Caden's 6th Birthday Celebration

We do things a little different in our family. For Christmas, we very much drive home the fact to the boys that it is NOT their birthday. It is Jesus's birthday, and we do things that Jesus would want for his birthday. Santa brings one family gift and then mom and dad get one gift per boy and their siblings give them a gift(2 gifts total for ea boy). It was really hard the first year, we felt like total cheapskates! Now, three years later, we think it is a wonderful gift we have given them. They know the TRUE meaning of Christmas, EVERY year. Well...come their birthday, we spoil them rotten. They basically get ANYTHING they want.(Until they realize how much more is out there!) Caden couldn't think up anything that he wanted to do, but wanted water. We decided to take him to a water park in South Dakota. We left the babies with a sitter, and just the three older boys went. We drove the 2 hours east to Rapid City and asked Caden where he wanted to eat lunch. He said anywhere with ice cream. We took them to TGI Fridays. Caden ordered chicken strips and for a side wanted carrots with ranch and cucumbers (I told him he could ask for ANYTHING he wanted, the waitress was shocked that was what he picked) He was in Hog Heaven eating away and making deals with the boys so they could have some of his cucumbers. So cute! Then he got this huge ice cream sundae, which he ate all of. We took him to Toys R Us and let him pick one of his own presents out. He picked a suped up Nerf Gun. Then we headed to the water park where he ran and played and ran and played. (As a side note, my heart broke for the little kids that were overweight and couldn't climb the stairs to get to the slides. I watched kids climb on their hands and knees up them, and then stop short and take a smaller slide. So sad! What a disservice their parents have done!) Then when we were done he wanted some ice cream. We went to Cold Stone, and told him he could have the biggest size he wanted. He chose the large, of course, and told the girl he wanted as much as he could get. She had that bowl over flowing with strawberry ice cream, sprinkles, and gummy bears. He ate the WHOLE thing. Never complained a bit! He just said thank you a hundred times! We love our little sweetheart. We call him junk gut because he can put the ice cream down! He loves his ice cream. He told us this was his best birthday surprise yet! He is so greatful for us. He has no interest in hugging most others, but he would hug Chet and I all day if we let him. He has a heart the size of Texas and is the toughest little teddy bear ever. We couldn't imagine our lives without this little sweetheart!!! Now it is killing him waiting until next week when he gets to open his presents (we had to go over this weekend to miss the Sturgis Week in Rapid City) We're having a break the fast next week and having over all the families that can come from our ward, and throwing in a little cake and ice cream celebration for him. He is so proud to be turning 6, and to be entering Kindergarten soon! We love you Cada-Babe!!!

Mom, He Told Me Not To

A recent problem I am having is my boys pouring WAY too much cereal (they pour exactly how their dad does it, but Chet can eat it all!) in their bowl. It makes me so mad when I am pouring out bowls full of cereal. I figured up this morning, trying to make myself chill a little, how much money I was pouring out in cereal. At most it was $1.50, but then I decided it is not the cereal cost, but the whole idea. I just kind of snapped this morning on the idea of it all, and told Caden and Carson that they could eat everything in their bowl, or they could lay on their bed until dad came home for lunch. NO NEGOTIATION!!! I left the kitchen and was cleaning my bathroom up when Caden came in to talk to me. He looked at me dead serious and said, "Mom. There is a voice in my head talking and it is Jesus. He told me not to eat the cereal because it will hurt me because it is molded." Then he just got his puppy dog eyes and nodded up and down. I had to stand there for a little while to keep myself from laughing and just looked him right in the eye and said, "Go eat, or go to bed." He said, "Dangit!" and went back to the table. Little worm. The sad part is is that I probably would have let him off with that one if he hadn't thrown in the molded part. The things kids come up with...I am in so much trouble!!! How do you say no to things like that. That is creative!

Going to Church Alone

First, I have to start by saying how proud I am of Chet. He is an amazing father and husband. But even more than that, he is such a hard worker. We have been trying to conserve our few days of vacation left when he hears that Minot ND is in serious need of able men to help out with all the flooding problems. He didn't even hesitate to use 2 days vacation to go. We know that we are beyond blessed, and we know that it could all be gone tomorrow. So...he is in Minot today, leaving me all five boys to take to church alone. I was probably a little over confident, but I also knew this would be the hardest hour that he was gone. OH.MY.GOODNESS. Hard is not a strong enough word. If I were a cussing women, here is where there would be more than one naughty word to describe Sacrament Meeting today. Luckily someone behind me took Colby, but then they wanted a burp rag, a toy, anything to entertain him, a blanket...holy crap just give him back!( I was just glad all five were on the bench still!) Haha, I just wasn't prepared to fly solo. Chet and I always tag team this, so I was short a few supplies. We were there on time (8:58 am thank-you), two of the five had ties on, all five got breakfast (barely) and all five had their hair done! I don't see crap on their face anymore, so who knows if their face was clean! We invented new games. Flying Book of Mormons, hit and run Book of Mormon, Build yourself a head fort with hymn books, write each other hate notes on the announcements and several others that I have surely blocked out already!(Each one got to be played for about 1 second ea, followed by the look of death from me!) At one point I was short one boy, so before I can stop them, two go looking for him. Crazy! Pure Crazy! Afterwards I had alot of people telling me how cute my family is and how wonderful they are. I told one that she needed glasses, and the couple sitting behind me says, "You weren't sitting behind them!" I just smiled and thanked them for all their help! Oh how I love that my husband comes and gets to sit with me every week! Someday we will look back and miss this...NOT!!! Everyone keeps telling us that, but I think they are delusional. Needless to say, we played how do we sit in Sacrament Meeting when we got home, BEFORE they could eat lunch, pure torture for boys!!! Sit and fold your arms and face forward with your feet down for 30 min straight, or time starts over. We'll see how next week goes...with Chet thank goodness!

Fat

(Every once and a while I remember things from the past, and want to add them too). Once when I was cleaning out the basement, I came across alot if High School pics. My boys thought they were cool to look at, and they loved laughing at how Nana and Papa had changed. So I thought that was funny what a kick they were getting out of Papa's not gray hair. Well, then the tables turned. As we were sitting at dinner a little later, Carter says, "Mom? Remember how skinny you were in those pictures? (then he pokes my love handles, Cael is about 1 yr old at this time) Look at you now." Chet just looks at me like a deer in the headlights, and does everything he can not to bust out laughing. Then Carter says, "I don't like fat. I think that it looks disgusting on people." His father, who doesn't and never has had an ounce of fat on him just busts out laughing. He couldn't hold it any longer. Carter was dead serious. I start tickling him and saying that is baby fat so I could bring his butt into this world, and he was not buying it. Now, everytime he catches a glimpse of my fat, he'll say to his brothers, that's mom's baby fat. She had to have it for us, but she will get rid of it. The little turd!!! But it is so innocent and cute that I cannot be mad or hurt. Kids speak the truth! I just told him if he ever says anything to ANYONE else, he will sit in his bed for a week.

Beating the System

Anyone who doesn't like Gillette, hasn't ever lived here, or if they did, didn't REALLY experience it! This place is AMAZING. Chet and I LOVE(D) Casper, it was a great 6 1/2 yrs. But we love it here too. They have SOOOO much money that they make on all the energy (mostly coal) and they give it back to us! The library is amazing, the city grounds are beautiful, the school programs are wonderful, etc. You think if you move to a city half the size, you get half the city, right? No, we have everything but Sam's club and the mall (Bath & Body Works) here that we had there (that I used anyways) Well, my boys are going to FREE, you heard that right, FREE summer programs paid for by the city. These are not slum classes. Fun, fun things. Well, they attend a Gym 60 class, a PE class basically, everyday for 2 hours. Yesterday they came home with pedometers. Really nice ones! They told me that they have to bring back their favorite cereal label and their pedometers to see how many steps they took. Caden decides to run all over the house with his "thermometer" to get more steps. Carson had 3957 within about 2 1/2 hours just doing normal things (no wonder my kids are twigs, I myself try to get 10,000 a day!) Well last night I go down to give them hugs and kisses before bed and Carson is shaking his pedometer as fast as he can. I say what are you doing, and he tells me, "I just found out that everytime I shake it, it adds a step. So I am shaking it as fast as I can." I told him that was not right and he says, "I know, but it's cool!" That would be my Cars. Who cares if it's right, honest, correct, etc. If it's cool, he'll learn it and he'll do it. Gosh I love that boy!!! Carter will do well because he is just smart, flat out smart. Carson will succeed because he will never sit behind a desk and climb the ladder. He will go 100 miles an hour to make just what he needs to play, and then he'll flat out LIVE!!!

Growling

When Carson was 4 he started growling at me. It would instantly make my blood boil. I HATED it to say the least. Every time I would say something that he didn't like, he would growl at me. Well, after about three weeks of being furious at him for doing it, he did something that I did not like. I growled at him. Chet and I just look at each other and he starts shouting, it's you! You taught him that! It's you! We both started laughing. Now, before I get mad at him for doing something really annoying, I stop and look at myself first. He does SOOOOO many things that make my blood boil, and unfortunately, he learns most of it from me.

Wal-Mart

I have told Chet that when you get a certain number of kids, people can no longer count them with just a normal walk by. They have to bounce their head and move their eyes from boy to boy. It cracks me up to watch peoples reaction to my little crew. Needless to say, Wal-Mart is the worst! People feel it their mission or their need to tell you about the birds and the bees there. I think people are afraid that I might not be busy enough, that I need a reminder from them that I should be very busy. I get told about 5 times every trip that I should be very busy. I have been asked twice, by cashiers none the less, if all of my boys are from the same dad. I want to say, "Are you serious!!!" Besides they are all little clones, who asks that! But, to me it's just my life, and sometimes I need something at the store bad enough that I have to take all five. So I just smile and say that I love all my monkeys and yes, I am very busy!

Not a Nice Word

When Carter and Carson were about 3ish, Carter told Chet to shut up one day after he got home from work. I don't EVER say that word so I was immediately embarrassed hoping that Chet didn't think I had taught them. I get very sad and tell Carter that that is not a nice word. I then ask him if he has EVER heard me say that? (that's what we always say when they say something inappropriate) He just sits there and I say to Chet that I DO NOT use that ever, and Carson says nope (as he stands up on the chair for major affect) mom says, "ZIP IT!" as he runs his hand with fingers pinched across his body like zipping a zipper sideways. I never even realized until then I even said that with that motion. The things kids teach us about ourselves!

Grimlins

When I was young, we had grimlins. Those darn things used to always do things to get us kids in trouble. I always remember my mom saying, it must have been those grimlins. Well, they followed me!!! I now have grimlins in my house. I put some paint supplies in the bathroom so that I could paint it. Someone poured blue paint all over the sink. When I ask the boys who got in the paint and poured it into the sink, they all in unison say, "it wasn't me!" They say it so much in fact, Cael told me the other day, "It wasn't me mom. I am really sure! You are being so unfair." He doesn't even know what all that means. He is just repeating. I said it must have been those grimlins, and Caden gets instantly scared and says, "What are grimlins? Are they in our house? How did they get here?" He was so scared of whatever grimlins were that poured the paint into the sink!

Are You Kidding Me!

You know how as parents you have this idea in your head about how things are going to be. You make a plan and invision it unfolding that way. Well...I did not EVER imagine having to have "the talk" with my SEVEN YEAR OLDS! The twins were born via c-section, so I used the easy way out. I told them that they were cut out of my belly. They were happy with that. Well, a couple of months ago they came home from primary and informed me that babies can come out another way, in which they tried to discuss in primary but their teacher (a male) said they needed to talk to us (he's the last bishop of the ward, SUPER awesome!) Somehow the boys forgot about it the minute their bellies took over, and as boys do, would rather eat than anything. However, there has been a constant stream of questions since. Finally, yesterday in Costco as I was buying feminine products, it came to a head. Carter would not be brushed off with generic answers anymore and demanded to know everything! So, we had the whole baby and girl part boy part lesson. I told Chet to prepare, because he gets the condom talk! I know it's coming soon! There should be some clause that says if you don't have any girls, you shouldn't have to have the talk, your husband should. I am just glad they want to talk to me, so I won't complain! Being a mother...wow!!!

The Hardest Things in Life

There are two things that are DRIVING ME CRAZY lately. It's not like they are new, or anything different from our normal lives, but lately they are just killing me! 1) Leaving the doors open (I think because then Cael could escape and I wouldn't hear the alarm announce that a door had opened) 2) Not flushing toilets (I am sick of smelling pee and having a pee ring every day because they are too lazy to flush) Well, I have been harping on the boys for about a month now pretty hard about these things. I have found out that Carter is the worst one, AT BOTH! I just got mad at him for leaving the door open and this is what he says to me, "What mom! Those two things are like the hardest things in life. Every body has things they are bad at." I couldn't help but laugh. Oh how I wish those were even CLOSE to the hardest things in life!!!

How Does He Do That???

Chet and I constantly marvel at the things Carson can convince his brothers to do. It is amazing! He is SUCH a good leader. Everything he does his brothers will follow. Now we just have to work on leadership for good, not naughty things. The latest...they are his race dogs, and he is the rider, on a blanket, behind them. For two days now, every time Carson wants, he gets them to wrap a jump rope around their waists and take off running around the kitchen and around the table. He pull on the "reigns" and tells them faster, in which they run harder and faster, until they just drop. Carter is so strong that Carson is flying around the kitchen having a total ball for serval minutes at a time, and has any other boy had a turn???? NO! Just Carson, and there are no complaints either. Caden and Carter haven't even asked for a ride. So Crazy!!! Good for Cars for using his imagination for his good; hopefully he always does and makes himself very successful for it!!!

Gold Teeth

It is a constant battle to keep everything done. Always...everyday...I miss many things that could be done better. I try so hard to make sure the things of "eternal importance" are the top priority: reading scriptures every night even though sitting and trying to feel the spirit when I am just DONE for the day with the boys, still do it. Saying prayers even though two seconds earlier I was so mad at the boys for kicking each other in the "quadee". Those kind of things. Sadly to say, I have given each boy a tooth brush and tell them to brush in the shower, which Chet and I both do every morning, but I don't follow up every day to make sure they have actually brushed. At times I catch a glimpse of some disgusting teeth. I told Carson to get his butt in the bathroom and brush those snaggles, and he smiles at me and says, "I am not brushing anymore." I tell him that is obvious and he says that he is not going to ever brush again because he wants gold teeth. I just stop and look at him thinking that is the most rediculous thing I have ever heard. I have had many conversations with him about it and he just doesn't understand that is not how it works, and he will not always want gold teeth. He doesn't care, so the battle wages on. Everyday it's a fight to prevent gold teeth, very much against his will!

Carson Sick

Last night Carson got sick. He spent the night in the bed on the floor that has become a permanent fixture lately, for "sick" kids, nightmares, scratchy throat, and anything else they come up with in the middle of the night. Today he got up at 7:30 am, which told me that he was still sick. Very sick. The kid has an inner alarm clock that beeps sometime in the 6's every morning, and he doesn't know where the snooze button is! He then asked if he could stay home from his activities today as he crawled into bed with me while I was feeding Colby and snuggled. That was another BIG sign he was sick. He never wants to "snuggle" anymore, and he never wants to skip activities. I have decided that he is a good sick kid. Some of my other kids wine like crazy and pout and wine and pout some more. Carson turns into this ultimate softy. He loves to just rest. He never gets attitude, just politely asks me for whatever he needs. He smiles and talks kindly to his brothers, which is hard to come by lately. I just sit and watched him while he was napping thinking, I have got to be the luckiest woman on planet earth. Sometimes they are so hard to control I don't know what to do but cry. Sometimes I think I am raising complete disrespectful monkeys, and then a day like today comes. I see the true goodness in him, and true love he has for me, and this thankless job we call motherhood becomes all worth it!!!

Getting a Bug

Today I pick Caden up from a "PE Class" that the boys are attending this summer. He is really excited to see me and jumps up on the running board and says hello with a big smile. Then he jumps off the running board and starts smacking the car with his hand. I say Caden what are you doing? He looks down at his hand and says with a big Caden smile, "I got ya bug!"(He was beating the crap out of a bug on the Yukon!) Oh my, where's the line between cute and respecting things? I know that we are WAY over the line!

The Mother of Boys

You know that you are the mother of all boys...in everyway, when you see them doing something very wrong, yet you watch to see how it turns out. I was busy cleaning when I hear Carter and Caden whispering. You know that is never a good thing so I secretly watch them. They are hooking up to their snowboard...at the top of the stairs. Caden takes off, and you hear nothing for a while, and then the biggest laugh he can produce followed by, "You have got to try that!!!" Carter sees me at that moment and gets the mask of fear followed by, "what?". I just smiled and said, "be careful." Awwww, boys will be boys!