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.

Day at the Zoo

After our crazy Thursday, we needed a fun day. So, we went to the zoo. It was a gorgeous Fall day, and we had a great time there.

I was downloading these pictures off my camera last night, and realized that Sara was wearing two different flip flops that day. I laughed to myself that I didn't even notice till a week after the fact.

And then I got to these pictures and realized that Aaron and Nate were also wearing mis-matched flip flops. I don't think I'll be winning any "Mother of the Year" awards any time soon.



Savannah was very thoughtful and brought some of her money to put in the food machines at the petting zoo. I told her I could bring some money, but she wanted to do something nice for her brothers and sister and use her own money on them. It was very sweet.











Owen was rather unimpressed with the hungry goats. He preferred to just chew on his stroller.



After a couple hours at the zoo, we were ready to head home. We stopped at a new frozen yogurt place here in Eagle to get a treat. The kids loved it because they were able to choose their favorite flavor of frozen yogurt and then pile on their choice of toppings. They decided we should go there every day. I told them they'd have to settle for maybe once a month (it's a pretty spendy place). After ice cream, we stopped off at Papa Murphy's and picked up pizzas to bring home and bake for dinner.

It was a great day. But we sure missed Dad through it all.

Crazy Thursday

Last week the kids were out of school for Parent/Teacher Conferences. Aaron was off Wednesday through Friday and the other three were off Thursday and Friday.

Thursday was a crazy day. I had been up almost all night with Owen. For some reason, he was not sleeping well. I had been up feeding him a bottle at midnight, 1:30, 3:45, and 6:45 (after which I just stayed up and got ready for the day). I was scheduled to meet with teachers at 8:00, 8:20, 8:40, and 9:00. I figured the kids would sleep most of the time I was gone, so I left Savannah in charge. I explained to her the night before what to do if Owen woke up while I was gone. She knows how to make a bottle and feed him, but diapers are something she hasn't ever had to do. I told her that if he woke up poopy, just to get him up and feed him a bottle and just wait till I got home to change his diaper.

I did great keeping on schedule with the conferences and arrived back home around 9:15. As I pulled into the garage, Sara met me at the door yelling something. I turned the truck off and got out to hear her excitedly telling me that Owen had peed on Savannah. I walked into Owen's room and found him sitting completely naked on top of the changing table. Savannah was frustrated and said, "He won't hold still for me to put his diaper on!" I asked her how long he'd been awake. "Just 10 minutes." I asked why she didn't just wait for me to get home. "Well, he was just wet, so I thought I could change him." I think she wanted to prove herself by having Owen changed and dressed when I came home. And apparently, during all of this Owen had peed all over Savannah. I told her little boys do that. I told her she had done a great job, that Owen is hard to get dressed because he's so squirmy, then I laid him down and put his diaper and clothes on.

I had about 30 minutes to get all the other kids dressed, then we headed off for Owen's gymnastics class. The other 5 kids hung out in the waiting area and watched Owen and me through the windows. It's just a 45 minute class, and all the kids behaved themselves.

Then it was home with another 30 minutes before I shipped Aaron off to a friend's birthday party.

After the birthday party, we had an hour before it was time to take Savannah to her gymnastics class. Her class was an hour, then it was on to another hour of football practice for Josh. Our Thursdays are always busy like this, but it's always so much harder when it's just me doing all the running back and forth (usually Scott does the football practice pickup). We arrived home just before 7 and had dinner then watched a movie upstairs as a family (since we didn't have school the next day, the kids could stay up later).

It's days like that when I really miss having a husband around.

Aaron

Aaron came home from school on Monday and had the following conversation with me:

Aaron: "Mom, today in Kindergarten, we learned about Christopher Columbus. He lived a long time ago when there were only Indians alive. Not Christopher Robin, Christopher COLUMBUS. "
Me: "Yeah, cuz it's Columbus Day."
Aaron: "Oh, so did you know him?"
Me: "Nope."

Later.....I could tell Aaron had been thinking hard about this.

Aaron: "Mom, why isn't Christopher Columbus still alive?"
Me: "Because he'd be really, really old."
Aaron: "How old?"
Me: "Like 500 years old."
Aaron: "Oh. Will we live that long?"
Me: "No, we'll live to be like 100."
Aaron: "And will I live longer than you, because you're a grown up and I'm just a kid?"
Me: "Yep."
Aaron: Long pause...and then "But I don't want to live if I don't have you with me."

How sweet is that? I really love that kid.

Next story.
On Tuesday Aaron came home and this was our conversation:
Aaron: "Mom, I made a new friend today. Actually, they were already my friend. But now she sits across from me, so now she's my girlfriend. Her name is Rebecca Price."
Me: "Oh. Is that the same girl that punched you in the eye last week?"
Aaron: "No. That was Rebecca Jean Fulbert. This is Rebecca Price."
Me: "Oh. Is she cute?"
Aaron: "Well, she's a girl."
Me: "Ok. So is she pretty?"
Aaron: "Umm, I don't know. I'll have to look tomorrow."

I seriously love that kid.

Day 5

We are on day 5, but it seems more like 10. These days have been passing so incredibly slow, and we still have 8 more to go.

Sunday I got all the kids up and ready for church by 9. We sat in the very back of the gym. It was our old Stake President's (and his wife's) mission report, so there were a lot of people in our Sacrament meeting. I chose to sit in the back so we wouldn't be disruptive to everyone else. And the kids did fairly well, but there was the usual whispering and fighting. Halfway through, the couple sitting in front of us actually got up and moved. They didn't move to a better seat, they moved 5 rows back. They just wanted to get away from us. Hint taken. Next week we won't be going to Sacrament meeting.

Monday the kids had school. After school was piano and gymnastics. The girls usually ride their bikes to piano lessons (it's in our neighborhood), but it was raining, so I had to drive them. I left Savannah in charge while I drove Sara to piano at 5:00 (I was only gone 5 minutes). Then I came home and made dinner--pancakes. I fed everyone, then left Josh in charge while I ran Savannah to piano and picked up Sara at 5:30 (once again, I was just gone 5 minutes). I got home and Josh was feeling pretty confident. He'd taken Owen upstairs to play and had the gate up. Upstairs is the one place in our house where everything is totally kid safe. I fixed a pancake for Sara and got her started eating, then loaded up Aaron and Nate to run them to gymnastics. I told Josh I'd be back in 15 minutes and asked if he thought he could handle things. He assured me he could. I figured with Sara there to help, the two of them would be perfectly fine. So, I ran Aaron and Nate to gymnastics at 6 and picked up Savannah on my way back into the neighborhood. Then we went home and picked up Sara, Josh, and Owen, and we all headed back to gymnastics. The little boys' class goes from 6-7 and the girls have a dance/gymnastics class from 6:30-7:30. With piano getting done at 6, we have to take the little boys, drop them off, then come back for the girls--something that is done a lot easier with Scott home. It makes for a lot of running around and kid shuffling when it's just me.

We got home from our night of gymnastics just before 8 and had a quick Home Evening of putting up Halloween decorations. Scott called at bedtime and was able to say goodnight to each of the kids. I found my head spinning from the craziness of our Monday evening activities, and all I could think was that I was going to have to do it all again by myself next Monday. 13 days is a long time to be on your own.

And yet, 13 days is so short compared to past years. We really are getting off light this year. In past years, he's been gone for the whole month of October. This year, he's doing two weeks in October and saving the rest for November (and maybe another week in December if he has to). It's nice to have it a little more spread out, but it's still hard. We'll get through this October trip just to have to turn around and do it again in November. I can't decide if I'd like to have it all at once or spread out. It's no fun anyway you look at it.

So I keep reminding myself that it's only two weeks, and that I've made it on my own a whole lot longer before. But it's two whole weeks without my husband--and that is a long time.

Alaska

It's that time of year again. Friday morning at 6:30, Savannah came down the stairs sick. We gave her a bowl and put her in our chair and within minutes, she was throwing up. All I could think was "Of course!". Something like this always happens when Scott is gone to Alaska. There was the year all the kids got the swine flu. They were deathly sick, and I couldn't leave the house. We were all just quarantined for weeks. Scott got home days after the last kid got better. And there was the year the heating element went out in the stove, and the year the freezer in the garage stopped working. And the year Scott left me with a brand new baby (just 8 weeks old) and the year he left me 8 1/2 months pregnant. So, all I could think about was how Savannah was sick, and it would go through all the kids, and I'd be up all night cleaning vomit out of my carpets while Scott was in Alaska. Thankfully, Savannah was better by noon, and no one else has gotten sick. So hopefully we'll be ok.....

Last Friday Scott was going to take the day off, but ended up going in for a 4 hour meeting, and then came home on his cell phone on a conference call for an hour. The kids were out of school Thursday and Friday for Teacher Inservice. After Scott finally got off the phone, I took Savannah and Sara with me out shopping (around 3 in the afternoon). I needed to get some last minute grocery items before Scott left town, so we stopped at Walmart. We also went to Target. Savannah got two gift cards to Target at her birthday party that she wanted to spend. We also went to Old Navy and I got a few things (none of my clothes fit anymore, so I'm slowly having to replace my wardrobe--it's a good thing, but it's costly, so I have to do it slow). We also went to Claire's. Savannah got money from her Grandma Sorensen for her birthday that she wanted to spend at Claire's. It was a good afternoon of girl shopping, and we had a lot of fun. The boys went to Zamzows while we were out, and got some fertilizer for the lawn. I guess you could call that fun boy shopping. When we all joined back up at home, we were pretty tired. I had planned on us going out to dinner as a family, for our last evening together, but with everyone worn out, we opted for pizza at home instead.

Saturday morning I drove Scott to the airport. We left at 5:30 am. We told Savannah that she was officially in charge, but assured her that all she had to do was sleep the whole time. It was a sad goodbye. I always am wracked with worry when I send him to Alaska--worried something will happen and he won't come home to me. His trip is filled with a lot of connecting flight, and flying in cold weather and sometimes snow (there was one year he wasn't sure he'd be able to leave because they'd cancelled the flights because of snow), and driving to the port in cold weather (there was the year the fuel in the truck froze up and they were stranded on the side of a remote Alaska road). I just worry. Scott assures me that he'll be fine, but I always make him actually say the words, "I promise that I will come home".

I was home by 6:30 and found everything still dark and quiet in the house, so I went back to bed for an hour. Saturday was a busy day, and going into it I wasn't sure how I was going to make it through, but it all worked out. At 9 I had Super Saturday. I had signed up to do crafts before I realized Scott was going to be out of town. So, I arranged for a babysitter to come over that morning so I could go. But, I got a call Friday night that my babysitter was sick and throwing up, so I had to make a new plan. I got Owen up and took him with me and let Savannah babysit. I've let her babysit for short amounts of time a few times now, and she does great. The Thursday night before her birthday, Scott was out of town, and we had gone from school to gymnastics, then to football, then home at 7, and had to eat dinner. As dinner was winding down at 8, I needed to run to Albertsons to get donuts to bring into Savannah's class the next day for birthday treats. I looked at the 6 kids and decided the last thing I wanted was to drag all 6 of them out on what should be a quick errand. So, I asked Savannah if she thought she could handle things for 20 minutes if I took Owen with me. She was really excited about getting to be in charge. So, I took Owen and ran to the store and came home to all the kids in their jammies and watching a movie. The next time I left her alone was last Friday night. Scott and I ran to Papa Murphy's to pick up pizza and let her babysit for the 20 minutes we were gone.

So, for Super Saturday, I took Owen with me at 9 and left Savannah in charge for an hour. I went, got my crafts to bring home to make, visited for a bit, then came home. Once I got home (just before 10), I got Josh ready for his football game, and sent him out the door 20 minutes later with a mom of another player (he had to be there early). Then I got the rest of the kids ready, and we headed to Josh's game (which started at 11). Josh's team won again. He had another game at 2, but I didn't want to stick around for 2 hours with all 6 kids, so we loaded up and came home. Owen fell asleep on the way home, and stayed asleep when I transferred him to his crib at home. We got home around 12:20 and had to leave again at 1:20, so Owen's nap was too short for his liking. We got back to the football field and Josh played his second game of the day (and won again). Scott was supposed to be downskeeper for this game, so he'd arranged to have his brother Marc come do it for him. One of the coach's son's wanted to do it instead, so Marc just stayed and watched Josh play. As I was rounding the kids up at the end of Josh's game (at 3), Aaron was nowhere to be found. I was standing there with my arms full of Owen, the levi quilt we'd been sitting on, and 4 other kids surrounding me, and no Aaron. There are 6 football fields with a game and spectators on each field, and there was no way I could search each of them to find him. I found myself really tempted to just leave him there. I decided to load all the kids up, then go back to find him. Thankfully, Marc was able to track Aaron down and by the time I was headed back to find him, Aaron was almost to the car. He's really lucky I didn't just leave him there.

We drove home from the game and came home and crashed. We survived day one of Scott being gone, and Super Saturday, and two football games three hours apart. We survived.

Savannah's Birthday Party

Last Thursday was Savannah's friend birthday party. Savannah has a lot of friends, and she thinks that all of them are her best friends. So, her list of invites was quite lengthy. She invited 18 girls, but luckily only 15 could make it. Add Savannah and Sara to the mix, and it made for a very full house. Scott took the day off work, and took the boys upstairs during the party. After the party was over and everyone had left, Josh said, "There was a lot of screaming during the party". Yes, Josh, there certainly was.

We made pizzas for lunch. Savannah wanted to do individual pizzas like we did for Sara's party. Sara had only three friends here for her party, and it still seemed like a lot of little pizzas, so I didn't want to attempt 17 individual pizzas. So we made 4 big ones and the girls split up into teams to top the pizzas. I was too busy trying to keep my kitchen from being destroyed to think about taking pictures during the pizza making. But, the pizzas turned out yummy and all the girls seemed to have fun making them.

After eating pizza, we moved into the living room to open presents. While the girls were in opening presents, I hurried and cleaned up the kitchen, then joined them for the present opening (and remembered to take pictures). Savannah got a lot of fun presents--she has some great friends.








After opening presents, we went back into the kitchen to make our craft. We decorated the cover of notebooks with scrapbook paper and mod podge. The books turned out cute, but it was pure chaos trying to have all the girls make them at once. During the book making, Scott put candles in the cake and led the girls in a round of "Happy Birthday" and then served the cake. I was too busy trying to get the notebooks done to even think about taking pictures (again). When I downloaded the pictures off the camera, I was surprised to find that Scott had taken some for me. He doesn't use the camera much (I'm always the one taking pictures), so it wasn't on the right setting and the pictures turned out a bit blurry, but at least I have some pictures. Thanks Scott! (Notice the notebooks on the counter standing on end to dry.)


So, we all survived the party, and I know Savannah had a great time. I love getting to do special things for my kids--it doesn't get to happen very often. Afterward, Savannah told me it was her favorite birthday party ever. She says that every year, and every year I love hearing her say it.

A Little Stressed

I've been a little stressed lately. I get this way every Fall. And that's because every Fall, Scott travels...a lot. Alaska is coming up, and I'm not handling it very well.

I know that those perpetual optimists out there would tell me to be thankful that my husband has a good job, that I have this beautiful house, and that I'm blessed with so many children. And I know. And I am very thankful for all of those things, I really am. But sometimes the pressure gets to me. I totally feel like I'm failing keeping up with the housework. I feel like I'm failing my kids trying to keep up with all their homework and activities. And I'm scared to death about how I'm going to handle it on my own for so long. I am really struggling to keep things together. It's really hard when so many people depend on you (and only you) to keep things running smoothly. You don't get the option of falling apart, or even taking a little break.

And so I'm stressed. And I'm grouchy. And I'm having a really hard time not being grouchy with Scott for leaving me alone for so long. Even though I know that makes absolutely no sense. He doesn't want to leave. In fact, he's stressed too trying to get everything ready to take for these enrollment meetings. And I know he worries about how we'll handle things here at home. I know he doesn't want to leave. But, on Saturday he is going to leave for Alaska, and I'm going to be left here at home with 6 kids, and it's really hard to not be just a little grouchy at him for leaving me.

Savannah Turns 10

Savannah's birthday was on Sunday. She turned 10. Where has the time gone? I can't believe she is 10 already. She should still be my little baby like this....

We celebrated all weekend. On Friday, the whole family went to Red Robin (Savannah's pick) to celebrate Savannah's birthday with dinner. She got sung to, and got a free ice cream sundae (which is why she wanted to go there, I think).

On Saturday morning, Josh had a football game that we all went to. His team lost for the first time this season, but Josh was happy still the same. After Josh's football game, Scott and Savannah headed off to a BSU football game. Scott's office bought box seats for the season, and has divided them out evenly throughout the office. Scott had two tickets for the game. As a birthday present to Savannah, she was the lucky girl who got to go with her dad to the game. She thought it was amazing and had a wonderful time. After the game, the birthday presents continued. Grandma Jo and Grandpa Mike came over. Scott when with his dad to the priesthood session of conference, and Grandma Jo took Savannah for her birthday outing. They went to dinner (Savannah picked Red Robin again) and went clothes shopping. I know I've said this before, but I LOVE this birthday tradition that Scott's mom created. My kids love the one-on-one time that they get with this outing (one-on-one time is pretty scarce when you have 6 kids). Savannah was very excited to come home and show the clothes she had picked out.

Sunday was conference, so we didn't have to go to church. We watched the morning session, then had Scott's parents and brother and his wife come over for a crepe lunch during sessions. Crepes are Savannah's favorite, so we celebrated her birthday with a crepe lunch. Scott's parents stayed and watched the afternoon session of conference with us, then we did cupcakes and ice cream. Savannah picked cupcakes instead of cake, and she and her grandma got to do the frosting and decorating of them.



We decided to let Owen have a cupcake (he needs to get practiced up for next month when he turns one). He made quite the mess, but loved it.



We didn't have any presents for Savannah to open because her gifts were the football game and getting to go shopping with me for church dresses (I don't dare try to pick them out without her--she's got a very strong opinion on clothes). Monday night we had gymnastics and dance, so we had to wait till last night (Tuesday) to do the dress shopping. Savannah decided to let Sara come along, and we made it a fun girls' night out. We went to JC Penney in the mall and found 3 beautiful dresses for Savannah (and one for Sara). Then we went to The Body Shop and got some fun lotions (Scott had won a gift card there at a staff meeting). And we ended with a treat from Mrs. Fields. As we were walking from JC Penney to The Body Shop at the other end of the mall, Sara said in awe, "This place is huge!" I think it's the first time in the girls' memory that they had been to the mall.

This week is a short week of school. The kids are off Thursday and Friday for teacher inservice. We are having a friend birthday party for Savannah tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon. Our house will be filled with twenty 9 and 10 year old girls. It should be an adventure!