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!