There Go My Family Pictures

Ok, so we are back from our trip to Florida, and I'll post all about that later when I have time. I went to bed at 2 am last night, and got up at 8 this morning to get the kids off to school. I've spent my entire day trying to get laundry caught up and clean up the messes that the kids created while I was gone.

I'm just having a really rough day, though. Tomorrow we were going to do family pictures. We had pictures done in the spring (the picture that I have on top of this blog), and they turned out great of everyone. But I didn't like them because of me--I was so fat in them. It was those pictures that prompted me to go on this diet. And I have had unreal self control all summer long, trying to lose weight. And I lost 35 pounds! And I decided to do family pictures again so that I'd actually love the pictures this time. So, just before we left for Florida, I sat all 4 boys down and did haircuts on them so their hair would be perfect in a week when we had family pictures. Josh and Aaron's hair always gets cut pretty short, but Nate's hair I love to leave a little longer on top. Nate's hair is one of my favorite things about him. I love that it's darker than all the other kids'--it sets him apart from the rest, makes him unique. And it's a different texture than the other boys'--it's softer and lays down great when it's long (the other boys' hair just poofs out when it's longer). I love having it longer, so you can really see the color, and so I can actually style it. So even though I had a hundred things that I needed to get done before my trip, I made the time to do the boys' haircuts so they would be perfect. I even took extra time on Nate's and used the trimmers to make sure the line on his neck was just perfect. He looked great (they all did). {I did not take any pictures of this most recent haircut, but it was very similar to the haircut that he had when he started preschool a few months ago.}

And then I came home to this:


My dad decided to shave off all of Nate's hair while I was gone. He didn't even ask me. He didn't pay attention to the fact that Nate's hair was perfectly trimmed around the neck and ears (he definitely didn't look like he NEEDED a haircut). He didn't call me and say "Do you mind if I cut Nate's hair?". He just took him out in the backyard and shaved all his hair off.

And when I called him on it this morning, and told him that he should have asked me, that you don't just cut someone else's kid's hair without asking their parent, he didn't care. I told him that I was going to have to cancel family pictures--not postpone, but cancel (by the time Nate's hair grows back, it will be winter), and he didn't care. And instead of being willing to apologize and admit that he probably should have asked me before he shaved my son's hair off, he decided to pack him and my mom up and go home. They had promised the kids they were going to stay another night so they'd be here on Halloween to see them trick or treating. So now I get to try and explain to the kids when they get home from school, that it was more important to their grandpa to be stubborn and not apologize than it was to keep his promise to them.

Seriously, maybe I'm over reacting, but Nate didn't need a hair cut. He had a hair cut one week ago. It wasn't like his hair was hanging over his ears or neck, making my dad think that he'd be doing me a favor by cutting it. He cut it because it wasn't the haircut he would have done on Nate if he had been in charge. So he took the chance while I was gone to shave it off military style the way he likes it. And he wasn't even sorry that he did it. When I told him that I'd just cut Nate's hair one week ago, his comment was, "When did you do it? In the middle of the night when you couldn't see? Because it was a terrible haircut and had a big patch of long hair hanging out the back." I guarantee you that Nate didn't have a patch of long hair in the back--I took extra time making sure his haircut was perfect because we had pictures, and I had Scott looking over my shoulder telling me whether or not it was even. It was a great haircut. It was perfect. And my dad shaved it all off. And even if there was an uneven patch in the back (which there wasn't), it's a long way from just evening it up in the back to shaving off the entire top. I still am just fuming about it.

So now I have to cancel family pictures. These pictures were supposed to be perfect. We already have pictures that are okay--these were supposed to be perfect. These were supposed to be the pictures that I blow up really big and hang in my entry way for the next three years (that replace my all time favorite family picture that has been hanging there for the last three years). I was going to spend hundreds of dollars on these pictures because they were going to be perfect (my dad also told me I was stupid to be spending money on pictures--his exact words were "all you need is a camera"). I cannot spend that kind of money on pictures that I'm not going to love, or that I'm going to look at and zoom in on Nate and get angry over his haircut. We already have great family pictures of the family as a whole, I wanted a picture where we were ALL perfect.

And no apology. Nothing. No concession that maybe he should have asked me first. No inkling of regret that I was so upset over having to cancel my family pictures. No apology for calling the haircut that I had given my son horrible and uneven. Instead of just saying sorry to me, he went home and left me to have to explain to my kids when they get home why grandma and grandpa couldn't stay to trick or treat with them.

So not only am exhausted from no sleep last night, I here working to clean up the disaster that the house became while I was gone, AND I'm doing it with red puffy eyes from crying all day long. My perfect Fall family picture down by the Eagle River, that I've been dreaming about all summer long, will not happen. And instead of getting to go trick or treating with Scott and the kids tonight (we were going to have my parents hand out candy for us here), I'll have to stay home and hand out candy while they go out without me.

It's really kind of a crappy first day back from vacation.

Pumpkin Patch

Friday night we went as a family to the pumpkin patch. The weather was perfect. We couldn't have asked for a better evening.

We rode the hay ride out into the field. All the kids love getting to do the hay ride.












Once we got out to the field, it was time to search for the perfect pumpkin. Nate was especially proud of the pumpkin he found.











Then it was back on the trailer for a hay ride back. I love these pictures of Owen and Scott that I took. I always worry when he travels that the current baby will forget him while he is gone. Owen wasn't too sure about Scott when he first came back from Alaska, but it didn't take long till he was loving his daddy again.


After we got back from the hay ride, the kids played on the old tractors and looked at the animals. Then we posed for our traditional family picture at the pumpkin patch.




After our time at the pumpkin patch, we were all ready for dinner. We went to TGI Fridays for dinner (Josh had received a coupon for a free kids meal there from his teacher at school). The kids did really well behaving at dinner. It was a really nice family evening together. On the drive home, all three little boys fell asleep in the car. When we got home, we carried Nate and Owen in and put them in bed. We woke Aaron up to walk in the house (he's getting too big to carry). He walked into the kitchen, then collapsed on the rug and fell back to sleep. I think that's a sign that he had a good day.

A Couple of Cowboys

Last Sunday as we were trying to pass the time being stuck indoors on a rainy day, Josh and Nate decided to play dress-up. I thought these pictures were just too cute not to share.

Life After Alaska

This week Scott took Monday and Tuesday off. I tried to convince him to just not tell his office that he was back in town and just stay with us till Thursday when they expected him back. But after being gone from work for so long, he was itching to get back to his office and get caught up on everything.

Monday night the whole family went to Josh's end of season football awards ceremony. His football league is sponsored by a church, and the awards ceremony turned out to be more of a "convert you to our religion" meeting than an "awards" ceremony. And the kids did not behave at all during it. All I could think was, "I'm so happy I'm not here doing this alone". I'm sure all Scott could think was, "I should have stayed in Alaska".

On Monday we started a project--a big one. Last year we built a desk area into our upstairs. My ultimate goal has been to turn that into a family computer area and turn our office downstairs into a piano room. So on Monday, we moved our computer upstairs (now we have the kids' computer and our computer on the desk). But then we had a whole room full of office furniture that we didn't need anymore. Scott texted his sister to see if they wanted it (it was their mom's old office furniture), and she did! So we loaded it up into Scott's truck and he delivered it to them out in Homedale. While he was gone, I shampooed the carpet in that room. The kids were excited to come home from school to a big empty room.

The next step in this project was to move the piano into that room, but we couldn't do that till the carpet was dry, so we moved on to the next step--a shelf to hold a TV to go where the piano was in the living room.

On Tuesday morning Scott, Owen, and I (Nate had preschool) went on Aaron's school field trip to the pumpkin patch. It was cold, but was fun. (In the picture, Aaron is on the top right.)

After the field trip, Scott and I took the three little boys to Home Depot and bought the wood for our new shelf. And then we spent the evening with a table saw, wood, and lots of sawdust as we started building our new shelf. We found ourselves really surprised at how quickly the project came together. It's not done yet, but it's close. I'll post pictures of it w

Wednesday Scott went back to work. I spent my day cleaning house, catching up on laundry (Scott's suitcase was still sitting in our living room waiting to be unpacked), and shampooing the carpet in my bedroom (I'm tackling one room at a time). After work, Scott and I worked on the shelf again till it was time for him to go to Mutual.

Thursday morning Scott took the morning off and took Owen to gymnastics. Nate was at preschool, so I had the house to myself to speed clean for an hour. Scott went in to work before noon. Thursdays are Savannah's gymnastics day, so I had to drag all the kids along drop her off there after school. But, with Josh's football done for the season, we didn't have to worry about football practice, and Scott just picked up Savannah from gymnastics after work and brought her home. Not having football is going to make our Thursdays a bit more simple.

This morning (Friday), I went and donated blood. Long story short--11 years ago I found my way onto the "do not donate for life" list because of a false-positive Hep C test. Two years ago, I started the process to get off that list. It took a year--a blood test and clearance from the FBI--but I was told I could start donating blood again. So I went in to donate, and was turned away that time because my iron was too low. So I tried again today. My iron was high enough and I was able to donate blood. Now I'm sporting a nice purple bruise on my arm.

Scott took the morning off work so I could donate blood, but had to go in to work at lunch time. Before he went to work, we got the piano moved from the living room into the office (now piano room). After Aaron got home from Kindergarten, I loaded up Owen into the stroller and Aaron and Nate hopped on their bikes, and we walked over to Aaron's friend Wheaton's house. Wheaton's mom had planned a "Fall Fun Day" party and invited the entire AM Kindergarten class, their parents, and any siblings that wanted to come. We packed a lunch for us, and she provided juice and cookies. It was perfect weather, and all the kids played outside while the moms visited with each other. After the party, we came home and I put Owen down for a nap in his crib, and the rest of the afternoon has been spent updating this blog. But, I think I'm finally caught up. Now we are off to the pumpkin patch as a family! It's great having Scott home for all these activities!!

Sunday Surprise

Sunday morning I intentionally showed up to church an hour late. The week before I had tried to attend all three hours with the kids, and it didn't go so well. I did my best to keep all 6 kids quiet in Sacrament meeting, but apparently failed miserably (we had people actually get up and move away from us). So I decided to spare everyone else and just show up for Primary. It was much less stressful on me.

After church I had hoped to be able to go on a family bike ride (now that our bikes had unflat tires), but the weather took a turn for the worse and was pouring down rain. So we stayed inside and tried to pass the time.

Now, I have to back track just a bit here. In past years, there have been times when Scott finished up at Red Dog Mine early and was able to come home early. There are charter airplanes that fly in and out of the mine twice a week--on Wednesdays and on Saturdays. So, for him to get to come home early, he has to finish half a week ahead of schedule. It doesn't always happen, but a few times it has. I was really hoping this would be one of those times. Earlier in the week, he mentioned in an email that he was seeing people from 7 in the morning till 11:30 at night, and that hopefully it would pay off so he could finish early. I clung to that hope all week.

Also during that week, I'd become familiar with the special telephone ring that meant it was Scott calling. He has no cell phone coverage up where he is in Alaska, so I have no way of calling him. I have to just sit and wait for him to get a chance to call us. Our home phone has a feature on it that doesn't allow blocked phone numbers to call in. So, when he called from the mine, he had to enter his phone number to allow the call to go through. And when he did that, the phone here did two short rings instead of one long ring like it usually does. I don't know why it did that, but it did. And it was nice because as soon as the phone would start ringing, I knew it was him without even checking Caller ID, and we'd all run frantically to find a phone so we could talk to dad. I told him at one point in the week about the funny ring--I didn't think anything of it, I just mentioned it in one of our phone calls.

So, here we were on day 9 of Scott's trip. And we still had 4 more days to go. He was scheduled to be on the charter plane out of Red Dog on Wednesday and then finish the trip home on Thursday. But, on Friday I had started to hope that just maybe he would finish early, be on the charter plane on Saturday and be home on Sunday. But when he called at 10:30 on Saturday night, it was still the two short rings that we'd become familiar with. I cried to him that I had really needed for him to come home early, and told him I didn't know how I was going to make it through the remaining days. He told me how sorry he was, but that there was just still too much work to do up at the mine.

Sunday afternoon we all sat inside the the house, with the rain coming down, and everything looking drearily gray. At 3:30 the phone rang. It was two short rings. I answered it, knowing it was Scott. He sounded tired. I asked him how he was. He said, "What if I told you that I was at the Boise airport and needed you to come pick me up?" I told him that wasn't even funny, that he shouldn't even joke about it. "I know you are still at the mine, because the phone did two short rings." He said, "What if I figured out how to make the phone do that from anywhere, and I really am at the Boise airport?". I started bawling. I made sure he really was telling the truth, then told him I'd be right there to get him.

Still crying uncontrollably, I got off the phone and yelled at all the kids to hop in the car because we were going to go get dad. Owen was asleep in his crib, and I didn't even care that I had to interrupt his nap and wake him up to come. We drove through the rain to the airport, and I tried really hard to control my tears. Savannah commented half way there, "You are really happy that Dad's back, aren't you". We pulled up to the airport and I jumped out and hugged him so tightly. He said, "You aren't mad that I tricked you, are you?". I assured him that this was a great surprise and that I wasn't mad at all.

So, the October Alaska trip ended up being only 9 days. I feel like we got off so light. I mean, 9 days is a long time, but he's usually gone the entire month. I want to just breath a sigh of relief, but I know that we've got to do this again in November, so we really aren't done yet. But for now, I have my husband back and my kids have their dad again, and we are going to enjoy every minute we have with him.

Football

Last Saturday was Joshua's last flag football game. His team won again--ending the season with only one loss. Josh came very close to getting a touch down. He got the ball at one end of the field and ran clear down to the other side of the field toward his end zone. He was almost to the goal line when a kid caught up to him and pulled his flag. He was so close! It didn't matter to Josh that he didn't actually make a touchdown--he was just so excited to get such a great run in.




Savannah was the score keeper. Scott had volunteered for that job at the beginning of the season, and Savannah was more than excited to fill in for her dad. (Don't let her seriousness in the pictures fool you, she really loved getting to keep score.)



Sara and Owen were fairly good during the game.





Nate and Aaron were not good during the game. Scott's mom came to see the game. I don't think she was a fan of Nate and Aaron's antics. Neither was I.


After the game, I decided I'd had it with trying to be a single mom to 6 kids. This was day 8 of Scott being gone, and we still had 5 more to go. I took the kids home and put them all to bed. Owen had not been sleeping at nights--he woke up in the middle of the night every single night while Scott was gone (sometimes more than once), so I was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to get a nap. So, the kids and I spent the next three hours in our beds. When we all got up, I was a little less mad at them all.

We spent the rest of our afternoon/evening outside enjoying the weather. I had mowed the lawn on Thursday, but still had some tree pruning that needed to get done. I also took my and Sara's bikes in to the bike shop to get new tires (our bikes had very flat tires). I let Savannah be in charge while I took the bikes in and when I went back to pick them up (10 minutes each trip). We ended the night by staying up late waiting for Scott to call. He had warned me earlier in the day that he was scheduled pretty late into the evening and wouldn't be able to call till 9 our time (7 his time). He finally called at 10:30. Every night he was gone, we cherished those bedtime phone calls. It was just really nice to end our day talking to dad, so we stayed up late that night till he called.