Happy Birthday Anthony

(I started this post on March 3rd and never got it finished but still wanted to get it up.)

Today is Anthony's 10th birthday. Wow! That seems like such a big boy age. Anthony had a great day and is so excited to be 10. He took cookies into his class, loved not having to do his chores, enjoyed his birthday dinner of chicken cordon blue, mashed potatoes, and peas, and had a fun family party in the evening.

I'm so proud of Anthony and all his hard work this past year. He made a goal to read the entire Book of Mormon before his birthday and even though he slacked off during the summer he picked it up again, stuck with it, and finished with a week to spare. He was so excited when he finished and then asked me, "What do I do now?" Not sure what he thought of my answer which was, "start again!" He decided to take the week off and start again after his birthday and read a page a day.

Anthony has been working hard in cub scouts and at a recent Blue and Gold Banquet he was excited to receive several awards and is very close to finishing up his Webelos. Not sure how he turned out to be such a hard working boy and it has been fun to see him set a goal and go for it!

Anthony got lots of cards in the mail and carefully took the time to read each one.

Trevor was excited to give Anthony the Lego star wars activity book he picked out.

Michaela came up with this idea for Anthony's cake. The lego set is new which Michaela bought for his birthday present and did the cake as a surprise. Anthony was so excited when he saw the cake. Wish I had the camera going when he came downstairs and saw the cake. He gave Michaela a big hug!

Jeremiah captured this shot the other night. Such a peaceful sleeping boy who still likes to snuggle with his soft baby and gorilla.

She's home!

Oops, and there's my timer for the laundry, which I managed to mostly finish before Tamara got back. Poor Tamara--most of the kids ran out to the car screaming, "Emersynne! Emersynne!" "What about Mommy?" "Oh, hi, Mom."

It's all fun and games...

...until someone decides to be cute. That's what it was like when I took the kids to play in the gym at our church building late this afternoon. I can say, gratefully, that most of the head-shots taken were unintentional. Thank goodness for thick-headed children. My secret shame: I am only now, going into day 8 of my bachelorhood, considering doing the laundry--and it's only because I am running really low on clean undergarments. Another secret shame: setting back the time on this post so it looks like I might have gotten to bed at a decent hour. The children are almost as excited as I am that Mommy is coming back tomorrow. They want to put up balloons and make cards and have a special dinner. Split-pea soup is special, right?

Just to keep it balanced

I love being an independent--I can swing at both (sorry Greenies/Libertarians/others--there's really only two) parties.

Let's come together

...but you seriously need your own boat.

Today's quote:

"Moooooommmmmy! Mommy, mommy, mooooooooooooommmmmy!

I need a band-aid! My elbow is bweeeding! Mommy, come baaaaa-aaaaack! Mommy!

Mommy, I dunna wanna go to da Caton house! Mommmyyyyyy-yyyy!"

That was the first round, at any rate. She went on for about twenty minutes before she zonked out on her bed. She wasn't bleeding. My heart wasn't bleeding, either.

Poor Abigail--she was so tired after church today that all she could do was melt down.

Rainy days and Mr. Mom

Did you know that some aisles at Wally Mart are wide enough to accommodate a shopping cart being drawn by a team of children? Once I get my detachable handbrake and teach my kids where the different departments are located, I will enter a new era of shopping. Oh, and maybe I'll get a whip--just for looks, of course.

I guess you don't have to ask how I've managed to get my kids some much needed exercise with it being so rainy out. They weren't the only ones at Wally Mart with elevated heart rates, either.

Half way there!

Yeah--movie night!

Star Wars: the Clone Wars was a great distraction, but I can tell that we need to get out of the house tomorrow. Some children are getting physical. Some are biting and peeling their nails. Others are overreacting. Some are being bossy.

Wait--maybe this is just normal and I'm usually not home often enough to see it?

;)

I wonder what we can do tomorrow to blow off some steam during the storm that's expected to bring us over an inch of rain?

Dahhh Sreeeee

It's always about this time that I remember why I hate having Tamara gone:

I am a horrible mother.

Tamara tries to shift my attention away from this fact, but it is true nonetheless.

I am a Dad. I can only do so much. Thank goodness for the dishwasher and Dominos pizza.

Poor Abigail. I dropped her at a friends house today before I spent my half day vacation at work, I mean, before I went to work and took a half day of vacation, and the little waif had a hairdo that only a mother could love and only a father could have possibly concocted. It wouldn't have been so bad if the do didn't bring to mind certain characters from Hellraiser.

[Above statement is neither a promotion or endorsement of Hellraiser by Eastern Blog Country or any of its contributing authors.]

Thank goodness I finally have all the childrens in bed. Now I can head that way too.

Shamelessly trolling for Twihards... I mean, readers

Another gem from Angry Alien Productions:

Half days? Not really.

I waited until I got a call from Tamara last night before I went to bed. That was dumb. She didn't get to her parents' house until 11 PM--Utah time! I had been thinking, "Wow! Only a half day at work tomorrow. I can get by on half a night's sleep."

Wrong.

I am going to have to list as one of my successes for Day 2 (the first complete day of my single-parent stint) not flipping out. I came close a couple of times. I felt like a stand in for that woman who sang the "Mom Song."

Get up now
Get up now
Get up out of bed
Wash your face
Brush your teeth
Comb your sleepy head
Here's your clothes
And your shoes
Hear the words I said
Get up now
Get up and make your bed...

Except, for me it was more like:

Put on your shoes
Put on your shoes
Put on your shoes
Put on your shoes
Put on your shoes
Put on your shoes
Put on your shoes
Get your pajamas on
Get your pajamas on
Get your pajamas on
Get your pajamas on
Get your pajamas on
Get your pajamas on
Get your pajamas on
Get your pajamas on

Urge to spank rising... RISING...

Then I hosed them off and sent them to bed.

Tah-dah!

When the cat's away...?

Tamara laughed when I used that phrase the other day. I think she knows somehow--I don't know how-- what it's really going to be like while she's away visiting her sister. I think she knows things here are going to end up like a lame Michael Keaton movie. Day 1 (yesterday) successes: no deaths no fires everyone got off to their Mutual or Cub Scout activities on time dishes ended up in the sink we managed to eat the entire platter of burritos that Tamara left for us (actually--maybe not a "success") So far today, I aired out the house and got four children on the bus. And we had pancakes. Forecast for tomorrow: cold cereal and juice.

Better dead than a...

My cute table

My table gets used all the time! It's not just a place where we eat, it's our homework table, craft table, and often our food preparation table (we have very little counter space!)

So for me it is really exciting to have a cute table for a change. There are only brief moments during the day when it looks like this so I try to enjoy it when I can. As soon as breakfast is over and the kids are out the door for school I clean up the table and enjoy the cuteness before they come home to eat snacks and do homework. Then as soon as dinner is over it can be cute again and stay that way until morning, although we are all asleep and not really enjoying it.

My sister made these awesome table runners for me for Christmas and I'm excited to be using them. She made one for Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, and a patriotic one. She also said that next year we would be getting the ones for the holidays for the rest of the year. I can't wait!

I admire my sister's patience and skill for sewing. I learned how to sew but never did learn to like it. In fact I would have to say that it is one of the few things I hate, so I'm thankful to my sister for doing the sewing for me so I can enjoy her projects!