Mom Of The Year Award

I just won the Mom of the Year Award 

NOT!!

Even though I know I can't be I try really hard to be Super Mom. I try to be EXTRA patient, loving and understanding with my kids. Over the years I've learned that there is more to life than a perfect, nothing out of it's place home. I try to put my kids first and MY wants second. I saw a quote many years ago that talked about what kids will remember from childhood. Do I as a mom want my kids to remember the mom that was always cleaning or the mom that made fun times; playing with lego's, coloring together, baking in the kitchen and blowing bubbles. 

I'm not Super Mom and I made a mistake last week. One that I feel really, really guilty about.

After our Blue and Gold Banquet last Tuesday it was basically left up to my kids and I to do the clean up with a few extra hands. Kory was working out of town and he was definitely being missed. In my defense, I get one, I was beyond tired. I had had sick kids for almost a week and had been woken up numerous times with them each and every night. That particular day both Hunter and Brayden had stayed home due to the flu bug that just wouldn't go. I was planning on having help with the set-up and decorating earlier that day that "no showed". After the big event my "helper" went home because she had little kids that needed to go to bed. Apparently her 11 kids the oldest being 19 and youngest being 1 are littler than my 5 kids ranging in ages of 1-10! To say I was mad and upset and let's not forget tired was an understatement! 

I asked Hunter to vacuum the floors when we got all the tables and chairs put away. He was using our church's heavy duty vacuum that once started runs on its own and you just guide it. 

Some of the kids that were suppose to go home and get to bed missed the memo and were still at the church even though Mom and the baby had walked home. These kids drive me CRAZY!! They think it's funny to jump in front of whom ever is vacuuming and then jump out of the way. They appeared to be having so much fun that my four year old, Brayden joined in on the fun. It didn't matter that Hunter had asked them to stop numerous times. I had also told these boys numerous times to stop but like usual they ignored me too. I walked out of the room to put something away and came back to a screaming Kylie, because I left her for the up-teenth time, and a crying uncontrollably Brayden. I was tired, remember? All I wanted was to go home and get everyone to bed. I knew Brayden had hurt his foot and Hunter told me he had run over it with the vacuum because he hadn't jumped out of the way fast enough. I told him it served him right. He had just heard me tell the other boys to quit jumping in front of Hunter. I really didn't think it was that bad! After Brayden crying for what seemed like forever and Kylie screaming for me I took both out to the foyer and put them on the couch to cry it out while the bigger kids and I finished. 

Walking out to the car with a load of stuff I took the time to look at Brayden's foot. His big toenail, NOT toe was purplish/blue and I really thought it was finger nail polish. The girls had painted their toenail earlier that week what looked like the same color. I didn't see anything wrong. I kept telling him that he was fine, to stop crying, he's just tired and still feeling sick! We finally got the church cleaned and headed home. Brayden and Kylie cried/screamed the ENTIRE way home. I was seriously ready to go drown myself. 

When we got home Brayden was still crying uncontrollably and didn't want to go to bed because his toe hurt. Super Mom here spanked his little butt all the way up the stairs and told him to go to bed anyways that he was just fine!

The next day I noticed immediately that he came down the stairs limping. When asked why he told me his toe still hurt. After looking at it more calmly that morning I realized his toe nail wasn't painted but in fact bruised. I felt TERRIBLE! He really had been hurt and I was too busy/tired to see it. It has stayed purple/blue all week long. Several extended family member's commented on it this past weekend. It looked so bad. This morning I decided to take a picture of it and it's not blue anymore. His toenail cracked near the bottom and released a lot of blood. His sock he had worn during the night had a rather large blood stain. He's not limping anymore either. This is what his toe looks like. I really hope his toe nail doesn't fall off but.... it probably will. 

I did learn a lesson from all this. Next time something like this happens. I'm going home! I'm not going to spend more than an hour cleaning up by myself with my tired, sick kids. The church could have waited till the the next morning to be cleaned. Something I'm sure doesn't happen often but wouldn't have mattered. I know the older boys enjoyed playing basketball in the gym that night but it wasn't a planned event. They could have found something else to do that night. 

Blue and Gold Night

Scouts

The very end of December I was given another calling...

Webelo's Leader. Woo Hoo!!

Hunter is soon turning 11 and will advance from Cub Scouts to the 11 year old scouts. I'm so excited to be his leader during his last 4 months of Cub Scouts.  I somehow, the day of, became in charge of our Blue and Gold Banquet, the biggest night of Cub Scout's. Our theme this month was Resourcefulness/Invention Convention. Much earlier in the month the other scout leader and I had talked about giving the boys a bag of "stuff" for them to create from. Unfortunately, my two Webelo's were the only ones given the bags. We would use their invention's for our table center pieces.

Ben's creation

Hunter's creation

Being the last minute I ransacked my house for ideas that fit with our theme. I tried to pick a few objects that the kids would recognize and use to add to our center pieces with the inventors name. It was fun to hear the kids walk around and say things like, "I didn't know John Deere invented the John Deere tractors".

As part of our decor I brought my kids creation's they made with Grandma last year and hung up by our food table. I thought They were perfect for our Invention theme. 

After dinner and our flag ceremony we began the fun stuff. Our first activity was building something with toothpicks and mini marshmallows. 

Kylie loved sucking the sticky of the tooth picks.

Following our activity that everyone raved on and on about we had our scout skit. These are my favorite, the sillier they are the more fun the scouts have. Our skit was suppose to be put on by the Webelos this month but my other young man refused to participate so we had cousin Zeek help Hunter out. 

Hunter is sitting on his bed just looking at the mess on the floor. Then Zeek walks in.

Zeek: Hey Hunter what are you doing?

Hunter: Nothing, just sitting here trying to come up with an invention.

Zeek: Wow! That sounds fun. Can I help?

Hunter: Sure, I need that basket, the book and a rag, I guess that dirty sock will do.

Zeek goes around and picks those things up and brings it to Hunter. 

Zeek: What else?

Hunter: I could probably use that sling shot, the base ball glove and I've got to use the rope to tie it all together.

Zeek: Picks everything else up and puts it into the basket sitting next to Hunter.

Hunter: Well I guess that's it. That was a great invention!

Zeek: I don't get it. What did we invent?

Hunter: A way to clean up my room before my mom gets home. 

HaHaHaHaHaHa

Following our skit the awards were handed out. This little toe-head little boy was killing me all night. He would not sit down and kept getting in the way of all my pictures! Including the one's his own mom asked me to take.

It was a stressful day but it was a good one. Scouting in our ward has been terrible! Very boring and no one comes. I was quite pleased that we were able to get 5 of our 9 boys out with their families. Maybe it was the food that brought them but everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. I'm sure hoping I can help change the attitudes on Scouting just a little over the next few months. These are suppose to be fun nights!

Blue & Gold

This upcoming Tuesday is our Blue and Gold. The theme this month is Invention and Resourcefulness. A few weeks ago Hunter brought home a paper bag full of stuff by his scout leader (me). There were 20 items in each bag and the scouts were to use at least 10 of the 20 items. They could add to it any way they wanted but the goal was to invent something. Hunter's bag had a toilet paper tube, a pink book mark, paperclip, styrofoam balls, pom poms, a sheet of felt, clothespins, wooden disks, a balloon, etc. We recently saw Dispecable Me 2 and since then that's all the kids talk about. He told me he wanted to make a minion with his stuff. I really didn't think he could do it but he sure showed me! He took a used #10 can and painted it yellow. He took his white balloon from the bag, blew it up, painted it yellow and stuffed it into the top of the can. Using the toilet paper roll he cut goggles and than raided the bathroom to find 2 more for the arms. He cut the pink book mark and used it as the tongue. The blue felt turned into the overalls. He used the pom pom's for the buttons. He painted the wooden disks and styrofoam balls black and used them for the shoes. He painted 1 finger onto a piece of paper and used the 2 clothespins for the other finger's holding his "Welcome to Scouts" sign. Not wanting the other hand to be empty to took one of our gloves and put it on. He used his paperclip for the name tag holder. He took one of my black pipe cleaners, cut it up and hot glued it to the balloon for his hair. I thought for sure he'd pop the balloon but he waited the perfect amount of time so the glue wouldn't pop his balloon but the glue would still stick. He found some large googly eyes and used duct tape for the wrap around goggle part. He was creative in using his resourcefulness. I was expecting some type of a robot or monster not a minion. I was very impressed.

Next month will be our Pine Wood Derby. Knowing that is the month the boys and Dad's do something together another Scout Leader thought it would be fun for the boys to make a cake with their mom's this month. We will be using the cakes for our dessert at the Blue and Gold. I wasn't terribly surprised when Hunter announced he wanted to make a minion for his cake. This time he wanted to make a evil minion, from Dispecable Me 2. We baked our cakes yesterday, froze them over night and decorated today. 

I didn't feel decorating a cake is a Sunday thing and by the time the kids get home from school we don't have a lot of time before bed time. So we chose today to make his cake. These cakes weren't suppose to be made by mom alone but by mom and son. He beat the frosting, he helped color the fondant. We both took turns cutting out fondant pieces to go over our cake. It took both of us working together to get the fondant onto the cake. Hunter made the goggle strap, the goggle and the eye. Madelyn wanting to help made the purple eye lid. 

While they were working on that I started cutting out the overalls. Hunter picked out and helped roll the design around the edge giving the overall's a better than plain look. Running out of fondant we used yellow marshmallow's (that's all we had) for the teeth. Thinking it still needed a little something we added a pocket and put Hunter's initial on it.

Hunter and Madelyn made the spikes for his hair. They had a hard time staying on the head so we broke toothpicks in half and slid them through the middle of the spike and down into the cake to hold them better. 

We ended up with a little split on one side but I was pretty pleased with the way it turned out. Especially with all the help we got!

We've had a good day. Hunter really learned how hard, how messy and how many dirty dishes are created when baking a cake like this. He didn't particularly enjoy sweeping up the mess on the floor either. It was fun spending time together. The cake didn't turn out exactly how we had planned but I think it works despite the missing feet. We ran out of fondant and I didn't have enough marshmallow's or powder sugar to make more. 

Now the hard part comes keeping the cake out of little fingers until Tuesday night.

Emily's Mystery Reader

Emily's 1st grade class has a Mystery Reader every Friday after lunch. Clues are read out loud to the class until the children guess who it is. It's a big secret and the kid's aren't suppose to know it's their parent or grandparent coming that day. The child than get's to go to the office to bring the Mystery Reader to class.The Mystery Reader brings a story to read and sometimes a treat to go along with it. 

This past Friday I was the Mystery Reader. In October I was also the Mystery Reader and chose to bring a Halloween book and treat. This time I chose one of Emily's favorite books, Pinkalicious. After the kids left for school I made hot pink cupcakes.

I then decorated them with hot pink frosting and hot pink sugar sprinkles.

Emily was so pleased with all the pink. 

 She said it was the perfect treat for Pinkalicious!

President's Day

President's Day Weekend we spent in Hurricane. Kory and I were able to attend the temple Saturday evening while my parent's watched our kids. On Sunday we went to church and then Kory's Uncle Rich from Mesa Arizona came to visit with us. He was going to be in Las Vegas all week for work but took the time to drive a few more hours to visit with our family. It was great seeing him again. He and his wife Ann were like grandparents to my kids while we were living in Arizona. We miss them. 

We headed home Monday morning with the intention of spending a few hours in Zion's National Park. Being we buy a yearly pass to drive through we thought it would be the perfect time to actually stop and use our pass. We didn't realize it was a "free" day and the park was packed. It took us a while to find a parking spot but we eventually was able to get out and enjoy the great outdoor's.  

There was still snow and ice on the ground is some spots.

Kylie had fallen asleep and wasn't ready to be woken up. Daddy got to carry her a lot of the way.

Brayden enjoyed playing with his binocular's. He was trying to find a bear but didn't have much luck.

Kylie finally woke up enough to try walking by herself. Some spots were pretty steep for a 21 month old and she needed a hand to help her. 

The kids loved all the little ridges that they could climb on.

Here we are taking a little break. Enjoying the warm sunshine on our backs.

Our girls!

When it was time to head back down Kylie did not want to walk. Madelyn was hoping she could help her but didn't have much luck.

Mommy and Brayden taking a rest.

Daddy wanted a turn with the camera and wanted to capture some motion pictures. This was one of the best ones. Emily jumping over a rock.

Mommy and Kylie playing in the sand.

Brayden wanted to build a castle but Kylie was trying to help him. He finally went a few feet away to get away from her "help".

Castles are fun to build but they are even better to knock down.

While the little ones and I were playing in the sand Daddy and Hunter were rolling sand rocks. Watching them burst when they finally hit bottom.

We had so much fun! We really need to take advantage of our Zion's Park pass more often.

Hunter's Valentines Party

A few day's before Valentine's Day Hunter's, class Room Mom called and asked if I would plan his party. How could I not say yes? After talking to Hunter I learned that most parties consisted of going to the gym and playing basketball. I knew this had been happening but I didn't know that this was all that was ever done. No games and lots of times the room Mom brought chocolate chip cookies for the snack. 

This is very likely Hunter's last year at school where he will be having school parties. Next year if we are not living here he will be attending middle school (6th-7th) or a 6th grade center. School parties will than be that of a past time. It makes me sad knowing he's growing up and some of these fun things are coming to an end in his childhood. Wanting go out with a bang for this party I came up with some fun games. Some we've played at ward parties, minute-to win-it parties and other's I got the idea off of Pinterest. With all the snow melted and being an abnormally warm day (53 degrees) we held the party outside. 

Our first game we split into 2 teams. At the moment the class is evenly tied between boys and girls so they chose to split up that way. The boys made a line between two tables and the girls made their own too. The first in line had to bend over and scoop a conversation heart out of a bowl with a spoon in his mouth, no hands. They each then transferred the heart into the next person's spoon, again no hands.

When the heart got into the last person's spoon they had to bend over and drop it into a bowl, again using no hands! It was a bit harder than I thought it would be but the kids seemed to have fun. After about 4 minutes we stopped and counted up the hearts that made it to the bowl. Boys won!!

Our second game we stuck with our teams, boys vs. girls. Each team was given a balloon.

Everyone taking a turn had to put the balloon between their legs and run to the chalk line and back. If the balloon fell they had to start all over. There was so much laughter going on during this game. So glad the kids enjoyed themselves. Everyone had do this twice and the team that finished first won. In the end it was a tie. The girls won the 1st game and the boys won the second time it was played.  

Our 3rd game was a tossing marshmallow's into a bowl a few feet away. The kids decided to keep our teams boy vs. girls.

Look at the concentration! It was so fun to hear the kids joking and teasing each other. They were really enjoying themselves.

Our 4th game is one of my favorites. Each player sticks their nose into vaseline and than into a bowl of cotton balls. They have to run to the other table and try to get the stuck cotton balls to fall off into another bowl without using hands.

The boys decided that they really wanted to win this game. They smeared vaseline all over their face so that they could take more than one cotton ball at a time.

When they got to the other table it was so fun to watch them shake and dance trying to get those cottonballs to fall into the bowl. If it fell outside of the bowl they could leave there for no points or try making it stick to their head again to put it in the bowl.

Some of the girls tried using their hands. 

This game really got the teacher and her aide laughing. They enjoyed what looked like a huge booger hanging from the kids nose.

Our last game was the cookie game! An Oreo is placed on every ones forehead and not using hands you have to get the Oreo into your mouth. 

I love the facial expression's you see during this game.

Our last activity was decorating sugar cookies. What kid doesn't like that?

According to Hunter it was the best party all year! So glad he and his fellow class mates enjoyed themselves.

Valentines Day

It's Valentine's Day!

My kiddo's woke up to a yummy a breakfast of egg in the middle of toast and their favorite of the day, heart shaped strawberries. 

They came downstairs to our heart table cloth on and sprinkled with candy. I had intention's of making homemade candies and filling a little heart box for each of them. My week ended up being packed full and my best intention's just didn't happen. In the end they all received a heart shaped, crunch bar on a stick.

Brayden loved his snake candy!

I spent my day at the school doing class parties and when I got home I was exhausted. I must have forgotten to take a picture of our Valentines Dinner. It was our usual, Spaghetti and meat balls, heart shaped roll, red jello salad, and red Kool-aid. For my kids it was perfect!

Madelyn was invited to a friends birthday party later that night. We weren't given the invitation until the day before. Not having a gift appropriate for a 10 year old girl we ran up to the nearest gas station and came up with this candy card.  Sounds like it was the hit of the party.