Hello, Blog world! I've missed you. It's been a whirlwind the last 2 months, and I really just want to collect my thoughts and express my feelings. For starters, I am so grateful for my life and all the people in it. I'd give anything for any of them. I've always felt that way, but I've never had a month like these last 2. I've been an emotional wreck since August 1. I watched, long distance, as a friend lost her little guy to cancer. It hit me hard. Why have I been so blessed? Why am I so lucky? My kids are all healthy. Whenever we do have something come up, it's never serious. I just haven't been tested that way. My sister, Julie, and I had recently been talking about this same subject. She was really young when our sister Debbie died, and I wasn't born yet. So we haven't really had to go through losing a sibling. My parents are older and have their ailments and scares, but they are both still here and highly functioning. And I still haven't lost anyone I'm really close to. But man, I feel like it's been close. At the beginning of August, Maeli fell while playing on a trampoline and broke her elbow. The local instacare sent me to Primary Children's because they are better prepared to help her, and she would probably need surgery. So we went to Primary's. They determined that her arm was definitely broken. It was a common break. They correct at least 1 a day, sometimes 10. So, our surgery was set for in the morning. Her surgery was to realign her elbow and place 2 pins. All went well. Walter was supposed to go to Canada for work that morning, but rescheduled for a night flight and joined me as I waited for her surgery to be over. We went to recovery and saw her starting to wake up. Walter started feeling a little faint. We walked with Maeli as they wheeled her back to her room. We got to her room and she was more awake and it quite a bit of pain. As I climbed into bed with her to hold her and try to help, Walter started feeling worse. He asked for oxygen. I tried my best to hook up an oxygen tube to the wall unit and turn it on, but nothing happened. I told him to sit down. He knelt down and put his body over a chair. He told me to get help. I ran out into the hallway and just started calling for help. I told a nurse walking by that my husband was about to pass out. Maeli's nurse was coming out of another room and I told her too. Almost immediately we had about 7 medical personnel in our room and Walter was passed out on the floor. He was making weird noises and his body was rigid. Maeli was still in her bed, so I just stood by her crying. I didn't know what to do. I have never been with Walter when he has ad a vasovagal episode. This was my first. It wasn't pretty. He was out for 90 seconds. Longest 90 seconds of my life. When he came to, they put him in a chair and gave him oxygen. They kept checking on him and after a while decided they should take him to the ER. So, I stayed with Maeli while he went and got checked out. Everything checked out, so they released him. Once Maeli's pain was under control we were all able to leave together. She had her soft cast for 1 week and then her hard cast for 3.

Daxton Oliver Gunter

It all started Sunday morning, July 15th. It was 530 AM and I was waking up to go potty...again! As I went to get up I felt a little pop and a gush. I ran to the bathroom and started to wonder. Had my water actually broken? That never happens to me. I went back to bed and waited for something to happen. Nothing did. So, I went back to sleep. We got up and got ready for church. I let Walter know that either A. my water had sort of broken or B. I peed my pants this morning. I asked him not to tell anyone, because what if the answer was B?!? As I was getting up from the floor (that's where I do my make-up, don't ask), I felt another gush. I decided to wear a heavy duty pad because either I had lost all control of my bladder or I had a slow leak. After church, still nothing had started. I decided to call my midwife to see what we needed to do. We decided that if my water had truly broken, I would be in sometime that night in actual labor. If I had only peed my pants, at least I didn't waste anyone's time. I had my regular appointment scheduled for Monday morning and we would check things out then. So, we went to bed that night. Nothing was happening, so I was pretty sure my answer was B. Walter got up and went to work and I got the kids ready. I dropped the kids off with my friend and picked Walter up so he could go to my appointment with me. At my appointment they ran some tests and confirmed that my water had broken/started leaking. They did some blood work to make sure I didn't have any infections going on, did a Non Stress Test to make sure the baby was doing good and sent us on our way, with an appointment in 2 days to do it all again. We also had received strict instructions. Once your water has broken, or is leaking, there are certain things you can no longer do. Like, take a bath, or try to get the baby out using the method used to get him in there. The only thing I could really do is start homeopathic drugs. So, I started taking cimicifuga and caullophyllum. They didn't seem to do a whole lot for me, but at least I was doing something. We decided to take this opportunity to have a last date. We went to Red Robin for lunch and picked up some birthday presents for Trae. His birthday is on July 19th and I was pretty sure this was my last chance to get him some gifts. We also decided, since we were already at the mall, to get some reflexology done. I was hoping it would start labor, but the lady didn't exactly speak English, so she didn't understand when I asked her to kindly put me into labor. She didn't work my uterus spot on my foot much, but it was a nice foot rub. We picked up the kids from Carol and headed home. That night I started having some contractions and they were pretty bad. I continued to leak and started to see some blood. We called the midwife at 11 and he said to give it an hour and if things were continuing to progress, we'd head in. Well, an hour later (and about a minute after Walter posted to FB that we were having a baby) everything stopped. Well, the contractions stopped, but my baby kept moving like crazy. He was kicking and moving and it was very painful. Walter informed my mom that things were happening and she should probably get here soon. It was now Tuesday. She got herself ready and headed to the airport. Walter stayed home from work that day and we all went to our Adventure Days playdate at Francesconi's. I had a few contractions but nothing exciting. My moms flight was going to get in around 4 and we were halfway to the airport, so we decided to go find some stores to walk around. I was planning a Birthing Center birth, so we also stopped at Walmart and got some snacks for during labor. I still wasn't convinced that I would actually give birth at the birthing center, but at least I was prepared. We picked up my mom and headed home. We got all settled in for the night and went to bed. I had a few contractions that woke me up in the night, but they were 30 min apart at their closest. We enjoyed a relaxing morning and talked about how maybe Walter should go to work tomorrow, since my mom was now here and nothing was really happening. It was Wednesday, 2 days since my last appointment, so we were due for another appointment at 330 that day. We decided to take the kids early to Carol (she deserves an award!) so we could go walk the mall and help things along. We got to her house and I remembered she is really good at foot massages and knows the reflexology points. So I asked her to rub my feet, as if she hadn't done enough already!! I had a few contractions while she rubbed my feet and then we headed to my appointment. About 5 minutes down the road I realized I hadn't given my kids hugs and kisses. I mean, they might grow up while I'm gone! So, Walter turned the car around and we headed back so I could check it off my mental 'it's ok to go into labor now' checklist. So, we were on our way to my appointment. We got there and they did the NST again. The nurse that was doing the test was very surprised at the baby's activity. He was still all over the place. She had to stay and hold the monitor on him because he kept moving and kicking it off. He appeared to be doing great. We met with the midwife, she drew my blood to make sure I wasn't starting to get any infections due to my water breaking and was ready to send us on our way. She gave us some ideas on how to start labor, including castor oil. She gave us a recipe for a castor oil root beer float with a reeses chaser. I wasn't quite sure how I felt about castor oil, but we were going to at least go find some. As we walked into Safeway I had a nice contraction, but they didn't have any castor oil. So, we headed to Whole Foods. I had a few contractions in there, but the only castor oil they had was for external use only. I had never heard of that, but they told us to try a pharmacy. As we went to leave Whole Foods and big storm blew in. It was raining sideways and we couldn't get to our car. Walter ran to get the car while my mom and I went to the underground parking to wait for him to pick us up. We drove from that underground parking to the Target parking garage and continued our hunt. Target had NO CASTOR OIL! Seriously?!? How do people get their babies out in this place?!? So, we headed to the mall to find a vitamin shop. Walter dropped my mom and me off in the parking garage and he went to park. As soon as I got out of the car I had a nice contraction. I hunched over between 2 cars, survived the contraction and walked into the mall as if nothing had happened. I got quite a few looks. :) I had told my midwife at my appointment that I was really feeling the contractions in my back. She recommended a belly belt to help hold my belly up so the baby would get in the right position. Walter had been begging me to get one of these for the last 4 months, so with just hours left in my pregnancy I bought one. It completely changed my contractions. I secretly wish I had listened to that man a while ago. At least I had it now. We then resumed our castor oil search. We checked Vitamin World, no luck. We checked GNC, no luck. But, at GNC the manager did offer us something else. He was pretty sure we'd be all excited about it, too. It was a male sexual enhancement pill. REALLY? His selling point was that it had 8 different kinds of sperm in it. Well, considering only 1 kind of sperm got me into this mess, we decided to pass on the sperm buffet! We decided to look to Amazon to see if castor oil was even still being made. We found a local store that carried it. We called them and asked about it. It was the exact same one as the one at Whole Foods. Even though it said not to consume it, they thought we should. We went and found my mom at the Apple store and I found a nice stool to sit on. Getting those 2 out of an Apple store takes an act of congress, or a woman in labor hunched over the 'personal setup' table, breathing heavily. after 3 employees asked if I was OK, we were on our way again. We headed back to Whole Foods to get the non internal castor oil. The plan was, if this baby didn't come by morning I'd have my root beer float for breakfast. We decided to get some dinner, as it was now about 7. My contractions were getting closer, but weren't consistent. I picked California Tortilla for dinner, bad idea. You know, beans and rice don't exactly go well with digestion. So, I ate my chicken fajita burrito, sipped some root beer, and took breaks to have contractions. At one point I was up on all fours on the booth bench breathing down Walters back. I would finish my contraction and sit back down and resume eating. I'm sure people were staring but I didn't notice them. Finally, I told my mom and Walter that I didn't want to be there anymore. I didn't care where we went, but I needed to move. We packed up my moms dinner, cause she eats slow, and went to the car. My contractions were about 3-7 minutes apart so we called the midwife to see what we should do. I finally expressed to her my concern. I was on the fence about the birthing center because I had this fear that I was going to have a repeat retained placenta. I had one with Grady and my midwife that time had to scrape it out of me. I was so glad I had an epidural that time. Big babies are a cause of retained placentas and I was sure this baby was a 10 lber! She suggested we meet at the birthing center and check me, then make a plan. Because of my broken water they didn't want to check me much, out of fear that it would introduce germs and cause infections. So, we planned to meet her in 20 min (9:00) at the birthing center. We were really close so we decided to head to Best Buy, cause that sounded like a good place to have a baby. ;) Once we got there I had a few contractions in a row. I did not want to go into the store, and it was almost time to go meet the midwife. Given my uneasiness about my placenta, we decided to say a prayer and ask Heavenly Father to help me make the right decision. If I went to the birthing center, then I'll have to get back in the car and come back over to the hospital, which was right down the street from where we were. I also didn't want that option taken from me, if I was too far along. As soon as Walter finished praying I knew I needed to go to the hospital. So, I called the midwife and told her I had decided to just go to the hospital. She let me know that once checked into the hospital I couldn't leave, since my water was broken. If I stopped having contractions we would have to resort to Pitocin. I made sure she would still be the one over my care and headed to the hospital. They got me into triage and checked me. I was at a 2! :( I was so bummed! I as sure I had progressed. I was at a 2 at my appointment on Monday. She said I was 50% effaced and at a -2 station. SERIOUSLY! My contractions were doing nothing, except teaching me patience. We got to our room and settled in and did the monitoring. Once I was done with that we started walking the halls. My contractions would come and go. We went back to my room and got on a birthing ball. My contractions were getting stronger and I had started to bleed again. This was a good thing. At midnight I asked my midwife to please check me. I had to know I was progressing. She checked, no progress. They warned me that this labor would be different because my body didn't seem to be getting the message. Then I did what no woman ever does...I asked for Pitocin. I wanted pain for a reason, not just for practice. As Walter put it, bring the rain! That was the end of nice me. Those contractions were KILLER! I remember telling Walter I wanted to leave the hospital, that I didn't want to do this anymore. I also told him I wanted to throw something. At one point, I told him I was going to bite him! He's so lucky!! :) I could feel the baby moving down and I was sure I was making progress. I didn't even think to ask to be checked, all I knew was that this was not fun anymore. After 1 hour of pitocin I asked for my epidural. I know, I see it too. I went from natural birthing center birth to hospital pitocin and and epidural. They said the anesthesiologist was in a c-section, but would be out in about 30 min. I figured I might live that long. I don't think anybody realized I was watching the clock, but I was. After an hour, I asked where he was. That's when they told me another lady was at a 10, so he was with her. He would be there in 25 min. Walter did the math for me and said, 'Only 5 more contractions, you can do this!' Well, an hour later he walked in. I would have punched him in the face for taking so long, but he was a really buff guy and he did have my epidural for me, so I refrained! So, after about 3 hours of pitocin, I got my epidural. It was a beautiful thing. Walter and my mom both tried to get some sleep, as it was now 3:30. I turned on my hypnobirthing and tried to relax. I couldn't sleep. I was too uncomfortable. My midwife came in at about 5 and found that I was completely dilated! yeah!! So, we started pushing. At 5:35 he was born. The chord was wrapped around his neck twice, so they slipped it off of him and put him on my chest. He was silent and a little purple/blue. They rubbed his back and cleaned out his mouth and finally he started to breath. I have never been emotional at this point in labor, but this time I did cry. I was so happy he was finally here! All I could think was, he doesn't feel like 10 lbs. He felt tiny! We did some skin to skin contact while they got ready to cut the chord. I asked them to wait for it to stop pulsing. My midwife informed me that it had already stopped. It didn't pulse for long. It was a really thin chord. About as round as a pencil. I've had some healthy placentas and chords in the past and this thing looked nothing like them. It was yellow and skinny. It was now time to deliver the placenta, so the nurse and Walter took our baby over to weigh him and suction out his throat. He still sounded congested. My midwife, Jessica, asked me to push while she pulled on the chord. Then I heard a little pop, followed by a gasp and a couple of 'oh no!'s'. The chord had snapped off of the placenta, leaving it inside. The mood in the room changed completely. Jessica asked the nurse to call for the OB. She then told me what happened, but assured me I wasn't bleeding out. The OB came in and said, 'I'll try it once, then we head to the OR.' If he couldn't scoop the placenta out in one try then I would have to head straight in for a d&c and possibly a blood transfusion. Luckily, with one swoop he was able to get it out. It wasn't stuck to my uterine wall like Grady's was. I made sure to take a look at the placenta. I wish I had taken a picture. It was DONE! It looked like a partially cooked steak! Pretty scary, actually. The good news was I hadn't ripped much. I only needed about 2 stitches, but the bad news was that I had lost about 800 cc's of blood. They ran some blood tests to make sure I was ok. Thankfully the tests came back with good numbers and I was all clear. We stayed there for breakfast and then headed up to recovery. Oh, I almost forgot. Dax's stats. He weighed in at a tiny 8# .8 oz and 20 1/2 inches long. Walter headed to Carol's to get the kids and my mom and I (and baby Dax) tried to nap. We were all exhausted!! Walter picked up the kids and took them to get the baby and I a present. He also picked up pizza and cupcakes because, after all, it was Trae's birthday!! Trae got the biggest present he was asking for...that I would have the baby on his birthday! I finally got my twins, the easy way, 6 years apart! July 19th will forever be a BIG party at our house!

Too good for Facebook!

This story is just too good for facebook. I'm afraid the stories and cute things said that I put on FB are actually lost in the atmosphere. However, I feel they are safe here.

This cute little boy whom shall remain nameless...



Just asked me the sweetest question. One he asks a lot! But, this time he shared an answer he received from his father. Here's how it went down.

Trae: "Mom?"
Me: "Yes Trae?"
Trae: "Why are you and Dad in love? I mean, how did you fall in love?"
Me: "Well...."
Trae: "Oh, wait. I know! Dad told me. One day you were born. Oh wait, that's a different story. Um...Dad said it's cause you...wake...up...CRAZY!!"

Hahahahha!! Truer words were never spoken!

Weird Homeschooling Mormon!

*Warning! It's LONG!!

So, I've ventured into unknown territory. Somewhere I never thought I'd be. Well, not the weird part, or the Mormon part. I've always been those. Just the homeschooling part. Somewhere I plan on staying!! And I figure now that I'm committed, I should share it all with you. My name is Amber Gunter and I'm a WHM! In my head that stands for Weally Hot Momma! But in reality, I'm just a Weird Homeschooling Mom. And I love it!

Our choice to become homeschoolers came about with my kicking and screaming. Walter always wanted us to homeschool, but I didn't think I could do it. If my kids are anything like me, it wouldn't work! You see, my mom tried to teach me some things at home. Like, how to cook, make chocolate, make freezer jam, play the piano, can, etc. I had no desire to learn from her. I was convinced that those were things I didn't want to do and would just live forever with her so she could do them for me. Well, guess what? I love to do all those things, and everyday I find myself wanting to be more like my mom. I just wish she lived closer so she could teach me.

Anyway, I was convinced that I wouldn't be able to teach my kids. But guess what? We are learning together and having SO MUCH FUN!! How did I go from kicking and screaming to loving it? Let me tell you. There was a lot of blood sweat and tears. OK, maybe just the latter 2...thankfully! OK, now here is how we got here.

Last summer I was going back and forth as to what we were going to do for school in the Fall. I didn't realize they had Pre K out here at the public school, so I did Joy School with some other moms from church the year before. It was fun. Then I heard about PreK in our area and that it was ALL DAY!! I was in shock! I couldn't imagine sending my 4 yr old away all day. I mean, she is the one that helps me! She is very impressionable! She needs her mommy! Then it came time for Kindergarten. They changed the boundary for our school so it was no longer all day PreK, but Kindergarten is all day here! SERIOUSLY!! I don't think I'm in UTAH anymore!! So at the last minute, as in 2 weeks before school started, I decided Grady needed some personal mom time and enrolled both Winni (all day Kindergarten) and Trae (1/2 day PreK) in school. They were to ride the bus to and from school. But when I learned that the bus would pick Winni up at 710 AM and she would have breakfast at school I decided I would take her. Luckily my good friend Stacey offered to drive her for me. It was really a blessing. My kids aren't even up at that hour, let alone dressed and out the door.

Winni and Trae both loved their teachers. I really liked them, too. I just didn't love that they got my kids all day. I had a hard time with the idea that I was sending my kids to school, well rested and happy and they came home exhausted and cranky. And then I had to do homework with them. It really strained my relationships with them. Winni started asking me to pick her up from school. Actually, she started demanding it. Trae would still ride the bus home, but Winni would come home with me. Something was going on and she was begging me to hold her tighter. One day I was late getting to the school to pick her up so they put her on the bus. I got there before the bus left and she saw me and ran off the bus crying. My heart was broken! Then she started asking me to homeschool her. I was a little shocked. She has great friends at school, was learning a lot and loved her teacher, but she wanted to be home. I personally believe that something was going on either at school or on the bus that was scaring her or making her feel unsafe. Or maybe she just knew I needed something like this so that I would do what I knew I was supposed to do. My little girl was changing, she was getting quiet, angry, and very tired. We decided that we would let her and Trae finish out the semester and then we would bring them home. Let me tell you, their last day of school was really hard on me. I cried when I rode with Stacey to take her to school, I cried all day, I cried when I picked her up, I cried the day before, and the day after. One lady from church asked me if somebody had died! You would think so. But really, someone was coming back to life. I knew in my heart that homeschooling was right for my family like I had known nothing so strongly before. I had never felt so right about anything in my life, except for marrying Walter. It was that strong! And that emotional! I was terrified and excited. I was unprepared and ready for anything. All I knew was that I had my kids at home with me and God would guide the rest.

So, we started after New Years. I can't say I didn't question myself, cause I did, a lot! But somehow we have figured things out and continue on. I let Trae play for the rest of the year. If he wanted to join us in Math, he did. We focused on Math and Reading for Winni and all the other subjects just happened in life. It was great. I got to see the a-ha moments in my children's lives. We had so much fun! Everything we did counted as educational. Now this year has started. I've got Winni in 1st Grade

 

and Trae in Kindergarten.

 

We are trying to stay close to the TJEd philosphy as much as I feel comfortable. My goal is to teach my kids how to be whole people! To teach them how to give back to society. To be contributors. To know how to care for themselves and others. That is my top priority right now. You know, to teach them to be more like me! :) I also want to play with my kids. To learn through play and to have a good time doing it! When my daughter is laughing hysterically during Math, I think we are off to a good start!

AWESOME ACADEMY is IN SESSION!!

 

my husbands and his mobile antics...

so, my husband decided to look into mobile apps and ran into this:
www.memeapps.com
He says it is a neat idea and might help him break into the app world and might also help with some cross-platform issues, but it is still new. So, if you are looking for something fun to do, give it a go!!

Blogworthy...for rizzle!

Today started as any other day does. My 3 oldest were in my bed!

But everything after that went differently. Trae asked me if we could read scriptures. We are currently reading 1 Nephi and are to the part where the Spirit has told Nephi to kill Laban. Nephi is struggling with the thought of killing a man. We are in the middle of his questioning of the spirit. Trae said, 'Mom, we gotta read scriptures so we can find out if Nephi killed Laban the bad guy!' There was my paycheck. He was listening to what we were reading! I was so excited. Then we had breakfast and decided to start getting ready for General Conference to begin. We called Kristen and invited her and her girls over for a fun filled day of hearing from the Prophet and Conference crafts. I had received an email the night before from Walter saying he was finally USA bound and would be in Key West sometime today. I was looking forward to hearing from him. When I realized that the Caller ID was telling me that he was calling from his cell phone I got all sorts of excited! If his phone was on and usable then he was on home turf! yeah!!

So, we talk for a little while and he tells me how the weather is beautiful in FL and I tell him it's frigid here! He asked me what we had for lunch, I told him about our bean and cheese burritos. He said he was about to head out for oysters in a half shell, whatever that means! All I knew was he was eating gourmet and we were eating from a can. As I talk to him I am still entertaining Kristen and her girls, so I'm halfway his. I hear a knock at the door and figure it's just one of the kids. Then I see a weird car out front. So I head for the door and you know what??? THEY'RE HOME! Who's 'they' you ask?

THEY...



No, not him and that virgin daiquiri, him and that mustache! Apparently it didn't bother me all that much, well maybe it did. The neighbor did hear me scream and came out to see which of my kids (he probably thought it was Grady) had fallen and if I needed help! Once he realized what all the fuss was about he went back to working on his car. Back to me, I screamed and hugged him and (might have) kissed that mustache face! For the first time, out of the 5 times he's deployed, I cried when he returned. I think it was the surprise of it all, but I am so happy he surprised us! Turns out, he is a better liar then I thought!

So, before Kristen and girls ran away from us crazies, we got her to take a picture for us. Don't mind the pasty white no-longer-single mother of 4 who looks like she could use a beach vacation look that I'm sporting. It's what I do. Embrace it!



And, of course, proof that I kissed that nasty lip, even if it was painful



He was promptly sent up the stairs to shower and rid himself of those 5 hairs on his upper lip!

Also, it was very surprising to me that, within about 1 hour of him arriving home, I became exhausted! Just knowing that he was home, safe, and ready for daddy duty, my brain must have released some melatonin and I was ready for a nap! Ahhh....HE'S BACK!

Valentine's Day

I know. Don't hurt yourself trying to figure out how I made it all the way to Valentines Day on the actual Day of Valentines! I'm trying to keep you on your toes.

I'm not one to love Valentine's Day. In fact, growing up I disliked Valentines the most. You see, I went to a different school than my neighborhood/church friends. Because of this I felt that I needed/wanted to deliver Valentine's at night to them doing the ol door bell ditch method. It was so fun. However, nobody brought me a Valentine. Every Valentine's Day I would sit in the living room waiting for someone to ring the doorbell so I could run and find a Valentine for me, but it didn't happen. My sister got Valentines. I didn't like her very much. I guess I was a little obvious in my sorrowful state and my sister had the nerve to decide she was going to try to make me happy. She delivered a Valentine to my door, doorbell ditch style. I was so excited, until I found out it was from her. I'm sure I was ornery about it, but to this day I remember how much she loved me. I remember her thoughtfulness like it was yesterday. I was probably cranky to her about it because I always looked up to her and to think that she wanted to do something to bring me joy and happiness was more than I could understand. But I get it now, and every year I think about my sister Julie on Valentines Day.

So, with that dirty laundry out there drying, we'll move on to this Valentine's Day. I wanted to make it special for my kids. Since I pulled them out of public school and started homeschooling them (what? I didn't get to that part in my catch up? Ooops. I will. It comes after Christmas. :)) I was worried they would feel left out of holidays like this. We still bought Valentines and made them for some of the kids friends. But from me, they got an experience. I found this fun idea at Gourmet Mom on the Go

They sat down for dinner and were handed a menu. The menu looked like this on the cover...

Then inside was where they placed their order. On the blank line they wrote the corresponding number for what they wanted during that course. But, of course, they didn't have the 'translation' available to them.

Winni was pretty excited when her first Course was the Ice Cream Sundae, Orange crush, and a toothpick.

Maeli's first course was Orange Crush (orange soda), jam and a toothpick. I have to say, she is the only one who didn't complain that they didn't have the right stuff. :) And she did awesome with that toothpick.

Grady is easily pleased! His first course was a toothpick, a napkin, and Parmesan Cheese. He thought he hit the jackpot!

Traes first course was a knife, a napkin and an ice cream sundae. He was so excited that he got the ice cream just like Winni. Then he realized he didn't have a spoon, just a knife. At that point he didn't want to play the game anymore, but we forced him to. It's called Forced Family Fun for a reason!! (thanks Lori!)



The meal was 4 courses long. I think Maeli is the only one that touched her food before the final course. She was done with her jam before I could get her her 2nd course. What a good girl. Since this was so much fun, and I was surprised at how well my kids ordered, here is the rundown of their meal.

Winni
2nd- knife, jam, and a roll I was really impressed with that one!
3rd- napkin, spaghetti sauce, noodles
4th- cheese, spoon, carrots, fork

Trae
2nd- fork, toothpick, cheese this was just like adding fuel to the fire. At one point he got up and got himself a spoon. He was determined to eat his ice cream first. He eventually just used his fork!
3rd- roll, jam, carrots
4th- orange crush, spaghetti sauce, noodles, spoon his beloved spoon, and he had no ice cream left!

Grady
2nd- carrots, knife, ice cream sundae
3rd- noodles, spoon, fork
4th- orange crush, jam, spaghetti sauce, roll

Maeli
2nd- roll, spaghetti sauce, noodles
3rd- spoon, carrots, fork
4th- ice cream sundae, knife, napkin, cheese

Daddy of course I made him play!
1st- napkin, roll, spoon
2nd- ice cream sundae, toothpick, noodles
3rd- orange crush, fork, spaghetti sauce
4th- knife, carrots, jam, cheese

I was surprised that nobody got spaghetti sauce before noodles. They were all fairly good sports. As you can see, Winni, Trae, and Grady got ice cream before spaghetti. Although they didn't eat it right when they got it, they did eat it before touching their spaghetti...and then they were full! I think my kids know that I love them. They are pretty awesome! Love you monkeys!