Love you, more than numbers

When I was a little girl MyDearMother would say,
"Love you, more than Numbers....."
 Wow! I would think. Numbers don't ever end!

I find myself saying it to my own kids now and then. Because it's true, and cute and it reminds me of my Mom...and I'm pretty sure she still loves me more than numbers. And sometimes I just like to remind myself of that really wonderful fact. 

 A couple of days ago LittleTwinBoyNate said to me...
 


"Hey Mom, guess what?"

"What!" I said.

"Love you, more than Letters!"

"Wow, that's a whole lot."


"Grandma Pam likes to say that too, hu Mom."


"Yep, she sure does."

When the Bugle Blows....

 The following is a little story about our Valentines Day Tradition, and how it all went down last year. Sure hoping it turns out better this year....

 Written Valentines Day 2010

We have a fun Valentines Day family tradition.
We've had this tradition for about 6 years now.
We all sit down to a nice meal. While we eat we go around the table and take turns telling each member of the family something we love about them. Seems like a good idea, doesn't it!

So, today being Valentines Day and all....we gave our tradition another go.
This is the first V-day our LittleTwinBoys have been old enough to participate. It's also the first year we have had a teenager to participate. That's an interesting combination, I can tell you.
In the past we have had a great, meaningful time.
This year was....choice. Very choice.

LittleTwinBoyNate started and told BlondeEmily about 20 things he loved about her. After that the poor boy was fresh out of ideas. He loved every other person because they watch Star Treck with him. (who let's a three year old watch Star Treck?)

Then someone passed gas.

All individuals, under the age of 35, COULD NOT regain their composer.

Children were hysterical with laughter...
falling off their chairs even....
holding their sides and rocking back and forth, back and forth while they tried unsuccessfully to control their rude horse laughing.

Then MyHandsomeHusband excused everyone from the table.

"Wait!!" gasped TeenSonMark "Isn't Mom going to tell us what she loves about us?"

"She'll tell you when she tucks you in tonight."

Then all 5 children headed down the stairs laughing, and joking, and talking about what how hilarious the dinner was.

We were feeling the love, I can tell you that. Really meaningful love being expressed so eloquently.

That's kids for you. You never know how things are going to end up! Dang that bathroom humor. It can really turn family time upside down.

Right Mom? Remember when I was a kid and I  never laughed about farts, or anything of that nature?
Never.
Ever.

Sick. Really Sick.

 

No, not blueberries. 

Blueberries are not sick.

Just all of my children. Are sick...

One boy last week, and all of his siblings this week. 

They can be seen lounging on every couch in the house snuggling  under large piles of  blankets. They color pictures of blueberries and watch Toy Story 3 and Nanny McFee.

Sounds of blowing noses, hacking coughs, and calls for their mama and some medicine are what you would hear...if you were here. 

And I, their mama-carrier-of-medicine, have noticed something.

....are you ready....

....it's going to be really intellectual and earth shattering.....

Every child wants to be loved and cared for in their own special way. I know. A revelation of sorts. I already knew this simple truth, really I did. It has just become more clear to me these past few days. 

Some kids (the teenson kind) just want to be left alone to stare at the wall, with an occasional joke and chat with his mother.

Some kids want snuggling and cuddling and rubbing of their forehead.

Some kids want a story and a song, or two or four or ten thousand.

Others just want juice. A lot of juice. 

And still others are  tickled pink by a mama willing to play a card game or two.

This whole motherhood gig? It's not a one-size-fits-all-sort-of-sport.

More like a....

look around

try and see

what they

need

when they 

need 

it 

not everyone

needs 

the same thing

TakeMeOutToTheBallGame...

kind of sport. 

Motherhood. The game of love.

Hope I'm playing it right.

Haven't seen a rule book lying around anywhere.

Pass the blueberries 

and the cough drops......

Moody and Mad

 This pretty little face belongs to my daughter, FashionAnna.

She is a girl with many moods. 

She is 11 years old....going on 12.

Need I say more? 

You remember being that age, don't you?

We all had about 79 mood swings a day, back then. 

Sure glad I'm down to only 20.

Some of her moods are exceedingly endearing.

You ought to see how the girl can handle littletwinboys, age 4.

Sometimes she gets kind of moody and mad.

The sweet thing can go from happy to grouchy faster than the speed of light.

I'm so glad I have learned to manage my grouchiness...

...it takes me at least 5 seconds to switch from happy to grouchy.

Sometimes she is down right hilarious.

Check this out....

  
On a very cold and foggy night a couple of  weeks ago, I was driving some of my children around our little neighborhood.  I had my TeenSonMark, FashionAnna and her dear friend Emily with me in the car. 

When we pulled up to Emily's house to drop her off I noticed one of our family's scooters laying in the driveway. 


"Oh, boy. Looks like one of the LittleTwinBoys rode our junky scooter down here and left it." I said. "Hey Mark, hop out of the car and ride that thing home, will ya?"


"Sheesh, Mom. I'm in my basketball shorts and it's freezing out there!" was his plea. 


"I'm sure you'll manage. You can ride that thing home in less than 10 seconds. Hop out and get the job done, please."

Silence from FashionAnna.

"Alright....but I think this is totally unfair. I didn't even ride it down here....!" he called as he begrudgingly hauled himself out of the van.


FashionAnna and I watched him ride off in to the fog. 


"Hey, Mom." she said. "Want to hear something funny?"


"Sure" I said. I like funny, you know.


"I was the one who rode that scooter down here and left it."


And then....


HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA....all the way home from the mother and her daughter.


After I had pulled up our driveway and gotten my horse laughing, eyes watering, chortle attack under control I said...


"Honey, that was a really funny joke."


"Thanks Mom. I didn't know if you would think it was funny. You know how you sometimes get kind of moody and mad about stuff like that."

Moody and mad?
Me?
Heavens no.
Haven't been moody and mad since I was 11 years old...
.....going on 12. 

The Lesson

A couple of weeks ago, on a cold Sunday morning I sat pondering in my room.

Door closed.

Church manuals spread out on my lap. 

Preparing for my Relief Society lesson coming up later that afternoon.

What was my lesson on?

Teaching your children about intimacy, of course. You know. One of the standards. Easy.
No brain-er....

The Church I belong to has put out a really great manual for parents on this very subject.
A Parents Guide, is what it is called.  I was reading through it getting all kinds of info, storing up content, pondering on what I might pass on to the great ladies in my ward. 

Then I got a headache. 

Then I had a lot of stomach trouble, the details of that I won't bore you with. 

These things are not really ever discussed at church! (Intimate things...not stomach trouble! Ok stomach trouble  isn't discussed at my church either.)

I was worried my lesson might be awkward, uncomfortable...what if I say something really dumb, was my worry. 


I'm kind of dumb sometimes....


....I just can't help it.


I needed a good opener. Something to put us all at ease.

MyHandsomeHusband reminded me of a  Cute Little Story. 

Cute Little Stories work well at the beginning of lessons. Especially this one!

Here you have it...

One day a very lovely Primary worker was giving a lesson to some young  boys and girls at church.

"Children..." she said in a very sweet voice.

"We are going to talk about a very special thing today. I will give you a couple of clues and let's see if you can guess what it is!"

Hooray, thought the children. We like clues.

"Only the boys have it....."

"It starts with the letter P....."

A little boy sitting on the front row threw his hand up into the air and shouted, very loudly.

"I know! I know! It's a _____________!!!!!!!!!!!"

 

He didn't say Priesthood, like the primary worker thought he would. 

Nope. 

He said the word you are all thinking.

The word that starts with a P....

and only the boys have it....

and it lives behind a zipper...

and you never discuss it at church....

and I don't even dare write it here, lest I be blamed for adding inappropriate adult content to this family friendly blog.......

Lucky for me, the sisters in my ward got a good chuckle out of the Cute Little Story.

I promised them not to use the P word in my lesson. The way I see it, they must be familiar with the P word. 
Mostly familiar.
I think.
Maybe not?
This post is getting awkward.

Suffice it to say, the Cute Little Story helped break the ice. The lesson turned into a great discussion on communication, and helping kids understand a sensitive, but important topic. 


And all was well.


Until the next lesson.....heaven help me.

Easier. Not Easy.

 I would, just for the record, like to announce that having twin boys who are 4 years old is much easier than having twin boys who are

4 days old...

14 months old...

or even 34 months old. 

Now don't get me wrong. I didn't say it was EASY to have twin boys who are 4. Just easier than it has been in the past.


When my boys were about 2 years old I took them swimming. I inadvertently forgot to bring their life jackets. That little mistake made for a really wild day, I tell ya. Nothing like a little double trouble jumping into the death traps of 4 feet of water to put a little spring in your step. It wore this old girl out, to say the least!


That day the Nicest Little Lady (also the mother of twin boys) came up and put her arm around me. "Listen honey. I have been watching you from afar and I couldn't help but come on over and tell you....IT IS GOING TO GET EASIER!!!!!! By the time these boys are 4, you are going to be sitting pretty." 


Sitting Pretty, hu?
I like pretty.
Couldn't wait! 

Yesterday I took my boys swimming. I brought the life jackets this time! That is a mistake only to be made once.  I couldn't help but reflect on the words of the Nicest Little Lady. While I watched my boys go down the big slide alone, climb the stairs to the top of the slide alone, swim around in their life jackets alone....I had to admit! The Nicest Little Lady was correct. Things are getting easier! I felt Pretty. I dare say, I was even Sitting Pretty! You wouldn't really even believe how Sitting Pretty I was. I just kicked back and soaked for a spell while those cute little guys climbed up the stairs to the slide one million times. 


Then.


Oh, then.

We went into the dressing room and showered the chlorine off our Sitting Pretty bodies. While LittleTwinBoyAaron was hanging out in the shower, LittleTwinBoyNate and I went around the corner to get dressed. When I was done attending to Nate, I called out to Aaron. "C'mon Aaron, it's your turn to get dressed." Were my exact words, in fact. 


No response.


None at all. 


I peeked around the corner to find 3 ladies standing in the showers. 

No Aaron to be seen. 

I looked. I searched. I went out of  the dressing room into the pool area. I looked! I searched!


Then I spotted my missing boy. All the way out in the lobby sobbing his guts out and calling my name...calling my name.

As soon as I saw him I plowed my way through a few small crowds and into the lobby. In my dripping wet suit, towel wrapped around my head, pair of bright purple crocks on my feet. I scooped that boy up in a fast hurry and cuddled him silly.

Wasn't Sitting at this point.

Wasn't Pretty, either.
It's hard to look pretty when you are having a small heart attack. 


On the way home the missing boys twin brother wet his pants all over the soft cushioned seats of my mini van. Apparently he drank half of the pool each time he came barreling out of that slide.


Wasn't Sitting while I scrubbed the pee-diddle out of the seats that afternoon.


Wasn't really Pretty, either.
Pee-diddle scrubbing and Pretty don't really mix that well.


Twin boys who are 4 years old are easier, I said. 
Not easy. 
Nothing worth while in this life is....
is it?

Snowboots, Swimsuits and a Loser....

I have a little question I would like to propose on this very cold January day. What do you suppose Snowboots, Swimsuits and Losers have to do with each other? Hmmm. Think it over now.

Any ideas? Well. I suppose I'll just have to tell you how all three appeared in my life right at the same moment.

Last week MyHandsomeHusband and I were traveling to Bear Lake with all five of our children in tow. The weather was pretty clear here in town when we left home. By the time we got to Logan Canyon (4 hours later...usually takes 1 1/2) it was a dark, stormy, cars sliding off the side of the road, windy blizzard. We cut our losses and opted to check into a hotel in Logan and wait out the storm. Driving through a canyon in a blizzard is one thing....doing it in the dark is just down right foolish.

Now what do a couple of ya-hoo's with 5 kids do in a hotel? They swim, that's what. Swim. And Sleep. They swim until all of the children are tired enough to sleep soundly, soundly, soundly. We counted our lucky stars that we had packed our suits! All seven of us squeezed our holiday bodies into our suits (we looked really good....really skinny and good) and we were ready to swim. Looking like a bunch of dainty swim suit models we each proceeded to pull on a pair of heavy winter boots. Then we traipsed our fashionable selves through the snowy parking lot to the pool. Now I'm not sure if you have ever tried wearing your swimming suit with heavy winter boots...but suffice it to say it is One. Classy. Ensemble. I dare say the ladies from Desperate Housewives could take a fashion lesson from none other than yours truly.

Ok....in all actuality we looked like a bunch of losers. Big (and some of us really fat) Losers. The funny part was when we got to the pool....we met a real life loser. The kind of Loser that is really hip these days. Someone who, in fact is hoping to be the biggest kind of loser there is.

While swimming that snowy night we had the privilege of meeting Justin Pope, contestant on this seasons Biggest Loser. He happened to be from Logan and was on a 2 week break from the show to visit with his family. MyHandsomeHusband and I have watched almost every season of the show and were thrilled to be able to visit with someone who is right in the middle of the experience. He and his family were gracious and lovely people. We chatted with them for almost 2 hours. Loved it. Loved hearing little inside tidbits about the show. I won't tell any of his detailed secrets...but he did look pretty darn good. Last night our family had a great time watching the season premier of The Biggest Loser, and witnessing the transformation he has already made.

Good times.

Good times wearing Snowboots and my Swimsuit....and meeting a great Loser.