Blah Mom Syndrome

Sometimes I'm just a boring mom.  Ok. Let me rephrase that...

A lot of the time I'm a boring mom.

I make out my To-Do lists and then I run around in a mad dash trying to get everything checked off. Isn't that so satisfying? Check! Check! Check! 

But the other night as I was writing out my To-Do list for the next day (this makes me sound so organized. Well, writing the list is fun. But following it? Now there's the problem...) and I thought I'd add Bike/Scooter Ride to my list of things to get done.  

It was one of the first things we did that morning.  The girls had a great time. Zoe scooted up and down and around the block. Molly grinned from ear to ear in her bike seat. And I loved watching my girls be happy. 

So, along with the Do 3 Loads of  laundry and the Rewrite Chapter 10, I'm going to add things to my To-Do lists like...

Take a picnic at the park

Make a collage

Whip up cookies

And....

Enjoy a bike ride while the weather is still warm!


You may notice in that picture that Molly has a nice bruise on her forehead. This is what happens when one goes careening down the driveway on a broken wagon and unexpectedly hits the curb and is sent rocketing over the wagon and into the road.  Yeah. That was fun. I doubt I'll ever forget seeing her pink ruffled bum flying through the air.

One of her older brothers (Weston...not that we're naming names...) left the wagon out and, sadly, Molly found it.  And since that picture was taken, she has also added an owie to her eyebrow from a run-in with the metal thing you pull up in the bathtub to turn the shower on. Ouch, right? Wow. This girl is starting to look a bit rough.

Zoe loves wearing this dress that is two sizes two big for her.
Silly girl.

A Fun Day in the Field

So, when my handsome cowboy said he could take the day off so I could go on a field trip with my 9 year old, I thought, "Well, maybe Emmett would rather have his dad go with him."

I asked Emmett, "If one of us could go, which one would you like to? Mom or Dad?"....(and, yes, I'll admit that I was being a bum and kind of hoping he'd say his dad...I just feel so overwhelmed with stuff!)

He instantly said, "Mom!" 

And I'm so glad he did! It was just so so fun.

I love riding on the bus with my kids. One of our favorite ways to pass the time is the Drawing Game. We take turns drawing a squiggle and the other has to make it into something. This always produces lots of giggles and, of course, interesting art.

The kids are studying the different plants that live in the different life zones in our area, cold desert, Pinyon/Juniper, and er...um....and a few others and then I do remember at the top of the chart was the Tundra.

Seriously? Did you know we have Tundra in Utah? I did not. See? I learned loads on this field trip.

There's an old structure up at Brian Head's Peak. I'm
not sure why it's there. But wow! What a view! We
were at 11,307 feet!

So, the plans were to stop at some of the different life zones and gather plants from each of the areas.

We trekked out to one of the viewpoints at Cedar Breaks. We sure take for granted how beautiful this country is, right?

That is one silly class.

At each stop, it was fun to see the kids running around to gather up plants. I loved their enthusiasm. 

Ack! I love this boy's smile.

After a bit a teacher would blare a siren and the kids tromped back.  Then they'd all try to push their different plants forward, so Professor Bowns could identify them. 

Incidentally my husband had Professor Bowns in college and now uses a lot of what he learned in those classes in his work.  And the professor now takes classes on field trips to see some of my husband's projects.  And he knows my dad, too. So, it was great for me to finally meet him!

I think we had just had Emmett around the same time that Ryan was in Professor Bown's classes.

It was crazy cool how he could tell the kids the name of every plant. And he'd tell us which berries we could eat and which we should stay away from. Such a smart man!

But I have to say. Even after he said we could eat certain berries and the kids would ask me, "Can I eat this?" Um...I still had a hard time saying, "Sure!" It was more like, "Well...um....yeah, if you want to take that risk...." 

Emmett found some berries from a Lemonade Bush, which are edible. He tried them but wasn't a fan. However his friend, Logan gave them a go and loved them. He said they tasted like limes and raspberries. Interesting.

Here we see one of the more popular plants. 

The rare Corn Dog Puff Plant.  

Okay. Okay.  It's just a cattail. And, boy, did I sacrifice to snag a bunch of these for the kids. I slugged out over the mud, trying to push over the long pieces of grass and trod on them in order to keep my feet clean. Um...yeah, that didn't work so well. BUT I did manage to grab cat tails and the kids were happy! Totally made the muddy shoes worth it.

Each of the chaperones was in charge of a small group of kids.
I was lucky enough to get this group.
Wait. What? Lucky? I'm not so sure about that....
Nah. These kids were a riot. I had a blast with 'em.

Yes, it was a day of exciting discoveries.  Like, say, when we found these in the woods...

Alright, dude, how exactly do you lose your boxers out in the forest? 

Ok. Wait. I take that back. Maybe I'd rather not know.  Let's just pretend you went camping and you're really bad at packing your stuff back up.  Yeah. That's it.

There was a cute girl who liked taking pictures of me.  I can only assume she'd never met such a supremely odd adult like me before.

Maybe she needed proof as she told her family tales of the "crazy chaperone" on her trip. But, hey! We had fun :)

One boy had a few stinker moments. LIke he was making fun of a kid who got his ear-pierced, yelling as he passed by something like, "You should let your ear grow back!" I told him to cut it out and he went on to tell me how ugly it is and such. Well, I can't say that I'm a fan of pierced ears on boys, but who cares? To each their own. I tried to explain this to the kid. I don't think he quite grasped the concept.

I hope I've taught my kids not to treat other kids like that. You don't have to like something. But that doesn't give you the right to tell everyone. No good comes from acting like that. Alright, now I'll climb down off my soapbox.

Emmett kept hugging me and telling me how much fun he was having. Mmmmm, that's a great momma moment, right?

I had never gone out to the Parowan Gap before. Wow. That's unreal. The Native Americans who used it to tell the time of the year and when to harvest and everything were insanely brilliant.

No. We were not out there still at sunset....that would
be some field trip! Nah, I kifed this photo
from somewhere on the internet.

Savages, indeed. I loved hearing what the different symbols meant and wish the man teaching us could have had time to tell us what they all meant. 

Some of the heiroglyphs at the Parowan Gap.

On the way home, Emmett and I decided we definitely needed a nap. That was one busy and wonderful day!

I'm outta here!

I will be spending my day with approximately ninety 9 year old children. In a bus. And hiking. And eating lunch.  

Have you ever heard the amount of noise a bus full of children can make? Wow. Seriously, it's quite impressive. And today I'm sure I'll get my full. 

Soon I will be embarking on a wild and crazy adventure called "A Field Trip".  We'll be tripping off to Cedar Mountain, Brian Head Peak and down to the Parowan Gap. And my sweet husband even took the day off from work to  stay home with the girls so I could go along with my son.  Awesome, right?  

Alright, now.....wish me luck! 

5-Minute Cleanup

We live in a Pit of Despair.

Seriously.

I thought about taking some pictures, but I'm too embarrassed. It's so hard to keep up with five children and the messes they make! (not to mention their scattered-brained mother who sometimes has fits of craftiness late at night) 

I can't keep this place clean! Not if I want to actually play with my kids, work on my novel and, you know, do other important things like eating or sleeping or putting clothes on (you've got to admit. That's pretty important). 

In the past I've tried to clean one room in a day. Ugh. It's so dissatisfying. I get one room clean, but the rest of the house is still a pig sty.  

So, last week I thought I'd try something new.  I grabbed a timer and with my little 4 yo, Zoe and the baby monkey, Molly we cleaned each room in the house for 5 minutes (okay. Molly didn't actually clean. She mostly created messes for us to work on). Sometimes we went a bit longer if we had a pile of stuff to put away. Oh, and I didn't touch my oldest boys' room or bathroom. Nope. Those are their hovels to clean. 

But it worked really well! I got a lot of clutter put away throughout the whole house. Sure the house wasn't completely clean, but I felt alright about it. Because I made some improvements.

I'm not one who likes to spend my time cleaning (it ranks right up there with plucking my eyebrows and scrubbing the muffin pans clean. Ack! We are a technologically advanced civilization! There has got to be a better solution for dirty muffin pans!!). There are so many other things to do with my days! And at the end of my life I'm not going to look back and think, "Wow. I'm so glad I kept my house spotless." Who cares? I want to be able to look back and feel all cozy warm from the memories I made with my fun and crazy kids and handsome cowboy. 

But that being said....I also don't want my kids to be embarrassed to bring friends over because they're worried their friend might go missing in the Pit of Despair. That's no way to end a friendship. So, I guess I have to do some cleaning. 

I've done two more 5-minute cleaning sessions since that first one. And I think if I can continue this a few times a week, I will eventually manage to claw myself out of this hovel.

Wait.  I think I have another solution to the Dirty House Dilemma.

I just googled Messy House pictures.   When you get all bogged down in your own Pit of Despair, just look at pictures like these....

Then feel better because your house isn't THAT bad. And if it is...um....well, you might want to do something about that.  In fact, you might want to set your timer for, say, 60 minutes?

Kid History Rocks.

FFFFFFFFFFFA-C-T!

Okay, who else loves the Kid History videos? Ack! They are so hilarious. My cute friend, Kathy, shared the link to these the other day and we LOVE them. I can't even begin to pick our favorite.  We quote them ALL the time...

"These are perfectly normal pancakes kids!"

"If you buy 13 complentos it's only 13 dollars."

"They'll make you strong!"

"I'm going to kick you in the head."

"Don't say it, Brett! Don't say it!"

So, from what I can gather, the videos are made by a bunch of brothers who live in northern Utah.  It seems they enjoy telling their kids stories from their youth and then asking their kids to tell them back.  THEN they act the stories out with the kid's voices.  So. Stinkin'. Funny.

You just have to watch them. All of them. Right now. Go on. You'll thank me later.

Easy Patchwork Top and T-shirt Leggings

I sewed up this super easy patchwork top as a dress for my smallest monkey a few months ago.  I tried using really wide elastic in the top casing. I thought it was a good idea but....erm....it made it too bulky for her small body. In fact, it looked just a wee bit strange on her. And it was way too long, too.  I have such a problem with getting the length right with dresses for my babies!

So, it's become a top for my older girl. And she was thrilled! The wider elastic doesn't seem too big on her. And she looks pretty darn cute in it, right? I especially like her choice of pink boots to complete the ensemble.

Her super crazy simple leggings are made from an upcycled t-shirt. I cut them out so the bottom of the pattern is lined up with the hem of the t-shirt. And then I don't have to hem the leggings. So incredibly easy. And I didn't even have to buy a pattern since I made one from a pair of leggings she already had. She has a bunch of these in fun stripes. I'm always on the look out for fun tees to upcycle into leggings.

I need to make some more of these for her and I'm thinking of putting a tutorial together. If you're interested, let me know. I'm more likely to do it if there are actual readers who want me to!

I've also jumped on the cute ruffley pants train. I've got to finish a few up and I'll post pictures soon. They're so fun!

Anniversary at the Roller Rink

My handsome cowboy and I celebrated fourteen years of marriage this week.  We went out to dinner at The Market Grill which is a a yummy 'ole cowboy restaurant right next to the livestock auction. Yep. Their meat is very fresh.  Ryan took me there the same night he proposed. It may not sound like the most romantic place, but we love the food and we sit in these big wood booths that make you feel like you're almost in your own room....except for the view of your dinner cooking nearby :)

Then we went off to check out the new roller rink in town. Yes. Our small town of Cedar City has a roller rink....Old School Skate.  My handsome cowboy and I are a bit unconventional, I suppose. I gather this from people's responses upon hearing this is where we went on our anniversary.

But we had so much fun! At first, I felt a bit awkward since it's been a few years since I've skated (we went to a roller rink up north on another anniversary but that was about five years ago). I shuffled around trying to regain my skate legs.

Then after awhile, I had gotten it down. Oh, yeah. You should have seen me. The song Dynamite came on. And I was in the zone. I was whipping around that rink like a pro. Those teenagers lounging around the place had nothing on me. 

Hmmmmm, what's that saying? Pride comes before the fall? 

Ack! I was going down! How did my feet get crossed? Maybe I could stop myself. I groped around trying to find someway to regain my balance and stay upright. This attempt was then rudely interrupted by my knees crashing into the hard floor and my face's abrupt introduction to the carpeted wall surrounding the roller rink. 

Ouch.

A young college-looking guy who I'd noticed skating earlier (I was envying the way he could cross one foot over the other as he curved around the rink) came to a quick stop, crouched down and said with concern, "Are you alright?" 

I  managed to sit up a bit. But I couldn't really talk. All the air had left my lungs. I managed a thumbs up, a head nod and, what I hope was a small smile. 

"Are you sure? That was a really bad fall. You hit the wall." 

Yes. I'm aware. Thank you.  

Or

Oh, I see! That was that hard thing I found so close to my face. Interesting.  

Okay, he was just trying to be nice, I know.  

So, I squeaked out a, "Yeah," followed by another thumbs up. By this point, my handsome cowboy had noticed the unusual spot I'd decided to take a rest and managed to turn himself around and skate over. The nice young man skated on. Ryan helped me up and asked what happened. I told him in brief sentences while clinging to my nemesis, the carpeted wall, the story of my crumble from skating glory. 

Ryan asked if I was alright.  

"Yeah," I reassured him. I had carpet burn on my chin and arm. I felt like falling over in a heap.

"You don't look alright," he said. 

Thank you, my love.

Well, it took me awhile to go very fast after that. I was a wee bit embarrassed and cruised around the rink on tentative skates. But eventually I found my groove again and continued to stay upright.  Although when Ryan said, "Crash into the wall and then push off backwards. It's fun!" I declined. The carpeted wall and I prefer to keep our distance, thank you very much.

Earlier in the night, the owner played a couple country love songs, announced it was our anniversary and proclaimed it a Couples Skate where we had to hold hands. Ryan smiled at me and said, "Now, this is fun."   I had mentioned to the owner in passing it was our anniversary and he was quick to jump into action.  My handsome cowboy loved it, especially since they'd been playing the Boom Boom Boom kind of music up until then. And he's not a fan.

It was a really great night full of lots and lots of laughing. I'm so grateful for that handsome cowboy of mine. He is my very best friend and we have the best times together. I can't quite figure out how I managed to win the Marriage Lottery. But I'm glad I did!

The up side of my skating injury, is it's a good reminder of what my kids go through when they fall and skin their knees or elbows. It's been awhile since I had a crash like that. I think we forget how bad those owies actually hurt. Wow. They really sting.  

I found myself thinking, "Yeah, this DOES hurt," and also, "I DO need a band-aid."