Thankful

I am thankful for little boys. Do you even sit and think how quickly the time goes? You see that through all the hassle and failed attempts that one day, these boys will grow up to roudy teenagers and on to responsible fathers. I have huge guilt issues of "wasting" the time and fearful of one day looking back wishing I could hold my little boys again.

So at night, when I just want some peace and quiet, when I just want them all to be asleep, when I am mentally and physically exhausted... I am thankful for those moments when Logan says "want cuddles". As I tuck him in bed, and lay next to him, I get to enjoy that sweet moment. And then when Trent says, "mom can you tuck me in?", I am thankful for just one moment to bond with him (since he will always love his daddy first).
I hope to be able to look back at these pictures in the future and realize that not every moment was wasted and that they are then sharing these same moments with their sons.

Autumn Muffins

In effort to enjoy the thanksgiving season, mom and I worked together making "leaf" muffins. They were almond flavored muffins. Half the kids liked them and half of them didn't. I will post the recipe one day soon hopefully. But, even if they didn't want ot eat them, they enjoyed decorating them! Pictured Left front to back, right front to back... Haylee, Brooklyn, Logan, Bryce, Trent, Brielle and all the way in the back is Laycee.

Logan

Laycee

Grandma's Birthday

On Veteran's Day, the kids and I started off with doctor appointments. Thankfully mom came along to tend Haylee and Trent while I went in with Laycee and Logan. The doctor visits are always an annoying pain to me becuase there are always more tests to be done, but we do them becuase we love our children right? Then we went over to the Park and met up with Dave's family for Grandma's birthday party. We all chipped in and bought her a new dehydrator she was saving for. I missed the present opening, but apparently she was in love with it! Also, the kids were loving the cake, ice cream, cousins, and park! It was a great day... missed Dave but filled with love from our family.

Talking

Laycee is talking so much these days. These are moms and Kevins favorite things she says right now. "fiday is dance cass and ahhh cream" Enjoy!

More Dogs

Now, I am not much of an animal person, but you have to admit this is cute. Yuki and Momo cuddling... because Momo is always cold.

Thankful

So here is another thing I am thankful for. I have said a million times that I am thankful for Haylee. And each day, I feel more thanful than the day before. She is an amazing help to me, she is so pleasant, she is so loving and kind, she is a schedule nazi. And i just love love her! I feel sad to be watching her grow up before my eyes. But I can't wait to watch her grow into the young woman she is becoming. Next year she will be baptised, and I can't wait to watch her making her own choices. She is amazing!

Halloween

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Today I am just thankful I am able to post. It seems that there is always too much to do and not enough time. So, instead of studying, I am sitting here blogging. But, it is overdue. So, for Halloween, we went to the Ward Party and played for a bit. I volunteered to bring some chili so we had to stop it by for a little bit and then headed off to the annual Dave's family's party. This was the first year in 4 that we have been here for it, so that was exciting! And we brought a key booth... there they picked a key and if it opened the lock, they got a big candy bar. Otherwise they picked out of the little bucket. It was great funa dn seemed to be a big hit. There were fun booths. Carmel Apples from mom and dad, Bean bag toss, Toilet toss, little figure toss, golfing, ball toss, doughnuts on a string, and a haunted house. Oh I loved it! The kids had so much candy that this year the candy fairy gave them two days with their candy before he came and took it to all the kids who weren't able to trick or treat. It was a great evening and I was glad the kids had fun even though Dave wasn't here.

Thank You

To everyone who is or has served the country. There are many forms of service other than the military and today, I thank all of you. Especially my sweet husband who is serving "for the greater cause" and working to make America how the Lord intended it to be, without religious persecution. Happy Veterans Day!!!!

Thank you

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you", that would suffice~Meister Eckhart

So today as I have had to listen to yelling, screaming, fighting and crying caused by my sweet daughter and it is only 8 am. I am going to say thank you. Thank you that she is alive to cuddle in our arms, brighten our lives with laughter, touch our hearts with her charm and fill out minds with grief. I love Laycee.

Turtles

We got a turtle. Mom was rescuing it from Loni's house. The kids were so excited to get a pet! The name is a toss up between Dan and Lily, but for now, his name is The Turtle. It is so relaxing, in fact mom and i have spend many hours just sitting there watching the turtle. Who would have thought that a turtle would replace TV!

Dogs

It is no secret to anyone that my children hate dogs. They are afraid of them. But we didn't have a choice when we moved in with mom becuase she has 2 dogs. Thankfully, after a month (yes a month), the kids and the dogs have almost bonded. Logan was even holding Momo one day. These are such cute pictures with Momo dressed up and Logan holding her.

Dancers

One of the first things on our list after we moved here a month ago was to get Haylee back in dance. We discovered that they were just starting a dance class for 2-4 yr olds. So we also registered Laycee.

She looks adorable and they practice a little tap and a little ballet each week.
Laycee askes everyday if it is "fiday for ddance cass". She is in love with it.

And she can't wait to pick up "biell" each week to go to dance!!

It is so fun to have both Haylee and Laycee is dance now!

Candy Apples and Gingerbread Houses

Mom really likes candy apples and Haylee LOVES candy apples. So one night at the store, mom said she would help me make some.

We let each of the kids dip one of their own.
And ended up with some amazing candy apples. They are amazingly yummy too!

That same night, we planned on making our annual halloween gingerbread houses. Unfortunately, they were not working properly.

So, we let the kids decorate each of the pieces however, they wanted instead. It make the project so much more fun knowing we weren't trying to make these perfect houses.

Yet another great night of Halloween fun!

Pumpkin Decorating

Every year requires pumpkin decorating of course. So, one night, I asked Kevin to help carve and pumpkin and the kids decorated their pumpkins with these little kids. So, each of the kids were able to pull out some of the pumpkin gunk... and decorate their own pumpkin.

Haylee's pumpkin
Laycee's pumpkin

Trent's pumpkin

Trent's pumpkin

And they lined the sidewalk until the sandstorm blew them away lol. So now they line the door.

I loved these kits that we got at Micheal's but they were not really made for pumpkins that small, so next year i might plan that a little differently.