Saturday, May 03, 2014

and everything in between

We'll just cut right to the chase. Apparently head lice is a pretty common occurance here. The "got nits" car parked outside the school weekly and notices sent home almost as often sort of tipped me off. But it was still traumatizing when Maddox got his first case.The treatmen smelled like a candy cane factory explosion in our house and it burned like a mother, but he was a trooper (with the saddest face ever). He did get to skip school the next day and admitted that lice was a small price to pay for clearanced sand toys and a morning at the park. We've had another case since then, so this was the first and I have a feeling it is far from our last. I've spent many sleepless nights certain I could feel lice crawling through my hair, but so far I've had a clean bill of health. Judy reassured me that if I did get lice she had the fool proof remedy to kill them off. Just go to a salon and get your hair dyed. It works every time and is a treatment highly recommended by no hair stylist anywhere. Ever. Or the clients after her.


It was Kylie's turn for school camp. They snuck 5 girls to sleep in a two person tent, went on an 8hr hike (or so she says. she's known to be a little dramatic.), played Spotlight, learned about eels, rolled down hills and their teacher played (a very mild) truth or dare with them at night. She loved it. Every last bit of it.


The boy's school had a disco dance. Maddox was so excited, he insisted on being fancy and wore a button up shirt with his hair parted on the side. And then he sat like a wall flower almost the entire night. The older grades had their dance afterwards and after a quick date night (to a place that boasted to be just like Chipotle but the $10 bowl of rice, canned black beans and iceberg lettuce almost made us cry) Jason and I went to pick up Jayden and spied on him for a minute. I still remember how this boy would steal the show with his dance moves. His claim to fame are winning a dance contest at 2 different birthday parties and a wedding reception (which involved wearing a garter belt around his forehead). And now he's all grown up with a swagger as he walks around with his friends, way too cool to actually dance.


I finally got somewhat of a picture with his cute friend, Christian. We spent the morning at Tumble Time and when I tried to explain to him where we were going I told him it was like ninja training. So he insisted on wearing his best ninja head band reserved for special occasions. It just so happens to be a sparkly orange ribbon. I'll be honest, he got a few looks.


How is that during the day this boy can test every last one of my nerves but at night after he's gone to bed I look at these pictures and turn to mush? He is Grade A rotten at church. He refuses to go to nursery and it's a nightmare wrestling with him for three straight hours. I go home with buttons popped off, necklaces broken and hair falling in my face as I swear through my teeth that Sunday is the absolute worst day of the week. But then he goes and insists on wearing his rain boots to church and that construction hat and I'm all like, how can I be mad at that?


This year the girls 8 and up were invited to attend the women's broadcast portion of General Conference. I was surprised to show up to an almost empty chapel and no other girls her age. You can imagine how awkward she felt when the woman giving the talk (being broadcasted from Salt Lake) invited all the young girls to stand up and sing. And so it was like a solo. Then we all joined her to make it a little less painful.  But it was an uplifting and inspirational meeting and I loved being there with her. We ended the night eating Burger King in the car and watching Youtube videos while rain streamed down the windows.


We were also able to attend the New Beginnings night for all girls coming into the Young Women's program this year. They did such a great job with the decorations, and the food was nothing short of a Thanksgiving feast. But more importantly this means she's growing up and I am getting really old.


Ryder continues to love Kindy, as long as I am there. I've been leaving for 15 minute increments each day and he still manages to scream the entire time. But when I'm there he has a great time playing with cars, digging in the sandbox and doing craft projects like this. Um, yeah...I think we need to address this whole well rounded education thing.


Maddox learned to pump himself. And thank goodness, I'm getting pretty underdogged out these days. He sure is proud of himself and it is pretty cute seeing those little legs in action.


Maddox is obsessed with Man vs Wild. April has been the rainiest month yet and the river bed behind our house has just been calling his name waiting to be explored. He wants to be Bear Grylls when he grows up. Either that or a chef, you know, because they're pretty much the same thing. If he's not looking for shelter or tying to make a spear then he is in the kitchen creating recipes. I don't want to stifle his creativity, but making cookies out of mashed bananas is not a very clean process. Neither is his homemade applesauce. Today we were all out picking weeds while Maddox was inside trying to make mashed potatoes and set up a fancy tray to serve ice cream. What I would give to spend a day in that boy's head.


For the second week of fall break I told the kids they could each pick a day to do whatever they wanted (within reason). Maddox wanted a whole entire day of craft projects. Of course he did. The poor kid has been making kites out of notebook paper and skewers, so it was about time I choked down the $10 box of Crayola markers and got this kid some decent craft supplies. We painted and glued and cut and even made the entire cast of Nemo out of modeling clay. Well, Kylie and Maddox did, I can't take too much credit since my Crush wasn't quite up to par.



For Ryder's day we went to the museum at Hagley park. We learned more than we ever needed to know about mucus at the Body Alive exhibit, squirmed at the human hand and dead animals floating in jars in the discovery room then relaxed and ate ice cream at the cafe overlooking the gorgeous fall leaves in the park while the boys played with cars. And just so you know, Hagley is still looking all kinds of gorgeous these days.


On Kylie's free day she chose candy and a movie marathon at home. Also to note, I made them all watch Mary Poppins. It took Jayden a full 2 days to forgive me, which is about a month shorter than the amount of time it took him to forgive me for making him watch The Sound of Music. But I still catch him humming the songs every now and then. Some day he'll appreciate it. For Jayden's free day he chose McDonald's then walking around Kmart to compile his birthday wish list (that's still three months away). While we were there Ryder had his heart set on these cars, but at the going rate of $50 for 4 small die cast cars, I didn't know how to break it to him that it just ain't happening. Then Jayden requested that we go home and look up instructions to rebuild some of his lego kits. Four hours later I could barely see straight, but we rebuilt four kits.


We spent Anzac Day with our friends, the Tovey's at Castle Rock Hill. The weather was gorgeous when we left, then we arrived to a black sky and buckets of rain. So we ate lunch in the car while deciding what to do, but by the time we were done the skies were perfectly clear again. I swear, Mother Nature has the mood swings of teenage girl. And I think that just about covers all the nooks and crannies of our life lately.





5 comments:

Tyson and Dawn Jolley said...

So sad that Jayden is stifling his sweet dance moves these days being a wallflower! The pics of him dancing from our wedding are still some of my favorites :) looks like you guys have been busy having so much fun! Kylie really is growing up so fast! But, if its any consolation from me, you don't look old or act old, so I vote you're not old!
Good luck with the lice issue - hope you can avoid it for one more year!

Jodee said...

oh man, that lice business is no fun! We had it once and I thought I was going to be committed to a psych ward. I freaked! Hopefully it is gone for good! I love your choose your own adventure style holiday. And those clay characters are pretty amazing! Especially with that cute little face in the background.

Janessa said...

I love all the nooks and crannies of your life! Bummer about hte lice. Do you remember when Kambry got it? It was the worst!!! I love these school camps that they have. What fun memories! That little Maddox is such a doll. I love the way he pays attention to details and likes to be fancy.That looks like the perfect creek to explore! I love Ryder's Sunday attire. So cute! I'm in love with Castle Rock Hill. What a fabulous place to explore! Oh, and I love your idea of having everyone pick a day to do activities. I just may have to borrow that one:)

Michelle Y. said...

Ha ha lice is the worst. I remember getting it in 3rd grade and being so excited my mom took me home from school ;). Miss you!

Chelsea said...

We HAVE to facetime. I'm both horrified and relieved you can tell me that you had a lice occurrence and lived to tell about it. (its pretty much my worst fear). I know i would get it because every night we read books on the same pillow....

I love that you let them each pick a day. It is so cute and telling of their little personalities what they wanted to do. Love it.

And. I've rented Mary Poppins at least 5x but have still yet to get them on board. It was my favorite as a kid.