So, just another Friday night... with my kids being funny weirdos. Melodie, as usual, was the creative mind behind this one. She somehow got a hold of the googly eyes that Sophi had given to Lily for Christmas. While most people would look at a package of googly eyes and think "craft", Melodie looks a things with a different perspective. She called her sister over to take a picture for her
Melodie apparenly is more of a Calvin creative type... Lol, that strip is a classis.
Perhaps she can keep a pair of eyes in her pocket to use at school so she can take a nap during class and not get caught! She was laughing pretty hard. "Abi! Come here! This is so funny!" And Abi joined in. They laughed and laughed
They thought they looked like the train faces from Thomas and friends - ha!
The kids all come running when they hear fun happening. Here's Lily's googly eye face
And Wes was up next - he struggled to get them to stay on.
Mel and Abi's eyeglasses held on the googly eyes on the face better for them, so they were able to look more rested. Wes's face was a bit strained as he tried to hold it with his eye lids
Still pretty funny. I like hearing the kids laugh and be goofy together.
Another funny face that Mel was responsible for recently - this was actually in November - she thought she'd try to give her little sisters nightmares by making these creepy faces - one on a closet sock drawer, the other on the bed post in the girls' room. In the closet... "Hello little girl..."
Mel! Your sisters can't get dressed in here with this face looking at them!!
"Hi, I'm a freaky closet face watching you change your clothes?" Yeah, he's gotta go.
Then there was this scary guy on the bed -
We all agree these guys are freaky.
Mel, you're a weird one. Creative, but weird. Did you know that WEIRD and WRIDE have the same letters, just rearranged? Perhaps the weird part comes with our name.
Corey was up in Idaho today, which meant that I got to take the girls to a birthday party by myself. We had a sweet friend from Uruguay that we've know for years, since the "pink house" that we were renting when Mel was born, through Ethan and Hyrum before we moved to BYU. So our friend, Eduardo, has a little girl Sophia who is between our Sophi and Lily in age. When they come over here for a visit, all the girls play with her, so all the girls were invited to her birthday party. For some reason I thought that it would only be an hour or so, so I left Owen and Daniel home with Joseph. But he had to go to work. So, I got there, and we spent the first little bit with the opening activity - sledding down a grass hill.
FYI, sleds do not slide down grass hills, (well, they will with a little bit of oil) but without oil, you have to use a rope, or cut up and stripped up old clothing tied together if needs be (which is the "rope" Abi is pulling in the pic above, the rope below is made of belts.)
So poor Eduardo was going to give himself a heart attack from running kids down the hill with the sleds, so I felt I better help him. It was a good workout but I also felt absolutely ridiculous that I was getting exercise this way. Up and down the hill, up and down, and the party was at Flat Iron Mesa, which is a big hill. So that activity killed enough time for the entertainment to arrive.
I figured I was probably going to be here a while and had better run home and let my babysitters know. Wes and Hyrum were okay to watch Daniel and I grabbed Owen and we headed back to the park for the party. Abi took Owen - what a fun time we were going to have!
Well Owen did okay at the park part, but then I took him to the table for some food. He ate and happily enjoyed his Doritos, until he turned his head... and saw Mr. Scary Clown....
I had seen part of his show before I went home to grab Owen. Now the magic show as done and he was making balloons for the kids. Balloons or not, this guy should not be trusted, and Owen headed the opposite direction for the park.
Nope, not far enough. Abi, come with me, run to safety! Up onto the slide where he can be securely protected behind red bars. Still keeping a watchful eye. Abi and I were laughing at him, but he wasn't laughing.
When I came closer, and with a small feeling that maybe we were not all in grave and immediate danger, he gave me a smile.
He still kept far away from the clown and did not want a balloon from him either. Here's the balloons he made for the girls. A dog for Lily ~
A unicorn for Sophi, pretty excising! Kind of a weird looking unicorn if you ask me. I don't think the faces should be drawn on.
And a hat for Natalie, and yes she is a princess.
Owen he wouldn't go back over for cake until the scary clown was packed up and driving away. The girls came over and joined him on the playset.
Owen came over and enjoyed some cake, but there were problems with that too, even with the clown gone, cause the wasps were out and hovering around the food and that would make him freak out too. Owen did not have any confidence in this situation and thus would let me put him down. Good thing I left Daniel home, cause I can't hold two babies.
So the party started at 3, I left "early" and was on my way home around 6:30. I talked with Corey as he and Mel and Eth were on their way back from Idaho. They couldn't tell a difference in traffic on the roads from the upcoming eclipse and Mel was driving great and they were making good time coming home. I gave Corey an update to my day - I told Corey where I was. He was like "Oh, yeah... I forgot about the party..." He teasingly said that now he was glad he'd gone up to Idaho and didn't have to come... glad that he didn't have to pull kids down the hill or spend 3+ hours at a social gathering when he has so much work to do. I took your lickin' sweetie, glad I could help. He helped me out by going up to Idaho. There is a tent already set up for us to sleep in tomorrow night, we're going to the eclipse! Yay. So the party was kinda fun and funny. I was the only gringa there and didn't do any small talk (I'm kinda anti-social) but kept a smile on my face and watched the kids play. After 3 hours when I said I had to go, he asked if we could stay for a few more minutes for a birthday balloon release. I felt a little bad to let my kids participate in littering (just cause it floats up doesn't mean it disappears. What goes up must come down, thus it's still littering. Sometimes I feel like such a party pooper scrooge, I can turn any fun food or party into a "that's bad for you/the planet" moment.) Anyway, then we were on our way home to finish up our last Saturday night before the school year begins. Not the most ideal way I wanted to spend our final weekend, but that's life. It was still fun and will be a good memory, especially Owen's reaction to the scary clown!
So, it was 10:30 at night. Kids were heading to bed. I was taking a picture of something and once again, when I turned on my phone's camera, it was in Selfie mode. It's usually in selfie mode because a kid took my phone without permission and was taking pictures or videos of stuff, such as was the case this time. Lily is the currently reigning selfie queen of our family.
...and her first attendant ~ Sophi
I usually try to hide myself from my eyes if I notice it is in selfie mode. I need to shield my self esteem from seeing myself in caught unawares, cause those images I see are never flattering. I'm usually looking at my phone with my rest face which is a preoccupied mother frown/scowl, and also usually at an angle that emphasizes things I don't want emphasized (like the chin and neck). So, as I turned on my camera tonight, I unintentionally caught a glance of my unflattering self in the screen. This time I decided to just go with it. Let's see if I can capture how hideous I feel in this unaware selfie images...
That one was pretty good. I went for another snapshot
Oh yeah, that is what I see. So that is me. I started laughing a little uncontrollably at how bad it was and Mel, who was doing homework in the front room, heard me laughing and came up to see what was so funny. I turned the screen to her... "MOM! That's horrible!!! Don't do that! You don't look like that!" But she couldn't resist and joined in the fun. Kinda hard for Mel to look bad...
Hmmm, pretty good "bad selfie" I guess for a pretty teenage girl, but you got nothin' on me. Soon all the kids that I had been telling to "go to bed!" were out of their rooms dinkin' around with me.
See kids, we gotta put time restrictions and other blocking software on your electronic devices or you'll just end up wasting time! Ha! Oh, yeah, it was me this time. Well, ok, now let's show the steps to a good selfie. Good side, turn your head to the side (all the Disney Princesses do side glances, never straight on), hold the camera at a high angle...
Abi, try to do a bad selfie!
She can't do it. Hyrum?
That one is weak too. Wes?
Wesley was tired and fumbled out of his bed... he couldn't resist the call of laughter from the hallway. He's trying to look like he's sick, but mostly you look like you should be back in bed. Who's idea was this goofing off at night anyway!? Back to bed kids! But it's fun to make funny faces and laugh and as I hear on PBS kids everyday during the Vroom commercial: making faces helps brain development as kids understand different feelings and emotions. Who knew that we've been having brain building moments sponsored by Vroom all this time! I'm a brain builder! Whatever Vroom is... we just did it cause it's fun and silly. It's kind of a family past time. From the mirrored elevators in Chile to eating grapes and playing with broken glass, it's fun to laugh at ourselves. A few more funny faces images from years past: Joseph as a Who character, Mel as Anton Ego's Sister... I need to stop looking at these or I'm going to laugh so hard that I'll wake up Daniel... Ok, goodnight for real this time!
We got some fun games this Christmas. Two of them I bought during the week~ when we were hanging with the Hibberts, Jerusha had brought a fun game they got called Klask - it's like a mini air hockey board but with magnets. It's a fun simple game. The other one was one I saw at Target when I couldn't find Klask, and it looked so pretty that I looked it up - Otrio - it's like advanced Tic Tac Toe. Great thing about both of these games is that they are quick to play, so Corey and I can actually play with the kids without either being committed to a long game that we don't have time for (Risk) or without being pulled away by some kid emergency (hungry baby, poopy diaper). Both games are quick enough that we can finish a game in a few minutes and then the kids can keep playing with each other if they want. Only cons with both games, as with almost all games, is that there are small pieces. There are currently 4 Otrio circles missing and the black magnets from Klask too. I'm sure we'll find them once we have a chance to pick up tomorrow, which Saturday cleaning is the reality again now that school is back in session. That really was too short of a break!
Then another game we got that just keeps giving and giving fun and laughter was this from my little sister Patrice, who had me for the sibling gift this year - Watch Ya Mouth! - the Original Mouthguard Party Game! Oh, the kids were just dying to play this one!
We actually haven't had a chance to sit down and officially play a game yet, but the each immediatley put in the mouth guards. Natalie won't do it yet, but I bet her cute chubby cheeks wouldn't work with them anyway? Family picture!!
The kids opened the cards and have tried to read them with little success. Practically every word has lots of B, P, and M words which are pretty much impossible. (Wes pronounced Bowtie wrong - he says it like Bow-tee) Fun~
We might try and do song lyrics, rather than the random words on the cards which are pretty random.
We all voted that Wesley's lips were the most tough and flexible... He could cover up his nostrils...
All that trumpet playing, his lips are in good shape.
So the kids spent their last hours of vacation time making faces in the mirror and doing videos - pretending they were rabid wild animals and stuff like that.
We're almost done with school. The younger kids had their last day as today, the older kids have one more day tomorrow and then hallelujah we get a break. What will they be doing on their break?
I'm sure there will be playing with toys they get on Christmas. I also believe they will be wasting some time on the computer. I recently stumbled upon these creations. The children usually start off doing homework when they are at the computer ~ Like "Reflex" or checking "canvas" but then they'll get distracted by YouCam~
Cause it's just so fun to make faces and look weird!
Or to strut your stuff ~ nice striking a pose, Abi. Love Natalie's little face.
Lily likes to use the computer a lot...
She takes a lot of selfies. I'm sure she'll do more once her computer knowledge increases. As for now, she is right behind computer expert Ethan
He is our most creative genius when it comes to the computer and all the possibilities it affords
He's got a good go at being a graphic artist if the music thing doesn't work out. He's going to be my go to kid in the future when I want a family video made of our family reunion parties. Pretty fun. I love that first picture with Owen destroying the city. Funny
Lily is 7 years old today! Let's take a look at this cute little birthday girl~ (I remembered to do a birthday photo!)
Say "cheese"!
Last year Lily celebrated her birthday in Brazil, shortly before we were to return home. I told her then that we'd try to do a party after we got back, and I had full intentions of coming through, but then we had a baby and it never happened. The same good intentions and fail happened with Wesley (who's birthday is on Saturday). So, I really had to do a party this year. A week ago we planned it all out, and we decided to do them on the same day. Yes, it will be a little crazy, but I was trying to accommodate the birthday boy: Wesley had some friends who were going to be out of town on Friday that he wanted to invite. That's okay, Lily was fine to share her birthday, and so I spent Monday through Wednesday gearing myself up. It had the potential to exhaust me, but luckily I listened to a talk about Enduring on Monday (great talk, totally hit the spot) and I've resolved to "be the rock the river cannot wash away" - SO - let's do this!! So first things first: I woke up and got myself in a good calm zone with a morning walk. After I got back I woke up the kids, I let Lily open her presents from Corey and me~
Then she disappeared into her room to play and was no help to me getting ready, but it's her birthday and she can do what she wants to, right? So the other kids helped make cupcakes and put up balloons. Lily's party was going to be from 1 until 3. Then an hour break to recoop before Wesley's party from 4 to 7. Natalie ate her breakfast as she played with one of Lily's new ponies. And I just thought she looked so cute, just like an adorable 2 year old, but almost three! Just a month until her birthday!
Doesn't she look like she's ready for a party? Those are her "rainbow pants" and cute little tutu - She is just a precious little girl. So, Lily decided on a "Animal Party" and wanted to paint faces, so that was the main activity for her fiesta. When the first guest came, I started doing the faces. Of course Natalie was first, cause she's queen. It's so fun how kids sit so still and serious for face painting...
Then I did two of Lily's friends, and Mel asked to help. Her work put me to shame. I was way impressed with her puppy.
After I did five faces, I passed all face painting responsibility over to Mel because 1) I needed to manage the fun/chaos... you know, stuff like serving up ice cream and cleaning cake up off the floor and because 2) she is just way better than me. Just check out her cheetah!
Lily and her friend Ashley played tag with the zebra being chased by the cheetah round and round the house. Behind them is a little "Tape the Tail on the Zebra" poster that Mel made that morning for Lily's b-day version of pin the tail on the donkey.
I told the other kids to each plan a game for the birthday party. Hyrum did pomp - changing it to "crocodile in the middle" and Abi did hot potato with a zebra stuffed animal, and "zebra zebra Lion" aka duck duck goose. Her friends posed for a picture for me before the party was over. Cute kids.
I think Lily and her friends all had a good time. After everyone left, Abi and Sophi could finally have a turn getting their faces done. Mel and Abi figured out that it was easier on both of them if Abi just lied down as she got painted.
Then Sophi's and Natalie turn.
Sophi just had some butterfly-ish decorations on.
Natalie wanted to get done again. She did not hold still very well this second time.
We decided to make her Super Natalie with a super hero mask. Kinda funny. She rubbed it off a bit while it was still wet.
The Super Hero thinks she needs some cake!
Not yet Natalie... you're not turning 11, plus there is one more party to host, and then we'll cut up that cake for you. For Wesley's party, he had chosen to have a water fight. As his friends began to arrive, they worked together in the back yard and filled up water balloons and put them in buckets. After everyone was here the official fight began. Wes asked Corey if he could join them (Corey was able to come home early and got here right before 4). The first part of the waterfight was relatively tame and controlled.
It was good the first hour. Hour two got a little intense. The hose got sprayed in the house a few times (by Ethan getting Corey first then another time getting Hyrum.) Joseph joined in, giving the young kids another person to gang up on. The fight went from just the back yard into the front yard too - they needed another hose.
Our front railing that you can see in that picture above is very weathered and is kinda falling apart. It looked really bad near the end of the fight. Ethan said it was from Joseph climbing on it. There were many posts knocked out. I'm afraid the whole thing is just gonna fall over, so that's when I called the fight and told everyone to go in the back yard for pizza. After pizza, time to sing happy birthday. Happy Birthday to you ..."in two more days!" (Wesley sang that after each line, he insisted on being correct on the actual date of his birth).
Make a wish, Wes!
After that, he opened gifts on the trampoline and they admired his toys and gifts until one by one they were picked up by their nice parents.
So, that was our party day. I hope everyone had a good time. Anything else we still need to do today? Yes, I'm going to go to bed early. :) Goodnight!
