Natural Sleep Aid

Budding Dermotologist

Peter was invited to a sleepover for last Saturday night. We've decided we're not going to do sleepovers (unless our whole family is traveling and staying with friends), but we told him he could do a late-over. In other words, he got to stay until 11pm. Six hours of video games and friends was completely awesome for him. He especially loved staying up so late.

Until he had to function on Sunday.

We were all pretty tired yesterday. Peter fell asleep within minutes of his 8pm bedtime, which almost never happens. The night before, Bryan had stayed up to get Peter and I had stayed up to see them both back in the house safe and to hear about the fun night. It felt a little like a glimpse of the future, when my children will be out late at dances and parties and dates. That feels far away, but I know it's close.

But for now, Peter is still his eleven-year-old self. I did his bedtime routine last night, which includes a song. I asked what he wanted me to sing. In response, he got really close to my face and said, "Wow, you have really dark circles under your eyes!"

"Yes I do. What song do you want me to sing?"

"And I can see some of your pores."

"Okay Peter, what song?"

"Some of them are sticking out-"

"Ack! The song?!"

Yeah, he's definitely still a kid.

A Week Off

On Sunday morning I sat down at the computer to print out a few items for my Primary lesson (I'm Phoebe's Primary teacher, in addition to being a Webelos den leader for our ward). The kids were all happily playing, a beautiful and rare occurrence. I decided to take a minute and do my blog post for Monday. As I looked through my recent pictures, I realized that I had material for several quick posts, just waiting to be shared. In about thirty minutes I had four blog posts scheduled.

Usually at least a little time each night is spent on the blog. But not this week. How did I spend my free evenings? Well, on Sunday and Monday I read. It was delightful. And my book was due on Tuesday, so I felt the pressure of time. On Tuesday I planned our cub scout activity, then on Wednesday I carried it out.

In reality, I didn't have that much more time in the evenings. Peter's bedtime is a little later than it used to be and I've been trying so hard to go to sleep earlier, so my personal time is nearly non-existent anyway. The big difference was the lack of stress I felt each night. And bonus, I had a sense of accomplishment knowing that something was already scheduled to be published the next morning. I've been much more mindful over the last few weeks about being prepared, thanks to my New Year's goal. It's interesting to me that something as small as posting on the blog a few days in advance would make the rest of the week feel smoother.

Let's Hear It For the Boys

Thanks to the Rediscover this Day feature on Google Photos, I came across these pictures. I remember how long those days felt, before we were constrained by the hours of school. We would read and play and color and read and go to the park and play and read and eat and go to the library or the store or the museum and find all kinds of activities to keep active little boys busy. This was before we had pink or princesses in our house, back when I was convinced I would only ever be the mom of boys.

I know that the boys don't remember this far back, but I am so thankful that I do.

"Mom! I Forgot to Bring a Book! I Need Something to Read!"

Coloring Your Hair

"Sophie, what's on your head? Did you draw on your head with something?"

Cooper the Author

On Saturday afternoon, while he was supposed to be tidying the front room to prepare for a movie, Cooper was writing a book. Every writer has their own process, their own order in which they do things. Apparently Cooper likes to start with the cover and the table of contents.

I'm looking forward to reading the adventures of David Hansel and the Sea Llama.

The Eleventh of Peter

Peter woke up on his eleventh birthday and gleefully announced that he was now a tween. I hugged him and wished him a happy birthday anyway. Bryan is becoming a streamer weaving master after all the birthdays we've decorated for. 

After letting the adults sleep in (thank you Peter!), I prepared pumpkin pancakes as the birthday boy had requested. Then he got to the business of opening gifts. I was really impressed with Peter this year; he was gracious and excited about every gift he received; the gift portion of the day was even more enjoyable because of it.

My brother Jordan visited us for Peter's birthday, which made the day extra special. He seems to have his finger on the pulse of what eleven-year-old boys want, because Peter was super excited to play with these awesome action figures.

It's an over-the-door basketball hoop that I found on clearance at Costco. Based on the victory fist, I think he likes it.

We asked Peter what he wanted to do to celebrate his birthday and he decided on Laser Tag. He invited his friend Micah (from church and school) and they had quite a bit of fun. Peter looks annoyed in this picture because he wanted to play rather than take pictures. Sophie and I wandered around an indoor miniature golf course and pretended to play (but really climbed on stuff and tried hard not to get hit by any golf clubs) while we waited for the Laser Taggers.

After Laser Tag we all went to Red Robin, a restaurant that used to be unsafe for Peter, but has recently become much friendlier to people with food allergies. Then, after dropping Micah off at home, we hurried to our house for the cake. Jordan make the cake and the frosting between the layers, but we used canned stuff to get the right shade of green for the requested creeper look. I will never be a professional cake decorator, and I am totally okay with that.

Peter asked for a big piece of cake and announced halfway through that he must be getting old, because he couldn't eat anymore. Considering there were two cans of frosting just on the outside of that thing, I told him it was totally okay if he didn't finish.

So. Much. Sugar.

Here are the grownup tastes of our very first tween:
FAVORITE FOOD: Chicken sandwiches 

FAVORITE ANIMAL: Elephant

FAVORITE CANDY: Gummy Bears

FAVORITE BOOK: Magnus Chase series

FAVORITE COLOR: Blue

FAVORITE SHOW: Rescue Bots

FAVORITE MOVIE: Moana
FAVORITE SONG: I Don't Want to Live on the Moon
FAVORITE BOARD GAME: Simon

FAVORITE CARD GAME: Monopoly Card Game
FAVORITE VIDEO GAME: Minecraft
FAVORITE THINGS TO DO: Play Minecraft, play LEGO
FAVORITE MEMORIES FROM BEING 10: Getting my tablet and my Minecraft account, building a computer, going to Six Flags Great America
FAVORITE PLACE: Home
FAVORITE SUBJECT IN SCHOOL: Tech

FRIENDS: Micah, Micah, Ian, Cooper, Phoebe, Sophie, Mommy, Uncle Jordan, Nana Shari, Uncle Ben, Papa Ron, Uncle Spencer, Uncle Isaac, Uncle Dallin, Uncle Ian, Uncle Paul, Uncle Eugene, Uncle Jake, and Daddy.

The Big 0-3

Sophie was very excited and aware about her birthday this year. As it approached she kept asking how much longer she needed to wait. This is the bedroom door fanciness she woke up to when that day finally arrived.

Bryan took the day off from work, so Sophie enjoyed attention from both parents while the big kids were in school. Then, once we were all back together, we celebrated by going to see Moana. I highly recommend it, we all loved it. It might be my new favorite princess movie.

We got to the theater a bit too early, so we hung out in the arcade pretending to play video games.

We found a local theater that offers a discount day once a week. Lucky us, Sophie's birthday fell on that day. They also discount all the treats, so this ended up being an extra fun and extra sugary adventure.

Speaking of sugary, this is what Sophie requested for her birthday cake. I had baked all three layers before the movie, then I built it very quickly when we got home.

After her fancy-to-a-three-year-old Burger King dinner, she enjoyed opening her presents and loves this super soft Teddy bear that came from my parents. The other kids caught Sophie's excitement for her birthday and put a lot of thought into her gifts. Phoebe made Sophie her own bracelet, Cooper gave her a knit hot-pad to add to her kitchen toys, and Peter used Duplo blocks that we already had and drew out step-by-step instructions for her to build a house. I was impressed by their sweetness, especially because I never told them they needed to get her anything.

Next we gathered in the kitchen for singing and cake cutting.

She maybe had help blowing out the candles.

She wanted a purple layer, a pink layer, and a green layer. I just bought cake mixes in the requested colors. I didn't eat any of it myself, but I was told by the bigger members of the family that it was pretty gross. Sophie liked it though, and that's all that matters.

Here are three-year-old Sophie's favorite things:
FAVORITE FOOD: Strawberry cake

FAVORITE ANIMAL: Delly (Adele, her stuffed red panda.)

FAVORITE CANDY: Zombies! (That's not a candy.) Ummmm... Skittles

FAVORITE BOOK: Peter Pan

FAVORITE COLOR: Pink

FAVORITE SHOW: Little Einsteins 

FAVORITE MOVIE: Finding Dory
FAVORITE SONG: Eine Kleine Nauchtmusik
FAVORITE BOARD GAME: Candyland
FAVORITE THINGS TO DO: Play with my mom and my dad and spinning around
FAVORITE MEMORY FROM BEING 2: Playing with my sister and my brother and my sister and my two brothers. (Not an announcement, she still just has one sister and two brothers.)
FAVORITE PLACE: Parker's house (That's a friend from IL.)

FRIENDS: Mickey Mouse, Minnie, Parker, Andrew, Sophia, Phoebe, Cooper, Peter

Phoebe 6.0

Phoebe loved going to school on her sixth birthday. I was afraid she would be sad, but this girl loves school so much she cries when we have a day off. She enjoyed the special attention she got for being the birthday girl at school.

She requested Friendly's for her birthday dinner. We all missed Friendly's when we were in Chicago, so she was excited to come back and enjoy their ice cream.

Bryan and Peter never want to be sung to at restaurants on their birthdays. Phoebe is more like me when it comes to attention: she was very excited about the singing.

Behold, the giant ice cream. The whole family (except me) shared this. Phoebe also had her own birthday ice cream. We were all too full when we left.

Phoebe's birthday was after we were in our house, but before we had furniture or any of our stuff. Our decor was sparse, but still appreciated.

Phoebe showered all that ice cream off and put on the beautiful birthday dress my parents gave her before she opened her presents.

The dress is especially spinny.

Here are six-year-old Phoebe's favorites:
FAVORITE FOOD: Neapolitan Cake 

FAVORITE ANIMAL: Tiger

FAVORITE CANDY: Chocolate Hershey Bar and Milky Way

FAVORITE BOOK: The Whatever After books

FAVORITE COLORS: Pink, purple, gold, silver, green, blue, sapphire, ruby

FAVORITE SHOWS: Lab Rats

FAVORITE MOVIE: Frozen
FAVORITE SONG: Stronger by Kelly Clarkson
FAVORITE BOARD GAMES: Clue

FAVORITE CARD GAME: Old Maid with Shopkin cards
FAVORITE VIDEO GAMES: Disney Princess video game
FAVORITE THINGS TO DO: Go to school! And play with my little sister Sophie. Yay fun!
FAVORITE MEMORY FROM BEING 5: Playing with my friends Elsa, Lydia, and Annabel in Illinois.
FAVORITE PLACE: It will be the Paris Temple. And Disneyland.
FAVORITE SUBJECT IN SCHOOL: Gym and art and music and library.

FRIENDS: Elsa, Claire F., Claire H., Shay, Elliana, Amelia, Eva, Ben, Miranda, Andreas, Kyle, Ali, Eliza, Lydia, Annabel, Sophie, Hunter

It's Great to be Eight: Cooper Edition, part 2

It has recently come to my attention that I did a lousy job covering the kids' birthdays last year. They each had one, and we celebrated them all, but not much of that celebrating made it onto the blog. I'm going to fix that now. I wrote down Cooper's list of annual favorites way back in March when his birthday actually happened, but I can't find it, so when I do, I'll add it in.

EDIT: I found the favorites! Here they are.

FAVORITE FOOD: Nachos and pancakes

FAVORITE ANIMAL: Cheetah

FAVORITE CANDY: Chocolate and caramel

FAVORITE BOOK: The Spiderwick Chronicles

FAVORITE COLORS: Blue, red, pink, purple, and green

FAVORITE SHOW: Dinotrux

FAVORITE MOVIE: Zootopia
FAVORITE SONG: I Am a Child of God
FAVORITE BOARD GAME: Monopoly

FAVORITE CARD GAMES: Old Maid and Uno
FAVORITE VIDEO GAME: MarioKart
FAVORITE THINGS TO DO: I like to watch movies and play video games. I like to do stuff with electronics.
FAVORITE MEMORY FROM BEING 7: I don't know.
FAVORITE PLACE: Disneyland
FAVORITE SUBJECT IN SCHOOL: Gym and math

FRIENDS: Raul, Devin, and Sophia

For his very important eighth birthday, Cooper chose a supremely healthy breakfast of superhero cereal and pop-tarts. 

Cooper enjoyed opening his gifts, which included his own jar of Nutella and a stuffed animal he'd been given for his fourth or fifth birthday and subsequently had to give to Phoebe because he had used it as a weapon on her. She decided his punishment was complete.

Cooper asked for a blue cake with yellow frosting, appropriate for a boy just starting cub scouts. Sophie was such a fan of the design, she decided to sample it before anyone else.

Of course, the most important part about Cooper's birthday came at the end of the month. Cooper was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Easter Sunday. I wrote briefly about that when it happened. It was wonderful that so many family members could come out to support Cooper. We all worked together to prepare Easter dinner and get out the door on-time for the baptism. Nana Cris and Grandma Bonnie were on board game duty.

Aunt Kate helped play the role of Easter Bunny by putting together Easter bags.

Nana Shari helped with the meal and provided many of the Easter treats in the above picture. I think Bryan brought home quite a few as well.

And of course, Uncle Jordan was on baking duty. He and his assistant Phoebe made brownies and cookies to share at the baptism.

Here the grandparents are passing around the basket of sugar-free Easter gum. That's right, we know how to party at our house.

We all got fancy to go to the baptism.

I'm so thankful that Bryan holds the Priesthood and can baptize our children.

In addition to being baptized, Cooper received the gift of the Holy Ghost. Since his birthday, we've had many talks about what the Holy Ghost feels like, how we can hear and feel His promptings, and how to stay worthy of His companionship. We continue to learn together.