Shoe shopping

I took the girls shopping for shoes yesterday--Emma, Kate, and Mary. I had promised Kate and Mary that I would buy them new sandals for the summer, and since the summer was half way over I thought it was high time to go shopping. I took them to Walmart where all their girls' sandals were on clearance so I gave them free rein to pick out their own (they were all in my price range). Anyway, I think they tried on shoes for about an hour. Kate especially had a hard time deciding. Mary found some super flip flops that were very chic and pretty much settled on them. Emma, who wasn't supposed to be getting shoes because I already bought her some, couldn't handle it after watching her sisters try on shoes for a half an hour. She joined in and found some that looked so cute that I couldn't help getting them (hey it was clearance!). Anyway I see in my future many hours spent in shoe store with 5 girls. I'm glad I like to read. Next time I'm bringing a book.

Leaning Tower of Emma

Emma's into sculpture too. Hers was considerably less messy, but as you can see, she was just as proud. (The older girls couldn't believe Emma had done this by herself, they thought I had done it.) The things that happen when you turn your back for a minute.

Payne Metropolitan Museum of Art

So maybe Ruth's problem is that she is very artistic. She sees art everywhere. Today her medium was yogurt and silverware. We like to call this sculpture, "How to make Mom crazy with only some forks and a thing of yogurt." I think the process was something like take all the silverware out of the drawer (and I do mean all, you can't see it but the silverware tray is sitting on the floor too, completely empty with a few dollups of yogurt for good measure). Then dip each in yogurt and then arrange them artistically in and around the yogurt container with a few swipes of yogurt surrounding it on the floor to frame the creation.

On the positive side, it was a relatively fast clean up. I picked up the yogurt container and the silverware, threw them in the sink, and wiped the little bit of yogurt up. It took only about 2 minutes after I had stopped hyperventilating.

Calvin and Hobbes over the years

When I was in high school and college I loved Calvin and Hobbes. I thought it was the funniest thing out there. Every day I would get the BYU newspaper just so I could read the latest C&H comic strip. The day Bill Waterston announced he wasn't doing the comic strip anymore was a very sad day in my life.

Anyway, I haven't really read Calvin and Hobbes in years. We have a couple of the books but I rarely pull them out and read them, although when I do I still think it is hilarious. But then a couple of weekends ago my ward had a little mini women's conference that I went to. One of the topics was about dealing with kids. She used a lot of Calvin and Hobbes strips to illustrate her points. She said she used to think Calvin was funny until she realized she had become his mom. Then some of the things were funny in a different way or not quite as funny at all. It's true. When you look at it from the perspective of the parents, it is a little different.

Kate recently decided she really likes Calvin and Hobbes so she's been reading all the books, and she thinks they are hilarious. She reads me her favorite ones sometimes and I couldn't believe how much they reminded me of people. So here is one of my favorites (I'd do more but I can't figure it out):

MY KIDS

I had this great one about little boys flying for Evan but I can't figure out how to get it from my scanner to here. Sorry!

Las Vegas

John and I went to Las Vegas for a vacation last week. John's sister Melissa was kind enough to come and watch all the girls for us, which they loved. John had a convention down there for work so it was a great opportunity for us to go on a trip together with little expense(BYU paid for the car to drive down in, the hotel, and $60/day for meals). We just had to pay for extra stuff.

Anyway it was really fun. I took a whole bunch of sewing and scrapbooking stuff and just basically sat in the air conditioned, kid-free hotel room and worked on my stuff. I had a whole bunch of snack food so I just munched until John would come back and then we would go and find something real to eat. John also left me his laptop so I could watch dvds. I watched all of the A&E Pride and Prejudice(probably my favorite show). I also listened to a whole book on tape while doing scrapbooking(it was easier because I didn't always have to be looking up to see a movie, I could just listen to the story and get more done.) It was very relaxing.

John and I also went to the wave pool/lazy river in the hotel one day, the shark reef exhibit, the Coke and M&M museum, and one night we went to ESPNzone for dinner and another night to Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville(that night was an HP party, lots of booze that we passed on but lots of great food too). So I did do a few things but I'm not really one to go walking around a strange city by myself so I was perfectly content in the hotel room.

The question I always get when I go on a trip like this with John is, "Didn't you miss your kids?" And I honestly have to say, "Not really." I hope that doesn't make me a terrible mother, but I knew my kids were having a great time too and that they were in good hands. They LOVE Missy and don't get to see her that often so it was fun for them too. They could barely stop having fun long enough to talk to John and I on the phone. I did have some nightmares that I was forgetting to feed Lily when I slept in in the morning, so maybe I missed them subconciously, but I'm glad we could all have fun. I was glad to see them when we got home, but I have to say, being able to get up in the morning and not immediately change 3 girls' diapers was pretty nice. Ah well, I have lots to look forward to in the future.