When we had a 7 hour delay

We flew home from NJ last week and it was doozy! From traffic on the Turnpike to our flight being delayed we were travelling for a total of about 16 hours. Aaron flew home earlier in the week, so it was just me and all my babies. It was so crazy, but really not too bad. It was an 8pm flight, and we didn't actually take off until 2am. But for some reason I was in a great mood and it was okay. 

       The first few hours the kids were happy to play on the escalator and play with the few toys they had packed. Then when they got tired, they made little nests and fell asleep on the airport floor. Someone handed us a food voucher and we got the most delicious crab meat cobb salad ever. The worst part of it was when they changed the gate on us. After telling me they wouldn't. And it was in a different concourse so I had to drag everyone and all our stuff across the airport at midnight. But so many people around us were so helpful. It made such a difference. One lady even helped wake Nathan up. He is such a deep sleeper, and I was gently shaking him and calling his name. This lady was like, "You want help?" I said sure, thinking she might pick him up or something but she yelled so loud, "NATHAN! DUDE WAKE UP!" Poor Nathan was dazed and confused and very grumpy while we walked to the other gate.

        When we got to the next gate everyone was lined up ready to board. It was still showing our departure time as 12:15 so we thought we were ready to go. I wasn't sure which line to go in since there were no other little kids on this flight (smart parents) and I was looking around when this nice gentleman gestured for me to join him in the first class line, "You get preboarding with all those kids right?"  I explained on the way out they never announced preboarding for children so I wasn't sure. "Oh no, you are going to be the first person on that plane. If they give you trouble, I'll just say you're traveling with me. You are amazing, traveling with 5 kids like this by yourself." Well thank you kind sir!

Then we waited - 12:15 came and went. The time on the screen jumped to 12:45. Everyone groaned. What was going on NOW? Someone with a thick accent and possibly a speech impediment as well spoke quietly into the voice over thing explaining what was happening. No one could understand and it was the brink of chaos as people yelled that they couldn't hear/understand. Nathan begins crying because he thinks something is wrong and he's getting scared. This same nice guy kneels down to Nathan's level and asks him if he wants to see a card trick. He proceeds to pull a deck of cards form his pocket and blows my kids minds with his magic trick. They ask for another and another and he obliges, with honestly some impressive card tricks. Then the kids ask if he will play war with them. He deals them all out and plays war with them until they finally start boarding our plane almost an hour later.

Nora had been asleep in the stroller for most of this chaos. However once we boarded and I had to take her out of the stroller she woke up. She figured she just had a great nap and so she was awake for almost the entire flight. Which meant I got to be awake for the entire flight. We finally landed at 4:00AM (Arizona time - 7AM NJ) and got to my in-laws at 5. I got a couple hours of sleep before kids were up and it was time for a day. Honestly I was so exhausted all week, combination of recovering from the traveling and jetlag I'm sure.

The One Where We Go To NJ And Everyone Gets Sick (AGAIN)

We've been in NJ for a little over a week. On Sunday before we left  Nora had a fever. Later that day I found out Matthew had Hand-Foot-Mouth disease, and figured it was probably what Nora was coming down with. Our first few days here she was miserable. And sleeping horribly. And so grumpy - literally hissing at anyone that tried to say hello to her and only wanted to be in my arms. So that was fun. She's finally feeling better and the hissing has mostly stopped.

First day we went to the beach with my aunt Marita and cousin. Kids had a blast boogie boarding, sand castle building and playing in the pool (beach club) . Then I think the next day we went swimming at Aunt Kathy's. Then we went down my cousin Jackie's and went paddle boarding and played in the bay. That was probably a favorite of all the kids. Olivia and Abigail were naturals on the stand up paddle boards. We also spent a day at the boardwalk going on all kinds of crazy rides and eating lots of delicious food.

A highlight of the trip I don't want to forget - my Aunt Jeanine came down from New York to visit and we decided to go out to dinner. After much debate we decided to try a hot dog place in Keansburg. When we got there my mom is upset to find out it was only hot dogs. We thought they had burgers and stuff, but it was strictly hot dogs. No menu. So we almost left, but my dad insisted we were there so it was fine. Hot dogs for all. We were about halfway through our meal when we saw a familiar face walk through the door- my aunt and uncle were taking Nanny out to dinner -- and of all places they ended up at this hot dog restaurant as well. To top it off - it was pouring rain! This place is on the boardwalk, right by the beach. Not a place you want to be when it's raining. What made both of us go there I will never know, but I'm so grateful! I never get to just "run into" my nan while out and about. So just happening to bump into her was special for me.

We also got to meet up with our good friend Jess today. She grew up in NJ and also ended up in Yuma. Now she's moving to the east coast so that was a lot of fun to get to see her in our native homeland. We just hung out and chatted and gosh I just love that girl.

Overall the trip has been cram packed with family time, delicious food, and relaxing. Everything you can ask for from  a vacation. I am really not quite ready to go home.

Tomorrow and Friday are our last days here and then we go home to melt in the Arizona sun. We're flying home late at night. Just me and 5 kids. It's going to be fan-freaking-tastic. Hoping they will all fall asleep and be perfect angels.  Then the kids will be starting school next week - and just like that summer vacation is over.

Family Time

The other day we had spent almost all day looking at screens, I finally decided enough was enough. I told everyone to put it away and we were going to play charades. We were laughing so much and having so much fun. Nathan cuddled up on my lap and said, "I wish I could write about this in my journal so I always remember it." 

He has been on wanting a journal kick. He randomly says he wants a pet snake. I told him if he still wants one when it's his birthday we'll talk more about it. "I wish I had a journal." He said. "Why?"  "Because then I could write, December 17th - remember I want a snake!"

Nora has been utterly exhausting lately. It seems the last 10 years of my life have been, one kid growing out of the absolutely exhausting stage, just to have another one fill their place. I'm looking forward to the future and not having toddlers anymore. As I write this, she is emptying every toy bin into the living room. It's easier to clean it up when she's in bed than try to stop her now. The other day she emptied all the tupperware - no big deal. But then she got her squeezy applesauce and made sure to get some all over every single piece. Today in sacrament meeting she would not sit still to save her life. She just loooves to go up to every single person and say "Hi!" and wave to them. Fortunately most people are happy to say hi back, and she goes on her merry way. But I still feel like I should be able to control her better. Any attempt to keep her in my lap resulted in her hitting and biting me. She also requests fruit snacks about 100 times a day.  She's also still sleeping really crappy and so she's easily trigged by everything. In fact, she's now moved from destroying the toys to emptying the pantry so I better go.

Eliza's aspirations

At a recent check up to the doctor (I usually do well checks all at once if I can) the doctor asked the kids what they wanted to be when the grow up.

"A doctor!" Olivia replied.
"A vet." Abigail piped in.
"A police officer." Nathan quietly muttered.
"A PIKACHU!" Eliza bellowed. The doctor laughed and I joined in. And there was no convincing her that this was impossible.

A few weeks go by and I decide to ask again. However now she's changed her mind to be a ditto pokemon because apparently they can make themselves into any other kind of pokemon.

"Well, Eliza as genius as that plan sounds, you are going to be a human for the rest of your life. That is just how it works. You were born a human, and you will be a human forever." I broke the rough news.

"I know." She sighed, and then quickly added, "Because YOU never let me go anywhere dangerous."

Right, her mean old mom keeping her out of haunted woods or other places she thinks she might meet a witch or something that would trade her humanness for the ability to be a cartoon animal that can only say its name.

So we have joked about this for months now, that Eliza is stuck on becoming something other than a human when she grows up. Then at dinner the other day the kids were asking me about fire eaters. I showed them a video of a fire eater and Eliza exclaimed, "THAT! That is the human I want to be when I grow up."

Snapshot of Nora at 2 years old.

This morning Eliza asked me what she was like when she was two years old. Ya know, an entire two years ago. My mind drew a complete blank. Why couldn't I remember a single moment of her third year of life? Oh wait, I was pregnant and had a newborn, and then had two newborns, and then we bought a house and moved and struggled to purge ourselves of head lice. That's right, sorry kid your 2 year old self lived through some crazy. But then Aaron looked on my blog and found some stories for her, and went back to when all the kids were 2 and had cute stories for everyone that had us all laughing.


So I have a renewed desire (once again) to start updating regularly because once again I have two very little kids, plus 4 not so little kids, and as much as I think these are moments I'll never forget, experience has taught me that absolutely everything happening will leave my mind in 2 years or less.

So Nora as a 2 year old... She can do a somersault. I think she'll probably be an olympic gymnast by the time she's 12. Alright probably not, but none of my other kids possessed this skill on their own. I don't know where she learned it, but she will say, "Flip!" and proceed to flip herself over.  She's learning new words every day and it's absolutely adorable to hear new words come out of her mouth. One of her favorite things is for me to hold her, and hug Aaron, so she's sandwiched between us. She'll put one arm around his neck and one arm around mind and smush all together. It's every bit as cheesy and adorable as it sounds.

She's also still obsessed with letters. She can name almost all of them now and her all time favorite thing is to play on Starfall. Again, I'm certain not only will she be winning gold medals for gymnastics, she'll also be the smartest child ever and win some prestigious award. (I hope anyone who reads this knows I'm joking. I'm not really this obnoxious about my kids... am I?)

She has started to be nice to Matthew again. She cries when he leaves for his visits and is absolutely delighted when he gets back. "Machu! Machu!"

We moved her and Eliza to bunk beds and the transition is going okay. Last night apparently they both made their way to the big girls room and Nora climbed up into Abigail's bed and Eliza slept on the floor next to Olivia. But most of the time they stay in their bed pretty well.

I wish I had a funny story to end on but apparently it takes less than 2 years to wipe my memory, probably closer to 2 minutes. This really was easier to update when I only had 2 kids.

But then it's all worth it.

Bottom of the 4th (only 4 innings in 8u softball) and Lady Leopards are trailing 0 to 2. Bases are loaded. Abigail, whose batting average is currently 0 is up to bat. She watches 3 balls pass her, with cheers of "Good eye!" rallying her on. But then she misses two coach pitches. She steps out of the batter box and takes a few deep breaths. Steps back in and taps home plate with her bat. The coach lobs her a nice easy one and Abigail knocks it out of the park! Okay more like a grounder to the outfield but it rolled really far and it was a home run! Grand slam! 

And that makes it all worth it. She will remember that moment the rest of her life. I ended up bawling my eyes out as the crowd all cheered like crazy. It was awesome.

I am a homebody. My favorite place in the world is my bed. When plans are canceled and I can just stay home my entire body sighs with relief. This is my happiest place. So I really limit things we do. But softball is a mandatory childhood experience, according to my husband. So this time of year is just the worst. Okay maybe not the worst, but good golly I spend a lot of time at the ball field. Which is fine, it's fine. Actually the games can be pretty fun and I love cheering for my kids and it turns out Nathan is actually pretty good, so that makes it even more fun. Lugging 6 kids to a ball game that doesn't start until past bedtime, to watch your kid sit on the bench is kind of infuriating, but I digress. And the girls aren't bad, they're just older and haven't been playing as long as some of the other girls on their teams so they kind of get thrown in center field or stuck on the bench. We're also getting to the end of the school year which means different ceremonies coming up. Preschool graduation, kindergarten graduation, piano recitals, and Olivia was selected to read a poem she wrote a school art show.  All good things, but so busy. So today while Aaron has a day off, and took the little girls out to lunch and the baby is sleeping, I'm sitting here writing and relaxing.

They filmed a food truck show for food network in Yuma this weekend. We happened to be in Sams Club while the contestants were zooming around the checkout line followed by a camera man. Abigail wanted to be on TV so we chased after them, but I do not think this will be her big break. However the guys were super friendly and took a picture with her.

 Eliza is the biggest worry wart. All of my kids went through this phase around this age, so I should be used to it, but it is exhausting. In this picture Eliza is stressing about some red lights she can glowing in the sky (airplanes) and if Daddy and Nathan are OK, and what if I can't find the way home. This is a big one for her. She constantly worries in the car that we are going to get lost, or transport to another world. I don't even know where she comes up with that one. We have never gotten lost and certainly haven't transported to any other worlds.

Her relationship with Nora is my favorite though. They are so cute together and I'm really grateful for most of my time with them. Dressing them up matchy-matchy also adds to my fun. Called Nora a copycat the other day because she was mimicking Eliza, and she replied with "Meow Meow!" So she's understanding a lot more lately and adding new words to her vocabulary every day. "Go! Car! Shoes!" have probably replaced "mama" as the most commonly used words. She loves to be out and on the go. Which kind of sucks for her, if you read my first paragraph. Good thing she has a daddy who loves her and will literally load her up in the car for a drive around the block, just because she asked. (over and over and over but still)