Yellowstone

We had a fabulous trip to Yellowstone and I even survived packing. Though the verdict is still out on the unpacking. How is it that being gone for four days can create such havoc?

We began our trip by stopping at a restaurant called Big Jud's. We then proceeded to share 10 of the biggest hamburgers I have ever seen in my life. I kid you not! There were 15 adults and a gazillion kids and we couldn't finish those burgers. Each one was as big as a pie! One in our group ate and entire burger and that resulted in having his picture put up on the wall of shame. It was a fun meal which ended in a bunch of kids making a huge mess with giant ice cream cones. I don't think they know how to do things small at Big Jud's!

We then stopped at Wilford and got to hear some wonderful stories about some ancestors. The kids enjoyed this and it was great fun.



Our first day in Yellowstone we spent on the northern loop. Before we got out at the first stop, Michael informed us that he bet he could find a great big stick. I think he was successful. What do you think?



There were a bunch of Bison in the background and the kids were so excited. I think they wanted to pet them, but were deterred by the signs that said the Bison would gore you if you got too close. There was much stopping of traffic to view these big guys. They liked to wander right next to the road. I suppose I wouldn't be afraid of cars either if I was as big as they are!



We hit all the main attractions and wore everybody out. By the end of the day I was bribing the kids with gummy bears if they'd get in the car again and get seatbelts on. It worked well, but by the end of the trip, Odessa didn't know how to get in her seat without saying, "Bear, bear" repeatedly. Such a helper!

She loved running and wiggling all over the walkways as we saw the different places. She's so stinkin' cute, if I do say so myself!



Mammoth Hot Springs



Sadly, we were unable to escape illness during our trip and Lillie ended up with the stomache flu that we have been plagued with. Dad was a trooper and stayed home with Lillie the second day and let me go play with the kids. Apparently they had a wonderful Daddy-daughter day, so it wasn't a total loss. However, we still had some issues on the way home. Poor girl!



We spent our second day in the park on the southern loop and of course we made it to Old Faithful. It was a wonderful day and a great trip to Yellowstone! I definitely appreciated the beauty of the park much more as an adult, although I have many fond memories of going there as a child. I'm so glad we got the opportunity to go!

Happy Fourth of July!

I got all six kids to sit still for 1.2 seconds. Everyone but the baby was sporting their holiday attire which included T-shirts and hair bobs for the girls and hats for the boys. (I had a moment of creativity and actually made the girls' hair thingies. Go me!)


We swam and had hot dogs and hamburgers and the kids ran around torturing Grandma's house. It was great fun. Then, when it finally got dark, we broke out the fireworks.




Odessa was less than thrilled with the fireworks and spent her time clinging to me for dear life. Towards the end of our pyrotechnics show, put on by my pyro hubby, I had the baby in my lap, Odessa clinging to my back and Katherine huddled up next to me. Grandma came and saved the day, and Odessa promptly fell asleep in her lap. Katherine watched the fireworks with me, but was concerned the noise was bothering the baby. So she sat there with her hands over Emily's ears. She loves her sister so much! Now if I can just get her and Odessa to stop beating the snot out of one another we'll be good to go!

We then had a drive home and I determined that the day was a success! How could I tell? Maybe by the exhausted children asleep in the car!!

Quiet down cobwebs

It's 4 a.m. and I'm laying on the floor in the nursery watching Emily coo and smile and wiggle and squirm. I'm so tired, but I can't help smiling at my happy little baby. Even at 4 in the morning. I keep telling her that it's time to go back to sleep, but she's oblivious to the time and to my exhaustion. She is merely happy and talking to the angels.

After Katherine was born, I went through a time when I was so sleep deprived that I would wake up standing in the hallway, confused and certain that someone was up and needing me. I would stand there listening, and ultimately go back to bed not having heard a thing. I got to the point where I hated the middle of the night wakings and feedings. I was cranky and unhappy and it made for unhappy babies in the night. I even understood how a parent could shake a baby. How awful.

I needed a change of heart, a change of attitude.

Before Odessa was born, as I was decorating the nursery, I decided to put part of a poem I'd seen before on the wall. The portion of the poem on my wall reads, "So quiet down cobwebs, dust go to sleep. I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep." I put it up there so that I would have a constant reminder of what is really important, especially during those times that I want to be doing other things, like sleeping.

I made up my mind before she was born that I would learn to enjoy the middle of the night feedings. I would have a good attitude and be happy to see her. I was determined to have a better experience.

And I did. Though there were still many nights I looked to my wall for a reminder, it was better. And Odessa and I shared a few wonderful middle-of-the-night moments, just the two of us, that I will never forget.

So as I lay there on the floor last night, watching Emily wiggle and squirm, I looked up to my wall and remembered that babies don't keep. They grow so quickly. And even though I'm very tired this morning, I quite enjoyed our conversation at 4 in the morning, which included many priceless smiles.

Here's the poem in it's entirety.

"Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth, Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing and butter the bread,
Sew on a button and make up a bed.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.
Oh, I've grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue
(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).
The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew
And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo
But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren't her eyes the most wonderful hue?
(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
For children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep."

by Ruth Hamilton

How to transport sleeping baby into crib

Today, we will address the skill of transporting your sleeping child into his/her crib. There are many possible ways of accomplishing this feat, but we will only discuss a few.

Method #1

After spending what feels like hours getting your infant to sleep, carefully and gently as possible, tiptoe into baby's room. Adjust your hands so that they can carefully maneuver baby off your chest and into the crib, jiggling him/her as little as possible. Set the infant down then place your hand on him/her and start to pray. If he/she begins to wiggle, start chanting 'no, no, no' and pray harder. Then, when baby's eyes pop wide open, pick baby up and start over. You may eventually be able to set baby down without the eyes popping open, but it will probably take a while.

Method #2

This method is called the 'let baby sleep wherever baby is asleep', method. I use this on occasion and out of desperation. I am not a parent who sleeps with my children, but sometimes the situation warrants it. And so if baby is asleep and I'm afraid to move, baby may get the rare opportunity to sleep with me. I've also let baby sleep in the swing, the carseat and the floor. All with monitoring, of course. But sleep is sacred and I'll take it however I can get it!!

Method #3

Levitation. This method needs to be mastered by someone and then passed on to all sleep deprived parents, because it really is the only way not to wake a baby upon placing him/her in bed. I'm just sure of it.


Good luck to all parents attempting any of these methods. And if you perfect levitation, please let me know!

Hodge podge

Due to illness, I haven't posted for almost a week, and so I'm just going to include all my posts in one. How handy is that?

The first matter of business is simply a question. At what point does a child understand the concept of sticking one's head over a bucket or toilet when ill? I thought four and a half was old enough. Apparently not. I'll leave it at that.

Saturday, Andrew and Lillie performed in their first ever piano recital. We've worked hard and it was great to see them play! Since I teach just my own children and don't have any other students right now, we joined with two other teachers in the neighborhood who only have a couple of students and had a joint recital. It brought back a lot of memories from my childhood!

Andrew:



Lillie:



Then, Dad worked on a few 'honey do's', which turned out to be the highlight of the day. He fixed the lawnmower, which was getting necessary as the lawn was a little embarrassing. And then he went to see if he could figure out why we had a leak in the master shower. (Please refer to my list of broken things over the last couple of months!)

When Dad informed Andrew to go get a hammer so he could bang a hole in the wall, the excitement was evident. And so, the kids took turns using this:



To make these:



It's so funny what makes a child's day! Everyone had to have a turn. Sadly, we haven't figured out what was leaking, but I am now sporting one large hole along with the two small holes in the picture, in my bathroom. They are lovely additions, if I do say so myself!

And life goes on...hopefully sickness free in the near future. I have officially Lysoled all the doorknobs, lightswiches and rooms. And now I cross my fingers and pray no one else gets sick!

A successful day!!

Andrew's birthday was lots of fun, thanks to all of his ideas! Here are a few pictures from our eventful day!!


The toilet paper contest



The streamer maze!


PRESENTS!!


And last, but not least, ice cream sundaes!!


And just for good measure!

A decade old!

Michael: "Hey, Andrew. You're a decade old!"

Ten years ago today, my first child was born. He was born in the middle of the night and kindly held off so that his grandparents could make the trek from Wyoming and still make it with time to spare. What a thoughful child! I was in labor for about fourteen hours. Andrew weighed in at a whopping 9lbs 5oz. and was 21 1/2 inches long. He arrived exactly two weeks before his due date and I spent my days in the hospital trying to convince the staff that I wasn't lying about that because he was so big!

Andrew is a great kid. He loves football and he loves to read. He is so stinkin' smart, and I'm not just saying that!! Although I am just a teeny bit biased! I checked him out of school early today and he came walking out with a red smiley face sticker stuck to the middle of his forehead! He can be so much fun. And when he smiles, it just melts my heart.

A few days ago, I asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday and he gave me a paper that contained the following information:

0. Present before school
1. Get home from school 3:30
2. Movie theatre 4:00
3. Eat upstairs 6:00
3. or the Mayan
4. Go in the attic 7:00 (He's been bugging me about this for a while. I keep telling him there's nothing up there but insulation. I may have to let him go, just so he'll quit bugging me!)
5. Toilet paper contest 7:30 (Apparently, this consists of wrapping oneself in toilet paper and trying to move.)
6. Streamer maze 8:00
7. Get to end of maze and eat Ice cream sundaes 8:15
8. PRESENTS 8:30
9. Sleep outside!! Start 9:00

He has a very specific idea of how this day should go and it just makes me laugh! So we'll probably do most of it! Why not? I'll take pictures of the events and post those later! Happy decade, my son!!