Feels Like A Man

Today on the way to the pool the boys were all talking a million miles a minute. They all think that they are so cool at the pool; they are finally old enough and good enough swimmers to pass the deep water swim test and go anywhere in the whole pool area. That makes pool life way easier for me with just the two babies to worry about. So I hear Caden say to no one in particular, just out loud, "I love that I passed the swim test. I feel like a man now!" WHAT! Where in the world did that come from? He feels like a man! Whoa...

Too Hard

As we are winding this party week up, the boys wanted to hit Applebees with some free meals they got for all their reading. I am pretty close to the end of my rope, so I enlisted my amazing friend Megan (single college girl) to come help for a free meal. Not a great deal for her, but that was the only way it was going to work. The boys have gotten about 2 hours less sleep a night than usual, AND I cannot sleep when Chet is gone, so I am on about 2 hours less sleep a night than usual! The two don't mix, but I am determined to make it the best week! So after the pool, we ran home, showered, picked up Megan, and headed there. Cael fell asleep on the bench right at the end. The waiter forgot to put in Cadens meal (and that kid lives in Cadenland with no filter or rational thinking skills, the WORST meal at the entire table to forget!) It took 1:15 min to get in and out (and I ordered the first time we saw our waiter). Finally, it was time to go home. I knew that as soon as we got home, it was bedtime tonight. Too many breakdowns today, they need some serious sleep (It is 7:28 and I have not heard a sound in over 15 min. Unheard of!!!) So on the way home, Colby starts screaming bloody murder. He was holding his nose and Megan tells me that it is bloody. I jumped Cars right away demanding him that he tell me what happened. I just snapped. He was freaking out saying that he didn't even touch him, that he just started screaming. That made me even madder, like he would just start screaming out of nowhere Cars! What the heck!!! Colby was just wailing, so I say, "Sweetheart, you have to stop crying and tell me what happened!" He slows the crying a little and says, "I picked my nose too hard! Now I have a bloody nose!" What do you say to that? Um... sorry Cars, your brother is a total geek and had his finger so far up his nose that when we hit a bump it jammed and hurt. I did apologize to Cars, and just laughed the rest of the way home AT Colby. Not with him, at him! I rock like that.

Soulja Boy

Chet has been really busy lately. I know, I know, it's just called life! But it does seem to have been really bad lately. Last weekend was youth conference so he was taken all weekend, and then Sunday was very busy with him speaking at a youth fireside and final preparations for high adventure. He is taking the boys (boy scouts that is) on a 59 mile canoe trip, in their homemade canoes. Chet has been stoked about it, so naturally the boys are totally bummed that they are not welcome on the trip. As Chet left for the week, the boys were unusually sad. I started to see them not liking that Chet was in the young mens. They kept saying that he was too busy. We are so lucky to have a dad that is always there. Always home at night. Always available when we need him. Always home for lunch. I never want the boys to think the church takes too much of Chet's time (no matter how much time that is). I feel it very important for me to teach them to sustain him. So... I decided this needs to be the best week of the summer. A straight party. So we have been swimming, out to eat, playing tennis, playing a million games of UNO (the boys LOVE to play UNO), watching movies every night, baking yummy treats, and tonight we had our stay up until 11 pm party (the highlight of the week for them!). We needed to have movies, so we all loaded up after dinner and went to Hastings. Fun times. 5 boys in a movie store. But the boys were great. We all picked out a movie (because tomorrow is stay at home all day and wear our Pjs and eat breakfast food all day, yep, all three meals. Pure heaven!!) Then we loaded up to head home. The IPOD was bluetoothed in to the car and they were instantly yelling to Carter what song to put on. And what did they pick? Crank That by Soulja Boy. All the boys are nodding their heads and looking super cool. They have their windows rolled down, wind blowing through the car. I just smiled thinking that my boys are exactly who I want them to be! They are fun, and cool, and sassy, and they love life. They love me. They have all prayed all week that they are thankful for the church and their great dad. I work so hard to be a good mom. Most times it feels like its not good enough. But great moments like this make me smile! Of all the fun things we've done this week, its when we are in the car that I really appreciate all that my life has and is! I also would have never thought that listening to Crank That would help me remember and appreciate it all! I am so blessed!!!

Grab Your Ankles

Chet said that when he was growing up and they were in a lot of trouble, he would hear his dads belt coming off and, "Grab your ankles!" So our boys were getting way too sassy, and we had just had enough. Chet told them that everytime they back talked me, he would just tell them to grab their ankles. He had a paint stirring stick I think, and he would swat them. It never even hurt them, and they were actually pretty funny trying to pretend that it hurt so they didn't get another punishment. Spanking a family of all boys, especially when they have a mom that playfully spanks their butts all day as a way of affection, just doesn't seem to work. Chet did this maybe a total of 5 times, but just the saying, and no delaying, the boys would immediately stop. It was effective. This was about 3 months ago. So the other day Cars did something that made Colbs mad, and Colby is at a stage where he is having a hard time expressing himself. He was throwing all out fits, but those don't go over so well with this no drama mamma, so he stopped that. He was so mad just growling at him, and then he says, "Tars, grab your ankles!" It was sooooooo funny. We all laughed until we cried. He was so mad that we were laughing, so I made Cars bend over and let Colbs swat a few times. It was too cute! I love when you hear your kids say your sayings.

Love Tap

I kinda have a little problem. I call it love tappin! I probably pat my 6 boys on the butt a total of about 30 times a day. Every time I get a butt shot, I slap it. I am out of control, I know it. (The other day Chet walked into a class I was subbing in Sunday School and he said some smart remark so I slapped his butt as he walked by. He looked at me all crazy and said I couldn't do that in church) And every time I see a bare butt, I squeeze the cheeks and say, "Cheekies!" Colby is now the cheeky boy. He loves to squeeze your butt and say cheekies. So at preschool, Cael needed something that was behind a father there. He just slapped him on the butt and politely asked if he could get his coat behind him. He thought nothing of it. We talked to the boys about how we only do that to family. Then I saw them doing it to my family. I told them to stop, but never really explained it after that. Then our babysitter was here, standing at the counter just talking to me, and all of a sudden she spins around really fast, and has this look of disbelief on her face. Caden was walking away and just says, "See ya later Makenna!" She just looked back at me all big eyed. Come to find out, Caden was sitting at the table eating, and was leaving the room and figured it was the last time he'd see her that day, so he was saying bye. He just slapped her on the butt and walked off. Her family is not at all like that! Caden was so confused as to why that was a problem. He said that he was just being nice telling her bye. He said she has a nice butt and wanted to say bye to her. I was like holy cow, stop talking. You're making it worse. He was so confused. Makenna was just dieing laughing! Good thing we know her really well, and she knows us. I really had to explain after that that we do not touch other peoples butts. Your kids really just think that the way you live in your home is reality everywhere, good or bad. We had to put a stop to that one.

Where it Hurts

Cael came running in from outside crying that he was hurt. He was jumping around not sure how to make it feel better. I pulled up his shirt to see what had happened. I couldn't see a mark or any red spots, so I asked Cael where he hurt it. He says to me like I am a complete idiot, "Right there where it hurts mom!" Oh, that clears it all up! Thanks Cael!

Blood

Tonight after dinner I was cleaning up as all the boys ran outside to play. Colby thinks that he is able to play everything with the boys, and they are really good to include him. Well, I hear Cars say, "Caden, run get mom! Hurry!" I didn't wait for them to come to me, I went running. Colby was on the tramp screaming, and in true mom fashion I flew off the porch and was to him in a flash. I grab him as blood is EVERYWHERE! The boys are all trying to hold him, and I'm trying to find out what happened. On the 2 second trip to the tramp, Caden told me he accidentally kneed him in the mouth. I was rubbing the blood off his face trying to get to the problem. I snatched him off the tramp and starting running him into the house. He starts yelling at me, "No Mom! Stay on the tramp wif brudders! Just kiss it better!" I stopped dead in my tracks, looked at him and said, "Just kiss it better and put you back on the tramp?" He looks at me with this pitiful face and says, "Yeah." as he moves his lip in to mine. Half his face was covered in blood. I started laughing and took him inside and showed him the mirror (all the while he was screaming to go back to the tramp) As he looked at himself, he said it was ok for me to clean it up. The second I was done, and had kissed it better, he was off and running!

Wal-Mart

When I went to Wal-Mart today, my babies fell asleep while on the way there. I was totally bummed, but needed to go in. Well Carter asks if he can stay in the car with the babies and read his book. Colby cannot get out of his car seat (5 point harness still), and he can keep Cael happy if he wakes, so GREAT! I run in with Carson and Caden. When I get out in the car about 10 min later, the babies are screaming, and Colby is out of his seat. I look at Carter like what the heck? He tells me, "What! I had to go to the bathroom!" I just stopped and looked at him trying to figure out in my head what that meant. Come to find out, he had to go to the bathroom. So he woke up both boys, walked them into the store, Colby crying the whole time, walked them into the bathroom, tried to put Colby down and he really lost it, so he put him on his shoulders while he peed. Then he walked back out to the car and arrived about a minute before me and could not get them to stop crying. Um... some ideas of mine aren't the best. I just looked at him with a blank look and said, "Maybe you're not ready to stay in the car" (the older boys have started begging me to stay in the car while I run in. I have not gotten to a point where I feel comfortable with this, so this was his first time, and then I left the babies no less!) Hind sight is always 20/20. Maybe not my best idea, but Carter did well. He told me that he made sure to carry Colby and hold Caels hand all the way through the parking lot. And made them stay RIGHT next to him. Oy, so glad for our gaurdian angels. It'll be a while before that happens again!

Dentist

Today was a first. All five boys went to the dentist at once. We have been taking Cael for a couple years, but this was Colby's first time. Luckily the dentist is one of our closest friends. We were at his house on Sunday for dinner, so right during dinner Caden, who is sitting next to Clint says, "Clint, look at my teeth. I have been doing a great job brushing. If you think so, my mom will buy me an automatic toothbrush!" I was told Caden that Clint did not want to be dentist there and that was the end of it. Well, when we got into the office I went and told every hygenist that I needed to know on a scale of 1 to 10 how well they had brushed. The hygenist told me that in the morning meeting Clint told them all that if they were good they all got automatic toothbrushes. We filled almost all of Clint's chairs. Every hygenist was very cute and made the boys suffer to know what they ranked. They all made them wait until Clint came in and looked at their x-rays. The boys were so excited it was cute. The funniest thing was that the toothbrushes they want are little $4.88 automatic ones. I am sure the whole staff is thinking these really nice ones. All the boys passed with a 9 or higher (although I think one was just passed because Clint wanted him to get an automatic because they are so much better brushers), so we headed to Wal-Mart right after. We went in and they saw the cheapos right next to the $100 ones, but they were all so excited for the "really nice ones just like moms!" They were so excited they could barely stand it. I was laughing inside all day about it. But I do love that they set a goal, and work for it! They are not so spoiled that nothing excites them. I also love that it only cost me a small amount next to what it could have been (or what cavities have cost in the past for NOT brushing well).

Crazy Times

So Chet and I decided almost on a whim to move. We were talking one night before mutual and I told Chet that I wanted more land and less house. I wanted to be able to keep it clean without going insane. I LOVE my house, but it is hard with just a VERY open floor plan. I want my bedrooms seperate, so that I can gate them off when people come over (we have about 25 kids here ALL.THE.TIME, and I cannot keep them out of the bedrooms. There are a lot of little things like this that I want to change.) So I told Chet that I was going to start looking in an area right next to us. He suggested that we look out by our friends, in a completely different location. I thought about it, said yeah, help me put the kids in. I then drove around until I found a house that I was interested in. We looked with the agent the next day, and wanted it. So, we decided to get ours on the market. We told the agent about 3 weeks. On Monday I had this feeling that I should call the agent and find out some info about the house. We were NOT going to call until the house was on the market. Long story short, there was another offer over the weekend, and they were going to take it, but they were not happy about it. We got an offer in that day contingent upon the sale of ours, that was not even up yet! They took it! So in less than a week, we had our house show ready. It was wonderful. The kids were wonderful, everything went smooth, we were amazed. Then it sat. No showings. No showings. No showings. I was getting frustrated. We felt like it was exactly what we were supposed to be doing, and then we weren't even showing the dang thing! After 3 weeks, and one showing, I was frustrated. One night I prayed that I didn't know if this was the right thing for us. I asked Heavenly Father if we could just have a showing to know that we were going in the right direction, that we were doing what we were supposed to! And what happened the next day? SHOWING! Now we have had 4 in 5 days (and the only day it hasn't shown was the day we planned to go to the temple and leave our kids with our babysitter. It would have been near impossible to show it that day!). We are so blessed. I am just amazed at how much Heavenly Father cares about our small worries. I didn't even expect it to sell off that showing. I was just so happy and on cloud 9. There is no doubt in my mind that Heavenly Father answers my prayers. It seems that every day more and more I see Heavenly Fathers hand in EVERYTHING! It's crazy and awesome and amazing all at once! This has been the best experience with selling a house we have ever had. I am so relaxed and easy going and totally not stressed out like usual when selling a house. How can I be not stressed out while keeping a house SPOTLESS with 5 boys? I am way less stressed now than I have been since I had Colby. I love it!

Crickers

I told Cael to go into the garage to find something. He was really excited for something, so he ran out there, and then he was boogying back into the house. He had a fearful look on his face so I asked him what he was doing. He looks at me with these huge eyes and says, "Don't ever ask me to out there again. I WON'T! There is a cricker in our garage! I can hear crickers, I really can Mom!!! There are crickers out there!" His eyes were just huge and he was talking all dramatic. It took everything I had not to laugh but just set there and listen. Too cute!

Laundry

We are trying to sell our house, so I keep telling the boys that they need to help out. I don't need to tell them, they can just see it and do it! So Cars has decided that he is the laundry man. He told me that he would gather, sort, wash, switch, take to my bed, and put away, but he would NOT fold. He hates that part. I told him that I would fold if he would do all the rest. The little guy has got me all caught up on laundry for the first time probably in my life, on a consistent basis. He gathers it all and does it by room so it's easier to put away when it's done. He is almost obsessed, and I love it. I hope this sticks! I LOVE not having dirty laundry! He was dieing to do a white load because that was all the clothes he had left. I told him that he would have to wait until tomorrow when there were some more. He just couldn't do it. I see a load on my bed a couple hours later that has about a 1/4 a load of whites. Without the towel there would have been barely anything. I just rolled my eyes and moved on. As long as the laundry is done, I'm OK with that. (He had changed that washing machine to small load though, so that was good. I never taught him about that because I only do extra large!) I love the big helpers they can SOMETIMES be!

Psh, 10 inches

Carter saved his money for an automatic scooter. When it got here, Cars started saving. A couple months later, and lots of lucky breaks on making extra money (dog sitting and extra stuff like that) Cars bought one too. As soon as he got it, he went crazy riding it. Him and Carter wanted to race around the culdesac. They were going to go around 4 times. Cars came in all fired up that he beat Carter and that his scooter was faster. I asked him if he beat Carter by a lot, and he said, "Psh, Yeah! By like 10 inches!" It was probably 200 yards, but he "smoked" him by a whole TEN INCHES! Cars was just shaking his head like he was so cool. He is such a dork...and I love my little dorks!

Boys Will Be Boys

My computer finally bit the big one. It no longer works. I have been computerless, and the only reason I really miss it, is to update my blog. I hope some day my boys will read these and get a good laugh out of them. (like when I get mamma amnesia and start telling them that they need to enjoy every stage, and that life was so much fun ALL the time like every old lady tells me!) Well, as we were taking the computer down (old school, not a laptop) the boys were helping unwind all the cords. They were in a big mess. I was busy doing something else, but soon I hear the boys strategizing. They had taken the speakers to the computer and wanted to hook them up downstairs (where they watch movies) and make it surround sound. I told them no, so in unison, they ask if they can take them to their rooms for their ipods. I didn't even know they could plug into my ipod. There are a lot of things that boys get "catergorized" for doing, but it is so true. They wanted to put them in the car, their rooms, the TV, anything to just be louder (like we ever need that in our house) I just laughed at how "BOY" my boys really are.

Haircuts

I have been wanting to cut the boys hair for a while now, but Cart wanted to wait until school was over and just shave his head. So yesterday was the last day of school. We took the boys out to the back deck and started shaving Carters. I had a pack of 12 Reeces Peanut Butter Cups, and as they would finish I would give them one. Caden was already shaved. Colby jumped up quick for a treat. We shaved him as low as it would go. He keeps walking around rubbing his head. Too cute! Then it was Cael's turn. He was hesitant, but really wanted a Reeces, so up he jumped. Then it was just Cars. We had 6 left, so I told him that if he shaved his head I would give everyone another one. He said no way. At dinner earlier Chet told him he would pay him $10 to shave it. He said no. Then his face lights up, and he says, "Give me all 6 to myself and I will!" I said ok too fast. Then he was like wait. Finally he says, "I want an entire package to myself. 12!" Chet and I look at each other pretending to be thinking about it (worth only $1.78, way less than the $10 we offered 30 min earlier) and said, "Ok, I guess." We couldn't have moved any faster to get the middle shaved, because then it was too late to change his mind. That ugly mop on top of his head for over a year is GONE!!! Wahoo! He later asked if he could change his mind and stay up until 10 instead of candy. Saved me a trip to the store, I quickly agreed. He stayed up until 10, watching Diary of a Wimpy Kid snuggled in my bed and covers. He was happy as a clam. Little does he know, he could have gotten $10, 12 Reeces, AND stayed up until 10 all week so that we could shave that mop. He could have gotten that for all his brothers too! We'll just leave it at a night for 1 until 10 for now. I am sure that a few more years will require a lot more negotiating!