The Pukes

Man, the pukes suck.

Ruby and Henry got awesome fevers in Hawaii and then came down with colds. To make matters even more incredibly awesome, I came down with a wicked case of the flu yesterday.

I now have much more empathy for poor little ones with fevers. The uncontrollable teeth chattering and burning sensation in my head just about did me in. Add a splash of body aches and puking and I'm a gonner.

Scott even stayed home from work today to take care of the kids. In fact, this is the first time I've left the comfort of my bed all day. I thought I should at least try and pay for the eBay auction I won a few days ago and lo and behold, there has been unauthorized activity on my account. Apparently I bid on and won a Gucci purse and a Fendi bag. Who knew I was so trendy? (And so self-indulgent?!?)

I think I'll go back to bed now.

Aloha!!!

We're back! And it was quite a trip!

You forget how long/arduous these trips are when you tack on a seven hour car ride before and after the actual thing but we still managed to have a great time.

I won't go into all the gruesome details as a trip with this many people is bound to have but here are a few of the highlights (okay, and a few lowlights):

• Playing with the kids on the beach (Henry loved the waves -- phew! That could have been a long trip otherwise.)
• The Halloween Parade in Lahaina (We had so much fun! Our kids looked adorable in their costumes, the Air Force Band was rockin', and the people were skanky -- what more could you ask for?)
• Blair's belated birthday dinner at Outback Steakhouse (I don't know what was best about this night -- Blair and Spencer's jokes, people blatantly gawking at our table of 18 peeps, Max throwing up, or Henry pooping his pants under the table. Sigh. I'm afraid that last one is sad but true. Obviously, we have yet to totally master the pooping part of potty training.)
• Going to bed at 8:30 p.m. and waking up at 6 a.m. (Gotta love the time change)
  
• Eating, eating, and more eating (I figure I almost gained the whopping five pounds I lost for this trip. Don't knock it -- that was a hard five pounds!)
• 5 of the 8 kids coming down with wicked fevers two days before coming home (It started with Kate, then Ava, then Ezra, then Henry, and then wee Ruby bit the dust. Flying the red-eye home -- on a PACKED flight -- with a delirious Henry and a lethargic Ruby was awesome!)
  
• Laying in bed texting Blair at 6 a.m. (It was our first morning there and I woke up before my kids so I started texting Blair, who is the earliest bird I know, who was staying at another hotel that first night. The higlight was one of his texts, he said: Kim's not quite awake yet. I want to go down for a long walk on the beach. I love those. That's why I'm such a great catch. Oh Blair, maybe we ought to talk to Kim and find out how great of catch you really are. I think most women like long walks on the beach at sunset, not sunrise.
  

And just a few video highlights for those of you out there with almost as much time on your hands as me (p.s. my video quality is not great and uploading it made it even worse but heck, it'll have to do):

Ruby Hanging Out on Kaanapali Beach

Bathtub Nose Pickin'
(Have you ever tried to have a conversation with someone when an 11 month old is picking your nose? Well, Henry has. And boy it doesn't look easy!)

Halloween Henry and Ava Gettin Their Grooves On

Mele Kaliki Maka

Well, a sad note to all of our blog readers out there (all one of you -- Hey Mom!), we will be taking a short hiatus from blogging for a week or so. Tomorrow the kids and I are off to beautiful Maui, Hawaii with my family. It should be quite an adventure -- everyone in my family is going except for Liz's family and Nick (and Adrienne's and my husband). Which brings me to my next point: Hawaii in two children without husbands? Hmmm ... not sure this is the ideal way to take a trip (rather swap the kids for Scott) but this isn't his "kind of trip" so he's rock climbing in Southern Utah with some friends.

No, we are not staying until Christmas, as the post title might imply, but I didn't know how to say "Happy Halloween" in Hawaiian so Mele Kaliki Maka will just have to suffice.

So without further ado, we're off.

ALOHA!

FHE Mishap

So last night Scott was in charge of Family Home Evening. Lately we've been into scripture story reenactments (aka the only thing that keeps Henry's attention for longer than five minutes) so Scott chose the Bible story of Daniel and the Lions' Den.

Things were going along fine, Henry was getting into the story and actually enjoying playing the part of Daniel.

So we're building, building, BUILDING the excitement as the wicked king (yea, we forgot his name) decides to toss old Daniel into the Lions' den. Henry was up on his bed looking down at us ferocious lions (which consisted of me, Scott, a very intimidating Ruby, a stuffed lion, and a stuffed tiger cub -- very convincing crew).

Apparently our ferocious growls were a bit too realistic though because suddenly Daniel (aka Henry -- wink, wink) was a little hesitant to come down into the den. So Scott and I start encouraging and coaching by saying stuff like, "It's okay. The Lord promised to protect Daniel for choosing the right." "Don't worry Daniel, you were a good boy so Heavenly Father said He wouldn't let you get hurt." "The lions won't hurt you. Just come get in the den."

Yay! Our positive reinforcement worked! Henry comes jumping off his bed, eager to be enveloped by his new furry friends when don't you know, his excitement causes his jumping to become a little unbalanced and WHAM! He smacked his face on the foot board of his bed! And the crying began...

So much for being protected. Hopefully he won't have bad memories associated with the story of "Daniel and the Lions' Den" for the rest of his life. Hopefully he won't think that the Lord (or worse, HIS PARENTS!) lied to him.

As my dad always says, "No good deed goes unpunished." We were trying so hard!

Our little Daniel pulled through after all. He even pet his ferocious lions after all they put him through!

Night of the Living Dead

So I am pretty sure that I become a zombie every night when I fall asleep. Seriously, I become totally delirious and unable to cope if awakened. I am just SO tired that my body must completely shut down.

I try to think back when this all started because I have not always been this way. I was never a super crazy night owl but I used to be quite the morning person (I was the baker at Einsteins Bagels in Logan -- 4 a.m. starting time means serious morning person commitment). I think I can narrow my fall from the graces of the morning gods to my mission. Seriously, I was just WAY too tired. You hear about those people who after their missions cannot sleep in past 6:30 or 7 a.m. Well, I think that's a big fat lie.

So, the point is, I'm a total zombie at night. My mother-in-law said it would change as soon as I had kids. Well, it didn't. I'm still a wreck. Sometimes when my kids cry in the night and on the rare occasion that it breaks through my drug-like state, it turns my dreams into nightmares because I tense up and know that the sound is something bad and needs to be attended to but I'm not quite sure what it is. So much for waking up and rushing to their aid -- I can't even process the sounds of their cries! I'm pathetic.

For instance, early the other morning, I was just sleeping away (probably with my mouth wide open -- poor Scott) and turned to roll over and I head-butted Ruby as Scott was handing her to me to feed her. It was almost 6 a.m., she had been crying in her bed, I failed to hear it (even though the monitor was on MY side of the bed), AND I didn't even wake up when Scott left to go get her.

Oh well, maybe it's a blessing in disguise. At least I don't have to walk up our 27,000 stairs to get Ruby out of her bed in the morning. Sorry Scott.