(Not so) Happy Anniversary

This afternoon I realized that a year ago today was one of the saddest days our young household has experienced thus far. It was the day that both of the kids' pets died. Many of you know that we used to have a guinea pig (Annie's) and a parakeet (Noah's). Read on, but you may need a kleenex!

A few days before this all happened, Lily the guinea pig was acting sick. She wasn't eating or drinking very much, and she just kind of hunkered down in the corner of her cage. Lily was over three years old, which is around middle age for a guinea pig, we discovered. We had treated her for mites the year before, which turned out to be very expensive (more than we paid for Lily and her cage and initial food and supplies combined), so we warned Annie that there wasn't really anything we could do for her, if she really was sick. And so she was . . . I remember the moment so clearly: we were finishing up with dinner; Annie ate quickly and went up to hold Lily. A few minutes later we heard her cry, "She's dead. Lily's dead!" We all ran up, and there was Annie sobbing and sitting in the hallway with Lily in her arms. She'd died in Annie's arms. I wrapped Lily up in a towel and we buried her in our backyard under one of our lilac bushes. What happened next was the bizzare thing.

Noah had chosen Flutter for his 6th birthday just 3 1/2 months before. I remember earlier on that crazy day seeing Flutter scuttle around his cage, chirping away. He was acting completely fine, which is why this was such a shock. So after we buried Lily, we were all settling down, and Chris sent Noah up to his room to get his pajamas on. As soon as Noah got to his room, he yelled out, "Flutter!" He walked down the stairs, crying and carrying a stiff Flutter in his hands. Sometime during the day, the poor bird died too. We somehow got Flutter buried next to Lily, with both the kids sobbing. Chris and I kept looking at each other in bewilderment. This is too much sadness in one day, I kept thinking. I started questioning my decision to let our kids have small pets (who obviously don't live very long) at such a young age. At some point that evening, Annie asked, "Why did Heavenly Father let them both die on the same day??" I didn't have an answer. We finally got everyone ready for bed, read scriptures, said a prayer, and we all sat on the bed and talked for awhile. Annie smiled through her tears and said, "I love this family."

We let Noah sleep in Annie's room that night. After we closed the door, Chris and I could hear them both sniffling, which gradually turned into talking, and eventually turned into giggling, before they went to sleep. The next day when I dropped Annie and Noah off at school, I watched them walk toward the school with their arms around each other. I had my answer to Annie's question the night before. Their grief bonded them closer together, and they were helping each other cope.

If you're not a pet person, this may seem a little dramatic, but for an 8 and a 6 year old, this was a big deal. We are currently petless, and we will be until (as I have told Annie and Noah over and over) "we have a yard big enough to fit a dog, and we are finished having kids."

Mother's Day

I know I have many many things to update from the last couple of months, but I wanted to add this in, and be up-to-date on something: my Mother's Day. I'd add pictures, but we currently can't find our cameras . . . hmmm.
6:30 am - I get out of bed, prepared to get myself and the kids ready on my own for 9:00 church, since Chris always has early meetings. Chris informs me that he only has one meeting, so he doesn't have to leave for another hour. Yesss . . . I take an extra long shower while he and the kids make me breakfast.
7:00 - I eat my toast and omelet in bed with the kids bouncing around me. Presents include a big handmade card, a handpainted flower pot with marigolds in it, and a picture frame full of shots from a recent vacation. Chris soon leaves for his meeting and we finish getting ready for church. As we are driving to church the boys are fighting, as usual. Annie tries to get them to quit, but to no avail. Even my comments of "Wow, your fighting is sure making my Mother's Day nice" didn't help. I'm not sure why; sarcasm is always a great tactic with young kids.
9:10 - We arrive late for church, and Sacrament meeting is a doozy. Hudson has decided that that he will no long stand for the confines of a pew. I spend the meeting up and down, and in and out of the chapel, with him yelling and flailing in my arms. The words of my grandma run through my head, "If you take your kids out of sacrament meeting, don't you let their feet touch the floor, or they'll learn that all they have to do is yell, and then they'll get to run around the foyer." Those words kept running through my head as I follow Hudson down the hall. They are still milling about as Hudson finds a basketball in the gym and rolls it with his head as he crawls after it. Great, I think, he's ruined. On the bright side, the parts of the talks I do hear are excellent, and all the moms get chocolate bars afterwards. And these are not just Hershey bars, they're Lindt, and mine is dark chocolate with orange and almond pieces. YUM. I eat half of it while I sit in the foyer (yes, Grandma, the foyer - I'm sorry) during Gospel Doctrine feeding Hudson cheerios and raisins. Relief Society starts out great - we get wraps and chocolate dipped strawberries to eat while we listen to the lesson. But it basically has the same ending as Sacrament meeting: me in the hall with Hudson. Lest you think that Chris is a deadbeat church dad who doesn't help, you must know that he was giving out callings and helping out in primary. That's why I was in charge of the 1 year old.
2:00 pm- After getting home from church and eating lunch, Chris says, "You go do whatever you want, I'll watch the kids." Those words are the best present he could possibly give me. I sit up in bed, reading the latest conference issue, until I nod off. I wake up a little while later to the sound of Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me, on NPR (I love laying in bed, listening to NPR!). I then go downstairs and make a feeble attempt to catch up on some scrapbooking while listening to my book on tape. I also eat the rest of my Lindt chocolate bar, feeling only a little guilty for not sharing it with anyone. Throughout the day, I keep hearing the kids say, "Mom, you shouldn't do any work today." They're so sweet.
4:00 - Chris leaves with a friend to try and start up his dead car, which is still at the church (that story is for another post). He doesn't get back until after 5:30. He and the kids want to make dinner, but there isn't a whole lot of time, and we are low on a few staples. So we end up with a rag tag dinner of a couple of grilled cheese sandwiches, spaghettios, tuna and crackers, and carrot sticks. I loved it because I didn't have to make it! My day ended with talking to my mom, and catching up on some blogging.
So there you have it, with probably more details than you needed. Thank you Chris, Annie, Noah, Brigham, and Hudson, for making my Mother's Day so lovely, so memorable, and so . . . real. I wouldn't change a thing.

Columbus

So, I've said before that Chris and I can think of plenty to complain about when it comes to the Clinic, but one of the things we have loved is that Chris is able to go to tons of conferences (paid for by the Clinic). If they're close by, we all go together. We get all these mini-trips pretty much paid for. On March 13-15, there was one in Columbus, so the kids and I went with Chris. Hudson's birthday was on the 13th, so we brought his presents down for him to open in the hotel room. (More about his birthday in the next post).

Here are the kids camping out in their forts. They were so excited about them, we almost had to knock them down so they would actually go to sleep. Having all six of us crammed in one hotel room always makes for a fabulous night's sleep :)

On Saturday we ate lunch at Potbellies - YUM. I still dream about my sandwich. We also spent time just browsing around Barnes and Noble - one of our favorite things to do.

Big 1 year old boy!! Do you like the garbage bag wrapping? I didn't have time to wrap his presents, but I figured he didn't care.

Happy birthday Hudson, we love you so much!!

Saturday night there was a dinner at a conservatory in Columbus. It was pretty cool, but the dinner was not kid-friendly. There were cocktails for the first hour, and the dinner was very long and drawn out, where they give you like 45 minutes between each course (most of which, our kids wouldn't eat). Luckily, the bread and dessert saved the day. We don't exactly fit in with Chris' colleagues. Those who actually have kids are much older, and they have one or two, NEVER four. I've actually come to enjoy watching their reactions when they realize how many kids we have. Anyway, we took a table in the back corner (nobody sat by us, which Chris and I prefer - it means less people we have to apologize to :) I followed Hudson up and down the stairs while Chris and the other kids ate. Chris then took Hudson so I could eat, but the other kids were also finished eating, so they left too. So I sat trying to look like I was enjoying myself while I ate alone.


After dinner we found some cool rooms to explore. The chair behind us is covered in cacti.

Hudson was fascinated by the macaws! We got back to the hotel late that night. We ate a brunch at the hotel the next day, found a church to go to sacrament meeting, and then we came home. Good times for all.

It's birthday season!

On March 21st (Chris' actual birthday) we celebrated the birthdays of Chris and Hudson, as well as our friends, Bryan Anderson and Erik Shupe, whose birthdays were soon after. It was quite a party, with all of our families in our smallish house.

Happy birthday, Daddy! We love you so much!




The birthday Dads: Bryan, Erik, and Chris

Here's Hudson's first chance for cake. He's not sure what to think of it.



He's starting to lose it . . .

. . . and there he goes. He wouldn't voluntarily touch the cake. The chocolate on his face is from him trying to wipe his hand off after I stuck it in the frosting. I hoped he would like it after he got a taste of it. No such luck. We even tried again after he'd had a good nap. Nope, no cake for this boy. It's okay Hudson; we still think you belong to us, and we love you anyway!

Annie the actress

So, I know I am so so so behind with the cursed blog, but I just wanted to let everyone know that Annie auditioned for "This is Kirtland," which is a musical that our stake puts on every summer, and she made it! She's very excited. So if anyone has been thinking, "I sure miss the Weights; we should go visit them," here's an even bigger incentive to come!! Performances are every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night in July (except on the 4th).
Life has been a complete blur the last 2 1/2 months - 4 birthdays in the family, trips, and home improvement projects, along with just regular life, has completely eaten up every second. But hopefully things will get caught up soon.

Hudson update (February)

Eleven months old!!

Hudson' s first official buzz haircut (he did get a trim above the ears a couple of months ago). He was okay at first, as long as he was holding some crackers, but after a few minutes, he was tired of it!! My poor boys - all they get are buzz cuts. That's all I know how to do!

Argh, matey! Noah got this from a birthday party, and he managed to get it onto Hudson. . .



. . . and Hudson eventually managed to get it off.

This is the best picture we have of the funny scowl that Hudson has been making all this month (all the others were in the group that got deleted). This doesn't even do it justice, but at least we'll have a slightly weak example of it.

Hudson has also been nodding a lot this month, which just makes me giggle. I was so excited to get this picture of him mid-nod.

Hudson's giving great kisses lately!!

Other February goings-on

On President's Day we went to Pump it Up, where they had a room filled with an inflatable playground. The kids had a blast. . . and I love these action shots.

This month Brig and Noah played "Steamboats" quite a bit, which is some game they made up. From my perspective, it consists of emptying every basket and box in the house, then filling them up with other things from around the house, so they can go on a journey.

They had been begging to sleep in their steamboats for days, so we finally let them.

I thought for sure they would eventually get tired of trying to sleep while their knees were mushed up to their faces, but they actually fell asleep that way!!

After taking these pictures we got them back into their beds so they wouldn't wake up tomorrow with knots all over their necks and backs.

Happy Birthday Noah!

Noah had a family party this year (we alternate every year with family and friend parties). There happened to be a Cleveland Clinic Spouse Association activity the weekend before Noah's birthday, and Noah decided that's what he wanted to do for the family party. It was at the Solon Community Center, where they had pizza for lunch, and then we spent hours at the pool. A friend took this picture of us at the pool, but the lens was foggy when he took it. Can you tell how much fun we're having?? :)

On our way home we stopped at the gas station. Our van was sooo dirty from all the salt on the roads, so Chris bought a car wash. This was the first time our kids had been through a drive-through car wash. It was one the more exciting events of the day!

Noah wanted to eat at an italian restaurant for his birthday dinner, but we couldn't find one anywhere between the community center and our house, so Noah settled on Chinese. He even tried out some chinese words with the waiter (the kids have Chinese class at school).

This is how Brig used his chopsticks.

On Noah's actual birthday (Feb. 4th), we had cake and ice cream and he opened his presents. Noah is obsessed with coins, so that's what he got for his cake.

Seven years old!!

Bike - Mom, Dad, Grandma and Grandpa Marchant

Egypt figures - Brigham

Bakugan - Annie

Boys Best at Everything book - Hudson

Game and coins - Grandma and Grandpa Weight

Happy Birthday Noah! We love you!