J-bird turns 9!

Our dear Jessie.

I know I'm prejudice, being this girls' Mom and all, but she is beautiful. It's a good thing she's so cute because her spunk and attitude give me fits sometimes. Grandpa Bennett nicknamed this look she gives "the black widow" because it's a look that could kill.

See what I mean? At-ti-tude. That's not even straight to the camera or we'd all be dead. To her credit, Jessie knows what she wants and she rarely backs down until she gets is. She is a wonderful, fun and mostly patient big sister to her two crazy brothers and sweet baby sister. I hope Jessie and Sydney will be great friends and close sisters. I didn't have a sister growing up and I look forward to watching my girls' relationship blossom. Sydney thinks Jess is the best because she sings songs with her, plays with her outside, and loves to be her walking buddy when we are out in public.

Toby missed playing big kid games with Jessie while she was away this week. Their favorite game this summer, which Jess always suggested first, was dodge tag out front. Jessie is so competitive that I know it was hard for her to let her younger brothers hit her. J realized, after some coaching from Mom, that is was more enjoyable when everyone was having fun, not when she won every time. Logan especially loves dodge tag when J holds his hand to run "super fast" past Toby. He really knows how to push J's buttons in an attempt to get her attention. J is learning to ignore the pestering and play nicely with Logan, and then they are best buds.

When I think how Jessie has changed and grown in the past year I realize that she is very independent. Independence comes with the territory, as the oldest child, but she really can handle herself and her siblings when I ask her to. She has learned to cook more in the kitchen, I can count on her to do her schoolwork without nagging, and she loves to be put in charge so she can boss the boys around. I've learned that I need to hold my temper and always try to speak with a nice tone even when I'm at the end of my rope, because when Jessie switches on little Mommy mode, she parrots me pretty accurately.

Jessie is a very determined little girl. I can tell she really thinks things through in her head and if they don't turn out the way she planned, or more likely, if her plans contradict MY plans then she gets upset quickly. We are so much alike in ways.

I love that my pretty little girl is brave and tough underneath her girly side. She yanks out loose teeth like it's no big deal, she loves wrestling with all the boys in the house, and she is not afraid to get pummeled by a softball, which happened many times this past season. The girly side of Jess loves to play with ponies, Polly Pockets and her stuffed animals, and they are often playing house or doing battle with the boys' robots and action figures. She started taking piano lessons almost a year ago and finds that she loves it. My wish for her is to be proficient on the piano and then find another instrument that she loves just as much. That's my goal for all the kids, actually. Finally, Jessie has found a spot in her heart for reading. We have been trying to teach her to enjoy a good story, and it finally clicked this summer. She devoured a book a day for a couple weeks which tapered down a bit as we got busy.

Ssshhhhh, it's a secret that J still likes to sleep with her "softy" (blanket) that I made her at age 2. I hope she still loves it when she moves out of our home. She's gonna kill me if and when she reads this, but it reminds me that she is still a child. I rely on her help so much, yet I am constantly reminding myself to cut her some slack to be a kid.

We had a birthday celebration that included a movie of J's choice (at home), bowling, window shopping at the pet store, and dinner at Fresh Choice with Grandma's and Grandpa Dave. We came home for cake and presents which Jessie was pleasantly surprised with. "When did you buy presents?" she asked in surprise. When you were sleeping over at Brennah's house, my dear. We tried to get a trip to the beach planned for the day, but none of J's friends could go and after over-doing it the day before, I was not able to get everything ready without the Mister (at work). We opted to stay home and do the beach another day. The only thing that would have made the day perfect for J would have been some time in the pool. We will make up for that tomorrow.

I thought I could whip up J's cake in the morning while the kids lazed around and watched a movie, at Jessie's request. The cake dragged into the afternoon and threatened to self destruct before I even finished because of the heat. I didn't realize it was 99 flippin' degrees here yesterday, and our little room air conditioner couldn't keep up once I turned it on late. Thankfully, the cake didn't melt, but the frosting was on the brink. J requested a star cake and was happy with the result. I'm still going strong with my goal to make everyone's birthday cake in our family, and attempt to put something special into it. It feels good to just do something I've always wanted to try. Sounds like a Nike commercial eh? Just do it.

Chocolate and french vanilla cake with almond buttercream frosting. It turned out all right. The Mister didn't like the frosting, but he's a hard one to please when it comes to cake. He's not a frosting guy either. If anyone has an awesome recipe for frosting I would love a copy. I gotta get it right for the Mister's birthday soon.

Summer is slipping away

Things are looking up at our house. Everyone has recovered from a nasty bout of the puke bug. The entire family got it but me. It ruined our weekend plans, but I'm trying to get over that. After all, I have to figure out how to slow down time since this is the last week before school starts up again. Where did the slow summer months go? I feel like a flop of a Mom because so much time was sucked up with me being immovable with this back injury and family sickness. I don't remember the family being sick during the summer so much. It really shouldn't be allowed.

Jessie was the first to get sick last Wednesday, so she was feeling great by Sunday morning when we planned on visiting family. Since Dave and the boys were still dehydrated zombies recovering from the pukes and I couldn't drive by myself, we sent Jess with my parents to hear my cousin's mission report. Lucky J got an early birthday present because she got to stay and play with my young cousin Brennah for 3 days. Dear Brennah is the sweetest girl. She's a champion for donating blood and is in the August 2009 issue of the Friend if you want to read her story. I just talked to Jess this morning and she is having so much fun that she doesn't want to come home today. But birthday celebrations call her home.

We are gearing up for a big weekend and trying to fit in the last things on our summer to do list. Really, I need another month of summer and I'm a fall girl at heart. That tells me how behind we got on summer plans. More to come........

Brain Dump

It's been a pretty pathetic week- one of those where I won't remember much because all the days are blurring together. I actually looked at the date on the computer today and couldn't believe it is the 21st already. My last day of clear thought where I felt with it was the 14th. Yikes.

The kids all got sick yesterday within several hours of each other and threw up every possible ounce of liquid and food in their stomachs. It was pretty gross. We were literally moving from one kid to the next and didn't get much sleep as the boys started to pop about 10 last night. Toby was Mt. Vesuvius, exploding while half asleep in bed. It's a good thing he had a waterproof liner on his mattress because it's the only thing that saved it. I'm just thankful the Mister was home to take the lead on this one. I am a lot more mobile than when I injured my back last Saturday, but I still can't lift, twist, bend down and sit or stand for too long. It's gonna be longer than I am willing to admit until I am 100% again. I guess "the puke bug" has been a blessing in disguise because all the chillies just want to veg out today. Since that's more my speed right now, we are having a lazy day reading, sleeping and watching movies, and I don't feel bad that I can't do more with them. Content for now.

Thanks to family and friends who have helped me this week with meals and taking the kids out for some fun. Thanks Mom for coming over to help me with meals and kids even though that's all you did for the 4 previous days. The chills got to play with their Thompson friends and J and Tob went bowling with Gram and Sam yesterday. Thanks again.

I realized last night when I went to the laundry room with Dave that it was the first time I'd been outside since we came home on Monday. It was Thursday night. Pathetic.

I haven't done my hair, worn makeup or real pants in a week and the Mister still thinks I'm hot. :) I'm a blessed woman.

Logan said to me this week, "Mom, why are you so boring?!" The kids see me up more and think I'm better all of the sudden. So frustrating.

I can't bend over or lift my legs up in the shower to wash my feet or do my toes. They're really starting to bug and look scary. Sad.

My mind races a mile a minute with things I want to do right now, yet when I could do those things they were the last thing on my mind. Ironic.

Looking back, it seems our home gets struck with illness or injury once or twice a year and I am more and more thankful for an otherwise healthy family. Truly blessed.

And lastly, it's amazing how much those little muscles that you don't feel until a killer workout or injury affect your life when they don't work properly. I need to take better care of myself. The Mister is doing his "I told you so" dance on that one.

I'm thankful the Mister has been so understanding and patient with me during all this craziness. He's awesome!

That's all the randomness I got for now.

Tri for Fun until somebody gets hurt

It was a beautiful morning yesterday when Dave completed the Tri for Fun triathlon. My Man is awesome! As is usually the case, he didn't get enough time to train this summer with the demands of his business and family. I thought he did a wonderful job though! One of the main reasons I hesitate to do a triathlon is the swim. I'm just not a good lap swimmer and haven't had the desire to improve. That is not the case with the Mister though. He had an awesome swim, coming out of the water in the top 10-15 of his age bracket. Whenever he has time at work, he heads to the YMCA to swim, which has improved his speed and endurance in the pool. It showed yesterday. The bike leg went well and Dave said he felt great going into the last leg of the race. We timed when Dave would finish and waited anxiously at the finish line less than 10 minutes when he came around the corner. The kids gave him high fives and he looked great- not too tired. He finished in just over an hour and a half, I think. My mind wasn't very clear at that point.

So that's the overview. What happened in between all that swimming, biking and running laid me up indefinitely. The three older kids and I left at 6:15 AM to make it in time to see Dave start at 7 AM. We had just parked and walked into the venue when I noticed a lot of swimmers were still waiting on the beach. It turned out they started the race late because there was so much traffic getting into the park, which is what made us late as well. I did a quick lap around the beach area and found Dave just as the announcer explained the racing heats. The kids were playing on another part of the beach, so I raced back to get them to take a quick picture and give smooches before Dave started. I leaned sideways and bent down to help Logan up from his sand castle when something in my lower back froze up and cracked. The light got dim, my legs felt like Jello, all my muscles around my abdomen seized up and I could barely breath. It was pretty darn scary. All I could think was, 'just get back to Dave.' Really though, what was he going to be able to do for me? He was in his wetsuit minutes before the race and I just did major damage to my back. He couldn't just adjust me, do some ART and fix everything quick like usual. I wanted to hobble straight back to the car, drive home, lay down and ice my back immediately. How could we leave before the race had even begun?! We had got up and out the door at the crack of dawn to get there on time, and I knew Dave would be disappointed if we missed seeing him race. I put my game face on for the next 2 hours while we waited for Dave to complete each leg of the race. Thankfully, the kids were content to play in the water while we waited, and I didn't care much that they got their only clothes and shoes soaked and sandy. I tried to sit (it really hurt!) with a friend whose hubby also completed the race, and was lucky to catch Dave during both transitions and the finish to cheer my hardest with camera in hand.

I know I made things worse by moving around and walking so much because the pain was increasing. After Dave collected his things we headed to the cars to see if I could drive home. I shuffled back to the car using Dave's bike as a crutch and slid gingerly into the drivers seat. My back was burning, aching and sending shots of pain down the nerves in my legs and I couldn't help but burst into tears. I think I freaked everyone out a little. It was the only thing I could do to show my frustration, disbelief, and disappointment with my situation. Dave came over to make sure I wanted to drive home and, after I assured him I could do it, he shut the door. The kids were silent until Toby said, "Mom, I think you're getting pregnant." Where do they come up with these things?!!

What the kids didn't realize was that I sprained my back pretty badly while we were camping 3 weeks ago by falling down a hill with a heavy box in my hands. Dave got mad at me for not resting it properly which led to this final straw injury. I don't think he realizes just how much I have to lift and carry to keep up with the kids and housework. Well, now I'm forced to lay in bed and take it easy until my back is better because I can't even walk. I guess I should have taken a day or two in bed 3 weeks ago when I first injured it.

Life right now consists of ice packs every two hours, left over Vicodin from Logan's birth (still works just fine even after the 'expiration date'), lots of visits from the kids while I'm in bed and wishing I could just get up and help out. Thankfully, I am writing this from my parents house who have helped us so much while I am laid up. We had already arranged to stay at their house this weekend because our place is being fumigated. Dave and my parents have been so gracious and understanding while the kids tear up the house and run crazy while I'm stuck in bed. Mom even did my laundry for me (Thanks so much!) and took care of countless meals, diapers, chores, etc. with Dave. I'm trying to make the most of my forced vacation. The kids think it's hilarious that I walk like an old lady with a makeshift cane- I'll never look at a Swiffer mop the same again. The only time I do walk is to get to the bathroom and that takes about 15 minutes round trip. All the kids have been so understanding and great helpers to bring me food, books, the laptop charger and anything I need to pass the time while they bug Grammy and Grampy. ;)

I can't wait to be mobile again.

Pinecrest: A novel

Aaahhhhh, a shower, clean clothes and a clean bed- the basics feel so good after a week of camping. Part of me didn't want to leave the mountains so soon. We camped at Pinecrest Lake for a week and it went by so fast that I could have stayed a few more days. The kids and the Mister felt the same way. We borrowed keys to Lauren's parent's cabin (thank you!) to shower and stay there at night, and planned to hang out at the lake and family campsite during the day. We only slept in the cabin the first night and went back several times during the week for showers. Sleeping in a tent and hanging out in the dirt with the chillies went surprisingly better than the Mister and I thought. I guess my most vivid memory of tent camping before this year was with a 4, 2 and 4 month-old without a husband to help me. That was not an enjoyable vacation, so I didn't want to repeat the experience. Dave hated our last adventure in a tent with a crappy air mattress that went flat in the middle of the night. This year went so much better. Our kids have such great memories of camping every year with the family and this year didn't dissappoint. Here's some of this years funnies.

Logan playing with Aunt Denise said, "When are you going to have some children for me to play with?"

Toby looking at the bright stars with Dad pointed to one and said, "I think that big bright one is Grandpa's star." (Great-Grandpa Bennett)

Toby, Logan, Aunt Tori and I walked to the Lake with Tori's dog, Sasha. While on our way Logan asked, "Why does Sasha have a curly tail?" I said, "because that's the tail God gave her." Logan paused for a second and asked, "because he ran out of straight ones?"

Dave taught us a new campfire game called Mafia and the kids love it. Toby while hanging out with Tori said, "If you're the mafia (tonight) kill me, okay?!"

Sydney couldn't stay away from the puppies (Tori's and Uncle Sam's dogs). One of her favorite things to do was walk up to Sasha and stick out her tongue. Sasha would give her huge puppy kisses and lick her face. Syd then giggled, wiggled her tongue and did a little happy dance every time. It was disgustingly funny.

Sydney learned to talk while we were camping. She said quite a few words before we left, but her language exploded last week. The language light went on in her brain and she tried almost every word we asked her to say. Top two memorable ones were 1). she woke me up at the crack of dawn (literally) by shoving a box of licorice in my face that she had found in the diaper bag. I was too tired to care, so I gave her a piece and asked her to lie back down next to me in her bed (in the tent). She promptly said, "ank ooo, Mama." It was the first time she put words together. So cute. 2). Since Syd was almost always the first one up with the birds and squirrels, she would go around to everyone in their sleeping bags and say "wake up!" She also learned to say Aaa Lita (Aunt Lita), uh Mark (Uncle Mark), pa-pah (Grandpa), cracker, cookie, tried all of the kids names, and many more along with her regular vocabulary. I use past tense because now that we are home she won't talk at all. Something about that mountain air had her chattering all day, yet now she is quiet. Just adjusting, I guess.

Logan has really come into his own the past couple months. His own being a loud, jabbering, sound-making, always talking or singing in Loganese, chattering, crazy boy. We always knew where Logan was and he really didn't stop making noise all week. He loved playing games around the campfire, eating chocolate instead of smores, swimming at the log and playing in the sand, swinging in the hammocks, fishing and going fast on Uncle Mark's boat and playing in the dirt. The last day we were in camp, I found this caterpillar in the tent and gave it to Logan to watch. He latched on to that critter instantly. He named him Friendly, took him all over the camp and played house with him on his finger. I overheard the following while Friendly was on Logan's finger- "Okay, now it's time for you to go to work. Let's play a game first. Tag, you're it, Friendly!" *wicked giggle* The giggle at the end was the best part.

Toby has grown up a lot since his toddler days of wandering out of the campsite every 2 minutes. He was content this year to listen to Aunt 'Nisey's iPod in the hammock for some chill time. His favorites of the week were swimming at the log, playing Mafia around the campfire, bike rides and climbing rocks around the campground with Dad, and fishing. Toby could often be found hanging out with the puppies and liked to give them tummy rubs. He was a great helper all week and took care of gathering all the woodchips and dry pines needles we needed to start our campfires. Toby, along with all the kids, relished the one-on-one time with their Aunties. Toby even cried when Aunt Tori and Denise left a little earlier than we did on our last day there.

Jessie would have lived at the Lake all day, every day if we let her. She wanted to swim at the logs every day and was always the last one out of the water. Dave and I got pretty sick of the water the last 2 days but the kids were relentless. Jessie made a new friend, Danielle, while playing on the logs and they got together numerous times the rest of the week. Danielle has family that live in town, so the girls have arranged some Friday playdates in the future. Besides swimming and playing at the lake, Jessie loved campfire games, riding around the campgrounds by herself, arts and crafts with Mom, Aunt Tori, and Aunt 'Nisey, and tubing at Don Pedro. J

was also a star Kubb player this year because of her practice pitching a softball. She could take on any adult so be warned if you come play Kubb at our house.

Meet Mr. Fuzz (Toby's), Poof (Logan's), Bugsy (Jessie's), and Creep (Mom's)- our camp mascots.

Aunt Tori did yoga every morning in a clearing of the campsite. She taught Jessie some poses one morning and J asked to do yoga every day after that.

I am so thankful that Dave was able and willing to take the entire week off of work. We are still trying to catch up after buying a new car, and I know that week with no money coming in was a stress for the Mister. Our young family really needed that time together, and we had a wonderful time.

Dave and I made it a goal to have an individual "date" with each child during the week. They are my most memorable moments from the trip and I know the kids will remember them too. Both Toby and Logan wanted to go play at the log with me for their dates. We took an afternoon while Dave and Jessie were tubing with the big kids and I spent alone time there with the boys. (Thanks Aunt Lita for staying with sleeping Syd while we played) Toby and I worked on his swimming, and Logan got attacked by the Mommy Lake Monster. Jessie and I painted and got crafty then walked to the snack shack for an ice cream cone for our date. Sydney loved swinging in the hammock and singing songs for her alone time. Some of my favorites from the trip were watching Toby and Mr. Cooper freak out in the best way when Uncle Mark turned up the speed in his boat. Both boys laughed and leaned way out to feel the spray from the big wakes. Here I thought they would have been too scared to go tubing because of the speed and big bumps, but it turns out they LOVED it! I was so bummed I couldn't go tubing this year, but it just didn't work with the littles. Next year we are all going tubing! I also loved watching Up at the outdoor theater. Dave and I both had sleeping littles on our laps to keep us warm. What a cool atmosphere it was to watch a new movie under the stars. Chillin' in the hammocks, reading bedtime stories by flashlight and smores around the campfire are also top on my list this year. The only thing we didn't get to do that I really wanted to was rent kayaks and go around the lake. It is top of the list for next year for sure!

Here is a picture of the logs. There are a series of huge logs chained together that float out into the lake. Kids big and little try to walk all the way to the end without falling in, which can get tricky because the more people on a log the faster it sinks. Dave would swim next to the kids while they walked to the end and back. Sometimes, J would get in the water and swim back with Daddy.

Last but not least are Dave's favs. In no particular order, Dave liked swimming at the lake, sleeping in the tent (with an awesome air mattress this time!), playing Mafia, dirt and rocks, bikes, smores, and tubing with Jessie. He was pretty sore and tired the day after tubing, as were all those who went, but Dave still took kids to the lake and went to an awesome animal show the next day. We saw a spider monkey, a huge iguana, a beaver, a crocodile, and a kangaroo to name a few. One lazy afternoon Dave took the boys on a bike ride around the campgrounds to find big rocks to climb on, and it is one of the boys favorite activities. And NO, Syd did not actually ride on the bars like that. \/

Most people know my Man is a game guy. He loves to play games and is naturally good at them. It frustrates me to no end that he is pretty much the luckiest guy when it comes to games of chance and is an excellent strategist for other games. Sure, he loses, but not often. So he didn't disappoint this year by bringing up some pretty cool game. Everyone got hooked on a new game called Munchkin. I would say it's for young adults and above, but even our young kids liked teaming up with an adult to play.

We ate at Sonic on the way up the first day and the kids insisted we stop there on the way home. That was fine with me, their cherry limeade is awesome! I suggested the kids go outside the car to stretch while we waited for our food, and Jessie promptly took it upon herself to teach the boys her new found yoga skills. I think she's hooked.

Now it's back to life at home. I'm already missing the fact that the boys could go pee in the plants anytime instead of having to clean up a dirty toilet, or that I didn't have to sweep and mop the floor after mealtime all week. It is nice to sleep in my own bed and not worry about Syd being too cold at night after kicking off all her blankets. She kept me up a lot because of that. It didn't take the kids long to realize our camping adentures were coming to an end the last day. Of course, they all asked, "when are we going to go camping next?" And so the long wait begins..........