TEENAGER! Help us all!

I have a teenager. Officially. He's been working up to it for a while now and I think he's ready. He's got the eye-roll, the shoulder shrug and the I-don't-care attitude, so yeah, I'd say he's ready. I'm not, but we'll figure it out as we go. It's what we've always done. Since he lost his friend birthday party I wanted to make sure his day was special. I got up early and made crepes and orange julius. When he saw it he got really excited and asked how I knew to make exactly what he wanted. I just smiled and said that moms just know. I was thinking that it was obvious since he asks every other day or so if he can make crepes or julius. Apparently he doesn't realize how often he asks. It works for me because it helps keep up the moms=magic myth I've got going on around here. After he left for school, I had Denver help me carry his new bed upstairs and spent the next 3 hours putting it together. I'm excited about how it turned out.

After the bed was done and the kids were asleep, I ran to the dollar store for decorations and a new mattress. I managed to get it all done and get back home before anyone woke up. Yeah, serious mom magic going on there. Or luck. Either way it worked. The kids and I then spent the afternoon blowing up balloons and getting everything ready for dinner.

We had chicken alfredo per birthday boy's request. And we ate outside because it was a nice evening and birthday boy wanted to. Our friends, Ian & Alysha Best, and Hunter, came to have dinner with us. Also per birthday boy's request. I was happy to have them here. They are the Best-Ha ha, been dying to throw that cheesy one in there! After dinner there was cake...

Chase wanted peanut butter chocolate crockpot cake. It's really delicious but doesn't make for the best pictures.

This one's a little better of the cake. And it also demonstrates what a teenager looks like. Perfectly.

Presents! This is the air soft gun that Corbin picked out for Chase. Don't know who was more excited, Chase or Corbin.

He wasted no time in getting it ready to go though. Look at him loading that baby up. Meanwhile...

I wanted to know how bad it hurt to get hit with one. Denver was very obliging. If you look closely at the picture though, you can see Corbin is NOT okay with this. I want to say it's because he didn't want Dad to shoot Mom, but really it's because he wanted to shoot Mom himself.

And of course, I thought Denver would also want to know how it felt. And no, we did not stage this to look like an execution-Denver wanted to protect his ears! I have to say the the biggest hit of the night however, was the Mentos and Diet Coke geyser that Aunt Bess sent.

Here they are getting ready....

And we have explosion! I tried to get the entire geyser in the picture but it went too high. Chase hasn't stopped talking about it since and has been planning ways to make an even bigger geyser with empty milk jugs, extra bottles of Diet Coke and who knows what else.

I am extremely lucky to have such a teenager. He is an amazing young man. He's always been willing to help and his siblings adore him. He's very smart, loyal, and thoughtful-always looking out for others. Why, he even gave me a present on his birthday, no missing assignments and all A's and B's! I am so proud of how hard he works and how he never stops trying. I know the years ahead will be rocky-for both of us-but my son is truly a Son of God. A choice spirit brought to earth at this time because of his strength and because he's needed now. I am humbled to think I have been trusted to be the mother of such a boy. Blessed doesn't even begin to cover it. I love you, Chase. Happy Birthday!

Happy Mother's Day to Me!!!

Normally, I don't like anyone to fuss over me for holidays, birthdays, etc. This year, however, I needed it. I'll admit that adjusting to being a stay-at-home mom has been tough for me. I mean, let's face it, I've had a job outside the home since I was 16. That's half my life. I knew being home would be different and I thought I was prepared-even excited-for the change. Don't worry, I've been wrong before. The past few weeks have been some of the hardest I've ever experienced, and for those that know me, that's saying a lot. Exhaustion's been my constant companion. Worry won't give me a day off; Denver's job is ending in June, then what? Are my kids eating healthy enough-heck are they even eating today? What to do with Chase and his current issues? Why won't Karli stop crying this time? Am I a good enough Mom? A good enough wife? I think you get the picture. Oh, and there's my new arch-nemesis, Guilt. Guilt over my kids, about not loving every minute of staying home. About losing my temper, again. And Chase. Particularly Chase. He's been going through a rough time and I can't help but feel like I should have been able to prevent it. If I'd been home could I have stopped it, and I think you get the picture again. There's also the loneliness. Who knew that would happen? But with Denver gone so much at school and work and just the little ones to talk to, I've been lonely. Housework. I thought this one would be a cinch. And really it's not the cleaning itself, it's the fact that it never STAYS clean. Never. And Dinner. Did you know that people want this every single night? It seems that since I've been home it's gotten easier and harder. Easier because I have more time to prep and plan, harder because I'm making more of an effort to make it healthy, whole foods which means a lot more cooking from scratch and planning time. Add all these together, and you've got a woman that, to put it mildly, feels as if her soul is slowly being sucked from her body and is one minor mishap away from a complete meltdown. Fortunately, I spoke with Denver about how I've been feeling and he really manned up. Last night, he took me out for a nice dinner and a movie. He reminded me of how amazing I am and that I really can handle all this. And that it's okay to ask for help and to sometimes take a day off. And then he lived by his words and gave me the day off. He got up and made me breakfast in bed and he let the kids bring it in to me. Corbin carried the plate of bacon, eggs, and toast, Mia brought my fork and Chase carried the chocolate milk. I think Karli was out in her swing, but all I know for sure was that she wasn't keeping me awake! I didn't even care when the kids wanted to eat in the bed with me because I knew that Denver would clean up the mess. So I relaxed and ate and laughed when Mia said, "Happy Birth--AUGH." (Insert sad look.) When I told her it was okay and to try again she immediately perked up and shouted, "Happy Mother's Day!" After breakfast, I got ready for church. Just me. And someone else got the kids ready and loaded into the truck. The kids weren't too badly behaved and I cried when Corbin sang his first song from the stand with the Primary. Then I laughed when he ran full-tilt from the stand back to our seats in the overflow. After church I napped. For a couple of hours. I almost felt guilty when Denver got up to take care of one of the kids, but then I let it go and went right back to sleep. At some point, I opened the gift the kids got for me...

 They're all holding the cards they made for me. Chase did an awesome job on his-I really loved the colors. The picture doesn't do the wrapping paper justice. The kids colored it themselves. Over the course of two days. Every time they got bored I just said, go color my present and they did. Awesome!

Corbin and Mia were very hands-on. I'm not sure I'd have gotten it open without them.

 Do I look surprised? Cuz I really wasn't. I actually bought it for myself when I was mad at Denver. He just made me pose for this picture to get back at me. Still, I really did love it. And the first song I played on it was George Strait's "Cross My Heart". That's one of the first songs that Denver ever sang to me and it's also the one that he sang at Beth's wedding reception. We all danced. Denver with Mia, Me with Corbin, and Chase with Karli. That may have been my favorite part of the day. Or was it this...

Yummy. Denver grilled burgers for dinner. All I did was place my order and he brought it out to me. I didn't even have to put it together.

Oh yeah, it was that good. And so was the apple beer that went with it.

 Did I mention that I didn't do a thing all day? I didn't cook, clean, or even dress the kids. Mia does have underwear on, she just lost her clothes somewhere along the way.

 Corbin didn't lose his clothes. He kept them on all day. Even the hat. All day. No matter how warm it got. Even after we started a rousing game of jug ball.

Don't know how it got started, all I know is that it was a lot of fun.

 I noticed after I took the picture that Denver and Chase match. Awww, how sweet.

It was wonderful. And I feel refreshed. No more soul-sucking going on around here. Thank you, my sweet family, for giving me such a wonderful day and reminding me of why I'm so lucky to be a wife and mom. Because I am the luckiest woman on earth. I have all of you. Happy Mother's Day!!!

TP anyone?

 Woke up this morning to a little surprise....

Yes, that does say, "Hi Chase".

 Who in the world would do this, and leave candy (that's what's in his hand)?

Ahhh. It all makes sense now. Sierra, Chase's friend, had a sleepover for her 13th birthday. To be honest, I wasn't surprised at all because her mom had called me the night before to make sure it was okay. That's probably a good thing because when I noticed the flashes from a camera around midnight I wasn't concerned. And it was fun watching Chase speculate about who could have done this and why. Corbin was just concerned that there was such a big mess in the yard and kept saying, "That's not nice. Mom, that's not nice, right?" Mia thought it was snow. I wish I'd had the camera ready when the girls came to clean up, because Chase's face was awesome! And the girls had it all cleaned up within 10 minutes even with the little ones climbing all over them. Thanks for the laughs girls! We sure had fun on this end. And I suppose I should get used to this, Chase will be a teenager in a couple of days...

Benched

Ever play basketball? That's not what this post is about. Although I could easily go off on a tangent about how life is getting the better of me and I wish I had a coach that would pull me from the game and send in another player to take over whenever I was out of line (yelling at the kids for no reason other than I'm tired of cleaning up after them) or just too exhausted to continue (try holding a crying baby for an hour, seriously-CRYING!). Alas, no coach, no metaphorical benching. Instead, I'm gonna show off some of the work we've been doing around here on Chase's room, including his-you guessed it-bench!

Here's Corbin chillin' on the bench before I got it re-covered. Doesn't he look bright-eyed?

Ahh, much better. Both Corbin and the bench look more alive. This was also taken before we got the shelves in....

And here's all the kids, shelves and outlet complete. First time I'd ever installed an outlet. I had planned on doing the shelves myself, but my husband is very good to me and he did them instead. (I think it's because he was worried I'd cut off an appendage with the skill saw. Just sayin'.)

 Shelves and bench sans kids.

 I like to pretend that Chase is staring at his new reading area with complete adoration, his heart filled with love for his mother and all her work. That's how I'm telling it, that's how it was.