Nothin' Like Cousins

Matt and Loni made a quick decision to go to South Africa over the Thanksgiving break, so they needed someone to watch their kids.  The Astlings were up to the task.  Beginning on Thursday, Nov. 20th, I picked up the kids from their house (after making sure the pest guy sprayed and laid traps for mice) and headed to Centerville.  Thursday is our crazy day, so the Watson kids had to endure van rides and various cousin baby sitters while I ran Astling kids to piano, wrestling, swimming and scouts.  But they were happy to tag along and didn't complain when they got to join in on a game of crab soccer and eat Arrow of Light cake.

The following night, we went back to the Watson house to have a sleep over in order to give Uncle Mark a night off.  He gives me many nights off for scout camps and over nighters, so it was the perfect set up to give him a night off.  I helped Tessa start a little cross-stitch- a lady bug, and we worked on it, off and on over the week.

Chloe made a fence out of boots, purses and a giant lady bug.

Toward the end, I gave in and let the kids play XBOX games.  Chloe insisted that James sit in the pink chair by her and Chase got help with Skylanders from D.J.  D.J. also helped remove a mouse from the house, for which I paid a handsome sum.

We had to start a craft basket for Tessa to keep all of the creations in.  By the end of the week it was full of drawings, mandala pages, snowflakes, 7-string braids and buttons.

Chase built a small metropolis out of shape blocks on the table while Chloe played with buttons.

After the weekend it became apparent that little ol' me (and even Roxy, who was a helpful babysitter throughout the week and was very patient with little people and also happy that the little people liked to take her on walks) would not be sufficient entertainment for the four kids, so we went to Kangaroo Zoo, a warehouse like building full of blow up bouncy toys.  I caught up on a trashy magazine, like People, and played hide and seek and tag with the kids and a few other kids.

After hard play, we needed a little down time, so Chloe played some sort of Princess game which was apparently appealing to audiences of all ages.

D.J. helped Chase learned to play a simple song on the panano.

The next day we went to a trampoline park, but discovered it was closed during school hours, so we headed back to Kangaroo Zoo for energy output.

Can't be too cold to play in the sandbox! At least Chloe kept her shoes and coat on, Chase shed both clothing items, so I gave him a five minute limit.

Tuesday night was like our Friday night because the kids got out of school for Wed-Fri.  So we watched How to Train Your Dragon 2.  As you can tell, it was a little intense in parts.

Finally, the trampoline park opened during the day on a school holiday, so everybody but Spencer (who came down with a bad cold) spent three hours bouncing, jumping, flipping, throwing, dodging and falling.  Tessa got the nerve to do a front flip from the trampoline into the foam pit.

Chloe barley weighed enough to sink through one layer of foam.

I told D.J. I'd pay him $5 if he climbed up that net cylinder and into the net above.  He tried and tried and tried until he was just about to make it in and then one of the referees told him to get down.

So I made him a new deal: walk all the way across the slack line and I would pay him $6.  He tried and tried and tried for an hour, but never made it.  He got "a bit" of money for trying so hard.

Tessa also cashed in on the money challenge by climbing to the end of this flip ladder THREE times!

The royal foam.

Hide and see foam.  Can you see Chloe?

Thanksgiving dinner was a wonderful with a full table.  Granna was very helpful with keeping Chloe and Chase entertained while Mark and I finished up the food prep.  She spent time on the floor with Chloe, and empty egg cartons and buttons. 

The big boys spent a lot of time in the basement building all sorts of creations and listening to music (they thought they were so cool) and also singing very loudly to the music.

Football and one last movie (Mr. Peabody and Sherman) before returning home the next day.

We had so much fun with the Watson cousins!

Ute Season 2014

Fall means football at the Astling house.  This year Mark got two season tickets and the kids took turns going with him.  Well, D.J. got most of the turns.  This is a fun father and son (and sometimes husband and wife)  tradition since Mark and his Dad, Elford started going to football games together.

James wasn't too excited to go to the game at this point in the season and plugged his ears much of the time. Still it was picture worthy.  He's probably a little happier to attend during the end of the football season as his attitude improved.

D.J. and Mark went to the black out game this year and had a great time together.  D.J. is the most avid football fan and loves to figure out the rankings after a weekend of collegiate play.  He nearly drove me crazy (or crazier) one Sunday, asking me every 1.5 minutes to check the standings online for updates.

Gag Reel

This blog is great for recording events and occurrences, but I can't forget the moments that really define who we are: the crazy times.

My cousin Mary, from Arkansas, came for a visit at Aunt Kaye's house. James got to hold her son Logan.

Roxy helped me while making jam, by keeping the bottle box warm. Roxy in a boxy.

D.J. got very excited to finally watch The Hobbit after finishing the book (and taking the quiz, administered by Mark).  He dressed up in one of Granna's knit creations, a very popular addition to our costume box.  It has been so loved that the boys still wear it whether it fits them or not.

James receives some awards from the Cub Scout Master and proceeds to do his favorite cheer, the fireman cheer, wherein the scouts run around the room screaming (the least favorite cheer from adults).

We love when cherries are in season!  Both for the flavor and for the blood-like effects.

While at Pineview Reservoir with friends, James uses his floaty to stay safe in the sand.

And D.J. uses the floaty as push toy.

Despite Spencer's smile, he is not happy about this situation for two reasons: 1) I am taking his picture and 2) he is being punished for fighting with James.  If there are sibling disputes, the two are required to say nice things about each other and then hug it out on the front lawn for 2 minutes.  The punishment is heightened if cars pass or the cute girls across the street come out.

Spencer and D.J. have experienced a tie phase.  It began with D.J.'s best friend tying a fancy knot in his tie and then reimbursed by the missionaries in South Africa.  They are now proficient at tying the trinity knot and still working on other knots.  They once spent three hours in the downstairs bathroom  one Sunday afternoon figuring out knots such as this:

D.J. fell in love with graham crackers and frosting and then decided to add a creative touch of 3 inch thick spray whipped cream.

When Spencer and James got to dress up for their Halloween piano recital, D.J. decided to "dress up" too, by wearing a tie and dress shoes.

In fourth grade, the students come home with a little cabbage plant to help them understand how to grow their own food.  After losing a little dirt from a spill off the window sill, we plopped it in the ground and let the wonderful Utah dirt perform it's magic.  At the end of the growing season, we had enough cabbage for some coleslaw and steamed cabbage and sausage.

A New Kind of Halloween: 2014

There was plenty of dressing up for the Halloween season, but no one went trick or treating this year!  This was at once a relief and a sadness for me.  The night of Halloween, Spencer's gaming plans fell through, D.J.'s friends chose to scare rather than collect and James wasn't feeling up to walking around the neighborhood.  But we had some fun nonetheless!

Spencer and James take piano lessons from Heather Smith and every year she holds a Halloween piano recital and asks the kids to dress up.  Spencer was a cool dude with a gun that I'm sure he has a name for.

James was a mime.  Can you guess his emotion?

Even without the trick or treating, we engaged in the regular Halloween prep.  Well, as regular as you get at our house.  Spencer and D.J. used their shirts as masks to protect them again the "pumpkin slaughter."

James didn't need quite that protection, but liked the idea of baring his chest.

Can you tell which pumpkin is mine?

James did dress up for Centerville Elementary's annual Halloween parade.  He requested black hair to complete his Hulk costume, which we accomplished (last minute) with black chalk.

Since no one was going out to trick or treat, D.J. decided to dress up to scare people at our door.  He wore this scary get up for trick or treaters.  When the door bell rang, Spencer would open the door and D.J. would stomp and growl from the kitchen to the door and snarl at people "Happy Birthday," or, "Merry Christmas."  It was so effective that one of our neighbors had to carry her little girl around for the rest of the night.  When D.J. finished with his scare tactics, Spencer turned from his grief at failed plans, to sit still on the porch, with a hat covering his face and gloves with pointy red fingernails taped on, and scare people as they approached.  He was effective in scaring a number of people.  So, all in all, we costumed, pumpkined, and tricked, we just didn't treat. 

Not too sad about that.

Happy Birthday Spencer!

Spencer turned 14 in 2014. He is taller than me and thinks he's smarter too.  Like D.J.'s birthday, Spencer's festivities were loud and crazy with friends and family and followed the same format of pizza, junk food and a movie.

Spencer has been dying for the last installment of his favorite book series, "Skullduggery Pleasant."  when he opened it, he dug right in.  Thankfully he did not read the last pages (which drives me crazy), he only read the last page, which consisted of one detached paragraph, so he decided to start at the beginning.

Like D.J.,  Spencer also opted for a Lord of the Rings cake, a scene from the Two Towers, though Spencer chose gummy bears to represent the people. blue for the orcs and red for the people.  I thought it was a little weird, but it was easier than making my own characters and cheaper than lego characters.  Each bow-tied gummy bear has a wicked spear, some in their paws and some through their gut.  The scene is the battle of Helm's Deep.

D.J. and James gave Spencer a Magic the Gathering dice and some card holders.

Spencer also thought D.J.'s idea for a banana chair was ingenious and so he requested one as well.  But different colors.

The true sign of moving on in life in when a boy stops asking for Legos and asks for a work out bench.  Our bottom basement in slowing transforming from a boy den to a man cave.

I love to listen to my son's friends talk, I find out all sorts of things if I'm just quiet and listen to the conversation about what happens in the halls and classrooms of Jr. High.  If I laugh at them, they think that's great and they tell more.  Bwahaha.  Attending Spencer's party: Jackson Roberts, Bryant Lee, Seth Larsen, Nate Richarson, Camden Gowans, Carston Gowans, Tim Ockey, Isaac and Mason Geoff.

This was an interesting party where boys split off into different groups and different activities.  Above is the Magic the Gathering/soda chugging group.  It looks like Spencer is being tyrannical, but he's sticking a pose, though excitement level got nearly that high.

Then there was another group I'll call the electronic group.  They were either watching YouTube videos on the TV via iPad, playing old school video games on the small TV, or playing games on their own hand held devices.  They finally came together to watch Ender's Game (the book was voted to be much better than the movie).

Happy Birthday Spencer!