Peace and Pandemonium

Tonight is the Lost season premiere and I am beyond excited. I watched last night's episode of last year's season finale, it had a ticker at the bottom giving insight into the show. It shared secrets about the potential direction the show will now take and totally opened my mind to some things that had escaped me last year. Watching it got me all fired up for tonight's premiere and I'm writing this blog right now solely to pass the time until the show starts.

The other thing I'm doing to pass the time is taking this awesome quiz. I am John Locke and I couldn't be happier about it. He's one of my favorite characters. A Lost episode without John Locke is just not worth the trouble. The description does describe me to some extent too so I thought that was pretty cool. Thankfully however, I am not bald.

I realize that to many of you, doing your daughters hair is just like getting them dressed in the morning, it gets done before you leave the house. I'm living in a different world. I have much opposition! Thankfully Sophia has curly hair so I have been able to slack off in the past and it still looks cute. Lately however we have been trying to grow out her bangs. Slacking off is no longer an option! Under normal circumstances Sophia's hair would be all in her face and tangled. Today I convinced her that we could make her look very pretty if she just let me do something with it. For some bazaar reason she listened and allowed me to brush her hair and pull it up and out of her face. I hardly know how to do her hair because it's such a rarity when I'm actually allowed to. I decided not to press my luck too much so I opted for a simple side ponytail. I remember wearing my hair like this when I was a little girl. Hopefully the more I play with it the more she'll be willing to let me.

1. Worked out...hard

2. Indulged in a slice of decadent chocolate cake that was drizzled with raspberry sauce and topped with fresh berries...YUM!



3. I don't feel guilty about it

The opportunities are few and far between when all of my brothers and sisters, parents and significant others are all in the same place at the same time. With this in mind we went ahead with our original plans to have a big family dinner on Sunday night despite the fact that poor Tay Pop was in the hospital. I always look forward to these gatherings because all I ever have to do is provide the venue for the party (my house) and everything else is taken care of. My very favorite thing in the world is when my Dad and Terrisa come into town because they always cook amazing food and leave no trace of a mess. Not to mention they are fun to be around. They are so wonderful!! They prepared a traditional Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings and it was fabulous.



After we had eaten our delicious meal, we decided that we would fix a plate for Tavia and take it to her in her hospital room; something that after all was said and done, never actually happened. We did however pile into our cars at 8:45 that night and met up in room 688. This room is very small and there were 15 of us. We were tightly cramped but hey, we're family, it's all good! It was actually really fun.





Yes, that is Steven with the contraband! Latex balloons in hospitals are "strictly" prohibited. In his defense, we didn't bring them. A few of Tavia's friends brought them to her earlier that day and once we got there my kids insisted that we blow them up. We hid them all in the bathroom when the nurse came in to take our picture for us...so nice of her...and we took them all home with us when we left so as not to endanger any patients.



My youngest brother Christian, me, my papa, and my sister Ashley.
I realize this is off the subject but notice my amazing Slytherin hoodie...it's my new favorite article of clothing.: )



We love Tavia and I am happy to report that she was released from the hospital on Monday morning and she is feeling much better!! The doctors expect a full recovery.



Having a family member sick is never a good thing but I have to say that this was a weekend that I will not soon forget! It seemed to be filled with an endless array of follies and blunders but in the end it was just really nice to have all my loved ones around for the weekend. We created memories that we will laugh about for years to come. I have more stories to tell about this weekend but for now I'm just very thankful for my family. I love them all dearly!

This weekend my brother Michael and his wife Candice came into town from Kentucky. My Dad, his wife Terrisa, and my youngest brother Christian drove down from Boise and the plan was to spend the whole weekend skiing, partying, making memories and just having a great time together as a family. It hasn't been anything like I expected it would be and that's exactly what I should have expected. We started things off by going to dinner at Macaroni Grill. It was a busy Friday night and we ended up waiting for a table for about an hour. While we waited, we photographed...(I love the way these turned out!)






Unbeknownst to me, my sister Tavia had been in a snowboarding accident on Tuesday afternoon. Apparently, she fell forward onto her knees and then her board flipped up behind her and hit her on her head and across her back. For three days she suffered. She was sore and not feeling well at dinner but it wasn't until Saturday morning when she woke up with the chills, a fever, and overwhelming nausea that she realized there was something more serious going on. My mom took her to the emergency room that afternoon and after a thorough evaluation, including a cat scan, the doctors discovered that she had lacerated her kidney and needed to be admitted to the hospital due to the fact that she had large amount of bacteria in her body.




We spent most of this morning and early afternoon at the hospital visiting Tay. She doesn't handle being sick very well and she was having anxiety about being in the there by herself so we all just stayed in her room with her until our replacements came. It was a good thing Uncle Mike and Auntie Candy were there to entertain the little kids!




We had planned a big family dinner at my house for Sunday night but with Tavia unable to attend all of our plans had to be reworked. Believe me, the story doesn't end here. Stay tuned...

Well, I managed to accidentally delete the blog I posted earlier today. Bummer, I'm still figuring out blogger. Apparently delete is permanent, there is no going back. I'll remember that in the future.

I don't want to try to rewrite it because I tried to be clever and make the situation comical but in all honesty it was a bit of a drag. Basically, I was trying to laugh about an unfortunate incident that is a reoccurring part of my daily life. That of living with children who are extremely good at making messes. I don't want to put the wrong image out there, I clean all the time but my home unfortunately is never clean for long. I don't know how some of you do it. I'd like to know your secrets. After the episode that is pictured below happened, I freaked out and was depressed for a few days after. I honestly feel like a slave so much of the time. Like I am here solely to follow my kids around and clean up after them. I cant live like that but I also cant be happy or calm in a wreck of a house. My home is where I spend most of my time and I feel like my house reflects my inner self. If its orderly and clean I feel empowered, peaceful, and happy. If its messy and cluttered I feel out of control and depressed. Many of you keep spotless homes, please tell me how you do it. I'd really like to know.
This is what my previously clean living room looked like after my kids ate breakfast the other day. This is not typical but an example of how things can get out of hand very quickly. While this was being created upstairs...I was downstairs, cleaning!





I feel like the over-worked, under-paid maid! This is why I call my blog Peace and Pandemonium. Here is a glimpse of the pandemonium.

My sister Tavia came over to watch my kids for me last night while my mom and I went to see a movie. A rare treat which I enjoyed immensely! (We went to see Juno for all those of you who are interested. It was very cute and I liked it a lot. You should check it out!) When I got home, this is what awaited me...


A huge fort in front of the TV. My kids were in heaven! Unfortunately I had trouble getting everyones attention for the picture because there was a riveting show on the TV that demanded the intense attention of all...(notice Tavia's expression) That show of course was Curious George. That monkey really knows how to suck you in!


Thanks Auntie Tay, for such a fun night!

I've been tagged by my friend Emily and now I'm expected to come up with 7 random things about myself to share with all of you. I hope I can think of that many...

Alrighty then, lets get to it.

1. I watch "The Hills". Okay, there I said it!

2. I'm obsessed with Aussie licorice. It embodies deliciousness. It's addicting and thinking about it right now makes me want to go buy a bag.3. No matter how hard I try I can never seem to keep my house clean for longer than and hour and that's on a good day. Maybe because it's 3 against 1, or maybe because I have no desire to clean all day everyday which is truly what it would take, or maybe it's because, as my mom would put it, it's not in my genes. Apparently genetically, I am not meant to have a clean house.

4. I have a weird thing with leftovers. I rarely eat them and they end up sitting in my fridge for five+ days until I eventually throw them out. However, when eating out, I always have my food boxed up to take home. ???

5. I sleep in an Army t-shirt I've had for over a decade. My husband calls it "my uniform". It's thread bare and has dried paint stains on it but I absolutely love it and I'm terrified of the day when it finally disintegrates into nothingness.
6. I'm freezing cold about 75% of the time and the remaining 25% of the time, I am burning up!

7. I am generally a very lucky person. I always seem to win things and what's more is that I know before I win that I'm going to win. How cool is that? Okay, now where's the wood for me to knock on?
Now that I fulfilled my obligation, I have officially earned the right to tag Elisha, Kristina, Leah, Wendy, Diedre, Bess, and Rachel.

My friend Liz called with a great idea to take the kids to Jump On It. I've never been there but apparently it's a place filled with trampolines and bouncy stuff for kids to play on. All of my kids were very excited about going. Especially Matias. All that needed to happen was that Matias needed to change out of his jammies and put on "regular" clothes. We fought for a hour. I did my very best. I even told him he could wear jammy bottoms with a regular shirt or vice versa. No luck. Can you believe this kid? Finally, I made one last attempt. I laid out three outfits and told him he could choose. These options included pajamas!! I went upstairs, finished getting ready, and when I went back downstairs to check on him, he was asleep. I guess all of the arguing wore the poor little guy out. Isaiah and Sophia still wanted to do something but I didn't feel good about going to Jump On It without Matias. I called my sister Tavia and she agreed to babysit so that we could still go out. So while Matias slept, we went to the Monte Bean Museum.







Isaiah examined this deer and determined where they cut him open to stuff him.



This was how Sophia responded every time I suggested we go look at the next display. It was accompanied with a very enthusiastic "YAY!!!"



Where do these bugs come from? I hope no where near my house!!



The second part of our struggle was when the kids discovered the gift shop. It took us forever to drag them out of there, kicking and screaming at times. I say times because this process repeated itself more than once. Sure, the admission to the museum may be free but it doesn't come without a price!



In the end, it was a fun afternoon spent with Jackson and Chloe Kemp. Next time we play together, we hope that Matias will change out of his jammies so that we can all go to Jump On It!

Yesterday was Steven's day off so we decided to take the kids sledding. We have been getting a ton of snow lately and it made for a really fun day.



Let the games begin!!





This was Sophia's reaction to Isaiah coming down the hill.



This was Isaiah's reaction.



He has the most amazing eyes.



Sophia wanted to have a turn after watching Isaiah. Unfortunately for her it went a little something like this...



OOOOHHHH NO!!!!



Total wipe out. This broke my heart and made me laugh at the same time. My poor baby!



Matias didn't need a sled, he just used his bum and had a grand ol' time.



This is what tends to happen when you don't use a sled.




I love the mood of this picture.



This picture cracks me up. I looked over to snap this shot and the only thing I could see was this frozen, confused look on Sophie's face. I snapped about five or six of these and they were all the same.



She didn't even blink . I think she was reliving her wipe out and was still in shock over it.



Matias decided to smash snow all over his face which prompted Sophie to laugh and point and say..."Matias is Santa!"




This girl was frozen solid!



These two did the most sledding of all of us. Matias couldn't get enough, therefore neither could Steven. :)



Doesn't this look like so much fun?



Isaiah thought it would be funny to throw this massive snowball at his dad.



It was, and Steven took a beating!



It went on for several minutes...I enjoyed watching this very much!



I'm kind of sad that I wasn't able to be in the "family picture" but someone had to take the shot.



This was my token picture to prove that I was in fact there. We really had a great time. It was the perfect day for sledding. We cant wait to go again.