Why..oh why?

Some days my kids pick at their food like birds while other days they scarf it. It's always their choice to finish what I put in front of them. Although they do have the consequence of not getting snacks if their plate is not empty. I just don't see why BriLynn would take frozen hot dogs over biscuits and gravy? Note to self: don't leave frozen pkgs of hotdogs on stairs to quickly do something downstairs. BriLynosaurus will find a way into them. She is learning quite well how to bite her way through things. A couple weeks ago she climbed on the counter and ripped the plastic wraps to the brownies and just started chowing down. I promise I feed her.

Bath time Etiquette

Bath time is an exhausting time at my house. It's nice when they are playing and having fun together but thats not always the case. Maybe you have heard the common bath time phrases, things like: MOM he spit in my eye, MOM he's pouring water out of the tub or MOM she pooped in the bath again.
I have the two youngest boys together and the two girls together.
My question is....at what age should they be bathing alone? I know Andrew likes to shower by himself. He says it's because he doesn't want to talk to anyone. Huh? We had a funny conversation about showering the other day:

Andrew: Can I just hurry and wash myself and get out.
Me: umm..ya thats what we do in the shower.
Andrew: I mean I don't want to play so I can quickly get out.
Me: No Andrew you are required to play for 10 minutes (blank stare, apparently he doesn't get sarcasm quite yet) I'm kidding Andrew, get out when you want to.

I don't mind, saves on the water bill. So at what age did your kids start bathing/showering by themselves?

Fun stuff

I mentioned I would share the fun stuff Kevin's parents helped build in our backyard. Here ya go. BriLynn likes the babyswing. You would think we would have had one before the fifth child.
A fun new swing set. The slide has been under our deck for the last four or five years. It's the slide Kevin used when he was younger. When his parents moved to Missouri they said we could have it. We finally put it to use. I wasn't expecting a whole new swing set, just a platform for the slide. I feel bad, every time they come we put them to work. The're not going to want to visit anymore.
For the 24th we went down and visited my Grandma's. My Grandma Argyle is 87. We got a snap shot with all of us. My parents are on the right. My Grandma Steele (my mom's mom) lives in Springville. That is where Kevin's Grandma Rhea is buried. So we stopped at the grave site. My Grandma Steele is 93 years old. She still lives at home. Thankfully my brother Mike is there to help out. It's hard to see those you love get old. You can tell they are slipping away. I remember calling her in High school and talking about the Great Depression for a paper I had to write. They are so wise and have so much to share. Life seemed to be more simple when they were growing up. You baked your own bread, you milked the cows, churned the butter. I sometimes wish things were like that still. To not have so much going on that we could enjoy those simple things. Things like crocheting, knitting and making things (like cake) from scratch. In my opinion those kinds of things are a dying art.

Bear Lake and missing teeth

This last Saturday we went to Bear Lake for a ward activity. It was a ton of fun. Kevins parents were able to go with us, we had a great time.
His parents left this morning and they will be missed. I look up to them so much, they are wonderful parents, very loving. They built stuff in the back yard that the kids love (I'll do a post on that later) Here are some pictures of our fun in the sun!



Of course I learned my lesson about wearing sunblock....I got fried.
We went to get Raspberry shakes after. This was in a little gift shop attached to the ice cream place. It was especially nice that Kevins parents were here, because yesterday I had to take Andrew into an oral surgeon. He had two extra teeth and two baby teeth removed. This cracked me up (sorry it's sideways). Andrew used Danika's polly pocket table and chair to place a little "restaurant" for the tooth fairy. He placed a piece of cookie there. He told us "ya know how you have to pay to go to a restaurant?"
It makes me laugh that he wanted the tooth fairy to pay 1 dollar for a little piece of cookie.
You can't see it but one of the extra teeth they had to pull was behind his permanent tooth, the one swollen on the left.

I was shocked to see the roots on these bad boys. He is doing good now but yesterday was really rough. They gave him an IV in his right arm, missed, and then had to try it on the left. I would love to get a hold of the drug they use to put people to sleep, it's so fast! No more kids staying up late or waking up in the middle of the night ha ha just kidding.

WOW!

Kevin was ordained the Bishop in our ward today. I have an amazing husband! I know he will do great. It was so nice to have family here with us. The first thing Andrew said was "So now I go to Dad for the candy?"

Cousins

I hope there are no harsh feelings with my last post. I did not mean for it to be so controversial.

Kevin's cousin Heather came to visit Tuesday. It was fun since we haven't seen her for a few years. The kids got along so well. It's crazy how life changes. As a kid you see your cousins often. Then you grow up, get married, and go your separate ways. It makes those visits that much more special.

Swimming lessons

The kids have really enjoyed their lessons this year. Jacob was a little leery at first but he loves it now. BriLynn still has her up and down days. I must say I am a bit miffed about the way the pool does things. I need to write a letter or something to get it off my chest. I think they should give a discount to those who have more than one kid registered. It costs 200 dollars for one (two week) session. I also find it hard to swallow that those who get waivers get two FREE sessions. I feel like my kids are getting gypped in a way. I don't want to spend another 200 dollars. I would pay 400 dollars while others pay zip...doesn't feel fair to me. Don't get me wrong I'm glad that there are programs out there to help but they need to make discounts for those with more than one kid. Okay I'm done ranting, here are some pics.




The way goggles make kids look it makes me giggle.

Drop and Bop

We had a great time Saturday. Kevin's work paid for all the employees and their families to go to Lagoon. They do it every other year. In the past we have taken my sisters so we can go on some bigger rides. This year we switched off watching kids with another family. The bad part was loosing their three year old boy. He just took off. We were pretty freaked out, thankfully we found him. I don't know if we will do that again. Watching eight young ones at Lagoon is not the easiest. Especially when six of them are under the age of six. The kids had a blast. Their favorite ride was the ladybug bop and dinosaur drop. They rode those probably 10 times.
The sad part of the whole trip was measuring the kids for rides. Andrew is two years younger than Danika and yet is a couple inches taller. He was able to go on some rides that Danika couldn't, poor girl. This is my favorite picture. You can tell they are having a great time.

BriLynn was scared to go on some of the rides, her face in this picture shows it. It was cute, she would cling to Jacob and just hug him the whole ride.


Ya know I'm a little nervous about this one growing up and driving. He has an obsession with cars.
Our little mommy. Danika wen't on a lot of rides with BriLynn, she was so helpful.
She sure knows how to pose for the camera too.
I like Jacobs mischievous grin in this picture.
Ya know you can take in more rides when your younger. Maybe it's just me but my stomach can't take a lot of the rides anymore.

Happy Days

Happy 4th of July. We are so grateful for the freedoms we enjoy. I wonder if I take them for granted. We had a wonderful time with family this weekend (sorry I forgot to take pictures). It's become tradition for them to come for the fireworks and car show.
Here are a few pictures that make us smile. I walked in Danika's room one day to find this.
Ya this is self explanatory :)
It seems Luke smiles like this in all the pictures. He cracks us up. The kids got a bit creative with their water colors.