Spa Day

The kids had President's day off, so when I asked them if they had any ideas for activities, the girls (without skipping a beat) requested another spa day, but they really wanted cucumbers for their eyes. Fancy Nancy has a book out now about giving her mom a spa day, so we tried to make it fancy like hers. First, the boys were kicked out of our "room of serenity." Next, we did manicures and pedicures.

I then pulled their hair back, smothered their faces in Noxema, had them lie down on their towels, and placed freshly cut cucumbers over their eyes. They were crack ups! Both girls couldn't stop moving, so they kept falling off of their faces, but Emma started to relax when I put on the soft music. I then wiped the stuff off of their faces and put hot towels over themEmma wanted to keep it on her forehead while she watched a TV show.
Of course, you have to drink lots of water...

Doesn't she look refreshed?

I now have to expose a fun, new smoothie. The picture is horrible, but the product is delicious! My friend at www.dashofdiva.blogspot.com posted this (as well as other wonderful dishes):

Tropical Green Smoothie

Here's the recipe:

2 c fresh spinach

1 mango

2 bananas

1 c pineapple chunks (fresh)

1 c water

1 c ice

Put in blender and voila! Yummy green smoothie that everyone will love! To make it simpler (cuz that's what I'm all about) I substituted 1 can pineapple and 1 can mango. I also added an orange. Have fun with it, but know that my apprehensive children were asking for more! Plus, St. Patrick's Day is coming up and you can bet what we are having for breakfast!!!

Emma's lists

Emma is becoming more and more comfortable with writing utensils. Not until she started kindergarten did she ever really like to write or even color. She's been able to read for over a year, but write, draw, and color? Those were not her strengths--at all. She's been working on it and is really improving. In the last few weeks, I have been receiving notes and drawings on a daily basis. I'm even able to guess what she's drawing for me. Last Saturday, I was invited to speak at the stake women's conference. Steve was at a swim meet with the boys, so Braxton was babysitting for over 4 hours. Apparently, when Steve checked in on them for 10 minutes around noon, they were still in their pajamas. He must have said something because Emma took matters in her own hands and made checklists for everyone. I'm finding them everywhere now--bathroom, bedroom, on the stairs, taped to the kitchen chairs, etc. I guess she did get something from me-a love for checklists and that feeling of accomplishment when you actually get to check something off.

These are 2 found in a few of our bathrooms. If you can't read it, it says:

"Brush teeth. Drink water. ACT. Go to bed now! I want you to do it!"

2nd one on right says, "Bed time for Evan, Lizzie, Carter, Emma, Braxton. Brush are (our) teeth.

Dringk uv wotr. Put on PJs. Go to BED."

Last Sunday, instead of taking a nap, she made place mats for each member of our family. They all had pictures of Emma with that individual. Too cute! They were also very well taped to the table. :) Below is a close-up of Steve's. He's looking tanner than usual.

Feed the Fire

On February 19th, both Evan and Carter participated in the annual Feed the Fire meet. Steve arrived with Evan at Oswego East High school at 6:45am and didn't get to come home until 8:30pm!!! It was a long day, but an exciting one. This meet is special because it is the last weekend meet to get qualifying times for Regionals and J.O.s (junior olympics/state championship). It also only for swimmers who do NOT have qualifying times in those events, so if you're too fast and have already qualified, you cannot swim in that event. This makes the playing field a little bit more even and the races highly competitive. If you make the top 8, then you get to come back at the end of the day for the "Finals" and race one more time. Evan made the finals in the 50 Breast and Carter got regional times in the 50Back, 50Breast, and 100Breast, and made finals in all 3 events plus 50Free (he is .05 seconds away from a regional time). Both boys dropped their times each time they swam in each event. At the finals, the school has music blaring to pump the kids up, they get to walk out through curtains with a sign signifying what event it is, parade through coaches & teammates, and then when they get to the blocks, they announce each swimmer's name and allow applause and cheering. So fun!

Here's Evan being led in the 50Breast.

This is Evan's coach, Jason, giving him a high 5 for good luck. This coach has been extremely motivating and inspirational for Evan. He really is phenomenal.

Here's Carter hi-fiving his coaches & fellow teammates as he is paraded to his lane.

Carter's Breast stroke--awesome!

Evan's Breast stroke - consistent and fast

Evan's Butterfly Carter's Butterfly
Carter's Freestyle
One of the things I've been most impressed with this year is Evan's sportsmanship. The qualifying times get significantly harder when you jump into the 11-12 age bracket. He's improved, but not that much; however, he has kept his spirits up and cheered his brother and fellow teammates on like a real champ.

Evan cheering on his relay race teammember.

The girls, Braxton, and I went to the finals so that we could cheer on our brothers and see our dad. It's hot, loud, and boring in the stands, but they made the most of it (with the help of a few M&Ms and smarties).

Isn't she gorgeous!?!

Lizzie's yelling at the boys, "Go Carter!" "Go, Evan!"

Valentine's Day

I love Valentine's Day! I love pink and red and focusing on showing our love to those around us. Our Valentine's Day was a little different this year. We celebrated on Sunday, Feb. 13th because Steve, who is the valentine to 3 girls in our home, was flying away on the 14th for a week.

We definitely felt loved with all of the candy, valentines, jewelry, and books that were given to us. Thank you grandmas! I even got roses when Steve returned on Friday! (Lizzie thought they were for her, since she got to carry them into the house.)

Emma and Lizzie got 2 stuffed animals. They fought over which one was going to be whose, but have come to an agreement. (It's possible!)

I got out my red chargers, bought some pretty pink daisies, hid valentine's cards under their plates and made a delicious dinner--Roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, roasted asparagus, salad, veggies, strawberries, and mini brownie bites with white chocolate frosting for dessert. Oh! And we did have the red heart-shaped ice cubes (concentrated crystal light) with ginger ale for a special "kissing punch". Mmmmm!

*Emma had a really hard time waking up for our meal. Lizzie had also barely awakened from her Sunday afternoon nap (I love 9:00 church!), but was more chipper than her sister--obviously.

Monday was full of more candy, cards, mini-tattoos, parties, and love notes. Despite 4 of us still being sick, no one wanted to miss anything. So, I got to volunteer in Emma's room in the morning and help with Carter's party in the afternoon. The kids had fun at all of their parties. Evan even won a jump rope at his jump rope for heart contest. This jump rope is getting its fair share of time on my hardwood floors as Emma is really trying to get better than her brothers. I can't believe how much she has improved in just 1 week!

One day after school, I helped the girls make a candy necklace from a kit I picked up. They were pretty pleased with themselves and loved eating it afterwards.

I love doing my girls' hair. Love, love, love it! Coming up with different ways to do hearts in their hair is a fun challenge. Here are 2 we tried. Lizzie is above, and Emma is below.

Emma's took a lot more work. (She sits still better.) She has 5 interlocking hearts along the crown of her head. The nice thing was that it stayed in well enough to last through Sunday AND Monday!

This picture sums it up. We had a great day, but were exhausted by the end. Lizzie fell asleep missing her Valentine. She sat in his chair while Emma played a game on his computer and drifted off to sleep. Poor Braxton worked for over 7 hours doing homework that night. I was so sick, I lied on my bed while he'd work next to me, wake me up every few minutes with some questions and to make sure he was on the right track, and then let me sleep again. Ugh!

BYU VOLLEYBALL!

We showed our team spirit on Friday, February 11th, by driving to Loyola University in downtown Chicago and cheering on the Cougars in 5 nail-biting games of volleyball. Thanks to Grandma Bird, the kids were decked out in their BYU attire.

BYU Mens' Volleyball team was ranked #2 and Loyola was not, so the games were too close. We lost in the end, but I do have to say that the officials were the worst I have ever witnessed. It was also eye-opening to be on a non-LDS college campus and hear the chants from the student section against our clean cut mormon boys. A few we heard and that I can type without having to repent are, "You need Jimmer", "Jesus Loves Us", "He's a Virgin". Nice.

Obviously, Lizzie was totally enthralled with the game as she is lying in the middle of the stairs, staring at the ceiling.

Emma, on the other hand, told Steve more than a handful of times how cute the boys were on the BYU Cougar team. She had two that were her favorites. Steve was taken back by this. Not I. I say the girl's got good taste. It gives her something to look forward to and work hard for.

The boys and I really were glad we won the 3rd and 4th game so that it could go to 5. We saw some unbelievable plays. Steve and I were amazed by how much the game has changed since we played in high school. Weird. I still feel young! Oh, well. It would have been a blast to see BYU win the following night in Joliet, but we had other plans.

Another fun part of the game was that we saw so many friends from our ward and stake there to support them, too: The Nelsons, Siebachs, Keenans, Clarks, to name a few. BYU fans made up about 40% of the fans in the gym. The girl in front of me asked if we all flew in to support the team. I explained that BYU fans are everywhere. You can't escape us. :) I hope we can see them again! What a fun night!

Blue & Gold Banquet

Cub Scout Blue & Gold Banquet 2011

Carter and Steve went to the annual Blue and Gold Banquet last Thursday. The theme was Backward's Birthday Bash. So, we thought the opposite or backwards idea of birthday would be death-day. So, they did a graveyard with an open tomb. They only had 15 minutes to decorate the cake while at the church. I thought they were very creative, but they won no awards. I think this is the first time we've come away empty handed! Oh, well. It still tasted great!

Sick, sick, sick

We have had a small outbreak in our house over the last 2 weeks. Emma came down with the flu first. Lizzie got it next. Next was Evan with Strep, then me, then Carter. Braxton is always healthy as a horse. Now Carter and I have colds with pent up anger raging against us. We look awful and my voice seems to not want to return. At church (yes, I think I'm indispensable), Emma asked that I sing really softly because I didn't sound very good. Thanks, babe.

Emma had been functioning normally for nearly a week, but this has taken a bigger toll on her than we all thought. She'd asked for a playdate on the way home from school. While getting her brothers their after-school snack/mini-meal, I looked over and found her sound asleep on the couch. No playdate today. She needed extra sleep. She thinks she can run with the big boys, but her 5 year old body is reminding me that she still is 5 (or 5 1/2 as she likes to correct anyone and everyone). It'll be interesting to see how long it takes Carter and I to bounce back. Evan? Well, he got an antibiotic for the strep and within 24 hours he's back to bouncing off the walls. He did sleep in until 7 am this morning, though. Maybe he still needs a little re-energizing as well. I am not used to my family (or myself) being sick. I take for granted our usual health. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually miss feeling good enough to exercise.

Say what?

Lizzie has more attitude than what can fit in her 3 year old body. She is constantly posing, speaking to me with her hands on her hips, and can move her neck as well as any "soul sistuh" around. Like her older brother, she keeps me on my toes and says things that sometimes shock me.

While baking bread and kneading in the last bit of flour, she said, "Uh-oh. You made a mess. Your mom is going to be so mad at you. I'm disappointed."

After putting some pajama pants on, but leaving on my t-shirt from the day..."You don't match, Mom. I don't want you to read me stories in those clothes. You look too silly."

Me--"What am I going to do when you go to kindergarten all day?"
Lizzie--"Well, I don't want you to cry. So, I guess you and dad will need to go to lunch on some days."

"Mom, I don't want you to die today. You can die after I'm a grandma, OK?"

Today, we were making special heart-shaped ice cubes with juice in preparation for our big Valentine's Day meal. The kids wanted to see them, so I was lifting them up to see them on the top shelf of the freezer.

Carter said, "I think I'm too big for you to do that anymore. It kind of hurt my armpits. Maybe it's because I'm growing hair there!"

Laughing, I told him I didn't think that was the case. (He is 9.)

"No, I'm serious, Mom," he replied. "I am starting to smell and really need to start using deoderant. Here, smell me."

Thanks for sharing, Carter.

Winter Wonderland

February 1st began with warnings and a lot of anticipation as everyone was buzzing about a winter storm coming. I admit...I've lived in Chicago now for over 8 years and I've seen storms. I've seen snow. We've had school cancelled for just a few inches and I was doubting the extremity of this storm system. Never have I seen a snow storm that dumped this much since I was a child. Between 2pm on Tuesday and 9am on Wednesday, we received nearly 2 feet of snow. The wind was unbelievable. We have drifts 4 feet high! This was my view out of my front windows. Notice the buried fire hydrant. We had an untouched blanket of snow as far as the eye could see. No one even started shoveling near us until after 8:00am.

Evan and Carter are here to show how high it was on our deck. I have a similar picture from Elko when I was about their age crouching in my doorway with a drift over a foot above the door.

Snow tried to sneak into our garage.

This was the boys' first task. Make a path out the door and then clear off the trampoline. Our poor net was so heavy with snow, it nearly touched the snow covered ground beneath it. I think they're taking a break--even though they've hardly started. None of us anticipated the weight of the snow.

This is what greeted Steve. Ground zero. We were lucky to have the drifts carry some of the snow away from our garage door. Our neighbors, on the other hand, received what was taken from us.

A shot of our neighborhood--covered and untouched. Beautiful, really.

By 10 am, everyone was outside trying to dig each other out. It was great seeing so many neighbors on one day. The hibernation factor is definitely at play during January - March.

Carter was taking his turn with Steve. Note the knee high wall o' snow.

Braxton helped our neighbor.
We all helped our neighbor on our other side, who we found out has stage 4 kidney cancer. I'm so glad we could help them.
Luckily, one neighbor 3 doors down came to help with his snowblower. He mainly did the last quarter of our driveways and our sidewalks. What a gentleman! He definitely deserves a plate of cookies!

Emma couldn't wait to get out and play, but Lizzie was very hesitant. She enjoyed watching Emma climb our drifts up to our kitchen window. When Emma made it look fun and I said I was going out, she followed.

The girls went next door to play with their cute friend.

It didn't last long. Lizzie's little legs just weren't long enough to maneuver through the deep snow, and she kept falling. By the time she got to me, her hands were frozen, her nose was running, and her sobs were getting louder and louder. So, they went swimming in my tub. :)



The smiles returned!

This is now our view from our driveway to the south. Our plow didn't come until 4pm. So, we had to go back out and shovel the wall of snow it had pushed back onto our driveway. It only came one time through, leaving 1 car width plowed. It wasn't until after 10pm that it came back to finish the job. So, this morning in -12 degrees, Steve and the boys got to shovel another wall of snow pushed back onto our driveway. School was cancelled for 2 days, which meant movies, games, puzzles, big breakfasts, s'mores at the fireplace, hot chocolate, reading, and hanging out. Snow days are fun, but all of us are sore today. I think I'm ready for spring to come. I just saw that there's a chance of more snow this weekend followed by single digit temperatures. Seriously? I think the groundhog is full of it.