Vacation in Pictures

I didn't do a Benless day #5 update yesterday because I got to actually talk to Ben - wahoo!  He survived his adventure backpacking trip (including 2 very dramatic hail-storms and a few lightning storms that came too close for comfort).  I survived 5 days (now 6) of not having Ben around.  We are excited to be together again tonite.  Yippeee.

I wrote a little bit about what happened each day.  But my pictures will be falsely positive - I didn't take any pictures of the multitudes of attitudes and tantrums I had to deal with each and every day. . . :)  I'm just doing all my pics here b/c I said so.

 Here I am with one of my best college-roommies, Megan.

 Our kids - Jonas, Jack, Ellie, Miles, Christian, and Lucy.  Where's Emmy?  Throwing a fit in the car.

 Uncle Chuck pulling out Jonas' tooth.  Oh the terror on Jonas' face!

 And it's out!

 Happy now!

 The tooth - his first lost tooth.

 Pure joy and pure cuteness.

 A cool rainbow - there were actually 2 of them.  So beautiful.

 Rhett at the indoor play-place at the Provo Beach Resort.

 Wheeeee.

 Hanging Jo.

 For Ollie's (my nephew) first birthday my sis made the coolest looking cupcakes.  These are the cupcake wrappers - so neat, huh!?  They were awesome.

 Of course Miles wanted to keep his wrapper.  But no.

 Lucy made sure that no crumb was left uneaten from her cupcake.

 The adorably cute birthday boy.  He did well, too, though maybe not as great as Lucy. . . We'll give him another year of practice.  :)

 The cute kids checking out the carnival rides.

 Sweet Lucy.  Too bad she didn't go on any rides.

The first ride that Rhett, Emmy and Jonas went on.

 Miles entering the Graviton.  Oh he still talks about it and just loved it!

 The 3 kids also went on this - the Tornado.  Emmy was quite scared for the first 2/3 of it, as demonstrated by her facial expressions and luckily not by screaming.  She relaxed for the last part of it.  The boys thought it was really fun and cool.  Jonas said you had to "hold on for dear life."  Awesome.  Good thing I told the ride-guy right after he started the ride that they weren't buckled in yet!

 Emmy and Rhett have been having fun playing together, for the most part.  :)  Really, though, there have been very little squabbles between these two.  They even enjoy playing air-hockey together!  Cuties.

 On Friday, my sis's b-day, we did a hike to Lake Mary.  It was a pretty great hike to a lake and a lot of fun was spent up there eating lunch, throwing rocks and sticks, etc.  Oh, and being King of the Rock.

 Aren't they just too cute?

 They were told by someone (Uncle Chuck?  Our friend Andy?) to put their fingers up their noses.  Oh why don't they listen this well when asked to clean their rooms?

Cute Lucy, as always.

Then my camera's batteries died.

Today is Japan Day at our house.  100% sponsored by my parents.  Filled with adorable kids in the cutest of cute Japanese outfits.  Lots of toys and candy (some yucky, some yummy, all weird).  It's been fun.  Pictures later.

My Benless Day #4

Well if I thought Emmy's tantrum yesterday was incredible (in a bad way), it paled in comparison to what she did today.  Oh that girl.  We decided to go swimming this morning - Chuck was going with just Rhett and I had the 4 kids.  We got there and the kids were super excited.  We had 2 life jackets and that made me think, "Totally, I can take 4 kids swimming - none of who can really swim."  It was quite pleasant for the first part of it.  The water, oh the water.  So warm.  I mean, not like a hot tub, but compared to our community pool it seemed so.  So that was a lovely surprise.

But after Emmy had to give up her life jacket for the 2nd time (ever heard of something called sharing or taking turns???), she pretty much went ballistic.  I think that might be an understatement.  Her screams were ear-piercing literally.  She just wailed and wailed and wailed and screamed and screamed and screamed.  In fact she made herself physically sick and was hunched over, stomach clinched in pain she said.  I told her it was due to her screams and all that air she was sucking in.  I really wasn't sure and thought she might actually be sick.  But, no, at the end of the day I'm pretty convinced it was just due to her tantrum.

You want to know how bad it was?  Erin heard her while she was home working - she was inside, but windows open.  Crazy, eh?  Crazy bad!  Do you feel bad for me?  I kind of did.

What else?  The kids watched some shows in the afternoon and then we went to the fair to go to the carnival rides (oh we did celebrate Ollie's b-day with the cutest cupcakes and the cutest kids).  The kids got to choose 2 rides each.  Miles has talked about the "graviton" ever since he saw it yesterday.  I think we've talked about it to him before?  He so wanted to do it and so he did.  When he was in and the ride started, I started feeling really bad/sad - what if he's scared, hating it, etc.?!  I was a bit nervous.  But he came out ALL smiles.  It was awesome.  He totally loved it.  The other kids had fun too - well, except Lucy who didn't get to do anything but walk around and throw a fit at the end.  My life.

Anyways, can't wait to actually talk to you in ONE day and SEE you in two!

My Benless Day #3

Overall, a good day.  But, like most of my days, filled with some unpleasant moments as well.  We spent the morning hanging around here mostly.  We did get out and go to the little park here.  Emmy was quite horrendous on the way home - she had insisted on riding a bike that's too big for her.  Well the way back was uphill at first and she just couldn't do it.  But instead of asking me to help she just throws an incredible fit.  It was ugly.  So I kept walking with Lucy - quite ahead of her.  She was screaming SO LOUD is was incredible - in a very bad way.  That girl.

After lunch I took the 4 older kids (Miles, Jonas, Emmy, and Rhett) down to Provo's "Beach Resort" thing.  The indoor play-area was waaaay smaller than I was expecting - and Miles, too, really.  I think he was kind of bummed, but he still had a great time.  I can't tell you how many bathroom and water-fountain trips I had to take - I lost count after 10.  And I won't go in to much detail, but I will say that more than one of our kids had some bathroom issues going on.  Seriously!?

But you'll be so proud of me - I got a "Kids Classical Music" CD at the library.  It has 4 CDs:  we listened to Beethoven today.  It's really cool - there are stories with music in the background at times and then music in the forefront at times as well.  The kids really liked it, I think.  When we got back in to the car later that evening, Jonas requested that we listen to it again.  Super awesome - I can't wait to listen to them with you and the kids!

We went to the fair's BBQ dinner tonite.  It was good, but none of the kids really enjoyed it - except for their lemonade and Sprites.  And roll.  We'll go back tomorrow and do some carnival rides - to celebrate Ollie's first birthday!  :)

Jonas got the coveted sleeping spot tonite - with Rhett.  Rhett really wanted Emmy, but was kind enough to let Jonas.  Jonas read a few books to Rhett and so hopefully they had a good time.

Lucy did well with me leaving her at home (when I took the other kids to Provo) - pretty well.  A few tears, but not many.

Goodnight.

My Benless Day #2

So today was alright since the kids were buckled down - literally - for about 6 hours of it.  Our drive out here was just fine.  We listened to Broadway's Lion King, an Alvin Ho book, plus the musical Pinkalicious.  Of course we had to listen to the animal song CD since Lucy asked - all throughout the other music DVDs - for the "monkey song."

We met up with Megs at Kiwanis Park.  And besides it being so super hot that the kids didn't play at the park area, it was fun (we stuck to areas under and near trees).  Megan's kids are super cute and she and Greg looked great.  It was a fun visit.

We got here close to 6pm and Erin had a yummy dinner for us just about finished.  Lucky us.  Lucy went down well.  Emmy and Rhett are sleeping in the same room - well, they should be sleeping, but they are still up. . . hopefully they will fall asleep soon.  The boys are down in their rooms.

Speaking of the boys. . . Jonas lost his first tooth!  Uncle Chuck pulled it out for him.  :)  I'll have to post pictures tomorrow or something.  He was pretty excited!  It was cute and fun to have Uncle Chuck do it (though Chuck did apologize to you that he did did it and not you.  But no way the tooth would have hung on until you came here!).

Well Emmy is requesting me and so I better go.  We 3 adults are enjoying popcorn and the olympics.  Cool.

My Benless Update, Day 1

Not only will I not see Ben for pretty much a solid 6 days (that's happened before), I won't be in any sort of contact with him at all for 5 of those days (that's never happened before).  That's what happens when he's backpacking through the mountains with the Young Men.  So I thought I would give little reports of my days for Ben's sake.  Short, simple, and to the point - hopefully.

How's this for short, simple, and to the point:  An indication of our children's behavior can probably be determined by what happened at FHE.  First of all, Lucy was in bed before it started.  She was ready and I was ready.  Secondly, FHE didn't start with a rousing rendition of the Family Home Evening song.  Instead it started with a good chastisement to each of our kids for their, shall we say, less-than-stellar performances today.  UGH.  Sigh.  Yes, you could say I had a less-than-stellar performance as well when I informed the three kids that if we just did what we wanted, I most certainly wouldn't be sitting there in the living room - I would have been out the door a while ago. . . So not my best moment, but maybe it got them thinking.  Miles did ask me how long I would have stayed out. . . I didn't think "a reeeeeeeeeeeeally long time" would have been a good answer and so I just kept my mouth shut.

The Olympics were fun to watch - but not as nearly fun when there is someone (ahem, you, no not you, Ben) to watch them with.  Swimming was good, I think - I'm pretty sure a girl from the USofA got gold.  Gymnastics was a little crazy.  The men's team finals were on and the USofA team headed in to it in first place.  But, sadly, mistake after mistake by them and they were out.  Then Great Britain came into the forefront with a possibility to medal - which hasn't happened in like 60+ years or something.  Nobody could beat China for the gold, but 2nd and 3rd were up for grabs.  GB thought they had it after Japan (in a tight race with Lithuania?) had a big fumble on the pommel horse.  But. . . the Japanese contested the score. . . and in the end won the rebuttal and claimed 2nd, while GB got the bronze.  It looked a little fishy with the Japanese coach handing over money to the judges for his appeal. . . but I guess it was legit and that's how it's done (if the appeal is granted then you get your money back, if not you lose it).

Good night.  It's much too late.

My tricky little guy

A Sunday Morning. . .

Lucy in curlers, 2 swimsuits (one is under that you can't see), and turquoise crocs.

Emmy in curlers, cowgirl vest, underwear, and soccer socks.

Not quite ready for church, but getting there. . .

Sailing Away. . .

Last weekend we got the kids out on the sail boat.  It was slightly rushed as the storm was coming in, but the three kids all got turns and all loved it.  It was slightly scary for me watching them!  Luckily the time that things (important things) started falling off the boat was when it was just Ben - solo, without any kid.  Ben was sailing away, he couldn't steer (since his rudder had fallen off), and he was heading not where he wanted to go - so he had to jump ship (literally!).  He was expecting to touch bottom but didn't and that was a little bit of an unwelcoming surprise.  But he made it back to shore. 

 Here is Ben with Jonas and Emmy.  Yes, two minis can fit in the boat with Ben.  Awesome.

And Ben and Miles.

And some videos, but warning:  they might make you sea-sick.  I was watching Lucy at the same time and wanted to make sure she didn't wade out too far.  Sorry!  The second one is the worst.

Merit Badge Updates

 So we are slowly but surely getting merit badges earned around here.  It's a lot of work with four kids, I think!  But I'm still glad we're doing it - though I wonder if we'll really finish them all before summer is over (or the end of August, really).  We'll see.  Emmy has earned her art and hiking badges and is close to getting her "health and exercise" one, too.  The boys have gotten their cooking, hiking, art, and health & exercise badges.  And that other merit badge board is one that Miles made for Lucy.  As you can see she has earned a few badges.  I can't remember what they are.  But she did have a requirement to run up and down our path in our backyard.  Awesome.

I took a few pictures of our merit badge activity we did this morning:  the track.  Among a few other requirements for their "health and exercise" badge, they each had to run/walk the track three different times - doing as many laps as old they are.

 Warm up time with jumping jacks.  None of my kids can quite do them right.  I love it.

 Lucy did some running and walking.  It was adorable.  Of course.

 Emmy is our little Super Star Runner.  She is really quite good.  She's the only one that can really go fast and endure, too.  It's awesome to watch her.  She's only suppose to do 4 laps, but the first and third time we went she did 6 and the second time she did 8 laps.  She rocks and I can't wait to do Girls on the Run with her someday!

Jonas is usually the slowest poke.  In fact, Emmy once finished her 8 laps before he had done his 6.  But that's okay.  But today!?  Wow, Emmy must have revved him up because he stayed with her the whole time and did a whole lot more running than well, than ever.  It was pretty cool and he seemed happy!

Miles did good on his third go on the track.  He never did as great as the first time when he ran 2.5 miles and walked 0.5 (surpassing his required 8 laps by 4).  I was really hoping he'd have a little bit of a runner in him, but who knows.  He's still young.  :)  He still does well and runs and walks and doesn't complain much.

We've still got lots to do, like memorizing poems, building a bird house (we've started at least!), journaling about some nature walks, cleaning up a park, etc.

We'll keep on keeping on those merit badges and see what we get done!

FHE

So Monday nights = Family Home Evening (FHE) in Mormondom.  We usually start FHE with a rousing rendition of "The Family Home Evening Song"  (it probably has a better name).  And Wilson, our dog, always comes and joins us.  Always (as long as he is inside).  He's been doing this for months and months now.  He'll come running down the stairs (okay, the word running might be a stretch for our old, fat dog), or wherever he is, to our family room.  And not only does he greet us with his presence, he also sings:

Ha!  And, yes, I know he has a better voice than me. . .