What Theme Parks Look Like with Five Kids

We took the kids to Universal (for free, thank you employer) back in April. This is largely how we spent our day: eating junkfood and waiting. Riveting.

It's a Drive By

We're back to business as usual around these parts. The business of summer. Which means lots of swimming (no drowning allowed) and popsicles. 

School starts in just under one month and there is still a ton of stuff we want to cram in. Better get my act in gear. 

Some pictures:

Surprise. We adopted a dog. She's the sweetest little who-cares-what-breed dog who tolerates our children exceedingly well. We renamed her Mimi. Who names a dog Khloe anyway?

 Group shot.  Both of these pictures are from March...that's why my children look cold. It was probably even 60 degrees outside. Brrr.

Where Do We Go From Here?

I think I've decided to keep blogging. I know I hadn't posted in six months. I'm not going to apologize. My heart just wasn't in it.

Even if no one reads here, I'm okay with this. I need this for me. So, I'll post when I feel like it, and won't when I don't.

Today is for picture sharing. I finally downloaded pictures from my camera, which hasn't been done since November 2012. I'm only going to share the most recent stuff right now and maybe I'll come back to some of the older stuff... maybe.

The husband decided to join me in my Triathlon Fun. So, we've already done three races this season and we have at least three more scheduled. He's a machine. It's so awesome to ride or run or swim together during training! Best. Date. Ever.

 Just a current picture of all of us. This particular picture was taken at the Orlando Florida LDS Temple. I have big hair.

 Another picture of us. Please remind me that Abbie is now too tall to stand in front of me in pictures. Curses!

 Picture of Lucas taken four days after he nearly drowned. He is obviously in perfect health.

 I have taken the kids to the pool almost every day since we got home. It makes my mother-heart hurt but it must be done. I refuse to allow my children to have fear rule their actions. All three of the younger kids are enrolled in private swim lessons. They will learn to swim, damnit!

Ha! And then there's this girl. What a perfect little nerd! ZOMG.
And finally, a video to put your mind at ease (if that's even possible).

As Promised

After two amazing adult only vacations this summer, the husband and I (okay, probably mostly me) were feeling major guilt over having done virtually nothing for or with our children this summer. Unless you count yelling at them to clean up after themselves, I'm not sure why that doesn't count.

We managed to finagle a decent price to stay down at Disney's new Art of Animation Resort for two nights. It's so new that we were the very first people to stay in our particular hotel room. Awesome, right? 

Here's the part where I tell you that we did not have plans to take the kids into any of the theme parks. For our family alone, it would cost upwards of $400 for a single day pass. Nah... 

We figured that the Resort itself has enough fun stuff going on that we wouldn't have any problem filling our time. If we got bored, we'd head over to Downtown Disney (Free Disney!). Our poor children. Someday they'll realize how cheap their parents were and need therapy.  We can use all that money we saved by not taking them to Disneyworld! Everybody wins!

Warning: This post is picture heavy.

 Uhm. This probably isn't the best place to start. We were just being weird.

 This resort was probably the best decorated one I've been to. It was as if they dropped you into the movies themselves. The rooms (which I didn't take any pictures of) are awesome! We stayed in the Lion King suites, but they have Cars, Finding Nemo and The Little Mermaid areas as well (The Little Mermaid area wasn't yet open when we stayed there). And yes, every room is a suite which can sleep 6 adults (or 5 kids and 2 adults in our case) and has a kitchenette and two bathrooms.

 They had a humongous Mr. Ray.

 This resort features the largest pool on Disney property (or so they say). We took the kids on over. It was fantastic. One of my favorite parts was that they developed special underwater speakers and the music playing underwater is totally different than that playing above the water. The pool staff even provide life jackets for non-swimmers. We had a blast. The only downside is that being in Florida we end up with a bunch of random short thunderstorms so the pools close frequently.

Lucas is starting to be slightly more manageable. Slightly. I strongly attribute it to the fact that he started PRESCHOOL! (Insert video of me jumping up and down.)

 You know you wanna give this one a snack. Please. A snack, mommy. Mommy, a snack. Please. (Repeat ad nauseum.)

 One of the great things about Disney Resorts is that they have quite a few programs running at all times to keep the kids busy/entertained. For example, we took the kids to this Learn To Draw class. They had an animator sitting there teaching the kids to draw Mickey. My kids ate it up. Except Libby who threw a tantrum. (Repeat ad nauseum.)

 Yeah, Mr. Ray is huge.

 This is probably my favorite picture of Lucas, ever. It's taken on one of their "playgrounds".

 Um. Yeah. Abbie, at almost 11, thinks she is way too mature for playing. Please notice the glasses (it's only a matter of time and they'll all be wearing them) and the incredibly long hair. Whoa.

 Fortunately, Miles and Lucas are still young enough to think posing with a car is still awesomesauce.

 And I'm not sure what was up with Libby but in every single picture we took that weekend, she was making some approximation of this face.

 Oh, I'm so cute. Look at me. Blurgh!

 There were TONS of these sculptures everywhere.

 I totally love this picture of all of my kids. Even though Miles can't be bothered to stop whatever pretend world he was playing in.

 And another of the whole crew. I think we had great success. The kids had fun. The adults didn't kill anyone. Yeah, we call that success.

Random Scenes

 Uh. Those superheroes be mine.

 Grocery shopping is exhausting.

 Grapefruit be growing.

 Everyday LEGO battles are a necessity.

 O. My. Word. The cutes.

 We go on dates and eat tiny cones of gelato.

 My family.

 13 years since we started dating. We still like each other very much. 

 To celebrate, I bought myself four new pair of shoes.

Libby loves to brush my hair. I let her. We both win.

I hope you enjoyed this installment of randomness.

This picture is worth 1000 words

I won't use all 1000. Promise.

After school the kids are required to get their homework and their chores done and then if there's time left (which there is often not due to feet-dragging) we can go outside and "play."

Apparently, "play" at our house includes popsicles. It must. There is hell to pay on my part if I suggest we go outside to play without having an ample supply of popsicles on hand. Perhaps this is due, in part, to the incredibly warm weather we are already experiencing.

Items to note in the above picture:
1. Lucas has no shoes on. Never does. Recently we went on a run as a family on the bike trail that runs behind our home. Lucas failed to wear shoes. He also ran most of the way. It was nearly 2 miles. Get that boy some FiveFingers!
2. He also just dropped the remainder of his popsicle on the ground. He proceeded to eat it off the ground. At least until the ants got to it.
3. Anna's a poser.
4. Also Abbie with the posing. Geez.
5. Miles is looking so very GQ. I'm sure it's because his brain can finally breathe again. That boy has the thickest most insane hair. SO MUCH HAIR. And he detests haircuts. It takes me weeks to convince him.
6. I'm sure at this point Libby is scavenging for whatever popsicles are left, having finished her own. In fact, I can see that Abbie has already given Libby half of what she had left. That child can eat! And also, scarf popsicles with the best of them.

See? Much less than a thousand words.

Clean

I can be an honest mother when I admit that the time my children spend doing chores is one of my favorite parts of the day.

I know that when I was growing up, my parents tried so many times to get a regular cleaning schedule down.  It never really worked. Chore wheels, etc. Nada.

Here's what we've been doing for the last several months. Each of my older three children is assigned a job (for April, Miles has the Dining Room). After their homework is done and before they are permitted to do anything "fun", they need to do their job. This is the job for the entire month. The hope is that it encourages them to NOT make a mess in that room because they know they're going to have to clean it up later. Also, it helps them to know exactly what is expected of them in that room by having to do the same thing every day. So, even though Miles is only six, he has become quite good at wiping down the table, sweeping (or vacuuming the floor) and wiping down the chairs.

By the time the next month rolls around, my kids are sick of cleaning that particular job and more than happy to take on the next chore.

Lucas helps out wherever I can think of: emptying the dishwasher, laundry, helping with a very specific job or two. Libby mostly just runs around and undoes everything.

Now, I just need 5 or 6 more kids... one for each of the other rooms that I still have to clean.

Fostering Creativity

 Our children LOVE to create. Most children do. Left to their own devices, they will hide away in their makeshift craft room (read: upstairs bathroom) and create all manner of posters, advertisements and whatever else their mammoth sized imaginations catch upon. Three times in the last three weeks, it was a puppet/play.

(Pardon the horrible photography, it was very dark.)

Please note that it is only acceptable that I took these pictures because the play was free to attend. I am strict about my copyright violations. The small post script advises one to sit on the couch. My favorite part, however, is the opportunity they took to practice their ampersand.

It was actually quite good and I was really surprised at the level of detail they remembered from the story.
Since then, we have enjoyed "Nephi Builds a Boat" and "The Three Little Pigs". I'm really glad to know that my children still enjoy the simple things.

On Wealth

 I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about wealth. And riches.

 The husband has a good job. He works very hard and provides well for our "little" family. All of our needs are met. And quite a lot of our wants. Of course, we always wish for more, right? I mean, would it be too much to ask that my children have actual beds to sleep on? (Some of them sleep on mattresses on the floor because they BROKE their bed by jumping on it... ahem.) (And if we're being honest, the husband believes he is going to build us two sets of bunkbeds. I'm just impatient.)

 But when it comes right down to it, I know that having things like fancy furniture (anything without marker on it), and extravagant vacations (qualifies as anyplace overnight without the kids) aren't important. Truly. I mean, look! We are wealthy. We are rich beyond measure.  

I wouldn't trade it for the world. 

Teamwork!

How many siblings does it take to get Libby a drink?

One to be a step stool. One for safety. And one to hold the button.

Good thing for siblings.

Run Like the Wind!

Next week is Spring Break here. Of course, that means it is summer weather here in sunny Florida.

We're going to try to make it to the beach, and we have a couple of other things planned. I believer, however, that it will be a typical summer like week with bike riding, chalk drawing, and water play. My kids have recently added kickball and street hockey (two actual hockey sticks and some brooms with a volleyball) to their arsenal of outdoor games.

Last week the kids discovered a kite I'd purchased on clearance up to two years ago (I don't remember buying it.) We kept telling them that they couldn't play with it anywhere close to the house because we have a lot of trees and more troubling... power lines. Of course, if your children are like mine, you know that they didn't listen to me. They assembled the thing and having lost the string thingy, grabbed some of my yarn (fortunately for them, it was some I didn't care about).

I found this:

 And I couldn't help but be so proud. They found a solution that worked for them and solved my concerns.

 Plus, running up and down the street in order to get your kite 10 feet in the air burns off quite a lot of energy. Create your own wind, kids! Which, as you can imagine, pleases me greatly for as soon as their heads hit the pillow, they were gone!

They did figure out a way to pull it slightly easier. Which also made me proud. Necessity being the mother of invention lead them to a one handed bike ride.  Even better is that the little cheapie (less than a dollar) kite has entertained the entire group of neighborhood kids for a couple of days and it's holding up rather well. Money well spent. I'm contemplating buying another to have in reserve in case of emergency.

2 sick kids + lots of cardboard in the recycling=

This awesome treehouse.

My sister in law, Audrey, did it first and so much better. But it was a good way to pass the time and provide my girls with a home for their 80 billion Squinkies. And after I finished with the cutting out and main assembly, I let the girls go to town with my scrapbook paper and glue sticks. They wallpapered practically every surface and even created furniture, rugs and a car.

You can find directions (which we fudged) and the templates here at Family Fun magazine.

Halloween Costumes 2011

Because I feel the need to brag, I have decided to post something.

I know. I'm filled with humility.

I have probably talked before about how when I grew up my mom didn't usually help with Halloween costumes. You were on your own. Not because she didn't want to, but because she had nine kids...
Basically, it has lead me to believe that the very best costumes are the ones that come from the bowels of your imagination. Pieced together with duct tape and elastic.  Yes, the homemade ones.

This year, I did have one child elect to use a costume we already had on hand (that we were given about 4 years ago and which FINALLY fit).

I present Anna as Mulan.

Might I add that she doesn't actually like the movie Mulan; she thinks it's too scary.
And yes, she's wearing makeup. In keeping with the tradition that my mother allowed, my girls are permitted to wear makeup one day per year: Halloween.

Lucas's costume was an easy recycle from a couple of years ago. Totoro.

He's such a little squirt that the hat totally swamped him and no one knew what he was... which didn't bother me in the least. I like the obscure.

The only instruction I gave Abbie on choosing a Halloween costume this year was to encourage her to choose a literary character.  Having just read both Little House in the Big Woods and Little House on the Prairie, she immediately selected Laura Ingalls.

And while I realize that her costume isn't exactly period correct, we sure tried. And also, yikes. I'm in trouble. Check this girl out:

9 going on 19, eh?

Miles wore an entire 14 piece ensemble that I spent a really long time agonizing over and working on. I sewed him a vest and gun holster (of my Dad's design). We borrowed chaps, boots and a gun.  He also had a hat (not pictured because it was in the back of Matt's car who wasn't home from work when these pictures were taken).

He would like you to know that he is NOT Woody. And yes, it is time for a haircut.

And finally, my crowning glory. Libby as Octopus. Wait, you're on Pinterest, right? If so, follow me!
At any rate, I found this costume idea from a link on Pinterest.
I must admit, I think my execution is better. Also, their octopus has 10 legs.

I filled the polka dotted socks I had lying around (supposed to have been turned into Babylegs for Lucas) with grocery sacks (I'm so green) and used safety pins to attach them to a harness I fashioned out of elastic. Safety pins, so I can use the socks again. The hat was whipped up out of some rib knit and felt.

It was pretty much the most hysterical thing anyone had ever seen. It helps that Libby's so tiny that it blows people away when she runs up to their door, holds out her bucket and says, "Trick Treat" just like a big kid. Then a "Thank You!" and a "Bye!" with a wave!  I love this girl so much.

Her joie de vivre is infectious. Absolutely.