Thirty-five!!!

In honor of turning 35 and his fascination with fire, I made Gabe a creative cake for his birthday. Two of his favorite things are zombies and camping, but for me it wasn't much of a toss up in deciding what type of cake to make. I had to deviate from the original directions and was worried it wouldn't turn out as I had envisioned, but it actually worked out better.

Campfire Cake

I was able to bring in the zombie theme with an altered version of "Don't Eat Pete".
(But I have to give credit it to Elizabeth for making it for me, thanks!)

Gage especially enjoyed playing the game, but we bent the rules a little and let him eat Zombie Pete.

Goblin Valley

Gabe took the 4 older kids camping last weekend to Goblin Valley.  They had a lot of fun, got really dirty (the inside of our van is covered in a film of red dust), and made lots of good memories.

Young Imaginations

Gage is 13 months old now and has started doing imaginary play.  My older boys didn't start until they were 3, so I'm not sure if this is typical, but as doting parents we think he's brilliant : )

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Mason has a very creative imagination and with two older brothers he has a lot of material to draw from. When the older kids are at school Mason rules the roost and can play without being disturbed. Which equates to less screaming and fewer headaches for Mommy.

Masonisms

March 3, 2011 - I was working in the kitchen and Mason was sitting behind me at the table.  He was talking to me and I was listening, but I had my back to him.  He said my name a few times, then exclaimed, "Mommy, look at my eyes!"  I turned around a little confused, then realized that he was saying exactly what I say to our boys when I want to make sure they are listening to me, "Look at my eyes".

March 19, 2011 -  Mason had come in from playing in the sandbox and was quite dirty, so I helped him take off all his clothes in our down stairs bathroom, then told him to run up stairs quick.  He replied, "quick?".  I answered, "yes, quick. You are naked so you need to run upstairs fast so you can hop in the tub". He stubbornly retorted, "NO, I not naked!". I countered, "yes you are". He again insisted, "NO. I not naked!". "Mason", I explained, "you don't have any clothes on, so you are naked". With a look that read 'as a matter of fact', he replied "No, I not naked", then pointing down to his feet said, "I have socks"!

A Whale of a Tale

This is the kids reenactment of the story of Jonah.  They came up with most of the dialogue themselves, apart from borrowing some lyrics from Veggie Tales

The Penny Lesson

Yesterday while Gage was eating lunch in his booster, Mason walked into the kitchen and noticed a penny on the floor.  He ran over and picked it up then walked over to Gage to show him his "treasure".  He asked me if he could give it to Gage.  I told him it wasn't safe for him because he would put it in his mouth and choke on it.  He replied "Ohhhh", in a sort of thoughtful way, then quietly exited the kitchen.

I was currently working on last minute touches to my Relief Society lesson, so I wasn't paying close attention to what he left to do.  Less than a minute later, I heard a scared cry for help, then Mason stumbled out from behind our couch and rushed into the kitchen.  His eyes were really big and he had a look of terror across his face.  He coughed a few times, then exclaimed "I - gasp - chocked - gasp - on penny!"  I ran over and whacked his back a few times, then shouted up the stairs to Gabe to come help.  Mason wasn't turning blue and seemed to be breathing ok, but I didn't know if the penny could be lodged somewhere.  Gabe suggested that we give him some water to drink, and then gave him a throat lozenge to help ease the pain in his throat.

After Mason had calmed down from the ordeal, I asked him "Should we put money in our mouth?"  He quickly shook his head and with a very wise look replied, "No, it dangerous."  Then a second later he tacked on, "and not for Gage".

As a mother of four boys, I am aware that most of the time when they are told to avoid certain things, their brain translates the warning into "Hey, that's a cool idea, I'm going to try that".  But sometimes they just have to learn for themselves and we as parents need to be "close by" to help them recover from their learning experiences.

This boy will sleep anywhere

Asleep on the couch while the older boys rambunctiously played the Wii

Fell asleep in my bed and didn't even bat an eye when Gage crawled over
and patted his head and tugged his hair a few times

New Video Page

I made a new page on my blog that will feature our family videos.  You can right click on the movie reel icon at the top of my gadget list to access the page.  To return to my main page, just click on "home" at the bottom of the page.

Dollar Store Inspiration

Yesterday was my turn for teaching preschool in the neighborhood co-op I'm involved in. I've been sick with the flu and a sinus infection so all of my preparations were last minute.  I went to our local Dollar Store hoping to find some "inspiration" for my lesson plan on birds, and the first thing I saw when I walked into the store was a "Spring" display which included bags of moss. Ta-da!  I thought the moss would be great for making a bird's nest and luckily I was able to pull it off using just a brown lunch sack as my base and some spray adhesive to make the moss stick. For the robins eggs I hollowed out two eggs from the fridge, used a permanent marker to make the specks, and then soaked them in blue vinegar water.  The kids were so enthralled with the nest and were convinced it was real.

Our preschool snack

I also thought it would be fun to make some "robins eggs" for our preschool snack using hard boiled eggs. Mason had no problem shelling and eating the eggs (hard boiled eggs are one of his favorite foods), the other kids were a little skeptical but were willing to try them.

Fizzy Joys

So I've been sick for the past week and I've been dealing with sick kids for the past 3 weeks, (darn this blasted flu!)  I need a boost of energy and optimism, so I thought the best way to cure my "blues" would be to read through my Fizzy Joy book that I kept in high school... well, that did the trick, but mostly because it's amusing to read how the (naive) 17 year-old version of myself viewed "life".  My use of the word naive is relative, I am sure that 20 years from now I will look back on the 33 year-old version of myself and feel the same way.

I am reluctant, and somewhat embarrassed to share some of my entries, but at the same time I am able to remember living these moments (half of my life time ago) and they still give me "fizzy joys" however naive or silly I seemed.....

January 23, 1994
After choir I took Rachel (Lee, Macdonald now) and Sue home, but we stopped above the big field.  Rachel and I ran over to the beginning of the trail, then we stood hand in hand looking at the mountains and watching the clouds.  The sun had already set, but there were still some light colors blended in with the clouds.  It was a glorious moment.  The wind was blowing through our hair and we just stood entranced, soaking up all the beauty.


May 1994
Rachel and Katy and I,went to Judith's Tea Room the Friday before our big Research paper was due, to celebrate.  We all got latte's.  It was refreshing to sit outside at a nicely set table and enjoy the beautiful weather.  Watching people busily pass by in cars, buses or walking... everyone so busy, me so busy, sometimes I forget the important things in life...  I love going out to tea.


June 19, 1994
On Tuesday after our rather un-fascinating (youth) activity, it began to pour, so Rachel, myself and many others ran outside to dance in the rain.  Soon the parking lot was filled, up to a foot in one area.  Rach and I tried doing cartwheels but our clothes were too heavy with water.  We played ring-around-the-rosies, it was even hailing at one point.  We were all drenched and had to stay outside, yet it was truly a fizzy joy to dance in the rain.