Camping Out

Now, what kind of time would the cousins have had if we hadn't been able to spend at least one night in the tent? Not a good one, said the cousins, so for their last night here we pitched the tent in the living room and all but the oldest and youngest of the ten kids slept in it. KK perferred her bed, and the youngest did better in the playpen. The tent filled the living room, and it was all I could do to keep them out until beds were set up.



The little ones played with toys in it for a while until we added the sleeping bags and blankets for sleep time. And, of course, what would sleeping in a tent be without a movie to go with it?

Coolin' Off

The boys have been begging all week to jump on the tramp with the sprinkler. After threatening them with their lives to be careful, I consented.

Strongman Competition - A.K.A. Free Child Slave Labor

Since I had a few extra hands here this week, I decided to put them to work and do a job that has needed doing for a while now. I have a couple piles of rocks in the yard that we have pulled from other places as we make changes to the yard. I needed them moved to another place, and had just the boys to do it (or most of it - some of those rocks were big!) So I tried to tell them I needed big, strong boys to do me a favor. I think they knew that they were just being used to do my job for me, but they did it with enthusiasm until almost the end. Then they were just tuckered out. Here are my rock lifters in action.

What Did You Do For Mother's Day?

As I thought about my day yesterday, I thought about how I would have answered that question. My answer would have been," I took care of 10 kids, and you?" I am watching my sister's children for her this week while she and her husband are in the Caymans (lucky ducks). We needed to get out of the house yesterday, so Shane and I loaded up two cars and went to the dam to watch the fish go up the ladder and throw rocks in the river. Maybe not the best activity for Sunday, but in my defense we were soaking up nature and God's beautiful creations, too.

We sure got some funny looks from other people as we went to the fish ladder. You could see some of the other ladies looking out the corner of their eyes and you just knew they were counting kids. => I was tempted to look at them and say, "Yes, there are 10 and they are all mine, at least for today." At the river's edge, the kids were trying to skip rocks, and/or throw the biggest one they could into the river. Oh course, one did fall in, and yes, Bobbi, it was one of yours. Thompson stepped into the water, getting one foot wet up to the ankle and one foot wet to the knee. Even the littlest one, Wilson, had fun throwing rocks into the river. He sat on Kaitlin's lap and she gave him rocks to throw in. They all loved it. Here are some of our pictures.

Alpha-Boy

I was reading a book yesterday, and Parker came to sit beside me. I was starting a new chapter, and the first word was "I" in a really big font. Parker looked at the book and said, "Is that the letter "i" Mom?" You could have knocked me over with a feather! I said, yes, and then out of curiosity, got out our letter flashcards. This is what resulted:

Book Of Mormon Fair and Fiesta

Tonight at the church we have a Book of Mormon Fair and Fiesta. Since it is Cinco de Mayo today, the ward decided to have a night where each family did some kind of project showing something from the Book of Mormon, something similar to a science fair of sorts. There will also be Mexican food, which hopefully will be delicious. So, our family came up with the idea of the story of Ammon in video form. (Those of you who aren't LDS will get the gist of the story from the video.) The kids and I came up with costumes of sorts, and set up scenery in the back yard and front room. This was the result. We'll have to let you know how it went after we get back tonight.

Makin' Mountains

Every day lately I get this pile of old videos and DVDs on my family room floor. Every day I have to tell Parker to "put them back." I couldn't quite figure out why he would pile them on the floor. I guess I needed to actually ask him, and when I did he said, "I'm makin' mountains, Mom!" Like, well duh. Now I know.