lukie turns 5

Luke had his 5th Birthday a few weeks ago.  It was so cute, because he completely understands Birthdays now, and he was so excited for his!

He helped me pick out the invitations for his party, write on the invitations, and he personally delivered them to all of his friends.  He is an awesome bike messenger!

A couple weeks before his Birthday, Luke told me that he wanted to try riding his bike without training wheels. I took the training wheels off his bike, and then I went inside to put the tools away.

When I came back outside, less than a minute later, Luke was zooming all over the cul-de-sac on his bike!  ha!  He just jumped on and went for it.  By the end of the week, he was up on the bike trails with Ben going over jumps and going around berms.   He is a very athletic little boy.

Luke invited all of his friends over for a party on his Birthday.  We had a paw patrol party again this year, but the weather was perfect, so it was an outside party.  YES!!!

They played a bunch of games out in the yard, and had a great time.

Luke wanted cupcakes for his Birthday cake, so we made cupcakes with Paw Patrol rings on top. 

you can't really see the cupcakes here, but you can see the rings and the frosting all over the kids' mouths!

Luke had a blast at his party, he grinned through the whole thing. It was adorable.

top: Kai Russell, Luke Phillips, Rowan Boone, Joey Goates
Middle: Kason Dix
Bottom: William, Luke, Molly, Boston Sweat

After the party, Luke and I got to work on his Police Station Lego set that he got from the family.  I love building Legos with Luke, because he gets so excited and he just giggles through the whole process.  He has had his eye on this police station for months, so he was REALLY excited to get to work on it.

Later in the evening he busted out his new bike and cruised all over on it.  He outgrew his other bike in about a day after riding it with no training wheels.  He loves his new bike.

Luke had a great day with friends and family and fun.  He is such an adorable little boy with his perfect boy face, his white blonde hair and his perfectly round blue eyes.  He also has the classic spatter of freckles across his nose, that complete the adorable factor.

Luke is a really good boy that just wants to play and have fun.  He is really kind and is great at sharing.  He has a huge imagination and is very curious. He insists on wearing pajamas every day, aside from when he is at school.  He is very coordinated and athletic, and he loves to go fast on his snow skis, his bike, and just in general.  He calls cigarettes "cigger nuts" and I die every time.  I don't have the heart to correct him because it is so cute!

He is still completely obsessed with police officers, and he is also still very mechanical and loves tools, fixing things, and Legos.

We love Lukie so much.

Happy 5th Birthday Luke!

the week

I decided that I have to record last week, if anything, just to remind myself that I survived it.
It was a good week in so many ways.  It was an absolutely crazy week in so many ways.  It was a hard week, it was a fun week, it was a neat week, it was....the mother of all weeks.

Allow me...

Monday:
Wake up at 4:40am.  Drink some zipfizz...because lets face it, it is 4 freaking 40 in the morning, and I am about to do an 8 mile tempo run on the treadmill. 
Have an awesome tempo run.  Feelin the zipfizz buzz.  Head home.

Kids wake up.  I start getting everyone breakfast.  Molly's eyes are stuck shut with boogers, and totally read.  Pink eye.  She went to the clinic two days before and I have drops.  I put them in her eyes.

Get everyone off to school.

9:00  I teach an hour of piano lessons. Molly cries on my lap most of the time.

10:00   Luke's friend Joey comes over for a playdate for the next couple hours.  Luke invites 3 other friends over as well???  Molly also has a friend join in.  House FULL of kids all morning. Molly cries a lot.

Molly, Beckham Sweat, Boston Sweat, Luke, Joey Goates

11:00 Molly starts grabbing her ear and screaming hysterically.  I totally panic.  I can't calm her down.  Molly is thrashing all over and screaming for me to help her.
I call every pediatrician in Heber, they are all full.

11:40  Molly is still screaming and holding her ear.  Blood and yellow goo start running down her face.  Her eardrum has ruptured.  Molly finally falls asleep.

Molly cries the rest of the afternoon.

2:30.  Everyone home from school. Feeding frenzy begins.
          Rush to store to buy a Birthday present.

3:30 Take William to a friends Birthday Party


5:00 pick William up from Party, pick up Laynee and Becca and take them, along with Mary to tumbling.

Come home, cook dinner, feed everyone, head back out to pick up Mary and girls from tumbling. Ben gets home.

Leave kids with Ben and take Molly to the insta care.  Her ear is infected, and the eardrum had ruptured.  Argh!  Poor, poor girl.  We get ear drops.  2 hours later, we are home.

9:00   Bed

Tuesday:
5:00 alarm goes off to go to gym.  Head is screaming, so is throat.  No gym today.

7:00 get up for real this time, along with everyone else.

Make Mary a lunch for her field trip.
Mary's ride to student council completely forgets her. 
Rush Mary to school, just in time for her student council field trip.

Molly and I feel like crap.  William stays home from school with a stomach ache!?!?
Luke is bored all morning.
 I make playdough.  It helps for a while.

I take William to school at 11:00.  He is fine.

Rush to store with Molly and Luke to get a few groceries and another Birthday present.

12:20 walk Luke to the bus

3:30  Pick up Luke and everyone from the bus stop.

4:00 Take Mary to tumbling, come home.

4:30 Pile everyone in the car and drive William to his first Soccer practice.
       
Drop William off, and rush to the other end of town to drop Sam off at his soccer practice.

       Drop Sam off at his practice, and drive to the gym to pick up Mary from tumbling.

      Pick up Mary, and drive back to William's practice to pick him up.  William's practice goes way over, but it is so fun to watch him.  He is having a blast!  He is laughing and running at the same time.  He scores a couple goals.  Molly has to pee twice in this time, and I have her pee right there in the parking lot.  Go me.

Take everyone home, hurry and make dinner. Ben gets home.

6:30 Drop Mary off at the church to help babysit for a Relief Society Activity.

8:30 Bed

Wednesday
4:40 wake up and head to gym.  zipfizz again!  Serious sweat sesh at the gym with 2 hours of intervals.  This workout is a killer, and I don't feel great, but I did it!

7:20  I get home, Ben leaves.  Breakfast, get everyone out the door.
        Mary's carpool for choir forgets to come.  what the???

Morning is pretty chill.  Hang out with Molly and Luke.  Molly still doesn't feel great, neither do I.

12:20 Walk Luke to the bus stop. Then get Molly down for a nap.  I actually get some down time!!!

3:30 pick up Luke and kids from Bus

4:00 Mary has tumbling

4:00 Teach Anna's piano lesson
4:30 Teach Macy's piano lesson

5:00 Make dinner

5:15 Head out to Sam's soccer game.  I am so thrilled with how great Sam does!  He has improved a ton since last season.  He was hustling, aggressive, and ran through the whole game.  Way to go Sam!

Thursday
7:20 everyone up
Breakfast, get everyone out the door, get Mary to Choir, etc.

8:30  Go to gym with Molly and Luke.  Do a solid hour and 20 minutes on the elliptical.

10:00 Go straight from gym to Kindergarten Registration for Luke. :)
         Luke loves registration.  They set it up so cute. He got a bingo card, and we would go around to "stations" where I would do paper work, while he got a square crossed off his card, and some kind of treat.  He and Molly were thrilled!  I can't believe my little Lukey starts kindergarten next year.  I am excited for him.  He is so stinking adorable!

12:20 get Luke on the bus, find out that Luke has a school program that night?!?!  What the??

2:00  Brittany comes for my "massage."  She scrapes and kneads my muscles until I can't take it anymore, then she does it again.  It is complete agony, and leaves me nauseous and exhausted, but dang, it helps soooo much.

3:30  pick up kids from bus

4:00 get Mary ready and out the door for a  trial class at a competitive cheerleading gym

5:00 I make dinner, Ben gets home, and we divide and conquer.

William and I go to Sam's pack meeting.
Sam earns his Bear and moves up to Weblos!!!  He also earned about 12 belt loops.
Way to go Sammy boy!
It was so cute how the boys welcomed him to the pack with a giant Bear hug.

 

Sam picking out his Weblo name

 

Sam's Weblo name is Sneaking Dog

I love the scouting program, because Sam loves it so much.  I know William and Luke with have a ton of fun with it to. 

While we are at the pack meeting, Ben and Molly went to Luke's program.  I heard it was absolutely adorable.  They sang songs in English and Spanish.

We all made it home just in time for Bed.

Friday
Usual morning routine getting kids breakfast and out the door.

I take Luke and Molly with me to put gas in the car, go grocery shopping for the week, run to the post office, go to the bank, etc.  It is crazy and tiring, but we did it.

We then go pick up Mary from school.

I get Luke on the bus at 12:20, and then start helping Mary get ready for the State Tumbling meet.

Ben gets home at 1:30, and Mary and I head to Salt Lake.

I meet my mom at the meet, and we spend the eveing there.
Mary had a pretty rough meet.
It was so hard to see her struggle with confidence.  She was shaky on her events, and I could tell that this new gym they are in is hindering her progress.  Her coach has also pretty much checked out from helping Mary. 
Mary did her best, and even though there were tears of disappointment and discouragement, she was able to pull herself together, enjoy dinner out with grandma and I, and re commit to try to do better at regionals next month.

While we were at the meet, Ben held down the fort here at home.

William had another Birthday party, and had a blast.

Saturday
6:00 I wake up and start getting ready for my long run.
       I have been feeling crappy all week, but I feel ok this morning, just kind of congested.
6:50 I head out the door.
        I have another beautiful long run.

 17 miles this time.  It feels so great to have my muscles working so well, and to be figuring out my running nutrition, so I don't have any gut bombs.  Around mile 8, my left ear popped, and it ached the rest of the time.  It didn't effect the run though.

9:00 William has his first soccer game.
        Ben and Molly go to the game.  Mary and Sam stay home.  I am still out running.

10:00 everyone gets home

The rest of the day is Ben going biking, the boys getting hair cuts, finding last minute Easter stuff, a post office run, a store run, etc.

Later that afternoon, Ben and Mary took Molly skiing for the first time!  Molly looked so, so cute in her ski clothes!  Molly loved it.  The video of her is adorable.  She is just laughing and smiling.  It's official.  All of the Maynards ski! 

That evening we dyed Easter eggs.  It was really fun!

We also did a FHE lesson (by Mary) about Easter and the resurrection. 

By bed time, my ear was KILLING me. 
I set up the Easter stuff, and then hit the sack.
I had to sleep sitting up that night to try to alleviate the pressure.


Sunday
7:00 Everyone is up.
The kids are so excited to see their Easter baskets!
Mary got a slack line.
Sam got a new skateboard
Luke and William got scooters
Molly got a pink tricycle.

Of course, there was lots of candy as well.

The kids hunted for 40 Easter eggs, and it was pretty cute to watch them run all over.

After breakfast, it was time to bath's and showers and getting into Easter outfits for our annual Easter pictures.

Mary was complaining of a stomach ache all morning.  I wasn't sure how seriously to take it, so I just had her lie down in between getting everyone ready.  She was a good sport and got her dress on, and curled her hair, but she did seem sick.

Getting 5 kids ready, and keeping them looking nice for pictures, is no small feat!  Especially when I am the one taking the pictures as well.

Right before we took our family picture, Mary ran to the bathroom and started throwing up!  The poor kid!  She puked, got up, got the family picture taken, and then threw up some more.

I had her go get her pajamas on, and lie down on the couch with a bowl.  She was definitely sick.

The kids did great, , and we got some great pictures.
I love my family so much.
These pictures melt my heart!

Wililam (6)

Luke (4)

Sam (10)

Mary (12)

My precious babies

sassy pants

Molly (2)

Molly was so excited about her tricycle, that we literally couldn't get her off of it.  She rode it all over the house...even to the bathroom.

Ben ended up walking to church with the boys, and Molly went with them, riding her tricycle the whole way in her cute Easter dress!

my adorable family...minus Mary

Molly on her pink bike, William looking through the fence, Sam talking with his dad, and Luke with a stick.....perfect.

I felt like my head was going to explode, so I drove.  Mary stayed home....throwing up.  :(

I came home after sacrament meeting to be with Mary.  The poor girl was so sick!  I made our ham and potatoes for dinner, and tried to rest a little myself.

When everyone got home, we had the best dinner!  It was my first time cooking a ham (weird huh!), and it was so good with the funeral potatoes (terrible name), deviled eggs,  and everything else.

After dinner, we all crashed for a little while.
I didn't know it, but Luke ended up throwing up while I was sleeping.
Ben was sweet enough to clean it up and take care of things, while letting me rest.  He's a good guy.
Luckily, that was the one and only throw up from Luke.  I think someone ate way too much Easter candy.

After I woke up, I couldn't take it anymore, my head was screaming, so I drove to a clinic in Park City to see a doctor.  Everything in Heber was closed.

Not only is my left ear infected, but the ear canal is infected too.  I have an inner AND an outer ear infection.  Good grief!  No wonder it sounds like I am under water, and feels like that ear is going to explode!  I can't believe Molly went through pain like this just a few days ago. That poor, poor girl.  ugh!

My left ear is infected, but the doctor pulled a HUGE chunk of wax out of my right ear.  It was so amazing, that he asked me if I wanted to keep it!  Of course I did, and yes, I took a picture.

 Disgusting, I know, but that is the size of it AFTER it shrunk.  It felt amazing when he pulled it out of my ear.  Instant relief to that ear.  Unfortunately, there was nothing but lots of infection in my left ear.

We ended our Easter Sunday with some of us playing outside, some of us throwing up, some of us with ear aches, some of us eating WAY to much carrot cake (ahem...me), some of us going off jumps on scooters and skateboards, and all of us somehow having a really good Easter Sunday together celebrating the resurrection of our Savior, despite it all.

And that folks, was last week.

The end.

she's definitely my kid

About a month ago, I heard Molly messing around in the pantry.  I was busy helping Luke with something, and also teaching piano lessons, so all I could do was listen and envision the huge mess I was going to find when I could finally see what she was doing.

After my piano lesson was over 30 minutes later, and Luke was settled, I made my way over to the pantry with a feeling of dread.

I was completely shocked to find this!

The bottom two shelves were completely organized.  The cans were stacked in neat rows, or on top of eachother.  Everything was grouped according to what was in it.  I seriously could not believe it!  I was totally shocked!  Molly had totally organized the pantry!  It was so awesome!

A few days later, Molly, Luke and I were having a picnic outside.  I threw some pink and white animal crackers and some goldfish into a Tupperware, and gave them to Molly to snack on.  She seemed pretty content looking through her container, so I laid back and soaked in the rare day of warm sun.

A while later, Molly went to go play with her friend Beckham, and I glanced down at the blanket.  She had done this.

She had separated the animal crackers from the fish, grouped everything by color, and then lined up the animal crackers in lines by color! 
I was stunned!  Completely stunned, and totally thrilled!  Did I have a kid that could possibly love order and organization as much as me!  Praise the heavens above!

Sure enough, just a week later, I gave Molly a container of assorted colored tic tacs. This is what I found just a few minutes later.

The tic tacs were out of the container, and grouped by color.

Molly also cleans up everything when she is doing playing with something.  She shuts doors and cupboards (just like me), she hates being sticky, and she lines up shoes in a row (just like me).

I am thrilled to have someone else in this house willing to straighten and organize...even if she is just two years old.

Go Molly Go!

Smartest two year old on the block...yup that's my kid!

st pattys day

 

Better late than never.

 

St. Patricks Day was a good one this year.

 

It was full of the usual visit from our leprechaun doing silly things in our house, putting shoes in the microwave, turning our milk green, putting a diaper on a toy dinosaur, bringing a big box of Lucky Charms cereal, and lots of other crazy things.

 

The kids had a great time getting their green on, and we had on overall goofy, green day.

 

Love it.