left my wallet behind at my mom's house. After some extra security measures including a pat down of myself and the baby and being labeled a "suspicious person", they let me on the plane.



The next few days were spent shopping, eating, and watching movies. Scooch met his two remaining great grandparents (my mom's mom and dad's dad) and got to know the playground in the courtyard of Ruth's apartments. Ruth and Brady took me to my first Sushi restaurant and I thouroughly enjoyed it. Unfortunately that began the downhill slide of the journey.








Sunday started out very poorly. Seth woke up around 3am and wouldn't go back to sleep. Seeing as we were in a small two bedroom apartment, everyone enjoyed the pleasure of his wakeful state. Including the neighbors. Brady and Ruth both woke up feeling sick (probably from the Sushi) and we woke up to no hot water. Aparently the water heater decided to stop working while I was there. Scooch remained grumpy from his wakeful night. Later I discovered his mouth was covered in canker sores. Probably from licking too many shopping carts or floors or strange children's push toys. I can't wait until he grows out of the mouthing stage. So here I was with a kid who was in a horrible mood and who wouldn't take a bottle or pacifier.









In an attempt to redeem himself or perhaps just to take his mind off the pain in his mouth, Scooch decided to start walking on Sunday. Each of my kids has been an instant walker. One day they just decide they want to walk and do it. He went from taking no more than 2 or 3 steps at a time to walking across my Grandma's kitchen to get me. It kind of made up for his crankiness and it was cool that Ruth and Brady got to see that. Watching a kid learn how to walk is one of the coolest milestones that kids reach.












The trip home wasn't as bad as it could have been since Scooch was still refusing a pacifier. This time we were able to get a window seat which occupied his time. Although he still would scream at the top of his lungs whenever he was dissatisfied with the level of his care. I honestly don't think I'll travel with a one year old again. Its quite humiliating. I felt especially bad for the guy across the aisle trying to sleep. I saw him jump a few times.

I'm sure Brady is grateful to have his office back instead of having to study in the pantry. Although that really can't be too bad. You don't have to go far to get a snack. I know Scooch is glad to be back in his own house. He slept really well today. Its nice to be home after a long trip. I think I stayed away long enough this time.

Green Thumb

After last year's volunteer watermelon plant we decided maybe we should TRY and grow something. How hard could it be really? Just throw some seeds in the ground and they'll grow right? Honestly I think that watermelon plant was a freak of nature because we've spent way more money on this dang vegetable garden then we'll ever see. We forgot to factor in my inability to remember to turn OFF the water or my impatience for things that do not grow as fast as I want them too, forcing me to dig up the seeds to "check" and see if they're growing. I'm finding I really love growing stuff, and I hope hope hope that we can keep the critters away from the food long enough to actually eat some.

I actually think I'm a little psychotic about growing stuff. We finally had a tomato growing on one of our tomato plants. I was so excited and brought the kids out there to show it to them (I'd been talking to Kiwi about it all day and we were so excited to show dad and G). Obviously, once we got out there Kiwi managed to pick the thing off the plant in typical four year old fashion. I knew I was silly to think that wouldn't happen, but I was angry. So in an attempt not to let my anger show by yelling at her I just threw the little green tomato at her. She cried. Apparently that was just as bad as yelling. Who knew? Now we have about ten little green tomatoes. Maybe when the birds start eating them I could see how throwing the ruined tomatoes at them works.

Here are some pictures of the garden. You can see the fence that we put up to attempt to keep out whatever was eating our lettuce. It didn't help but whatever it was stopped after eating about a third of it. Probably because its getting bitter. I planted the tomato and pepper plants too soon and they go frost bite, but managed to survive. Half the beans and all the chili plants got eaten by the Japanese beetle larvae that live in our yard. The cabbage and carrots keep getting nipped off by birds in search of bugs. Plus, I think there's a lizard prowling around, but I can't prove that its contributing to the plant lossage. The corn and peas are growing tall and one strawberry plant has survived and looks like it may produce one strawberry. Woohoo! If Kiwi picks that strawberry before its ripe, I don't know what I'll do.

Out with the Girls: Hike up Camelback

On Friday and Saturday I met up with some of my college friends. We have realized we are close to the age of 30 and showing it. Most of the time was spent talking. I don't know why we expected to do much more. That is really all we ever did in the dorms "reading scriptures." It was fun to catch up on what everyone was doing, how many kids everyone had, and marvel at the awesomeness of Sara pulling 30 hour days as she finishes medical school at Mayo. I do regret the lack of flip flop fights and Ben and Jerry's. Plus we were in bed by mednight. Where's my 4am ladies? huh?





The highlight for me was a hike up Camelback mountain. My goal was to start a hike and finish it, without taking all day doing it or having to lug one or two children up and down the mountain. We started with six and about a third of the way up the three with babies (two inside and one out) dropped out. It was a fabulous hike with steep inclines and marvelous views. Sara tried out her rock climbing skills to the terror of myself and all other passing hikers. I was saying some very "30" phrases at that point. Then we got to shove people out of the way as we ran down the mountain 30 minutes past the planned rendevous time. I felt a bit out of shape hiking with the likes of Katy the marathon runner and Sara the former track star. I was the only one that ended up bleeding after I decided to punch a rock that was in my way (punching it didn't really help).

I really had a blast and wasn't ready to go home. Plans are to do it again in two years, only bigger. I'm thinking maybe the Grand Canyon...anyone game?