BodyWorlds and Lance

I'm so far behind in recording these for my memories.  I kept trying and failing to get my pictures from my phone, but this day was sort of special so I don't want to forget it. The tickets for the BodyWorlds exhibit went from $20/person to $10/person with little kids free.  So we paid $30 and went.  Nels, my Mom, Sharon and her kids went too.  I told the kids about it before we went so that they wouldn't freak out.  Ada said, "Is it creepy mom?" and Sam said, "Will we see the blood?" Both were kind of excited at that prospect.  I told them that these were people who told the artist to use their bodies after they died.  Janelle and my Mom were especially excited to show Ada because she loves learning about how the body works.  I was a little nervous that the kids wouldn't like it, but they were absolutely fascinated.  It was so fun to watch Ada and Mom going from exhibit to exhibit talking about all the different body pieces, where they are inside of each of us and how they help our bodies work.  Ada loved seeing the dancers, I thought the fencer was cool, and several things that I've been trying to tell my kids finally clicked.  Sam was interested in the fact that they show what can happen when you smoke and if you have a heart attack from plaque build up when you don't eat good foods.  Evelyn liked looking at the intestines and we talked about the cilia and Celiacs disease.  Ada loved all of it, but when I showed her the uterus (she asked about all the body parts when I was pregnant with baby Seth) I showed her how small it was, where the eggs were and how the baby makes the uterus expand about 500 times it's original size she asked me, "But where are the sperm?" I told her they came from boys.  She looked at me and said very seriously, "That's why girls can't marry girls, because they can't have babies."  Wow... it's kind of interesting what comes out of these little kids mouths without any prompting when they're learning how things work. 

Ever since then, the kids ask if the foods they're eating are healthy and comment on muscles and hearts.  I think I would totally take them again without any reservations.  We couldn't take any pictures of the Exhibit, but we went upstairs and did some of the kids' stuff in the Leonardo.  Sam LOVED this marble wall, Ada loved making snowflakes and Evelyn loved making things to fly in the wind tunnel. 

Seth loved slobbering on this apple... yummmmmm.

A rare picture... my Mom with all three of her girls.

 

Not too long ago, my nephew turned 4.  He's into Ninja turtles, so that's what Sharon and Brad threw... It was so fun.  Mom and Seth did face painting (which Sam would have nothing to do with), and they made turtle shells.  Ada "hid" in hers and I about died laughing.

 

 

Jordan saying, "Cowabunga!"

Whirlwind

I know everybody has those times that are just a whirlwind of events.  Sometimes expected, sometimes not.  I really appreciate my husband, mom and mother-in-law during these especially exciting times. 

Sunday, Evelyn was jumping with the kids on the tramp... she hyper-extended her knee.  I took her to the Instacare while Jer and his parents put the kids to bed.  Luckily she didn't break anything that we can see, but she still won't walk on it... three days later.  Taking a 30 lb kid up and down the stairs for meals, to the bathroom, in and out of the car, to and from her bed.... all while trying to carry/feed/care for her 6 month old brother who broke his first tooth yesterday and is working on 2-3 more.  She kept waking up in tears, would refuse ibuprofen, and only wanted to cuddle.  I'm so grateful for a mom that was able to get Sam from school, a husband who was able to work from home today, and especially for tonight.

Tonight, we ate tilapia and carrots for dinner.  Sam has allergies that occasionally pop up... mangos and lentils were our last two adventures... he's had tilapia and carrots before.  The only thing that I can think of is that he either reacted to the dill I seasoned the fish with or that the fish I bought had gotten mixed in with shell fish in the display case... I don't know if he's allergic to shell fish, but it's possible.  Another possibility is that he was having a straight up panic attack (because he wanted to go play on the wii and we told him he needed to eat some dinner) with no food allergies.  He was having a hard time breathing, said he was having a heart attack, his back hurt, his stomach hurt, he had red cheeks and looked wild eyed.  I gave him some Benadryl and sat on the couch with him to rub his back and trying to get him to just breathe in and out... then baby woke up and started crying.  Ada brought him to me, but he was hungry and just kept crying.  Evelyn was mad that she was stuck at the table because I couldn't come get her to carry her upstairs, and Ada still hadn't done her homework for the next day so I'd just been scolding her.... and Jer was at Young Mens.  Nice timing.  I called Jer and he brought all the deacons to our house for their meeting.  Two of the young men volunteered to feed the baby, Jer carried Sam upstairs (he'd fallen asleep on my lap after all the deep breathing), I helped Evelyn upstairs and helped Ada get her homework done.  I'm so very grateful for Jer's willingness to help things happen, and that he's in a situation that can be flexible.

So this happened

Yeah, Ada has always wanted long hair... But yesterday she told me she wanted it short. So we did. I'm hoping that it will help her learn to take care of it herself... And she kept telling me that she wants to grow it out in two or three years. I'm not sure. Now that she has it short, I think it suits her.

Hmmm

Not broken but she can't walk on it. She was jumping on the tramp and her knees buckled. A sprain maybe?

6 months old

I can't believe Seth is 6 months old today... The last two years went by so slowly, then the last 6 months zoomed by without any trouble. This little boy no longer screams being in his car seat, prefers to put himself to bed by himself, has 4 teeth that keep playing peekaboo, can hold his own bottle, likes to play on the floor, can roll both directions, can scoot in a circle and on carpet can creep forward slowly, hates most solid foods... But likes to chew carrots and green peppers for his teething... Likes lots of people around, and especially loves to be played with. He's ticklish but doesn't necessarily like being tickled. He loves being thrown in the air and most of the time sleeps in until 7/7:30.

Brutally honest

7 year olds can be brutally honest.  I watch Netflix a lot.  I watch on my phone while I do tasks around my house.  I watch while I exercise, feed the baby, cook dinner, do the laundry, etc... Ada apparently thinks that's all I do.  Several times now she's told me and her friends that all I do is watch TV.  Nice.  What she doesn't see is: I wake up in the morning, feed the baby, change the baby, wake Ada and Sam up for school, get them out the door, eat breakfast, read my scriptures, exercise, take Evelyn to dance class, do the dishes, start the laundry, pick up Sam from school, make lunch, clean up lunch, get the kids to do their chores, help them with their homework, help them with their piano lessons, take Ada to her dance class, teach their fencing class, make dinner, clean up dinner, continue feeding and changing the baby, bathe all four of my kids because Ada still refuses to really wash her hair, wash more laundry, sweep the floor, create the Ward bulletin every week... which is usually a two or three day process, make sure that Ada has clean sheets every day... most of these on a daily basis.... only a few of them are TV friendly... does she see that most of the dresses in her closet were sewn by me?  Or that a lot of the birthday presents are crocheted by me?  Does she see that the house is clean until she and Sam get home from school?  Does she see that I volunteer at her school once a week?  Or that I take all the kids to museums, play places, parks, shopping, cousins, grandparents and sometimes even friends houses?  How much of me is what she actually sees... and how much of what she sees is what she actually tells?  Honestly there are two lessons for us here.  Looking at how Ada is "judging" me (I don't think she's trying to be judgmental, just trying to make an observation) and looking at how I really am... what's the truth?  This is one of the things that we don't have a right to do to those around us.  Can we see into their lives and into their hearts?  Or is it our job to help them and love them? 

The thing that strikes me the most is that I have a choice right now.  I can choose to be offended, or I can choose to forgive and help her learn.  I think that part of our growth as children of God is learning to forgive our parents for all the "wrongs" that were done to us (I honestly think that when I got married and had kids I had no choice but to love my parents and everything they were able to accomplish with us growing up.  I have no idea how they were able to do it all.)  I also think that we have to forgive our children.  A lot of times, they are not trying to hurt us or slight us.  They are just being.  Sometimes that can still hurt, but we can take the opportunity to teach them to take their observations and care for the people that they are observing.  And yes, I do watch TV... do I just sit and watch TV?  Not usually, and if I do it's with a child or spouse in my arms.  I used to try to listen to talks/podcasts while I did my stuff.  Most of the time it ended up being just noise because I'd miss half of it with the sound of the washing machine/mixer/dishwasher/kids... With a TV show it didn't matter if I missed out of 5 mins or not.  Should I change what I'm doing?  Maybe. But should I choose to forgive and teach?  Most definitely.

Spelling

Spelling is everything... Ada drew this picture of the eye of Sauron for Dad during church... At the top she wrote The Lord of the Rigs

Funny kids sayings

Sam... Playing with his star wars ship was singing the star wars theme song, Evelyn speaking for her princess legos said, "Oh, Lego Star Wars?" Sam, "No, that's just the music playing in my spaceship."

Evelyn decided she likes Primary and told me very seriously this morning that her teachers names were Sis V and Sis Cold... They're Sis Valdeviso and Sister Burr.

Jer said, "Evelyn, I'm glad I'm your Daddy." and she said, "I'm glad I'm your Evelyn."

Picking me up from Relief Society today... The girl who last week said she hated Primary... Evelyn...  Cuddled up to me and started singing, "Scripture Power, it's the power to win..."

Evelyn's imagination

Evelyn has been coming out with some of the funniest things ever. She was carrying around her lego carriage saying that it was flying. I asked if she wanted the horse put back on it and she paused for a minute then said, "Pretend like The mom was fixing it..." I guess my reality intruded into her world.

Sam

What does Sam do after school when I say no to all electronics? He puts himself to bed for a nap. He must have really needed it. He's been doing some passive aggressive stuff lately. I'm not sure if he just thinks they're a good idea or he's really trying to act out.... He tore up Evelyn's pictures that were hanging on the fridge, drew on our van with rocks and keeps hitting legos out of other people's hands.... As well as doing things to purposely annoy people.  Even if Ada asks Sam to stop, he either ignores her and keeps doing it... Or he says, "But I don't want to."   hmmmm.... Question of the day, what's going on?

New Bean Museum

Can I say I love how they redid the museum...