Slip-And-Slide 101, the Remedial Course

I don't know how this happened, but my kids had never been on a slip and slide. Ethan went to a birthday party where they had one and he said he loved it. I decided we needed to get one since they are so cheap and to rectify this atrocity that was killing their childhood.
We finally had a day where it was warm enough to open the package and set up the slide. I put it on a slight slope, nothing to steep, and waited for them to break into the gorgeous grins that adorned the kids on the box while they slid on their cute tummies and squealed with laughter.
Well.....I should have known better:

It's kind of sad when you have to pay your kids to try something that defined your generation.

Last Day of School... (A Month Ago)

So my kids are totally spoiled and got out of school the 3rd week of May. I went to go spend time with them on their last days since I was one of the room moms for Ella and THE room mom for Ethan. The school was great and had lots for them to do, and of course Livi thought she should be able to participate as well. Luckily she is the same size as some of the Kindergartners so no one even looked twice.(Ella and Livi playing the bean bag toss. They both made some, of course. It's that Stott blood.)

(Livi with bubbles on her nose. This was her favorite activity and came home with about a cup full of bubbles on her head.)

We stayed outside at the carnival area for both kids and it was COLD!!! We've had an unseasonably cold spring, but that didn't stop my cold blooded Ethan from not only not wearing a jacket to go outside but out right refusing to even bring a jacket to school that day. Oh well, the kids all seemed to have fun even if I was so cold I was shivering.(Caleb and Ethan couldn't seem to keep the hula-hoops going on their non-existent hips so they found a way to make it work)

Ella's class walked over to the art center for part of the fun, and everyone agreed this portrait looked like Ella. They also found one they said looked like me (which incidentally was of an overweight, unattractive woman) but I "forgot" to get a photo of me next to it.

Ella seems to be the kiss of death for teachers. She had an amazing preschool teacher, whom I really wanted for Livi, but she retired right after her class. Mrs. Cauble has been amazing Kindergarten teacher and I was looking forward to Livi having her as well, but I found out this is her last year as well. Watch out first grade teachers, someone is going to retire next year!(The last group hug for the last class)

Ethan's class had chocolate milk and played that game, which name escapes me, where you "dance" and then freeze when the music stopped. You have to admire Ethan's "strategy" (and the fact he looks exactly like you would imagine Sheldon dancing!).

I Feel Like I Was Hit By A Mac Truck

We've had some eventful days. Ella's end of the year dance program was yesterday and we spent ALL week preparing for it. We had rehearsal on Tuesday and Wednesday and then a full dress rehearsal on Thursday. Just carting kids to and from and helping with hair and costumes made me exhausted. I should have known it would only get worse.

Friday night Eric and I got to go watch the program, which was actually really good. Ella and I had to be there at 5:45, the program started at 6:30 and we left the high school at 10:26. Yep, the program was 4 HOURS LONG. The tour on Gilligan's Island was suppose to be shorter than that program. There were 58 dances. 58. 5-8. We were all very tired on Saturday, but looking forward to that night's performance. We should have known better.

On Saturday I signed up to be a "Chaperone Mom" which means I was a backstage helper for Ella's class. I was in charge of 11, 5&6 year olds (two of which are ADD) for 5 hours. I feel like I did after my car accidents. I think I was running on pure adrenaline last night and now I feel sooooooooooo worn out and achy. On the bright side, I did my turn and the other moms can do it next year.

Even as hard as it all was, and as blurry thinking as I am now, I am really glad that Ella has been able to participate with this dance company and I am extremely glad that she had such a good time that she is talking about "next year."

(This is why I love watching her dance. She exudes pure joy.)

Ella's first dance was a tap dance to "Sugar Time." She was a little disappointed her costume wasn't pink (I'm okay not having another pink costume in the house) but she loved how sparkly and girly it was.

Her second dance was a ballet number to the nursery rhyme "Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary." The other class in her age group did a "jazz" number (mostly pantomime to the words) to "Candy Man," but Ella's class did so well they actually got to perform a real ballet dance. Ella also got to be the middle (since she was the only one who could consistently find center stage). She liked these costumes a little more since they had flowers on them and that ups the fancy factor.

Ella's Six

I can't believe it, but Ella is finally 6! We all woke up bright and early (thanks to a little help from Ella), and got right to it opening presents. She was very sweet and let Livi "help" (which was awesome until Livi realized she didn't, in fact, get to keep the presents she opened). Ethan, too, had a hard time seeing Ella be the center of attention, but he came around (about 2 days later).

After all the presents were opened Ella was surprised with one more... the bike she was dying for.

She got to wear the birthday crown at school, we brought in cupcakes for her class and I read the book she picked out to them. After school we took Maddi and Caleb with us to Sonic for treats, and then played at the Bagley's. We had peach cobbler with scrambled eggs for dinner (considering I nixed the ideas of coffee cake for breakfast and doughnuts for lunch I felt I had to give in for dinner) and chocolate cake with vanilla ice-cream for dessert. Happy Birthday Princess Ella!

As much as I love singing "Happy Birthday" to my kids, it is Livi's contribution that just made me smile:

Having Too Much Fun

I am supposed to be doing something productive, like getting files ready or learning Quickbooks, but I am procrastinating by doing laundry and blogging.

We've had 2 birthdays and a trip to Lincoln lately and I should probably post about them. I tried to find ONE decent picture from my birthday, but they made me cry and I had to eat cookies (although cookies are the reason I didn't like the pictures in the first place so I've really hit rock bottom). So, yeah, I had a birthday. I'm old. Thank you to everyone who remembered me! We were all sick, but I had a great birthday anyways sitting around relaxing and eating 3/4 of Melissa's yummy blackberry cobbler all by myself. It was awesome, but no you will not be seeing any visual representation.

So I guess that leaves Lincoln and Ella's birthday. I'm too tired right now to fix the red eye in Ella's birthday pictures, so I guess you get to see pictures from our trip to Lincoln. Eric was there to go to a law conference on estate planning so we tagged along to have a little fun. We ended up all getting horribly sick, but we had a great time doing it!

We started out spending almost all day at the Children's Museum. It is amazingly fun and I took a thousand pictures but I'll just share a few favorites (and by favorites I mean my kids doing weird things).
First off the kids LOVED the water zone and walked away completely soaked. Not just a little wet. SOAKED. At one point I had to explain why dumping water on herself was not a good way to play to Olivia. I didn't really care but I was getting a few looks from other moms.
2nd: Here Ethan is in the construction zone. Most kids make paths for the trucks, or castles. Ethan made a representation of the Jedi Battle from Star Wars Episode 2, of course.
3rd: We travel 7 hours one way, spend tons of money on this vacation and what does Ethan want to do? Play on my brand new ipad. To be fair he was feeling a little under the weather and was super tired after playing at the museum for 5 hours, but still.
4th: I don't know why this cracks me up, but it does. I know about perspective, yada yada, but seeing the two older look so tiny on this giant chair but Livi looks big cracks me up (she was too scared to scoot all the way back on the huge thing).
We spent a lot of time in book stores (which I've decided is a sickness of mine, buying books. We have 9 bookcases in our house right now. 9!) and we got to see the movie Rio, and then we went to the Lincoln Children's Zoo. Ethan was a big hit with the gibbons (no surprise there, they are practically related (in a none evolution way)) And my sweet caterpillar and butterfly, which just seemed fitting.
The highlight of the whole trip though...swimming at the hotel. I think we could have just checked into the local Holiday Inn Express and the kids would have had just as much fun. We went swimming all the nights we were there and every morning when we went by Livi would cry that she wanted to "go swimming ight now" (not a miss print. She has a hard time with "r"). The morning we left she cried when she said good bye to the pool. It made me think a pool would be a good idea in our backyard, until I realized we would be able to use it all of 2 months out of the year.
We had fun, and I will leave you with what I watched for 2 hours. No joke:

Ary, Ary, Ary

We have a wonderful video of Ethan when he was about 3 seeing a frog that Eric had brought home from fishing. Ethan looks in and says "Ary, Ary, Ary," while signing "scary." (translation: "very, very scary").
It's been that kind of week for me.
Eric quit his job...
His wonderful benefits, government job...
In the worst economy we have been alive for...

I do understand why we are doing this. I do understand he isn't paid enough. I understand there is no room for growth at his job. I understand he wants to be his own boss. I UNDERSTAND all of this on an intellectual level, but it is still "ary, ary, ary."

So to lighten our (my) moods here is Ella's class doing the BEST rendition of "I'm a little teapot" I have EVER seen!!!! No joke! Ella's on the top row, and I think her snobby, British pose is the best!

Copy Kitty

I always wondered what it would be like that have a sister just a few years younger than me. Now watching my girls I realize that things worked out for the best. I could never be as patient as Ella. She is a great older sister. Me? I would have been the girl who punches the younger sister while she is interrupting my performance (as seen in all the Funniest Home Videos).

Little Livi Love's Lisping Lips

Hmmmmm, I'm not sure if I want one or not:

A Good Day... or Doughnuts Make Everything Better

So, I have been a little melancholy. With a general lack of purpose and growing sense of dread to be stuck in a town that, although nice, has nothing to offer but occasional movies and two places to eat, I have been feeling a little down. A week ago was one of those days that remind you that life if beautiful, and I wanted to share two highlights:

I normally spend every Thursday morning helping in Ethan's classroom. They have writing homework due that morning and there are about 7 that never seem to bring it back. I just sit and help them get it done.

When I went last Thursday they had a surprise: a Thank You Party for me. They had all signed a card and we got to eat doughnuts and drink orange juice while watching part of Charlotte's Web. I don't do much, but it felt nice to know I had helped them in some way and that they appreciated it. The kids were very cute, and I got lots of hugs.
Later that afternoon Ella had her class Easter party. The kids were excited and it was just fun to see the pureness of their happiness. It was a real mood booster to watch this:

Hide The Easter Eggs, Livi Is Coming...

Easter is so fun with little kids. I love watching the delight in their eyes, and the joy at the thought of all that candy (don't love the sugar highs in the afternoon so much, but at least it only lasts until they sleep it off).

Our Easter Bunny, (we've had to talk about why different families get different things from the Easter Bunny. Not such a fun conversation) brings us a scavenger hunt around the house, and then a free for all egg hunt outside (but in this case it was raining so we did it in the living room instead). Nothing really crazy or funny happened. Mostly it was just fun, and we taped the scavenger hunt for the grandparents. The only hard part was getting a decent picture of Ethan. He is less than cooperative. Finally.

"I Twy" In Real Life

My talented sister has a unique hobby of creating whimsical scenes made out of felt. She recently posted one that hit so close to home I had to buy it and put it up in Livi's room. It shows a momma kangaroo being "helped" in the kitchen by her baby joey. I feel like she so perfectly captured my life in this little vignette.
I decided to add a little to color to my life and plant some flowers. Unfortunately, the good time of day to do this is when Livi is awake and boy did she want to "twy." In fact she tried and tried and tried so much this was the result: She LOVED the dirt. She climbed on the dirt pile, slid down the front and dug her little hands up to her elbows in it. Only towards the end did she decide it wasn't the greatest when she saw a giant bug crawling on the pile and yelled "EWWWWWWW" as loud as she could. I also noticed she kept sniffing her hands (in her best Uncle Jared impersonation) and saying "Gross." I managed to somehow get it on film:

Spring Blues

I want a cat....or a job....or maybe a new hobby. Lately I've been feeling a real lack of purpose. I feel redundant. I know my job is an important one, no one could fill my shoes, etc. but lately it feels like any monkey with a credit card and a set of keys could contribute to my family what I do. I am just a little tired of doing laundry, picking up, and cooking.

This happens every Spring when I've been cooped up too long, and I know I will be fine after all the travel this summer, but for right now I just feel like driving down to Denver and spending myself silly, just to change the monotony. I try to feel connected by helping in the schools, participating in play groups, and reading our local paper so I can go to community events, but still I just feel lost. How do all you other mothers deal with this year after year?

My Little Turkeys

Eric decided he needed yet another way to kill yet another animal, so we were "lucky" enough to get boxes full of Turkey decoys. The kids thought they were the funniest looking animals in the world, and couldn't help setting them up and laughing when the wind would move them around. They even loved using the call box, which Ethan seems to have a real talent for. Livi especially loves them, but is a little confused as to what they are. Every time we go in the garage she says "Look mommy, chickens!"

What Is Wrong With This State?

Well, chalk one up to bad parenting. I could call it a "cultural misunderstanding" but that would be passing the buck. I should have checked it out, I should have asked, but I didn't. I did the heinous act of signing my BOY up for VOLLEYBALL. Gasp. I know, what was I thinking?

I was thinking that Volleyball is a bigger boys sport than girls in California, where we grew up. I was thinking he would enjoy a sport were people weren't running directly at him. I was thinking it would be fun for Eric and Ethan to practice together.

I sent the guys off together for Ethan's first volleyball practice. A little while later I got a text from Eric saying "He is the only boy on ANY team. What is wrong with this state?" Poor Ethan, poor Eric. Luckily Ethan is too young to be embarrassed about it and Eric just was happy to have a son to play the game with. Ethan seemed to really enjoy it, and is excited to go back again next week. Yeah, a sport he likes! I guess it is worth it to be so out of the loop if it makes him happy.On the bright side, at least he's not on one of the pink or purple teams.

ps when they got home Ethan took off his shoes and Eric noticed this in his shoes: I don't know how you don't notice walking on all of that, but it just goes to show how oblivious little boys can be.

Parental Struggles, or the Pine Wood Derby

Oh that glorious time of year when Dads and kids can get together and butt heads on what tiny $4 wooden cars should look like. This was our first year that Ethan is an actual cub, so this was the first year (of course) that Ethan really cared about what his car looked like.

Eric with enthusiasm: "There are so many cool designs we can do! Let's go look online!"
Ethan with apathy: "My leaders said I'm suppose to do it myself."
Eric with a grin and a wink: "I know, but it doesn't hurt to get ideas from other people that have won."
Ethan with a frown: "I'm suppose to do it myself."
Eric with growing frustration: "I know Bud, but why don't we..."
Ethan cutting in, with LOUD voice: "I'M SUPPOSE TO DO IT MYSELF!!!!"

Poor Eric. Ethan's design not only was not what Eric would have picked, but Ethan insisted on the least aerodynamic positioning of the car by putting it in what most of us would have deemed "backwards."

To make up for this Eric decided both girls would enter their "own" cars. While I was in Utah Eric "helped" everyone design and cut out their cars. Ella had strong feelings about hers (shocker) so "lucky" Livi got the brunt of Eric's parental helping. When I got home I found a backwards car (Ethan), a pretty regular looking car (Ella) and.... a tank.

Yep, Eric thought this child:

would like this design:

Since I have the paints and Eric didn't want to traverse into the sinkhole that is my craft area, the cars had not been painted yet. For Family Home Evening we painted the cars, and I let the older two do whatever they wanted. For Livi I stepped in before Eric could grab the green and black and start brush camo-ing our princess babies tank. This was my compromise: Purple camo. I think they were both happy.

The big day arrived and this was how my girls dressed up for the big event: Ethan got 3rd place out of the cubs (out of 5, which still shocked us, we were just hoping for a participation certificate) and Caleb even took 2nd. Go Guys!!

Ella and Livi were in the open class. There were two other little kids....and a 16 year old scout from Eric's troop. Well it is no surprise that the 16 year old blew away all the 5 and unders. Ella was doing great until she went up against him. This was the devastation that we got to deal with: Luckily Ella still got 2nd, and Livi got "Best Paint Job." (Ha ha) Being a purple tank sure looks good, but it really was NOT the fastest design. Next year I'm going to make my own, I'm thinking a stiletto on wheels!

April's Fool

I am not a fan of practical jokes. I don't like feeling foolish. Eric has been very respectful of this, so he was excited to take advantage of the kids being a little older this year and trying a small April Fools joke.
When the kids were eating breakfast Eric announced "Kids, I got a little angry last night while I was playing Mario and I threw the DS againt the wall. It broke, sorry."
There was a stunned silence in the kitchen.
Ethan looked around, trying to figure out what was going on.
Ella started bawling.
Eric said "Just kidding, April Fools."
Ethan laughed.
Ella kept bawling.
Eric tried to tell her it was all a joke.
Ella said "Why would you say something so mean?"
I guess she takes after me.

Breaking Up The Band

This is why I get migraines: (I love how part way through they have "creative differences")

Deer in the Headlights

Eric turned 32 on Thursday. I can't believe we are "in" our 30's. I can't believe we were ever 17 and dating. Where has the time gone? What happened to my hips? Okay, so this shouldn't be about me and my aging phobia, so let's move on to what we did on Eric's big day.
Eric, of course, had work, but luckily (yeah right) our kids get up early and we had time to open presents before he had to go to work. The kids were "good helpers" by which I mean they brought gifts over to Eric and opened them in front of him.
Livi has gotten to that fun stage where she understands that bright colored packages mean she gets to rip them open and there are fun surprises inside. Unfortunately she hasn't grasped the idea that not all presents are for her.

He still had to go to work, which is a bummer but even the State of Nebraska doesn't give work off for employee birthdays (but Arbor Day? Really?) Eric got Megamind from Ethan so we popped that in and watched while we had a fun pizza dinner.
I had made cake balls a few weeks ago and Eric had enjoyed them so I got the Cake Pops book and tried to make them for his birthday.

This is what they were suppose to look like, courtesy of bakerella.com and this is how mine turned out.

Not too bad for a first try but they do look a little high...or scared...or manic. I should have practiced before doing them for a birthday. One problem with cake pops.....where to put a candle?