Thursday, May 31, 2007
Sometimes in life you discover really great things. Know what I discovered today that just about makes my happy bubble burst? I can blog outside in the backyard on our swing while the kids swim and slip and slide and swing and the babies roll happily all over the grass and mud. And once the fence is in, I don't even have to worry about Caleb deciding he'd rather go throw rocks in the storm drain across the street or throw himself in front of oncoming traffic. Nope. . . I can just sit outside in the fresh air and sunshine while the kids frolic and play and blog til my heart's content. And that is a most wonderful discovery indeed.
Anyway, for those of you who don't know, Mark and I were called as the Activities Committee a few months ago. We held our first successful event in March when we threw a Sock Hop. Then we had a fabulous first potluck and had a pretty good turn out for that too. But on Memorial Day we held our first ever Ward Potato Derby and had by far, the greatest turn out of all. In fact, so many people came and so many of them had such a good time that I've heard people want it to be an anual event. We shall see.
 
The greatest thing of all was that it was a cinch to put together. Of course, we have Darlene (another one of my secret weapons) and she had already purchased all of the wheels (Pinewood Derby wheels) for the cars but there wasn't a whole lot more involved. I found this great place online that sells all kinds of checkered racing gear for cheap. And we hit Costco for giant potatoes and lots of ground beef and buns for Sloppy Joes and that about did it. Mark had to do a minor repair on the Pinewood Derby track and hit Party City for a few more decorations but that was it. We had the whole place set up in less than an hour, had members help make the Sloppy Joes, assigned each family to bring a side dish to share and a knife to cut their potatoes and the rest took care of itself.
 
Families were so creative with their cars. We had Mr. Potato Head accessories, toothpicks, aluminum foil, vegetables, flags, brads and gumballs. We had pig cars, Darth Vader cars and just plain old potato cars. We had fast cars, slow cars and some cars that never made it to the finish line. We had cars that fell apart and crashed into everyone else's cars and cars that would have given the Pinewood Derby cars a run for their money. Even the teenage boys got into it.
 
Everyone had fun and nobody got too competitive. Darlene made flags out of paper and straws for the little kids and they seemed to enjoy making flags for their family's car and cheering their potato down the track. All in all it was an awesome activity. As much as I'd like to take credit for it all. . . it was the Dance Family's idea. But it sure was a good one and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a fun ward activity.
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Tuesday, May 29, 2007
 
 
So we got together for our annual family Memorial Day picnic on Sunday. Basically Chris did all the hard work and totally spoiled us with much deliciousness--Korean ribs, deviled eggs, watermelon and yummy chicken sandwiches. We had a measley offering of chocolate chip cookies, triple chocolate cake and peanut butter and honey sandwiches, but they let us stay anyway. Thanks Chris! The boys played for a long time in the sandbox and the rest of us took turns holding and juggling the plethora of babies that surrounded us. Caleb discovered a new favorite park toy, the bouncy teeter-totter, and I think I sung this is the way the Daddy rides, at least a million times while bouncing him up and down. Then Mark took over and I think he sang it at least another million times. We ended up at Chris's house to run in the sprinklers and eat cake and I think all of us left feeling real fat and dirty. But man, did we have fun! And of course, the arrival of Uncle Michael later in the evening was the cherry on top of it all. Hurray for Memorial Day picnics!
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When they are going to make a child's size lawnmower that really works. Cause you know as soon as he turns fourteen this will so totally not be cool anymore.
 
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Friday was Special Persons Day up at the kids school. Basically, it's the school's way of celebrating Memorial Day and recognizing all of the kids' relatives that are currently serving in the military. Honestly, it's not my favorite school activity. It's usually hot and extremely lengthy and I always end up wrestling hot, sticky children who'd rather be anywhere but sitting on metal folding chairs in the blazing sun. But they talk it up big time at school and heaven help any parent that doesn't show up to see their child perform.
So this year we all went (even Mark) like good faithful parents and surprisingly had a very nice time. They've shortened the length of things quite a bit. And I managed to make it early enough that we got a second row seat and in the shade too! Everyone around us loved the kids and the boys. . .well, their singing was spectacular. They sure did sing their little hearts out and once again, I'm super-impressed with their music teacher, Mr. N. He really knows how to make those kids sing. After the concert we were invited into the kids' classrooms and they got to show off all the hard work they've been doing. Hunter's been talking about Special Persons Day for weeks now and even cleaned his desk for the occassion--something he insisted I just had to see. Then we hit the cafeteria for donut holes and brownies and by the end of the ceremony, we all left feeling like pretty darn special persons.
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Tuesday, May 22, 2007
A few days ago Denver was looking to spend some quality time with me and I was itching to get some crayons in my hand, so we decided to color together. Here's what we ended up with:
Denver's Art
Mommy's Art
I loved Denver's pumpkin patch so I totally was a copycat. But that's okay cause he totally stole my bridge and tire swing idea. I know my cow is way oversized and that in real life we'd be running, screaming for our lives if a cow that big was hanging out by our tiny little yellow farmhouse but scale wasn't an issue here. Fun was the only objective. And despite the hugeness of some of my tree trunks and pumpkins and such, I think there's something inviting about my wee little house on the hills and the kids have been totally impressed by my abilities. I seriously need to get out the crayons more often--it was way therapeutic.
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Friday, May 18, 2007
Noah has been suffering from a bit of insomnia lately. I'd like to blame Mark for this one but the Henrichsens aren't really insomniacs, just night owls that catch up on their sleep later in the morning. When Mark and I got married, I was a morning person. I would wake up around seven, sometimes earlier and would be already to tackle the day. But Mark had other ideas and he'd wrap his big arms around me really tight and wouldn't let go until I'd fallen back to sleep. And waking up after that, if you're like me, is nearly impossible. Of course, after undoing my early-bird personality he probably wished he hadn't, especially when Hunter came along and sleeping was not on his list of important things to do. Sleeping until 1:00 in the afternoon was no longer an option and getting up at 5:00 in the morning was practically mandatory. I'm happy to say that six children later I've returned to my early-rising self and between my early risings and Mark's night owl abilities, we cover almost all possible baby shifts, except for the 2:00-5:00am shift and at that point we're both really good at faking sleep.
But I've deviated and I must get back to Noah's insomnia which I suppose I will have to accept all responsibility because according to my Mother, it runs in the family. My dear sister Melanie has apparently struggled her entire life to sleep. That is, until now--now that she has three kids 3 and under and all she wants to do is sleep but of course, cannot. But not because she can't. Because kids and sleep do not coincide. Melanie, I've been told, is very much like Noah and used to lie in bed at night, wide awake, just waiting for the dawn to come. And so does Noah. He's never been a good sleeper. Right from the start he was a non-sleeper. We'd rock him to sleep, swaddle him tight and as soon as we laid him down. . . he was awake. When he was a little older we tried letting him cry himself to sleep which was extremely painful for all of us. Hunter figured out at six months how to cry himself to sleep and never took longer than 15 minutes to fall asleep. Noah cried and screamed and shook the bed so hard we thought for sure it would fall to pieces. And he remained that way for hours until I could no longer take it and gave in to his insisting I sleep with him, at least until he fell asleep. Then there were his coughing fits that lasted for at least two years. I remember praying that God would help me with Noah and the only answer I ever got was "Be patient." And I suppose, time passed and he did start getting better. He started sleeping without me by his side and the coughing passed. But still, Noah would wake up every night at almost the exact same time with no better excuse than "I can't sleep." He would often call us into his bedroom and ask us "how much longer 'til morning?" And then he'd just lay there. . . waiting. Noah also takes the very longest to fall asleep and is often wide awake long after I've fallen asleep. Naps? We've tried them. . . they don't help anything.
Anyway, lately Noah has really been struggling to sleep. He's up late and then up at his usual 3-4:00am hour. And up again at 6:00am. He keeps waking us up and it's been especially frustrating because we just got the twins to sleep through the night and Mark and I desperately want a straight eight hours. Desperately. I stayed up one night way past my bedtime trying to research "insomnia in children" and I couldn't find anything helpful. Some moron tried blaming all sleep disorders on the parents which maybe if Noah was my first I'd accept with my tail between my legs but all five of my other children sleep straight through the night from 9:00pm to 7:00am just fine and I know Noah is definitely having a problem separate from my parenting abilities or lack thereof. And much of my research left me wondering if Noah has a milk intolerance and maybe his tummy is bothering him. But the only really useful info I found was to not make a big deal out of it and after the whole learning to poop in the potty ordeal we went through with Noah, I knew it was good advice.
So I went to bed and that very night Noah woke up earlier than ever. In an attempt to not make a big deal out of things I had Mark bring Noah downstairs and turned on the TV for Noah and rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. I figured just because he couldn't sleep didn't mean we had to stay awake. And I thought letting him watch TV for a little while was a lot nicer than forcing him to lay in his bed for hours on end, trying to go to sleep when he obviously could not. The only problem with that is that there isn't a lot of chilren's television on at 1:45 in the morning which left us little to choose from. Luckily Mythbusters was on the Discovery Channel and I knew it was safe and interesting, if not educational too. So I left it there and fell asleep pretty darn quick after that. I woke up later to some infomercials, and tried finding something else for Noah to watch but fell asleep with the remote in my hand and who knows what on the TV for my innocent Noah to feast his eyes upon. Eventually Noah fell asleep and when he did he crashed hard, sleeping all the way until 8:30am, well past the start of school. Hallelujah!
Well. . . last night as I was tucking the boys in bed Noah started talking about what he watched on TV while his daddy and I snored away on either side of him. I was a little worried because I do remember getting groggy as I flipped channels right around MTV and thanks to many late nights with the twins I know much too well what comes on MTV late at night (Girls Gone Wild Commercials to name just one) and I wouldn't want Noah watching that stuff, not ever. So my ears perked up and this is what Noah said he saw, "These guys were heating up salsa and trying to break these jail bars and one guy stuck his arm up the machine and was wiggling his fingers and saying 'I'm ticklating the generator of the goop' and then they had a cement truck and they put dynamite in it and blew it up." Huh? Whatever it was, it definitely wasn't Girls Gone Wild. But what was it?
Much to my relief today I found this description of episode 26 of Mythbusters on the Discovery Channel: "Adam and Jamie go head to head in a madcap Mexican jailbreak as they taste-test the theory of the Salsa Escape. And take one cement truck, add 850 pounds of dynamite, and what's left? Absolutely nothing, apparently. Adam and Jamie join forces with the FBI to find out if you can remove cement build-up from a mixer's barrel using dynamite." So while Noah still may not be sleeping through the night we at least know he's not insane and he's got himself a great memory for a six year old.
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They sure did like it. Unfortunately I don't like the purple spit up that stained my family room rug afterwards.
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And I thought my babies grew fast. . . she's only a week and a half old and already she's about to leave the nest.
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My babies are closer to a year now than they are to being babies. And the gap between Caleb and the twins, as narrow as it already was, is getting even smaller. The twins have already started fighting with each other over magazines (I guess some taste better than others) and slinkies and I have a feeling it won't be long before all three of them are at each other's throats. Thanks goodness for the sweet moments--hopefully they'll always outnumber the bad.
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Thursday, May 17, 2007
 a freckled little girl skipping down some old train tracks, her blond curls bouncing as she skips. Isn't she cute? And see how she stops here and there to pick various wildflowers and add them to her fragrant bouquet? Oh look at that be-uuuuuu-tiful, absolutely perfect daisy growing right there between the train tracks! The little girl just has to pick it. But oh no! Look out little girl! See that super fast bullet train speeding down the tracks? SMASH. . . .
That is exactly how I feel about this stupid cold that has totally broadsided me like a bat out of hell. One minute I'm sneezing and sniffling through super high pollen counts, skipping happily down the lane, thinking nothing of my itchy eyes and scratchy throat. And the next minute I feel like death is knocking on my door or at least demanding I cough up both my lungs. I hate being sick. A lot.
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Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Last week my sister Chris delivered me a bag full of hand-me-downs that she received from a friend who owns a thrift shop who was given the bag of clothes there. Lately we've been receiving a lot of hand-me-downs and I swear there's nothing better than a bag of used clothes that cost you nothing and that you don't have to feel guilty about staining because someone else's kids have already done it for you. The boys, for the most part, have been living in hand-me-downs since the day they were born and they will continue to do so until the day they bring home their first paycheck and then, if they want some brand spankin' new clothes they can go out and by themselves some with their own hard-earned money. Anyway. . . in this big black garbage bag full of clothes I found this shirt and not only does it fit Caleb's stubby little body, it also fits Caleb's gigantic personality. Oh how I love hand-me-downs!
P.S. Sorry about the overexposed photo. Remember, I am not my sister. For those of you that can't read what it says, it reads: Alcatraz Penitentiary Inmate #4743-1/2
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Sunday, May 13, 2007
My hair is blowing a little too much, not everyone is looking at the camera and a few of us aren't quite smiling but at this point I'll take it. It's a family photo and we're all in it. I think we're good for at least another ten years.
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the school crossing guard.
Sometimes when I look at pictures of me with all these kids that I birthed I think of the movie Gremlins when the kid breaks the rule about not getting water on them. You know. . . when the glass of water spills and all of the sudden little baby Gremlin furballs start popping out of Gizmo's back? I sort of feel like the same thing happened to me, like God spilled some water on me and pop!pop!pop! Six boys! I love them all though and wouldn't trade them for the world.
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Monday, May 07, 2007
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Thursday, May 03, 2007
Irish Twins are two children from the same mother who are born less than twelve months apart. My brother Aaron and sister Kathy are Irish Twins. My mom had Aaron and two months later was pregnant with Kathy. So for one month every year Aaron and Kathy are the same age. Pretty cool I think. That is for them. As for my mother, I think she was a little crazy for having them so close together. Um hello. . . can you say exhausting? But I guarantee you it was never her intention to have them so close together just as I can guarantee you this was never my intention. Technically they aren't Irish Triplets because they were born more than twelve months apart but it's close enough for me.
You know Caleb always seems so big to me while the twins seem so small but when I saw this picture I was totally surprised. They aren't so different anymore. The twins are catching up really quick. Just goes to show how fast things change around here. I mean look what Caleb did the last time I tried taking a picture with all three of them. Caleb practically turned them into bongos.
Now he loves to hold them and hug them and kiss them and when they need help with their bottles he holds them for the twins and he gives them their pacifiers when they are crying and even "baby talks" them, which is weird to hear--a baby talking baby talk. He also still loves to hit them and body slam them and I'm sure if he could he'd pick them up and toss them in the garbage can. But my point is they are all growing up fast and the small gap that divided them is getting even narrower and pretty soon I won't be surprised if people start asking me if I have triplets instead of twins. And I don't know when time started moving so swiftly but I know its not going to slow down anytime soon and that these are the days to enjoy my babies before things change even more and they are grown and gone, having babies of their own.
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Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Why is it that the boys beg me and beg me and beg me for playdates and then, when their friends finally come over to play they end up doing stuff like this. . . .
Last week Noah's friend came over to play and Noah wanted to watch Star Wars with him. So I popped some popcorn and put the movie on. About half an hour into the film Noah's friend got bored and started playing with Denver. They had swords and light sabers and masks and all sorts of gear and were running around the house fighting and jumping off assorted pieces of furniture. About half an hour before it was time for Stefano to go home, I suggested that Noah go and play with his friend before he had to leave. So Noah got up and headed upstairs to play with his friend and Denver. Of course, at that point, Star Wars got exciting and Stefano wanted to watch the movie instead of running around fighting bad guys. So Noah stayed upstairs, shouting downstairs to his friend that if he didn't come upstairs right now he'd lose TV time and that he woulnd't be his friend anymore. By the time Stefano left, I had a headache bigger than the entire universe and all I wanted to do was take a light saber to Noah's butt. Who invented playdates and why? Why?
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Tuesday, May 01, 2007
While eating lunch with Denver the following conversation occurred.
Denver: "Last night I had a silly putty accident."
Mommy: " A what?"
Denver: "A silly putty accident. Come and see."
Denver then ran upstairs and I followed shortly. Denver was sitting on his bed pointing to something and then said: "I hate to show you this."
And there melted all over his brand new sheets was his glow-in-the-dark silly putty. Both of us then proceeded to scratch and pick at the silly putty trying to remove it from his sheets and Denver said: "Now I'm going to have to have a silly putty chat."
Mommy: "What's a silly putty chat?"
Denver: "It's a chat where you tell me 'don't put the silly putty on your clean sheets while you're sleeping' and stuff like that."
We didn't end up having a silly putty chat. I was laughing too hard and it looks like Denver already knows it all anyway.
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Noah Starts T-Ball
 Noah has asked us several times when it was going to be his turn to play T-ball, like Hunter did when he was in Kindergarten. Right now there's no way I'm going to load up all six kids and sit outside and force the kids to sit for two hours and watch Noah play T-ball. It's not because I don't think it would be fun. It's just that there's a limit to my super-ness and the thought of dragging the kids out to watch Noah play T-ball is a wee bit overwhelming right now. Plus, the last time we signed Noah up for something (karate) it was like pulling teeth to get him to go. Not fun. . . . Anyway, lucky for Noah and for me, the Kindergarten parents have organized a T-ball playgroup after school for the kindergartners and I decided that I could probably handle that. So we dug out Hunter's old uniform and a ball and mitt and what d'ya know, Noah loves it. He gets to play with his friends for an hour after school learning (sort of) how to play T-ball and I get out of the house and get to chat with several other mothers who surprisingly have kids Denver's age who will be starting Kindergarten next fall too. Which makes it even more perfect because Denver gets to meet a bunch of kids he'll be in school with and we've got this great network of mothers and kids together. Afterwards we hit the playground and they all play together some more while us ladies get to chat more. And even Caleb benefits because he gets to play outside and nothing makes him happier. Hurray for T-ball playgroup! And. . . . doesn't Noah look dashing in his uniform?
Twins Cut Their First Teeth
After a painfully fussy day on Friday I discovered a tooth in Justus's mouth. Oh, I thought, teething. After some tylenol and Mark to the rescue, we survived the night of fussing from both boys and by Sunday Jericho had cut his first tooth as well. I must say teething has never been a problem for us. Usually by the time we figure out what's wrong with the boys, they've cut their tooth and the fussiness is gone. But there's something about two babies teething that sort of magnifies things and I must admit, by Friday night I was severely. . . frazzled. I can handle all sorts of barf and poop and pee and temper tantrums and fighting and hitting and spitting and biting but fussy babies are definitely not my specialty. I'm not looking forward to the next teeth cutting episode. On a different note, you might find it interesting that Justus cut his left bottom front tooth and Jericho cut his right bottom front tooth kind of like the mirror image theory on twins.
Lucky No Longer
Last week my good friend Johnette informed me that while she was gone on vacation a fox dug under our chicken coop and snatched three of our five chickens. I wasn't so sad because I know what a pain in the rear they've been for her and that meant three less chickens for her to worry about. But when she informed me that one of them was Lucky my heart stopped beating for a second or two and I definitely had to choke back the tears. Lucky wasn't just a chicken but she was our first chicken and I definitely loved her. . . really loved her. She laid us our first egg and she used to follow me around the backyard and sit on my lap and I know they say chickens are stupid and that they don't imprint but I know she loved me and she knew I was her mama. Anyway, she was definitely the luckiest chicken we had and though her luck ran out in the end, our memory of her never will. This might sound silly but the other day when I was walking home from Denver's preschool with all three babies the wheel fell of the double stroller as we pulled into the driveway (instead of a mile from home) and I couldn't help but think of Lucky. I wondered if maybe she sent me some of her luck straight from heaven as a little goodbye gift. Because that kind of luck is definitely uncharacteristic for me and I'm not sure where else it might have come from. Either way I hope it lasts for a little while longer. Maybe I better go buy myself a lottery ticket quick!
More Babies Expected at the Local Fertility House
 
I wondered if we were going to have another nest this year when I saw the birds sitting on the power line just outside our front window. For the past three years we've had birds building nests around our house and several clutches of eggs laid--some hatched and flew off, others weren't so lucky. The past two springs we've had the same birds return and use their nest repeatedly. I didn't even know birds did that. Unfortunately, when we painted the house we told the painters they could take the nest down and I was a little sad that we wouldn't have birds this year and all the excitement of watching the eggs hatch and the babies grow up. But when I saw the birds scoping out our house I began to be a little hopeful and last Friday when I saw a bird fly out of one of our bushes I went to investigate. And sure enough we have a Robin's nest right out our front window, complete with four beautiful blue eggs. Our last Robin (three years ago) didn't have such a happy ending with her eggs and I'm a little nervous for this new lady sitting outside my front door but I'll hope the best for her and with a little luck maybe we'll have some baby birds in another couple of weeks. How exciting!
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