Clean up, Clean up, Everybody Everywhere....

Now that you have that annoying song stuck in your head.......I often assign tasks to the kids., pick up all the shoes, take the toys back upstairs, get all your dirty clothes to the laundry room, and so on. So today, I asked the boys to get the downstairs picked up. No one moved. I asked again, no one moved. So I started to assign "jobs" as they call it. Then, I had a brilliant idea (they hate it when this happens:) I assigned them each an area of the house to get picked up. Chase got the office (mine, not Tony's...just to clarify) and the steps, Ethan got the downstairs and Blake the upstairs. Chase wasn't in there 2 minutes and he comes to tell me, "mom, it really isn't my responsibility to clean up your office you know." Really? Well, it is my responsibility to make sure you know how to clean up so your wife...he interupts me, "you mean Lola?"....yes Chase, whoever you marry...."well, Lola dosen't even care about cleaning up" .....well son, I do and she will so you are going to be responsible for cleaning the office (picking up crayons, coloring books, books, shoes, trash, toys, etc) and making sure there isn't anything on the stairs. He leaves and I notice Ethan isn't down here picking up. So I call him down. He said he is through picking up. Really? I still see toys, shoes, plates on the table..."oh, that's not mine those are Dad's shoes and Chasey was playing with those blocks, and.." Wait one minute, you are responsible for the downstairs, so anything down here is your responsibilty. He gets to picking up the others' messes. I go upstairs to check on Blake and find that the stiars are littered with dirty clothes, towels, etc and I call for Chase to get the stairs cleaned up. "But mom, I already did clean off the stairs." Well, there is more stuff on them. "Hey guys, who threw all this stuff on the stairs??" Of course he gets no answer so he gets to picking up all the dirty laundry and when he comes back there are more toys on the steps. He was livid. Blake is cleaning the upstiars and tossing down dirty laundry and Ethan is cleaning up the downstairs and putting toys and shoes on the stairs to go up. Finally Chase yells "HEY EVERYONE.....THE STAIRS ARE OFF LIMITS!!! NO ONE PUT ANYTHING ON THE STEPS ANYMORE!" I think we may be onto something here folks.........

Just Another Day at the Park

I know this blog is very neglected, but I am very busy. I have considered deleting it, but it's days like today that I am thankful it is still up and running. Rena' and I decided to take the 8 kids to Hawaiin Falls. I corralled my 4 in a confined area until Rena' and the girls arrived. As soon as they got there, Brooke wanted to go to the Pineapple Express. So off they went, Brooke,Tara, Ethan, Blake and Lizzie. Fifteen minutes later Blake comes running back with Tara, Brooke, and Lizzie close behind, "Mom, Can you come get Ethan?"
"Where is he?"
"He fell down getting off the Pineapple Express."
"He fell down? And you left him there? Is he OK?"
"No, I mean yeah......you just need to go...."
As Rena and I are trying to figure out what is going on, we notice a lifeguard headed our way. "Ethan fell and hurt his chin, he was trying to run to get you but my manager scooped him up and took him to the First Aid center." As we are making our way over there she explains further, "The guard at the slide said he fell off his mat and hit his chin. When he got up, he said he was fine and just grabbed his chin. The guard saw that he was bleeding and got on the radio. Our manager was right there and said that when Ethan saw that he was bleeding and that everyone was looking at him he got sort of angry and started running." That's my Finn, for years all we heard was "I don't want anyone looking at me." I get to the First Aid station to find Ethan and a crowd of management. "I think he's going to need some stitches, Mom," the friendly EMT said. He pulls back the gauze and it was only the second time I have ever seen blood that dark, click here to read about the first. His chin was split wide open. They held gauze on it and surprisingly the bleeding stopped. I called Tony, did my best to explain what was going on, and we decided that if the bleeding was stopping that he didn't have to go get stitched up. The EMT said that he could try steri-strips if we weren't going to get stitches. It was obviously going to need something to keep it closed. They laid Ethan down, tilted his head back and started applying the "glue" that holds the steri strips in place. Then, they closed his gash up and put some neosporin on but said he was going to need to keep it dry. Seriously? Ethan took it like a champ but was so bummed. Then I remembered that I had some waterproof band-aids in my bag. Darien got him all sealed up and we were off. E had to stay completely dry for an hour (a big thanks to Aunt Rena for letting him play Angry Birds) and then he was free to play as long as he didn't put his chin in the water. The first place he went was over to the wave pool to see Amy, his little DJ friend that gives him a free shaved ice coupon every time he dances the Macarena. She had seen him getting carried to the First Aid shack and told him she would do the Macarena in 5 minutes for him. So he gets his coupon (and so did Cami.....she stole the show) gets himself his free snow cone. While he is waiting, he tells me he'll be right back. He runs over to the First Aid station and gives the EMT a big hug and tells him "thank you for getting my chin all bandaged up without stitches." Sweet boy.
After the cold treats, E and the girls wanted to go on th big blue and green slides. So, we start putting shoes on and.....Chase steps on a bee. I don't think I have ever heard him screm like that. People were staring at him...and at me as I am running him to the First Aid station. I don't know what in the world they put on his foot but he stopped crying and was even laughing within seconds. (Maybe I will have my head on straight next week and I can ask what it was, it definitely worked fast.) Hopefully next week will be a little less exciting. On a positive note, Ethan's chin is not oozing or bleeding and I did not pass out this time.

Sorry there are not pics to accompany this "fun" post. I will try and get the pic I took with Renas phone as E was getting bandaged up.