Nunu :(

What a hard day today. After school Emma had a dentist appointment to get another cavity filled so she started bawling and being psycho-child. TERRIFIED. (Which doesn't make sense because there was no pain last time). So now I get to find a Pediatric Dentist and sedate the child in order to get work done.

Great.

 After getting out of the car she then ran smack into the side mirror and while she was crying from THAT her skirt fell down because she's a skinny-winny. Needless to say, we came home and had some quiet playtime and a nap.

Carnival and Easter Spring Break

So the original plans of "zoo" don't mesh well with Vegas family and Utah weather, so we headed to an indoor carnival which worked out even better.

Notice Mason's white sock and sandals. :)

The Ewoks:

Face painting:

Mason actually getting on the bumper cars ALONE. (I totally tried to sneak him in and have him sit on my lap, and he just jumped down and walked over to one by himself.)

Making messes but having fun doing it: (I hope Seve doesn't really have to go clean all the soap off the patio. I'd feel so bad!)

New Easter tradition! Roasting marshmallows. Maybe we can try roasting marshmallow chicks and bunnies.

Wierdo.

Pretty!

I am realizing I never get any decent pictures on Easter. Maybe it's too early in the morning and my brain is still sleeping.

Day 4 and 5 (in Highland)

We made it to Grandpa Tookie's house! (Mason can't say his S's yet. :)

Today we went to the Children's Museum in SLC and the movies:

Mason wanted to play this floor puzzle, and poor Aunt Rachel got suckered into it. haha. (The entire alphabet!)

This horse would be awesome to have in my toy room.

Really this is all we see of the Little Brown Bears. Today they decided to swap clothes and call Maddie Emma and Emma Maddie. We played along like they were so very tricky. Finally Emma came up to me and whispered in my ear:

"Mom, I'm really Emma."

Got it. Thanks. :)

Day 3: Realization that...

...my life is rather boring. At least when I write about it on a daily basis.

 (I personally enjoy it. :)

Today nothing new showed up other than Hailey getting to babysit for 3 hours. She's a fantastic babysitter. She created a scavenger hunt for the kids with Easter eggs. She always makes a list for me to buy things to make up these games. (They are usually more than the pay for the job. haha)

Other project: I prepared for a little trip to be taken tomorrow to Grandpa Dale's house in Highland. One of the tricks up my sleeve is having a "goody bag" for every hour of the trip. In them are small dollar toys for the kids to play with. This is especially good because I am driving Nathan's car and it is SMALL. (Compared to a Suburban of course.) That means the kids and their arguments/teasing/whines/tattletales are at least 5-7 feet closer to my ears and I can't block them out quite as nicely.

My 2 tips for this game are:

 1) Give everyone the same toy each time. (Reduces fights)

2) Give everyone the same color. (Reduces fights)

So that is the picture of the day. :)

Day 2: A test for my 2 most-needed virtues in Motherhood: Patience and Perseverence

First half: 

Kids to school after eggs-on-toast-with-sausage breakfast. Yum! Watch a friend's son who is best buds with Mason. What this means is little boy noises/mess/loudness/energy/stinkiness, which I don't want to frighten anyone away with, (cough cough Rachel), but it creates all sorts of "fun".  And since Mason needs a buddy to play with and his buddy is adorable, I'm all for it. I still am able to do: 2 loads of  laundry, load of dishes, clean out two closets and fill 8 bags of D.I. clothes, take out 4 garbage sacks, pull the big garbage's to the street, semi-pick up girls room, chase down the boys outside, feed chickens and gather eggs, vacuum top floor of home, pack up 4 boxes of toys and go pick up Miss Emma from school where I got yelled at by a crabby janitor because I came in the wrong door. Grump...

Second half:

Drop off Emma at swimming lessons and because I am a "single mom" for two weeks, create a plan where 3 other mothers pick up Emma from swimming, bring Tyler home from a friends house and pick up Hailey for her first softball game. Well, this plan collapses as one mother loses track of the time (it happens) and I am thus allowed only 20 minutes of my much needed math lesson at school. I head home way too early, grab the kids, pick up diapers because somehow we ran out without my knowledge,  and go to the windiest softball game EVER. And I will mention that we did enjoy a "homemade" dinner this evening: oatmeal. (I think it's wonderful, but apparently it's not very fulfilling to Tyler.) Wendy's drive-thru tonight for 2nd dinner.

Gah! Despise....

The picture for today is actually of Mason and his (aforementioned) buddy Porter. It was taken last Friday at a ward party where we watched a short clip of the life of Christ and the Atonement. This is when they were "fighting" each other. (See spiritual movie in the background). I was not able to take a picture of them when they obnoxiously plugged their ears because they did "not want to hear the movie".

One of their more angelic moments. Few and far between, but I will take them when I can. :D

P.S. Nathan ate fried bull frog today in China. I'd rather eat oatmeal.

Day 1 of No Nathan

Nathan left for China with his MBA class today. I am thinking he may be landing as I type this...just in time to finish off his 15 hour flight with breakfast. That's right, he will arrive on a beautiful Chinese morning exhausted  pumped and ready to go! Anyway, I told him I would experiment with blogging every single day while he is gone because of the fact that we are only emailing each other rather than calling. So here is our Monday in the household of Stacey Eaton:

7:30: Wake up a little later than usual and begin a mad rush. : /

8:00: Kids to school

8:15: Mason and I go to Wal-Mart and buy the last of the Easter items. (Mason won't remember the candy by next Sunday will he?!?!)

11:30 Pick up Emma from Kindergarten LATE. Geez, I'm on a roll...

12:30: Emma to dentist. Three cavities. THREE. She got one filled today which means getting her lip/gum all numbed up. (Didn't even feel the shot. Yea!!)

1:15 All done. But now Emma freaks out because she can't feel her lip.Sobbing uncontrollably while I laugh uncontrollably. These are the times when I feel the worst as a mother but it is so dang funny to hear "it feels squishy" over and over while bawling her eyes out...

1:30-3:30 A MUCH needed nap time for Emma, Mason and Momma. Niiiiiiiiiiice....

3:40 Kids home

4:00 Hailey Achievement Days

5:00 McDonald's dinner. Like I said, it's Monday. :/

6:00 Hailey batting practise in the horrid rain and wind. Dang April...

6:45-8:30 Family Home Evening Easter Egg Hunt with my wonderful friend Kristie, her three children and a few nighbor kids. Finish off with a movie on the Atonement with 8 children on sugar highs.

Also, I am going to put up one random picture from the day. This one is Emma and Mason during lunch playing "Bum Bug". All they do is stand like this and laugh til they have tears running down their faces. So "funny".



Emma's 6th Barbie Birthday

Rose from Dad. Afterwards Nate asked her if she wanted him to hold it, and she said, "No, it makes me feel special". awwwwwwwwwwwwww......

She decided to have her party at  Paint Your Heart Out:

I think every six year old needs a Barbie Dream House:

(Still holding her rose...)

This house contains a very fun Dad.

Yep, this is the Dad. Poor thing has to come home on his lunch break from the bank and go collect chicken eggs everyday (in his suit). This is not an uncommon sight:

He also makes Swirly Bacon for General Conference twice a year: (The kids are pointing to their favorite food by the way. I love how they are all in jammies with ratty sleep hair).

He allows them to take off their bed mattresses and put them ON the couch:

He takes the family on a drive after Conference to a river here in Vernal and "lets" everyone get their shoes muddy, look for raccoon footprints and then drive crazy on a dirt road so everyone screams. (Little kids are highly entertained by simple things.) 

This Dad is NOT a dud. That I know. :)

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P.S. For FHE the next night I had the kids draw/write about their favorite part of Conference:

Nate: The new temple in Rome.

Stacey: The talk about parents emphasizing the "be" rather than the "do".

Tyler: The talk about President Monson changing his travel plans to go see the sick girl/leaving the 99 sheep for the 1.

Hailey: The story about the Dad playing with his kids instead of doing the dishes and than the little daughter comes in at 4:30am and tells her Dad he's her best friend.

 Emma: "Sitting around and eating bacon"

Mason: Drew a poo and a rainbow.

hmmm...