I don't know why he swallowed the marble, perhaps he'll die.

But I sincerely doubt it and yes, I'm laughing about it now, why wait? The kids are so I'm joining in. 

I was cleaning up lunch and turn around to Z with a traumatized look on his face. What's the matter?

He starts to cry, "I swallowed a marble."

"What? A marble? Why? Really? Where is it?"

"I swallowed it, it's gone."

"Where was it?"

"On the floor."

"And it jumped into your mouth?"

"No. Well it slipped."

"How did you swallow a marble?"

"It slipped into my mouth."

"Why was it in your mouth? Just tell me the truth."

"It wasn't."

"Huh? What happened?" 

"I fell on the floor and it slipped into my mouth, it hit here (roof of his mouth) and then went in."

"Do you feel it now?"

"No."

"Well I guess you are going to poop a marble."

From the bathroom we hear a squeaky toy squeak. Giddy is washing his hands. 

"What was that?"-o

"The marble burping." -z 

And now it's a big joke about sucking the marble out of him.  Nev is singing about swallowing a marble. He and Olea are running around. He burps and says, my marble just burped. 

I pick up my iPod to journal the anomaly and he says, " Mom please don't call the doctors! Look I'm fine!"

Nev is doing a stand up comedy routine about swallowing a marble.

Real life. You can't make this stuff up. 

oh dear

Came up last night after cleaning up and saw Nev sleeping like this. Classic for my little girl who chose to sleep on the floor to avoid falling out of bed. I couldn't believe it and had to run for the camera, especially since I had already checked on her and had to scoot her away from the edge of the bed.

egg thief

a boy
who shall not be named
was at a hotel for breakfast one morning
he had told his mom, who shall not be named, that he was done with breakfast
the family was gathering up to leave
the mom, turned around to see the boy eating eggs off of a plate on the counter
that belonged to a stranger
with his hand
mother and father were mortified and asked the boy to stop
while laughing and exchanging stunned looks
"I thought you were done eating."
"I wanted some eggs."
"I can get you some, don't eat those."
all occupants of the breakfast area had their backs turned
plate is retrieved by rightful owner and eggs consumed
family exits quickly
what the stranger doesn't know can't hurt them right?
:/

Just a few plants to plant...

Today I finally got around to some planting after raking up the leaf "ground cover" I planted some forget-me-not seeds, and a raspberry and two strawberries. I have never planted strawberries before although I did think the wad of roots was pretty big for a strawberry I just went with it and the pace of my helpers (Olea Zurich and Nev). So after the two wads were planted I was cleaning up the packaging thinking, "sheesh, why did that take me so long?" when I looked at the packaging and noticed something, "Wait, TEN plants? TEN?!" I only got two in each bag.

....

Blonde

....

So I dug them up and unraveled the ten separate plants in each of the two wads, and planted them all. Twenty plants. :)

I grew up gardening by legal slave labor (you know, the family garden:) and so this is embarrassing to admit, but funny and I'm so over myself so I'm sharing.

I hope they fruit. That would be sweet.

Also today I ventured to the local farmer's market for the first time. However, with the three youngest I was so glad to have friends with me. They were awesome help. Nev was in an "I'm mad!" mood for a while and kept running off. Thankfully it didn't last too long.

It was a good time and I came home with some delicious fruits and veggies and a plumeria and another flowering plant, I forgot the name of. It was pretty small so it will be a while probably before it flowers. The plumeria is a sentimental replacement from the cutting I destroyed when we moved. As long as I leave it in a draining pot I can't loose right? I hope! I can't wait for it to flower, my other one never did, it grew big and lots of leaves, but that's Utah, this is the sunshine state. They are meant to grow here!

Nev and Daddy

Zurich accidentally bonked Nev on their way up the stairs to bed. Nev came down to us, I had to translate for Gary as she was talking to him and he didn't understand. She wanted a bandaid (didn't need one). So he pulled out his imaginary bandaids and went through a whole charade picking one out (princess) unwrapping it and putting it on her. She was very interested but when it was all said and done she said desperately, "No dad, I want a bandaid."

So Gary took her upstairs and put a monster bandaid on her (because we have a ton of them). She was all proud as she came to show me but as her face moved in excitement and the bandaid caused issue she was sad,"it doesn't fit!" and turned around in panic/ embarrassment.
She decided she didn't need a bandaid anymore.

Gary was helping her brush her teeth and alerted me to the fact that she had a fairy in her mouth. We all got a look at the cute fairy and then she washed it down with a drink of water. Her tongue has healed up nicely from when she pretty much bit through it.

Gary and Nev have a very sweet relationship. Mutual adoration. She can melt his heart so fast. Gary often comments on the fact that one of his favorite things is hearing Nev sing. She sings in a sweet soft falsetto while she plays. Most of the time her dollies are in a musical. Gary will even take a part in her musical with her and the dollies. It is so sweet.

Coretta

Sent from my iPod touch

Valentines

I didn't worry about Valentine's in January as I normally would have because we were gearing up for a trip West and my oldest would miss the valentine's exchange in school.... but recent turn of events we didn't go on our trip and so I had to figure something out. I wanted something that she could have a hand in putting together and she wanted to make the packets like we did for Gary. So I sat down to put together a little card for her with more appropriate messaging... and then had an idea and ended up making some for the older kids, just because I could because it was so fast and I had the pictures to work with already.

It's not a novel idea given all the examples you can find of picture/sucker valentine's all over the internet, but the spin we put on it was fun and personal and the kids were proud to put them together and give them.

Olea used the silly picture cards with candy packets for friends at church (I didn't get a pic of one of her's made up but you can use your imagination if I you've looked at Gary's from last year.)

She used the archery shot with the suckers for school.


Zurich and Nev gave out theirs to their friends at church.


While making up the packets for Olea's little cards, Zurich wanted to make one that had him on it, so I drew a pic really fast and had him draw the body. I get such a kick out of this. It's so cute.

As soon as the picture was done and I had taken a picture of it he ripped it open and ate the treats. :)

The Tooth Fairy

The Tooth Fairy at our house is forgetful and sleep deprived. Seriously.
Last night she almost put a $20 bill under a pillow for a tooth. That would have been a serious mistake. Thankfully at the last minute she noticed her failure and corrected it.

The Tooth Fairy here also forgets when the tooth owner is being a brat. The last lost tooth was under the pillow for almost a week before the tooth fairy got around to visiting.

But here is something that the Tooth Fairy at our house is pretty proud of: keeping track of those lost teeth. She collects the teeth in little baggies and puts them in a Book of Secrets (teamed up with Santa etc) and lines them up in the order they were lost, where and what payment was made.

Look at those tiny cute little suckers. I don't know what she'll want them for... but a good tooth fairy keeps inventory. (I have my lost teeth still)

Olea has lost a few teeth at school. So I thought it would be a good idea to thank her teacher properly for helping out the Tooth Fairy. I need to remember this for all my kid's second grade teachers. It's easy and handy as I am sure more than my child has lost a tooth at school. I have a bunch of 1x1inch ziplock baggies in a larger bag and I tied a note, "For the Tooth Fairy's Helper."


Carry on.

How it's Made

How it's Made (http://science.discovery.com/tv/how-its-made/)
is one of the kids' favorite shows, it's cool, we all like it. If you don't know what it is, seriously, go watch an episode. It is fascinating and mesmerizing. I mean seriously, who hasn't wondered how a shovel is made, or why the old fashioned chewing gum is pink?

There is one drawback...
VERY long explanations from my kids on anything from what a conveyer belt is to why she wants to be covered up at night.

While driving home one day I heard Olea and Zurich talking in the back seat. Olea was telling Zurich something and he was interjecting with his ideas about robot arms (there was an episode on such a thing). Olea was trying to get him to be quiet so she could hear herself and finally she gets around to saying that "it goes from one conveyer belt to another WITHOUT a robot arm." Stupidly, I pipe up, "Do you know what a conveyer belt is?"

For the next 7 minutes I am lectured by my 7 year old on what a conveyer belt is and the many ways it can be used. If I had wanted to interject, I couldn't have; I don't think she even stopped to breathe.

I hear them often playing, "how it's made" and I delight in it because the cogs are turning.

So the other day on the way back from the library I should not have been surprised to hear Zurich shout at me from the back of the van, "Hey, Mom, look! It's How it's Made guys!" But I was, and I still think him clever.

And it makes me laugh as I reminisce that 4 years ago when we moved to our first house my oldest, who was 3 at the time, used the word "builders" the same way Zurich uses "how it's made guys." They use it like "builders" was used in the movie City of Ember. Like an unknown entity, but also an unstoppable force.

Mini Vacation

My brother was in the general Florida area for a journalisim confrence and Gary was scheduled to be working in the same area earlier this week. So I got all crazy and decided the kids and I would drive down separately and enjoy Gary's hotel with him and go play while he was at work. That evening after arriving we picked up Uncle and went to the beach.

The next day we rode a trolley, went to the pier, an aquarium and a down town tour. Then met up with Gary and Cim to go to the beach and eat dinner. 4 kids by myself, I'm just not used to handling them all to myself in public yet. And sadly they weren't on their best behavior... It was crazy at times, okay most of the time.

We were in a restaurant that had a bunch of ceramic hand painted items in baskets and bins all over. Right at kid height. I couldn't get Zurich to listen to me and he kept touching them. While we were waiting for a table a stand of them crashed to the ground... The ceramic tile floor. I just covered my face and took deep breaths. We were blessed. The top bin that spilled out and made all the clatter was just a bunch of key chains, which were unharmed. Zurich was holding a painted ceramic thermometer, the bottom bin had them in it. The restaurant host that was leading us in put the stand back together and said, "we're okay, Ma'am." I have my suspicions that particular stand was not locked in right. But either way it was not the place for us which I more fully realized when I saw the tables were just as big a land mine for my bouncy, obedience impaired little boy. I hauled my four lethal weapons out and we ate somewhere else.

As we were getting ready to leave the pier Nev decided she was ready for her nap and just dropped right where she was and laid down, right in the middle of the walkway. I tried to encourage her to come on her own the old fashioned way, by just saying good bye and walking away. I was carting Giddy on my chest the diaper bag and the bag of souveniers.... Didn't much want to carry a child who could walk. Zurich started crying and freaking out because Nevy wasn't coming. In fact she just looked at us and rolled over so she couldn't see us. So I went back and told her that if she would at least put out her hand that I would carry her. We just barely made it on the trolley.

It's a Party!

I've been threatening it for years.
This year I figured it was time to get serious.

Earlier in the day I was trying to get the kids to clean up one of their messes and said, "I try to do something fun for you guys, but I need your help to get things cleaned up so we have space to do it." Olea commented, "It's not fun, it's CRAZY."
"It is crazy, but it will be fun too."

We needed to celebrate.
So I delegated the picking up of the party favors to Gary on his way home Friday night. I had dried a bunch of bananas the day before.

I made a cake and arranged and frosted it to look like a bunch of bananas. I am no cake artist, but I was pretty proud of this project.


After dinner we got started making party hats. We had unpacked a bunch of studio boxes and I found a German craft book that showed how to make party hats. Not like it is super complex but it was laid out in pictures and there is something super cool about seeing something in a book and then being able to make it. And due to time and resource constraints: making it your own.

During this time the missionaries came by and Gary answered the door, they asked what we were doing.
Gary said, "We're having a birthday party." "For who?" they asked.
Why Surgery Monkey of course!

The kids and I made hats while Gary and the missionaries looked through his mission pictures and stuff. Olea made hats for the missionaries. They had to be back in their apartment by a certain time so they missed cake and ice cream with us, but humored me with this picture.

(This will probably be one of the crazy things they write to their families about.)

Of course I can't yet find the spool of elastic appropriate for hat string. Zurich did complain that he needed a string but handled it well when I explained I couldn't find it. So we had some hat mayhem as they kept falling off.

We sang happy birthday and had cake and root beer floats.

I love that Gary put the candle on backwards for the pictures, but right ways for the stuffed Monkey. Gary had set the party favors out on the table and the kids kept asking who they were for. Our response (repeatedly), "It's Surgery Monkey's birthday."
Zurich was so cute saying, "Happy Birthday Surgery Monkey," while he enjoyed his cake and ice cream.

After Finishing up with the sweets, I explained that while it was Surgery Monkey's Birthday, he couldn't play with his hula hoops because he is just a stuffed monkey so they each would get one. This was very favorable to them.

The Hula hoops were inspiration from Olea who had asked for one after playing at friend's with one. She was pretty good right from the start.

Nev needed some help.

Gift Bag

Olea got a gift bag from her teacher yesterday and was looking through it on the drive home. She was chatting away in the far back seat of the van and suddenly she is quiet for a few seconds and then says pretty loudly, "Well, that's dumb!"
"What?"
"This whole box of crayons are brown!"

Kick the Can

Video of my Nevy with a new way to have fun. When I discovered what she was doing I literally ran for the camera, I didn't want to miss getting a video of this, I thought it was so funny and she's got some moves with it.


After this and I went and found the kids' balls so she could kick around a real ball, all that did was start a fight between her and Zurich... the can was better.

Ya, I know the house is messy, wanna pay for a maid? ya, me neither.

Secret loves

I recently commented on Facebook that

I secretly really like the postal system.

Now that the secret is out I'd like to elaborate.

Back in the days of my childhood I patronized our local library quite often.

I was one of those lucky kids who had a library card. Who participated in Summer Reading Programs and even took some of the kids I baby sat to the Library.

I also really love public libraries.

Summers were spent with a sunny walk to the library for some new literature and a nearby convenience store called Island Market for candy. I'd take the loot home and put out the picnic blanket on the lawn, or climb up in the apple tree and read and snack away... ya, I know we're not supposed to eat and read.... Ladies, you are also not supposed to take books in the bubble bath, but I know you do. ;)

One book I remember was about mail. (You are welcome to send me a copy of this book.) called the Jolly Postman. This book incorporates famous fairy tales as well in a humorous way. But it wasn't your regular old book. No, it was awesome! It was like you were a nosy (and criminal) postman who read all the mail. As I remember it there were envelopes of all types on the pages and letters that were folded up tucked inside. Postcards too. The book had all sorts of cool die cutting.

I also really like stuffing envelopes.

One summer I had a job working with my sister at Embroidery.com and they needed someone to send out coupon mailers to the customers. It was the dreaded job that no one seemed to want to do, so when I was presented with the job, I was T-H-R-L-L-E-D. Stickers, folding, hand addressing, stuffing envelopes, seriously, what isn't fun about that?

The very idea of mail is magical, you put a piece of paper in an envelope.

Add a special sticker

and a little bit of spit

and a wave of the magic red flag off it goes

and can make it to wherever you addressed it faster

than you could get there on your own.

Those envelopes hold cards, love, gifts, sentiments, gum, dollar bills, stickers, drawings, pictures, pretty things and all manner of written word. When you find something addressed to you in that box you feel all sorts of special. Hey, add parcel post and the excitement is quadrupled!

So why do I love the postal system? Because it is magical.

Gideon's blessing

We blessed Gideon last Sunday.
I finished his overalls and Gary's mom and I put them on... I did the pattern right, I swear I did, it was sized to fit 0-6 months... I didn't get a picture of them, because I was so distraught with the outcome. Gideon is a big boy. The overalls were WAY too small, we were stretching them to the limits just to get them on him as it was. Gerry said it wasn't a big deal they could be added on to, it could be fixed. But it took me too long to do it already... So bless Gerry she picked up the crochet hook and yarn and eased my mind.

If you look at the pic, you can see where the original bib was and how much she added around the sides and created a new bib and straps. She's a life saver. So then I sewed on his birth shamrock. My sister crocheted the booties for him, they were a bit small by the time we blessed him too, but we made it work. :)

It can be surprising at times how big he is... esp in comparison:
Crew, Preston and Gideon
born
Jan 31, Jan 5, and Feb 5

Gideon is the youngest but by far the biggest.

My sister made them their matching hats.

The Birthday Party

Before Gideon was born Zurich and I were talking about his birth. Zurich had some funny things to say. One conversation went like so:

Zurich was cuddling on the couch with me this morning rubbing my belly. We were talking about the baby. Zurich said "When baby is born they cut the pooh."
"They cut the umbilical cord; it's not pooh, I guess it looks like it though."-c
"And then they stir and stir the pooh." -z
"No, there is no pooh!"-c
"Baby brother has no bum!?"-z
Well, that's jumping to conclusions don't you think!?

In the beginning of January Zurich asked me when his baby brother will be here.
I told him that it wasn't his birthday yet.
Then he asked me if we could have cake on "baby broder's birfday"
That made perfect sense to me. And thanks to his Uncle Cim it was arranged nicely so when the kids came the next day to visit us in the hospital we had some football themed cupcakes to have a party with. We did just have a birthday after all!

Thanks Uncle Cim. Zurich really liked the cupcakes and the neato toys on them too. :)

You are so Dreamy

Gary went with me yesterday to the Midwife. At one point, she commented, "oh he's a comedian!" Most people don't get to see this side of Gary, or I should say certain people don't get to see that side.

I'm going out on a limb here sharing this... especially since I rarely comment on this here blog about Gary and my relationship. There are a few reasons for this... which I won't go into at the moment, needless to say, I like him a lot, obviously I love him, that should go without saying. He makes me laugh all the time. I seriously chose right when I chose him. Life is soooo good.

Anyway, here is one of the funnies that the midwife was privy to.

The midwife was showing us the orientation of the baby and having Gary feel it on my belly, later she was checking me, and she jokingly asked him if he wanted to feel the baby's head. He said, "No, I'll take care of that when we get home." It might be one of those 'you had to be there' things, but I'm glad you weren't.

Later he confessed he was a little scared and thought she was serious. Maybe she was.

Gary is the kind of person who is not afraid to make fun of himself. I have a few classic pictures of this that make me laugh EVERY TIME I look at them.

For your viewing pleasure (because I ran across them tonight and had a good laugh while trying to make a hard back up of the last two or three years of photos):



Some of them have some pretty great stories or explanations, but I am just going to keep those to myself for now and enjoy my own giggles.
Oh! And lets not forget this!