Snips and snails and puppy dog tails

Zach and his buddy Trace spent a couple hours this afternoon catching lizards at the neighborhood park.  In the middle of their adventure they came home to show us their Mason jar prey: two tiny reptiles.  

Just before it was time to come home, I walked over to the park to capture pictures of the hunt.  When the clock demanded the boys' return, they had trapped six lizards in all.

After a morning full of kids fighting over video games and TV, I was so happy to see the boys doing things boys should do: roaming the great outdoors and getting dirty until dinner time.

Because we have children

The other afternoon, I walked into my bedroom.  I planned to take a nap, but Stanley was in my spot.

Gavin and Lexi love playing "sleepover."  They drag pillows and blankets all over the house and make beds for themselves.  Their favorite resting spots are the treadmill and the stairs.

At our house, all the kids brush their teeth in Mom and Dad's bathroom.  This routine developed when we bought an electric toothbrush.  It has four heads, so Mom, Dad, Zach, and Tyler all use it.  We have four kinds of toothpaste and six toothbrushes in the same drawer, which, ironically, resides in the smallest bathroom in the house.  It is tiny but gets LOTS of traffic.  Zach recently decided he likes the taste of my toothpaste.  I don't mind sharing, but Zach can't ever remember to replace the cap on the toothpaste, and it drives me nuts.  When this tube runs out, I'm labeling the new one "MOM ONLY."

The kids love goldfish crackers.  I hate them.

The end.

Behind curtain #1

I'm a bad mom.

I let Gavin and Lexi shower together unsupervised tonight.

They were having a rollicking good time.  I could hear a fair number of bumps and crashes through the wall, along with lots of giggles.  I decided I didn't care.  But then there was a big THUNK.  I couldn't mentally identify what might have made that sound, so I went to investigate.

Gavin peeked through the shower curtain and produced the ceramic soap dish, which, up until 25 seconds before, had been cemented to the tile wall for approximately 25 years.

"How did that happen, Gavin?"

"I just pulled really hard and it came off."

Oh.  Well, I guess pulling really hard might just make that soap dish come right off.

"I'm sorry.  I'm sorry.  I'm sorry."

Oh brother.

The everyday

October is always a busy month for us.  Between fall festivities, Zach's birthday, Halloween, and the inevitable school projects, we always have lots of event-type posts on the old blog.  That's fine and good, but some of the everyday stuff gets lost in the shuffle.  It's the everyday stuff I want to remember most!

For example, this image should be recorded in the annals in our family history:

Zach found his wall-washing chore rather unpleasant, so he spent a little while as a Storm Trooper.  Note: this did not help him accomplish the work more quickly.

And then there was the day that I actually captured some of Kate's fabulous smiles on camera!  Even better was the song and dance from Dad going on behind the camera.

Kate goes to sleep between 7:00 and 8:00 every night.  If she happens to fall asleep in our arms, she's almost impossible to wake.  One night when I laid her on the couch in order to fashion her nighttime burrito, this is what she did:

On Friday Garry and I used our remaining Groupon and took the Littles to the pumpkin patch again.  With an earlier start, smaller crowds, and a much more advantageous adult:child ratio, we had a great time!

Lexi got a new hair-do the other day.  It was completely darling until she tore it out.

Part of being identified with the TAG (Talented and Gifted) program at school is setting academic goals in line with the students' interests.  Both Zach and Tyler made goals to complete extra science projects this fall.  Zach built a terrarium and aquarium at home to mirror those he built at school.  Instead of giving his plants water every other day, he will give them milk.  It will be interesting to compare the results to his class project!

Tyler's class will do science fair projects in the spring.  Tyler is going to be the class prototype, doing his project this fall.  He will give weekly presentations (maybe on video!) to his class on the various steps required for a science fair project.  For a couple of weeks he has been reading science fair books and has finally picked a project.  He has begun researching his topic, as well.  He's doing a great job so far!  

Tonight Garry went home teaching at 7:00.  We finished dinner and Family Home Evening at 6:55, so I was left to run the bedtime routine alone.  The boys, in particular, were really wound up from an afternoon of silly play.  Sure enough, as I went about cleaning the kitchen, I heard giddy shrieks of laughter in the basement.  I went downstairs several times to turn off lights and tuck in giggling boys.  On about my fourth trip downstairs, I found all the lights on (again!) and Gavin jumping on his bed.  He was wearing Buzz Lightyear wings...and every single sock he owned.  His feet were giant.  I laughed and laughed and then took a picture.  Then I tucked the boys in again and went back upstairs.  Ten minutes later, at 8:25, the boys were at it again.  This time I found THREE boys with giant sock feet.  They were laughing hysterically.  Garry came home during this time and came downstairs to locate the source of laughter.  Then HE finally got the boys to go to sleep.

When they took off their socks, Garry found that Gavin was wearing 16 pairs; Zach, 12; and Tyler, 11.  Wow!  Those kids definitely made a memory tonight!
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Today's joys:


*Remembering past Primary programs, including the way Zach used to hide under chairs, stand silently at the mic, and make a spectacle
*Singing my favorite hymn (#85) in Relief Society
*Giggling about huge sock feet instead of yelling
*Making a bowl of caramel popcorn just for myself
*Thinking about Mesa High's homecoming queen
*Feeling grateful for the people who really "get me"
*Finishing The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

Messy, explosive, and FUN

Zach's turn for an every-other-year party came around with his 10th birthday.  We planned the theme back in June, when I hosted two rounds of Mom Camp: Science Edition.  I think Zach was a little worried that a science party wouldn't be cool enough for his friends, who all seem to have their parties at gymnastics gyms, indoor theme parks, and laser tag venues.  Happily, the party did not disappoint.  It's nice to have a few points in the parental "win" column.

We thought it would be fun to have Zach's party on his actual birthday.  We circulated these invitations to a few neighborhood friends, a few church friends, and a few school friends (sadly, there is no overlap in these groups).

I lined up a few key elements that ultimately contributed to the party's amazing success.  First, Garry took a half day off work and helped with final preparations and the party execution.  Second, a sweet friend watched Kate at her house during the party.  And third, I did tons of prep work beforehand.

I love all of the "before" pictures Garry took.  The neat rows of jars and the uniformly-filled cups and the tucked in chairs and the decorated table bring order and peace to my soul.

At 4:00, the guests began to arrive, and order flew out the window!  With one no-show, we had 11 boys plus Gavin and Lexi (who were full party participants).  Can you say, "Full house?"

The kids first constructed marshmallow-and-toothpick towers.  Everyone thought this would be super easy, but it proved to be a trickier venture than expected!  Tommy won the prize for tallest tower with a 13.5-inch free-standing structure.  Second place went to Jacob, whose tower was 10 inches tall.

While I led the kids in making Gak (recipe here), Garry ran to Little Caesar's to get pizza.  [Note to self: sending the help away during a very messy project is a bad choice.]  Despite my logistical error, making Gak may have been the highlight of the party.  The recipe worked perfectly and the boys were thrilled with the results.  Once they mixed their goop into malleable blobs, they enjoyed throwing them into the air.  And at each other.

Then it was time for dinner and some free play in the back yard.  Having glorious afternoon weather at the end of October was certainly a blessing from heaven!  The kids took their pizza and root beer to the playground and had a marvelous time.

I took advantage of the empty house and cleaned up a bit.  The mess was rather extreme.

After dinner, Garry helped the boys play with fire, which was also very exciting.  During Mom Camp this experiment largely failed, but Garry played around with a few combustibles this week and determined that cotton balls produce the perfect flame.  Twelve out of 13 eggs were sucked into the boys' jars.  The kids' reactions were priceless.

We released the energetic crowd into the back yard again, this time because we had lots of time left to fill.  The kids found all kinds of crazy implements with which to start a friendly war. I laughed at Nathan, who chose a unique form of camouflage in the wagon.

Garry and I quickly prepared a last-minute activity (one we initially nixed from the agenda).   Water+oil+alka seltzer = lava lamps!

   

Zachary had a blast opening gifts from his friends.  Wow!  They were quite generous gifts, too.  Zach is a lucky boy.

Our final "experiments" of the evening were outdoors.  First the boys played with film canister rockets (vinegar and alka seltzer), and then, the grand finale was Coke and Mentos geysers.  We launched four of those.  Several of the boys soaked themselves in the Coke spray.  I'm sure their mothers loved me for that!

Finally, as it was dark and getting pretty chilly outside, we dried off the kids and went inside for cake and ice cream.  Somehow we didn't get an aerial shot of the birthday cake, which had a black radioactive symbol on the top.  Simple design, lopsided cake....not my finest work, but good enough for the birthday boy!  He blew out his candles with gusto.

The party ended at 7:00 p.m.  Our children were in bed 45 minutes later.  It took Garry and I another hour or so to clean up the party rooms.  I haven't looked in the back yard yet, but I'm sure it, too, is littered with remnants of Zach's raucous, loud, crazy, messy, and super FUN birthday party.

Now that we've got the science party all figured out, I think each of our kids has to have one.  But not for a while.  I need to catch up on my sleep first.

...

Today's joys:

*Having the health, strength, and energy to host a party.

*Having a big enough space to host a party.

*Playing with my kids and other people's kids.

*Watching eggs get sucked into bottles.

*Watching 10-year-old boys watch eggs get sucked into bottles.

*Seeing Gavin and Lexi revel in a "big kid" event.

*Having a husband who happily helps me with all my hare-brained ideas.