Christmas 2009

Happy Holidays!

The years are going by faster and faster!

Amberly turned 1 year old in July. She is a very sweet and funny girl. She is very easy going and did not seem in a rush to walk. She started walking in October at 15 months and now she is into everything--her favorite is climbing on the kitchen table. She is a pretty quiet little thing too. She doesn't say a whole lot but that may have something to do with the lack of airtime available with four brothers.

Joshua turned 4 years old in July. He is in Pre-Kindergarten and loves it! He is a little cherub of sorts and likes to tell us how "cute" he is to get his way. He is pretty loving and also easy going. Joshua has no trouble keeping up with his big brothers and regulary beats them at Smash Brothers Melee and several other video games. He also can hold his own in the rough housing and messing around that is the norm at our house.

The boys changed schools this year and now attend Channing Hall Charter School in Draper. It has been a positive change for everyone.

Ethan turned 7 in September and started first grade. He is a very good student and always gets his work done quickly. He started piano lessons this year and has enjoyed them. He is very good at drawing superheroes and other characters. He may have a future career in comics.

Matthew turned 8 in April and was baptized by his Dad the week after his birthday and became a Wolf Scout. Matthew is in the 3rd grade. He is our avid reader and can always be found with a book in hand. Matthew is also a talented artist, his specialty is sculpting. He can recreate just about any Pokemon character in clay.

Christopher turned 10 in January. He is now in the 5th grade. He earned his Webelos Scout award in the early fall and is now working towards his Arrow of Light. Christopher is doing very well in piano. Christopher loves to tell jokes and calls himself the class clown.

Jenny has had a busy year. She wrapped up her second year as the Accelerated Reader Coordinator at Sprucewood Elementary in June. She has spent the last seven months planning an event for the opening weekend of Twilight Saga: New Moon that took place in November with TwilightMOMs.com and its event planning arm, Events By Alice. This project has been a life experience MBA of sorts for her as she has delved into many different aspects of business and event planning.

Robert continues to stay very busy with his job at L3 Communications. His knowledge of FPGA is very much in demand and he is continually advancing in his career in the Electrical Engineering field. We are very grateful for his full employment. He likes to get together with his friends to play board games on occasion. Mostly Robert likes to be at home with his family as much as possible. He enjoys spending time teaching his boys new games and helping them with their Cub Scout acheivements. He and Jenny enjoy watching Survivor and guessing what the players will do next.

We wish all our friends and family a wonderful holiday season. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives.

Our love to you all!

The Updikes

More Meaningful Sundays

So for the last three weeks, maybe four, I can't remember. I have been trying to make Sunday a little more like the Sabbath. Christopher had made a comment that Sundays were just boring and not much fun. My dad showed us all the neat Friend magazine stuff there is on the web now. Go to lds.org and click on Gospel Library, then Magazines, then Friend.

On the site there are lots of stories, songs, puzzles, etc. The Friend had an article a few months back about "Sunday Stations." Ethan really liked that idea, so we have incorporated the idea. The kids all take turns playing online at the Friend site, writing letters, learning the Articles of Faith, for the older boys working on their Faith in God booklets.

It has worked out pretty well, they of course aren't always 100% happy about doing these things, but it is becoming more of a habit, and no one is bored, that is for sure!

Christopher and Ethan made cookies about a month ago and took them to primary teachers and others in our ward that they thought would like them. Ethan picked a man in our ward who is alone and who we often see riding his bike because he can't afford a car. I thought that was neat that Ethan noticed him.

Today was Father's Day and Robert has been very sick for the past few days. We had a nice dinner and had my parents over. It has been a very busy day for me, not much rest for a Sunday. Actually since I started the Sunday Stations with the kids, I don't get much rest on Sunday anymore. It's a trade-off, but I think it is a good one.

Matthew's Mario Party

So with very little planning we pulled off a pretty great little party. I had really dragged my heals with this birthday party for many reasons. His birthday was April 24th and the baptism alone did me in.

One of the biggest reasons that I wasn't thrilled about doing a party is that Matthew has been a a real stinker lately and I didn't feel he deserved a party. I told him it really boiled down to how much time I have to do things. If he isn't willing to help by doing his homework, piano, and chores (without digging in his heals), I just literally don't have time to throw him a fantastic party.

I really wanted him to just take a couple of friends to Boondocks like Christopher did for his 8th birthday, but Matthew really wanted a party at home. He had the ideas all worked out (most of which were pretty complicated in the beginning). Probably the only reason I gave in is because he hasn't had a birthday party with friends in 3 years.

He wanted to have a Mario Party (like the video game) and play games in the backyard based on the mini-games on Mario Party 7. It was actually a very clever idea. So I forced myself a week ago to make him some cute Mario Invitations, that was the first step. Once those were out, I knew I was committed and we would make it work somehow.

Then on Thursday night (less than 24 hours before the party) we nailed down some game ideas. Friday, amist a million other things, I grabbed everything I thought might be useful at the dollar store and off we went.

Here is what we did:

I made lanyards for all the kids with a picture of a Mario character and it's name. This is just like Mario Party 7 because you have to choose a character at the beginning of the game. The great thing about Mario is that there some girl characters too.

Once everyone arrived, we started with a game called "Catchy Tune." In the video game, the characters run around grabbing musical notes that fall from the sky. The first person to catch one of each of the different musical notes wins.

So at the dollar store I found some foam stickers in the shape of musical notes and instruments. We had cards on the table showing the kids all the shapes they had to find. I gave each kid a piece of construction paper and told them they had to find each of the shapes and stick them to the paper. Robert and I dropped the shapes a few at a time from above and they all worked furiously to find the notes they needed. The winner for this game got a "note" book. It was a notebook that had musical notes on it (can I just say I love the dollar store!).

Next we went outside. We played a game called "Take Me Ohm." On Mario Party 7 the characters have to jump over electrical currents that come from different directions. (Note: the word "ohm"refers to electrical currents). So for our version, we had a square made out of pvc pipe in which two people stood. Then we had four people holding two jump ropes that went from side to side and the contestants had to jump over the moving jump ropes. Whoever touched the rope first was out.

Another game was "Spider Stomp." In Mario Party 7, the characters race through a course shooting spiders off their webs. We made webs using silly string and hung insects to the webs. The kids used squirt guns to spray the insects off the webs. We did it in teams and the first team to get all the insects off their web won.

"Donkey Kong Barrel Racing" was a take off on several DK games. I covered my 5 gallon storage buckets with brown packaging paper and the kids raced the course jumping over the barrels to see which team could do it the fastest.

For refreshments, we had cupcakes with red icing and marshmallows that were suppose to look like the Mario mushrooms. I used red Kool-Aid instead of food coloring in the white icing. What I didn't account for was that the punch mix would make the icing very sour, oh well. It was probably the first birthday party where the kids ate all of the cupcake and very little icing!

It turned out well and I was exhausted when it was over. Matthew was slightly helpful and did some homework and piano practice this week in anticipation, but of course on Saturday it was right back to pulling teeth to get him to do his work. Oh well, I am glad we did it. I love to be creative and it was good to have this project to bond with Matthew a little.

Back To School

Tuesday, the kids returned to school from the off-track time. They weren't even gone an hour and I got a call saying Ethan was having an allergy attack. So, I dropped everything and took him an allergy pill.

Joshua wandered around all morning bored stiff. He got pretty spoiled having his brothers to play with. I could barely get anything done and there was a ton of catch up work to do.

That afternoon, I had an doctor's appointment and the kids played at grandma's. Then, we got to do the old homework battle again. I hadn't missed it a bit!

Wednesday, Joshua went to preschool and I ran like a mad woman to get errands done for my last Pack Meeting that night. I even stopped by Tai Pan Trading and picked up a few items. I have a new plan--I am going to go and get one item each month and see how it fits into the scheme of things in my home. I also rushed by Van Heusen and picked up some summer clothing essentials for myself. Poor Amberly fell asleep halfway through our errands and got maybe 30 minutes sleep.

Then it was back home for a quick lunch and off to dental appointments for Joshua and Ethan. We went to the gym and I worked out for an hour. Back home, I prepped more for Pack Meeting and other chores and then rushed off to Pack Meeting. It was fun. We played trash ball (throwing newspaper balls back and forth over a volleyball net). It was a relief to know it was my last one.

That night I couldn't sleep and I watched "The Notebook" on T.V. I had seen it before, but this time it really hit me. It made me so appreciate the time I have with my sweetheart. So mushy.

Thursday was Joshua's last day of preschool. While he was there I went to the school and did a bunch of things for A.R. I brought Ethan home with me and we also brought home a little friend, Simon Larsen. We got Joshua and all of us went to Pizza Hut and Jamba Juice for lunch. At home, they played in the water in the back yard all afternoon. I spent most of the day managing play dates. Joshua had Tucker Gardner over. The older boys had piano lessons and homework to do. A very crazy day. Once they were all in bed, I still had to catch up on A.R. for awards the next morning and some TwilightMOMS event business. I was very tired.

Friday, I went to the school to do AR awards. I always manage to be there for every drill they have. This time it was an earthquake drill. Grr it cuts into the little bit of time I have to get things done! Then I rushed off to my dental appointment. Which was actually quite nice. I liked my hygenist this time-Kara and I really like the other dentist-Kirk Johnson, who is there on Fridays. Of course, he is leaving for an internship to New York and so it goes.

Then I scurried over to the Dollar Tree and Wal-Mart to get all the supplies for Matthew's party that started in 2 hours. Oh the craziness!

Fitness For Life

We now belong to a gym. So, I have been thinking about this for a while now and I finally did it. I have really debated because I am pretty much a "keep it simple" kind of person when it comes to exercise. Why pay for a gym membership when I can take a walk, or run on the treadmill at my parents and pay a lot less for the county pool down the street?

The initial answer was that it is really for Robert. He really likes to lift weights and hasn't been able to do so consistently since we left BYU ten years ago. He has access to a few machines at work, but it is a pretty shabby setup. I also admitted to myself that even though I could take a walk or go use the treadmill, I don't do it hardly at all. I need some motivation.

So, being that it was time to sign up for a membership at the South County Pool, I figured it would just be better to bite the bullet and get the gym membership. I went on Friday night with Christopher to just see what it would cost and check the place out.

I was very impressed, everything was top quality, very clean and organized. I loved it! So I signed up. I knew this was one of those "better to ask forgiveness later" kind of things and I was right. Robert had bulked at the idea when I initially brought it up, but once we were signed up and we went there on Saturday, he was sold.

We took the kids swimming on Saturday. Can I just tell you what a zoo it is trying to get five kids into swimsuits at a public place! They have a family locker room where you can stick all the kids in a bathroom and change, which is nice.

On Monday, Memorial Day, we got the full experience. We dropped off the herd in the children's center. None of them complained, there is so much for the kids to do--computer games, tv, jungle gym, basketball, outdoor play area, special area for the little ones.

Robert and I headed upstairs to check out the weight machines and exercise equipment. I did some weights to strengthen my back, shoulders, and upper arms (I have been feeling a loss of muscle mass and strength is these areas for the last few years). Then I walked/ran on the treadmill for 20 minutes. I tried to be a little bit easy on myself because, 1-I didn't want kill myself, 2-I didn't want to burn out on exercising before I had begun.

We worked out for about an hour (which Robert said was too short, I told him he was welcome to come back on his own anytime-they're open 24/7). Then, we took the kids swimming, again. It was a little cold but not too bad. Our kids are so out of practice with swimming and it drives me crazy because I feel like I pay out for lessons once a year and it doesn't do a whole lot of good. That is one nice thing about the gym, they can swim all year round now.

Needless to say, everyone was happy and the boys all kept saying Lifetime Fitness is so cool! I think it is pretty cool, too!

End of Cub Scouts for Me

Sunday, May 24 was our Ward Conference. Robert was again, not feeling well and so I left for church (slightly late) with all the kids by myself. He actually showed up in time for Sunday School since he is the president and all the stake leaders were there. I was pretty glad to see him because I didn't want to field all the questions about where he was and how he was doing.

After church, I had an interview with the bishopric counselors and was released from being the cub committee chair and asked to teach 14-15 year old Sunday School. It is a bitter sweet release. I love cub scouts and like to be involved and know that it is running well, but it was starting to be a source of frustration and a burden. I guess the Lord knows what he is doing.

I look forward to teaching the youth. It is something I have never done before. I hope they don't eat me alive! I do get to teach kids I already know fairly well (some of them were even my cub scouts when I first was the Wolf leader 8 years ago). Should be fun. Plus, I only have to teach every other week!

Keep Giving

On Saturday, May 23, Robert wasn't feeling 100%. He had been fight a cold for a week and was pretty worn out. I had wanted to go downtown to the Gateway and do some fun things, see a show, go shopping, etc. Instead, I went to the shoe store with the boys and got them all sandals and me several new pairs of shoes since I haven't bought any new dress shoes or nice sandals in several years.

As we were leaving, a homeless man came up and asked if I had any change. I had let the kids all get a candy at the store and also given a few dollars to a charity thing outside the store, so all the cash I had left was $2. At first, I felt really good about myself for freely handing him my last bit of money, but as I drove away, I realized I had just spent over $100 on shoes (multiple pairs for myself) and this man, who practically had nothing, walked away with a measley $2. I guess the only way to go forward is to just keep giving. I don't know that you can ever make things balance out for everyone.