Happy Halloween 2011

We have officially completed our marathon weekend of Halloween! It started Thursday with Landen's preschool party, Friday's family Halloween party at Karen's house, Saturday was full of parties for Abbey and we finished it all of with a grand finale for today. It started with the cute costume parade at the elementary school, then off to take care of a funeral luncheon for a sweet little old man in our neighborhood, dashed off to trick-or-treat at Lisa's office, visited Hannah Ormond and Joe, trick-or-treated the neighborhood (in absolutely fantastic weather!!!), dashed off to Uncle John's & Aunt Christina's, Grandma & Grandpa Bezzant's, the spook alley at "Grandma Walker's" and we finished off with a stop to Karen's. What a night! I am SO exausted!!! We had a blast and the kids came home with an enormous haul of candy! They can't stop talking about all of the fun they had. This was the first year I didn't make them sit down and eat a real dinner. They ate so much candy that they had no appetite. It was actually nice to not fight them to eat--just this once! This was also the first time that I let Braxton and Abbey run off through the neighborhood all by themselves. They did almost the entire thing before it got dark. They literally RAN from house to house enjoying the "big kid"freedom and the chocolate greed running through their veins. This holiday rivals Christmas in the eyes of my kids.

I wished we could have stopped and visited everyone we wanted. There just wasn't enough time and once I sat down in the car tonight- my energy hit a brick wall. It was game over for me! I think my high heeled boots that I have had ALL day didn't help that.

Such fun times! Thank you to everyone to put on such fun things. Karen threw an awesome party full of fabulous food, great pumpkin carving and a fantastic fishing pond!

I am now off to bed. I promise myself that I will do quick and easy posts so that I will actually post something so enjoy the one picture I uploaded from my phone for Halloween. :) It is of the kids with our good friend, Hannah Ormond. *Abbey is a black cat. *Braxton is a ninja (but he didn't like to wear the mask) *Landen was batman--as he slowly lost pieces of his costume all night. *Mason was a lion. Cute stuff and we didn't have to do makeup!! Yipee!!!

Hugs!

Hugs! Hugs! And MORE HUGS! Mason can't get enough hugs from me when I put him down for his nap or to bed for the night. He lays down, we get his two favorite blankets (one from each grandma) and then instantly his arms go straight up in the air with the sounds," Husss" coming out as he is begging for hugs. You can't just give him one or two hugs. Each time you hug and kiss him he instantly asks for more. His big smile and gorgeous blue eyes are a heartbreaker so of course I give him more and more hugs and kisses. WHY NOT?! When I finally don't think my back can handle bending over the railing and into the crib anymore- I promise Mason more hugs when he wakes up. He is good with that and out the door I go trying not to look back at the cute little guy laying there in the crib. Good times!

Football Finale

Braxton played his last football game of the season last night. It was a nail biter! They were tied and had to go into overtime. They ended up losing the game but had a great time and had lots of other winning games. Brax is a fast little guy. He pulled lots of flags, had some good blocks and scored several touchdowns! I think that next year he will be the giant on the field with the 1st and 2nd graders since he was almost always one of the taller kids this year. Braxton also had fun having his cousin, Porter, on the same team with him. Good times for sure! Mason, Landen and Abbey also loved all the treats that Aunt Karen provided each game. Mason doesn't stop digging in her purse knowing that SOMEWHERE there is another piece of gum, swedish fish or fruit roll ups. A big THANKS to his coach, Victor Johnson, for the endless hours of practice and patience! He was fabulous.

I am so disappointed that I have ruined my good camera and didn't get any good snapshots. I tried with Abbey's camera but it just isn't the same to not be able to zoom a ton, take quick shots and deal with the dusk lighting. Thanks Abbey for letting me use your camera though! You are always very sweet to share. I guess I should be glad we bought the team picture--too bad we are missing 1/2 his team in it though. Oh well- what do you do?

Strategies

My life is full of them. I am constantly trying to figure out the best and fastest way to get things to work in my favor. Some of my strategies from this morning-

*First and my most important one--keep a positive energy going. The more I show appreciation or compliment on what a good job the kids are doing on something- the more likely they are to continue to keep up working and generally faster and more self-motivated than they were before. They love to "surprise" me and have stuff done that I wouldn't have expected to be finished yet. Surprise away!!! :)

*To avoid a meltdown from Landen and a mess from Mason- all three of us brush our teeth at the same exact time and we all do it in my bathroom. I have moved their toothbrushes and toothpaste right into my cabinet to save me the hassle of fetching them each morning.

*I also have to set the timer on my phone for 2 minutes so that Landen doesn't day dream all morning while brushing and when the timer goes off it automatically signals to him that it is time for me to brush his teeth (we call it finishing his teeth.) This usually avoids another meltdown.

*Putting clean laundry away is tricky. Abbey and Braxton are self-motivated on this one now but Landen isn't. He can't race the older kids cause they smoke him every time and meltdowns ensue.. SO.... he races me. I get to put away my laundry, Bryce's laundry and Mason's laundry while Landen does his. This usually works out quite well. If for some reason I had to already get mine done we have alternative #2- counting. Landen LOVES it when I say, "On your mark, get set, GO!" and then I start counting to whatever number he has chosen. He thinks he is SO tricky cause he will start putting away whatever pile he has chosen as I start to say, "On your mark..." **We can only choose one pile at a time to put away--like pants, or underwear--or it is just too much for him to process and handle. Then we choose another pile and start the whole process over again. Some days I feel so annoyed to do the whole song and dance and think that he should just get his stuff put away but I have to stuff those thoughts back down into some black whole and just be grateful that we have a strategy that usually ends with smiles and the job well done!

*The grocery store. Strategy- go during preschool (only have Mason). Go on days I drive for preschool so that we are already in the car and can easily head over to the store. If going to walmart- park on the pharmacy side - we have to avoid the produce section at all cost till the end of the shopping trip. Try to have my list in order along with coupons I want to use. The faster I get through the store the happier Mason and I both are. Hand items to Mason and let him throw them into the basket of the cart. Be careful to not let him linger with the items or he will rip them open and try to eat whatever it is, shampoo and all. Avoid the treat isle all together--best for both of us! And finally we pick up our produce and make sure bananas, grapes or apples are put into the cart last and hopefully in a spot he can't see them. If he does see it, Mason holds on to a bunch of bananas and we head straight to the check out. Mason is a ticking time bomb cause there is only so long he can stand to see fruit and not be eating it. He did quite well today at the store but there have been a few times I haven't followed my game plan very well and for the sake of me and the other 100 shoppers around us, we purchase a banana at the beginning of our trip and he eats it as we all shop in peace.

One last strategy and I am speaking for Bryce on this one-- make ME think it is MY idea and I am happy to do it--no matter what it is! :) He has me figured out so well! No wonder he goes on so many dirt bike rides! ;)

October 24, 2011

Here I am again- ready to apologize for falling off the face of journaling. I have too much of good life to type about to waste my time on that though. Life is what it is and keeping a "cutsie" journal isn't one of them for me. It has been so long though that I wanted to jot down a few things so as I don't forget them.

First off-- 3 out of my 4 kids have had birthdays since my last entry! I will work on seperate posts to highlight their individualness and fantastic qualities but I didn't want them to think that they were forgotten. Happy Birthday Landen, Abbey and Braxton!!!

I never imagined that having 4 kids would be this busy. The summer went by in a flash--yet I lived every day of it. It was a fun but very hard summer. We had a great time doing swim lessons, playing baseball, dirtbiking a bit with Bryce, camping, swimming, celebrating my wedding anniversary, birthdays, holidays, trips to Idaho and just playing with friends and family. It was never a dull moment around this house. Not until the week before school started did I hear anyone say, "Mom! I'm bored!" How could they have been?! We were running 24/7 it seemed.

I try to think why life is so crazy for me and then I take a look at some "normalities" of my life:

*With the kids being out of school for the summer it must have thrown Landen for a major upset. We had bathroom accidents almost daily (and many times it was multiple times a day), fits every morning cause he wasn't the first one done making his bed, fits every time we went somewhere cause he wasn't the first one to the car, screaming fits if he was the last one out of the car and had to close the door and random fits for any other reason under the sun. Man, can that kid throw fits?!!! (I am just glad it has toned down SO much since school started. I was beginning to wonder if Landen was going to spend the rest of his life in "time-out".) I tried hard to help him understand that we aren't "racing" to do everything but that didn't seem to do any good. He is definitely my emotional child--on both ends of the spectrum!

*Mason is a "go-er." He doesn't talk- he just does it himself. If he wants food- he opens the pantry or the fridge. If he wants a drink- he slides the stools around and finds a cup that somebody has left on the counter and drinks out of it. Needless to say- this usually leaves a mess with it all. Just this morning he emptied out the box of Honey Bunches of Oats cereal and had 3 seperate piles on the counter (and a huge mess on the floor of the ones that had escaped) just to fish out the raisins from the box. If only he would just talk and say he wanted rasisins-- I have a 3lb bag sitting on the shelf above that is just waiting to be eaten!

*Mason is a "sneaky go-er." He is so quiet about most things that he does that you don't realize he is doing stuff until it is done. Like- unrolling the toilet paper off the roll, emptying the wipes container, one wipe at a time, exploring Braxton and Landen's junk drawers, unwrapping gum that he has fished out of Bryce's laptop bag, using the toilet plunger as a walking stick, rearranging the bathroom cabinet supplies and hauling extra shampoo, toothpaste, lotion--which is his FAVORITE all over the house. I know it sounds like we don't watch this kid, but we do! He can open child locks, open doors, climb on the stools to get to the kitchen counter and much much more. He is one smart cookie! I had him buckled up in his high chair the other day having a snack and there was something across the room that he wanted so he started throwing is body forwards and backwards to get his chair rocking and low and behold, he moved his whole high chair (that doesn't have wheels) across the room till he reached what he wanted. WHAT?! This kids is barely 18 months old! Maybe I have forgotten what kids do-- but holy heck! Then he just looks up at me with these big blue eyes and gives me the cutest smile with a look of innocence that says, "What-- I wanted ____ and I couldn't reach it." But of course, he doesn't say a word.

*Relief Society- this has been the 2nd hardest calling in my life. (The 1st time I was Primary President was the hardest--I think; for lots of different reasons.) There is always something to be done and I enjoy doing so much of it. I think that the hardest part is trying to fit in all of the things I need and want to get done into my already crazy life. The activities are probably my hardest part to deal with. As a good friend put it, "It is like you have to plan a big party for people who are too busy to come to it." I struggle with trying to figure out what activities would be best for the ladies in our ward and will they meet their needs. I am so grateful when people volunteer or if anyone ever wants to create a little activity of their own. With my life being so crazy busy it is hard to think that other people might be looking for things to do- but I know that they are out there cause I used to be in that spot. And I also know that even being so busy, I enjoy time out with the ladies every once in a while.

*Of course there is the usual cooking, cleaning, dishes, laundry, yard work, etc... that needs to get done. Rides to piano lessons, football practice, trips to the grocery store, school projects, last minute birthday presents help to fill in any empty cracks of time that might be wasted on relaxation. I have to say though- I love having laundry to fold at night cause I get to sit down and watch a little t.v. without feeling guilty about it. That only happens 2 nights a week but to watch a show and fold all of the laundry in the same hour- LOVE IT!

Speaking of which-- I need to get back to work. My energy is sapped from having the stomach flu yesterday and I needed to take a break so I justified getting on the computer to journal for a minute while Mason is taking a nap. It is "early out" day today for Abbey and Brax so they will be walking in the door any moment. Time for homework, football practice, dinner, FHE, baths, more laundry, dishes, etc...

I am not complaining-- just documenting the current state of life. It won't always be like this-- and in many ways that makes me sad. So for now-- I have a smile and a forever long "to-do" list that I am off to get "to-doing!" :)