Laundry Schmaundry

Sometimes a busy mother of little ones doesn't get to the laundry as she had planned.

Walk in My Shoes... or not.

My little Leah...

My Dad

My dad has a great sense of humor and is a very talented cartoonist. His style is unique and very much his own. I googled his name once and found this cartoon online:

My Review of Potty Watchâ„¢

Originally submitted at One Step Ahead

Half the challenge of potty training: reminding kids when it's time to go! Potty Watch does it for you, alerting kids with music and lights that truly gets their attention. Set at regular 30, 60, or 90-minute intervals. Bonus: in "play" mode kids can sing along with the music while th...

Potty Watchâ„¢

Love this product.

By Eightloves from Lehi, UT on 9/18/2010

 

4out of 5

Pros: Playful Design

Cons: Not waterproof

Best Uses: Toilet Training

Describe Yourself: Parent of Two or More Children

I have seven kids and wish I had found this for the three kids I have already potty trained. I am working on my 3 year old now and am really looking forward to using it again when my 2 year old and 16 month old twins are ready to potty train. My 3 year old LOVES it and her excitement is incredibly contagious!

(legalese)

Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time there were three beautiful girls named Ashley, Haley and Kyra. They loved getting together as often as possible so they could giggle and share their treasures and do things little girls do when they're together. These three girls were the luckiest little girls around because not only did they get to be the best of friends, but they got to be COUSINS. This, of course, means that they can continue to giggle and share treasures and do things little girls do for a long, long time... The end.

Cleaner Hands and Better Views

I can't think of a much cuter sight than two beautiful baby girls learning to walk with their arms spread wide, their faces deep in concentration and their curls bouncing all over the place.

West Yellowstone

We recently returned from a very spontaneous & quick trip to Montana. Rich's family has a log cabin there and there was some work that needed to be done on it.

I have been very hesitant to travel with so many little ones, and especially little ones that are not yet walking. Going to a park is hard enough when they're crawling & eating mouthfuls of icky non-edibles (some might be edible, but ICK!). And TWO of them crawling in seperate directions keeps this mommy VERY busy.

So taking crawling twins to a mouse infested log cabin with not so clean floors was not very exciting to me.

Well, I decided we would give it a go anyway and packed everyone up. I am so glad we went after all because I found a large playpen and the twins loved playing in it and I was able to get some good cabin work done.


And I was worried about MOUSE infestation???

Sadie Baby

Her name is Sadie but sadly, I usually end up calling her Ma-Sadie. I can't keep up with all these names. I have gotten better, however, at disguising this all too common parental error. I start out by saying "Mah" and then I quickly add "I" so I say instead, "My Sadie". Isn't that great and aren't I so clever? And my reward for being so clever? Madi and Sadie fight over me all the time. "My mommy!" "No, my mommy!" Every day someone is fighting over little ol' me and it makes me feel special.

So here is My Sadie in all her glory. She is beautiful. And she is mine.

The New "Playdate"

Ashley and her friend couldn't get to each other's home's yesterday because of transportation issues mostly, but usually it's 'busy-mom' issues.

So her and her cute friend instead read books to each other over the phone. Ashley loves reading and on a daily basis will read to whomever will listen.

So that is the new playdate around our house and I love it for various reasons. One of which is that it's entertaining without me being the entertainer. It's kind of like when a kid learns to hold a bottle, eat, potty, dress themselves, entertain themselves, etc, etc. Now when Ashley wants to play with a friend and I'm busy I'll just hand her the phone and a book.

The Heart Magnet

Sometimes when I look at this photo it brings back memories of us in Hawaii with our sun-bleached hair and good 'ol Kahuku High School.

Other times it brings back memories of my place in our large family and how happy I feel to be the only one in the picture being pointed at. Like I'm the favorite or something. Sigh...

I Have Green Eyes

It was St. Patrick's day and Spencer wasn't wearing green. He told me he had green eyes. I told him that what would happen is he would still get a lot of pinches cause explaining about his green eyes would happen after he was already pinched. So we came up with the idea of making a shirt that would hopefully stop all pinchers in their tracks. And then we ate green muffins and green milk.

Swiper no Swiping!

Innocently playing... Leah eyes the prize... She swipes it while Ava isn't looking! Poor Ava!

What is it With This Kid?

He is my third child and after two angels, one of my sisters said I need to have a challenging kid. So then along came Joshy. He wasn't fussy or anything like that, but as soon as he could crawl or walk, he was getting into things and making messes. I put in cabinet safety locks and got those plastic thingy's that go on the door handles. What I really needed was a large cage... er, playpen. He was and is just a curious little thing and if I wasn't closely supervising, he was into something. So much so, as a matter of fact, I started documenting everything so I could remember and laugh about it later. I do, by the way, laugh about it. Cause it is later.

But that is what did it... the goofy faces every time a camera gets pointed in his direction. I did it to him... I know I did. He is the star and I am the paparazzi. Most of his mischief has been documented, which means I have taken many, many photos of this little guy. I would hope if he ever did become a star he would put on a little bit more of a dignified face...

He is my Joshy and I wouldn't change a thing or have him any other way.

Why Eightloves?

Why the name 'Eightloves'? Because there are eight people in my life that I love more than I could ever explain... sometimes more than I, myself, can comprehend. It is difficult to explain the enormity of the love experienced when you have a child of your own. It is enormous... it is overwhelming... it is unconditional... it is endless...

I remember I was pregnant with Ashley (my second), and I was EXTREMELY concerned and stressed wondering how I could possibly love another child as much as I loved Spencer. It was, and is, very important to me not to show favoritism to any of my children. They will all be loved equally at all times. Then I had Ashley and the love was just there. It came naturally. For each child I've had since, the same exact amount of love is always there. Who knew that so much love was ever possible?

It made me understand just a tiny portion of the love Heavenly Father feels for his children... for each one of us. He really does love ALL of us, and he loves us unconditionally. Because I am also a parent, I know it is so and experience this amazing love towards my kids every day.

So when I thought of the name 'Eightloves', I just knew it was perfect. I love my children and I love my husband so incredibly much. They are my universe and bring me more happiness than I could ever have doing anything else or being in any other place. This incredible love towards another human being is something I will always cherish.

And that is why... 'Eightloves'.

Bag-Lady-ish

My sister and I wanted to do something with the kids today... something other than what we have been doing, which has been nothing particularly exciting, yet still always busy.

We decided on a walk and then thought we would kill two birds with one stone, and get a few groceries at the same time.
So now you can visualize...

This is how we looked heading home. And to think that we ran into two people I knew!!! How embarrassing!

I got a cute princess sleeping bag for Madi's b-day in two days and it hung in true bag-lady style off the side of my stroller.

I won't be doing this again anytime soon, but for what it's worth, I did get a good workout pushing a gazillion tons today... and now, in non-bagger-lady-ish style, I gratefully go to my nice, warm bed... G'NIGHT!

Wanna Smile?

New Phone = New Tricks

Doppleganger Week

It was Doppleganger week on Facebook recently and I enjoyed seeing everyone's celebrity twin. I noticed that everyone was posting photos of the most gorgeous celebrity version of themselves so I, of course, had to also...

Chelsea's Farewell

I recently returned from a quick, one night trip to Mountain Home, Idaho for my niece, Chelsea's, mission farewell. She will be serving a mission for 1 1/2 years in Honduras. She enters the MTC on March 3rd. Whoohoo! I am so excited for her and the incredible experiences she'll have! I served a mission in Argentina from '95-'97 and still think about some aspect of my mission experience every day. It is a life changing experience and I am extremely grateful I had the opportunity and that I TOOK the opportunity to serve. I love the people of Argentina so incredibly much and know that Chelsea will gain a love for the people of Honduras also.

Chelsea's farewell was wonderful - she did such a great job and let her personality shine through. She will make a great missionary and will accomplish great things.

It was a lot of fun driving down with Jessi and Mom and staying with the McKenzies. We ate at Wingers and rented some CleanFlick (edited) movies Saturday night... White Out and Public Enemy. So much fun watching movies till the wee hours of the morning! The McKenzies are a really fun bunch and I always wish they lived closer.







Rich took care of all the kids while I was gone and did a TERRIFIC job. They were alive when I came home and the house was not a disaster. :) It is too bad I don't enjoy getting away overnight more! I do NEED and look forward to getting away from the craziness having seven kids entails, BUT... in 1-5 hour increments. :)

PINK EYE

So we are all good now, but the dreaded PINK EYE visited the last several weeks. My nephew had it, then Madi had it, then Jessi, then Sadie, then the twins, then me... UGH. Luckily I started the ointment/drops immediately. That is one very contagious and very unwelcome irritation!!! We are done putting drops in our eyes I think tomorrow. HURRAY! It is like torture pinning the little kids arms down and prying their eyes open to put those drops in. They screamed, they cried, they thrashed and tried their hardest to escape. It was torture for them and it was torture for us!

I tried a new (AND WONDERFUL) method yesterday... I lay each baby down and put a book over them so they had something to look at. While they were looking up at the book, I took aim and quickly dropped the medicine in their eyes. They blinked and squirmed a little, but there was no crying at all! I did this method in the morning and last night and am extremely happy they don't have to go through the trauma we inflicted on them previously. Sigh... I am such a genius. ;) Hehehehe...

Potty Training...

Yesterday Madison asked for her potty seat. I had attempted potty training a few months ago, but found myself not completely dedicated to the rigor of it all. It is very time consuming and requires commitment and dedication and patience. I decided I will NEVER potty train unless I have the patience to do it.

So after a few weeks it kind of fizzled and that was fine with me. I did decide, however, that on Madison's 3rd birthday I would completely dedicate myself to doing away with diapers for Madi and making it a really HUGE and EXCITING deal. Her birthday is on March 3rd and so her interest yesterday was encouraging.

The older kids are extremely helpful and always want to take Madi potty... I know getting a gumball each time they help has A LOT to do with it. :)

Ready to Historify!

I am a slacker, BUT I really need to historify my life and all that it encompasses because there are WAY too many great things going on and I don't want to forget any of them! (And with the rate my brain cells are dying I had better get going on this.)

So... I am ready to HISTORIFY!!!

First of all, I don't want to forget this cute thing Madison does when she finds a toy she hasn't seen in a while. Her tiny princess Dora toy disappeared for a while and when she found it, it was a REALLY big deal. She held it up to her cheek and kind of hugged it with her shoulder, and with her eyes closed said; "Awwww, I fown it! My Cincess Dora! I fown it! Awwww..." (Note: when she says 'awwww', her voice goes up and down and then up again...)