Another Violin Student

Yesterday I found a cute 1/4th violin on the classifieds, so I took the little kids with me and we drove out to West Jordan to get it. There was no bow. The lady said her son had ruined it, and that it's prob $60-ish to re-hair (?) it, but that new bows cost bout that much anyway, so yeah, she was just selling the violin. Cost $50 bucks, sweet! Natalie, are you excited to learn the violin?!?

She will be the next musician in our family. But there might also be another up and coming musician close behind her, which is me. Cause I'm going to have to be her and Sophi's parent teacher, since our currently hired parent fill in is Melodie, and she's leaving for college next month. So yeah, I bought myself a used violin on Monday too so that I can try to figure things out that I'm supposed to be coaching her with during her practicing at home. My violin was $85, and it came with a bow. Seems ok, but it's metallic colored, which I didn't really like. I kinda don't feel like I could be taken seriously using it, not that I know how serious I am about this, but just in case I am... I bought another used violin today. This one was from one of the first round of texts I sent out to different sellers. It looks more legit. The guy said it was a Russian or Romanian violin I think? It is wood but doesn't have a bow, so I guess I'll use the bow from the first one and try to resell that metallic violin.

What else. Abi has been working hard on legos. She made a Marriott hotel on Monday... (Sorry you're blurry Abi)

Notice the check in counter, revolving door to the lobby... just like the Marriott at Park City!

Very well done. And since vacationing was on her mind, her next project was a cruise ship, which she finished today.

Sailing in the blue waters of a blanket. Pool on the top deck of the ship...

One of the cruise suites.

They've been in the lego zone for a few weeks, which is good. Kid's town lasted for like 2 days, then it's been lego building for the rest of the play time this summer. It's a huge mess down there in the basement, but that's their creativity area. Atleast I usually don't see it.

Daniel and Owen down for their naps today.

And last but not least, Mr. Peter has been a plank-ing MACHINE!!

Work those abs, baby!! Oh, the burn, he needs a break...

But not for too long - up again!!!

He's so cute! It's amazing to see babies go through the phases each month, they learn the new things that they need to learn like clockwork. It's like their programmed or something (divine design, perhaps?). Peter is like a little caterpillar that know to eat, molt, make a silk pad, then a j-hook... caterpillars, like babies, just come with all the programming they need to become the amazing miracles they are. I sometimes say Peter is my squishy caterpillar. He's gonna be crawling then walking before we know it!!

Painting the Basement

Hyrum wants to get kid's town going again. And he wants there to be real streets that Owen can drive around on his little plasma car (as he does at 1:00 and 1:15 in this video here). I've yet to do a post about Owen and his little car... I'll put it on my mental list. Owen is super cute on it. So, we painted the basement floor this weekend. The kids were super excited to have my permission to paint!

They did a good job. No need for a mom to worry about kids getting paint on the floor when it's the floor that's being painted.

The only tricky thing was to make sure no little curious feet came over and stepped in the wet paint. So we built a barricade and we made it through un-kid-scathed. I finished it today while the big kids were at school. I was impressed with how much I was able to get done with little ones in the same room, go me. So, it definitely looks better than it did. Not as good as it would be if we just finished the basement, but it'll do. It should be fun to have a big open space, trusting that we are able to keep the clutter clear. I've got a pile of stuff to donate on the table there, I hope to clear out more things as we clean up down here. It definitely looks better than it did with the spilled pink paint and little pink feet that went everywhere on the floor - from some previous homeowner's toddler playing with paint in the basement. Now my kids will say "Do you remember how the basement used to look... with that pink pain everywhere..." Time is passing by, and we're taking small steps forward. yay

Date Night ER

The kids have been playing Kid's Town outside all day today. Tonight it started getting dark around "mosquito time" (5pm - 7pm) but they braved the bugs and coat themselves in repellent so they could keep going with their game. Corey was still at work when I made them dinner. Hot dogs. They wanted to eat them outside at the Kid's Town "Restaurant". Ok. So I'm inside washing the dishes and Hyrum and Abi come in saying Wesley feels sick and is holding his stomach. I keep washing dishes and they go back out. Then I hear Hyrum come screaming that Wesley is choking and I hear kids screaming outside. I run out the kitchen door down the maid hall to the backyard where in the dark night and patio lights I see Wesley is being Heimlich-maneuvered by Ethan and the kids are in a panic. I'm attemping a full on sprint across the grass in my slip on shoes and then totally fall over my 8 month pregnant self onto the grass, scraping my arm on the grass and hitting my tummy on the ground. I get up, but as I go to his aid I trip again... the adrenaline of the moment is just too much apparently.

Third attempt I am able to stay upright and make it over to Wesley and I start to hit his back and Heimlich him (which doesn't work well with a pregnant belly). I keep hitting him hard as I hold him over. Kids are panicking and crying and praying and screaming "WESLEY!!!" and I try to see what his face is doing ~ after a few hits I ask "Can you breath?!?" He nods his head, but is still bent over with mucus dangling from his mouth and is still oviously uncomfortable and we hit him on the back some more. But he can breath so his trachea is clear... must be stuck in his esophagus. This happened before once at school - he had a big chunk of hamburger meat from lunch in his esophagus for several hours, from lunch until dinner time when it finally came out. It's something that happens to Corey every now and then, usually when I make a roast or when he doesn't chew his steak well enough. Happens to Corey's brother sometimes too. Well, it appears Wes has this condition, which is manifesting itself again through and apparently un-chewed hot dog lodged somewhere in there. Great.

So I call Corey to tell him to hurry home, I think we need to take Wes to the ER. He was still at work but left right away. And I also mention "Oh, and by the way, I also totally biffed it and fell on my stomach as I ran to help him, so I might need to go to the doctor too..." We continued to try and help Wesley. I gave him a little bowl to catch all the mucus from his clogged esophagus. He was just looking at us with a sad expression and his mouth hanging open - with a weird gurgling sound coming from the back of his throat. Corey called again and said the best thing was to try to work it down and that he'd be here asap. So I told Wes we'd take him to the doctor, but try to work it down as we waited. He kept trying to gag it up though - that's probably a more natural response, but Corey said not to do that, cause that is where the danger comes in, if the food goes up and then gets stuck in the airway. But Wes kept gagging and then after 5 minutes of all of us in the front room (looking out the window waiting for Corey) Wes gagged again, followed by a deep breath where he spoke clearly and with relief saying "It's out!" With the tension and the stress of the moment now passed, Ethan was finally able to relax and said as he started to tear up "Don't do that again! Chew your freaking food!" Abi was crying, Eth was crying, Mel and Hyrum were quiet and prayerful, and I sat down relieved and texted Corey "He got it out."

Ok, on to the next issue - the baby. I was a little distracted as I ran and didn't know how hard I hit my stomach. It didn't hurt and I didn't feel any more uncomfortable than normal, but twelve years ago, when I was pregnant with Hyrum, I fell and was told to go to the hospital where they monitored me for 24 hours. That time I was walking with arms full of stuff as we were going to spend a week in Park City, and I didn't see a curb and tripped and fell on the ground pretty hard without my arms helping to catch me as I fell. I was at like 36 weeks that time. My doctor then is the same one I'm going to now, I'm assuming I should do that again. I call his office, get a voice message to call the on call doctor. I call that number and give the answering service lady a message and wait for them to call back. Corey gets home and I'm ready to go when they call me back. The dr. says it would be recommended to go to the hospital - "Which hospital are you delivering at?" I tell her, but then add "...but we're in Brazil right now..." "You're where?" In Brazil. Yeah, so I can't run to the ER there, but I can go to one here. So Corey and I turn on a movie for the kids, he gives me a priesthood blessing, and then wait a few minutes for our friend Rafael to come and show us where a hospital is. He goes with us to the hospital - . He was so nice and stayed with us the whole time in case we needed help interpreting anything.

It was a nice hospital - the Hospital Geral e Maternidade Madre Maria Theodora. We didn't have too long of a wait, Corey paid R$200 reais then proceeded to give them all and any personal information they asked for, such as my parent's names (why they might need that I don't know), passport numbers (Corey did grab those, cause he's had experience and figured they'd probably ask for them), and Rafael gave them all of his information too, cause this is Brazil and they just love taking down information and keeping it somewhere. (This is going on Rafael's permanent record!) We go see the dr. Any pain? No. Bleeding or other fluids leaking? No. Baby moving? Yes. He says that's good, cause if there were a problem there would be bleeding or pain, so he's pretty sure everything is fine, plus there are 7 layers protecting the baby. "But don't worry, I won't discharge you until we know for sure." He does an exam, then we go over to the ultrasound area and we pay R$130 reais and then wait there for about 15 minutes and have a fun time talking about current events with Rafael. Then it was my turn.

Nice ultrasound guy. Everything looks good in the ultrasound. Placenta looks good, blood flow through the cord is good, everything looks very good. Hooray! While we were at it, we asked how the kidney's looked. He said they look totally normal and he has no concerns. Great! Well, this only cost us about $100 bucks! Now when we go back we can we don't have to do the follow up ultrasound there, yay! Our ultrasound there cost us $300 after insurance, so saved us a little bit of money, sweet. We can keep saving up for the delivery.

Ok, well that was a fun little pre-date night outing. So are you hungry? We say thank you and good bye to Rafael and swing by the mall food court on the way home for a late 10pm dinner. Then we go by a little specialty store there at the mall to buy a few take home gifts, and I just had to ask Corey if we could buy the bulk size Tic-Tacs I saw there... I took this picture of the tic-tacs next to the local sized pb jar and showed all the kids, I thought it was pretty funny.

In most things they think little, but with little things like tic-tacs, they think BIG! Never seen a such a big thing of Tic-Tacs, even in the US. They seem to take their mints very seriously - Tic-Tacs, Mentos, etc.  There are big packages of them at Sam's and they hold a prominent place in all the store check out isles. Ethan was given a piece of "candy" by another kid at church, which was a Halls lozenge. Strange...

Well, so that was our fun night tonight. We have a busy weekend - tomorrow is a ward party, a "June Festival" and then Corey and I need to try to find time to sit and think and write talks for Sunday. We are both giving talks in Sacrament meeting. ...in Porkageeze. Should be fun!

Less is More

My Dungeon (aka black hole sorting area for lots of toys) isn't done yet, but I did work on it all day. Shuffling and sorting... but I'm not going extreme on them, we do still have toys in our house. I'm pretty sure I'm actually giving them what they want and what they and I can handle. They don't need all the toys and heaps of stuff they've been living in. And obviously none of us have been able to handle this wild and free living. And I don't want it either. So I cleaned their rooms on Monday and took away most all of the toys, and GUESS WHAT?!?! .... BOTH the boys' and girls' rooms are still sparkling clean. AND I haven't asked them to clean them up even once. Wow, are you kids happy? Cause I sure am happy!

(Corey sent me these pictures from his phone, what cute little faces...)

The kids have been playing with toys, but it's been downstairs in the new toy "room" area which I just cleared and created in our unfinished basement where the Kid's town dump used to be. If they've earned toys for the day, they can check them out and play and return them to me and then check out another toy, but no more toys everywhere and anywhere who knows where who cares. 

The "landfill" mess has now been shoved over and I'll continue to clear that tomorrow and probably the whole two weeks that Corey is gone. It's like big tornado disaster mess that got hit by a tornado and then by a hurricane and just mess after mess... It's seriously been messed up over and over again since our Christmas Eve flood. (ok, this has been almost 5 months! All of this junk obviously can't be so special or important to me if I haven't needed it for FIVE MONTHS...) 

But now, ahhh, the newly designated toy area is a clear play area that will stay clear and free of toys except the toys that are in use. And the toys that are in use are toys that have been earned. So they get to play with toys, but toys will be an earned reward, not just a "these are my toys and this how we live" pile of mess and clutter and CHAOS living anymore. I am going to have this figured out, and it is going to work.

So I'm going to try to articulate the epiphany I've had over the past 3 days... On Monday, I took all the toys and princess costumes away while the girls were outside playing. When they came back in, Abi could tell what had happened. Her eyes and brain were able to discern the difference between the mess it used to be and the clean order it had now been turned into. She's also old enough that she knew it was going to happen. In fact, she chose to let it happen cause she and I both know she ignored me and refused to clean up. I also recognize that it was a tough request since Lily and Sophi were mostly responsible for the better part of that messy room.

Now Lily and Sophia, and this was interesting to me, they walked into their room when it was clean and really didn't seem to notice anything wrong or different from the heap before to the clean slate after. And that is when a light bulb went on in my head, that that is how they see the world. That is how they see the mess - nothing wrong with it. When I see that same room, I'm getting mad and irritated and frustrated and wondering why why why the mess! Don't you get it? CLEAN and TIDY! A place for everything and everything in place! Cause that's what a woman wants, and there are organized toy closets all over pinterest to prove that THAT is what the mom's ultimate goal usually is - Clean, organized, and (sigh) calm. And so there is the answer. The toddlers and kids don't know or want that and they don't care. Toys or no toys, they don't care. Older kids, they get to chose to care or not, and they seem to always chose the path of least resistance, which is to not care! I'm the only one that CARES!!! So WHY have I been the only one going crazy?!?! It is because I'm the only one that it bothers. Because I'm the only one that cares. And, since I'm the one that calls the shots around here anyway, THIS MESSY HOUSE really has been my own fault. Does that make sense? NOW with all the toys gone, the kids are just as happy as before (because they don't care!) and we have the wonderful added bonus which is that I have regained my sanity.

And now I'm not a nagging mother! I haven't had to nag anyone for two whole days! And with most of the toys gone, I can have a relationship with them that goes beyond cleaning. Wow, what am I going to say if I don't have to always say those things? I might turn into a whole different and wonderful non-nagging person! Hey you little people, that sounds good right? Aren't you excited? Cause I'm excited. :)

Bedroom Before and After

Ok! So, I'm feeling pretty good right now. Yesterday, after blogging about my "job" (aka to clean), I went and did my job, while the little girls played outside... It was 1:30. I had asked them and told them over the course of the day to clean up their room. And they had to clean their room before they could play with friends. Yes, you may play outside for free. So they went outside, and I blogged and then grabbed my black leaf bag and I went to work. I had prayed for a miracle that morning and got it in that I had the energy to clean and that Natalie slept for 2 hours while I did.

There were princess dresses and toys in a heap on the floor. No more. I took them away. If there gonna be in a big mess, I'd rather it be in a big mess in a bag downstairs and out of sight instead of in a big mess on the floor where I have to see it and walk over it. I went to check on my little girls outside... they don't suspect anything.

Yes, there they were in the land of make believe. Back up into the room, hanging up clothes. Melodie, you are the perfect child. Not only all on hangers, but color coordinated. AND with hanger turned both ways to let her know which things she's worn and which things she hasn't for when she does her 6 month clean out, wow.

The girls came inside. Abi noticed me walking downstairs with a big black back over my back. I knew that she knew what it was. "Are you putting that in the garbage?" No, but you don't get it back. And after a vacuum and ta-da! The room is clean! Would you look at that.

Yes, you may go play with friends now.

So the toys are in the basement, which is no longer Kid's Town, it is Mom's Dungeon. If they want to know where their toys are, I will tell them "They are in my dungeon" and the toys aren't allowed in the bedrooms anymore. Well, Little People are in there and Duplos, cause those are easy to pick up and I don't mind those. Plus we also still have a room dedicated to Legos. But I have removed all toys that irritate me to pick up (aka dolls, doll shoes, doll clothes, and all the other random toys and costumes and nerf gun bullets and everything else that don't have a place and that I can't organize and thus never want to see again,) they are in the dungeon. No, I did not throw them away, but I have a plan. and it's gonna work. It's really gonna work this time!! I know it!  Come on, manageable life... come to me! I'm feeling very happy and calm and unstressed out, cause I see a light at the end of the tunnel. I'm not living in a complete mess right now (still a little mess, going to finish those areas tomorrow with another leaf bag in hand) ...and I'm not going to live in one anymore, ever again!!!! I shall give the brief details of my master plan tomorrow, cause it does involve a bit more than a big black bag. :) Yay!

Kid's Town Tornado

Kid's Town got neglected over the Christmas holiday, old west ghost town style, and then it got hit with a flood. Thus kid's town and the basement in which it resides have both been in a sad and messy state for several weeks. I, Mom (aka President of Kid Country) recently appointed a czar named Hyrum and he got his ground crews working to try to clean up their town. It looks much better now. They have made a "garbage dump" which now holds lots of things that I'm sure I, who am also the Federal Disaster Clean Up Expert, will be the one who goes through and sorts, but better to have it kinda organized down there and to have all the misc junk one spot rather than all over the whole floor.

Abi is opening her toy store again. I do think these little girls have too many toys. "There shall not be room enough to receive." Melodie was helping me sort and organize things in the girl's room last night. Natalie is sitting up now, she was making sure all the duplo legos were in order. And I am in love with her thighs.

Top random thoughts on my brain right now:
1) I'm reading Journey to the Veil by John Pontius and really love it. Highly recommend.
2) I'm experimenting with DoTerra oils, anyone else having fun with those? The oregano oil, which I think is powerfully dangerous, has almost gotten rid of a mole on my wrist, so I guess it must do something.
3) Excited to go see Brian Regan on February 28th
4) An police officer in Utah named Cory Wride died in the line of duty yesterday. It gave our extended family and friends a few scares when they heard the name over the news, as it is almost exactly like my significant other. I'm sure there's a genealogical connection a few generations back. Condolences to his family. He left behind a wife and 5 children, so sad.
5) Tomorrow our prep for our Valentine Family "Just Because" Party Begins. :) Colors: Red, Pink, White ~ On the menu: Salmon, roasted red potatoes, Red Salad ~ Desserts: Red Velvet cake, pink and red candies, heart shaped cookies and oh, I'm sure it's gonna be really easy and fun to find lots of pink heart treats for the kids! Plus a big box of chocolates of course.

Deja Vu

A year ago we were waiting for the sick bug to finish the rounds. And we're there again. Hyrum and Abi were sick over the weekend, they both missed the last day of school, which was basically a party day. Hyrum was pretty bummed. Yesterday Sophi caught the bug... see her there in the picture below? 

She was watching the video on Corey's smart phone with her siblings. 

She had enough strength to keep her eyes open. Poor little girl.

Sophi's still been sick today, and Natalie and Lily and Melodie all joined her in fever land.

They had a rough morning but have taken long naps this afternoon.

While they've been sick and chillin' with their rice bags, just like last year, I've been having another deja vu from last year. Guess what the kids discovered in the basement this morning? A soaked carpet! Our basement is flooding again! What are the odds, huh? Last year it was on Christmas Eve with a clogged sewer. This time it's nice clean water from the water tank. It's seal is broken. Good thing we are renting from the best landlords in the world. But it might mean trouble for kid's town...

I shall remember that there are no problems in life, only situations to be dealt with. This is just a situation. I've been dealing with it okay. Although I did start to curse our luck when I couldn't change the lightbulb in the room where the water tank was. It popped off and left the bottom part of the light bulb screwed in, then as I tried to get it out with pliers I ruined the whole thing. But atleast I didn't get electrocuted. Yes, just situations to be dealt with. I shall not give into my pain body that wants to yell at the world. Chin up!

Everyone's Favorite

Everyone loves to play with Natalie. Mel helps her ride the exercise bike (I need to find a different place for it other than our bedroom, but since kid's town took over the basement, I've been moved upstairs.)

 As Melodie always says, "Natalie, you are so pretty!!

Ethan playing with her, Natalie and Ethan are a little bit of look alikes, so I think she's studying him to see if she likes how she's gonna look, the same way Sophia studied Hyrum two years ago.

 What do you think Natalie? Yeah, he's kinda goofy looking.

And sometimes the kids try to be the toy that she plays with like Wesley here. She's everyones favorite toy.

(We love Natalie!)

Kids Town Returns!

Last year, Ethan went to the Junior Achievement Biztown and inspired the kids to a game of Kids Town that kept them creative and busy for weeks. This year was Hyrum's turn to attend with his school class, and so Kids Town has returned to our basement once again and the kids are loving it! 

They're creating a bit more law and order this year with their own consitution, signed by all the citizens. 

Last year when the basement flooded, we had to tear out the carpet and so it's just been an empty room with boards and nails still around the edges of the room. I turned it into my little craft and paint area but that is no more. I gotta figure out a place to put my stuff now, cause they've made it clear that they don't ever EVER want Kids Town to be taken down, and I agreed that if they keep playing so amazingly nice and quietly like they did this weekend, I'm happy to appease them. So there's what's left of my stuff in the far corner, along with my frames of things that I'm waiting for inspiration on where to put them or what to do with them.

They only broke like 5 of my glass things as they worked. Again, I didn't get mad - if they are playing sweetly and nice, that is okay with me to sacrifice a few glass items. I even set up my own shoppe - I opened "Mom's Salon" cause they all needed to have their fingernail's trimmed. :)

Lily had a Stuffed animal store, Abi has a Toy Shop...

 Melodie opened an arcade.

 Hyrum runs the bank and is the DJ for the Radio station.

Wesley opened up an Art Studio again, so busy at work he can't even look up for a photo.

Ethan has taken over the role of Mayor and also runs a craft shop on the side.

He had a lot of homework over the weekend, and just did it as part of his Kid's Town work, which inspired them to open up a Library where they could get homework done if they didn't have room in their stores.

And some of the neighbors set up a flower shop with Sophi

 And a pet store (they brought in the guinea pigs for a day)

Anyway, it's just fun to watch them and I'm thinking I'll have my own "Town" of occumpations up here on the main floor that I'll go hire people to work for me - I'll start with a garbage man/waste management service, a laudromat owner, and a maid service, perhaps a restaurant, too. And we'll add a little Mom's Store side business where my employees can purchase their bread and butter. Good times.