9-1-1 and the middle finger

Our little Mckay (who just turned 4 on Tuesday) keeps us laughing - well at least now we are laughing.
Saturday afternoon Mckay came up to me and said, "Mom we don't call 9-1-1 huh?"
I quickly said, "No, unless there is an emergency". I thought to myself, I wonder if he could really call if he needed. Then I didn't give it another thought and went back to cleaning the house. Within a few minutes a policeman was at my door. The policeman explained that someone had called 9-1-1 from our home. I told Mckay to come and see who was at the door, he took one look, starting crying and ran and hid. The policeman was very nice and said that this happens all the time when a class learns about 9-1-1. I told him that I was sorry and it would never happen again. He just laughed and said, "I doubt it." What did he mean by that?

Sunday during church Mckay kept putting his sacrament cup up to his eye to make himself look like a pirate.
I said in a whisper,"Mckay, stop doing that right now or I will take your toy away."
Mckay (in a loud voice), "If you do that, then I will put a my middle finger."
Me, "Mckay, stop it right now and give me your toy."
Mckay, "Okay Mom, here it goes, I'm putting up my middle finger, see!"
I keep thinking we are past crazy sacrament meetings, but last Sunday proved me wrong. People should have to pay to sit behind us. We do distract from the spirit a little, but we are super entertaining.

The "Spontaneous" Magic Kingdom

About a month ago, we decided to plan a trip to Disneyland with our kids for Spring Break.  We decided to keep it a secret until Tanner's birthday (just days before the break).  We told the boys Thursday morning, then as soon as they left for school, I got a call saying that G'ma Orton wasn't going well and would probably pass away in the next few days.  So after school we told the boys that trip may not happen after all because we maybe going to St. George for a funeral. Grandma passed away the next day. Luckily she was staying with Jim and Carolyn, so we were able to go see her before she passed away. We will miss her greatly, but we are so happy she is with her husband and others who have passed on before.

We called and cancelled airplane tickets, a car rental, and our resort reservation, then headed to St. George for the funeral.  We had a couple of fun days playing in the sun there, then went to the funeral on Tuesday.  Paul said on the way to the funeral, "Hey, lets leave after the funeral and drive to Disneyland for the rest of the week!"

I am not good with surprises and like to have everything planned in advanced.  I explained how this wouldn't work because I packed the wrong stroller and I didn't have the right shoes.  Paul said that he wished I could be more spontaneous and just go.  After mulling it over during the funeral, I decided I would be okay and we hurried and packed our bags and headed out.  The drive wasn't bad at all!  Especially with the DVD player and my "New Moon" book, it was easy!

The first night we stayed in a hotel right next to Disneyland where we could watch the fireworks from the park.  We got up early the next morning and played all day at Disneyland.  We had so much fun and were able to get in every ride we wanted at least 2 or 3 times.  I think everyone's favorite was Splash Mountain.  Logan was so good!  He was happy to sit in his stroller all day and just watch everyone.  The boys were exhausted at the end of the day.  

I decided I should write a book on how to take 5 boys to Disneyland.  I have learned a few things.  One is its easier to put all you kids in the same color of shirt - that way you can see them easily, without trying to remember what they are wearing.  I tried this out in California Adventures, it really helped.

The next tip is to be ready to answer lots of questions, like "Are all these boys yours? Are you going to try for a girl? How do you do it?"  I felt like we were being watched everywhere. Luckily the boys were good and we actually had a lots of compliments on having such well behaved boys.  My favorite comment was while we were sitting down eating lunch, a man walked up to me and said, "Mam,  I think you shouldn't have to pay to come here with 5 boys,  somebody should be paying you for trying!"
Tip #3:  Take 2 cell phones and a stroller.  This way you can divide up with big kids and little kids for awhile, then let the big kids get you a stroller pass so you can go again with them.  Also, bring lots and lots of water and treats, unless you want to pay $5 for a bottle of water.  Tip #4:  Most importantly,  don't let your 4 year old hold his arms out of the tram while riding into the park, its kind of embarrassing when the conductor stops the tram to come and tell your son not to do that anymore.  That is when you should look around trying to figure out who that kid belongs to and why his Mommy didn't teach him any better.

More pics of Disneyland

All my boys, just taking a break!  What a handsome bunch.

Waiting for Aladdin the show to start, it was awesome!  A must see!  This was my idea and no one was to thrilled, until it started.  The boys loved the genie and real flying carpet.

Mom and her boys after going on a river rafting ride at California adventures, Garrett got soaked!  Somehow I got lucky.

Logan watching the parade, he loved every minute of it!

Mckay at Bug's Life, ready for the show!

Swimming in Newport Beach

As fun as Disneyland was, the boys loved swimming, we stayed at the pool all day Thursday from 9 - 5!  Then I had to drag everyone back to our room to get ready to go to dinner.  We had a blast just hanging out at the pool all day.

Bryson loved playing pool with anyone!

Logan loved his first time in a pool.

Paul and Logan (underneath the towel, nursing, just kidding)  taking a nap while Mom and the big boys played in the pool.

Tanner and Mckay's Birthday Party

I got smart this year and threw a combined party for Tanner and Mckay.  We went all out and had a clown come.  It seriously was great, a lot of less stress for me and the kids loved it!

The clown did a magic show. . . with Tanner as her assistant and Mckay was a helper.

As you can tell, Tanner is way into magic right now.

The clown also did face painting on all the kids (or arm painting).  Mckay and 1/2 the other kids chose to have a fire breathing dragon.
Then to the serious stuff, why we really have parties, getting presents!  Oh, and of course eating cake and ice cream.  I didn't even get a picture this year of that, I was too busy rounding up all 12 kids.  Note to self:  Don't feel like I have to do a friend party every year for every kid!

State Reports

After many long nights, Bryson completed his state report on Michigan.  Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Edwards', we had lots of cool stuff to display and stories to tell.  The whole 5th grade had to display their findings along with a  2 minutes blurb about their state.   Bryson handed out Kellogg's cereal to everyone, since Kellogg cereal is made in Battle Creek.  

Bryson also did a 10 minute presentation for his class.  Mr. Malmrose was so impressed with his presentation that he told the rest of the class to learn from Bryson's example.  Those who had already done their report were instructed to go home and start over, and do it like Bryson.  We have to thank Grandpa Jim for coming over the night before and getting Bryson all ready for his presentation.  

Exposing the Ritchies

Part 1: We got a call from Bryson's teacher today informing us of an incident in school yesterday. Apparently the class was asked to answer the following question: "What do you want to be when you grow up?"Now because this is 5th grade, it is not cool to act overly excited about anything, instead, you just seriously answer the question and try to look good.

The class listened while each student told what they wanted to be...doctors, scientists, astronauts, baseball players, etc. When it was Bryson's turn he got up and said with all seriousness, "I want to model underwear" Mr. Malmrose said it was hilarious and just thought he'd let us know so we could write it down somewhere. Now it is immortalized on the Web. Pretty funny kid! Thankfully, once the roar of laughter subsided he did add, ". . . well, and if that doesn't work out, I'll work with my Dad."

Part 2: And since I am telling funny stories about people without clothes, I should tell you what I did today. (Piqued your interest yet?) I went to the Dermatologist to get some moles removed. A nurse came into the exam room and casually told me to get undressed and put on the gown. (I'm laughing so hard right now, I can hardly type). I wasn't exactly looking at the nurse when she told me this, but I heard her just fine. What's more, I can do what I'm told. So I put on the bright yellow gown hanging behind the door. As I did, I thought it was interesting that this gown had such long sleeves with white ribbing around the wrists. Funny, I thought, how is this guy going to check my arms?

When the nurse came back in, she looked half surprised and half ready to bust out laughing. "Oh, didn't you like the gown I left for you on the counter?" Whoops. I told her sorry, and that I hadn't seen it. She started laughing and told me that the outfit I had put on was actually the doctor's exam coat/gown. Imagine the surprise the doctor would have had waiting for him when he walked into the room had the nurse not corrected the mistake! He would have at least had a good story for his wife.