There Is Hope

Just when we start to despair, there are some little signs of spring. Granted, I realize they may be covered with snow before they bloom (or after), but still they give me hope. So glad that Homer and Phoebe planted tulips all those years ago, because the first ten years of our marriage, we always talked about putting in bulbs, but never managed to. So it was a pleasant surprise to have all the tulips pop up our first spring in this house. And we've enjoyed them every year since.

Cupcake

This all started on Valentine's Day when Amelia and I were reading Amelia Bedelia's First Valentine. In the book, Amelia Bedelia's Mom calls her "cupcake." So, my Amelia asked me why I never call her "cupcake". I said, "Well, I guess because your name is Amelia." But she determined that she wanted me to call her cupcake. So I said OK and then promptly forgot and assumed she would too. That was not the case. I have had frequent reminders everyday of how I'm supposed to call her cupcake.

Anytime I call her by her name, she says, "Don't you mean Cupcake?" Oh, right.

Or she says, "When I go to school, you need to say "Have a good day, Cupcake."

And, "When it's time for bed, you need to say, "Have a good rest, Cupcake."

I'm trying, and I'm doing better, but occasionally I still forget. So, here's a picture of my Cupcake.And, of course, Duffy never wants to be left out of anything that Amelia does, so she has asked to be called, "Little Cupcake." Although she doesn't request it as frequently as Amelia. Generally only when Amelia reminds her of it.
So here's a photo of my "Little Cupcake."
And here is a set of cupcakes, big and small.
I love the things the kids do that make me laugh!

Crazy

Apparently, it's a beautiful day out there today. I've been out there. I can see the sun is shining and it is a beautiful day - just not a warm, beautiful day (which is generally part of my personal definition of a beautiful day.) But according to Shawn, the sun shine is apparently reason enough to ride his bike to work. So off he went on his first outside ride of 2010.My requirements for riding outside involve a slightly higher temperature reading (OK a MUCH higher temperature reading.) Maybe a beautiful day for a run, but not a bike ride! This just proves that I am not (quite) as crazy as Shawn.

Winter Fun

For the past 3 weeks, I have been coughed on, sneezed on, wiped boogery noses, covered coughing mouths, cleaned out goopy and crusty eyes, rubbed vapor rub on feet, given soothing vapor baths, filled humidifiers, rubbed backs, administered medication, empathized, and listened to non-stop, incessant coughing. And for those first 3 weeks, I managed to stay well. (We're talking all 5 kids here - and Shawn, but he didn't require so much care from me.) So now, what do I get for all of this? Bronchitis -that's what. Now, who do you suppose is going to take care of me? The best part is, that all 5 kids are still coughing incessantly and have runny, drippy noses and just can't seem to recover. It's got to end eventually, right?

We Can All Rest Easy

Not to worry, the offending boot has been returned.The school custodian was back today and retrieved the boot from the roof. As soon as it finishes drying out from last night's snow storm, it will be almost as good as new.

Wishful Thinking

Even though there are no signs of spring outside, I can create some in my kitchen!

Wasn't Expecting This Phone Call

In the past 3 weeks, I have received 3 different calls from my kids schools. The first was a couple of weeks ago to go and pick up Amelia who wasn't feeling well. (OK, pretty standard.) The next came from Jonas saying he had forgotten his homework folder. (Which turned out not to be the case - after some discussion and my insistence that it wasn't at the house, he did, in fact, find it in his desk.) And then finally, today's phone call. Well, let's just look at the photo. What's wrong with this picture? (Ignore the closed eyes and the grumpy face. She was not happy that I was taking her picture.)In case you missed it, here is a close up of the problem.
That's right folks, my daughter was at school in the winter, with only one shoe on. Not how she left the house, by the way. It turns out that Samantha had kicked her shoe onto the roof of the school. The custodian who would normally be able to help in this sort of situation is out for 3 days. So, here she stands with only one shoe on. Believe me I had more than half a mind to let her just walk around all day with only one shoe on! (But ultimately I was afraid that some other parent or teacher would then label me as neglectful and I didn't want to deal with that.) So despite my fine mothering instincts that told me otherwise, I came to the rescue and brought her some shoes to wear. In hindsight, I should have brought only one and let her wear 2 different shoes for the rest of the day. Oh, well, maybe next time.

A Celebration Dance

To celebrate 14 blissful years of marriage, photoscrooge and his lovely wife Michelle, decided to take up a new hobby - together. Who knew they would look so good as ice dancers?
Happy Anniversary you guys! (My apologies to Michelle - Shawn made me do it.)

The Tent

This tent was a gift that my mom gave us when Jonas was just little. It has served us well. All of my kids have loved (and most still do love) playing in it. It has been put away for a little while, but after seeing this amazing playhouse here, and some other options here, and wishing that I had one, but then realizing that I had neither the time nor the talents to make one of them for my children, I was reminded of "the tent", and got it out for Peter. (The girls were pretty excited to see it again, too. That's Duffy inside.)He has loved crawling in and out of the little doorways and having us join him or peek in and wave at him.
His favorite game at the moment is to take a little toy in with him, which he drops out of the door and waits for me to pick up and toss back in for him. At which point he crawls over and gets it and we repeat and repeat and repeat.
But anything that can keep him busy and out of trouble for at least a few minutes at a time is well worth it.

One of the best things about the tent is that it just pops up and then can be folded up and put away when I get tired of it taking up all the space. It gets set up inside and outside , upstairs and downstairs. Definitely a worthwhile investment for my mom. , as far as I am concerned.

Darn Groundhog!

I know its still February, and therefore still winter, and I'm OK with that. (I won't even mind a few more storms to get the moisture we need.) But we are approaching the time of year where some of us start dreaming of greener grass and warmer temperatures. This kid in particular is anxiously awaiting a change in season. He likes skiing, but doesn't like much else about winter.Be patient, Jonas. Spring will eventually get here, but you've got to put up with the cold for at least a few more weeks.

A Night at the Ballet

For our birthdays this year, Doug and Cathy were taking me and Samantha to Ballet West's Swan Lake. Tonight was the night.

Cathy, Samantha and Doug

It has been a long time since I have been to the ballet and I was looking forward to it. Samantha was very excited as well. It was long but, so beautiful to watch. I loved it. Doug and Cathy also get points for supplying us with gummy gears and swedish fish throughout the performance. Thanks again for the great birthday present!

Olympic Fever

Along with all of the coughing, sneezing, headaches, sore throats and snot filled noses around here, we have a bad case of Olympic Fever. We all love to watch the Olympics. The problem is that it keeps us from accomplishing all of the things that we should be or need to be doing. We all stay up too late, the house doesn't get picked up, and so on and so forth...

For Duffy's preschool field trip today, we went to Olympic Cauldron Park. (I had never been there. And of course forgot my camera.) It was fun to see all the photos and reminders of our Olympics. They liked the "fog" that was part of watching the movie, although it was kind of stinky. Plus, the girls were pretty excited to see a torch just like ours.
We all decided it would have been really cool to see the cauldron lit.

As much as I love the Olympics, it is always a little bit of a relief when they finally end and we can get back to regular life.

Yum

This is what Duffy and I did today. I think just about everything tastes good with chocolate on it. If I had had cinnamon bears, I would have covered those in chocolate very first, because that is one of my very favorite indulgences. But, since I didn't, pretzels had to suffice.
Is it bad that I didn't tell my other kids about them, and Shawn and I are eating them all ourselves?

New Tricks

For several months, Peter has hung out in the living room while Jonas practices in the morning.He just finally got big enough to reach the keys himself, and he thought it was pretty cool.
Also, if anyone leaves a cupboard open (happens altogether too frequently,) Peter can have it emptied in record time. At least rolling the cups around can keep him busy for a few minutes.

Ski Day

This photo right here explains why most people with more than a couple of kids, don't ski. There is so much "stuff" involved! And this isn't even all of it. There are no skis or poles and we were all still wearing half of the required clothing. I'm estimating this will be at least a 2 day recovery process by the time all of this is cleaned up, washed and put away.But if I can manage to put that all aside (along with all of the effort involved to get everybody ready,) I still have to say that we had a really fun day. This was Duffy's first ski day this season and she did great. I was a little hesitant myself since it has been a couple of years since I skied, but after a couple of runs it started coming back to me.
Shawn was awesome in helping Duffy to ski while also carrying Peter around zipped inside his coat. (Back to that whole spectacle thing.)
I couldn't believe how happy and pleasant Peter was despite the cold and being smushed whenever Shawn leaned over to help Duffy.
The little kids got tired out by the end, but I loved being able to watch how much everyone has learned since the last time I was able to ski with them. Amelia skis completely on her own including getting on and off the lift, which is just awesome. (Those ski lessons are really paying off.)
Duffy, like all of our kids liked going fast down the mountain and not so much of the practicing slowing down and stopping. But, as long as she enjoyed it, I'm OK with that.
My little snowbunnies.
Shawn stayed with and then took the little kids home and I was able to ski with Jonas and Samantha and I had so much fun. I think I slowed Jonas down a little but it was so great to be able to ski with them and not be waiting for them or having to help them. And I think they loved taking me to all of their favorite jumps and places to ski.
If I manage to dig out of the pile of ski stuff before the week is through, I will probably even consider going again.

Valentine's Day 2010

Oh, the magic of a holiday. This morning we all woke up to find that Cupid had stopped by once again. There were hearts scattered on everyone's bedroom floors and....a nice big heart-shaped sugar cookie for each of us.
To celebrate the day, we made these heart biscuits (idea stolen from Duffy's preschool blog, with an intent to use some of the other treat ideas as well),
and each got to open a new book (idea stolen once again from Michelle. Really, you should feel flattered that I always take your best ideas.)
Then we ate pink crepes (this ideas was unintentionally similar to Michelle's but was not purposefully copied.)
I love Valentine's Day and all of my special Valentines!
Oh, and Happy Birthday Dad!

Equipment Required

These are the shoes required for triathlon training. (I am quite fond of all of my shoes, but it seems a bit excessive, doesn't it?) As of today, there are 13 weeks to the St. George triathlon, and I find myself once again questioning why I signed up. Oh, that's right, its supposed to motivate me to work out. Maybe it's time to start thinking about training.It would sure be nice if I could wear these to race in. I could maybe get a respectable swim time. I'll have to settle for just wearing them while I swim laps.
And these, of course are for biking. I'm too much of a sissy to ride my bike outside right now, so I have to settle for the occasional spin class or maybe pull out the trainer. (Ugh.)

Next are the running shoes. (I just realized the Salt Lake half marathon is in April. If I'm going to run that I better get going.)
And now, more running shoes. These are to wear when I run on trails as opposed to the road (or the darn treadmill.)
And these shoes are just in case I decide to give up running shoes (or other shoes all together.)
Maybe next time I will address some of the other necessary equipment, ie. wetsuit, goggles, bike, helmet and appropriate apparel. Let the countdown to stress begin.

Sleepless

My babies are not sleepers. Never have been, never will be. They come with a lot of good qualities and traits, but sleeping has never been one of them. (Peter did have me fooled for a couple of months early on, when he did actually sleep a bit at night, but he got over it.) For the most part, I came to grips with this 2 or 3 kids ago. But why, WHY? is it, that on the very rare night when the baby does manage to sleep all night, one of the other kids always gets me up?
I can only imagine that it must be so that I won't get greedy about it when I remember what it feels like to actually sleep all night long.

Snow-Capped

Literally. I didn't know it was supposed to snow, but I have slept through enough workouts the past couple of weeks as it is, so I decided I had to go out anyway. (I dragged Shawn out, too. He thanked me afterward.) It was actually much more pleasant than just running in the cold. A little hard to see, though, because of the snowflakes in our eyes. We could almost imagine it was a trail run. Always nice to get it over with in the morning.