simple.lovely.life

Houdini aka Hadley

2012-01-27T15:59:00.001-08:00

{Picture is super blurry, sorry. Taken with my phone and she never holds still...}

If we are friends on facebook, this picture is old news. But I just laugh every time I see it so I needed to put it on the blog. This girl, I swear sometimes I just don't even know what is going through her head.(Like right now she is screaming at the monsters for painting her nails...?)

I left her in the kitchen for maybe a minute to go check on Bridge and when I cam back she had stripped down and climbed into this tiny pot. It's SMALL, so I don't know how she fit ,but she was slathered in soap so maybe that helped a little? The best part is that she was scrubbing herself with the dish scrubber...gross.

What am I going to do with her?!?

Update.

2012-01-24T10:44:00.000-08:00

Just a little of what we've been up to...

1. Leid Discovery Museum: I took the girls a few weeks ago. We met up with our friends the Skiftons and the kids all had so much fun. I remember going to that place as a kid and it was kind of weird to remember back on that and then watch my own kids playing with the same things. My favorite part was always the "store" where you would fill a bag with fake food and then pay for it at real(ish) registers. That just so happened to be Madeline's favorite part too:) Hadley's favorite was the stage. She is such a little performer and was in pure heaven climbing up on that stage and singing at the top of her lungs. I really need to channel that energy of hers because maybe she can make me some good money someday, haha! Our friends are moving next month(and not just to the next state over...they are going all the way to Hungary!) and I am going to miss them so much. I really hope that an opportunity to visit presents itself someday because I can't stand that I could never see them again. Doug and Evi are just such great people....I knew Doug before Evi was ever in the picture and I'm so thankful that he married that girl. She is like no one I've ever met before...so honest and funny and true to herself and I love that. If ever I'm wavering with how i'm handling things as a mom, I just talk to her and she sets me right:) I do hope that life is great for them in Hungary but I won't be too sad if they end up back here someday, ha:)

2. Park days. The weather has been so great(or it was anyway, now it's cold again) so we've been spending more time than usual at the park. Last week we went with my family on MLK day and we started at the Butterfly Park but quickly realized that it was too big/too crowded and it gave me too much anxiety trying to keep track of all 3 kids. At one point Madeline even hid from me and I nearly had a panic attack looking for her. After that we packed up and went to a tiny park closer to home. We call it the spinny park because it's not a typical playground-there's all of these crazy spinning things to climb on. The kids loved it and I got to relax, win-win. I'm going to have to remember that park because it's so quiet and keeps them really entertained:)

3. I've been canning a lot. And dehydrating even more. I feel like my house always has these weird smells because of it all, haha. Last week I did potatoes, carrots, and red peppers. And I say a lot because between it all, I canned about 45+ jars. Busy! My sister came over one night to help me and thought it would be funny to pull her pants up to her boobs. Haha! She is going to KILL me for posting this but I think she looks so funny! (Please don't mind the giant pile of dishes, and that is caramel she is holding if you were wondering:)

4. My mom took pity on me and came over to help me fold laundry. The pile was gigantic because I took a week off from it with being sick and everything. Even with doing laundry every other day I still feel like it's a task I'll never really have control over. I kind of want to just get rid of all of the clothes in the house and give each person 5 outfits to wear that they have to rotate through. Who knows if that would help but I'd like to think it would! (I know I'll never do it though because who wants to only have 5 choices? Not me...)

5. I bought this book called "The Top 10 of Everything in 1998" at the DI last week because I thought it was kind of funny. It's actually really retarded, because seriously, who cares about 1998? LOL. But I did learn that Ben and Jerry's was only #6 in the top ten of ice cream brands and that just seems wrong to me. People, you really need to try Half Baked and then reevaluate!

6. Madeline started sleeping in Bridger's room full time. I was really hesitant at first but bedtime is so much easier now! She just goes right into bed after he falls asleep and I bribe her with Jelly Beans to stay in there all night(she usually ends up in my room around midnight). Well, it's working wonders. Not only does she stay in there all night but she plays with Bridger in the morning when he wakes up, which means more sleep for me! Nevermind that I've giving her a handful of candy for breakfast every day...it's worth it to me. Hadley doesn't seem to mind the seperation either. I now lay in Madeline's bed and wait for her to fall asleep and then sneak out. I'm hoping this will become less time consuming eventually but for now it works. She however, is not earning her jelly beans because she comes into our room halfway through every night. As long as she doesn't wake me up though it's fine. Funny story...the other night I was really tired and kept dozing off while I was trying to get her to sleep. She kept trying to sneak out and I'd just barely catch her as she was walking out. Finally, she just laid down and said, "shhh, just close your eyes and go to bed!" which is what I usually tell her. But after a few minutes I fell asleep and when I woke up three hours later, she wasn't in there, go figure. I found her all snuggled up in my spot in my bed, like that's where she belonged! She totally pulled one on me, the little stinker!

7. Hadley has been saying funny things like, "Oh Crap, I'm a human!" and "Eleventeen is my favorite number!" She has also started this thing where she will run up to me and ask a question, then really fast say "Okay thankyou!" and run away before I can even respond. She thinks that she can just do whatever as long as she asks, haha.

8. My sister is starting a preschool this upcoming fall and has openings for 3 and 4 year olds. If you are interested let me know and I'll send you her info! Her classes are going to be small and I'm so excited for Hadley to go. I think smaller classes will be better for her:)

9. Bridger got this dump truck toy for Christmas and Madeline's new favorite thing is to shove him in it and push him around. This particular time, Hadley was chasing them with a little toy hammer and everytime she'd get close enough she'd hit Bridger on the head with it. Poor kid! And I know, I probably should have been saving him instead of taking a picture but I thought it was kind of funny. Don't worry, I rescued him right after:)

10. My camera is always sitting by the computer when I blog because I'm usually uploading pictures at the same time. Madeline always takes it and snaps picture after picture of me blogging. I can't even tell you how many I have of this pose, haha. But for those of you who ask how I find the time to blog...this is how. I am almost always holding one(or two) children while the oldest plays with my camera. It's not glamorous, but it works!

5 positives.

2012-01-23T16:22:00.000-08:00

I've been doing some thinking. About life and momhood and me and goals and a lot of other things. Bear with me as I try to put some of them into words.

Let's start with yesterday and go backwards. Devin was working(as mentioned in my last post) so I got the kids ready for church and made it there early with all of us looking presentable. Not early enough for a soft bench but whatever. Early is pretty dang good for me. I even had some extra time in the morning beforehand so I got a few things done around the house. Well fast forward 30 minutes into church and I am so beyond frustrated with my kids that I pack everything up and drag them out of the building. I take them straight to the car, where I buckle them in and then just sit there and cry. I cried about how freaking awful my kids are and why the heck can't they just sit there like all of the other families and color quietly or whatever. Why do mine have to smear my dress with mushy crackers and throw the crayons and try, over and over again, to run up to the front where the speakers are? And then I cried because I missed my husband. And I was frustrated that I even had to be doing church alone in the first place. And then...I cried because I just felt like a huge failure. All of the other moms seem to be doing it just fine. There's a whole handful who don't have their husbands there every week and yet, they manage. Why can't I? Why is it so hard for me? I remember looking in the rear view mirror and watching them and thinking, "I can't get mad at them...they're just kids. It's my fault that things always go this way." A real high point, I know.

I was just going to go home but decided to just wait the last 30 minutes out in the car and let the girls go to their classes. I want them to learn something and what kind of example am I if we just leave all together? Again, I felt guilty for not even making it through sacrament, but at least I could get them to their other two classes. I pulled myself together and a little before it was time to go back in a friend of mine happened to walk by and said hello, and I just lost it again. I was a mess, I tell ya. But somehow I managed to stop the tears and go back in. Thank goodness that it was cold outside because it just washed the tears right off. Now here is the part where I'm supposed to write about how I heard something super inspiring and it totally turned my day around, but that didn't happen. I spent the next two hours in the hall with Bridger but that's okay because there's a lot of other people in the halls with babies and it was nice to chat with them. After church the kids were all forced to take naps and when everyone woke up things were better. Not perfect, but better.

So anyway, last night as I layed in bed thinking about how terrible the day had been and how I wished that things could have been better, and feeling guilty that I sucked at the whole church-thing-on-my-own, I decided one thing. And that's that we don't give ourselves enough credit. I feel like I spend a lot, A LOT of time feeling guilty about things. I feel it if I spend money on myself instead of the kids, or leave them with a babysitter to do something fun(or not fun, even). And especially if I don't get all of the things that I had planned for the day finished, like that stupid, stupid laundry that won't ever go away. I feel guilty if I don't discipline correctly or if I feed my kids Ramen noodles for too many meals in one week because I just don't feel like cooking a meal that no one will eat anyway. You know? Please tell me this is not just me, because then I'm in trouble:)

So in my thinking, I wondered, what is the point of all of this guilt? Of all of the self loathing because I'm not living up to some crazy standards that I have set for myself. Is it making me a better mom? No. Making me skinnier? I wish. All it's doing is bringing me down and causing me to feel like I'm a big failure. And the truth of the matter is that I'm not. I can't possibly be failing so badly that my kids have no hope for their future. I mean, Madeline knows what the spine of a book is called...that means she's gotten something! And they're potty trained. And of normal weights and heights. Clearly they are being fed. I feel like in society it's not appropriate to point out the good in ourselves...that we only focus on the bad so as to not sound narcisstic. But I think that it's good for us to just put that aside and think about the things that we are doing right for once. Who cares if we screwed up a few times today? There had to be something that we did okay on, don't you think? I've decided that I'm going to start making a daily list of 5 things that I did right. I'm sure I'll forget and feel a little guilty about it, but that's not the point. The point is to reflect on the day and point out the positives. Forget that you didn't get the laundry done and instead think about how you spent 10 minutes reading to your kids. Or that you got dressed for the day. Or whatever. I think if we all did this we would see a huge change in how we feel about ourselves. And ultimately that would lead to more happiness and better parenting. I don't know. Maybe not. But I'm going to give it a try starting today and see how it goes. Feel free to join me. I think it's time for us to start giving ourselves a little pat on the back for just surviving each day with mini tornados flying around ruining everything that is good and beautiful in our homes just because they can and are cute and "don't know any better" :)

My positives for the day:

1. All kids in the Buhl household received baths and clean outfits before 9 am.

2. The girls had a playdate with their friends.

3. I made a huge batch of alfredo sauce(enough for 9 meals) to freeze for future dinners.

4. Moved the girls carseats to the very back seat of the van. They have been wanting to sit back there for a while and now they are too far away to kick the back of my seat while I drive. Win!

5. ................

I can't think of a fifth yet. This is harder than you ould think. All of the things that I didn't get done are swirling around in my head and it takes effort to push them aside and focus on what I accomplished. I think this will get easier as time goes on though:)

Work, work, work.

2012-01-22T10:15:00.000-08:00

Devin has been working 18 hour+ days all week. We are on day 7 of it(in a row, and yes, I'm attempting church on my own. We'll see how that goes) and I'm starting to get used to the whole single mom thing, minus the part where I feel like pulling my hair out because Ive been talking to babies all day. He leaves before we wake up and doesn't get home until well past bedtime. Even I have a hard time waiting up because it's so late. He has been having crazy hours for the last month or so but this week really just takes the cake. We miss having a dad and a husband around! I've even resorted to taking out the trash myself because he doesn't have time for stuff like that. I always hesitate writing about his schedule because I'm afraid the wrong person will read it and pretty soon I'll have a serial killer crawling through my window. I joked about that one night to Devin and he got all serious, pulled out the gun and made me practice loading it, LOL. So forewarning to creepos...I'm armed, and have really good hearing in the middle of the night(chances are I'm actually already awake with screaming kids) so don't even bother trying to sneak in over here. :)

No really though, this schedule has been hard on all of us. I feel bad for Devin because the guy has no life outside of work. He's a sleeptalker and every night he'll randomly start talking about work stuff in his sleep so even when he's not there, he's still thinking about it. He has a lot of responsibility there and I think it weighs on him. And then there's the rest of us...the kids miss him a lot and while I try to have a routine for them, it gets thrown off by the schedule. If Devin is going to try and make it home earlier than usual, I'll let the kids stay up to see him, and a lot of times, his "early" time ends up being 10:00 at night and by then the kids are crazy and I'm totally frazzled.

I just think that long hours are hard on families/marriages. Devin has been busy at work for a long time now and I keep thinking it's going to get easier but it just doesn't. We were talking last night and I told him that it's started to get to the point where we don't really even function as a team anymore...that we don't really need each other like we used to. I used to rely on him for so much. Lift that heavy box, please? Take out the trash, will you? Or how about taking the dang christmas lights down(yes they are still up)? Now I do that stuff. And it's the same for him. All he needs is clean clothes for work and that's it from me. He's not here to cook dinner for and all of the other things that he used to need me for. Anyway, we've become two seperate people, functioning on two completely different levels if that makes any sense. And I don't really think that's healthy. Don't worry, the marriage is fine, but I just wish that we had a little more time together to grow as a family, you know? I wish that we needed each other more, that we could do more to serve each other and ultimately grow closer. We miss talking to each other...he can't talk at work at all so we'll go a whole week without having any conversation other than, is the laundry clean and did you get something to eat tonight? I look forward to the day that his schedule is a little more consistent.

I should probably stop whining now, haha. Life is good and I have a lot to be thankful for(like a job). I just want my blog to accurately portray our life at the moment and I don't want to pretend like things are all flowers and pixie dust over here:)

**In the middle of the week we were able to take dinner out to the guys and visit for a few minutes. We stayed and watched him from the car for a while too(it was freezing and too dangerous for kids to be running around). The kids thought it was soo cool to see their dad put up the "big giant light bulbs"(Hadleys words). And my mom was nice enough to watch the kids last night while we went to a late dinner because he got off work earlier than expected. We needed that, so thanks mom! I guess things aren't all bad:)

Quick trick.

2012-01-19T15:33:00.000-08:00

A few years ago I was hanging out at my parents' house and happened to be watching my mom cook. I don't remember what it was that she was making but I do recall that she pulled a huge container of dried green herby looking stuff out of the pantry labeled "parsley" and threw a handful into the dish. When I asked her why she was putting parsley into it(besides the color factor...it's kind of flavorless, no?) she sneakily told me that it was actually dried spinach flakes and that she always added it into whatever she was making. Apparently she's been doing it for years and none of us ever even noticed. Not even my picky brother and sister, who HATE spinach.

I thought it was a great idea to adapt into my own family, since Devin has the worst diet ever because of his work schedule(and hates green leafy vegetables) and Madeline is a picky, picky eater. She's getting better but for a while there is was only peanut butter sandwiches and pancakes for her. Anyway, you can buy dried spinach in big cans in Utah so that's just what I've always used, but lately I've been trying to do things as healthily(is that a word?) as possible and have started drying my own. No I'm not going all granola on you all, I'm just making little changes here and there. This is one thats super easy and I thought I'd share in case there's other moms out there with kids like mine that won't eat anything green. Or healthy. Or that doesn't taste like peanut butter. Oh and the difference between the store bought stuff and why I dry myself is crazy. My stuff is so. Much. Better. Look at the difference in the picture!

{Left: Store bought. Right: Home dried}

{Directions}

Just spread a thin(ish) layer onto a baking sheet and bake at the lowest temperature for a few hours, until it's crispy and dried through. My oven only goes down to 170 degrees so I just leave the door open a little to make the temperature as low as possible. If you have a dehydrator(which I recently invested in and am pretty much obsessed. You don't even know how many times I ask myself, "can I dry that?" It's ridiculous.)you can just use that. Anyway, once it's dry, just put it into a ziploc and squish it up until it crumbles into tiny pieces. Then just add it to whatever you're making! You can't even taste it, I've even put it in brownies and the people who eat them are none the wiser. Ha!

PS I've also been drying my own herbs(thank you dehydrator) and I love the way it makes my house smell. And the taste...! I don't know if I can ever go back to those 50 cent spices again:)

{Cilantro}

Good Morning, sunshine.

2012-01-17T09:02:00.000-08:00

{The girls this morning, playing "nap time" on the dining room table, haha}

Mornings are the best part of our day around here. Aside from the fact that I'm not a morning person, despite my children's best efforts to turn me into one...6:30 wake up calls just don't work for me. They're the best though because we all just laze around while I try to get my bearings and everyone is happy, nice to each other, and willing to help one another and me. AND breakfast is a really easy meal to prepare, haha:) After about an hour or so, I finally get going and I've noticed that I'm the most productive before noon. But after that...not so much. I guess that means that I really only get things done between the hours of 8 and 12. Wow, that's kind of pathetic. And it also explains why my house it always a total disaster zone:) But what a job, huh?! I'm so glad that I don't have to wake up at 4 in the morning like Devin does for work, and then not get home until well past dinner time. No way could I do that. I think I'm pretty lucky to be home all day with my kids, most days:)

My goal this year is to be more productive, less lazy. To get more than just 4 hours worth of work done in a day. Obviously I'm doing things all day long, but if anything significant is going to get done, it only happens in a very small time frame. I've been in super-organization mode since the day after christmas and even though it is taking me forever to go through every single little thing and find practical places for them(which is a challenge in a house with zero storage), it's starting to pay off and I'm seeing results from all of that tedious, time consuming organizing. Things are so much better around here and I love it. I am about halfway done with the house, and I hope that I can keep my motivation to see it all the way through.

Haha, this is so not what I sat down to blog about. I was just going to post some pictures of my kids from this morning with their bed head and mismatched pajamas and morning eyes because they are so cute to me, and now here I am going on about organization and goals. Too bad I can't be a little more organized with my thought processes:)

{Morning Pictures}

Dancer #2

2012-01-16T09:00:00.000-08:00

{The girl would not hold still for a dang picture! And please note the hole in her tights...before class even started.}

Hadley started dance with Madeline last week and I can't even tell you how excited she was. She is such a performer-has been since she was really little. If you give her a crowd of two or more, she finds something to climb on and dances and sings her little heart out. She gets so into it that she even closes her eyes and holds her heart like people do on tv as she belts it out. It's pretty funny actually. Anyway, she's been so jealous of Madeline going to dance for the last year so I thought I'd let her give it a try and see how it went. She's not quite three yet so my expectations of her actually following directions were not very high but her teacher said she did great. I hope this week goes well too because she just loves it and has been asking to go back every five seconds. Madeline was on the fence about sharing her dance class but as soon as I told her that she could tell me if Hadley was naughty in class she got all excited. She loves to tattle on her sister, haha. When I picked them up from class the first thing Madeline said was, "Mom, she was good today" in a grumpy voice with a scowl on her face. Sorry Mad, maybe you can catch her being bad next time:)

I could hardly get a picture of her all dressed up because she wouldn't sit still long enough, but I think she is just the cutest little ballerina ever. Doesn't this girl just have the prettiest blue eyes you've ever seen? Love her.

Another treasure

2012-01-11T09:08:00.000-08:00

Devin brought home a new treasure from work the other day. He's always coming across the most random things and most of the time they're pretty cool. Like the crosswalk button that he put in the garage as our garage door opener(I'll have to take a picture...this probably makes no sense..), or the spinning can holder thing(again, picture needed). This time, it's a fire hydrant. An old, rusted, unusable, and yet beautiful, fire hydrant. I guess you could say it's our yard art at the moment. Its off to the side and mostly out of view because our association would kick our butts if we had something other than shrubbery in our yard. Well that and I'm not really a yard art kind of girl. But I digress. I just think it's so cool looking and I wanted to take a few pictures of it. And I wanted to show proof of ownership because I'm pretty sure my mom wants to steal it since my dad is a fireman, haha. Sorry mom. I'll tell Devin to keep an eye out for another one.

I just think it's cool that Devin thought to bring it home. We honestly don't have a whole lot in common(we joke that the only things are the fact that we both have three kids, and are each the oldest of six in our families. And...that's about it, haha) But I do think that we see eye to eye in the arts department. He's super crafty and talented(In a manly way, of course) and I appreciate that in him. And he's understanding of my need to change our room colors to yellow and grey for no reason whatsoever other than I want to try it out. I'm glad that we have this common ground because without it, we'd be screwed! JK:)

{Isn't it pretty?!}

{Pictures of the stuff I mentioned earlier-the crosswalk button and can holder}

Update.

2012-01-06T20:03:00.000-08:00

1. Hadley is in the drawing phase where she always has to be coloring. She spends at least an hour or two(off and on) each day drawing all sorts of treasures. Among her favorites are wormies(long squiggly lines), flower gardens, monkey costumes(I don't know) and families. We've been going through a lot of paper lately. I do love them though. I think she's going to be a creative one, that girl.

2. Bridger is mostly walking. I would say the ratio of walking to crawling is about 80/20. If he's in a hurry, or has a nice outfit on he crawls. But a onsie on a lazy day? All he does is walk. It still catches me off guard because in my head he's a little baby! This isn't the best picture but he makes this super concentrated face when he walks and I think it's so funny. PS they really need to fix the ground at the park.

3. We've been talking about doing foster care again for a few months now. I keep coming up with reasons not to do it, and for the most part, they are valid, like Bridger's still a baby. Or I want to go on trips this summer. But some are a little ridiculous, like I don't want to have to use the back seat of our van and so on. I just can't shake it though. We are totally capable and if I'm going to be home all day anyway(I really don't get out much) then why not? It's a huge commitment, hence the hesitation, but we just feel like its such a good thing to do for those sweet babies, and someone has to do it! Anyway, I hate to even post about it because I feel like people are so opinionated about it and think it's a ridiculous thing for us to be doing. And maybe it is, but whatever. I just feel like people think, "oh someone else can just do it. It doesn't have to be you." But if we all wait for someone else to pick up the slack, then there won't be anyone and then what? I don't know why I feel like I need to explain it. Who cares what others think, that's what I should be saying. I just hope people don't think we're totally crazy. There's this quote somewhere that says "When we willingly serve others in the spirit of love, we become more like Christ." Isn't that ultimately what we all want anyway? This is our way of serving and I think we can do it. These kids come into the world with no one to love and hold them and I know that even if they're only with us for a little while, we can give them that. If nothing else, we can love them. The good news is that if it is too overwhelming, we can always stop:) It'll take a little while for us to get everything together so don't be expecting anything exciting for another two months at the very least. We are taking our time and making absulutely sure that this will work for all of us, not just Devin and I. But it's officially in the works, so wish us luck! :)

4. The girls and I are halfway through reading the Book of Mormon already. I don't think I've ever really read it straight through so that's a big accomplishment over here. They ask to read about Nephi every night, it's so cute. They obviously have no clue what's going on, and half the time, neither do I, but I am learning new things and they fall asleep to my reading every night so it's a win-win. I love that little bonding time with them. (Except on the nights where Hadley feels the need to make obnoxious sounds the whole time...ohh! It drives me crazy. When I tell her to be quiet, she purposely breathes really loud, or clicks her flashlight on and off, or squeaks her pacifier...you get the point. That little brat! haha. Gotta love her:)

5. One by one, each of us has been cycling through a round of sickness over the past two weeks. First Madeline, then Hadley and I, and now Devin. Bridger hasn't gotten it yet and it just so happens that he's the only one who got a flu shot so maybe those things actually work? I'm excited for Devin to get over it so that we can be free of it once and for all.

6. I have a ton of pictures on my phone that I need to go through. It's nice to have a legitimate smart phone that actually takes a decent picture. So many little things happen that I don't have my camera around for and I'm so glad to have a back up. What did people even do without all of this technology?!?

7. We've been playing a lot of Kinect around here on the Xbox and Madeline is a pro. And I'm reminded everytime how out of shape I'm in because that thing seriously kicks.my.butt. So fun though.

Dresser Redo

2012-01-05T10:45:00.000-08:00

A few months ago I was perusing craigslist at 10:00 at night, and came across this ad for a free dresser and nightstands. It had no picture and just said that it was out on the curb for the taking so I figured it was nothing special but nonetheless, I asked Devin to run over and see if it was still there, and if it was in good shape, to please bring it home for me. He detests these projects of mine because they take up garage space and even though I always say I'll finish it quickly, it usually takes a few months. BUT...he went and got them for me anyway. I was asleep when he got home so he just unloaded them onto the driveway and the next morning when I was loading kids up for errands I found them! Oh my, I couldn't have been more excited. They were so much more than I was expecting, all curvy and cute and in really great shape, just begging for a good coat of spray paint.

Well, fast forward a few months(Devin was right) and I am just now finishing the dresser. The nightstands will have to wait for my next bout of motivation. I honestly think I would have finished it sooner but I couldn't decide on a color. I wanted them in our bedroom but wasn't really looking for a bold color in there...and yet, this dresser needs a bold color. Finally after a day of Pinterest and it's cute ideas, I decided on yellow to go with the gray and white stripes we have in there. Big Deal for me. I love color but to go all in with yellow was a big step for me.

So anyway, it's all done now. The yellowfication process of turning all of the red accents to yellow has not been an easy one, mostly because I'm still not entirely sold on the color. I love the brightness and overall happiness that the color brings, but if I'm being totally honest, it's a bit girly. And I can tell that Devin is not loving it but he won't say anything other than, "That's different." which in Darci language translates to "I hate it." I don't know if it will be staying yellow for long. But we'll see. I don't see myself refinishing it again any time soon, so for now, yellow it is.

If I just look at the dresser itself, I love it. Absolutely love it. The yellow just fits the design of it well and I so want to love it in my room. Maybe when I finish everything else it will fit better? Cross your fingers! (Oh, and I can't get the yellow photograph quite to the true color. It's more of a mustard yellow than the pictures let on but whatever. Yellow is yellow, I guess!)

{Before}

{During}

{After}

(sorry, it was hard to get a good angle because my bed is in the way, and I am NOT moving that just for a picture:)

{Investment}

Dresser: $0. Paint & supplies:$ 30. Time: 5-6 hours(off and on)

What do you think? Keep the yellow or start all over?

{added later}

I've had a few inquiries as to how I did this and what I used. Here's a quick recap...I lightly sanded the top because there was a little water damage, and sanded the drawer fronts. But the rest of it, eh, not so much. It has a lot of curves and I hate sanding so I just skipped that and primered the whole thing with Rustoleum spray paint primer. FYI, I'm a huge believer in spray paint because I can work on projects off and on between taking care of my kids and what not. Anyway, I've tried a lot of brands and Rustoleum is the best. By far. Yes, it's a few bucks more than the cheap stuff but it does the job so much better and with less coats. So anyway, after I primered it I just gave it two coats of the yellow(Rustoleum Warm Yellow in gloss) and then when that finished drying-wait at least 24 hours-otherwise your paint won't be completely dry-I went over the entire thing with a coat of Polyeurethane in a high gloss. I did two coats on the top of the dresser because it will get more wear than the rest of it. YOu just paint it on with a paintbrush(smoothly) and let it dry. If you see air bubbles in the birst few minutes, you can smooth over them with the brush again but they will pop and it will all smooth together to create a nice glaze. Poly is my new favorite top coat and I kind of want to go around and slather every piece of furniture that I have with it, haha. It just protects things so well and gives your piece a really finished look. You can buy it with a matte finish too if you prefer. I'm just into gloss right now:) That's it! It's really a fairly easy project. I hope this helps!

Lazy day.

2012-01-05T08:29:00.000-08:00

Today is a stay-in-bed-and-do-nothing kind of day. I don't anticipate changing out of pajamas or getting anything done. With Hadley being sick, we haven't been doing much sleeping at night so I feel like a lazy day is in order. And lucky for me I finished all of the laundry yesterday(a first) so I'm not having total anxiety about just leaving things be for a day. If we could all just agree on a movie already, this day would be perfect! (Tangled, no Veggie Tales, no I want Curious George! Gah. How about some Food Network, kids?!?)

PS I need more windows in my house. ASAP. My room is the only place with lots of outdoor light and I've noticed that we tend to gravitate there. It's so much brighter than the rest of the house. If I could just knock down a few walls and put windows in the rest of my house, We'd be in business! (and my room would stay cleaner, I think)

Best friends forever.

2012-01-04T20:21:00.001-08:00

I am sitting here in bed, sick little Hadley is passed out on the floor next to me, and Madeline is cuddled up on my right. We are watching Blues Clues for the 47th time today, thank you netflix for that. Bridger is asleep and Devin is working, so its pretty quiet.
Madeline and I have been having little conversations here and there about the most insignificant things, like how her pajamas are getting a little small to stories about school and who is nice/mean, and then onto questions about why snow is cold and the sun is hot but not in the winter. Our latest conversation went something like this...

Me: Madeline, I'm so glad you're in our family. You're my favorite Madeline ever, you know that?

Madeline: {smiles and throws herself in top of me for a hug} Can we be best friends forever mom?! You, and me, and Hadley...all the girls...can just be the bestest friends ever! Okay mom? Okay?!?

Me: {speechless, my heart is melted}

I can't help but feel an overwhelming amount of gratitude for that sweet girl and her siblings. I am truly blessed beyond measure and I don't know how I would live without my kids. My heavenly father must love me an awful lot to give me these children and its humbling to think that he had enough trust in me to send them to our family. I hope I'm doing an okay job. We all know that kids have their moments and make us totally crazy and obviously I get frazzled by their chaos..I mean seriously, wasn't I just pulling my hair out a few hours ago?!? I want to be better at handling that and spend more time appreciating their cuteness. They're going to be teenagers and hating my guts before I know it and I just want to hang onto their sweetness a little longer. Maybe that'll be my new years resolution this year.

All I know is that right now, Madeline is my best friend and I wouldn't trade that for the world. I'm so thankful for little moments like this to remind me that my role as a mother is valued and important. Even if it's only important to my three little monsters, that's enough for me.

New Years Eve 2011

2012-01-01T21:52:00.000-08:00

{Most ridiculous family picture ever. Madeline had just fallen and scraped her knee, Hadley was trying to take a nap in the bottom of the basket, and Brdiger was crying. Perfect time for a photo, right?!? Hahaha, at least we're all in it!}

On New Year's Eve, Devin ended up working so I took the kids up to Red Rock for a picnic and to get some of their dang energy out. My family decided to come last minute too and with the perfect weather, it ended up being a really great day. The kids all had such a good time and I loved being outside again without freezing my butt off. It wasn't too busy either, which is always a bonus. We started at Calico Basin and after a while headed up a ways to the little town of Blue Diamond. I had no idea it was actually a real place! Seriously, I must be so blonde or something but I thought it was just a street on the other side of town, haha. Anyway, it's a real place! They have a little park there so the kids just hung out while the boys went bike riding. My kids are getting to ages where it's not totally impossible to leave the house on my own and feel completely overwhelmed, so I think I might start doing things like this more often. The girls are such good friends and with Bridger starting to walk, he's right behind them. Big open spaces like Red Rock are perfect for them.

{Madeline. Let's talk about this awkward phase she's currently in. Won't let me do her hair, and when I do, she pulls it out as soon as I'm not looking, won't let me help her get dressed, and if I dress her, she changes and then hides until the last second and I don't have time to change her back, wears her glasses on the tip of her nose, and makes the funniest faces. Still the sweetest Madeline in town though:)}

{Hadley is so freaking busy! I swear that girl never stops moving. She loved hiking around in the grass for "golden treasures!" aka straw, and kicking around her orange like a soccer ball. }

{My Bridger is so big these days...}

{Please note the photo of my mom taking a picture of my sister and her little family. What the heck is my other sister doing in the background?!? hahaha}

**As far as festivities for the night go, Devin went downtown with some friends because he's never done the Vegas New Years thing. I have, so I passed and stayed home with the kids. We were all asleep by 10 and I even missed Devin's call at midnight because I was so out. Is it sad that New Year's just isn't a big deal to me anymore? Staying up late to wish myself a Happy New Year just seems really dumb and impractical. And the people lighting fireworks off at 9> Gah! I was so annoyed. I'm so old!!! What the heck is my problem?!? (PS, if you did make it past midnight, props to you. I'm not calling you dumb by any means!)

***And no making fun of my pictures! When you're as behind on blogging as I am, you barely give them a second glance before throwing them up on the blog, haha.

Like father, like Son

2012-01-01T21:03:00.000-08:00

{Love these boys...and their matching shoes}

Dad time.

2012-01-01T20:53:00.000-08:00

Devin got a basketball hoop for Christmas from my parents and we finally tried it out, since the weather has been great this week(70's!) It's a little tall for the girls, ha, but they loved playing with their dad and Bridger was just happy to be outside. Devin's not home much so when he is and isn't totally exhausted, the girls capitalize on his freetime and hog them all to himself:) I love the pictures of him in his little car. Isn't he the cutest?!? While they were playing I was working on a dresser redo for my bedroom. It's yellow. And finished now but I've yet to take a decent picture so until then you just get the progress ones;) Loving this great weather. How nice would it be if the worst of our winter was over already?! I'm ready for some sun around here!

{halfway there! The yellow photographed a little weird but whatever.}

Christmas 2011

2012-01-01T20:42:00.000-08:00

Christmas in pictures...

{Christmas Eve @ the DiPaolas}

{Christmas Eve @ the Noordas}

{Christmas morning}

{the story}

Devin woke up early and went to Boulder City to play Air Soft with some friends. He's never played before but I think he had a good time. He doesn't see those guys often so it was good for them to all get together. When he got home we got ready and headed over to Devin's mom's house. She prepared a really great dinner and the kids had a lot of fun running around and acting crazy:) We stayed until about 9 and then headed straight over to my parent's house to spend the night for Christmas. It was a really late night for Santa between getting the presents to the right house and getting kids to bed but staying up is all part of the fun so I don't really mind:) Christmas morning came really quickly and it was so fun to watch the girls run into the room and see the giant pile of presents. With 14 people, it makes for a pretty big stack! Santa was right on target this year and the girls were both beside themselves with their new toys. So much, in fact, that they fought over e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. that they opened. But I guess that's to be expected when they are overtired and overwhelmed. After presents we hurried home, got ready for church, and then met up with my family at their's because we missed ours with it being at 9 in the morning. It was only an hour so that was nice and when that was finished we went home and took much needed naps. Later on that night we celebrated my brother's birthday. He turned 21 and I still remember the christmas that he was born. My mom was rushing through presents like no other and then when we finished, they dropped us off at a friend's house so that they could run to the hospital. Our friends hadn't woken up though so we had to sit and watch them open all of their presents, haha.

Anyway, christmas was great this year. We still haven't figured out how to not be busy on christmas but I guess that's just how it is. We are very lucky to be able to see our families every year so we count the busy-ness as a blessing:)

christmas.

2011-12-27T17:36:00.000-08:00

Christmas was lovely. Definitely a blur, but in a good way. I feel like I shouldn't be blogging at the moment because my house is a complete disaster and I kind of just want to pack up and run for the hills(or beach) and forget about the mess. I swear I've been cleaning all day and you can hardly tell, but that's alright. Slowly things are getting organized and I love that soon things will all have a place.

I'll blog more about Christmas later but for now here's a picture of my cute kids on Christmas Eve. We had such a great time with all of our families and I'm very grateful for them all. What would the holidays be without family?!?

a little taste of christmas

2011-12-24T12:00:00.000-08:00

I was at Target the other day and saw some cute pajamas on clearance that my kids really just needed to have, so I got them and wrapped them up for them to open before Christmas. These are not their christmas pajamas-my mom has already gotten them and they are anxiously awaiting christmas eve so that they can open them. I just figure, things that come in wrapping paper are more exciting, so why not let them open them?

They were sooo excited. Except for the part where I accidentally gave Madeline Bridger's to open and she was trying to figure out why they were so small. Oh and when Hadley thought that it was just a box and kept saying, "Oh thank you! Thank you for the Jesus box!" Huh? Funny kids. Bridger was already in bed so he missed out. I don't think he minds though:) I can't wait for them to open their presents on Christmas!

Pixie Dust

2011-12-23T20:20:00.000-08:00

Madeline has been asking for Pixie Dust for Christmas. For over a month! She is very specific...it needs to make her fly, and sparkle, and do magic, and never run out. Oh and give her wings. Hmm...anyone know where I can find that? I was hoping that she'd just forget about it but every time we mention Santa, the Pixie Dust comes up and its at the top of her list, right after "remote control puppy."

It's almost Christmas Eve and I've yet to find the real stuff, so I attempted to make my own and I'm hoping that it'll do. It wont make her fly, but it's sparkly! That has to count for something, right? I put glitter into a small plastic christmas ornament bulb and then put that into a larger ornament so that there is no spilling, and I've written a special letter about how the pixie dust loses it's magic if it comes out of the ball. My hope is that she will listen and just hang it on the tree to look at, but I'm expecting a house covered in glitter. We'll see how it goes. I just hope she likes it and that it's close enough to the real stuff!

PS I've finally started using my Silhouette machine and I'm basically in love. That thing is awesome!

Christmas festivities

2011-12-22T16:40:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to use up our last few days before christmas wisely and get as much fun in as possible for the kids. It's been completely freezing and I mostly just want to stay in my pajamas and eat lots of treats but I figure I can do that after christmas, like I do every other day of the year, ha:)

This is what we've been up to this week...

Glittering Lights at the Speedway: The speedway is all decorated with lights everywhere and you get to drive through. We went last year for the first time and decided this time around to take the truck so that we could just sit in the back...that way the kids can see everything and they're not climbing out the windows, making their parents crazy:) It was so dang cold but a lot of fun. I love the faces that the girls are making in all of the pictures-total wonderment and awe-they were so excited to point them all out! Even Bridger enjoyed it. I didn't really pack him warm clothes because I had planned on leaving him inside the truck but he wasn't having that so I just snuggled him in a blanket and for the most part he sat still and watched everything. Devin was the driver so that we could all sit in the back. I think he mostly just didn't want to freeze but regardless I'm glad he was willing to drive so that I could sit with the kids:)

Mt. Charleston: This afternoon I packed the kids up and took them to go sleeding and see some real snow. Devin was working but my family went and thank goodness they did, otherwise it would have been impossible. The girls always talk about how much they love the snow and are always begging to go, so I thought they would love the little excursion. And I guess they did-for 5 minutes-but then they were over it and just wanted to sit in the car. Bridger cried the entire time he was in his snowsuit and I really can't blame him because he couldn't even bend his arms, haha. Madeline did try the sled once before calling it quits and Hadley went several times, so I'm glad we went. It was a fun outing and I'm so glad that the mountains are just a quick 15 minute drive for us. One of the perks of living at the edge of civilization, I suppose:)

{What's a snow day without a crash? My sister and Hadley totally ate it}

Made treats for my Activity Day girls and Madeline's preschool teachers: I saw this hand/foot scrub on pinterest that seemed cool so Madeline and I gave it a try. It's so easy, just 2 parts oil(baby or olive, or whatever really) to 1 part sugar and then some extract for whatever scent you want. We made a lemon one using lemon juice and then a peppermint one(my favorite, we crushed up some candy canes and added them in to give it some color). Madeline thought it was the funnest project but was a little bugged that she couldn't eat it, haha.

Tonight we're making some reindeer food(another Pinterest find, I guess it's just oatmeal and glitter?) and Madeline is insisting we make some pixie dust so that Santa can take it with him after he visits our house, just in case his reindeer get tired. The holidays are so much better with kids:)

Christmas is coming!

2011-12-21T00:03:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve is in 3 days! Three! I can't wait. The girls are so excited and I'm so anxious to see their faces come Christmas morning. I hope they love everything. Although, at the same time, I'm sad it's snuck up so quickly. I'm already dreading the fact that the season will come to an end in just a few more days and all of the fun lights and happy people will go away. I wish it could be Christmas all year long sometimes!

Anyway, I was going through my pictures and found this one of Tivoli Village from a few weeks ago...I just love the architecture of that place and this photo gives me that Christmas nostalgia, like what you'd see in the olden days or something if that makes any sense? Its probably nothing exciting to you all but it does something for me. And I just love pictures that make you feel.

PS, Madeline wants to have a birthday party for Jesus. With a cake and balloons and "decorations, of course!" I'm going to try and make it happen and I hope that's not too weird? That's her idea of celebrating and she is so excited to have a party in his honor. Perhaps there is a more reverant way than singing "Happy Birthday" but I'm just glad she thought of him on her own and recognizes that Christmas is His day. That's good enough for me.

Oh and I keep forgetting to hide Elf. My kids are really not happy about his laziness and are starting to think he's forgtten about them, which is in turn making them behave poorly. I think I need to make him do something really cool tonight so that it somewhat makes up for it and so that we can get back on track before Santa comes. Why is it so hard to remember to move that dang guy?!? I'm failing at it!!!

Failure Club

2011-12-18T22:56:00.000-08:00

A dear old college friend of mine, Elizabeth, posted this video on her blog called The Failure Club. (Really quick-Elizabeth is one of my favorite people from college. She has this fun personality that makes you feel like you can do anything and I just love her. I learned so much from her in the short time that we knew each other in Reno and I think about her all the time. We had so much fun.) And anyway, I think it is seriously the best idea. It's about people supporting each other to help them accomplish their wildest dreams. Go watch it! It's worth the 5 minutes. And then after you watch it, come back and tell me if you'll be in my club, because I totally need one now.

http://screen.yahoo.com/welcome-to-failure-club-27284740.html#crsl=%252Fto-do-or-not-to-do-27613594.html

Some of my failure club dreams:

finish graduate school
travel the world again, specifically Africa, Egypt, Boston and the rest of the East Coast
write a book
knock down a bunch of walls in my house and replace them with big giant windows
Take a painting class
master photoshop
become an editor of a magazine
learn how to swim really well, so that I look like an olympian and not a passenger of the Titanic
more travelling, maybe to Romania. I've always wanted to go there and work in an orphanage
adopt again
start a nonprofit organization
live in a busy city, like New York where you walk everywhere
learn to speak chinese

Who's with me?!

sneaky.

2011-12-17T12:07:00.000-08:00

I love it when I tell my kids to clean up, and they hide their things in the tree. Even more so when I don't notice and praise them endlessly for their hard work, and give them a treat for being such good cleaners.

Awesome.

Madeline's dance recital

2011-12-16T18:27:00.000-08:00

Madeline had her winter dance recital last night. I've been looking forward to watching her perform for months! She refuses to show me what she's been learning and her practices are closed, so the recital is the only opportunity we have to see them in action. And of course, Madeline woke up yesterday morning totally sick. She slept all day long and when she wasn't sleeping, she was crying. I felt so bad for her! But, like any good parent(or maybe not) I made her get ready for her dance recital and bribed her with everything I could possibly think of to get her to go. Ice cream? Barbie? Disneyland? None of it worked. So I just told her that she had to go and maybe just watch. But to be fair to me, she did want to go a little, and I didn't think she was that sick because she did play off and on:)

So anyway, we get there and she's excited for about 2 minutes, then decides that she's over it and wants to go home. So I stayed with her backstage, walked her up to her spot when it was their turn to perform and then ran back around to watch the dance, then ran back stage again to collect her. And then I just sat and rocked her until it was her turn again. Poor girl. She really did feel terrible. And you can totally see how she was feeling in the two pictures I happened to take, now that I've looked at them. I feel so bad for making her do it!

She did really great though and you wouldn't think she was sick by how well she performed! She had the songs and dances totally memorized and I was so proud of her. And she looked adorable in her little costume, too.

By the time the finale came around, she was just done with it, so I didn't have her do that part. We just sat and watched and I think she liked seeing the show from the audience point of view. When the show was over I tried to take a few quick pictures of it, and just as I was about to take one she started to gag. I was like, "no no no no no! Wait just a sec!" and not realizing that she was going to puke, took another picture. She even smiled but then after a second started to gag again and said she was going to throw up so I dropped my camera and bolted for the door with her in tow. We ran so fast and just barely made it to the bathroom before she puked everything up. Gross. But I'm so grateful that we made it and that it wasn't this huge mess for me to clean up. But seriously, poor girl. We came right home after that and she fell right asleep when we got home. I've been feeling super guilty ever since because seriously, what was I thinking to have her perform?!? I'm awful.

Anyway, here are the few pictures that I have. My mom and sister were in charge of taking them while I was with her and I'm so glad that I have some. I also want to say that my kids have the greatest grandparents. They are all so supportive and I'm very grateful that they love their grandkids so much. My kids just love them all to pieces and I think it's so wonderful that they have such good relationships with them.

{before the recital. She was clearly sick so I don't know why I didn't see it}

{Just before she threw up. She's a good smiler for feeling so awful!}

(PS, I took her to the doctor this morning because she was up all night and it turns out that she has a sinus infection turned flu and a bladder infection on top of that. Poor kid! Oh and I think she has a crush on the Dr. because she keeps saying that she wants to go see him. She says, "you know, the cute one mom?" Oh my.)

birthday part 2

2011-12-15T09:12:00.000-08:00

Oh and I can't forget the birthday card from Devin and the kids.

Quite lovely, huh?!?

Birthday wishes.

2011-12-14T22:45:00.000-08:00

I turned 26 today. I'm not a big celebrater of birthdays in general, at least my own, but this one came with a deeper feeling of dread than usual because it meant the end of my "early 20's" and that I'm just a few years shy of 30. 30! Seriously?!? I'm not ready for that. But anyway, back to 26.

I kind of just wanted the day to pass by and forget about the whole thing. And in all fairness, it kind of did. I got up early, scrubbed the house, ran errands, got Madeline to preschool and back home again, ran to the store to get some treats for her school christmas party that I totally forgot about and dropped them off to her, held Activity Days, got Madeline to dress rehearsal(so thankful for carpooling!) for her dance recital tomorrow, laundry, laundry and more laundry, play date for the girls, and so on. A pretty normal, busy day. And I kind of thought for a minute that my birthday went unnoticed, which is what I had planned on so that was fine.

Except that everyone remembered.

Between the 67 and counting facebook messages, the 11 texts, 5 birthday songs, 6 phone calls, flowers and even a few presents, I realized that I was really loved. And that maybe the reason I was dreading my birthday wasn't so much that I was turning a year older, but more so about the fact that nobody would notice and that I really am just a wallflower. Does anyone know what I mean? It just seems like you get so caught up in life and momhood and everything that you think you're not so much you anymore, and that people forget about you because you've kind of forgotten yourself, you know? Or maybe that's just me. I don't know why but I think that sometimes I just kind of disappear and I guess that by wanting my birthday to whiz by without a glance and having zero expectations that I was really just putting walls up so that if that did happen, there would be no disappointment. Lucky for me, my expectations were far exceeded:)

Anyway, enough of the self reflection, haha. I hope I don't sound crazy, I just can't really figure out how to say what I feel. I guess mostly I just wanted to write down how thankful I am for all of you. For everyone that cares and thinks of me and made me feel special for a day. I needed it. It makes me think, "Hey! People remember me. Not just Darci me, but me!" if that makes any sense? It's really overwhelming and I'm so grateful for it all. :)

On a side note, we celebrated as a little family tonight after we got home from dance rehearsal. We ordered pizza because I didn't feel like cooking, and they sang Happy Birthday to me, afterwhich I blew out the candle so lovingly placed in our pizza by Madeline. And the kids(Devin) surprised me with a few little presents....some accessories for my camera that I've been wanting:) It was a perfect celebration and I just love my family.

Just stuff.

2011-12-13T16:43:00.000-08:00

This is a random post about things that I need some opinions on. I don't get out of the house much or cross paths with other human beings, especially with this freezing cold weather we've had for the past few weeks, so I've resorted to using my blog for feedback. A little sad, I know but what can you do:)

1. Last week as I was out shopping, I passed by an Office Depot and noticed that they were taking their letters from the outside down. I didn't really think much of it, but as I watched them lowering each letter, I thought about how cool they would be...somewhere. Maybe in a loft as decor, for pictures, I don't know. I just thought they were fun. Normally I'm pretty shy but for whatever reason, I decided to not be and asked the guys what they were doing with the letters(this is also the same day that I got the piano, it was a very good day to be brave!). They told me that they usually just throw them away but that they had someone coming for these particular ones. They did have some other huge letters made from plexi-glass that I could have if I wanted though, so I decided to just take them and see what I could figure out for them later. Oh man, they were huge. You should have seen me trying to squish these gigantic letters into my van. (Shout out to my van though, it's amazing what you can fit in there!). I was really excited, thinking maybe I could spell a new word out of them for the playroom or something, but as it turns out, there's not really much you can spell with the letters O-F-F-I-C-E-D-E-P-O-T, minus and O because one of them were just too big to get in the car. So now I just have a pile of letters in my garage, haha. The D, T and F's are spoken for but if anyone wants one, you can have it. I think it would be really cute in a kids room if you just did their initial....it would be a fun statement piece. But seriously, come and get them before Devin kills me, haha:)

2. I'm trying to change the color scheme of my room from red to yellow. I see all of these cute yellow/grey/white rooms and just drool over them so I want to try and do that in ours. So far I've only painted these big picture frames but I'm not 100% settled on the color. I need some opinions. Please. Should I just leave the red or make this whole yellow thing happen?

3. I banned myself from Pinterest the other day, until I actually complete something off of there. That site has so many great ideas but they're just that-great ideas. I wish someone could just make all of the things on there for me. So anyway, I decided to pick the easiest thing I could find on there, a growth chart board, and make it happen. This is it so far. I'm thinking I need to add more ruler lines but for now this will do. The girls have been loving it. Madeline measures all of her barbies and dolls and Hadley keeps singing some random made up song about "growing, growing, growing tall like a board" (VERY loudly, I might add). I have so many more projects on my to-do list that I'm hoping to work on in the next week. With Devin gone all the time, I feel like my nights are more open to do stuff like that. We'll see how productive I actually am though.

PS, this is what it looked like after 15 minutes. I keep forgetting that we can't have nice things...

{taken with phone}

4. I ventured down to Hobby Lobby last week for the first time in a loooong time. Oh my gosh, I forgot how cute their stuff is. I walked out with a ton of adorable fabric that I have no idea what I'm going to make with(that seems to be a growing trend for me) but whatever. I'll find something for it!

{I also got this christmas fabric to make something christmas-y for the kids. Ideas, anyone?}

5. A few weeks back a friend of mine showed me this adorable ruffly christmas tree skirt and I just really needed my own. I happened to have some extra fabric laying around so late one night I stayed up to make it. I love it. It's so fun and ruffly and just my style at the moment. The tutorial is here if you want to make it. It was really easy and you don't have to sew anything.

6. In other news, I mailed my first batch of christmas cards today. I don't know why but without fail every year, I never print enough. So...I'll mail out the rest next week or something. I have to say that the mail is so much funner to get during the month of December because of all of the cards that come. I really love getting them all. This is ours just in case I never get around to that second batch(which is a very real possibility!)

And the music begins.

2011-12-11T15:24:00.000-08:00

So...I got the score of the century at DI this week. A PIANO! For 30 dollars! Seriously, I couldn't even pass that up. I saw it there a few weeks ago and it was marked $175 so I didn't give it a second thought, but when I went back on Friday to see if I could find any treasures I noticed that it was still there and marked down to $90. I'm cheap so that was still too much for me(it looked like it needed a lot of work), so I asked one of the workers if they would lower the price any more. He said no, so I told him I would think about it and went about my shopping. Well...then I saw this guy that works there(a manager or something along those lines)that I've developed a friendship with(is that bad that I have a DI friend? haha) and so I asked him if he would lower the price for me. He said, "Of course! How about, oh, 40?" I jumped on that because I'm not that cheap and went to get a ticket for the piano so that I could pay for it. As I was getting my ticket, he came back up to me and said to the guy writing it up, "Let's do 30 instead." Um, yes please! I kind of wonder if he thinks I'm totally poor or something and feels bad for me but whatever, I'll play that card if it means I get a piano for 30 bucks! You don't even know how excited I was. I sent Devin a text message to pick it up after work so that he couldn't say no, and dropped off the receipt at his office so that there were no excuses as to why the piano didn't make it home, haha. He said it took 6 guys to load it into the truck so you can just imagine the enthusiasm he had for it, knowing that he'd have to come up with a way to get it out of the truck. Well that and the fact that we have zero wall space left for it, but that's besides the point.

It was in pretty crappy shape and the more I looked at it, the more I thought maybe I'd made a mistake in getting it, but once we got in into the house(we have some great friends/neighbors/family-thanks for the muscles guys) and Devin started messing with it, I realized that I have an awesome husband that can pretty much fix anything so my worries went away. Devin worked on it all morning to get it up and running. He fixed the broken pedal, fixed a few of the components on the inside that were messed up, and even made new keys because some of the black ones were broken off(he used some Jenga pieces that were laying around in the playroom, haha. They actually look really good, just like the originals. I imagine that if this thing stays in the family that we'll get it rekeyed but for now, jenga keys are perfect:) He even polished it up and now it looks a ton better. I had wanted to paint it some sort of fun color, but it's actually not bad the way it is so I'm probably just going to leave it for a while. And the sound, the most important part of it all, is great. I'm so so excited about this, you don't even know.

I did some research trying to find out where it came from and how old it was, and it looks like it was made somewhere between 1900-1919. The brand is Smith & Barnes, but I don't know much more about it. There is some writing on the inside from a previous owner or piano teacher I'm assuming, and the dates on that start at 1919. Anyone out there know anything about pianos? I'm so interested to learn about it. And I really kind of love that it's so old. Having history in my house is kind of magical to me, is that weird?

Oh and you're probably assuming that my excitement means that I know how to play a piano. Eh, not so much. I did take lessons for years as a kid but eventually gave it up because practicing was such a pain. I sat down to see if I could maybe play a little song but I couldn't even remember which keys were which, so I have some relearning to do. Should be interesting:)

Pictures:

{Before, with it opened up}

{Devin fixing the pedals, he's pretty great for doing all of that for me}

{After. Not bad for $30, huh?!?}

{Can you tell which ones are the fakes?}

Rockin the hair piece.

2011-12-07T18:59:00.001-08:00

The girls have been really good all week while Devin has been out of town and I told them that they could pick out a new toy tonight as a reward. Hadley picked out a princes Aurora doll and Madeline got a Rapunzel barbie. They've been playing well so far with them and Rapunzels hair is only partly a big jumbled mess.

Anyway, the Rapunzel doll came with a hair piece for the kids to wear and Madeline thought it was the prettiest addition to her hair. I took some pictures with my phone so that everyone could see the beauty that is fake blonde barbie hair extensions.

And of course the other kids had to give it a try. Bridger just looks like straight ghetto. Oh, who am I kidding, they all do, haha! (Has anyone seen the Duggars lately where they have their baby Josie wear the fake pigtails? That's all I think of when I look at the one of Hadley, haha!)

...and now they're down.

2011-12-06T20:26:00.000-08:00

Just a little update on our current light situation...I thought you might like to see the house all done up.

Oh, what, you can't see them? Um, ya. About that.

Apparently there is a reason for using actual extension cords to plug the lights in instead of extra strands of lights, and it's not just for aesthetics. I accidentally stepped on a bulb on one of my "extension strands" while I was hanging the lights earlier, which broke, but I thought it was no big deal because everything was still working. Or at least, was working until the sprinklers came on and got the exposed wire wet, which then shorted out the entire display. We now have zero lights burning. Agh. It happened while we were over at my parents and on the way home I got the girls all hyped up to see our christmas lights, so you can just imagine the disappointment when we pulled up to nothing. Pretty sad. Tears were shed, in fact. Madeline is all sorts of stressed because now "how the heck will Santa even find us?!?" (her words).

I attemped to get them working again, and by attempted, I mean, I unplugged and then replugged them in, and not surprisingly, they still don't work. I'm too afraid of electricity to go around poking at things, especially since the ground is still all wet from the sprinklers. This is just one of those moments where I wish I had a husband around on a normal basis. I'm thankful for his job, but man, I need some christmas lights on my house so that the kids will be happy! Maybe next week if he has a spare moment on the one day he's actually home he can take a look at them. Probably not though. Sigh.

Total. Fail.

PS, I hope you don't think I'm wallowing in self pity. I actually think its kind of funny that they're not working. It's just one of those situations where you have to laugh because, really what else can you do?!? And it would be too easy if things went right the first time:)

Well, the lights are up...

2011-12-06T14:25:00.000-08:00

Okay neighbors, no laughing. Our christmas lights are up, hung by yours truly and yes I know they are a little random and awkward and certainly unmatching, but it's really hard to hang lights without a husband and three kids hanging on your ankles as you try to climb the ladder in freezing temperatures. And please ignore the random strand of lights trailing across the yard, I couldn't find the dang extension cords anywhere so the leftover lights made do.

I'm so glad my kids don't care about how terrible they look or that only half of the roof is done because I couldn't find the rest of the big bulbs...all they know is that we now have "CHRISTMASSSSSS LIGHTS!!!" (yelled in a really loud voice) on our house and lucky for them, Santa will be able to find our house come Christmas Eve. I hope he leaves me an extra present for my efforts, because I really think I deserve one after all that excitement:)

PS, the girls decorated their own little tree that we cut down a few weeks ago and they are so excited about the final product. It's so colorful and girly and I kind of think it's the cutest tree ever, just because it's decorated by them:)

Updated!

2011-12-05T17:58:00.000-08:00

In an attempt to catch up on blogging I'm just going to clump a bunch of posts into one. Nothing is in order, pictures are crappy, but hey, at least it's documented.

1. Madeline has been swiping my camera lately when I'm not looking and walks around snapping pictures of the most random things. I'll go to upload pictures off of it and it will throw me off for a second as I try to figure out where the heck they came from. These are a few of her latest. I think they're actually pretty good for a 4 year old! Oh and the sleeping one...she is totally faking it. She figured out how to set the timer, then jumped in front and put on her "sleep face" as she likes to call it. She was so proud of that one, haha!

2. Speaking of sleeping, this is a real picture of Madeline passed out. She's a much more peaceful sleeper than her dear sister!

3. Bridger is such happy little baby. This is what is waiting for me every single morning when I go to get him out of bed. In the 367 days I've known him, I've never walked in on a sad baby. Lucky me:) (PS his eyes look crazy blue, huh?!?)

4. Madeline has glasses! And she's pretty freaking cute if you ask me. She's had them for about a week now and we've lost them, oh, maybe 743 times already? They're such a pain to keep track of. Quick story about that...she lost them last week when we were on our way out the door and we literally searched the house for a good 25 minutes. Madeline was crying and I was super frustrated. IN an attempt to fool me in the midst of it, she found a pair of star shaped sunglasses and told me that those worked too, and could we please go already?!? It was pretty funny, but not at the time:) Anyway, at the very end of our search, it dawned on me that maybe I should teach her to pray for help and so we knelt down and she said a sweet prayer begging for some help in finding her glasses so that we could leave. I'm not kidding, within 20 seconds of that, she found her glasses. I was baffled because I had torn the house apart looking. We said a prayer of thanks afterward and I think that it was more of a learning experience for me than her. Sometimes I forget that help is right there and just need to ask for it. Anyway, here's a picture of her cute glasses:)

5. Bridger got some Lincoln Logs for his birthday and the girls have taken them as their own. I don't think he's noticed though and the girls play really well together with them, surprisingly. They make "yards" with them and line them in rows. Sometimes they even stand the shorter ones up and call them flowers and trees. Such girls! They do park Bridger's motorcycles and cars in their yards though. Those toys are seriously the best thing. They play so well together, and quietly too! That's pretty much the best part:)

7. We decorated a gingerbread house the other day. Madeline was asking to make a house out of candies so I guess she remembered from last year or something? Anyway, when she asked it was late at night so Devin went to the store to get things for it and came home with one of those premade kits. Can i just say that those things are totally the way to go? We usually do those anyway but the ones I've gotten in the past still require assembly and you have to mix the frosting yourself. This one came all put together and all I had to do was cut the tip off of the frosting bag, slather the house and give the girls the candy to stick on. So. Easy. Maybe when they're older they can build their own but for the next few years, we'll definitely be going this route. It was great because I could let the girls just do their own thing and not worry. They had so much fun and it's just one of those things that put you in the christmas-y mood. Oh and Bridger was sitting in his high chair watching, he's never in any pictures, poor guy.

8. Some friends of mine told me about Elf on the Shelf, and it sounded like such a fun christmas thing to do so we decided to give it a try. Oh my gosh, I love Elf(thats what the girls named him) He is so good at keeping my kids in line, getting them to help out, pick up after themselves...he's even re-potty trained Hadley! All I have to do is mention that Elf is watching and that he's going to tell Santa and the girls do whatever I say. I love it. I'm honestly considering keeping him around all the time because he is much better at parenting than I am!

More to come later!

So behind.

2011-12-05T14:41:00.000-08:00

I just made a list of all of the different things I need to blog about and it's 15 items long at this moment and growing by second, I swear.

FIFTEEN!

I feel like I'm never going to catch up, especially with my lack of motivation lately.

What's my problem?!?

Sigh.

2011-12-05T14:38:00.000-08:00

Can you believe it? My Bridger is already one. I remember his birth like it was just yesterday. He came in such a whirlwind rush and I am so grateful to have him and that he is healthy. Little boys are just so much fun...so different from girls. Not in a bad way, of course, but there's just something his calm demeanor that I can't get enough of(although he is getting more rambunctous by the minute!). I love that he's all boy-that he prefers cars and already knows how to make the noises that go along with them. He's so boyish, in fact, that he's already figured out how to torment his sisters by pulling the heads off of their barbies. Haha! He's so perfect to me though and I just can't even remember how things were before him. He completes our little family and I'm ao happy to have him. We love you Bridger! (I still need to take his 1 yr. pics but I haven't had time! Hopefully this week...)

Some of his milestones...

He's taken a few steps on his own! It's crazy to think that he's my latest walker since he's just barely a year old but the girls were totally walking by their first birthday so it's kind of surprising that he's not. I'm sure he will be soon but sometimes he gives me this look like, "why the heck should I walk mom? You all can just carry me!" and it makes me think that he's going to take his sweet time. I don't care either way so just whenever he gets around to it is fine.

He's gotten a bunch of teeth-I think there's 4 on the top with 2 more coming in and still just 2 lonel bottom teeth.

He says Hi, Mom, Dad, No and ba(for bottle and ball).

He's still super attached to his bottle and I don't really mind, but I ant to try weaning him of of it soon, at least at bedtime(which is when he needs it the most, sadly)

Still allergic to milk. I put some in his bottle the other day and he broke out in a huge rash all over. I felt so bad. I'm not really sure what to do so I'm just going to keep him on formula until I see the doctor next week for his well check and go from there. All of my kids had milk allergies but the girls both outgrew it by the time they turned one so it was never an issue. This is new territory for me.

He hates naps. It's a struggle to get him to lay down for even one a day. Two is just out of the question at this point and I really miss them!

For his birthday, I had some plans rolling around in my head but in the end nothing came together and we ended up just having cake and ice cream with our immediate families. Although, even just that is over 20 people so it's still a big crowd but we didn't do much. Costco helped out with the lovely cake and I think my biggest effort was getting his name put on it. I'm pretty on top of things, I know. Seriously though Costco makes the best cakes so there was no disapointment there. We also had homemade icecream to go with it. Bridger loved the cake but totally ate it like a lady and didn't get it all over like I thought he would. I guess it's to be expected though, he's not really the crazy type:) Afterward he opened his presents(or rather, the girls opened them and kind of showed him before running off with the new loot) and he has been in car heaven with all of his new toys. Thanks everyone for spoiling him:)

{I really love the attempted family pics we took. Devin is mad because Bridger just smeared cake all over the side of his face and Bridger is crying because Devin screamed when it happened. Haha!}

I feel bad that I didn't do much for his big day. I know he's only one and won't forget but it's kind of the most important birthday of them all, his first! And I wish I had done more. Oh well. I guess maybe I'm a little sad about it because there's a very, very good chance that he's my last baby and I won't get to celebrate another 1st birthday, you know? Anyway, enough of my whining. It was fun to celebrate with him and to have everyone we love there. That's what's most important anyway.

Just life.

2011-11-28T17:52:00.000-08:00

I haven't been in the mood for blogging lately. Yes, I know it's only been a week since my last post, but that's a long time for me, haha. It's not that things haven't been happening-life it busy as usual-but I swear every time I get on the computer(which is a lot lately with all of my online shopping...Devin is starting to really hate all of my good deals, but that's another post:) I avoid my blog like the plague. Even now as I'm writing this I'm wishing I could be doing something else, but I need to get an update on here. I wish I knew what the problem is, but whatever. I'll figure it out soon enough:)

Just a few things that have been happening...

1. Bridger took his first few steps last night. It's one of my favorite things to see them hobble around with such uncertainty! I hate that he'll be everywhere soon but at the same time, I'm so excited for him to be learning new things and that he'll be able to keep up with his sisters soon.

2. We celebrated my sister's 23rd birthday last week. She wanted to do something with just the girls so my mom organized for us to go to the temple and do baptisms. I haven't done that in forever and it was fun. Afterward we went to dinner at Red Robin and gorged ourselves on deliciousness. It's weird that my little sister is so old already. I feel like I was just 23 yesterday. Time really does fly.

3. Madeline is getting glasses. She's been going to the eye doctor since she was a baby and they finally decided that it was time to give them a try. She's farsighted(which means she gets the glasses that make your eyes HUGE) and has astygmatism(spelling, anyone?!) in both eyes. The eye doctor is confident that they will dramatically help her. I just have to tell you though, when it came time to pick out the glasses, I got her all hyped up to go and pick out whatever ones she wanted. She was so excited, and set her sights on these cute little pink ones. Nevermind that they were some crazy expensive brand, that's what insurance is for right?!? Well, when the guy saw what her insurance was, he said, "ohh, come have a seat over here." And then proceeded to pull out this little box of kids glasses that she could choose from. All of them were dorky and lame. I asked if I could just pay for the others and forget the insurance but he said they were upwards of 400 bucks, and that's just ridiculous for a kid who will probably break them in a month. So we settled for the cutest pair in the box, which really aren't bad but they're more of a yellow/brown color than pink and she's pretty sad about that. I am too, actually. It was just one of those moments where you feel like you failed as a mom, you know? You want the best for your kids and I so wished at that moment that I was a gazillionare and could have gotten them for her. Oh well though, such is life. I hope she loves her new glasses when they get here and that they make her feel beautiful, because that's important! And I'll post pics, don't you worry:)

4. We celebrated Thanksgiving with Devin's family this year. In the past we've always been hopping around from family to family and we hate it so we're trying a new approach this year and just picking one spot to be for each holiday. It's worked out well so far! Thanksgiving morning, we woke up late and made a big breakfast together as a family. Devin is an excellent egg cooker, so he did that while I cooked the rest, and the girls even helped by setting the table and getting drinks ready. I loved that we were all in the kitchen together. It was nice, especially since Devin was actually home for once:) After that I went over to say hello to my family before they started their festivities while Devin hung out with the girls. We headed over to Devin's mom's house around 1 and of course had a delicious dinner. The girls had so much fun running around and playing and we had a good time talking and relaxing. We usually go to a movie every year but we skipped that and just went home to get the kids to bed. Thanksgiving was really great and we have so much to be thankful for. I love my little family and feel very blessed for all that we have.

5. So then... after thanksgiving, the real fun began. My mom and sisters and I all did our usual black friday shopping and I know there are a lot of haters out there but I seriously think it's the funnest thing ever. I look forward to it all year long. It's not even that I'm looking for something specific, mostly just that I love watching the craziness and the fights over saving a few bucks. It's really funny! And this year I learned that I am a charmer because the police and guards standing by the doors to make sure people didn't cut the line(which I do) always let me in with a smile but made my mom wait outside, haha. It was actually pretty funny. I did pick up a few things, okay who am I kidding, a lot of things, and now I'm happy to say that my christmas shopping is OFFICIALLY DONE! Woot for me! Next weekend I'm going to see if the girls can have a sleepover at one of their grandma's houses and have a wrapping party to get it all done. I love wrapping the gifts, so fun.

6. My girls have been really bad sleepers for months now and I've been trying everything to get them to sleep in their own beds at night. It's been a frustrating process but I've finally found something that works! I started making them climb into their beds and getting all snuggled in, and then I read them a few chapters from the scriptures. Oh my gosh, it works like a charm! They are out after 2 chapters tops, and I feel like a winner because I'm getting the reading in AND getting my kids to sleep all in one swoop. Reading the Book of Mormom and the Bible have never been my strong points. I'm just like the girls and fall asleep at the mere mention of reading them, so I'm not entirely surprised that this does the trick. Honestly though I'm really thankful that it's working and I'm even glad to be reading them again. I'm learning new things every night and I think it's a good habit to be getting into(finally) with them. And I love hearing the girls' versions of what we read:)

7. I've been making lots of scarves lately. What can I say, I'm in love! Such a fun accessory and even Madeline likes to wear them. I make her little girl versions and she loves to go out with them on. Oh and I bought my first pair of boots this weekend....it's kind of a big deal. I always see girls with super cute boots on but I don't feel like I can pull it off, so for me to buy a pair on my own without the help of a fashionista is big. Have I worn them yet? Uh, no. But I think I will soon!

8. Baby Jackson was blessed this past Sunday and we had a big family get together afterward to celebrate. It was kind of perfect because I got to see everyone that we missed on Thanksgiving. He's getting so big so fast and Bridger is dying to play with him already, haha:)

9. I've been doing photo shoot after photoshoot for people lately. It's been a lot of fun and I'm learning a lot, but I think I might put that all on hold for a while. I feel like I still have so much more to learn and I just don't have the time to invest in it at the moment with Devin working as much as he does. I do love it, but I think I might just have to stick to using my cute kids for models until things slow down a bit around here:)

10. I ruined my crockpot a few weeks ago. Who knew you couldn't put it on the stove to heat something up faster?!? Oops, I didn't. And it was full of chili, which, when the crock pot cracked into pieces, poured out all over my stove, down into the cabinet below the stove and then onto the floor, where Bridger just so happened to be crawling around. He didn't get burned or anything because the chili was still cold but he did rub it all over and make his mother crazy! Uuuuugh. Such a mess. I honestly don't even know how people live without a crockpot. I went a few weeks and instead of just cooking on the stove like regular people, I just quit all together. I'm so glad to have a replacement and have been using it a ton, and I'msure my family appreciates eating regular meals again:). Speaking of, one of my favorite recipes lately is chicken and dumplings. So easy and so good. I should post it one of these days.

11. I cut my hair off, like, above my shoulders off. And it's back to blonde now. I like it, but am really missing the dark, oddly enough. I've been a blonde my entire life and the whole dark thing was just a year long phase, so I'm surprised that it feels so weird to be blonde again. I'd like to think I'll get over it but I'm kind of thinking I'll be back to dark again before too long. We'll see though.

12. My girls have the song "Someone Like You" by Adele memorized and I'm pretty much in love with their singing. Everytime we get in the car we turn it on and they belt it out like there's no tomorrow. I finally took a video of it but it's really long and I don't really think anyone cares so I won't post it but just know that it's the cutest thing ever. Seriously.

13. You remember my friend Alex that I blogged about right? The one whose husband has cancer? Well, I entered them into a contest for a free photo shoot with the excellent photographer in Boulder City, and as luck would have it, they won!!! Firstly, I never win anything and even though technically it's not me that won, it kind of is! And I'm so excited. I totally jumped up and down when the girl emailed me and told me they had chosen their family. Secondly, they totally deserve this and I think it's so great that they can have new family pictures. I think that the girl who put on the giveaway is very generous and I love that people voted and that they won. So cool. Here's the link to the giveaway.

I know there's more but I can't think of anything else right now and dinner needs to be made(or taken out of the crockpot, haha) so that's it for now. I hope I can get back into my blogging rythym again soon.

Santa Meet and Greet

2011-11-21T17:45:00.000-08:00

We went and saw Santa the other day, down at Bass Pro Shops. We've gone there for the past 4 years, mostly because it's free, but also because the Santa is really great. Before he lets the kids tell him what they want for christmas, he asks them a bunch of accountability questions, like "Do you brush your teeth? Do you listen to your parents? How about your room, is it clean?" I love how he takes the time to talk to each kid. The picture they gave us has all of us in it(not sure why me and Devin are in it but whatever) but these are the ones I took. I took two. That's it. I wanted to be in the moment, not just taking pictures like usual. Too bad they didn't turn out better. I do love the one of them talking intently to Santa though. It's serious business, that Santa stuff:)

They also have a bunch of games and crafts for the kids to do too. This year the craft was to write santa a letter. And after you write it, you turn it in and they send you a real letter from Santa within a few weeks. Madeline can't wait to hear back from him about her remote control puppy, haha:) Oh and totally off the subject but I'm blonde again. Kind of exciting.

And I know we're doing everything early this year but oh well. I like it!

Christmas time.

2011-11-20T22:58:00.000-08:00

It's just me and the tree right now. Devin and the kids are asleep and I've been laying under it just watching the lights for who knows how long. It's one of my very favorite things to do around christmas time and in the silence of the night it gives me time to think about all that I have to be thankful for. There's a lot. Happy Christmas season, everyone:)

Christmas Trees 2011

2011-11-20T22:51:00.000-08:00

We made the trek up to Beaver, Utah this weekend to pick out a christmas tree. Yes I know, it's early but it's the only open weekend we had and it's a long time tradition to go up and chop one down. We woke up really early Saturday and loaded the kids, then met up with my family and off we went. Devin was tired so I drove most of the way. Until we got there anyway and realized that there was a ton of snow. We've been doing this since I was a little girl so I'm not sure why I was surprised by the snow, but I was. I was VERY underprepared. My kids were in jeans, long sleeve shirts and rain boots. I did pack coats but gloves or hats? Nope. All Bridger had was a pair of footie pajamas with jeans and a jacket over them, so he stayed in the car:) And I wore old flats with a pair of socks that I threw in the car last minute, haha. Awesome, I know! To say that we were freezing would be an understatement. The girls liked it for the first 5 minutes or so but as soon as they realized that the snow would melt into their clothes and freeze them to death they were over it. So we just sat in the car and drank hot chocolate while everyone else-the prepared ones-found the trees. It started to get dark before Devin and I found one which turned out to be quite stressful for both parties and ended with Devin charging into the woods, chopping the first tree he saw, throwing it in the trailer and calling it good. Luckily the tree looks fine so we're all good now, haha. Sometimes I think that I do all this work to create these memories with my kids and by the end of it I'm just thinking to myself, "WHY?!?!?!" Now that we're home and the tree is up and the kids have started decorating it I'm glad we did it, but my goodness...in the middle of it it just seems like a joke, you know? It does smell really great though so I'm thankful for that:) And I did get to take a few picture of the girls in their cute coats, so that made it worth it(I think)!

We pulled out the lights and ornaments tonight, and the girls had so much fun decorating one little corner of the tree. It's funny how you give them free reign of the whole thing, and still the ornaments all end up on one branch. I really loved watching them hang everything, especially Madeline because she's just so dang excited about all of it. Devin helped her put the star on the top and that was quite a show, since the tree is 12 feet tall. Just picture a bar stool + Devin + Madeline on his shoulders...I was nervous for their lives! Tomorrow I think we'll finish the tree up and start decorating the house. My goal is to have everything done in the next few days so that I can relax and enjoy the holidays. After next weekend I should be completely done with christmas shopping too so the month of December should be lovely. I will get to just hang out with the kids and take them to do fun christmas-y things, I hope:)

*I just re-read this post and it's kind of a downer! I thought about changing it but then you lose the truth of it all, so...sorry. I hope you can just read between the lines and see that this really is a fun time of year for me and that everything I do is to make things great for my kids. Even if I'm feeling crabby about things I don't want them to see that. I want them to feel the magic of Christmas as much as possible:)

Hadley, my odd sleeper

2011-11-17T15:22:00.000-08:00

Another weird sleeping moment, courtesy of Hadley. She is crouched in the corner and barely holding herself up with her outstretched arms. Looks painful to me.

Do I post enough of these random pictures?!?

I'm just wondering when she'll realize that there are more comfortable ways of sleeping.

Size matters.

2011-11-17T15:14:00.000-08:00

I've been doing most of my christmas shopping online this year-something that I never even would have considered a few years ago. I love shopping, but it's really convenient to just do it hop on the computer really fast to get what you need and I love being able to price match so quickly. And now that I have three kids to cart around whenever I go anywhere just makes the whole idea of staying home to shop that much more enticing.

The only thing I don't like is that you can't "see" exactly what you're buying. I give you three examples of why this is kind of important for people like me. I swear, sometimes I'm such an idiot.

1. A few months ago we needed some camping chairs. You know, the simple canvas fold up ones? I found a killer deal on some and ordered a bunch, and then upon further inspection because the price just seemed too good to be true, I realized that they were dollhouse camping chairs. Oops.

2. I ordered a metal dump truck for Bridge for christmas this year. It seemed to be exactly what I was looking for, the reviews were good, and the price was right. Except that when it got here it was so small that you could maybe put a teaspoonful of dirt in the back of it...not quite what I was thinking. Luckily Amazon returns are the easiest thing on the planet to do, so I sent it right back. But now I have to find another one and I'm kind of nervous that I'll make the same mistake again.

3. I ordered a new lantern for Devin because we need one if we ever plan to camp again, and actually thought I hit this one out of the park. LED, compact, doesn't need a gazillion batteries...it was perfect. And the reviews on this one were all so good, saying that it could easily light up a room and what not. Well, it just got here today. And let me just tell you about this gem. IT'S THE SIZE OF A KEYCHAIN! Did I really just pay 16 dollars for a keychain lantern?!? It was laughable how teeny tiny it was. Kind of reminded me of the scene on Zoolander where he pulls out that itty bitty cellphone, haha. This will be returned as well.

Okay, seriously, how many times am I going to do this?!? You would think that at some point I would think to check the size specifications before I place the order, but noo. That's too easy. Or that maybe, just maybe someone else out there would have done this and written a review to save me from the mistake? Agh. I think I'm just going to have to do the old school way of shopping and actually drag myself into the store for those last few things that I need to get. How do people do christmas shopping with kids though? With Devin never being home, my kids are always glued to my side and it's impossible. So glad I'm almost done.

Santa letters

2011-11-15T17:32:00.000-08:00

My kids wanted to write letters to Santa tonight. I had envisioned a fun little family activity that involved lots of cute paper and calm cheerful kids, maybe even some hot chocolate for effect, but of course I wasn't prepared and all I had on hand was a sharpie and computer paper. Whatever, a letter is a letter, right? And nevermind that Devin was working late and the spanish radio station that was blaring in the background because Bridger got a hold of Devin's alarm clock and somehow turned it to that. Ah, such is life. We still had fun so I think that's all that really matters:)

Madeline was really excited about it. She had so much to say and was so happy to write the guy who will be bringing her toys this christmas if she's good. Hadley was interested for a few seconds, and mostly just wanted to make sure that Santa knew she really wanted a stash of pacifiers. She asked for them, oh, I don't know, maybe 12 times? Funny girl. Bridger was simple. Gotta love boys(or the fact that he can't talk yet:)

Here are their letters. Next year I'll try to do something a little cuter, but I think the content is cute enough on it's own. Eek! I really, really can't wait for christmas. My kids are at that perfect age where the magic is so alive and real, and I just love it.

Who is really the boss?

2011-11-11T12:22:00.000-08:00

I came down with the flu or something yesterday for the first time in a few years. Bla, being sick is the worst! Dayquil isn't even putting a dent in this thing! Hopefully it's gone soon. I'm supposed to take pictures at my cousin's wedding this afternoon and I'm hoping that I can manage that. Anyway, Devin has the day off because of the holiday so he took the two younger kids out to run errands this morning so I could sleep. Madeline opted to stay and hang out with me, despite Devin's bribery of a new toy, so we've been laying in bed watching cartoons. I love that she's big enough to just hang out.

But lets just talk about the cartoons on TV these days. We usually just watch PBS but it's been a Disney channel kind of day since it's just Madeline. She likes the older shows, like Good Luck Charlie and such. I don't really mind them, but after watching a few episodes back to back, I'm starting to see a recurring theme and I can't say that I love it.

Is it just me, or does it seem like the kids are the parents and the parents act like the kids? I swear the kids in these shows make all of the rules, and the parents just sit there and say, "Okay sweetie, whatever you say!" There's no discipline whatsoever, and when the kids do get into trouble they don't really have to see their punishments through. On this one episode of Good Luck, Charlie(and I usually think this show is cute) the dad gets the son to cook all of his meals for him and the son finally has to say "Enough Dad, I'm failing out of school. My grades are suffering because I'm taking care of you!" And the dad argues, saying that school isn't that big of a deal. Seriously?!? That's the message you are choosing to share with America? Come on. I have a real problem with that.

Pre-kids, that wouldn't bug me. Heck, I probably watched worse growing up(well, during the one month in my entire childhood that my parents had TV...we grew up without it.) But now, as I sit here next to Madeline who is watching intently and laughing at it, I'm all worried that she is going to think that what she sees on TV is reality and will come to expect that. Will she think that she's the one that runs the show if that's all she sees? Or am I just being ridiculous?

I just feel like parents are losing more and more control in this day and age. There are so many people watching and regulating what you can and can't do, and I worry that in 10 years it'll just be out of control. And these cartoons are not helping things one bit!

Pumpkin Spice Syrup

2011-11-10T13:44:00.000-08:00

I've been looking for ways to use up all of the halloween pumpkins that we have laying around(we never got around to carving them this year) and found a recipe for pumpkin syrup. Well actually I found two and merged them together. But that's irrelevant. What matters is that it's really tasty and I kind of want to put it on everything I eat now. Super easy to make too. I thought someone out there might want to give it a try. We're not usually pumpkin eaters but I'm trying to branch out a little and who knew, pumpkin actually has a purpose other than carving a face into it!

Pumpkin Spice Syrup

{this is for a larger batch so feel free to scale it down}

Ingredients:

3 C Pumpkin puree(Directions on how to make your own at the bottom of this post)

1 1/2 C water

6 C sugar

1/2 Tbsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 1/4 Tbsp maple extract

Combine all ingredients in a large pot and bring to a boil. Boil for 10 minutes, stirring continuously, and then remove from heat and pour into jars/container. Will keep for 3 months in the refrigerator. Serve over pancakes or whatever you feel like. I think it would also be good in hot drinks, maybe apple cider or something.

To can it, just pour the hot syrup into sterilized jars, fasten lid and ring on the jar, and process in a water bath for 30 minutes.

To make your own pumpkin puree, cut up your pumpkin into wedges, scoop out the guts and place on a pan-insides down. Pour a little water into the bottom of the pan(1-2 cups depending on the size) and bake at 350 degrees for an hour, or until the insides are soft. Remove from oven and remove the sumpkin skin. Mash the insides or throw them into a blender and there you have it, pumpkin puree. Tastes really good(babies love it) and you can use it in place of the canned stuff.

This is the site I found my starting point recipe at. They have other good pumpkin recipes too.

Paper dolls

2011-11-09T16:02:00.000-08:00

Once apon a time there was a little girl who loved paper dolls.

She had a cute little set that lasted for ages, but finally met it's demise at the hands of a little baby brother.

However, instead of being sad, she just decided to make her own.

The new ones were just as good and one even had a little baby in it's arms.

She would play and play with them and they would go all sorts of places, like to the jungle(backyard), lay out by the pool(bathtub), and even to the toy store(walmart). But mostly, they liked to fly through the sky like airplanes.

They were very adventurous, these dolls.

Until little brother came and ate them for an afternoon snack.

Sigh.

I guess we will be starting all over again.

11 months

2011-11-06T17:24:00.000-08:00

Bridger turned 11 months a few days ago and I didn't even realize it until a few minutes ago. I'm being really lazy and it's freezing outside so I just took a few quick pictures of him in our bedroom to document his growth. I don't think he's changed much physically this month...but he's definitely learned a lot. He's started to say a few tiny things, like MOM! and mmmaa(for kisses), Dad, and no no no! He also thinks it's fun to try and blow air bubbles and he uses hand gestures a lot(I didn't do sign language with him at all but he just does certain ones for different things). He is playing and interacting a lot more and LOVES cars. Anything with wheels, really. I can give him a little toy car and three hours later he will still be holding it and "driving" it on things. I used to think that this boy wouldn't have a chance with two older sisters that love to shove barbies in his face and paint his nails, but it seems that with boys it just comes naturally. He's getting busier by the second too.

He's still my happy little baby and is very content with his lot in life. He loves to eat now and I can give him anything and he'll just devour it. He's also drinking less bottles so that's kind of nice. He still absolutely needs one to fall asleep in bed but I'm hoping we can move past that in the next month or two. Oh and bedtime is getting a little harder...a few nights ago he was having a rough time so Devin rocked him to sleep and ever since then he's cried and cried everytime we stick him in bed. I rocked him a few times but decided that he's just fine so now I let him cry and after about 5 minutes he's out. Still though, I hate listening to him cry it out.

He's also gotten a few new teeth! His top two are both finally in and he's gotten two other top ones. Those little bottom ones are starting to get lonely:) I just love his cute smile though. I am so thankful to have a baby boy. I look at him every day and think about how different he is from the girls, and I'm just so glad to have the opportunity to raise both. I love my Bridger boy!

Blessings.

2011-11-04T16:07:00.000-07:00

I recently met a lady who, over the past few months, has become a great blessing to me and my family. I doubt she knows how wonderful she is, because people like her are so humble that they don't even see how significant they are(I know this because my mom is one of them). We are essentially strangers, but through her service I have really grown to admire her. I was talking to her briefly this afternoon and the topic of Madeline's adoption came up. She's a foster parent as well and is in the process of adopting a sibling group of seven kids. Yep, you read right. SEVEN! If that doesn't say saint then I don't know what does. :)

Anyway, she asked me if I had talked to Madeline about her adoption at all. I told her that we've said little things here and there, but that I was honestly really nervous about what to say and how to say it. There's been so many times where I'll try to bring it up, and then my mind just goes completely blank, and all I can think to do is just hug her and tell her how thankful I am for her. Some adoption talk, huh?!? I'm terrible at it! I jokingly said to the lady that hopefully I'll figure it out soon, and she said, "No. She's old enough now. You need to talk to her about it. And this is what you say."

You tell her that you prayed for her for a very, very long time. And that you begged Heavenly Father for a sweet little baby to come and be in your family. And Heavenly Father, hearing your prayers, did a little rearranging in heaven and sent you this sweet little Madeline. She couldn't come through your body because it just wasn't ready so he sent her to a different mom first that could have a baby. And that mom, being so nice, realized that Madeline was actually meant for you and gave her to you and your husband so that you could be a family. And then you tell her that you cried and cried for days because you were so happy to have your little baby finally. You tell her about how happy she makes you and how her adoption is the best thing you've ever done in your life. Just talk about it. And make sure that she knows her story, because it's a special one.

Geez. I was totally balling to this lady by the end of it and we hardly even know each other:) She is so right though. It shouldn't be hard to tell her all of that because it's the truth. The gritty details can come later but she needs to understand the basics. I need her to know all of that and so today when I got home and things were quiet for a minute, we sat down and I told her "The Story of Madeline". And even though I fumbled through it because it's not very easy to express to a 4 year old just how important she is, I think she got it. She smiled the whole time and gave me a big hug at the end and when I asked her what it meant to be adopted, she said this:

Adopted means that you're my mom. And that Heavenly Father wanted us to be together so he sent me to another mommy's tummy to grow and then when I was a big enough baby like Jackson(her cousin) I came out and that mom gave me to you! And now you're my best mom!"

I just love my Madeline. I couldn't have asked for a better girl. I am thankful daily, hourly even, for her and feel so blessed to be her mom.

The busy season begins.

2011-11-02T16:47:00.000-07:00

It's only the 2nd of November and already time is whizzing(spelling? anyone?) by. I've been so busy over the past few days and I know it will only get crazier as the holidays approach. I don't mind the busy-ness so much; it's mostly just that I feel like I'm going to miss something in all of the hustle. Oh well, such is life. My house is a total disaster but aside from that I think I've gotten a lot done...

1. I wanted a thanksgiving wall art thing and didn't see any cute ones so I just made one...again. And then of course, as soon as I finished I came across this one at eighteen25.blogspot.com. Oh well. Mine's already at the printer so I'll just go with that:) You are all welcome to it if you want it.

2. I have been doing a ton of canning...I got some great scores on a bunch of produce in the last week and I've been trying to take advantage of it all. From cucumbers, I've canned 12 jars of pickle relish, 12 jars of sliced pickles and 4 jars of pickle spears. From pears, I did 9 big jars of pears and 9 regular jars of cinnamon pear jam. I've canned a ton of tomatoes, sweet potatoes, and in the next day or so I need to get to the rest of my stuff and make a big batch of salsa. I'm really proud of myself for getting so much done. Although I'm really embarrassed about the current state of my kitchen. It's SUCH a mess! {PS, the picture of all of the jars stacked on the counter is from my mom's house a few weeks ago. She canned a bunch of apple pie filling for me along with all of the other stuff. Isn't it a ton!?!}

3. Christmas shopping. I did most of my shopping earlier in the year when different stores had their toys and such on clearance, so I'm about done as far as the kids go. And I'm hoping to have Devin out of the way in a week or two. It's so nice to be almost finished! I could even skip Black Friday...if I wanted to:)

4. We celebrated my brother Tevin's birthday. His real birthday was a few months ago but he just barely had a party for it. He had a bounce house for it and I took the kids over after the party was over to let them play on it. They had such a good time on that thing...and who am I kidding, so did I. It kind of made me wish I had one in my back yard permanently:) This first picture below is my absolute favorite of them all. Despite it's blurriness, the action of the whole thing just makes me laugh my had off. My mom-mid jump, and my sister holding Bridger for dear life...hahaha! So funny.

5. And just because my Bridger is just the cutest...

Halloween 2011

2011-11-01T10:33:00.000-07:00

A quick recap of our halloween festivities, mostly in picture form because I don't have much time to blog about this. So much fun, though. I'm sad it's all over, actually:)

The costumes: After much deliberation, Madeline decided to be a fairy princess. She really wanted to be Belle(same as last year) and a cat in one. Picture a pretty Belle dress, with a tail, ears and cat mask. Um, it was interesting. I was actually just going to let her be that because she was so set on it, but when I was at the store with the kids picking out costumes she saw this fairy one and changed her mind to that.(PS, I got them at Children's Place for 4$ each. All of their costumes go on super clearance about 2 weeks before Halloween so I usually just wait until then and go. It's worked out pretty well the past few years)

Hadley wanted to be a monster for halloween but I couldn't find a little girls(or boys, even) monster costume so she picked the bumblebee instead. And honestly, she loved it. She called the antenneas her ears and would run around saying, "buzzzzzzzz, buzzzzz, buzzzz!" She was really anti-take-a-picture though. As you can see below.

Bridger was the cutest puppy ever. I LOVED his costume. It was all big and fat and he could hardly see because the hat would fall into his face, but ohh, he was so dang cute. Maybe it's his 3 tooth grin that gets me, I don't know. But I thought he looked adorable in it.

Trunk or Treat: Our church puts on a trunk or treat every year for everyone and my kids think it's the silliest thing. Madeline kept saying all week, "Mom, we're really going to go trick or treating in a parking lot?!? That's silly!" Haha. Devin got to come for a while and dressed as a gorilla. And...as it turns out, his friend Brett has a similar costume so they ended up being quite the pair:) All of the kids were scared of them but whatever. It was so funny. Madeline's favorite part of the whole thing was actually just passing out the candy. It totally surprised me. Bridger was just really good and cute as usual. I'm so lucky:)

Halloween night & Trick or Treating: My family came over for dinner and this is our attempt to get a group shot. I think they're pretty funny...especially my brother who dressed up as a hospital patient, haha! The kids had so much fun trick or treating through the neighborhood. Ours was pretty quiet though so after we did our street we went over to another neighborhood down the street(Lamplight Village). Holy cow, it is the place to be! I'm not exaggerating when I say that the streets were full of trick or treaters. As in hundreds of kids. You couldn't drive if you wanted to! Devin wasn't there so I was really thankful to have my family to help me with the kids, otherwise I'm pretty sure I would have lost one or two. I love Trick or Treating and could go all night, I think. It's so fun to see all of the costumes out and watch my kids be so excited over a little piece of gum or whatever.

Oh and we can't forget the usual Halloween feast. Some of the delights were the meatloaf rat, ghost potatoes, truck stop toilet, and jello worms. Tell me that toilet isn't the sickest thing you've ever seen! That was my contribution to the party...when I saw it online I was so disgusted that I just knew I had to make it. It's all chocolate and caramel...tasty things. But my gosh, the presentation is just awful! {Dry heaving} I'm pretty sure it's the only brownie I've ever turned down in my life! haha. My family is disgusting.

No Bridger!

2011-10-29T19:00:00.000-07:00

My sweet little baby is standing all by himself.

I'm so not ready for this.

Good Morning Sunshine!

2011-10-29T06:46:00.000-07:00

I've been up since 5 this morning but I don't dare climb out of bed or make a sound because the moment I do, I know that the kids will be up and running. And I just want to enjoy this peace and quiet for a little longer. I think this is my favorite time of year...right before the time changes and the mornings are dark for longer than usual. I've been waking up really early lately for whatever reason and because of the direction my windows face in my bedroom, I'm able to lay in bed and watch the sunrise. Now, I've never been one to fully appreciate views or whatever; I don't really care if I look out my window and see a mountain or a house(although I do care if people can see into my house from theirs...that's a little weird for me). But the past few mornings of watching the sun come up and slowly fill my room with light have been a real blessing. It's a great reminder that each day we start fresh and put away the hurts and trials of the one before. And the stillness of my house allows me reflect on my blessings and feel grateful for my cute kids. Do I forget that halfway through the day when things aren't going according to plan? Yes. But at least I get a moment to remember why I'm here and how much I really have.

The last two days have been really rough around here. My kids have been in overdrive and I felt like I was doing circles around them. If I wasn't picking up another mess or scrubbing a nutrigrain bar out of the carpet, I was putting someone in timeout or changing Hadley's outfit-yet again-because she refuses to be potty trained anymore. Oh and somewhere in there the kids decided that it would be funny to hide their halloween costumes from me, and they refused to tell me where they were. I looked for 2 hours and tore my house apart before I finally found them in Madeline's backpack. So naughty! And Devin is seriously never home. His job is so busy these days. A short day for him is 14 hours and he comes home exhauseted so I don't feel like I can/should ask for help. And he tries but there's just only so much he can do when he's only home for an hour or so before the kids go to bed. Finally yesterday afternoon I cracked and just cried for a good hour. Maybe longer if I'm being totally honest. I just felt like, why the heck do I do all of this? Maybe I'm just not cut out for this mom stuff.

I pulled it together after a long venting session to Devin via phone because he was working late as usual, (I'm thankful that I even got to do that because he's usually not even available for a quick conversation) and he actually got to come home a little early so that we could take the kids to the trunk or treat at church. I'm so glad we went because it totally lifted my spirits to take the kids around and hear Hadley's little voice say "trick or treat!" The girls had so much fun and were so exhausted from the excitement that they went right to bed. And....9 hours later, are still sleeping so that I can watch the sun come up in peace.

Today will be a better day. I'm determined. The pretty orange sun peeking over the mountains says that it will be. I just need to focus my efforts on my kids and maybe take them to do something fun. If I don't clean a single thing today that's okay...there's always tomorrow:)

My cute Bridger

2011-10-28T20:40:00.000-07:00

Bridger is getting to that age where strangers are no fun anymore. If mom leaves the room, he cries. And if I'm holding another baby(Jackson) he's so sad. I was trying to take some pictures of Jackson for my sister the other day and this is what was sitting at my feet. Poor baby! Doesn't he look so sad?!?

There is one thing that will fix the problem though, and that is Grandma with handfuls of candy. She gave him a piece of chocolate and he perked right up! See the happiness? Yeah, that was taken a minute after the first one. Funny how kids can turn it on and off.

This is one of Jackson in his little pumpkin getup from when Bridger was crying his eyes out. Crazy that he could fit into that tiny box...

And then, because Bridger just can't be left out, we stuck him in it too. Um, he's not quite the baby I thought he was. But oh! His laugh and smile are just my favorite thing!

Oh children.

2011-10-28T08:30:00.000-07:00

Who are these kids? They've been doing this a lot...lining their old booster seats up to watch their cartoons. Not always naked, of course(well maybe Hadley)...this time they are because they just took baths and refuse to get dressed in anything but their Halloween costumes, which are currently being washed because they've worn them so much this week. But seriously, is Madeline close enough to the TV? haha. It makes me laugh.

And this one of Bridger is just funny. The girls put this Gorilla mask on him and he crawled around for a minute with it on. The mask is almost as big as his entier body, so it was quite a sight.

Me time.

2011-10-26T14:49:00.000-07:00

The girls had a sleepover at their grandparent's house in Boulder City on Tuesday night. I'm not sure who was more excited, them or me! Although I will say that when I woke up the morning of the sleep over I found Madeline all dressed and sitting by the front window waiting with her bag and pillow...and it was at 6 in the morning. She seriously couldn't wait.

They left around two and I think I smiled all day long. So much freedom! I had Bridger of course but he's so easy that I can just carry him wherever and he smiles through it all. I don't get alone time during the day much...and it was so nice to have a little break. I've actually compiled a list of all of the things I got to do, because it's so momentous. It goes as follows...

1. Drink a smoothie without having to share.

2. Try on clothes. Not just grab them off the rack and run out of the store and then return them 3 months later because they fit weird.

3. Listen to MY music in the car. Well, after I drove around accidentally listening to the static of the DVD player for 30 minutes that is. Anyone else ever do that? I do it at home all the time too with the spanish channel. Ha!

4. Go through the car wash and enjoy the serenity of it. Who knew that without the background noise of screaming/fighting children, it actually sounds a little like rain? Ah, such peace.

5. Peruse the craft store. Slowly.

6. Have a girls night. So. Much. Fun. Especially when the theme is "As Seen On TV" Ha! Hello awesome prizes. I need these get togethers more than people even know.

7. Wear a white shirt all day and not getting even one stain on it.

8. Enjoy the vacuum lines in my carpet for more than 5 minutes.

9. Enjoy the shine of a mopped floor for more than the usual 3 minutes.

10. Watch food network.

11. Go to dinner with my husband(and Bridger)

12. Play with Bridger one on one and realize that he's learned all sorts of tricks while I wasn't looking.

13. Start a project...building some frames for my bedroom. That are huge. I'm so excited to finish them.

14. Wake up to a clean house. What?!? Never happens, I'm telling you.

15. Pinterest. Need I say more?

16. Sleep.through.the.night. Even Bridger was good to me and didn't wake up until 7:30!

17. Play with Bridger more. We don't get this alone time much. And he started saying Mom...melts my heart!

18. Go to the store for the sole purpose of purchasing the new Adele CD. I'm really on a roll with all of my recent CD buys, huh?! I normally wouldn't do that with three kids in tow. Maybe after listening to it I would though, because it's pretty dang good. And PS I'll totally burn you a copy if you want it, haha!

19. Smile all day long. No seriously, I don't think I stopped. Freedom has never felt so good! haha.

20. Dressed up in a gorilla costume. Don't ask.

21. Eat cheesecake for breakfast. Yep. I really did.

22. Realized that I'm still in there. Sometimes I think moms lose themselves in the work of raising kids and keeping up a household, and it's when you finally have a few moments to yourself that you realize you're still you. So what if I didn't go skydiving or do something crazy...just having a few moments to catch my breath and hang out with good friends is enough for me. I can still be fun or whatever...and I needed to know this the most, I think.

But you know, even after all of that bliss, I still wouldn't trade my girls for anything. I missed their cute little faces and am so happy to have their messy, rambunctious selves home with me. Being a mom really is the best, and breaks like these help you to see that. Thanks grandma for taking them!

Baby Jackson

2011-10-26T07:56:00.000-07:00

Can we just talk about how much I love this picture of my nephew Jackson?

Love, love, love.

He's so cute in that old wagon that we found in my mom's yard. And how about the sun flare?! Or just his tinyness in genereal? Swoon.

My quarterly panic

2011-10-25T08:05:00.000-07:00

Every few months I go through this mini panic, where I wake up all stressed out and look through all of my old pictures, trying to find the ones of Madeline when we first met her. The ones in the hospital, the ones of her first week, even the first few months. I have none of them. Somehow they got lost/destroyed/eaten by my last computer and I don't know why I do this. I look and look through every single old file that I have on my external hard drive, as if they will all of a sudden be there this time. I so wish I had blogged back then because then I would have something! Agh. Makes me sad.

Well this morning, Madeline pulled out her old photo album, the one of her first year and as I watched her look through and say all of the funny things that kids say when they look at baby pictures of themselves(Oh my gosh Mom! Look at my teeny feet, haha! or I look just like my Dad!), I realized that there were a few in there from the first night with her! Oh my, I honestly got choked up a little. I can't even tell you how much I hate not having newborn pictures of her. And to be honest I know there aren't many in the first place, but the ones that are out there, I want them back so much! Anyway, I took a few out of the album and scanned them into my computer so that I at least have an extra copy of something. There are already a few missing out of her album that I probably took out to frame or something back in the day and they never got put back, but at least I have these.

She's just getting so big these days and I feel like I'm forgetting more and more about how tiny she was. I'll never forget seeing her for the first time, or that first night with her when Devin and I stayed up all night trying to figure out what the heck to do with a baby. Or even that first weekend, where I sat in the car with this tiny baby at a church 5K I was in charge of with a friend of mine and we just stared at her, trying to figure out how to wrap her up tight enough so that I could take her out in the cold and show her off:) She's so grown up all of a sudden and doing big things, like sleepovers with her Grandmas and writing her name. I love and hate it all at the same time. We just love our Madeline so much and I can't even picture what life was like before her. She is such a beautiful, perfect little girl and I'm so thankful to have her in our family. She was so meant to be here. I just know it.

Pictures: Top-My younger brothers, meeting her for the first time at our house right after we got home with her; Bottom left-our first family picture; Bottom right-her first bath. SO much hair! Looking at these pictures makes me want another baby JUST like Madeline so bad!

So long Oreo.

2011-10-22T08:29:00.000-07:00

The family dog, Oreo died this week. We're not really sure what happened, but based on this dog's track record, we're thinking she probably ate rat poisoning or something to that effect. Very sad. But better than getting squished by a car, I suppose. I'm not really a dog lover but Oreo was really cute with her spottiness and my kids really loved her. And she was starting to get older so she wasn't so crazy and all over the place. And she's been around forever so I have a little soft spot for her. She was my dad's dog so I know he's probably the saddest of all. Or maybe my mom, because now the only big dog left at their house is a really retarded one that eats her flowers and tears up her garden. Wow, this is turning out to be quite a tribute, haha. Anyway, we'll miss ya Oreo. Have fun in Heaven with Jesus, as my kids like to say:)

Just a few things...

2011-10-20T17:31:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to jot down few of my favorite things as of late...I take so many random pictures all of the time and I figured one long post about them all would be better than blogging individually about all of these little things. Enjoy.

1. Giant carrots that are literally the same size as my arm. But more so, when the giant carrots are lined up as a family. I found Hadley carefully putting them in order and naming each one. "Look, there's the mommy carrot, and the daddy carrot, and the baby carrot and the Hadley carrot..."

{Isn't Hadley just the cutest thing? Oooh I love her!}

2. Wallflowers from Bath and Body Works. I feel like when I go to other people's houses they smell all fresh and pretty, and mine...does not. So I bought some of these on sale a few weeks ago, and now I'm hooked. I love how great my house smells when I walk through the door now and I don't even have to put effort into it. Among my favorite smells are Apple Crumble and Fresh Linen. Mmmm. Heavenly.

3. Tent builders. I love that my kids use their Dora tent to build a new upside down fort on the couch that is totally baby proof(not) for Bridger. Cute Madeline is always looking out for him:)

4. Awesome cup. I learned about these great cups at the Bingo night I went to last month. They seriously are genious and I use it all the time. It's a hard plastic cup with a hard straw that can't come out. I used to just drive around with a regular cup of ice water in my car because it was the easiest thing to share with my kids(and yes, I share with them. Their gross kid germs don't scare me). But now...NOW I use this baby and I don't have to worry about water sloshing everywhere, or them biting my straw, or pulling the straw out. Win!

5. Homemade caramel. We made some last week and I rolled them up and hid them. Unfortunately Madeline knows the wherabouts of their hiding so it hasn't been effective as I had hoped, but that's alright because there are so many that even with her sneaking them I'll still have enough to last me through the holidays:)

6. Baby ties. Before Bridger was born I made some cute baby ties that I saw on etsy. They're super easy to make and I love how over time they fray around the edges, making them look all rugged...so my style. Last night I was feeling like Bridger needed a little more variety so I decided to make a few new ones. I was originally just planning to make 2 or 3 but ended up doing 10 of them. Which really means 20 because they are different fabrics on each side. I think maybe I went a little overboard? Whatever. I'm sure he appreciates having options:)

7. Dance class. I do a carpool for Madeline's dance class so every week Madeline gets a ride from someone else. I love it that the kids all open the door and wait anxiously for her ride to get here. Hadley always sends Madeline off with a "Have a good time at your zipidee doo-dah class!" And Bridger of course is right there with them because he can't be left out these days. It's so cute.

8. New books. I have been slacking on my monthly reading and have a few books that I need to hurry up and get going on. I admit that I've been in a reading slump and normally when I see the stack of books I only have feelings of dread. But today is different...I woke up thinking that I was ready to start again and was really happy that I had a bunch to pick from. First on the list to read is Of Bees and Mist. Anyone read that one yet?

9. Bathroom door locks. Need I say more? I will because I really think that this little lock saves my sanity. I can go in there to have important phone conversations and hide from the kids when they are making me crazy. Too bad it's a tiny room with a toilet in it, otherwise it would be perfect!

10. The Band Perry. I bought this CD(yes, the actual disk...I don't do MP3s because they're too complicated.) and didn't realize they were a country band at the time of purchase. I don't typically listen to country but I don't mind it so I gave it a few tries and now I'm hooked on the cd. I love all of the songs on it and it's seriously always playing in the car. Sometimes I even bring it inside with me to listen, then back out to the car when I need to go somewhere. And yes I know that MP3 players would be way more convenient but whatever. I'm just not there yet!

11. Cuddling with my Hadley. She is such a snuggler and always wants to be held, which I love(most of the time). And please note her lovely outfit. A "princess" aka church dress, her flip flops, and tucked underneath it all are her tinkerbell pajamas. Such a trend setter.

The latest...

2011-10-19T07:17:00.000-07:00

1. I am starting to go back to blonde and when I came home with a bunch of highlights last week, Madeline was all sorts of upset about it. She kept saying, "Mom, what the heck did you do to your hair?!? It's supposed to be like mine!" Ah, I feel a little guilty about coloring it now. She has asked me everyday since I did it when I'm going to wash it out. I told her that the blone part is for Hadley and the dark is for her, but I don't think she's buying it.

2. We've been spending a lot of our evenings at the park lately. Win-win because it wears the kids out, and I don't have a giant tornado of a mess to clean up afterward! I'm really loving these cool fall nights.

3. Devin's brother Preston left on his mission last week. He's serving in the Boston, Massachusetts area and will be learning spanish. We're really excited for him to have this opportunity and know that he will do great:)

4. This is old news now but my sister Dakota turned 16 a few weeks ago and we had a surprise party for her at my house. Our kids spent the night at their grandma's house and we turned our house into party central! Haha, okay not really, but we did move all of the furniture out and the teenagers played a bunch of Minute to Win It games. They even had a pinata too. My parents were so good to plan all of it for her. I just have to say though, teenagers these days are so weird. They're all into their phones and spend a lot of time worrying about being cool. Was I like that? I don't think so...maybe? No. I couldn't have been:)

5. Devin's good friend Nate is getting married in a few weeks and he asked Devin to make the cake topper for their wedding cake. His friend is a professional BMX biker guy and wanted something that was true to that. So Devin made this awesome wire guy thing. It turned out so cool! The wheels even spin and it has a brake and everything. You should see some of the other artsy stuff Devin has done too....he's really good at that kind of thing.

6. Speaking of Devin, he was on a regular schedule last week! We're back to the crazy this week but oh well. Such is life. The kids loved it while it lasted though.

7. I read an article the other day about a blogging mom who had CPS called on her because of something she wrote about her kids on her blog. I read the blog and the post in question had nothing wrong with it! It was kind of funny, even. And I agreed with most of what she said....so the fact that someone thought her post was damaging enough to her child that they felt CPS needed to be involved just scares me, because I obviously think a lot like her. It kind of made me want to run away from my blog and never post again. I'm honest on here...I talk about how my kids drive me crazy all the time and what if someone misinterpreted my writing for more than just a rant? Gah. This is why people have fake blogs. And why people don't talk about the bad and the ugly. And it makes me sad! There's just no safety anywhere anymore. Here's the link if you are interested.

The grocery store.

2011-10-18T17:57:00.000-07:00

I just went to the grocery store and spent an absurd amount of money stocking up on all of the things we regularly use. I don't do this very often...I like to maybe go every 2-3 months for a "big" trip, and then on the weeks in between I just go in for things like produce, milk, etc. It saves me time in the long run, I think and this way I can take my kids with me on my small trips and still have room in the cart for both kids and groceries, ha. Anyway, the line was reeeeeeeeeallly long today so I had a lot of time to think about really important things, like why the heck we haven't come up with a better system for buying groceries. First we load the cart, then unload to pay, then reload after paying, then unload/reload again into our car, then unload when we get home, and then finally, we load our pantry shelves. That's 6 times we're moving around our groceries, and I'm not even talking about what happens before it hits the store shelves. I say it's time for a grocery revolution because this is just ridiculous. Anyone else?!?

I also decided that tabloids are stupid but man they suck me in. If I'm being totally honest, sometimes I pick the long line on purpose(when I don't have kids with me) just so that I can read a few while I'm waiting. (PS, when are they going to get over the whole Brad-Jen-Angelina love/hate triangle?!? That was like a decade ago!)

And that I really like nice cashiers but not so much when they are taking forever because they are chatty. But I guess it's better to have a nice conversation than it is to have a grumpy one.

And finally, that there are a number of foods that I just really, really hate buying. Mostly because I feel like I am way overpaying. Can they just make the can of olives a little bigger already?! It's rather unfortunate that my family needs all of the items on the following list. I'm sure there are more but this is all I could remember from my time contemplating this at the store.

1. Olives

2. Avocados

3. Oranges out of season, and strawberries.

4. Face wash

5. Face lotion

6. Anything face related

7. Any type of small berry that comes in a teeny tiny container

8. Stamps

9. Velveeta

10. Baby formula

Too bad I didn't think of a better blog topic while I was waiting there too:)

Say click! Take a pic.

2011-10-18T10:31:00.000-07:00

This past week has been a busy one for me...I did 4 photo shoots in six days and now I understand why photographers charge what they do, haha:) I'm not really looking to be a professional photographer by any means, I mostly just want to understand my camera and I'm really fascinated with light and how it works. But I will say it is fun to take pictures of people that I love so I think I might just stick with that:) And no laughing at my photography skills...I'm still learning!

I think my favorite one of all is of my little nephew, Jackson. Babies are just my favorite anyway but he is so cute and I'm in love with his hair. Here's a few of his pictures. He's so sweet!

I also took some of my one of my best friends Ashley and her little boy Matix while we were at the Pumpkin patch this weekend. Perhaps a family outing with all of my kids is not the best time to try and take pictures, but they were just for fun so I guess it's alright:) Definitely a learning experience!

And then there is my cousin Brittany and her fiance Roland. We took some engagement pictures in the Art district and I LOVE the bright colors down there.

Sleeping

2011-10-18T10:01:00.000-07:00

Just a few awkward sleeping moments brought to you by my dear children.

Their positions never cease to amaze me.

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-15T12:42:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday we took the kids to the pumpkin patch down the street. Madeline has been begging to go for days and was so happy when I finally said that we could go. We woke up really early so that we could get there when it opened(7 am) but that's just too much work to get up and going that early, and didn't leave the house until 8. Still pretty early, if you ask me. The kids had so much fun-even Bridger was having a good time crawling around in the dirt and eating the pumpkins. My friend Ashley and her little boy Matix also met us down there and Madeline was overjoyed about getting to hang out with her buddy from school.
Going to this place is one of my favorite things to do as a family and we go occasionally to pick fruit/vegetables that are in season. I can't say enough good things about it-living down the street is just one of the luxuries of living in the middle of nowhere:)

From the mouth of Madeline

2011-10-14T18:46:00.000-07:00

Just some funny things Miss Madeline has been saying lately...

I wore my hair a little differently yesterday, with it all scrunchy and up and yes, a little crazy. And Madeline said to me, "Mom! What is up with your hair?!? It's crazy!" I told her that yes, it was but that it was kind of fun(I think?)...to which she replied, "No, it's not. You really need to go home and make it beautiful like mine and Hadleys." And then this morning when I woke up and it really was all over the place, she told me that I should have listened to her, because NOW look at it. She then told me to take a picture of it to show her dad. And I obliged. Sigh...:)

* * * * * *

At church the other day Madeline noticed one of my Activity Days girls sitting a few rows behind us and our conversation went like this...

Madeline: Mom! Look, there's an Activity Day girl!

Me: Yep, you're right.

Madeline: Can she come over today?

Me: No, but she's going to come over on Wednesday

Madeline: Okay good. I love them.

{A few minutes later, after much thought}

Madeline: Hey Mom, why are your friends so little?

Haha! She thinks that these girls are my everyday friends. I love them, but I'm pretty sure they would look at me crazy if I started gabbing about what to make for dinner or whatever. Funny girl.

(For those of you wondering what Activity Days is, I'm a leader over the 8-9 year old girls from church and they come over twice a month for some sort of activity. Sometimes it's spiritual, other times it's for a craft, but mostly it's just for them to get together to become better friends and to learn about how to become better individuals)

* * * * * * *

Madeline asked if she could use the computer(a first for her) and when I asked why, she said, "I need to go on Pinterest. I want to see the pretty things." Ha! As if one addict in the house wasn't enough...!

* * * * * * *

The other day I asked Madeline to help me do something(I can't remember what) and she kept asking "Why." Finally I just said "because I'm the boss!" She said Ugghhh and walked off and I heard her mutter under her breath, "I can't wait until I'M the boss!" What a brat:)

* * * * * * *

My dad offered to take Madeline on a date to see a movie, and when I asked her if she wanted to go she said, "Well....is there going to be popcorn?" I told her to ask him and see, and she said(in a sneaky voice like she knew she was pulling one on him) "I'll just bring my coins so we HAVE to get it!"

* * * * * *

The other day she came up to me right after she woke up and said, "Mom, Jesus said you have to take me to get ice cream today, or he'll be sad." Who is this girl, trying to guilt me into taking her?!?

* * * * * *

She calls her new cousin Jackson her brother, and when I correct her she says, "Well mom! I need more brothers! Maybe 5?" Um, I'm thinking no on that one. :)

It's here.

2011-10-13T07:47:00.000-07:00

We made Caramel Apples yesterday.

And now I can say that it is officially fall in our house!

{I think this is my favorite fall treat. Besides the pumpkin candy corns, of course}

{recipe here}

I believe...

2011-10-13T07:31:00.000-07:00

There have been so many different rumors floating around about my religion lately, and I've never really taken the time to write about my beliefs on this blog. Mostly because I know a lot of people of different faiths read it and religion is just one of those things that you don't talk about, kind of like politics, or whose mom makes the best Lasagna(mine)haha. But I feel like I need to make a few things clear.

1. I'm a mormon, or more specifically, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

2. We believe in Christ. And are most definitely Christians.

3. We believe in family. It's the most important thing in the world to us and we do our very best to make sure that we raise happy, productive children and that we stay united together. We also believe that families are eternal, and can be together forever. And just in case there is any confusion, we are not polygamists.

4. We believe in being honest. And virtuous. And having integrity. And of course, being trustworthy.

5. Serving others is important. I can honestly say that there is a certain joy that comes from helping others that you can't get anywhere else. It always makes my day better to help others.

6. We believe in following the laws of the land, and obeying our leaders. Yes, I speed sometimes, but that's besides the point:)

7. We believe in modern day revelation. That God gives us(not just mormons) direction and guidance to help us get through these crazy times.

8. We read the bible! And the Book of Mormon as well. To us the Book of Mormon is just another testament of Jesus Christ, written for our day. It really is a true book.

9. We believe in diet coke. Okay maybe not really but I swear every mormon I know drinks it. So obviously we're okay with Caffeine. On that subject...we don't believe in using addictive substances or anything that may be harmful to our bodies. Smoking, drinking, and other things of that nature are out...we just want to be healthy!

10. We believe in good friendships. I love the people I have met and grown close to from church and I'm telling you, if you are lonely, just come to church with me. You'll have more friends in an hour than you've had your whole life, haha:)

11. We believe in helping the less fortunate. Whether that be through service or financially, we like to help. And not just individually. Our church is very good about stepping in when there are big crisis in the world and helping with as much as possible.

12. We just want to be better people. We want to be happy, and enjoy the little things in life. We want to learn, and challenge ourselves, and mostly, just do what's right.

That's basically it. I don't think there is anything crazy on my list. It really is a pretty simple church, and the people in it are just trying to do good. I hope that my list didn't offend anyone, or make anyone feel ostracized or whatever...because that really wasn't the point. I just want people to know that Mormons aren't as weird as some may think. We're just like the rest of you!

If you have questions, visit mormon.org. Or just ask me. I'll do my best to answer them:)

Cleaning fairy

2011-10-11T09:44:00.000-07:00

Last night I put the kids to bed, took a quick shower, sat down on my bed for a few minutes, and then woke up this morning in the weirdest position with a towel still in my hair. Apparently I was tired?! Lucky for me the kids all slept through the night so I'm well rested and happy today. But the strangest thing happened while I was knocked out...someone cleaned my house! It was a disaster yesterday after a day of cooking, friends over, etc and I just didn't have the energy to clean it before I went to bed, so I was really dreading getting up this morning...except that when I finally crawled out of bed and went into the kitchen to make breakfast, it was spotless!
This kind of thing doesn't usually happen in our house, only in movies I think. I'll be honest and say I really didn't believe in the cleaning fairy. But I guess I was wrong...when Devin got home(which was really late) he stayed up and cleaned everything for me! How great, right? We've kind of been at odds lately with how crazy life has been so it was a really nice surprise to wake up to and made me feel loved. I really appreciate it. Now I get to enjoy the day with my kids instead of scrubbing everything down. Oh and I took a few pictures for proof, haha:)

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

The little things.

2011-10-10T14:47:00.000-07:00

Today has been really great and I just wanted to write down a few reasons why...

1. The weather is perfect. And my kids have been outside all day enjoying it.

2. Started using the pasta attachment for my Kitchenaid and made some homemade macaroni. I'm really kind of excited about this! Tried it out for the first time last week and made fettucine noodles that were actually pretty delicious. I'm kind of hooked on the little gadget. (This is the one I have. And here's the recipe.)

3. Bridger tried dog food for the first time(that I know of) and learned how to climb outside without falling on his face. Hooray for no more forehead bruises that make me look like an abusive mother.

4. The girls used the quilt that I finally finished(only took two years and the help of the Activity days girls from church:) to lay in the backyard and watch airplanes fly through the sky. I love this quilt and am so happy to finally use it!

Baby Jackson!

2011-10-10T07:37:00.001-07:00

Baby Jackson is here! My sister had her baby a little earlier than we were all expecting, but all went well with the delivery and we are so excited to have a new baby around. Gives me my baby fix, haha:) He was born a few days ago after a quick labor and we have been dying to see him! As soon as they got home from the hospital we went over to check him out, and the girls could hardly stand the wait. As soon as we pulled up they jumped out of the car and Madeline said, "Sorry mom, we can't wait for you. We're just too excited!" Anyway, he has a ton of hair, way more than Bridger and looks just like his dad. And speaking of Bridger, it's like he instantly grew up. He looks so big to me now! I look at his little face and just see toddler, not baby. So sad! Anyway, here are some pictures. That's all people care about anyway:)

{I think this next picture of Bridger trying to grab him is so funny...he's not really touching him and Jackson is just yawning but it looks like Bridger is beating him! Haha. The fighting begins already}

Fail.

2011-10-08T08:27:00.000-07:00

Last night the girls spent the night at their grandma's house(yay for quiet!) and I chose to take advantage of -2 kids by shopping. Haven't done that by myself in, oh, I don't know, forever? Okay maybe not that long but it feels like it. By the time I finally got out the door it was really late and almost everything was about to close, so I just went to Target. I have missed that place! I don't think I've been in over a month which is a huge record for me!

Anyway, I spent most of my time in the clothing section, looking for a new shirt(or two). I picked one up off of the rack and held it for a second, trying to decide if it was cute or not, and finally decided to throw it in my cart. I never know these days if things are "in" because I'm so out of the shopping loop, you know? I thought it was cute but would the world?!? I figured that I would just go with it and started to get really excited that maybe I was actually on target with style for once and just as I was about to head to the dressing room, I overheard some teenagers looking at the very same shirt. I stopped. I listened. Totally thinking that they would dish about how perfect the shirt was and I would be right in my choosing it. Except that this is what they said..."Eww, that is such a grandma shirt!" Next teen..."I know, right?" Ugghhh.

Well crap. Isn't that just the story of my life lately?

So I put the shirt back and bought some shoes instead because yes, I am a follower and no, I am not about to buy a shirt with the word grandma associated with it. Not when I was just called one last week! And really, how can you go wrong with shoes? Even though that's not technically what I went in for, and I'm still minus a shirt, I can always use another pair!

(And ps, if any of you think my shoes are grandma-ish, just don't tell me, okay?!?)

Meet the McGurks

2011-10-04T07:55:00.000-07:00

So there's this cute family, the McGurks. Alex, the mom and I go way back, like elementary school back and she is just the cutest mom. Her and her husband have two little kids, Brody and Mia and they seem way more behaved than mine, so she must be doing something right, haha:) Anyway, I just love reading their blog and think they're awesome. Now for the bad part. Donnie, the dad was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, an agressive form of Cancer a few months ago and has been running from doctor to doctor to try and find a treatment that will work for him. They were in the clear for a minute, but a few weeks ago they found another lump and are starting all over again.

I just hate this. He's so young, their family is so young! I don't know what I would do if this were me. How Alex manages to balance it all-being a mom and doing the normal preschool, sports, baby stuff, etc and then taking care of a sick husband, coordinating with a gazillion doctors AND still finding a way to be happy and upbeat about everything is completely beyond me and I just wish I could do something more to help. Donnie is unable to work anymore because of the pain/amount of time spent at the doctors and that alone would be a huge stress, I think. Just this week they have been to three(maybe 4?) doctors and this weekend they'll be heading to California to see their new Oncologist. The bills must be through the roof.

Anyway, I wanted to post about them because if nothing else, maybe other people out there could think about them, pray for them, offer support, help financially, whatever. I just know that if this were me, I would love to have the world on my side, cheering me on. They shouldn't have to go through all of this alone and I feel like if we all band together, maybe we could make a difference. If you are looking for a cause, make this be it. They are such a sweet family and those cute kids need their dad to hurry and get better so he can run around and play with them. It makes me so sad to think of how Donnie must be feeling, not just the pain but the helplessness that this disease is causing. He's a good dad and I'm sure it must break his heart to not be able to just hop up and wrestle with his kids. Let's all just help them, okay?!?

To read their full story, go here. Their blog URL is www.ourcircusmcgurkus.blogspot.com if you'd like to follow their story too. And if you are able and would like to contribute financially, the information is listed at the bottom of this post. I know that they would appreciate any help that people are able to give. And feel free to share their story. The more people who know, the more help they'll get! You're welcome to repost this on your own blogs or facebook, etc.

* * * * * * *

If you would like to help with the ongoing medical bills you can contribute through paypal(Just click the button below)

OR

to Donnie's Medical Fund that is set up at Wells Fargo:
Donald J. McGurk

act # 3904451527

10 months

2011-10-03T16:30:00.000-07:00

It's that time again. Bridger is another month older and my gosh, he wants me to know it. I think his personality is showing through more and more each day. He's super happy and smiley all the time but is more demanding at the same time. He knows what he wants and if it doesn't work out for him, he gets pretty mad. If I try to lay him down for a nap and he's not ready, he'll cry until I come and get him. But if he's tired, well, then he'll just curl up with his bottle and pass right out, no fuss at all. He's eating more food these days, although I think I need to be more consistent with that. Only two more months of formula left so I'm trying to start transitioning him to more food/less bottles...and sucking terribly at it:) He's gotten another tooth-the top left-and he loves to walk around holding on to things. I'm amazed at how fast he can scale the side of the couch! He's also playing more with the girls-they've taught him to wrestle so now when one of the girls are sitting where he can reach, he'll crawl over to them and throw himself on top and then laugh, like he's saying "Ha! I got you!" I love Bridger to pieces and everytime I look at him I can't help but think of what a perfect addition to our family he is. I hope this next month goes by slowly because I don't want him to get any bigger!

He is also becoming really uncooperative for the camera. Sure, he'll smile, but getting him to look in my direction is almost impossible these days!

Hadley.

2011-10-02T22:57:00.001-07:00

I just spent the last three hours trying to get Hadley to sleep. She is finally out, laying next to my bed on the floor but I had to let her lay with me in my bed until she was asleep, which I usually don't allow unless Devin is out of town, which I guess is a lot lately. I feel like I've already given in way too much with her. She has her pacifier back, has all but given up on being potty trained, and now she sleeps in my room almost nightly. By letting her into my bed, I felt like that was the last straw and that I was completely failing with her. Why can't I just win one, you know? I know she needs boundaries, and I've always been really strict with them in the past but lately I just can't find the energy to fight her. And she's totally kicking my butt. I feel like we just need to start fresh but I can't figure out how. I hate this. Hate that I just love her so much that I can't resist those sad little tears or her begging to just hold her. I tell myself its okay to cave because she's going to be big sooner than I know but what am I setting myself up for later? And I feel like if other moms knew then they would totally judge me and think I need to stop being a pushover. I really need to figure out a happy medium with her. And soon.

Anyway, I've totally digressed. I mostly just wanted to write that as I was picking her up out of my bed to lay her back on the floor, I sat and held her for a few minutes. I looked at her little eyelashes and perfect nose and crazy but so cute curly blonde hair and I just tried to memorize her face. Just 30 minutes before I had been so angry and frustrated with her and as I stared at her I felt so bad for being mad. I just wanted to take it all back and tell her that I love her to pieces, that I'm sorry for having no patience. She's so cute and perfect and yes, unbelievably naughty but she's mine and my Hadley is such a gift. I have no idea what to do with her 95% of the time but I at least need to remember that. I hope she knows that I love her. And that we find a balance soon, for both of our sakes:)

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Homemade Laundry Detergent

2011-10-02T11:26:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to making the laundry detergent this morning that I mentioned a few weeks ago, and it was so unbelievably easy that I kept checking the recipe to make sure I wasn't skipping a step. Even now I'm sitting her, dumbfounded by the simplicity. Seriously, it took no time at all and I can't believe that I've been buying it for all of these years when I could have spent 5 minutes and made it myself for nothing. I think all together the ingredients for it were $7 (plus a 5 gallon bucket for $8, but I will use that over and over so I don't really think it counts) and I have enough to make several more batches of it. I'm so excited that this was a success! Things usually don't go this easily for me, haha:) Oh and you can add essential oils to scent it but I kind of like the laundry smell so I didn't do that. Someone else hurry and make it so we can talk about how fun being domestic is!

Here's the recipe I used. It's from the Duggar's website.

Ingredients: (I found them all at Walmart)

4 Cups hot tap water

1 Fels-Naptha soap bar

1 Cup Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda

1/2 Cup Borax

Directions: Fill a clean 5 gallon bucket half full with hot tap water and then set aside. Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir Continually over medium low heat until soap is dissolved. Once melted completely, add to the 5 gallon bucket, and then add the washing soda and borax to the bucket. Mix until the powder is dissolved and then fill the bucket to the top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken. It will turn into a gel. The next day)or whenever you're ready to use it) fill a clean laundry soap dispenser half full of the soap mixture and then fill the rest of the way with water. Shake before each use.

Yield: Makes 10 gallons(Front load=640 loads @ 1/4 C per load; Top load=180 loads @ 5/8 C per load)

*As far as I know this is okay for HE washers. That's what mine is and there haven't been any problems.

My Madeline is 4!

2011-10-01T14:08:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Madeline's 4th birthday yesterday. I can't believe I have a 4 year old! It seems like it was just yesterday that I was holding her for the first time. She's gotten so big and it kind of freaks me out to think that she'll be in school soon. We love our Madeline so much and are so, so, so thankful that she is ours.

Then...(first birthday...this makes me want my blonde hair back!!)

Now...we've all changed so much...

We started the celebration a few days early because she wanted to take treats to her preschool class. I guess she remembered from last year and started begging me the night before so I stayed up late to make these brownie pop things that I saw on Pinterest. Much harder than the picture lets on, but they are pretty cute. She was so excited to take them the next morning and at school she got a birthday crown and the class sang to her.

On Friday, her actual birthday, I got up before her and put out the balloons and castle I had picked up the night before(thanks to my sisters for helping with that since Devin has been out of town) and when she woke up she was SO excited. When she saw the castle that I got from a girl at church who threw a princess party for her daughter, she said, "Mom, did you MAKE this for me?!?" To which I replied, "No, my friend Becky did." She then said, "Oh mom, I LOVE Becky(she has no idea who she even is!) She's a really great girl." Haha, it was pretty funny. We had birthday pancakes to celebrate and then off we went to run some last minute errands for the party. We stopped at "Old MacDonalds" for lunch per her request too. Spoiled girl!

That afternoon, my sister Dakota came over to help me decorate everything and things were kind of crazy so I forgot to take pictures of it all. There were tulle pom poms hanging all over, a little kids craft table where the girls could decorate crowns and the boys could decorate swords, a giant castle, etc. And we had a trunk full of princess/prince costumes for the kids to wear. I think it turned out pretty cute:) We finished decorating just in time for the party to start and Devin walked in the door about 30 minutes before that. No laughing at the cake! Oh and I made mini cupcakes instead of normal size ones which were perfect for the kids to eat. I think I'll be doing that again.

The party went really great. Madeline was so excited to have her friends over and to finally be having a party just for her. They all looked so cute in the costumes too. We did a pinata and Madeline had a great time opening so many fun princess presents. She's seriously in heaven with all of her loot. Last night I had to pry a few of her toys out of her arms after she had fallen asleep:) It started raining right towards the end but that was no big deal...the cloudy-ness that we got all afternoon was worth a few drops in the end. Thanks everyone for coming and making it so special for her! I'm very grateful that we have such great family and friends and I hope that Madeline keeps these cute kids close as she grows up.

Our attempt at a quick family picture...ha.

Really?!?

2011-09-29T23:07:00.000-07:00

I've been running around like a chicken with it's head cut off trying to get everything ready for Madeline's birthday party tomorrow. Devin has been out of town for work so I've been on my own and holy cow, can I just say that I should probably take a lesson in simplifying my plans? Who knew a princess party could be so much work? Worth it? Totally. The girl has been asking about her birthday for months now so I have to make it perfect for her. I have learned one thing this week though and it's that my calling in life is NOT to make Barbie princess cakes. Oh my gosh, that thing is a train wreck. But I don't have time to redo it and I'm sure underneath all of that melty frosting it still tastes good, and Madeline doesn't really care(I hope?) :)

Anyway, I actually didn't sit down to write about the party. I just wanted to post about some of the highlights of the day, courtesy of my lovely children who secretly hate my guts, I think.

1. While in the bath today, the girls thought it would be fun to swing Tarzan style into the tub from the curtains. Unfortunately my curtain rod was not sturdy enough to sustain the weight of two little girls and was ripped out of the wall. Curtains were soaked and now I have a big hole in the wall and no husband to fix it. Awesome.

2. The girls found Devin's friend's glasses that were missing and instead of telling their mother, they thought it would be fun to jump on them and/or wrestle around on top of them...and basically just flat out break them. I told him that I could get a replacement pair from the dollar store, they have some really awesome frames for sale but I guess that won't work. Bummer, because the price is totally right.

3. Hadley pooped in the backyard. Twice.

4. Hadley chewed up a big wad of gum while we were driving(which she snuck out of the candy for Madeline's party) and then took it out of her mouth, squished it onto the window, and THEN rolled the window down. And then back up. Which left a huge, gigantic, sticky awful mess all over the window. Thank goodness for goo gone. I have no idea what is still down in the door part but I think for now we will just leave the window up and forget about it. That kid...I swear she is out to get me sometimes. Good thing she's pretty dang cute:)

5. At the store tonight with my sister, who is about to have a baby anyday now and attracts huge amounts of attention because of her belly, a man was talking to her and at one point in the conversation, he said "So you're making her a grandma then?" REFERRING TO ME! Um, hello! I'm 25. Seriously?!? I know I looked a little rough because I haven't seen a shower in a few days with all of the craziness and I didn't have any makeup on(A first for me-I don't think I've ever gone to the store with at least a little on.) but really? I looked like I could be a grandma? Ooooh. I think that's the rudest thing I've ever heard! I didn't correct him at the time, just pretended like I didn't hear him because I didn't want to embarrass him, but oh I totally should have. Agh. A grandma. What the heck! It's not like I was walking around in polyester pants or something. Gosh I never want to leave the house again.

6. The girls took the frosting covered beaters(from when I was decorating the afore mentioned disaster cake) and rubbed them in each other's hair, and then in the carpet that I. Just. Shampooed. Why?!?!?!?!?

7. On a positive note my hutch redo from a few months back was featured on one of my favorite blogs, Better After. It's kind of exciting when someone notices your work and gives you a high five for doing it! And speaking of blogs, mine has been getting a lot of traffic over the past few months. Like a few hundred views a day. Kind of crazy, right? Now fess up and tell me who you are, haha.

Today was obviously a rough day. But even with all of the crap that this week has given me I still know that it could be worse. I have a lot to be thankful for and I try not to forget that. I'm only human, so I'm allowed to whine a little every now and then, right?!? :)

Love my Hadley.

2011-09-26T20:46:00.000-07:00

Who is this girl?!? I wasn't kidding when I said she's always naked in one of my posts last week. She hates clothes and as soon as I look the other way she slips out of her outfit as fast as she can. The one thing I can get her to keep on with no problem is a princess costume and lately I've just been trying to embrace that and let her wear it wherever. To the park? Fine. Store? No big deal. I figure she's only going to be little and cute for a bit longer so why not let her just be little and cute. Who needs skinny jeans anyway?!?(Although she does look pretty stylin in them and I wish she'd give them a try too...:)

Anyway she's just such a feisty little thing and these pictures show that perfectly I think. Devin took these of her right after a bath and she was so proud of her "crazy" hair. haha. And the car one is just a typical day in the life of Hadley. Love her.

Labor day weekend

2011-09-25T07:34:00.000-07:00

{This is an old post that never posted to my blog for whatever reason.}

I'll be honest, I totally forgot it was a holiday weekend. We made no plans, and I figured Devin would either be working or riding motorcycles so I'd just be at home watching the kids and pretending to clean. Somehow we ended up being really busy though and did a lot as a family, which is really great. Here's a quick recap of the excitement.

Friday night we went on a date, just out to dinner but it was nice to get away from the kids and just hang out together. I feel like we only do that maybe once a month and that's just not enough. We need to get out more. Side story: While we were gone, our babysitter Slate(my brother) decided that our fish tank really needed to be cleaned. He was right, it did. But that's Devin's job and I refuse to cave and just clean it. Maybe I'm a brat, but whatever. HE bought the fish! Anyway, while he was cleaning it one of the fish got stuck in the sink drain and it's tail broke. He was swimming all weird and we were just going to give him the flush but the girls were NOT okay with that. They decided that they just wanted to say a prayer for him to get better, so they did. I figured it would be dead by morning but went with it(where's my faith?!?) Anyway, the next morning it was good and swimming again! Madeline is soo happy and has continued to pray each day for it. Such a cute girl.

Saturday we woke up late(ish...maybe 7:30? Is that early or late to the rest of the world?) and went to a few garage sales. I haven't done that forever and was really hoping to find a few treasures but all we managed to come home with were things for Devin's motorcycle. Joy. Not quite what I was looking for but I guess I'm happy for him:) Later on that day we decided to take the kids bowling. Devin took Madeline and Hadley a few days earlier and they've been begging to go again. Devin's little brother and his friends came too and it was fun for the kids. Devin and I were definitely ready for a nap afterward(which we didn't get) but I'm glad we took them.

Sunday was church and we managed to get there only 5 minutes late, I think that's a record for us? Anyway, our kids were all dripping with runny noses and we knew they couldn't go to their classes like that so we left after the first hour and took them up to Mt. Charleston for a picnic. They're not sick, just stuffy. Let me just add a quick disclaimer about the attire of my children: They look totally homeless, I know. But they both had accidents on the way up so Madeline is wearing Hadley's spare clothes and Hadley is wearing a polygamist dress that just so happened to be in my car from Utah, that was too big(devin tied the straps together with grass. Not ghetto at all). And of course they both ripped out their ponytails while I was looking the other direction. Please don't think that this was the look we were going for when you see the pictures. Ha!

We first got settled into a little spot and I'm not kidding you, within about 10 minutes we were overrun by LOUD mexican music and about 100 people who must have been having a family reunion or something. It was annoying, so we moved to a different spot. I'm happy for them that they could get together, but it just didn't work for us. The place we ended up at is this big meadow that is used for sledding in the winter and it was perfect. The kids all ran around and Bridger had so much fun rolling in the dirt. Such a boy. I really had a good time playing with the kids. We all played tag as a family and it was really great to see how happy the kids were. Even Bridger was laughing his head off as we ran around. After a few hours we headed home and the girls crashed as soon as they hit their carseats. Made for quite a lovely, quiet drive:) Later that night we went over to Devin's family's house for dinner. His brother Justin is leaving for college in a few days so we wanted to get together one more time before he's gone.

On Monday we loaded up the motorcycles and went to Cold Creek with my family and some friends. Devin goes riding there pretty regularly but I've bever been and it was much better than I was expecting! There were tons of wild horses and some of them were really friendly. The kids all got to feed and pet them(I was a little chicken because I don't trust wild animals, but after I saw the kids doing it, it wasn't so bad:) There were even a few baby horses and they were so calm and nice! There are some ponds down there so the girls had fun playing in the water, then playing in the dirt thus creating mud, but I'm glad they had a good time. We made dutch oven chicken and potatoes, a must when you are in the middle of nowhere and it was SO good. My favorite meal, by far I think. We didn't leave until after dark and the kids went to sleep so easily when we got home! I love busy days just for that.

It was a fun weekend, totally by accident! I love being together as a family and watching my kids have a good time. Seeing their cute, joyful faces just makes me so happy, and it's what gets me through the hard days of being a mom. I hope we can do it all again soon.

Old family pictures.

2011-09-24T08:16:00.000-07:00

When I was visiting family in Utah last month, I went through some of my granparent's old photo albums. I remember looking through them for the first time when my grandma died and I haven't seen them since. It was so much fun looking at them when they were first married! So young. It's weird to think that they were just like me at one point. It was so obvious that they really loved each other while we were going through them, looking at all of the little things my grandma had thought to keep over the years. I wish she was there to look at them with me and tell me the stories that went with them(gah, why are my eyes watering up over this?!? She's been gone for so long now.) Anyway, I took a bunch of the pictures and things and had them scanned onto a CD so that I could have them. These are a few of my very favorites.

These little love notes that they wrote to each other were just so sweet! How funny that my grandma sent a telegram during school. And the note from my grandpa? I couldn't not take pictures of them.

This is my grandma. My great grandpa was in the military so I'm assuming this is from those days. I wish I knew the story behind it. I think I might blow this one up big and hang it in my house....

This is my grandpa with his first car. I think every teenager needs a picture like this with their first car. Who knows, maybe we'll look back in 30 years and think, "Wow, what a cool Honda Civic." Haha. Or maybe not.

These are of my grandparents at their wedding. So young!

These are of my grandparents when they were first married. The top left picture is of my grandma as a baby and the bottom left is my my my grandparents and my mom/her sibling/my dad just before my parents got married.

These are of my parents when they were first married. Haha they look like babies. I think my mom is a total babe though. The bottom left is of my mom and her younger sister, Gaylynn.

This next one is a family picture of my great grandparents. My grandma is the teenage girl in the top row.

This is my mom as a little girl. So cute!

I just love all of these pictures. I wanted them to be on my blog because I think it's imporant for my kids to know the ones who came before them. It makes me sad to think that all my kids will know of my grandma is what I tell them, and I don't say much. I need to be better about that. But I hope that someday as they read through my blog books(which they had better do!) they will love these pictures as much as I do.

Do we really have to get dressed?

2011-09-23T12:27:00.000-07:00

Me: Girls, it's time to get dressed. Hurry up and put these clothes on{hand them their outfits for the day}

Madeline: Why mom? Where are we going?

Me: Nowhere. It's just time to get ready for the day.

Madeline: Is someone coming over?

Me: No. Just get dressed and stop arguing with me!

Madeline: But mom, why? We don't get dressed if we are just staying here. Someone must be coming over. Who?!?{all exasperated}

30 minutes later...

Madeline: Mom! Are we going somewhere yet?

Me: No.

Madeline: Then I am taking these clothes off and wearing my pajamas, okay?!? {Still exasperated}

Um, we obviously spend a little too much time in our pajamas. Or if you're Hadley, naked. Maybe we should try getting ready on the "off" days too?!? I am clearly to blame for this because I hate getting ready if we're not seeing anyone...most days we just hang out in our pajamas until just before Devin gets home, then we all hurry and throw on some clothes and pick up a little so as to give the appearance that we were really productive. Although I think the giant pile of dishes that never seems to go away kind of gives me away. But that's besides the point. Anyway, I should probably start being a better example to my kids. Starting tomorrow. Maybe.

(PS, I promise I'm not a total hag. We at least always brush our teeth!)