Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Their Future Wives Will Be Grateful One Day

I had Jesse and Brett with me for a quick trip to the mall yesterday.

While walking by Merle Norman just before heading home, I decided to pop in and get my upper lip waxed.

As this was the boys' first experience with cosmetology, they had a lot of questions for the lady working there (who was very nice and had a good sense of humour, fortunately).

What's that green slimy stuff you're putting on her face?

Is this a spa?

Are you going to put cucumbers on her eyes?

When it was time to pay, Brett piped up again:

It cost $8.40 just for that? That took like 2 seconds! If I worked here, I wouldn't charge that much.

Lady: Is that so? What would you charge?

Brett: (thinks for a second) I would charge $6.99.

Lady: Wow, that's pretty cheap.

Jesse: Well, if I worked here, I would charge $3000.

Monday, March 30, 2009

Clara Turns Six Months and the Baby Talk is Out of Control

Our baby girl is 6 months old!

This is probably my absolute favourite age for a baby to be. I just love love LOVE this stage of life. Still little enough to cuddle and rock but old enough to interact and make cute talking noises and laugh and smile and roll around. Love it!

If I had a wish today it would be for time to stand still right now so I could just sit for hours holding and cuddling and kissing this precious baby. I just can't get enough of her!

You'd think that with number five, I'd be past the googly-eyed mama stuff, but no.

Sometimes I make such a fool of myself gushing over Clara's cuteness that the older kids stare at me like I've lost my mind.

Like when my voice jumps up 3 octaves too high and I start calling her the most ridiculous names and kissing her cheeks over and over.

Yeah, it's pretty bad.

But tell me, what would you do if you were face to face with this precious bundle of cuteness all day?

Bath Pictures

Clara has always loved bath time. Here are some pictures from several weeks ago.



Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Update: The Rest of March Break

Back to school again. The kids have been pretty tired. Even Jesse, who usually jumps out of bed raring to go, had a really hard time this morning.

We had a busy week and an even busier weekend, so I think we're all exhausted from that.

Here's a summary of what we did from Wednesday to Sunday:

I spent a few hours at the church making favours and decorations for Tasha's shower with Adrienne and Alexis. The kids played in the gym.

We all visited the dentist. Not fun, but the worst part was paying the mondo bill at the end. I miss our dental coverage.

Scott put on a presentation to a group from the London Newcomers about the church and gave a tour of the building.

We took the kids to a fun new place called Kidscape. They all had a great time. Nathan was in heaven. We stayed until closing.

Brett and Nathan went to play at a friends house. Samantha and Jesse had 4 friends come play at our house. Samantha's one friend slept over and they were up until late watching movies and having fun.

Scott went to the Youth Temple Trip.

I took Samantha and Clara to another baby shower, for which I made 3 dozen quiche tarts. Lindsey watched the boys, since Scott was in Toronto.

While taking Brett to another play date, I noticed 2 Open Houses in the friend's neighbourhood, so I did a quick walk-through of both of them. Beautiful new homes, and we're starting to get ideas of what we want in a house, even though we're several months away from buying.

We went to a potluck end-of-spring-break party. There were about 7 families there. Lots of good food and socializing.

We put on a Teacher Training Luncheon for Primary workers on Sunday. We had a couple of teachers away that day, but ended up feeding about 16 people (plus a few kids). We did some training while they enjoyed a luncheon of various soups, salad and buns. I think it went well.

Pat & Bill surprised us with a visit on Sunday afternoon. We also had a missionary farewell to stop by at and then Scott, Jeff, & Bill went to a Stake-wide Bishoprics Meeting together.

All that, plus any other activities the kids could cram into the remaining hours: more bike riding, playing in the yard, Wii, lego building, games and more.

Jesse is getting really good at pitching the baseball to himself. He can throw it in the air, swing, and hit it across the yard. He rarely misses. He's so coordinated, that kid!

Scott is off to Toronto this afternoon and evening, and I've got a big RS Anniversary dinner tonight that I'll be dragging the kids to. (They are providing babysitting there, which is nice. Hopefully it won't go too late though.)

That's it for now. Gotta run shower while Nathan is distracted for a few minutes with his cars and a cartoon, otherwise I'll be in my pj's until naptime.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Update: March Break

March break is in full swing around here. The kids have been staying up a little later, sleeping in, eating pancakes at 10:30 in their pj's, and hopefully having a nice break from school.

The weather's been beautiful so far, so we've been able to visit a couple of parks and spend some time playing outside, riding bikes, and walking to the nearby school playground.

I don't know what happened with me, but I feel like I was totally unprepared for this week. I guess I was trying to be laid back about it and just do whatever we feel like doing instead of planning activities to fill up the days. I pictured spontaneous trips to the children's museum, parks (weather permitting), libraries, and having more time to do fun stuff at home.

Instead it's been a little chaotic, as I'm finding it difficult to juggle fun activities for the older kids around a toddler and baby's schedule. It seems like we change plans so many times in a day that neither myself or the kids knows what's happening next.

Tonight was fun though. Scott took Samantha out to the movies for a daddy-daughter date while I took the boys and Clara to the Jesse Davidson Park. It's great to have some one-on-one time and the kids alway look forward to their "Daddy" dates.

On an unrelated note, I've also been dealing with some crazy mood swings this week. One minute I'm so happy I'm getting teary-eyed over the littlest things, and the next minute I'm feeling irritable and grumpy and can't think of anything I want more than to crawl back into bed for a while. Hopefully this will pass before my poor family gets completely fed up with me (if they aren't already).

Tomorrow afternoon I'm getting together to make shower favours and decorations. Brett has a play day with a friend from his piano class. Jesse's going to the dentist. Our home teachers are coming over. I'm going out with a friend for dessert to celebrate her birthday. And Scott has a playoff hockey game later at night.

Oh, and Clara turns six months old.

(Maybe that has something to do with the mood swings...?)

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Update: More Sickness

Clara was up most of the night last night - coughing and stuffed up. She just wouldn't settle and fall asleep. I held her and rocked her from about 12:45 AM - 3:30 AM. She would doze off for no more than a couple of minutes before she would cough and wake up and cry again. I finally gave up and brought her into bed with me.

She was still crying quite a bit, and I ended up holding her in bed (and dozing off in-between coughing fits) until 6:30 AM.

That's when I decided to put her back in her cradle (crying or not) so I could sleep for 30 minutes before waking up the kids to get ready for school.

Scott had spent the night in the family room with Jesse as he was still sick and in a lot of pain from his molars and fever. I think they got a little more sleep than previous nights, though. He did come up and offer to take a shift with Clara, but I told him to go back and stay with Jesse.

As Scott left to take the kids to the bus, he sent me back to bed. Then he came back kept an eye on Jesse and Nathan while trying to get a little work done in the office. Luckily, by that time Clara was exhausted we both slept for almost 3 (glorious) hours.

I called the doctor to see if we could get Jesse in today, and Scott was able to take him in this afternoon. He had a terrible ear infection on his right side, and she prescribed Biaxin for 10 days. (Jesse is allergic to penicillin).

Hopefully this will help him to finally get some rest and relief.

On a happier note, a couple of friends and I are busy planning a surprise shower for Tasha, who is expecting a baby girl in a few weeks. The girls came over yesterday to discuss themes, decorations, food, and favours. So fun!

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Update: Daylight Savings Weekend

Scott took the three older kids to the Monster Truck Show at the JLC on Saturday. Samantha liked it, but Jesse thought it was too loud. Apparently he didn't handle the noise very well, even with ear plugs.

I was up until just after midnight on Saturday night trying to get caught up on Primary and other stuff. I was getting ready to head to bed when I realized that with Daylight Savings, it was actually about 1:15 AM. I changed the clock in our bedroom and set the alarm, as Scott had to be at the church for a 7:00 meeting.

I heard him get up and shower, but made the mistake of rolling back over for a few more minutes of sleep as he was leaving. Bad idea.

Needless to say, we were late for church. But as we were walking in at 9:47, I couldn't help but think that since it felt like 8:47 to us, and considering how much I slept in, that was actually pretty good.

We had the Bridge family over for Sunday dinner, along with Jeff & Lindsey. It was fun to get together and visit and enjoy the day.

Monday I went in to Jesse's school to help in the lunchroom. Nathan wasn't on his best behaviour, so I had to spend a lot of time giving him my attention. He has been very demanding since being sick last week. He's also picked up some bad habits, like wanting to have his soother and blanket all day long.

After school Samantha came home really grumpy. She had tons of make up work to do from being away so much last week and she was completely miserable.

After a couple of hours of attempting to do Social Studies and getting virtually nowhere, she was sent to her room. Scott went up a little while later and found her sleeping!

Honestly, I don't think Samantha has EVER gone to bed before 8:30 PM in her life. Maybe as a baby a few times, but even then she was more inclined to stay up late.

We had dinner and Family Home Evening without her and she slept all night for a total of 14 hours.

Jesse, on the other hand, barely slept at all last night as he was up for most of the night with terrible earaches. His mouth was bothering him this morning, and he seems to be cutting his 6 year molars.

We just had lunch and Jesse's resting on the couch with his blanket watching a movie now. I just gave him some Advil, so hopefully he'll be okay for a bit while I shower and give Clara a bath.

Scott went back into court today, as he was summoned for jury duty in an eight victim murder trial that took place outside of London. The judge excused him though, as the trial is expected to last several months, during which he wouldn't be able to run his business.

Although he knew it would be near impossible for him to be on the jury for the next few months, he was still a bit disappointed, as he thought it would be a great experience.

Uncle Arden passed away on Friday and the Funeral is tomorrow. My grandpa is now the only sibling alive in his family of seven children. I can't imagine how hard that would be.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Update: The Neverending Sickness

Clara's eye has improved, although it is still kind of goopy.

Brett is back at school today for the first time since Friday (when I had to go pick him up).

Samantha is still sick, although I think the worst may be behind her now. She hasn't vomited since Monday.

Nathan was fine until about 15 minutes ago, when I got him out of his crib, and noticed he too has a brutal fever.

Actually, my first clue was the fact that he was in his crib until 10:45 this morning. I had been up there a few times to see if he was ready to get out, and he wasn't even sitting up. Usually if he's left for too long after he's awake he starts jumping up and down and yelling, "Get out!"

Jesse, Scott and I have been fine so far. Hopefully it's because our immune systems are strong enough to boycott this bug.

Okay, gotta run. Nathan's aksing for a sippy-cup refill and Clara's trying to latch onto my arm while I type.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Update: Getting Sick

Yesterday I stayed home from church with Brett, as he had been throwing up on Saturday night. We had gone over to a friends house for pizza & wings night, and our poor baby-sitter had to clean it all up.

Today he and Samantha are home from school with fevers and Clara woke up with an eye infection. When I got her out of her cradle this morning she looked like this:


Her eye was crusted shut. You think she would have been sad about it but instead she was as happy as ever and smiling at everyone.

She also has had a decrease in her appetite since Saturday, which worries me a little. But I think it might be that she's just not been feeling well. Yesterday she only had about 4 solid feedings.

Today was the deadline for RSP contributions, so I had to go the bank to set that up. Talk about leaving it to the last minute.

I really hope things start to settle down a bit around here because I'm pretty sure I'm reaching my limit.