War!

We all got nerf dart guns for Christmas. We have had several wars in the ensuing days. Even I participate (I know, I know, amazing...). Anyway, this is about how the battle goes... It starts with everyone happy and away.

Pretty soon, Julia decides that she would rather be the and she runs around gathering up darts which she then sells to the highest bidder. She is a total entrepreneur. Just kidding, she hands them out for free (as long as you are nice to her).

Somewhere along the way, decides that he has it in for me, and he hunts me down. This is about when I decide that I need to help Julia with the ammo.

The war always ends with someone (usually Olivia) in It's always the same. But we still play. Go figure...

The Simple Things

Remember the good old days when you used to make projects from stuff lying around the house, or you used to find ways to entertain yourself on school vacation days without a TV? I thought my kids didn't know anything about these grand old traditions. How wrong I was! Sam and Julia have been home today (Dan and Olivia are off with friends). They have been having so much fun together. I had a big spool that used to have elastic on it (I've used over 144 yards of elastic! Wow). Anyway, I gave the empty spool to Sam and told him to make a project. He and Julia made a kite! Here's a picture: We took it outside to fly it, but alas, there was Not a single breath of a breeze.

This was no good for Sam. He HAD to fly his kite. So, he made his own wind:

I love the look of pure on his face. Who knew that a homemade kite could be responsible for so much happiness?I'm thinking that TV should take a back seat for the whole vacation. Then again, maybe this was a one time deal and tomorrow will be fighting as usual. A mom can always dream, though...

Turn Around

For three years now, Dan has been making fun of synchro every chance he gets. I think he understands that it isn't easy, but he just can't pass up an opportunity to bug Olivia. However, the other day I was listening to some of the music I needed to design suits for. He came in and asked what I was listening to. Then he shocked me by saying that "synchro has some really cool music"! He even went so far as to download some of it on to his MP3 player. Maybe we'll convince him yet that making fun of his sister never does pay off in the end. There is one song in particular that all the kids are really enjoying. It's got a great bass beat and they have been blasting it over and over and over again. I got some video of them (mostly the boys) dancing to it. It's pretty funny. Enjoy!

Fun Friday

If you remember, a couple of weeks ago I spent an entire day with Olivia at doctor's offices, x-ray places and labs. Guess what I got to do on Friday? Yep. Lucky me.

Dan has been playing flag football after school for a couple of months. On Thursday, apparently he tackled someone and hurt his thumb. Being the good mommy I am, I figured he could tough it out and eventually he would get tired of complaining that it hurt. Friday morning arrived and not a single breath of "ow" escaped him before he left for school. So I went shopping.

Then the school nurse called me. I happen to be on a first name basis with Veronica. It seems that she calls me way more often than she should. In fact, I have been called more this year than I have in all previous years combined. It makes me wonder, what does this mean? That I am a *bad* mom? Or that my kids are whiners? Or that they are hypochondriacs? Am I over-thinking this? Let's hope so.

Anyway, she calls me while I am happily shopping at the mall. In between the lousy reception I manage to appreciate the fact that my tough sixth grader is in her office crying like a baby. (okay, I made that part up). She is concerned that his thumb is broken or has some serious soft tissue injury. She politely informs me that I should take him to see a doctor. Now, I figure since I went to nursing school I know a couple of things, and besides, I hate to waste time at doctor's offices. And since he didn't utter a single "ow" before school, I figured it was fine. But then the other part of me says, "you haven't really been a nurse for 10 years now (ouch), and you never did deal much with broken bones, so maybe she has a point". So that part of myself called the doctor. But I did finish a little shopping before I went to pick him up. (I had to satisfy both parts of myself. You understand, right?)

We had a fine time seeing the doctor. Amazingly enough, he was ON TIME!!! We were in and out of the office in 20 minutes and headed for an x-ray. Turns out the thumb is not broken, but he has a pretty serious strain. He got his splint for sympathy (too bad the girls won't see it until Monday), and we even got to keep the x-ray. I'm thinking it will be a cool Halloween decoration.

Who's the Leader of the Club?

M - I - C - K - E - Y !!!Isn't this the cutest suit ever? I really like it. The design was a product of mucho brain storming on the way to Cali a couple of weeks ago. Thanks for the help Kara, Jessie and Ann!! I think it turned out even cuter than I thought it would. Now I can't wait to have Nicki try it on!

Synchro Starts again...

It's synchro season again! Olivia had her first meet of the season on Saturday. (Just figures, no routines this time) She moved up an age group this year, into the 11-12 age group. So that means some stiffer competition. Not to worry, she did AWESOME!!! She finished 2nd! But the best part is, she beat the girl who she always finished second to last year!!! I was so excited and proud of Olivia's hard work. (And it's really nice to get lots of hugs from her!) It was great to see her (and her coach) so excited. Olivia had a grin on her face for the entire weekend. Congratulations, kiddo!

HELP!

I need an awesome $10 gift for the Ward Council Christmas Party this weekend. Any good ideas?

A great time waster!

Look at this great time waster I made!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Here's what I did today...

Peace and Quiet

Ahhh, the peace and quiet of any empty house! Don't get me wrong, we had a GREAT time having so much family here for the holiday. But it was pure bliss to send the kids to school yesterday and have the house completely empty except for me!

Turkey Day was great. Dinner was so yummy. And it was super nice to have four extra "mom" hands helping prepare it. Actually, I was probably one of the helpers, I think Grandma was the head chef. We ate a lot and played a lot. One of the best things about living in Arizona is that we get to play outside a lot this time of year. Most of us (Grandma refused to come) played kick ball, soccer and baseball. I even scored a run for my team! Go Ekbergs!

We had a bunch of little monkeys around who enjoyed climbing trees and making messes in the house.

Olivia and Audrey showed off some sweet home improvement skills by making a cupboard thing for Olivia's room. They only put it together wrong twice, buy Grandpa was a good sport and helped them get it just right in the end.

Sam and Joey were inseparable. I thought for sure Sam would be so sad when "his Joey" left, but he seems to be handling it okay.

The big boys played more Wii than should be allowed by law.

But I guess they got along pretty well, so no big deal. They also eat more than should be allowed by law! Lance made some AWESOME chocolate chip cookies. But I don't think they tasted very good!

Now, it's back to reality for me. I started a new job yesterday. I have decided that I need to make myself go to work each morning (in my sewing room), not answer my phone and not get on the computer. Otherwise, how will I ever get 70+ swimsuits made by the end of January? Here's what I made yesterday: