I'm Trying To Be Cool...

...Before this hectic week is over and I turn into a mean mommy again.

Yesterday I got this crazy idea to make a pumpkin cake for dessert. My dang camera batteries were dying, so I didn't get cute pictures of the kids eating the cake. I had my sister and her family over for dessert and we had a good time. So, along with my one dang picture of the cake just picture six little girls and two sweet little boys playing dress-ups, having tea parties, and a bloody nose or two and you have our get-together.

Yep, there's me being festive (or attempting it!) But I am trying to be a good mom and have fun with the kids. Trying is the key word here.

And wanna hear what else? Stephanie and I checked out our girls from school today and took them to see HSM3. The girls have been dying to see it and were so excited that it came out over the weekend. So, what's a mom to do when her daughter wants to see a movie, but mommy is too lazy to fight crowds to get tickets on the opening day? Yep, you check them out of school and go when the theater is dead! So, we surprised them today and did just that. This is the four of them just before we left the school.

And in the parking lot before we left to go to Maverik on the way to the theater (so we could buy drinks to sneak in, of course!) They are so darling!

And now, I think I need to save my "good mommy" energy. I have a week that includes a Halloween parade on Thursday, followed by Lana's preschool Halloween thing that same morning. Then the actual Halloween day with all of its sugar is just enough to make this mommy tired and grumpy. I will put on a smile and keep trying to be a cool mommy for the rest of the week and have a festive spirit.

Then I get to welcome my old, grumpy mommy self back next week.:) No more being fun and festive until Thanksgiving.

Red Ribbon Week

I love Red Ribbon Week! The kids all get to do something fun with their clothes each day of the week (along with some other fun activities.) Here is a rundown of the week:

Monday was WEAR RED day. So, obviously, we wore RED!!! I even took pictures of Rylee's hair because she made sure that the hair was even appropriate for each day. Funny girl.

And don't forget the nails. They too MUST be RED!

And the cute little group Rylee walks to school with. This is her and Amelia and another cute little boy in the neighborhood. They all looked so cute in their red attire.

Tuesday was "Drugs Will Turn Your Life Inside Out and Upside Down Day." So, we had her wear her clothes inside out. The tank top that is on the outside is usually underneath the long sleeve shirt, and her pants were turned inside out.

Then we did her hair in "upside down" French braids. She LOVED this one!



And, again, the three cute, crazy kids! Look how funny they are. Amelia kept putting her hood over her face since it was on backwards. But I made her put it down so I could get her cute face. It was funny to see all of them giggling because their clothes were so funny that day. They were HYPER that morning! It was great!

Wednesday was walk to school day and they were supposed to wear green to symbolize healthy choices over drugs. So, here are all of the kids in their green attire getting ready to "walk to school," (like that is out of the ordinary!):

Thursday was "Hugs, Not Drugs Day." They wore their pajamas to school and took a stuffed animal. I LOVED this day. There is something so great about wearing pajamas to school!

The whole group thought it was great too! They are so cute. It will be a sad day when they think they are too big to carry a stuffed animal to school for fun.

And today was "Sock it to Drugs and Alcohol Day." They were supposed to wear crazy socks. Here's Rylee!

And a close-up of the socks:

I couldn't get a group shot today because I had to take Rylee to school this morning so she could take a project and not ruin it. This leads me to our other fun story for the week...

Today they could choose to participate in a "Creature Feature" contest in which they were supposed to make something out of fruits and vegetables to help remind them to make healthy food choices. I was NOT HAPPY about helping Rylee last night. She insisted on participating in this, and I just was not in the mood and am definitely NOT creative. I was paralyzed. So this is what we came up with:

So we drive to school today, and I reminded her to not feel bad if she didn't win a prize. I was not feeling confident about our creation at all, but she participated and had to be happy with that. So, she comes home from school today all excited with a huge bucket full of stuff (really, LOTS of stuff) and says that she won first prize for "Most Colorful." I had to laugh. It would win first prize for THAT. It may not be pretty, but it sure is colorful! Hehehe.

Bubble Butts

Last night, while the two younger kids were being sweet and playing the way little kids should,

Rylee got a brilliant idea. "Hey, let's get these innocent little toys and turn them into something that is more fun!"

And then, of course Lana had to get in on the fun.

Is she sticking out her belly to balance the weight the way I do when I'm pregnant?

She's a little uneven. Maybe some more lunges on that right side?

Yep, they definitely take after their mom. Big buns and all. That does give me an idea though. I am "chestily challenged" (yeah, I know that totally isn't a word, but it is the best way I can describe it.) Maybe that is what I should stuff my bra with. And they come in all different sizes! Okay, I'll just quit now. This is going nowhere fast!

HOLLA!!!

My MOM has decided to cave and join the blogging ranks. So, will you all go and give her little "Hello and welcome to the world of blogging" for me? I would really appreciate it. I want her to love it and get hooked like the rest of us!

I am so proud of her. She is not very comfortable AT.ALL. with computers, so this is a leap for her. YEAH to her for learning something new!

Go MOM!!!

Tagged!!!

My darling cousin, Ashley, tagged me! I have been stewing over this one since she tagged me. I am so boring. I mean, really. This one is a seven random things tag. Honestly, I can't think of seven interesting things about me. But I'll give it a whirl:

~ I can't remember the last time that Bill and I were able to just sleep in until whenever we woke up. It has been YEARS. I would SOOOO love to go on a vacation with him and be able to just sleep in and not have an alarm or kids wake us up. (Can you tell I am tired because a little Kate was awake half the night last night?)

~ Sometimes I still crave a cold cereal that they used to make when I was a kid. (When I was pregnant I craved them SO bad.) What cereal is it you ask? SMURFBERRY CRUNCH! Does anyone remember that stuff? It had pinkish/red and dark purple/blue crunchy berries. It was delicious. I wish they (whoever "they" is) would bring that stuff back. Another food I really miss: PBMax Candy Bars. Remember those little gems? Ooooh, I would love to eat one. Who was the stinker that got rid of those without asking me first?

~ One of these days, Bill and I would love to take up golf. Bill and I keep saying that we want to learn and when we retire (if that ever happens in this economy) we want to play golf together every day. For now, we'll have to stick to racquetball. We don't even have a lot of time for that.:(

~ I love the smell of Drakkar cologne. It reminds me of the first few dates that Bill and I went on. He let me borrow his jacket, like a true gentleman, when we went to a hockey game and I was freezing. I kept my nose in that coat all night. Even now when I smell the stuff, I get all nostalgic.

~ I have one quirk that just makes me weird. I HATE to go out to eat. Most people love not having to cook their food and clean it up. I don't like eating food that I can't see where it came from. But give me a backyard BBQ with friends any day, and I will be there in a flash.

~ Bill and I made a bet about three years ago. He said that he was betting that I would be the Relief Society President within ten years. I said that there was no way in heck that will happen EVER in my lifetime, let alone ten years. If I win, I get a trip to Hawaii (with Bill, of course, so he can't complain.) If he wins, we take a trip to San Francisco and go to a 49ers game. I think we are looking at Hawaii in seven years. I am doing my best to make sure I won't ever be the Relief Society President. :) And I don't know if we want to waste money on 49ers tickets any time soon because they, um, stink right now. Shhhh. Don't tell Bill I said that.

~ When I was a little girl (maybe 4?), I was playing at my aunt and uncle's house with my cousin. We were in their unfinished basement and we saw the drain on the floor. My cousin dared me to pee in the drain. I told him I would if he would. He agreed and told me to go first. I did, but I first made him promise to not tell his mom about it. He promised and then promised he would do it after me. So I peed down the drain and he went running upstairs to tell his mom. I was so embarrassed and I had to call my aunt and apologize later that night. Moral of the story: Don't be gullible like me. I am still kind of a gullible sucker. (I'm pretty sure I would fall for the "Did you know gullible isn't in the dictionary" joke if someone wouldn't have explained it to me first.)

So there you go. Seven random things. Wasn't that fun?!?!

Now I get to tag seven people. I am tagging: Tai, Jamie, Jenn H., April, Deb, Katherine, and Andrea. Have fun ladies! Can't wait to read your posts! And if anyone else would like to play along, feel free!

A New Meaning...

For the term Port-a-Potty:

Dang, I could make a killing by combining a walker/potty. The old and very young alike could both enjoy such a commodity. (Hehe - I just realized that commodity sounds like commode.:) Sorry, warped sense of humor.)

Kate loves this mode of transportation. And before you get totally grossed out by the fact that she is carting around a drink and her binkie in the, uh, business section of the potty, I must clarify one thing: This has NEVER been used for its intended purposes!:) Hayden got it for his birthday and has never even attempted to use it. But Kate has sure found a good use for it! Maybe she'll beat him to using it for its intended purpose!

My Little Tenderhearted Daughter

This is the cutest thing. I was just barely in my bathroom doing my hair for the day when Lana came in.

I had put on Monsters Inc. for the kids to watch while I was getting dressed and ready. So Lana comes in and gives me a hug and says, "Do you know why I have tears?"

I said, "Oh, you're sad? What's wrong?"

She says, "I have tears because I was cwying (spelled the way she says it because it just makes it that much cuter) because Boo had to go home and she will miss Sully."

I gave her a hug and she just kept crying. We haven't watched the movie much, so I told her she needed to come in the family room with me to watch the end because Sully gets to see Boo again. She got excited and ran in here with me, and it is now the end of the movie and she has a little giddy laugh going on because Boo got to see Sully again.

My cute girl is crying over a movie! She is definitely more sensitive than I am. I know I could count on one hand the number of movies that have made me cry. I just don't cry over movies. But, thankfully, I have a daughter who isn't like her heartless mother.

What's New?

We have been having lots of fun the last few days at our house.

We got a new dining room set last week. We really needed it because we were down to two chairs with our old set. We have two bar stools, and Kate still sits in her seat, so at every meal either Bill or I was left fasting. Okay, not really, but we couldn't sit together as a family at the table for dinner. We used to have three good chairs, but when the kids put a hole through the back of the third good one, we decided it was REALLY time to get a new set. (I was kind of glad that chair got ruined, if you want to know the truth. I HATED that dining set!) So, now we have this new set with EIGHT chairs! AND we still have the bar stools. Any one want to come over for dinner? We have room for you to sit now!

This past week and for half of the day today we actually had company - FOUR little extra ones to be exact. I watched a friends' four kids while they were in Hawaii, so we actually filled the new dining room table last week. Kinda fun. So if you were wondering if we are planning to have more kids to fill up the table, the answer is NO!!! I'm definitely good with my four. Those four extra kids are good kids; it is just a LOT of little bodies to get fed, dressed, and groomed for the day. WOW! But can I just tell you that Bill and I are super parents?!?!?! We had all of the kids asleep by 8:15 on Thursday night. Yep, you can pat me on the back. So what did Bill and I do you ask? Nope, not that, you sickos! We went to sleep! I needed ENERGY to be able to get up and get that many kids ready in the morning (and to do it with a smile!)

Okay, so on to another new thing. Kate got some new PJ's from Bill's parents for her birthday, and she just looks like such a big girl, so I had to take a picture.

And she is showing you her newest obsession: Chocolate milk! She has picked that up from Hayden. I finally am starting to just give her a cup of chocolate milk so she doesn't have to swipe Hayden's and make him mad.

And Kate's other new trick (kinda makes me sad, but she is so darn cute!):

She was so cute. My mom was visiting and was kind of a "grandma sandwich" on the floor between Hayden and Kate when Kate decided to show off her new found standing abilities. Now I keep catching her standing up in the middle of the room clapping for herself. (And just so you know, I really do her hair, but she rips it out as soon as it's done. Stinker!)

Bill and I also have a new hobby (I guess you could call it a hobby?) He bought a copy of this book for us a couple of weeks ago:

We just started it last night, and can I tell you (shamefully) that for the first time EVER, I am so excited about reading the Book of Mormon? If you haven't ever read this book or used it with your Book of Mormon study, I highly recommend it. There is so much insight in it and it doesn't just give a few notes to read along the way. It contains the entire chapters of scripture with notes inserted. IT IS AWESOME! Bill and I were eating it up last night. And it leads to some interesting conversation as well. So if you read it, I would also recommend reading it with someone you can discuss it with. (And just so you know, there are three books in the series. This one goes through Mormon. But they are totally worth the money!)

Well, now that I have rambled on long enough, maybe I should go and pay attention to my kids. THAT would be something new today! Those poor kids are so neglected on cleaning day. But my cleaning day is done now and I can take care of them! :)