Trailing 6 Kids and Stitches Out

I spent a good chunk of my day with 6 kids in tow. First we went to soccer. Sophi and Natalie had their games at the same park and within 15 minutes of each other, so that was convenient. There is a good park there, so I let Natalie, Owen, Daniel, and Peter tag along. 6 kids in the car, here we go! 

When we first got there, I lost Natalie and Owen - I thought they had gone to the park. I was slow cause I was getting Peter out of the car, and then I first went to go see what fields the girls were playing on. Then I went to the park to find the other kids, and I saw Daniel, but no Natalie or Owen. So I kinda panicked and thought I should have brought an older kid to help me cause I was outnumbered, and it's harder when there are so many other people, too, like at soccer games. I looked around, it was just a few minutes until I saw them standing on a sidewalk together, looking around like they were lost. I called to them and they came to the park. Natalie was a little shook up, she doesn't like being lost or feeling forgotten (see pic 2). Sorry about that sweetie! Then they played. I took Peter and told NOD that I was going to go watch the games for a minute and I would be back. Sophi was at half time, score 0-0. Lily's team was getting whooped. Back to check on kids at the park. Counting kids - 1, 2, 3, 4. Natalie said she wanted to watch Peter, so I left him with her. They played on the slide and she pushed a group of little kids on this small circle coaster - 

She is a good big sister.

Looking around, time to count kids again - 

1, 2, 3... Where's Daniel? I looked around for him for a minute and then saw that he had joined a pack of kids playing tag on the grass. They moved to climb on a trailer.

Daniel's read headband protecting made him a little easier to spot, so that was helpful. Natalie playing with Peter on the swing. 

This little double swing is a brilliant invention!! 

Ok, I'll be back! I went to the last few minutes of each game. Sophi's game ended 0-0. Then she joined the kids at the park. Sophi swinging with Peter.

I came back with Lily. We think the score was 7-0, but they kinda lost track.  

Then we stayed and played at the park more. Lily's turn on the swing with Peter

Time to sing while we swing - Peter took the cookie from the cookie jar!

Phew! So the kids eventually decided to come back home, yay. Back at home, it was time to take out Daniel's stitches. I told him that he could go see Dr. Schmidt like we did last time, who is our neighbor and pediatrician down the street, or I could do it. Either way buddy, it's your choice. I showed him my credentials by sharing this post of when I took out Sophi's stitches. He was sold and said he wanted me to do it. I invited him to my examination room (aka the kids bathroom)

He watched Disney Plus while I did my careful work... I was nice and slow and didn't hurt him at all. All 7 out!!

And then when he had his guard down, I slapped a sticky bandaid on his head. He doesn't like them cause they hurt when you take them off, but if he were to protest by taking it off, it would hurt, so he was in a tough situation and decided to leave it on.

After that was done, I was in my room with Corey and Abi and we were all working on our respective computers... Abi doing science, Corey working, I was looking for pinnies to maybe have on hand for our future Waterford soccer games. Then Sophi came in... "Mom, when are you taking Daniel's stitches out?" I just did! "How do you take stitches out?" she asked. Corey chimed in "You go to medical school... and then take classes and get instructed..." HA! So says the man who took of Abi's CAST!! Stitches are easy, but I would have taken Daniel in if it was to get a cast off! (well, maybe that's not true...) Anyway, I thought that was a funny comment. 

Other things to do today - Costco run. I wanted to go, Corey did too, he also wanted to help Abi with homework and flute. They decided to go on a bike ride before they got to work, so I loaded my errands helpers into the car, then took Corey and Abi up the canyon before we headed to the Murray Costco. I don't love shopping with  kids, but they did pretty good. 

We took Corey's car with the bike rack, since I was dropping him off first, so we didn't have as much trunk room for food, which helped me not over purchase. Back at home for dinner. We went back and forth on whether or not we should go swimming. At 7:00 we decided to go. It closed at 8, but the older kids still got a good 45 minutes in. The little boys got less time, since I forgot D's swimsuit so he had to wear his shorts and was mad about it and protesting in the locker room. But then he decided it was ok and we had fun. Then we went to play racquetball after the pool closed.

6 kids in a court with 6 racquets swinging and 6 balls flying every direction. It can be a little dangerous!

Group picture! 

That was a busy day for me. I want to sleep in tomorrow, so I curled my hair tonight. Abi and Wes took pictures of themselves with my phone while my hands were occupied -

Instagram worthy for sure!

It's nice when these two are getting along.

Well that was my busy day. I had the little kids and felt like I gave Corey a break. He was still busy with work and helping the big kids, but it shouldn't have been as crazy for him as my day was for me. Well, teenagers are a different kind of crazy.

I plan on taking my break tomorrow for Mother's day. I've been doing a lot lately, but it's good. He does a lot too. Yesterday he came and rescued me when my car battery died (cause I left it on to have the AC after Sophi's soccer practice was over, but then they kept playing at the park, and then the door wouldn't open and the car wouldn't start, doh)

Thanks for saving me sweetheart. We make a good team. 

Lasts With Hyrum

My top priority today was going to Waterford to get a silhouette picture with Hyrum before he leaves tomorrow. ✔Check! And I planned it out to have Hyrum holding up a Book of Mormon!

It looks pretty good! But truth be told: the sun was setting and we were losing daylight, and in our rush to get everyone out of the house, I didn't grab a Book of Mormon, so Hyrum is actually holding a DVD case, haha. But it's supposed to be a Book of Mormon, and you can't tell anyway, so there is an example of our ideal vs. our reality but it's ok, cause it looks the same!

We got kids left to right: Owen, Abi, Daniel, Sophi, Lily, Natalie, Hyrum, Wes, and Peter.

I thought tonight would be the last of our last few moments with Hyrum. I was pleasantly surprised yesterday to learn that we were going to have Monday night and all of today. When he came home yesterday with Corey, I was like "A free day with Hyrum! Let's go to the temple!" I logged onto the Jordan River Temple website and there were plenty of openings. I called Corey's parents to see if they wanted to go with him, but JeNeal offered to watch Daniel and Peter so that I could go with Hyrum and Wayne, so that was a gift. This was Hyrum's second time, and now he's been to the temple more times than Ethan! 

Poor Eth is jealous. He and a lot of other covid missionaries only got to go one time when they were endowed. I didn't realize he had only gone that one time until he mentioned that yesterday. I think Mel only went that one time too! For Ethan, there is a temple in the Dominican Republic and in Santo Domingo but alas, it's not in his mission area. I don't know about Mel. So sad. Hyrum's going to have a beautiful temple in his mission, so he'll probably be able to go often. He'll also be able to go to the Provo Temple while he's at the MTC. I was able to go every p-day during my mission if I wanted, and usually we did. Speaking of my mission, I served in Tempe Arizona, but Mesa was part of our mission at that time (1997-98). The Mesa Arizona Temple has been remodeled and will soon be rededicated... My former mission comp and current bff Nicole is going down and has tickets for the last day... I want to try and go to.

What else - Sophi and Natalie had orchestra today. After picking them up and dropping them off at school this morning, I drove by the bus stop where Corey was with Owen. Corey was holding Peter.  They had walked down, and I asked if they wanted a ride home. Corey and I smiled at Owen's tussled hair, and then Corey pointed out Owen's socks to me. Cute little first graders -

Corey left for work, Peter started on his "work" - the dinosaur puzzles. 

He likes these and does them everyday. He can do them by himself too!

Such a smarty pants! He likes cars and dinosaurs. Doing the dinosaur puzzle in his dinosaur pajamas.

Here's a summary of my run around today - We went to the temple for the 11:40 session. We left to go pick up Wayne and drop off D&P at 10:30, were on our way to the temple at 10:50. Hyrum forgot his recommend at home and we were going to go back to get it, but then we thought we'd just risk it and see if they could just look it up at the temple desk, and they were able to do that just fine. So Hyrum got in without a problem. It was a nice session. I struggled staying awake which I hated, but I also expected since I got up at 5:15 to take Wes to seminary and hadn't had a cat nap. We were done at the temple and on our way back at 1:40. The little boys were good for JeNeal, yay. D&P had plenty of graham crackers and ritz crackers while we were gone, and watched the Pink Panther cartoons. We had some veggie pizza and were on our way back home around 2:30. Peter fell asleep in the car. Wes was home, I took Abi to soccer practice at 4:30, then went back home to get Wes for hockey practice. We got there late at 5:30, at which time he's supposed to be dressed and ready to get on the ice. Lucky for me Abi's soccer was at the Butler fields, close to where Wes was just dropped off for hockey. I read while I waited for Abi to finish her soccer practice, then I took her straight to her flute lesson, which has been moved to 6:30 for this month and October to accommodate Abi's soccer practices, which go from 4:30-6 on Tuesdays. After dropping off Abi at her lesson, I headed back to get Wes, and Corey went to pick up Abi at 7:15 for me. Then we hurried home, ate some chicken alfredo dinner, per Hyrum's last supper request, then we ran out the door to Waterford for some quick pictures. It was really dark, but the kids ran around on the field and played soccer in the dark for 20 minutes. Peter ready to take on Hyrum.

Corey and Wes headed back home to get more work done. 

Back at home we read scriptures, let Hyrum say his final family prayer for 2 years, then brush teeth and get ready for bed. Well, that would have been ideal, but instead the little boys decided to give their big brother a proper send off by harassing him for 15 mintues.

Wrestle! Get him! Hyrum threw pillows at them. 

Peter still thinks he's pretty tough, it's cute. Good night Hyrum, it's been nice knowing you!! Tomorrow's the big day and he goes to the MTC. He needs to be dropped off between 12-2, so it'll be good. We are maybe going to take all the kids out of school to come down, although that will be a bit of a hassle. But it's ok - it's a one of 12 "once in a lifetime" opportunities for our kids. It'll be good. Goodnight. 

Delightful Sabbath

This Sunday, Corey and I kinda had a plan! We didn't coordinate our plans, but since we both had planned something, it made for a very nice Sunday. It was Stake Conference, so it started off with us watching church over zoom. We could have gone in person, and in past days when I was a stronger woman, I might have made us all get up and get ready and then gone to church for those 2 hours with 8 kids in tow, but today, we stayed home and it is ok. The kids watched in their pajamas...

Or napped as they "listened"...

Just kidding, two year olds don't listen. So it was ok to just snuggle up with my Peter baby. Corey had told Daniel that he could have a ring pop after "church" and Daniel didn't nag, so he got a ring pop. Corey destroyed the one bag yesterday, but we had been gifted two. 

So no hard feelings after yesterday morning's face off. Corey and Daniel are still friends. 

Corey and the kids played pictionary after lunch. I was upstairs reading and slept a little too, but I could hear them all laughing. Later Abi said she wanted to have a fancy tea party, and I gave my blessing. She made a lemon cake, I opened the pantry so that they could get other goodies, and they all dressed up for their meal. Owen! Looking sharp!

Abi gave them a lesson in proper dining etiquette. 

"Hold up your pinky!"

A video as their fine dining event began.

And then the thing I had planned yesterday to do, with Abi's support, was to go to Waterford. The kids were just barely wrapping up their party, but we were losing sunlight, so I told them to hurry and let's go and we made it out. Corey and Wes stayed home. I think Corey was reading and writing a letter to our missionaries. We live in a beautiful area.

We didn't have any game going on, just monkey in the middle with the soccer ball, and we passed it around.

Natalie tried hitting the tennis ball, which didn't work that great, but that's ok. Owen and Daniel spent most of their time playing on the hill and collecting acorns.

The sunset was AMAZING...

and it just kept going and going. Usually it's bright and vibrant and then one glance later it's over, but this one lasted a long time and we all noticed it over and over again. Then I was like "Oh... duh!! A silhouette picture!!"

God was holding out the sunset for me to get a photo. Thanks Heavenly Father! Lily, Abi, Sophi, Peter, Natalie, Owen, and Daniel was wearing Abi's jacket. Back at home we played another round of pictionary. 

Teams were Wes and Lily, Abi/Sophi/Owen, and Me and Natalie with Daniel guessing too. 

Owen wanted to draw, so Abi and Sophi were playing at a disadvantage. But Corey thought it was so funny how Abi gave rapt attention to Owen's sketches. It was always funny to learn what the word was and see what he attempted to draw. 

It usually wasn't very close to reality, but I'm glad she tried. I'm sure Owen would have felt sad if she hadn't watched him and guessed. Although she could have subtly glanced over at Wes and Lily's drawings. It was also funny how Abi/Sophi/Owen, who were already at a disadvantage, kept rolling a 1 with the dice. We all felt like we were cursed, but I think they rolled 1 the most. Wes and Lily ended up winning. It was fun to play a game together. I have a ton of games, which I think I buy to recreate that part of my childhood - my siblings and I played a lot of board games. But we don't get them out hardly at all, so I'm glad we did it today and I think it would be a great if we did it atleast once a week. We'll try for that! Good job Corey for making it happen today. So today was successful I think for all of us  because we had a good time together and also Corey and I both had a little bit of personal time to read and rest. And now we're heading to bed. We are seriously doing so great and going to bed early, like we've been wrapping things up consistently around 9pm, and are usually all in bed by 10! It's pretty amazing. I think Wesley having early morning hockey and seminary and Lily having early morning jazz band helps us all be like "yeah, we have to get up early, so let's go to bed" and most of the battle is gone. Good stuff. It was a good day. 

Digging, Supermoon, and FaceApp

So, the youtube algorithm introduced me to a pretty amazing video yesterday. I was inspired by Mr. Tfue and his amazing digging skills. The kids have still been a little bored... not as bad as the first week, but I saw this and thought, hey, let's get to work! So I sent the video to Hyrum and said "We should do this!" We have dirt in our yard! The little kids have been playing out there yesterday and today since the weather has gotten warmer. They dig and make cookies. I joined them for a little big. I just wanted to dig a hole. I'll just start with a simple hole before I do an underground cave, pool, or house. I was digging and I knew it would be harder than Mr Tfue's clay ground... we have a lot of roots and rocks. But I still dug away, and after an hour I got maybe a 10 inch square pit. I made a pile of dirt next to me. Sophi came over and was very pleased with my dirt pile.

"It's really good that you're doing this! Cause dirt is in ALL of our recipies!" Ha, that made me laugh. Then she followed up with "Dirt and seeds..." as she continued her meal prep. Owen helped me dig.

Lily, Sophi, Natalie, Owen and Daniel... we were all out there playing in the dirt in the great outdoors.

I took a break after an hour. I'll go back out tomorrow. Time to do my real work of making dinner and cleaning. I've been cleaning the kids feet a ton, the floor gets dirty quick with their dirty shoes and feet. I cleaned them off and they came inside. Joseph invited Owen and Daniel to read a story with him. Daniel was out after like 1 minute.

He's been playing hard. Joseph also helped Natalie practice her violin. It's been really great to have another helpful adult around...who doesn't have any time commitments at the moment.

Mel is helpful too, but she's doing school stuff. The kids are doing pretty good at helping around the house, but reading with the kids and helping them practice music gets extra brownie points. Thanks Joseph.

Tonight at sunset we went out to see the full pink super moon - it is going to be the biggest and brightest of 2020. We couldn't see it from our house cause of the mountains, so we drove down the hill and street for a bit and found a good spot to park.

So pretty!!! And it was right by a nice field that was surrounded by a little hill, perfect for taking fun sunset photos! I also like that the hill kinda keeps all the kids fenced in, and that the hill makes it hidden from busy traffic to the north and any passer-bys in the neighborhood street to the east. Corey sat holding Peter while the kids ran around.

Venus to the west.

Spending time outside was great. The weather will be nice again tomorrow, so we're going to come back here to Waterford again tomorrow night. It kinda felt like our own private yard that is big enough for all of us to have plenty of space to run and play.

Back at home, we started to brush our teeth and get ready for bed. Natalie and I brushed our teeth in my bathroom. We wanted to give her a smile with full set of teeth, so I opened the FaceApp. It's been several years since I've used it or since we all played with the faceapp together.

We gave her some makeup. It still looks a little weird on the bottom left, but she's a pretty girl. And then played around with it a little more. Here's Grandma Natalie.

We played around with it with the rest of the kids as we waited for everyone to gather for scriptures and family prayer. I just gave Joseph a haircut, cause it was "so long". He meant to get one before quarantine in Guatemala started, so he said he has needed one for over two weeks already. He's keeping the clean RM (returned missionary) look for now. But we used the app to see what he would look like with a beard.

Ethan and Hyrum and Wes moaned at the awesomeness of it.

"Joseph! You have to grow a beard!" "You would look so sick!" "That is so dope!" "You would look so epic!" "I would respect you so much!" Here is old Joseph.

Cute. So we explored all the boys with beards and on the "cool old" filter. (Ethan's shirt changed from the picture above cause he got into his pjs.)

Ethan's reply to himself "I look so sick..."

"That's gonna be awesome." Hyrum - looks like a punk that's too old to be living at home.

Old Hyrum looks a bit like George Lucas.

Beard Wesley -

And old Wesley.

"I can live with that!" As long as they have beards, they think they look awesome. Here's Owen with a beard.

He's a little too young for facial hair, but he's cute.

Daniel couldn't have a beard, cause the app thought he was a girl. We decided to not put makeup on him, and we just went for old.

He is a scary crazy grandma. I'll have to get one of Peter later. For the girls we did makeup and then Grandma. Make up Mel -

And Grandma Mel -

You look good Mel! Make up Abi

And Grandma Abi.

Pretty princess Lily -

And Grandma Lily.

Makeup Sophi - we thought she looks like a Latina

And Grandma Sophi!

I was pretty happy with my Grandma look.

Maybe the app is going easy on us. I also explored bangs.

I probably won't do it, but I might pull some of my short hair toward the front more often. So that was fun. Some other faces that made me laugh today were on our chore board.

We had a poor showing at the morning devotional at 8:30. So for the three kids that were in attendance (Joseph, Hyrum, and Sophia) I gave them smiley faces instead of just check marks. Later in the day, someone came along and gave all the people that were not there frowny faces. When I saw that, I thought it was a little harsh, so I changed it to asleep faces with just closed eyes and a straight mouth. Then tonight I came to prep the chore board for tomorrow and found this and it made me laugh so hard...

All the people that were asleep were now smiling in their sleep, and the people that were awake looked tortured and like they needed and wanted to go back to bed. Hyrum's face really made me laugh. I could tell by the level of this sophisticated artistic work that it was Mel who was the creator behind it.

Daniel colored over most of the faces on the bottom, so he drew over Abi sleeping... Mel had her snoring with her mouth open.

They're funny kids.