MVP!

I definitely wasn't so sure how I felt about Spencer's decision to play football this season...

First there were all the bumps and bruises,
the three day a week practices,
the Sunday games,
and the intense coaches...

It didn't seem possible that it could end well.

But thankfully I was wrong! Not only has he had a great season where he earned the respect of his coaches and teammates through his hard work, but we also felt like our experiences getting the Sunday games changed was an opportunity for spiritual growth as well.

Truly I was surprised that practice days only rarely conflicted with our myriad of other evening activities.

And after all the commotion we caused getting the Sunday games changed in the regular season, how shocked we were that his coaches willingly gave up their home field advantage for their "bowl game" by also switching it to Saturday merely so Spencer could play!

Most of the season they had Spencer playing defensive end and outside linebacker (both defensive positions).

Towards the end of the season they realized that not only was Spence an awesome tackler, but he could also run the ball well. So the last couple of games he played defensive end and running back, in addition he was also on a starter on the kick return and kick-off teams. For all you football novices (like me) that would mean he played the whole entire game!

His coaches did not end up regretting their decision to change the bowl game to Saturday, as Spencer was ON FIRE!!!! He rushed for ~120 yards, made some sweet tackles, sacked the quarterback, and forced a fumble! We were not surprised when the other team's coach ended up choosing him as offensive MVP of the game. All in all, definitely a good experience!

So, I guess I'll go eat my words now.

Halloween Costume Awards...

When Spencer and Cami were little I used to plan their Halloween costumes months in advance, usually sewing them by hand.

That was then...


Now...presenting the Goold family 2008 costume awards:

Cheapskate Costume Award: Spencer in his big bad football costume, which he only wore for a couple of houses before taking it off and trick or treating in his regular clothes.

Last Minute Costume Award: Cami--when she hadn't figured out what she was wearing at 5:30pm on Halloween night she decided to wear pajamas...her friend's pajamas, since hers weren't worthy.


Most Original Costume Award: Emma--who came up with her own vampire costume using things found around the house!


Most Well-Used Costume Award: Adam--this is his THIRD year running that he's worn this dinosaur costume from Costco and the seventh year running that at least one of the kids has worn it!

And last but not least...


The Most Politically (in)Correct Costume Award: Ellie--who dressed as the infamous Joe the Plumber!

The Plight of a Middle Child Born on a Holiday

As if it being the middle child in a big family wasn't bad enough, Emma had to make her plight even worse by being born on Halloween! The poor girl's been half-ignored since she was born and it's even worse on her birthday! :)


A little glimpse into her very special 8th birthday:

At 7:00 this morning Cami opened her own "Crazy Hair" salon with 2 of her friends joining in the giant, colorful, frenzied hair fest!

Meanwhile Glen labored to make her favorite breakfast of crepes and eggs, and Emma got to open her presents (the only time of the day there's an ounce of time). Of course don't ask for any pictures of the rushed breakfast that Glen didn't eat a bite of or of her opening presents...they don't exist (just like her baby pictures).

Then it was mad fest of getting kids to school and rushing to get last minute items for crafts and birthday treats to take to Adam's and Emma's classes...

Emma's teacher would not allow anything even remotely Halloween-y, not even a pumpkin...so it was a fall craft or nothing.
As you can see Adam's teacher was a little more laid back about the whole thing.

Adam's hair-do for "Crazy Hair Day" was the hit of the school!

Someday maybe she'll let us celebrate her birthday on a weekend to show her what it's like to have a more civilized birthday....

in the meantime happy birth-o-ween to my sweet Emma and happy Halloween to all of you!

Now I gotta run do my visiting teaching...after all it is the last day of the month and all.

The Reason Why...

Why the sudden uptick in my blogging lately? Here's your answer...

Lazy Mom's Guide to Planning a Birthday Party

WEEK OR TWO BEFORE PARTY:

1. Choose a theme: "Oh look! Wal-mart has 'Cars' plates and a dinosaur pinata. I bet Adam will love a dinosaur themed Cars party."
2. Pick a date: "No lessons or games on Monday afternoon...okay next Monday it is."

3. Pick your guests: "If he only invites people from last year's preschool group I won't have to look up anybody's number."

4. Give out invitations (week before, if convenient): "Everyone should be at the Primary activity, I'll just hunt people down there."

5 HOURS BEFORE PARTY

5. Clean your house: "Never mind the play room, bathroom, or the bedrooms. I've been meaning to clean out this cupboard for weeks."


4 HOURS BEFORE PARTY:

Fish out crumpled invitations from purse and frantically call the four guests who didn't happen to be at the Primary activity as expected: "I'm really sorry. No, it's not personal. I know everyone around you got invitations, but really I meant to invite your child too. I just didn't happen to see you that one day, you know how it is."

2 HOURS BEFORE PARTY:

6. Plan your menu: "I have chocolate cake mix, but no eggs. I have hot dogs, but no buns. And I have pretzels. Hmmm...okay I guess we're having eggless chocolate cupcakes, bunless hot dogs, and pretzels."

1-1/2 HOURS BEFORE PARTY:

7. Prepare your food: "I sure hope that eggs are an optional ingredient. Oh well, it has lots of sugar and oil...good enough for me; good enough for a crowd of six year olds."

1 HOUR BEFORE PARTY:

8. Decide your activities: "Oh look at this awesome party planning website! It's full of all these fun, creative ideas. Too bad I don't have the materials to do them. Haha...it says here you're supposed to give yourself at least 4 weeks of planning time."

Cue the hysterical, maniacal laughter (everything's funnier under pressure you know). "Four weeks! Hahaha! Try an hour and four minutes!"

45 MINUTES BEFORE PARTY:

9. Run to nearest dollar store for balloons and some materials for those super fun activities: "Oh crap! When did this dollar store close down?"

40 MINUTES BEFORE PARTY:

10. Run to nearest CVS for balloons and some materials for those super fun activities: "What is wrong with your hands? Puh-lease let me tie the ribbons on those balloons myself. Don't you know I have eight six-year-olds coming to my house in half an hour?"

20 MINUTES BEFORE PARTY:

11. Make final preparations for party (an extremely loud voice is helpful at this stage): "Spence, vacuum quick! Emma, straighten the play room now! Adam, stuff the pinata! Cami, set the table! Ellie, please stop dumping out the barbies!"

PARTY BEGINNING:

12. Take deep breath and calmly welcome guests to your awesome party.

Photo Tag...

So I swore I was done with tags, but this one from Denise is different than most. So I thought I'd give it a try on a slow Sunday night.

It's a photo tag. I was to go to the sixth folder in my photos and post the sixth photo.
And here it is...a photo from Cami's baptism day in August 2005.

How fun to go back and reflect on that special day shared with many friends and relatives, especially since in a few weeks Emma will be doing the same thing!

Since I guess it's part of the deal...I'll tag a few people who I hope won't get mad at me for tagging them: Aitch, Clarinda, and Kristina (and anyone else who wants to try it too).

The Story of the Beans

Once upon a time there was this Mom who was at the end of her rope. Every time she tried to get her kids to help around the house, all she could hear was a chorus of, "Awww! Do we have to Mom?" quickly followed by some well-practiced avoidance maneuvers...like fast-moving fits of severe fatigue and vitally important phone calls that had to be made immediately. It was getting out of hand fast!

So thinking back to her days as a psychology major in college she devised this great "positive reinforcement" project in hopes that it would help get her kids excited to help. She and her clever husband picked a super exciting prize and a date on the calendar and promised the kids that if they filled this large jar with beans before that date that the whole family could take a day off of school and work and go to Busch Gardens one last time before the season ended.

Sounds good so far...right?

Of course it could not be as smooth as that. Within a few weeks of the commencement of their new bean economy it was discovered that the chosen date also happened to be the same date as the school Fall Festival and even more disappointing the church's annual trunk or treat activity! Think friends, costumes, food aplenty, and tons of candy and you'll see the appeal!


So now the dazzle had started to wear off a little, after all the alternative of not filling the jar wasn't too bad either. But with some last minute adrenaline pushes and motivational speeches they finally made it!

Then it was time to make good on the promise. On a beautiful autumn morning in October the family set off in the car for the two hour drive to the land of roller coasters!

Good fun was had by all, young and old!

Some new family members were added to the family!

All was well...

then the kids started hearing about all the excitement they'd missed. Even the Mom started feeling a little disappointed that she hadn't been there to defend her pie title.

Mixed feelings of disappointment and jealousy ensued when she saw that the golden pie plate has been passed to other hands...at least until next year when there will be a grand face-off. Worst of all, she didn't even get to try any of her competition's winning pie...a disappointing fate for a pie connoisseur ! :(

Then, since they'd gotten back home so late at night from their trip, the Mom's eleven mile run got pushed late into the morning, which resulted in running 8 of those miles in the wind and pouring rain. Hence the red-faced, dripping wet picture that her son was kind enough to shoot of her. Thanks Spence!



All that because of some beans.

So what's the moral of this long-winded story?

• Don't choose a prize/date where you have to take a family vote over which place they'd rather go.
  

The end.

Field Trip Gone Bad...

So a mere couple of days about my previous post about my adventures on field trips, I got accompany Adam to his very first field trip of kindergarten.

Three Going on Twenty!

While some three year olds go around singing, "Twinkle, twinkle...", our precocious girl has something else on her mind...

That rots...

As if our to-do list wasn't already long enough...

Something old, something new...

Field trips, field trips, field trips! Between the five kids I've been on a million of them. I've been to museums, pumpkin patches, nature centers, bakeries, libraries, post offices, Kennedy Center, Jamestown, Richmond, and Philadelphia...you name it and I've probably been there as a chaperone!!

Up until this year, Ellie has just been an assistant chaperone (aka "tag along") at all of her sibling's field trips, but now that she's in preschool, she gets her own fun! So after learning about community helpers and safety last week, we decided to take a visit to our local fire station!

We started off the field trip by making these cute little fire truck kits from Home Depot. It was a great beginning and the kids thought that wielding a hammer was about the coolest thing ever (as noted by the plethora of bent nails and hammer marks)!


Then it was off to the fire station where they got to try on some real deal fire fighter gear, like this hat that weighed about as much as Ellie does! (I love this picture of Ellie!)


I'm pretty hard to impress on a field trip, so imagine my surprise when out of the dozen or so fire station field trips I've been to over the years, the kids actually got to try something new...spraying the hoses. Some of the kids were petrified of touching them, but Ellie and several others (mostly boys) were completely in heaven at the opportunity.

I was also impressed at the demonstrations they did for us, including climbing a ladder in full gear, breaking down a pretend door, and dragging a "body" out of a fire. All in all, a fun field trip for the kids and still informative for us adults. I guess I'm not too old to learn a few new things after all.

Happy birthday to the whole world...

...well, almost anyway!

October is a big month for birthdays in our family...and this week in particular. Since I would take up all my blogging topics for the week if I did invidual posts for everyone, here is one giant birthday blog post for all those born this week!

So Adam started off the week by turning 6 on the 16th, which you've already read all about.

















Next on the birthday calendar is Glen's brother Eric who turned 35 on the 17th! He's one of the smartest guys I've ever met and he keeps us laughing with his wry humor and you definitely would not want to mess with him in Trivial Pursuit !

Happy birthday Eric!!!



















Next is my baby brother Pete (aka Peepee). Yesterday was his 31st birthday. He's got a house full of girls, with his awesome wife Mika and their three little cuties! He's as busy as they come with a full-time job and attending night classes for law school as well...and yet he manages to do it all well. I, for one, am glad that I haven't scared him out of Virginia yet. We love having them live nearby!!

Happy birthday Pete!

And then there's my sweet sister, AnnaLisa is turning 25 today! As you may remember we had the privilege of having her stay with us last summer. Unfortunately for her, that means that we have boatloads of pictures and interesting information about her! (We love you AnnaLisa!)

I'm reposting this awesome video for your entertainment purposes! AnnaLisa fell in love with the song, "Grace Kelly" by Mika (but not our Mika) and seemed unable to restrain herself from dancing to it every time it came on. So of course being the good big sister that I am, I felt compelled to set her up so I could catch it on video! My conniving was not for naught, as she took the bait right on cue! Enjoy!

Happy birthday AL!!!

Well that concludes our birthday post...at least for another 10 days or so!

Favorite Sunday of the year...

...the children's primary program in sacrament meeting! While always a touching and entertaining program, this year was even more enjoyable than usual since I had no responsibilities with it other than sitting back and enjoying it!

After having seen the last few primary programs up close and personal, with all its associated stress and worry, I'm always amazed at how well it always comes together...no matter the little "hiccups" along the way. It's just hard to go wrong when you combine music, simple gospel truths, and cute innocent children.

There's always the kid who's too shy to say their part, the one who says it so fast that no one's quite sure what they really said, the ones that giggle their way through, and the one who sings a little too loudly (or in today's case, holds a note several seconds past everyone else). I think every ward has a similar sampling of kids and I love seeing this little glimpse into their personalities!

I was so proud of Cami, Emma, and Adam who practiced their parts a million times over...writing them out, quizzing each other, and in Cami's case even highlighting her different sections in color codes. They even got Ellie into the spirit of it and helped her make up her own part, "I am thankful for my sisters and brothers." ...only one more year Ellie. :)

I love this year's song, "If the Savior Stood Beside Me." The lyrics are quite profound and I've often stopped myself in the middle of a contentious moment and found myself thinking, "If the Savior stood beside me, would I do the things I do?" or "say the things I say?" How grateful I am that my kids are learning these powerful concepts in their youth.

I've often thought that being the primary music leader would be one of the most challenging callings in the church. It's being "on" for two whole hours every Sunday...first the junior primary, then the nursery, then the senior primary...each group needing their own unique method of learning the songs. Add in the hours of preparation they spend each week and the exhaustion they must feel after each Sunday, and I hereby extend my sincere gratitude for every music leader who labors to teach these squirmy, energetic children the simple truths of the gospel in music!

I know everyone in the primary is relieved that today is over, but I for one am starting my countdown for next year's favorite Sunday...only 51 more weeks!

A Man Who Knows What He Wants...

I should've known we were in for an adventure when from Adam's earliest days in the NICU the nurses would shake their head in frustration at his stubborness. After I was released from the hospital several days before he was, I wasn't allowed to spend the night anymore. He would stubbornly go all night screaming for food while the nurses frantically kept trying to feed him a bottle and then as soon as I walked in the door at 6 am he'd be perfectly calm and happy while he nursed like a little champ!

So I shouldn't be too surprised that now six years later that he's still a kid that knows what he wants in life. He'd picked out his breakfast, lunch, and dinner menu for today and even his birthday treats to share with his class. I didn't have to make any decisions, other than buying a few presents!


While perusing a recipe book several months ago he picked out this checkerboard cake as his next birthday cake. Once a week or so he'd pull out the cookbook to discuss with me what kind of cake mix he thought we should buy, what kind of cookies to use to make the checkerboards, what kinds of chocolates those were, etc. He's had the whole thing completely planned for months.

So when I tried to talk him into waiting until the weekend for his cake, so that Glen could participate in his birthday festivities...it was no surprise that he wouldn't hear of it! After all, he was convinced that he couldn't open his presents until he'd blown out his candles. He wasn't even tempted by the alternate activity I proposed of decorating cookies and having ice cream instead.

So Cami spent the evening making Adam's wildest dreams come true with a re-creation of the checkerboard!

This evening, when he realized that I hadn't made his birthday blog post yet, he decided to take matters into his own hands and type it up himself!

It turned out to be a fun day for our sweet little guy who knows what he wants in life! It would've been completely perfect if Glen had been here, but it will be present enough for all of us when he's here in the morning! We've missed him!

Happy birthday Adam and welcome home Glen!!!!!