Kids

Jenna is 10 months - and getting so big (well, as big as can be expected for one of my kids)!

* She can stand by herself

* She crawls up and down the stairs like a pro. She used to crawl up the stairs and then sit at the edge and squawk until someone came and helped her down, but now she goes up and down with ease.

* She is like her sister - very independent. She wonders the house in search of entertainment or scraps of food.

* She loves attention. She will do something over and over just to hear us cheer for her.

* She is a wiggly worm constantly wanting to be on the go.

* We all love to hear her laugh.

* She's getting close to sleeping through the night. Maybe one of these days she'll quit waking up at 5 a.m.

* I feel blessed every day to have this little one in our home. I'm not sure where the past 10 months have gone! I've said this before, but I can't believe we debated and thought so hard about having another baby - oh the joys we would have missed without this little girl!

This is my sad picture. Poor little thing had a reaction to the medicine she was taking and broke out in this horrible rash. It's crazy, but the same thing happened to Trina's baby. I'm telling you the bug we got during Thanksgiving was not fun!

Samuel had another Karate promotion. He is now a white belt with an orange stripe. Karate has been such a good thing for him.

Chuck, Samuel and some random girl that looks like she's part of the picture. Samuel has been wanting to run a race with Chuck for a long time so they ran the 1 mile run run reindeer race together. At one point Samuel saw some other kids walking and told Chuck that looked like a good idea. Chuck told Samuel there was no walking, but they could slow down their pace. Samuel was a trooper and ran the whole way.

Today was our Primary program and I must say Samuel did an amazing job! He had a cute little speaking part and he sang a solo verse about Samuel the Prophet in the primary song Follow the Prophet. I was super proud of him because until he started kindergarten we were hard pressed to get him to sing. Now he enjoys singing and the kid has no qualms about performing or talking to any size audience.

Bella and I had a fun date night this weekend. I needed to get some 4 year pictures of her so since the weather was so beautiful we went and took pictures. I got some cute ones, but more importantly I got some really great candid shots that capture her crazy personality. We then went grocery shopping and to Marv's for fries and ice cream. I love taking the kids out individually. It's just great to be able to spend a little one on one time.

Every day Bella does something that I just have to shake my head and laugh at. For some reason she has decided that it is great fun to comb her hair with her toothbrush.

When we were riding bikes the other day Bella showed me that she had broken her pedal. I asked her how she did that and she said, "I was going super, super fast!" Doesn't surprise me.

So I'm dreading this new trend I've been seeing. Bella has taken it upon herself to dress or more accurately undress and redress Jenna. This is no easy task since I have trouble dressing Jenna myself since she won't hold still. Bella already goes through numberless outfits a day now it looks like she may be helping Jenna do the same! I love how she had to put a pink shirt and pink pants on Jenna. I'm sure if Jenna had hair she would be helping her style it with a toothbrush!

Oh The Smell

The past month or so I've been trying to figure out why the faster and more productive I try to make myself the more behind I seem to get. I can be moving all day long and at the end of the day look back and wonder what actually got completed today! I've been trying to get my Christmas cards addressed for a week, the past few photo sessions I've done it's taken me a couple of weeks to get them edited and forget about actually trying to post any of them. This season of life is fun and crazy and I wouldn't trade these days for anything, but most of what I do every day can't be marked off a to do list. Then today it dawned on me that this little guy has been slowing my productivity down greatly! Good thing he's so cute because some days I swear he may be the death of me.





And I need to write this story down about Isaac.

A few days ago I had cleaned the bathrooms and then later I couldn't figure out why the guest bathroom smelled like pee. Every time I went in I was trying to determine where the source of the smell was coming from. I asked Isaac if he'd peed on the wall because ocassionally he does that. (There's got to be a special place for mom's who potty train little boys!) He assured me he hadn't and I couldn't see any spots on the wall. The next day the smell was even worse and that night when I got in the shower it was really strong. The next day I mentioned to Chuck that the bathroom just stunk and I thought the shower smelled like pee. He then told me he had caught Isaac standing at the entrance to the walk in shower just having a great time peeing on the walls of the shower! Who knows how many times he had tried this trick. And this is why I can't get anything done - everyone is undoing everything I do!!

The Family Curse

I love when my family comes to visit, but I wonder why every time we get together we all end up sick! I just can't figure out who is the carrier for all these nasty germs that seem to take root whenever we are all staying under the same roof.

After our weekend of Thanksgiving "partying" we all got sick. One evening Samuel was on the couch literally screaming that he was going to die and we needed to get him to the doctor immediately. It turned out both he and Jenna had a double ear infection. Then pink eye made its round. Poor Jenna had a fever for days and then woke up this morning with a rash - now I know it's the Roseola virus and hopefully will be gone in the next day or so. My stomach muscles are sore from coughing so much. It's been a long time since I've had sore stomach muscles since I don't ever think about doing sit-ups. Maybe this coughing we help tighten the loose abs and saggy baby skin! There's got to be some perk to being ill!


And this is what the kids do to the house when mommy is sick and having to hold a crying baby all day. Bella managed to move the furniture all by herself.

It finally dawned on me that I should turn on the TV so they would stop destroying the house. The kids don't watch TV during the week so on the rare occasion they do watch cartoons they are glued to the set. I only wished I had thought of it sooner!

Here's to hoping we've had our seasonal illness! But wait, the family is coming for Christmas so we're probably in for another round.

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with the family.

The first FHE in November we made this lovely Thanksgiving tree. Chuck was the artist and the kids painted it themselves. Every night during Nov. we had to each say something we were grateful for and then I would write every one's answer on a leaf and stick it on the tree. No one could use the same answer as someone else so we came up with a lot of things we were grateful for all month long. I think this will be our new Nov. tradition. The kids would sometimes make me laugh with their answers each night. Isaac would always say he was grateful for choo choo's then when we told him he had to think of something else he would say dinosaurs, then proceed to tell us about the train ride at Disneyland. He seriously did this every night until finally we would get something original out of him. Samuel would always come up with something and then say, "back in the day they didn't have" whatever it was he was thankful for. I kept all the leaves and am going to write their answers down somewhere to keep.

I had to take this picture of Trina peeling potatoes with the gloves. Seriously - who is allergic to potatoes, pumpkins, melons! I needed her help since Chuck was out with the kids so I told her to wear the gloves and then maybe her hands wouldn't swell and get itchy.

Every year I've made leaf and pine cone turkeys with the kids. This year we ran out of time and Samuel was so distraught on Thanksgiving morning that we weren't going to do them I finally had to send the kids and Chuck to gather everything they needed. When Grandma and Grandpa got to our home they helped the kids make their turkeys while Trina and I finished the food. It was a messy ordeal with the kids throwing leaves all over the floor. But they had a great time and much to their delight made some funny looking Turkeys.

Yummy food and family - what could be better!

That night the guys entertained the kids while we combed the ads to decided which stores we were going to brave the next day. I always think it's funny to look through all the sales and see things you didn't know you needed, but now you want them just because they're on sale.

Trina and I made the unfortunate mistake of going to the outlet mall Thanksgiving evening. I need to write this down just in case we forget and try to do something dumb like this next year - Just Don't Do It!!

The shopping started out great but quickly turned into a nightmare. We were in Children's Place and it suddenly got so packed you couldn't hardly move. We were in this nightmare of a long line, it was getting hot, I couldn't move, there were people everywhere, I felt trapped, I kept thinking if something goes wrong we are going to get trampled - it was CRAZY - I felt like I might start screaming and go crazy myself! Trina overheard someone saying, "they just need to shut the doors there are too many people in here!" We decided it wasn't worth saving a few dollars but had to fight our way out of the store. We got home late that evening and neither one of us could settle down for awhile to go to sleep - it was that crazy! But we got up the next morning, although not that early and shopped all day. We had a long list of places we needed to get to and the only breaks we took were to nurse the two babies.

Halloween is over Already!

I just had to post this picture because I'm so glad our neighbors Halloween decorations are FINALLY down.

This is what was starring through my kitchen window everyday. I can't count the times I would be walking around the kitchen or family room and think someone was looking in my window only to be relieved when I realized it was just the scary skeleton ghoul peering in. But the worst was when the kids and I were dancing around in the family room, I turned suddenly and gave a little yelp because I thought someone was at the window! So I'm really relieved the ghoulish skeleton is not looking through my window any more!

Another funny thing happened with the neighbors Halloween display. It was around 11:30 at night when Chuck and I were finally getting into bed only to discover a flashing strobe light coming through our bedroom window. The strobe was supposed to light up the Halloween display only it was already 2 days after Halloween. So Chuck, who knew I was going to get very ornery about a strobe light flashing into our bedroom all night, took matters into his own hands by going next door and unplugging the light. Now we're both glad the decorations are finally put away - until next year!

Disneyland!

We just got back from a fun family vacation to Disneyland - don't let the kids faces fool you - we all had a wonderful time!

And it wouldn't be one of our family trips if there weren't some exciting events that took place.

* Let's just say even with 6 adults it's hard to keep track of 6 kids when the oldest is 5. A few of them may or may not have been lost during the course of the trip.
* Bella is still the most accident prone girl I know and they really should make those fences so kids can't get their legs stuck in them!
* Getting your kid picked to fight Darth Vader is serious business and you must do whatever it takes to make it happen!
* Seeing all of the Princesses is also serious business and you must try several different times over multiple days before you manage to see the most important ones!
* Viewing the new World of Color light and water show/watching the parades/getting to the park early and staying until closing is essential even if it means all the kids are falling over with exhaustion!
* You really don't NEED to sleep for a week. Just spend several nights with lots of little kids in a hotel room and you'll find out!
* With a caravan in the California traffic some drivers need a little more than a few seconds notice or they may miss the correct exit a time or two!
* It wouldn't be a family trip to Disneyland without a little throw up!
* And after all the crazy adventures, we all still LOVE Disneyland!!!!!

And I must say, traveling long distances in the minivan is FABULOUS!

Superheroes

Our theme for Halloween this year was Superheroes.

This would not have been My first choice, but Bella saw the pink superhero costume and just had to have it. It worked out well because Samuel really wanted to be a Power Ranger anyway. I couldn't find a baby superhero costume so I made Jenna's skirt and cape. And I must say they're a cute group!

This picture cracks me up because everyone is looking a different direction except at the camera.

The kids were having a great time running all around pretending to be superheroes while I was trying to get a few pictures. They wrestle and play fight each other all the time so the costumes just added to the excitement. Samuel and Bella also have a pretend superhero game they play with their action figures almost every day. The poor toys have been through quite a lot during this game. Let's just say that the superhero Barbie no longer has legs.

Sweet Super Baby Jenna.

It's been awhile since I've sewn anything and while I was sewing her skirt I realized I miss it. There's just not enough hours in the day or week or month for that mater to do All the things I would like to do. Tis the season of life!

Isaac was super cute in his superman outfit. He's built like a brick so he looked adorable walking around in his little padded costume.

A pink superhero - fits Bella perfectly!

Samuel in his Power Ranger pose.

A little Halloween Trivia
Question: How long does it take to get 4 kids dressed in their costumes?
Answer: Exactly 1/2 hour. I know because I did it 4 different times for all of them within a couple of days. It's quite an effort to get everyone ready!

What your child looks like when according to them "it's the worst Halloween ever!!!"

Let's just say I was a little too on top of things Saturday evening. I started getting the kids ready to go Trick or Treating at 4:30 and by 5 we were out the door. NO ONE and I mean NO ONE else was out at 5, believe me we looked everywhere. Maybe no one else had a laundry room that was torn apart and needed to get back home so their husband could finish a big project we'd started, or maybe other parents thought it was not okay that their kids ate only candy for dinner - oh wait we'd never do that either! Anyway, there were no other kids out that early that we could see anywhere. Chuck told the kids as soon as we saw other trick or treaters we would stop. Well, we drove around for quite awhile and everyone was getting pretty upset, especially Samuel. Luckily as soon as the kids went to the first door they quickly forgot that this had been declared the worst Halloween ever.