Glow Game

After my crazy "I'm going nuts" day yesterday, I was really glad to be able to just forget about it all and take the kids outside to play - I had a fun surprise to share with them, so we went to our private field (haha) and brought along a great new game we just got: Glow in the Dark Capture the Flag!

It just came in the mail on Saturday and the kids were begging all weekend to open it. But I wanted to wait until we could go to Waterford. So we went tonight and it was a really fun family game! Well, we got a little taste of it, but having the toddlers around prevented us being able to have a true "capture the flag" match. They weren't exactly cooperating... the glow toys proved to be a little too mesmerizing... oooh! Glowing lights.... they were like moths attracted to a flame -

Owen and Daniel insisted on being the flag bearers at all times... Wesley tried to explain the rules of the game to Daniel, but he didn't understand anything. But Daniel did know that he would release his wrath upon anyone who dared to take his glow ball...

The kids tried to play a few games, and as expected, it didn't work well, since the capturing of the opponents flag turn into a very unpleasant toddler gnashing of teeth. (Do NOT take Daniel's flag!)

So it didn't actually go how it was supposed to, but Wes and Abi are hoping to play this with their friends sometime after the Covid lockdown ends. We'll definitely be able to have some fun game nights with the neighborhood kids this summer, trusting quarantine ends. We also thought it would make a fun evening for the kids if we were able to go to Scofield with our neighbors this year. As for tonight, it was still great, cause kids love running around in the dark with glow toys. Hard to capture the fun on the field with photos, but it was great.

Team Green taking a breather.

Peter and I sat on the grass and just hung out in jail the whole time.

Jail ain't so bad when you have a fun glow bracelet to play with.

I held Peter, and Peter held the bracelet and glowing jail markers. Corey got into the game with the kids.

I think the Glow Battle Game looks fun, too, we might look in to that one! They have a few other games on their Starlux shop on Amazon. Fun stuff, go check them out!

Mother's Day Monday

Hey, so before I vent, here is a cute photo of my baby riding a unicorn!

~and I'm singing~ "Peter is the cuuutest!" ~

I just love it. So that is my cute Peter this morning. There are little delightful moments like that in my life, and I love those moments. And then there is the rest of the day, which on some days (like today) I let get the better of me and my efforts for a positive mindset. Soooo.... Saturday, Abi wanted to put up the tent. There have been a few warm spring days here and there, but it's still too cold at night to sleep outside. I knew this, and I told them this, but then on Saturday I gave up and said "Fine, just stop asking me, and remember that I said it's still too cold." She also promised she could put it up by herself and I wouldn't have to help, but I eventually did have compassion on her and helped her put it up. It had been a nice enough day in the mid 70s, but I warned them that it was going to be cold at night - a low of 42, making sure that they understood that "That's like the refrigerator temperature..."

Which led to me having an appropriate Mother's Day morning yesterday by being woken up at 4 am by Natalie and Daniel. Natalie came in to let me know that she was cold. Surprise surprise. They wanted to sleep in my room. No. I got blankets and tucked them in on the couch in the side room, which was when I learned that Daniel had wet himself. Great. So changed his clothes, you'll take a bath in the morning, I start a load of laundry, it's still dark, so go back to sleep. At 9 am, I saw that it wasn't just Natalie and Daniel that had gotten cold in the wee hours of the morning, as now everyone was piled in the side room....

And Abi let me know later that she had stepped in a puddle of something when she came out of the tent. Yes, I am aware, I'll go clean it up later (and I let her know that I wish the tent wasn't up!) I don't mean to be a grouch. But I have been today, cause these two animals have just been nuts. There are blankets and sleeping bags and pillows all over the main floor cause they don't think to put them away, or listen when I tell them to put it away, and I don't hold their hands and make them cause I'm running around irritated with all the zoom calls that they are late for or cause I'm helping Peter or cause there's a broken dish on the floor. I sometimes think the elementary teachers are shaking their heads at me in disappointment cause the girls are late again. Ugh, so school left me frazzled today, then O and D have been playing in the darn tent. They took a container of ham from the fridge and took it out there, Abi came in to let me know that they threw ham all over the tent, and there are lots of flies now. ...and that Daniel peed in there again (not an accident this time) and that's when I went into my closet to breath, send the Lord a prayer request for mercy, and to send SOS vent/polos to Ethan in California and Nicole my BFF. Around 5 pm these two had finally run out of energy, hallelujah...

Yes, Daniel got himself dressed and his clothes are pajamas and they inside out and backwards. And I don't care about how they look, just hooray that they hit the pause button. I went out to finish cleaning up the tent (Abi had already done a lot of it). I was glad that we all got out of the house after dinner, cause we needed to go let them run around. I think another contribution to my mood is being a little overly concerned about money - We have a smaller budget with the new job Corey took, and we've kinda been spending a lot (last week we ordered a new kitchen table and we also bought 3 new triple bunk beds that should be here on Wednesday.... Corey's wanted triple bunks for a long time, but I am not looking forward to getting rid of all our current stuff or rearranging rooms) Anyway, we went to Waterford tonight and played a fun glow in the dark game of Capture the Flag.

I'll share that tomorrow, cause it was fun and a bright spot for me after a stressed out day. Also a good thing, Lily has made a contract with her father to practice everyday 

They made that agreement after he got tired of reminding and asking her and just decided to start confiscating her prized belongings. It only took two days of Bunky Bunky being gone for her to make a deal with him. It's only Monday, so this week's just starting but there are just a few more! Come on, Tiff, you can do this, they are almost done with school, just 2-3 more weeks. I'm not sure which one has been more stressful: Maycember from last year, or this year's quarantined version of it?

I have been finding the Holderness family's video very during quarantine! A few more of my current favorites:
  Boyz II Men - End of the Roll Speaking of toilet paper, they had TP on our last trip to Costco! Not Kirkland brand, just Charmin, but that's ok! Maybe things are looking up!
  If Disney songs were written during Quaratine
  Billy Jean "Quaratine is not quite over"

Sunday Evening at Waterford

Some of the kids and Corey and I went to Waterford last night - It was pretty with the crescent moon - group photo!

We went out there again tonight after enjoying a lovely Sunday at home. My favorite part of our gospel study today was sharing some videos with the kids. We listened to the first 5 minutes of this Book of Mormon Central video. After that they were free to leave but I kept listening as I cleaned in the kitchen and I loved the end - how they explained how Christ is our Father, love it. And then we listened to more with the Teaching with Power video. Good stuff, it fills my cup.

This evening we went to Waterford for some outdoor family time. We left early enough that we could play before the sunset. I brought along Saints to read, but didn't get very much further, I was distracted by the fun.

We had kids rolling down the hill, fighting with sabers, kicking balls, and throwing frisbees. The hill was pretty steep for little Peter, good practice though.

Owen with a laser gun, Joseph reading.

Peter playing peek a boo with Wesley

We see you Peter!

Such a beautiful little boy.

More hill racing games

 Ethan was playing a bit rough and the toddlers came crying a few times...

But Daniel got some accidental light saber revenge.

Go easy on them Eth! They are just little people!

Sun going down...

Corey was attempting to climb a tree. Seems like such a simple thing to do. Joseph climbed up quick like a monkey. Corey said "This is how 40 year olds get hurt...."

He broke his belt when he tried to use it to pull himself up. Sun has set but the sky is still light - it's a good time for more sunset silhouette shots... Trying to gather the kids. Venus looks pretty and the waxing crescent moon!

Got all 12!

Strike a pose -

Oops Daniel got away...

Wes and Ethan in an epic battle.

The kids did some jump shots and cartwheel photos, but my phone camera is just blurry if there is motion. I also told the kids to take one of Corey and I kissing but that one didn't turn out great either...but it did lead into the topic of discussino for the night - we all sat on the hill and Corey told them how much fun it has been to have everyone home. We have one more week with Joseph before he heads out to California to sell pest control. Corey told stories of our courtship and first kiss, and of the blessings of marriage and family. It was great. These two weren't listening -

They were being super cute rolling down the hill.
It was a nice family evening.

Back at home for a few board games before bed...

Mel had made all the murder weapons to Clue since we lost them, and the kids played that.

Doesn't seem like a very appropriate Sunday game - with murder and plotting. I made a candy version of Clue several years ago, with all the Wride grandkids as the suspects, and they were accused of taking various desserts before they ate their dinner and they snuck and ate the treat in a room of the house, and I made a board of Corey's parent's house. I used some gummy erasers for the game pieces and made a few others with sculpy clay. I thought it was fun. Mel did a good job creating the weapons and people for this game. I'm glad the kids were able to play it not since the pieces have been missing for a long time - probably all lost in the lego mess. And I got to blog a little, yay, it was a good day.

Scavenger and Easter Hunts

I went for a drive early this morning to try and watch the sunrise and the moon set. 

Super cool.

I love watching the moon.

I watched it until it was all the way gone.

I wish the sky were a smidge darker so that the moon would be more visible.

I can still see it!

Maybe I'll have to come again tomorrow, I'll have to figure out if evening or morning will be the better time to see it close to the horizon. After last night, I thought I'd be able to see it better this morning since the mountains wouldn't be in the way, but I forgot about the bright sky. Oh well. It was good to get up early. (Strange that 7 am is "early" for me right now.) 

Today there were two fun things that our wonderful neighbors did. First off, the Primary Presidency from our Church came by to each of the houses of the primary children and set up an easter egg hunt in each yard. Since we weren't able to do the annual hunt because of Corona, they delivered it to each house and hid 5 eggs/treats for each kid in the family in their front yard. (Past hunts in 2019, 2018, 2017, 2015 in Brazil, 2013, 2011 in Chile) The note was taped on the front door. When I showed it to the kids, they got so excited and ran to find baskets/bags.

Abi helped the little kids hunt.

Lily found one that was in a hard spot! I called to her "Be careful! Don't fall! Or if you do, fall on your feet... it's better to break you leg than to crack your skull..."

She made it off the wall fine, phew. Daniel said "Look! Treats! For my birthday!"

Owen and Daniel each found five.

Natalie had the hardest time finding 5 treats. She only had 2 and still needed 3 more. We all were helping but we couldn't find anymore. Then we spotted one in a tricky place! She didn't want help getting it though. She was able to hit it down with her bag. 

So that was fun. And after that was done, I let the kids know of another fun thing that some grandmas in the neighborhood had planned - a scavenger hunt! The ladies asked me if they could put the list in our yard, since we were kinda a central location between the two streets of our neighborhood. They had a list of 13 things to find in 8 different yards, and then at the last yard there would be an answer key and a treat. I told the kids that they had to finish their chores and music practice before we could go and they dutifully worked and we were on our way at 2. 

It was a lovely day to go for a walk around the neighborhood. It was nice to say hi to neighbors and we did our best to obey social distance rules.

Back at home, there was more digging in the yard. I came across a sprinkler pipe in my hole, so I stopped and don't know if or where I'll dig next. Digging is hard, there are lots of roots and rocks in our dirt.

I let the little boys have free reign of their creativity and Owen had his shoes off and was dumping sand on his socks.

They were going to go straight into the tub when they were done. Daniel found a nice pile of muddy stuff in one of the watertables. Burying Buzz....

Owen helping him work. It was cute to see them, and it's good for them to be outside.

I locked the door so that they couldn't just come inside and run wherever. When they knocked, I picked them up and carried them straight to take baths. I washed feet and gave baths and started laundry a lot today. My hands are super chapped. Inside, Wes was reading...

And Peter came up to him to say hi, his cute little head there is barely able to clear the table.

And then Peter pushed the white board, which was just leaning against the window, and since he pushed it back all the way to the window, it teetered and started to fall toward him and Wes. Wes was there to protect Peter, but the loud SLAP of his hand against the board made Peter very very sad.

He cried just for a minute, and got hugs from me. He might not touch it anymore, we'll see how scarred he is. I got a picture of Peter this morning for his faceapp beard, ha. The beard doesn't put him into the "dope" or "sick" category, Peter is still just cute.

It was a warm evening again, so we went back to the field at Waterford where we went last night to see the moon. I left my phone at home but Ethan got some good pics...

I need him to send me the rest, but it was fun being there together - playing soccer and rolling down the hill. One good thing about all this corona stuff is that I have all my kids at home. I'm loving having everyone here and that we're able to spend so much time together.