So helpful

Lauren has been really helpful this last week. It all started when we talked about signing her up for soccer - she's so excited about playing that she is actually willing to start helping out around the house. She has done some cleaning, she loves to help with cooking (she's all pumped up about it since she started watching cooking podcasts on my ipod)and she even picks up after herself rarely. BUT we've had a few "thanks, but no thanks" sort of help, too. When I climbed out of the shower the other day I heard what sounding like grunting caused by exertion (never a good sign) so I yelled out to her to see what the heck was going on. She responded, "it's ok, I'm bringing Fox upstairs for you". Um, yeah, so she was already on the top stair with him. As she perches him on the precipice of the landing, she starts walking away and gives me this look like, "now would be a good time to say thank you". Of course, later when I asked her to help Fox move out from under my bed where he keeps getting stuck she said she couldn't do that because he was too heavy. Hello, you just carried him from the living room, to the stairs and all the way up the stairs! Fox has also been starting to eat Cheerios and other little snacks on occasion. I put him in the car and then went back inside to get something. When I got back to the car, Lauren proudly exclaimed, "Fox was hungry, so I got him his snacks". I look back and I can see him playing with the now-empty container that used to be 1/2 full with those little dissolving fruit tasting snack things. What she meants was that she gave a 7 month old the container so he could his snacks out himself. Gee, thanks. In her defense she did empty the trash and clean the bathroom this morning just like I asked. I know she's trying, but seriously...

go team

We have really enjoyed watching the Olympics this last week. I think it started with the girls just wanting to stay up later, but it really clicked on Sunday when we were watching the US team beat Canada in hockey. When it was ending we were all chanting. I found it hilarious because Robie and I were chanting, "USA, USA" and for some reason Brooke, Ashley and Lauren started in with, "America, America", but they were on the same beat as the USA and it just sounded weird, so we were totally laughing (at them, not with them - wait, is that bad?) I even tied it into our FHE lesson with a "working hard and doing your best and utilizing our talents". We focused more on how sometimes even if you do your best you don't win (Brooke also just lost her first round basketball tournament game), but you know you gave it your all (she did). Then how Heavenly Father wants us to be successful, but that doesn't necessarily mean winning (I sort of lost them about here, but it was a good thought)..

Now our DVR is full of olympic coverage - tape delayed even more tape delayed, I guess :)

What does that mean?

What does it mean when someone says, "Boy, you've got you hands full.."? I seem to hear that a lot lately, which I'm hoping does not mean that I am constantly looking frazzled. Generally speaking, I do have my literal hands full a lot, but I'm pretty sure that is not what people are referring to. I'd like to think that what they mean is, "boy, you've got your hands full of darling children and lots of love". Yeah, I'll stick with that.

Robie actually had the day off yesterday, which is odd since he mostly only has holidays off that are recognized in France (where his parent company is located), but we weren't going to complain. Well, we might have complained a little bit, only because we went to the beach and it was GONE. Well, the water was still there, but the sand was completely gone - it was taken over by river rocks plus I don't think I"ve ever seen it when the tide was so high. Robie had a cold and the girls had an orthodontist appointment later in the day, so the girls looked through the rocks for a bit and then we called it a day. Plus sides: Got to come home and have time for the girls to take a bike ride and play volleyball with dad. Downsides: I heard our other favorite beach was fantastically beautiful.

This morning I took the girls to the book store to spend the gift cards that my mom sent them for Valentine's Day. We ended up running into story time which is great except for that Lauren was the only child and Fox was getting antsy, but I felt bad taking the only kid from the story time.. possibly a little awkard? When we got outside and realized it was over 80 degrees, we made a quick change at home and back to the pool. All the kids enjoyed it, even Fox - he thought he was at home playing in the bath (don't mind his serious face - that's just his look). Then he just played in the shade, even eating his first Cheerios, while I lounged in the sun reading my book. It's a rough life, I know. As we were leaving, Lauren started sing-songing, "Hairy Balls", loudly. What?!! So I was calmly asking her to please stop saying that, which she didn't understand, because she was just excited for all the q-tips I gave her from the gym locker room - "hairy balls" because of the hairy balls on each end? Then the older girls wanted to know why she shouldn't say that... oh my.

In order to get a few low-quality photos, I first took a point and shoot with us to the beach that didn't work, then I took the nice camera and for the second time in the last week forgot to put the memory card in!... maybe I do have my hands full :)

wooptedoo

I'm not great at doing big fun, thoughtful things for holidays like Valentine's day. I did pull through with some sugar cookies. They were Lauren's special request in our newly alotted 15 minute increments. Every day after school for each hour, I give each girl 15 minutes to decide what we do (but all of us can partipate in the activity) - then I get 15 minutes to get stuff done around the house. We've done it for 3 days now and I wouldn't call it a perfect system, but it has made me focus more on what the kids are doing. I sort of figured that I wasn't seeming to get anything done anyway, so at least I might as well be having fun with the kids in the meantime. Brooke and Ashley have picked basketball, soccer and studying for a test so far. Lauren picked making the cookies, which of course meant she thought her name should be on ALL the cookies.

But her sisters thought it would be better if everyone got their own cookie. Brooke actually put the "I love U" part on her own cookie (and it probably looks better than I would have done - don't tell her that)

It was such a beautiful day it seemed tragic to spend it all indoors, so we went to our favorite wandering spot over in the canyon. It was really wet still from the rain, and we could totally see where the water had risen substiantially higher and rinsed the whole area out. Lauren's favorite part was the new grass that was growing all over - it was still pretty short so she liked to lean down and feel it beause it tickled her hand. Fox' favorite was either the running water or this leaf that he was trying to reach while we were taking their picture. He was so psyched when he got it (of course, he immediately tried to eat it)!

Happy Valentine's Day.

sickie

Fox has been sick.. again. Maybe it's having 3 older sisters in school, but seriously I feel like he is sick every other week. The other girls also have colds, so go figure. Generally he can still be decently pleasant while we are out, but it always means a rough couple of nights for the poor kid (do you like how I make it sound like I am such a thoughtful and kind mother and am only concerned for his well-being and not for the fact that I was also not getting good sleep?). This time he had a nasty double ear infection along with a runny nose and horrible cough. On the plus side, he was very angry about his pain on saturday afternoon, and to prove it, he started squirming around on the ground (stick with me - that's not the plus side). All of a sudden he realized that if he moved his legs closer to his chest and then back out again he could move across the floor. That's right - crawling. This picture is his first phase - he kind of leans to the side then moves his legs towards him.He's pretty slow, but of course if I turn my back on him he gets substantially faster (only, of course, if there is something dangerous left out that he can get to - favorites are his sisters' pencils and any sort of paper). I think he is finally feeling a little better today - in fact, he is even taking a nap right now, a Friday miracle.

a Big Speech

A couple of weeks ago Brooke had to write a speech as one of her 4th grade assignments. She was actually kind of excited about it, since she got to speak on one of her favorite things - Harry Potter. She dressed up as Hermione and nailed the speech. We heard her practice it quite a few times and the next week, Lauren took to walking around with this little pink clipboard. On the clipboard is her "speech". Every day for at least a week, she would stop for a little while - do a little more scribbling, while informing me she was working on her speech. I found it a couple of days ago and made the move to throw it away. I felt a little bad after she gave me the full puppy dog eyes as she asked me why I was throwing away her speech that she had been working on. The speech survived.

we're a bunch of animals..

The girls had a 1/2 day off school last week. Brooke had a big speech and a test to be taken the next day, so we probably should have just stayed home, but I just couldn't help myself. I've been promising Lauren we would go to the Wild Animal Park. IT was a great day - we happened upon numerous animal "encounters": feeding the exotic birds, a snake, the cheetah:

We even stopped at Lorikeet Landing. We have done this before, but never when they were quite so hungry. Last time we just passed the little cup between all of us (more bang for our buck), but this time the birds were very serious about their food. Ashley tried to grab the cup from Brooke and the birds tried to remove her fingers. Guess that wasn't going to work this time! We circled back and got some more food for her, too :)

I've been wanting to ride the new train/ride thing that takes you into the "Heart of Africa" area. I think it was about 30 minutes and the kids loved it. The last few times we have been there it has been busy, and I was too lazy to wait, but this time it was totally dead (in fact, some of the places in the park it almost felt like we weren't supposed to be there because it was so quiet)..

Brookes' favorite animal is the giraffe, so when we got off she was totally drawn to this little cart that has skins and antlers from some of the animals. I think they must use it to keep people entertained while they are waiting in line,
see ya, rhino..

Yes, Brooke is wearing my vest - seriously, she can't find a single thing of her own to wear from her overflowing drawers :)

on a sidenote, This is what my computer looked like last week -

oops! I accidentally pulled it off onto the floor and broke the screen. Major bummer. To make up for it, I replaced the screen myself and now I am back up and running.