Finishing up last school year

I had a little extra time today so I think I will catch up a little on the blog. I am going back to the last few weeks of school. Noah got involved in a club called Lego Mindstorms. There were 2 fathers who worked at Boeing who volunteered to run a club that taught kids to design, build, and program robots. They worked in teams and Noah's partner in crime was Wyatt. The 5th grade robots were programmed to run through a maze. The 6th grade robots were sumo. That means they were programmed to push the other robot off the edge of the platform. It was really fun to watch them spend 2 months going after school twice a week (sometimes more) learning the programming and building their robots. Then they'd try it in the maze and tweek it if needed. They had a deadline of 2 weeks before the competition. If they couldn't get their robot to successfully complete the maze at the school they couldn't go to the competition. Luckily, they got theirs to work and got to take their robot to the Lagoon State Physics Day to compete. I was really proud of him for sticking to it and getting to the competition. It was a lot of hours and lots of frustration that he had to push through learning this new skill.

Part of the competition was talking to a judge and explaining what you did to create and program your robot. It was to prove that the kids did their own work and not the adults.

The whole group of kids from Jenny P. Stewart. This is both 5th and 6th graders.

Noah working feverishly on his robot

Always wear your seatbelt

I hope that others have this same problem as I do. I spend quite a bit of time planning, prepping, and preparing a nice meal for my family with a dream that it will be a calm and enjoyable experience. It ends up that no one wants to sit down, eat the food, or be nice to mom for all the love and effort she put into it. Okay, I'm a big girl and I can take the criticism like this looks gross, I don't like_______, etc., but it's having to tell my kids who are 3, 5, and 9 to SIT DOWN 10 million times that drives me completely insane. It's no wonder they are hungry 10 minutes later. No sooner than we have cleaned up dinner someone is asking me for a snack. WHAT??? You want a SNACK???  You've gotta be kidding me? All you have to do is hold still for 10 minutes, nix the complaining and shove some food in your mouth. Then I will be perfectly happy to let you go about your crazy little active life. It's exhausting.

I think I found a way to solve the problem...tie down seat belts.

 

Child cruelty? I think not. It's a small mom victory.

 

Going back to my lucky day

I wanted to post this because I needed to show that I don't always post about my kids. Even though they are cuter than me, and involved in a lot more things than I am, sometimes I do things for myself. It isn't often, but in March Stephanie and I made wreaths for St. Patrick's Day. She didn't have anything for her front door for the Irish holiday and neither did I. We found one on the internet that we liked and tried our best to copy it. I think it turned out cute, but lets see what you think.

A doughnut as big as Texas

Adam's soccer team finished their season and coach (NOT Ben) showed up with the biggest doughnuts I have ever seen.  The boys went nuts! Adam continued to go nuts as he ate it. (sugar overload-you know) It was called a Texas doughnut, I believe it's bigger than his head, and it was fantastic! 

What happens in Vegas...

Hello again. Playing more catch up. Another big fun trip I took in March was Vegas with some of my friends. Ali, Nicole, and Megan. I found a deal on a hotel on KSL and planned a trip around that. We signed up for the Cirque Du Soleil 5K at the Springs Preserve. Nicole actually won her age division. She didn't think much of it, but we thought it was fantastic! The race was where we met Big Baby for the first time. I love him!! We got tickets to Mystere and got to see the show. It was amazing! A little bit strange, but Big baby kept us laughing. 

Do you see the giant man in a diaper and baby costume among the other Cirque characters? It's hilarious!

We walked the strip and saw the Bellagio fountains, and went inside to see the Bellagio Conservatory and Botanical Gardens because Ali had never gone before. She sent me 21 pictures that she took on our trip and 11 of them were of the gardens. I knew she would like it. We went to M&M world, The Coke Store, the worlds largest chocolate fountain, and ate dinner at Bobby's Burger Palace. A dream of mine, by the way. It was de-lic-ous! I had the Dallas burger. It had spice crusted meat with coleslaw, Monterrey Jack cheese BBQ sauce, and pickles. Then I ordered a pistachio shake that was to die for. Here are some pics to remember the trip.

 

Thanks for all the fun memories girls! I can't wait to do it again next year. Someone better learn to drive a stick before next March or I might lose it!

Running with the Leopards

This year Noah and Adam both set a goal to run in a 5K with Ben and I. We chose the running with the Leopards for 3 reasons. It was a family friendly registration (AKA- discount for kids), because it was mostly downhill, and I talked my friend into running with us for her first 5K and it was close to home so she would come. To say it was a VERY cold morning is an understatement. We were freezing and they started late. We were all very anxious to get moving so we could warm up. Finally, as the race began we all took off in good spirits. Noah quickly developed a bad cramp and had to pull off to the side and walk to recover. Ben stayed with him and I kept running with Adam. Adam had spent the 48 hours previous to the race complaining and saying that it would be too hard, and he was scared to try. I have to say that I had to really try to keep up with him. He just kept him pace, smile, and flew through the course. I was so proud of him and found myself wondering who's kid that was. We all finished the race and enjoyed some awesome spoils afterwards. It was a fun time for all of us. The race was the Saturday morning that we left for Disneyland. We finished and headed home to begin our trip. 

I wanted to post about the race because it was a big accomplishment for all of us. Especially, I think, for Adam. Here is his finishing stats...
5th place for under 11 male- His finishing time was 27:53.4, which gave him a pace of 8:59.8 minute miles.

Noah was 7th place for under 11 males. His finishing time was 29:46.2, his pace was 9:36.2 minute miles.

I was 8th place for woman 35-39 with a finishing time of 27:53, and a pace of 8:59.7 per mile.  My time was very similar to Adam because we were running together.

Ben was 7th place for Men 35-39. Ben's time was similar to Noah for the same reason as mine to Adam. I'm sure Ben could do better, but what a good dad to stay behind and help him through his cramp and get him to finish something hard.

What time is it? It's catch-up time.

I haven't posted a blog entry since the beginning of May. Because I use my blog solely as a journal I need to take a few posts to catch up. I can't leave this stuff out. The summer has been super busy, but I promise it'll be fun, so hold on and here we go!

Another installment of funny things kids say

What comes to mind when you hear the words birthday cake? Probably something sweet, and festive. Perhaps chocolatey. Some candles or sprinkles maybe. I think it's different for everyone. When I show Josh Tiny's first piggy tail he says to me, "ha ha mom. She looks like a birthday cake."  Hmmmm, I guess she does have a candle on her super sweet head. 

Needless to say, I didn't leave the piggy tail in. 

Inaugural camping trip 2014

We kicked off the 2014 camping season in style. Well, if you comsider Ben buying a 1998 tent trailer style then we did it. We packed up the van and the tent trailer and headed to Goblin Valley with some of Ben's family. None of us had ever been there so it was exciting. It was a wonderful place to camp. Rocks and hills everywhere for the boys, and us, to climb. A boys wonderland! They got dirty and climbed to there hearts content. Then they shot air soft guns until they wanted to climb again. The camp ground was small so there weren't that many people. It was a great way to start the season. If only we weren't camping. 

Cute sun hat Tiny. 

Uhhhh, not so cute. More just weird. 

I'm looking for some rocks. Does anyone know where we could find some?

Waiting for everyone to catch up after the hike through Goblin Valley. 

Kent brought this really cool folding bike. Everyone loved it and wanted to ride it. It was referred to as THE bike. "Where is THE bike? I wanna ride it." Asked everyone there. The younger kids who couldn't pedal themselves got a ride on the back with Kent. However, Josh's arms weren't quite long enough to avoid a ride like this...

I'm still peeing my pants laughing. He didn't mind it, or see why we thought it was so funny. It was a means to an end...a ride on THE bike. 

There you go. First camping trip was a success!

Let's rewind a little bit

I know that I didn't post anything from Disneyland so I'm going to get some highlights up. We went to Disneyland with the Hardings March 21-30. It started off with a long drive of course because who can afford plane tickets for 7? Tell me, anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Next we spent Sunday evening with The Skoys. They fed us dinner and we had a chance to catch up and see DJ before his mission. 

We got into our hotel after 10. We stayed at a place about 1 1/2 miles away because they had an AWESOME suite. It was like an apartment with 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a kitchen and dining area with an attached family room. Both bedrooms had a tv, but besides morning cartoons for the kids while we got ready we didn't use them much. When Monday arrived we hit the streets to walk to Disneyland. 

Yes, we made our kids walk that far. There and back the first day. Then we discovered the parking lot and shuttle. We used that from then on. 

Isn't Noah so cute holding Seth's hand, keeping him safe. I love that kid. 

And I digress. 

And the adventure, whirlwind of 4 days goes as follows...

Astro blaster a. Pew pew pew. 

The classic cell-fie. Faith doesn't love it...yet. 

Autopia. Adam drove while I pushed the gas. He was finally tall enough to do so!!

Waiting in line for teacups. Please notice that all the rides that go fast, high, spin, or are worth going on at all you will see Ben Harding and me in line with the kids. Erey time. My Ben and Steph were how you say... Panty wastes. Moving on. 

Adams face says it all for the teacups. 

Seth insisted that he spin us by himself. You go boy?

Love him

After eating only snacks for the first day the boys had had enough. They were NOT going to skip lunch again. Day 2 was going to have some real food. Out of all the food they have of course these boys choose the giant pork leg. They devoured it. It was awesome! 

OMG- Winnie during the princess musical show. She was mesmerized. So adorable. 

What's next you ask? Boyah! Space mountain! Once again. No husband, no Steph. 

Even Seth was so brave, and loved it. 

Red Robin for dinner. I think Noah ate everything. Ugh! Soooo full. 

Cars land rules! It was so amazing. They are riding Luigis tires. 

Red was parked off to the side, but Mater and Lightning would actually drive down the road and park at the cozy cone to take pictures. Then when the line died down they'd drive back home, or behind the fence. It was so fun! 

Oh dang! Josh wasn't tall enough to ride the cars ride. He was devastated. Sorry buddy, next time

Seth and me on the cars ride. Sad the only shot I got was blurry. We must've been going really fast

Tractors is so dumb!

Hi Jo!

Bugs life. Heimlichs Chew chew train. 

 These two were a riot. They both wanted to ride with me. I'm a lucky lady. 

The Muppets show. It's so old, but also a favorite. We wouldn't miss it.

 Isn't that straight out of a commercial?

Front row on the California screamer. Can you believe it! As a mom I didn't know if I liked that, but it was so thrilling for them. 

Thunder mountain railroad. It's my favorite! 

Yup. It had to happen. We locked ourselves out. Just sittin' in the hallway. Waiting for Ben. 

I didn't know it was that kind of a hotel...

Shootin' hoops. Waiting for Ben. 

We even made time to swim while we were there. 

ONTO LEGOLAND

Stopping to pose with Emmett. Yeah we are tight!

They had the entire basement set for the Lego movie there. The boys were in heaven. So much fun!

 The whole trip people kept staring at us because we had 8 kids with us. I thought Disneyland and Legoland would be the one place where I could get away from the staring and visible counting. Well, they had an 8 piece orchestra made out of Legos in this fountain. If you jump on the spot in front of the instrument you can hear its part of the song. However, you cannot tell what song it is. It just sounds like that instrument playing. You have to have someone jump on each spot to hear the complete orchestra. We watched many single people and families of 3 or 4 try and make it work to no avail. We got the whole thing going together. And even had an extra person to sing and one to snap a picture. Ha!! In yo face losers!!

Noah getting his Lego land drivers license. 

Wilson doing the same. 

And Adam. 

Seth too

Josh 

Really huge playground areas all over the park gave our small ones great places to play. 

And big kids too. 

They had a place where you could sit and build if you wanted to. Isn't Adam so handsome?

Noah built this roadster and proceeded to take pictures of it at 6 different angles. I'll spare you and just show one. 

Winnie and Josh got to play some carnival games because they were too small to ride a couple of the rides the older boys went on. Here they are with their prizes in front of my favorite spider. 

Oh man it was cool!

Mini Lego land had cities all over the world made out of Legos. This is Noah in front of Las Vegas. 

All time favorite for almost all of us was the life size Star Wars guys and scenes from the movies. I don't love Star Wars but was impressed. 

On the way home we stayed in Vegas. We drove down the strip, and visited the temple. It's such a beautiful temple. 

What a way to end a great family trip. We didn't want to come home.