Aunt Katie's friends - Day 8

I'm pretty busy the rest of the week, so I wanted to spend a lot of time with the kids today. I only got Shelly and Jason, Emily had to nap, but we had a blast!

We went for a walk to campus cuz Rachel wanted a picture of the "Satan" statue. Nilla wanted in on the fun, so she came with us.

Here is the infamous statue. Shelly is trying to have the same shape.

We stopped for a quick snack break

Shelly being Shelly

They loved putting things in the gutter. Jason is trying to catch them, at one point he was crawling on all fours trying to keep up with them.

Fun statue-thingy in front of the Centrum.

We hung out here for a bit while the kids crawled on them.

Hi my Shell-Bell!

Jason is pointing out that he is taller than Nilla

Shelly eating her snacks

After our walk, we went to my house to eat some dinner. When we got there Emily (my roommate) was home with her sister and nephews. Shelly instantly struck up a conversation with the boys and had fun playing with them. Jason was so shy that he wouldn't leave my side. He ended up coloring at the table on my lap for a bit. Finally Jason was comfortable enough to play with Emily. They had fun chasing each other around the house till Emily had to go.

During dinner Shelly was telling us how she was sooo tired and mid sentence she stops, points out the window and yells "birdy!" - she forgot about how tired she was. After dinner we went and played soccer with Shawesome, Nilla, and a whole bunch of friends from the ward. Shelly had lots of fun playing with everyone there. They were really good with her, it was cute to watch. Jason didn't want to play soccer, he just wanted to watch and be chased by whoever was sitting out "resting". At the end everyone was sitting around talking, being entertained by the kids. Jason went up to almost everyone trying to get them to spin him around or flip him. Nilla tried to get Jason to ask Sean to flip him. Jason got right next to Sean, did a 180 and ran back to me saying "no!". Apparently Sean is very intimidating, who knew? :) Jason warmed up to him after a bit, enough to let Sean flip him about 40 times.

I asked the kids if they had fun with my friends today. They thought my friends were so cool and fun. Shelly told me "you have a lot of friends...like 50 of them". Both Shelly and Jason were sad to leave, but it was bath and bed time. They were out cold before I had even finished reading a chapter of scriptures.

Kidlets - Day 7

Well, turns out that Aunt Katie's tough love is quite effective. The kids slept all the way through the night for the first time since Wednesday. That's pretty much all of note from today.. It was a normal, boring kinda day.

The Sabbath - Day 6

I didn't see much of the kids today. I had church at 11 and Cindy's was at 1. I waited till they were out of church to go and see them. When I opened the door I was greeted by three naked babies - they were in the middle of changing from sunday clothes to play clothes. Cindy said that they did really good in church, even though it was in the middle of Emily's nap time.

Because Emily didn't get a nap, I got sick of her screaming and put her to bed early. She did just fine until it was time for the other two to go to sleep. Shelly and Jason have been sleeping in Cindy's room - instead of up in the attic - because Cindy turns on a movie for them when they wake up in the middle of the night, which is why they've been waking up in the middle of the night. I was reading scriptures to them, but Shelly was being disruptive. I ended up sending her up to the attic since she wouldn't settle down. She screamed bloody murder at me all the way up the stairs and for the next half hour - effectively waking Emily up in the process and not allowing her to go back to sleep. I finished reading to Jason, warning him that he'd also be sent up to the attic if he came out of the room.

Since Shelly was still screaming, I went up and read to her. Then we had a silent fight over whether or not she would stay in the attic - Emily was crying through all of this, bytheway - and I ended up at the bottom of the attic stairs reading scriptures to both Shelly and Emily through closed doors. After 20 minutes Emily was asleep, mostly, and Shelly was still sniffling softly. I opened the door to talk to Shelly, hoping to find a common ground and get her to sleep. I asked why she didn't want to sleep in the attic, her answer was that it wasn't as fun. I informed her that Cindy would not be turning on anymore movies in the middle of the night, instead she would be reading scriptures if they woke up. Shelly still wanted to sleep in there, so we settled on her sleeping in Cindy's room only if she would be quiet while I read a few more verses of scriptures and if she stayed in there. I let Cindy know the new rules - no movies, only scriptures if the kids woke up - and I left for the night. We'll see the results of Aunt Katie's tough love tomorrow.

Playing at the park - Day 5

Remember when I said that my roommates don't let me sleep? Well last night was one of those days again. Amy and I were having too much fun watching movies and talking. Around 2 am Amy remembered that she needed milk and cereal, so like the crazy people we are, we went to Walmart - in our pajamas. We were the only ones there other than the employees, so it didn't matter that we looked ridiculous. I think we ended up falling asleep around 3 or 3:30.. I'm not entirely sure when.

So it shouldn't come as too big a surprise that I was still asleep at 11:30 when Cindy called. She wanted to take the kids to the park, but I had the car seats. I quickly got ready - meaning I brushed my teeth and hair, didn't even bother to change clothes - and walked out the door. I'm happy to report that Jason has gotten over his hatred of me (remember he was screaming that at me last night). They were all quite happy to see me this morning.

We went to Canyon View Park. It's a cool little park with a stream running through it. Shelly and Jason loved the stream. Emily was so-so on the stream, but I think it was because it was her nap time while we were there.

Here, enjoy some pictures of the kids - cuz I'm out of stories to tell.. :)

Shelly thought she was sooo tricky playing on this..whatever it is..

Emily hung out with me in the chairs

All the kids loved wearing sunglasses. At one point only the kids had sunglasses on and they thought it was so funny that the adults didn't have any.

Not the best picture, but seriously, how awesome is Jason's face?!

Cindy bought these fun toys after Shelly and Jason monopolized the other kids similar toys at the park.

Kiddos - Day 4

This morning the kids had a video chat with Rach and Mark. They were very excited to see their parents. Emily kept sticking her head right up next to the screen trying to touch Rachel. Jason had fun for a bit, then was over it. Shelly just showed them the millions of balls that Cindy owns. I had fun talking to them at least :)

My roommates complained last night that I didn't bring the kids over, so I decided to spend the day at my house. Kami was the only one home when we got there, so we played with her for a bit before she left to go camping with her family. Michelle came on a walk with Shelly, Jason, and I - Emily was down for a nap at Cindy's - to the water fountain on campus. I was expecting it to take a half an hour tops..an hour and a half later we made it back home. Shelly and Jason wanted to watch My Little Pony so I tossed it in. The next time I looked over at the kids Jason was sound asleep - I think I wore him out.

Funny story time:

When it was time to go, Shelly kept trying to convince me that they should sleep over at my house. I explained that I needed to talk to my roommates before they could have a sleepover. She really wants to meet my roommate Emily, not too sure why, but she's dead set on it. I think that's part of why she wants to sleep over, maybe then she'll actually get to meet Emily. The sleepover might happen, we'll see.

Emily had lots of fun sweeping the backyard before bedtime.

She even went and got the dustpan all by herself

She did a decent job of getting the leaves into the dustpan

On our walk, the kids grabbed some Shakespeare festival brochures. One of them had a map of Utah and the surrounding states on it. Jason walked all the way home with that map in his hand, every few minutes he'd ask me where on the map we were. Turns out we are in the big black spot labeled "Cedar City".

Jason apparently hates me...at least that's what I gathered from what he was screaming at me from the top of the attic stairs when I sent him up to bed. He'll get over it, maybe.

Kid's in Cedar - Day 3

Sadly, I don't have any pictures for y'all from today. I was a little on the tired side and the focus needed to remember to snap a picture was beyond me. I've decided that having roommates that enjoy keeping you up until 2 or 3 am and then getting up at 8 is not a good combination for mental awareness.

Last week, my friend Charlotte (we call her Shawesome - short for "she's awesome") talked me into volunteering on the Special Olympics Utah organizational committee. What I didn't realize at the time was that the games are next week.. which meant that today was my first and last meeting. Luckily, most of what I'm doing is implementing the plan that the SLC person has already made. I'm in charge of the bus scheduling and making sure that they don't leave with only two people kinds of things. It should be pretty easy, but time consuming. I'm not going to be seeing much of my house or the kids come Wednesday. I'll be one busy girl, I'm excited to be able to help out though.

When I got to Cindy's house I found out that they had had about as much sleep as I did. Turns out that Shelly didn't go to sleep till 10:30 because she kept asking for Rachel. Then Jason woke up around 2:30. They both ended up on Cindy's floor by the end of the night. I don't know how much sleep Emily got, but she was down for a nap when I got there at 11, so she must not have slept well either. Poor Cindy!! I quickly realized that what the older kids needed was a good, slow movie to watch and rest for a bit. Since Cindy's collection of movies for little kids is small - shocking, I know :) - I jumped on YouTube and found Jonah: A Veggie Tales Movie for them to watch. It worked miracles! Not only did it give Shelly and Jason a chance to rest, it gave me the opportunity to give them some needed TLC and attention. By the end of the movie they were back to their normal, adorable selves.

Cindy had fun with the kids while I was at my Special Olympics meeting. Turns out she also had a meeting at that time...who knew? Cindy certainly didn't, not until her secretary Paula - who I love, by the way, she's amazing! - called to ask if she was coming. Cindy couldn't think of anyone to call on such short notice to come watch the kids, so Paula graciously offered to tend them during the meeting - see why I love her so much? She rocks! After Cindy's meeting they went to McDonald's for dinner and when I showed up to watch them while Cindy went to yet another meeting they were playing in the backyard having lots of fun.

Jason enjoyed setting his chair in front of the door to the play house, effectively blocking Emily inside and making her scream. He'd move it two inches at a time until she could get out and then they'd start the whole process over again. I let it go on till I couldn't handle hearing Emily scream anymore - so it was about twice, maybe three times :) Shelly had fun sweeping the cement. I'm not sure if her sweeping made the backyard more or less clean than before.

After the kids were in bed and Cindy was home, Becca and Bryan showed up. They are on their way to California and stopped for the night at Cindy's. We had fun chatting, but I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open so I went home to sleep. I keep forgetting that my roommates don't let me sleep...

Kids visit - Day 2

Today was harder than yesterday, but not by much. I had Institute at 10 and Cindy had an interview at 11, but we were able to work things out so that I could stay for the whole class. I booked it across campus after my class got out to get the kids at Cindy's office - with a bag full of snacks in tow. The kids and I took a walk around campus before heading to Cindy's house. It was a fun walk, right up until the end when I realized that an hour and a half had past - which explained why the kids were getting grumpy. We ran out of water five doors down from Cindy's, Jason was so mad about it that I sat him down on someone's lawn and told him to find his happy voice before we continued onward.

We continued on to Cindy's - once Jason found his happy voice of course - and we were so excited to get to sit down! I fed the kids, put Emily down for a nap, and stuck a movie in for Shelly and Jason. After Emily and I had our naps, we all went outside to play. The kids love Cindy's swings. There are only two swings, but Jason came up with a good solution to that problem:

Sharing!

Shelly quite enjoyed pushing them, mostly spinning them around in circles. Thankfully, no one got dizzy enough to throw up!

The kid-lets come to visit!

With Rachel being 9 months pregnant, Cindy and I thought it would be nice of us to take Shelly, Jason, and Emily for the next 2 weeks. Mark and his mom drove the kids down here last night and left a little after 10 this morning. The kids seemed to not really realize that they're stuck here with us...hopefully, they'll be happy when reality sets in :)

The kids wanted snacks, but Cindy only had banana bread. Luckily I had stocked up on gold fish, pretzels, and fruit snacks. Once the kids knew that all that good stuff was at my house, they weren't satisfied until they had some in their stomachs. So I loaded up the kids in my car and headed to my house. I got them all snack bags and tossed in a movie to entertain them while I talked to my roommates. Kami and Nilla were home and way excited to meet the kids. Emily was a little shy of them at first, but warmed up to them before I took her back to Cindy's for her nap.

Shelly and Jason weren't nervous after I said that Kami and Nilla were friends. Jason especially liked it when Kami pulled out the Wii and let him play some Mario Kart. Shelly had lots of fun throwing pillows and squishy balls down the stairs with Nilla - I should say "at" Nilla actually. The kids did a great job of listening to me and playing nicely with the roommates (Jason kept referring to them as teammates instead of roommates. I'm not sure where that came from, but it works..). Amy came home for lunch and was amazed at how well they listened to me when I asked them to do something.

After a little bit the kids wanted to go on a walk. I took them over to campus to run around on the grass field near my house. It started to rain so we went inside the Sharwan Smith Center to escape the rain (Back story - the SSC is named after a past student of SUU and there's a statue of her in there). This is the conversation we had as we were walking through the SSC:

Jason (pointing to the statue of Sharwan Smith): "Is that Satan?"

Me: "What?!?"

Jason and Shelly (in rather loud voices): "Is that Satan?"

Me (completely caught off guard and hoping no one is listening to this...): "No..that's a statue of a nice lady that went to school here."

Jason: "Ok.." (still staring at the statue as we walked away - quickly)