He claps

Last week Sam clapped.  Well, kind of.  He got the hands together a couple of times in a row but when I tried to get him to do it again by clapping to him and hoping for imitation in return, he looked at me like I'd grown a second head.  Then he laughed at me.  And flipped over to his little army crawl that's getting ridiculously fast and efficient and left me alone to clap by myself.

Saturday night....he clapped.  Like really really clapped.  Then laughed at himself and the rest of us who were now clapping at him and clapped again.  And again and again and again.

It was like he was giving himself a round of applause for knocking off another skill.

Awesome.  Absolutely awesome.

Too awesome to not share with the world.

I love how impressed Lincoln is "he's good!"

And as of yesterday he has gone from sharing his new skill to showing off.  At a family gathering yesterday he clapped at everyone who walked by.  For hours.  Not sure if anyone noticed it besides me, but it was entirely too cute.

Prank Calling

No, not me.
As tempting as it is, I've finally matured past that point.
Kind of.

Yesterday we celebrated a momentous event.  The first prank call to our house.
By our own child.

I answered the phone yesterday to be greeted by a nasaly, deepend voice uttering the timeless classic "Is your refrigerator running?"
I hesitated, wondering if I should say "no" and see what the response was.
I figured I'd play along and gave the awaited answer-Phineas and Ferb style, "why yes, yes it is".

The attempt at finishing the schpiel in the deep nasaly voice through stifled giggles was priceless.
Admonishing me that, of course,  I'd "better go catch it!" followed by howling laughter as the phone hung up.

Almost as priceless as when said child called to check in about an hour later and asked "did you like my prank call?  That was me."

Best prank call ever.

The Meanest Mom in the World

I'm sure a lot of us Moms have been told that we qualify as the meanest mom in the world.  I have been told that more than once.
I have also been classified as such by more than one child in my neighborhood.  Yep, really.

The first time it happened was a few years ago.  My girls had a friend over who falls age-wise right between them so they all played happily together.  While that friend was here, something happened that made me reprimand my girls...probably they hadn't folded their laundry or something and I made them get up and do it.
A week later a neighbor told me that this friend had been at her house and told her that "She treats her kids like slaves!  But she treats her guests like princesses."  So apparently I'm a jerk but a good hostess.

I'm totally ok with that.

Most recently word got back to me at a Mother Daughter activity for the 8-11yr old neighborhood girls. I was a little surprised because I couldn't think of any specific instance that would have prompted that comment from this particular child, but oh well.  There are things that have happened when she was within earshot that probably prompted it.  And she comes from a home with a different parenting style than mine from what I've seen, so it really doesn't surprise me that she'd think that.  Thus I walked away from that classification feeling totally fine about it.

Yes!  Meanest Mom in the world!  See me beam with pride!
I guess she also labeled another neighborhood mom that way.  Sweet!  I have company!

 Well,  I have a child who would echo those statements every Thursday I'm sure.
I have been asked about our chore division and I'll do a separate post on that, but tonight's issue revolves around one particular chore and one particular child.  They all have their least favorite chore to do, and Dallin's happens to be Bathroom/Towels.  It is his job on Thursday to do a quick cleanup of the bathroom (wipe down counters, sink, toilet, mirror, pick up anything left laying around), as well as collecting all the dirty towels from the house and folding and putting away a load of clean towels.  It really isn't that bad of a job, most kids like this one the best because it's quick and easy.  15 minutes max.

Dallin hates it.
On a level that causes his avoidance skills to come into play.
The boy has stuffed towels under the couch to avoid folding them.  He has tucked them behind throw pillows.  He has thrown a few back into the dirty hamper.
This week he just plain took the basket of towels and dropped it in the laundry room and shut the door.  I happened upon it moments later and called him on it.  Next (once I was out of the room) he tried to stuff them all in the pedastal drawer under the washing machine where we keep the rags.  I found that about an hour later and called him on it.  After trying a few more hiding places he was running out of time.  My oldest 4 have karate on Thursday nights which means we must leave the house by 5:40.  Usually we (myself and the youngest 4) hang out in the car and read stories or play games, occasionally we'll go play at a nearby park for a bit or bribe Aaron to leave the ipad home from school so we can play on that.

This week, Dallin folded towels.
For the second Thursday in a row.
Yes, I made him bring the basket of towels along in the car and fold them there.   Just like last week.

See?

Photographic proof that I'm the meanest mom.
But so as not to disappoint on the avoidance game, he did tuck a few behind the back bench in the van.  Which meant he got to finish folding when we got home.  Seven hours after starting, the towels were finally folded.
But I made brownies, so maybe I'm not quite the meanest mom after all.

Still Tri-ing

Woman of Steel Triathlon, take two.

This was the first tri I did.  Two years ago.  I was excited to get a chance to race this course again and had a couple of specific things in mind.
I wanted to beat my time from the last time around.
I wanted a better bike time.  Last time my chain came off at the bottom of the big hill.  I ended up walking up the hill because I couldn't get enough momentum in my (then) weak legs to bike it up after getting off.  So, I wanted to kill the hill.
Lastly, I wanted to KILL my previous run time.  Considering that this was my first race ever and I've got a couple of years of running under my belt, this shouldn't have been hard.  Also since I walked way too much of the run last time and I planned to actually run the whole thing this time, I figured that should help.

I just wasn't feeling that "woo-hoo!!  RACE!!" feeling though, so I just kind of went with the flow and aimed for fun.  I can say that I definitely had fun!  Made a few new friends, got some great pictures and thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful weather that has been lacking here lately.

Now, with my apologies to those of you who are averse to midsection skin,  pictures!

My girls came along this time to be my cheer squad and snap some photos.

It was really fun to have them there.  I LOVE that Malia wore my race shirt from last time around.  Too cute.  I did miss Aaron being along, but since his current school shift for Fridays (clinicals) puts him home at 330 and I was leaving at 530, I figured I'd be a good wife and let him sleep.  At least for a little longer than 2hrs.  He did make me a sign and parked it next to my bike so that I saw it before I left.

What a sweetie!

I was struggling with what to wear (yes, that's the most important part of a race sometimes) since I'm not digging how the tri shorts fit right now.  Yes it's the same way they fit when I first wore them.  Not flattering as previous pictures have proven.  I have gone the skirt route for all things running, so after a practice swim in a run skirt, I decided to go for it.  With a cropped tri top.

The traditional bicep picture.  And me looking like I'm going to bite someone's ear off or something.  Yes those are sweats under my skirt.  It was chilly.  Look at the snow on those mountains still!

The swim started with a 45 minute stand along the pool.  Again.

And one of my favorite race photos to take-Where's Waldo Catey. (hands in the air, green swim cap)

The wait was no shocker, even though I lined up way ahead of where I did last time.  Which apparently some others did as well.
Here I am getting in the pool.  This was actually the fastest part of my swim.  Seriously.  I didn't zoom in for a close up on the 8 baby abs.  You're welcome.  (but really, they're lookin' pretty good!)

There were three times when we just stood there in the pool behind some woman who really shouldn't have lined up where she did.

Those are my giant broad shoulders in the back there.  If you look closely you count me, 5 more women, then the slow swimmer.  I am not a fast swimmer, so I get that, but time your swim people.
Last time my swim was 7:49.  My times over the past month had been just over 7, so I was hoping for a just under 7 swim.  8:39.  Ouch.  Thank you standing in the pool for killing my swim time.

After dashing from the pool I sat down to get my bike shoes on and then though "meh, not concerned about transition times.  No rush!"  Which was evident by my 4+minute transitions.  ha!  Yes I took my sweet time between the bike/run too.

The bike was great.  I felt good with the number of people I passed and I even lapped one gal.  Yes I just said gal.  No walk of shame, no chain coming off, good enough average pace.  Having only biked twice this year, both in the week before the tri (good prep, I know) I wasn't sure how my legs would hold out so I didn't really push it.  In hindsight I wish I would have pushed it harder.  I could've shaved a few more minutes off the bike, if not more like 5.

After another nice slow transition I set out on the run-legs feeling nice and fresh!  This was great.

The high five from Alaina was great too. 

 Love this picture.
It was really nice to run past a lot of people, and a big confidence boost to pass so many.  I had a lot of fun with it-and with the photographers, coming out with some priceless pictures that I would share with you but they finally got smart and locked down their site so you can't copy and paste the photos anymore.  Picture me with my arms waving in the air while I scream.
Yep, I had fun.

If you are desperate for entertainment or suffering from insomnia I dare you to go search out there till you find them.

I may actually have to suck it up and spend the $11 on a finish line picture because they actually took a couple of really good ones-a first for me.  My girls didn't get any because they had left the camera on all day and the battery died right before I showed up at the finish.  There was this cell phone picture

Look closely.....

There I am!  Better than nothing!

In the end I took 5min off my last bike and a full 10 minutes off my run.  Granted that says more about how out of shape I was 2yrs ago vs how in shape I am this year, but it was nice to see.  It was a little short of the 5k it was supposed to be, but to pull in just past 26 minutes after biking was encouraging as I am hoping for a 25min 5k in a couple of weeks.  (i can't believe I just admitted that out loud.  Yikes.)  It was really nice to feel stronger on this race this time, and it was a noticeable difference!

Though I was thrilled with my finish time that afternoon, I have done nothing but beat myself up over it since then.  Looking back I wish I would have pushed harder on both the bike and the run and the swim....well, there's not much you can do when five people are at a standstill in front of you.  Oh well, part of the race game I guess.  The transitions make me laugh, but irritate me because if I would have had my head in the game I could have taken 2min off each and another 4min off my finish time.

But hey, new friends, fun atmosphere.....there's always next time around to worry about my time.

And my sweet wonderful husband?  He got up, got the other 6 kids ready to go and headed out as quick as possible to get to the race for my finish.  Though he missed it by just a few minutes, the fact that he tried so hard to be there at the end with all the kids after his super long day (Friday is a 23hr day for him-nice huh?) and little sleep was just absolutely adorable.  He is fabulous.

 

Makin' her mama proud

Another blurb.
Because I have 2 minutes before racing out the door to get kids to the dentist.
Could be worse.  Could be me going to the dentist.  I hate the dentist. (have I ever mentioned that?  Maybe once or twice or six thousand times)

Charlotte was just sitting at the computer and in her amazing 2yr old ways, navigated around checking out the blogs I subscribe to.
I aspire to one day reach her level of computer prowess.
Prowess also means "bravery in battle".  Did you know that?  It is also applicable to her.

Many of the blogs I read are running specific.  As she sat here scanning through someone's pictures she let out a contented happy sigh and followed it up with "oh, I just love wunning!"

Me too kid, me too.

Random blurbs of conversation

I have a big long post from my relay with about a million pictures.  I haven't put the pictures on it yet, but it's coming.  Most fun I've ever had at a race!

Then there was a tri yesterday.  Killed my time from last time I did this one, met all 3 goals I made for it, and I'm beating myself up over it.  Figures huh?  Pictures coming there too.

And today....OH today.  Let's just say it involved broken dishes and getting covered in vomit at church.  Awesome.

But the blogging just ain't happening lately.  It will this week.  Eventually.  Because I know you all want to see a million pictures of me.  And Thor.  You'll see.

But until then I leave you with this little gem.

Aaron and I were sitting here watching some of the SNL Lawrence Welk skits.  They crack me up.

And then her turned to me and said "If you two get married and have kids, imagine the eyebrows!!"

Which is apparently the first thing one of my aunts said to him the first time they met.

Ahh, memories.

9 months

Since blogger killed a number of posts last week and didn't bring all of them back, I'm throwing this one back up!

Sam hit 9 months last week.

Which of course called for a big fat sticker on his shirt and a quick photo session.

And that was tricky.

The boy won't.

sit.

still.


Yes, that's a fabulous thing.  It makes taking pictures a little harder, but it's a fabulous thing.

He is still a featherweight, weighing in at just a smidge over 16lbs.  The whopping second percentile on the charts.  But hey-he is ON the charts!  Our goal was to hit 16lbs, so I'm thrilled!

His head continues to grow and has now reached 49cm, which puts him right at 100% on those lovely charts.  "It's like an orange on a toothpick!"  Nice that those references are still amusing, I wondered last year if they would bother me.  Nah, gotta roll with it, right?  It just give me lots of surface area on which to plant kisses!

Otherwise he is doing fabulously, developmentally still blowing everyone away.   He is regressing a little with sitting, but the dr thinks that is likely due to weakness stemming from the fact that he is seriously anemic.   We even poked both toes to see if the first blood sample was a fluke.  As is evidenced by the double bandage look:

 Couple that of course with the sheer size of that noggin in relation to the rest of his body.  He is trying to hard to get up on his hands and knees to crawl, but still can't hold his head up when he's up there. Our dr feels confident that as the anemia is corrected (hopefully quickly) that he will gain enough strength to really amaze everyone.  Sounds good to me.

Back in a month for another check on everything, but for now the plan is to push the next MRI off until July.

Love. this. boy.

And I think he loves me too-especially because I finally made a new seat cover for his high chair.

Ok, not very manly, but a little more so than the pink flowery number. 

Going Bare

Barefoot that is.

Yes, all the chatter has worked it's way into my brain and I thought I'd give it a go.  So a couple weeks ago when I had the opportunity for some quality time with the treadmill, I logged the last mile plus of my 8 milers without my shoes.
Observe:

Me on the treadmill without shoes.  Good thing I had the 9yr old snap that picture because I'm sure you couldn't possibly imagine what running on a treadmill without shoes might look like.
But hey, the quads are looking better.
HUGE difference in foot strike from normal running.

Also if you look at it from this angle it looks like I'm going to fall down.

I haven't.  Although falling on a treadmill is one of my fears.  Does that mean I've watched too much Biggest Loser over the years?  And I took this picture myself.  I'm not sure where I would have perched my 9yr old for this angle.

I've been trying to work through knee issues that come and go and a finicky IT band.
I've also been ridiculously intrigued by the goofy looking Vibrams for months now.

Tell me you aren't totally curious as to how those feel!

I just can't justify the cost of them though.  But that doesn't stop me from chatting up people I see wearing them.
At that 5k I did with my girls recently, a guy we know from the neighborhood was sporting the Vibrams.  Aaron knows my obsession curiosity with these shoes, so he asked about them.  Neighborhood guy was dealing with knee issues (hmmm) and found that they were only getting worse with different shoes.  Someone suggested barefoot running, so he started out slowly on the treadmill to see how his body would react.  Things went well, so he moved on to the Vibrams to accommodate barefoot running outside.  No more knee pain for neighborhood guy.  hmm.

Am I going out to buy a pair?  No.
Will I one day?  Maybe.
For now I will continue to sneak in little bits on the treadmill and see how it goes.  Maybe it will help, maybe it won't.  We'll see.

If nothing else it has made me very conscious of my foot strike and how much I have gotten sloppy and let my heels pound down with each step.  Hopefully correcting that will help me all around.  'Cause it's time to start logging some major miles!  Especially if I'm going to hit that 1000 mile goal.

What's a girl who needs Sassypants to do?

When you join a relay team by the name of Sassypants you need something fun for your bottom half.
So what do you do when you can't find what you want?  Even after scouring not only the most likely places to find what you are looking for, but the deep dark recesses of pages 20+ of googling it?

You take matters into your own hands.
Volleyball shorts in the desired patten (those buried google pages did help with something) paired with a running skirt that I didn't love, a few hours picking seams apart, recutting fabric and then adjusting for the perfect fit turns this:

Into this:

Voila!  The running skirt I wanted that no one makes.
Nice that I didn't scoot over 6 inches to either miss the outlet and phone jack or at least stand in front of them.

Complete with pockets

built in compression shorts

and a fold-over waistband so I can wear it as high or as low as feels comfy.

And what funky skirt would be complete without a matching headband?

(and possibly funky nails if I get to it before I leave)

Red Rock.  2  days away.  Ready to rock my Sassypants!

IN!!!

Aaron asked me what I wanted for Mother's Day.  I told him I wanted to see my name on the list once the St George Marathon lottery was drawn.

This morning.....there it was.  I am giddy!
I can't believe how many friends got in too.  Party at the start line!

October 1st.  I. Can't. Wait.

The Power of Perception

I had an interesting opportunity on Tuesday night.
One of the classes that Aaron has to take as part of his Nursing degree is Interpersonal Relations.
Like that hasn't been a source for a million jokes.

He had to do a presentation this week and chose to present on perception.
As part of that presentation, I was asked to come and stand in front of the class.  So were three other people.  Yes, all we did was stand there.  Crazy bunch of overachievers we are!

He did ask that I dress in business clothes.  Actually I believe he asked me to wear a suit.  To which my response was "Uh... suit?  How long has it been since I've worn a suit on a regular basis?  Riiiight."  Truthfully I just parted with my last suit not too long ago, within the last year I think.  I finally realized that not only did I have no reason to keep it (yes it still fit though, woo-hoo!), but someone else could probably get some use out of it before it looked dated.  I did happen to have some slacks and a nice crisp white button-down, so we went that direction and fancied up a bit.

It made me immensely glad that I do not have to get up and go to work every day.

The class had the chance to look me over and then answered some basic questions about me based on what they saw.  I found it incredibly ironic that as they sat there making judgements about me, I found myself looking around the room doing the same about them.  Hmm.

So, what did a room full of strangers think of me as I stood there in business dress and was introduced as Catherine?

The questions, and their answers were:
1. Is this person male or female?  Thankfully everyone answered female.  Phew!
2. How old is this person?  21, mid 20s, 30, 32, 28, 35, 30, 35, 32, 32, 30, 26  So apparently I look roughly my age (32), maybe a touch younger.  We'll ignore those 35s.
3. Does this person have children?  If so how many?  no, no, no, no, yes-1, yes-3, yes-1, no, no, no, no, no.  Interesting.
4. What does this person do for a living?  Education, waitress, "Business type", no answer, another no answer, work in an office, business lady, administrative job, teacher, receptionist, another slacker with no answer, and works in an office.
5. How much money does this person make every year?  33k, 24k, no answer, 50k, no answer, 50-55k, 40k, 27k+, 40k, 30k, 40k, no answer.  If I could just make all that money and keep my current job...
6. Is this person a US citizen?  If so from which state?  Yes-Idaho, Yes-California, Yes-Utah, Yes-California, Yes-NewYork, Yes-California, Yes-Utah, Yes-Utah, Yes-Utah, Yes-Utah, Yes-?, Yes-?
With the Ca answers, I'm hoping that means I'm looking tan?
7. Would this person be easy to approach or talk to?  Sort of, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.  I guess I am slightly scary to one person, and approachable even if I'm a New Yorker.
8.  Is this person religious, if so which religion?  Yes-Mormon, no, no, no answer, no answer, yes-not sure, no, Yes-LDS, Yes-LDS, no, Yes-Mormon, Yes-?  (And just to clarify, LDS and Mormon are the same, and yes, I am!)

I found it interesting how the answers lined up.  Those who thought I was older with no kids also guessed I was not religious.  Consequently they also thought I made more than the others.  And that I wasn't local.  huh.

I think I could throw the word interesting in here about 50 more times, but I'll spare you.  I did wish that we would have thought ahead enough to bring one of my brothers along to be a prop too.  Interestingly (there it is again!), people often wouldn't necessarily peg us as being from the same family judging solely on appearance, even though there is definitely a family resemblance.  My older brother was out at our house helping with a project once (I think it was laying sod?) and a neighbor from across the street asked after he left "Who was that guy?  how do YOU know him?"  This neighbor had felt a camaraderie with my brother because of their tattoos and they'd had a nice long talk about them which led to general conversation about all sorts of things.  He was shocked to find out that he was my brother. I guess we don't look like a matching set!  With as shocked as people were to find out that I have 8 kids and am Aaron's wife, I would have loved to have seen the reaction to either of my brothers and hear what their guesses were about them.

It was a fun little project to be a part of and really made me think about the way I react to people based solely on first impression.

"It's not so much how busy you are, but why you are busy...."

"It's not so much how busy you are, but why you are busy.  

The bee is praised.  The mosquito is swatted." 

-Mary O'Connor

I was asked why I posted my day.

Honestly, someone else I know blogged her day recently and I really enjoyed reading it...what she did, what she thought, her regular routine.  And then I started thinking to myself, "huh...what do I do all day?"  I mean I know I clean up after people and take care of kids and change diapers and potty train and all that nitty gritty stuff of being a mom, but what exactly do I do with all those hours?  Besides laundry.  So really it was for my own benefit!  There are so many days when I drop into bed at the end of the day feeling like I was busy all day and then realize that there are SO many things that I didn't get done!
Monday was one of those days-a number of things on my to-do list that didn't get to-done.  You know, like painting those mirror frames and cleaning up the office.  No, I didn't do either today.  But we did get that cookie dough finished and baked, and made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies as well.  Yep, two kinds of cookies.

Sure my days can get pretty crazy, but it's the norm for me.  When I had one child most days I felt like I was busy all day-and often I was!  Same thing when I had two, three, four....and all the way up to where I am now.  It's all in what you are used to.  I'm sure the Duggar family would look at my chaos and laugh at the simplicity of it all because of what normal is for them.  The same way I looked in awe at my friends who had more than one child when I was expecting my second and in a panic about how I would survive, go to the bathroom, have time to eat....I was baffled as to how they did it with more than one!

I know a heck of a lot of people who are a whole lot busier than I am.  My life is truly a cake walk compared to what many other people do each day.  The intention of that post was certainly not to imply that I'm the busiest or my life is hardest or anything along those lines.

For me breaking that day down wasn't about being busy.  OK, well I guess that's not completely true-it was about being busy, but more about what it is that makes me busy.  Am I using my time wisely?  Am I taking advantage of these precious moments with my children?  (just for the record, I hate Precious Moments and almost didn't use that phrase because of that fact)  Am I letting too many other things in life keep me from being busy with the important things?
I fear that too often that last one is true.
Too much doing and not enough being.
Monday was a good day.  A styrofoam peanuts kind of day.  I don't create those often enough.

I find that I need to regularly take stock of my choices and my use of time and realign my priorities.
Monday helped me do that.  Take a look at your day....how are you doing?  Do you have any tricks to keeping things on track?
In hindsight, during the years that I was homeschooling I did so well at focusing on what I really needed to be doing.  Granted I really had to, because if I didn't my children would not have been educated during that time, and anyone who homeschools knows that the very most pressure to teach your children well comes from yourself.  When you worry about that all day every day, it's pretty easy to keep in line.
Now I find it is easier to drift from what I should be doing and let too many other things occupy my time, my energy, my thoughts.  I suppose it's a step in the right direction that I realize that this happens and I make efforts to improve that.
Keep moving forward, right?
Today I am thankful for the little things that remind of what is most important.

A Day in the Life

Monday, May 2nd
4:50  After climbing into bed at 11:58 the alarm rings entirely too early.  Oh good, Aaron's alarm went off, he's up.
5:00 Guess I fell back asleep, alarm 2 wakes me up.  spend the next 10 min fading in and out of sleep,  I wish I could sleep in today.
5:15  Aaron rubs my feet for a minute before I roll out of bed.  Gosh I love him. I also didn't know my feet were sore.  Wonder if its from the barefoot running experiment?  Or the shoes I wore to church yesterday?  Or just life.  Decide the answer is probably "yes".  What the heck is that beeping?!  Actually ask out loud "Why is the smoke alarm beeping?!"  Aaron tells me because it's battery must be low.  I think I tell him that it shouldn't beep because it's annoying.  Ah, clarity of thought so early in the morning.  Pray with Aaron before he heads off to work.  Beeep!  Argh!  Aaron offers to pick up batteries on his way home tonight.  Bless him.  Beep!
5:20 I lazed in bed too long to get a workout in before leaving for the chiro appt.  Beep!  Will squeeze that in when I get home.  Hop on the scale before hitting the shower.  Blech.  Not the number I'd like to see, but considering the dessert I ate last night (and the fact that I haven't fed Sam yet-hey that accounts for something!)  I'll take it.
5:25  I should really get out of the shower,  I'd rather stand here in the warm water all day.
5:30 Gotta be functional!!  Beep!  Didn't wash my face last night so there is still makeup on.  Meh, not too bad after I clean up  the smudged mascara and add a little powder.  Good enough for a 7am appt to which I will wear yoga clothes,  Beep!
5:40 Contacts in, clothes on, bed made.....to eat or not to eat?  Stretch for a few min instead.  beep!
5:45 Gotta wake Jacob and give the girls their first wakeup call.  And put in laundry when i come back upstairs.  Beep!
5:46 downstairs.  Dang it-someone wet the bed.  Good thing I didn't start a load of laundry already.  Girls room "wake up!"  Beep!  Grab Jacob out of bed.."Have to be ready in 20 min, come shower".  Round up wet laundry.  Remember that Charlotte also wet the bed and I left her things in the hallway last night, grab those, start wash.  Beep!  Remember that Aaron has late class tonight and won't be home till probably 11.  Dang!  Good thing I have to leave the house for an appt this morning, I'll stop and get batteries!  Beep!
5:50 Grab Sam to feed him.  Snuggly and warm in the corner of his crib, I hate to disturb him.  Mmmm, warm little body in my arms.  Wish I could crawl back in to bed to nurse him and go back to sleep.
beeep
5:55 Sitting at the computer, quick email check while I nurse Sam.  Pottery Barn has pretty things.  Why am I still on the ShapeFX mailing list?  And seriously, I get that the products have built-in shapers, but I don't think advertising them on a 6ft tall size 0 is...I don't even know?  Real?  Convincing?  Do people really think that they will look like a toothpick if they wear that dress the way the model does?  I don't know.   Maybe they do.  Oh good, I hear Jacob getting in the shower.  Start blog for the day.  Will have to correct one-handed spelling later.
beep!  
6:05  Shower is off.  Why do I hear that water is in the tub?  Is it not draining?  Note to self:  check tub drainage when I get home.   Gotta leave in ten minutes, better get the girls up.  Beep!
6:15 Dangit-need to go!  Downstairs to get Jacob.  Find him standing in a towel holding a pair jeans complaining that he has no shirts and no underwear.  Seriously?  Your laundry day was on Wednesday. Look to his hamper-overflowing.  Which means clean clothes were dumped in the middle of the dirty.  Ugh.  Dig to find him clean underwear.  Then he complains he cant find his shoe.  No kidding?  have you seen your room!?  Be glad I made mental note that his tennis shoes were under a blanket in the family room on Sat, hope they are still there.
Phew.  Crisis averted.   Beep!
6:20  Sam in carseat, grab purse, thank goodness keys are where they should be.  Malia is up.  Get myself and Sam in car.  Oh no!  The front yard is COVERED in ice!  Still too early for sprinklers on May 1st.  Hope my tulips aren't dead.  Sorry honey, turning the water back off till it's above 30 in the morning.  Wait for Jacob.
Wait.  Wait.
6:25 we need to leave!  Stick my head back in the front door, call Jacob.  He's coming.
6:28  all buckled, only a few minutes late.  Hope there is not traffic in construction areas.
whoops, speeding a little!  Slow down.
6:30 Guy biking the trail.  His shirt is up about six inches in the back.  Skin is bright red.  It's like 30 degrees out!  He has got to be freezing.  Runners!  I wish I was out running.  Nah, too cold right now.  I'm good.  Oh look it's Tiffany and Jamie running!  Tiffany is going to kill me at the tri in a few weeks.  Oh well.  Maybe I wish I was out running
6:35  SEriously honda?  the speed limit is 35 not 28!  Please don't turn left, please don't turn left, dang it! They turned left.  Gotta get around the Honda! Yikes.
6:45 What a beautiful morning.  Timp looks so amazing as the sun peeks up.  So pretty where I live.
6:47 Really?  Another Honda going 10 under the speed limit.  Some of us have places to be!  Move along!
Patience is a virtue Catey.  Be nice.
6:55  Cutting it close, good thing there is no traffic.  I love driving up along the base of the mountains.  Gonna make it on time, gonna make it on time....
7:00 on the dot!  Just in time!  Technically early for me since my appt is at 715, Jacob is the one that is almost late.  Nice.
7:20 On our way out.  Quick and easy!  My back was a mess though.  So much pressure relieved.  And my knee is back in.  Thank goodness.
7:25 That chick over there is a strong runner.  I wonder what I look like when I'm running?  Maybe I'll have Aaron film it one day so I can see.  Do I want to see?  Maybe not.  The sun is streaming through the canyon.  Now I really do wish I was out running.
7:45 During conversation about dinosaurs and gum and fieldtrips and Jacob wanting to be rich and famous he reminds me that we need to stop for batteries.  Thank goodness-I had totally forgotten!
7:46 Walmart.  9 volt batteries.
7:50 Pulling back on to the highway.  In and out of Walmart in less than five minutes?  I think it's a record.
8:01 Home!  Little ones are still sleeping (wow!), three oldest are up and showered and ready for school. Two are sitting on the couch reading.  This is new for Taylor who used to hate reading.  I'll take it.
8:03 Sam slept the whole drive home and is back up now.  Into the high chair for breakfast!  Tell Malia to stop carrying Charlotte.  Down to storage room to get crackers and peaches and toilet paper.  Replace tp, put extras in bathroom.  Whoops, out of soap too.  Take a few minutes to sniff through scents and see which one I feel like for now.  Mango Margarita it is. Does it make me a jerk that the good soap only goes in my bathroom?  Nah.  Right of indulgence as an adult.  Yeah, that's it.
8:10  Girls stop arguing!  No she's not going to kill you.  Dallin let's read your baggie book!  Jacob takes off his jacket and I see that he is wearing his little brother's shirt.  Inside out.  And backward.  Good thing he kept his jacket on at the dr's office.  Go change!  Shoot, I never ate this morning.  Protein shake it is since I still haven't worked out yet.  Switch out laundry, get the next two loads ready to go.  It's the little boys' laundry day so I help them sort.
8:20 Please stop Carrying Charlotte!  Beep!  Ack!  Still haven't changed that battery!
8:25  Sam is too busy watching kids dance to HSM music to eat.  Hand him some more diced peaches hoping he'll eat a bit.  Dishes into the dishwasher, clean up the oatmeal that spilled on the counter.
8:30 Someone is yelling it's time to go.  Uh, not till nine.  Thank goodness.  Now Taylor is bugged that he can't find his shoes.  I know where those are b/c I tripped over them this morning in his room while trying to get Jacob a shirt.  Do a quick room check, ironic that the 4 and 6yr old's room is cleanest.  Send out the call to make beds (met with collective sigh), help Alaina with her hair, listen to kids go from irritated with each other about something to excited about whatever ad they just saw from yesterday's newspaper.  Listen to oldest kids feed Charlotte things to say.  The fact that she speaks so much now is sitll a novelty a month and a half later.  Super cute to hear though.  Clean up my bathroom, towels to hamper, Charli and Sam's clothes to their hamper.  Make mental note to wash my workout clothes today.  That pile is growing.  Oh there are my other shoes under there.  Dangit, I'm as bad as the boys now.  Deep clean of bathroom will have to wait till this afternoon.  Leave breastpump on counter to remind me to pump, leave paint clothes on counter to remind me to finally spray those mirror frames that I've been putting off for weeks.
8:40  Realize I'm narrating my every move in my head, wonder if I'll drive myself crazy today.  The Perry the Platypus song is in my head too.  Wonder if I can sneak off to the bathroom alone without anyone noticing and following me....
8:45 This protein powder is gross.  Even in coconut milk.  Don't buy this brand again.  But hey, I did get to go to the bathroom alone and with no one knocking at the door!  Wonder how much longer I can listen to Troy, Gabriella and Sharpay singing this morning.  Better than enough other things that I'll take it.  Taylor counts down, 24 more days of school!  Woo-hoo!  Lincoln tells me we're out of milk.  Dang.  Well, we'll be out till I do real grocery shopping this week.  Not driving back to the store just for milk.
8:55 Time for morning devotional.  Ask kids to pick up the papers they just emptied out of their back packs and onto the floor. Gospel Standard of the day, Prayer, quick check to make sure everyone has everything they need.  Wash Sam's hands and face in the sink.  I love the way he giggles when he plays in the water.  Ask Malia why she is wearing a winter sweater and boots when it should be over 60 degrees this afternoon. She says "I know".  Well ok.  Confiscate a pack of gum from Jacob who then has a fit and frumps out the door.  Sorry kiddo!
Wonder how many minutes I will spend recording my day....
9:00  "Lincoln!  Come finish your breakfast!"  Direct Charli to the shower "no, I want baf today!"  ok.  Put Sam on floor to get Charli in 'baf".  Man that boy is everywhere!  Gotta start vacuuming my room daily to make sure he's not eating things he should be.  Speaking of...fish thread out of his mouth.  Man it's cold in here!  Thermostat says....61?!  What the?  Someone turned off the furnace.  Oh wait, maybe that was me....  Back on for today.  Hopefully not for much longer-it is MAY now!  Change Sam's diaper and get him dressed, then pick up my bedroom while he plays and I practice counting with Charli in the bath, in addition to having the conversation "Where's Daddy?  At work?" "Yes, Daddy's at work" about a dozen times.  (yes I can see her, she is less than ten feet from me.  Benefit to a smaller master bedroom and bath)
9:15 Get Charli dressed, tell Lincoln to hop in the shower.  "I don't want to shower!"  Ok, fine, don't shower today.  Then I hear him go in the bathroom and turn on the water.  Nice.  Beep!  Ack!  Still going!  Where did I put those batteries?  I'll get to that in a minute....Gotta nurse Sam so he can nap, and Charli says she's hungry again.  Nurse Sam, get him down for a nap.  Get Charli peaches.  Get Lincoln out of the shower who then complains that he's still hungry because he doesn't like the almond milk I gave him instead of real milk.  I tell him he must drink it.  I am not wasting that stuff.  It costs even more than gasoline does right now.
9:30 Sam is down for a nap, Lincoln is blowing bubbles in the almond milk thanks to a cereal bowl with a built in straw.  Sweet.  Charlotte is very impressed.  Time to workout.  Upstairs or down?  Quick cleanup of the office floor so I can workout upstairs since I threw the downstairs rug away last week.  Yes, it was that bad.  And Aaron hated it.  And it was now torn.  And had a bandaid crushed into it that would not come out no matter how hard I picked at the sucker.  Without the rug the floor is too hard for ab work on the ground.  Hello Jillian.  Beep!  Pause Jillian to find that bag of batteries NOW!
9:37  Drawbacks to being short and having 9ft ceilings:  can't reach smoke alarm even on chair tall enough for pub table.  Taller barstool did the tick.  Awww....blessed silence!
9:39 BAck to Jillian
10:47 Workout done.  Core work and pushups, working up to the 100 pushups challenge.  Maxed out at 20 today in one set, after having done 4 smaller sets.  Not bad for day one.  Not bad for having to work out with two dogs and a couple of small children underfoot.  Lincoln only got upset once, threatened to go to bed because I told him no popsicles.  The kid will send himself to bed?  I try not to laugh.  Charlotte spent most of the workout trying to work out with me.  Too cute.  Only one potty interruption, small accident, but we made it to the bathroom before she finished.  Better than nothing.  Third load of laundry started.
11:00  Settle in with a snack of smoothies, as well as toast with almond butter and strawberries for me.  (I'm slightly addicted)  Discuss the fact that Stitch is an alien and not a dog.  Kids color while I sneak off to check email and a couple of my online forums.  Keep my mouth shut about some things I'd love to comment on.  Just wouldn't be worth it.
11:15 Sam is up.  I guess painting the mirrors will wait till afternoon nap.  He'll play in the exersaucer for a bit while I clean out the office.  wait, I still haven't pumped.  Now is as good a time as any.  Change Sam, then pump.
11:30 Turns out now is not as good a time as any.  only 2 1/2oz.  and half a box of cereal on the floor as well as an empty pkg of oreos.   Ask Lincoln if he ate any.  He says no.  With black teeth.  Sam does not want to play, he wants to nurse.  Good thing he's more efficient  than the pump.  Charli needs to go potty, I go with her with Sam attached to me.  Lincoln cleans up (most of) the cereal for me.
11:45 I hear Dallin walk in.  Sam desperately wants to play with my phone.  Despite my serious worry about his regression in the sitting up department, this child is not lacking for curiosity, action, or getting around.  He is in everything!  Maybe he just doesn't like sitting up because he doesn't want to be stuck in one place?   Next load of laundry!   Yes really.
12:00 Heading outside to play.  Sam LOVES to swing and loves almost as much watching the other kids swing.  I love hearing the giggles!
12:40 Lunch!  Kids all ask for nachos, sure thing!  I go for chips and salsa, it will only be a few minutes till Charli comes to dig in to the salsa.  They want to make it a picnic in the backyard and have turned the little playground into a fort with a blanket roof.  Interesting way to picnic, but whatever works.
1:15 Dallin is bored with outside.  I suggest a list of things to do, he decides he wants to bake cookies. Sugar cookies.  I go out of my way to make sure he knows that the dough sits to chill and isn't made immediately.  Hopefully he is listening and will cooperate with getting his homework and reading done while it chills.  Nurse Sam again.  Growth spurt maybe?  Doesn't seem to be feeling well though....dang.
1:25 Sam's little body grows heavy in my arms and his breathing slows.  Sweet sleepy little babe!  Put him down in his crib and do some blog hopping while the kids are happily playing in the backyard.  Find a fabulous necklace that I think I can duplicate, a book I'd like to read, and read up on a few bloggy friends' races from this weekend.  Still haven't cleaned up the office.  Headed outside with the kids again for a minute after loading the dishwasher.
3:00 Uh, or a little bit longer than a minute!  Felt SO good to enjoy the sunshine and read stories outside with the kids!  I am so ready for warm weather every day!   Big kids are home from school (early out day).  Time for snacks, chores, homework, and all that good stuff.  Feeling sad for some friends-one of my kids came home and said that B was sad because Dad had packed up and left after Mom and Dad were mad at each other.  Poor kid.  They are friends of ours but haven't mentioned anything....  Want to ask Mom how she is and see if there is anything we can do for them, but don't want to intrude.  Hopefully I'll see her sometime this afternoon or tomorrow.   Time for cookie dough now while I keep tabs on everyone and their afternoon responsibilities.  Hoping they are cooperative and work quickly so we can do something fun tonight!
3:30 And now I'm the chore nazi.  Dangit.  Wish they'd just get their stuff done so they could go play!  Malia is done and headed off to play baseball at the park.  Just talked to a friend who talked to above mentioned Mom...Dad really is gone.  Sad for my friends and their kids.  She said they are doing ok and will let us know if they need anything.  I hope so.
3:35 Years ago I never would have guessed that a 10yr old boy would have as much attitude as one expects out of girls at that age.  *sigh*  Time for....you guessed it!  The next load of laundry.  Get dishwasher tabs and toilet bowl cleaner out of the storage room so those two chores can be done.  I need to clean up the storage room and inventory everything there.  Which reminds me that I need to figure out dinner.  I miss the two weeks that Malia had a project that involved planning and cooking meals for two weeks recently.  That was nice.
3:50  Baby has been changed, Charlotte taken to the bathroom again, Dallin is waiting in the kitchen to make the cookie dough that keeps getting put off.
4:00 Referee another arguement.  Start cookie dough, realize we are out of eggs.  Whoops.  Maybe I will be going to the store tonight after all.  Make grocery list for month.  Considering it looks like we should have about $10 left in our account after paying all the bills this month it should get interesting!  Good thing I had some work last month and have a check coming.
4:30 Finally seeing progress.  chores almost done-why do they always drag this out?!  Try and explain to Jacob that when Aaron's mom and her husband talked about moving "here", they meant to Utah not our house.  He is so irritated that they weren't referring to our house or even our city.  Is it bad that I'm kind of relieved?  I am a horrible person.  Finish going through ads to price match, enlist the kids to help cover any items we are out of that I may have missed.  Better get dinner started too.
4:45 Finally had a chance to talk to Aaron today.  I miss him.  Some of the days get long without seeing him for more than a few minutes before the sun comes up and a few minutes long after it's gone down.  Caught up with him on a few things before he had to duck into class.  But hey, I should see him in about 6 more hours!  yay!  Now to start dinner.
5:45 Kitchen cleaned, homework done,  grocery list made.  Need to go through coupons for a few things.  Table set, pizzas made.  I think I may have eaten my weight in croutons while making dinner.  I love that when my kids want pizza for dinner they get out the mixer!  Not to mention it looks so much more appetizing than frozen pizza.  Yum! Spinach and pineapple half/plain cheese half still in the oven. Time to eat!
6:30 Sometimes my kids are just plain LOUD.  Like on a level most people don't understand. People come over for dinner, we warn them, they say "oh, our kids can be crazy, I'm sure it's no different"....uh, hahahahahahahaha!  I love the look of shock on their faces when all of our kids want to say something at the same time, we have at least one glass of water spill (tonight it happened before food was even served), someone drops a fork, tips something over, falls off their chair....something.  Suddenly they realize their couple of kids at dinner isn't really all that crazy. Thankfully my kids have exceptional manners (most of the time), so it's just the volume that creates the noise and chaos.  8 kids will do that.  Granted, we also get gems like "If the whole earth were a bubble and you stuck a pin in the ground, every body would be dead because the bubble would be like "Pop!" and then it would just sink into itself.  that would be crazy."  We have talked about filming dinner every night.  It could be a series.  Much of the time it is that entertaining.  And heck, even if it isn't, it's still worlds better than something like Jersey Shore.  At least we have intelligent conversation.  Even if it is on an elementary level most of the time and includes random comments about what would happen if the earth was a bubble.
That said, dinner is cleaned up (mostly), dishwasher is still running, next load will have to wait in the sink.
Headed outside to weed and clean out the car.
7:26 Spent almost a full hour trying to attack what has become our dandelion problem now thanks to the neighbors upwind.  Feel like I barely made a dent.  So frustrating.  So very very frustrating.  We are rapidly approaching THAT time of night.  The breakdown is beginning.  Charlotte was wearing her pjs outside and just wet her pants.  The little boys are starting to get whiney, the older kids are starting to get silly instead of being helpful.  They took everything out of the van and dumped it on the driveway.  Not cool.
7:30 Charlotte is cleaned up.  Little boys are inside getting pjs on.  Older kids have five minutes left to finish bringing their things in from the car.  Time to start wrapping this day up!
7:33 Little boys have snuck outside.  Again.
7:35  Boys back in, nurse Sam, put him in bed.
7:40 Boys back out again.  Seriously?!  Driveway still not cleaned up, I am running out of patience.  Two younger boys pulled back inside, again, better be for the last time.  They are put on unload dishwasher duty.  I realize I forgot to put Charlotte's sheets back on her bed.  Guess I should do that now.
7:45  One last bathroom trip for Charlotte, two stories and bedtime.
7:50 Jacob gets punished for speaking inappropriately.  For the second time since 4pm.  Not one of his finer days.
7:55 Oldest kids still haven't cleaned up the mess on the driveway.  They have five minutes before they get punished.  I know I said five minutes 30 minutes ago.  Life got in the way.  An hour and a half to get their things out of the car.  They have removed all the car seats, rearranged the seating and dumped things on the driveway.  Guess how many of their things they have put away?  big fat zero.
7:56  Just saw a text message from Aaron from an hour ago.  Perfect timing, I needed a smile.  The kids are lucky.  He told me he found a sixlet wrapper in his backpack.  hahaha!  I put it there on Sunday afternoon.  Because it drives him crazy that when I have a stash of them he finds the little wrappers hidden all over.  I am looking at two next to the computer right now.  I think I will collect empty wrappers to leave for him continually.  I told him that when I die I will come back to leave him sixlet wrappers in random places.  He told me that was creepy.
8:03  OK.  Times up.  Enough is enough.  Guess I'll be hauling in the rest of their stuff from outside and they can deal with it tomorrow.  Time for scripture reading and bedtime prayers.  Better get over myself and my annoyances so I don't bring contention to it.
8:27  That took entirely too long.  Still have 6 kids not yet in bed.  This is probably the hardest part of having Aaron gone nights-getting everyone to bed.  I do not know how single parents function.
8:35 Scripture mastery with the oldest 4.  Tonight is Genesis 39:9  Quick discussion about why it's an important verse.
8:40 Finally chasing everyone to bed.  I should have left for tonight's swim workout 10 minutes ago.  Gotta get everyone to sleep first.  They all got up early so I'm hoping they crash quickly.
8:57  Better late than never.  Off to the pool.  Glad my oldest is old enough to babysit.
9:02 Am I the only one who just doesn't like the song Viva la Vida?  I could happily go the rest of my life never hearing it again.  Much more peaceful drive this evening that this morning.  Wait a minute...is this seat wet?  This seat feels like it might be wet....
9:21 Ooo....the big lights are on at the baseball fields!  Summer is coming!  Wow-those are young kids playing so late.  especially on a school night!
9:25 Need a membership card printed at the Rec Center.  They ask if I want to take a new picture or use the one from a couple of years ago.  I tell them I don't care because they will both look goofy-may as well use the old one.
9:40 Just not feeling it tonight.  Swimming strong and quick enough, but just not feelin' it.  15 more minutes and I'm calling it.
9:55 That's it.  I'm out!
10:10 Back at Walmart in the exact same parking space that I occupied roughly 14 hours ago.  Milk, eggs, don't get a Twix, don't get a Twix, don't get a Twix....Shoot, there's someone I know.  I hope he doesn't turn around because I am not feeling social tonight!  What is my deal?  Phew, he turned down that aisle. Anything else I need tonight?  Spend a few minutes looking around, snag some new flavors for Sam to try.  And some puffs since Charli ate the rest of his.
10:24 Back to the car, I made it without the Twix.  Yay willpower!  Oh hey I think this is the new Lady Gaga song Born This Way.  Yep, must be.  Wow, it DOES sound exactly like Madonna's Express Yourself.  Huh.  Call Malia tell her I'm on the way home.
10:38 There is a guy (girl?  really can't tell....) jogging.  In dark clothes.  Don't think I'd do that out on these trails at nearly 11pm.  I'm skittish anyway though I guess.
10:41 Home again home again.  Malia meets me on the front porch to see if I need help carrying anything in.  She then wants to tell me allllllll about the book she's reading.  I suggest we discuss in the morning since it's entirely too late.  She agrees and heads to bed.  Put the milk and eggs in the fridge.  Look for lotion and chapstick.  Are my lips sunburned?  It almost feels like it.  Hmm.  Hopefully I got a little color on my arms today at least.
10:50 Sitting here having caught up for the evening.  Waiting for Aaron to get home.  Check Facebook and Google reader.  Getting tired of the Osama status updates and the arguing about the president.  Enough already.  Best FB moment of the night, finding out the MLK quote that everyone keeps posting isn't a real MLK quote.  Ha!  go figure.  No, actually, that is topped by the following:
‎"People who make up quotes and attribute them to famous smart people should have their typing fingers cut off." -- Martin Luther King, Gandhi, George Washington, and Moses, in a rare collaboration
 Nice to end the evening with a laugh!  Good stuff.
11:07 Aaron's home!  Yay!
11:20 Calling it a night.  Never got the officecleaned out or those mirror frames painted.  Oh well, they'll be there tomorrow.  Glad to crawl into bed tonight, hopefully I'll be there within 10 minutes.  Quick clean up....how does it get to be such a mess after picking up so many times?  Better to have a house full and a mess than be lonely and bored and clean.  Time to go catch up on the day with Aaron.
12:14  Yeah....I hadn't talked to Aaron all day, I knew it would be more than ten minutes.  I love the time to reconnect at the end of the day, even if it is super late.  Read Scriptures together and chat.  After talking for 40 minutes, we go over sample questions for the NCLEX (nursing license exam).  Some of them are worded horribly.   We go through a set until my eyes are fighting to stay open.  And now I'm going to sleep.  Good Night!