Star Wars Day!

Sunday was "Star Wars Day". As in "May the Fourth be with you!" Our kids were supremely disappointed we missed the celebration at ToysR'us this year so we decided to celebrate at home. Of course, we didn't think of doing anything for it until about 10pm the night before, so there wasn't much time to plan, and I definitely wasn't going to the store, so this is what we came up with, last minute. 

The day started by making those R2D2 robots (I found the template online), you can see hanging on the door. 

Then we made "Wookiee Cookies" and let the kids choose who we should take them around to. 

Our family used to color after church every night. But Grayson one day decided he didn't like coloring that much. But they were all excited to color these Star Wars pictures after dinner. Maybe I should bring back Sunday night coloring! 

 We still have our photo props from when Barry hosted the "Fan Faire" at school so we had an impromptu photo booth, Star Wars style. So fun!

 Jaye ONLY wanted to be "the princess"... of course. 

FUN TIMES!

Out of the mouth of babes...

Today Jaye sat on my bed and nonchalantly said, "When you and Daddy die, when we're older. When Grayson's 17. He's going to have to learn how to drive or we will just have to watch t.v. at home all day." 


Where did that come from?!? 

Grayson's Tonsils

    Ugh. What a horrible, miserable, ridiculously stressful/frustrating few days we've had. Grayson's tonsils are GIGANTIC. They practically touch whenever he opens his mouth, and sometimes we hear Gray's breath catch while he's sleeping. The Doc said that they, as well as his adnoids, needed to come out to help with his breathing. After reassuring us that it wouldn't be too bad, and he would recover quickly, we scheduled the procedure right before Easter. 

   We got a babysitter for the girls, but since Barry is out of school for the week, we thought it would be easy to tag-team taking care of Jackson at the hospital. Until Barry woke up with a NASTY stomach bug the morning OF surgery. But I still thought it wouldn't be a big deal with the baby, since it sounded like we would be in and out in a few hours.

   When Barry had his colonoscopy, I stayed in the large waiting room, so I was planning on being there for this. I thought Jackson would just be able to crawl around the whole time and be completely happy. But I ended up stuck in a little room with wires and cords everywhere, so I couldn't set him down. And what the doctor explained as a quick procedure, was really a six hour stay in this tiny little room that Jackson couldn't move in. 

  Here we are right when Grayson got into his hospital gown. 

 An hour before we arrived at the hospital we had to put numbing cream on his hands and wrap them in suran-wrap.

He thought the way his hands pruned up was hilarious. 

The very last picture of Grayson's tonsils. 

Grayson was loving all the attention and the fact that after this was over he got to open a new lego set... until the nurse set down the big IV needle right in front of him. He FLIPPED. There was NO consoling him, so they ended up having to knock him out with gas first. Which is what I told them to do in the first place. Grrrr... 

This is him worrying about the IV. He kept saying "I don't want water in me!" because that's how the nurse explained the IV. 

The procedure itself was fast. But when he woke up... Boy Howdy! He was screaming in pain!

The nurses all "Ahhhh"ed when he still managed to smile on our way out of the hospital. The pain meds had kicked in by then. She also said it was nice that he could fit in the child-sized wheel chair because most kids don't. There's a sad commentary on child obesity. (but that's a discussion for another time.) 

Grayson has been DROOLING like crazy ever since the operation. I think it's because he refuses to swallow, but this picture made me laugh. He's sleeping on me. 

I know I've complained a lot about the whole ordeal. But it was super stressful! There was a moment when both Grayson and Jackson were wailing that I just about lost it, so I sent out a mass text to the ward... begging for someone to come get Jackson. And I received an angel's answer. my neighbor just said, "Be there in 5 minutes!" 

And she was! It was SUCH a blessing! I was able to focus on ONE child in need. Until I got home and had to take care of everyone... including a sick husband. But we had people bring us dinner and popcicles and the blessings just keep pouring in. 

Although it's been a terrible experience, it's also been a humbling experience... full of gratitude and love. 

PEEPS

Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE to enter contests. So when I saw the flyer at the public library for a "PEEPS" contest... I got excited. In honor of National Library Week and Easter, our local library was asking for dioramas based on published books. The rules just stated it had to have at least one peep in the scene, so here are our entries. 

I think I've been a little obsessed with Dr. Seuss since that is the theme for girl's camp this coming summer. So my mind immediately went to "Cat in the Hat". I think it turned out so cute! 

 . Grayson picked "Chicken Little". He loved the dangling acorn, it just makes me laugh it's so adorable!

 I was so proud of Jaye for writing her own title on her diorama. Not bad since she just started trying to write. Do you spot Waldo? haha

None of us won, but they gave all the participants a package of peeps which made the kids think they "won" a prize. I just hope that we are teaching our kids to be active members of their community. Fun times!

Senior Showcase!

I can't believe we only have one semester of school left! But as a senior in the Communications department, Barry had to do a 50 hour project and then present it to the school. He started his "Closet Geek" podcast with his four brothers nearly a year ago for this project, and it has been an awesome experience. Last week's podcast had over 120 listeners! That's so exciting because it takes years to build a fan base, and they have been doing so well! He even has a few European listeners who love the show! He and his brothers have decided to keep going and I see great things in their future! 

So here is his display for the showcase. There were about 50 students and each one got half a table to present their project. He gave out super hero candy and wore the rainbow bow tie he just got from a Geek-themed "Loot Crate" box. (check out www.lootcrate.com if you want to know what I'm talking about).

We also printed off a Closet Geek t-shirt and did a drawing for that. 

It was a great and fun night! And I am so proud of his hard work. 

Lucky Day!

It was another Magical St. Patrick's Day at the Ricks house. The night before, we all colored leprechaun pictures and then built the traditional leprechaun trap out of the giant lego blocks. The kids left our pictures outside of the trap as a gift, and then put pennies inside to lure the little creatures in. Unfortunately they got away.

The kids were amazed to see the leprechauns used green ribbon to climb up the door, to get it open. 

 The little stinker destroyed their traps, got green foot prints everywhere, knocked all the coats off of the coat rack, and all the shoes off the shoe rack... It was a huge mess. (Which, in retrospect, was pretty stressful since we invited people over for the evening!)

Jaye thought it would be funny if the leprechauns thought this little mega blox guy was real, and the little leprechaun did! Apparently it was a girl, because it left a kiss on the toy's cheek (thank you dry erase crayons!) and it remembered to leave the tiny note this year. The note told the kids that they'll never catch her, but since they left the leprechaun some pictures, it left them some of its treasure. 

They had to search through the huge mess to find their chocolate treasure (which took FOUR stores to find!
). Jaye's was in her shoe, Grayson's was in his hood, and Laycee's was in her tea pot.

Then of course, on to traditional GREEN breakfast. Barry is such a trooper, he went to the store at 6 a.m. to get eggs. So we had sausage, green eggs, green french toast, and green milk. I love Grayson's face in this picture! He wanted to reenact his response to seeing the food, silly kid. 

Jackson got green beans. Nasty. 

I love St. Patrick's Day. It is actually a holiday to honor St. Patrick who taught Christianity to the Irish people. I don't know how it got turned into a big drinking holiday, but the original theme is AWESOME. And since the holiday fell on a Monday, we invited two other families over for Family Home Evening. Barry taught the lesson. Legend says that St. Patrick used a three-leaf Shamrock to teach the Trinity (but we changed it to the Godhead- Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost). So Each kid got a coloring sheet of a Shamrock and the Godhead. 

Then we played "Pass the Potato". One person was in the middle with their eyes closed while everyone else passed the potato. When the person in the middle shouted "Leprechaun!" whoever was holding it was out. The game was o.k. Except all the kids got out quickly, and only adults were left in the end. 

Then we did "Pin the shamrock in the Leprechaun's hand." The kids had a round and the adults got a turn. If you can see in the picture, the Leprechaun is on the door, and Laycee is pinning hers on our dryer! I think she was dizzy. 

The adults weren't much better than the kids. 

After this game, the kids all went into another room while the adults hid little packaged shamrock cookies around the room for them them to find. After the search, we ended the night with brownie sundaes topped with GREEN mint ice cream and green sprinkles. 

It turned out to be such a fun day!

Work in progress

I came to a realization the other day. Our ward Relief Society asked me to watch two little kids for a full day. As I prepared for the huge task, I started thinking of fun things we could do all day, and different ways I could entertain the kiddos. 

And, since life never turns out the way one expects, all four of my kids got sick so I had to do an emergency cancel for the day of babysitting. But as I thought about the plans I had made, it made me think... "Why was I willing and somewhat excited to put so much effort into making the day enjoyable for someone else's kids, when I never put that much thought into my own?" It really surprised me to realize how lacking I am with my own children. They are my full-time job, I should be putting in a full-time effort to make the most of our time together. 

We had a lesson about motherhood and the declining birthrate the other day at church, and one mother (whom I truly admire so much), said that mothers put too much emphasis on the negatives of child-rearing. Complaining about life doesn't do much to inspire the next generation to desire having children. I find myself guilty of this... at most "girls nights", we all have a tendency to complain, or be somewhat negative about our kids, even if it's in a joking fashion. 

Here's the truth. Motherhood is hard. Stinkin' hard. And just when you think you've got it down, they change, and you've got to figure it all out again. It's monotonous, and sometimes I feel like I'm begging them to just watch one more hour of t.v. so I can get some cleaning done, or have some "me time". But, 20 years down the road, I'm worried that I'll look back and wonder why I didn't do more. Try harder. Love more. Play more. Smile and laugh more. Share more positive experiences. 

I don't want the reason why we do something fun be because I want another mother to be impressed with my ability to entertain her kids. I chose this career. And I want to make the most of it.  

Starting now. 

... When I'm done writing my blog.