Photo a Day: Kitchen Sink/Window

I tried to take an all-inclusive picture, of my sink and looking out the window, but I couldn't get it to look right (it was too bright outside). So you get two pictures, with a bonus key code thing so you know what you're looking at! YAHOO!!

These pictures are very typical. Sometimes there are more dishes waiting to the right to be rinsed. This pictures was taken on a good day.

A) I have a total of one live plant sitting by my sink. I do not have more plants in my house, because I know I would absolutely forget I have them and they would die from lack of water. Even with the plant sitting right there, I forget to water it most of the time. Thank goodness this plant is forgiving. It was a gift a year ago from the stake roadshow committee; it's called an angel something-or-other. It replaced the other plant I had in there that was shriveling up at the time.

B) The rinsed dishes go on the left, which is weird because my dishwasher is on the right. But when I have backed-up dishes that haven't been rinsed, the longer counter (on the right) holds those dishes; there's not enough room for my laziness on the left side.

C) The to-be-rinsed dishes, or, the soaking dishes. Pictured above is my crock pot, which I use at least once a week if not more. I love crock pot meals.

D) One of Brock's birthday gifts. (Which maybe I should blog about that someday, eh?) He asked for a Venus fly trap. We planted it in this cute pot. I had high hopes for it. But unlike me (the under-waterer), Brock basically drowned it to death. It shriveled up and died. Poor thing. I have not moved the pot, because one of these days I'm going to learn how to really take care of a Venus fly trap, and we will get a new one and hopefully not water it to literal death.

E) Our many, many medicines that we've had to take in the last month-and-a-half. The kids all got this weird fever sickness, that really didn't have any other symptoms except for the fever that always hovered around 102 for about four days. And then it went away. I had sinus infections (plural), and Pete this last week had a stomach bug or something that lasted for about 4 days (but no fever). It's been super fun.

My kitchen window looks out to my backyard. My huge, empty backyard.

A) You can't see it really well in this picture, but figure A is above our trampoline frame. During the winters I didn't take the cover down. So then last summer, the cover rotted through by the rings, and broke. We need to buy a new cover, although I would love to get a bigger trampoline instead-the one we have is smaller, and shorter, which was nice when the kids were smaller and shorter. But now, a bigger one would be fun. So, maybe this summer.

B) One of our spindly little trees. We actually have quite a few trees planted in our backyard. The thing is, we've only lived here about 6 1/2 years, and a lot of our trees are only a couple of years old at the most. I checked, and they all made it through the winter, so that's good.

C) Our ghetto swing set. The kids love it, but it is totally falling apart. The swing chains have plastic covers on them that have rotted off and are falling down. The rungs leading to the little slide have broken through the screws multiple times, and then I've duct taped them in place, and then they have slid down the outer rails. So they are all crooked and jacked up. My kids don't care. But still, I should do something about it, right?

D) Again, you can't see it very well, but we have a row of trees along our back fence. To give you an idea of how deep our backyard is, though, that pine tree back there (which is a good 10 or 15 feet from the back fence) is taller than I am. When I bought it, it maybe came to my waist. So it is growing. And not that being taller than me is a huge feat, but in the picture it looks like it's about 3 feet tall.

So there you go. Kitchen sink and kitchen window.

Photo a Day: Bedside

Sideways on her bed:

This is totally weird, because when I first got up and peeked in Ivy's room, she was under the covers and lying the right way. I took this picture about 20 minutes later, yet she was (and is) still asleep. Hm.

And this was Jakob's bed last night, apparently:

We've been passing this awesome fever thing around, that lasts for about 4 days. Troy had it before spring break, Brock had it for the last 4 days (I sent him to school today because he wasn't feverish - hopefully he's doing okay), and Jakob started in on it yesterday.

I asked him this morning when he came upstairs why he was asleep in the bathroom. He said, "I wanted to be close to the toilet just in case I had to barf." Poor kid. Which, he totally barfed right after getting medicine. Nice.

One of these days we'll be all better.

A "Cheer"

Nat: I've got strep, yes I do!
I've got strep, how 'bout you?

Pete: I've got strep, yes I do!
I've got strep, that makes two!

...My aches and chills turned into super awful throat pain; I went to the doc and it turns out it was strep. (My apologies to anyone I came in contact with when I didn't know I was contagious.)

And just as I'm starting to get better, Pete goes in today and gets the same verdict.

So our Valentine's Day will include a lot of drug-induced staring at one another. Soooo romantic.

So who has good plans for V-day?

The Little Things

I'm sick. Oh, how I'm sick. Chills, aches, and sore throat, mostly. But I've been wanting to blog about this.

One of the Personal Progress experiences talks about writing down the service that family members do for each other for two weeks. (Seriously, how awesome is the Personal Progress program?) I figured since it was close to Valentine's day, that I would work on this one with my whole family. So for Family Home Evening, I made this poster that's now hanging on our back door. This is where we can write down what we love about each other, and the good things that we do for one another.


It's made me realize that our lives are not necessarily made up of the big events that happen. It's actually made up of all the little things that happen and that we do for one another. Mother Teresa said, "In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love."

My small "things" have done many small things; writing them down has really opened my eyes to how much love they give, and to how much I love them.

For instance, Ivy shared her fruit snacks with Troy. And she said "please" when she wanted a bite of my sandwich.


Troy made the broom stand up by itself. And he brought a blanket over to me last night when I was feeling so achy and yucky. He also cuddled with me and played with my hair, which is one of my favorite things.



Before I got sick, I took Jake out to get his haircut (for free, which rocks). We got some Wendy's, and he bought a new Bakugan with his allowance money. It was really fun to spend some one-on-one time with my little man. He has also opened up the door for me when I had my hands full, and did his homework really fast one day without complaint.


(As a completely random side note: I hit the Payless Buy One Get One 1/2 Off sale when Jake and I were out and about; these shoes ended up being $3.50!)


Brock was watching "Muppets from Space" the other day. Gonzo says, "I don't know where I came from". And Brock said back, "I know what you mean, Gonzo." It was so funny! Brock cleaned up the toys all by himself (no small feat), and made his bed without being asked.

And not to leave Pete out: last night he made dinner and got the kids ready for bed while I slept.

It's been so wonderful to see my little kids give so much to each other and to me.

If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way.

-Napoleon Hill

More Sickies

My turn last night. Ugh.

And here I was, thinking that I had escaped unscathed. Not so, my friends. (Good thing I did all that laundry yesterday, though.)

1, 2, 3

1, 2, 3 kids down with the flu last night.

1, 2, 3 kids and a mom asleep on 1, 2 couches.

At 1, 2, 3 o'clock in the morning, finally.

After 1, 2, 300 barfing moments.

1 bathroom completely cleaned after getting throw-up all over it. It stayed clean for about 12 hours, until this morning.

1, 2 kids I attempted to move back to their beds at 1, 2 in the morning. Kids 1 and 2 both threw up again.

1, 2 schools being missed today.

1, 2, 3 kids, hopefully feeling better.

1 kid that missed the whole thing (but either had it last week when he threw up 1, 2 times at 1 in the morning, or his turn is next).

1, 2, 3 sets of sheets and bedding and clothing (and then some) to be cleaned. Still working on that one.

1 tired mom.

It's Been a LONG Week

It started with Jakob's sickness. Which spread quickly to Brock. Then Troy, who never actually threw up, but he had a few diaper blowouts. Ivy was next, and she got double lucky with blowouts and the barfies.

Next was me. Yee-haw. It's one thing to take care of sick kids, but to try and take care of sick kids while sick, well, that's fun in and of itself. I'm sure you've all been there; heck, I've been there before. But when you're going through it, it's like it's a new thing, and you don't know how you're going to manage or balance or even find the strength to change the sheets or run the laundry.

Luckily, mine only lasted for about 24 hours, where I felt mostly good by Sunday night. Still nauseous here and there, but not bad. And I never did throw up, but just felt like I was going to at any minute.

On top of the sickness, I've come down (up?) with some sort of rash. It started on Friday, with my tummy, then has spread quickly to my back, and now it's going down my legs, my arms, and up my neck. I have no idea what I came in contact with that gave me a rash, and neither did the doctor. Now I have medicine to hopefully clear it up, but it's starting to itch. Fun times at the Nat Pack's house.

Oh, and Pete got sick yesterday, after we went to the Wolverine movie. Good movie, by the way, at least what I heard of it. We took all the kids during Ivy's nap. The poor girl got shots that morning, and against my better judgment we took her to the theatre, where it was a wrestling match the whole time. I'd finally get her to sleep, go to sit down in my squeaky chair, and she'd wake up and start wailing in my ear, until I stood up again with her. At least we only disturbed 5 or 6 other people besides ourselves.

Adding to the sickness, or maybe because of the sickness, I've just felt...inadequate. Or sad. Or tired. I'm not really sure, and right now is probably not the best time to figure it out as I've had little sleep during the night. (Up with Ivy and Pete, and then the medicine kind of makes you stay awake, too. I'm going to be loving this coming week, I can feel it!) It's like, I can't do anything right. Case in point: the kids wanted to swim on Saturday, so I got the pool out, but then started feeling sick and didn't bother to lotion up their little backs. I have three lobster children now. That's bad parenting for you right there. Or I'm getting food for the kids, but I'm not getting it fast enough. The whining and fighting and yelling... I feel like I've been constantly cleaning my kitchen, but it's still a mess. Don't even get me started on laundry; I think Ivy's whole wardrobe is downstairs in the laundry basket. It's seems as if every time I try harder to get on top of my cleaning, or be a loving mom, or be a great wife, the worse it becomes, the more I fail. Like walking uphill in sand.

Well, I need to get going. I have a few bathrooms to clean, and groceries to buy, and clothes to fold. I just wanted/needed to complain for a bit.

"I Think I'm Beginning to Die"

Well, we have the sickies over here today. Especially Jakob, and he's really feeling it as he's the one that said he thinks he's beginning to die. And tonight is Kindergarten graduation. Perfect timing, eh? Maybe he won't feel well enough to go and, you know, stand there looking all grumpy while the other kids sing (which is what he does on the normal-feeling days). I may end up dragging his sick little body over there, anyway, because after all the ups and downs from this year, he deserves a diploma-ish kind of thing, and I deserve to watch him get it! Here's praying he makes a miraculous recovery...


(By the way, do you like this sweet outfit Jake put together to wear to school the other day? The clip-on mismatched tie with the collared shirt that totally can't handle a tie on it. Classic.)

Suck/Rocks

Thing that sucks: Having the whole family sick with an awesome cough/cold, stuffy/runny nose thing.

Thing that rocks: It's not the barfies.

Thing that sucks: I've got it, too. Yet, the world does not stop for a mom that is sick.

Thing that rocks: Taking a two hour nap with my two-year-old. (So the world did stop. For two hours, anyway.)

Thing that sucks: My three-year-old throwing a fit about taking medicine, and him spitting it out all over my hand.

Thing that rocks: My 8-month-old totally takes the medicine.

Thing that sucks: Going over-budget at the grocery store. And the money getting tighter and tighter...

Thing that rocks: Knowing our tax return will be coming in a month or so.

Thing that sucks: Taking my 8-month-old in for shots at the health department, and having it cost more than our co-pay, but not knowing that until they're ringing us up. Oh, and the shots in the thighs of the 8-month-old.

Thing that rocks: Having said 8-month-old thisclose to crawling. And her top teeth are almost through her gums.

Thing that sucks/rocks: My two-year-old not getting into stuff as much lately. Rocks because it's less work for me; sucks because it sure was fun to blog about. (However, I believe it's a temporary reprieve; he is still himself, after all.)

Thing that sucks/rocks: Eating at Red Robin for free with my sisters and mom. (They practice for a few days, and give out passes to people so they can make stuff-like a dress rehearsal.) Rocks because it's so dang yummy, and great company. Sucks because when it's open, it's a $10 meal, meaning a $10 burger. And the smoothie/lemonade drinks are, like, $4. Yikes.

So, what sucks or rocks for you?

Weight Loss Guarantee

I've found the ultimate secret to instant weight loss! I'll only (maybe, okay not really) charge you $30 to read this post! You'll be amazed, and I'm sure you'll want to pay me more than that, but you, my lucky friends, get this knowledge for free today! Just follow these easy steps:

1. Make sure your body expels all fluids in a matter of 10 hours. The flu does this wonderfully.

2. Have a sore throat for the few days before and few days after the flu. That way it burns when you swallow things like candy and chocolate, so then you won't want to eat those.

3. Zero appetite also helps in this magical weight loss program. So on the day of the flu, eat one piece of bread. You'll find you'll keep up this low-calorie regimen not out of choice, but out of obligation to your sensitive stomach for the next 2 days.

4. Stressing out about things also adds to the rapid weight loss. Things like your new calling. Or a maybe-leaky fridge. You hope and pray that your calling and your fridge will be okay, because you a) don't want to get released already, and b) you absolutely don't have any money to repair a possible fridge leak. But stress about things like that anyway, and the pounds will keep melting away.

5. Exercise by cleaning up 2 kids' throw up and 3 kids' diarrhea nonstop during this same time period.

6. Being out of things like milk, hot dogs, cheese, fruit snacks, etc. also helps. An empty fridge means an empty stomach! And, an empty fridge means being able to see the back of the fridge, thereby discovering said leak.

I've followed my new weight loss "plan". I've dropped 7 pounds since Friday. So sign up now! Hey, you may not feel good losing weight this way, but you'll look good! (Actually, you'll probably look like death warmed over like I have, but if I said that you wouldn't want to try my plan, now, would you?)

Sick and Tired

Troy, sleeping on the top stair.

The flu has decided to take a death grip upon our household, so I've not been much in the blogging, dressing, sitting, eating, doing-anything-besides-be-close-to-the-toilet mood. So until we get better, I'll share some Nat Pack-isms, so you can be all, "Awww! What adorable kids she has!"

When I found Troy's barf oozing out from under his door (aren't you glad I shared that image? and aren't you glad you're not me right now?), I said, "Troy, did you barf?" And he said, "No Mom, I spilled!" I guess if his stomach spilled...

The looks I got when I said, "Smile!" Brock's fishy, Troy's scowl, Jakob's fake smile. It's a wonder we get any decent pictures at all!


Brock: Mom, I don't feel good. Me: What feels yucky? Brock: Um...my back. Will you rub it? (Anything to get pampered, the little Prince!)

My stair step boys:


Jakob: Mom, when I get back from my mission, I will be a hero! And then I can marry Ila, because she'll want to marry a hero because she's a princess.

When you're tired, you're tired! Ivy's 6 months old now.


The prayer policeman. Troy loves saying the prayer now. And we'll prompt him with, "Thank you for this day", and he says, "Thank you Jakob could go to school today." I hear that phrase/question/exclamation at least 20-30 times a day. Apparently he's very concerned about Jakob's education.


While I was getting ready for church, Jakob said, "Mom, you're HOT!" Maybe I'm doing something right in raising my kids, after all.

Stuff N Nonsense

Troy was sick last week. One day he slept till 12:30, got up, had some juice, then fell asleep again...on the stairs.


This is a rendering of our family by Artist Jakob. From left: me, holding Ivy, then Pete, Brock, and Troy; Jakob is flying above us with an Ironman heart, of course. I love that we're all so very robotic. Or Ironman-ish.


Here's an Ironman that Jakob made for Aunt Lex. (Lex, haven't mailed it yet; we're working on writing a letter, too.)


My cute Brocky. He's fully potty trained! It really didn't take very long. His last poop accident was on my birthday. He didn't have any accidents from then until a month later, at my sister's house where he had a pee accident. I think he didn't know where the bathroom was, so he just held it till he couldn't any longer. But that's the last time. He's like a ninja bathroom goer; he doesn't ever tell me, he just goes. I love it.


Pete and Troy on our new toy. This is the awesomest purchase we've made in a long time. It's so flippin' fast! Pete's all, "WHY didn't we get this sooner?" The boys love to ride on Pete's lap while he's mowing. And Pete loves to mow now. A win-win. (Brock calls it the "mow lawner".)


Ivy's just so cute and fat! She's so patient, too. The boys will wake her up in the morning, which I hate, but she just goo's at them and smiles and kicks around. She looks SOOO much like Brock did when he was a baby.


Here's Pete new favorite song, which I also love. This video has clips from one of our guilty pleasures, "One Tree Hill". The song is called "No One's Gonna Love You" by Band of Horses.

Plentiful Puke

Yes, my friends, I have sunk to a new low and am now going to blog about bodily functions. I will however spare your eyes and not put pictures on this post. Fair enough?

The last few days I've been up to my elbows in all sorts of lovely fluids. Troy started us off Thursday morning when I went to get him and discovered that his entire crib was covered in dry red glory. We had eaten Red Vines the night before; hence the color. But in order to clean that mess up I had to find my kitchen sink that was buried underneath all the dishes that I never want to do. (Even though I don't have a million dollars, maybe I should hire a maid...hmmm.) So I do the dishes, and then the sheets. Troy also decided to projectile vomit all over me that morning, which was pretty exciting. But he was acting better after his super nap, so I thought we were past the fun.

Little did I know the fun had just begun. Jakob was next on Thursday night, though he runs to the bathroom now to barf. However, he kind of missed, so I had to clean the toilet at 12:30 a.m. But hey, now my toilet is clean for another however many weeks, pretty much until I start gagging when I walk by the bathroom. He got up one other time that night. Then Brock must have felt left out, so Friday night he puked, too. Gotta love it. Then, to polish off my week, Troy began again with the runs and the barfies. And Brock still has the runs.

BUT, on the plus side, I'm not sick (knock on wood for me!), and my laundry is done about 100 times over. And Brock is still in diapers, so I haven't had to deal with more than the side blowout or the top blowout. Still, I wish there was some kind of babysitting service for when your kids get sick.

"Do your kids have the flu? Tired of you and your house smelling like a sewer? Want to go to a day spa and get a massage instead of cleaning up barf? Well now you can with our fabulous new program! Just dial 1-800-NOMORPUKE. We'll come to your house in no time and send you on your carefree way." Heaven bless the person that decides to work at such a company!

3 p.m., 3 a.m., 3 months

3 p.m.: Sunday was Troy's first time in nursery. The last couple of weeks my boys have ended up being sick on the weekends-Brock first with some kind of sinus thing, Jakob with the flu the following week, then this Sunday Troy woke up with a fever. But after some Tylenol love, the fever went away and he was acting normal, so it was off to church with all of us. None of my children have done all that well transitioning to nursery at first, so I was in there with him the first hour. But he seemed to be doing well, so I left for the second half. And I guess he cried. And cried. And cried. Pete's class shares a wall with Troy's nursery class; he heard Troy and got him. The teachers asked me what Troy liked when I went to pick up Brock, and I was a little flabbergasted. I looked like a bad mom because I didn't know the be-all, end-all dream toy for Troy to be enamored with and make him love nursery. I stammered, "Uh, pretty much what his brothers like, I guess, uh, cars...and books...and blocks." But I guess they asked Brock (who's in the same nursery-we have 5 of 'em in the ward) what his brother liked to do, and he said, "Cry." Better luck next week, Troy.

3 a.m.: I ended up getting sick early Monday morning, but it felt like the beginnings of kidney stones. I've had one stone before, October 2006, and it's gotta be the worst experience known to man. If you've never had a kidney stone, imagine someone stabbing you in the side with an ice pick about 4 times a second, and then times that pain by about 50. Kidney stone pain honestly makes you wish you were dead. You start begging people to hit you in the head with a baseball bat so you don't have to deal with the pain. If you've had a kidney stone, you know exactly what I'm talking about. No, it wasn't kidney stones (not yet, hopefully never), and I went to the doctor to check for a kidney infection, and it's not that either. But I was still sick, so maybe the pain was dehydration or some weird side effect of the flu-like sickness I went through earlier this week.


In the middle of this awesomeness, I've had trouble sleeping. I get restless legs when I'm pregnant, so Tuesday night I just sat in bed, rolling from one side to the other, wishing I could sleep on my stomach, and continuously stretching my legs. I finally got up and started surfing on the computer, played a little solitaire, and felt my baby having a party in my tummy. Because of course, even though Mom is miserable, it doesn't mean the baby has to hold still to try and help her discomfort, right? (Sorry, I'm not trying to be bitter. I just really love my sleep.) But it was nice to have complete silence, and to be alone for a bit. Luckily I've slept better the last couple of nights, and I feel better too. Here's hoping we're done with being sick at our house.





3 months: Today I'm officially three months from my due date, May 22. This isn't the best picture of me, but it was Jakob's first time with the camera, and I AM pregnant, so you get what you get. If it seems like I'm counting down the days a lot until I have this baby, it's because I am. Is it just me or are subsequent pregnancies harder? By the way, I'm not carrying a baby in the front and in the back, it's just junk in the trunk.