What a Day!

Seriously, what a day!

I had a crappy night because I was all alone in the big, dark house. Jake is on the road, mom and dad are out of town. It's scary and vulnerable here! After restless sleep, I jumped awake at 9 AM--overslept by an hour! Luckily, I heard no screaming from the kids, they were happily just playing. I know, I love them! Then I opened the door....

Bad, rotten stench. Lukey had thrown up everywhere! There were massive chunks of pizza all over the place. So gross! Who knows how long he'd been sitting in it!! Let's not think about that. Got him out, undressed him, got Cooper. Turns out all 3 kids were poopy, Cooper with diarrhea. Then Luke pooped again right after I changed him. Having already lost an hour, I was running like a chicken with my head cut off to get everything done before church--now including cleaning up nasty throw up all over the place--and trying to make a cute Enrichment poster. Went to church and had all 3 kids in sacrament by myself. NIGHTMARE! They were actually well behaved, but we sound like a jungle. I cannot get them to understand how to whisper.

Home from church and rushing to get house cleaned up, scrub out the nasty pack and play, and dinner cooked. Luke kicks the living daylights out of Ethan. Over and over. I am irate! Want to bop him, but I don't. I'm not sure he knew what he was doing (long story).

Fix dinner for us and Allred's, Luke starts kicking Lincoln. That boy is trouble. Time out for him. A while later I tell him he can get down and then I went back to my room to straighten things up. Well, about 45 minutes later he still hasn't come back. I went out to find him...
Totally sleeping. If that's not cute! I guess he didn't hear me tell him he could get down and sat in that chair for a good hour. Poor kid. Made my day end well, though.

One Small Step for Most, One Giant Leap for Cooper

I want to do it. I really do. So, I set Cooper up on the toilet with a movie. He had soda for drinking and gumballs for rewards. Near the end of the movie, he finally peed. Yeah! We kept his underwear on and then he peed all over the place 30 minutes later. Argh! I'm so frustrated! I don't know if I'm ready for this yet, anyhow. One day.

Dad's in Charge/Grandkid #24

Jake gave me the day off to go to Women's Conference. I warned him that it wasn't in his best interest to sit in front of the TV all day with the kids. He went above and beyond. I was so grateful to go to Women's Conference. There was a phenomenal opening talk and I was really touched by the spirit. The spirit has been a stranger lately. I go to church every week, but I will be the first to admit that I don't hear a darn thing between wrangling all 3 kids. It was amazingly wonderful to feel touched and edified again. Maybe in another 3 years I'll have another spiritual experience:).
Jake even picked out outfits and got the kids dressed. Cute, huh? This is Cooper's "prophet" outfit. He is positively sure that he is a prophet when he wears a tie. I don't want to tell him the truth and break his little heart. His ears are simply too small to ever qualify for a prophet calling.

We had the pleasure of watching Linc and Ella this last week when grandkid #24 joined the ranks, Quincy Theodore Allred. Look at this poser!! Adorable!
Here's Quincy. Cutest little guy!

Mom turned ...38. Yeah! I made her this delicious Strawberry Cream Puff Cake from my sister's recipe stash. Check out the recipe on our cooking blog. Happy Birthday Mom, we love you!

Pluthera of 2-3 Year Olds

We have a strange amount of 2-3 year olds. And...they're mostly boys. I'm telling you, there is a trend going on and it's very male oriented.

Anyhow, We went to a Fall Fun place this last week and I thought I'd show the "kodak's".

First, a hay ride through a strangely decorated forest. It kind of looked like someone went yard sale-ing and picked up all the tacky things they could find and then threw them into a forest. The kids though it was beautiful!:)
Then we had to guess the weight on this pumpkin--but get this, in the end, the place didn't even know the weight of it! I'm in it for the competition, I wanna know how close I was!
This part was really fun. They got to make their own scarecrows. Very clever. I want to know where they picked up this fabulous purple hat!
And racoon hat!
Here is my pluthera of 2-3 year old's. I love that my kids have so many friends to play with, but play group is CRAZY!

Xx-Argh!

I finally got off my lazy bum, bit the bullet, and just did Xx. It turned out to be one of our favorite! We made this cool picture and then went online and looked up creepy x-ray pictures. The boys had a blast!

November Goals

Don't worry. I haven't given up on making goals I just haven't officially blogged them. I know many of your have been eagerly anticipating my list!

1. Perfect the Christmas hymns on the piano.
2. Make rolls for Thanksgiving that are actually good and tasty.
3. Make stellar Thanksgiving favors.
4. Reach my goal weight--FINALLY!
5. Finish the alphabet crafts with Cooper.
6. Make Froot Loop necklaces--and eat it!
7. Give at least one sincere compliment a day.
8. See "New Moon". Only once.
9. Go canoeing with the kids.
10. Plan a fun, different, creative date for Jake.

Crafts

Wow! I have really been bad lately. We have squeezed in a few crafts and they were really fun ones on that. I've been dragging my feet on the letter "X" because I don't know what to do for it...any suggestions?


Did you know that Dr Seuss wrote a book called Bartholomew and the Oobleck? Well, he did! It's actually a cute book and there is an oobleck craze out there. Now I know why.This stuff is so cool! It has this incredible texture that never ceases to amaze. It's solid until you touch it and then it turns liquid. I literally had to drag Coop away to get him to stop playing with it. If you want to know how to make it look "oobleck" up on the internet. It's simply cornstarch and water but I can't remember the measurements.

W is for Web! It was perfect with all of our Halloween stuff sitting around.

Okay, another fun book project with a book called "Way Down Deep in the Deep Blue Sea". Really cute and clever book. I got a container and put their bath toys in it. Fabulous activity for a rainy day.
Then we made "I Spy Aquariums". They are still having fun with these. Just combine half water and half corn syrup in a bottle and add some sparklies. Love it!

IT'S ABOUT TIME!

Yet another month has come and gone and my procrastination skills have become more finely tuned. Someone commented the other day that I was really good at keeping my blog updated. I laughed, hard, in their face...and felt justified.


Check this out: Okay, this has got to be one of the funnier look-at-what-my-child-did moments I've had. We were waiting for church and when we came back in the room Cooper wanted to show us something. He had lined up these potato heads as "our family". From left to right: Ethan, Luke, Me, Cooper, Jake. I totally see the resemblance! I was actually quite impressed with his ability to put it all together.

Of course, there was some great photo op's we had to take advantage of :

On to Halloween which was MILD in comparison to last year. We only did one trunk or treat and then Halloween night. We came away with a combined total of less than half a pumpkin full! I was thrilled, the boys not so thrilled!

Cooper was spiderman, Luke was a cow, and Ethan was a monkey. Does this all look strangely familiar? Yes, I am cheap, we just hand down the costumes from last year. Do I feel guilty or like a bad mom? Absolutely not!
Fun pumpkin carving time! Jake "accidentally" smashed mine the day after I carved it. I thought it was a strange coincidence that his was unscathed in the incident. Oh well, mine was less than glorious.

Jake's masterpiece. Seriously, he has more patience in his pinky than I have in my entire body!

Jake's wonderful mother always puts on a spooky Halloween feast. I tried my hand at it this year. Actually, I think I did a good job and it was really fun. Definitely a tradition I'd like to keep up. We had petrified mummy halloweenies, bones with dip, blood worms, swamp juice, and forked eyeballs. Yummy!

Halloween night. Short but sweet. We went to Jordan and Amanda's 'hood because some guy lives there that used to work at Disney and puts on am AMAZING spectacle at his home. You have to see it to believe it. He constructs a pirate ship and then adds a haunted house on to his own home. There are people directing traffic, parking spots, and actors. It was really cool! Good thing because the homes were all so far apart that it took us about 2 hours to hit 8 homes.



First haircut. Always a sad moment that is prolonged until a dire need since everyone thinks your boy is a girl. I was terrified to cut his hair because it's so straight but it actually ended up okay.


Love that boy!

Love this boy, too! Doesn't he look like a genuine elf with his ears squished like that? Playing dress up while I cook dinner. Who says boys can't dress up?

Can We Do It? Yes We Can!

I am PROUD to say that I accomplished most of my goals. It was really fun to do this, actually. Plus, it gave me something to look forward to and work on. Here's my report card: I think I got a 90%!! Yeah!

1. Decorate house for Halloween. Make some new decorations.
CHECK. DID IT.
2. Flirt with Jake every day.
OH MAN, I FORGOT ABOUT THIS ONE. HONESTLY I CAN'T SAY I DID THIS EVERY DAY. DANGET. DOWN TO 80%. YES I KNOW, I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO WORK SO HARD TO FLIRT WITH MY HUSBAND--HE'S JUST SO LOVEABLE!
3. Buy a new shirt that is out of my comfort zone.
YES, I DID THIS. I BOUGHT A FEW SHIRTS AT FOREVER 21 AND I AM SPORTING THE 80'S. I'M SIMPLY TOO LAZY TO GO TAKE A PIC OF THEM.
4. Get a pair of brown boots--finally!
FINALLY! I DID IT ON AMAZON. YES, I FEEL LIKE AN OLD FART WITH RESORTING TO INTERNET SHOPPING BUT IT WAS SO MUCH EASIER!
5. Get my hands on P90X.
YES, I DID THIS...MULTIPLE TIMES...DON'T ASK! JAKE (YES, IT'S TRUE!) AND I HAVE STARTED DOING IT TOGETHER AT NIGHT TIME. COUPLES WHO WORK OUT TOGETHER STAY TOGETHER!
6. Let the kids play in the rain. Heck, go out and play with them.
NO CHECK. DID NOT DO THIS. I AM ASHAMED BUT IT JUST SEEMED LIKE TOO MUCH WORK!
7. Dress up for Halloween. Be a kid--live again!
I DID IT. I'M A DORK, FELT LIKE A DORK, BUT I DID IT. BOO YAH!
8. See "Thriller".
CHECK. MJ IS AMAZING! HE EVEN ACCOMPLISHED THE IMPOSSIBLE OF GOING FROM BLACK TO WHITE. I LOVE IT!
9. Finish Positive Discipline ( a book that I can't seem to finish).
CHECK! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE THE PHILOSOPHIES IN THIS BOOK. MUST READ.
10. Get into a size 8 ???
IF I SQUEEZED I DID IT. WILL I WEAR THEM IN PUBLIC? NOT YET...BUT SOON!(no, this is not a picture of me...in case you were wondering)