Just give me 2 minutes

What in the world is going on in my house??
Let me tell you about my afternoon- please, I need to vent for just a couple minutes.

So, first of all, I go outside to check on my boys- plus my friends kids that I was watching. Lucky me, my little boys have figured out how to turn a bucket over and unlatch the gate that goes into the side yard (which leads to the gate to the front yard.) So after I herded them all back to the appropriate part of the yard, I go back out a few minutes later only to find that they have done it again and are now strategizing with long branches to unlatch the second gate to get to the front yard. Wow- I was ticked! They got in serious trouble and I even threw away a Christmas present. . . while they were watching. (I know it sounds really mean, but it's not. Trust me, they had been naughty all day and had been warned several times that Santa is making his list and little boys who don't listen will not be on the "nice" list.) So they were pretty upset with me, but I stuck to my guns and didn't give the toy back, like I usually cave in and do. A little while later Jacob comes screaming into the kitchen. He is yelling that his cheeks hurt so bad and that the paint in the playroom is hurting him. What?? Did you scratch your face on the wall? How can paint hurt you? Never got the answer to that but he was hysterical and after holding and rocking him for several minutes he finally calmed down. But, his cheeks were bright red- strange. Then I go upstairs to get Addie up from her nap and dang it- I can tell she's sick. You know what I mean- hot face, eyes look funny and she won't let me put her down. Then Aaron calls to say that one of his residents at work is drunk (I mean 3 WHOLE bottles of Vodka) and he's waiting for the police to show up. So he'll be late. I take all the kids to the playroom to keep them busy until Dad gets home from work. The playroom light is unplugged (courtesy of Tyler) so I ask him to please plug it back in. For the first time of the day, Ty actually listens and goes to plug in the light and BAM- the light explodes and I hear this loud pop and my son is screaming and his hands are covered in black! He got electrocuted!! I scooped him up and ran him to the bathroom because his hands were burning and he was shaking so hard from the pain. So now all 3 of my children are upset and hungry and wanting to be held. So I get everybody settled in on the couch to watch Scooby-Doo so I can get dinner done. Aaron gets home and we sit down for dinner and before my first bite, Addison throws up ALL over her high chair and her dinner. Yum. Aaron and I team up and get her (and the high chair) cleaned up and in the bath. (it's right next to the dining room so we can hear her playing) We sit back down to finish dinner and a few minutes later send Jake into check on her and the next thing we hear is "OH. . .MY. . .GOSH!" The rest of us jump up and run in there and low and behold- she pooped in the tub! Everyone was laughing including her and she kept pointing to it saying"poo-poo!" in a very proud voice.

Needless to say, everyone had a very early bedtime tonight. So there you have it. Sorry, it was longer than 2 minutes, okay a lot longer. But writing it all down was kinda fun, because now it makes me laugh. Actually, I just read this out loud and Aaron and I were laughing so hard we were both tearing up. (mainly at the "oh my gosh" from Jake- you had to be there!) Although I may not be laughing tonight when I'm up with a puking child.

(remind me why I'm having another baby- when I already have 3??!!)

Vacation Ideas?

Aaron and I will celebrate our 10 year anniversary next December (as in- a year away.) Forgive me- I like to plan ahead. We want to go on a really amazing, exotic vacation. Here is our criteria: it must be relaxing, no major sightseeing or walking, great hotel and of course. . . the beach! Someday we would love to do the whole Europe/sightseeing trip, but right now it's so rare that we get away, we really want to be able to just relax and enjoy each other. We have done Hawaii and of course it's amazing, but we'd like to try somewhere different this time. Do you have any suggestions? Where have you (or even someone you know/someplace you've heard about) traveled to and loved it? We will probably be traveling in November or January to avoid the high prices of holiday travel. Help me out here, I've got lots of planning to do before then!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am having computer problems, I can only type about 4 letters at a time and then the darn thing freezes- so this will be short.

Yesterday was the big 20 week ultrasound. The results are in. . .

We are thrilled although I find myself being quickly out numbered! We love baby boys in our house!

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and eat way too much yummy food! I'm hoping this computer will be fixed and back to normal by Saturday and then I can post some pictures. Until then- enjoy and don't forget to take a couple minutes to count your blessings. I know I definitely count each of you as blessings in my life!

Weekend Away

We're off to San Luis Obispo for the weekend. It's my grandma's 80th birthday and the whole family is getting together to celebrate. I'll take lots of pictures (note to self: don't forget camera!) Should be a fun weekend, see you on Monday!

It's craft time, ladies.

I was just getting ready to do this craft with my boys and I thought I'd share with my blogging friends. This is such a simple, fun craft that the kids love to do and your Thanksgiving guests will be amazed! We do this every year and it's always a hit.

Pumpkin Pie Placecards!!

Here are the instructions:

Buy the paper plates that have the rim around the outside. You can make 4 pieces of "pie" per plate. Unless you want to be skimpy- we like big pieces in our family!

Paint the inside dark orange and the rim brown, to resemble the crust. Let the kids go to town!
*Note: For the pumpkin part, I like to mix the orange with a little bit of brown to make the orange a little deeper.

After the paint dries, cut up your delicious pie. Then write the name of each guest on the crust of the pie.

Last, tear a cotton ball in half and puff it up a little bit. Then glue it to the pie to resemble whipped cream.

You're done- now wasn't that fun??

Before and After's

Remember that "broken window" I had in my home a few months back? Well, I'm sorry to say that I am about to reveal another problem area in my home. It's between the couch and the wall and it seemed to house our electronic "stuff." I have always hated this part of my home. Aaron went out of town last week and I decided there was no better time to fix it and surprise him when he got home. I headed over to The Bombay Company. If you didn't know- they are going out of business and are having a great sale. EVERYTHING is at least 20% off and most things are more. I went searching for a table and found the perfect one. Originally it was $110 and I got it for $65!

Before (yuck!) and after (ahh, much better!):My great find:
My next project was my front walk way. The landscaping in this particular area has always driven me nuts. I have tried a couple time to plant some things out there, but I never felt happy with it. I was on a roll from the table project above and decided to go for it. So while Aaron was still in San Francisco, I got a babysitter and went to Home Depot. (really relaxing with no kids, by the way!) I spent all day Friday weeding, fertilzing, digging and planting. I love the results! What an improvement, if I do say so myself!

Here are the before pictures:
And the after. . .

Welcome home, honey! Hope you like the improvements!

Family Pictures

We had family pictures taken last Saturday. Don't know about the rest of the world, but I get very anxious when that time of year rolls around. It's just so hard to get everyone clean, hair brushed and looking in the same direction. Well, I just saw a few proofs from the big day and a miracle has occurred. The pictures are amazing. Thank you to Elizabeth for taking such amazing pictures of my kids. She really captured their individual personalities- and I can't wait to see the rest. Check our her blog to see pictures of my cute kids, and also lots of other great pictures she's taken. Thanks Elizabeth- you're amazing!
PS- Sorry, but I won't be sharing any of the other pictures anytime soon- you'll be getting one in a Christmas card I'm sure!

My Favorite

Maybe I'm just wierd (???) but I have a favorite grocery store. Yes, that 's right, I love it so much that I drive quite a bit out of my way just to shop here. It's called VONS and it's the best! Let me tell you why I enjoy it so much.




First of all, they have great produce. Everything is fresh and yummy. The Vons that I shop at is always clean and even looks pretty inside. It's very aesthetically pleasing. They haveStarbucks inside- which is very convenient for those nights when grocery shopping is the only break from the kids- the perfect time for a little peppermint hot chocolate. They have always have plenty of stock and always carry the brands that I like. They even sell edible flowers- for that rare occasion when you need to decorate a chocolate covered cheesecake for your sisters bridal shower. But the best part. . . the customer service! Everyone is so friendly and helpful. Every employee greets you and asks if they can help with anything. I was there recently and asking the produce guy about the watermelons. He whipped out his knife and cut me out a chunk of the watermelon- so I could decide for myself if it's what I wanted. If we are there and the kids are fussing, the produce guy has actually cut up an apple for the kids to quiet them down. Are you kidding me? I'm sold! What prompted this post was what happened last night. I finally got to the store at about 9 pm. I was tired- really tired, you know- where your back and feet are killing? Anyway, after they bagged my groceries the nice clerk asked me if I needed help out and after apologizing for being a wimp, I said "Yes, please." So the bagger helped me out and then the clerk walked out with us (he was getting off work) and before I knew it, they both were unloading my groceries for me. And not only did they do it, but they were so friendly and helpful.

I know I could find lower prices and a closer grocery store, but I am true blue (or red) for Vons. What grocery store do you love? Or maybe that's just a bizarre question and most people don't "love" their grocery store? Whatever- try Vons, I know you'll love it too!

If you build it. . . they will eat it!

For Family Home Evening a couple weeks ago, we built a "Halloween House." It took us a good hour and a half to build it. We told the kids that they could take it down on Halloween night and eat it. Well, we were a couple days late, but they still had no problem jumping in and getting down to business. Addie even caught on. After an hour and a half of work, they demolished that house in about 5 minutes. They kept offering me pieces, "Come on Mom, it's so good!" Luckily I could use my upset stomach as an excuse- stale gingerbread and black frosting, gross!

Building it:
The finished project.

Tearing it down!

Halloween

Although we weren't with the kids on the actual Halloween night, we had plenty of opportunities to trick or treat at other Halloween festivities: preschool performance and lunch, ward trunk or treat, preschool party and a spooky dinner at Grammy's house (see my sister's blog for picture.) The kids had a blast trick or treating with Grammy and Grandpa- I doubt they even noticed we weren't there!

At the boys preschool - they sang some Halloween songs and did a little show and then had lunch for all the parents.
The flower fairy. I thought she would rip that hat off for sure, but she ended up leaving it on the whole time.

My superheroes!