WATER FIGHT!!!!!!

You know what happens when your husband is home ALL day EVERY day?

Tension.

No matter how much you like each other, no matter how well you are getting along, there is an underlying tension. You don't want him to mess up your routine, you don't want him to be bored, you don't want him to be discouraged, you definitely don't want him to start down the depression road.

Well, Timm has been home since November. We've been down this road before and it's been ugly at times. This time has been pretty good. We haven't let it get us down too much. We've even had some fun, not bad at all. This week has been an *eh* week though. We are tired and we're sick of being in the house. We've had some fun distractions, but it all comes swooping back as soon as the fun is over.

Today has been a long day. Nobody fighting or anything, just long and a bit boring. Dinner time came around I grudgingly made tacos. Dinner conversation was lacking, (not much to talk about when you are with each other 24 hours a day) nobody had any news. Timm started in with the teasing and I'm telling you I just wasn't in the mood. He kept at it though and every time it was aimed at me he would just smile and giggle. He just wasn't catching the death looks or he just didn't care. So after a few minutes of this I really just felt like dumping my cup of water on his head. I decided that was a pretty bad idea so I sipped my water down until I only had an inch or so of water.....
then I dumped it on his head.

I didn't get much on him though, he knocked it out of my hands. He looked at me a little surprised, but laughed, so I dove for my cup, got a little more water and threw that on him. He grabbed Alison's water and threw it in my face. That was it, it was on. I raced him to the sink and started filling my cup. We fought over the cups, just barely getting each other here and there. Then he put his hand over the faucet, spraying me in the face and I threw a cup of water over my shoulder. By the time it was all over we were both bent over laughing, we were both soaked to the bone and it took three towels to clean up the kitchen.

We now know that the best medicine for unemployed tension is a water fight. Who cares if it's winter? We had fun, the kids think we are crazy, and everybody is smiling.

Andrew's Friend

We do most of our grocery shopping at Harmon's. Well, almost a year ago the whole family went to the store, except Andrew wasn't there. Crackers Bigpants was. One of the cashiers, an extremely nice boy named Tino, saw Crackers. Tino just loves that Andrew has almost no inhibitions and will go where ever he wants dressed as a clown and he told him that. He told him that he was so awesome and brave. That just tickled Crackers. Just before we had gone in he said, "I hope I don't scare anybody." He is always so thoughtful like that. Well Andrew and Tino soon became fast friends. Tino always gives Andrew big hugs and high fives. He has even let him scan the groceries. Here comes the sad part.... Tino is leaving soon. He is joining the Airforce, he hopes to be a medic. We wanted to make sure that we got a picture of Tino before he left and we know that he loves Andrew, but nothing makes him happier than seeing Crackers come into the store. (He has even told us that he has had horrible days, but all that changes when Andrew comes to visit.) So the next couple times we went to the store after we found out he was leaving we made sure to have Andrew's Crackers gear and a camera in the purse first. These are the pictures we got....
Good luck Tino, we will sure miss you! Especially Andrew/Crackers.

Yipiyuks

Alison is such a creative girl. I love the projects she comes up with and this is one of my favorites! Have you ever heard the poem Yipiyuk? it goes like this.....

The Yipiyuk by, Shel Silverstein

In the swamplands long ago,
Where the weeds and mudglumps grow,
A Yipiyuk bit on my toe…
Exactly why I do not know.
I kicked and cried And hollered “Oh”—
The Yipiyuk would not let go.
I whispered to him soft and low—
The Yipiyuk would not let go.
I shouted “Stop,” “Desist” and “Whoa”—
The Yipiyuk would not let go.
Yes, it was sixteen years ago,
The Yipiyuk still won’t let go.
The snow may fall,
The winds may blow—
The Yipiyuk will not let go.
The snow may melt,
The grass may grow—
The Yipiyuk will not let go.
I drag him ‘round each place I go.
This Yipiyuk that won’t let go.
And now my child at last you know
Exactly why I walk so slow.

Well Alison really liked this poem and has made herself a Yipiyuk bag. Just a drawstring bag full of modeling clay and doo dads (Yay! Finally a use for all those little things that she can't seem to part with). She makes these cute little creatures which she calls Yipiyuks out of the wonderful doo dads and clay that come from this bag. Then, she pulls out a book, preferably my Planet Earth book, and finds a cool picture. Then, she takes pictures of the Yipiyuks in front of scenery from the books. So cute right?
(She let Jack make this next one, he called it "Uggy Ippy Uck") Are you off to make your own Yipiyuk now? Maybe even a Yipiyuk bag?

Ring Toss!

This is one of my most favorite games! I love it, it makes me laugh every time!
What you need for this game....

Kids, 2-6.









A balcony, stairs with a small landing, or even a very large second story window.









Hula hoops.









Whenever my kids are outside and they ask for the hula hoops, they know this is what is going to happen. They all stand out on the lawn and I toss the hoops over their heads.
We almost always end up doubled over in laughter by the end (by end I mean after they run the hula hoops back up and we do it two or three times).

WARNING: Kids may end up in tears after being hit in the nose by a hula hoop (but no worries, if it hit their nose it probably went over their head 15 points for you!).So here's a really loose tie in, but it's my blog, so there.
Ring Toss is a game often seen at Carnivals or other street festivals right? Well, here are some pictures of my gorgeous girls after they got their faces painted at the Ogden Arts Festival. Sorry about the lighting on these, but don't they look pretty?

When Make Believe Meets Reality

My kids play the strangest games, especially during the summer. Hollee asked me to come into her room on Friday afternoon. I walked back to find this.....

Hollee had wrapped all the kids up in "bandages" in her own little "triage" room. It was pretty cute. Broken knee and wrist.

Broken ankle, wrist, and arm. Missing ear and punctures on the head.

Broken arm and leg.

They all listed their ailments (which were many with all the added injuries before they were done playing), but I only remember how a few of the injuries happened. Eli got bit by an American Alligator on his head, and Smeigel bit his thumb off. Notice here that the doctor isn't the only one missing from these pictures, we're also missing Jack. He didn't want to be a patient on Friday. He was saving that for Monday.
Jack was standing on a chair trying to reach candy on the table. Somehow he slipped and fell, smacking his chin on the chair on the way down. I took him to the clinic and he got 5 stitches.

He likes showing off his bandaid beard. (and messy face)

Poor baby.

The youngest of five and the first to get stitches. We always knew it would be him.

My Alison

Alison....Alison is probably the quietest kid you will ever meet. She just doesn't like to talk. It makes her uncomfortable. If you try to get her to talk, she becomes even more quiet. Talking just doesn't happen.

So, you won't believe what she did yesterday. We were all out shopping and I decided to get all the kids a new shirt. Hollee, Eli, Andrew and Jack all picked shirts that were very typical of what they wear and Alison picked this.....

(I GOT AN A+ IN TALKING)

She held it up and I just laughed! I didn't know how much I should laugh so I held back a bit. Then she said, "I think it's funny, because I don't talk very much". I lost it at that point. So funny! Nice to know Alison has such a great sense of humor.

MY HEAD IS BEEPING!

My cute, cute boy.
(I am writing this in the knowledge that he will be reading this so keep up.)
When Eli was three years old we lived in Oregon.
His most favorite thing in the world to do was to go to Grandma's house. Unfortunately, some odd things happened over at Grandma's. I mean really odd things, like his head would beep. Really high pitched kind of shrill beeping. Kind of like some type of alarm. We all heard the beeping. It usually happened when it was smoky in the kitchen, like if we burned something or the wood stove was smoking. The beeping would start and then he would exclaim to us, "My head is beeping!" Then, he would plug his nose to make it stop. The nose plug seemed to magically work.
It was all very inexplicable.
How cute is that to have a kid with a beeping head?

Well Eli is now seven years old.
I had all but forgotten about his beeping head until the other day when he came home from school.
Eli: "Mommy? Remember when my head would beep when we were at Grandmas?"
Mommy: (suppressing a smile) "Yes, I remember."
Eli: " It happened again today at school."
Mommy: (getting harder not to smile at this point) "It did? Weird!"
Eli: " I know, huh."
Eli leaves the room like this is all no big deal and Mommy quickly calls Daddy while giggling.

Again I have to say...
...My cute, cute boy.