In celebration of this fabulous time of year I thought it appropriate to show off this little ditty my mom put together (with the help of some great video production by our good friend, Ammon!). My mom’s been writing songs forever and it was fun to finally put one together in a show for everyone! It was also a fun way for grandkids and friends to get to help!
So, without further ado here’s I Like Leaves!
One day, long ago, I took the boys on a trip to the local zoo with my brother and some girl who we won’t mention. Anyway, we were all over looking at the Lions and Adam was telling us this great story about how when people go to the circus and sit in the front near the lion tamers that they are sitting in the splash zone because the lions like to SPRAY people. We were getting a TMI explanation of this when I noticed the Lion we were watching start to back up to the bars only a few feet from my brother… I barely had time to scream, “LOOK OUT!” and yank the boys out of the way. It was too late for Adam and what’s-her-face. LOL This is the picture I drew for Jason who was on his mission at the time. Wouldn’t want anyone to miss out on the fun! (Man, I wish I carried a camera in those days!) I love you, Adam! Don’t hate me!
Thursday morning I was up at the usual 5am. Drove Corben to the bus stop and then Dade to seminary. I was pretty exhausted when I came back home and fell into bed. I then woke up and rolled over to see that it was 8:11am. I was supposed to be at a Parent Teacher Conference with Ella’s teacher at 8:20!!!! I flew out of bed, threw on my clothes, yelled a bye to Ryan, grabbed my bag on the way out the door and zoomed to the school. Luckily the school is just about 5 minutes away if I hit the light right and with parking and running I actually was checking in at 8:20 and made it to the classroom by 8:21 slightly out of breath and in need of a breath mint. I laughed and told Ella’s teacher what I’d just been though and then we sat and had a nice conference. I got home and posted on FB about my amazing feat. I then talked with Ryan a bit before he left for work, played with Sylvie, etc. etc. Around 2pm I happened to walk by a mirror and did a double take…MY. SHIRT. WAS. ON. BACKWARDS. Did you get that?? BACKWARDS!!! And it’s a V-neck!! In my early morning rush I’d put my shirt on BACKWARDS!!!!!!!!!! I’d worn it all around the school, talked to the Principal, dropped of some supplies at the front office…. I DIED laughing right then and there. I even went and pulled out the sticker I got at sign in… Sure enough, it’s backwards! Can you imagine what Ella’s teacher was thinking?? Yeah, sure lady, you made it here fast but have you looked in a mirror lately?? I sent her an email thanking her for not laughing at me too hard…at least not to my face! Sigh…thus is my life….
ANYWAY, Friday I did get to go out in something I managed to put on correctly and had a nice evening out celebrating my SIL’s upcoming baby!
Saturday….
I am a TERRIBLE mother. It’s true. Why, you ask? Well, first of all I spent the morning taking my son to get his Cello!! THEN, when we got home and before any of them had done the cleaning I’d asked about, I took them to our local community day! Granted, it was a tiny bit chilly and I did refuse to buy them any of the $5 funnel cakes. Here’s Ella having a great time! (What you can’t see is Sylvie sobbing at the bottom because the guy asked her to wait a sec and she decided to cry and not go on the slide.) Next is Corben climbing the wall. He’s yelling at me in the picture to stop taking photos of him… I thought he did a really good job, though.
Next, mean mommy let them get their faces painted. Well, I had Dade do it and he was grumpy about being there because he had a talk to write for church tomorrow. (They only asked him today.)
Then we went to meet new animal friends.
Then there were pony rides and golf while some children complained about having to have even come to this horrible experience….lol
And THEN…after only 1 hour THIS is the reaction I was getting. SO…laughing at the irony…I decided to have them take a picture by this knotty(naughty) tree! Ella is the only one smiling! lol
I laughed so hard I made the picture blurry so I made them retake it! LOL Ah…good times.
THEN I made them come home and tidy up ONE room so they could have ice cream in a cone and watch a movie together. I even extended their cleaning time by 15 minutes so they could get it done and not have worse day and I still had to send 2 kids to bed early.
Man, I hate days when I just have to be SO mean!! lol (Honestly, though, I think everyone just woke up on the wrong side of the bed and they did actually do a good job of cleaning that one room, even if it did take them almost an hour… They don’t have to be happy all the time, do they?)
Sunday Dade gave his talk in church. It went REALLY well. He chose Service as his topic and made a great joke near the end that really drew folks in. It’s fun to see how much people enjoy Dade.
Tuesday I went to Corben’s school to learn all about orchestra…and just how broke I’m going to be this year!! All for a good cause though, right???
Here’s a sun Sylvie made today…
Thursday Ryan got to work from home and was able to go with me to Ella’s Fun Run fundraiser at school. The kids took donations for every time they ran around a 1/5 mile track in 20 minutes. Ella ran her little heart out. Ryan ran along side of her the last half. She made it an amazing 10 laps! That’s 2 miles! Way to go, Ella!!
Ryan was able to work from home again on Friday and I was SUPER BLESSED to have my fabulous sister and SIL come help me get ready for Sylvie’s 4th birthday. 4th birthdays are kind of a big deal around here and due to the fact that I spent WAY too much time working on the cake, was behind on some photoshoots, and wasn’t feeling my best, I had to ask for some help. So, the cavalry showed up and made a million Rapunzel braids for all our little guests tomorrow. Is sure love you guys!
I decided this year that since I’m usually throwing cakes together in the last few minutes before a party that this year I should see what I’m actually capable of if I sit down and work on something for more than a night. Well, I worked on this thing over the course of 3 days…(Ryan made the spires, he couldn’t be creatively outdone).
I’m pretty sure that I’m never going to do this again! We’ll just consider this the trophy cake and if anyone ever questions my cake making abilities I’ll just bust out a picture of this little prize and slap them with it….I mean, show it to them.
Then it was finally time to celebrate my little one’s 4th birthday!! Happy Birthday, my sweet Sylvie!! (Ella managed to get the scissors again and cut her hair in celebration…sigh.)
We had a VERY late night party as we were waiting for daddy to get off of work (upstairs). We had cupcakes, opened presents (Sylvie LOVED her new ballerina outfits) and then we sent off a Wishing Sky Lantern than I’d drawn on to make it look like the one they send off in Tangled on Rapunzel’s birthday each year. It was SO cool!! Dade says he’s going to send off hundreds at once at his wedding some day. It really is an amazing thing to watch.
Saturday morning was a “bit” chaotic. Okay, it was a LOT chaotic and it didn’t help that Ryan was headed out the door for a 3 day weekend of white water rafting. He was a huge help, though, before he left and I actually had MOST of what I’d planned together when princesses started arriving. (Thanks, Tara, for taking pictures for me!)
First, we spent our time waiting in the tower…and coloring to pass the time.
THEN, Flynn Rider showed up…and we wacked him with some pans!
Then we were a bit Tangled up so we had to break free!!
Once we escaped our tower we ran in the grass and made sure to do some swinging!
{Random cute picture of Sylvie in her Rapunzel wig}
THEN, it was time for us to enter the Kingdom and get our Hair Done!!!
Once we were all done up it was time for Dancing in the Square!!
Time for Cake at the Snuggly Duck…
Then it was time for Presents and Drawing with Chalk!
Then everyone got to take home some Rapunzel paints along with their braid and hair clips!
It was so much fun. Sylvie spent the rest of the day spinning in her new tutus.
Ella had fun dressing up, too!
Sunday I should have been at church but there was just no way. I’d been feeling a bit off the last few days and with the entire lack of sleep I’d had all week, I was down for the count. The kids were so great. They made me cards and pictures, took care of each other and brought me food. By evening I was a little better. My kids are awesome.
