Wow

Let me just say that this has been the longest day of the year. Now the kids are in bed. If only it could also be the longest night of the year...

Cheaper by the half-dozen?

Monday:


Monday morning we woke up and after Sabrina went to school (yep, this is her last week of 3rd grade!) I got the rest of them out the door to walk along the Oregon Trail. A man came walking towards us with his dog (not on a leash) and stopped so the kids could see his dog. As he was leaving he said, "You've got your hands full!" I didn't reply, but in my head was thinking, "Yeah, but I've got the babies in the stroller at least." We cut across the drainage ditch field to return to our house, otherwise I don't think Roderic would have lasted, and I would have had to have Ethan push the stroller and me carry Roderic. When we got home, I quickly packed me a lunch (the kids were watching the end of Sesame Street) and then we were off to Manitou park for free lunch for kids. It was so fun to see Hyrum and Kallise interact. It is as if she can read his mind. Every time he would move towards a toy, she would run and get there first and climb up on it and then gloat to him. At least there is a slide there with 2 side-by-side slides so they could both slide down at the same time. We came home, put them down for a nap and the older ones watched "Wallace and Gromit." For our FHE activity, we went swimming. That was pretty crazy. Have you ever tried to keep that many kids safe by the water? Ryan and I both felt overwhelmed.

Tuesday:

Tuesday morning we let Sabrina miss school and join me and the kids at Edward's downtown and watched "Arctic Tale." Stacy brought her 5 girls. Michelle R came in and saw us and said that it didn't look like we had enough adult supervision for the number of kids we had. 2 9-year-olds, 2 8-year-olds, 1 7-year-old, 1 5 year-old, 2 4-year olds, 1 3-year-old, 1 2-year-old, 1 19-month-old, and 1 6-month-old. The popcorn we bought kept them occupied for the first half of the movie. Then I made 3 trips to the drinking fountain, 1 diaper change and countless seat changes following after a bored Roderic. I think I'll try the movie again later this summer, but make sure its a cartoon that will keep his attention. And bring more snacks. After the movie we went to Ann Morrison park for free lunch. Hyrum was climbing up a slide and got burned. Pretty bad. A silver-dollar sized blister formed right below his left knee. I've been keeping his leg completely bandaged. He also burned his left palm, but he won't allow a band-aid to be on that at all. We went to McDonald's and ate half-price Happy Meals for dinner, and used up our remaining 2 free Southern Chicken sandwich coupons, so we fed all of us for $12. I had all the kids practice their instrument while the others listened to them. Everyone loves and audience.

Wednesday:

Ivywild Park at 10. Free lunch. Swimming pool from noon to 2. I thought every child was sufficiently covered with sunscreen, but later that evening, Ethan was complaining that his skin was sensitive and hot. Apparently we missed the top 4 inches of his back. Ouch. Happily we have a very soothing aloe vera spray that he's been using. We put Kallise and Hyrum to bed at about 8:45 pm and let the others stay up and watch an episode of "Full House" (I checked out the first season dvd from the Library! last week, in preparation). When it was done, Kallise was still awake. She was still up at 9:55 when Ryan returned from swimming laps. Sabrina couldn't sleep, and we sent her to the music room couch. He went in to look at Kallise at about 10:15 because she was still talking and found her covered in marker. Sabrina's desk is right next to the crib and she was able to put her skinny little hands through the rungs, grab the marker package and pull it back into the bed. He called to me to bring the camera and she was telling us the colors she used. Then I got to wash her up.

Thursday:


Zoo Boise in the morning with Stacy and her girls. Ethan took some pictures with my camera. All the kids liked the giraffe slide, but the line was insanely long. They all got to handle some desert tortoises. Then we ate free lunch at Ann Morrison park. Hyrum avoided the slides. He actually didn't even go to the playground until it was almost time to go. [Before the Zoo, we stopped at Fred Meyer to purchase Ethan a Rash Guard Tee, so he will never sunburn his back again. Luckily there was a race car cart to use, in the parking lot. Hyrum and Kallise got to be the drivers and Roderic and Jaron got to be the passengers. Hailee really wanted to join them, but was a good sport about not being able to.] When Sabrina got home from school, we set up the sprinkler she got as a birthday present from one of her friends and the kids ran through it and played in the sandbox. Grilled hamburgers for dinner. After cleaning up, I took the older 5 kids to the pool while Ryan stayed with the babies and put them to bed. I told them that the condition for going swimming at night with me was that they would shower and change into their pjs at the pool. They didn't remember that condition while I was washing their hair (with swimmers shampoo). All of them were crying that it was too cold. Fun times.

Friday:

Well it's Friday morning now and I was planning on taking them back to the zoo because we didn't see all the animals, like the tigers, but Hailee and Ethan poo pooed that idea. I've got to come up with something else.

Tonight Ryan is going camping with the scouts. I've known it was planned for today for several weeks and I've encouraged him to go. Mostly because I want the glory of saying that I handled these 7 children by myself for more than 24 hours. We'll see if I change my song tomorrow at 2 pm when Ryan returns.

blog hijack

Dear Dad!

I love you. I appreciate the fact that you showed me how to be a happy father. I remember you being jolly most of the time we were together as a family.

As a child, I recall feeling a deep love of nature from you as well.

For Father's Day, here are some recent shots of our family enjoying life, following along these two themes.

Love,

Ryan

This is just after lunch, when Malauna gave me 3 Fresh Aire CDs for Father's Day. The kids were really nice to me, as you can see. Kallise has been calling me "daddy" for the past 2 days.

Here's a picture that Roderic took today of me and the kids after Church. This is only the 2nd time I've ever let Roderic take pictures. Man was he excited trying to figure out the camera!

Here's a look at Roderic's new sandbox! Actually, it's one of the 'small' dunes at Bruneau Dunes. The kids really dig it.

It looks warm, and it can be really warm--I was afraid it was going to be too hot, since it basically had been 2 weeks earlier when I was there with the Scouts.

But it actually was only about 60'F, and the wind often made it cold on this side of the hill. On the other side--the sun-baked side--the wind was almost completely blocked. So it was 80'F and like a day at the beach. Almost paradise--except for the perpetual sand-showers from the already mentioned wind-storm (what creates the dunes in the first place)

And it's much harder to climb up this side. Here's Sabrina, just having reached the top. For some reason, she didn't want to go down this side again--even though you really can sled down this side at a pretty good clip. Every step sends an equivalent amount of sand to your weight rolling down--most of the way to the bottom. And it pulls a similar amount of sand from above you, making it so that you are trying to progress up a riverbed of sand that you have set in motion. (This side is about as steep as gravity lets sand stack--owing to the raining-sand effect it perpetually gets.) So by climbing this side, we ensure that the dune continues to grow towards the lake. I'm not sure what they'll do when it gets there.

The flowers were in bloom! I thought I'd already missed them at the end of May when I was there with the Boy Scouts. But it turns out we were just too early--they bloom in June I guess.

Thanks for making me like to take pictures of flowers, Dad! I remember the slides of flowers you took when we'd go to Stake Camp or the like, and now I do the same!

Hyrum is still at an age where he loves to pose. And he loves to go anywhere that I go. Right before leaving, I remembered passing these flower outcroppings when we were heading to lunch, so I tucked him on my arm and ran over here (our car is in the lot in the background). He loves that!

Roderic had a lot of fun going down. To get him back up, I had to carry him. This is the hard side. He didn't think it was possible to move up, owing to the river effect that I already talked about. He tried it for a bit. But he's so practical when it comes to finding a reason to let his parents do something for him, as long as it's his idea.

Another example of how much Hyrum likes to just sit and pose. These bushes are beautiful in bloom!

Another, just a minute later. He is such an adorable boy! He loved the fact that I was letting him walk around. The dune in the background is the big dune. I've been here 6 times now, and never gotten to hike to the other side of the lake and climb it. I couldn't get any Scouts to want to do it--they said they did originally, but after playing on the small one for a few minutes, and seeing how much work it is to climb, they no longer want to. Same thing for Sabrina this time. Oh well--there's always next year.

Roderic and Hyrum love to throw whatever they can into whatever body of water we visit. This time, it was sand and muddy sand. They managed to enjoy themselves, and they actually didn't get much on their clothes. Mud that is. They transported plenty of sand in their clothes, hair, ears, etc.

Sabrina had a violin recital this past week--her first with a new teacher, Kendra Hines, she's gone to for about 8 months now. It was also the first that was outside, at her teacher's place. This shows the group. It's weird that she's one of the older, more advanced students in the group now.

Here she is afterwards with her celebratory bouquet of flowers from her teacher.

This was Memorial Day weekend up at Lucky Peak Dam (about 4 miles from us is all.) They had the "rooster-tail" on to let out some extra water. I sat Hyrum on a post to take this shot--that's why I'm holding him. He's a really good sport, like I said.


This is at Jump Creek Canyon, over by the Owyhee Mountains about 40 miles from us. (Fairly near the Oregon border.) We went here on Memorial Day. Malauna and Roderic are facing an incredible waterfall. That greenery just below them--Poison Ivy. It's all over the canyon. (The neighboring creek/canyon is called Poison Creek.) We were watchful, and the kids listened pretty good--and we didn't have any run-ins with it at all!

Jump Creek waterfall in the background. The kids really loved this short trek. (1/2 mile tops.) We're trying to work them up to loving hikes. We're planning on going to Gibby Lake in August of this year!

Here's the panoramic view that I took of this waterfall when I visited it in April of 2007 with the Scouts.


5/20/2008 -- We've had several really nice evening Rainbows lately.

Did I mention that Hyrum poses well for pictures? (5-25-2008)

Musical Chairs

I hope I didn't cause too much distraction for the families sitting behind us. I lost track of the number of times I moved seats today in Sacrament Meeting, after 10. The reason? I've got 4 extra kids this week. Ethan (9), Hailee (7), Jaron (4) and Kallise (2). Ryan's brother and his wife are on a cruise to celebrate their 10th anniversary. Last year they did watch Roderic and Sabrina while we went to Russia, so we're returning the favor. I did tell them as I dropped them off at the airport that Ryan and I think they owe us a few more days when the week is up.


I've got high hopes for a fun-filled week of swimming, playing at the park, going to the zoo, storytime at the Library!, perhaps a free movie at Edwards.

So far, Hyrum and Kallise have had multiple tiffs; who gets to be held by Ryan, who gets to swing in the 'right' swing, who gets to sit in which chair at meals, who gets to play with which toy, etc.

Roderic and Jaron are a little better, but only because they have larger vocabularies.

Sabrina, Ethan and Hailee are having a blast. Did I mention that Sabrina is in school this week?

We'll just take it one day at a time, I guess. Breathe. Naptime is good.

Ryan was asking me to take his picture of these two kids, but I was working on making lunch, so he took the picture of himself in the mirror.

Happy Father's Day! We got him Fresh Aire albums 6, 7 & 8. Ryan is so pleased and surprised!

The Bateman Family

My sister, Shanda, has been scanning old slides from my parent's collection. Here is one from 1971. This picture is of my mom's family standing in front of their house in upstate New York (I think Trumansburg is the township). She is the one in the back row with a mop of hair on the top of her head. I'm sure its a hair piece. They are standing in birth order, except for the baby in Grandma's arms. Here are their names: [back row] Theodore, Rachelle, Georgie Gay, Faline, Teddie, Lamona, Gayla, LaDawn, [front row] Monte, Kelly, Holly, Brennan, Luella, and Noelle. (Perhaps my dad is the photographer.) Yes my grandma gave birth to 13 children (from 1950 to 1971), 12 living to adulthood. Those 12 children have a combined 55 children.

I think LaDawn has a classic grouchy face. Gayla doesn't look that happy, either. Noelle is doing the classic 3 year old thing to do and not look at the camera. I think all of Rachelle's babies have looked like her! (It must be that Bateman cowlick.) My mom had already had 2 children when this picture was taken.

Construction Zone Birthday

Roderic loves the sandbox his dad built for him last summer. A lot. He happily spends hours out there digging with his shovel, driving his trucks around. When I saw the Dump Truck birthday cake when looking for a cake idea for Hyrum's first birthday, I knew I had found the perfect birthday cake for Roderic. I've been planning on it ever since. Only one problem. I was not able to ever locate a generic dump truck in my price range. (I was not about to spend more than $10 on a dump truck with all sorts of bells and whistles and noises, etc.) Happily, I found this wheel barrow and decided it would work splendidly.











Roderic got to invite over a few friends to play with him on his birthday. Roderic and I had a fun time tricking them into eating dirt and mud for his birthday cake. Although, Clara wanted none of it. We had to work extra hard to get her to eat one bite. [I guess her parents (and older sisters) have done an excellent job of teaching her that dirt is not delicious. She did like the bugs though, because they were like fruit snacks.]

Everyone got a shovel and a rake to play in the sandbox. I got to watch them like a hawk to make sure they didn't let the sand leave the sandbox. Our poor grass can't handle any more sand. Lily, Clara, Stockton and Roderic all had a fun time digging (and burying toys) in the sand.







Happy Birthday Roderic!

The Fab 4!

Lists of 4 about Roderic.

Cool Things about him:
1. 060504
2. He opens the door to the van for me and holds it open for me when we get home.
3. He asked me to get him a bag for his scriptures.
4. He likes the color pink, but his favorite color is green.

Favorite TV shows:
1. Super Why!
2. Bob the Builder
3. Thomas the Tank Engine
4. Word Girl

Favorite Past-times
1. Play in the Sandbox
2. Play on the computer
3. Play with Sabrina and her miniature bears
4. Watch TV

My favorite things about Roderic:
1. His smile
2. His singing voice
3. His eyes
4. His kisses

Things he has learned in the last year:
1. How to play Uno.
2. How to dress himself -- including buttons.
3. How to type his name.
4. Singing in Primary.

Things I want him to learn in the coming year:
1. Pee in the toilet.
2. Poop in the toilet.
3. Ride on his bike with training wheels.
4. Play nicer with his brother and sister. Read NO HITTING.