Baseball starts with a bang!

March 28th was the opening day for our baseball league. We started off with a pancake breakfast. Because we knew that it was going to be a long day I enlisted the help of a friend to watch Gloria and Nephi during the opening ceremonies. Last year we took all the kids and it was crazy! We left our house around 7:30am, dropped off the kids and headed to the ballpark. The pancake breakfast was great!

Then it was time to line up with your team and then go onto the Senior's field. The kids all marched on with their teams and then sat for about 30 minutes with their teams while certain individuals were recognized and the first pitches were thrown. Then David headed off to his practice for The Garden and the kids and I headed over to get their team pictures done. As soon as pictures were done, we started over to the car, it was about 11am by this time and we were ready for a break. As we began the trek to the car I started to look for my keys...ummm....they weren't in my pocket. It was then that I remembered putting them into my purse and then hiding my purse behind the driver's side chair in my car...I didn't want to have to carry it around. The keys were locked in the car and David was about 30 minutes away! UGH!!!! The kids were really mad and Helaman was very scared. I have NEVER before locked my keys in the car. I started to laugh! Why not? Crying wasn't gonna help anyone. Lucky for me I had $20 in my pocket. We could have walked home, but had no keys to get in the house and Faith was on crutches, 1 mile on crutches didn't sound like a lot of fun to me, or her.

I called my friend Natasha and told her what was going on and asked her to drop off my kids at the ballpark when it was convenient for her. The kids and I watched multiple games and were even able to go and watch a friend's first T-Ball game. We had a good time, although if you ask the kids they might give you a different account. Natasha brought the kids by and then another friend, Tina, drove by and we started talking. She, being the greatest friend EVER, volunteered to drive out to David and pick up his keys so that I could get into my car.

Tina dropped her girls off with me (if you are keeping count - by this time I had 8 kids and was down to $10) and proceeded out to get the keys. The kids and I headed over to the snack shack and got snocones...really healthy lunch, I know! Tina got back at 2pm and I got the car and the kids and I dropped off Gloria at her friend's birthday party and headed home just in time to grab the equipment bags and go back to the ballpark and play our games. David met us back at the ballpark just in time for the first game! Then I took Faith to Michael's (craft store) to spend the money that was burning a hole in her pocket, and I made it back to the game to snap a few pictures then I had to go and drop off the present for Glo's friend and pick her up. We made it to the last game in record time, and it was fantastic! When the game ended, everyone was STARVING and we, once again, visited the snack shack for their really healthy delicious treats. Dinner consisted of hot dogs and nachos. Then it was FINALLY time to go home!!!

So, opening ceremonies turned into a entire day thing and, while I am glad that I don't EVER have to live that day over again, I really had a good time! We got home I threw the kids in the bath and sent everyone to bed! I needed a break!!!!!!

Asthma Camp

Last year Faith went to Asthma Camp and it was a great experience. I just wanted to pass on the info if anyone wants to send their kids. Your child must be between the ages of 6 and 12. There are doctor forms to fill out and, of course, permission slips. It goes from June 12 -15th and is an overnight camp. Faith love it and is so excited to go again this year. It is good for kids with asthma because they have skits and lessons on how to care for your asthma and it helps the kids to see that they are not alone. Best of all: there is no charge! Visit www.cafairplay.org if you are interested. I am sending Faith, Hyrum and maybe Vilate.

March

This past week has been an experience...the same experience that we seem to have each and every March. Last Thursday David and I went to his school choir concert. It was great and it is always great to see my handsome hubby in a tux! Lucky for us, Eve - David's mom - came to watch the kiddos. After the concert we spoiled ourselves and went to IHOP for crepes. They were yummy! We got home a little after 10 and about 5 minutes after we walked in the front door, Nephi started screaming. I went into his room, feeling like this was not a normal "I just woke up and am disoriented" cry. Sure enough - there were issues. He was shaking - not seizure shaking (we've done that before) - but hypothermia shaking, but he wasn't cold. His breathing was really weird. I took his temperature and he had none. We waited about 20 minutes and there was no change so I called Kaiser. They said that I needed to call 911. I did and the ambulance came and took us to the ER. Of course once we got into the ambulance the shaking stopped. By the time we got to the ER and checked him in they took his temp and it was 101.4. Poor kid. He was miserable. David showed up just as the Doc did and we learned that Nephi had ryggers - I'm sure that is spelled wrong. That is when your body's core temperature rises faster than your body heats up. It sounds similar to a febrile seizure, but the child is alert (somewhat) and responsive with ryggers. The Doc gave him some Tylenol and sent him home. The next day Nephi woke up as if nothing had happened.

Then on Friday, Faith had her first asthma attack of the season. We went to the ER on Friday night as well. This time there was no ambulance ride, just a very grumpy mom. Poor Faith...we had to wait a few hours before they gave her a breathing treatment and the steroids that would fix her up. She is now on all her spring meds and doing much better.

While all of this was happening, my hip started to flare up. UGH!!! When it rains it pours. I had an appointment today to see the doctor, but now Gloria is home with fever and was up last night multiple times with croup. I will go to the doctor tomorrow and hopefully they will give me something that will fix my hip.

I really used to like March: all the flowers blooming, the trees sprouting new leaves, the beautiful weather. Now, not so sure. March is always the month of many doctor visits and I can't wait for it to end!! Hopefully April will be much less exciting for us...but with 6 kids? I'm not holding my breath!!

It's Official!!!

Helaman is a reader!!! YAY HELAMAN!! He is so excited! He carried around his book today and spent the drive to and from AR to drop off David reading. It was fantastic! Congratulations Helaman!

Did they come to your house?

Well, those tricky leprechauns came again! Laurence and Larisa, the leprechauns that visit us every year, visited us yesterday. The kids had prepared on Monday night for their potential arrival by making this leprechaun trap.

The top has a hole cut out and then covered up to act as a trap door. There are gold beads scattered on top of the covering and a sign that says: "Don't touch Gold Clusters" that the kids put on. The boxes and books are the stairs so that the short leprechauns can climb up on to the big box. This is what we spent our Family Home Evening doing.

The next morning the kids woke up to this on the kitchen table. They were so excited... according to the note the leprechaun's left, the kids almost caught them! Darn it!!! They get away every year!!! The good news? We got green snickerdoodles again! The kids love snickerdoodles and rarely get them...my favorite are chocolate chip cookies and David says snickerdoodles aren't the best dippers so they just don't get made often.

Then the kids noticed eachother's faces and all had to go into the bathroom to see! Those blasted leprechaun's stamped the kids' faces with a shamrock stamp! Can you believe it?

Vilate made a trap as well. Her's was for Winky at school. The first graders have a leprechaun that comes and visits and the kids have to make a trap for homework the week before St. Patrick's Day to bring in and try to catch Winky. We found the idea online and made it. The top on this "hat" is just a paper cover that has little bits of gold ribbon made to look like gold clusters. The idea is that Winky would climb the ladder, because there is a sign prohibiting it and we all know that leprechauns love to break rules. Once at the top of the ladder, Winky would climb on the top of the "hat" and fall into the oatmeal container. Yesterday morning when Vilate and all the other 1st graders in her class got to school they saw the mess that Winky made. He set off everyone's trap, left glitter all over the room, colored on the whiteboard, left footprints everywhere and who knows what else! Winky also left the kids some, as Vilate called it: "Leprechaun pasta with green cheese sauce that was so gross. Well, other kids liked it, but I didn't!" Winky also left some candy for the kids, a green jumprope, a black and green football and I don't know whatelse.

Overall it was a successful St. Patrick's day! Was it ever this exciting when you were a kid? When I was a kid it was all about pinching!