Harlem Globetrotters

A few weeks ago my sister invited us to go to the Harlem Globetrotters with her tonight. It was a lot of fun. We met at her house in SLC and had a quick dinner. Then the big kids (Bud, Missy, and Bug) rode Trax with Aunt Kristin and Uncle Ian to the E.S. arena, while Ben and I drove with the little ones. (It will forever be the Delta Center to me...I don't deal well with name changes.) Anyway, we had a ton of fun. It was a great show--even Lemur and Mister were entertained for the majority of it. Wishe we'd had time for autographs, but Ben had to get to work for the night shift.

Birthday pictures

Bug had a great birthday. Mister and Lemur helped me pick out his presents. They wanted to get him a "backyard habitat" where you can catch bugs (in a bug vacuum, which he also got) from your yard and put them in the little habitat. You can also send for tadpoles (and food) and get them in the mail to grow in your habitat.

He also got a butterfly treehouse where you can grow caterpillars (you have to send for these, too) into butterflies.

Fun with critters!

He also got a fishing pole. Yeah, I'm still thinking "what?" on this gift. When I was shopping, I asked Ben what I should get him. He came back with a couple of smart aleck suggestions, then said a fishing pole. Huh? My husband fishes? My husband wants to take his son fishing? Since when?! Anyway, he was serious in his suggestion, so Bug got a fishing pole. Made Buddy a bit jealous, but I told him we could get one for him, too.

Here's an interesting tidbit of info that I learned: tadpoles do not need to be fed during the time when they're growing their front feet and losing their tails. They get their nutrition from the tail being absorbed into the body. (*yech!*)

Singing Happy Birthday, and blowing out the candles.

Birthday Cake

I tried making fondant for the first time today. It was really fun and quite messy. I'm not great at it, but it looks pretty cool. It's a fun medium to work with.

I'll post pictures of the Birthday Boy later.

Much needed day off...

After working 10 days in a row, Ben finally has a day off. And, boy, am I ready for him to have a day off! I've slowly been losing patience with the kids at home. The noise is just getting to be too much. I often say the only way my mom survived 5 kids in 5 years was that she was half deaf, but I mean it! Sometimes it would be nice to turn down the volume of my kids. I need some peace and quiet.

Bug's 9th birthday is tomorrow. (I'm so glad Ben will be around to help me get everything ready tomorrow.) The little ones and I went to the store and picked out gifts. Bug's not sure what he wants for dinner yet, and he asked for a yellow cake, with yellow frosting (what else, it's his favorite color). I'm going to attempt fondant because I've been watching too much Ace of Cakes on the Food Network and it just looks so cool. Stay tuned for pictures to see if it turns out.

February exercise log

2/3--3 miles
2/6--4 miles
2/7--4.5 miles
2/10--snow removal's gotta count, right?
2/11--2 (?) miles
2/13--3 miles
2/17--snow removal again
2/23--3.5 miles with Erik :)
2/24--50 min. of racquetball, 2 mile jog
2/25--50 min. of racquetball, weights, 1 mile walk

Oh, the pain!

I've never had braces, so I can't sympathize, but I can empathize. Buddy said "my jaw feels about 3 pounds heavier than normal." I'll bet!

Missy got pink, orange, and green rubber-bands around her brackets. (Bud's are black.)

They say the first week is the most painful. They've already found eating to be a much slower endeavor. Hopefully they adjust well to them and aren't in too much pain. Thank heaven for Motrin and Tylenol!

Braces

Today I'm taking Missy and Bud to the orthodontist to have molds made of their mouths, in preparation for braces on Thursday. They are not very excited about this. Missy still cries every time we have to go to the dentist, doctor, and now orthodontist. She's 11 and she cries like she's 3.

I also get similar behavior from her when I ask her to clean her room.

This morning she had orchestra before school, so I had to wake her early. I thought I'd be nice, and turn on her bedside light, gently waking her, as opposed to turning on the overhead lamp and waking her from the door like I usually do. Well, the gentle awakening turned into me tripping over all the JUNK on her floor as I crashed into the bed. Yeah, so much for trying to be nice! Next time I'll do like I usually do and holler at her from the safety of the door.

Speaking of messes...I really need to tackle my basement. I know I've been saying this for about 4 years now, but I really do need to make it a priority. What I really need is to get the appropriate shelving and storage built/bought so I can put all the junk away.

This started as a post about braces and turned into something else. Such are the thoughts running through my head. I also need to change the laundry before picking the kid up for their ortho appointment.