I'm the Mother of a 9-year-old!!!

The friday before Ben's birthday he got to have his friend, Malcolm, spend the night. This was only our second sleepover and I was worried that I wouldn't be the right kind of mother for a sleepover (that I'd be mean and cranky) or just not make it fun enough. I had purchased some frozen pizzas using a bunch of coupons (yay! for good deals), so that's what we had for dinner. At the last minute I remembered I had volunteered to take dinner to a friend who had just come home from surgery. I was glad that I had some taco soup in the freezer! I just let the boys do what they wanted and that seemed to work out just fine for them. I did make them go to bed eventually, though!

I ended up staying up late that night, too, so that I could get a batch of cinnamon rolls made. The mother of my high school friend, Tamra, had passed away and her whole family was in town for the funeral. I wanted to do something to show my love and concern for them. I took the rolls out to their home early on Saturday for their breakfast. Here at home the cinnamon rolls were a hit, too.

Kannon and I got to go out on a date that night. The High School had a free showing of their theatre 4 production of "The Princess Bride". It was SO good! We really enjoyed watching the kids perform and were glad it was full of all the good lines! The old "booing" lady ended up sitting right next to Kannon. He wanted to boo along with her. It was a good evening out.

We had Grammy and Papa come over for dinner on Sunday. We opened the presents first. Joshua, like all my kids when they are little, wanted the birthday and presents to be for him. It was all he could do to keep himself from opening Ben's presents.

He got his cub scout Bear book and neckerchief slide from Grammy and Papa.

Grandma Polish sent down these three gift: a Nerf gun, remote control truck, and Cars Vtech learning map.

We gave him 2 Nintendo ds games, a large Halo Mega Blocks set, a pocketknife (that he got to pick out with Dad), and a Triominos game.

The cake took me a whole day to put together. He had picked out 3 different cakes that he wanted me to work with to create just one cake. It was fun to do. I had to freeze the cake in between layers, so that's what took my time. It was a S'moresey Ice Cream Cake. Yum!

He left one candle burning, must've been for his girlfriend! Can't believe he's 9 already and I'm sure I'll be saying the same when he's 19!

We went to Sonic for half-price slushies on Tax day.

I went to the church on Tuesday night to learn more about being prepared. I feel like we do a pretty good job of being prepared, but every opportunity usually presents information I didn't already have. Like having shoes in our 72-hour packs, or a list of items to grab in the case of an evacuation. A sweet young woman was willing to watch the kids for me. This is where Joshua settled in. It just amazes me to watch him climb or jump the way he does. There's no fear. He climbed on the board in the left-side corner of this picture, in order to get on top of this cabinet to do puzzles.

I love Ben's school. They always make the things they are learning about FUN. They did a unit on Explorers. Each child had an explorer assigned to them, to research and write a short speech about. Ben was Sebastian Cabot. The 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classes presented the explorers in a Wax Museum exhibit. It was great! I loved how each child had their own costume and some of them had their lines memorized. You had to press the "button" on their shoulder to make them start working. It was just fun to see them all work out what they had been studying.

Ben refused to wear the brown "tights" (knee-hi's) that I had for him. And he made me cut off the mustache because he "couldn't breathe!"

Sebastian Cabot was almost pirate-like. And his picture on Wikipedia is scary. He's got a permanent scowl on. It was interesting to learn about him with Ben.

We mostly give Joshua showers these days. This is one of the reasons why.

That's his favorite blankie. He won't sleep without it. I barely got it washed and dried before bed on this night. It definitely needed a wash -the water was really brown after I had wrung it out.

What a day!

"You still love me, Right?"

Kannon started teaching class again this week. That means he is gone 2 nights of the week. Two nights where it's just me and the kids. And, remember, it's just me and the kids all day every day. Now, we're adding in some night time, too. I know a lot of mom's do this everyday, all day AND night. I've done this off and on for the past 9 years, too. It's doable, just not easy.

Joshua has been a different sort of kid the last few weeks. Sleeping easier (like falling asleep at church!) and wanting to be held a lot, picky about food and not wanting to go to the gym. I wondered if he wasn't feeling well, or going through a growth.....something! Well, the old Joshua was back in full force today, and I'm not sure he had been missed.

The first half of the day went fine. It was the second half that threw me for a loop.

Now, I have to say that I've been in a kind of "funk" - the kind that doesn't let me do any work around here. I've kept up on the laundry and the dishes haven't been to bad, but you should (not) see my floors! Instead of getting the broom out this morning, I put my shoes on! Granted, it did rain yesterday. AND, the weather's been nicer, so the kids are in and out a lot more. And Joshua is in and out and in and out, with shoes on and then off! I've been "blessed" with excuses for not getting the floors cleaned. Tuesday, I had to get Sarah from school because she didn't feel well. Then I took her back to school because it was just gas. Wednesday, I had to take Ben his inhaler because he was having bronchial spasms. I stopped there on my way to doing some grocery shopping that had to be done and I stopped again on my way back home. Today, I thought, for sure the floors will be getting cleaned. I put Joshua in front of the Backyardigans and started on the dishes. Then a phone call from a needing friend. "Can you watch my 2 boys?" Sure! What better excuse, than that there were 3 little boys running in and out and in and out all day! Which is exactly what happened. Oh well, the floors will still be there tomorrow.

And where was I? Oh, right here at the computer.....blogging of course (and checking email, facebook, and pinterest!) But, that was okay. The boys were all great. Sarah even got in on the fun when she came home from school. I did have to bring Joshua in one time for a quick shower, though. What? A shower in the middle of the day? -Of course, don't you do that, too? No? Well, how about when they find a wheelbarrow full of muddy water? Oh yeah.

We had to pick up Ben for dance at 4 pm. I took the boys back to their house after that. I was back home by 4:30. Joshua went to bed at 7:30. After all, he didn't get a nap, what with those fun boys being here. (I really am glad he got to have so much fun with those boys.)

In those three hours he got into the ice cream (which is for Ben's ice cream cake!) - TWICE!

I peeled an egg for him. He got another egg, peeled it, and added that second yolk to the yolk from the first egg - smashed all over my couch.

He ate 2 cheese sticks. A couple handfuls of fritos. And then when I sat him down for dinner of waffles (yes, that's how I roll when my husband isn't home) he wasn't really hungry. Go figure. He threw one bite on the floor and I ended up taking the plate away and sending him off for a bath. Now, Kannon won't give him baths. He always makes a mess. But, he's 2 and he prefers baths over showers. I decided to let him have a bath. Sigh. He throws the non-slip mat on the floor. He finds a cup and pours water out of the tub, onto the floor. He throws toys on the floor - they're full of water, too. So, out he goes. Soon, I find him at the table eating peanut butter with a spoon. Seriously?

It's only been a few hours, but I can no longer remember the exact "straw" that "broke the camel's back". I just remember grabbing him and saying, "that's IT! You're going to bed, NOW!" I got him his milk, his blanket. I lay in his bed with him and stroked his face while I sang, "I kneel to Pray", and I adored his beautiful little boy face. His long eyelashes, his full lips, even the smudges under his nose and around his lips. Peanut butter? Maybe. Doesn't really matter. He'll be dreaming of dirt, scooters, friends and food......all......night......long. And tomorrow we'll start all over again. And that's okay. Sometimes it's good to be a mom.
No, sometimes it's Great!

Easter 2012

The Easter Bunny is coming to town! Joshua and Sarah liked helping me set up the Easter decorations. Then they asked for the plastic eggs and had a good time hiding them in the yard. (and dumping them all over my living room more than once!)

Easter came at the end of our Spring Break. We just took it easy. I didn't want to spend money to go anywhere especially since I would have had to go without Kannon. There were playdates and parties. Late nights and movie rentals. I was a good girl and still went to the gym! We even tried story time and the Library. I had to take Joshua out to the car during story time. He wouldn't be any kind of "still" and then he got dangerous and loud. I ended up going home and picking up his "leash" so that we could navigate the library. I still had to cut that trip shorter than I wanted, and didn't get to pick out any books for myself. =(

We dyed our eggs on Friday night. I tried another Pinterest idea and used Koolaid. I did Not have the results that so many others had, and I won't be doing it again. The colors were mostly okay. But, the red (tropical punch) turned out orange. The blue and green (raspberry ? and lemon-lime) were 'barely there' colors. I had bought a package of egg coloring, too, so I quickly mixed that up so we could get some pink, purple and better blue and green.

In the end, it didn't matter what colors we had, the kids had a great time. Kannon took Josh off early for a bath - he started getting crazy!

We messed around with these eggs a bit more and got some that were a bit more vibrant.
That night the Easter Bunny, aka Mom, filled baskets with some fun goodies and an egg of candy. They also got chocolate bunnies from their daddy. I decided to make a trail from their beds to the "loot".

I had gone early to help with Bountiful Baskets and I didn't think I'd get home before they'd finished off their bunnies. But, they had only just gotten up and explored their baskets!

Ben with his plastic bubbles, Joshua with a Toy Story camera, and

Sarah trying out her new Slap Watch.
We tried to make our new brick patio that morning, too. We got the space dug out, but then the store we were going to buy our paving gravel from closed early. =(

That afternoon we went out to my parents house to hunt

for eggs and visit and have yummy food.

I hid the plastic (empty) eggs in the front yard. It was all they could do to keep Joshua in. He ended up heading out the back door just as I finished up.

They all had a good time hunting, and nobody fought over finding "this" one or "that" one, or "he got more than me", or "I saw that one first". It was just pleasant.

Then Uncle Stephen and Ben took the plastic eggs out back and hid

them again, for Sarah and Joshua.

It was hard to keep Josh inside after that! He loves being in Grammy's yard.

It was an enjoyable evening with Mom and Dad, Stephen and Susan.

We also spent Sunday afternoon at my parents again. Having another Easter dinner. This time with my Uncle John, Aunt Mary and cousin James. We talked about the job possibilities in Ely. It was fun to think of what "could be". The wind was yucky that day, but once again, Joshua wanted to be outside most of the time. Ben and Sarah decided to spend the night there, since they didn't have school on Monday - one more day of Spring Break.

Monday, when Kannon got home from work, he and Ben finally raced their space derby. They had worked hard on their ships for about a month. As far as I was aware, Ben beat Kannon 2 out of 3 races.

March 2012

We started off the month of March with the annual Cub Scout Blue and Gold dinner. At this event the boys get to decorate a cake for dessert. They really wanted it to be the boys creation, so I pinned (love me some Pinterest) a bunch of ideas and let Ben decide what to do. I baked the cake and frosted the initial layer. He did the rest.

Even took his own picture!
I got strep throat - AGAIN!! Kannon did some grocery shopping for me and brought home some fun green flowers for all of us. He wrote some special notes to everyone, too. Ben put his on his dresser. Sarah put her flower on my stove. Joshua turned his flower upside down and dip, dip, dipped it in the water. It didn't last too long. The rest of the flowers made it through the end of the month!

The wearing o' the green! We pull these out every year. When Ben was 4 we bought our St. Patrick's Day gear for a ward party/ talent show. It's awesome!

We had two of our favorite families over for dinner on the 16th for green food. The Edwards and the McCormick's came and we did potluck. Lots of green love. We ate kale chips, green quesadillas, lots of green veggies, some meat in green sauce (yum!), a green jello dessert and a bunch of minty chocolates! We also had a good time playing "What's Yours Like?" I've heard that game can get a bit racy, but I think it depends on the players. I've played it with 2 different groups and never had an issue.

On Sunday I sent the kids around the house on their Leprechaun treasure hunt (also pinspired!). Saturday had proven to be a really busy day and we didn't get around to it.

They found the treasure! Individual paper pots of m&m's!

Kannon's new hobby -the art of belt buckling! He really likes putting these together and spends a lot of his free time (which really isn't much) in the garage welding and buffing. He's sold a few and given some away. He traded one for some babysitting, too!

Kannon took all 3 kids to the Monster Jam. The original plan was to take Ben on their date for the month. But, he really wanted to take Joshua, too, and I told him that he had to take Sarah, also, if she wanted to go. She did. I dropped them off and spent a few hours doing some window shopping, then picked them up when it was over and we did some grocery shopping for the month. For Ben and Kannon's date, they built space derby ships.

I was asked to participate in a Chautauqua for our Relief Society Birthday party. I was Louisa Barnes Pratt. My mom made me this awesome dress for the 1840's. I had so much fun being someone else for the evening (we pretended all through dinner, too). I didn't want to take off my costume when I came home.

I really enjoyed comparing Louisa as a woman, wife, and mother to me as a woman, wife and mother. There were a lot of similarities. Doesn't matter that she lived so many years before me. We, as women are so similar through the ages. We struggle with the same issues. She had to take care of her family when her husband was called to serve a mission. I know women who have had to do that while their husbands are in the military, or just have to work long hours or far away. This depressed her for days, moved her to tears. But, she eventually came to herself and got down to business. She moved with her husband to the Pacific Islands to finish his mission. In her lifetime she built and left behind 7 homes. She had to choose between her religion and her husband when a time came that he wasn't willing to follow the Prophet. We each have similar trials. Anyway, I'm not a philosopher, but she wasn't "just" a pioneer - she was a woman.

Sarah and I made these S's. She and I got to go to Reno together and do a little shopping. We were looking for a present for her friend, Serenity. We went to the mall and got some hair stuff and we went to JoAnn and got these wooden S's. I made one for Sarah ( on the left) and she made one for Serenity (right). We had fun in Reno and we had fun making them.

Ben participated in his first dance! He's been doing swing since January and they had their first performance at the local "Dancing with the Stars." I thought they did a great job. Ben had so much fun. They danced to Rockin' Robin. Now he's learning the cha-cha.

These are some of the kids from his class at school. There are at least 3 more.

(Lane, Malcolm, Brayden, Bailey, Ben and Kale. Missing Storme, Paige, and Madison.)

Ben with his partner Storme D.

We spent the last weekend in Elko with the rest of the Polish's. We enjoyed General Conference.

Kate and Sarah

Grandma's Girls. She bought cute dresses for all of the granddaughters and took pictures with them. They were so cute - all in pink.

Lillie, Kate and Sarah (later joined by Grandma and 4 more cousins!)

Lots of outside time. It was a windy weekend, even snowed some on Sunday, but the kids were outside as much as possible. Kannon took me and Josh on a 4-wheelin' ride.

Lots of time on the ds's. Ben on his and Will on Uncle Kreg's. Joshua loved watching him play games. He doesn't know how to play them so for now he's content to watch. I was just happy that there wasn't any beatings happening this weekend. I don't think Joshua hit anyone!

Out for frozen yogurt at the new "Spoon Me". I LOVE frozen yogurt!

Playing a bit of fruit ninja on the X-box Kinect. He made me play, too. Thank goodness nobody pulled out the camera then!

March was a pretty good month. Not too busy, but full of great memories!