Inflation

No.. I am not going to discuss gas prices because that's... well- depressing. I am just staying in my house and never driving anywhere. who needs friends when you have a blog, anyway?

My concern today is toothfairy prices. How much is she forking out these days? Ben lost tooth #5 over the weekend and I almost forgot for the second night in the row to collect the itty-bitty tooth from under his pillow. Last night at 3 am, I sprang up from bed, found a few quarters from my husband's night stand, and made my way into his bedroom. I searched for a good 5 minutes for that microscopic tooth and couldn't find it. So I left the quarters under his pillow and went back to sleep feeling somewhat satisfied.

Ben woke up this morning excited about his quarters, but even more excited that she didn't take the tooth.. because maybe there was a chance it could get paid double for it. I don't think so buddy! When I asked him why he thought she didn't take the tooth he replied, "maybe it was dirty because I forgot to brush it last night since it wasn't in my mouth." Bingo. That is exactly why she didn't take it. He then stated that he's going to have to lose 9 more teeth in order to buy his next Transformer toy... as if a dollar wasn't enough for his little tooth. Is our toothfairy stingy or what? I thought a dollar was pretty generous... especially considering that I only got a nickel for mine (or maybe this is coming from my memory that walked uphill both ways to school.. in the snow.)

My question is-- what is the going rate for a tooth these days? Do you pay more for molars or teeth without cavities or teeth that were more traumatic to pull out than others? Do you leave special notes or fairy dust? And do you leave teeth behind because they weren't brushed the night before? Because I know someone who does.

And please don't tell me that you keep them all in a special place... like in a scrapbook or hope chest. Because then I would feel unsentimental and unmotherly for chucking mine as soon as I get the chance.

The Unicorny

This post is rated PG-13

Our family spent Saturday evening at Vegas' Town Square. It's a classy outdoor mall that has an excellent play area for the kids. It's decked out with a maze, club houses, slides, etc. The picture above is our boys on the bouncy Unicorn (or in Zack's language, the Uni-corny.) Luke liked it so much that he climbed on top of it's head and posed for a picture. Aaron and I laughed... and I thought I was hilarious renaming it the Uni-horny. We took a quick shot with our cell phone camera (obviously not the best quality) and promptly pulled him off before others started pointing and laughing at him. We would never want our ignorant child embarrassed in public. I feel much better about exposing his innocence on the world wide web. Doesn't he look so naive and cute?


I guess I'm not ready to clean up my posts just yet... and I am so glad my mother doesn't look at my blog very often! She would be so disappointed!

Hope you have a happy Sunday!

five little monkeys

My boys were lucky enough to have a sleepover with their cousins last night (I guess they are second cousins, if you want to get technical.. their mom Bethany is my first cousin.) They are our only family in Vegas and even though we don't exactly live next door to them, it's nice to have family close!

Spencer and Grant spent the night at our house and it was a wild party! We turned off the lights in their room about 10 pm.. at 11 pm we told them to quiet down and at midnight we could still hear them giggling. It wasn't really a big deal because I figured they would sleep in, but unfortunately, that was NOT the case. All five boys were up at 6:30 am. And they have been playing hard ever since. And even though they've been crazy and rambunctious, I think I would rather have 5 boys at my house than 5 emotional girls...

Frosted-Mini-Wheat-Indiana-Jones-lasor-spoons

After breakfast, I ran upstairs to shower quickly (because YES! I am still showering and getting ready daily... since my personal goals made in December. Go me.) When I came downstairs after primping myself, a Transformer cartoon was blasting and my kids were NO WHERE to be found. When I turned off the tv, I heard loud chanting/screaming/laughing coming from the bathroom.. it sounded like fun, so I grabbed my camera.

It's amazing how much fun little boys can have with cereal box toys. These happened to be laser spoons and they work so much better when you go into the dark bathroom. And what is a laser party without towels, pillows and blankets?? You have NO idea how grateful I was to have JUST scrubbed that bathroom with a toothbrush... baseboards and all.

Motherhood is nothing like I expected it to be.. and so much more!

The Mac Dad will make you JUMP, JUMP.

After yesterday, I was feeling a little bad for talking about my husband's evilness.. so I thought I would make it up to him with a nice post.

He's a great guy and my boys are lucky to have him as their Daddy. When we arrived home from our trip to Utah last week, Aaron was at work but the house was spotless. He had nicely wrapped gifts and notes for each of us-- the kids' couldn't have been more excited about their slime and growing dinosaurs.. I thought it was so thoughtful of him (even though I had a big mess to clean up afterward!)

Aaron works hard all day, plays like a maniac with the kids the minute he gets home and is an excellent support to me. He is very strict (much more than I am) yet he knows exactly how to relate on their level. I am grateful to have someone else who is equally involved with the kids and loves them as much as I do. It's a lot of fun raising a family with someone you love so much. This is what is all about, right?

But sometimes I think it's insane that we are old enough (notice I didn't say mature enough) to be responsible for other human beings. How did this happen? [don't answer that, please.] Sometimes I feel like we're just playing house... and I thank my lucky stars that all my kids are still alive! We have kept them BREATHING all this time! I have changed their diapers, fed them when they were hungry and kept them relatively safe for 6+ years now! That, in itself, is a miracle!

The other day I was laughing while Aaron was on the trampoline with the kids because he was bouncing them rediculously high. They probably thought they were going to die. Our tramp is Aaron's parents... the same one that Aaron jumped on when he was a little boy. When we were first married, we went to their house to find my father-in-law in the back yard sanding the trampoline bars and repainting them blue. At the time, I thought they were craZy. Who does that on their day off? But now I am grateful because they have taken such great care of it and now our kids are able to use it--everyday. We need to do some major repairs on it because it's SO old that the springs are starting to pop off (while you're jumping.. ouch.) But you can't find the rectangle shaped trampolines anymore. It's classic and the mat is SO bouncy.. you literally hit the ground when you jump on it.

Anyway, they were jumping a few days ago and Aaron bounced Ben so high that he went flying off... Aaron grabbed him by the shirt and had to pull him back on the tramp. How crazy is that? We are very lucky that we haven't had to go to the ER yet because we have done some crazy stuff on it. I am sure the in-laws want it back eventually but we really don't want to part with it. Of course, we can always buy another one (with pads, a net and all the latest safety features) but it will take away all the excitement.. and what fun would that be??

Anyway, here are a couple of short videos of Aaron bouncin' with the kids. And please don't call child protective services just because you think Zack's head is about to pop off. He loves every minute of it!