Our Family: Week of 3/17-3/23

We woke up bright and early on Monday to see if we had caught any leprechauns.

We didn't.

;(

They managed to escape.  But, before they did, they left some gold candy in each of the kids' traps.

And a sneaky tattoo on each of their cheeks.

Unfortunately, Adam had a career project due that day, that required an interview in professional attire.  And shamrocks on cheeks are not professional.

So he scrubbed his off.

(By the way, he did awesome at his interview and got a 92 percent on his project.  Yay, Adam!)

After we got the kids/Mike dropped off, Sam had an appointment at the pediatric urologist on the other side of town.  His pediatrician had a concern at his last well check, and referred him there.

It took 25 minutes to drive there, 20 minutes to fill out the paperwork... and we saw the doctor for 2 minutes (who declared him just fine).

Before sending us on the 25 minute drive back home.

But, he's healthy, so it's all good.

That afternoon Josh and I made green French bread for some green French bread pizza for dinner.

It was yummy.

***

Tuesday morning began early for me.

After I get Sam in bed for the night, I usually stay up until midnight to get all of the housework done.  Sam gets up around 2:00, goes back to bed around 2:45.  He gets up again around 5:00, and I stay up for the day.

During that 5:00 feeding I feel dead.

So, Netflix is my friend when the sun starts coming up, so I can stay awake.

Hopefully he will start sleeping in larger stretches soon.

Adam joined the basketball team at school, and they began meeting Tuesday afternoons for practice.  He loves basketball, so I'm thankful he has the opportunity.

***

On Wednesday Adam surprised me with a little treat he made for me to eat as a snack:

Too sweet!

When we moved to our house, there was a piece of wood in the D.I. truck that I kept.  A year later, I painted it yellow.  It sits on my mantle, blank and weird, occasionally.

I decided to make some word art with it and some random chipboard letters I had in my scrapbooking stuff.

Creating is super-fun.

And it motivates me to clean.

(i.e. scrub a tub, paint a coat; do some laundry, paint a coat).

***

On Thursday, I had my first Activity Days meeting since having Sam.

These cute girls have been bugging me to have one.

So I (finally) did.

We watched the "Bullying" video, talked about how hurtful gossip is, and made homemade lipgloss, to remind us to keep our words as sweet as our lips.

It was fun.

And crazy hard, with Mike at work, Josh running around like a maniac, and Sam screaming.

***

On Friday, we went to Redbox and I rewarded the kids with getting all of their chores done (and for staying in all day with visiting teachers and a/c repairmen) by watching Frozen.

Finally!

They loved it!

That evening, we got to meet our newest nephew/cousin, Noah, and visit with Grandma and Grandpa, who had come up to help with their new grandson.

He is cute!

(Thanks for taking this picture, Kristi!)

We had a really fun time visiting, imprinting Sam's footprint in cement for Grandma's garden, having a Las Vegas Wilkins pizza night, and watching Frozen.

Again.

***

The weather has been so gorgeous here lately.

But, we have all been dying from allergies, so we haven't been able to enjoy it.

We gave up on that on Saturday and went outside to ride bikes, while Mike was at youth conference all day.

They played "pizza delivery."

Adam's bike was stolen months ago.  Mike has been watching for a good bike to come into D.I. (if it needs too much repairs, it isn't worth it).

Earlier this week, a great one was donated and he brought it home for Adam.

Adam has been basking in his new-found freedom ever since.

He rode over 10 miles on Friday, and rode to a friends' house this morning to play.

He is in heaven.

Sam and I enjoyed watching them ride bikes.

And every so often, Josh would come over to enjoy on Sam.

***

Though I can't seem to get my own act together with my visiting teaching, someone went ahead and made me Mike's home teaching companion.

Seriously.

We decided to take the easy route this month, and make cookies with General Conference reminders taped to the top.

We delivered them on Sunday after church.

It was some good family time.

That involved cookies being snuck.

;)

Our Family: Week of 3/10-3/16

A long time ago, I felt myself "too good" for the dishwasher.

In our dorm, we didn't have a dishwasher.  In our apartments, our dishwasher didn't work.  When we moved into the house, I tried the dishwasher, but it left the dishes worse than before.

So, I have hand washed my dishes over the past few years. I never minded, because I felt that I was cool and old-fashioned.

After Sam was born (and my Mom left) my house went from "clean" to "gross" overnight.  It was all I could do to stay awake on only 4 hours of sleep day after day, feed my family, nurse, cry away my leftover baby hormones, and try not to itch.

In the mail one day, I received a "dish washing" sample that it claimed I had requested.

I never requested it, nor did I ever plan on ever using my dishwasher.

But, with my tired eyes, I looked at the mountain of dishes in my sink and decided to try it.

The dishes were perfectly cleaned.

And I have been insanely grateful for that dishwasher every single day (and the blessing of the mysterious dishwasher sample and that it worked).

Especially on Mondays.

***

On Tuesday, I (finally) finished my stack of "thank yous" for all of the beautiful gifts and service we received after Sam was born.

Our friends + family are too good for us.

Last Tuesday evening while Adam was at Cub Scouts, I looked over our bookshelf for a chapter book that Grace would like.  She loves to read, but making that girl read a chapter book is like pulling teeth.

I found an American Girl book from my Mom and found a cute on-line reading chart.

She read it, loved it, and it gave her the chapter-book-confidence she needed, and she took off!

She reads in the car, on the couch, and late at night in bed.

I am so happy!

I read once that every kid can be a reader... if you can find them a book they will love.

I'm pretty sure that's true.

***

On Wednesday Grace came home and told us that she had been bitten by a leprechaun.

Adam told us that lice was going around school.

I was worried about one of their ailments.

;)

Grace and her friends have been having too much fun making up tales about leprechauns, trying to trap them, and using their vivid imaginations to describe them. ("We saw one with red hair and glowing green eyes in the shed.  We didn't look him in the eyes, though, or we would have disappeared.  And got into trouble for going into the shed.")

I love it.

I do not love lice.

That evening, Grace reminded me (again) that she had to bring a "100 Days" cape to school.

A cape with 100 items attached to it.

I had never received a flyer and the assignment wasn't on her teacher's website.

And after the "Valentine's Day box" fib, I was pretty skeptical.

I told her she would have to change all of Sam's diapers the entire weekend if I spent time making a cape with her, and she didn't really need it.

I had leftover felt from their Halloween costumes, and 3 helpers cutting and hot glue-ing hearts, so it ended up being fairly easily.

(And, I saw lots of "100 Day" superhero 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders running around in capes the next morning... lucky for her.  And Sam.)

;)

After weeks of ignoring Adam's messy room... and him not having any "media time" as a result of that messy room, he finally got it cleaned!

And that coupled with his piano practice being done + homework + other chores resulted in 30 minutes of Donkey Kong time.

He (and Josh) were pretty happy.

***

On Thursday Sam turned 2 months old.

We took him over to his pediatrician after the kids' went to school.

Baby boy weighs 16 pounds and is 24 inches long.

This kids is HUGE!

(Josh only weighs 32 pounds at 4 years old.  Sam's going to outgrow him quick!)

My poor buddy got his shots, cried, and then I nursed him in the car until he fell asleep.

After he was settled down, we got Mike to work and grabbed a pizza for Adam at Little Caesar's for his class "Pi Party."

All sorts of celebrations were going on at the school that day.

Grace had fun celebrating 100 days of school, and Adam had lots of fun doing different groups of 100 exercises (100 jumping jacks, 100 squats, etc... in honor of 100 days) and eating pie.

That evening Mike sat next to Josh while he tried to sleep (in hopes of keeping him in bed).

Unfortunately, 15 minutes later, Josh ran out, triumphant that he had put his father to sleep instead.

***

On Friday we got the house sparkling clean and Adam had some friends over to play.

I made cupcakes so I could be a cool/fun Mom.

And also to bribe the kids to get the house sparkling clean.

;)

Adam had fun with his friends, and when their Mom came to pick them up, I got to have some friend time, too.

While we were talking, Mike surprised me.

We have had a mis-matched table and chair set that really bugged me.

It shouldn't bug me (because I am grateful to have a table and chairs in the first place).

But it did.

A beautiful set came into D.I. and was priced really affordable.

So, he brought it home.

It's beautiful!  I love it!

(Not that I took pictures of it or anything).

***

Saturday was spent doing chores, running errands, and doing homework.

Grace's girlie had lunch with us... at our new table (there it is!).

(Unfortunately she flashed her, as Josh calls them, "oboes" at us the entire time.)

We need to work on our guests' manners.

;)

Adam had a major career project, explorers test, and 20 book summaries due Monday.

He worked hard all day.

We finished our day off with some apple pie, in honor of Pi day, a day late.

Fact: Apple pie tastes best when served on Tupperware lids.

;)

***

On Sunday we had a wonderful ward conference.

After church, in preparation for St. Patrick's Day the next day, the kids' got started on their leprechaun traps.  They SO want to catch one of those sneeky leprechauns.

Especially Grace.

They worked all afternoon on different approaches.  They couldn't decide on one plan together, so they ended up each doing their own.

Josh went with a "trip them with my pile of random popsicle sticks, lured by a quarter taped on a popsicle stick" approach:
 

Grace attempted to catch them with a rainbow slide, dropping into a cup at the bottom:

And Adam built a ladder with a "false roof" over the cup, with the lure of "gold."

We will have to see if any of them work!

After they were all tucked in bed, I made some green lunches for each kiddo.

Because I'm just so darn lucky to have them.

Our Family: Week of 3/3-3/9

On Monday I had my 6-week check.

Everything's lookin' good!

My doctor asked if my baby was growing okay.

I think these chubby legs confirm my answer of "yes."

And this little chunky foot that likes to pop out when I'm nursing:

 And this leg that likes to always bend back while he eats, too.

I love him bad.

How does one ever stop having babies?

***

This week is Nevada Reading Week (and spirit week at the kids' school).

Monday was "Pajama Day" and Tuesday was "Favorite Book Character" day.

Grace was Pinkalicious and Adam was Peeta from The Hunger Games.

I received a call that afternoon from my brother + cousins who were on their way back to Utah from Phoenix (for Nate's homecoming).

They stopped by and visited for a bit.

Josh had fun with my cousin, who was a fun play-mate.

And Sam got to meet Uncle Mo for the first time.

That evening was the Pinewood Derby car weigh-in.  To save money on track rental, our Pinewood Derby is being done as a stake this year.  With so many boys needing to race, they weighed the cars early.

***

Adam woke us up at 2:00 in the morning early Wednesday, yelling, "Josh is making funny noises!"

We ran in, and the boy who had been fine all day on Tuesday, was struggling to breathe with a bad case of croup.

We've done croup several times with Adam and Grace, so we ran a hot shower and held him in the room with the door shut tight (so the steam would open up his airways).  We tried cold drinks and cold air.

After all the hot water was gone, he was laying on my bed, shaking and sounding like a fish out of water.

Having asthma, and knowing how absolutely, positively terrifying it is not to be able to breathe, tugged at my heart strings, and I asked Mike to take him to the E.R.

Some medicine, several breathing treatments, a blessing, and 4 hours later, he ran in the door happy and yelling at us to wake up and get ready for the day.

Man, I'm thankful for good doctors, insurance, and Mike.

That day was "Wacky Wednesday."

Adam and Grace did their best to be super-wacky.

I think they succeeded.

***

Thursday was "Spirit Day" at the school.

Plus, "Lunch With a Loved One."

I hauled Sam, Josh and some Sonic + grapes down to the school.

We had a fun lunch and then toured the kids' decorated classroom doors for the "Classroom Door" competition.  Each class chose a book and decorated it for the week.

Grace's was Reading Gives You Wings.

Adam's was Through the Looking Glass.

It was a long, fun day.

***

On Friday we cleaned and cleaned.

My house still looks gross.

Babies are adorable, sweet, delicious-smelling things that suck all of the time + energy away that is normally used for house cleaning.

(Maybe that's how people stop having babies).

We learned about Greece, ate chicken gyros, watched Greek folk dancing videos, a buncha fights broke out, and I swore I was done with "Foreign Fridays."

But, they are so much fun, I'm probably not.

***

Saturday was Adam's third and final (sniff!) Pinewood Derby.

("Sniff"?  Who am I kidding?  Thank-freaking-goodness is more like it).

;)

There were 27 boys racing, and by my figuring, he placed 6th.  We will get his "official" placing on Tuesday.  He won 3 of his 4 races, and (most important) had a great time.  Both he and Mike had a great time planning, building, and racing his car.

That night, after some more cleaning (house is still gross), we had spaghetti (Mike worked late... the only way we get to eat spaghetti around here, as he hates it), and baths.

We threw Sam in the big tub for the first time.

He loved it.

So did Josh.

***

On Sunday we went on a drive after church + lunch to see this gorgeous, recently-abandoned church in our stake.

And finished dinner off with some "no bake cookies."

Cookies + Sundays just seem to go together.