Why All Mothers Deserve A Cruise

First because it might just be the only possible means for Mom's to have a "REAL" vacation. If you are tired of:

*picking up after your kids
*cleaning up over and over again all day long
*trying to keep your kids entertained and busy enough so that they won't fight
*trying to think of something different to cook every night
*cooking
*laundry

If these everyday "Mom" chores are getting you down and you are tired of them following you around when you try to take a vacation YOU NEED TO CRUISE!!!!!!!

I feel like I should write adds for Carnival...

We have been looking forward to our vacation with our friends the Flakes for almost a year. Things were actually set in stone by October. It seemed it would never come. And yet it did. Thank goodness. We all had a really wonderful time. Even Dave managed to not get too sick on the boat. And our friends who did get really sick on the boat (from some bug that Emily must have caught on the plane) didn't let their dependency on being near a bathroom ruin the vacation. What good sports they were. I felt horrible.

We got to stay with the Flakes for a few days before setting sail for Mexico. We enjoyed their home and their beaches. Seeing the swamps of Louisiana was pretty cool too. But the best part was just being able to spend time with them and play games to our hearts content.

Here we are at the beach a few minutes from their home in Biloxi and touring swamps looking for snakes and alligators.
Then it came time to go on our adventure. We had this picture taken of us before boarding our ship. Most everyone looks pretty excited.Our cruise was for five days with two stops in Mexico, one at Progresso to see some Mayan ruins and the other at Cozumel for awesome beaches. Here is a picture story of the highlights.Our visit to the Chichen Itza Mayan ruins was awesome. No one was sick. We had an awesome LDS guide and the temperature was only around 100 degrees. I will post my favorite part about our trip to these ruins in a separate post. But we all enjoyed looking at what might have been the remnants of Book Of Mormon Peoples. The kids all enjoyed shopping and bartering for souvenirs. I think everyone would agree though that one of the best parts of the day was stopping at a little taqueria on the way home and eating the best tacos ever. I wish we had bought more!


Our day at Cozumel was a mixed bag. We had a great time but definitely had bad luck. The worst was that Eric and Kelsey had been sick all night and so most of the Flake family stayed on board. We took Sierra and Landon with high hopes The rest of the fam would feel up for joining us but Eric didn't wake up from his drug cocktail until a few minutes before we came back on board. We also lost Dave's wallet in the ocean (had to beg money off a stranger to get a taxi back to the dock and deal with ship security to allow them to let us back on board). We also lost my shoes and Landon's shoes. That was a hot footed walk back to the boat. But we had a great time anyway. We had beautiful blue water, everywhere except where we were swimming. The kids enjoyed a full day of playing on the super cool water equipment out in the water. We got to visit with a squirrel monkey and everyone had fun trying to get parrots to talk. Chase almost snagged us an unripe coconut (yummy). And we only got mildly sunburned. We had an initial application before leaving the boat and I applied it twice more on the kids and we were still all pretty red.

The best part of everything though was just getting to spend lots of quality time together with our family and our friends. We had a little cabin Easter egg hunt. Chase finally after 5 years found the golden egg. All the children loved the freedom of getting to go up and get ice cream whenever they wanted. Dad was a great sport about playing with the kids in the pool and we were able to play many, many games.

P.S. Flake family I looked up the rules when we got home and that game that Dave won with an asterisk has been stripped from him. I was the WINNER!

April Fools Part Two

This is out of sequence. I haven't gotten a post up about our vacation (going through pictures takes time). But this was just too funny to forget about and not post.

Chase and I have this routine. He is so independent and reliable that he sets his alarm, gets himself up and all ready for school and then wakes me up with enough time to hop in the car and drive him to his bus stop. (I am still taking him down the street to avoid having to ride our bus which has some rotten eggs aboard).

I sleep in until the very last minute and he always wakes me up. It is a great routine. Now all of you really great Mom's out there are right I have major room for improvement. But I hate mornings and haven't gotten to the great mother level yet where I can sacrifice sleep for my children.

So I wake up. Throw on my slippers and coat and we are off to the bus stop. I drop him off and he is really excited that he is there first. He and his friends have a little competition going to see who can get to a specific spot first.

On the way home I look at the clock on the car and it says 6:45. That's an hour early. I thought that someone had messed with the clock. So when I get home I look at the clock. Still 6:45ish. Which means Chase woke up an hour early, did everything an hour early, and is now waiting at the bus stop an hour early.

I left him.

To wait at the bus stop for an hour...I know I am a beast. But I thought to myself...the jokes on him. I knew eventually he wold walk to his friends house to see what was going on, probably thinking he had missed the bus. She is a better Mom and let him in.

Crazy kid...what was he thinking waking me up an hour early!

I Can "Do" Bugs

Some of my friends, scratch that, most of my friends are photography experts. Which is good. I can learn at their feet while I have a chance and try to become better right. Well some are truly gifted at landscapes that inspire, others at children's portraits that capture the spirit, others can tell a story and capture the mood, some are masters at processing and could probably make one of my pictures look like a masterpiece. Well I am good with bugs. My landscape shots are so cheesy they look like they were shot in the 70's. I never know what to do with a kid. Thank goodness I live with mine. After 500 shots I am usually lucky enough to get a keeper. But bugs I do OK with. I wish I had a more meaningful talent, to bad most people don't need others to take pictures of their Bugs! Landscapes shots capture family adventures. Portraits freeze in time a little ones chubby cheeks, well, I will always know how beautiful the butterflies are at the science museum...because I can shoot those. Someday (hopefully soon) I will graduate on to people.

I got a new lens with my new camera. It is a 85mm fixed portrait lens. I have been dying to try it out on butterflies. So the day before we leave for our vacation I find myself taking the kids up to Seattle for a day at the science museum and more importantly an opportunity to visit the butterflies. We always enjoy ourselves at the museum so we were all excited even though the kids knew Mom was planning on being a psycho picture taker.

So here are some of the best. I asked Dave to pick out his favorites. I am still learning how to use the whole idea of aperture. Some were great but not the best focus. They didn't make the cut. I had so much fun.

(Dave says that butterflies loose some of their beauty and look a little creepy this close up)

So in the end I did try to take some pictures of my beautiful children. But they are less predictable than bugs. I am happy with this one that I took of Sara. She was just so happy playing with this little boat in the water. So Grandma's eat your hearts out:-)

Black Apple Dolls

I have been so slow about getting this post up. My friend Jamie Chiara and I had a little craft party a few months back and made these totally awesome and incredibly sweet dolls with friends. It was so fun. We made cute doll invitations and went to the fabric store together to find "just right" fabric and accessories.

I had so much fun that evening that I couldn't stop. I have made a few as birthday presents for some of Emily's friends. And just recently shipped two off as birthday presents for cousins.

Emily even made one with her achievement day girls. (I will have to add that picture)

I have gotten my time down to about an hour a doll which is perfect. Fast crafts are the best!

If you are feeling crafty (ANDREA :-) Then here is the website with a video tutorial (must watch) and the template!

April Fools

Another day full of foolery has come and gone. This was my favorite year yet. There is just something so great about getting to mess with your kids for a day. You know...no holds bared pay back for all the stuff they pull on you all year long. I left Dave out of the torture this time. It was all about the kids.

First Dave got up and made the kids breakfast. He has been making them hot cereal a few times a week trying to spend some more quality time with his kids. This mornings porridge was green and full of buggers (Oreo cookies). He told the kids he accidentally sneezed in it. Poor Kate couldn't get over the imagery and pushed it around her bowl until I offered to give her some cereal. You should have seen the relief in her face!

While Dave was distracting the kids with a snotty breakfast I was packing up gag lunches. I glued their sandwich bags shut, replaced their Cheetos with carrots and put a gummy worm in their apple!

Once everyone returned home from school, I told the kids I had signed them up for summer camp. They were so excited. I told them it would be this summer and they were so excited that it was the "going away" kind of camp. Dave and I had printed off full color brochures from Family Fun and I gave them to the kids. They read them over and had totally different reactions. Emily and Kate were soooo excited ( I don't think they got the gist of it all). Chase said something like no way and what was I thinking etc... I laughed soooo hard. The brochure is awesome!!!! You have to check it out in better detail. Click Here!

Then I took a break until dinner. We had Sushi and punch (candy, cake and jello). This year I didn't make a fake dessert (you know mashed potato something). I decided Chase should get to enjoy the Holiday too. And going one day with junk for dinner wouldn't kill anyone. We did try some real Sushi though. I should amend that statement. Everyone tried it but me. YUCK...never!!!!! I still can't believe I have the kids totally befuddled about making them eat things that I don't! That is the real April fools!

Bowling With Kate

Katie and I did something fun this last Thursday with some friends. We went bowling. Kate's first time....she was SO excited. It was so super fun. I think she and I will have to go again. (this time with out Sara who I had to either keep stocked full of food to eat or chase her all around the bowling ally)

Kate and I both played with bumpers, which made it extra fun for me. Sadly the bumpers in the lanes didn't prevent me from still getting a few gutter balls. I'm THAT bad. We played with many of Kate's little friends. It was so fun to watch them do their little victory dances, slap high fives and bowl balls that barely made it down the lane.


Here she is...my little bowler!

Clothes

These are the baby clothes. The two piles on the left are girl baby clothes up to size 12 months. The pile on the right are boy baby clothes up to 2T. It is a visual study in the increase of our financial security over the years. And a witness to how much I spoil my children.

I unpacked, divided and mailed all of these clothes to my sister (baby boy) and two sister-in-laws (baby girls) this last week. That is what I have been saving them for. Yet it was harder to do than I thought. Isn't it amazing how a small, tangible, physical piece of history can bring you back to the moment. The tiny little premie outfit that the girls came home in. The blankets I swaddled my babies so snugly in. Christmas dresses, favorite pajamas, gifts that meant something special and of course the totally amazing dress I found shopping with my Mom the day after coming home from the hospital. A soft little jumper that makes your hand want to fly up to your shoulder and stroke a baby's back. Only that baby isn't a baby anymore he is 10 and wouldn't fit on my shoulder if I tried.

Lets just say I cried a few tears. There was even a moment when I considered not sending anything. But I really do try hard to share...so inside the boxes they all went. Bound for places far away to start a new history on some other baby's sweet little body.

Isn't it just amazing how something like baby clothes can just bring you back...

Sara's Disappearing Trick

I was talking on the phone with Dave while he was on his most recent and last (at least for a while) trip to California last week. We had been talking for a while. The bigger kids had all been put to bed and Sara was up for a few more minutes keeping herself busy with all the toys her big sisters so generously had left out all over the floor for her. All of a sudden I had to interrupt Dave because there was an ominous silence in the house. Knowing I still had one child awake I knew that silence wasn't "good" news. So I started looking for my little 15 month old. What was she up too? I started in the girls room and then quickly covered the upstairs and in progress panic finished a down stairs sweep. She was nowhere to be found. Huh, I thought to myself. She can't reach the doors yet...she has to be here in the house. So I searched again. The whole time with Dave on the phone probably wondering why he ever chose me to be the Mother of his children. (How does someone lose a kid INSIDE?)


I still hadn't found her. I went back to the girls room a third time with the intent to check their beds in case on of them had brought Sara into bed with them and then they had all fallen asleep. I was close. This is where I found her. Under Emily's bed.

Now mind you I have tucked up the dust cover to get a good picture. The only thing that tipped me off was a tiny pajamaed toe sticking out. Thank goodness for that toe too. I have a feeling I would have been searching for a long time if it didn't just barely catch my eye. Sweet, isn't it? Sweet if you don't think of the neglect that allowed a poor 15 month old baby to be so tired she crawled under a bed (probably couldn't get out) and fell asleep.

Looking Forward To April

I have always loved April. It's way superior to its fellow months. Few can compete. For me July and December are the only ones with even a small chance. April is the birth month of two of the worlds most famous people, Christ and myself. Not that I'm lumping myself in with the Lord as an equal. But He was and is great and April is a month for greatness.

Me with My Grandpa Dewitt (it's the only baby picture not in storage under the house...I look like a piglet for sure!)

Not only is April my birth month which alone might be a strong enough reason to justify it's veneration, but it is also the month we usually celebrate Easter (The Lord's birthday aside). Commercially I LOVE Easter. I have always felt like it was "My" holiday. My Mother went into labour with me on Easter Sunday and if I hadn't decided to take so stinking long to show my head full of lovely locks...I could have been an Easter baby. I realize that every once in a while March gets all uppity and tries to lay claim to it for its own. That's just the way things are. Those with inferiority complexes always trying to steal the show from the stars. March, oh March...just give up already. But Easter is mine. My sixteenth birthday was on Easter. How cool is that! And this year Easter is the day after my birthday. I love dying eggs, I LOVE finding eggs, I love eating eggs. I love getting a new dress. I love candy. I LOVE EASTER.

April also lays claim to one of the coolest holidays on the calendar. April fools. This day of whimsy and pranks was never that exciting really until I got married. It got even better when we had kids. I can remember the earliest pranks on poor Dave involved ice water in the shower, packets of kool-aid in the shower - anything in the shower was fair game. The kids are treated to an April fools dinner extraordinaire every April Fools. Chase is not a big fan because of the continual use of mashed potatoes. This year will be different. We are having sushi - Mom style (AKA Family Fun Style). I am really looking forward to using some other great tricks I've got up my sleeve this year too. It is going to awesome...stay tuned.
This April is going to be extra special though. Emily and I are going to see PNB's production of Swan Lake. I have never seen it live. I am so excited. It is a classic. Not only is the music superior to ANY other ballet. The romance and story are unequaled. I am so excited. I knew they would be doing it this year. But I wasn't sure I would still be here. So that's one more tally mark for April...you rock!
But best of all. The Pièce de résistance. Something I (and the rest of my little clan) have been looking forward to since September of last year....drum roll please....WE ARE GOING ON A CRUISE!!!!!!! Just the thought of soaking in lots of glorious sunshine, visiting new places and getting to spend some good quality time with our friends the Flakes makes my toes tingle. In 14 days we will be boarding a plane to New Orleans and embarking on an epic adventure. I have to admit I might be looking forward to the kids club and prepared meals for a week the most. Maybe cruise ships are the real answer to every mother's dream. We are going to Progreso and Cozumel, Mexico to see what no Wilcox has ever seen before... In case you are keeping count, that's five stars for April.So I'm asking you what month could possibly be better than mine. And this April compared to all others is bound for the history books as the best of all time. VIVA April!

House Hunting

So you may already know that we are looking to relocate. We have chosen Vancouver (Washington). Many people have asked me why Vancouver? Well when I think about it we don't have a really great reason. The weather is marginally better than the Tacoma area. The Church is super strong. There are I think five stakes in the Vancouver area. One of the schools districts even supports release-time seminary. There is good opportunity to but houses that some with acreage. It is still in an outdoors-man's mecca. By that I mean lots of great hikes, mountains, water falls, river etc... We know people that grew up there and liked it. It is two hours closer to family in Idaho and Salt Lake and I guess California too (though the two hours doesn't make much of a dent in the California trip). We would be closer to the beautiful Oregon beaches! We would be right across the river from Portland. We have never been so it will be fun to explore a new big city. So nothing really serious, just an all around "like" for the area.

Dave is looking at two practices that are available. One in Camas, and the other in Battleground. Depending on the day he feels differently about which would be a better fit. And I don't blame him. What a loaded decision full of consequences. I don't envy him.

In order to help make the decision maybe a bit easier we went to Vancouver last weekend to look at houses and the two areas. We thought, "hey, if we can't find a place we would like to live than that will make it easier to cross a practice off the list." I was not convinced there was anything that I would be happy with in the Camas area, and so we focused our attention there. Dave was leaning at the time towards the Camas practice and so I really felt I needed to find a happy place there.

We saw like 15 houses. It was a whirlwind real estate frenzy. We had the awesomest agent who had everything all lined up. She had this super cool portfolio all made up for us with pages of information about each house. We liked a lot of them. But only loved three. Two in the Camas area and one in Battle Ground. We did visit my blog house. It was everything I had hoped it would be on the outside but the inside broke my heart. It was so poorly planned and OLD!!!! Dave says we could totally make it work with some elbow grease. But even after years of watching HGTV "Hidden Potential" I couldn't muster up a vision of change.

So here are our three favorites!

This one is in Battle Ground. It would be 8 minutes to Dave's work and all the schools are right down the street. The schools are good (they score mostly 8's on Great Schools.com). It is right on a river, nestled in the woods. The garage has huge finished living space upstairs with a kitchen bathroom and laundry. But I love how beautiful it is. And I must admit the play structure alone sales it for me.

Click here for more info

This next house is near the Camas practice. Though officially in Vancouver (the Fisher's Landing area) it is only 12 minutes to Dave's possible office. I have to say it is my very favorite. I would totally be giving up on our dream to have property, but the house is so amazingly perfect that it might be worth it! The schools are the best. It would be in the school district with release time seminary. It is also only like a two minute walk to the Columbia river.

Click here for more info

This last house is actually in Camas but it is so out in the boonies that it would also be about 12 minutes to work for Dave. But it is a really great house with an awesome 5 acres!!!! The schools are still top notch but no release time seminary. I think we would eventually close off the breezeway for more square footage downstairs. But this is a great house.

Click here for more info

Later that evening we met one of the Docs and his wife for dinner. They gave us a tour around town and took us out to eat. We really enjoyed there company. I got to see the practice which was fun too.

On A Side Note

Do not ever, I stress EVER go house hunting with a sick baby. We didn't know she was sick until she was throwing up all over the floor of a home we were looking at. Not pleasant. Let me tell you. Fortunately she did her horrible business on the laminate floor of the dinning room. I always say people are crazy for carpeting their dining rooms. Thankfully this home owner was feeling my vibe. It went everywhere.

So on the plus side...
It was a vacant house. No one there to smell the evidence right after we leave. She did it on a cleanupable surface.

On the down side...
The house was vacant with no running water, TP, paper towels or any other of those handy things us Moms need when our kids throw us a curve ball.

So we used every wipe in the diaper bag. And borrowed paper towels from the neighbor. Windows were opened for fresh air and Sara was stripped down to her diaper for the next few hours until we passed a target to by new clothes.

All I could think was thank goodness she didn't do it on carpet. What would we have done? What would you have done? Seriously!!!!

We decided Sara was too much of a risk to enter anymore houses (wisely, since she threw up several more times that day). Dave and I took turns watching her outside or in the car while the other checked out the home for the rest of the day.

Our agent probably thought we were coconuts for not calling it a day. But it isn't very often that Dave has the day free and we have an opportunity to look around down in Vancouver. Plus it's not a short drive either.

I still don't know what we would have done though if there hadn't have been laminate. Sara should do commercials!

Chase's Four Leaf Clover - A Saint Patrick's Day Story

The story was that we were in Fern Canyon, California on our way to moving to Washington the first time. We decided to take a hike. I remember talking to my Mom and Dad about finding clovers. Mom told me about four leaf leaf clovers and how they were lucky. I started looking for one. The day went on with me finding millions of three leaf clovers. Everyone decided to take a break and eat some blackberries that we found in a meadow. Emily and I decided that there wasn't enough blackberries for the two of us on the bush that Dad found. So we started looking for our own bush. When we found one we also saw a little trail. The family decided to take the trail together. The trail was almost over and I found a really big patch of clovers. I started looking again for one. Right when Mom said, "Come on Chase, don't be a slow poke" I found a four leaf clover.

I ran up shouting to Mom and Dad, "Mom...I found one, I found one!" But they didn't believe me. I ran up and showed them. That's how I found my four leaf clover.

I think it has brought me lots of good luck.

When we got to Washington my Mom framed it for me. It has been in my bedroom on my nightstand ever since.

The End -Chase

It Took Me All Morning...

So check it out! I am now sporting a fancy dandy signature at the end of all my posts. I also tried making my own blog layout. I think I'll need Dave's help with that one.

Born Again

Chase has been born again! Yes it's just like your thinking re baptized and all. It happened this last Saturday. We were at the church for Anne Harley's (a sweet young lady from our ward) baptism. It was my first baptism as the new Primary pres. We came early to get the font filled with nice warm water. The kids and I were able to get a game of Ticket to Ride in as we waited. Then we were there for her very special program (I'm so glad we were, since Laurie Layer and my crew were the only "visitor" people there).

After the program we went to drain the font. Poor Brother Pace went to pull on the chain connected to the plug, (I put in the plug really well because I didn't want any leaking) and it broke in two. Now we had the problem of trying to pull up the plug that is now three feet under water! No ones arm is that long!

Chase saved the day. We stripped him down to his underwear and he dove down to take care of our plug problem. It took him several tries but he was finally able to get it up.

So, does sacred water post baptism re cleanse his little soul. I don't know, but it sure was a relief to have the problem solved!

Do You Think They Would Want Us Back?

A few weeks ago we took the family down to some spying on wards we might possibly move into. We have already been to the Lacamas ward and now we can add the Hockinson ward to the list.

The funniest thing happened though in sacrament meeting and I am not so sure the poor members of this ward would be happy to see us come back.

As it happens we are in a ward right now with dozens of babies and toddlers. And the din during sacrament meeting is equal to a low roar. So we didn't really have any idea how load our own little Sara was. Her own noises are masked the many others.

It was very apparent though in this ward, where I am pretty sure she was the ONLY baby!

We were sitting as quietly as a family of four with a toddler sitting on the very back row can sit. They young men were passing the Sacrament and Sara started getting squirrelly. In an effort to keep her in our laps we pulled a book out of her diaper bag. It is her favorite, Dear Zoo. She immediately let lose with a roar. And then roared, and roared every time I turned a page. Even the poor little puppy roared. Emily started giggling. I was trying really hard not to giggle. But Emily got progressively loader and loader. I finally told her to control it or leave. She clasped her mouth trying her best. Then Dave looked over at me, I nearly lost it, he started busting up and then Emily ran out of the Chapel. What a scene! We were the zoo.

We were much more comfortable the next Sunday in our own ward with a bazillion other babies to mask the noises of little Sara.