a whole lot of crazy

apey and i tended laurel and charlie yesterday to help my brother jason, who is wifeless this week and sounded a little desperate on the phone... anyway, i was so grateful for april who rearranged her schedule to help because it was a whole lot of crazy at my house today with all those toddlers. but between the two of us and including our own children we managed to survive four toddlers and a kindergartener, tons of poopy diapers, lunch time, time-outs, potty accident, nap time and everything else for one entire day! we actually had a lot of fun hanging out together even though it was one very long day. i tried my best to document this day in photos but now that i'm sitting down to upload pictures i'm realizing that there is a lot that i didn't record. in the morning i had the kids alone for a few hours and i really enjoyed just sitting on the floor playing with all the babies, they all got along so well and charlie is such a smiler! i love his mild-mannered disposition, and i've always said that i could take laurel home to live with me, i just have a soft-spot for this cute little girl - who i didn't take even one picture of! dang! at one point we were looking for a specific toy and laurel says to me, "aunt wende, i think it's under your bootie." it was not and she got tickled for the suggestion! she always says the funniest things. it was strange to be combing little girl hair again and wrapping little baubles around the pig tails, i kind of miss this part of mothering. i am most sad about not getting a picture of her hair, i'll need to do better next time. lunch time is never boring with apey, she has a way of whipping up stuff, usually yummy left overs that she changes up to make a great lunch. i had to volunteer at the gap store at the jr. high today so on my way out the door she handed me this to eat on my way...apey's chicken salad rocks! and then, on my way out the garage door (literally) karrie stopped by with some very good mail! (moment of silent please)i love love love these cookies! in fact, i could devote an entire blog entry to how much i love these things, maybe another day. let's just say that it's a good thing that they're only sold once a year because of i had access to them all the time, my hips would be in trouble, ok bigger trouble. i only shared a couple of cookies from the first box and the other box is hidden. thanks karrie! after jason came to pick up the kids we headed to the grocery store to grab some things for dinner, the babies were too cute in their little truck shopping cart.these things rock and must have been invented by a mom because they entertain ethan every time we go! of course, so do suckers. i'll upload some funny video later, blogger video is kind of sticky right now. when it was time for apey to leave, we looked all over for makenna's shoes, we found them, where we usually find them, on ethan's feet. thank heavens for helpful sister-in-laws who double as girlfriends! thanks apes!

**how do you feel about samoas! - the girl scout cookies i mean!

can you make a yummy lunch from left overs?

does your toddler like the truck-style shopping carts?**

little cat 'a'

every year allie has participated in the school musical which she loves even though it completely takes over her life. wednesday night we went as a family to see her in her last elementary school production, seussical. she played "little cat A", and we all could tell she was having a ton of fun on the stage. i could also see that the serious dancer in her had helped with her stage presence, because she did a great job! of course i got a little teary-eyed, i always do! i can't help it, i just love kids singing. last weekend we went shopping for some fake eyelashes to complete her costume and i found these super long ones which i think make her look just like a cat! they drove her crazy but it was worth it! so i have stopped trying to photograph her during dance recitals, school programs and the play because the picture ALWAYS turn out terrible and i've tried every trick. so these are the after the play was over shots. this morning (friday) she slept and slept and slept and i let her because she was completely exhausted. as much fun as it is, we're both glad the play is over!

**have you ever worn fake eyelashes?

do your kids' activities take over your life?

have you ever seen this play?**

let me sum up

do you remember that part in the princess bride where indigo is trying to tell the man in black (wesley) what has happened since he "died"? he says to him, "let me explain, no, no, there is too much, let me sum up". this is how i'm feeling today with all the blogging entries that i am delinquent in posting. i'm currently buckling my seatbelt to get ready for the roller coaster that is SPRING. so in a seriously brief nutshell, here's what i've been up to this last week. mostly in pictures...i found one of my favorite treats - edemame - at costco last week and have been enjoying it almost every day for lunch...
with spring comes a TON of running around - a lot of gift basket related things on top of all the errand running we do anyway. i figured out the other day at target that i can spend .50 cents for this large bag of popcorn which in turn also buys me a content toddler in a grocery store! what a deal!

one day last week kristy and i ran to layton for some errands and of course it wouldn't be a day in layton without visiting jason's deli, my brother brandon and this wonderful sandwich nick named "the muff" short for muffaletta. if you haven't tried it yet, you should, it's a mouthful of greek goodness.spencer has been playing basketball this winter and the other night had a double header! yikes! with only an hour break in between games, we needed some dinner fast. spencer's choice and he chose cutler's of course. spencer has been having a love affair with tuna sandwiches since he was very small, in fact, all of my kids love tuna, but not quite as much spencer. he loves cutlers because they pile the tuna on super thick. it was super fun to have a mini-date with spencer and made up for the fact that he lost both games. ouch. it's been a rough season for a team with so much heart!

tuesday i went to see throroughly modern millie with taylor (allie went with the beehives from our ward) and afterward we of course had to get ice cream. our neighbors gave us the tickets and the whole time i was wishing spencer had come with us. it was a fantastic production, the lead girl plus a couple of the supporting roles are in our ward and they were all fabulous - which reminds me, i need to get some good mail out to those cute girls! i can't wait to go to camp with them this summer! this was our self portait at dairy queen where i discovered a new blizzard, the turtle pecan cluster - oh my - heaven in a cup! taylor's spring choir concert was last week and he did such a great job! i actually videoed a clip or two of them singing and of course my favorite was "o danny boy" - this song ALWAYS makes me cry. i should've had a son named danny just so i could sing this song to him. you may recognize some of the choir nerds are also some of the settlers nerds mentioned previously. i love these boys and am always grateful for good friends to surround my kids.

and have i mentioned how much i love that taylor chose the pink tie? only a real man could pull off a tie this pink and this electric! ok so that's it except for more to post about today and tonight. sigh. crazy crazy crazy spring. the seat belt is buckled and i'm officially off and running...wish me luck!

**does your life get a little crazier in the spring? what is your favorite blizzard flavor? how do you feel about tuna sandwiches? **

cutest cupcakes ever

allie and i settled in for a long weekend of more baking fun. this time we did some research online for a good chocolate cupcake recipe and found one on recipezaar.com, one of my favorite places ever! i found the perfect one, it had several rave reviews and was even featured on an episode of grey's anatomy - my other favorite thing! although the recipe called for more steps like melting your own chocolate, i decided it was worth the effort. friday cooking started with this cute apron allie sewed with grandma that afternoon. it seems like we're always short an apron around here so allie sewed an extra one for friends to wear when they come over, she modeled it tonight just for fun. as a side note, allie went to madeline and amelia's bithday part - twins in our ward who we LOVE and eileen had this fabulous idea to sew them each their own apron. so her and allie sewed THREE aprons friday afternoon. we wrapped up two of them with the betty crocker junior cook book which we love. ok, back on subject. so we melted he chocolate and added the cream (notice my make-shift double boiler - i can't find one anywhere!) and all of the rest of the several steps while taking great pains to follow the recipe just right. i've been dying for mini cupcakes lately this recipe made such a huge batch of batter that we ended up with about 150 of them! a ton of work but they looked sooooo good. the next morning we started the frosting, again, researched on recipezaar.com. once the frosting was made i realized it was not quite the right consistency for decorating and found a recipe for a yummy buttercream instead. well, i'm an idiot because after adding ten cups of sugar (it was a big batch), i realized that it wasn't getting smooth and then it dawned on me that i was supposed to use POWDERED sugar - DUH! so on our third attempt, we made this delightful buttercream frosting and began the decorating process. we used fun spring sprinkles, coconut and even rolled out some fondant for some spring daisies. we worked until we giggled because these were by far the cutest cupcakes ever! we put together a plate to go phil and lauri's and just as i was feeling that sense of pride and accomplishment that comes with a baking project of this calibur and cuteness, something terrible happened. i unwrapped one of the cupcakes, coconut - my favorite, and took a big bite. then i started to gag, choke and cough. it was terrible! what? it was terrible! it tasted like there was no sugar in the recipe, only bitter baking chocolate. you may think i left something out of the recipe right? wrong! i double checked every ingredient and even added a little bit of sugar! at this point, i was almost near tears, seriously, 150 mini cupcakes all frosted and ready for decorating and delivering that tasted terrible. what in the world could i do? and so, i got out a target bag, wrapped them up and delivered them all to the garbage can out front. and chocolate cupcakes are here by banned from our house for at least a month. grrr! of course, this did not stop ethan from eating the frosting on top, the frosting, was great, on the third try.

**have you ever had a baking disaster?

do you know where i can get a good but not ridiculously expensive double boiler?

do you have a fabulous chocolate cupcake recipe you would like to share?**

tree house fun

some catch-up blogging since time seems to be eluding me lately. last tuesday for playgroup we headed up to ogden to the children's tree house museum. they have recently rebuilt this wonderful place and i cannot say enough about how great it was so hang out there for an afternoon. there were so many fun rooms to play in that i can't say for certain which was ethan's favorite but he definitely could've played in the train room the entire time. i'm looking into getting one of these for the office now so i can actually get some work done while he plays! they have this great fire engine that the kids can climb all over and even dress up in official fireman uniforms! of course the moms had to take advantage of this photo-op, the boys were all just too cute in their little hats and jackets. other big hits were the music room with all the instraments to try out, the oval office where sam got to be the president and the great toddler area where you could just play or dress up and pretend to be a mouse in a house. there was a large fish tank built into the wall which contained the "characters" from finding nemo, ethan's most favorite thing in the whole world right now. every time "dory" swam by he would squeal and point and say, doughy, doughy, doughy! the other kids moved on to other areas but ethan wanted to just stand and stare and dory for about twenty minutes. it was great to see the excitement in his face, he really thought it was dory he was meeting. another big hit was the land of the knights area which included a puppet stage and life size chess pieces which ethan enjoyed only because he could knock them over. sam enjoyed the regular chess set with big pieces that were fun to examine closely.drew and sam took the challenge of pulling the sword out of the stone very seriously but alas, were unsuccessful in their quest to become king of england. i turned around in time to see ethan trying to dig something out of the bottom of this dress up chest.i love that his feet don't touch the floor but he doesn't seem to mind too much. getting all five boys in a picture and smiling was nothing short of a miracle but it was worth it. ethan and i ended up buying a pass so we could come back as much as we wanted and we definitely will. it was a fantastic day!

**have you been to the tree house museum?

what's your trick for getting five toddlers to smile at once?**

monitor love

this is love...rich bought me a new monitor with some of our tax return money. it was not a prioroity for me because there are too many other things on the list of what i would like to do with that money. he decided that it would be something nice he could do for me and so he ordered it. i changed my mind about wanting a new monitor as soon as we pulled it out of the box. it's HUGE! and wonderful and i can't believe i ever functioned well with such a dinky monitor before! i am documenting this for two reasons: one, to show how rich's love language is different than mine but somehow we get along great. and two, i think it will be fun to look back and see some of my "old" computer equipment that i thought was so great at the time. love that man of mine, it's nice when you're with someone who knows what you need before you know you need it. thanks honey!

tagged by patsy!

Thanks for the tag Patsy, this one was kind of fun. Here we go....

ten years ago...
wow, let's see....taylor was 3, allie was 2 and spencer was 1 and i was finally seeming to find myself again after my divorce. i was extremely independent and learning how to manage my time between work and children and housework very well. learning to stay home and run minimal errands so i could have more time with my children. even though it was sad to go through what i did, it was also a wonderful time of learning what i was capable of. and learning to lean on my heavenly father. i have to say, i have mixed feelings about this time, hard but oh so good.

five things on my list of thins to do today...
1. drive to west valley to pick up a rocking horse for ethan!
2. wash my hair - check.
3. laundry
4. order subway sandwiches for tomorrow's family lunch.
5. take allie to target to find birthday gifts for the twin's party.

snacks i enjoy...
is this a trick question? snacks huh? i guess that narrows it down a bit.
1. ritz crackers with cream cheese & raspberry jam - yumO!
2. a slice of cheese - who cut the cheese?!
3. graham crackers with milk. thanks to my dad.
4. baby carrots all by themselves.
5. teddy grahams, i know childish, but they're so good!

bad habbits...
1. eating too much ice cream
2. eating too much butter
3. eating too much sour cream
4. eating too much cheese
5. eating too much.... you get the idea.

five states i've lived in...
1. alaska
2. new york
3. virginia
4. utah
5. denial

five jobs i've had...
1. kindergarten aid
2. receptionist at a car dealership
3. customer service for holiday inn - talked to all the angry people! it was actually a really fun job!
4. photographer
5. mom - favorite

five things you don't know about me...
1. i have naturally "live long and prosper toes" that separate in between the second and third toe for some reason i'm unaware of.
2. i was a madrigal in high school.
3. i love giving presents more than i love receiving them.
4. i have always wanted to be a mother and am always pinching myself to make sure that my life is really as blessed as it seems.
5. i worry a lot about the earth and what a poor job we're doing taking care of it.

if i suddenly had a million dollars...
i would buy a nikon d3 and do some serious remodeling to my house. take my family on a disney cruise, and then to hawaii. then i would do several small business loans for people in africa (have you heard about this?) and then rich would make me save the rest.

thanks patsy for the tag!

SPT - extra special edition

so lelly's spt this week goes like this...the spt challenge for next week is to photograph something that is extra special about you. it might be a physical feature, a talent, or an unknown secret. this spt is all about you! some of you may not know that lelly posts her spt challenge the friday before so we have all weekend to think about it. or in this case, freak out about it! why in the world is it so hard to think of great things about me? everything i've thought of so far is just ok and semi-unoriginal and therefore definitely NOT extra special. i still don't have a great answer for this spt but i decided to type a few things that other people have said about me, we'll see how this goes....

* at girl's camp a few summers ago we had to say something nice about the person sitting next to us. the leader sitting next to me said, "i love wende because she is so happy and friendly all the time that she's like a magnet making everyone around her want to be closer to her." i was stunned and humbled, and immediately tried to nervously laugh it off and dismiss it. she could see where i was going with it and immediately said to me, "don't you dare blow me off, you just let those words soak on in. " that was one of the best moments ever and the reason i can quote it is because i hurried and wrote it in my journal so i would never forget!

* rich says my special talent is being able to pick the most expensive thing on a menu without looking at any of the prices! :)

* my mother once said that she is constantly amazed at what an incredible mother i am. what the hey? i asked her. then she proceded to site all sorts of "incredible mother" evidence and ended up making my day. i don't know if i deserve this kind title, but she gave my ego some much needed strokes!

*one of my sister-in-laws has nick named me "the family therapist" because i'm a good listener and always have good advice. this is funny because i always thought i would be some kind of social worker or psychologist or something. i kind of am, if you happen to belong to my family. it's especially funny because my own self could use some therapy!

photo taken today courtesy of jenny

and lastly....what i say about myself. i am extra special because i have the ability to work smoothly in complete and utter chaos. i usually manage well the fine balance of hugging/kissing mother vs. disciplinarian. i am a loyal friend. i believe in "if i can be done, it can be over done" and "love is in the details" so i always go the extra mile. and, i see the world like i'm looking through a lens - beautiful photographs every where!

**what is extra special about you?

can you feel yourself being drawn in by my magnetism? :)

what roll do you play in your family?**

happy birthday eileen!

tonight we celebrated eileen's birthday at the mandarin, eileen's favorite restaurant. we decided after tonight that we don't go there enough, the food was excellent, i ate like a pig! we will definitely be doing this over christmas when we have the out-of-towners in town, it's practically a family tradition. hopefully though i will get there between now and then. yum. ok, so i am going to spare eileen (and the rest of my readers) a list of 62 things that i love about eileen, and choose ten instead. as a side note: the children are helping witht his list... here goes...

1. she is gentle, kind and patient - no one can recall ever hearing her raise her voice.

2. she loves her grand kids so much, she had a "family tree" painted on her kitchen wall just so she could see all their faces all the time (and show them off of course).

3. she has made hundreds of batches of her heavenly homemade rolls. i've tried to duplicate them several times, they're never the same.

4. she is very brave. she just came home from serving a mission in africa with grandpa - a place you will never find me because i'm too chicken to go there.

5. she signs her letters and emails 143 which means i love you.

6. she makes great buzz light year and lightning mcqueen pjs. (i'll post a picture tomorrow)

7. she's worked as many hours in our yard as she has in her own.

8. she loves to have our family over for cards and brownies.

9. she loves the 24th of july parade - we're excited to watch it with her this year.

10. she raised seven fantastic children who all grew up to be loving and hard working parents.

Happy Birthday Eileen!

We LOVE You!

**what is your favorite thing about mom?**