Bachelors Degree in Fort Building

My little sister, Melanie, came to visit last week.  It was awesome!  She hadn't met Reese and Jessenia yet and so she had to get in some good Aunt/Niece and Nephews time.  We had a blast, if I do say so myself.

One of the evenings we were sitting around, patting ourselves on the back for keeping the kids alive all day, and the brilliant idea occured to me that we should build a fort.  I build forts with the kids sometimes, but let's face it, they are zero help.  It usually ends up being tiny and Brisbane knocks it down before we can all climb under.  But now I had a partner in crime.  Melanie informed me that her Freshman year they would build forts in the dorms.  I am still not certain as to why they did this.  It was certainly nothing I did my Freshman year of college, but to each their own.

 I must admit, she must have learned something in college.  If she decides not to be a nurse, she could go for a degree in fort building.

 Naturally, we kicked all of the kids out of the living room (Brisbane snuck back in, as you can see).  We scrounged up every available sheet in our house, binder clips, safety pins, string, easel clips, and a yardstick.  Yes, we did use our back door to hold one of the corners of the sheets.  We may or may not have tied a string to the kitchen cabinets to raise the ceiling of one of the rooms.  It was a project.  And we declared it successful!

The kids liked it to (just not as much as us). 

 A fort this good, needed some popcorn and gummy bears!

 Jessenia almost missed out on all of the fun by being sent to bed early, but her bacon was saved because her mother took mercy on her so she could play with her Aunt.  (Don't worry Melanie, she will thank you later.)

 We were very careful to make sure everything was out of Brisbane's reach.  He didn't collapse any part of our fort (which in and of itself made the whole thing a success).

Reese probably enjoyed it most of all.
The kids liked it, we liked it.  Mostly we enjoyed building.  Made us feel like kids again.  Thanks Sis, and we miss you already!

All Girls (and Boys) Are Princesses

Jessenia got a Princess Dress Up set for her birthday.  We have played with it a couple of times but on this particular day, Reese joined in the fun for a pretend 'tea party'.  Jessenia wanted to be Snow White, Reese wanted to be Cinderella, and I wore Belle's crown.  We enjoyed our pretend 'punch' and cake immensely.
The kids are getting so much better at imaginative play. I love hearing them pretending. Jessenia is particularly good at it but occassionally Reese will surprise me with a moment of brilliance. I love my kids and their cute little personalities.

 Notice the fetching shoes, I think they really complete the ensemble.

 Reese refused to wear his crown, which is a downright shame.  I actually think the dress doesn't look too bad on him...good color...brings out his eyes.

My two lovely little princesses. 
We also have been really enjoying playing the game Pretty Pretty Princess.  I am going to have to get a picture of Brisbane in the earrings.  It is tough to decide which boy looks better in all the jewelry...it is a close tie between the three of them.

Olympic Sized Rant

We are enjoying watching the Olympics at our house.  Probably enjoying too much since Mack and I stay up way too late and have been dead dog tired all week long.  The kids like to watch with me in the evenings after dinner while we wait for Daddy to come home from work.  Reese is becoming quite proficient at discussing diving techniques and tricks.  Brisbane mostly likes the volleyball.  Jessenia we are not so sure yet, she is just in it for the family hang out time.
That being said, I have to say that I am somewhat disturbed by many articles (and facebook statuses) I have been reading complaining about the coverage of the Olympics.  Or even better people who are complaining that the Olympics cannot be streamed free over the internet.  Newsflash people:  It is NOT a Constitutional Right to get to watch the Olympics!
I love the Olympics.  I enjoy watching them.  I also love baseball.  I enjoy watching it.  Last year we purchased an antennae and digital converter so that I could watch the playoffs.  I did not complain that MLB does not show all of the playoff games for free on the internet.  I understand that MLB is a business that owns the rights to the games and they either charge networks to show the games on television or charge individual viewers who stream the games on the internet.  I just weighed my options and decided that I wanted to watch baseball enough that I would spend the money on the necessary equipment.  That was a choice that I made.  If you want to watch the Olympics enough, go buy the necessary equipment to do so and stop complaining.
Yes, I understand that NBC has exclusive rights in the United States to air the Olympics.  And guess what, they probably paid good money for them.  Television is a business!  Yes, the Olympics are an international story and a big deal to a lot of people.  Doesn't mean that NBC has to provide viewing as a free service.
Bob Costas bugs you?  Interesting.  I have been watching every night and he is barely ever on.  Just a few minutes between events.  He doesn't even commentate any events.  Just a few interviews or special interest pieces.  If he bugs you, mute it!  When I do P90X, Tony Horton drives me nuts.  I just mute the tv and turn on music.  When I watch baseball and Tim McCarver is commentating I just mute it.  So stop whinning and take control of your own life.
The commentators aren't good enough for you?  Well I am sure there are not a lot of water polo commentators who have full time jobs commentating on major national televison networks.  They have to find people to commentate obscure sports that are not normally aired on mainstream tv.  Give them a break.  It's not that bad.  And once again, you could always mute the television.
What?!  How could they!?  You mean, they mostly show only American athletes competing?  Weird.  I assume they do that because they are broadcasting in the United States and it is what the majority of their viewers want to see.  There are not enough hours in the day to show every single athlete perform in every single event.
Spoilers!?  It's not live?!  Again.  NBC is a business.  They are going to show the most popular events during primetime.  Yes, I read the spoilers (I'm weird like that) and I still enjoy watching the events that night (mostly because in the course of dealing with kids all day I have already forgotten the spoilers I read...pathetic, I know).  It is pretty easy to avoid spoilers (don't go to news sites) and if you do come across one, just relax.
That's all I am trying to say, relax.  It's the Olympics.  It's fun.  It's supposed to be entertaining.  So just gather your family around and enjoy watching a few sports you don't get to see every day.  And remember, you don't have to watch if you don't want to.  And nobody HAS to show it to you in the first place.  It's not freedom of speech here, it's just a game.
Whew, that felt good.  I don't normally use my blog to rant but I had to get this one out of my system before Mack heard me complain about it for the umpteenth million time.  Thanks for indulging me and sorry about my cranky-pants moment.  We will be back to posts about cute adorable children next time.

Reese's Birthday

Reese's birthday fell on a Sunday this year.  And since we like to do things big, we decided to celebrate on Saturday.  Unfortunately I had a doctor's appointment first thing in the morning and Reese had an utter meltdown when Mack sliced the bananas in half before he put them in his cereal.  Apparently I don't slice them in half and so Mack did it all wrong and that was devastatingly upsetting to a newly-minted four year old.

 We got off to a late start and so after lunch and while Brisbane was napping, Reese opened his presents.

 Another spoiled rotten child at our house!

 Reese has patiently watched as each of his siblings has had a birthday and opened presents.  He was so excited to finally get to open his own.

 And it looks like he got some pretty cool stuff!

 Then we went to the Arizona Science Center for more birthday fun. (Sorry that Mack looks like a serial killer in the above picture.  It is a bit of a specialty of his.  That is, looking like a serial killer in pictures, not actually being a serial killer.)

 The ball and water area was the kids' favorite.  We probably should have just stayed in that part all day.  But it was outside and H.O.T!

 Mack built that impressive tower (all by himself).

 On my now dead computer I have a picture of Mack putting the above body's organs back together on our last trip to the Science Center (Brisbane was really little).  He was a lot better this time.  I have to believe it is this huge sacrifice that we are making as a family for him to attend medical school.  So even if he decides not to be a doctor, at least he will be a whiz in the Bodies section of the Science Center (kidding.  kidding.)

 The kids enjoyed this heart with balls.  This is after they were traumatized by the stomach you could crawl inside of (they refused) and the nose that sneezed soft balls on you (wouldn't go near it).

 Reese looks so old in the above picture.  He is killing his mother by getting so big so fast.
 Reese wanted to go to McDonald's for his birthday dinner.  Big shocker there.
On Reese's actual birthday, he woke up with pink eye.  Which meant that I had to stay home from church with three kids in order to protect all of the other children in church.  It was kind of lame for his birthday but at least he got to play with all of his new toys.  (For the record, everyone in our house contracted pink eye once in the month of July...except for Mack.  I swear he is superhuman.  He never gets sick!)

 Reese also got a wimpy bike for his birthday and so we took them outside for a spin one evening.

 The kids mostly enjoyed riding down the driveway and then walking their bikes backup to the top and riding down again.  Their pedalling skills improved a lot while we were out there.

And Brisbane took a spin in his cozy-coupe.
My sweet Reese makes me smile every day.  He is very observant and likes to ask lots of questions.  He loves running around and playing with his little brother as much as possible.  I am going to miss him when he starts preschool in a few weeks.  I can't believe how big he has gotten in the last seven months.  I love my big boy!

Vacation Day 7--Still More Family

My paternal grandfather died while I was in college.  He is buried in a Veteran's cemetary in Utah.  I promised my father that every time I go to Utah, I would go and see Grandpa.  He doesn't get a lot of visitors and so it is a nice thing that Mack and I like to do and it was an important lesson to teach our children.
On our way to the cemetary I explained to the kids that we were going to go visit Grandpa's grave.  They don't have much of a concept of death but I tried to explain to them that Grandpa was dead and we were going to go visit where his body was buried.  I got a lot of blank looks and nodding.  Then we grilled into their heads that there would be no running and no stepping on grave markers.  (I may have threated with immediate placement in a car seat.)

 This was the best picture I got (sorry Dad).  The sun was really bright and the kids were a bit squirmy.
The kids were exceptionally well behaved.  They mostly wanted to visit the grave of the man who had a pinwheel next to his marker.  Then they wanted to go see all of the ones that had flowers.  Then they wanted to know why there were some that were flat in the grass and some standing up.  Then we had a little history lesson about what the symbols on the top of the markers mean (religions) and what all of the words mean. 
I hope that some day my kids appreciate their ancestors and those who have served in the Armed Forces as much as I do. 
I miss my Grandpa a lot and it is always nice to go visit.  Of course I was crying, because that's what I do.  Reese asked, "Mommy, why are you crying?"  "Because I miss my Grandpa."  "I'm sorry Mommy.  That's ok.  I will share my Grandpa with you."  Oh my goodness.  It was the most precious thing in the world and still makes me tear up.  I love my sweet little boy and his pure goodness.

Then we dropped Mack off at the sealing of our niece, Rachel.  The kids and I drove around looking for a park with no luck and so found a bit of grass and had a picnic lunch.  That night we went to the wedding reception and we were off.
And by 'off' I mean headed back home.  It sure was nice to visit with so much family.  We see some of them more than others but we love them all.  The kids fit right in (maybe not in appearance) and had a great time. 
It was a fun trip but we were anxious to get home.  We knew our kids couldn't make the twelve (fourteen for us) hour drive in one day and so we drove to Kanab that night.  Brisbane was not happy that he was not in a bed at ten o'clock at night.  It was a good thing Barbara gave the kids mini flashlights and my mom bought them glowsticks (because both of those are a good time in a car at night).

I won't make a seperate post about driving home the next day.  We were just so glad to get home.  It was a great trip, but long.  We learned a lot about vacationing with small children that will serve us well on our next adventure. 
And you know what our kids asked about every single day that we were driving (all four of them)?  They wanted to know if we were going to go pick up Zippy.  That's right, they were worried about their partner in crime the whole trip.  Don't worry, we went and got her first thing Monday morning.

Vacation Day 6--More Family

My children only have one living Great-Grandparent.  It is my paternal Grandmother.  She lives pretty close to where we were staying and so we went over for a visit first thing in the morning.

 Grandma also got some toys out for the kids and this time they managed not to break anything in her house (thank goodness)!  It was a fun visit, I haven't seen my grandmother in some years and so it was nice to introduce her to the kids.
Then we went up Provo Canyon for some Family Fear Factor.  Good times.  JoLynn was in charge of the reunion this year and she did a bang up job on this one.  The kids had loads of fun and the weather was impeccable.

 I didn't see Jessenia most of the morning because she loves her cousins so much.  Yes, that means she did eventually warm up from the night before.  Above she is about to grab sticky-notes with a sticky lizard thing.  Her cousin Erica is helping (aka Erica is doing all of the work and Jessenia is clueless...hence the look on her face).

 Look at that grass!  The boys had a fun time running around in the beautiful, gorgeous, immaculate, heavenly green grass.  (Oh how I wish we had grass like that in Arizona!)

Reese and I did a challenge where we had to squirt shaving cream off Uncle Rand's face.  We were pretty good at it.  And even though our squirt gun ran out of water, we were declared the winner for removing the most shaving cream.  Good job Reese!
After Fear Factor we went back to the house for lunch and then it was off to _________'s Got Talent (No, the blank is not for an innappropriate word.  I go to great pains to not put our last name on our blog).
We asked the kids if they wanted to sing in the Talent Show.  To my surprise they both said yes.  We were pretty sure that we would get up there and neither one of them would sing or at least Reese would not.  We practiced a few songs and let them pick which ones they wanted to do.  Jessenia chose "I Am A Child of God" and Reese chose "Itsy Bitsy Spider".
When it was their turn, I took them both on the stage.  I had Jessenia go first because I didn't even think Reese would sing, much less sing first.  Jessenia was really quiet but it was so sweet.  I got a little misty.  She even sang the chorus all by herself.
Then it was Reese's turn.  I was nervous.  But he did it.  He even sang loud enough for people to hear and did an awesome job.  I was super proud of both of them.  Mack tried to get it on video so if I ever figure out how to get videos onto my computer, I may post it.
It was another good day with family.  I was very proud of my kids.  They amaze me and inspire me everyday.  When I grow up I hope to be just like them.

Vacation Day 5--Family

We woke up the next morning and got out of my least favorite place that I have ever visited.  We had a really good day of driving this day, I actually think we improved with each day.  That is everything improved but Brisbane's mood.  He was still not happy with the confinement.
The purpose of going to Utah was for a reunion of all of Mack's parents' posterity.  But I was promised by my husband that the next time we were in Utah we would visit some of my family too.  So before we went to the reunion we stopped at my Aunt Barbara and Uncle Keith's house.  Aunt Barbara is one of my mom's sisters.  She has always been close with our family and I love her and Uncle Keith heaps.
They drug out toys for our kids to play with and Barbara really is my mom's sister and had gone to the dollar store for some little surprises for the kids.  They are basically spoiled rotten.  And those little flashlights proved to be a lifesaver on the drive a few days later.  They fed us dinner and Brisbane may or may not have broken something in their house before we left.  Sorry about that.  It was so great to see them, hopefully we can do it again soon.  (And hopefully next time I will take some pictures....grrrrrr.)
Then we went to meet Mack's family at his sisters house.  A lot of people who read this blog are members of that insanity but I will paint a picture for the rest of my readership.  Mack is the second youngest of nine children.  He was the last to get married, so that is 18 siblings and their spouses.  We have the fewest number of children, and one of the siblings has ten.  When we got Reese and Jessenia, they made 50 grandchildren.  Add Mack's 2 parents and you have 70 people.  Two of the grandkids are now married (one got married at the reunion actually) and so that makes 72.  There were a few missing, but all those people in one house (not to sleep, thankfully) and you get the idea.  It's pretty crazy.
Our kids had all fallen asleep on the way to the reunion and so they were a little groggy when we arrived.  And then they were totally shell shocked by all of their aunts wanting to hug them.  I know that I was totally overwhelmed when I met the family for the first time (and every time thereafter ;)) so I can't even imagine what my kids must have been thinking.  Jessenia would go to Aunt Jo (although I stole her back) and then eventually she would let Uncle Dean hold her.  She does love them.
Once the shock wore off it was straight to bed for the kiddos and a late night of game playing for the adults and big kids.  After several rounds of "Murder" I don't think anyone trusts Russell or Rand.