Science Fair

We spent the majority of a saturday, just before the project was due, working on Kyler's science fair project.

All 5th graders at our school must complete a project. I can't say that we were jumping for joy about this opportunity. Science is cool, but typing it all up and placing it on a piece of cardboard is not really. But it all worked out nicely and was a good experience for us.

Kyler did an awesome work of it. We helped supervise the burning and I was his assistant when it came time to printing and gluing everything together, but otherwise it was entirely his own good work. He should be quite proud.

His project was to figure out which material burns the least so you would know what would be the best to wear around a campfire.

Here are some of the pictures from the experiment itself.

He concluded that denim would be the best to wear around a campfire.

He displayed his work at the 5th grade science fair. I was at Kacin's dress rehearsal that night so I sadly couldn't be there to see him proudly standing next to his work, but Eric and my mom went to support him and his work.

I heard he took 75 selfies that night. They only sent me one. :)

on health

When the number of children in our family doubled over night, we went into survival mode. We started eating out a ton and exercising less. E and I had less time and less energy for those things we should be doing to stay healthy.

We have gradually gotten back on track as a family. Our kids are doing pretty well. But E and I decided we were ready to make more steps in the right direction of healthy living ourselves.

We created a challenge a few weeks ago, just between the two of us. Week one we had to eat 5 fruits or vegetables a day. In theory, that sounds so easy. Not for us. I've learned to dislike those things. I found myself choking down a banana and trying to disguise corn into my burrito. I know, corn probably shouldn't even count as a vegetable. It's pretty sad how I've trained my body to be disgusted by all things good for you.

I did it though. I got all of my fruits and vegetables each day (and I only counted corn that one time). We declared ourselves pretty successful with week one. The second week we added in you can not eat sugary sweets/treats. I thought that would be impossible for me. I turn to sweets nearly afternoon when I have my headaches or I'm tired or after Perry has been having an extremely aggressive tantrum or I'm worried about something.

I surprised myself. I learned that I do have some self-control after all. I found some better alternatives for my afternoon sugar fix that left me feeling much better than a candy bar or cookies ever did. I've learned to take a few minutes for myself to read, close my eyes, sleep, grab a more filling snack, or do a few push ups.

Oh, on the weekend I still cheated a little. I was at a girls camp YCL retreat and those chocolate covered cinnamon bears were calling to me. But it was nice to have a better balance about what I am putting into my body.

I've been thinking a lot about my emotional/mental health, too. A seasoned mom sat by me during relief society at church one day. She had noticed us during sacrament meeting. This is embarrassing funny because I actually thought Perry was doing quite well that day. The worst of it was only that he threw his sippy cup down the aisle of the entire chapel during sacrament meeting. I was quite pleased he hadn't aimed it at anyone so I was counting this as a plus in my book. (What do people really think of us?! Ha!) She noticed us working with him and I guess it got her thinking about her own days as a young mom with 5 kids, running a daycare, and with a husband who was gone working/school long hours. I was grateful for the wisdom she imparted to me about the importance of caring for yourself--she laughed about how if she had only realized this back then it would've saved her money on counseling later on. A couple of other moms chimed in on their experiences and thoughts. It was nice to be surrounded by wise, caring women.

It's true. My health as a person is important. That's why at our house date night is given such high priority each week. And I try not to don't let myself feel guilty when I take time to read and rest in the afternoons. It also helps that I read my scriptures each morning and take hot showers at night. I write in my journal and started a daily gratitude journal. I still practice yoga when I can, or at the very least yoga breaths when I am containing Perry when he is in a rage. I know what I like and what I enjoy doing (this is something those ladies told me--they couldn't have told anyone back then about themselves). I have good people to talk to, especially my husband. Because of these things, I stay sane (well, as sane as I could ever be).

I don't think health is about what size I wear, but about how I feel. It is about being in control and staying balanced.

Wish us luck on next week's challenge--we still have to agree on what we are adding to the 5 a day and no sugar, but it might be not eating after 8pm. yikes!

Macho Chef

I think it's E's dream to be in a bbq-ing competition. He whet his appetite the other night at the annual elder's quorum activity.

And the winner of the best main dish at Macho Chef Night is . . .
Eric Allred!

For his smoked ribs with "oooh yeah bbq sauce" (his awesome dr. pepper sauce).

Here are the winners of each category--main dish, appetizer, drink, and dessert.

Let's see that trophy closer up.

We are so proud of our macho chef. In Layla's words, "Whoa, dad is amazing."

sick day

A cold has been going around our family. It was Perry's turn yesterday, but he got a fever, too. I keep catching myself thinking how much I enjoy it when we get a couple sick days like this. Don't get me wrong--I'm not happy that he is sick. But I am happy that because he is sick all of our obligations were canceled and we can lay around in our pajamas all day. read books, watch movies, and play Legos.

Layla's been making up songs, too. I have about 6 of them recorded on my phone now. They make no sense whatsoever, which maybe makes them even more entertaining.

L's song from Laura on Vimeo.

a haircut

Eric has been cutting all the boys hair for the last five years. He does a nice job.

It was going so well in fact that he decided to start cutting his own hair. The last 4 or 5 times, he has given himself a haircut.

That was going well, too. Last week, when he cut his hair I even complimented him on the job and he did and praised him for all the money he was saving.

I helped him with the back of his hair/neck area and walked away.

When I walked back, he was having a moment of panic. He had tried to fix a spot on the back of his head and used the wrong length by accident and made a line across his head.

I tried to help him fix it. But it wasn't blending well. E made the decision, against my advice to him, to just go shorter all the way around and try to blend it at the top. He did it. And, well, this wasn't much better.

I encouraged him to leave it and let it grow back (that's the good thing about boys hair--it grows pretty quickly).

I walked away again.

When I came back, I burst out laughing. I am mean. I know it. But I couldn't help myself. For the second time, he tried to fix a spot in the back, but this time the guard fell all the way off in the middle of his work and it left a nice little rectangle on the back of his head!

I told him this time he had to leave it or he would end up completely bald. And I couldn't stop laughing. I am really mean, I tell you.

Eric has had a good attitude about it. Only one person has commented out loud to him about it, too.

Thank goodness for hats, for makeup to try and give the appearance of hair, and for hair that grows back. :)

something about Layla

We can't help but love Layla around here.

It has something to do with that smile when she wants me to take her picture.

It's her love for her daddy and going on dates.

It's her sense of style.

It's her laugh when I push her on the swing "as high as the moon".

It's her happiness when she's playing with friends.

It's her crazy hair, the way she blows kisses to Perry when he heads off to school on the bus, how she calls Perry "our precious Perry boy", when she asks Kacin to sleep in her room every night, how she hugs me when she thinks I might be sad or hurt and tells me "shhh, it's ok. you miss daddy? you'll feel better soon.", and the fact that every time she dances she twirls so hard she falls down.

We all love our Layla Stinkerbelle!

valentine's

A whole day to celebrate love--Valentine's day is the best.

It was even better this year since sweet, sweet and loving E surprised me with something each day to create Valentine's week! He came home from work with balloons, candy, flowers, or other small gifts. He took me out to dinner one of the weeknights. By the time Saturday came around, I was feeling pretty loved. ♥

We love celebrating as a family on Valentine's day. We filled the day to the brim. We started with heart shaped pancakes. Kyler and I passed out Valentine's to everyone in our family. I gave them the traditional candy bar cookies and love notes and Kyler set up little clues to have us find our valentine's from him (what a big sweetheart!!). Kacin went around and gave everyone extra hugs and kisses.

We talked to our kids about how Valentine's day is a day to celebrate love and how you can always have a good time no matter what you are doing as long as you are with people you love and have a good attitude. We had to give them that spiel before we told them what we were doing for the day. Ha!

We planned a fun day. But I also know my kids well and I knew that there would be some grumblings about a few of the things. Which is ridiculous. Who grumbles about the zoo? At least one of ours does.

We might have been winging this a little, but we told the kids we had four things planned. They would find out the activities as we went along. And it would spell out LOVE.

So "L" was for Lots and lots of animals! We went to the zoo to see Lions and Ligers and lots of other lovely animals.

Next we went to Kyler's swim meet. His first swim meet ever! After only 6 weeks on the team he participated and raced in 3 events. It was quite the learning experience for him. We are sooo proud of him and how he stuck it out to the end, never gave up, and tried his best. He is an amazing, courageous boy.

"O" was for Oooooooh, that tastes yummy! (I told you we were winging it here!) During the 4 hour swim meet. Eric and some of the kids went to a bakery and picked out some treats to share.

Kacin's guesses were much more creative than what E and I came up with, but our "V" was for Very good dinner. We went to Dick's Drive-in for the first time ever.

"E" was for Everyone plays a game. We took a raincheck on that one because the swim meet went longer than we expected and we were all exhausted when we got home. We played our game of Hide and seek in the dark on Sunday night.

A whole Valentine's day of LOVE with my family is just the best.

After the kids were in bed, we got together with a few friends for games. E made the best domino tower ever.

Until it fell.

Which was a metaphor that all good things must come to an end and Valentine's day/week was over.

Exception to the metaphor: our love. That will never end. ♥ :)