March 27, 2013

  Boy, does it suck to be Sydney today.  I've had enough of her pack-rat ways.  I warned her that this week I was going to make piles of junk in her room that she needs to throw away or find a better home for.  Today is closet day.  This is all the stuff that was stuffed in the corners and on the shelves of her closet.  Ridiculous.

March 26, 2013

  This girl doesn't seem to ever stop eating.  After school it is common for her to eat the rest of last night's leftovers plus whatever else she can find in the pantry.  Then dinner and a snack before bed.  I'm not sure where it all ends up.  I have to take in all her pants in the waist, especially because her legs are so long that I have to buy a size up.  

March 25, 2013

  Those aren't freckles on his face.  He just really loves his hot chocolate.

March 24, 2013

For the last five years or so, Jeff and I have had our own March Madness competition.  We fill our our brackets and make some sort of wager.  This year if I will, I want a chocolate cake that says "Jodi's #1."  Actually, I wanted it to say "Jodi knows more about basketball than Jeff"  but I don't think that will fit on the cake.  Jeff hasn't told me what he wants if he wins yet.  I suggested a cake that says "Jodi's #2."  It's still a tight race.  Jeff's winning right now, but I have more possible wins left.  I'll keep you posted.

March 23, 2013

  A good ending to a lazy saturday.  I didn't clean.  I didn't go to the store.  I didn't make dinner.  So lazy, in fact, that I forgot about the Relief Society conference this evening that I was supposed to go to early to open the nursery closet for the childcare.  Sitting on the couch with Jeff, I noticed that it had started to snow and began to comment that I was glad we didn't have to go out in this weather.  That's when I remembered the conference, 45 minutes late.  I rushed to the church, opened the nursery closet and snuck into the back of the meeting.  No one was the wiser, except the poor young woman who was trying to keep kids happy in the nursery room with very few toys.

March 22, 2013

  As I mentioned before, Ryan was born a month early.  We were very unprepared.  Erik was still in the crib, so we didn't have anywhere to put the baby.  I hadn't pulled out any of the baby clothes.  And we were literally in the middle of painting our basement (a horrible yellow color that we never liked.)  But boy were we blessed to have some really great people around us.  When my water broke, I knew from experience that we had to get to the hospital, fast.  We called our next-door neighbors and unexpectedly dumped our three kids on them.  While I was in the hospital, my neighbor, Amy, cleaned my house.  She also brought over a bassinet, bouncer, and other needed baby supplies.  Once we were home she brought us a huge dinner that lasted at least three meals.
  My sister Jill lived just a half hour south of us.  She came up to our house the evening Ryan was born, packed up my kids and took them back to her house.  She kept them there for the duration of my hospital stay.  My girls were in heaven playing with older cousin Jessica.  Erik's little world was rocked by all that was happening, but Jill acted as if everything was great.  She brought the kids to see me in the hospital.  She even dyed Easter eggs with them.  
  This was a crazy time.  I was worried about Ryan, who had to stay in the newborn ICU for a few days.  It was so nice to know that my other kids were well-taken care of, and well-loved.  I don't know what I would have done without Jill.

  The picture above is a pretty could representation of the week.  Easter sunday was right in the middle of all this craziness.  I was going back and forth from the hospital every three hours to feed Ryan, and Jeff was trying to keep the other kids happy. Erik was still weirded out and Sydney was suffering from a double earache. This picture is our best effort at an Easter shot of the kids in their Easter clothes.  I remember looking at Jeff after we took this picture and asking him why we were trying to force things to go as planned. It was okay if we didn't go to church this time.  And it was okay if the kids wore their Easter clothes the week after Easter.  After that, things seemed to calm down a bit.  Jill's family came over for Easter dinner and the kids had an Easter egg hunt in our front yard. The next day the doctor finally gave the okay for Ryan to come home and all was well.

March 21, 2013

  About a month ago Jeff and I noticed we had some pretty grumpy boys.  So bedtime was changed from 8:30 to 8:00.  Things were going along great until Daylight Savings came along.  Tonight at 8:05 Ryan asked, "Uh Mom, are you sure it's bedtime?"

  How can I argue with him when it looks like this outside?

March 20, 2013

  Tonight Erik made us pause our Chutes and Ladders game so he could go out and do "two skates."  And that's just what he did.

March 19, 2013

  Five years ago today I was in denial about being in labor because Ryan wasn't due for another month.  Then all of a sudden he was here.  He's been surprising us ever since.  

March 18, 2013

I tell you, Ryan is one lucky boy.  Jeff has to work tomorrow on his real birthday, so we started the celebration early tonight.  We went to Red Robin for dinner (where else?).  And then he opened half of his presents tonight, and will do the other half on his actual birthday.
The servers at Red Robin made a big deal about his birthday.  He was excited for the birthday song until they asked him to stand on his chair so the whole restaurant could see.  He was about a millimeter away from being in tears.  But he soldiered through and got his ice cream.

March 17, 2013

  No leprechauns visited today.  No hidden pots of gold, or special treats for the kids.  I can't believe how crazy some people get about celebrating St. Patrick's Day.  Does it really need to be celebrated?  We wore green and had green pancakes because we had no other food in the house after being gone all week.  The end.

March 16, 2013

  On the last day of our trip we had no set plans.  Shelbi and I did some research and found out about an outlet mall that has a Lego discovery center and an aquarium.  We thought that sounded cool, plus maybe we could sneak in some shopping.  Well, the crowds got the better of us again.  The tickets for the Lego stuff were sold out, and the aquarium was too expensive to be worth it.  But we did get to have lunch at the Rainforest Cafe, a cool place for the kids.  After a little shopping, we finished the afternoon with a ride on the carousel, and then the long drive home.  We pulled into our driveway at 10 PM, exhausted and ready for bed. 

 Bailey stayed happy the whole time in her stroller because she had my phone to keep her company.  As far as I know the only call she made was to our house.  This was a surprise picture I found later.

 At the Rainforest Cafe.  We were seated under a bunch of gorillas that Ryan kept assuring himself us were just robots.

March 15, 2013

  Our original plan today was to go to Six Flags, but we scratched that when we thought about the lines we'd be waiting in for the rides.  Instead we went to see Oz with my mom, Adam, and Luke, and then dinner at Jill's house.  We finished the night with more swimming, the kids favorite part of any vacation.

   You'll notice this is a pretty casual meal, serve-yourself style with paper plates, and kids eating wherever they choose.  But I had to take a picture of the food that my mom prepared.  Of course it is still in nice serving dishes.  She's so much classier than I.  Some things will never change.  It's comforting, really.

March 14, 2013

  We began day two with a trip to the Fort Worth Zoo.  Apparently all of Texas and Oklahoma is on Spring Break, so you can imagine how popular the zoo was.  We got there right when it opened at 10.  Jill and Brad were kind enough to give us some zoo passes, so we were able to bypass the long ticket line.  But it was difficult to get close enough to see the animals at times.  And don't even get me started on trying to maneuver the double stroller through the crowd.  But all in all the kids were in good spirits and enjoyed the zoo, even Shelbi.

 This was definitely my favorite animal.  This guy was massive!

 The girls were so goofy.  They thought it was hilarious to pose and growl like the lions.

   By lunchtime we were hungry and tired of the crowds, so we left to find something to eat and let the kids swim in the afternoon.  Because of the Spring Break crowds we were only able to get tickets to the science and nature museum for five o' clock in the evening.  I must say I was a little disappointed in this museum.  Some exhibits were cool, but there weren't nearly enough hands-on things for kids to do who can't read.  

The museum was right downtown Dallas, so it was cool to see the city at night when we were done.

March 13, 2013

   Jeff and I had been going back and forth about going to Dallas this Spring Break.  We were having a hard time finding the right hotel, and didn't really know what we were going to do once we got there.  Yesterday we finally buckled down and decided to just do it.  Since Jill's family is close by in Fort Worth, I called her find out if we could visit them at some point.  To my delight I found out that my mom was going to be there this week.  
   We spent the first half of the day driving, and the evening at Jill's, eating delicious burgers and just hanging out.  Awesome.

You can tell Jill's super happy to see me.

March 12, 2013

  Here's a final picture from Spring Break's past.  Honestly I don't have that many to choose from.  I don't have a long history of fabulous Spring Break trips.  This picture is from just last year.  I know I already posted most of the pictures last year, but I thought this one perfectly captured how we felt to be in Utah for a week.

March 11, 2013

  Since we're on Spring Break here, I'll continue the theme started yesterday.  This was Spring Break my senior year of high school, 1996.  We took a family trip to California.  As you can tell, I thought I was hot stuff.

March 10, 2013

  This picture is from Spring Break 2011.  We went to the Oklahoma City Zoo.  Erik often talks fondly about the elephant show.  He says it was his favorite part of the whole trip.  This picture is exactly how I remember him during said elephant show.

March 9, 2013

The return of the post-dinner dance party.

March 8, 2013

Happy Dr. Seuss Day!

  Kindergarten is awesome because today you get to dress up as your favorite Dr. Seuss character, eat green eggs and ham, and, as Erik informed me on the way to school, you don't have to work on handwriting!

March 7, 2013

  Sydney wanted braids and curlers in her hair last night for class pictures today at school.  When Bailey saw what we were doing, she insisted on having curlers too.  I didn't think there was any way she'd keep them in all night.  She did, and this was the result:

Oh, boy.

March 6, 2013

Just chillin' with Dad, watching some t.v.

March 5, 2013

  When I was growing up we had alternating Patriotic Programs and Dance Festivals in elementary school.  Here in Amarillo, they have the P.E. Program.  (They really should come up with a better name for it.)  Each grade does a routine, somewhat related to physical education.  The first grade always does something with two big parachutes and the third grade always has a hula hoop war.  Shelbi was one of a few third graders still standing at the end of the hula hoop war when she was in third grade.  Now they don't stop the music until one kid has out-hooped all the others.  
   Syd's been talking about this for a couple of months now.  She's a pretty good hula-hooper and apparently won many of the practice "wars." I think she had high hopes for this year's program.  When all the third graders were setting up for the battle, some other kid stole her hula hoop and she had to get one from another pile and barely made it to her spot before the music began.  I think it threw her off her game.  She lasted a good amount of time, but didn't win.  She was upset, but got over it.

 Erik danced his whole routine with his hands in his pockets.

Jeff took this picture of me giving the PTA treasurer's report.  Thanks for that, Jeff.

March 4, 2013

Come about 10:30 every night and this is where you'll find me:

 And this is what you'll find me sleeping to watching:

Every night.

March 3, 2013

  Just because I'm a list maker, doesn't mean that I actually get the things on my list done.

  Can you imagine how long #11 has been on this list?  We've almost come full circle.  Then I'll erase # 11 and concentrate on #12, which has been there just as long.

March 2, 2013

  Have you ever heard someone say something is "the size of your head?"  Well that's how I would describe this beauty of a piece of cake we brought home with us from the restaurant.  Well, if your counting, we actually brought home two pieces. Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting is easily my favorite dessert.  This piece was enough for me and four kids.  Erik would have nothing to do with it.  I suppose if Jeff needs me to, I'll help him with his piece too.   Because I'm nice like that.

March 1, 2013

  Do you know how hard it is to find something family-friendly to do on a Friday night in Amarillo?  Jeff and I have been to the bowling alley, and that IS NOT a place for kids.  No good movies are out.  And you surely won't catch us at Chuck E. Cheese, ever.  Since we couldn't decide between watching Pony and Dynamite (that's what Ryan called it; can you guess what movie that is?) and having a Wii tournament, we settled for I Spy and Four Corners.  Classics.

  Yes, it's kind of a lame Friday night, but I have fond memories of playing these games with my family for Sunday Night Activity.  Although, I didn't have it in me to play Hide and Go Seek, another Larson staple.

February 28, 2013

I promise to never post any picture on this blog grosser than the one below.

  This is what it looks like when you put homemade play dough with the rest of the play dough in your daughter's closet and forget about it for a month.  See that little bit of bright blue in the left bag?  That's the original color.  

February 27, 2013

  It's hard to get mad at Bailey for coloring with a purple crayon inside this cabinet when she gets a rag to clean it up by herself.  Let's face it, it's hard to be mad at this girl for anything.  She's so spoiled.