It's Nap Time Says Mom...

I yelled down the stairs to the girls that it was nap time. They had been playing so happily together into the late afternoon that I almost thought I should just let them keep playing. But I knew I would regret that decision about 5pm, so I kept after them and kept telling them to come upstairs. Jane finally came walking up, and this was her get-up for nap time. She laid it all down on the floor right next to her bed as she laid down. I guess for this reason I still love 2-year-olds.

The First Day of School (two weeks ago!)...

Here are our boys going off on their first day of school. Too bad it's taken me two weeks to get these pictures posted, but you know how it goes. Aren't they adorable? All grown up and in the 2nd grade and kindergarten. We couldn't be more proud of them. They are loving it, as is their mother!! Happy Back to school to the rest of you...

George waiting to go inside. The kindergarteners got to be the last ones to go inside as their parents usually need a little bit more time to say good-bye. The kids all seemed fine, but I saw more that two moms wiping away tears as the kids all got up to go inside. It was hard for me to be sad when George was so excited. He could barely sleep the night before he was so ready to go! We love this guy.

This week should be over now, I think.

It's been a rough one so far, and we've only made it to Wednesday. Here are a few of the highlights. Starting with today:

I picked George up from school and explained to him that today would be our big day to become members of the library again. We had banned all library uses from the Earnest household until we learned how to do it better. It's not supposed to be like Blockbuster where you pay to rent stuff. It's supposed to be free, but it was costing us a pretty penny to be members of the library, so we quit. But I realized we should join again. So we went. Lost library books and lots of money in hand to get our name back on the good list. It's nearly noon and I have three kids with me. Maybe it was a bad plan to begin with, but I'm never one to realize such things ahead of time. I should have had a feeling though as this was the conversation George and I had on our way into the library:

"Mom, what would you do if I ran away?"
"I would call the police."
"No, I mean, what if I didn't want you to find me."
"I would call the police and I would make them find you."
"But what if I had left to go and find a better world. What would you do to me when you found me?"
"I would tell you I was sad that you didn't like us enough to stay with us."
"But mom, it's just that I had to run away to find a better world."
(I think he wishes this week were over too.)

Well, that was the end of the conversation since we got to the front door of the library, but it was a weird conversation that left me feeling sad. So then, within my first three minutes of negotiations at the front desk, one of my girls is crying so loud in the other room that the entire library turns to see who that child's mother is. I will spare you the gruesome details (she had fallen off of something she already wasn't supposed to be climbing), but finally as we are leaving the library, here is what I had agreed to, two books and three movies, got it?! So I had handed that stack to George since the girls were requiring all of my limbs to get them out of the front doors. I get them to the car, turn back to see if George is behind me, only to see him walking towards me with two books and ONE movie!

We aren't even out of the library and we have already lost stuff. No wonder I had canceled our membership for so long! I have to go back into the library tell the lady who already thinks I'm crazy that we have already lost something, and should it be found, could they please just re-check it in for me. It was terrible. After a search of all the places George had been, we find the two stray movies. And of course for the rest of the afternoon no one wants anything to do with the items that were so vital to their happiness while at the library!

That was today. Not that bad you say, such things happen to all of us. I know, but it's just I was already tired from the other two days ahead of this one. But I'm going to skip Tuesday (the day Darin reminded me that there is always the possibility that he should do a 12 month remote assignment) because we can only handle so much wallowing I realize.

But Monday was the worst.

My gym just got bought out and did away with childcare. It was my sanctuary. My 55 minute Hawaiian escape in the middle of my day, and just like that, without even consulting it's members, do away with child care. So now that school has started again I have been on the search for a new place to call, "our gym". On Monday I decided the girls and I would test out the YMCA. I had heard good things about their Kid Watch program, so I thought we should go see for ourselves. I'm getting the girls out of the van and of course they don't have shoes on anymore. I'm climbing all over the van getting shoes on, unbuckling girls, making sure no one runs into the parking lot to get hit by a car, grabbing my purse and running inside. I have a passing thought, "don't lock the doors." That was the thought. But I was so annoyed at the thought, almost to spite myself for such foolishness, I push the lock button on my door, shut the doors and go inside the gym. We enjoy a twenty minute orientation session. The girls get to play on the outdoor playground. It's finally 11, so it's time to go get George, so we head out to the van. I'm rummaging through my purse on the way only to realize there are NO keys in my purse, ANYWHERE. I instantly know that they are locked in the car, and that's why I had had the thought in the first place. Tears are right behind the surface of my eyes. I instantly feel so completely sorry for myself that I just want to melt into the asphalt of the parking lot. I turn the girls around head back inside and have to tell the lady who just spent the last twenty minutes with me that I'm back inside because I'm locked out of my car. Of course, Darin can't be reached, he's in class. We have no other sets of keys at home,

I've lost them all.

George is now in need of being picked up in ten minutes, and I'm fifteen minutes away, IF I COULD GET INTO MY CAR!! I start dialing phone numbers trying to solve all the problems. Anyway, the problems did all get solved, and we did get home as did George. But it still just leaves you asking the question, "Why?". Why me, why today, why at the YMCA?

Anyway, enough already. The Back to School Picnic and ward Chili Cook Off have huge shoes to fill if they are going to try to put a pretty bow on the package that was this terrible week. And it's only Wednesday. I think George has the right idea. And I should re-question him tomorrow about what would HE do if I was the one who ran away in search of a better world....

Until tomorrow, since I know it will come. Good night.

Looks like Ruby was having fun...

We were all sitting outside one night admiring the Wiley's then partially completed deck when suddenly someone said, "Where are the kids?". Look where we found them... Oliver actually required goggles to play in the mud. Ruby just required lots of dirt!! At least they were having fun. Aren't these the moments that stay in a kids mind for the rest of their lives? My kids will say something like, "Oh yeah, we always used to play in the mud at the Wiley's house". When in real life, they only did it once. Oh well, I'm happy for them for that one time when we all forgot about them, they had fun...




Had to throw this one in of Ruby learning to play Guitar Hero. Thanks Wiley's for showing us such a good time!!

Bear Lake with some more Earnests...

Before our week at Aspen Grove we spent a few day with our Brigham City Earnest cousins. We had a great day out at Bear Lake. Beautiful weather and lots of fun for all the kids.

A perfect day at Bear Lake has to be wrapped up with a homemade raspberry shake. For those in the group who don't like raspberries, they have about fifty different flavors to choose from. This was all of us sitting in a covered wagon, eating shakes and telling pioneer stories. What a day!

Aspen Grove Beach Week-August 2007

Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Z for an excellent week at Aspen Grove. It was our first year, so we weren't sure what it was all about. But I think after being there for the full week, we'd all be happy to go back. We had lots of fun. And who can forget about how they take the kids, ALL the kids, including the youngest for nearly 6 hours a day. Yes, that's what I said, 6 hours of free time without any kids. We had a great time. I hope we'll be back again in the years to come. It was truly memorable. Thanks everyone for making it fun. I love you all!

Tagged...

So we've been in Utah for the past two weeks. Then the first day of school was Monday. I have more pictures than I know what to do with. And I want to post them so we won't forget how much fun we just finished having. But since that is overwhelming, I will start with answering the questions from being "Tagged".

Jobs I've Had:

1. Receptionist at BYU's Conferences and Workshops
2. Minor Landscape designing
3. Babysitter extraordinaire!
4. Worked the merchandise cart at Twin Palms in Pasadena, CA during High Schools. (Thanks to Nancy for that job.)

Movies I'd Watch Over and Over:

1. Room with a View
2. Stranger Than Fiction
3. I really don't like watching movies more than once...

Place I've Lived:

1. Boston, MA
2. Silver Spring/Kensington, MD
3. La Canada, CA
4. San Angelo, TX
5. Bitburg, Germany
6. Colorado Springs!!!

Favorite TV Shows:

1. Flip That House
2. Grey's Anatomy
3. Designed to Sell
4. Real Estate Pro
5. The Office

Favorite Food:

1. Indian
2. Mexican
3. Italian
4. Anything that I don't have to make myself!

5 Places I'd Rather Be:

1. Tahiti (I've never been there, but it sounds good to me)
2. Hawaii (I've never been there either)
3. Almost anywhere all by myself for a few hours
4. The South of France (I have been there, and I'd go back anytime)
5. San Angelo (I only had one kid, lived in an apartment, had one car, life was SO simple, that's what I'd go back to, but not really, it just sounds so easy now!)

I fly to Boston...Darin holds down the fort...

Sarah, Christine and I went out to visit Rachel in Boston last weekend. She's there doing an accounting internship. Darin gave me five full days to fly away and be free. Thanks Darin, you are the best!! It was so fun and much needed. We will definitely have to find a way to do it again. Loved every moment of it...Stephanie's...Newberry Street... Pedicures...Taking public transportation but a cab never hurt anyone every once in a while...Ice cream way past bedtime...June always being happy...Three sisters in a king size bed, one on a fold out couch...Running along the Charles River...Self-tour of Harvard and the Freedom Trail...Jail-Bird George and the Duck Tour...and the list could go on and on. Thanks girls. I love you all!!

All before 8 o'clock in the morning.

You know, it was already one of those morning where I didn't want to get out of bed. I thought I would ease myself into the day by going down to the computer, and leaving the girls in my room to watch TV. It seemed like a good idea until Ruby showed up next to me with something black all over her. I had to retrace her steps to find the root of the problem. And it was a problem. Mascara! Let me know if you need any tips for getting it out of carpet...

They seem so proud.

This falls under the catagory of writing it down so we won't forget...

We have had some extremely adorable summer visitors so far this year. Most recently my college roommate/best friend Liz came with her too-cute-for-words, baby Grace. Before them we had my cousin Lisa come with her fun boys and adorable Ariel. And we were also visited by our super fun cousins, Brenden and Oliver, who are out-shadowed in cuteness by little Baby June. So my boys have seen one cute baby girl after another come and visit us this summer. And George has loved them all dearly....

So yesterday, we were at the pool spending the afternoon swimming. George says to me, "Mom, when we get home, don't forget to have four glasses of milk. Do you know why?" I say, "No I have no idea." He says, he'll tell me later, and goes on swimming. We spend another hour or so swimming and during that time he reminds me again about drinking my milk when I get home. So when we get home, I reminded him, "George weren't you thirsty for a glass of milk?". And he replies, "It's not for me mom, it's for you. Don't you want to have another cute baby girl?" I say, "well, not really, but why?" And then he tells me that his little second cousins told him that if his mom would drink four glasses of milk in a row, I could get a baby in my tummy too!!

Oh, but to understand the world in such a way. I will let his father sort this issue out with him in a few months, or years, if we can let the milk theory work for a while! But do be careful when drinking milk, that you not go past three glasses of milk in a row, unless your little kids too have heard such a rumor!!

Happy summer. And thanks to all our super fun visitors. We've loved having you all!!

Friday Afternoon

We just needed a little bit of fresh air and exercise this afternoon. I made everyone sit outside and find a way to be entertained. Can you guess which little girl is Ruby?

We just up and went to the movies on Monday (almost a week ago)...

Monday was a coolish non-summer like day. We didn't have too much that NEEDED to get done, so I decided we could just go to the movies. That's something I've been avoiding intently for a good six months or so. Jane and Ruby have very poor movie going skills. But we've been practicing this summer. We have chosen Strawberry Shortcake movies as our training material. We watch them non-stop in the car. We have started trying to sit still and watch them inside. So I thought we were ready for the real-deal. We took the girls with us to the theater. It was funny as I yelled down the stairs to the boys that it was time to go, George saw the girls all dressed and he said, "Mom, aren't you going to leave the girls with a babysitter? They can't go to the movies!". I guess he remembers the last time we tried. Anyway, thanks to the re-fillable bucket of popcorn and about three bathroom breaks our little girls did a remarkble job at watching "Ratatouille".

Of course, the funnest part of going to the movies always are the video games that we pass on our way out. This is my kids playing on them and with them, but without ever sticking a quarter into a slot. I just stood back and watched. I wanted to see how long they could be enteretained. It lasted a good twenty plus minutes. I'm glad the boys have taught the girls how to have a good time!

The 4th of July

So we don't have any pictures from our celebration this year(this is an old photo just to add to be festive). Probably becasue it was mostly a non-event. We didn't think a big fireworks show two hours past bedtime sounded like a blast, so we stayed home. We tried to make it fun with the boys and just played games. Then right before they went to bed we stepped outside to set off some poppers we had left over. We counted to three, and I said we would yell "Happy 4th of July". (Just trying to make it fun for the kids.) Anyway, Henry had to stop me and say, "but mom, George isn't American, he's from Germany. He's a German person.". George heard him and yelled out in agreement, "Yeah, I'm a Germaner!". Darin and I started laughing pretty hard, which only made him yell it out a few more times. All along Henry nodding in agreement, "Yeah, he's a Germaner." Well anyway, Happy 4th of July from those of us who are American.

Perfectly Dressed for a Bunny Hunt

This bunny lives in our backyard. I heard today that he has a name. But he's an impostor. An uninvited habitator (I guess that's not a real word.) of the backyard. He randomly eats my flowers, when I'm least expecting it. And then sometimes, when I most expect it, he doesn't eat them. So it's frustrating, and I allow the children to hunt him down. That mostly means whenever we spot him, they go run after him. They think they are chasing after him to make him their pet. I know that chasing him means he'll leave the backyard.

Today, Jane was the only one around when I spotted him. Her dad told her she needed shoes on before she went to hunt for the bunny. Thank goodness she got shoes on. That made the outfit much more appropriate. I just kept hoping the hunt never made it's way out to the front yard. Of course, it did.

George and the next-door-neighbor friend come to help Jane.

Once again, the bunny gets away. The kids don't have a pet, but the flowers live one more afternoon!!