Labor Day Stinks

Today is Labor Day. Abe is working and my kids don't realize it is a holiday that kids get off school. Against my better judgment, I decided we would just have a normal school day today. We've got a busy week coming and I figured if we did our work today, we (I) wouldn't have to feel bad if we didn't get everything done later in the week.
I'm not sure this was a good idea. Kids are wild today-- did someone tip them off that today is a holiday? Is someone interfering with my plan to completely shelter my children from the "real world"? George is not happy and hasn't been for the last couple of days-- he has a little cold. Sad for him and for me.
But back to the title of my post. I don't really "get" Labor Day. It's a holiday to celebrate people who work, but isn't that everyone? Do you know anyone who doesn't work? I don't.
Is it a holiday to celebrate the end of summer? What's to celebrate? We don't celebrate any other season ending? Why celebrate the ending of the best one?
I guess I'm just jealous that other people have fun stuff to do on Labor Day and we don't. If I were feeling proactive I would go do something fun, but I can't think of anything that sounds even remotely fun with six children (one being a fussy newborn with a cold) and no husband around. So there you have it-- I'm spending my Labor Day hiding in my room and pouting.

Born to Shop or Born to Drop?

The girls have earned some more money from their little job-- stapling rubber bands to flyers and they wanted to go shopping to the craft store this afternoon. Half of my kids LOVE going shopping. They don't care what they are shopping for. They just love going to stores and they can go from store to store to store and never seem to get tired. I wear out WAY faster than they do. Said children are Bethany, Faith and Cannon. The other half-- Clark, Elinor and I'm going to put George (at least temporarily) in this category. They LOATHE going to the store. I loathe even more having to take them to the store--EVER! Since they don't want to be there to begin with, they tend to rile up the natural shoppers. Given the choice they will always choose to stay home. In Clark's words just the other day, "I hate Costco. It's too big. I hate big stores".
Sadly, I'm afraid I must cast my lot with the group that hates to shop. A little while back Abe told me he actually liked going to the grocery store and if I'd just give him a list he'd be happy to do the shopping.
But this afternoon, in an effort to be a nice mommy, I took the girls and George to the craft store. We needed to hit Walmart as well, but Elinor requested to be dropped off to Abe at home rather than accompany us on the second leg of our outing. Wish I'd stayed with her.
On a side note, I'm still traumatized from my childhood trips to craft stores. My mother was SUPER DUPER crafty and spent a great deal of time in craft stores. They were like her mothership. I am not even an ounce crafty now and I was even less so as a youngster. I remember being trapped at craft stores for a long time wandering the isles of bolts of fabric, thread, needles, styrofoam balls, googley eyes, and feathers. I'm breaking into a cold sweat just remembering.

It's All Worth It

If a normal picture is worth a thousand words, then this picture is worth at least 10, 000! Before bedtime last night Abe was playing hide and seek with Faith and Cannon. As he would get close to finding them they would scream in anticipation of being found with sheer delight. They were so fun and I loved watching Abe play with them. Dads play with children in such a different way from moms. Faith got "found" in the pantry!Ooh, that was a tricky hiding spot! Kind of a scary face there, Faith.

On a side note-- I did go to church today and it was wonderful to be with ward friends and enjoy the good spirit there.

Nerf Wars

Clark woke up early on Saturday morning. He cleaned up the WHOLE house-- including the scary dungeon basement. He called up a bunch of friends and asked them to bring their nerf guns and come over to film a nerf war movie. He planned out all the scenes and Abe got out some CDs to pick out the soundtrack for the movie. Bethany and Elinor were tough guards. I love it when they scrounge up matching outfits. They can be very resourceful!

Here's the movie they made. There really was a story line and it was all very carefully planned and choreographed.The boys played a little touch football after a long afternoon of filming. It was a great day of play with great neighborhood friends.

Book Club Buddies

The little book club buddies are growing up. They've been playing together at least once a month for 6 years. Elinor was 1 year old when we started meeting together. And now are you ready for the sad news? This gorgeous lady is Christine. She and her family are moving to San Diego next week. She has added so much to our book club and my life. She introduced me to yoga, taught me to embroider a bit, to crochet a bit. She is classy and stylish, not because she wants to be better than anyone else, but just because she recognizes and loves beautiful things. She will be sorely missed, but I'm okay to go visit her in SD!Clark enjoyed his friend's new telescope. The summer months of book club are fun because we hold it at local neighborhood parks. The summer evenings are cool and delightful.

Backyard Campout 2010

Last weekend we did our annual backyard camp out. If you think you don't like camping, this might be the way for you to go. I must confess I am not a huge fan of camping at this point in my life. I'm pretty sure it has to do with bears and moose and the safety of my children. I hope it's not that I am a boring, unadventurous person, but I'm not ruling that out. Let me once again present the virtues of backyard camping:
1. clean bathrooms (compared to a latrine) in close proximity
2. warm running water
3. very little dirt
4. the refrigerator
5. no chance of children wandering off and getting lost
6. no bodies of water for children to risk drowning (kiddie pool doesn't count)
7. I can enjoy the campfire and ambiance-- and then retreat to my boudoir with George for a good night's sleep.

Will my more adventurous side ever resurface? Did I ever have an adventurous side? I don't know. For right now, the backyard camp out suits my needs quite nicely.
See! See what I mean about Cannon? Would you want to mess with him?
Faith also had a fun thing on the same evening. She's been invited to a Friday night movie club with the other little girls in the neighborhood. Most of the girls are a year older than Faith, but since there aren't any girls her age, we are grateful they include her.As I said earlier, the backyard camp out fills my need for the great outdoors, but perhaps this young lad would enjoy a bit more adventure. That's what Boy Scouts is for, right?

Don't Worry, Be Happy

George was four weeks old yesterday. He's doing fantastic. But I'll be honest with you, there has definitely been some crying at our house over the past month. It's mostly coming from these two little sweeties, but I'll admit I've done my fair share and the other kids have contributed a bit as well. It takes some time to adjust to a new member of the family. Thankfully Abe has been beyond patient and helpful.
Moms are in the business of care giving. It's what we do-- we take care of our people. We try to make sure everyone's needs are met. As my Aunt Carolyn says, we are constantly taking our kids' emotional temperatures. Watching for signs that that one may need an encouraging word and a hug, reminding another to speak kindly, knowing that one needs a nap, trying to remember the last time that one ate. It's our job to help everyone be happy by caring and nurturing them.
It is very hard for me to watch my people feeling unhappy and not be able to meet their needs, because only time and working through the adjustment period will fix what's "wrong" right now. Not that I think we should always fix things for them, but it's sad to see them sad. Not that every moment has been horrendous--it hasn't, but a few more horrendous moments than usual. And now I am officially rambling and can't catch my train of thoughts. Sorry-- it's late.
I have more fun pictures to put up, but that will have to wait until tomorrow.
Oh, I just caught the thought train I was on at first-- my point was that TODAY was a great day! My people were all very happy all day today. Everyone's emotional temperature was healthy and it was WONDERFUL and I was so happy!!!! I felt capable of dealing with life today-- HOORAY! We shall see what tomorrow brings as I am planning to take George to church for the first time. Wish us luck!

A Different Kind of Back to School Night

Tonight was back to school night at our house. It was our first day of "doing school".
But since there is no new teacher to meet, we celebrated back to school with a Chipmunk movie and ice cream. I know, I know-- our commitment to academic excellence is impressive. As you might imagine, without the excitement of a new classroom, new clothes, and a new teacher-- "back to school" is not what the kids were looking forward to. I felt we needed to do something fun. That being said, at least two of the three oldest admitted to me that they liked doing their school work. I secretly believe the other one does too, but I get in trouble if I voice that.

George is doing great. He is a very calm baby who sleeps for long stretches at night. Need I say more? I am enjoying him so much. If only I could just sit and hold him and ignore all my other responsibilities. Oh wait, that is pretty much what I've been doing for the last three weeks. It's been glorious. Well, the holding the baby part has been glorious. How dare the other children continue to have needs??? We're all adjusting. When I was pregnant with Clark my doctor gave me great advice, "Expect chaos for six weeks". He assured me that things would feel normal again after six weeks. I've found this to be true for each baby. So the way I figure it, we're half way to normal again! (George is 3 weeks!)

Cannon continues to keep things exciting around here. He keeps someone laughing or crying at all times. Except when we don't know where he is and then we all stop what we're doing to find him--usually destroying Clark's lego creations or hiding away with one of George's pacifiers. Good thing he is so charming that we can't resist him. Perhaps that's part of the problem?