some boring old pictures from last week...

Its often all I can do to get pictures posted from the last week.  

This is one of those posts.

Take it or leave it.

The weather has been freakishly beautiful this last week with my kids being freakishly sick yet again. 

Colds, runny noses and coughs are becoming the norm around here.  

But the 60 degree weather made the colds a little more tolerable.

We checked the mail in our pjs, flip flops and slippers one morning.  More than one person drove by and saw us in all our glory.   Oh well.  I could care.

I discovered the amazing service of Amazon Pantry this last week.  Its outstanding to get 45 lbs of gluten free food dropped off at your door for only $6 in shipping.

Saylor is working on her beauty skills.

Poor Grady is bound to have flat slick wet hair until he learns to protest.

Taking the two oldest to the store is an adventure.

I believe they are more work than taking the little ones.

I was sure I would lose my blasted mind by the time we left Winco around 7 pm.  They conned me into chicken, corn dogs, potato wedges and much more junk than was needed.  

Grady just keeps getting cuter...

and cuter.

Saylor gets messier and messier.

(She and Laney were so excited to wear matching suits to swimming on Wednesday.)

My parenting skills are getting a bit more lax.

The guitar lessons are continuing.  It's fun to hear Carter play songs by memory.

I helped with Colby's Valentines party on Thursday. 

I brought fruit cups  of watermelon and strawberries and had a few games planned.  Most kids gave me the "why are you serving fruit at a party" look.  Being the torturous "healthy" mom is kind of fun in a twisted sort of way.  Step aside Fun Dip...

No really, the weather has been amazing.

Grady got his first real experience with the slide at the park across the street.  He LOVED it.

Evil twisted mom again…I made them clean this weekend.

The kids didn't have school Friday so I cracked the whip a little  They hadn't done weekend chores in almost a month and I couldn't keep up with the house myself so insisted my kids slave a little. 

Saturday morning my very tiny creative side came out and the kids' got their homemade Valentines along with a Frederickson's caramel heart.

This was Andrew's.  He wouldn't pose with it.  Ha ha!

I also didn't get a picture of Saylor with hers.  Dang!  It had Tinkerbell on it.  

Favorite shot of Valentines.

Andrew is having WAY too much fun for a 14 year old.

Andrew is having more fun that Steve and I.

He's having more fun than we ever did in school too.  He's a little spoiled, and I hope he appreciates it.

We signed up Andrew for ski club at Canyon Ridge and he will ski eight times this winter- 2 times at Sun Vally- 2 times at Magic- 4 times at Pomerelle.  It was a great deal for lift tickets and transportation. He's gone (not fighting with siblings) most Saturdays this winter and I miss him, but I know he's making some amazing memories.

"Santa" got him a waterproof camera for Christmas and he's been using it on the slopes.  I hijacked the camera and stole a few of his pictures.

Here's a few pictures documenting the fun he is having.

He's seeing the world through new eyes and finding out there is a lot of fun out there.

Yeah…he's totally spoiled.

I've never been on the Sun Vally gondola.

And I've NEVER eaten at the five star restaurant at the top of the hill…but my 14 year old has.  The snow was really bad last week so Andrew and his friend spent 3 hours drinking soda refills and eating fondue.  What a life.  (Sidenote:  Andrew paid for 9 of his friends to have fondue…with my money.  He is paying us back thank goodness.  Crazy kid.)

And the camera is coming in handy at swim practice too.

Colorblind

Saylor is colorblind.

The signs have been there for a while, but I wasn't positive.

She has in the past struggled with red/green/brown, blue/purple, and grey/pink.  She would just mix up the color or say the wrong name.  A person not susspecting it probably woudn't even notice and chalk it up to her young age.  The chances of a girl being colorblind are pretty slim statistic wise, but I am a carrier and Steve is colorblind.  Carter and Colby are also colorblind.  I could do the punnet squares and prove it…but just take my word for it, Saylor had a 50/50 chance of being colorblind.  So so sad.  

The other night I looked up colorblind tests for children online and then invited Saylor in to "play a game" with Colby and I.

She failed…oh so miserably.  She was at least as bad if not worse than Colby.

After all the fun games we played and after I knew she was colorblind, I gave her one last chance and showed her the above picture.  I asked her if these pictures looked different or the same.

She said, "Same."

I then asked her how many colors were in each picture.

She said, "Three.  Red, yellow (gold) and blue" and then pointed out the three colors in each picture.

My maternal grandmother was colorblind.  Her clothes always looked a little funny and her house was decorated…well, with funky colors.

I'm guessing I will have to help Saylor with clothing and decorating.  But in the scheme of things, colorblindness isn't a big deal. 

I've been following a family on instagram whose sweet tiny daughter was life-flighted to Primary Children's for DKA and who is now struggling with a brain injury because her blood sugar was so high.   My perspective has been put into place.  I'll take a little colorblindness any day over diabetes, seizures and brain injury.  

Don't worry Saylor, I will help you with color.  But don't ask Dad, he won't be able to help. 

week by week

I used to actually write on this blog.  I used to be clever and witty.

But I'm glad I'm trying to at least journal what my family is up to each week…even if whatever I write lacks anything resembling whit or cleverness.

Now not to be confused with clever is the cleaver Andrew brought home from scouts Wednesday night.

(That was witty right?)

 Andrew has amazing scout leaders, one of them being a farmer who has access to crazy tools only manly men would truly appreciate and the omniscient knowledge to go with it. 

Each scout was able to make their own knife of awesomeness.

Its heavy and really really sharp.

Go scouts!

Andrew left this monstrosity on the kitchen counter where his siblings could reach it the first night he brought it home.  Not cool.  Thankfully nobody lost a limb.

I've started braiding Saylors hair.    Her hair is finally long enough after two years of growing out to have her fly away cut ends tuck into the braids.  I'm surprised how still she will sit while I braid her hair in a different way every morning.  She's a trooper…and Netflix helps a lot.

Friday night Steve and I were invited to a dinner party that included a craft game.  It involved us getting a giant bag of junk that we had to make into something.  We made a fish tank and then realized that all the other couples were way more detail oriented than us.  We lack creative juices and we're ok with it.

For the party I made gluten free cream puffs and lemon pound cake.

Carter and Colby are trying to go a year without sugar  (no donuts, cake, cookies, ice cream…that sort of thing) and because cream puffs have NO sugar I let Carter go crazy.   If they keep up the no sugar thing they will each earn $365.  They are going on three weeks and I'm totally impressed with their self control.

The wind yesterday was INSANE.

These were the result of the wind's generosity.  I was grateful just for this as our neighbor had their entire back yard filled up to the fence.

Wind in Twin Falls is crazy.

Along with the wind, we have had BEAUTIFUL unseasonal weather.

Yesterday and today was in the 60's.

We had the kids go outside and play as much as possible.

Grady has learned the joy of trucks and tractors.

I had to include this darling picture of him.

Our neighbor moved and left us his basketball hoop…perfect timing with the warm weather.

Grady is learning quickly.  

Saylor, Grady and Steve all have nasty colds and didn't go to Stake Conference this morning with me and the three oldest.

Saylor came up in her pink dress and tiara along with her pink unicorn.  I couldn't resist the picture.

She's pretty adorable.

My parents saved us a seat at Stake conference and surprise surprise they sat next to President Holmstead who was our Stake president with my dad as his counselor for the past 10 years.  Old habits die hard…they must have needed to sit together.   Hilarious.

The rest of my Sunday has been filled with science fair, school valentines and baking.   Not a shabby Sunday.

Last Week in a Nut Shell

Last week by the day…

Monday:

Monday was a long time ago.  All I remember from Monday is that I flipped out and yelled pretty loud and scary at Colby for not practicing his violin.  It wasn't my prettiest moment.  I apologized that night and Colby and I have a renewed dedication to practicing- without fighting. 

(can I forget about last Monday?)

Oh wait…I think it was on Monday that Steve and I had a mini date (We went and bought huge sodas at 9pm.  I think I needed a fix after yelling at my darling 8 year old son.) and we found the perfect car for Andrew.  It was a '62 Ford Falcon that was built like a tank.  Andrew was not impressed and declared he would drive it off a cliff if we bought it.  He's an ungrateful wretch that one.  I don't think he understands how cool Steve and I really are.  

Monday is also the day I called Carter's endocrinologist's office and got the news that our insurance is not approving Carter's growth hormone.  Sadly, he is one percentile away from qualifying.  One stinking percentile.  We will finish out the current months worth of hormone and then we will have to wait until Carter falls under the 3rd percentile in height to test him again.  I honestly don't blame the insurance company.  This drug is about 20K a year.   Time will tell when or if Carter gets to be on the drug again and make it to five foot three.  Bummer. 

Tuesday:

Pinewood Derby was on Tuesday!

Colby with his car named Speedy.  

This was Colby's first derby and he's only been waiting for like three years for the chance to race.  (Its hard to have older brothers who have all the fun sometimes.) Steve and Colby finished the car just in the nick of time. 

These were my scouts just a few months ago before I was put into RS.  I miss these little creatures.

They kept my life lively.  Here they are ready to RACE!

Colby won Most Ingenious.

And…he won first place in his den and second overall in his pack.  He gets to go to district in April at the mall here in Twin.  He's all sorts of excited!

 Wednesday:

VT in the morning for me.

Mutual in the evening for the boys. 

Steve is planning camp outs for the 12 year old boys. and Andrew is trying to finish up his last few merit badges so he can earn his Eagle.

I'm sure Wednesday is when my sister Jolyn and I spent most of our evening texting and emailing house plans to each other.  It's wonderful having a house plan buddy to share my obsession with.  She will most likely build WAY before I do, but its fun to share nonetheless.  I can live through her dream right?

Thursday:

We fed the sister missionaries and then I left to go on visits for RS.  

I'm thrilled to say that I'm enjoying the visiting part of my calling.   I'm getting to know the women in my ward one on one.  It's really fun and I'm learning to love this calling.  (please don't anyone pass out that I wrote that.)

Carter stayed home from school with the same stomach bug that Colby had the week before.  It's a "south pole" stomach bug that didn't affect his blood sugar much, but sure affected the time he was spending in the bathroom.  Poor kid.

Friday:

I was lazy Friday.  I didn't go anywhere and hardly did anything beyond the normal laundry and kid duty.

Friday night the middle three kids took turns belting themselves into blankets and then screaming at the top of their lungs.  Classy.

Friday night Steve and I stayed up until 1am watching Downton Abbey season 5 that my mom lent me. 

Saturday (today):

Steve took Carter and Colby to Baldy Mountain and met Andrew there with his ski club.

They are currently on their way home and from the sound of it had a miserable time.  Colby was pretty freaked out by the terrain of Baldy and they ended up leaving and spending most of their day on Dollar Mountain.  Carter then proceeded to lose his blood sugar monitor.  Steve didn't sound to thrilled on the phone.

Saylor, Grady and I have spent the day cleaning, watching movies and cleaning out closets and filling bags for the DI.

Saylor is currently hounding me to make treats with her….

The day after paradise

My friends and I flew back from Hawaii and got in late Friday night.  My kids were in bed, but my husband was waiting up for me.   My house was clean and Steve explained how the kids worked their tails off so they could take me sledding Saturday afternoon.

To be honest, I really didn't want to wear snow clothes the morning after being in beautiful wonderful Hawaii, but my kids were so excited.

Steve let me sleep in and then we packed up and went sledding.

This is the cushiest sledding experience ever.  You are dragged up the hill and then get to slide down.  There is practically no effort involved.  My kind of sledding.  Thank you Magic Mountain for encouraging me to be even lazier than I was before!

Andrew went to Pomerelle with his high school ski club, so it was Steve, the four youngest and I.

Grady was NOT a fan of wearing a hat and gloves.

Colby Colbs.

Yeah…you would think I would have been more tan after a week in 80 degree weather.

Not I said the 60 spf.

Carter Dean

View at the top of Magic sledding hill.

Grady cheered up a bit after he realized his ears and hands weren't freezing with protective gear.

Steve and Saylor.

Besides a sparkling clean house, I came home to a 15 gallon fish tank on my desk.

I guess while the cat's away, the mice will buy fish.

This tank is in addition to the two 10 gallon tanks in Andrew and Carters' room.  

I have been promised that I will not have to lift a finger where the fish are concerned and the men in my life have held true to their promise.  As I type this sentence I have 15 fresh water fish to keep me company and the constant sound of running water that continually gives me the urge to pee.

Just had to include the picture of my latest triumph.  Double french braids.

I would like to thank Netflix for holding Saylor's attention long enough for me to accomplish this feat.

Wednesday afternoon Saylor's preschool class came to Steve's office for a dental field trip.

I think the kids had a good time as Steve let them have run of the place.

Saylor was so excited to show off her dad's office.  She told Steve many times that she would "lead" everyone to the prize box…meaning she would get to go first. 

And FYI…if you let your oldest two sons carve tiki figures in honor of your Hawaii trip out of soap on your kitchen table, you will be cleaning up soap shavings for days….DAYS!