Road Trip

And they're off ... what a sight! Byron is off to his Dad's to put the final touches on the bug (dashpad and windshield wipers mostly). What makes this trip so great is that he voluntarily decided to take all 3 boys with him!!! The boys have been beside themselves with excitement all day long. Josh & Ben have been bugging Byron (no pun intended - this time) to go for a ride in Daddy's Bug. Robert has been, but only around the lake. This is the farthest that this poor little car has had to go under its own power in who knows how many years.

As you can see, the bug is ... fully loaded. Byron's comment as he slashed his hand open getting Josh's car seat strapped into a car that was never designed to hold one: "I need my head examined." His last words, as he was backing down the drive: "This car is REALLY small!"

A week of firsts ...

A few cute comments that need to be shared (wish I had gotten pictures):

Sunday: Josh was assigned to give his first scripture and prayer - and he did it! I wish I could have gotten in to see him in time, but I missed it. I hear he did very well, and that night at dinner he said the prayer for the first time all by himself ... he is getting so big!

Monday: Josh again - we were working with the alphabet. I would say a letter and Josh would repeat it (he normally just smiles at me and won't say anything). He repeated every letter until I got to the letter "u." Every time I would say "u" then he would say "me." He was so proud of himself!

Tuesday: We went for a Camping Day at playgroup which included a nature walk and S'mores over a real campfire. My boys did pretty well. I had to carry Ben once during the nature walk and Josh only headed for the river once, but that is a great average for my boys. Ginny is walking by herself now so I put her down expecting to have to pull dirt, grass, etc. from her mouth, but the only thing she wanted to chew on was the sidewalk chalk the kids were drawing on rocks with ... good girl! Robert was the only one who would eat the s'mores. The looks on Josh & Ben's faces seemed to say "why are you ruining perfectly good chocolate and crackers by smooshing it with what used to be recognizable as a marshmello?" They would (and did) eat any of the elements individually, but did not think much of the combination.

On a little side note, we are on day 2 of our family's new schedule - the one where Mommy gets up with Daddy at 5:30 AM (its not even light yet!!!) so that we can study the scriptures before Daddy goes to work. I have to say that even though I was really enjoying the sleep I was getting (Ginny started sleeping all the way through the night exactly 15 days ago), our home has stayed cleaner, we have done more together, and best of all there has been little or no contention. They say it takes 21 days to make a habit - 2 down, 19 to go!

(Yes, Byron and I have still practiced the piano ... 30 minutes a day so far!)

Symphonic Sunday

Hello again, our weekend was just too full for one measly little post! We had a great Sunday today - meaning that the kids were adorable and that we got to hear most of the lessons. Byron and I have been trying to find a common interest since we are such polar opposites in most areas (yes, we can have more than one common interest, we just decided to try to find one at a time). The idea behind this exercise is to be able to look forward to doing things together by the time when the kids have left home - instead of more or less going our separate ways most of the day during retirement (whatever that is). We have tried a couple of things - branching toward eachother. To date, we have tried mountain biking - I am too much of a wuss to keep up with Byron in the dirt. We have tried the theater - Byron's snores and snorts nearly got us kicked out. We actually enjoyed lake kyaking (in singles), but cannot really afford to buy kyaks this year. Next, we are going to try the piano. Yep, we are learning to play the piano together - this has to be easier to coordinate than sea kyaking (we tried this as a "team" on our honeymoon and it nearly ended the entire story). I have a musical background, but I have never learned the piano - Byron has a wonderfully accomplished pianist for a mother and enjoys listening to the piano, but he never made the committment to learn how to play. Sooooo, I grabbed some begginning books from his mother over the weekend and we sat down to start. I am pretty well grounded in theory, so I guess I am a little more advanced than Byron, but it is definitely a case of the blind leading the blind - but we worked together for nearly an hour today (with the help of the kids). Ginny helped with a little harmony of her own, and Ben tried to help Byron with the names of the notes (they are all choo choo train, for your information). Be sure to vote in the poll for the duet you would most like us to play if you ever have the misfortune ...ummm...opportunity to hear us. :-)

Memorable Memorial Weekend

Wow, has Byron only been home a week? Just kidding! We have been busy ... okay, well I have been busy doing things to keep me away from doing things that needed to be done - rearranging furniture, fixing computers (attempting actually since the computer in question is definitely deceased at this point), etc. We have had a great weekend - Byron and I went to see Indiana Jones on Friday (without the kids - which was the funest part of the whole movie). Then we rushed home, packed the kids up, and headed to Grandma & Grandpa's house for the night. We got there just in time to put the kids to bed and were forcibly reminded why we try not to spend the night anywhere as our dear, precious, adorable, angelic, monstrosity of a little girl proceeded to scream most of the night (she took a great nap the next day though) :-)

Some highlights from our trip included:

Ben & Josh getting to play outside "unsupervised" for the first time ever. (Unsupervised meaning the adults watching from behind tinted glass ... out of sight, out of mind, right?). They loved the mud, sand, dirt, sticks, did I say mud? This picture just missed them trying to excavate Dad's horseshoe ring - buried treasure. When they weren't digging in the wet sand, they were chasing (and sometimes kicking) the various dogs. Considering that all of those dogs are at least twice the size of the boys, I just have to shake my head...

Ben & Ginny "playing" together. I gave them each thier own little buckets. Ginny would immediately drop hers and head around Ben, who would dive to collect the buckets that Ginny had discarded. Then, nociting that his buckets were being absconded with, he would dive back to grab them from her and the game would be begin again ...

Ben managing to shove an entire hamburger bun (I mean the really big hamburger buns) into his mouth in one bite without choking - the kid is gonna be great at parties when he grows up!

(Before and after:)

Other, unphotographed gems included Byron asking me to buy shirt for him - even stranding his mother and myself at the mall so that we would do so - and then promptly driving right back to the store to return them because he didn't like the colors. Oh well, we had fun!

We tried to leave early enough to get home at a decent hour, but it is just too much fun visiting! The drive home was fun as we are listening to Stephenie Meyer's new novel The Host, and have gotten hooked - so it didn't seem to be such a long trip. We got home and dumped the kids right into bed - or tried to. Ben didn't want to wait for us to unload the car, he just found some pillows, drug his blanket over, and planted himself ... right in the entryway from the kitchen so that we had to step over him to get things done - I think he looks pretty darn comfortable, don't you?

The correct video link ...

We MISS Daddy!!!!

Well, today was my solo Sunday. With Byron in Dallas, I packed up all four kids and headed for church. I have to say once again that Karrie is my ultimate hero! Not only does she write the most entertaining blogs I have ever read, she sits with her four small kids nearly every week by herself - how do you do it Karrie? My kids were actually pretty darn good today (absolutely it was divine intervention - the Lord knows just how much I can handle). The morning had an adorable dance session which I tried to capture on film, but my kids see a camera and just freeze.



Still, it was a cute way to start off the day. As you can see, Ginny is trying so hard to walk - she can get about three steps before she loses her balance because she starts off at a run ... I am in soooo much trouble. Once we got dressed and in church, we were doing pretty well. I had to take Ginny out to the foyer by the end of the meeting, but the boys were good enough to let me just give them "the look" to keep them in the pew. The best part was after church. I am the ward activites chairman and we have started holding "Milk & Cookie Sunday." The purpose is to give ward members a chance to socialize a bit - especially given the rising fuel costs and our large ward boundaries. So, the ward brings the milk and everyone else brings the cookies. We have dones this four times now - it was supposed to be held in the parking lot so that the kids could run and there would be little mess, but it has been too windy and cold up until this week and now it is too hot (102 yesterday) - I can't win for losing! So, the cultural hall it is - and things have gone pretty well. Today the kids even stopped after three cookies, so we had a few left-overs! The kids have a blast running full tilt through the cultural hall - which is why everyone has cleared out within 30 minutes, but I still think that it has been a success. My next goal is to find an incentive for the kids to not scream as they run.

The end of my birthday - another really long post

For my birthday, Byron gave me season tickets to our local Bakersfield musical theater group. At the time, there were four shows left to see (Cinderella, A Night of Stars, Cats, Hotel CA) ... he did this on the advice of a dear friend to surprise me - and I loved it. It was also supposed to be an opportunity for him to reach out and do something that I really enjoy (without gritting his teeth too much). As luck would have it, Byron only went to one, and the experience was SO incredibly painful for him that he has voluntarily taken all four kids and I have invited a girl friend to dinner and the theater. I digress .... Tonight was the last set of tickets. It was to see Hotel California: A Salute to the Eagles. This was a "play" I had never heard of and I was a bit nervous to see what it was about - and this factored into deciding whom to invite to go with me. I wanted to take someone who was not easily offended - just in case. I found a perfect victim, umm, companion in Tami H. :-)

As you might have already guessed (I didn't actually guess until it started), there was no play but actually a concert. Hotel California: A Salute to the Eagles is a group of five incredibly talented musicians who sound exactly like the Eagles - and they play all of the hits. The were absolutely incredible to listen to, but this had to be the tamest concert I have ever attended in my life. First of all, more than half of the audience was way over 65 (my guess is that they were also season ticket holders who had NO idea that this was a concert); also, being in a theater, there was no real understanding of what was "appropriate." We didn't know if we were supposed to stand up and hoot and holler (normal rock concert behavior) or if we were supposed to sit politely in our seats until each number was finished. When the guys first came out, Tami and I looked at each other and just said "No way." This was a geriatric rock concert ... you have to see it to believe it. Here they are (and these pictures had to have been taken at least 10 years ago):

This Dicky (no really - that is what they call him). He was the band's spokesman. He introduced everyone and was quite the character. He would walk up to the edge of the stage while playing the guitar and just shake it - presumably for the ladies. It might have passed for sexy a couple of decades ago, but ... (let's just say we had the giggles). Dicky also played all of the "specialty" instruments, which included an incredible mandolin and a few uber metalic (imagine fingernails on a chalkboard - with vibrato) guitars thrown in for good measure. I loved the mandolin, but wished I had a sling shot for the special guitars ... sounded just like the originals though.

This is Steve - from Downey. He was the lead singer and all I could say was WOW!!! This man has the best voice! I could just melt listening to him - as long as I kept my eyes closed. He didn't look much like this picture - his hair is about shoulder length now and he was channeling Jenifer Grey too (see my earlier post about the dentist). I liked him the best (can you tell) and thought that he was the most entertaining. He was also having fun on the stage, but he wasn't quite as over the top as Dicky and Wade. He got his leg up with his guitar a couple of times ... then he would laugh at himself.

This is Wade. What can I say about Wade? He was way over the top. He played the guitar and the keyboard a little, but spent most of the time singing and dancing around the stage. He would grab the microphone stand (the others had head mics, but Wade needs a prop) and swing it around and stoop over it to sing. He had a great voice too - not as great as Steve, but he did a great Desperado ... which was made most memorable to me by the audience pulling out cell phones to light up and wave over their heads in lieu of lighters (I am NOT kidding).

This is Scott - who played the bass and also sang all of the really high, falsetto, parts (seriously, I think he sang higher notes than I've done). It was an amazing contradiction. I'm not sure whether it is because he plays the bass, or because of his almost portly build, but I expected him to have a deeper voice. He could really belt it - very amazing. The other guys kind of stole his thunder, though, since they introduced him as a degreed tax accountant (I think they are just jealous of his vocal range).

Last, but certainly not least, this is Phil - the drummer. Phil's bio lists him as an amazing drummer, and I am sure that he is, but since they were just doing Eagles music (and Eagles music isn't known for its cutting edge drum parts), he wasn't really spotlighted. He just kind of hung out with his set - obviously, he would be the backbone of the performance - but I guess you only notice the drummer when he is terrible so it is good that he was just there being "spot on."

By the time the concert was nearly over, people were starting to get into the swing of things and were calling out and clapping. Ultimately, it was really fun and I bet they are used to a warmer audience since they are fabulous musicians. (You could tell who were the musicians in the house at first since we were the only ones calling out or clapping during any riffs or solos). I tried to do the after concert thing and managed to get Steve and Scott's autographs (feeling like a complete dork - I mean how do you ask for the autograph of a musician who just spent the last hour and a half perfectly immitating someone else's music - it is not the same as acting, believe me!), but I stopped short of asking for a photo opp. Tami offered, and it would have been great for the blog, but I just couldn't bring myself to ask ... they seemed really nice, but I just didn't have the nerve (believe it or not).

Too Much To Do - and playing here instead

You know, I have written a HUGE list of things that I need to get done while Byron is out of town, a very organized list full of sub-headings and neat little diagrams. So what have I done this evening? Found old episodes of Voltron to amuse the children while I re-designed this page! Of course, in my own defense, I did drag the children all over Bakersfield today doing yucky shopping (all shopping is yucky when you are outnumbered 4-1) AND I learned or re-learned a lot of tricks to html programming, so I guess the time wasn't completely wasted .... okay, I'm not fooling anyone, but I have to say it was an absolute trip to walk down cartoon memory lane - and I felt like a dinosaur watching Robert's reactions to what I told him was once my favorite show. Animation has truly come a long way in a very short time - I'm not all THAT old!!!!! Didn't you watch Voltron?

Ben's Day at the Dentist

Well, it was Ben's day today ... the first trip to the dentist. I was a bit nervous about this as Ben has a tendency to scream at the drop of a hat, and his screams can be rather ... umm ... piercing. To make it even better, he was going to see Jenny (poor lady). Jenny is wonderful in so very many ways - she just had the misfortune to be the nursery leader when we were trying to get Ben (who hates change of any type) to stay in the nursery on Sundays. So, for a while, Ben would literally start screaming whenever he saw Jenny. You can see where I am going with this.

So, the goal for today was to get Ben into the chair and avoid any screaming at ALL costs. The day did not start encouragingly as little Lily came over to play (nearly the same age as Ben) this morning and they were at each other's throats almost immediately. Lily got a great hit on Ben (which he promptly returned when he thought no one was watching) and the melee began ... it was 8:00 am. However, despite some rough starts in general and the suspicion that Ben has developed that if he gets to go with Mommy by himself then a needle must be involved (I wonder where he got that idea), we managed to leave the house in plenty of time to walk the block-and-a-half to the dentist's office.

He did pretty good - laughed and smiled for the lovely elderly couple in the front office. When Jenny came out, you could literally see the calculation in his face as he determined the distance between her and me, but he decided to wait and see. She picked him up (and the question was nearly decided right then and there) and took him over to the toys. Hurray - there was one with wheels! She was okay then. She took him back to her chair and showed him how the chair moved up and down - he decided it didn't move fast enough and tried to push and pull it himself (he's such a helpful ray of sunshine!)

After that, we tried to get him to climb into the chair on his own, but he wasn't born yesterday. When we patted the seat and told him to climb up, he just grinned and patted the seat right back at us. So, I held my breath and picked him up and dumped him into the seat myself. Fortunately, he found this novel rather than irritating - for a split second. Jenny handed him a set of teeth and a toothbrush - which he was happy to hold, but didn't really know what to do with. Then, she gave him a toothbrush of his very own ... now he was ready. Here he is with Jenny - showing her how its done (sorry Jenny, the picture is just too cute!)

We were getting pretty confident and decided to put the chair back. At this point - Ben was done and ready to get down. So I sat in the chair and put him on my lap and we all got to lay back. Looking back at the morning, I'm certain that was his plan all along - to get Mommy in the chair. Still, we were there - lights on - ready to clean ... or not. Ben let Jenny polish the ouside half of four teeth (one at a time) and she got to count the teeth - by feel mostly. I wish I could have gotten pictures of her and Dr. Kent making faces to get Ben to open his mouth so that Dr. Kent could count his teeth - but he was on my lap and the camera was out of reach (all part of the plan, I'm guessing). At any rate, one thing he really loved was "Mr. Thirsty"


So, since the goal was to avoid screaming - it was a sucessful visit. Maybe in six months, he'll let her polish four more teeth - or at least the insides of the ones she got today?

After that, I dropped him off at the circus (aka home) with the rest of the brood and a long-suffering babysitter and spent the next couple of hours getting my hair permed. I would include a picture, but I have total control of the camera so .... lets just say I am channeling Jenifer Grey without the bangs.

Welcome to the Circus!

I wanted to wait until I had some really exciting event - complete with pictures - to start this new and exciting chapter in our lives - the family blog. Then I realized that everyday has its own excitement, or at least moments of sheer insanity. I have also come to realize that I never have the camera ready when I need it! Huge hugs and thanks to Krissy for helping me to get this started!

This Monday finds our little family trying to find its feet after an unusually busy weekend away. Byron and I had the opportunity to go with the Hogue family to the LA Temple. This was a great day, despite Mr. Grumpy (aka Byron) finding that the new tires on his bug made the front end look too tall and that the people who put the tires on neglected to place a block of wood between the jack and the car, resulting in the bending of a little flap of metal on the underside of the car. This was discovered before we left, and nearly destroyed the entire day. Luckily, Byron has since discovered that drop-spindles can be installed in the front for a reasonably small amount AND that our local mechanic is willing and able to take on this project ... brave soul ... so, catastrophy averted! Whew! Here is picture of Byron trying to see if his body weight would bring the front end down far enough to be even with the back end (he found a blog where someone had put a bag of cement in the front because they could not afford to have the front end lowered) too bad he doesn't weigh quite enough:

In other news, the kids had an amazing Saturday as well. Robert got to go to an outdoor event with the Colella family - where he won a fishing pole (which he cannot wait to use) and lots of hooks (which I hope to be able to sucessfully hide from the babies). The babies had the Hazard family keep them occupied and I cannot thank Sierra enough for keeping them fed, clean, entertained, AND cleaning my house too ... she'll make a great mom!