Our Fun Time Off Track

The boys were off track for three weeks and I was so excited to have everyone home. I really had so much fun and I think the kids did too. Mikey did have a hard time not having his special time with mom and there were a lot of tantrums as his routine was disrupted. Presley joined us for a week so of course we went to the children's museum. Once again the kids loved playing in the nursery.

The theme for the day was a bear's picnic so we listened to some stories and then all the kids got to make a bear of mask of their choosing.

I think this has been the mildest winter I've experienced in the 15 years I've lived in Utah. It only snowed 3 times in January and has yet to snow enough to count in February. I've hardly worn a jacket outside. The boys have been pretty sad about it. They just love playing in the snow so when they saw a hill covered in snow as we were driving one weekend, Neil promised to take them sledding. There really wasn't that much snow but they still had fun.

After they went sledding, Neil took the boys to his friend's house who has a ton of lego sets. The dog you see in the picture loves to attack me. He just knows I can't stand him.

When they're off track I always try to do some crafts. I remember reading on Connie's blog that her kids love perler beads so when Amazon had a huge bucket on sale for $7, I bought it. The boys really got into it and it kept the kids entertained for several days. Beign as I always have some neighbor kids too, they joined in on the action.

Sammy made this heart for his friend McKenley for Valentines Day. We threaded some read string through the top to make it a necklace.

I think the most fun I probably had was taking the kids swimming at the Clearfield Acquatics Center. In the morning I had the 5 kids and I really couldn't leave Lucy's sight. I just never knew what she would do. They have a big waterslide but you have to be able to swim to go down it alone so Mikey and Sam weren't able to. I did set Lu in a chair in a towel right in front of the pool and was able to go down twice with each of them but that definitely was not enough. I promised them they could come back that night and go down as much as they wanted.

I thought Neil would take them back in the evening but we'd have to pay for him and being the cheapskates we are I ended up taking the boys back and Neil had a girls' night with Lucy and Presley. I should never have said they could go down the slide as much as they wanted because I ended up going over 100 times seriously. Who needs Jilian Michaels. I climbed so many stairs that night. It was fun though. We ended up playing hide and seek and chase and we had so much fun. I was so full of joy when I got home. I really had a good time. As the mom, I'm the one usually stuck watching the baby and don't get to do all the fun things like Neil. I'm so worn out by the time he gets home from work that I let him take over with his renewed energy and he gets to play rough with the kids. I would consider him the "fun" parent but I'm glad I got to have this opportunity with the boys. I really was so happy.

While off track the boys also did so well at cleaning until Presley arrived. She turned everything upside down but for 2 weeks I felt so much peace with having a clean house.

The boys went to the dentist and they all came back with no cavitites. Our dentist gives a big prize if they go a year without no cavities so Mikey came home with the movie Hook and Sammy got a lego set. I think that's pretty generous but I tell myself, really I'm paying for the gifts in reality. I even did not have any cavities. Neil was surprised at that one!

We also read The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe together as a family. This has been my dream ever since I was a teenager to sit on the bed/chair and have all my kids around me reading a classic book together. I even bought a bunch of large illustrated books for this very purpose years before I ever had kids. We've tried reading this book before but the kids never got into it. Neil decided he'd change the names of the kids to our kids names so Peter became Conner, Susan became Sam, Edmund became Mikey and Lucy stayed Lucy. It was so funny. Lucy would just play while we read but whenever she heard her name she'd stop what she was doing and look at us and point to herself smiling. It was really cute. Being characters in the story really kept their attention and they quickly became absorbed in the story, even Mikey. Just ask Mikey what he did in the book and he will tell you and it will be like he really did it. Instead of Turkish Delight, Mikey ate ice cream. It's funny how their personalities matched pretty closely those in the book. Near the end of the book when Aslan dies I asked the kids if Aslan reminded them of anyone and Sam quickly responded Jesus. Awesome! I was so glad they made that connection and we had a great conversation comparing the book to the gospel. I just loved this time together and we finished the book in a week. Last Sunday we had 6 chapters left and they really wanted to finish it so Sam came up with the plan. We'd read 2 chapters before naps, 2 chapters after naps and 2 chapters before bed so that is what we did. We are now reading the Magician's Nephew with Jaxson being Digory and Presley being Polly.