The Game Everyone Should Know

So, as I mentioned in my last post, I just spent a week at my sister's house, taking care of her kids, while she was on vacation. For Family Home Evening on Monday night, I decided to skip the fuddy-dud lessons (we did sing "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam," though....that's a little bit spiritual) and taught the kids a game I know well from my youth. It's called the flour game. I'm sure lots of you out there have played this before, but I had the joy of introducing it to my sister's kids, which put me high on their list of fun, favorite people. Yay!
How do you play, you ask? First, you get a penny (wash it, please) and put it in the bottom of a tall cup. Next, you pack the cup, tightly, with flour. Place a plate over the top and flip the whole thing over. Remove the cup. You should have a nice tower of flour with a penny on top. You each take turns cutting the flour tower with a knife, from the top all the way to the bottom--
--and whoever makes the penny fall, has to get it out of the pile of flour with their teeth. Mmmmm. Go play it, make a mess, it's fun!
Here's everyone in their moment of glory:

Hudson

Maddi
Cam

Savannah

Maryn chose not to go digging, so instead, she got a floury kiss

As the game came to a close, we all realized that two people hadn't had the wonderful opportunity to go digging for the penny: Austin and Marybeth (my little sister). They must have amazing knife skillz. Naturally, we had to have a death match. When I pulled the cup off, half of the flour fell, so the penny was hanging rather precariously off the edge:

[Dun Dun Dun] that's my menacing music

Austin, the final loser:

And in the winner, Mmmmmmaaaaaarybeth!

Ah, good times. I love that game. It sure does make a mess, and somehow we all ended up with the same cold, but boy it was worth it to see everyone gag on the globs of flour.

The little babies weren't allowed to play, due to their lack of fine motor skills, so they entertained themselves by playing the piano, stealing toys from each other, and once by falling off the piano bench.

Ailee showing off her musical talents Johnny (Marybeth's little boy--probably taking notes from his cousin on how to be a stinker)

Tales of a Road Warrior

So, I realize it's been quite a while since I've posted. My sister, Jill, had an opportunity to take a vacation to Miami with her husband, but she needed someone to watch her kids. I was the chosen one.
It turned out to be a good week. Admittedly, I was a little nervous at first. It was me against 7 kids--but it turned out to be just fine. They were all good, the older ones helped a lot, and my own two kids were the most trouble. And, if you think about it, it's like I'm racking up points for the future, when someday I want to take a nice quiet vacation.
I decided to drive, since it was just to Utah. It's actually a pretty drive between Denver and my sister's house. Lots of mountains and pretty landscape...but mountains mean snow and twisty roads. Let's see, the drive there: I-70 was snowy. Oh, and what should have taken me an hour through the mountains took 3, because there was an avalanche the night before, and the road was blocked. I hate traffic. At least the weather cleared when I reached Hwy 6. That's where I was most nervous about snow. I think the worst part of the drive, though, was just after Grand Junction. The girls had just finished watching a movie, and I decided not to stop for lunch. Instead, I gave the girls fruit and cheese and crackers that I had packed. About 20 minutes later, Ailee throws up curdled milk, grapes, cheese and crackers all over. She wasn't so sad about throwing up, but she was pretty upset that there was gross vomit all over her shirt. It doesn't get much better than cleaning up a vomitty child, and car seat in the the middle of a snow storm, on the side of the interstate.
Now the drive back: Thankfully, the weather was much better. I thought it would be ok to let Maryn watch a movie while we were on a straight stretch of road. She hadn't taken her Dramamine yet, because I usually wait until we go through the twisty part of the drive. In almost the exact spot as Ailee's incident, on the opposite side of the interstate, Maryn says, "Mom, I think I'm going to throw up." I had just enough time to pull over, climb out and open her door, and watch her throw up all down her shirt and car seat. Sigh.
This is my official declaration--

My children are forever banned from watching movies in a moving vehicle.

I blame Kade for this hereditary gene. I think I've only ever been car sick twice in my life. Will I ever have a kid that has my stomach of steel?

Night at the Roxborough

Ok, Ok, I'm a week behind of everything. At least I am consistant, right?
So, last weekend our excursion was out to Roxborough State Park. I was pretty surprised to find this little treasure hidden behind the foothills. We pulled up to the entrance, and as I looked at the barren hills, all I could think was, "This is it? Really? We drove 30 minutes for this?" Then we turned a corner, and I was pleased.
Once again, here are my three explorers all ready to go! The next few pictures contain no people. (I don't usually like pictures without people...how boring! It's only informational, like reading a book. Blech!) But, I included them, so that you could get a view of some of the cool rock formations there.

I thought this last one kind of looked like a painting. We just need it on canvas, and a guy with an afro dressed in 70's clothes standing next to it with a pallate and a paintbrush saying, "Now, we're going to add a few happy little trees here. Just swoop them down the mountain side like so..."

Maryn has loved to be photographed lately. I wonder if this is just a phase. I like this phase.

And, I don't normally post pictures of just myself. It's because most of my pictures look a little something like this:

Doooo--ork! Why can I not take life seriously?

We spend most of our time on the trails playing games like tag, or Maryn, Kade and Ailee hide behind a bush so they can jump out and "scare" me. Only about 2% of the time is actually spent looking at the sights. We got a late start on our hike this day. We only went for about an hour. The sun started to set, and it gets pretty cold when that happens.

After we were sufficiently cold, we packed up and headed home. Dinner and nice warm bubble baths were in order, during which, we fashioned the girls into bubbly old men. Good times.

Over the River, and Through the Woods

Last weekend, we decided to escape the strangle hold of Saturday TV, and get out to enjoy the sunshine. We headed a wee bit south to Castlewood Canyon to do a little hiking. I know it looks really really really cold with all the snow in the pictures, but it was actually quite pleasant.

The three explorers, ready to go:

A view from the overlook

Just a cute one of Maryn
So, we decided to brave the ice and head down into the creek side trail. These stairs were very treacherous. We took it slow all the way down, and got to watch the guy behind us biff it.

Maryn's favorite part of the trip were the snacks. About every 10 minutes, she would ask when we were going to take a break and have treats.

Ailee, too, enjoyed the Oreo cookies and Doritos.

Just a picture of the fam.

This was a great way to spend the day. The kids loved being out (and having treats), and the exercise was nice. Ailee, who seems to be the whiniest kid ever, these days, didn't complain once. We went again this last weekend (to be posted later), and now every time Maryn says prayers, she asks that we can go hiking again. I think we have found a love for the outdoors.

T-R-O-U-B-L-E

trou-ble n. 1 difficulty or distress; vexation; affliction 2a inconvenience; unpleasant exertion; bother

And then, the dictionary should show Ailee's cute little face.

What am I going to do with this kid? She has learned how to climb. And, climb she does. She usually climbs up on something and gets stuck. Then I hear this until I rescue her: Mom, mom, mommy, mom, moooooommmmy, mom, mom, mommy, mommy? Mom, mommy, mooooooommmmy, moooooommmmy, mom, mom, MOM, mommy, mom, mooooom, mommy, mom? MOM!
We call this taking my name in vain. Sometimes I think I should just change my name to something she can't pronounce.
With the climbing comes temptation. You know, like pulling all the tissues out of the box.

Or perhaps pushing the kitchen chairs up to the counter and finding snacks. And my personal favorite--throwing all the fruit from my pretty bowl that sets on the kitchen table. Oranges make a funny noise to both 1 year olds and 4 year olds when they hit the floor.
Do I deserve this? I think I do not.