Journaling

- Wednesday we kicked off our Fall Break with a big cleaning day, YAY!  Haha.  Just kidding about the "yay" part.  We did start out the day with a cleaning competition.  Girls versus Boys.  The Boys had to do the Backyard, Front yard and bathrooms.  The girls had to do the Kitchen, Family room, Living room, Toy room, and Laundry room.  Sounds unfair, I know, Charity made that very clear, but we needed the whole house done before Thanksgiving and well... the girls are just faster and more helpful!  Unfortunately for us, the boys won.  But according to Nate, they were REALLY hard workers the entire time!  I was really proud of all my boys every time I looked outside and saw them all sweatin' and workin' so hard!  The girls and I worked pretty hard too!  We got everything but the Laundry room done.  So, go us!!  We had a little whining and complaining, but nothing too out of the norm.  The boys chose SWIIMMING for our family activity for the day.  Everyone was pretty excited about that!  And it went along with a (kind of) tradition that we started 4 years ago with Brent and Sarah and the rest of my sibs.  I think we've missed a couple years, but I consider it a tradition :).  We got held up at Walmart (not literally, it just was really busy and then the power went out), so we didn't make it to the pool until about 3:30, but we had a lot of fun!  Jack slept in his seat the ENTIRE TIME!  Just next to the pool.  That was kind of a relief, but I was also a little bummed that he didn't get to have his first swim.  Erika, Luke and Noah bounced around in the shallow end most of the time.  They braved the water slide near the end with Daddy and the big kids.  Bradley, Kelly and Charity were all over the place!  They went on the slide, played Monkey in the Middle with Daddy in the deep end.  Then talked me into going into the diving area with them, where they all did cool tricks off the diving board.  Talked me into diving a couple times (which I don't recommend to nursing mothers who haven't fed their baby in 3 hours... just sayin'!).  Then we all stood in line for almost 20 minutes to attempt the big blown up obstacle course.  Charity and Bradley both did really well, made it to the end.  Kelly tried SO HARD!  She was SO CLOSE!  She even got back on after falling off a couple times, but the last time she fell off, the lifeguard made her swim to the side.  But she really surprised me at how well she did.  I, on the other hand, did horribly.  I fell off on the second trick.  Although, I was really happy with how well I got up on the thing, that was the part that worried me most, and I did it with very little trouble!  Apparently there is still some muscle left in this flab on my upper arms!  Wahoo!  Brent and Sarah and their boys showed up about halfway through our visit and we were able to play with them a little.  I was pretty much tied to the side of the pool, not wanting to leave Jack alone in his seat there.  And the kids are so all over the place, it's hard to get adult time in :), but I think everyone had a good time.  We hurried home at 6:00 to have Grandpa over for dinner.  Lots of fun.  11-23-12

- I had a really cool experience today, I want to remember it.  There's quite a bit of background to this story, but I'll try to make it brief.  I have had a really bad tooth ache (and when I say "tooth ache" I mean, the right side of my head feels like someone is smashing it under a ton of bricks) for the last month or so.  Yesterday I hit an all-time high on the pain level, and my tolerance was almost gone.  I doubled up on Ibuprofen and Tylenol, and still couldn't sleep all night.  It was awful!!  Sunday morning came too early and the pain was STILL THERE!  So church was difficult to say the least.  Luckily Nate was here in the morning, he was able to get the kids ready pretty much on his own, then took everyone because I wasn't quite ready when it was time to go.  We were subbing for Bradley's class so we had to be on time.  But of course, Nate stepped in and taught the lesson.  He didn't have to go to work until the second hour of church because they are messing with his schedule for the next month before the change at the new year.  But that meant I still had to do Sacrament meeting on my own.  I have to say it went okay, it was just stressful I guess.  Filled with blown out diapers, spit up fountains, and crying whining kids (just two of them thankfully).  So when I got home, I was already exhausted.  I had a whole evening of supposedly entertaining 7 kids by myself on the Sabbath.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Sundays.  It's just difficult to come up with good Sabbath day activities that keep their attention and that don't let us go into cabin fever mode.  So anyway, I was anticipating this long evening.  As I was sitting there trying to console my very unhappy baby (which is TOTALLY not like him!!! so that was even more frustrating- the whole wondering what might be wrong with him....), I started to feel this heavy weight on me.  The tears came pouring out and I realized I needed to distract myself.  Everyone was playing and under control, so I turned on my Kindle onto a Conference talk and listened.  It was Elder Ballard's (I think) talk about how the Lord uses us to answer each other's prayers.  Immediately I started praying.  I knew that Heavenly Father could bless me with someone to help me through the evening if I just prayed.  I was crying and asking him to please let me have a break just this once, and send me someone who would be able to take up some of the load.  I was having a bit of a pity party, feeling like that NEVER happens for me.  Very rarely do I have someone show up on my doorstep and offer to help me with my kids.  Like so many people I know do.  And I told Heavenly Father it was my turn, in a sense.  Immediately, I could feel the Spirit say, "You never accept the help that is offered to you."  This was true.  I began picturing someone stopping by, knocking on my door, saying that they felt like they should come help, and me saying, "No, we're fine, thank you though." because I don't want them to see my messy house (it really is beyond messy right now, very embarrassing).  And I realized that even in this moment of sheer desperation, I would probably refuse help.  Sad.  I started to apologize for being that way, then I decided to pray for help with feeling better since having help probably wasn't in the cards today :).  I felt prompted to go take a nap.  So I came downstairs, asked the kids if they would please watch Jack for me while I rested.  They were all very happy with the idea, fought over who would get to hold him, and I disappeared.  About an hour later, I heard Jack crying and called the kids in to let me take care of him.  As I sat up, I realized I was feeling much better.  Right then, the Spirit reminded me of my prayer earlier and I realized that my kids had totally been an answer to that prayer.  They had given me the help I needed to get a little rest.  I changed Jack's diaper and fed him and realized it was time for dinner.  I called the girls in to see if they could help me think of something for dinner and the conclusion we came to was potatoes.  They were MORE than happy to get that started for me.  And cheerfully, they ran up the stairs.  That was a relief.  I realized that they had once again, been an answer to my prayer.  A few minutes later, I was up in the kitchen with them, and Bradley came in offering to help with the dinner too!  Another little angel to answer my prayer.  They were so awesome to help out!  They were happy, didn't fight, even cut their fingers a few times while chopping up the potatoes, but they just plugged along, helping me out.  I should mention that not once did I inform them of my tooth ache, they were helping me not even knowing how much help I really needed.  They are just that good!  A little while later as things were cooking, I was trying to clean up the kitchen a little while Jack was in his swing.  He got a little fussy and immediately another little angel popped in the room and offered to hold Jack and bounce him a little.  It's so unlike Luke to do that that I just couldn't help but thank my Heavenly Father for yet another answer to my prayer.  It was like He wanted me to acknowledge that I have help!!  I have it everyday!!  I have been SO blessed.  Heavenly Father gave me these wonderful, hard working kids, because he knew I needed them.  He knew my situation.  He knew me.  He loves me.  I will never complain about not having someone show up on my doorstep ever again.  I don't need to, I have my helpers right here, inside my house already.  And thankfully, they do more than just help, they let me love them back :).  Life is good.  They all played so nicely together the rest of the evening, and then they all went to bed really well.  Nate came home shortly after that... it was a really great evening.  Funny to say that after what I had seen coming this afternoon.  Thank goodness I'm not in charge.  I welcome whatever Heavenly Father's got planned for me :)  11-25-12

- I'm so frustrated with how little time I have to post on my blog.  I know I need to get over it, but I miss how up-to-date it was for a while there.  That's life.  I'll move on :)

- Nate stayed home on Monday to help me out since I had been in so much pain Sunday.  I felt pretty good Monday (go figure), but I am so grateful that Nate has a job that lets him do this.  We went through many jobs that this was never an option, not even when we had babies sometimes, so I consider it a great blessing.  He helped me make my dinners for the exchange, and it was so fun to have his company for that ;).  11-26-12

- Tuesday I went in to see what was wrong with my teeth.  I HATE going to the Dentist.  Probably why I have so many problems.  It's so embarrassing.  Found out I needed a root canal on one tooth, Cavity in another, and the fillings I got when I was little were probably wearing down and causing a lot of sensitivity and pain.  Rats.  I was able to go back in that afternoon for the root canal.  Which, can I just say, that was really painful!!  My mouth is still sore, and I can't chew on it yet.  I'm going to just live with the temporary crown for a while, it's so expensive to get a real one.  And go back to fill the cavity next week.  I hate teeth problems.  11-27-12


- Wednesday night was very interesting.  I won't go into any details, but it was very long.  I knew Thursday was going to be tricky, but I think I had a lot of extra help from the nap Nate let me take before he had to leave for work, but more importantly the help I had from Heavenly Father the WHOLE rest of the day.  I was startled awake (from my all-you-can-nurse-buffet nap-with Jack) for who knows what, and my heart was pounding!  It was just the jump start I needed for the rest of the afternoon/evening.  I remembered I needed to make an appointment for Kelly (I had tried early but just as ALWAYS is the case, I called the Dr.'s office during their lunch break... without fail, this is what always happens!  Drives me nuts), for her ears, so I did that and the only time they could get me in, that I would still have time to pick up Charity from her play practice, was at 3:40 and that happened to be in 23 minutes!  I frantically ran around waking up Erika, getting Noah in his shoes (which can be extREMEly complicating if he's not on board forthe outing), jerked Jack out of his peaceful sleep and threw him into his car seat.... it was nuts.... but we made it out the door at about 3:25.  As we were getting in the car, Charity called to inform me that her practice was cancelled.  This seemed like a bonus since I could then just take her and the other kids home and she could babysit instead of dragging everyone to the Doc.  But when I got to the school, waited for the long line of carpoolers, it was too late to make a run home.  They ALL had to come.  The Doctor visit seemed somewhat productive.  As productive as no real answers can be I guess.  They sent us on our way with a prescription for a nasal spray because her ear looked like someone's who has allergies (which Kelly is not), to see if that would change anything.  And an order to get her thyroid tested and her blood count to see if there is anything else.  Hopefully she's just fine.  The kids all did FANTASTIC at the doctor's office.  I took Noah , Erika, and Jack in the room with Kelly and I, and the rest watched the movie in the waiting room.  It's been a while since I had to do that, but it really was okay..  Sure is funny to think that having four kids in the room with us was the easier way :).  It's nice to have older kids.  After that, we took everyone except Jack and Kelly home, Charity babysat, and we went and had Kelly's blood drawn. All of these things were such spontaneous things for the day... I had not planned on any of this.  I really didn't think they would even be able to see her that day.  The blood draw went well.  Kelly is so brave!  She wasn't scared at all.  We stopped and filled up the water jugs on our way home since it had only taken 20 minutes for it all.  The kids did great at home, everyone was sad for Kelly, then I started on dinner.  As I was finishing with dinner, Bradley came up the stairs with my phone completely devastated that we had missed the Reflections night.  I had completely forgotten about it, it wasn't even on my calendar.  My friend Linsey had texted and said that Bradley and Kelly had won first place!!  We were excited and bummed at the same time!  I couldn't let them miss out on the last few minutes of it, so I made Charity babysit again, grabbed Jack and Kelly and Charity and headed on up to the school.  We got there after it was done, but in time to get trophies, skittles and certificates.  I was so proud of them!!  Kelly's was her dance that she made up to the song "Firework" and Bradley's was a picture of the snow falling.  They both did really great.  I only wish they'd had the chance to go up in front of everyone and receive their awards with a large applause :).  Oh well.  We did get refreshments :) and then we ran home to rescue Charity.  Everyone ate dinner and we headed out for yet another spontaneous activity-- celebrating with ice cream :)!  Bradley's speech teacher had given me SEVEN free ice cream cone coupons at our (very official) meeting with the Principal when they removed Bradley from his speech class (after only ONE CLASS!!).  One coupon for Bradley and each of his siblings!  So we went to Burger King for ice cream courtesy of them!  I have to admit I felt really strange just getting the ice cream cones.  I had planned on using some of the spare change I had in the diaper bag to get some fries or something so that I was giving them SOME money, but when I got there, I found zero change in my bag.  Oh well though.  They are the ones that give out the coupons, not me.  I know they do it because they assume nobody is going to come in and get JUST free stuff, and they assume they'll get something out of it, and I usually try to comply, but not that night.  Oh well.  I got over the weird looks from the teenage boys who had to examine each and every coupon like they could catch me in some kind of fraudulent ice cream coupon activity.  No such luck, they were all very genuine.  We had a nice time there, then went home and got ready for bed.  I didn't accomplish any of the things I had planned that day.  The laundry was still very backed up, there were dishes overflowing the sink, and well, the house was a wreck :) to say the least.  But it was a nice day :).  I was happy to have been able to take care of the things that matter to my kids.  11-29-12

- After going on and on about Thursday, I hate to even mention Friday.  It was similar with it's random trips to wherever, doing nothing I planned and everything I didn't.  But it was a good day as well, and I felt like a Mom again.  It's obviously been a while since we did the usual spontaneity... that sounds like an oxymoron.  I picked up the kids from school because Kelly's ears were hurting again, and then when we got home, Luke surprised me with the news that he had been invited to a birthday party (received the invite a week ago) and that it was starting at 2:00--- this was at 2:11!!!  I had to have him show me the invite and luckily the party started at 2:30 but that still didn't give us much time to buy a present and get everyone in the car and there.  But I took on the challenge.  By avoiding shoes on the little ones, I was able to get us out the door by 2:22.  We headed on down to All-A-Dollar (I know it's cheap, but I'd never even heard the kid's name before!  Plus my kids love that store :) ), I allowed Charity and Luke to go in alone together while I waited in the car with the kids.  I've been feeling for a while that I needed to give Charity some opportunities like this, to go into a store alone, etc., and this was my chance.  She did great!  They came out at about 2:33 and we were at the Pizza Pie Cafe by 2:37!  So only seven minutes late, not bad if you consider I found out about the party 19 minutes before it started!  I was impressed myself :).  Then we went home for the big kids to do their jobs, and call friends. Unfortunately, they all were invited over to their friends' houses.  This is a phenomenon that boggles my mind.... I wait all day for them to come home and be with us, and an hour later, I'm driving them all around to drop them off with other people.  Bums me out.  I know I need to get over it and I am glad they have friends, but it still bums me out.  So we piled everyone back into the car again (this is the third time in about 2 hours... if you've never loaded up 6 or 7 kids into a car and all the car seats, then you don't know why this matters... but if you have.... well.... ), took Kelly to Jaycie's, Bradley to Aiden's, and Charity to Annie's.  It was now almost 4:00 and Luke needed to be picked up at 4:30.  I hesitated to go home, only to have to reload them all back in the car (and it's even harder without the help of my big kids) in a half hour.  But we did and I was able to throw some laundry in the washer and a load in the dishwasher.  So that was a good choice :).  We then left at about 4:20 so that we could pick up Bradley (his friend had to go somewhere at 4:30) and then get Luke at 4:30 as well.  Luke had had a good time, he's such a fun kid to have at a party.  I love to hear what he does.  We got home around 5:00 and I was exhausted for some reason.  We did some more of the housework I'd been wanting to get done, and then realized we didn't have much for dinner.  Bradley had the idea of getting pizza and offered up his own money (since I didn't have any, we will pay him back) to go get some.  We got back in the car :).  Picked up some pizza, and had a lovely dinner and movie night.  Sort of.  We started a movie they'd never seen, they hated it, I wasn't sure it was a good one anyway, so we started another one, then we had several pauses where boys had to clean up the room they said they'd cleaned up... stinkers!... and then started back up on the movie.  Luckily I'd taken advantage of most of that time to fold clothes and do the dishes.  That was all I'd wanted to accomplish that day, so it was a must.  Then Charity called and needed a ride home (we need to invest in some friends whose parents will drive one of the ways, seems only courteous to me!), so we loaded everyone back up in the car... this is about the eighth time, if I counted right, and I decided to just grab Kelly in the process (I guess I should mention that Kelly's and Bradley's friends' parents had offered to drive, but it was just more convenient this way, so I don't know why I complained).  When we got home we finished the boys' movie, and it didn't get over until about 10:00 when Nate got home.  That 1 1/2 hour movie took us about 3 hours to watch!! Amazing.    Unfortunately, I'd thought we'd have time for a little Princess and the Frog so I'd promised Erika (at the beginning of the evening) that we would watch a little of that too.  So, in an effort to keep my promise, (and actually partially because she'd taken a long nap during the evening and probably wasn't tired enough for bed) I let her stay up and watch a little of her show.  I was exhausted, my eye was even twitching, so I was very relieved when the night was over and everyone was in bed.  But it was a very full day and I felt accomplished :) .  11-30-12