How Do I Ignore Thee?

Let me count the ways, dear Mother...

1.  Say "Sure Mom!"  Then proceed to forget the assigned task, with the most pleasant attitude possible.

2.  Roll my eyes, and go to sleep.  Never to mention the task again.

3. Argue until someone bigger and stronger steps in and puts his foot firmly down.

4. Accomplish one small part of the task, then tell thee it is completed.  Repeat ad nauseum.

5.  Giggle and play cheerfully, never having any idea that a task was assigned.

6. Try to negotiate a contract which results in payment for said task.

7. Yell "NO!" and wait to be put in time out.

I'll let you decide which behavior belongs with which child.  They all result in a whole lot of extra work for Mother Dear!

A high and a low

This morning was a super productive one.  I cleaned and organized the pantry/ laundry room, which was a fairly major undertaking.  For a brief moment as I stood back and surveyed my work, I felt "on top of things."  That HARDLY EVER happens in my life, I tell ya!

It was short lived though.  I gathered up the last pile of folded laundry, and headed to the hall closet to put away the clean smelling, freshly folded pillowcases.  When I opened the closet, a wadded up blanket came tumbling out at my feet.  I noticed another wadded up blanket that had dried grass still on it.  The place where the pillowcases belong was occupied by a tablecloth. (Tablecloths don't belong in that closet at all.)

I knew I should dive in and organize the closet, but I just wasn't up to it.   As I shoved everything haphazardly back in the closet and closed the door, I may or may not have said out loud

"If you can't beat 'em, join 'em."

Dad's unusual ability

Eli had another nightmare a few nights ago.

He came out early in the morning, full of animation, telling me all about the spiders in his room last night.  Luckily, his dad saved the day!  Dad was trapping all the spiders.

The funny part was that Eli says his "T" sound as a hard "C" sound.  So all day, he was excitedly telling everyone "My dad was CRAPPING SPIDERS!!"

He got pretty good reactions from everyone he told the story to.

Quote of the day

From Caleb - age 14

"Girls are just weird. I'd much rather eat food."


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Documenting Disneyland

It has gotten nearly impossible to plan family activities that appeal to children of all ages.  With everyone going a million different ways these days, we really felt the need to drag them all away from friends, sports and commitments, and take some time to just be together.

So...we took the family to Disneyland.

 We chose December so we could be there for the Christmas decorations and, best of all, the magical snow in the evening!

Please excuse the blurriness.  These were taken on our way out of the park after getting COMPLETELY soaked from the rain.  Eli had just gotten off of Splash Mountain, wet his pants, and fallen fast asleep in my arms.

Unfortunately, it rained almost non-stop the day we were in Disneyland.  The evening shows and SNOW was cancelled!  Sad!  But because of the rain, lines were short, and we were able to go on our favorite rides over and over again!  Here are a few of the favorite rides:

Splash mountain.  The kids went around and around on that ride.  They didn't even have to get out of their log.  Nobody else was crazy enough to be in line.

Space mountain

Space Mountain.  Jeff had to jump out of line to take Simon to the bathroom, so some random guy ended up in our picture.

Eli was SO CLOSE to being tall enough for the rides that sometimes they let him on, sometimes they didn't.  Finally Jeff got the idea to put napkins in his shoes.  It was just the little bit of help that he needed.  After that he rode every ride with us!  And he loved them all!

Getting ready for the CARS ride.  Simon was a crazy driver!

Did I mention that it rained on us??

This is a tradition for us- taking a picture in front of the White Rabbit's door.  It was such a cute picture when there were just a couple of little ones.  Now we pretty much just block the whole front entrance!

 

This is probably my favorite shot from the trip.  THIS is why we go to Disneyland!  I love the fun memories that they will have of family time.

Goodbye Disneyland!  We'll be back soon!

Retire young

This morning the weather was perfect. I was wrapped in a blanket on the hammock, watching the little boys jump on the trampoline.

Simon came and cuddled up with me, leaving Jonah jumping by himself.

When Jonah asked Simon to PLEASE come back and jump with him, Simon just pulled the blanket up around himself.

"Nah," he replied "I'm retired."


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Monster Jam

During Jeffs sabbatical this time around, it is our goal to take each of the kids out on a special date. Tonight was Jonah's turn. He lucked out and got to eat at Sweet Tomatoes AND go to Monster Jam!

He had two people listening to him talk nonstop all evening! What a dream come true! He didn't even mind that we had earplugs in half of the night. Ha!

On the way home he told us he would like to move to downtown Phoenix, because that's where all the fun stuff seems to be happening.

We sure did enjoy our time with this cute boy!



We met up with a big bunch of Davises! What a fun group!


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