Day 13 - Northpark playground

Well, it was so cold this morning that we were all slackers and stayed home from the track. The average temp of the day was 46 degrees, high was 56 degrees, and there was a drizzly, slow rain off and on throughout the day. But by the end of the day I was determined to kick everyone out the door, so we drove over to the Northpark Elementary playground in the early evening -

Swings are one of Emma's favorites, but she doesn't like to go too high. Sam loves it, too, and is always yelling "Higher! Higher! Higher!" as I push him. Daredevil!

Dani was not amused that I was taking her picture, trying to kick me and eventually threw her shoes at me. Nice headphones!

Dani, like a cautious, wild animal out in the field - this is as close as I dared to get to her as she was out there doing a dance routine to a song on her MP3. I think it's one of the things they used to do to warm up for the play this spring.

My pretty girl... I have two.

The tire swing wins hands down as the favorite piece of equipment on the playground and the reason why the kids request going there.


Random - after realizing I didn't really have very many pictures of Dani's elaborate long hairdos before she cut it, I'm more determined now to take pictures of all her creations. She would only let me do one from the side or back today.

Day 12 - Happy Birthday to Emma!

Dani often leads Emma through stretches

Chase that ball!

Sam just can't understand why he can't hold the ball all the time. Kicking the ball back and forth to each other is a concept he hasn't grasped yet.

Swords TOTALLY go with soccer!

Okay, those heathens (three youngest) thought it would be fun to throw rocks on the track. Well, they paid for it in the end, because I made them pick up a gazillion bits of gravel. Dani graciously helped out, and Sam was almost completely useless. Shocking.
I knew we were going to be doing the whole cake and candles thing in a few days when their Dad gets home from the field, but I still thought it would be fun to do treats. I discovered this cooking trick in a moment of desperation a month or so ago and now I much prefer to make my own brown sugar. Just mix 1 cup of white sugar and 1.5 Tablespoons of molasses and mix well. Put in more molasses, up to 1/4 cup total, to make it a darker brown sugar. What you see here is probably 2 to 3 Tablespoons. At first it's pretty clumpy and the little bits of molasses just won't mix in, but keep working it together, even squishing it with your hands if needed (I love that part!) As you can see here, it makes a wonderful, hearty, flavorful brown sugar, darker than regular light brown sugar than you see in the scoop. Mmmmm.....

Emma requested M&Ms cookies. Naughty food!

Connor and Emma are still in love with Pokemon. They invited Braylynn over to watch some episodes with them. I think it's cute how they all have their Pikachu buddies.

It was rainy and Emma and Sam had to go outside with the umbrella.

Emma got to request her favorite dinner, party pizza, which is just the basic cheap Tony's frozen pizzas. I usually jazz them up with olives and extra cheese, but Dani still thinks it's "cardboard pizza" and refuses to eat it.

Then we all had family game night, and played Nick Scene It. Dani kicked our tails, but it was a good time.

Day 11 - Emma Down for the Count

We got up Monday morning, and were going to head out to the track when Emma lay down on the couch and started moaning about her tummy. Sure enough, she got sick shortly thereafter and we canceled our exercise for the day. I spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon running up and down the stairs, helping her in the bathroom and tucking her back in on the couch. She felt much better by late afternoon and was nearly back to normal by the evening. I'm so glad it was one of those 24-hr bugs and not the 5-day stomach bug that went through our house about a month ago. Now THAT was a trial.

Otherwise, I just did my normal eBay stuff (emails, shipping, etc) and everyone else vegged out on the tv or computer.

Day 10 - Home Sick

Well, late Saturday night Sam had a bout of the nasty stomach bug, so I kept him home from church. Even though he seemed perfectly fine Sunday morning, I played it safe. He's gotta go 24-hours without being sick before I'll take him anywhere. Dani was brave and took the other two to church with her. But she's been the Big Sister for years now, so in reality it's not all that hard for her. Connor snuck some contraband (Nintendo DS video game) into sacrament meeting, had it confiscated by his sister, then got in big trouble with his mother when he got home. Kids!

Sundays are pretty lazy days for us. I mean, we could definitely use some improvement in this area in terms of spirituality, but I always feel like it's an accomplishment dragging all those kids to church every Sunday. Plus, I just get a huge case of sleepiness on Sundays and nearly always have a big nap after church.

Random goofy pics for your viewing pleasure:

Connor and Emma putting the dishes away.


Sometimes Sam's just so stinkin' cute, he gets away with murder. It's the Baby's Curse/Blessing.

Gil always used to call her a "goober" while he rolled his eyes. But we love her goofiness!

Day 9 - Youth Conference

Dani got up early to meet everyone at the church to head out to Youth Conference, where there was a service project (trash pickup), lunch, a fireseide, then they played games at a middle school (bouncy-house!), then back to the Stake Center for dinner and a dance.

My beautiful girl. Cute hair!

Donuts for breakfast! Good energy for service projects...

Yes, I managed to get the little kids out to the track while Dani was gone. We attempted a few formal games of soccer, but that quickly devolved into chasing the ball around and trying to retrieve it from Sam.

Mmmm, summer grapes!

Getting out to the track was the most useful thing we did Saturday, otherwise it was a do-nothing day.

Day 8 - New 'Do

After observing a young girl and her two coaches practice soccer the past few days, I thought it would be fun to bring a soccer ball and let the kids kick it around the field while Dani and I ran laps.

Hey, you can play soccer with two broken sprained arms!

Emma's the graceful child of the family. Mutant...

Lookin' good, chick!

She's such a cutie pie with my camera, she took this pic of me and Sam -

On the sixth lap running past the kids, I acquired a barnacle. I told Sam that, no, I was not going to carry him. Worked out really well, didn't it? Hey, I'm not a pushover, I'm just teaching them the value of persistence.


I got on the scales this morning and scared myself. The numbers are going in the wrong direction. Arghh!! Okay, back to counting calories, darn it! And no more baking! No more chocolate cupcakes, no more yummy peach banana bread, no more oatmeal cookies, no more freshly-cooked cinnamon sugar tortilla roll-ups for breakfast. Sigh... Back to nutritious oatmeal. After I put this version together, it occurred to me that it's basically like a peach cobbler, minus the sugar. So that's what I'm calling it - Mock Peach Cobbler Oatmeal. Cook old-fashioned oats, add a dash of salt & generous sprinkle of cinnamon. Cook the last few minutes with diced fresh peaches and then add a few splashes of milk. For healthy food, it's pretty delicious!

And now for Dani's new 'do:
Dani reached that point in the year, and summer, where she wanted to do something really fun and different with her hair. Plus, she had some money burning a hole in her pocket and wanted highlights. So, here we go to the salon. I wasn't very excited, because I love her long hair and all the beautiful, elaborate things she does with it at times. She has MAD braiding skills. Over the past several years, she's watched video after video on YouTube, learning how to do beautiful, elaborate hairdos and has done many gorgeous things with her hair, and her sister's hair. But whatever, her hair, her money.

Last look at her long blond hair...

It's just the WalMart salon, but Tatyana is fabulous! I'm a repeat customer of hers.

There goes all her beautiful hair! Dani is ecstatic, while I am weeping a little on the inside.

Sassy face! Tatyana is putting in the highlights.

Wa-lah! A new A-line summer hairdo! She does look cute.
View from the back - short in the back and long in the front.

And now, at the conclusion of our post today, I will observe a moment of silence, a passing farewell to the hairdos of the past:

Kinda wish I'd taken more pics of her beautiful 'dos.

Day 7 - Recovering

I was really wiped out last night and crashed early, so it took me a day longer than usual to get yesterday's post written. Such a full day, and some days are just mentally exhausting more than they are physically exhausting. Around midnight Connor came in and woke me up, crying because he couldn't sleep. He settled in to my bed and I gave him some more pain medication, rewrapped one of his splints to make it more comfortable, and then we both went back to sleep. I slept in until nearly 8 this morning. I did some stretching and rebounding on my mini tramp. Did we go to the track? Yes! Connor felt better this morning, and I told him he didn't have to run but he could sit in the bleachers. He initially didn't want to go, but I told him he could stand to get out of the house and get some sunshine. Wish I'd taken my camera! I ran a mile. My knees finally started feeling better yesterday. I've been faithfully stretching them out throughout the day every day, and trying some different things on my rebounder for a few days, to give my body a break as well as some variety.

I injured my left knee about two years ago. No, it wasn't a "cool" sports injury or saving orphans from a burning building. I was running to the car to make my daily 5pm post office run for my eBay business and I just twisted my leg weird getting into the car. What a dorky injury! It really hurt, and I thought about going to the local bone and joint clinic, but being the stubborn type I decided I'd wait a few days to see if it got any better. It did eventually feel better and I worked my knee, babying it and stretching it, but it never quite recovered completely. Just this past Christmas, I got a JumpSport rebounder and started using it more seriously the past few months. I finally overcame that injury, and I'm guessing it helped strengthen and stretch the ligaments. I've noticed over time that while my knees are my weak point, I'm also a really good healer. If I'm persistent with stretching and exercising, I can overcome my aches and pains.


Yep, Connor sat around most of the day watching a Pokemon video I picked up for him at the library. I see lots of vegetating in our future the next few weeks. But maybe we'll have to find less-physical activities, like going to the library.

Sam was so cute in his orange summer clothes today, I just had to have a picture.

Spaghetti for dinner, I even served veggies! Broccoli is the three younger ones' favorite veggie. But even so, I'm not going to win any motherly nutritional awards. As long as they are not starving to death, I'm usually pretty content with whatever they eat. I get to the end of most days and think, "Did they eat anything today? Oh yeah, they ate (insert food name). So, we're good." Logically, I know this is not a great attitude, but there are only so many things I can juggle in my brain at any given time and I just haven't mastered nutrition yet. Mostly, I'm covering the basics like clean laundry, general kid managing (seems like somebody needs something about every 10 min), grocery shopping, cooking, errands, and my eBay business. Long-term improvements are a VERY slow process.

Connor learning how to eat with his splints on.
We usually live in chaos, I should have taken a "before" picture. Maybe some time this summer I'll be brave enough to show how messy the house gets. Housekeeping is just NOT one of my talents. But every now and then I get fed up and make everyone pick up the main areas. I made Connor pick up his own messes, even though he's an invalid. Yep, I'm just that kind of Mom.

What is it about a clean room that just screams out to children as a blank canvas? "Oooh, color me, color me!" After everything got picked up and the two main rooms vacuumed, Emma immediately set about creating a zoo with the Fisher Price toys. Sigh...