Definitely a Product of Four Older Brothers!

Three things happened yesterday that proved to me, Mara is definitely going to be influenced greatly by her older brothers. We were playing with playdough, and she got her cookie cutter stuck clear down in her thick piece of playdough and she says "I can't get this ssupid ssing out." She most certainly didn't hear that from me...That would be Max influenced.Then in the afternoon Mara got the last rice cake and Max wanted some. Trying to remind her to be nice I said,"Mara, why don't you share a piece with Max." Looking at him and then at her rice cake she broke a small piece off and trying to sound convincing hands it to him and says "here, this is big!" Do you think that one has been tried on her a time or two?

She was walking down the hall after prayers just before going to bed and she says "hey Noah, give me a wedgie." Who asks for a wedgie?

This one I saved for last because I am still in shock that my little princess would say this. Someone tooted at breakfast and Mara said Em's was that you, and Max said it wasn't me. Mara said it wasn't me. Then she got these big eyes of her's and looked down at her eggs and said "it's my eggs...see there is it's bum right there." I did not teach her any of these things. It has to be her older brothers.

Reverse Beaver!

Stinkin' Cute is all I can say! I love this little one! She is truly a joy! She has started to recognize music, and starts dancing if she hears it at all. She does this little head bop that makes me giggle!

I love it when babies get their two bottom teeth in and they have a "reverse beaver". That's what we call it. Their two little teethers poking out of the bottom. I love love love it! Just thought I'd show off Emma's. She is so fun. I tell her everyday! I wonder if she knows just how much I love her?

I Hate to Complain but....

I have totally been bugged about what happened to me the other day, and I am hoping that if I vent, I will finally be able to get over it. So if you'd rather not read...just don't, I am warning you right now that what follows is not uplifting or inspiring. I hesitate to write about it, but I am doing it to remind myself to always go out of my way to help others.
So I had to go to Sam's Club with my youngest three...not a big deal I do it all the time. I had to get six 40 lb bags of water softner salt this time though. I usually send Ryan for them, or get them when I don't have Emma strapped on my front, but I had to have them (our water is the worst). I had already loaded the cart full of other things that I needed to feed our family of eight, and I had diapers and a bunch of big boxes of stuff. Max and Mara had already gotten kicked out of the cart, so they were walking.I got to the salt and could already see that I had a dilemma on my hands. I couldn't lift the bags and put them on the bottom of the cart with Emma in her sling on me, so I had to take her off and put her on the floor(there really was no room in the cart). First of all sick, who puts their baby on the floor of Sam's Club? Only desperate women. (I did have her on her sling, so it was a little less gross) I was putting the bags on the bottom of the cart when a worker walked by... HuUuMmMm could have used some help, wasn't it obvious?? She didn't say one thing, just went right on her way. I was trying to give her the benefit of the doubt, maybe she was busy with other things, or helping another customer...maybe, but she was pretty nonchalant about it. I got Emma but back on me in her sling, and started pulling my now really heavy cart toward the front all the while trying to keep Max and Mara from running off. I check out with a lady who is highly annoyed that she can't put the items all into another cart as she scans them because she DOESN'T WANT TO MOVE THE SALT. Mara was really hungry and so was Max, and I was starved and just wanted to get out of there. As I pushed the cart, I accidentally knocked into Mara's head and she started bauling like she'd been run right over. I picked her up, and now was carrying Mara and Emma and pulling a obscenely heavy cart. I walked past two workers(one who was a cart guy), and both looked right at me and walked inside. I was livid. I probably passed 3 or 4 other men who could have helped, but didn't. I am not one who usually likes people to help me, I am really independent, and usually think I can do it all...by myself...but that day, I really needed help, even just someone to push the cart to my car. I don't know why it bothered me so much, I just left thinking what kind of world do we live in? I am sure there are tons of people who would surely help a woman pushing a really heavy cart right????Maybe it was just the day???Maybe it was just Montana??? I immediately called Ryan and said"If you ever see a woman who needs help pushing a cart, I don't care if you have to walk across the parking lot, I don't care if you're in a super hurry, you go out of your way to at least help her get to her car." Is it asking a lot to think a worker might help you out? I don't know, I am probably just being a big wanny!! What do you think?

Why Did We Not Do That A Year Ago????

We do not love our basement, but it's just that...a basement and as such it has gotten very neglected. We have spent so much time and money making our upstairs livable, that we haven't done much with the basement. Truly, we don't even know where to begin. I guess I shouldn't say we've done nothing, because I have painted the bathroom down there, and Sam and Noah's room, and the laundry room, and re-organized the storage room...wow! I guess I have done quite a bit down there, and let's not forget that as soon as we moved in I ripped off all the baseboards, they just have never gotten put back up. But as far as the family room goes, it will be a major undertaking, ripping off all the wood, and re-sheetrocking the whole room, let's just say it is way way down on the priority list. I have however wanted to take out the bar that was taking up so much space in that room. We are finding that we run out of room down there when we watch "family movies" as the kids call it, especially if we have visitor. So on Saturday, Ryan set to work on knocking it out. It only took an hour and the clean up was only hauling the wood out and vaccuming. Easy...Peazy!

The kids were excited to get some new wood for their "wild men" forts and I was excited for all the extra space. Not to mention that the "bar" got used oh....never! What good is a bar in our house? Ask the kids, they know exactly what a bar is for, to jump off of!

The result...Lots of extra space The couch fits were the bar was, a good thing since there is now a big hole in the carpet there. I brought in my trees that were decorating the garage to cover up the rest of the missing carpet. We brough down our love seat that was hanging out in the sun room, and even though it is mis-matched, it has provided another two seats down there. We fit comfortably now, and everyone has a seat for "family movies" and there is still lots of floor space to run around. Why did we not do this a year and a half ago?

Let The Trick-O-Treating Begin!

We had such a great time this year trick-or-treating, but after last year, it could only have gotten better. The weather was perfect, we didn't even need jackets, and a miracle of miracles occured, there was no wind--none! Amazing for Great Falls.

The kids were so excited to get dressed up. Sam and Noah both came up with their costumes all by themselves, and were quite excited about it. Noah is Huck Finn and we made his costume out of the Salvation Army pile. He was in heaven though, we ripped the shirt and got it all muddy, he thought that was great. Sam pulled out some of the hairs from his afro and glued them onto his chest. He thought he was so funny and everyone was grossed out by it. He loved every second of it. Ryan tried to convince Mara to be a dead princess and paint her face white with blood dripping all over. Her response to him was "No, I want to be beautiful" Wow, at two, she already knows what she wants. Emma was the cutest little sunflower ever, thanks to Ryan's sister Jamie who gave her the costume, and stole the show. Caleb was a Ninja and Max the hulk. We went to our church at 6:00 p.m for a trunk or treat, and even though I started at 4:30 to get everyone ready, we weren't any too early for the party. The kids got tons of candy at the church, and then we went through the neighborhood next to the church with our friends the Giles. It was Porter's birthday the next day, so Sam and Noah spent the night, and we went home to put the kids to bed. The kids thought is was so much fun to count their candy and trade, trade, trade. On Sunday, they asked if they could trade again. There's the whole crew! Taking up the whole front step. What a great Halloween!

Pumpkin Carving

Our pumpkins never did grow this year, so the kids only got one pumpkin each to carve. They were so disappointed. When we grow them in the garden, they usually carve so many they get sick of it. Noah didn't think it was so fun to just carve one side, so he carved four faces into his pumpkin.

I absolulely love pumpkin seeds, so I make my kids sort the goopy stuff out off the seeds, and then we cook them overnight! I love it. Because we had so few pumpkins, we only got a few seeds, but next year look out....We will plant a ton! I think we should have the Arkoudas Pumpkin Patch, and do a whole field in pumpkins.

Max didn't think that putting his hand in the pumpkin to clean it out was too fun, he ended up making me do it for him. But the expression on his face is priceless.

I loved this picture, because notice what the box says! Oh how I would love to "keep Emma frozen" just as she is for just a little longer. I really do wish each stage in their lives was just a couple of months longer. She was loving being outside on the ground. She had an apple and didn't make a peep the entire time we were carving pumpkins.

We feed the guts and scraps of the pumpkins to the chickens and goats, and they loved it. Earlier in the week Mara had tried to pick up a tomato that a rooster was pecking at, and the stupid thing attacked her. She has three great big bruises on her back where he pecked her and huge scratches all down her back and on her hand. Needless to say she is petrified of them now, and cries if we leave the yard to go where they are. I sure hope she can get over the paranoia soon.

Halloween Haunting

I must say that Halloween is my favorite time of year! I've realized this year that the reason it is, is because of all the traditions that I love to do. A favorite is of course, "Ghosting" we love to take treats around and ring the doorbell and run. It is so fun for the kids to sneak, and I get a kick out of them trying to be quiet and shush each other. We went the other night to a house and could see a huge big dog in the front window, so Sam snuck up and I waited on the other side of the fence, safely. Just as he was placing the goodies on the ground, the dog appeared out of nowhere, and I suddenly realized that a St.Bernard was between me and my child. I whispers to Sam to slowly come toward me, since the dog had it's attention focused on me. He managed to escape, narrowly, and we got away, but he never got to ring the doorbell. Needless to say, the dog got a great treat.

Another great thing that we like to do is to make dinners that are "Halloweenish" this year we tried two new ones, that the kids loved!

"Feet of Meat"

Sam picked this out of a new cookbook that I got, and I had to squish the raw meat--yuck! I did it though, and it actually was really good tasting. Once you got over the fact it looked totally disgusting.
"Monster Pizza"
Caleb's choice, and a good one. We had a great time deciding how to decorate his face.
I love decorating for Halloween, and deciding what everyone will be, and of course carving pumpkins and making "Haunted Houses"
We miss having our Arkoudas Halloween party, and really wish that could still occur, we have tried to re-create it, but it's just not the same.
I love this season, and wish you all happy haunting.

Haunted Gingerbread Houses

For family night this week, we had a great time making Haunted Halloween Houses with our friends the Giles.

We used chocolate grahm crackers and frosting and tons of candy to decorate our houses, and don't forget the ghost peeps.

We made them by ourselves last year, and it just was a little anti-climatic, so we invited the Giles over this year so that we could have a contest.

We used tons of candy, and ate a lot of it too.
Sam and Adalie were a team, and they made a really cool house that had eyes and the door was the mouth. They were really creative.

Noah and Porter were a team, and they had a hard time making their house stay up, so they ended up making it a fallen down house with tons of candy. They figured that if they couldn't win with construction, they would win by being the house with the most calories. They just happen to be two peas in a pod! I love it. They are such good friends.

Caleb, Jena and Max made a really cool house, they all had ideas and all participated in making their house very decorated and very unique. I was totally amazed at how they worked together at such a young age.

We all got two votes, and Caleb, Jena and Max's house won, really, no cheating. Caleb still says "I am so surprised that we really won, even though we were the youngest team."

The parents made some also, but I didn't get pictures of them. We had a great time making them, and it was lots of fun to have our friends join us. We even got to shrink Ryan's head :)!

Serving Up Some Scare!

Okay so I have this really wierd desire to scare the dickens out of people, I got it from my mom who used to hide around the corner of the hall and jump out at me, or put her face level with mine as I was opening up the front door to walk into a dark house late at night. I always get so scared I flail around and end up on the floor. I love that feeling! I love that heart racing, breath catching feeling of being scared out of your mind and realizing that it is just someone you know. With that in mind, I have to apologize to my dear friend Julie who probably didn't know about my obsession with scaring others. I went to get my kids from her house today, and no one answered the door so I opened it and hollered, and no one answered so I walked to her basement stairs and heard the vaccum. HE HE HE! I snuck down the stairs and unplugged her vaccum then hid in her bathroom doorway. When she came to plug in the vaccum. I just had to jump out at her :) I am still laughing about the look on her face and the scream that she let out. I know... I am wierd...but I love it!!!! Sorry Julie...can we still be friends?

gYmnAStiCs

"nastics" is every Friday morning for Max and Mara and they love it. Every friday it is set up diffrent, there are bars, slides, rope swings, beams, and trampolines. There are things to crawl through, and the favorite of Max is the trampoline that bounces you "freakin' high" This is the slide that ends in a pit of foam. It is super fast and Mara goes flyin off the end and jumps right out to do it again. Note to self... I cannot get out of the pit by myself with a baby attached to me, so don't go in.

Mara would go down the slide and end up with so much static electricity on her that her hair would stick straight up in the air. This is a picture of a mild time, but it was really funny.

Max's favorite trampoline

Max puts his feet in one set of handles and hangs onto another set and begs to be rolled all over the joint. He just giggles the whole time.

Mara can hang onto the bars forever. And loves to swing on them.

Here's us in the pit. My mom went with us since she was here, and we had a great time.