Weekend Activities

After work yesterday I met up with Amy and the kids to see Dayton's pal Christian. Dayton has been doing really well with his listening skills and now we're going to focus a little bit on Ellie to extinguish some of her baby behaviors.

Last night Mark and I babysat for Marcy and Jeff. Their three kids were full of spunk and kept us on our toes. We crashed shortly after they left and slept in until 8 AM. I was able to iron Mark's shirt and pants for work before I cleaned up quick and ran to my Mom's.

We had breakfast at our favorite little place; The Normandy Cafe and it was delicious! We met up with CrAmy Cakes to clean Mike and Michelle's place. Between the three of us in an hour and twenty minutes we busted out the high traffic living areas and were able to make a difference. Special thanks to both my Mom and Amy for their selfless service today!

My Mom and I hit Target together and then we went back to her place so I could assist with her resume and application as part of the hoop jumping for Jordan District. I then picked up a few things to help the kids with some bed time issues that should provide some consistency and perhaps make things easier on everyone!

I dropped that stuff off and came home to indulge in a warm bath and the books I picked up on the way home at Deseret Book! I started reading, "And They Were Not Ashamed" and enjoyed my baked potato from Wendy's!

Micci and Jazzy were here so I got to get the the upload on their home hunting today with their Realtor. They have it narrowed down to some really cute town homes in Riverton and now I wait for my Marky Mark to come home for our date night!

So much for cleaning our home! For now I am going to drift off to sleep while watching the Kids Choice Awards on Nickelodeon as I adore Jack Black!!

On the B Side: I am grateful for days like this! I love being away from work and accomplishing various tasks. It feels so good to be productive!

Weekend Update

We had a nice relaxing weekend together as a family! The kids did a great job helping out and played well together. Dayton is feeling much better and seems almost fully recovered with the exception of a few sniffles.

Poor Ellie bumped her noise on the fireplace Friday night and has had a little swollen and bruised nose. Her tears dried quickly and I had hoped that the ice would keep the swelling down. She doesn't seemed bothered by it but I'll feel better when the bruises fade.

After some cabin fever on Saturday the kids and I went out and about. We got to see Rubin and the Grateful on Saturday and they have made themselves quite comfortable at my Mom's. We also went to a park in Sandy and the kids were able to burn some energy. The sun was out and it was a nice change of pace.

All in all we were able to complete the following;

-Cleaned the bathrooms
-Put fresh linens on all of the beds (blankets included)
-Completed all of the laundry (including put it away!)
-Vacuumed the upstairs and swept/cleaned the tiled areas
-Ran the dishwasher way too many times
-Made a serious drop off at the DI
-Cleaned and organized the Master bedroom
-Began organizing our storage room downstairs

The kids were a big help with all of these tasks! Usually they get bored about 10 minutes into it but keeping 6 little hands busy for 10 minutes still gives me 1) a good head start 2) keeps them out of trouble and 3) helps build the concepts of team work and accomplishment!

Our Friday night slumber party was graced by "Snow Buddies". The kids didn't love it as much as I thought they would but I managed to cry 3 different times. Keeping them all busy, fed and out of trouble is as much work as ever. The girls are big on imaginary play and coloring while Dayton is more geared towards games. He loves computer games, board games and card games. Either way 3 is an odd number and requires me more often than not to be the extra playmate. I don't mind ;)

My Mom stopped by on both Saturday and Sunday and the kids also got to see Jazzy and Micci several times. The kids were invited to be a part of their wedding. This will be the third wedding for Dayton and Ellie. Mostly we just had fun being together as a family especially after a long week!

On the B Side: I love time like this that is free from drama! I also love it when the kids are all in bed and asleep by 8:10 PM! How you like me now?!

Home Sweet Home

Life is always sweeter when my babies are home! Their Dad dropped them off this evening and I always love hearing about their time away. Ellie graciously helped me fold clothes while Dayton munched on some clementines.

We finished the Magic Tree House book #8 and they were excited. We always switch the names from Annie and Jack to Dayton and Ellie when we read and they love it! They both went to bed quietly and were out before 9. I sure do love my little ones!!!!

On the B Side: I am just thankful to have them home with us again! I'm glad that they're both healthy and happy and just feel so blessed to have these two little amazing spirits in my life!

My Moonbeams

This photo is one of the very first taken of my Moonbeams together! It's hard to believe how much times as passed and how quickly it has gone. So much has happened in that time and I have to admit that as wonderful as every stage is...our lives together just keep getting better! Each stage seems to trump the previous even when you can't imagine it being any better. Does anyone else feel this way?

Last night poor Ellie was a disaster. She was so tired and had herself worked up. I allowed her to come lay on the couch with me for a little bit. She laid quietly for a few minutes and than randomly asked, "Mom, why are ants small and we're big?"

A discussion about our Heavenly Father ensued which quickly led to the topic of what happens after we die. I couldn't possibly tell you why/how her little mind led to that but we have talked about this often. Again we talked about our spirit going to heaven, like a ghost a very friendly ghost and she giggled and asked, 'like the Holy Ghost?'. Yes Ellie, like the Holy Ghost! Contented my tired little girl passed out moments later. The mind of a 4 year old is rather perplexing and so intriguing to me!

Dayton has been enjoying Kindergarten and had a field trip to the Dinosaur Museum this week. He was excited as previously his dad had taken him there and most of the kids in his class had not been there before. He was anxious to show them all of the fun stuff and is anxious to go back. Being that today is Friday it's his day to hug Ariana at school. Apparently they made a promise to hug every Friday but only on Friday!

Today after school we're going to the Aquarium for some more fun. Tomorrow AM Dayton has his last Junior Jazz game for this season. The rest of the day will be consumed with cleaning, laundry and naps. I have a trunk full of stuff for DI and should finish unpacking one of these day ;)

On the B Side: I am grateful for each day we have together! I have a darling little family and feel so blessed dispite the hardships that come. It's the day to day stuff that means the most as the time is so precious and moves so quickly.

The Brady Bunch and then some!

Last weekend my Clancy Pants and her family came down to SLC from IF and stayed with us. Unfortunately Mark had to work most of the time but we all had a blast. I'm sad that I didn't take any pictures.

On Saturday I was babysitting for some friends so we had a total of 7 children running around our home (compared to just 6 the rest of the weekend!). My Dad is also here from PA and keep in mind that my brother lives with us... we literally had a party!

Here's a run down of activities. Keep in mind the the children ranged from ages 2 to 7 and we had at least 5-6 adults here and 2 extras Saturday evening.

Potty Accidents: 3 (and two of them were Ellie...which never happens anymore!!!)
Kids sleeping in my room: 3
Boys: 4
Girls: 3
Hoot-n-Nanny Pancakes: 2 nine by thirteen pans Saturday morning
Casualties: 1 (Poor Kayla biffed it on the sidewalk)
Trips to the Park: 1
Christmas Cookies Made: 2 batches
Late Nights past 11 for the Kids: 2
Late Nights past 1 AM for me and Clancy Pants: 2
Movies Watched: 2 (Madagascar both times!)
Tears: Only a handful when I put the tubby toys away (Sorry, RoRo)
Loads of Laundry: 7 (these were all mine!)
Gallons of Apple Juice: 3
Gallons of OJ: 2
Gallons of Milk: 2
Instruments Played: 2 (guitar and piano)
Waffles: I have no idea how many there were but man were they flakey (Bad Dad!)
Highlight: Clancy signing 'A Long Time Ago' with Dustin's crazy Kata

We had no real squabbles, no injuries on the tramp, no runaways and no time outs!! TV time was minimal and the weather was beautiful! The kids were really awesome and played so well together. We were late for Church on Sunday but at least I had my lesson prepared ;)

On the B Side: I am grateful for the best of friends!