Clark Planetarium, Making a Blizzard and IT'S 2AM!!

To keep Sarah contained at bedtime we had to put a child door knob cover on the inside of her room when we put her to bed to keep her in her room. When Aaron and I go to bed a couple hours later we open up her door so I can hear her throughout the night if there is a problem. I was awakened the other morning at 2 am by Sarah turning her light on. Aaron got up to find her standing on her toy box so she could reach her light. He went in and turned off her light and tucked her back in bed. By the time he was out of her room, she was already out of bed heading to turn her light on again. However, this time she shut her door so we wouldn't know she had her light on. She was still awake at 5 am when Aaron got up to go to work. She was sure "Chuckles" the next day. The next night I was thinking ahead and took the toy box out of her room for nighttime. That night we were awakened at 2 am by her out in the hallway scooting the toy box back into her room. 2 am must be the bewitching hour!! Anyway, she did get the toy box in and turned her light on. Aaron got up tucked her back in bed, turned her light out and took the toy box out of her room and shut her door so she couldn't get it again. She was pretty ingenious. She went over to the other side of her room and got her rocking horse and scooted that all the way over to her light switch, climbed on and turned the light back on. At this point we just said, "Uncle" and let her have her stupid light on--we just made sure her door was shut so we didn't have to "enjoy" her light on at 2 am since her room is just across the hallway and her light floods into our room.

Today we headed down to the Clark Planetarium for a visit. For our trip to Texas this last summer we joined an association of museums to get in to bunch a different places while we were there. That yearlong membership also includes the Clark Planetarium in Salt Lake. The kids loved going to seeing all the displays. Daniel didn't let his broken foot slow him down too much. He did have to be carried over the snowy ground so his splint wouldn't get soggy, though. Here they are walking on the moon:

Here's Mars and Sarah was all about climbing on and over any rock. I am afraid she is a little bit of a Tomboy. Watching the balls going around the ball roller coaster:Looking through the telescope at Saturn: Watching the pendulum:We also took in a movie in the IMAX theater. It was the show The Lights Before Christmas. With our membership we got free popcorn for everyone. Poor Daniel wasn't able to have any popcorn since it was butter laden. However, I keep Daniel friendly treats in the car for emergencies such as this. He was able to enjoy some candy and fruit roll ups during the movie.Sarah was in heaven.Matthew was in heaven, too, because he finished his bowl, the rest of Aaron and my bowl and part of Sarah's that was left over. For some reason he wasn't too hungry for lunch afterward.

Yesterday we finally got around to pulling out Josh's Christmas present--The Blizzard Maker. I must say this contraption is the biggest waste of money!! This is the only thing Josh ever asked Santa for all year long!! Good thing Santa brought it because I don't think Josh would have gotten it otherwise. It is an ice cream mixer, however you have to provide your own ice, rock salt and milk to make it work. Interestingly enough the ice cream mix that came with it was dairy and egg free so Daniel got to try some. Everyone took turns turning the hand crank for 10 minutes until the ice cream was frozen.

When it was frozen, you only got about 1/2 cup total of ice cream. Well obviously that wouldn't be enough to go around these four hungry kids. Good thing I had a stash of other ice cream in the freezer. Josh and Daniel split the original blizzard maker mix and then after their two bites of ice cream were gone they got their bowls replenished from the freezer ice cream stash. I must say the kids had fun making it even though the actual blizzard results didn't go very far--maybe two bites a piece for Daniel and Josh and that's being really generous!!

The Reality of Physics Hurt, a Leaky Pipe and Sarah Getting Her Groove On

We have had yet another broken bone by Daniel. This kid is one of the most accident prone individuals I have ever met!! We were at Costco yesterday. We had finished checking out and were pushing the cart out to the car in the parking lot. Now our cart was really weighted down because we had a huge case of water, three 40 pound bags of water softener salt, a bunch of groceries and Noah and his carseat all sitting in the cart. Also when you first walk out of the store there is a small hill you go down so the cart was going faster than usual when Daniel decided to stop right in front of the cart while it was moving pretty fast. Right then he got a hands on learning experience with Newton's first law of motion: Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it--and, unfortunately, that external force was Daniel. He stopped right in front of the fast moving cart where Aaron couldn't stop it in time and ran over Daniel's foot. Daniel started screaming so I picked him up and carried him over to the car so I could take a look at his foot. I pulled off his sock and didn't see anything so I put it back on and told him to get into his carseat. Daniel tends to be on the dramatic side of things so you never really know if anything is serious or not so we decided to wait a little bit to see what would happen. When we got home Daniel told us he wanted to go play at a friend's house so we let him go thinking nothing was wrong. When he limped back home a few hours later we decided maybe something was wrong and so I took him in. Sure enough his foot X-rays came back showing a nice break on his third metatarsal (the very middle bone in the arch of his foot) with a small bone chip off to the side. His foot was puffy so they put it in a splint and we have a scheduled appointment Friday morning to get his foot casted after the swelling goes down. Of all the times for this to happen!! With Aaron travelling quite a bit in the near future leaving me alone--that means I will need to become a Sherpa so I can carry Sarah, Noah and Daniel in order to get anywhere. That should be interesting!! The doctor did tell me Daniel should be able to walk on his foot after it's casted and has a cast boot, but this is Daniel and I don't know if he will want to walk on it. I am going to have some buff arms by the end of this for sure!!

Josh continues to do basketball. They finally finished with all the clinics and are starting to have actual basketball games. Josh got his jersey last night and he is #34. However, just because you are tall doesn't mean basketball comes easy for you....He does have fun with it, though.This morning Aaron was holding Noah and he was doing the exact same thing as Aaron. Like father like son:The other day I was in the basement and found some nice water damage around the window. I put two and two together and figured out it was coming from the water filter in the kitchen sink which was right above that window. Aaron fixed it yesterday and took out the water filter. After it was taken out we took a peak and saw it must have been leaking for some time because the floor of the kitchen sink cupboard is quite bowed from all the water damage. Good thing it was just an easy fix and didn't involve the pipes in the wall!! Sarah has this toy that plays music. She has figured out how to work it to only play the songs she likes. She will get it to play the songs and then dance to them. She is a funny girl.

What a crazy week we've had!! 2011 can't get here soon enough so we can replenish our flex spending account!!

Christmas Day

While we were drinking our hot chocolate Christmas Eve Matthew was trying to bargain with us about what time everyone can wake up. He wanted to get up at 5 am. All the adults gave him a resounding "NO!!" I then said 8 am and Matthew came back to say 5:55am. We said no and finally decided on 6:55am because 7 am was too late. I guess 5 minutes makes all the difference. The next morning before the kids could come downstairs we had to wait for everyone to go potty, Noah to get fed, etc. Here are the kids waiting (not so patiently I may add) at the top of the stairs. Mark, set... GO!!

Get out of the way, Mom!!

Noah was the youngest so he got to go first with some help. He was more happy sucking on the paper than the actual toy.Unwrapping while standing up on the couch seems to work better for Daniel. Daniel had fun and loved every present he got. He was excited to get his Santa gift a remote controlled car. He also liked his remote control helicopter.Josh was a little punk this year. We thought we had picked out the best presents for him, but he didn't agree. He just looked sullen faced and we asked him what was wrong. He just said, "Well, I am trying to be happy." He finally got super excited when he saw his set of Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. After he opened those he exclaimed, "This is the best Christmas EVER!!" He was also excited to see Santa had brought him his beloved Blizzard Maker. Sarah was the little opportunist. Sarah went and stole everyone's candy canes and ate them while they were busy opening up presents. That way they weren't paying attention to her to stop her. She got so loaded up on candy she was not interested in eating breakfast at all.

Matthew was so excited to get his High School Musical CD from Santa he left the rest of his unopened presents to go down and listen to it. We had to call him up from his CD player in the basement every time it was his turn to open something. Noah was about finished with everything after his first two presents and just needed loves. Daniel got Grandpa T to read him his new comic books. We found a model Union Pacific train that we thought Matthew would love since he is really into Union Pacific Trains at the moment. However, we didn't have the right battery size to fit it as luck would have it. We had every other battery size, but that one. Later that morning we went over to Walgreens (the only place that was open) and bought some batteries to fit it. The bad thing was it didn't work even after the batteries were put in it--poor Matthew!! That will be a return for sure!!

The family room got super trashed in record time!! It's two days later and we are still trying to get everything cleaned up!!Sarah had to take a small detour during the present opening. She dirtied her diaper and then stuck her hands in it. Luckily we got to her before she could finger paint with it. She had to get a scrub down in the shower, but she came out super clean and better smelling for sure. Afterward she loved playing with her pink shopping cart. She even got Noah in on the action by using his exersaucer as her check out register. She piled all her food up on him getting it ready to purchase.Noah was just happy to be here.

To get away from the post Christmas mess and to prevent making another one by cooking lunch we headed over to Burger King (besides it was the only place that was open on Christmas Day). We have hit this same Burger King every Christmas day for the last 4 years because we are classy like that. Like Aaron's dad says, "If it weren't for low class we would have no class at all!" I just look at it like a small Christmas present to myself--no cooking or cleaning up for me. Plus we already had our big Christmas Dinner on Christmas Eve. When we got there I took the kids back to the play area. Daniel was in heaven when he heard the song Dynomite being played on the speakers. He started dancing to the music:
After a while Daniel came over and said his arm hurt. I took a peek and found that he had all the silly bandz he had gotten in his stocking wrapped around his wrist. It appeared they were cutting off the circulation to his hand. We took them off and it left his wrist looking ouchy.Burger King had another plus. Although I HATE playlands, by taking the kids there Aaron and I get a few moments of peace where we can talk to each other without too many interruptions. When we get home, though, all the kids get thrown in the shower to clean off the play area nastiness. The kids really look out for each other, too. Sarah is just a tad too short to climb up to the top. Matthew got in and lifted her up to each step so she could get up to play with everyone, too. Sweet boy!When we got home Josh was excited to try out his new night light clip that attaches to his bed. Getting him to go to bed was a piece of cake that night. I got a few fun things, too. I got another Willow Tree figurine from Aaron. I love those! I also got a few books to help me learn how to use our new camera. I also got a much needed new cookware set. I did have a few faux paus this year, though. I thought I had gotten the most perfect gift for Aaron. He wanted a Peyton Manning football jersey. Well I was looking around at them and they were expensive!! I finally found one online that was a lot cheaper so I ordered it. I also ordered him the Lord of the Rings trilogy on DVD thinking he would love that as well. When the jersey came in I didn't get a chance to look at it because I was too busy. I put it away until it got wrapped a few days before Christmas. It wasn't until Aaron opened it I noticed how small it was even though I ordered an XL. I looked at the tag to see much to my dismay it was XL child size. No wonder it was a lot cheaper--DANG IT!! Right after opening the jersey he opened the Lord of the Rings trilogy. He graciously acted excited, but later on told me he already had those movies. NICE!! However, all in all it was a pretty good Christmas even if we have a few returns we need to make...

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was a fun day. We had G&G T, my brother Bryan and his family and my sister Johanna and her family all over for a nice feast. We missed my other sister Jennifer and her family in Ohio! We feasted on a yummy ham dinner. After trying out a few hams through the last few years I have finally figured out how to cook one and make it taste good. After dinner and some visiting it was time to open their one Christmas Eve present. The kids were so excited to finally open something after seeing the presents sit under the tree for a few days. They all ran over (except Sarah and Noah) and dove right in. Sarah wondered what was going on. We had to help Sarah and Noah unwrap their presents. Daniel was slightly disappointed when all it was was pajamas. However, they quickly got undressed and everyone got their pajamas on.

I was able to find matching pajamas for the boys. Sarah got some princess jammies instead. The three older boys' pajamas say Big Brother while Noah's say Little Brother.

After the kids got their jammies on we got some warmer clothes to put over the top of them and headed out to Ogden's Christmas Village with G&G T. Ogden City lights up a huge city block with different winter scenes. The kids love it. To keep Noah warm he got put in the front pack and then my coat got zipped up over the front of him. A few people came by to get a closer look because they thought I was wearing a Halloween costume at first.

When we got back home we all had some hot chocolate to warm up. We then read the Christmas Story from the scriptures and then tucked the kids in bed. Holy cow they didn't get to sleep until LATE!! Santa then came and left quite a haul.

The Beginning of Christmas Break

Sarah isn't all trouble. She does have her sweet moments. I took this picture the other night. She does like to snuggle, give kisses and squeezes. It makes up for most of the mischief she gets into. If the kids ask for anything we say, "It will cost you." She has quickly learned to pay the price of a kiss and a squeeze if she asks for anything. The first morning of Christmas break I was awakened by Noah screaming. I went into his room to find he was rolling around in his crib and got his legs stuck in the slats. He was not a happy baby.Then I went downstairs and fed the kids breakfast. I give Sarah a cup of milk with a handful of cereal on the counter. It's a lot easier to clean it up that way than to pour the milk on the cereal and have her spill everything everywhere. However, she has figured out the good part of the cereal. She picked out all the marshmallows and left the rest of the cereal sitting on the counter. It really doesn't take them long to learn that does it?! After breakfast I was reading the newspaper when Sarah came over to tell me the good news that she had a stinky diaper. She says, "I poop. OH MAN!!" I wasn't recording the first time she said it, so I had to help her say it again so I could get a recording of it. This is what she says a lot of times after she does dirty her diaper--funny girl!
I didn't get to changing her diaper right away. She went downstairs, got undressed and pulled off her diaper smearing everything everywhere. She then caught my attention by walking up the stairs towards the shower. I got her in the shower while I cleaned up the mess. I washed her and got her out of the shower. While I was looking for clothes, she went over and peed on my carpet which is what the dark spot is right next to her feet. I am trying to decide which would be worse pets or kids?Sarah is so afraid to be left behind. If she hears anything about going anywhere she will run to get her coke (coat) on as well as her shoes. It doesn't even bother her if she has no clothes on as long as she can get her coat and shoes on. It doesn't even matter if her shoes are on the wrong feet either. I told her we weren't going anywhere right then and she was not happy. She really wanted to go bye bye--clothes or no clothes. Thursday Aaron took the day off of work so we could have some fun family time. We took the kids out to lunch and then bowling. Why oh why do I have Sarah wear a white shirt when we eat the messiest foods like chocolate ice cream? Aaron and I had to take turns holding Noah during lunch since he is turning into Mr. Grabbypants. He loves to get a hold of everything within his reach. That makes eating a little harder to do when you are trying to keep his hands out of your food. He thought it was a pretty fun game. I am proud to say that while we were eating lunch an elderly woman came over and complimented us about how well behaved our children were. I think it was because all their mouths were full of food so they couldn't scream or fight. Anyway, that good of behavior in public doesn't always happen so we were some proud parents.

After lunch we went bowling. It was Sarah's first time to actually bowl and she thought she was big stuff. However, she was more interested in the ball return than bowling. She would roll the ball and run back to the ball return before her first ball even got all the way down the lane. One time she was looking at the ball return so closely, a ball came down the shute and hit her in the nose. She cried for a minute, but shrugged it off when it really was her turn again. She also doesn't quite understand the concept of turn taking either. She thought it was her turn after everyone else's turn. You had to keep an eye on her because she could lift up the ball herself and carry it over to the lane before you could stop her.Josh and Daniel were in heaven because they had TVs on playing regular TV next to the scoring TVs. We nicknamed them TV #1 (Josh) and behind him was TV #2 (Daniel). It helped keep them occupied between their turns, however.Funny kids!!