My Report

I made a goal nearly 2 weeks ago and I suppose it is time to report on how things are going. I had been inspired by General Conference to start holding "Family Devotional" and had reluctantly decided the results would be worth the cost. I am very happy to report that it is beyond my dreams of worth it. I am getting up a bit earlier, which was a little tough, since Rylee has been a horrible sleeper. So, I get up at 7am. I get breakfast ready and wake the kids that are not already up at 7:15. I play the Primary songs on the cd player and collect everyone by 7:30. They need to be dressed when they come downstairs. We read a chapter of the picture book scriptures and work on memorizing an Article of Faith. Then we have Family Prayer. Then it is breakfast time.

I met with much less resistance than I expected. I recall being rotten when we did this when I was a kid, so I was anticipating a battle, but they are not only agreeable, they are excited about it! They sit around me and look at the pictures and ask questions and then they can't wait to practice their AoF. That has been a rousing success. Callie is too cute for words. She rattles off what she knows and looks so happy. The 3 older kids had #3 memorized in the first week. Callie passed it off to the Primary president and I think she said it 4 times.

Here is the amazing part. I have so much more time in the morning! I have time to make breakfast and lunches. The kids are dressed and fed and ready to go 20 minutes before the bus comes and everyone is more pleasant in the mornings. I haven't had to rush anyone out the door or panicked looking for lost shoes at the last minute or anything!

I had secretly hoped I would be blessed with a baby who slept all night, but I knew it would get worse before it got better, and it did. Get worse, I mean. She was waking up about every hour, and she was sick and snotty and unhappy. It was pretty awful. Fortunately, the Lord loves me and answered my prayers, and I was good to go, once I got up in the morning. No matter how bad the nights were, the days were great. I had enough energy to do what I needed to and I was able to keep a cheerful attitude (mostly!). I felt like I was well rested, even though I wasn't. It was a great blessing. And this week, Rylee has been doing better.

So, I have established this routine and we're going to stick with it! Yay for me!

Dan Rocks!

Dan had his Half Marathon on Saturday. He had requested that at least I make the trip out with him to cheer him on. I admit to being unenthusiastic about getting out of bed at 5am to drive 2 hours jut to see him run. However, he is such a fantastic husband, that I thought I ought to be more supportive, since he is always wonderful to me. So, rather than finding a babysitter, we hauled all the kids out to the car in the dark of morning and off we went. We just rolled them out of bed and into clothes and buckled them in. The littlest girls slept for the drive, as did I. I put in ponytails once we arrived, as we waited for Dan to finish his checking in process.

Here he is, all ready to go. It was a nice day, but the wind.... ooooh, the wind! We watched the race start and hooped and hollered for Dan as he went past.

Joshua is a great brother and indulged Delaney. We meandered to the van and I found a map of the race route and we set off to find a good cheering spot. We did get to a good location, around the 5 1/2 mile mark and we waited for the runners to go by. Dan was pretty close to the front of the pack- somewhere around the 15th runner, maybe.

As he ran past, the kids dashed out to give high 5's to Dan and we shouted and cheered. It was fun.

We had some time to kill till Dan reached the turn around point and came back by, so the kids hung out and looked for trouble. Oh, yes, that is water in a ditch! And yes, Callie did get her feet all wet and had only shorts to change into.

The kids were even more excited to high 5 Dan on the way back! Do you see all the runners still heading out?! I told you Dan was running fast! He's a good mile ahead of these guys here. And I love how thrilled Marian seems to be in this shot. The kids were so cute!

They snacked on donuts and played in the ditch. This is when Callie doused her shoes and pants and needed to change her britches.

The donuts were the biggest hit. Not the usual breakfast for them!

Rylee found a new favorite spot.

I had to corral the kids and we drove back to the YMCA to wait for Dan's triumphant finish. It was really windy. It would have been a lovely day, all sunny and warm, but the wind was a killer. It was really chilly at the finish line, with nothing to break the wind.

Here are the kids, huddling for warmth. They were tuckered out from running around and they got cold. The wind was pretty brutal.

Hooray! Here's Dan! I think he was about the 10th person in. Here he is, starting his glorious sprint to the finish!

I could not get the camera to focus and get a shot of the time clock for a few seconds. I think he was around 10 seconds faster than this clock. He was 8 minutes faster than his time last year.

The kids were delighted to help themselves to the post-race grub. It was an impressive spread.

I think Callie had a good 10 orange slices.

Marian was good about eating the food she put on her plate... unlike some others!

This kid was just awesome!

And Delaney was an airplane. She does keep me laughing!! We did hang out for a bit, and Dan showered and changed. I think he was waiting to hear what the fastest time was.

Isn't he wonderful? A 13.1 mile race and he still is happy to hold Rylee and put her to sleep!

Check it out! My man just took 3rd place in his age division! I was so proud of him! He got a certificate and a plant. Oh, and a medal. I love that he got this plant! Something that is actually useful and has a purpose. I was really impressed with Dan. He did a great job. And when we got home, he took a little nap and then let me take one too. He is the best ever!

They make me laugh!

I have a positive post today! I don't usually post every day, but I just couldn't not share! Today, both Delaney and Marian cracked me up and I had to write it down. This evening, Marian was chatting with me and we were talking about when we had to move to a new house this summer she might have to switch schools. She said she was okay to go to a new school. She was a hoot. Marian said, "Actually, I would like to go to a new school. The kids at my school are not normal. A lot of them do not act normal." What a funny girl. Here she is, a kid considered "not normal" on occasion, and to her, she's totally normal and everyone else is not! I love it!!

Tonight I was tucking in Delaney and she said instead of getting a kiss and a song from me, she was going to give me a kiss and a song. She was a trip. I helped her with her prayers, and every time I said "Delaney", she replaced it with "Mommy". So, when I said , "Please bless Delaney to sleep well." She repeated, "Please bless Mommy to sleep well." So cute. Then she did give me a kiss and said she was going to sing the ABC song. I didn't know she knew it, but she sang the whole thing, ending with "Now I know Mommy's ABC song; next time won't you sing with me."

I love kids! I love their quirky little minds and the funny things that they come up with. It really makes my day!

And lest you worry, although night times are pretty rough, daytime is fine. I'm only miserable at night. Once I'm up and going, its all good. Am I blessed?! O yeah! I know that I am born up on wings of angels each day. I know that the Lord blesses me to get done what needs to be done, and He helps me to have a positive attitude. And last night was a little better. Rylee seems to have an internal clock. She woke up at 11, 12, 1, 2, 2:36, 4, and 6am, almost on the dot! On the plus side, she went right back to sleep, so I was only up a max of 15 minutes each time. And, I have an amazing and supportive husband. He was home early today and sent me up for a 3 hour nap. Ahhhhhhhh. Then, after dinner, he sent me out for some alone time. He really is the best ever and I do not know how I got so lucky with him!

No words necessary

No words are necessary, but I have a few anyway!

Uh-oh!

Terrifying.

Exciting.

Trouble... Definitely Trouble!

I'm also pretty sure that she is Brilliant, Advanced for her Age, and Amazing!

After all, the kid is only 6 months old!

The Emperor's New Clothes

Today I am here to report that the Emperor is Naked. Yep, even though everyone else says he is wearing something wonderful, the truth is, the man is nude. In today's case, the Emperor is a popular and very sought after event. And I can't figure out why.

Today, we had the inglorious opportunity to attend the White House Easter Egg Roll. Everyone was jealous that we were going. I felt pretty special. (Dan was able to get tickets through work, and I thought it would be a good experience.) I was stressed out about what to wear to such an event, and I was concerned because it was suppose to be hot- really hot, as in up in the 80's. I was really disappointed to find no information on the official web site either. No information about anything! Well, there was a list of things you could not bring in, but that was all. I had hoped for some guidelines or rules, but there was nothing.

So, today I took Joshua and Marian out of school early and off we went, our whole family of 7 and a big double stroller. It was about an hour of travel, mostly by Metro to get there. Then another 1/2 mile of hoofing it to get to the big field, sorry, "The Ellipse". After asking directions, we ended up at the end of a very long line. A very long line that snaked back and forth across the very big field. That's when Dan said there were 5 sessions throughout the day and 6,000 people attended each session. We were the 1:45 session- #4. We were in the tail end of the line at 1:30, and the gates opened for us at 1:45.

And it was hot. Really hot. Hot enough that it was too hot to get upset when Joshua complained non-stop about the heat. And it was hot enough I could have wrung out my undergarments, but instead, I had to settle myself under the only un-taken shade tree and lift said undergarments so I could nurse Rylee. Oh, and that line there in the picture, behind the kids, that's the people behind us, and it snaked around a long long way.

Finally, the line began to move. It was stop and go for a while, and then it was hustle, hustle, hustle. And it took a while. I would say we walked a good half mile in line to get to the entrance.

I will say that all the volunteers and people working the event were very friendly and great. They had to check through a million people and they had to be wicked hot too, but they were unfailingly polite and cheerful. The guys who did the security check were even thoughtful enough to lift the double stroller over the barrier, so that we did not have to fold it up. They were quick too, and pleasant. That was nice.

The next thing was a line of tables with cold drinks and energy bars. So of course you grab them and head on to the next line, to get into the White House front Lawn. The sign in front of the entrance to this next line says, no food or drinks! So there by the entrance is a huge pile of unopened drinks and food, just being thrown away. It was such a waste! I wish they had had a sign saying you had to eat it all right there, so maybe there would have been less stuff thrown away.

And here we are in the second line. This was to get us into the White House lawn. It took us a good 45 minutes plus, just to get onto the White House Lawn. Oh, and did I mention that you only have 2 hours?!! Yep, our time was 1:45-3:45 and we had to leave at 3:45. And we spent almost half the time just getting in the event. Ug.

This was the grand entry. See all those people in front of us? Most of them were pushing strollers (including us!). It was hot. Did I mention it was hot? To make it more fun, there were a lot of little kids having meltdowns in the heat and the press of humanity. Our little kids were doing really well. Joshua was the biggest complainer, and he wasn't bad.

Oh, look. Here we are, in front of the White House. This is probably the closest I will ever be. Do you see all those people? This picture does no justice to the sheer number of people milling around. It was insane. It was worse than the time I went to Knott's Berry Farm on Toys for Tots day. We really just stopped here to get out of the crush.

Then Joshua decided he wanted to Hula Hoop. So off he went. It looks like the Wii is paying off! He did a really good job and stopped complaining about how hot he was. This was the only thing we successfully managed to participate in.

And Callie and Delaney wanted a picture. It was a little nerve-wracking to try to keep track of all 5 kids with so many people all over the place. They did an awesome job of sticking close and running back when they strayed too far. If I had lost one of them, I'm not sure I ever would have found them again!

We tried to find the Easter Egg Hunt, but this was all we found. And you had to be aggressive and unencumbered to get to the front of the booths to see anything. We did not find that fun at all. Plus, with the sweat flowing freely, even the sunscreen did not seem to be working, and there was no shade. No shade!

This is what it looked like. This is what we spent 45 minutes doing. This, this is not fun! There are No new clothes on the Emperor! No fun. We polled the kids- did they want to continue to see if there was anything fun to do, or were they done. They were done. And I was glad, because I was ready to go home. So we left before it was even 3:45.

We headed out, got our 5 commemorative eggs and 5 boxes of Peeps, and hiked the 3/4 mile to the Metro. This here is the highlight of the trip- the Peeps!

We got nearly all the way home before switching Metro lines. There was some trouble on the line and it was 15 minutes between trains. During that incredibly long wait, I looked over to see Delaney standing in a puddle. Oh, yes she did! I whipped off her pull-up, wiped her down and had a new pull-up on before Dan even realized what was going on. He nearly had a heart attack, since we were right next to a Metro worker. Fortunately, he was oblivious. It was just one more thing to cap off a day that was not all we had hoped it would be.

So, my take on the event is not a positive one. It was pretty well run, but there were way too many people to do anything or to have any fun. It was pretty much a waste of my entire afternoon. A really hot, sweaty waste. Now it is one more box in life to check off and say "I did that."

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Dan feels that I am a bit extreme here. He doesn't think it was a complete waste. I concede that he is correct. We did accomplish something. We have aquired bragging rights to be able to say that we got to go to the White House Easter Egg Roll. And he was also correct in pointing out that the kids got some character today. They endured something that wasn't a lot of fun and they did it really well. We didn't feel the need to throttle anyone and no one got lost. Thus, it was a success!

I would like to point out that I still have a valid complaint. This is the White House Easter Egg Roll! There is a lottery (A lottery, people!!) held across the USA for people who want to attend. And yet, to accommodate so many people, it is nearly impossible to have a good time, or to do anything unless you have no children, no stroller and are willing to be really aggressive. As someone who doesn't think poor behavior should be rewarded, this is not the kind of function I enjoy. So I am astonished that this event is so popular. It isn't any fun! It is crowded, it is hard to get anywhere, it is hard to do anything, and you spend more time waiting than doing anything. Oh, and did I mention that the President wasn't present? Nope, he was off throwing the first pitch of the baseball season. So why is this such a big deal? I am not getting it at all. No clothes, I say, the Emperor has no clothes!