The Long Day

This day, guys. THIS DAY. It started at 5:15 when the baby woke up. I waited to see if she would go back to sleep but she wouldn’t. So I got up and nursed her like a zombie until I could put her back to sleep. Then it was time to wake the other kids up. They had Picture Day at school. We hunted around for something that wouldn’t make them look too much like children Sally Struthers would ask you to pledge 75 cents a day to feed. We had to get out of the house early because I needed time to drop them off and then sneak a basket of Easter eggs in to the school secretary for the kindergarten surprise egg hunt tomorrow. I also needed time to get to Walmart and pick out stuff for their Easter baskets. Nathan was going to Oregon today to visit his dad and won’t be back until Saturday night, so the only time I had to go to the store without Bellana was right then. I had to hurry because I needed to get to my sister’s house by 8:30 for our workout.

I ran through Walmart like a madwoman, cursing that some brainiac had put the Easter candy in an aisle in the grocery section instead of near all the other Easter stuff on the other side of the store. I tried to make well-thought-out decisions about what kind of cheap stuffed animals each kid would like without crying about what their sibling got. I knew Bellana wanted a duck so I picked up one and found out it quacked when you squeezed it. If ONE kid’s toy makes noise, they must all make noise. I rooted through the bins for 10 minutes but only came up with two more animals that made noise. So I put them back and found silent ones.

I rushed to Sarah’s house, walked in, and said, “I have to leave in 30 minutes and I can’t be sweaty.” So we did a killer arm workout. And then I raced off to Chubbuck to look at a beeeeautiful vehicle that I hope to buy. (Nathan has been driving his dad’s truck since Nathan’s car died last Fall. Since he is returning it on this trip, I have to find him something to drive!) I took it for a little drive and fell in love. I arranged with the owner to have it checked out at my mechanic to make sure it’s okay. I’ll tell you more about it if I end up getting it.

At that point I was pretty close to Home Depot, so I asked Nathan if I could make a quick stop to pick up some hardware we would need for the remodel work tonight. (I was anxious to be able to look at things without the distraction of kids. It’s so hard to think, let alone figure out what I want!) My trip was quick and I rushed home so that Nathan could get on his way.

I took over baby duty while Nathan finished packing and cleaning out the truck. Then we realized that we didn’t know where the title was. Our whole basement is torn up and our garage is nearly inaccessible because of the remodel. Ugh! We searched through piles of papers. Nathan finally found it in a spot I had already checked. L By that time, it was time for me to leave to pick up Vander from kindergarten. We said goodbye to Daddy and he left at the same time.

As I waited in the pickup line, I called an auto glass place. I got a rock chip in my windshield on the way to Idaho Falls yesterday to look at a vehicle and it was already threatening to spider. They told me they could fix it for $20 in 15 minutes and to come over right then. I had one hour before my dentist appointment and needed to feed the kids some lunch. But I reasoned that we could walk to a fast food place nearby while it was being fixed and it would take less time. My tired arms carried the baby as we found some yummy food at Firehouse Subs. When we got back my car was not ready. I texted my babysitter to let her know we would be a little late but would be there soon. She texted back that she didn’t know who I was. Whoops! Old number in the church directory! So I got the kids in the car and found a newer number and called her. Turns out she had forgotten and was in Utah! I now had 10 minutes to get to my dentist appointment. I didn’t know what to do. Should I cancel? They had confirmed the appointment multiple times. I know medical offices hate it when you cancel and I had already canceled last week because I had a stomach bug. Plus, I haven’t been to a dentist in more than a year. So I just drove to the office and we walked inside.

I felt like an idiot. What was I doing? How could I get my teeth cleaned with two young kids and a 16-month-old? I kept apologizing to everyone and waiting for them to tell me to come back another time. Instead, I left the 3 and 6-year-olds in the waiting room watching Doc McStuffins while the staff took me back to a room with Zaylia. Amazingly, it was a room with a door that shut, to keep her in. Then—get this—they reclined me back and started working on my teeth while Zaylia sat on my lap and watched everything with suspicion. She would sit up, lay on her tummy, and wiggle all around, occasionally yelling at me or the hygienist about some important thought that only she knows. I was so embarrassed by the whole situation. “So, have you ever had a cleaning like this before?” I asked the gal. “More than you can imagine!” she said. I was shocked. You mean other people are as ridiculous and imposing as I am? She said, “We know life happens and we just try to make the best of it.” It was very interesting trying to get x-rays when Zaylia did not want anyone else to touch her or take her out of the room. While everything went much better than I expected, that is not an experience I ever want to repeat.

When we got done at the dentist I saw that we had about a half hour until we needed to go pick up Annalee from school. I was inclined to stay out and about but Vander was tired and whiney and just wanted to go home. So we ran home with the intention of getting a quick snack. But when we pulled up, we saw some neighborhood kids walking home from school. Just about every day, Vander cries to me about how he doesn’t have any friends to play with in the neighborhood. He wishes we were back in Nampa. I’ve been trying to get him to meet the kids around us, but we always just miss them walking by. So I pulled in quickly and told Vander to jump out and introduce himself. He met a 2^nd-grader named Everett who said that he couldn’t play with people his mom didn’t know. I considered the time, sighed deeply, and carried the baby (with my tired arms) all the way up the hill to the very last house, where I met his mom and had a lovely visit. Then I saw that we were five minutes late leaving to get Annalee. Go! Go! Go!

I rushed back down the hill (tired arms) and loaded the kids back in the car. I let the dog out to pee and grabbed Annalee’s piano books. We rushed back to the school and picked up my oldest. On the way back, I realized that my phone was out of minutes. I bought some more. Then I called Nathan and found out that he was limping down the freeway at 40 miles an hour, the truck getting slower by the second. He was close to Nampa, so he tried to make it to our old mechanic, eventually topping out at 20 mph. I dropped Annalee and Vander off at my sister’s for a piano lesson and, embarrassed, asked if she could feed them a snack.

I had a text from the people trying to sell me the car, asking if I could arrange the appointment at the shop. Then I stopped for gas. Then I realized that Zaylia had fallen asleep in the car. I knew if I went home that that would be the end of her nap, so I parked and started posting on facebook to find Nathan a place to stay for the night. Bellana fell asleep too. I made an appointment with the car shop for the car we’re trying to buy. Nathan found out from the shop in Caldwell that repairs to the truck would be $700. Then it was time to get home before my sister dropped off my kids.

We got inside and I got everyone a snack. Then I frantically cleaned up the sheetrock demo from last night in preparation for my handyman friend who would soon arrive. I swept, tossed out chunks of garbage, covered my bed (and computer and dresser and washer/dryer and everything!) with drop cloths so they wouldn’t get dusty. I also yelled at the kids to stop coming downstairs and asking me for stuff. I came upstairs and answered several more texts from Nathan and tried to make dinner. The handyman came and informed me that I’d gotten the wrong fixture that morning at Home Depot.

I shoved microwaved cheese sandwiches down the kids throats and threw them in the car to drive 10 houses away to go visiting teaching at 6pm. (My arms were still tired and there was no way I was walking back up the hill with four cranky kids.) My companion wasn’t there, so I texted her and she said she had to cancel. I did visiting teaching and then threw my kids back in the car. It was 6:40, their bedtime. We drove to Home Depot. I put three of them in two carts with Annalee pushing one. We grabbed the right fixture and booked it home.

I dispensed more ghetto cheese sandwiches because the kids were still hungry. We did scriptures, prayers, stories, songs, and pjs. I had to drag each kid through each thing because their dad is not here, so naturally they think I need I chance to show what a good single parent I am. I fielded more texts and phone calls. At one point, the Red Cross called to ask me to donate again. I told them I would just have to talk another time. I kept trying to get the kids to stay down, but they were being awful. Zaylia was begging to nurse and go to bed. But I had to wait until the handyman left so I could talk to him and see him out. He left at 8:30. I yelled at the kids some more and finally got the baby to bed at 9:20. I sat on the couch and played Candy Crush because I did not want to go downstairs. After 10 I finally went downstairs, swept up all the sheet rock dust, put away all the drop cloths, vacuumed the floor, and ran a load of laundry.

Then I typed this up because this day was just unbelievable. I wasn’t mad, I wasn’t overwhelmed. I was just running the entire day! It just wasn’t possible to do everything, though I tried my hardest. I was stressed in individual moments, but for the rest of it I just tried to focus on the fact that I was doing what I could do, and that would have to be enough. I miss my husband.

Dog Walkers

Is there anything more exciting than watching your child get excited about something? The other day, Annalee and her friend got it in their heads to start a dog-walking business in our neighborhood. They took her friend's German Shepherd for a walk and then Tavi. Then they went door to door asking people if they could walk their dogs. I didn't get to screen their door approach beforehand and it wasn't very successful. I thought the plan would fade away like so many do, but days later she is still obsessed with the idea. She spent hours drawing a poster in the Paint program, only to realize later that she'd been zoomed in while drawing it and it was the size of a postage stamp, haha! But it was so cute, with dogs she'd drawn herself and a paw print made out of a heart. I asked her how she thought of that--if she'd seen it somewhere before--and she said, "the whole idea is that we love their dogs as much as they do, so I made it a heart." She is so creative!

She tried to redo the Paint poster but it just wasn't turning out. I was surprised that she wasn't discouraged and wasn't giving up. She asked me for help and we made a poster in Word together. She got more and more excited as it came together. As I was printing it out she jumped around my room, spinning and hugging herself in giddy delight. "Lacy will be so excited!" she cheered.

I have never seen her this motivated and driven in anything before! It is pretty fun! I am so proud of her.

The Post from Hades

In the midst of our frantic preparations to list our house for sale, we decided that a fence post must come out. See, we have a massive chicken coop to get rid of, and since it was built on the scale of the Big Red Chicken on Dora the Explorer, it is not an easy coop to move. When we got it INTO our backyard it was by removing a section of the cedar fence and then lifting the monstrosity over the metal post. Now that we are trying to get rid of it, surprisingly no one wants to lift it over the fence again. So the post must come out.

But it's not just the coop. In 4 days we will be taking a delivery of gravel and there is no way I'm letting them put that on my driveway. They're going to dump that sucka in my side yard at least. Hopefully the HOA doesn't fine us before we can get everything put back together. But for the truck to make it that far, the post must come out.

Unfortunately, the post wasn't in on the plan. Nathan and I rocked it back and forth and determined that it was in there pretty solidly. We dug around it a bit with our best shovel. We loosened things up. I decided to try prying it out with the shovel. I broke our best shovel. Nathan did not say anything. He is a wonderful, wonderful man.

We dug around it some more. I encountered a wire RIGHT BY THE POST. Because, you know, right next to fence posts is an awesome place to put things that you don't want dug up. So while they were at it, the builders also put the sprinkler pipe there too.

It wasn't very long before we discovered that I had actually chopped into the wire. AWEsome. Nathan started a conversation about how to deal with that and I said, "Let's get this post out first." So we got back to work. Zaylia was having a great time in the backyard, crawling around and shoving bark into her mouth. Vander and Bellana kept coming over to see what we were doing because watching your parents fail at something is highly entertaining, if dangerous. We continuously redirected them to the backyard so they wouldn't inadvertently get roasted in the tail end of dragon fire not meant for them. We were a little stressed. Oh, I forgot to mention that Nathan and I have been walking around like zombies since Friday...sick zombies who have upper respiratory infections and haven't gotten enough sleep in four days. We get out of breath and sweaty just walking upstairs, so our feeble attempts to pry out this blasted post were, I'm sure, comical to all but us. We were just feeling pathetic and annoyed.

Our strategy was to dig and dig and dig. Then Nathan would pull on the post while I pushed and visa versa. That worked great until we actually bent the post. So then we tried to bend it back. We dug some more. The post seemed so loose in the dirt but no matter how we pulled, we just couldn't lift it. So we tried to use an elaborate lever system with boards and fulcrum and fancy words like that but we couldn't get it. So Nathan decided that we were almost there and he broke our second best shovel. I am not a wonderful, wonderful woman. I laughed a lot. It might have been tinged with hysteria. Because, hey, it's not like we're doing anything this weekend that we might need shovels for, ya know?

Next, we tried tying a rope around the cement on a slip knot so we could lever it out with the rope gripping it better than our hands could. That was 10 minutes we'll never get back.

At this point, I got up and shouted to heaven "Help us move this mountain!" Nothing appeared to be happening, so then I thought, hey, I haven't paid our tithing yet. So I paid it. Walking upstairs winded me, of course, so then I got on facebook and took a good long break.

We tried prying again with a section of solid pipe we had lying around that we didn't care if we broke (unlike our two best shovels.) That was exceedingly uneventful.  So we went in the backyard and yelled at the kids to help us stack all the branches we trimmed off the trees. They were so happy to help in any way that was not actually helpful, like, "Hey Mom, can I go inside and make a cake for everyone?"

A little later our neighbor got home from work and witnessed our attempts to tunnel to China. He pulled out a big boss chain and used his truck to pull it out. And we discovered that this post is the post from Hades, not just because it is hateful and evil,

but also because it was actually cemented to the ceiling of the Underworld.

WHA?! Why did they make the cement three feet deep? When we thought we were "almost there" we were actually only about halfway down. There is about 60 lbs of cement on that thing so no wonder we couldn't lift it out with all the dirt packed around it!

Whew! At least it's out. And Nathan fixed the wire. Now all I have left to do is get rid of the chicken coop. And burn the tree branches. And pull the rest of the weeds. And level the ground. And put in a border between the grass and gravel.  And buy two more shovels...

Date Night with Mommy

We've started a new tradition where the kids take turns going on dates with either Mommy or Daddy. Since Bellana is often the last to get a choice about anything, we let her go first. While all the other kids got ready for bed, she and I headed out in the van. She was so excited! I asked her where she wanted to go. To McDonald's, of course!  She played all over the play area, calling down to me from her lofty perch inside the structure. We each got an ice cream sundae. Yum! She couldn't believe that she got one just for her and didn't have to share. As part of the date, we have $5 to spend. Whatever is left over will be saved for that child to use as spending money when we go to Disneyland in two years. I'm hoping some of them figure out how awesome this could be soon, and start picking dates that don't cost money. Bellana had a little over a dollar left.

Vander hasn't gotten there yet. He and I went to the arcade at the mall. How many times have we walked past it but never gone inside? Well, first we got some cash back from my card by buying a toy guitar at the Dollar Store. He wanted to spend all his money there, but I explained that the money is for us to have an experience together, not to load up on toys. We went back to the arcade and changed the bills out for coins. He laughed in delight as the quarters poured out of the machine. He felt like a millionaire! We walked around and around while he tried to find something he could do that he wanted to do. He tried a hunting game but he was so short that he couldn't get a good angle to shoot the deer. We did a car racing game next but he accidentally selected manual transmission.

The most fun we had was with the motorcycle racing. We straddled our bikes and watched as the clock counted down, 3...2...1...GO! Everyone took off! Except us. We didn't know how to go! We pushed buttons and pulled levers and leaned all around on the tipping motorcycles but we just sat there at the starting line. Thirty-seven second into the race I discovered that you had to twist the hand grip. Hahahaha! Probably everyone knows that except for me. We took off into the race and I still got 2nd place. Haha, yeah right! That's when I realized that the game is rigged to let one of two people have an extra game so the other one will join in again and spend more money. There's no way I got 2nd by starting 37 seconds late! But it was so fun that we added more money anyway. We laughed and laughed. We passed each other and Vander would say "Whoa! Mom, look at this! Mom, did you see me?" When we were running out of quarters I let him place my last free game.

The last thing he played was the skee ball. He was trying so hard to launch those heavy balls into the top holes that some of them started going wild and jumping the sides to hit other games! Oops... The machine spit out some tickets at the end and he carefully counted them himself. Ten. He was a little disappointed when we went to redeem them and he saw how little ten tickets can buy. He ended up with a tootsie roll (purple, because, PURPLE) and a package of sticker purple earrings. The boy helping us at the counter looked to young to work; perhaps he was the son of the owner. He said, "You know those are earrings, right?" I thanked him and assured him we had a plan for them. Vander glued them onto the front of his guitar. He ended up with 44 cents left.

On the way to our date, Vander said, "Mom, even though you're not cool, you're cool to me." Haha, thanks?

I love this special time with my kids. I hope I am always cool to them.  Annalee is next!

A few funnies

The kids were complaining about cleaning out the car. They were taking a long time to do it.

"Just pick up the big items like water bottles and stuff. Just enough so we don't look like a traveling trash can."

My sister Sarah was standing behind me. I turned and we made eye contact and then both burst out laughing, laughing and crying. I'm still not sure why it was funny, but "traveling trash can" may be the True name for a family minivan.

The other day at dinner...

Annalee: Can I have some more dinner? This is my fourth helping!
Me: (pleased) You must really like what I made!
Annalee: No, we're just really hungry.

Air Mail

Vander wanted me to read to him the trivia on his string cheese wrapper.
"What bird was commonly used by humans to send messages?"
"An owl," he answered, confidently.

I asked Annalee the same question and she said, "Hawk?" 

"Why did you say that?" I asked, thinking I already knew. 

"Avatar," she replied.

Parenting: we're doing it right!

Fourth of July

Today (yesterday, now that it's past midnight) we took a break from our yearly Fourth of July tradition and tried something new. My sister Sarah invited us to join them at Dierkes Lake in Twin Falls. It is right by Shoshone Falls, which I had also never been to. Twin Falls is halfway between her town and mine so it was a perfect place to meet. Our Aunt Michele and Uncle John came too and we had a grand old time.

On the way there, the kids started whining that they were hungry. Since it wasn't even snack time yet, we told them to be patient. Then Vander reported that Annalee had "a bunch of apples." Daddy asked, "How many apples do you have, Annalee?"

"Eight."

Eight?! We burst out laughing. That kid loves her apples! While packing her activity bag for the car, she had decided that she needed eight apples, I guess.

We got to the lake at 11:00 and immediately slathered sunscreen on all our fair little bodies. Then we ate lunch at stone tables in a picnic shelter because we were starving, the apples notwithstanding. Michele and John had brought fried chicken and Sarah and I supplied the rest, including chips, cherries, watermelon, and rolls. Then the kids went swimming.

They have a unique swimming area there, with a small area of the lake blocked off by concrete barriers for little kids to wade in and a larger area surrounded by a circular dock for swimming. It is patrolled by life guards and anyone under 18 has to pass a swim test to be allowed in the big part. The only kids who did the swim test were Calvin and Paisley. A few of the others were upset that they wouldn't be allowed in the deep part with their life jackets and floatie toys but eventually they found other ways to have fun. There was a little bit of a sandy beach. Annalee constructed an impressive sand fortress with a moat. Bellana got a hold of a life jacket and spent almost the whole time floating in water up to her neck while walking along the bottom with her hands. She loved it! Vander had a harder time finding something to do. There was only one sand bucket so he couldn't build what he wanted while Annalee was. The floatie toy he wanted had a hole. But he finally borrowed one of Sarah's life jackets too and had fun floating around. At one point, six of the kids had a rousing game of "monster" going, where they chased each other from one end of the wading pond to the other. Ronald was the first one out because he just got too cold. He came back to the blankets to hang out with Michele, Bob, Zaylia and I. (Uncle John went in the water and swam to the dock with Calvin and Paisley. Then they tried to "get" him, because getting Uncle John is always the best game!)  Bellana had to get out not too long after that because she was too cold too. The weather today was soooooo nice. It wasn't too hot, wasn't too cold, wasn't humid, and had just the slightest breeze to make things comfortable--unless you were wet, heh heh. Those that were wet either stayed in the water or got dry as quickly as possible once they were out!

It took an incredible amount of time to get everyone dressed and to move all the blankets and towels and coolers and food and backpacks back to the cars, but it was a lovely afternoon and we had nowhere to be, so no one was in a rush. Nathan took the kids to fly a kite in a large open area and then Uncle John pulled out some slingshot rockets that he'd brought. They nearly lost them in a tree a few times, but Calvin managed to get the last one that wouldn't fall out on its own by climbing up while we all shouted directions to him about the rocket he couldn't see. It was around this point that I realized we hadn't taken any pictures today. We'd all been so busy having fun that we were too busy to document it! So I took a few pictures of the rocket-launching.

Aunt Michele enjoyed holding Zaylia, who was fairly content. Michele exclaimed that Zaylia is such a calm baby. She really is, as long as she's not tired, poopy, or hungry. She is our "Observer." She likes to look around and see what's going on. And she doesn't mind other people holding her, since I've been passing her around at church since she was two weeks old. It was nice of Michele to hold her so I could watch the kids swimming.

Finally, somewhere around 3 or 4 p.m., the cars were packed and it was time to say good-bye. We came there with four kids but we left with only two because Vander and Annalee are going to stay with Aunt Sarah and Uncle Bob for a week! As they got the car loaded up, only then did it seem to fully dawn on Bob that there were going to be six kids in his car and his house for the next few days. He looked a little like a man on the way to the gallows, haha! What a character! Vander only got a little choked up as he said good-bye. I reminded him that he was going to have a ton of fun and that he could call me if he wanted. Considering that the last time he stayed with Sarah I couldn't get him to stop playing long enough to complete a sentence to me on the phone, I think he'll be fine.

Now with only two little girls, we drove past Shoshone Falls and determined that we definitely want to come back another day when we have more time. It's so pretty! We got back to our home town without too much trouble: the girls napped most of the way. We decided to stop by a July 4th party/potluck we'd been invited to. It was fun to visit with friends from our ward and eat more good food, including melon (which Zaylia is quickly learning to love to suck on) and yummy desserts, like chocolate chip cookies and little custard pies. It was past Bellana's bedtime but she'd had a late nap in the car so we let her run around with the other little kids and get high on fruit drink pouches.

After 8:00 we decided it was time to get her to bed, so we came home and unpacked the car. Nathan put Bellana down while I took care of Zaylia. We hung out for a little while until the sun went down and the fireworks began! Our neighbors down the street were shooting off (illegal) fireworks into the air, right over our house. We had been considering not waking Bellana up this year but with them going right over her head we decided we had to. (Amazingly, both she and Zaylia have been sleeping through the cannon fire last night and tonight. WHY do they shoot them off for a week before and after?) We usually watch the fireworks from the roof but decided to skip it this year because we didn't want to give our little tornado any ideas about climbing out her window herself. We could still see so much from our front lawn. Groups at either end of the street and one street in front of us kept the show going for over an hour. At first, Bellana was disoriented and cold. She said she was scared and kept crying. We couldn't let her go inside like that, being afraid of fireworks and not able to sleep. So we wrapped her in a blanket. She woke up a little more and soon she was ooohing and aaaahing over the light show. Although, she still maintained, "too loud, Daddy." She was so precious to listen to as she watched the fireworks. She would point and call out the colors. She complained often about the noise. She was enthralled with the floating lanterns. Then she pointed at the stars above us and cheered in wonder, "Fireworks!" I think she's right.

I tried to take a video of her talking about it but it came out really dark and she didn't say much once I started recording. I pulled out some glow stick bracelets I'd been saving and she and Daddy played with them and made things out of them like drumsticks, a crown, a necklace, etc. I loved seeing her cuddled on Daddy's lap.

It made me realize that she gets shuffled around a lot in the busy-ness of our family. I order Vander and Annalee around and expect them to obey, because they can, but then I do the same with Bellana and get frustrated when she doesn't listen. But she's not on their same level. Sitting with her tonight, it reminded me of when we only had Annalee, of how much time I spent showing her things, explaining things to her, helping her learn and understand. I need to do more of that with Bellana.

This week will kind of be a trip back in time to five years ago when I had a three-year-old Annalee and a baby Vander. I remember being so stressed out and overwhelmed then. But having come through that and gained greater confidence in myself, two kids seems like a vacation! I am grateful for the things I've learned as a parent. I'm grateful for this special time with Bellana and Zaylia. And I'm grateful for this wonderful country we live in.

Now, if only the fireworks would stop so I could go to sleep, I'd be grateful!

Bend, Oregon

 It had been far too long since we'd seen Nathan's parents so we scheduled a trip to Bend, Oregon for mid-June. With four kids now, it's a little cramped for us in one hotel room, especially with a baby. So we got a vacation rental property instead. It was a condo in a ski village with the kitchen, living room, bathroom and bedroom downstairs and a second bedroom upstairs for the kids. Their bedroom had a bunk bed and a futon. The kids took turns sleeping in each bed. It's kind of crazy to me that Bellana is big enough to sleep on the top bunk of a bed now. I wish I'd remembered to take a picture of their room. It was cute with modern, gray and white-striped blankets.

 Our room was pretty small with a queen bed--supposedly, but I swear it was a full--and a dresser and tv. We never used the tv and merely set up the baby's pack 'n play in front of the dresser and closet. It ended up being very hard to share a room with her. She would get so cold and wake up. But if we warmed up the room it was too hot for me. On the last two nights of our four-night trip we hauled the large mattress out to the living room to sleep on and let the baby have the room to herself. Unfortunately, I still didn't sleep well because the light outside the front door shone right on me and I couldn't wear my earplugs because I needed to be available to Zaylia. She has such a soft cry and Nathan never wakes up. At least Zaylia got more sleep those nights!

The kitchen was so small and could really have used a cookie sheet but it was cute and fun to stay in that little condo. We arrived on a Saturday and set about putting the kids straight to bed. Nathan's mom popped over to visit for a few minutes.

My brilliant plan of renting a condo so we'd have a place for us all to meet was thwarted when I realized that Nathan's dad is not able to climb stairs since breaking his hip. And the condo was--of course--on the second floor. We had to improvise with short visits to their apartment and meeting at restaurants for the rest of it. (I won't make that mistake again!)

The kids had a hard time going to bed in the same room, as we expected. But they finally got to sleep.

Sunday morning we went to Pa and Frammy's ward. The members were very welcoming and kept asking if we were new. I had to leave in the middle of Sacrament meeting to feed the baby, as usual, and ended up making an amazing discovery: this ward had the most tricked-out Mother's Lounge I have ever seen! (Again, no picture.) It was located behind a door inside the bathroom. The first thing I noticed was that the room was lit by a skylight when the lights were off, which let in just enough light to make a calm, sleepy environment. There were three nice rocking chairs with arm rests. (My Mother's Lounge only had two until I convinced someone who was getting rid of an uncomfortable rocking chair to add it to the room, so now three are crammed into the tiny room.) This room wasn't cramped. It had a boppy nursing pillow! There were pictures of babies on the walls, like Anne Geddes type. Someone had put up nick-knack shelves with cute baby things on them. There was a little laundry basket full of pillows that perhaps a tired toddler would want to sleep on. There was even a baby monitor, although I'm not sure in what case that would be used. I was so impressed with all the work someone had gone to!

We left after Sacrament meeting to get the kids some lunch and a nap for Bellana. Then we went to Frammy and Pa's apartment and got to see Pa.

 He and Zaylia took to each other.

 We tried to stay out of trouble.

 Then it was time for dinner! Frammy and Pa treated us to dinner at the Black Bear Diner. They had fun bear carvings and decorations,

 including a little scene of bears fishing in front of the restaurant. You can see it through the glass behind the kids. A lot of the bears were dressed up for Independence Day.

 The food was soooo good. But my favorite part was when I took Zaylia to the rest room to change her diaper. I pulled down the changing table and found this:

I laughed right out loud! And then I laughed and laughed some more, probably for about a minute. I am not normally a fan of graffiti but, oh, this is awesome!

We had intended to go on a family hike on Sunday but kind of ran out of time. Nathan took Annalee and Vander on a walk in the wooded area surrounding our condo while Bellana was napping. Annalee tripped and went down hard, skinning her knee. Dad had to carry her back home. The area around us was so pretty. One day when we were leaving our condo we saw a doe not too far off the road! We tried not to exclaim over it too much because there was no way Bellana could see it from her spot in the car.

On Monday we decided to "do Bend" and drove Downtown to walk around. I put Zaylia in the baby wrap on my front but decided to face her outward this time so she could see what was going on. I didn't know the right wrap for that, though, so it made it a lot harder to hold her. We walked up and down the sidewalks, looking in windows. We found a toy store that was practically calling our names and we just had to go inside. The kids begged us to buy them a toy so we said they could spend their own money on something.

 Bellana couldn't decide so I decided for her. She used her birthday money from Grandma and Papa Beek to get a Melissa & Doug Cookie Set. It had high quality wooden cookies held together like a tube of refrigerated cookie dough by Velcro. You could actually cut them apart with a knife and put them on the cookie sheet and then decorate them with wooden frosting and more Velcro.  Annalee and Vander had such a hard time choosing. Everything they wanted was $50 or more but they only had $10 each to spend. Annalee finally settled on a pair of handcuffs and Vander got a slingshot rocket. Vander rocket turned out to be a fun toy to play with in our two-story living room at the condo. It was soft enough that it didn't hurt anything. But the soft tip broke off after only a few shots. He immediately developed buyer's remorse and wished for a pair of handcuffs like Annalee. By the time we got back to Idaho, Annalee had lost interest in the handcuffs and decided to sell them to Vander. I allowed the trade since he had money to buy his own from the store anyway. Within a day of buying them the casing split open and the spring flew out of one side so that one of them doesn't work now. Cheap toys. Jeez.

After the toy store we were starving. There was a Starbucks not too far away with a nice patio to eat at, and I happened to have a gift card to Starbucks. So we got a few sandwiches. Vander had been desperate for a hard boiled egg for a few days, for some reason. Lo and behold, one of the sandwich packs had a boiled egg instead of a sandwich! Zaylia gummed an apple slice. She was not quite ready for solids at 6 months, even though she is very interested in whatever we are eating.

We went home for naps after that, which was a sore trial for three kids who only want to swim!  We had been talking up the swimming pool at this condo for months. It was a bummer that we arrived so late on a Saturday and that the next day was Sunday. The kids begged us to go swimming on Sunday, so we talked about it.

Me: Do we go swimming on Sunday?
Annalee: No. But can we go just this time?
Me: Okay, let's think about it. We make Sunday different than the other days to show respect to Heavenly Father. So do we want to go swimming on Sunday and NOT on Monday and Tuesday? Or not swim on Sunday and go on Monday and Tuesday?

The wheels turned fast inside their heads and they chose the latter. It was such a nice pool. There was a large pool with a big three-foot-deep section and a smaller 6-foot deep end. A stone's throw away was a toddler pool. At one point, Annalee and Vander were throwing a ball from one to the other.

 There were also two hot tubs, one hotter than the other. It seemed like one or the other of them was always closed for chemical addition.

 Frammy came over Monday afternoon to hang out with us. It ended up being just a little cool, so Zaylia didn't get it. Mom held her and took pictures while we played.

 Large pine trees encircled the pool area so a part of the pool was always shaded and we could move from sun to shade whenever we wanted, according to comfort level.

 We had brought the red lady bug float for Zaylia but Bellana cruised all around in it. Vander ended up using the water wings we'd brought for Bellana. The kids each had goggles too, which they loved.

Tuesday we swam again, this time without Mom. It was a little warmer so Zaylia joined us. Look at my pale babies blinding the camera.

 The anticipation!

 Zaylia wasn't sure about the water at first. We put her in her baby life jacket and sunglasses. Then we had a hat on her and put her in the lady bug float. She looked like such a dork! All that was missing was a stripe of sunscreen on her nose! Eventually, we decided we didn't need the life jacket. She rode around in the lady bug and had a great time playing with the water in front of her.  Of everything on our trip, the time we spent swimming together as a family was my very favorite, which is surprising since neither Nathan or I really like swimming and had rather been dreading it. We just played and enjoyed each other.

My least favorite moment occurred when Nathan and his dad went to a movie one afternoon. I had a hard time keeping the older kids quiet so the little ones could nap. When Bellana woke up from her nap she yelled for me. I ran up to see what was wrong. She was sitting at the foot of the bed, on the top bunk, by the ladder. She told me she was poopy. I prayed that it was only inside her diaper. It wasn't. She had poop on her hands, on her clothes, and--worst of all--on the beautiful, modern gray and white-striped blanket and sheet. I freaked. Nooooo! What was I going to do? We didn't even have a washing machine in the unit! The complex had a laundromat but would cheap coin machines be able to get poop out? I had brought some detergent with me in a sandwich bag, just in case, but would I need stain remover? Would a blanket even fit in the machines? How much would these cost to replace? I had planned ahead sooo well, I thought. I'd brought a mattress protector with us and put it on top of the sheet and had Bellana sleep on it just in case, even though she rarely leaked in her bed. But the mess had happened after she'd moved off the protector. NOT FAIR! Waaaaaaaaaa!

Panicked, I called Mom and asked if I could wash them at her house. I didn't have my car because Nathan had taken it. I sent him a text that said, "You owe me big."  By the time Mom arrived to pick up the blanket, it occurred to me that I should have at least tried to wash it first to see if it would work. If it didn't, at least Mom wouldn't have to take a poopy blanket to her house. So I decided to try. To my profound relief, I discovered that the blanket was a duvet cover and that the poop hadn't leaked through to the inside. It also hadn't leaked through the sheet to the very thick, not-easily-washable mattress cover underneath. Yay for solid poo! I sent them both through the wash and rejoiced when they came clean. Nathan came home with a box of expensive donuts and we laughed.

Mom and Dad took us to dinner at Panda Express that night. Zaylia had so many cute moments with Pa that I couldn't stop taking pictures and couldn't even decide which ones not to post. So I'm posting them all.

Frammy and Bellana bonded too, and not just because Frammy had a smart phone.

 It was adorable.

Oh yeah, and these guys were there.

 On Wednesday we packed everything up and stopped by Pa and Frammy's apartment one more time.

 Frammy held Bellana while Nathan and the kids played a rousing dice game. It was one of those games--like Chutes and Ladders or War--that could, theoretically, go on for infinity. I fed Zaylia and then we had to end the game and say that the person with the most points won.

 Everyone gave hugs to everyone, including Vander giving me a hug, even though he was coming with us!

I'm so glad we got to visit Pa and Frammy! We had a special time with them.

On the way out of town we decided to drive to the top of Pilot Butte. Bend, Oregon is one of only four U.S. cities to have an extinct volcano within the city limits.

 Nathan had originally wanted to hike it, but when we saw people bent double trying to climb the steep trails I was glad we were driving! There was a sundial-thing in the center of the top that had lines going out in every direction, pointing at the different mountains you could see from the top. Here are the three sisters in front of The Three Sisters mountains.

 And the rest of us, even though we didn't have matching mountains.

We stopped in Burns, Oregon on the way there and the way back. Nathan and the kids played in a different park each time while I nursed Zaylia. I always joke that I hate Burns because we got stuck there for hours and hours one trip when our car broke down. It was a Sunday and a holiday too, so nothing was open. But really, they have nice parks.

Also on the way home we pulled over for the Shoe Tree. The original tree was burned down in 2010 by some idiot. (A vandal vandalizing our socially-acceptable vandalism!) This is what it used to look like.

But someone has started a new tree. It only has a modest amount of shoes in its branches. We didn't add anything to it but it was fun to see.

Traviesa

 In Spanish, traviesa means something like "a handful". That would definitely be my daughter Bellana! She likes to find stuff to get into. Like Mommy's makeup.

 Busted! (But look at that cute face and those darling pigtails! Her hair just recently got long enough for pigtails. Thank goodness we are past the baby mullet!)

Anyway, back to Busted! She made such a big mess this time, ruining so much make up. If you look closely you can actually see the mascara wand INSIDE the bottle of eye make up remover (along with everything else she could get to fit in it. I was so mad! I had to throw a lot away.

 She has a great imagination. I found this manual breastpump hooked up to the hose of the vacuum. Look like they go together, don't they? Haha! I wonder if that would be faster...

 I signed her up for a preschool P.E. class at the Rec Center and her cousin Lyla was in it. One of the activities involved running to pick up a bunch of red, green, and blue ball pit balls and then putting them back in the red, green, and blue boxes. I was amazed that Bellana was so good at matching the colors. I didn't know she knew that! All the little kids had a great time running around and screaming, no matter the activity. That's the best part, right?

The week before, Annalee and Vander had completed their 5-week Short Sports program where they try a new sport every Saturday. To keep things simple, I told Bellana that this was her "Short Sports" and now she asks about "sort ports" every time she sees the Rec Center. We recently took them to swimming lessons but she was convinced it was "sort ports".

 Bellana LOVES Lyla! They are just a few weeks apart in age. Recently, Bellana found a Lego piece with a hinge that made it kind of look like an itty bitty flip phone. She spent the next hour saying "Hi Lyla!" into it.

One day we had Lyla and her brother Keaton over to play. The kids played with chalk and looked for bugs. All of the kids like roly polys but Bellana especially likes bugs and isn't afraid of them. Unless someone mentions a bee. In this picture, the girls were pretending to be scared of a dead bee on the ground. Then they fought over the dried carcass of a worm. Bellana really likes worms and tends to love them to death.

 She has so much energy and it always in motion.

  She is a good sister to Zaylia. Here she is trying to entertain her with a little cow.

I love my little princesa traviesa!