no girls allowed!

Clyde took the boys to see, "How to train your Dragon" Saturday afternoon.  Of course it is the typical cartoon, with the mother being dead, but the storyline was good, says Clyde. The boys had a fantastic time...all of them!





We netflixed, "Fantastic Mr. Fox" and man do we love this film. Clyde and I could tell it has the Wes Anderson flavor to it, like his other films...The Royal Tennenbaums, Life Aquatic, The Darjeeling, etc, etc. Our Wardlings were quoting lines and laughing so hard to the quotes all weekend. "What the cuss??!!" Worth a viewing.

dates with me men

Saturday was a day full of dates with me men.  Jacob finally lost his first tooth (if you do not count the 2 that the dentist pulled last year).  He was so excited to get some money from the tooth fairy.  However that darned tooth fairy and her alphabetical system, left Jacob without any money.  Dang it all!!  Thankfully after Mom helped him look, the money was there all the time {wink, wink}.  The money was burning a serious hole in little man's pocket, and thus apart of the agreement to pull that tooth, was to be able to spend that money, alone with mom.  Santa gave him some duplicate galatic hero star wars babies in his stocking, so we returned them to more than double jacob's money.  He ended up choosing 2 star wars action figure...Obi Wan and a green clone trooper.  While we shopped, it was time for new tires on yellow.  The wait was only supposed to be an hour and it stretched out longer.  AHHH!!!

Date #2 was to see Diary of a Wimpy kid, with my 9 year old Josh.  He loves, LOVES the books and nearly busted a gut when he saw that there was a movie about Greg.  This was an adorable film; totally up Josh's alley and seriously funny in spots.  I liked that this film was about friends and respect (and sometimes having older siblings suck).

Once Josh and i were home, Clyde was busily preparing dinner with the elders. 

Then date #3.  We only had a small amount of time, but we seriously needed to reconnect. Soccer has kicked our groins and we needed some time together.  We ended up @ Ed McKay's for some book time and after a lovely dinner.  There wasn't a grown-up film that tickled our fancy.  I loved the date with my men.

Thanks guys!!

The girls weren't left out entirely...they loved their new copy of New Moon.

keep your hands off...

i could see one of my boys doing the same thing. enjoy!

back in the saddle

welp...a new week brings on new ailments in the brown house.  jacob came into our room bright and early this morning, as loud as he could, telling us that his throat was sore. dang it!!  after getting a drink of water, he snuggled in our bed, on my side, and drifted off to sleep.  a mere 10 minutes later the alarm went off. ahhh!!!  anyway, josh also complained about his throat hurting.  josh was behaving just fine @ the breakfast table and thus was sent to school.  jacob stayed home with me.  i debated on whether or not to take him into the doctor...again.  i said a quick prayer and decided, after a phone call to the dr.'s office first, to take both josh and jacob in to see the dr.  josh's strept test was positive, but  dr. L wasn't convinced he had strept throat.  his throat wasn't red, no swollen glands, no streaks, no tummy ache, no fever etc.  dr. L thinks that he is simply a carrier and noted that the last time we were seen, the PA said the same thing...no red throat, no swollen glands, no fever etc.  however, the test was positive...round of antibiotic.  nice. jacob was also tested for strept, to which there was a negative result.  he didn't have a red throat, did have marble glands on both sides of his neck, but no fever.  but then when dr. L listened to his chest, he listened more intently.  he had jacob breath in and out quite a bit.  and for the first time in awhile we caught something and the dr. didn't want to wait and see.  jacob was wheezing.  dr. L thinks that jacob is asthmatic.  he said that the pneumonia, croop etc., was brought on by not getting treated for asthma.  his immunity was weakened and the wheezing went on to the cause other illnesses.  so, thankfully we already had chambers for the inhalers to go into, so jacob got rx's for albuterol, and flovent.  (that stuff is wicked expensive...$117 expensive...thank heaven's for insurance!!!)  lets hope that this is it and that wee man jacob will be feeling better soon.

while we were waiting for the dr. to come in, i asked the boys if they prefered a male dr. or a female dr., especially during physicals when nards have to be checked.  josh thought for a while, and said female, but quickly changed his mind to male.  jacob said, "i'll do it with a girl.  i like girls better with their cold hands. cold hands feel good on my balls."  alrighty then.

how the fairy tales really ended

i got this from my visiting teacher this morning.  they are too cute not to share.

Any guesses on the last fairy tale??

too fast

Where does the time go?  Here are my babies from just a few years ago.

just gotta dance!!

In preparation for girls camp, I googled some line dances. The girls love to shake a leg @ Bishop's night. Those Cotton Eyed Joe line dance videos led to Riverdance...Lord of the Dance videos. (Secretly I would love to jig like this.) I just get giggly when I see this guy, Michael Flatley, strut his stuff. His expressions and mullet take the cake. Jig on!

gleaners

I take Penny, 3 days a week to a Methodist Church for speech.  Speech is provided by our county's pre-school program, but we meet @ the church who also has a preschool program.  Due to some consignment sale tag sorting, I couldn't wait in the library and had to wait in another bible study room.  There I noticed the painting reproduction above, called "The Geaners," by Jean-Francois Millet (1857).  I instantly remembered the story in Ruth, where a weathly man found favor with her and allowed her (Ruth), Naomi and sis-in-law, to glean the field of wheat/grain after it had been harvested.  This painting was met with some contraversy back in the day, because it represented poverty.  As I looked at this painting, it didn't remind me of poverty but of motherhood.  I thought to myself that we mothers do what we need to do, to help provide for our families.  I am so thankful for friends who pass along their hand-me-downs for my children.  It seems that whenever we need something, someone from church or elsewhere, will give us a bag of something, that has those things that we needed neatly folded inside.   I glean from my husband and children; as they are amazingly, wonderfully spirited people, that I love.   I am VERY thankful for a loving husband who works ultra hard so that I can stay home with our wardlings.  This has been a precious time. Thank you!

mommy's cheese please

i read this morning, on my roadrunner homepage, that a NY chef made cheese from his wife's breastmilk.  After reading his blog about it, i did get a smidge queasy.  apparently there is an audience for it.  decide for yourself...would you eat cheese made from a human stranger's boob??? (click on NY chef above for more details.) you're welcome for being totally grossed out. excuse me whilest i throw up.

out of the dust

Libby has a book report due today on the book,  Out of the Dust.  She loved reading this book.  It is based on a girl named Billie Jo's life. This project is close to 50% of her grade or more for the semester.  It had to be taked seriously.  After working diligently on reports, and props, she even dressed up as Billie Jo to go to school this morning.

Isn't she a pretty Billie Jo?!

Papa and Grammy came for a visit on Sunday night.  We got to spend the day with them yesterday.  Grammy went to speech with us, as well as a dr.'s appointment for Libby. (She fell down our stairs, and hit her elbow a few weeks ago.  There was a bruise, but she could extend her arm, put weight on it, and so we didn't take her to a dr.  A few days ago, she felt this little bump in her arm, and let me just say, it feels creepy.  So, Grammy, Penny, wee man, and I took Libby into our dr.'s office.  Apparently the bump is a calcium deposit from where the blood clotted on the inside to form her bruise.  Dr. L said for us to think of it as a scar on the inside that would be absorbed back into her body.)

We still had a great day.  We went to Target for our icee/ pretzel must for Penny, along with some yummy smoothies.  We also found some fun things for an upcoming baby shower.  Oh we are so excited for the upcoming event!  Thanks Papa and Grammy for a fun day!  And for the quarters.  They shared Alaska and Arkansas with Josh.  Only 6 more to go!

AND- Clyde had a soccer game at his middle school yesterday.  He has promised his soccer team boys for 3 seasons, that if they scored 10 goals, he would buy them all a McDonald's hambuger.  Welp, the team took him up on it, scoring and winning a 13-0 game.  Papa and Grammy came to the rescue buying the burgers and delivering them to the soccer field after the game.  What heros!  Thanks!! Way to go SWRMS for opening a can of whoop arse!

Today brought on some home repairs for the brown house.  The last snow storm, with ice, ripped off our gutter.  It had been dangling, since we bought the house, but the weight of the ice finished the gutter off.  Clyde caught some repair guys on his conference workday a week or more ago and hired some fellas to repair/replace it.

The fellas did an excellent job.  I have to add here that renting was awesome.  All I had to do was make a phone call and someone else paid for all repairs.  Do not misunderstand...I love being a homeowner, until some crazy crap happens, like smelling gas and $92 dollars are spent cleaning the furnace, to find out that our furnace is hunky dorey. Thanks gas man who came out and told me that I needed to have the furnace cleaned, when I called. swell...great!  However, I am glad to pay someone to get up on that high ladder to fix this, so I wouldn't have to a- be rushed to the hopistal with a broken neck or 2- rush Clyde to the hospital with a broken neck.  I am so happy with our new gutter.

beehive bash

Beehive bash is a fun pre camp, Saturday activity, where the girls who are 12 and 13 can get together to meet, before camp.  The original camp date was after Libby's 12th birthday, making her eligible for camp this year.  However, due to some scheduling conficts, for the camp site,  camp was moved up by 2 weeks, making her ineligible.  The gals planning camp, stuck to their original date of eligibilty, making Libby once again elible to attend camp.  (Eligibility is based upon birth date.) She was excited and yet not excited about camp.  All of her gal pals @ church are all younger and wouldn't be able to go to camp this year.  I think she has decided to not go this summer, but next with all of her friends.  I did ask her to go to the Beehive bash, just to know for sure if she wanted to go this year or not for sure.  Anyway, yesterday was the Beehive bash @ the Colfax Ward building.  Libby was so nervous about going to the activity and looked lost.  Erin fell in with her friends and was gone.  "See ya Mom!" was her attitude.  I hung back to be with Libby.  She was getting into the groove after a few games.  The game above was where they made a human knot and had to get out of it.

This one involved a tarp and I have no idea the rest of it.  Erin had a blast though.

The above game was like jenga.  A cup of flour was placed on a tray with a skittle on top.  The participants had to shave off a sliver of flour, hoping not to have the skittle fall on their turn.  If it fell on your slice, then face first (NO HANDS) you must fetch the skittle, in the flour to eat it.  The girls LOVED this game.  All the 12 year old giggles and squeals were intoxicating.

Clyde meanwhile had the wee wardlings washing cars.  He and Penny washed yellow before we left for the Beehive Bash and then had the boys helping him to wash blue.  The cars just sparkle.  Thanks honey! You are awesome!!  Not only did he wash the cars but he got me a gift too!  A nice new wheel barrow.   I am so looking forward to using it more in the garden this spring/summer. thanks again Clyde!!

waki

Last Friday was career day at Clyde's school.  He knew so many different people @ Walmart, that all he had to do was send a text message and our good pal, Waki, came to the rescue.  Waki is a comic book artist.  Anything from Transformers, G.I. Joe, Star Wars etc...  Thanks Waki for all your help!!  The students loved him and even got him to autograph some of his art.  What a cool career to have!

opthamology vs. neurology

Erin had 2 doctors appointments today.  One with Opthamology and another with Neurology.  Our appointment with Opthamology was for 11:15.  She was seen by 4 people in that office...4.  She had a field vision test, along with all sorts of flashing lights and eye drops.  We did not walk out of that office until after 1pm.  Note to self...plan at least 2 hours when we have an appointment @ the pediatric eye center @ duke. There was an art cart and this older northern man, telling Penny how to paint.  I just took deep breaths and was grateful that she wasn't running around the lobby.  She tends to totally lose her mind when we go to dr.'s offices. Also- Erin is now 5'2".

We had a bite to eat and then we were off to see our Lebonese Neurologist.  Our past Neurologist was Asian.  (Our pediatrician is Russian. Odd isn't it that the majority of our dr.'s are foreigners?) She was offered and took a job from Harvard University to head up NF research.  She took it and bailed Duke.  The new dr. was nice.  It is just hard to break in a new dr.  I tried to talk the Neurologist to having MRI's bi-annually, but alas no.  They also want us to return to Opthamology in 6 months.  swell.  I am just glad that Erin, with her glasses has 20/20 vision and all seems to be unchanged...a bit brighter, but unchanged. Neurology appointment was fine and we were in and out in an hour.

My favorite part of the doctors at Duke day, besides spending the day with Erin and Penny, happened twice.  Once when we were waiting after the pre-doctor and before he Neurologist, and there is a drawing of Madeline.  I asked Erin is she remembered who the girl was in the art painting, and she said, "of course...it's Madeline and she had her independix removed." Then the 2nd time was when Penny fell asleep in the van on the way home.

are you nuts?

The local Meterologists called for snow last evening.  The snow came a bit earlier, around 11 am.  Not bad, just a nice dusting, with some accumulation.  Overall not bad @ all. Though with the wet roads and cold temperatures, I agreed with canceling church activities last night, just to be on the safe side.

Not enough snow came to cancel school, like they did this morning @ 6am.  What?  Cancel school for that?  School was canceled for Clyde and the girls, as well as the boys.  Did the school people look outside???Apparently not.  Now the girls and Clyde no longer have spring break. A two hour delay?  sure why not...cancel school, ARE YOU NUTS?
thus endeth the snow rant...for today.

happy birthday dr. seuss

Today at the boys' school, to celebrate the birth of Dr. Seuss, they were allowed to dress up as their favorite Seuss character.  We thought and thought about which one to be.  First, Jacob wanted to be the Grinch...

And Josh wanted to be Sam I am...

After looking at a few Seuss books we settled on Fox in Socks and the Cat in the Hat.

Now the tricky part...making costumes.  Thankfully Walmart was on our side.  Since the changing of the seasons is upon us, they had so gracefully marked down their sweat clothing.  We were lucky to find a red sweatshirt and pants, along with a black sweatshirt and pants for $1 each.  To make the details, (like Jacob's hat and tail, Josh's tail and hat)I bought an additional red shirt and black pants and a 3 pair pack of blue socks for the fox.  I had some white terry cloth fabric in my stash for the cat's tummy, gloves, and hat.  I think our version turned out pretty darn good, if I do say so myself.

Jacob as Fox in socks

Josh as The Cat in the Hat

happy boy wardlings...priceless.

They were thrilled to put on their costumes this morning, but as we pulled up to school, Josh had taken his hat off and Jacob was way quiet.  Clyde and I insisted that they wear a t-shirt under their sweatshirts with tails BTW, just in case they got embarrassed and wanted to take it off.  We told them in case they got 'hot.'  This was a fun project that didn't break the bank and we have more costumes for the dress-up box.

I found these videos of the the books and thought they were fun.  Fox in Socks is so hard to read aloud, that this versioin made it easier to watch and listen too, rather than to read to the boys aloud.  talk about ultimate tongue twister. 

fox and cat

anniversary trip

This past weekend, Clyde and I went on our anniversary trip to Concord.  But before we left, we had to clean the house in preparation for Papa and Grammy to stay with the 3 younger Wardlings.  Penny decided to lend a hand...without being asked.  She unloaded the dishwasher for me.

She is such a great helper.  She loves to help out.

We got to Concord, a wee bit after midnight.  We both were so ready for bed.  The fun part about the trip was that we were together.  We were able to shop wihout struggling with 5 children.  We didn't have to push a stroller, or take anyone to the bathroom, after they refused to go while the rest of us went.  We could sit at small tables and not cut up anyone's food for them.  We could go into stores with breakables!  We saw a sluew of miserable parents and children in IKEA.  I thought that, we must look that frazzled when we have all of our children with us too.  We have to corale them and yet keep them occupied.  Anyway, the trip was awesome.  We stayed @ the SpringHill Marriott.  I am going to start rating hotels on their shampoo.  Most of the hotels, in our price point are about the same. Continental Breakfasts, pools, workout rooms, WiFi etc.  But the hotel usually has good shampoo or cheap shampoo.  Although the room was great, the continental breakfast fed us, the shampoo and soap was terrible.  talk about frizzies and itchy skin.  However, I still had so much fun falling in love with my husband all over again.

Then we got to the ride home.  Always bitter sweet.  Time to be Mom and Dad again, after a long weekend of being Clyde and Ashley.  Traffic was terrible driving home.  The trip is usually a little over an hour.  It took us over 3 hours.  We were going 30mph and at some points@ a dead stand still.  So frustrated with the drive home.

All the Wardlings had a blast with their grandparents.  Erin and Libby stayed with Bubbie and PopPop.  They had been there since last Wednesday.  Clyde had a Social Studies teacher conference here in the Emerald City and thus the girls needed a ride to school.  My parents took them and picked them up.  Then, Bubbie took Libby and Raegen to see Percy Jackson, while Erin and PopPop went to the Raleigh Temple with their youth group.  Total awesomeness!  Thank you!!

The younger Wardlings had Grammy and Papa staying here @ the brown house with them.  Of course that means fun was had by all.  Maylee and Jared even drove in for a visit. They played Wii til I don't want to know when and Grammy and the boys had a project...cleaning the boys' room.  Oh it sparkles now!  Thank you!!

Josh and CLyde have been working on collecting the quarters from all 50 states.  They nearly had them all.  Grammy and Papa saved state quarters to share.  They brought in about 10 that we didn't have.  We are missing quarters from: Indiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Alaska.

Thank you Papa, Grammy, Bubbie, and PopPop for all your help in making our get away possible!