Public Restroom Nightmare!

We just returned home from a fun vacation. We spent time with both sides of the family and were go, go, going the entire time we were gone. Now we need a rest from our vacation! I have tons of pictures and stories and someday I may actually get around to posting them, but I did have to get this story down so I wouldn't forget.

I drove 5 1/2 hours by myself with the 4 kids to my parents home. I figured since I survived my last solo trip I could certainly do it again. Let me just say that the kids actually did really well this trip. No one even cried! There were a few moments when Isaac was causing problems, but this time I brought plenty of snacks that I kept distributing which somehow kept everyone happy. The kids weren't very interested in watching the DVD player so we sang songs, played games and talked a lot about what we were seeing out our windows. Talking with the kids made the time pass quickly for me as well.

But what solo trip with 4 kids would be complete without some sort of comical episode. We stopped halfway through our trip to eat lunch and nurse the baby. We had just ordered our food and sat down to eat when Samuel loudly declared for most everyone to hear that he needed to poop (a mom's worst nightmare when she is alone and has 4 kids she's going to need to take to the public restroom!!!).

Well this was just great timing! I couldn't send Samuel to the restroom by himself because the Wendy's where we were eating was attached to a gas station and the restroom was not even close to where we were sitting. I couldn't take Samuel to the bathroom and leave Bella in charge of the other kids and I couldn't take all the kids and leave the food we had just sat down to eat. So I told Samuel he was just going to have to hold it and promptly declared that everyone needed to eat as fast as they could. Poor Samuel after a few minutes couldn't even sit down and kept telling me it was coming! Somehow we managed to gulp down all of our food, get everything in the garbage and head to the restroom - only to find a line which extended out the door!!

The restroom had three stalls and was very tight. I really wanted to usher us all into the handicap stall, but it was not available once we finally got inside so I had to send Samuel to the first available stall. Then another stall opened so I sent Bella in. She was quickly done, but Samuel was taking FOREVER! I knew this was going to be a problem because he is not quick when it comes to this act. Let's just say that the next 15 or 20 minutes were not pleasant as I tried to entertain 3 kids in a very tight space while at least 9 other women came in to use the facilities. (This was a very happening restroom!)

I was thinking of every sort of game you can possible play while stuck in a public restroom. I told Isaac and Bella to pretend they were glue and see who could stick to the wall the longest. Then I had them wash their hands a few times. They were entertained by the hand dryer for a few minutes. Then I was having them jump on different squares. All the while women kept coming in and having to manuever around us to get into the other stalls. I finally stuck Jenna in her carseat under one of the sinks. I kept asking Samuel if he was hurrying. He would give me a loud play by play for everyone to hear every so often. This really was a comical nightmare!!

FINALLY Samuel was done and we got back in the car. I still had to nurse the baby but was so thankful she didn't start to cry while we were in the restroom for so long. All told, the stop took us 50 minutes! Chalk this up to another comical experience I survived with 4 little ones.

Jenna Update

A quick Jenna update:
I can't believe how quickly my baby is growing and constantly changing!


She is grabbing and trying to eat everything within her reach. I was packing our suitcases the other morning and found Jenna on the floor sucking on the legs of the suitcase.

She is also rolling all over the place. She rolls from one end of the front room to the next and even ends up on the concrete many times. The kids are very "helpful" and often are dragging her back onto the carpet.

And I'm very sad that it's time to say good bye to the bassinet for the last time. Now it's on to the playpen for Jenna. Because we have had all of our kids close together Samuel is the only baby that has gone from the bassinet to the crib. All the others have gone from the bassinet to the playpen because another kid is still in the crib.

Chuck is very excited that we can now start getting rid of some of the baby "stuff". Today I cleaned out my closet and have a big bag to take to the DI. It makes me sad to think I won't have another baby, but I actually didn't feel bad at all as I bagged up all my many sizes of inbetween clothes. Good riddance to the "fat" post baby pants and shirts!

Tonight I finally gave Jenna her first feeding of Rice Cereal. It's funny how with Samuel I was so excited to start introducing food and just couldn't wait until he was 4 months so I could feed him. Now with Jenna it's much easier to just nurse and not have to feed her, but since she's 5 months and showing a lot of interest in food I decided it's finally time to slowly start.

Just look at everyone gathered around for the big event. Jenna actually LOVED the rice cereal. The only bad thing was she kept grabbing the spoon and trying to stick it in her mouth by herself. Isaac was very hard to feed because he was always grabbing the spoon and trying to feed himself. I guess Jenna will probably be the same way. Oh my baby is just growing too fast!

Samuel Update

Time for a quick Samuel update:


Samuel had his Joy School graduation in June. This was Samuel's second Year of Joy School. We had an all boy group and they were a lot of fun to teach. I really love the Joy School program!



I did have to post one picture from our family vacation. My brother Brady bet Samuel $10 that he couldn't eat this HUGE piece of pizza (this after Samuel had already eaten one fairly decent size of pizza). Well, Brady didn't understand that Samuel loves to make money. We all watched and laughed as Samuel finished every bite of that huge slice and then was so excited to collect his money.

And tonight I took Samuel to the store with me so he could buy a Bakugan with his money he collected from my brother. He has been wanting one for so long, but the kids have so many toys that we told him he needed to earn the money and buy it himself. He was so excited to give the lady at Wal-Mart his money and then he was even more excited when he got his very own receipt.

We have been brainstorming about what to do with our kids as far as money and jobs. Samuel has been begging us for awhile now to get a job chart so he can work and earn money. I think we've finally come up with a system that will work for our family. We have decided that there are certain responsibilities and jobs that each kid needs to do just because they are a part of the family and then if they want to earn money they can do extra tasks. I'm sure we'll be tweaking the system as we go along, but Chuck and I both feel good about implementing this idea in our family.

Bella made this door hanger for Chuck in primary. Samuel was looking at the sign and made us laugh when he said, "If your the #1 dad, then who's dad is the #2 and #3 dad?". Then today he told Chuck that Grandpa Clayton and Grandpa Paul are both number zero and that is better than #1 since zero comes before 1. He just makes me laugh with all his heavy thinking!

Father's Day

This is my amazing Dad! Happy Father's Day!

I was working on a project the other day and was thinking how sometimes as a parent you wonder if the kids hear a word you say. Then I started thinking how a few simple conversations I had with my dad had such HUGE impacts on some of my choices in life. I'm sure most of the time he didn't realize how closely I was listening, but I have always had great respect for this wonderful man. It's because of conversations with my dad that I made choices regarding playing the piano, pursuing an engineering degree and marrying Chuck. It makes me stop and think how little moments and conversations I have with my kids will affect their choices in life. It makes me want to be a better mom! I feel blessed to have such a fun and hardworking dad who is also an amazing grandpa to my little ones.

For Father's Day the kids made and decorated ties for Chuck and the grandpa's. When I told the kids what we were doing and showed them the ties I had cut Samuel quickly pointed out the fact that his dad couldn't wear a paper tie. He is a very by the book type of kid. The ties were crazy and fun. Grandpa Clayton's had fishing stickers, Bella put flowers on Grandpa Paul's tie - which Samuel was upset about and Chuck was wondering why his tie had slow animals like a snail and turtle. He was thinking we were trying to tell him something!

Chuck opening up his tie the kids made and another tie I bought for him. I always buy Chuck ties knowing he is going to hate them. Every tie I have ever bought Chuck he has wanted to take back. We just don't have the same taste in ties! But Chuck actually decided he would keep this tie because he's getting to old to care anymore about what his ties look like.

Chuck was a good sport and wore the tie the kids made him to church. Grandpa Clayton also wore his to church in his ward. Both guys said they had never received so many comments on their wardrobe!

Also Happy Father's Day to Chuck. He is a wonderful, fun, kind and loving father. The kids all adore him.

Yeah for Summer!

I just love summer! But this summer I'm feeling a little heartache each day. I just keep thinking how quick Samuel will be starting Kindergarten and I it makes me want to cry. I really LOVE having all my kids at home all day. Yes, most days are crazy, loud, messy, challenging, and I don't have much time to do anything for myself, but I really do love it! So my goal for the summer is to do some little fun thing each day.


Here is the result of one of my attempts to be more fun. The kids and I moved the kitchen table and chairs into the family room and built a giant fort. They thought it was wonderful to walk across the table and then jump onto the couch. We also played a crazy game where I was the troll trying to get the kids out of their cave. But then Samuel and Isaac started whacking me with their foam light sabers and the troll had to die because it really did hurt.

Here's to having more fun this summer!


Samuel and Bella also completed swim lessons. They both love the water and this year Samuel actually started to grasp the concept of swimming. On Monday I took the kids swimming and couldn't believe how well Samuel was doing.

Samuel also finished up T-ball. He was thrilled to get a trophy and has it proudly displayed in his room. The highlight of the season for him was when he hit a home run. Chuck told Samuel before one of the games if he hit the ball onto the grass to just keep running because he would get a home run (it takes the kids FOREVER to retrieve the ball and then throw it in). So that's exactly what Samuel did and he was so excited.

Chuck's brother Blake and Blake's brother-in-law did a rappelling hike. This is the guys the night before getting the ropes ready. (It makes me feel better about these adventures knowing we have a good amount of life insurance!) I guess the adventure was a little scary because Blake declared that he didn't ever need to do that rappel again!

Pizza, Pizza, Pizza - and Scissors

I went to this amazing Power of Moms conference this weekend (I hopefully will write more about that later). Chuck and I have both been feeling this great desire, urge, need, you name it to strengthen our family. We have really been trying to focus on becoming better parents and setting our home in order.

I come home from this conference and have 2 funny experiences.

Samuel and Bella have been using a lot of masking tape lately. They are constantly asking me to rip pieces of tape for them. So I have my first brilliant idea - I'm going to teach Samuel how to tear the tape so he can do it himself because as a good mom I should be teaching my kids how to do things for themselves.

I sit Samuel down and show him how to tear the tape. Of course he is struggling trying to rip it so I next show him how he can tear it with his teeth. We practice until he can do it then he and Bella are off on their tape ripping adventure. About 5 minutes later Samuel comes downstairs with the roll of tape and I see he has been trying to rip the tape, but now it's just a smashed up mess on the end. He looks at me and says, "Mom, I have a better idea why don't I just use the scissors to cut pieces tape." BRILLIANT - but why didn't I think of that!!!

Later that evening I have my next brilliant idea - I'll ask Samuel what I can do to be a better mom. This is the little conversation we had.

Me: Samuel, what could I do to be a better mom to you and the other kids.
Samuel (after thinking quietly for several seconds): You could feed us pizza for every meal!
Me (trying not to laugh): Is there anything else?
Samuel: No, just feed us more pizza.

So I guess in the mind of my 5 year old I'm doing alright as his mom even if the kid is smarter than me at times!

A couple 3 Month Pictures

Now that Jenna just turned 4 months I'm finally getting around to editing her 3 month pictures.

This little girl is so precious. I often wonder why Chuck and I thought so hard about having a 4th baby - how blessed our lives have been by this little girl!

All the kids adore her and tend to smother her with attention. But she's very good natured and doesn't seem to mind everyone holding her, kissing her, rolling her over and getting so close to her face all day long. In fact it's when it's quiet and no one is bugging her that she tends to cry a little.

She can grab objects with her hands and loves to put everything in her mouth. She is so close to rolling from her back to her belly, but gets stuck just before getting there. She likes to squawk along with my singing and laugh at the kids.

I love this picture because it's very similar to a newborn picture I took of her. She's gotten just a tad bit chunkier since then!