Air Freshner

I went in to check on the girls cleaning their room today and found this. (An open container of deodorant sitting in front of an open window) I walked over and picked it up to put the lid back on, so it wouldn't dry out, and the girls yelled, "Mom, Don't!" "Our room stinks and that is our air freshener." They thought that with the window open the wind would blow in over their deodorant stick and make their room smell nice.

Now that's using your brain girls. Keep it up! I love the smell of a clean house :)

G-string

Here's a conversation Alaina and I had tonight. (Sunday night: 10:00pm)

Mom: Alaina, do you have orchestra during this last week of school or are you all done?

Alaina: Yeah I do. Oh, and mom I forgot to tell you but my violin is broke and I need it fixed by tomorrow because I have orchestra in the morning!

Mom: Are you kidding....ugh...Alaina, did you seriously break your violin?

Alaina: Mom, it wasn't me. We had a substitute on Friday and she was tightening my strings for me. I just sat there while she was twisting and twisting it until it got so tight that finally she snapped my "G-String".

Does anyone else find this statement, coming from an 11 year olds mouth, HILARIOUS ?

Yes.....After laughing so hard and rolling on the floor, we did have to explain to her why we were in hysterics. She couldn't find the punchline in it all (gratefully), but we sure did.

BASEBALL

Ky's first year in the "BIG league"... I mean little league. It was a big step up from his YMCA season last year. Big step #1- the kids actually pitched instead of the coaches, Big step #2- They had full blown team uniforms, from the Hats down to the cleats, and Big step #3 (which Ky would tell you is the most cool part of their uniform)- was wearing the required protective cup.

A couple of highlights this year were...

Getting the 3rd out of an inning, by catching a fly ball in the outfield, during a nail biter game.

And earning a bag of candy when he had the best hit of the night, by hitting the ball all of the way to the fence. Way to go Ky!

GO Team APPLEBEES!

Golfing with Friends

Big shout out of appreciation to our friends, the Armitage's. We took them up on an offer to go golfing in Spokane, and are glad we did. We've had to turn them down on many other offers to play because of Dan's crazy work schedule but this time persistence paid off. Thanks for dragging Dan out of the office on a Monday! Way fun trip. Would love to do it again... Golf Nazi Cops and all :)

Is there such a thing as watching too many "Living Scripture " movies?

The girl's spent all day planning a Family Home Evening lesson for us. Most of their time was spent coloring and designing their very own game board to use as part of their lesson. It turned out great and all of the kids had a lot of fun!

Their lesson was about Moses (A story from the bible, they had just talked about at church today). Before we played the game they quizzed us to see how familiar we were with this Bible story. If the kids paused, even just a second before answering their assigned questions, Hailey would chime in with, "Don't you remember in the movie?" or "Come on, remember in that cartoon show when the lady puts the baby in the basket..."

Nice :) Shouldn't the average church going kid be saying... "You know, just like we learned in primary today" or "Don't you remember when we read that story during family scripture study".

Oh no, not the Ostler kids. It's, "You know... like in the movie?"

Surprise Bedroom Makeover!!!

While the boys were away camping this weekend, the girls and I had a little fun of our own, making over the boys bedroom. As soon as they headed out of town we got to painting. My mom, Leslie, and the girls all helped.

Sadly, my mom ended up with a few more grey hairs after our day of painting :)

With the room painted and nothing to do but watch the paint dry, we decided to round up a few more sisters and head out for pedicures.

Next was dinner with Grandma, Kristy, Leslie, Brittany, Myself and the girls.

After dinner, Alaina, Hailey, and I went home, got into our P.J.’s then went back out to a 9:15pm showing of Shrek. Talk about a packed full of fun night!

When we got up the next morning we still had a lot of work ahead of us. We moved all of the furniture back in, built a new bed, sewed a few curtains, made beds, and put all of the finishing touches on the boys room. (Before Dan left he built a raised toddler bed out of Hudson’s old crib parts. He left me all of the bolts, wood and screws so it was super easy for me to assemble by myself. It turned out awesome and now the boys have a little fort below his bed!) Another favorite feature in the room was their very own, custom scoreboard. I saw one like this online for $139.00 and thought, “I bet I could make that for less”. Well… $40 later. ‘Viola’!

Dan gave us a 5 minute heads up call saying that they were in town and we took our places. I was in the fort, Hailey was on a bunk bed, and Alaina was hiding in their closet. The girls were so excited to show off what we had done!

The look on the boy’s faces says it all. I especially love the middle top picture where Alaina is just getting ready to jump out of the closet and yell, “SURPRISE!” Needless to say, the boys loved it!

Thanks for all the help guys!

Father/Son campout

Here's a few pictures Dan brought home from the father and son campout this weekend. Dan invited 24 friends and family members to go up with the ward. The boys had a blast with their dad, all of their cousins, grandpas, and uncles!

Grandpa Rose and Greg, "the dutch oven masters".

Uncle David "microwaving" his chicken :)

Ky just "hanging out".

Grandpa Ostler impressing the kids with his dry ice tricks.

Cirque Dreams Illumination

We took the kids to the "Cirque" show tonight at the Toyota Center. Everyone thought it was AWESOME! Here's a few pics and a little video of what it was like.

Pudding

Does anyone know what happens when you leave a mischievous little 3 year old, alone, with a bowl of chocolate pudding for 20 straight minutes? I don't recommend it.

After finding Hudson with chocolate pudding smeared all over his arms and face I threw him in the shower to get cleaned up. I closed the curtain and told him to start scrubbing. A couple of minutes later I asked him if he was all clean and he responded with a loud, "YES"! When I opened the curtain to take him out I starting laughing because...

..."he missed a spot".

Putting the Kiddos to "sleep"

Dan typically snuggles up with our kids each night and reads them a book as a bedtime ritual. They love visiting with their dad about their day and getting some quality one on one time with him before they go to sleep.

Now when it comes to putting our 17 year old, "adopted son", Kayleb to bed, Dan has to use a totally different tactic. Kayleb's not as keen on snuggling as a way of being put to sleep at night so Dan has to resort to a little trick he's picked up through all of his years of watching UFC. It's called the triangle choke. Puts him to sleep every time :)

Prior to Kayleb and Dan's bedtime ritual as pictured above, Dan would test out his skills on none other than....Me. "The kids were too easy", he would justify, "You are the closest thing to Randy Coutore that I have", He would encourage. Ugh!!! Dan's skill level is getting a little to advanced to just wrestle around with me, so.... thanks Kayleb, for letting Dan feel like he is a real UFC fighter. Once in a while anyway.

Plus, it really does put Kayleb to sleep faster than any bedtime story we know of. :)

A Mother's Day Outing!

I had a great Mother's Day today. Dan and the kids had it all planned out and took care of everything.

Dan got up really early. He got all of the kids ready for church. They made breakfast and had it ready and waiting at the table and then came to wake me up with with gifts and flowers.

I love getting all of the thoughtful homemade gifts and cards that the kids make at school.

Here's a couple of funny lines from this years cards...

Kase's card was the kind where the teacher asks the question and the kindergartner gives the answer...

Q: How old is your mom?

A: 44 (I'm 32. Thanks Buddy:)

Q: What is your mom's favorite food?

A: Fruit (I'm pretty sure that fruit isn't what has packed on these extra 80 pounds I've been lugging around)

Q: What makes you proud of your mom?

A: For letting me have a pretzel when we go to the mall.

Hailey's Card...

Dear, Mom I love you so much. I like to be in your family. You are so sweet. I DO NOT hate you. Love, Hailey (Ohh, so sweet ;)

Alaina and Ky had some super thoughtful cards as well and they were much appreciated.

Next it was off to church from 9-noon. It was a nice change having time to get ready for church on my own instead of scrambling to get 5 kids ready and out the door.

I thought I had received all of my gifts and surprises at this point but when we got home from church Dan told the kids to quickly change and meet back in the car. Dan carried an already packed ice chest out to the car and then they all let me in on our plans for the day.

They were taking me for a picnic at Pioneer Park. (A park, in Walla Walla, about 50 mins away)

Here's a few pics from our fun day together in Walla Walla.

Most of the drive had really pretty scenery; all except when we were passing the stinky paper factory right as you leave Burbank. PeeeeeUuuuu.

Pioneer Park

After we ate lunch we played a few rounds of "spoons".

A little Bocce Ball.

At this park they have duck ponds and also fenced in areas with different unique birds that you can walk around and look at.

Before we left the kids played on the toys...

...while Dan rested up for the drive home.

Today was a ton of fun! Thanks for all of the planning and hard work you guys. You all did a perfect job at making me feel special today. I love being your mom and really appreciate the special attention today!

Greg singing with Franc D'Ambrosio

So earlier this year, Greg entered a contest.

He sent in a CD he made, with him singing 2 songs.

The first was a required Phantom of the Opera song;

the second could be a Broadway song of his choice.

The winner would preform "All I Ask of You", from Phantom,

as a duet at an upcoming Franc D'Ambrosio concert.

Franc D'Ambrosio is best known for being the world's longest

running Phantom on Broadway!

He was also cast as Anthony Corleone; the opera singing son

of Al Pacino, in The Godfather III.

The night before D'Ambrosio's concert,

and before they picked the winners,

the 16 finalists were able to attend a workshop and

get some personal training from Franc himself.

At the end of the Master Class Franc announced the 2 winners.

And guess what... GREG WON!!!

He got to sing the part of Raul tonight during Franc's concert!

In front of 1500 people!

Greg did a great job tonight!

It was really fun seeing him preform, and we are looking forward to seeing him

in the CBC production of "The Drowsy Chaperone" this summer.

Here are a few pics and videos from the evening. Enjoy!

Greg and Franc during the Master Class.

The Pre Performance (shaking off the nerves) interview :)

Greg and Brittany before the show.

THE PERFORMANCE!

Taking a bow.

Welcome to the gun show

Today was Hawaiian day at school, so all of the kids wore their Hawaiian duds. (Grass skirts, sandals, shell necklaces, and flower leis.) Ky went in his swim trunks, flip flops, and tank top.

When Ky got home from school he looked worried and said, "Mom... I got in trouble at school today. Of course the hair on my neck stood up and I got all serious with him. What Happened!!! "Mom", he said... "When I went to PE today Mr. Butts got me in trouble for bringing guns to school. He said he was going to have to take me to the office and talk to the principle about it. Mr. Butts said, "I mean, come on Ky, you didn't even conceal them, you just have your "guns" right out in the open...This is unacceptable and totally against school rules. It is especially bad that you are just waving them all around. We're definitely going to have to talk to the principal about that."

Ky was scared at first, wondering what his PE teacher was talking about but it only took a little while to realize he was just talking about his arms hanging out of his tank top.

Welcome to the "GUN" show!!!

Alaina's 11th B-day

Today was full of Surprises for Alaina. As soon as she headed out the door to school Dan, Hudson and I got to work on her birthday surprises. She had no idea what was in store for her.

Surprise #1: Hudson and I started on her birthday cake. We used food coloring in white cake mix to make a rainbow surprise cake. We frosted the outside of the cake white and plain so it would be a big surprise when she cut into it.

Alaina has been wanting a chair, like the one below, since Christmas so that's what we got her. After I purchased it though I started thinking about where she would have room to put it. That lead to surprise #2. While Hudson and I were working on her cake, Dan went into the girls room and stacked their beds up into bunk beds so we could do a little surprise bedroom makeover.

Here's a few pics of how it turned out.

Surprise #3: We picked all of the kids up (except for Alaina) from school today instead of having them ride home on the bus. When we got home we set up a surprise scavenger hunt for Alaina. With all of the pieces to the hunt put in place....the family waited in her room for her to get home.

She got off the bus and came to the front door to find her first clue to the Hunt which lead her to her 4th surprise. A Letter From Grandpa and Grandma Rose with a ticket to the Lion King in Portland coming up in June. She was stoked and couldn't wait to see where else this journey would take her.

After visiting her play house, the trampoline, her favorite climbing tree in the side yard and another dozen clue locations, she ended up back at the front door to see her final clue leading her into her room.

SURPRISE!! We all yelled as she entered her new and improved "Crib". Chair and all. Room make over, new rug, spic and span clean, new chair, and a loving family excited to show it off.

The rest of the afternoon was spent opening gifts, eating cake, singing happy birthday, giving her birthday spankings, and all the rest of the stuff that goes along with turning 11 years old.

Last but not least.....she has been wishing for a bike since last year. The one she has is way to small and falling apart. Long overdue for an upgrade. Her birthday wish came true with surprise #5.

Now she can keep up with Little Brother Ky on his new wheels.

Happy Birthday Alaina!