Dentist Visits, Third Grade Mall, Etc.

This week...

Penny and Lucy went to the dentist for check ups. I was a little nervous that Lucy was not going to do well because of all the traumatic dental work she had to get done previously, but she did so good. Totally cooperative and only grimaced when they flossed her teeth. She was very excited to have cookie dough flavored toothpaste but she said it tasted weird. I bet! 

Penny did good for the most part. They let her lay on my lap while they cleaned her teeth. She got chocolate flavored toothpaste. Penny only started to cry at the end- they paused and I think she thought she was done and she was not happy that they weren't. She also did not like the dentist checking her teeth. Probably for the same reason as before, there was a pause before the dentist came in which deceived her into thinking she was done.

The best part was that their teeth checked out as being cavity free. It's nice to know that we have a break from dental work for another 6 months. Can't you see how happy Penny was about that!?

Tuesday night our realtor took us to this amazing house and we did our first grown up thing- we put an offer on it. The house had 3.6 acres, a pole barn, and was in meticulous condition for being an older house. The house was only 1100 square feet but we could have definitely made it work, especially with the partially finished basement. Unfortunately they put it at such a low price that 14 other people wanted it too. There were 14 other offers and even with us offering $12,000 over the asking price, our offer did not win. First offer, first disappointment.

Friday Steven had his Third Grade Mall/Mini Society. The kids all made goods and sold them for (pretend) money. Steven made a bunch of shrinky dink Minecraft key chains. Originally he really wasn't making anything- he was counting on his business partners to make bookmarks and airplanes- but thankfully I convinced him to contribute. He did really well and he said he sold them all. When I left he still had about 30 left so I am not 100% sure if he actually sold them all or if he maybe gave some away.

The girls and I had fun buying various products from the Third Grade Mall with the money the teachers gave us. Lucy got her nails done and Penny chowed down on some homemade chocolates.

Friday evening the boys went to the Father/Son's Camp Out. The boys picked up McDonald's to eat there and then played various games- Capture the Flag, Ghost in the Graveyard... The camp out was on someone's property and this someone had chickens so the boys were all awaken by a lovely Rooster in the am. Despite getting very little sleep, they still seemed to have a super time.

While the boys were at the camp out, I took the girls to the park. It was a beautiful day and while were checking the river for fish, I couldn't help but be grateful for the beauty that surrounded us.

Saturday the boys had their soccer games and Ben's team won for the very first time! Also Ben scored a goal for the very first time! He took that ball all the way from one side of the field to the goal. He was so proud and so were we! He also let in the only goal the other team made that game, but after that his dad gave him some advice and he kept out several other goals. It is so fun to see him improve so much. Steven's team on the other hand got absolutely creamed. Oh well, maybe next time will be their turn!

Saturday, Tyler and I were able to go the Temple and then out for dinner. We hadn't been out since my mom was here in February. It was so nice to get out together and it was so nice to go to the temple. We hadn't been to the temple for much too long. I need to be better about making time for the temple and for dates.

Walks, Subbing & Soccer Goals

This week Michigan continued with it's bipolar ways. We started off the week with perfect weather, then went to super hot (for Michigan) weather and ended with COLD weather. While the weather was being kind to us I decided to take the girls to Kensington so we could enjoy it. Me and the girls took a walk on a nature trail and had a pretty great time. They both actually walked the whole time which was impressive, usually I end up carrying one of them. Our only hiccup on the trail was some super friendly cranes that played a game of chicken with the girls- they just kept walking towards the girls and terrified them!

On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, I was able to sub for a second grade class. They were a really well behaved class and I really enjoyed being their teacher for those few days. The only downfall to the sub job was that my class occasionally combined with the class next door for lessons and I had to teach some of these lessons.

The class next door was super disrespectful and the teacher next door didn't come in to help me out. I was alone with like 60 kids and half of them were just noisy and rude. I had one really awful moment with both classes when, in an attempt to calm them down, I allowed them to stretch their wiggles out and give a little shout. That was not my brightest idea, they refused to STOP shouting and at the noisy moment, the office called in to ask for a student. Only at that moment did the other teacher come in to help me out. Super fun. 

But besides struggling with the combined classes (And a really loud assembly- can we say headache?) it was a great sub job.

Saturday the boys had soccer games as per usual and this time they scored some goals! Ben's team tied and Steven's team won! It was nice to see them matched against equally skilled teams for once and not to have to watch them just get creamed! Picture below was taken by Steven and includes his teammate (and our neighbor) Eva.

Soccer and Mother's Day

Things...

The boys have started soccer and it's been super fun watching them. They each have had 2 games so far and neither one of them have won a game yet. Both of them are just on super polite teams that don't want to steal the ball (or get close to the ball) when the other team has it. That would be rude, right?

Steven did not do so good the first week at being a Goalie, he was super distractable. In fact he was doing so poorly that he decided he should trade positions with another team member, without asking the coach. Stink face! He did much better his second game as Goalie though, he just needed some practice. Steven also informed me that his favorite part of soccer is when he is on the sidelines hanging out with his friends, ha ha! 

Ben may not be a great Goalie either but he does have some pretty awesome dance moves that he performs while waiting for the ball to come in his direction. Gotta love his silly personality!

The other week Steven earned his whittling badge by carving soap so he was deemed worthy of getting his own pocket knife. He's not allowed to take it to school, for obvious reasons, but he loves being able to whip that thing at home when something needs cutting.

Last week the girls got their bangs trimmed- I missed seeing their eyes. A lady in a Ward did it for me and she only lives a short drive away so we decided to walk. Unfortunately I made the poor choice of choosing a path with a very steep hill. We almost didn't make it, of that I'm sure. Thankfully we picked a better, non-steep hill, way home. I think Lucy's face below shows how she felt about walking up that hill:

Also last week, the girls went to story time at the library and made this fun Mr. Potato Head craft and as cute as it is, that's not my reason for documenting it. If you look closely at the top of the one on the left, you can see that Lucy wrote her name on it and this was the first time she put all the letters in her name in the correct order!

This past Friday I substituted for the super hard Kindergarten class (the one where a kid hit another one and then that kid threatened the hitter with scissors). I decided that this time, instead of only praying for help to get through the day, I would take some initiative. I made and brought some things that I thought might help distract or calm down the aggressive boy. While in reward to all my hard efforts, he didn't come to school that day. Neither did 3 other kids who are also tough kids. It made for a super easy day! 

Sunday was Mother's Day. Benjamin had told me the night before that he was so excited for Mother's Day because he couldn't wait to give me my gifts. He's such a sweet boy! The kids set up the gifts and then had me come down to get them. From Ben: The Super Mom book. I love these books where they answers questions about me. Apparently my favorite thing to do is shop at Walmart ;). He also made me a flower and a thumb print necklace. From Steven: A decorated tile and a card. He said he didn't write on the inside because he didn't have to. I am so loved, ha ha. From Lucy: she made me a card with a drawing of me her and Penny. From Tyler: fancy colored pencils for my lettering projects, a card and flowers. 

Great Wolf Lodge

The kids were super excited to go to the Great Wolf Lodge Sunday and thankfully the trip did not disappoint. We arrived there around 1pm with many other people who were also checking in early. It was a long wait in line but the kids had fun running around and checking out the hotel since we hadn't been to this one before (this year we went to the one in Sandusky instead of Traverse). For some reason they decided to give us a complimentary room upgrade which was great. It wasn't to a fun themed room but it was to a room that was a bit bigger and had a fireplace. The extra space was much appreciated!

After throwing down our belongings (and taking a picture) we headed to the MagiQuest Store to buy 3 wands. Penny was the lucky winner of the hand me down wand from the first time we came, everyone else got to pick out a new one. They had worked hard helping clean up the backyard to earn those wands. After getting their wands they began the scavenger like hunt. They chose a quest and then had to find the different items they need for that quest, waving their wands to collect the items.

When they were done "wanding" (their name for it) we got on our swimsuits and made our way to the indoor water park. This water park had all the bells and whistles: a toddler slide splash pad area, a swimming pool equipped with an area with basketball hoops, a lazy river, a large water jungle gym, a giant bucket to pour on them, lily pads to cross, a lazy river and slides for all ages. All those fun things and I swear we spent most of our time in the pool. The kids loved splashing around in the pool, then running out to be hit by the giant bucket of water and then every once in awhile taking some turns on the slides.

After swimming we had some dinner at Steak N Shake. The kids all got milkshakes and were very happy...Until I told Penny no more shake until she ate some hot dog. She was not superbly happy with that and we had a little tantrum as we headed out the door. But that was probably our biggest melt down of the trip so not too bad!

When we got back to the hotel the boys did some more wanding. Us girls did some Jammie Jamming in the lobby instead and then we watched the Clock Tower Show and did story time. There was this boy to the Left of Lucy that gave me a dirty look every time I took a picture of Lucy and said that I was getting him the picture. As you can see, I was not. He was such a booger.

The next morning we were up early and ready for fun. We did some more wanding while we waited for the water park to open and then hit the water park. The water park was more of the same fun but we got whistled on quite a bit for silly things. There are lots of places you can't climb or sit on and there is no going downs slides with kids in your lap. But we quickly learned the rules and had lots of fun!

After the water park we had some lunch and then the eldest three went wanding while Penny (and me) took a nap. When she woke up we all went to get some face (and arms and hands) painted. Penny at first pointed to all the pictures and wanted all of it but when it came her turn came she got nervous about being painted on. To help calm her nerves the lady painted my hand first and then hers. That meant we had matching paw prints- super cool! 

After face painting, we hit the arcade. We were disappointed that there was no bowling ally at this Lodge so we decided we would do the arcade instead. Unfortunately we found that it was quite overpriced. We thought every game would be like a couple "paw points" but they were actually more like 4-8 paw points. The kids blew through their paw points pretty fast but at least they had fun blowing through them! Penny especially loved the driving games. When we first got to the arcade she disappeared quickly and we found her grinning happily inside of a car game. Lucy also loved the driving games. I think Tyler quite loved that her and Lucy kept needing his help with the driving games :)

After the arcade we went out to dinner. At the restaurant they had a machine that you could win dolls out of. It had been pretty cleared out and there was a small doll that actually looked winnable. Steven gave it a shot and failed but then Tyler did it and won it! Penny got to keep it since Lucy had gotten a small doll at the arcade with her tickets and Penny was feeling a bit jealous. You can see how happy Penny was to have it ;)

After dinner we hit the water park for one last time. I had an epic mom fail where I was video taping the eldest 3 and Tyler getting dumped on by the bucket and didn't realize that Penny had wondered off and tried to go into the pool. Thank heavens to the lady who saw Penny attempting to get in and stood with her until I realized my huge mistake. Penny did not have a life vest on so I am extremely grateful to this angel. The only thing that irritates me is that with all those life guards around that are always blowing whistles at people for breaking rules, why didn't one of them notice my Penny? Besides that scary moment, and besides getting hit on the head twice with runaway basketballs it was a fun last hurrah at the water park.

We ended the day with the boys doing so more wanding and me and the girls attending another story time. This time we waited in the long line to see Wily Wolf.

The next day included more wanding, a "nature" walk around the lobby, and crafts in the Cub House. Crafts included coloring pictures, making buttons and the girls also made kites and flowers. The lady at the Cub House was very chatty which was funny since she was losing her voice.

Then it was time to drive home. On our way home we hit a Chick-Fil-A for a late lunch and then our fun filled vacation was at an end. The kids are already asking if they can go back to the Great Wolf Lodge. While it is not a super exciting place for adults it is definitely worth it because the kids love it so much!