Back in time...

Since this is supposed to be my journal, I feel like I need to add a little here. I can't believe how little I have written lately. So I am going to go back in time a little bit here. And maybe I can remember everything about the last 2 months...

October. Wow. Busy. That is what I have to say about that. I was working out at Realife for most of the month. Anytime they needed me to work-I found a way. I enjoy working out there-most of the time. The getting home at 3 or 4 in the morning gets a little old! But it mixes up my life, and lets me get out of the house, and it pays for most of Christmas. Can't complain about that!

David took the month off of teaching. Which was nice. He was a little burnt out b/c in September he was gone a couple of the weekends, AND he was teaching EVERY night. Unfortunately, even though he took off teaching at night for the month, he was gone for the first 3 weekends b/c he had to go to the coast and get all the checkouts done for all the classes he taught in September. Oh well, at least he was home at night. It is nice to have him come home from work, and then actually BE there for the evening, instead of choking down some food and running out the door.

Eli turned 3! Hooray for him!!! There was no school on his birthday, so I got a babysitter and took him to Red Robin for lunch. He LOVED it! Then we had his party that night. David always complains that I go overboard with my kids' parties (he is right), so I put him in charge for this one. Bad idea. I was stressed out the whole time. David isn't very good at planning ahead. And I knew that Eli wanted a Buzz Lightyear party, which you have to order on line b/c the stores don't stock Buzz anymore. Which I did tell David that a month before Eli's party. Guess what David did?!?! Nothing! A few days before the party David came and asked me where he could find some Buzz Lightyear stuff. Are you kidding me!?!?! He ordered some stuff and got VERY lucky. It arrived AS I was loading the kids in the car to go to Chuck-E-Cheese. David decided that it would be easier to have a party there, where he could just run around with his cousins and we wouldn't have to clean up afterward. He was right. Eli had a blast. But being the crappy mom that I am-I forgot the camera! SORRY!!!!

Halloween....I always look forward to Halloween. I like thinking of fun and cute costumes for my kids. But then all of the sudden Halloween is here, and I have NO idea what I am actually going to dress my kids in. Somehow it worked out this year. When David got home from work, we went to Larry's house and my dad's house. (this kids HAD to go see David's friend Larry). Then we went to our ward Trunk-or-Treat. David borrowed Dan's gorilla costume and he scared ALL of the kids to death!There were a couple of kids that ran up touched the gorilla, and then ran off as FAST as they could. It was funny how many people couldn't figure out how David got in the costume, and how the gorilla was walking. After the Trunk-Or-Treating we took our babysitter home with us, and left her with some very sugared up kids and David and I headed to a party that Nancie was having. I don't think that I have worn a costume for Halloween since I was in middle school. We looked like dorks, but we had a lot of fun!

November. I can't believe how fast it went by! On the 1st, we went to Walla Walla to visit Mike and Misti and fam. They had a haunted house in their basement, and they were turning it on for one more night. David really wanted to go through it so we went to visit. I was surprised to see which of my kids actually went through it. Kaden wouldn't. He was too scared. He did after the sound was off and then lights were on, but not when it was dark and loud. Kylie went through it-A LOT!!! She loved it. She even took Eddie with her a few times. He didn't mind most of it. What bothered him the most was the pictures that they had hanging that looked 3-d. He didn't care about all the spiders, and skeletons or anything. Just the pictures. Eli finally went through it when there was no sound and he had a flashlight. It was pretty cute watching them come up to tell me that they had gone through it again and again!

We went to Port Angeles for a wedding. And before you ask-NO we didn't go to Forks. I know, I should be hung. BUT in my defense, we just didn't have the time. We considered staying another night, but we decided it would be better to leave at 9 pm right after the reception so that the kids would sleep the whole way home (which they did!). The trip was a lot of fun though. We got to David's aunt Judy's Friday night and stayed way too late talking. Then Saturday morning we went to see the ocean, and there was a small little aquarium thing that the kids had fun looking at fish and even touching a few. (YUCK!) Then we went to Judy's house again until it was time to head to the church for the wedding. Kylie was the flower girl and Kaden was the bible boy. I was really worried b/c my kids are pretty shy. But I promised that I would take them to Toys-R-Us and let them pick a toy if they did what they were supposed to. They agreed. Kylie had NO idea what she was supposed to do. And unfortunately we didn't have time to practice before people started to arrive. So I quickly explained that she was supposed to take the petals and throw them in front of her as she walked.

I don't think that she understood. I was sitting near the front (so that the kids could come sit by me during the ceremony) and I couldn't see when she came in. BUT I could hear the laughter. I didn't have a clue what my kids were doing, but I knew it wasn't good. My face turned bright red as I slid over to try and see what was going on. Kaden gave up on waiting for Kylie and he walked up to the front gave the guy the bible, and then turned to walk to sit next to me. When I finally saw Kylie she was facing the wrong way, kneeling down on the floor fixing the flower petals. When I told her to "throw the petals in front as she walked" she took that as " arrange them neatly in a straight line about 4-5 inches apart." She took SO long. We sent Kaden to go get her, and when he tried to grab her hand, as instructed, she jerked away from him and scowled in his direction before continuing on with her job. SORRY JUDY AND JONQUILLE!

Twilight came out! Stacey and some of her friends reserved the theater for Friday morning at 10 am. There were around 85 or so women-NO kids or husbands. It was lot of fun. They had prizes for a quiz that they, I mean Bella Swan, sent out the week before. And they had the theatre decorated. Thank you Stacey and friends for doing all that work and making it a lot of fun!

For Thanksgiving we went to my parents house. We ate too much food, and then we played games and the kids rode bikes. Unfortunately we started another project that we shouldn't have that weekend. We decided to build another flower bed in our back yard. Which doesn't sound all that bad except that to build it where we want it means building a 3 foot retaining wall first! Sorry David!!

Well, that was October and November. I will try to get back soon to write about December. Enjoy some pictures!!!

Favorites

Okay, so I have never really had a FAVORITE niece or nephew, (okay, that might not be true, when Alaina was born-NO one was cuter or smarter than she.) But, since having my own kids, mine are always the closest in my heart.

Tonight that changed. I now have a favorite nephew. I may just love him more than my own children at this time.

We were in Walla Walla tonight, visiting with Mike and Misti, when I got a phone call from Jannelle. She said that she had a story to tell me about a conversation she had with Zachary. Here is what happened...

Jannelle: (after seeing Zachary dressed up as a Knight) "Oh Zachary, do you want to kiss the beautiful maiden?"

Zachary: "Mom, you aren't beautiful."

Jannelle: "I'm not? Well then who is?"

Zachary: " Kaden's Mom."

Okay, so that isn't the EXACT translation, but that is the gist of it. Isn't he a sweet heart? I may need to re-think his Christmas present....

New hair growth hormone found in formula...

The weekend

David was gone this past weekend (yet, again!) and for some reason I feel as if EVERY project I have on my "to do" list HAS to get done THAT weekend. I don't know why, but it seems to work that way. The closet HAS to be cleaned while he is gone, the garage HAS to be organized while he is gone, EVERY quilt I have started HAS to be finished before he gets back. Needless to say, it never happens. In fact most of the time I don't even get to the "to do" list that I already have written b/c I also feel the need to add at least 10 things to the list that are MUCH more important to get done.

Hence this weekend....

He left Friday afternoon, and so I knew I would have 2 1/2 days to finish all my tasks. Here are some of the things I had planned...

1. Paint Kylie and Kaden's room
2. Paint Eli and Eddies room
3. Make curtains for both rooms
4. Decorate both rooms
5. Clean the coat closet
6. Go through ALL the clothes tubs, de-junk, and put away summer clothes, then organize in different closet. (Which by the way would mean cleaning that different closet)
7. Sew on the borders of 2 quilts I have started, and pin to backs. (and if time, start tying and/or quilting)
8. Do projects with kids
9. Clean all the rooms in the house so when David gets home, it will be spotless!

Now what I got done...

1. painted both rooms (well, almost, I ran out of the blue paint in Eli's room, so I will still have to finish that)
2. Made curtains for one room (I don't like the material I bought for the other room anymore)
3. Put up SOME of the decorations in one of the rooms
4. Boiled all the fish in my kids fish tank (Ooops, that cord that was unplugged behind the dresser was unplugged for a reason!)
5. Made 3 pumpkin decorations with Stacey. (Yes, I know, that was not on my list, but like I said, I tend to add on to that list)
6. Let my house get messier than it has in a long time

Well, there you have it. I barely made a dent in my "to do" list. And unfortunately most of those that I did accomplish were only added on to my list...Friday. (The kids' rooms were a last minute add-on). I am not sure what makes me think that I will be able to accomplish so much when David is gone. I can hardly get things done when he is here. Why on earth would I be able to do more when I am home alone with 5 kids? Oh well, there is always this weekend..... :)


I added the pictures of the pumpkins Stacey and I made. We used 2 different patterns. What set do you like best? (I am not telling you who made which set)

And I thought I had a bad headache...

This morning I had to run to Costco. And yes, I took all the kids. And yes, I was asked 50 times if they were all mine, if any were twins, and how old they are (every time I go to Costco with the kids, I am bombarded with questions from just about everybody I pass-it gets old.)

Anyway, after 1 1/2 hours of roaming the store, pulling one cart, and pushing another-we ate some lunch and hurried home to get Kaden off to school. When we got home, I went to open Eli's door, and realized a little to late that he was trying to open it from the inside.

He fell out of the car and landed FLAT on his face. No joke-FLAT on his face. His nose was bleeding and I could tell that he was going to have a big goose egg in the middle of his forehead. The poor kid. He was not very happy. And he really didn't like it when I put the frozen bag of peas and carrots on his head. (That bag has been living in my freezer for a LONG time. We don't actually use it for anything else except as an ice pack). I took a picture of him right after it happened.

It looked worse after his nap, but I didn't get a picture. I wonder what it will look like in the morning...

What happens when you send 3 kids upstairs to get dressed by themselves...

So, I may have left a little out....

Okay, David wants me to add to my last blog. He doesn't like what I said about our anniversary. So I will add to it-just for him!

It is true that the evening of our anniversary we went to Taco Time and Target, but I left out that that afternoon I had gotten Ashley to come over and watch my kids so that I could surprise David with a lunch at Olive Garden. He LOVES to go to Olive Garden for lunch and get the soup, salad, and bread sticks. I think it is b/c he is cheap. :)

I had the idea to go to Taco Time for dinner. My parents were eating it when we dropped the kids off at their house. And I really wasn't that hungry. And the thought of spending a bunch of money for a "nice dinner" when I wasn't hungry didn't really sound fun to me. (Okay, so I am cheap too!) AND the idea to go to Target after eating was my idea as well. There aren't really any movies out that I want to see. And the flies in my house were driving me NUTS. So it isn't Davids fault. He was kind enough to watch me look at clothes at Target. Which I know he did NOT enjoy. And I appreciate that.

He also wants me to let everyone know that he DID surprise me with a 3 hour appt. at the day spa last Friday. He came home and watched the kids while I went and had a 1 hour Swedish massage, a 1 hour facial and a 1 hour pedicure. Which I enjoyed immensely. (Well, not so much the pedicure. The lady giving me my pedicure liked to TALK. And we didn't exactly agree on most topics.....or any actually. It wasn't exactly relaxing.) But I did enjoy myself. So thank you David. But you better be careful, b/c I could DEFINITELY become addicted to spending my days like that. And that would be a very expensive addiction.......