Just when you think you can take the plastic sheets off....

somebody pees the bed.

This child shall remain nameless to protect their dignity...

just falling asleep, too late, of course and I hear the dreaded words;

uh.... Mom, I think I just had an accident. Way better than the "uh... Mom, I'm puking" sentence though. I count my blessings.

I got the unnamed child in the bath tub, took the bedding down to the washer, back upstairs to help dry off and make a new bed on the floor.

Out of bed 15 minutes tops. Not too bad.

Then just as I'm drifting off came that thunder last night. Was that incredible or what?

That was the LOUDEST crack of thunder ever and then it sounded like the cloud was slashed open because then the rain POURED. Lightning flashed. I could see it even with my eyes closed for my face faced the window. If I hadn't been so tired I would have appreciated it more. Which is not to say I did not appreciate it at all because I did, just not as much as I would have if.....

Get it?

Rambling is obviously a byproduct of less than 41/2 hours of sleep.

Have a great day.

p.s.

I wanted to show you my Halloween cookies from FHE last night but some child who shall remain nameless because I don't know who they are yet.... screwed up my Iphoto program. Maybe tomorrow.

The birds and the bees

I'm at work with a table of 4 4th grade girls. We're working hard at mastering math facts. I call one girl to task for zoning out and not asking for a new number card to keep working. She says "I didn't remember your name". I tease her a little for not remembering my name and then tell her before I got married my name was much shorter and easier to remember. She get's this horrified look on her face and announces "I don't ever want to get married!" then quietly out of the side of her mouth to her friend sitting next to her she whispers "you have to do that gross thing if you get married.." The friend gives an embarrassed, knowing look and says "I know what you're talking about."

I try to keep my composure and steer us back to math when the friend looks at me and a look of comprehension slowly dawns as she blurts out "are YOU married?" I say that I am and they burst into titters. Then the first girl wants clarification if I have ever done "that gross thing"and asks "do you have any kids?" When I answer that I do have children, in fact I have 5, they can hardly contain themselves.

I desperately try to steer us back to math but they are both horrified and fascinated at the facts now swirling in their brains about what they now know about me..

Oh my....

I believe I blushed.

I consider Stop signs completely optional....

Friday was a busy day. It started out at 6:00am as I held Mason in my arms and he cried about a bad dream he'd had. It involved being left behind as his family all left 2 or 3 at a time to return home from a vacation location until he was left all alone and he couldn't get home. This is not a farfetched dream. My youngest brother almost got left behind in a Las Vegas parking lot once. It was quite tragic. I can still see his little crying face running behind the van and the rest of us yelling to my dad "Stop! we forgot David!!!"

After we talked about the dream, he felt better. As he got ready for school he remembered about his field trip to the Apple Farm that day and all was right with our world.

When I got home from work, Grandma Donna/Gpa Mike were at our house for a visit. Our cousin Ava was getting baptized Saturday so they had come out from California for that special occasion. Our UVU college cousin Kei was on her way from Provo so we decided to check all the kids out a little early from school so we could get out to the Thanksgiving Point Gardens before it got too chilly. Happiness and love abounded with Hello hugs and kisses all around. Grandma passed out presents which raised the euphoria to en even higher level. Life was good. We got assigned to our respective cars and we were on our way.

When we go to the gardens I always get a little worried I'm going to miss a turn because they are situated a ways away from the other parts of Thanksgiving Point. I was carefully looking for signs to make sure I was headed in the right direction when I missed a rather important sign... A stop sign. I didn't even know I'd missed it when I saw the red/blue lights in my rear-view mirror. I asked Kei, who was in the passenger seat, "was I speeding?" she gave me an apologetic smile and said "I think it was that stop sign you missed." I was still trying to figure out what stop sign she was talking about when the police officer arrived at my window and confirmed that I had indeed missed a stop sign. He asked for the requisite driver's licensee, proof of insurance and registration. I was fishing around in the glove box when I realize there were tears and sobbing coming from the back seat. "are we all going to jail?" Mason asked tearfully. From her seat in the midle, Carly comforted and explained the Policeman was just reminding us we had to follow ALL the rules and Mommy had just made a little mistake. Oops.

You can imagine the Goldmine this is for Mark. He's so giddy to have something new to tease me about. Even Kei got in on the teasing calling me a wild woman on my afternoon prowl.

Well, I signed my ticket which in no way admitted my guilt and we proceeded to the gardens where we had a lovely time. Grandma/Gpa didn't think they had it in them to walk the whole way so they rented a golf cart.

The kids had fun taking turns riding with Mark on the back.

Or chasing after it....

There weren't a lot of flowers this late in the year

but there were lots of beautiful leaves changing colors, shrubs, interesting grasses

we saw frogs and lillypads

and waterfalls

and so much more. It's a place I can go to over and over and never tire of.

We had a lot of fun taking pictures of the girls

in the secret garden

For some reason....

It always takes us a couple of tries to figure out which path leads us to the entrance to the secret garden...

Hmmm... go figure.

But it's always worth it

In the end.....

Just call her Ron-DUH!

and me... I'm Mrs. Weasley, Molly if we're friends.

Remember in Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone when Ron and Harry first meet on the train. Ron has no pocket money for chocolate frogs or Pumpkin Pasties but he does have a lunch lovingly prepared by his mother. He, however, does not feel the love because she made him a corned beef sandwich. Ron does not like Corned Beef.

"Ron had taken out a lumpy package and unwrapped it. There were four sandwiches inside. He pulled one of them apart and said, "She always forgets I don't like corned beef"...... "she doesn't have much time," he added quickly, "you know, with five of us."

This kid doesn't like Mayonnaise. If I make her a ham sandwich I am supposed to make it with butter spray on the bread instead of the Mayo.

Sometimes I forget.

She only likes butter on her pancakes and waffles; no syrup.

Sometimes I forget.

She doesn't like chocolate chips so when we make chocolate chip cookies we're supposed to take out some cookie dough BEFORE we add the chocolate chips to make plain cookies for her. Same thing with the pumpkin muffins. I usually put chocolate chips in those too..

Sometimes I forget.

And when I do~

she gives me such a look of incredulity as if to say, "Duh woman! I've only been not liking this for about a year now. When are you going to Remember? If you loved me, you'd remember. You really, really would."

You're asking, "can a look say that much? Me thinks thou dost exaggerate." To this I say, "have you seen one of Samantha Grace's looks?"

at a loss

I have been struggling to update my blog. This working mother thing is tough. By the time I sit down at the computer after getting home, getting dinner, carpooling, running a few errands possibly, helping with homework, reminding the other people who live here that I am not in charge of their backpack, jacket, shoes, etc... my brain is mush and I can't find the words to say what I want to say. When I'm driving somewhere I'll have a quiet moment or two and start thinking about something and I'll say to myself "self, that would make a great post" and I shelve it with big plans to further develop it later..... when I have time......

No developing.

No thinking.

No time.

Brain tired.

Sorry this has been such a boring place to drop by lately.

I'll work on it.

Promise.

Soon. Right after I make myself some Peanut butter, oatmeal, Chocolate chip cookie dough to deal with the stress.

Ahhhh.......

For Grandma Donna

Hi Mom/Grandma,

Just thought you'd enjoy hearing a little Rachel music. This was from the talent show portion of our family reunion on my mom's side this summer. I used to go to sleep listening to Air supply when I was in high school. I'm biased but I like Rachel's version better! :) I'd much rather go to sleep listening to her sing/play these days. what do you think mom?

Love,

Jamie

More evidence of monkeys

I told you last week I found muddy monkeyprints in my driveway so I kept my camera at the ready looking for some solid evidence. I was able to catch some video of the rare masonmonkey in action in my yard. I'm pretty sure he's the one who left the muddy prints. When he realized I was filming him, there was a moment of wariness...

He sized up me.

I sized up him.

I think we came to a mutual agreement that there was no threat. In fact, he seemed to like the attention....

He did seem a little more agressive when Jacob was around...

Maybe it was that whole alpha male thing in action.