Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Way back before I got married or had children there were two things I vowed I'd never do--marry a man that travels on business and have more children than I could pay enough attention to. Clearly, I've done both. Now what?
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Monday, October 29, 2007
Since I got back from Colorado I've really been trying to get back into the groove of things except I'm not doing a very good job. The house is a mess and the kids are dirty and everything seems scattered and dissheveled. I think it might have something to do with one or all of the following:
Too much Halloween Hullabaloo--we only had three parties this past weekend, one costume to sew, several to mend and a potluck to organize. Not to mention I was in charge of scouts this past week and decided to help the boys pass off one of their religious square knots for Faith in God, and that meant one day spent organizing for Wednesday afternoon and a good part of Saturday making a ton of cupcakes for the cakewalk which the Wolves were in charge of running at the potluck. Both went really well--the Potluck and the Cakewalk. We had eighteen pots of chili and over a hundred people in attendance. We didn't have enough tables to seat everyone that came which is really great. . . for us that is, not for the poor members who were left standing while they ate. The poor missionaries were the judges and had to taste all eighteen chilies and pick the hottest, the most original, the one with the best appearance, the most flavorful and the best overall. They did a great job, those Elders. We also had a People's Choice category and everyone had a chance to vote for their favorite. My chili (which was really Chris's white chili) was good and I actually got a couple of votes but didn't win. There were so many really good chilies, I'm thinking now we need a Ward Chili Recipe book. I made some Jello-beans with blueberries in them for our sidedish that totally looked like eyeballs but tasted really good--if you're looking for a scary halloween snack minus a lot of work you should try it. Of course for that you need a jello bean mold and it's probably too late to get one by Halloween. I used some of the eyeballs on the cupcakes to make monsters but it was really humid that day and they kept sliding off. Next time I'll use cool whip to frost the cupcakes and I think that might work better. I also made ghost cupcakes with nutter butters frosted with white frosting but that was a lot of work. Next time I'll dip them in white chocolate and use mini chocolate chips for the eyes and mouth--much easier I think. But they still turned out cute. I didn't manage to snap any pictures since I was running around like a lunatic trying to keep the party running smoothly, but Sam Cousins snapped a bunch (like the ones below which I totally stole off her website) so you can visit her blog and check them out.
 
You already know about my leaf addiction which is definitely making it hard to focus on more important things like is there any clean underwear in the house and what are we eating for dinner? I mean, hello! I've got dead leaves to preserve here. And let's not even start with the leaves we're not preserving that are overtaking the entire back and front yards.
Then of course I only have like half a million sick kids here and just trying to remember who's who and what drug's belong to which who is kind of frying my brain. I took the twins in for their Well Child visits and Doctor informed me that both babies are wheezing and both have ear infections and I need to give them two puffs of this inhaler once a day and two puffs of that inhaler three times a day and a teaspoon of this medicine twice a day and this creme applied three times a day. And Caleb and Denver need this cough medicine once a day. And Denver has four cavities that need filling and I have one and the twins have to go back to Doctor in two weeks for their immunizations that they couldn't get today and could we please all be healthy just for one second. . . please!
And then there's Mark leaving for Mexico again and that makes three weeks in the past five that he's been gone only guess what? I don't have a family member coming to stay with me everytime he leaves. And while we manage just fine when he leaves it's still not fun, especially trying to get six kids costumed and trick-or-treating all by yourself--that should be all sorts of fun. Luckily Chris has invited us over for Halloween but still. . . .
Parent/Teacher conferences X 3, Halloween parties and parades, visiting teaching (only three more days left in the month), the twins turning one, mystery reader for Hunter's class, pumpkins to carve and on and on. I'm beginning to wonder if I'll ever get back into the groove of things but I have a feeling with the holidays just around the bend I'd better quit blogging and do something productive like tape garbage bags on the kitchen table and carve some pumpkins and cook us some dinner and fold some laundry and wash the dishes. . . .
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Sunday, October 28, 2007
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We went for a walk this afternoon and I immediately found myself casting my gaze downwards, looking for the most perfect autumn leaves. And I thought I could make it the entire way without even looking. But I couldn't. And it wasn't long before all of the kids and even Mark had joined in and what should have been a twenty minute walk turned into a two hour mission to find that one special leaf. And when it was all said and done I think we ended up with over a hundred leaves and now we've got to press them all and turn them into a leaf book because none of us can bear to part with our collections of autumn splendor. And that's about when I realized that this leaf thing is way more than just an appreciation for Connecticut's foliage. It's an addiction.
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Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Okay. . . so I'm home and trying to settle back into the daily grind only I'm finding it a little hard. I guess for the past, oh, eight and three-quarter years I've had nothing to compare it to--the daily grind that is. It's just what I've done nonstop ever since Hunter was born. Everywhere I've gone and done, I've had a kid with me, except for the occassional girl's night out which isn't usually long enough for me to relax and really enjoy my freedom. So this four day excursion to Colorado without a single kid has really done me in. For four days I felt like a human being again. My clothes stayed clean and my hair stayed nice and I had enough time to actually apply makeup and lotion and perfume and dress actually nice and not frumpy or practical. And I had adult conversation all day long and even into the night. And I didn't have to lift a finger--no cooking, no laundry, no dishes. I didn't even have it constantly nagging me to do it either--it was completely out of sight and out of mind. But now that I'm home I've got lots of work nagging me and my cute outfit is covered once again in dirt and boogers and poop and slobber and my hair has gone flat and I haven't had time to apply even lip gloss, let alone brush my teeth. And the kids are noisy and I haven't talked to a single adult except to express my frustrations to Mark (poor Mark) and instead of feeling like a human being, I'm feeling like a robot or a machine. And I know I'll forget again, how nice it is to feel like a real person and I'll get back into the grind of things and I'll be good at it again, but for now can I just say. . . ugh! Reality totally bites.
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Saturday, October 20, 2007
 1. Sopaipillas
2. Going through the haunted house with Kathy and Melanie at Casa Bonita
3. Watching Failure to Launch and Hairspray
4. Raspberry White Hot Chocolate from Starbucks
5. My new coat and my new crocs
6. Laughing through Time Out for Women with Kathy and listening to Mary Ellen Edmunds speak
7. Sleeping through the night without any interruptions
8. Shopping and finding Melanie a good pair of jeans
9. The scenery and the first snow of the season and the open sky
10. Being with my Mom and sisters
I could list a million other things but I hate to bore you. But I sure had a wonderful mini vacation and really enjoyed being with the girls for a little while. I only wish it could have lasted longer. But I'm needed back home, or so I like to think, and have a busy week ahead of me. So off I go back to real life but Mark tells me I have another mini vacation due to me sometime before March and I think I'll start counting down the days now. Whatdya girls say? How about a party in Utah this time, sometime before the end of March?
 
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Friday, October 19, 2007
To be on vacation with no kids and no husband and to be awake at 5:45 am. I should totally be sleeping in, catching up on the past eight years of little or no sleep. But no, I'm wide awake with nothing to do because everybody else is sleeping in, like normal people do when they go on vacation. And the other strange thing is that I spent a good part of the night sleeping sitting on the couch because I have stupid Bronchitis and I can't stop coughing and my normal sister is trying to sleep. I have this beautiful hotel bed with all the space I could possibly need and six super fluffy pillows just begging to support my sleepy head and I'm sleeping on the couch. Maybe I should check out the fitness room. How weird would that be? Exercising on vacation! Now who does that?
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Thursday, October 18, 2007
Since we got the sun back after a week of rain and Daddy back after a week in Texas. And because this weekend I'm in Colorado with my Mom and sisters and next weekend is booked solid with Halloween celebrating, we decided to go pumpkin picking last weekend. Of course I forgot the camera but luckily we had the cell phone and managed to capture a few hay-covered, pumpkin-patchy pictures of the kids having fun.
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Friday, October 12, 2007
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Thursday, October 11, 2007
The other night at dinner Noah was talking about the names he was going to give his children. These should be no surprise to those of you that really know Noah. His first born, if it's a boy, will be named Link, who will be followed by Ganon and Princess Zelda should he be lucky (or unlucky enough as Hunter would say) to have a girl. Then they began trying to think up more characters from Zelda so Noah had more names to choose from, should his wife disagree with such names as Link and Ganon, which personally I think are actually kind of cute and more importantly, original. I don't know a lot about Zelda. I played it as a kid. And I've helped Noah complete various levels throughout this past summer. But that's about the extent of my Zelda expertise. So, I threw out one of the very few names I know of from the game, How about Gold Skeleta? Noah laughed ridiculously and I thought it was because he thought it was a stupid name for any kid. But after his laughter subsided he said, "He would never be able to fit it on his nametag!" And that's when I learned it doesn't matter what you name your kids as long as they can fit it on their nametag.
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Wednesday, October 10, 2007
I've got poop on my left sleeve and pee on my right hip. There's syrup across my belly and rain all down my back. And I've only had this shirt on for a record breaking one hour. I should probably put on a clean shirt but the laundry lady in me refuses to add to the pile. So I'll wear it all day, the poop and the pee and the syrup across my belly and add to it throughout the day until I'm covered in dirt and formula, blood and spit and boogers, the dirt from someone's face because we don't have a washcloth handy, Caleb's lunch and the twins' dinner, 'til my armpits are drenched in sweat and then. . . maybe then if I'm not out cold on the couch in complete exhaustion I'll put on a semi-clean pajama shirt.
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Sunday, October 07, 2007
So remember when Mrs. W (Denver's Kindergarten teacher) commented on my writing, like a month ago? Well. . . that's how long ago I started this post. I've been meaning to write Denver's birthday post for weeks now but just haven't gotten to it and I can't possibly put it off another day. So without further ado, an ode Denver!
Dear Bubber,
When you started kindergarten just four short days after you turned five, your teacher asked us parents to write down anything we wanted to about our kids. I thought about it long and hard and sort of struggled, because I think you're such a good kid, there's just not much to say. But Daddy and I thought about it for a really long time and this is what we came up with:
I've thought all weekend about what I'd like you to know about Denver and my very first thought every time is . . . there's not that much to say. I think that's just because some of his other brothers are so . . . demanding. But Denver well, he's just so easy-going, so simple, so well-behaved, and so good. He rarely gets into mischief and we rarely have to get after him for anything. And that leaves me very little to tell you. That said, after talking with my husband, here's what we've come up with.
 We call him "Bubber." That's because his little brother Caleb called him that before he could ever say Denver. But Denver hates that we call him that so we're trying to change our ways and stick to Denver.
He's extremely sweet. Oh how he loves to be snuggled and hugged and doted upon. He's definitely a momma's boy. I think he learned early on that if he wanted time with me, that meant he'd have to help me with whatever it was that I was doing—scrubbing toilets, mopping the floor, cooking dinner, feeding babies. He's a hard worker and he loves to be a helper.
He can be quite loud at times and we often find him shouting at us when our house is actually quiet and there's no need to shout. That probably stems from the fact that our house is usually pretty loud and sometimes that's the only way he feels like he'll be heard. It may also be from his exuberant spirit and his excitement about things. But we often have to remind him there's no need to shout and so may you.
He loves the Polar Express, Imaginext, Lego, Star Wars, cooking (he even does regular cooking shows for us, but don't tell him I told you that) broccoli and chocolate. He hates having his picture taken.
He's the Go Fish champion at our house.
Even though he's already overcome his shyness, he remains bashful at times. Often when he knows the right answer to a question he still won't raise his hand. Sometimes when he thinks he's in trouble, it's very hard to get him to look at us and speak to us. He hates getting in trouble. Sometimes when faced with competition he's content to be third, instead of drawing attention to himself, even though he could easily be first.
He's a perfectionist. I'd like to blame that completely on my husband because he's definitely more of a perfectionist than me, but I must share in the blame as well. We try and try and try to tell him that his best effort is great and that we don't expect more, but he remains steadfast in his perfectionism. Sometimes that leads to temper tantrums.
But I think the one thing that says it all about Denver is the fact that he's the first of my children that I've ever cried over leaving at Kindergarten. Not because he's my favorite, (cause I love all of my children) but because he's such a joy to be around. And there's never been a time that I've thought, "Man I sure could use a break from this kid." He truly is a wonderful little man and we only hope you end up loving him as much as we do-- I'm pretty sure you will.
 I think that pretty much sums you up, Little Man, except for a few things that I always think of when I think of you. I have these memories of you that I so love that I hope I never lose with my old age. The first one is of you several months ago back at the Potato Derby. I was scanning the Cultural Hall amid all the chaos trying to get a head count on all you boys. I'd found everyone but you and was feeling a little nervous. Where had you gone to? And then I found you, sitting at a table with all of the young men. Eight big boys crowded around a table and one little guy sitting in the mix. You were smiling and chatting away with the bunch, as happy as I've ever seen you. Parker Dance was one of those big boys and you've taken a liking to him like no other. Every Sunday after church you ask if you can go sit in Parker's trunk with Parker and every Sunday that's where I find you, just sitting there with your legs dangling out of Parker's car, chatting away with your buddy. You want your hair buzzed like Parker's and I can tell several of your decisions about your appearance and the things you do, are dependant on what you think Parker would do. But there is a cool and a confidence about you that sucks you right into everyone's heart and immediately makes you their favorite.
And then there's the way you treat your little brothers. I know you aren't so happy about their presence here. For months now you've said something about how you wish we never had the twins because then we could have kept our Sienna and then you'd still have your cubby next to your seat. The babies have changed so many things that you once enjoyed, you have every right to hate them and wish they would go away. But you don't. That's the neatest thing. You love them. . . dearly. You cry when I tell you you can't play with them in their cribs. And you beg me to let you get them out of their beds and bring them downstairs. You play with them and read them books and help babysit them when I have to run down to the basement or out to the car. And every day when Caleb and I are eating lunch, he starts wondering when we can go and get you. They love you and miss you when you're gone, just like I do.
 And then there's just the other day when I was cleaning the bathrooms. You quick came and joined in, begging me for something to do. After scrubbing the toilets you still wanted something else to do and I told you you could mop the floors as soon as I finished scrubbing the sink. But you ran off and I forgot and the floors never got mopped. Then, the following morning I was mopping the kitchen floor before school started and the babies woke up. You came wandering into the kitchen half asleep still and tapped on my shoulder the way you do. I turned around and said good morning and asked what's up and you said, "Remember when you said you'd let me mop the bathroom floors? Well you never let me." Oh melt my heart into a million pieces. Could there be a luckier mother on the planet earth? You are one wonderful little person, Bubber Henrichsen, and I'm so glad you're mine. Happy Birthday!
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 Oreos Rock! |
Saturday, October 06, 2007
So I'm just wondering why this kind of thing has to happen in the middle of the night? I mean, I understand they want the paint to dry before people drive on it, but we don't live in a busy neighborhood and if they waited until after everyone dropped their kids off, they'd be good until school got out. Everyone works in this neighborhood and literally no one is out and about all day long. But still, they come beeping and flashing their lights through our wee town and waking up my little boys at four in the morning and how can I possibly send them all back to bed when there are trucks and machines and construction workers right outside our window? I just can't.
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So Wednesday the Cub Scouts went to a local farm and got to play in this really great corn maze which was followed by a really short and really lame, but lots of fun hayride. And then they had the option of picking a small pumpkin or enjoying a bag of homemade cider donuts and besides me and Noah and Caleb they all went for the cider donuts cause who wouldn't, that's why. Then we plopped them all down for cookies and juice, cause they obviously needed more sugar, all of those crazy eight year old boys, and then we took them home so they could eat dinner and do their homework--yeah. . . right. But it was a really fun outing and I'm really glad I got to go*.
I'm proud to brag that Caleb and I were the firsts to finish that huge 1.8 mile corn maze after which we immediately plopped ourselves into the nearest chair and almost died. Carrying a thirty pound toddler, 1.8 miles through a corn maze on a really hot and humid day is no small feat and I was rather thrilled with myself. Oh yeah. . . Momma's still got it! So then as we sat there dying, or rather I was dying and Caleb was running around terrorizing the donkey and climbing trees, Caleb stopped and pointed up at the sky and started exclaiming "train! train! train!" And I looked up and sure enough I could see it too. A train cloud chugging through the sky and I thought what a clever little kid. And so now I'm wondering, can you see it too?
*Mark (my secret weapon) came home early from work so I could go without the J Team. Otherwise, just Hunter would have gone and the rest of us would have missed out on all the fun. Thanks Daddy, from all of us!
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Friday, October 05, 2007
A few weeks back, on the way home from a Pack Meeting, I had the following conversation with Hunter and Noah.
Noah: There's a Golden Book that tells what boys and girls do and one of the things boys do is climb trees.
Mom (thinking he must be talking about a real Golden Book): Is this a book you can get at the school library?
Noah: No. . . it's just a book inside my head.
Mom (very interested now): What else does it say boys do?
Noah (in a ho-hummy way): Explore. . . lots of swimming. . . .
Hunter (joining in on the list): . . . video games. . .
Mom (kind of curious): What does it say girls do?
Noah: Stay clean. . . and nice.
Hunter: Also boys like to play in dirt and make things with it.
 This reminded me of a conversation I had with Mark several months ago. It seemed like everywhere we went where there was a tree I had a large number of people either telling me my boys shouldn't be climbing the trees or telling my boys directly that they shouldn't or couldn't climb said trees. And I started finding it rather annoying because I'm the mother, that's why and if I say they can climb the trees then dog-on-it, they can! And also because, like Noah said, that's just what boys do. And if a bunch of little boys can't climb trees, then what can they do? Several of the annoying people sticking their noses in my children's business said things like, "oh but they could get hurt" or "oh they could break their arms." And while I acknowledge the boys could fall and yes, they could even get hurt, I also acknowledge they could trip on a crack in the sidewalk and get hurt, or roll out of bed and break their arm and I'm sort of not into keeping my little boys in a bubble. Kids get hurt, for Pete's sake (whoever Pete is), and since when do we let that keep our kids from living happy, healthy, normal lives? And like Noah, I have to agree, climbing trees is part of living a happy, healthy, normal life for any little (or big for that matter) boy. And it's just this sort of person, that's constantly stressing about the what-could-happens, that makes parenting for me, very difficult.
I heard a rumor that if you are caught climbing a tree in Central Park (of all stinkin' places) you could get a ticket. Maybe this is just some lie an overprotective parent told me to keep me from letting my kids climb trees. Or maybe it's true. But if it's true I'm thinking that's a terrible mistake. I know trees are very important and my goodness, I'd never intentionally hurt one. But hasn't anyone ever read the stinkin' Giving Tree? Nothing gives that tree more joy than to have her boy climb her branches and swing from her limbs and pick her apples. And while it's just a story, I kind of think that's how trees would tell us they really feel. . . if trees could talk. And I really wish people would leave my little boys and the trees they want to climb, alone. And don't worry. I won't ask you for money should they fall and we have to take them to the ER. But you can bet when they have brain damage from sitting in front of the TV all day because y'all think you know better for my kids, you'll be hearing from me. And people wonder why our kids are getting fatter and fatter. Hello? Every time they try and be active we tell them they might get hurt or kidnapped or some other terrible thing. But that's a rant for another day. . . right now I'm gonna go tell my kids to climb a tree or something really dangerous, like maybe ride their bikes.
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 The other day as I returned from dropping the boys off at school I was welcomed home by this lovely site--Daddy, Caleb, and the twins all sitting at the front window waiting for my arrival. And my heart swelled with pride, cause how awesome is that. . . all those little people waiting and watching for none other than me to come home. And then I thought about a few weeks ago as I attended Open House for one of the boys and a conversation I had with a friend of a friend. I asked if she had seen my friend that night and she said, "No, but you know, she's really busy." And I nodded my head in agreement because my friend has just opened up a preschool out of her own home and she already has three kids of her own, one of which is the same age as the twins. Then the friend of my friend said something about "Yeah, but she's got three of her own and then she watches two other babies all day long on top of that." And I nodded my head again and said something like, "tell me about it" cause that sounds sort of like what I do all day myself except they're not other people's kids. And the friend of the friend then proceeded to point that out, that it's harder for my friend because she's watching other people's kids and the six I take care of are my own and that's cake. I tried to protest and wanted to say something to the effect that she at least gets paid and gets to dispose of half of them at the end of the day but I figured no one really cared what I thought at that point and I decided to drop it and go home. And I wondered why anyone would want to discount any mother's work, whether the kids belong to them or not, and obviously I haven't been able to shrug it off since. So as I returned to my adorable Welcoming Committee, I thought of that conversation and I thought "I don't care what that girl says, look at those three babies. Gosh! I sure do work hard."
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That Noah wishes he could keep a spoonful of sugar next to his bed just in case Hunter has a seizure in the middle of the night. Cause then he could just pour it in Hunter's mouth and make him stop screaming.
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