Four plus Four makes EIGHT!

We spent last Thursday through Sunday taking care of Phil's sister Lisa's four kids while she and her husband Phil went to California to celebrate their 1oth anniversary. I was a little nervous that I wouldn't be able to keep them entertained since it was so hot outside, but we still had a great time!

I won't bore you all with a play by play, but we had a great time going to the Tempe Splash Park (easily the best one I've ever been to), playing with water out on the trampoline a few times, visiting the park EARLY to beat the heat, playing with more cousins in Litchfield Park, and having an "art show" (I love it when kids get creative!) and some great movie nights.

I was really impressed with how well everyone got along and how well behaved all the children were. It was still a lot of work keeping up with eight kids, but much easier since they were eight great kids. And I have to brag that getting ready for church on Sunday went smoothly and we were even ready early!!! Why can't I ever do that with just four kids?

Anyway, the experience in no way makes us want to be the parents of eight kids all the time =), but we're glad that it all went well and the kids had a great time.

Top Ten things we've been doing since our last post

It's been a while.
I have no excuse.


But we have been having some fun, and I don't want to forget about it all. So, here's what we've been up to in no particular order:


1. Reading...reading...reading. My favorite reading moment was last Sunday when Ty went to bed early and Phil and the other kids listened while I read Because of Winn Dixie. Every time we came to a chapter end and I prepared to stop, their cries for more won me over. Course, I'm not that hard to convince to keep reading =) I've read a bunch of other books in the last few weeks, and even read the book for the ward book club, which I might actually attend this week for the very first time.


2. Canning peaches and pears. There's just something great about seeing all of your filled jars lined up on the counter when you're all done. Somehow it justifies the huge expense and labor required to get there.




3. Dealing with mild colds. All the kids got it--some got it twice! Poor Brendon has had a cough for a couple of weeks now. He always gets it worse than the others (who hardly coughed at all). We were pretty excited to have everyone well enough to all go to church together today!


4. Going on Brendon's field trip to Chase Field!

Memorable moments:
a) driving down the freeway in a sweaty, smelly, crowded bus (three kids/adults to a seat) and looking out the window at the semi's inches from the bus. I could have reached out and touched them--if I wanted my arm cut off! I am not a fan of buses.
b) hearing two kids from Brendon's class walking by us discussing the pros and cons of an m60 versus a glock. And because I'm totally oblivious to guns, I'm sure I've butchered the spelling on those and I just don't care enough to look it up!
c) seeing myself up on the big screen. Frightening to see myself that HUGE, but fun for all the kids. The cameras scanned the crowd and gave just about everyone a few moments of big screen time.



Sorry for the scary picture( you can see why it was so alarming to see myself on the huge screen), but I had to snap a picture of the two of us! I had a great time with Brendon and was, as always, impressed by the great kid he is!

5. Getting to take the kids back to the Diamondbacks' game last Tuesday thanks to the tickets we got from the field trip. We only had four tickets, so Phil was nice enough (or tired enough from the long day) to stay home with a very sad Tyler--he so figured out that he was missing out on the fun. The kids had a great time spending their allowance money on shirts and hats and enjoyed some great dessert! I forgot my camera (like always), and Phil was not there with his camera phone to rescue me =(


6. Celebrating my birthday! It was great to get cards, calls and gifts from everyone, and Phil and I celebrated by going out to Red Robin with some great birthday deals (Thanks Kandice for all your cool free stuff on your birthday post!). My parents came the weekend after, and we all had a great time continuing the celebration. The kids had fun playing with Grandpa and their sleeping bags (they we're out since the kids camped out together as Brendon was kicked out of his bed to make room for our guests).




7. Cleaning. And more cleaning. And more. Is that all I ever do? And if it's all I ever do, why is there always more to be done? Hmm...it probably has something to do with my rambunctious kids! Its a good thing they're such great helpers. We had a bunch of friends over one half day for some fun, and even though the house was trashed at the end of the play date, my kids (with help from mom, obviously) had the house back in order in no time. They're amazing...when they want to be =)


8. Playing around with hair. I cut all the boys' hair, including Phil's, yesterday. That's quite a production. Suzanna always feels left out when it's hair cut time, since I'm not talented enough to cut her hair--I'm not really talented enough to do the boys' hair either, but....

I play with her hair everyday, so she should feel lucky, right? Especially when I do things like this:




Now you see what I mean about the talent. Oh well, at least we have fun!


9. Cooking. I don't mind it so much when someone else suggests what to cook. I just hate coming up with the ideas night after night. Phil suggested this grilled chicken salad inspired by a steak salad he had at some fancy restaurant along time ago. Don't mock our portion size--those are tenderloins not breasts, and it was Fast Sunday =)





10. Enjoying an amazing rain/hail storm. This actually happened on my birthday, and I don't think anything could have made the day better. I love the rain!







Well, that was a LOT of catching up! Hopefully I'll learn my lesson and post more often.

Space Derby

Brendon had fun creating his rocket for the cub scout space derby last week. And if the paint job looks familiar, that's because it is--it's the same as his pinewood derby car. He wanted to do the same Jimmy Johnson inspired design again since it was so "lucky" last time. That's right--his car won because of the paint job, right?

Well maybe, maybe not, but his rocket did do great at the race! They only had time for a couple of races for each boy, but Brendon won both of his races. And I'm sure it didn't have anything to do with all the help from his dad =) It's all because he used his favorite race car driver's colors....

First Day of Preschool

Jonathan was pretty excited to start his second year of preschool today. He's the only kid returning besides his teacher's son--the rest already moved on to kindergarten--but he's excited for all of the new kids in his class. We took a picture with his friend Ty before going in. I'm just as thrilled as he is that he'll be off and learning a couple of times a week. Hooray!