Wednesday, February 24, 2010

FuNnY HuBbY!!!!

So my Hubby Dan is of the quiet sort and allot of people never really get to know what makes him "tick"
so...
He has done a few things the last couple of days that just make me smile- I thought I'd share a few with you....
There is no question Dan earns his salary (we have enough for our needs, but little excess). We pursued higher education for him to be a physical therapist. He works overtime (at salary) and his lunch breaks are usually overtaken by paper work, a chatty patient, or a non-compliant patient... every once in awhile he will step in and take a patient last minute who is post-op and needs to be seen.
SOOO every once in awhile he gets a GOOD DAY and breaks away, and rushes home for very FEW minutes (considering I have not seen him since 6am I like whatever I can get).
The other day I found him doing this (above) with those few minutes:
Playing his FAVORITE FORMULA ONE RACING video game with a carton of frozen ice cream sitting next to him!!!!
These are 2 of HIS top 2 LOVES of his life!
Ice Cream & Video Racing Games
It made me smile --I was not surprised...that is my Dan
So this is the first year we have had a pinewood derby contestant in our family. As I mentioned earlier in the post Dan has a LOVE for formula one racing in general. Sooo when we got the kit for the derby I was not too shocked to see Dan become obsessed with making it the ultimate race car. We got our kit only a few weeks before race time...and we have no wood working tools to speak of.
SO Dan went and bought a hand-held dremel and has taken Colton's drawing of his derby and cut it all by hand for HOURS in our garage.
Last Saturday he spent the majority of the day doing it. I had to laugh because he has no safety goggles and had to use some cheap aviator glasses to protect his eyes (it failed miserably) from the wood chips. I came out and saw his hat head slick and glasses and thought he looked a little creepy-like his name should be Lester or something...
ha ha ha (SO OF COURSE I took a picture)
I came home from a girls camp meeting last night at 10pm to find him in the garage working away again. He is afraid the race will come before he is done...so I am trying to convert him into a simpler design. But for those who know Dan... slow and steady wins the race, and being precise and doing the job right!
ha ha ha
So here is to my whittling wood race car making hubby!
On a side note: One time on a YM retreat Dan spent the entire camping trip whittling a walking stick with a pocket knife. THE ENTIRE TIME. He is of the peaceful sort, no rough housing, shooting up games for him... more like, sit around the camp fire and whittle!
Here is to my Funny Hubby...I think I will keep him!
ha ha ha

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Basketball Season is OVER!

(Colton's warm up shot!)
So I like to joke that Basketball is the "non-optional" sport in our family.
Since that is ONE of the only COMMON LOVES Dan and I share...
and because we are tall therefore our children are tall, We both played competitively for quite sometime, and we are going to have four boys...
I like to envision our life full of basketball!
(Sterling's lay-up not far behind)
However our athleticism has yet to shine through...so for now, we are just enjoying the supposed "low-key" recreation league.
LUCKILY for us it was Sterling's first year playing, and Colton and him played on the same team!
(Colton boxing out baby!)

It was our coaches first year AND he LOVED to WIN!
So we have had not as much "low-key" as we, or the rec league, intended.
2-hour practices, 2 x's a week, on top of Saturday games, team sweatshirts (we were one of the ONLY ones who did not order), playing time for talent (this poor kid, NOT OUR OWN, rarely got 4 minutes of playing time a game), a banquet for the end of the season.
We are appreciative of the coaches time and willingness....
BUT we have also offered to coach each season.
(The boys lined up for some foul shooting-Sterling underneath the basket and Colton is #8)

Maybe varsity high school is more our coaches thing (that I can understand...but not for barely 7 yr. old boys)!
Despite our coaching differences, we were able to work through it and take what started out as an unpleasant experience for the boys into a better one.
(Over the back rebounding is so hard not to do when you are tall for being a Sterling 7 yrs. old! )
Now it is so fun for me to see them playing basketball outside together for an hour or so with our hoop....
Basketball here WE COME!

Monday, February 22, 2010

BOBCAT Finally!

It was the tradtional Gold and Blue banquet for cub pack meeting this month AND...
Colton FINALLY got his Bobcat!!!
(Colton is far right)
for those of you well versed with cub scouting know how LAME it is he has not gotten it yet...considering he has been in scouts since July (mostly the fault of his madre)
I am not gonna lie...scouting is a program I am going to have gain a testimony of
I have not quite gotten the "vision"
or wrapped my arms around it.
BUT I know with four boys it will come, and I am not stressed, neither was Colton.
I felt bad getting the pin as I handed over the manual to Dan and told him to HELP!
Ask me about personal progress and I can run it in circles...
I guess, it's time to switch to boys!
The banquets theme was "Take me out to the Ballgame"
Cute decor, plenty of peanuts, hot dogs and cheese nachos
Not having to plan dinner for one night-WONDERFUL!!!
Oh yeah, the best part for the kids was the Cracker Jacks to BOOT!
YEAH COLTON!!!
Now...its time for the pinewood derby

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Our V-DAY

~VALENTINES SURPRISE~
After a Friday of school parties and our family making over 60 Valentines for classmates....we were anxious for the real day to arrive! Every year as the kids wake up we always have a little Valentines "surprise" for them. We try to make a personal valentines from mom and dad, and a treat or two!
This year was no exception!
It was kind of fun putting together Valentines quiet activity books for them to do during sacrament.
It helped me not feel so bad for not being in church with them as I had a ward conference to attend an hour away
Thank heavens we talked Aunt Amberlyn into coming up for Valentines and she helped Dan at church
Dacie's was a bit different than the boys because we had just thrown her personal water bottle away for mold and she needed a new one! Dan even got his own "surprise" treats with gifts of:
I am doing all the dishes for a month
&
Trading him cars the following week to take his commuter car "squeaky" in for an oil change and help with the S'queaks it makes!
~
...Oh I was not neglected, I found my own treat on my pillow later that evening with a promise to make all the lunches for the boys for a month! (he cheated by reading my presents first)
After some good v-day napping we took some pink, red and white swirl cookies to the widows and widowers who surround us as neighbors!
~
~VALENTINES DINNER~
Cara and John as well as my mesa sister Amberlyn all came over for Valentines dinner
The menu consisted of:
Pink Ham
Pink mashed potatoes
Red jello with strawberries
NOT PINK:
green salad
&
butternut squash
all washed down with diet sierra mist
Dacie dressed in V-day spirit and got balloons at church
Aunt Booboo had fun playing with Dacie's hairstyle
~
~OPENING THE VALENTINES BAGS~That evening we all gathered around and opened up our bags and gifts to one another as well as Family "mailed in" surprises
Aunt Cara brought the kids little do-dads...including balloons
and I don't know about you but my kids enjoy blowing up and un-blowing the balloons
until they finally POP and are swimming in spit
Personally, it is pretty gross to me!
Not a fan of millions of balloons over here
Here is Uncle John in his "Valentines throne"- he only got out once to grace us with his presence for dinner- ha ha
We actually got a picture of one of the balloons popping-you can see the piece of balloon above Colton's balloon...and that is Colton in actual jumping by surprise motion! ha ha
Dacie's ears were NOT too fond of the popping balloons!
The evening ended with a mad game of Valentines pictionary
that even the kids could hold their own



Happy Valentines to all...and to all a GOOD NIGHT!

Our Valentine's Season

VALENTINES FAMILY HOME EVENINGWe made and decorated our Valentines Bags. We hang them all week long and put valentines in them for each other. I try to write things I see throughout the week, that I see them doing that I love.
Valentines making is always a BIG MESS of LOVE
FHE treats are always a happy ending-we {heart} pear cobbler!!
(I heart it because it gets rid of the bags I had sitting in our fridge, ...thanks to Bountiful baskets)
~
VALENTINES PLAYGROUP
It was my turn to host playgroup this week and I signed up for the "valentines" playgroup.
Here is all of our very own "sweet" Valentines!
We took pictures to include with our big banner Valentines we were making for missionaries and servicemen.
Below is our Valentine banner making!
Everyone brought sugar cookies and I provided the toppin's
OF COURSE....that was the biggest hit!
Aunt Cara always tries to make it to playgroups around holidays...us Hutchings can't pass up a holiday! (thank heavens she did as a BIG clean-up was eminent at the end)
Here are the kiddos playing around after in the rec center with our buddyLily... who came over after playgroup to play- We {heart} Lily!
~
YES, that is my 35 week prego tummy in the mirror!


Don't you just LOVE, LOVE?!

Monday, February 15, 2010

OUR FAMILY VALENTINES NEWSLETTER 2009-2010


Dear Avid Readers and Fans...

FYI

For those of you who are waiting for our family's annual Valentines Newsletter

It is temporarily postponed until the arrival of our little man-#5

Look for it around Easter!!!!

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

A Mothers Diary....

I am just going to document last night and this morning, so that I will never forget what it was like when the kids were ALL mine and ALL home- I know one day I will forget:
5:00pm Monday February 8 "THE WITCHING HOUR"-
~IT is time to get the boys inside so they can start their long drawn out process of getting ready for basketball practice.
~ I realize they have put Binka's big basket I cleaned and left to dry outside (to hold all his blankets) into the basketball hoop and are using it as a basket. I tell them to put it away where they found it.
~I am trying to get dinner done for them before-so that they are not eating at 7:30pm and then we are trying to have Family Home Evening after.
~My shift for answering phones has just ended and I need to re-write my sloppy notes and fax them into the office ASAP so they can make tickets for the next day.
~We are out of most foods..Dan is going shopping after FHE.
~I plop in some spaghetti noodles and start to peel and cut carrots to steam. Remembering to fax the stuff-I stop half way through and get that done.
~All the while Dacie comes in telling me she has wiped her own bum (after pooping). I am grateful for her definite passion for independence (she could pass some of that along to some of her brothers), but with that independence comes a whole other slew of clean up awaiting me, I am not ready to go see the bathroom, or her clothes yet. I have to get the carrots on or they won;t be done...and please just give me one minute to FAX!
~I send her to the bathroom to await my "help".
~ALL the while Sterling comes in crying covered in mud. OF COURSE. Colton had thrown the basketball into the mud puddle in our front road (which reminds me I really need to take up the fight to get the rest of road paved with the county since we are not in the city limits). OF COURSE Sterling tripped trying to get it and he is covered. I send him to the laundry room to strip and clean off his new tennis shoes and OBVIOUSLY his basketball shoes he needs to have on in a few minutes.
~Dacie is crying for me on the toilet.
~I run in after stirring the noodles and am relieved to find Dacie's damage at bay.
~Wash my hands, dump the noodles into a strainer-the boys have 5-10 minutes until their carpool ride arrives.
~They will miss the carrots-they are not done.
~Ryland is FHE treats tonight-we don't have much variety BUT have a ton of pears we will not all eat--we start cutting them to make a pear cobbler.
~I pull out the spaghetti sauce from the fridge only to find it covered in sticky purple stuff-what? what has been purple and sticky in my fridge? I look in and realize I am going to have to clean the fridge before the new groceries arrive this evening.
~The b-ball boys scarf down a bowl or two as all my good eating kids do of spaghetti...only to run off faces covered in pasta.
~I get them yelled into washing their faces just as their ride arrives.
~Ryland Dacie and I finish cutting pears and prepping the crust on top-we have FHE dessert in the oven.
~Dan comes home a few minutes later. He grabs Ryland and heads off to one of the 2 stores he is going to that evening (coupon shoppers understand the 2 store thing). I think I have seen and talked with Dan for 5 minutes today since my kiss at 6am as he is leaving for seminary (He is too busy with paperwork or late dawdling patients, at lunch to talk most days). He will grab the boys from practice after he is done
~ The boys did NOT put binka's basket back where it was drying and Dan ran right over it in the car... I could kill-aaargh!
~I feed Dacie and I-we enjoy the steamed carrots with added honey and butter..yummy!
~Then we do all the dishes, clean up from the witching hour chaos, and save dinner for Ryland and Daddy in the fridge.
~Then Dacie and I clean the fridge, draw the FHE lesson diagram, and lay out all the decorating goods for our activity of Valentines bags
~All the boys in the household return at 7:30..they quickly finish off the spaghetti and carrots and we are sitting down to FHE at 7:45
~We have a review of our testimony lesson from a few weeks ago and teach them a way to help them remember what they should be gaining a testimony about with our hands
~We make our v-day bags (the most fun I have had all day)
~We have FHE finished and desserts in their tummies by 8:40-bedtime is 9:00
Only Dacie got up a few times tonight, the other boys had basketball and no naps
~Whew! I crash in the rocking chair because my SI joint is killing (it has been giving me problems since I did a big activity for Young Women's over a month ago)
~ Dan leaves for grocery store #2
~He comes home around 10:45 and I help him unpack the groceries
~Our pantry is full, the kids are asleep...and I am exhausted
~I hope tonight will be a more restful night of sleep with my cough
~Its not.
~I feel it in the morning as I am dozing off to sleep after my long night- I hear the boys punching each others backs
~7:00am Tell the kids to give themselves check marks
~Only 2 more fights ensue
~Ryland starts crying because he is too tired for preschool and does not want to get dressed
~I am trying to make 3 boys lunches and drop the yogurt out of the fridge on the floor...now I have to mop as strawberry yogurt goes flying everywhere.
~I make the boys do their own lunches while I clean only to find out they have dumped MOST of the newly purchased goldfish into bags for their lunch-they are planning on living on goldfish alone!
~I start doing the boys hair when i hear a loud, sickening thud...and I can hear some moaning before the screams start.
~I find Ryland on the floor, not breathing (he got the wind knocked out of him) and writhing in pain.
~Dacie had just kicked him off the tall bar stool chair they were using to get to the goldfish in the pantry.He landed flat on the tiles.
~Dacie to her room, Ryland to my bed to assess.
~Ryland got a good knock, bruises on his hips.
~I am going to be late taking the other boys to school.
~I leave Dacie in time out & Ryland recovering on my bed while I take the other kids to school (sorry CPS, school is less then 5 minutes away I promise)
~I come home to find Ryland and Dacie playing in her room and pulling out the toys we had just cleaned up last night.
~I hurry and get Ryland ready and drop him off at preschool.
~Now I am ready to go back to bed...BUT NO!
~Dishes in the sink, counter covered in milk
~Laundry floor covered in that same mysterious purple sticky crud to be mopped
~Playgroup plans to finalize, since I am in charge tommorow
~My bed to be made.
~The NEW washer is making a weird noise as I load in the last batch of baby clothes (batch #4)
~Dark batch to fold and put in drawers, find the nicely folded drawers full of NOT NICE folded laundry.
~Dacie wants me to cut her toenails, get her dressed, take her to a friends house and talk all day
~It is time for lunch.
~Then to drop Dacie off with Cara so I can go get Ryland and Colton out of school early to take Colton to an orthodontist appointment.
~Better go get dressed
~Did I mention I feel tired today? I have been blessed with energy the last week or so with this sickness but right now I am ready to cut out my itchy throat and sleep!
...and we are having one more!