Halloween 2012

Halloween 2012 was a smashing success.

Lots of fun.

Lots of candy.

Lots of darling (and scary) children.

Lots of family.

James (12) was a scarecrow and he is wearing a costume my husband made the first year we were married.

Here Chad and I are back in 1999 as Mr. and Mrs. Scarecrow

I was about 6 1/2 months pregnant with James in this picture, and now he is wearing this costume.

I feel old.

Aren't I still in my 20's? NO I'm NOT!

How did this happen!?!?!

Clint (10) was a hippie

Ben (9) was a skeleton (he has been a skeleton every year since he was 3).

And Todd (6) is a cowboy.

We are almost recovered.

Soon the candy will be gone and then I will have to muster the courage to search under all our furniture and in all the crevices to clean out candy wrappers.

Thanks!

Kids Craft: Melting Beads Bowl

This was a fun quick craft I did with the kids.

It also gets rid of some of those beads in I have in that huge jar I bought from ikea.

Bucks - Reward system

I have tried many different reward systems with my kids.

But, most of the time in order to get them to do their jobs

I have to ask 3 or 4 times and both of us ending up frustrated and mad.

I even offered to pay them double if they did their jobs everyday....

I decided that they needed a more immediate reward.

I saw this idea on someone else's blog... but now I can't remember where.

So sorry anonymous super woman who I took this idea from.

I also kind of got the idea off of the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" movie.

I made a "Bucks" system.

Each time they do a job, homework, or are being extra good etc. They get a "buck"

They can "buy" items from a tote with their "bucks"

It has been two weeks and this is working really well.

Feature: Theres a Monster in My Pants!

Chantelle over at Mommyx3=insanity had an awesome idea!

Which she was inspired from on pinterest.

And then I was thus inspired as well.

Crayon fun

Today's easy project is so easy I don't even have to type anything.

This is My Life: Gah! No it's not a Halloween Decoration

On Sunday my Dad stopped by our house with a surprise.

This.

A Walk in the Woods

One evening earlier this week we decided to skip homework and go for a little hike in the mountains.

CM was at work so it was just me and the boys.

Which was nice because usually he takes the kids on hikes when I can't come.

Ghosts, craft for kids... and you too *wink*

This is a super easy and fun craft that you and the kiddo's will love for Halloween. 

Among the Trees...

Or... Tree Art for Kids Room Tutorial

That's a Pretty Big Pumpkin

This is our first year having a "real" garden. I've attempted to plant stuff before... but those poor plants never stood a chance.

But this year, SUCCESS! We have loads of tomatoes, peppers, zucchini and... a big pumpkin.

A 40 pound pumpkin to be exact, it weights more then my 5 year old.

The kids are really excited about it so I took some pics and we had some fun with it.

Soccer Days

Every Spring and fall I spend a tremendous amount of time here.

Sometimes having three older brothers is really hard...

Poor baby.

Thanks - RM

School Time

Last week my kids went back to school. A bittersweet time for me. I really do love having my children with me. I love school breaks and being able to do something fun and spend time together. I didn't have children so I could wish that they were gone all the time. But I must admit that there have been times this summer (minutes, hours, days...) when they were driving me and each other crazy and I looked at my calendar counting the days until school. I can't be supermom all the time and fill each day with so much fun and pleasure that they have no time to fight. (Honestly we didn't even have ONE of those days) They pick on each other the most when they're bored, when they're tired, when their blood sugar is low, when they loose, when they win, when the moon is waxing and when it's waning. So basically all the time. 

I am told that this is pretty normal behavior for boys.

I was never a boy, but I was a pretty ornery girl so I can believe it.

(My husband is scoffing at the was part.... "Ehem. Don't you mean am instead?")

But all in all, I have a hard time with my children growing up.

Does that mean I have to grow up too? Maybe one day I will have to have a job and be serious and not paint, read, bake, hug, kiss and snuggle all day. I'll have to go see "grown up" movies and I will check out books from the "grown up" section of the library instead of reading from the young adult section all the time. I won't be able to buy that cheesy song that's the latest radio hit and claim that I bought it for the kids. I will bake cookies and there will be no one to eat them.... *sniff, sniff*

I'd better stop now before get myself all worked up over something

that will happen sooner then I want it to, but still not for 13ish years.

Despite how much I wish they would stay little longer they want to grow. So grow they will and grow they must. And they certainly are growing into fine and handsome young men. And that is the most important thing. And the most important thing I will ever do is give the world four good men.

So here we are at the new crossroads in their lives each year. And they are eager to face it.

C- in fourth grade

I'm stuck

T - got a toy taken away from him, I put it on the fridge so he couldn't reach it. He thought he'd try and get it down himself, but he got stuck. I thought it would be good for him to stand there like that while the whole family laughed at him and took pictures.

That kind of stuff builds character right?

- Love RM

I think I left my brain at the Airport...

It took 17 hours for us to get home from Florida. We fly for free because my husband works for an airline which can be really nice, but sometimes you find yourself at various airports with no end in sight which is what happened to us this time.

We woke up at 5:00 am. Which was an hour later then we should have woken up because my ipod was still on mtn. time for some reason. But in a frantic mad dash we arrived at the airport on time (I was really glad I had all of us sleep in the clothes we were going to wear the next day.) But alas! The flight was oversold! And we didn't get on. So we decided to go eat. Here are two of my kids asleep at the airport restaurant. 

A Day at the Beach

We just spent a few days in Florida with my sister. We didn't go to Disneyworld or anything fancy. It was just a nice relaxing vacation... as relaxing as things can be with 7 children running around (my 4 and her 3 kids). But she told us to come back for another visit soon so I guess we didn't scare her too bad.

Handprint Pillows

I made these a few years ago for my kids. I heard the saying "Fingerprints get higher and higher and then they disappear." and it made me tear up. I love this time of my life being a stay-at-home-mom. I'm nervous about the future because I don't want to get a job one day, I want to stay here with my little ones and read stories and kiss cheeks and sweep rice up of the floor (which is what I need to do as soon as I'm finished here). But grow up they will, and I will have to grow up too I guess. But I love these pillows so I can remember the handprints when we all were still kids.