Halloween, Birthday and Christmas in one weekend

The Halloween bin is out and the kids are full of excitement.

The possibilities seem to be endless...even though I have new costumes in the closet for all of the kids that NONE of them want to wear.  I suppose the family theme is too uncool for them now.  Ungrateful snips.

Some old costumes fit amazing.

(Andrew was six when he wore this...Colby will be eight soon.  Oh man.)

Some are a little tight.

Some are too small and itchy.

And some are from 12 years ago, only fit on your head, and are too embarrassing to have you picture taken with.

Silly teenager.

Some are just cute...but too hot.

(This thing is like wearing a double fleece sleeping bag.  Maybe if we lived in Alaska, or Iceland, or Siberia.  Do they celebrate Halloween there?)

No costume...just cute Grady.

Besides costumes, we are taking in a lot of pizza.

Yum.

 Really cheesy pizza. 

Pizza tastes better if you eat it in stretchy pants.

 Friday night we had family pictures.

I threatened the kids with a "no screens" punishment if they pulled faces or were pouty.  It worked and our pictures turned out great.

Love my friend Kerrianne for putting up with us!

 Saturday was Steve's birthday.  He specifically ordered no cake or party but only wanted maple scones with a few friends over.

 I couldn't say no to his birthday wish.

Happy Birthday Steve!!

We love and adore you!

Sunday we extended Steve's birthday and invited his parents over for ribs, rolls, potatoes, salad and apple crisp.

These next few pictures are for Carter who claims we never have big Sunday dinners anymore.  I worked all day on dinner so I figured I better document it for Carter's sake.

Apple crisp.

Rolls made from extra scone dough.

I was told they were amazing.

The crowing part of my weekend was my children choosing to make October the optimum month to make out Christmas lists.  

I'm not sure if I should label the kids greedy or opportunistic.

I was proud of Carter...he thanked Santa for last years gifts (kiss up) and figured out the total cost of his gifts.  How considerate of him.  

I'm guessing he's hoping that will win him points, that and he only asked for four things...one of them being a box of Pop Tarts.  He's a good kid. 

 Andrew wrote and illustrated Saylor's list.  

(I think I need to stress penmanship with Andrew.)

Please note the mini trampoline just like Colby's violin teacher first on her list.  CRACK UP!

 Yes this is sideways...but I'm too lazy to switch it.

#3 on the list is sweats.  SWEATS!   My oldest must suffer from lack of casual clothing.

#4 is mustache shaving things. Who and how old does he think he is?  Hilarious.

 Colby...my child with the biggest greediest dreams.

At least he signed the list "Love Colby".

Today after school his teacher told me she wished she had a room full of Colbys.  Colby, I think you have my permission to dream big and dream greedy.

blast from the past

Remember this costume from two years ago?

It was an Ardith Walker special and one was made for almost every member of our extended family.  It was an amazing Halloween!

 Saylor was even cuter from the back.

Fast forward to yesterday when we pulled this beauty out of the viking costume bin (yes...the viking costumes require their own bin) so Saylor could wear it to a costume party.

It still fits! (everything but the arm bands...we had to borrow some from the boys' costumes)

 From the back.

Close up of the viking hair.  

Thanks to my mom two years later.  Mom, you are amazing!

Grady got into the viking action too.

Don't worry buddy, you have three costumes to grow into.  Lucky you!

This morning Saylor, Grady and I played lazy...

and took picturues lying on my bed and then texted them to Steve.

We should have been cleaning or folding or organizing, but this was more fun.

 How did that foot get in there?

Saylor's pretty face...or at least on of them.

He're to more lazy mornings and pretty faces.

May I see you licence and registration please

Monday we waited longer than usual for Andrew to be done with cross country practice.  The other kids were watching a movie, but obviously that didn't help Grady.  He had had enough of his car seat for the afternoon, so (only while parked of course) I pulled Grady out and put him up front with me.  He was enamored with the view and in love with the steering wheel.  Who knew the drivers seat could be so blasted fun!

Sorry Bubba, you will have to wait 15 more years to experience this for real.

No driving for you young man!

On a completely different note...

I discovered my dad's almost identical twin tonight at Target.  Once in the parking lot and then about three times in the store I had to take a second look because I thought it was my dad walking close to me.  Dad was home resting after a chemo infusion so I knew it wasn't him but it freaked me out just the same.  My first thought was, "What is Dad doing here and who is that lady he's with!"

This guy and his wife probably thought I was the biggest weirdo for staring.  When they weren't looking I snapped this shot and texted it to my parents and siblings.   (ok...I am the biggest weirdo)

Dad...you have a doppelganger.  :)

Sunday at Home

It was conference weekend.  

I love this weekend more and more every year.  It means baking in my pjs most of the day.  Who wouldn't love that?

By 10 am I had warm chocolate chip cookies coming out of the oven.  It was a beautiful thing.

As always, we bribed our kids to listen to our prophet and apostles with the promise of candy.  They picked a different word each talk and then earned a point every time that word was said.  10 points equaled a fun sized candy bar.  (After they earned 9 candy bars each in the session this afternoon we decided we need to make this tougher next year.  NO picking words half way through the talks when the subject is already known.  For diabetic reasons we only let them have three candy bars.  I think there are still bitter feelings surrounding the 6 lost bars.)

Despite the gross amount of candy my children consumed today, this system never ceases to work.

It too was a beautiful (yet high caloric) thing.

Colby's tally sheet.

I love that Jeriamia (Jeremiah) was crossed out for famly (family).  My kids truly are cheaters.

Also love that Priesthood is spelled greestood, Teach is teech and Meetings is meateengs.

I love love love second graders who can't spell to save their lives!

I think Carter was the designated tally taker as his sheet was more complete.

Meeting is still meating and I could laugh my head off about the spelling of decisions (disishens).

Saylor kept herself occupied most of conference by terrorizing Grady.  Poor little boy.  None of the other boys had to endure an older sister.  I hope he survives.

 Between sessions I made a gluten free apple crisp...mostly because I couldn't eat the chocolate chip cookies and I was really jealous.

Our apple tree produced only about 10 apples that were not completely eaten away by worms and even then they had to be cut up to avoid worm holes.  They were best utilized in this way as we definitely couldn't just bite into them. 

I had seen an apple crisp made on tv earlier this week and I tried a trick that was shown to make the apples less mushy while still allowing the topping to be crispy.  I didn't get the recipe, so I had to improvise with past recipe knowledge.  

I came up with the BEST apple crisp I have every eaten in my life.  It was fantastic.  And because I didn't use a recipe, I'm sarcastically naming them "Grandma Sadie Apple Crisp" after my grandmother who hardly ever used a recipe in her life.  Sadly, her cooking tasted like she didn't use a recipe- hence the sarcasm.

But...I wrote down what I did for posterity's sake.

Grandma Sadie Apple Crisp

Saute about 10 medium peeled, cored and chopped apples on med/low heat for about 10 minutes with approx. 1 Tbs white sugar

sprinkle of cinnamon

1 Tbs butter

zest and juice from one lemon.

Apples should be slightly firm still and starting to caramelize with the sugar and butter.

Transfer apples to shallow baking dish (mine was smaller than a 9X13) and top with following mixture:

1 cube melted butter

1 C brown sugar

1 C oatmeal

approx 1/4 C flour (I used sunflower mills gf pastry flour)

approx. 1-2 tsp of cinnamon (I really don't know how much I used...I just shook until it looked good...hence the Grandma Sadie name)

sprinkle of salt, ginger, nutmeg and ground cloves

Bake at 410 for about 20 minutes.

(Yes...410 is what I did.  400 seemed to low and 425 seemed to high.  I have no reason for this except I was feeling like being different.  I totally worked so...whatever.)

After conference was over Steve and I went for a walk to burn off some of the cookies and apple crisp and then when we got home, Steve gave Grady a much needed haircut.  Yep, it was haircut number three.  This kid's hair is out of control!

 I love that Steve can do this.

 The mop that came off.

 Baby in tub.

Clean, lotioned, diapered, dressed and ready for bed.

(With shorter hair his head looks even more round than before...Charlie Brown might be his new nickname.)

weekend update

My camera is still in Boise so all updates are brought to you straight from my phone.

So what did this last week bring besides freakishly cold weather and unwanted weight gain?

More track meets for Andrew.  This one was at CSI and therefore super easy to attend.  I like close track meets.  Andrew came in 18th.  Sizing up this crowd I think he did pretty darn well.

 The kids didn't have school Thursday or Friday.  I didn't get much accomplished besides desperately trying to stay on top of the "all 5 kids are home" mess.

Grady got mugged all weekend by his siblings.

He is going to be a monster Monday morning when his entourage goes back to school.

  

 See what I mean?

Entertainment all day everyday.

 Andrew and I fed Grady rice cereal for the first time.

He was not enthused at all.  I'll try again in a few days.

 It's conference weekend...hence my basement being converted into a gigantic blanket fort.

My kitchen table has been missing half of it's chairs for two days now...its a small price to pay.

 I'm testing recipes for a priest/laurel dance at the end of October that my presidency is responsible for providing 100 popcorn balls.

These peanut butter ones I believe are the winner...now the secret of my weight gain is out.

Not even nursing a six month old can keep up with these babies.

More Grady mugging.

More weight gain.

We have perfected gluten free pizza on the smoker.

Gluten?  Who needs it?

This counts as 1/3  mugging- 1/3babysitting- 1/3 little brother neglect.

Silly Ipods.

 The neighbor girls brought over a snake they found in their yard.

My boys were loving life.

 They went from Grady mugging to snake mugging.

 Andrew even got to sport a little snake bite.  I pray it doesn't get infected.

 It froze last night so we pulled everything out of the garden today.

We got pumpkins, squash, a few potatoes and then half a dozen wormy apples off the tree.  (Next year I'm getting the trees sprayed for bugs.)

The kids were in charge of transferring the pumpkins and squash to the back porch.  They thought they could do it in one shot.

 Nope.  It didn't work.

 A few a time my good man, a few at a time.

The cutest pumpkin of them all!

We had these bad boys in the garden to contend with too.

 We did our best to harvest a few for eating and then spread the rest around the border of our property in the back.  I'm really hoping they will spout next spring.

While Steve and I were working on the sunflower seed mess, the boys disappeared.  We found them using their pocket knives to hack old zucchinis in the garden...that and carve zucchini faces.

Knives were confiscated prior to any finger loss- thank goodness.

treading

I am not drowning.

I repeat, I AM NOT DROWNING.

...but I am treading water.  

In the past few weeks I have commented to Steve many times how the state of our home is the new normal and we both might as well get used to it.  He never complained in the first place, but I guess I needed to justify to him (and myself) why he is currently living in a chaotic sty.  

Good times.

It's occurring to me (gigantic slap in the face) that I am desperately trying to balance the two mothering worlds of teenager and infant simultaneously with everyone else in between trying not to get lost in the shuffle.  My hats off to the many many mothers out there who have lived through this feat.  It's a whole other ball of wax let me tell you.  It's joy/insanity/chaos/bliss rolled up into one ginormous family mess.  

(Yes...and I fully know its only going to get harder and more fun.)

It's also occurred to me that this sparkling stage of my life will pass by in a blink.  This realization makes my heart hurt.  I'm finding complete fulfilment being a wife and mother at this stage and I don't want it to go by too fast  Despite the fatigue and craziness, I'm really happy and I'm trying to appreciate every minute of my life.  (But don't make me repeat that last sentence after I've finished flushing a toilet I did not use for the millionth time or cleaned up smeared toothpaste in the bathroom yet again.  Or...after I've finished losing my cool because an unnamed child is beating on a sibling or riding down the stairs in a sleeping bag.  I won't feel so loving and happy after that.)

To document life and it's simple insanity, here are more phone pics of life on the fly around these parts.

 Andrew had an excellence assembly at school last Friday and parents were invited.

The band played the national anthem.  Andrew is on the top row fourth from the right.

He's sitting with all his trumpet buddies.  I'm grateful he has good friends that share his standards and who encourage him to do his best all the while having a good time.

It was weird being back at Stuart gym 23 years or so later.  

(in a blink...)

 Sunday was my dad's 65th birthday.  Happy Birthday Dad!

We celebrated with JaNae's and Jared's family Saturday night.

Having Dad going through chemo puts an additional appreciation of his birthdays on the table.   

I love this man and want him around for MANY MANY more birthdays.  Do you hear that Dad??????  

 I've recently discovered Instagram and have enjoyed my first few weeks of social media.  It's made me reflect and confirm my decision not to be on facebook.  I'm a stalker and I spend entirely too much precious time reading up on not necessarily very important things. 

 Fun? Yes.  

Entertaining? Yes.  

Important...not so much.

However, my excuse is that I'm keeping track of my 13 year old son and his Instagram account.  (I'll just keep repeating this to myself as I comment and Like away.)

 I have a love/hate relationship with this 7 year old's violin practice.  I love hearing him play and encouraging him to work on something that is indeed not easy.   I love knowing that his brain is being challenged and he is attaining a skill...all the while not watching tv.

But...I hate hate hate the fight that ensues every single day over how long or what songs he has to practice.  Colby, when I get my first gray hair, I am positive it will be from you and your violin.

(Yes, I think it is hilarious that he is playing an instrument as formal as a violin...while wearing a t-shirt with a bear speaking the word "rad")

 Whitney, this picture is for  you.

Thank you so much again for Saylor's home sewn bear.  She loves it and I love you for being so wonderful to make it for her.  Whit, you are a gem!  

 ...post violin lecture nap. 

 Having your mom punish you with more practice when you wouldn't practice in the first place is exhausting. 

 If only this blog included smells.

I hope the post cross country stench comes out of my leather seats.

The kids' favorite thing to do when I drive into the garage is to wait by the door until I honk the horn.

I have no idea why, but I'll take any "love" I can get.

Non-pictorial treading tidbits...

1.  Steve brought Andrew's piano books in from his car this morning.  It's Tuesday and Andrew's last lessons were Thursday.  Hmm...let me think.  I can now infer that my son when he said he had practiced every day this week was LYING!!!!  (I've been dreaming up appropriate punishments all morning.  Oh. This. Is. Going. To. Be. Fun.)

2.  Steve last night upgraded our Netflix account so we can have four different devices going at once.  FOUR.
I'm mortified, but secretly happy that I can watch Say Yes to the Dress in my room while Saylor is watching Strawberry Shortcake on the Kindel, while the boys are watching Merlin in the basement, while Steve is watching Top Gear in the office.
I think we might need a Netflix intervention.

3.  Steve compared me to a dental assistant again this morning when I started emptying the garbage in our bathroom.  It's a long story with much background information that I'm too lazy to explain or type about right now.  Needless to say...it's going to be cold cold cold in our room tonight.  Plus, if I was a dental assistant I would be offended.
Blast that man and his sparkling eyes and dark facial hair.  Blast him.
Side note:  I didn't finish emptying the garbage...Steve did.