Thanksgiving

We had a great time in Utah for Thanksgiving. We did the drive down there in one day with about 8 stops. It was a long day, but the money it saved with not having to get a motel room made it worth it. And the kids did GREAT! There was only one melt down that was remedied with extra snacks. 

We stayed with my brother and his family. We had not seen each other much over the last 10 years. Our children have similar challenges which makes my sister-in-law one of the only people I know who understands what I'm going through. It was so nice to be able to talk to someone who gets it. 

On the day that these pictures were taken, Jen and I had taken off to Wal-Mart and left Ryan and Chris with the kids. It was like heaven! No one was begging me to buy them anything. No one was melting down and causing a scene in the store. It was so nice! Chris and Ryan (my husband, not my brother) took the kids to the park. This was the only time anyone thought to get the camera out, so this is all we have to remember the trip from ~ but they're great pictures! 

We went to two temples while we were there to do Ryan's mom's work. I am so grateful that Jen was willing to care for my four and her four to let that happen. She rocks! We enjoyed seeing the sights in temple square ~ this is where I wish we had gotten some photos. It was a beautiful day to walk around (without coats) and enjoy the fall colors and the nativities they have set up. It's pretty cool being in a big city that is Christian. 

The trip back went quicker with less stops. My dad rode back with us, so it was nice to have another driver. I miss Chris and Jen a ton, but it is nice to be back home with our own beds. 

Handprint Turkeys

I used to think of myself as pretty cool ~ until the other night. Since I art docent for two of my son's classes, I have to do all the prep work ahead of time. I go every two weeks and it had slipped my mind that I needed to finish the "final touches" for the handprint turkeys. First came the panic of "oh crap, I need to get these things done" then the acceptance that I'd better get to work, NOW! So I was sitting there making pilgrim hats for the turkeys, wondering how I got there. I used to be cool. Now I make turkey pilgrim hats out of construction paper. Then it dawned on me that I'm still cool because I recognize how dorky it is to be a grown woman making things out of construction paper. (Unlike the parents who take their kids to a Wiggles concert and get into it as much as their kids do ~ that's a long story involving free tickets). It's important for me to realize that doing the things that motherhood requires is part of the job, but I don't have to identify myself as a craft-lady (or crap lady, or other swear words). It just part of the job.

On a side note to all the moms out there. Please note that when you throw your child's art work away, take a second to give a moment of silence for all the "love" that went into that project ~ someone had to cut all that paper and make sure that the globs of glue that your child put on the paper were wiped away, and someone had to resign themselves to the reality that their life is not their own anymore because they are a mom (a really, really good mom ~ who might have kids that poison themselves occasionally and wander into the street).

Perspective Blessing

I was blessed with an experience that I wanted to follow up from my last post. After what I've been through with my kids lately I was beginning to feel like I should have been an aunt instead of a mom. Of course I made the choice to be a mom, but I was feeling like my choice was kind of a sucky one. Wouldn't life be great if I could wake up whenever I wanted to, go to a job and have adult conversations with people who appreciate my contributions to my field of expertise, and be able to do whatever I want with my off-work time? That's where my head was. My parents came and picked the kids up on Thursday night. Ryan and I had a board meeting that night. It was exciting to not have anything to rush home to or worry about. After the board meeting we went home. Our house was empty. Like the life had vanished from our home. It was cold and empty. It was such a hollow feeling not having my littles there to greet me. There were no teeth to brush, no books to read, no one to kiss goodnight (aside from my sweetheart). It made me appreciate all of those little things that fill my home with the vibrancy of life. It made me realize that it's my littles that transform my house to a home.

And the award for Worst Mother of the Year goes to:

Me.

While I was running this morning, my children woke up. They dug through the cupboards and the fridge, probably looking for candy (since we did away with it four days ago). What they found was Halea's amoxicillin. When I went to give her the morning dose, I couldn't find it in the fridge. I looked all over the kitchen and then found the container empty on the table. It looked like someone had tried to wipe up a small pink spill, but there should have been much more pink from that bottle. Where did it go??? Well, the green diarrhea that Halea has been having since then would indicate that she drank 20 doses of antibiotic, but the way Apollo complained of a sore tummy, makes me think he drank it. Crazy Monkeys! I don't think I will ever know who actually drank it, but I'm pretty sure Apollo was the one who worked on the child-proof lid since Halea's two year old monkey fingers do not have the dexterity that Apollo's do (wow, that was a long sentence)!
These things happen. My children wander into the street, too. They beat on each other. They would drink poison if it was pink like bubble gum. So why would the pharmacy, Dr.'s office, and Poison control act like I'm not doing a good job of mothering my FOUR children? Maybe I should have acted more shocked and nervous when I called, to give them a better feeling, just like when a neighbor brings one of my wanderers back from the street ("oh no, I can't believe they were in the street (again)" I say ~ but really, I just didn't have it in me today. And at least I CALLED!!! So don't act like I should be sterilized and have my kids taken away because they got into the "pink goop" (google that ~ at least I don't feed my kids chicken nuggets ~ that's real poison)!
Since I'm on a roll, I've been wanting to talk about this for a while, so I'll just keep going. Not related to today in any way except that I'm not the world's greatest mother:

JUST BECAUSE YOU WATCHED A SHOW OR READ A BOOK OR KNEW SOMEONE WHO HAD/HAS AN AUTISTIC CHILD OR A CHILD WITH ADHD OR BOTH, DOES NOT MEAN YOU ARE AN EXPERT ON THAT SUBJECT. YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT IS LIKE TO LIVE WITH ONE OR TWO OR THREE OR FOUR CHILDREN THAT ARE AFFLICTED WITH THESE "SPECIAL GIFTS". DON'T ASK ME IF WE'VE TRIED DIETARY CHANGES ~ ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?! I'M THE QUEEN OF DIETARY CHANGES. DON'T INSULT ME WITH THIS CRAP OF HOW THE FOOD THAT I'M FEEDING MY CHILDREN IS WHAT IS CAUSING THEIR SYMPTOMS. DON'T YOU THINK IF IT WERE THAT SIMPLE I WOULD HAVE MADE THOSE CHANGES TWELVE (12, REALLY 12) YEARS AGO??? BELIEVE ME, I'VE TRIED! YOU ARE PROBABLY ONE OF THOSE NAIVE PEOPLE WHO THINKS WEIGHT LOSS AND HAPPINESS IS JUST A PILL AWAY, AND FAIRYTALES REALLY DO COME TRUE.

I'M NOT A PESSIMIST IN ANY WAY, QUITE THE OPPOSITE. I'M EXTREMELY OPTIMISTIC THAT THE JOURNEY MY CHILDREN AND ME WERE SENT TO LIVE OUT ON THIS EARTH IS GOING TO LEAD US TO WHERE WE WANT TO BE. AND I'M ETERNALLY GRATEFUL TO HAVE EACH MEMBER OF MY CRAZY FAMILY TO GAIN EXPERIENCE WITH, DEVELOP PATIENCE FOR, AND GROW WITH. CRAZY IS FUN!

I'm glad that I got that out of my system. Ok, pity party is over! Now I'll go back to cleaning my dirty house and raising my sweet babies.

Ryan's Serenade

My sweet husband knows I love bathroom humor the very most of all. It's probably because I had two older brothers and a family full of sensitive digestive systems ~ one of my mom's famous phrases "drink more water".
Ryan is singing the Chicago song:
If you leave me now, you'll take away the biggest fart of me.

And

If you leave me now, I'll cut the greenest fart and leave.

Oooh baby, please just go!!!!

I know you just don't want to stay!

The best part is that he's doing it in a super high-pitched Peter Gabriel voice.

Anything to make me laugh. I love him!

Call Me Crazy...

But I just turned my kids Halloween buckets over to them. I need it (the candy) out of my house, so I'm allowing them to dispose of it however they see fit. Yes, they will probably get sick, but I'd rather have them get sick now than in three weeks when we're traveling. And my butt can quit getting bigger every time I see those stupid "fun size" candies. I want to be fun size!

Follow-Up from Halloween'sday Nightmare

We had gross episode part 2 ~ way worse the second time. A plumber was called and he stayed ALL day and came back the next day. It was $2200. OUCH!!! But at least we won't be swimming in a poop sea. When we remodeled the house a couple years ago to make a room for Halea we had a "handyman" do it. He wasn't that handy. He wasn't qualified and we knew his work wouldn't hold forever, but it was a bandaid. It's turned out to be a really expensive bandaid. There really is something to doing things right the first time. How I wish my brother lived closer ~ he's a plumber and an awesome person.