I'm ready for my close up, Mr. DeMille!!!

I may be biased, but I think these are just some of the darn cutest kids ever!!! (isn't EB one of the funniest kids in town?!)




Here's mum and dad and the munchkins. You can see where they get their good looks from. Their personalities are really showing through. Caleb is doing his GQ pose. Papa and Dec are as tight as ever (don't smile dad). Maddie is snuggling up to her Nana. And EB is trying to be the center of attention.

Tagged by 5

Charity tagged me

5 things on my to do list…

1. Wash towels, jeans, colors, sheets, fold items and put away (forget ironing, that's why I married Steve and then taught the boys to iron as soon as they could walk)
   
2. Make Gluten Free Noodles for Stroganoff tonight (sue, you are not the only Martha in town)
   
3. Prepare FHE lesson (with help from New Prophet Song - email me if you need a copy, it's adorable)
   
4. Sew on Maddies Heirloom Quilt
   
5. Pay Property Taxes
   

5 Snacks I Love…

1. Chocolate (the real kind - english or belgian stuff works best)
   
2. Cereal
3. Twix (but am not allowed to eat any more)
   
4. Chips and Dip
   
5. Nuts

5 things I will never wear again.

1. Studded leather belt (think Madonna)
2. Relax, Just Do It T-shirt (think Frankie goes to Hollywood) to Girls camp - it didn't go down well.
   
3. Electric Blue Mascara (yes, I wanted to be Madonna)
   
4. lace bows in my hair (again think Madonna)
   
5. Faux Fur Leopard Print Jacket from Oxfam (charity shop) that smelled like old granny's. Sadly, I thought I was pretty hot stuff in this.
   

5 Things I would do if I were a Billionaire…

1. Shop
2. Shop for family
   
3. Shop for new house
   
4. Shop for Friends
   
5. Pay off all debt and save lotsa money
   

5 Bad Habits…

1. I interrupt people. I don't mean to be rude. I'm just too excited. Think of me as a hyper puppy.
   
2. Procrastination, procrastination, and more procrastination.
   
3. Never sleeping
   
4. Inserting my large foot in my mouth
   
5. Teasing people I like and love, and being polite to those I don't care for or have a deep relationship with.
   

5 of my favorite toys…Nostalgics

1. Katie Kopycat
   
2. Kerplunk
3. Cindy (the british equivalent to Barbie)
   
4. My Hi-Fi (first record I ever bought was UB40 - Red, Red Wine)
   
5. Comandor 64

I'm tagging: Sue, Emma, Carl, Declan, and Caleb

If you add Six Kids, Four Attention Starved Moms, One Road Trip and a Lunch in a Restaurant. What do you get?

A large tip for one very patient waitress!!!

On Tuesday, EB and I took a road trip with Stacey, Sue and Charity to Appleton with their little Uumpa Luumpa's. We had so much fun that we talked Charity into not leaving early to take Ella back to Wausau for Dance, and then we all decided to stay even later, as we didn't want the fun to end. Over 13 hours later, we finally rolled back home.

Upon arriving in Appleton, we all decided we needed some Chocolate (well, who doesn't). So, off to World Market, where Sue and Stacey looked quite perplexed by my sudden outburst of joy and need to kiss various packages of "Sweets" from England. Admittedly, dancing down the aisles might have been a little over the top. They understood my excitement after I had talked them into purchasing some candy and we were all munching away on it outside the store. (Charity had already experienced the magnificence of British chocolate, so she got me).

My giddiness continued and was joined by Stacey's when we went to the Free Market where tons of Gluten free, Dairy Free, Sugar Free, (sometimes taste free) products can be found. Charity and Sue were kind enough to watch the crazy EB and Jackson who were high on chocolate so that they wouldn't feel the need to charge around the market running the trolleys into each other.

It would appear that food was very important to us that day, so we went to Chili's next for lunch. The chocolate was just an appetizer. We squeezed everybody into a large booth and Stacey and I tried to find something we could actually eat. After flipping between two different FREE menus only to find that there was nothing that was both gluten and dairy free. I decided to go with the gluten menu and proceeded to mope as Charity ordered Lettuce Wraps that for some reason were considered to contain Gluten. I prayed for the strength to be nicer and not wish that she choked on the darn things. It must of worked, as she fortunately did not choke. I did feel sorry for the other guests and the server as we were a very wild bunch. Ollie discovered that he had quite a taste for Beer Mats and proceeded to eat his way through a pile. The other boys, Calvin, EB and Jackson then joined forces to elevate the volume of noise and mischievousness at the table. The girls sat angelically coloring (I think a scientific/psychological paper could be written on the merits of girls behavior over the Neanderthal ways of boys). Sue tried really hard not to lose it and went into some strange zoned out state (yes, I think foaming at the mouth may have occurred). Here's Stacey showing how she really felt. See, doesn't it look like fun?! Once food was devoured we tried to exit as quietly as possible, but the damage had been done. So, we tipped big.

Off next to the Children's Museum. Sue and Charity have wonderful pictures on their blogs of this fun time. EB was in heaven running all over the place and we literally had to drag him away from the airplane and fire truck. I, of course, climbed all over the place pretending to play with the kids but everyone knew that really it was me that wanted to climb up all the rope bridges and act like a child (nothing new there!).

Next stop...The Outlet Mall. The big hits were American Girl Store, Children's Place, Gap, and Old Navy. Stacey had a strange encounter with a hyped sales attendant in Maurice's that she barely escaped from, looking like she had missed a near bullet. During the Outlet Mall, the kids got crazier, and louder, and wilder, and naughtier, and nearer to driving their parents to stiff drink, so what do four frazzled mums decided to do? That's right, you got it. We decided to prolong our trip and go out to eat again (admittedly, it may have had something to do with the face that I'm mean and wouldn't let the kids eat or drink in my car - what a witch).

So, IHOP it was. There is so pictorial evidence but this is where I went into a zombie status for pure survival. EB ran around the place causing havoc and quite frankly for part of the time, I gave in and let him.

Upon leaving the parking lot of IHOP, I pulled a quick U'ee (?no idea how to spell that) and whipped into a Starbucks for some fake sugar high. One Venti Soy, Sugar Free, No Whip Hot Chocolate (yeah baby, I know how to party :( ) and we were on our way. All in all, we had a blast. I see many more road trips in our future with this gang. We all get along so well. One thing.. next time can someone remember to take the Valium.

Red Carpet

Okay, I couldn't be bothered to grab the red carpet from the Mud Room for them to stand on, but here is Madison and Declan ready to leave for their Spring Concert at Stettin Elementary School.


To get the ready for the event, Declan had asked me if I could rent him a Tuxedo. Sucker that I am, went in search of one, but didn't feel like shelling out $80 for one night. So, he decided to go with his suit and act out the GQ part in that. Apparently, he was a hit with the girls. (The player in Declan really worries me sometimes - those eyes can make anyone melt).

Madison on the other hand, knew exactly what dress in her closet she wanted to wear, but did ask for her hair to just be put in a pony tail. Mum refused, so the Big Curling Event took place. Maddie has such long hair, and so very much of it, that it takes almost an hour to curl her hair.Here's a picture of Madison smiling, because we're almost done. Her legs were going numb. Mommy had inhaled too many fumes from hair spray and they both had a fit of the giggles somewhere during the process.Look how beautiful her hair looks all curled. She has such pretty hair with so many natural shades and highlights of blond. Grandma DeMille once asked me if I colored her hair (I think she was about 2 at the time) :) and others have asked where her pretty blond hair comes from and if she's adopted. People shock me sometimes. For those wondering out there, Steve had blond hair when he was younger, which has now been replaced with many gray hairs and in some places an absence of hair, all of which having me for a wife and four kids have been the cause. We all think he's gorgeous. Also, I don't know if this counts, I have plenty of blond moments myself and am not sure that having a ditz for a mum somehow contributed to her stunning blond locks.

The Finished Product!

The cutest fish you'll ever see

EB just started swimming lessons last week. He loves it, as you can see (with a magnifying glass to enlarge minuscule Treo picture) from the picture.



The other kids in the class are all older, big four-year-olds, so he looks extra tiny. He is so brave and loves to jump in and put his face in the water and blow bubbles. The other mothers (and one father) were watching the kids swim and they were saying how adorable EB was. At that moment, he looked proudly at me (which he does every five seconds while swimming to make sure I'm watching and giving him constant thumbs up signs), and then blew me a kiss and winked at me. If he hadn't won them over before, they were now putty in his hands.

He's such a player!

Note to Sue: How's that - two posts in one day - try not to pass out from shock.

Does this look like Mid April/Springtime to you???

This is what we saw out of our Window last Friday night?



Does this look like Springtime to you? (sorry for the miniature picture - it's from my cell phone.)

Now, I like snow probably more than the next person and love our long cold winters, but this is just getting ridiculous. It's not enough to ski on, so it needs to go.

Fingers crossed - warmer weather is on the way. In fact, as of today most of the snow has melted and mid 60's for tomorrow is predicted.

Fingers crossed?

Just add conference.. for instant results!

Conference was wonderful this weekend and I enjoyed so many of the talks. However, I really needed to hear (or needed my family to hear) President Ballard's talk. I was thoroughly enjoying it, when the digital satellite downstairs cut out. I flew up stairs to the bedroom to back up the TV there and record what had been missed, then rebooted the TV downstairs, all the time trying not to curse (children were watching and it was conference - of course, not to mention that I shouldn't swear anyway), but muttering, or possibly whimpering, about how this was the one talk I really needed us to hear and now we weren't getting to listen to it. My family watched my crazy antics in bemusement. Once it was back on, we all sat down and finished watching the remainder of conference, while no one fully acknowledged my wacky behavior.

Later than evening, I was downstairs in the family room and could hear someone putzing around in the kitchen. To be honest, I assumed that someone was making a mess and I was telling myself to remember that I was trying to be a better person and learn from the speakers at conference, so for once I didn't scream upstairs about how whomever was making the mess had better clean it up. A little later I wandered upstairs to discover that Declan had unloaded the dishwasher, reloaded it, wiped the counters and sinks (after washing a couple of pans), swept the floor and the kitchen was spotless. I was so stunned that I'm not sure I was able to say much in thanks. Fortunately my family is used to my weirdness and he was able to decipher my mumblings. He shrugged and said "No problem. I just wanted to follow what President Ballard said and show my appreciation for you Mom." and then he walked past me and headed up to bed.

I then wandered upstairs in shock, to find Steve had folded some clothes that were in a hamper in our room.

I had prayed that my family would be moved by the words of conference this weekend and they would heed the words of counsel. WooHoo! A big shout out to prayers being answered. Maybe there's something to this whole Pay It Forward thing.

A huge cyber hug to President Ballard. I had a hard time going to sleep that night as I was so giddy with excitement.