MATTHEW LOVE!!

This morning, after dropping Sari and Joseph off at school, Matthew and I were driving home. As we backed into the driveway, Matthew said, "Mom, why is there water there?" (Pointing to our driveway.) I said, "Because the sprinklers were on." He was quiet for a minute and then said VERY sincerely, "Mom, you pwetty much know evwee-fing."

This child is a delight to me!

Salt Lake City Temple or Casino

Today I had Comcast Cable out to change our phone and internet from Qwest. The technician guy was hooking stuff up when his technician buddy came over to wait for him to be finished so they could go to lunch together. The friend, looking at our desktop picture (above) said, "Where is that?" I said, "Salt Lake City. That is the Mormon Salt Lake Temple. My husband and I were married there." Our tech said, "Oh, I thought it was a casino in Vegas."

I've always said marriage is a crap-shoot.

Superman Goes To The Dentist

Matthew was SO brave, he just climbed up into the seat and let them do EVERYTHING to him! Look at how relaxed he is - his feet falling out and arms hanging down. I hope he is this brave when he has to get "airplane nose", "sleepy-juice" and the "sugar bugs" taken off. So ... in case back to school isn't expensive enough, our 6 month rotation of dental visits for the kids now falls in September. Yesterday I took the 6 pack to our pediatric dentist. The verdict - half the kids have Larry's teeth and half of them have mine.

Poor fastidious Rachel, who is AR about brushing and flossing has a cavity. So does Daniel (of course) and Matthew (rats!! Those cute baby teeth all right on top of each other!) Larry's.

The other kids are crystal-clear! Mine.

I always feel like such a bad mom when my kids have cavities, even when the dentist assured me it is the chemical make-up of their saliva (that is such a gross word).

Back, to the original point of the post ... this picture illustrates that Superman does indeed go to the dentist, but more it is a comment on how lackadaisical I have become - last year's nasty old, dress-up is fine for going out in public with six kids. Not like going out with 6 kids doesn't get me enough stares!

(One time a lady thought Matthew was Rachel's and I WAS THE GRANDMA!!!!! I about fainted. I mean, I have never fainted before but I am pretty sure the black tunneling vision, the swirling lights and the buzzing sound in my ears was me fainting.)

Back to lowering standards - other things my kids have been spotted in - snowboots (miss matched) and shorts - in the summer and in the winter. Matthew's favorite outfit is his lime green and bright blue basketball shorts that he wears with his orange and navy blue shirt. Trust me, this is not a situation where the green and orange work together. And yes, he wears it as often as it is clean and often when it is not. I am sure there are more, I just am drawing a blank. I am usually so frazzled and distracted getting out the door on time that I don't even give the kids a good look over, I just count heads in carseats.

When Rachel was 3 she indignantly told me that pink and red flowers do not match - she had to change either her panties - red flowers or her dress - pink flowers. THAT is the kind of mom I used to be. (At one point of my OCD Motherhood I even had a bunch of clear plastic shoeboxes that were labeled with the outfit on the outside and I would stick the ENTIRE outfit down to socks and hair bows in the box and they were stacked in the closet. Each day a child picked out his or her box and that was what they were wearing. It was a vision of perfection!)

The current Mom I am lets (asks, commands, orders, cajoles, pleads, begs) the kids to put their own clothes away and when the mess gets too bad, does a massive clean-sweep. As long as everything that has sleeves goes in one drawer, everything that goes under clothes is in another and everything with legs in another, I am just not that bothered by it.

So, yesterday Superman went to the dentist and he felt confident and strong and he doesn't even notice that his symbol is a little worn off because that costume is his very own Velveteen Rabbit. I guess I can live with that.

Rachel's Birthday Party!

Rachel's Birthday Party was a lot of fun! Alex came later - he was playing in a football game for Deer Park.

SWEET SIXTEEN!!

Our sweet baby-love, Rachel, turned sixteen yesterday! I can't believe it! Where did the time go? In many ways she is the same girl that she was last week, when she was five. She is inquisitive, perfectionist, determined, responsible, kind-hearted, and she has always had a deep spirit, an understanding beyond her years. She is the kind of good kid that we want to take credit for, but deep inside, we know that she was just born this way.

Already so serious ... I felt so clueless when I brought her home from the hospital. I mean, hello? Did they know who they were giving her to?
Starting to get a little SASSY (in a good way) at five. Check out all the bling bling.
And now today. It seriously freaks me out to think how fast the time has gone. Everyone says that once your oldest turns 16 life speeds up furiously. I cannot imagine the time going any faster. It seems like she was just 6.
Hahahaha! I love this gift!!! A ticket to see "Wicked" with Mom and Dad in Los Angeles this fall. Rachel was so mad that Larry and I had tickets! She even told Larry, "you won't appreciate the music like I will. It isn't fair that you are going!" We knew all along that we were giving her the ticket for her birthday! It was one of the hardest secrets I've ever had to keep!
Her first kiss at sixteen. Yep, that's a new cell phone for our poor deprived daughter who had a cell phone without a camera and couldn't send or receive picture texts. We know that this is a mixed message since we always say that if we had it to do over, we would not let her get a cell phone, but instead we would have a kid phone. But the deal was too good to pass up and the parent points we scored knocked us back into the lead. (I need to say, that it is not because of her behavior that we wouldn't do a cell phone. She does need her texting like a crack whore needs a fix, but she TRIES to control the power it holds and she doesn't misuse it - too often. It is just that I think cell phones give kids too much freedom and too little accountability and Rachel has friends that are fabulous text-conversationalists and they can't put two words together face to face. Oops! Digressing again!)

So, back to having a sixteen year old ... I am not sure how it is possible, since I am, like, only 24, but somehow my kids are getting older. We only have two more summers with her before she starts college! ARG!!! We used to have forever - we could do that next summer and now "next summer" has come and gone. Our time with her is limited and I think we have done most of the damage and good that we are going to be able to do. The rest of her life is up to her! I trust her with it.

Boys Will Be Boys

So, after Mutual last night, the young men were goofing off and jumping over the disabled parking placard (the same one that some of the young men engraved their names on - duh! never sign your vandalism). Ben is height challenged, but managed to do some cool stuff, like upside down sit ups, see the above picture. I also have him, below, in the video, attempting his vault. It was pretty hilarious, since Ben was hamming up his inability to just jump over it. I am sorry that my cackeling laugh is on it, you might want to mute your computer.

Shocklingly, my dad didn't find the Ben movie that hilarious, so I thought I would post a video clip of his friend doing what Ben was trying to do in the hopes that seeing what a 6 foot kid can do that a 5 foot 5 inch kid cannot do makes it more funny. It just might be my sick sense of humor. It wouldn't be the first time.

Sometimes Karma Bites You On The Butt

Today Sari came home from school, laughing (not in a mean way, just the location and the word makes most of my kids giggle) at her friend, Helena, who was bit on the heiny by a "hobo" spider. (Knowing what I do about hobo spiders, I really doubt it was a hobo, but maybe it was, she was bit the afternoon before and she sat on it, so maybe no venom got in.) She said, "She was so funny, hopping around and trying not to sit down." Then Sari went outside to help Daniel learn to ride a bike (that darn reciprocal movement!) and she came running in not ten minutes later SCREAMING her lungs out! (Sari has always had a flair for the dramatic.) Turns out she had been stung on "the upper thigh" (Sari's words - mine are - "right close to the tushy!") by a yellow jacket! I was going to post a picture, but it looks like kiddie porn. Plus, once the welt got big, I gave her benadryl, so now you can't see it at all and she is fine and helping her brothers build a fort - INDOORS of course. karma - believe it or suffer it!

First Day of School

Someone at the picnic on Monday asked me how old SariB is and I said, "25". We all laughed but when she was born (forced out, evicted, if you will) eleven days late, I should have known that she was coming into this world on her terms. She hasn't changed a bit.

Joseph is ready for school! His favorite part of the day? Riding the bus, of course. He was so excited he kept grinning these enormous horse-mouth smiles that looked more like he was being electrocuted!

Dan the man is in hog, I mean, dog heaven this year in school - his class has a therapy dog! How cool is that? AND, his backpack wheels light up!

Although Mamu is not of public school age, he was not to be denied his chance for the first day of school photo shoot. I am not sure what my favorite part of this picture is - the fivvel (pronounced fiv-vel and it means sticky up hair somewhere on the head) on the back of his head or that he found some of Griff's soccer shoes hand me downs and even though they are about 5 sizes too big, he has worn them every single day AND night. Usually on the wrong feet and yes, the bruises on my foot can attest to the fact that the cleats are still in excellent condition.

Who is this girl? Why is she allowed to look so cute? Let's lock her away until she is 35! She is counting down the days until she is SIXTEEN! We, her parents, are also, but for entirely different reasons.

Benny looked sporty and happy on his first day of high school in his "Optimists Club" shirt. Kids these days ...

Hellooooo? Is anyone there?

So, after quite a bit of tutoring from Utah (person, not place - and thanks also to Utah for stopping in a lot so my counter is higher and I feel good about myself), we are now officially online. (Cheers ... applause, I know, you are all duly impressed.)

My main motivation to do this blog came when I realized that someday, instead of scrapbooking (which I sort of like to do but not in the cute, $25-one-picture-a-page way, more in the 12x12 pages fit 6-9 pictures on them - woohoo! way and why on earth did I do one for each of the six pack? That was just crazy I should have done a family one ONLY), I am going to download these blogs, edit them, and get them printed into books. Think of the saved space - physically, mentally and emotionally! Think of the big bucks to be earned on Ebay when I sell my stamp sets. Although, I do like the 3D look that scrapbooking offers and you just can't get it on computer pages, no matter how cute. Hmmm... I welcome comments here from others in the know.

Oops, I am digressing ...

The only thing I don't love about this whole blogging thing is that there are no cute fonts. I mean, what is that all about? Maybe there is a way to change that? I have like 200 thousand some odd super cute fonts, none of which can be used here. The font is often more important than the content.

If you are already addicted to the riveting and compelling Spoke-N-Sants newsletter, you may get some spoilers or some more information here. If that's not a reason to stop by, I don't know what is.