Rock On!

Derek is forever creating or building something so when I saw this cardboard guitar idea on Make It and Love It I bookmarked it to show him after school.

He immediately (I'm talking before practicing his cello or doing homework) went to the garage to dig through the pile of cardboard that has been growing all winter for recycling. The tracing, cutting, poking, gluing and stringing began and by evening the boys were playing their new guitars.



Tuning them is not an option but Derek did manage to pluck out Mary Had a Little Lamb and did his best to teach it to Nathan. It didn't sharpen his cello skills any but we considered the entire project his music practice for the night.

Dear Mother Nature,

I am sorely disappointed in the weather attitude you are displaying today. However, I am willing to overlook the 2 inches of snow that have fallen in the last 12 hours and the whiteout conditions that render me unable to see my neighbors house and even the fact that the snow is still falling since I too, as a mother, have my days of dumping cold, wet, cloudy emotions as I struggle to leave behind one season of life for another. I encourage you to let the winter season become only a memory, welcome spring as the gradual change between two weather worlds, and to shine forth your warmth and beauty with the much anticipated season of summer. I hope you can regain your focus toward a brighter, warmer future.

Until then, I will prepare my home for the upcoming summer as I wipe away dust bunnies and smudge prints; tend to the seedlings in my kitchen growing into their flowery vegetable glory; and put away the last remnants of the winter holidays in the anticipation of meeting up with you on Friday for a cozy 58 degrees.

Your companion in change,

Kimber

Hyrum's 3rd Birthday

I can't believe my baby is three! He has graced us with three years of fabulous laughs, never ending cuddles and, more recently, vocal "I huv oo" sentiments. His smile lights up the entire family.

Hyrum has some definite favorites and for his birthday I wanted to include all of them. So here's his blue, Elmo, strawberry, star, horse, cape, birthday bearing the name he has recently come to recognize in letter form, Hyrum.

The cake: Elmo with 4 layers of strawberry gooey goodness. I ended up with a 2 day hand/forearm cramp after doing all that "fur" on his cake but it was worth it!

I thought there could never be a kid who loved Elmo more than Nathan did . . . until Hyrum came along. He has three stuffed Elmo's of different sizes. For a kid who will not be babysat by the TV, Elmo can get his attention and I have about 12 minutes of uninterrupted shower time.


The gifts: blue, Samuel the Lamanite, star, Hyrum, cape, horse

Hyrum has no interest in letters (except the letter E - probably because of Elmo) but he LOVES colors. He knows a wide range of colors by sight and name but if there is ever a choice it is blue. Blue cup, blue shirt, blue blanket, blue crayons, blue books to read. He even fights with LeRoy when told that he has green eyes (it took 6 kids to finally give LeRoy his wish of a green eyed baby). He demands that his eyes are "byue yike mommy's an Hathan's". He also loves stars, especially if they are blue. He is always trying to wear one of Nathan's many capes and he gallops around pretending he is on a horse. Samuel the Lamanite is his favorite scripture hero. He has a poster of him above his bed; he hollers out in the middle of church when he finds a picture of Samuel in his scripture reader; he requires that we call him Samuel when he is in hero mode.



And here is a video recap


He had a rough time falling asleep after so much excitement and during the night he woke up with a scared cry. It was different than the sleepy whimpering that usually walks into our room and plops down on the floor next to my side of the bed. As I picked him up his little arms wrapped all the way around my neck and held on tight. After spending my evening reminiscing about his birth and remembering those three first weeks of spending my nights on the couch with him on my chest (the only way he would sleep at night) I couldn't just put him on the floor. I took him to the couch with me and we slept like we did three years ago. It was so nice to feel his heartbeat next to mine and to smell his freshly bathed hair and to feel his warm body covering my torso with his head tucked snugly in my neck and his little fingers wrapped around mine for security. I love holding him in my arms! Having a 19 year old has made me realize that these moments become fewer and fewer and they pass so quickly. I wanted to memorize every detail of my one on one quiet time with Hyrum, just like I did the night he was born. Needless to say I didn't sleep any more on the night of his third birthday than I did on the night of his birth but both of those nights will forever hold a memory of peaceful joy, pure love, and sweet contentment.

Erika and Harrison

On the one sunny day that we have had so far this year (slight exaggeration, I think we've had three sunny days!) Erika and Harrison took a nap with the warmth of the sun streaming in through our big window.

These two are perfect napping buddies! They can contort themselves into the strangest sleeping positions and when they are out they are dead to the world. To wake Erika up we nearly have to pull her off the bed or shake an arm or leg until we border abuse to pull her out of her dream world to join us. It doesn't matter if it is first thing in the morning or it was a 20 minute nap.

A friend posted this on facebook today.


We have watched it so many times that Nathan and Hyrum are chanting it while playing in their fort.

The video reminded me of this picture

Happy St. Patrick's Day 2011

After a very sleepless night due to a heavy breathing, non-stop coughing Hyrum sleeping on my bedroom floor, I forced and dragged myself out of bed to uphold the green tradition of St. Patty's breakfast at the Edwards' home.

I had already been up until 1 am "kissing" each of the kids with their special leprechaun kisses (shamrock stickers) and setting the table to save me time in the morning. I even texted a shamrock sticker picture to Levi and informed him he had been kissed by a leprechaun and he motivated me to keep going on the decorating when I was so ready to fall into bed - and the coughing hadn't even started yet. It was a good thing I did most of it last night because I barely managed to plop green pancakes on the table this morning and only 5 of them showed up in shamrock form.

As always, the extra work was very worth the effort and the kids' responses were of complete surprise. I thought they would expect it after years of doing this but March 17th really does sneak up on us without a lot of commercial prep. You'd think from all these pictures that I was the one demanding photos for a blog but in reality the kids ask for pictures because they love looking back on them. Erika was the only one not overly enthused about pictures being taken at 7 am but she was still good to show up in at least two of them.

Justin wore one of the blinking shamrock necklaces to school, LeRoy wore his bow tie to Electrical Wholesale, Nathan wore his bow tie and "kiss" to preschool, I'll wear this "cheer" shamrock headband all day just to keep my hair out of my face, and each of us is sporting a lovely green shamrock rubber bracelet. We're doing our part to celebrate!

I had intended to clean my house today but I think Hyrum and I will just sleep away the morning while Nathan is at preschool and we'll blame the mess on the leprechauns. After all, they have a reputation to hold on to and I wouldn't want to ruin that for them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AFTERNOON UPDATE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When the kids came in after school they found the first clue to their treasure hunt. After going up and down the stairs following clues to ten different locations and being quite stumped a couple of times, the treasure was finally found . . . in the bathtub. They divided the spoil equally and we munched on the last bits of minty chocolate kisses, chocolate coins and bubble gum coins while laughing our way through Little Rascals.

I love it when an older movie is brought back to life for another generation. I forgot how many great one-liners there are in that show. Not ones that we want repeated in church, but we're already the odd ball family in the ward so I don't think anyone will truly be that surprised. I'm sure having my sons spout off woman-hater quotes and sewer swamp name calling will solidify our place in the world.

Is SPRING really coming?

Two days ago, LeRoy called to tell me that he saw 2 groundhogs by the freeway. Yesterday, I heard birds outside my window at 6:35 a.m. and ducks flew overhead quacking their arrival around noon. When the kids got home from school yesterday they questioned why the snow is gone at their schools and in town but we still have so much snow. Then the rain started and WE CAN SEE GRASS!!! And a lot of mud, but that's okay because mud dries when SPRING COMES!

I bought strawberries yesterday to make jam. We have been out of jam for about a month and the kids have been asking almost daily when we are making more. I intended to wait and make it with them but making jam feels like a spring thing to do and anything that makes it seem more like spring and less like winter I welcome and get right on (except dusting). I started with the jam and I felt so cheery, even without any sun shining (but the rain is still melting snow so that's okay), that I made bread and I thought of how excited my kids will be to see bread and jam when they get home (they didn't even know I had the strawberries or plans for their help) so I decided to make one of their favorite meals, twice-baked potatoes, to go with their bread and jam. I can't wait to see their faces and watch them go through a loaf of bread even before it's dinnertime. I am going to girls game night tonight and usually that means they get Mac-n-Cheese.

This will be a treat.

I left the kitchen for a few minutes and when I returned I found Hyrum on a stool, with a knife, with the bread skooched over to him, ready to help himself. He cried when I told him it was still too hot and he would have to wait. The last 3 strawberries handed over to his wanton little hands made up for it.

Now maybe I should get on with something else spring-y. Like finding my flip-flops or cleaning the garage or dusting.
Maybe I should just go take a shower.

I could probably win the "Dumbest Math Mom Ever" award!

Justin (6th grade) needs help with math and I'm his mom so I should be able to help, right? Wrong! That part of my brain never did develop. In fact, at the first sentence of a story problem I begin to break out in a cold sweat, my eyes dilate in fear and my ears beginning ringing with Mrs. Marley's voice yelling at me (leftover side effect of 4th grade). My kids all know this and they torture me on purpose just to see the reaction. Okay, so maybe I exaggerate it a bit for them by turning into a looney tune but seriously, it's not far off from how I really feel inside.

So, yesterday when Derek asked his dad what the Pythagorean theory was and LeRoy asked him why he didn't ask me (yes, more torture) they had a good laugh over it. I wondered if I knew how to spell Pythagorean so I came to look it up online. The thought never entered my mind to actually look up what the theory is. Those brain cells just do not exist for me. I guess I only use 9% of my brain.

Bodies: The Exhibition

On a no-school day I decided to take my teens to see the Body Exhibit at the museum. Justin was a little worried because he gets queasy with medical things but the "wow" factor way out played the "gross" factor and he loved it. We all did. I was going to post a picture from the website but just in case that would make anyone sick, I won't. But here is the link: Bodies

We also took with us one of Derek's friends (Chris) and picked up Levi on the way. Before we left town we agreed to get all the naked body giggles and jokes out of the way before we got there and when we were met by the first exhibit we didn't even notice the nudity. . . at least none of the kids mentioned anything.

It was interesting to see each of the kids reactions. Levi was intrigued with the brain; Erika the muscles and full body displays (as well as the little mushroom belly buttons on each full body); Derek and Justin were both fascinated with the blood vessel displays and how just the blood vessels alone could look like a full body.

We were all completely fascinated with the "baby room" (as Justin calls it). There was a sign outside of the room that explained that the display was fetus/embryos from all different stages of miscarriage to warn people of the sensitive nature. I had already talked with Kellie about it (she saw the display when she lived in Virginia) and I had decided that I wanted to see. It was indescribable. What a miracle each person is!! To see creation taking place in such perfect form so early on in fetal development - practically days into the growing process - seemed so miraculous! The display was so tactfully done that the room held a special reverence. Levi's comment, "can you even imagine how many emotions are tied to this room", was so observant and sensitive.

My favorite part of the trip was the witness to me that we are definitely not just a freak of natural or scientific accident. That much perfection could not take place without our Creator directing it all. I came away from the experience wanting to treat my body so much better. To see how prone to injury the spine and organs and eyes and brain and everything else holding it all together can be left me with a greater respect for the miracle that my body is. To look at it in a preserved form (as Levi mentioned, we are just "dust of the earth") it seems so clear that no matter how miraculous that body of clay is, it is nothing without the intelligence of our spirits.

We were there for just over two hours and to be honest I would love to go back. There is so much to see and read and be in awe about! For a quick ad: the price may seem high to us Idahoans ($10 adult, $8 youth, $30 family) but when I saw the prices of the other Bodies Exhibits in the country ($24 - $32 even for youth tix) I was glad we could see it here. Go see it! You won't be disappointed.

Okay, commercial over.

After the museum we went for 88 cent crunch wraps at Taco Bell. We laughed and laughed and had a great memorable time. Chris didn't want us paying for him but we insisted and when he refused to eat I threatened that we would all break out in singing Happy Birthday, since it really was his birthday. He was going to call our bluff until Levi threatened to stand on the table and air guitar/head bang the whole song. Chris quickly grabbed a taco. It was the best lunch I've had in a long time. Not because of the food but because of the company. I really love being with my kids - and their friends!

We took Levi home with us and the little boys were thrilled to wrestle with him and beat him up and he is so great to let them. Caytlyn joined us after she got off work and after a lasagna dinner - where it seemed that all 5 of my boys fought over who got to sit by Caytlyn - we all settled in for movie night with "The Tooth Fairy".

This was such a perfect day for me!! The kids all got along so well . . . all day long! We laughed, we played, we learned, we enjoyed each other. It was fun to have Levi and Caytlyn over and to have the family feel complete, even for just one evening, with all my kids home. They are all so great! I am very honored to be their mother.

Bean Bag Repentance

Boys, go entertain yourselves for a while . . .

It was endearing to watch my big-little boys work together with all of their combined strength to pull the bean bags over to the stairs and so fun to see their excitement and energy as they belly flopped, nose dived and tumbled into them for nearly an hour. At least it was fun last night.

Today it was a different story. I was busy with all my incredibly important housewife duties and had slowed down long enough to share a phone call with my sister. I glanced down the stairs to listen for the boys and the view that caught my attention was not so fun or amazing or incredible at all. I sent them to their room to read and play in a confined space, mostly to keep them out of the mess until I could finish my all important conversation of random topics. I couldn't really blame the whole mess on them. After all, I had encouraged the jumping and a torn seam didn't quite surprise me.

We had a talk about what should have happened when the hole popped, like coming to tell mom about the hole instead of making a HUGE mess, and then we headed down to start the clean up. After settling the boys in with garbage cans to fill, I began inspecting the bean bags to find the hole. That was when Nathan piped up and confessed that the "hole" I was looking for was actually an open zipper - opened by him. No wonder he wasn't interested in the lecture on what to do if a hole pops open.

This was a disaster. I actually had the thought that at least it wasn't flour and that positive tid-bit soon poofed out of my head as static took over. It was like a room full of packing peanuts and electricity. Each handful that we gathered wouldn't let go of us and when we tried to drop it into the garbage cans the static would actually pull up what was already in the can to join what was in our hands. I gave up any hope of saving the filling and pulled out the Shop Vac. I had to empty it four times! That's how much fluff we cleaned up.

Throughout the process I began to see an interesting comparison taking place.

I originally grumbled at the sight of the mess and wanted to say "get that cleaned up" and to have the boys obediently go down and magically clean it all on their own. But, this was a mess waaaay out of their capabilities to handle all by themselves. As I began the long, inconvenient cleaning process I realized that I have also made messes that I wasn't capable of taking care of on my own. I also have times when I need someone with knowledge and loving care to help me correct my wrong choices or bad decisions. That someone is Christ.

Nathan gave up after the first garbage bag was filled. He was frustrated with the static, the scope of such a huge project, and in his own words "it will take forever". Sometimes repentance feels that way. It is a long, tough process. It isn't fun. There have been times when I look at what it will take to get myself (or in some cases for someone else to get themselves) back on the path to our Heavenly Father and it is daunting. I didn't force Nathan to come back. That would only cause hurt feelings and more frustration so I just thanked him for what he did do. Our Savior doesn't force us back either.

Hyrum kept going. He kept apologizing, "sorry, mommy". That is so beautiful when spoken with a troubled heart and eyes that show complete sincerity! He picked up, he vacuumed, he stayed with me through the entire one hour ordeal. He would vacuum the bigger stuff and hand it to me to get all the small stuff. That is repentance. Becoming submissive and meek like a little child. Having Godlike sorrow. Sticking with it. Doing our part and working together with our "Adult" who knows how to take our big mess and clean it up.

As I watched Hyrum work and waited for him to let me have a turn with the vacuum I was a little impatient. I almost wanted to tell him that he had helped enough. I then realized that Christ is so patient to let us go at our pace. He doesn't rush us.

I love this picture of Hyrum's determined effort.
All {spiritual} messes are cleaned up best when we are on our knees.

After we finished, Hyrum climbed into my Indian crossed legs and said, "all done!". We hugged and giggled. Nathan observed from a distance and seemed a little disappointed to be missing out on the All Done Celebration. I have a greater determination to be one that sits with my Savior in joy and comfort instead of only regretfully observing it happen for others. As that thought crossed my mind I waved for Nathan to join us. Mercy is a tender thing.