Hyrum is Six!

Today Hyrum turned six. I'm still finding that hard to swallow. I can't believe it was six years ago that we drove to the hospital in rush hour traffic because I was waiting on the buns to get out of the oven. This little man came sunny side up after a rather quick labor. He was an easygoing baby, slept great from pretty much birth. He's always been a wise old soul trapped in a boys body. I love his quiet nature, and gentle heart. He is kind, humble, and always wants to do what's right. He's the first one dressed every morning. Things have to be proper and precise when you're Hyrum. When he colors, things have to be the right color. There's no such thing as rainbow church pants or orange eyes in Hyrum's world. The pants are black, the eyes are blue, just the way things should be. He loves to draw. He has a talent for music. He is caring, considerate and gentle. I could go on and on. This boy is pretty special to all of us and we love him very much! Happy sixth birthday little buddy!

A Heaven on Earth

I wake to Oliver babbling and spitting in his crib. Finley is nestled in the crook of my arm, still fast asleep. I watch his chest rise and fall as the glow of the morning light greets me for the day. The sun has returned and I couldn't be happier. My heart is full of joy and gratitude for my little family and our simple life. 

The furnace warms my toes while I make breakfast and clean up the kitchen. The boys play away the morning happily while I tidy the bedrooms. Oliver naps while the sun pours into the nursery. After loading the boys in the car I gently wake the baby and get him ready for immunizations. I have done this so many times before. It all goes smoothly and quick. The nurse looks at my older boys while she explains things and stops half way in, "You know that already though, you've been through this before." I smile politely. He weighs a whopping 19lbs! We wait for 15 minutes after the needles just to be sure and then I load the boys back into the van.

A warm breeze blows all afternoon, making quite the contrast from the chilly morning. After lunch I find myself lying on my bed with the window wide open, listening to the children play at the park. The curtains gently sway as I nurse Ollie on my freshly laundered bed. I am grateful to have a few quiet moments to enjoy just him.

Camilla arrives home and finds me in my bedroom. She plops down on the bed with us and Ollie coos and babbles at her. We have a nice chat on my bed before she heads off to join her brothers at the park. 

Dinner goes smoothly. Everyone eats what I've made. I get extra hugs and kisses before and after dinner. 

We head downstairs to watch a few Mormon Messages before bed. Hyrum snuggles into my side while Ollie sits at my feet and plays. Before long Joe comes over from the other couch and climbs on top of my lap. The dog snuggles in at my other side and Finley squishes in somewhere. I am officially covered in children & the dog. I can't help but feel loved, and full of gratitude once more with my children gathered around. I am glad that they feel safe, content, and happy. I am building the home I always dreamed that I would have. A home filled with love. 

As I reflect on my day I realize that there wasn't anything extra special or out of the ordinary that made it great. We still had tantrums, fighting, and all of the other fun stuff that comes along with having so many littles. My attitude going into today made all of the difference. A happy mom makes a happy home. And I will go to bed tonight with a smile on my face and joy in my heart.

For the Love of Mexican

 A fresh blanket of wet snow fell over night making today a great day to get some deep cleaning done (and bake of course). On an especially nice morning last week I tore apart the basement windows and cleaned all of the mold out of the nooks and crannies. I have been slowly making my way around the house, one window at a time. As I clean I always think about the whole, "how do you eat an elephant" thing. Sometimes all of the work that needs to be done around here can seem pretty overwhelming. I constantly have to remind myself to take things "one bite" at a time, or else nothing would ever get done. The trickiest thing for me to clean is my kitchen floor because the table has to be clean enough to put up the chairs and the floor has to be vacuumed and kid free for me to even decide to fill up a pail of water and wash it.

 This morning I tackled the upstairs bathrooms and our bedroom while Ollie bounced in his jolly jumper. Fin ran in and out with the puppy, Joe played quietly on the iPad and Hyrum did his schoolwork at our desk with a little help.  Lately I have a huge desire to declutter everywhere so I've been going around one room at a time doing a deep clean and getting rid of things we never use.

I also updated my bathroom decor with this cute printable. I like to be greeted each day by some words of wisdom, and having this quote roll around in my head all day helps me to be a better mother. It reminds me to smile in the face of challenges and laugh at the little mishaps that come along with having little children.

 We had a few extra littles here for most of the day. Finley and his friend slept away a lot of the afternoon. Oliver sweetly fell asleep pretty much on his own as soon as I wrapped the blanket around him. I Gently placed him in his crib and admired his round little face before quietly sneaking out. They grow so quick!

 As the day went on, the snow slowly melted. By mid-afternoon the walks were clear and dry again. Camilla got home from school and ate a snack while I did some dinner prep. I realized I had forgotten to pick up a key ingredient for dinner and didn't really feel like hauling everyone out for a quick trip to the store. I tossed around the idea of grabbing McDonalds... But I was so excited to make this dinner! I mustered up all of my remaining energy, got everyone out the door in a timely manner and headed to the store. The kids are used to shopping with me and are usually pretty great.

 With all of the ingredients now on hand I followed a new recipe and made up Grilled chicken & Quinoa burrito bowls with a homemade avocado salsa. It was a labor of love (all of that chopping!) I loved it so much I had two helpings. Some of the kids picked their way through it while others sat and cried over it. A mamma can only eat so much mac & cheese. This was a nice change (and I love me some mexican food). The colors were so bright and pretty. Daddy made my night by arriving home earlier than I thought he would. He also loved dinner.  Quinoa, tomatoes, and all. I added it to the "make again" list. Sometimes trying new recipes is awesome!

Rainy Day Baking

 Today we woke to rain...

 I spent some time organizing the nursery and sorting clothes. This little chunk is growing so fast that I can hardly keep clothes in his drawer long enough before I'm pulling out the next size up.

I pulled a fresh pan of chocolate chip cookies out of the oven just before Camilla got off the bus. While I did dishes the boys snuck cookies from the cooling rack. Everything is better with cookies, especially rainy days.

Gramma's Barbershop

 Today Mr. Fin got to sit in my old highchair and get his hair cut by Gramma! As much as I loved his long, whispy toddler hair, it was time for a big boy hair cut. He sat so well and still with a sweet little grin on his face the entire time. It turned out pretty great! 

Grampa's Shop

We are at the acreage for Spring break. This morning found the littles out in Grampa's work shop learning all about leather stamping. Grampa made them each a leather belt and let them choose their own design and stamps. They patiently practiced on a scrap piece of leather while Grampa took turns working with each of them, sizing their belts and showing them how to stamp. 

Joe was so excited to get started!

 

I left them in the garage to finish up and they came in soon after to show off their handy work. 

Each belt was unique and perfectly depicted each of their personalities. Camilla's was fun, stamped all over the place with a few chosen stamps, and stained purple. It was happy chaos, vibrant, and unique. Hyrum was more meticulous. He picked three stamps and made a perfect pattern, evenly spacing everything. Joe picked a whole bunch of different stamps and made a nice line with all of them. 

Grampa was finally able to tug out the girls bottom tooth. She was pretty thrilled!

And sometimes acreage life begs for dinner time naps. They had such a fun day!

Easter Sunday

HAPPY EASTER!

Egg Smash

Camilla and Hyrum woke at the bright, early hour of 2:00am to see if the Easter Bunny had visited yet. I woke to them whispering excitedly in the living room and shewed them back to bed until morning. Our Easter Bunny stayed up way too late last night, and was grateful to have some helpers to fill baskets and hide eggs. Everyone was pretty excited when they woke!

The morning was lazy and slow, and no body was complaining. We ate way too much chocolate and breakfasts sat half finished on the table. When it was time for lunch we all grabbed our eggs for the traditional egg champ. All morning Joe asked, "Can we smash eggs now?" It's a highlight for everyone!

It's pretty funny watching the kids coordinate their smashing, and this year I got a huge kick out of everyone's facial expressions. Some of them hit so hard that they left egg shells in their opponents eggs.

Finley had already smashed a couple of eggs the day before, but I saved one for him to champ with us. He was so tickled too!

The two finalists this year were Camilla and Mr. Stannix. I am so glad that Naomi was able to snap this picture! This captures all of the emotion and fun behind the egg champ in the Stannix home. Mr. Stannix is a pretty competitive guy, and he got beat by his seven year old this year!! Camilla has been the champ for a few years running now. She proudly placed her egg in the fridge while we turned the rest into egg salad for lunch. 

Egg Decorating

 We had some family roll into town last night! The littles were so excited to see Auntie Gnomie and Uncle Arland this morning! We spent the day relaxing, watching Moana, and chatting. Later in the afternoon we all gathered at the big table for the traditional egg decorating!

The first thing Finley did when he crawled up on his chair was grab a hardboiled egg and SMASH it on the table. He thought it was hilarious, and didn't quite understand the whole dying eggs thing. I manged to help him dip one in color, but it wasn't long until it got smashed too. 

This year it was fun watching the big kids be creative and finish their eggs pretty much all on their own!

Gosh, this boy is fun these days!

Joe wanted to dye all of the eggs! He quickly finished his three or four eggs and asked if he could do more! 

Our big girl tried putting stickers on her egg and then dipping it in the color.

We ended up with a couple ninja turtles...

Finners loves being the center of attention.

There was so much concentration!

Each egg ended up looking unique in it's own special way. We put them in the fridge for the Easter Bunny to hide and are looking forward to champing them tomorrow!

Losing Ourselves

Today we woke up to a rain and cold. I decided it would be a good day to apply for Ollie's passport and renew my own for our trip this Summer. I went to work bright and early filling out the applications and gathering important documents. The littles enjoyed warm bowls of porridge for breakfast. We did a quick scripture read, had family prayer, and waved Camilla off to her bus. 

After dressing the little boys and feeding the baby we loaded into the van and drove to the city for passport pictures. On our way into the photo studio big, giant snowflakes started to fall! The boys stood in the middle of the empty parking lot staring wide-eyed at the sky above as they caught snowflakes on their tongues. On our way back out to the van we paused and ate a few more snow flakes before loading up and heading downtown. 

Daddy was in a meeting so we drove around the block for a little while until some parking opened up on the street. He met us in the van, signed the back of Oliver's pictures, and kissed me good-bye. I drove through the slushy streets and found street parking a few blocks from the nearest passport office. While I payed for parking the boys set off the car alarm and I was just a little bit too far to disarm it. I sighed as I waited for my visa to authorize and then trudged back to the van to unload everyone. Ollie snuggled up on my back, Fin held my hand and the older boys threw snowballs all the way to the corner. As we walked, water filled my boots and my feet were soaked before we crossed the road thanks to unknown holes in the soles.

I got in line and we waited only to be notified that I had forgotten to fill out the "Father" portion of Oliver's application. I was so mad at myself. I had missed Oliver's immunization appointment on Tuesday afternoon, and now forgotten to do this. I felt like an idiot. I called Mr. Stannix as tears welled up in my eyes at the thought of trudging back to the van, and the fact that I had just payed for two hours of parking that I wouldn't be able to use. We arrived once more on the street outside Daddy's office where he met us and quickly signed the rest of the form. I told him something like, "We'd better not have any more kids because I can't afford to lose anymore brain cells."  Then I made my way back to the passport office feeling grateful to be married to a patient and understanding guy.

I managed to find a parking spot in the same area we had parked previously making my ticket still valid for just over an hour. I said a prayer for everything to go smoothly and quick and then unloaded my crew of boys once more. My feet sloshed in my boots as we walked the block back to the office in the wet snow. Finley slipped in some mud shortly after we crossed the street and his whole pant leg was caked with it. I grumpily grabbed a handful of snow and scrubbed it off as best I could. With dirt now under my nails and with frozen fingers we made the rest of the walk to the warmth of the building. Thankfully everything went as well and things go with four boys, until the last two minutes when my card was authorizing and Finley decided to throw the loudest tantrum I've ever witnessed. With a baby on my hip (too fussy for the carrier) and a toddler under my arm I ordered the boys to grab my diaper bag and follow me. We did a quick ride up and down the escalator as promised for their relatively good behavior and made our way to the doors. Before I left the building I had heard the words, "Wow! Four boys!" at least five times.

I was welcomed home to dog pee in the entry way, five baskets of laundry that needed to be folded, and a counter top full of dishes. I was feeling pretty defeated and starving for lunch. Tears streamed down my face as I spread the peanut butter and Jelly on the boys sandwiches and struggled with feelings of worthlessness and frustration. I was feeling stuck and down on myself because of my lack of education, or knowledge of politics or anything that happens outside of our little home, or ability to remember simple appointments among other things. I felt like "just a mom". I kept thinking well, it's a good thing you didn't finish school, you probably weren't cut out for it anyway, you were meant to be just a mom. Now, usually I am pretty darn happy being a mom, but today left me feeling like my "job" wasn't important, or valued by society. I often get looks from strangers that say something like, "She couldn't figure out anything better to be, so she's stuck at home with too many children..."

Usually when I feel this way I call on my best friend and eternal companion for advice and reassurance. He quickly texted me back, "Yes, but you see you're always the one giving me advice. Your experience as a mom is the best kind of education a person can get." It made me feel a little bit better about myself to know that I am valued. I muddled through the rest of my afternoon making a batch of bread, running errands and dropping and picking up the kids from birthday parties.

Just before bed Mr. Stannix showed me a quote that was perfect to ease my worries and sorrows. He reminded me that being a mother isn't a job, it's a calling. It's not a 9-5 job, it's a lifelong commitment and sometimes a struggle. Nothing worth having comes easy and so is the way with motherhood. Some days are tough and tear filled, others bright and overflowing with joy. But I am grateful to know that as I lose myself in this service I am also finding myself. I am not "just a mom", I am much more than that. And when I think that there isn't another soul that understands the way I am feeling I remind myself of my Savior and how he suffered for all that seems unfair in this life. When nobody else understands, He does. And when I'm having a seemingly impossible day and feeling like a failure I sit myself down at the piano and play this song to remind myself of a loving Savior and older brother who has suffered for us all, and felt everything that I feel.

"To paraphrase what Jesus Christ taught, as we lose ourselves in service to spouse and family, we find our true selves. Every day, we become more of who He wants us to become. And that is the source of enduring joy and true self-fulfillment." -David A. Bednar

Easter Crafting

Today my house was a mess and my boys were begging to do some Easter crafts. I looked at the dishes on my counter, the table covered in left over cheerios from breakfast and sighed. One of the things I find most difficult about mothering is balancing the house work with the play. Together, we cleared and wiped the table. Finley lied at my feet and eventually fell asleep which took naptime off my to-do list. I scooped him up and tucked him into his bed while the big boys cut and glued. Once Ollie was down for his afternoon nap I picked up a pair of scissors and joined them at the little table. They were so proud of their creations! As I snapped pictures, Joe kept photo-bombing and laughing. We may have added to the mess in the kitchen, but it added joy to my heart.