squish and slime

Mary is definitely a girl who always has a hobby of some sort going on.  It is definitely the Maynard blood in her.  She not only has a hobby, but she REALLY has a hobby. 

She researches tons, she gets completely into it, she excels at whatever it is, or becomes extremely well informed, and then after a while, she moves on.

 

Her current hobby is collecting squishies, and making slime.

 

Squishies are what we called "stress balls" when I was a kid.  They are these fruit shaped things, that you squish and they are very soft and after you squish them, the slowly rise back in to their shape.

 

I have to admit, I love them!  Mary has an entire bin full of all kinds of squishies, and whenever she gets a new squishy package, she vlogs herself opening it.  She actually has quite a following on instagram now.  It is pretty great.

 

She has found some great websites to order them off of, and she is constantly waiting every day for the mail man to come, so she can see if any new squishies have arrived.

She got bored one Saturday, and made a squishy machine for Molly.  It had a little handle you could turn, and then a squishy would come out.  Molly loved it!!!

 

 

 

Along with her quickly growing squishy collection, Mary is also really into slime...along with about every single 6th grader on the face of the planet.

Mary is Mary though, and she doesn't just collect slime.  Nope, she learned how to make all different kinds, and she got so good at it, that she sells it at school.  She also invented some of her own types of slime, that are really cool!
She comes home with new sales every single day.  For real!  She makes all kinds of colors, textures, and even has some slime with things inside of it.  She has a chart with a picture of each kind of slime she makes, the name of it, and how much it costs.  She has a legit business going on!  This girl kills me!  How cool is she!

 

Love ya Mary girl!

 

night out at the movies

Our family doesn't go to movies very often.  It is hard to justify the cost of movies now, especially when we can wait a while for it to come out in Redbox, and watch the movie in the comfort of our home, with our pillows, blankets, and treats.

Last weekend though, cabin fever was threatening to wipe out every last thread of sanity we had left, and we decided to go to a movie.

Lego Batman.

The kids were THRILLED!

They each got their own little kids popcorn box thing too, and it was as if they had won the lottery.

The movie was actually really funny and entertaining, and Molly almost sat through the whole thing.

It felt good to get out with the family and just do something fun.

The best part was when we were walking out of the theater after the movie and Luke turned to me with his cute little blue eyes and white blonde hair and said, "mom, that was the best movie ever in my life."

Good times.

I have this really cute little secretary type desk/table in the family room.

I saw it at the sore a few years ago, and save up my money for it.  It is so cute, and it is the style I like.  It is very much a big piece in our family room that I like to display and cover with cute family pictures.  I NEVER intended to use it for what it was actually made for.  Nope, just strictly decoration.  That is me for ya.

As with pretty much everything that I buy to look at, and not to use (like our décor pillows on the couches), my children quickly show me that things are to be used, not just admired.  I beg to differ, but I am completely outnumbered!

Basically, William has claimed one drawer, and Luke has claimed the other.  The cram, and I mean CRAM all of their "special" things into this one drawer, and somehow expect no one else to ever open the drawer, or get into their stuff.

They have also claimed the desk part of the desk now, so the thing is completely FULL of "special" clutter.

If you know me, even a tiny bit, you know that I despise clutter.  I hate it.  Oh, I loathe it.
But that's a post for another day.

So, my cute little secretary desk has been hijacked, to the fullest.

The killer is that these items that the boys have stuffed into my "desk that was only to be seen not used," have the same rules for their toys that they placed in the desk by breaking the very same rule of mine.

ooohhhh, deep.

Molly knows that she is not allowed to get into these special drawers with the boys special stuff in them, and she is really good about it...when the boys are home.

The second we get back from dropping Luke off at the bus though, this is what happens. Every.Single.Day.


Molly pulls the drawers open


 

oh the clutter!!!!

 Molly then takes each item out, one by one, and lines them all up on her trampoline.

She will continue to go through each and every item in William's drawer, and then move on to Luke's.

She is very careful with everything, but oh the joy and the thrill she gets!!!  If the boys only knew!

Sometimes, she invites her little buddy Beckham over, and they relish in the victory together.

About 10 minutes before it is time to go get the kids from the bus stop, I will tell Mary that we are going to get in the car.

She immediately, and in a complete panic and rush, will start putting everything back in the drawers.

 

Somehow she knows exactly what things go into what drawer.  She even knows where the items were in each drawer!  It is amazing and so hilarious!

She then closes each drawer.

She will do a quick walk around to make absolute sure she put everything away.

Then we get in the car, pick up the boys, Molly flashes her sweet little smile, gives her cute little hugs to her brothers, and the day goes on.

Molly and the boys will play the rest of the day, without Molly so much as even glancing at the drawers.

Oh...if they only knew.

sunday shenanigans

I don't know if I was more amazed that this was the first time a wall has been dented by a kid's head in our house, or with the fact that Luke still knew his name after the fact.

Boys!

Sunday!

What is the deal!?!

sammy boy turns 10

On Feb. 20th, my big eyed, big cheeked, soft hearted, fun loving Sammy Boy hit the double digits.  He turned 10.

I don't know how it happened, but it did.  Time is such a crazy thing.  For real.

Since it was an even number Birthday, Sam got to have a Birthday Party.

And boy, did he ever have a Birthday Party.

Sam really wanted to have his party at Nickel City. 
I had never been there before, but Sam had, and he loved it.
It is an arcade where the tokens only cost a Nickel.

So, I called the place, and reserved a party room, and purchased the party package.

Sam was more excited for his Birthday than he was for Christmas Day this year.  It was so cute!

To top it off, grandma JoJo and grandpa Lonnie came by to visit for a few days, so they were able to be there as well.  Pretty awesome surprise!

We piled all of Sam's friends and our families into three separate cars and blasted down the Canyon to Nickel City.

It did not disappoint!

It is definitely a dream come true place for a 10 year old.  In fact, all of my kids loved it.

I was a little weirded out with the whole arcade, creepy, dirty vibe of the place, but that did not deter Sam or his friends one bit!

Shae Bennett, Ethan Hubbard, Trey Cherry, Sam, Jace Phillips, Blake Sweat, Luke, William, Mary, Molly

Everybody got 40 tokens to play games with, and you could also earn tickets from the games.  With the tickets, you can purchase prizes at the end.

Since Sam was the Birthday boy, he got to spin this big wheel, and earn a ton of tickets!  He was thrilled!

creepy, just so creepy.  Glad Sam had fun though!

the Birthday wheel

Sam and his friends were also able to play a lazer tag game.  William was able to join in on that one.  That was by far the highlight!!!  It was actually so cool!  Mary played too, and kept on talking about how much fun it was.

The best part of the whole evening was watching Sam.  He was grinning not stop, the entire night.  His face was so lit up. 

That, more than anything, is what a Birthday is all about.  Sam felt loved, special, happy, excited, and worth all of the attention he was getting.

We ended up being there for hours! 

Luke kept playing one game over and over again, and he finally hit the jackpot!  He was giggling and giggling and giggling as the tickets kept coming out.  It was adorable!

Sam opened his presents in the party room, where we also sang to him and had his cake (dirt and worms).

It was a busy, high energy day, but it was worth every minute of it.

Sam is turning into such a great kid.  He is very kind and caring to his friends and to his siblings.  He loves to play.  He would play all day with his friends if we let him.
He is really into scouting, RC cars, nerf guns, slime and soccer.
His best friend is Blake Sweat, but he has a huge group of boys that he plays with all the time.  He is a great friend.
I love my Sammy Boy so much.  He is something special, and he has so much to offer the world.

Happy 10th Sam!

valentines day

Valentines Day was a fun one this year for us.
The boys all had Valentine parties at school, so they were excited! 
I made them red heart shaped pancakes for breakfast, and put chocolates under their plates. 
I also had to tease the boys a little and get them all squirmy and grossed out by asking them about girls they wanted to give Valentines to.  It was great.
In the end, I just made them all ask me to be their Valentine, and sent them on their way.

William at his class party

Sam with his homemade valentine box

Mary's school didn't do any sort of Valentine parties or anything, but I guess the thing to do now, for her age group, is to ask someone to be your Valentine.  It is kind of code for "I like you."

All week long Mary was telling me the low down on which boys were asking which girls to be their Valentines, and who was crushing on who.  It was very entertaining, in a Saved By The Bell sort of way.

I asked Mary if there was a boy out there that she was wishing would ask her to be their Valentine.  She told me that she just like Jett still, a neighborhood boy, but that he was way too cool and kind of shy to ever do something like that. 

She wasn't sad or anything, just matter of fact.

The day before Valentines day, when Mary walked in the door after school, she had a crazy look on her face.  I couldn't tell if she was ready to laugh, cry, scream, faint, throw up, or what.

She then told me that on the way home from the bus stop, Jett had built up the courage to ask Mary to be his Valentine.  That was the look...Mary was, dare I say....flustered and little bit flattered.
The actual story is totally adorable, and pretty hilarious. 

I guess Jett normally walks with Mary until he gets to his house.  On this day though, he passed his house and kept walking with Mary.  He then slowed down and started breathing really heavily.  Mary said she asked him if he was ok.  She said he looked like he was going to hyperventilate or pass out.  Oh, the poor boy!
 He then stopped walking, so Mary stopped too.
He then took in a huge breath, and slouched his shoulders and hung his head down. Basically like a deflated balloon.
Then, he mustered up all of the 12 year old courage he could, squared up his shoulders, lifted his head, and very quickly asked Mary to be his Valentine.

Mary said "sure," Jett said, "cool, " and then he turned and immediately walked home and shut the door.

That poor boy probably slid down that door into a huge relieved puddle on the floor after that.

ha!!

Young love!

It's the cutest.

Mary and I spent that evening picking out a gift for Jett.  It couldn't be "too lovey", red, have hearts on it, say anything about love, and it had to be cool and casual.  Good grief.  That is REALLY hard to find on Valentines Day.

We finally picked out a really cool insulated mug, a coke, and a candy bar.

On Valentines day, Jett texted Mary and said he would bring her gift over later.  He was too embarrassed to bring it to school.  Mary was thrilled, because she was finding every excuse she could think of not to bring his gift to school either.  What the?!?!?

gummy bracelets for her friends...and Jett's gift in the bag.

After school, Jett came over, with another friend, and basically threw Mary's gift to her.  She just slammed his gift quickly into his hands as well.  They quickly set the gifts aside, and went right on hanging out as if nothing had just happened.

It was astounding to watch...and hilarious.  I was cool though.  I kept a straight face, and didn't say a word.  It was so great to watch though.

Oh, the awkwardness of it all.

I gave Ben chocolates, he gave me chocolates and flowers.
The boys came home with hoards of chalky nasty candy hearts, and enough fun dip to keep them sugar crazed for the duration of the week.
Mary was love struck, in a weird,cute 12 year old way,
and Molly was oblivious to it all, and just happy to have suckers for days.

It was a day well spent.

madame president

Mary has always wanted to try out student council.  She has tried 4 times to run for class president, and every single time she has been first runner up.  Argh!  Two times it was a difference of one vote.  Double Argh!

Mary has been a great sport about it each time, and has supported and congratulated her friends that have won.  She hasn't ever said anything bad about it, or let it get to her.

She has been frustrated the past couple times, but she has quickly gotten over it and moved on.

I have been very proud of her for her supportive and great attitude.

The class president changes half way through the year at Mary's school, so this Monday it was time to pick a new president.

Mary came home with the application, she spent a good amount of time writing her speech and practicing it in front of me and Ben.

She made sure to get all of the signatures and grades she needed, and she headed off to school on Monday with high hopes.

I was nervous for her ALL DAY!  I had to hold back the desire to text her or to call her every five minutes to see if she had given her speech yet, if they had voted yet, if she had heard anything yet.

I didn't want to be too anxious though, and make it a bigger deal to Mary than it already was, especially if it didn't work out again.

Mary walked through the door after school, with a very solemn expression on her face.  My heart immediately sank.

She then broke out into a huge grin and said, "I won!  I finally won!  I get to be the class president for the rest of the year!"

She was so incredibly excited!  It was awesome.  I gave her a huge hug and asked her all about how it went down.  She happily chatted about it for the next 30 minutes or so.  ha!

She was clearly elated the next morning to go to her first student council meeting, even though it was an hour before school starts.  :)

I am so proud of her for not giving up year after year, and time after time.  I am even more proud of her for being a good sport when she lost to a good friend, or to a peer.  I am proud of the way she handled losing, and how she is handling winning, with grace, and with sensitivity for those who did not win. 

She is such a great girl.

Way to go Pres. Mary!!!!

Wahoo!

for real, seriously, for freaking real!

Warning: lots of poop and bum talk in this post.

So, this week was a rough one.  Let's get real.  It was hell...o (for the kids, when they read this later, mommy added the O for you)

Well, life with 5 young kids always has it's great moments

She is so cute it hurts

full of giggles, playing, peace, hugs and precious times

and it has its rip your hair out, eyeballs bulging, what the crap, where can I run, head into wall moments.

This week, seemed to have a lot of the latter in it...a lot.

Aside from potty training, this was Molly most of the time, if she wasn't on my hip or in my arms.

Don't let these pictures deceive you.  I am not a terrible mommy that just took a picture of my crying child and walked away.

I did take the picture, but I also had been holding her and comforting her to no avail for the last 30 minutes with her thrashing and head banging me in the nose and chin, and soon after the picture, I comforted her again, which lasted all of 2 seconds.

Her potty training went amazingly well!  Two days, done.  She had peeing down.  Miracle of all miracles.  After potty training 5 kids and a dog, the heavens had mercy on my soul.

The only accidents she has, is if she is out of the norm and I forget to remind her, or if she can't get to the toilet fast enough.

SCORE!

Pooping however, is another matter.  She refuses to poop in the toilet!  She hides in corners, and poops her pants every day.

It has completely baffled me.  I have read articles, talked to other mothers, and tried several bribery tactics, but to no avail.

The two times I found her hiding, I carried her to the toilet, where she screamed in complete agony, and then pooped followed by lots of blood.

Alarm bells!

So, Molly was pooping her pants, throwing fits, screaming at everyone, crying all day, and not letting me get more than 6 inches away...ever.  Including shower, eating, getting ready for the day, and so on.  I was worried about her, but also at my wits end!  The doctor was not answering.

Add William and Luke deciding they were "sick" on Friday (which is normally my hard/favorite workout day, caffeine day..happy happy joy joy, get Molly to sleep and watch my favorite Hulu show day, and my get ready for the weekend day).  I usually love Fridays.

This Friday was an epic disaster in every way.

The whole week was insanely busy every single day, the weather was grey and gloomy, the kids have been acting like they want to kill eachother, and Molly has been a hot mess.

Yeah, there's my rant, and there's my week.

It sucked.
Friday sucked the worst.  By far.

But, it did finally convince me to get Molly in to a doctor.  If my doctor wasn't available, we would go to the after hours clinic, and wait forever, and then some more.
I had had enough, and I suspected that she had strep in her bum, again.

I took her to the after hours clinic, and sure enough, she tested positive for anal strep for the 4th time in the four months since she got her tonsils out.  You want the real irony???  The first diagnosis was just 2 days, TWO DAYS after she got her tonsils out.  (slam palm into forehead)

I learned more about how this form of strep feels, and I admit, I wanted to dig a hole for all mean mommy's in the world, full of all things awful, and jump in.

Basically, the horrid, want to stab yourself, grimacing pain you feel when you swallow something like chips or captain crunch cereal when you have strep throat (yes, I have LOTS of experience), is exactly what it feels like for Molly, in her bum, when she poops.

Holy crap! Literally.

And, the overall pain you feel in your throat when you have strep, she feels in her bum, all day long. Not to mention, fever, body aches, chills, the works.  She did have that last week, but she also had a bad cold, so I didn't know what was causing it.

It was so bad, that she was bleeding when she was pooping, and her insides in that area are a disaster. It hurts her so badly to poop, that she holds it, and therefore gets totally backed up.

It is not at all normal to get strep in your bum at Molly's age, and it is even more abnormal to have it back to back like this.

We are back to square freaking one.  ARGH!

The doctors are worried that her bum has the same drug-resistant bacteria in it that her tonsils had.  Unfortunately, there is nothing to "remove" in that area, like the tonsils,  to cure it.

Who knows where the strep would decide to breed next anyway.

The problem is, that if this keeps happening, Molly could have damage to her rectum, her intestines (from not pooping because it hurts), and from secondary skin infections from the horrible rash that is always raw, open, and present.

Joy.

So, we are back to getting some tests done.

The doctor referred us to a pediatric infectious disease specialist, that will be calling us on Monday to set an appointment. 

We are hoping and praying that he can figure out what in her body is not fighting off the strep, and find a way to strengthen it.  Most likely an auto immune disease, but she has already been tested for tons of them already. Everything came back negative...and the whole process freaked me out.  The list of diseases went on for miles and gave me nightmares.

We really have no clue, but we are so hopeful that this doctor can help.  People fly in to see him from around the country, so I am hoping that says something. We are very lucky that he is here in Utah.

Poor little Molly girl.
Get better sweetheart.

good eats

I have been doing my low carb lifestyle now for about 4 1/2 months.  I have loved how it has changed my body, my energy, my overall feeling of health, and my confidence.

I don't completely cut out carbs, or any other food/nutrient group, but I just eat really low carb.
My body responds really well to it, and I can feel it.

The past few weeks though, I been getting crazy bored with the same ol' foods.

I eat loads and loads of

Every morning for breakfast, it is always 3 eggs, lots of cheese, and once a week I will add bacon or sausage.

Breakfast, I really don't mind. Pretty dang good, filling, lots of protein, and zero carbs.

Lunch is always chocolate Shakeology, with lots of Adams Natural Peanut Butter, one banana, and ice and water. This will never, ever get old.  I crave it every single day.

I don't usually need snacks anymore. If I go into ketosis, where I really restrict carbs, I feel full a lot of the time.

When I do snack though... it is peanut butter bites, string cheese, almonds, olives, cucumbers and ranch, or a pepperoni stick.  Nothing too snazzy, but it does the trick.

Dinner is where things are getting frustrating for me.  I am getting so sick of meat and cheese.  I don't crave breads or pastas anymore, but I am just bored.  I make my family the dinners I have always made, and I pick out what I can eat, but I am just so ready for a full meal that I can stuff in my face.

So....I ordered a few books, and BAM...the past few days for my taste buds have rocked!!!

yes, the one on the left is Atkins...no, I don't follow the Atkins diet...but I eat very similar foods to those who do.

First up was this..

I have seen a ton of recipes with zucchini noodles instead of regular pasta, but it sounds so disgusting to me.  I have never liked zuchinni plain, or squash.  Zuchinni bread on the other hand....
My boredom got the best of me, and I decided to try it.

Lucky for me, our local grocery store sells these.


LOVE the name!  Fresh cut squash and zucchini noodles.

I was all set to buy a vegetable noodle maker, but lo and behold, I walk in the store, and this greets me.  SCORE!  It was meant to be I guess. :)

I made it last night, took one bite, ( I admit, I grimaced) and literally just started beaming!  It was so flippin' good!  Seriously!  It tasted exactly like Fettuccini Alfredo.  I used these noodles, a little heavy cream (zero carbs), a tiny spoonful of cream cheese (no carbs), loads of garlic, and lots of other seasonings, and that was it.

It was insanely good!  And to test it to make sure it wasn't just good to me, and my palate that is not used to sweet things anymore and kind of weird now according to my family, I gave a bite to Molly.
Hey, she was asking.

It turned into a war over who could eat more.  She gobbled it up so fast! 
YES!!!!!

This recipe gave me so much excitement, that I spent the next day looking through the cookbooks whenever I got a chance.  I came home from the grocery store today with all sorts of stuff that I would never have dreamed would be in my pantry.

Over half of it, I didn't even know what it was, and had to google pictures of it just to find it in the store!

Almond flour meal...what the?

 OK, see that xanthan gum crap there to the left of the Almost Flour Meal.  Exactly...what the what is Zanthan gum.  I went to THREE stores looking for it, without knowing where to look or what to look for.  Seriously, this stuff was impossible to find.  And what the freak is it anyway.  The name sounds pretty freaky to me.  But hey, I am supposed to cook with it, and it is supposed to keep all this healthy stuff sticking together, so whatev.

milk that tastes like dirt... and my life saver,  Heavy Cream.

yes, I know what this is.  Just don't ever use it.  Looks like I will be now.



I know what this is too...and I use it in everything! It got it's picture here because I like it, a lot.

I cannot wait to mix all of these crazy random ingredients together, along with this stuff, and actually bring pancakes back into my life again....for only 3 carbs per pancake!!!
I am just praying it doesn't taste like cement and cardboard with sugar free jam on top.

lots of this will be happening, in the cooking, not on Mary's eczema she gets on her lips. Who would've thunk.

I also bought Vanilla Almond White Protein Whey powder.  ummm, yeah, the name probably doesn't go in that order, but it was another one that was so freaking hard to find! I had zero idea what it was or what it looked like.

When I did find it, I slammed my palm to my forehead in a "doh" moment.
It is a protein powder Becky, you know, by the protein powder.
Good one...Good one.

Aside from my cookbook, zoodle alfredo find...I had the BEST FIND EVER today.

Friday and Saturday are my caffeine days. The are my hardest workout days, and it is the weekend, where my to do list around the house is always longer than the hours in the day, and lets face it, all of the kids are home, and they have lots and lots of energy and needs.

I normally drink zipfizz, because it is extremely healthy, and the caffeine comes from natural sources, so I don't get headaches or crash from it.

On some Saturday's though, when zipfizz isn't quite getting me through, I will go to my favorite place ever.

BEST dirty soda's and cookies in the world...I swear.

I usually get a "Paradise"...Diet Coke with sugar free vanilla and sugar free coconut. (two pumps of each please)

Today though, I branched out and got a "Dr. Cream Berry."  A Dr. Pepper with Raspberry Syrup and Cream.

It sounded so stinking good to me I was salivating at the window...but it had too many carbs and sugar for me to be able to enjoy it after the hard workout I had just done...so I tweaked my order. Go me.  I thought out of the box.  Not my style unfortunately for me, but I did it. And it worked!

I got a Diet Dr. Pepper, and 2 pumps of sugar free raspberry syrup.

I brought it home, and added my own heavy cream to it (zero carbs and 1g. of sugar).

I took one sip, and it was so dang amazing, that I literally started laughing and cheering. Yup, right there in the middle of the kitchen.  Shoes still on, grocery bags hanging from my arms, sweaty gym clothes, and all.
Mary and Sam stared at me like I had gone completely mad. Even though it had caffeine, I made all of the kids try it. 

They hated it.

What the?!?!

Better for me..no one sneaking sips.  Mine..all mine.


It was sooooooooo good!  Holy Crap!  I actually grabbed my keys to get in the car and buy another one, but Molly pooped her pants right there in the middle of the kitchen (all of my excitement must have gotten the best of her), and diverted me. 

By FAR the best find I have found so far.  I absolutely cannot wait until next Saturday, just for this.  It feels like I am waiting for Christmas..for real.

Next up, the second best find of the day.

Yup, two great finds in one day.  Believe me...after the week it has been, this was a God send.

Again, it is Atkins.  Not because I follow their diet (I give myself cheat meals once in while, and my lunch has PLENTY of carbs to not work on this diet anyway), but holy crap, this little nugget of goodness blew my mind.

Some of the other Atkins treats I have found taste like chemicals and plastic to me.
This treat however....YUMMY!
I am a caramel lover..the good kind of caramel.  As in Rocky Mountain Chocolate Company Sea Salt Caramel Chocolates kind of caramel lover.

This sweet, blessed, heavenly little bar brought caramel back into my life!  (disclaimer:  it also brings a massive load of bloating and gas as well), but it is WELL worth it.  At least to me.  Ben and the kids would beg to differ.

Needless to say, it was a good low carb food week for me.  I found some new recipes and some awesome treasures!!

Oh, and this is also arriving in the mail in a few days.

Bring on the homemade salsa, shredded chicken taquitos where the chicken is actually ground up, pie crusts that I can finally eat (made out of nuts), and a whole new world of cooking bliss!

Oh, and as another side note.
I try to drink lots of water, I really do, but I just need flavor, ya know.
These do the trick every time!  I may or may not have a fridge full of these at all times.

And that's a wrap folks.

Hopefully I will be posting again in a few weeks with a bunch more new and yummy eats I have discovered in my fake sugar, weird ingredient, somewhat gassy, yet amazing low carb healthy Becky world!

keep on keeping on

Mary had her first tumbling meet of the season a couple weeks ago.

She is a level 8 this year...officially upper level!

Because of the situation with the new gym they are practicing, and with hurting her wrist this summer, Mary was more nervous than I have ever seen her.

The morning of the meet, I couldn't find Mary.  Sam told me she was outside.

"Huh?"  We had just had a huge storm the night before, and it was FREEZING cold outside as well.

Sure enough I looked outside, and there was Mary.

She was in her competition leotard and winter coat.  She was on the trampoline that had about 18 inches of snow on it, and she was shoveling the snow off with our shovel.

I opened the back door and asked her what on earth she was doing.

Her response:
"I am shoveling off the snow so I can get one more practice in before my meet!"

I wish more than anything I had taken a picture of her at that moment.

My little girl out there, in a competition leotard, shoveling snow off the trampoline in order to squeeze in just one more practice.

THAT is some serious dedication.

She just didn't feel ready for the meet, and that was a very new feeling to her.  She has always gone into her competition season feeling confident and ready.

It broke my heart to see her struggling so much with her confidence in not only her tumbling, but in her coaches, in her wrist, and in herself.

I wish I could say that the meet put all of those fears aside, and that she just blew it out of the water.
It was not the case, in fact, it was just the opposite.

Mary was a pile of nerves for double mini.  She actually pulled off her passes beautifully, but her landing on of them was off, and she not only took a step, but took a step out of bounds.  Mary is great at sticking her landings, this was a confidence thing for sure!  She came away with 5th place, which was great, but not was she is capable of, and she knew it, so she was frustrated.

Next up was floor.
The floor was extremely hard, and several upper level tumblers were falling, hurting their wrists, and not able to get much height.
That was a bad recipe for Mary, with a wrist that was just recovered from an injury.

To make things worst, the judges wouldn't let her wear her normal wrist brace, because it is black, and they have to be nude color for the meet. (don't get me going...don't even get me going)

So, Mary did her warm up pass, with cold muscles, because she waited two hours in between events, on a hard, floor, with a crappy brace and a tender wrist.

After her warm up pass, she immediately grabbed her wrist and looked panicked.  She glanced up at me and started crying.

Now, Mary does not cry much, at least with tumbling.  I have never seen her cry at a meet, or at a practice.  Neither has her coach.  So, the fact that she was crying was a big deal.

Her coach was nowhere to be seen, which only added to my fury, and her nerves and confusion with what to do.

I told Mary to just scratch the event, but she just kept saying she could do it.

So, she did it.

And she actually did dang well.

The only problem is that she could not do her full twist at the end of her second pass, because she did not have enough power because of her hurt arm.

After her second pass, she completely fell apart.  She was shaking, pale, and in tons of pain.

I was madder than a hornet.  Coach wasn't anywhere to be seen, judges made her take off her brace, and the meet was so behind that she had to tumble on cold muscles.

I am a momma, hear me ROAR!!!

Mary ended up with 4th place, which is amazing for not even doing one of her skills.  She was still discouraged though.

We got home that night, and talked and talked and talked.  She thought about quitting, she thought about trying All Star Cheer, she talked about switching to a different gym, she thought about sticking with it, and so on.

She was really upset. 

She is finally an upper level tumbler, which was a big goal of hers.  She is finally doing the tricks and skills she has wanted to do for so long, and she is almost at the peak of her tumbling.

It can be really frustrating to move to a smaller gym without the equipment to accommodate upper levels, have three weeks off tumbling right before a meet, due to the move, have a coach is seems to be getting disinterested, and to have an injury to top it off. 

Ben gave Mary a blessing, and I told her to just keep on keeping on and see how things unfold. 

I told Mary that it is up to her to decide where to go from here, and to look deep and see what she really wants, really loves, and really wants to do.

She took it seriously.

She came to me a few days later saying that she wants to "keep on keeping on," and try to overcome the obstacles and see what comes of it.  She wasn't ready to give up, not yet.

That's my girl!

So...she is in physical therapy 2-3 times a week getting her wrist worked on, she is busting her bum at practice, doing everything she can on the double mini and trampoline to perfect her skills that don't require her wrist, to get her form down, and to just keep moving forward.

the "wax dip" at physical therapy is her favorite.  It is a deep tissue heating strategy.

Her physical therapist is awesome.  He has experience with tumblers and athletes, so he understands Mary's desire and need to get back on the floor and get ready for her next meet. 
He has seen this injury before, and he knows what to do for it, how to help it heal faster, how to wrap it, and how to help Mary learn to push to a certain point of pain, but then back off when it is "bad" pain.
She is quickly learning healing pain versus injury pain.

She is quickly learning all about tissue massage, stem machine, ultrasound, wax dipping, range of motion exercises, and so on.  She is being a champ through the whole thing.

Mary is definitely right in the middle of a big learning moment in her life.

One of the reasons I love sports so much, and really hope my children will all get involved with one sport or another, is because of all of the learning, discipline, self esteem, confidence, and sometimes keep on keeping on when the going gets tough.

That is the most important lesson.  When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

Those are life lessons that are so valuable.

I am proud of Mary for fighting through this rough patch, and I pray every day that she can pull through, be stronger for it, and fight her way back to the confident, powerful, and beautiful tumbler that she is.

dear toothfairy

To the tooth fairy,

I pulled out my tooth

but I lost it at school because it fell out at school.

 

FROM

SAM

 

The letter worked.  The tooth fairy came, he got $3.00.  Yeah, yeah, I know.  Inflation is a killer, especially with molars.

Happy day for Sammy boy...and the most adorable letter ever!

winter of all winters...so far

We have had quite the January so far!  After years of below average snow fall, and drought, we have kind of gotten used to more mild winters, without a ton of snow.

This January is making up for it!!!

We have been blasted with one big storm after the next after the next after the next.

The ski resorts around here are at 200%  with snow coverage right now.  Ben and the kids, aside from Molly, are totally utilizing that this year!

If it isn't snowing, it is gorgeous and sunny, but usually in the negatives and snot freezing, angry thoughts, cold.

The neighborhood looks like a wonderland.  There are igloos, snow forts, snow tunnels, and snow man everywhere.  The piles of snow go up to the swings, the trampoline, over most of the bushes, and some are even high enough to sled down.  It is a kid paradise....if they like the snow...which my children do, I mean seriously, Ben is their dad.

It is hard to see, but this is a path where the sidewalk is.  The walls of snow on both sides are taller than Luke.

The snow in our yard....not the drifts, but the actual snow in the yard, is up to the bottom of our swings.

The snow is beautiful, when it is fresh and when the sun is out.  There is also something to be said of the silence and peace in the air as big huge flakes flutter down from the sky.

There is unfortunately something to be said about freezing my butt off, getting stuck in the dang driveway 3 times so far, my little kids being trapped inside because the snow it literally too deep, and just the feeling of never ending gray and cloudy skies.

On those "winter blues" days, I keep telling myself over and over and over, it is beautiful, it is peaceful, it is helping with the drought, and it is making for some awesome waterskiing in the summer!

Oh sweet, dear, blessed, warm, green, sunny summer.  How I miss you.

In the mean time, Ben can enjoy is snow skiing dream winter, my kids can have a winter like none other, and I can start wearing warmer clothes to the gym.  :)

common ground

All 5 of my children are similar yet very different.  I have always had a goal as their mother, to find common ground with each child.  Something that me and my child both enjoy doing, or that we both feel or understand.  Something in common that can bond us, give us something to do together, or talk about, or just feel a mutual understanding about.

With some of my children it has been easy, with others, it is a little more hidden and difficult to find.

I feel like it is so important though, because I really want to have a solid connection, love and communication with my children, no matter what it is about. 

Luke and I discovered some common ground this week, and it makes me laugh to think about how "Luke" it is.

Luke is extremely mechanical minded.  He is obsessed with tools, building, fixing, creating, gadgets, machinery, tractors, police cars, police uniforms with all of the "police stuff" on the belt, and so on.  He is not only interested in this kind of thing, but he is incredibly talented when it comes to creating, engineering, figuring out, and reading and following picture directions, and so on.

He has been playing with his bucket of Legos lately, that we have had around the house for about 2 years. 
He spent about an hour building something, and then came running up to me to show me.
I seriously couldn't believe it!
He had no map, or directions, or instructions, and he had built an amazingly detailed and perfectly constructed boat.   It was pretty unbelievable! 

You can't see, but the boat had an engine inside, a control panel, a gas tank, and numerous other small details inside. 

He kept telling me that he wished he had a "map" of how he built his boat, so if it broke, he could remember how to fix it.

It was at that moment that I decided he just might be ready for a real Lego set, with an instruction book, and actual things to make.

I told Luke we could get his money he has earned, and go buy a Lego set if he wanted to.  His excitement was hilarious!  He was bursting out the door, full speed ahead and jumping up and down.

We got to the Lego isle, and of all of the Lego sets, he immediately grabbed a set that made a very intricate police car, a bad guy race car, and a huge police helicopter.

It was for ages 8 and up, and I was worried it would frustrate Luke, and discourage him.  He was determined though, and he was so excited, so we got it.

He did not even put the box in the cart.  He lugged that thing around the entire store, through the parking lot, in the car, and into the house.

Right when we got home, before he even took off his jacket or boots, he opened the box and got to it.

I decided to get him started and to show him how to follow the instructions.

Again, I was shocked with how natural he was with it, and how he just went to work.

He did get stuck with a few tricky parts, so I helped him.  I ended up "helping" him all day, because it was so fun! I discovered that I was having a great time with Legos too!  I really enjoyed building legos! ha!

Luke and I spent most of the day, on and off, building the police car, the "bad guy car" and the helicopter.  Once the helicopter was complete, the set was done, and Luke was over the moon!

this says it all

Once we were done, Luke started playing with them, and hasn't stopped for the past 4 days!

Every time they break, he pulls out his "map" and is usually able to fix it.  If it is a big break, I fix it, and it is pretty fun.

I think we are on to something here!

Even better...the bigger boys are seeing how much fun Luke is having, and they have joined in as well.

Sam helping Luke fix the "bad guy car."  After the fact, Sam asked for his own Lego set.  Yes!

William started making his own "boat,' and it was awesome! 

All three boys playing with Legos.  The TV is off, they are getting along, and they are using their brains.  Mom's dream come true!

 

To be honest, I am tempted to get Luke a big huge set...like the real deal.  It would be so much fun for us to do together.  Definitely common ground with us.

Legos rock!!! (now if they just weren't so blasted expensive!)