Negotiations

Hallee lost another tooth the other day and right before bed I saw her writing this note to leave under her pillow...

Translation: I want $10 for my (tooth) because Im running out of money and my friend got $10. Thank you.

The tooth fairy responded..

FIVE BUCKS!!!! Who gets five bucks??? And even more so, what kid gets TEN BUCKS for a tooth?? Don't worry. I left a note for that dang tooth fairy myself!

12 HOURS

12 hours. That's how long I slept Saturday night. And I am not even ashamed to admit it. In fact, I deserved it if I say so myself. I wish it would have been 12 hours of uninterrupted sleep but it was actually interrupted TWICE from two different children. Oh well. It was 12 hours none the less.
I feel like I have been swimming with my head barely above water for the past month. Actually, over a month. It seems like it started back before Halloween with all the parties and the school carnival and it hasn't slowed down ever since. Throw in a girls shopping weekend, Hope's birthday, a seven day trip to Logan, a Christmas Enrichment (I mean activity), and my competition and I have had one heck of a month. My poor kids and husband have been totally neglected and Hope reminded me yesterday that I promised I would be nice again once my competition was over. (Whoops!) But we all survived and as of Saturday all the major events are over. Now it's time to blog. (Well, that and finish a few last minute Christmas shopping, clean my house that has been neglected for a really really long time, address and send out Christmas cards, deliver neighbor gifts....ah crud.)
So stay tuned. I will try to get caught up a bit this week.

THE BIG 5!

Is there any such thing as a birthday anymore? It seems to me that they are turning more into birthweeks or birthmonths. Hope's birthday celebration would definitely fall into the latter categories. It seems like she started receiving birthday cards and presents in the mail a good week and a half before her big day. She was ELATED to have mail addressed to her!

One of her good friends was going to be out of town for her birthday party so we had a little sleepover with Elle and Grace on the actual day of her birthday.

A week later we had her birthday party. Since the girl is obsessed with gum (and you have no idea how intense this obsession is) I decided to use it as the theme of the party. Troy kept telling me to "just keep it simple." Simple? I'm sorry. I'm not familiar with that term.




We played "Bubble Gum, Bubble Gum, in a dish..."

I taught them the "Bazoka, Zooka, Bubble Gum" song and dance...

We played "Find the gumballs"....
Did a little Hullabaloo (I know it's not bubble gum related but give me a break. I've gotta keep nine five year olds entertained for two hours :)

And what party would be complete without a pinata! I wish you could hear the sarcasm in my voice right now. I hate pinatas. Okay. That's a little too strong but seriously it's a death wish. I am a nervous wreck the entire time that someone is going to go home with a few less teeth. I tried to convince Hope not to do one this year but she wouldn't let it go. I even told her I couldn't find one (hey, it's true. One store didn't have any so that counts right?) She voiced her concerns to Grandma Susu in Arizona who generously offered to ship one right out to us. I had to remind her of the secret "mom" code. :) But ya. Hope got the dang pinata. And the kids went home with an assortment of gum. I'm sure their parents were thrilled!

Not only did they get gum from the pinata but they each took home their very own gumball machine and a bag full of gumballs. I know. I'm a bad bad friend. Sorry to all of you who have been digging gum out of your carpet for the past few weeks.

And major props to Troy who was assigned the task of decorating the birthday cake. Not too bad hey?

Happy FIFTH birthday Hopers!! We love your spunk and sass and your ability to make us laugh at ALL TIMES!! You are one of a kind and we love you to pieces!

I think one of my favorite things about this time of year is our GIRLS SHOPPING WEEKEND with my mom, my sister and my two sister-in-laws. We eat, shop, laugh and shop some more. It is so much fun!
Because of Adree's back injury she had to be in a wheelchair. We laughed every time we looked at her. For some reason, it never got old.
She didn't help the situation when she tried to preserve her hair from the snow. I mean come on, how could we not laugh.

It got even funnier when she got the motorized wheelchair in Target. We always knew where she was when we heard the back up BEEP-BEEP-BEEP. I can't even count how many time she got herself trapped in between a row of racks and knocked down half the clothes trying to get herself out.
Breakfast of Champions....a diet coke and a hot chocolate!

I made the mistake of telling my sister in law Kristie about the new hottest toy of the season. That was pretty much all it took for her to think she needed one. She drug my other sister-in-law Rachel and I to Walmart at midnight to see if any came in on the shipment.

When we didn't have any luck there she made us get up at 7:00 to go to Target so we would be there when the doors opened. When we pulled up I noticed a bunch of people sitting in their cars. I knew they could only be there for one reason so we hurried and jumped out of the car and got to the doors first. Once they unlocked them we were in the lead so I thought we could keep things mellow and under control. Ya right. We walked about five steps before we could hear someone running in from outside. Krisite looks at me in panic and yells "RUN!!!!" And the race was on. Yep. Grown women running for their lives all the way through Target with store employees laughing at us all the way. Only to get to the back and have the employee tell us they didn't get any in. YA COULD HAVE TOLD US THAT AT THE DOOR!!!!

Oh. The fun we have.

Life with twins + 4 more

Last week my sister fell down her stairs holding her baby and ended up breaking the bone in her back right above the tailbone. (And they say I am the weakling in the family! :)) Pretty hard to take care of your kids when you can't even stand up let alone roll over.

So she got to have a few days of R&R, my kids got to hang out with their cousins for a few days, and I got to experience life with twins plus four more. Yep, that's six kids all under the age of 7.

Bridger and Caymbree are only a few weeks apart in age. Considering they are right smack dab in the middle of the terrible two's they did awesome together.

The kids did great! It got a little crazy during meal times and bedtimes but other than that it wasn't too bad. Luckily the weather was FABULOUS so they spent a LOT of time outside AND....

I had a LOT of help. Hallee was a life saver and earned five bucks for all her help. Unfortunately, she got a taste of what life is like for a mom and I am not sure she was too impressed. When we first picked up my sisters kids we had an hour and half car ride back to our house. I put Hallee right in the middle so she could give the baby the binkie when needed, entertain Caymbree, and pass treats to all the kids. About 1/2 hour into the car ride we had the following conversation....

Hallee: "Wow. I think I now know why you are always in a hurry to put us to bed."

Me: "Oh ya? Why's that."

Hallee: "Cause this is crazy! All I can think is how I can't wait until everybody is in bed."

Me: "Yep. Taking care of kids is really hard work sometimes. That's why mom gets kind of ornery some nights."

Hallee: "Ya. Now I know."

This picture still cracks me up. When I went in to check on the girls one night this is how I found Adi and Hallee. Too funny. If it would have been Hope laying on Hallee she probably would've ended up with a broken nose.

Move over Christmas!!

Move over Christmas!!! Halloween has taken over! Seriously that's how it seems. October was crazy busy with all sorts of fun activities and while we had a blast I am kind of glad to see it end.

HALLOWEEN PARTIES

This year Troy and I had to dress up on three separate occasions for different parties. The first one included a yummy dinner, a lot of running around, and the Newlywed game. The second involved a little murder mystery and a variety of "test your fate" activities. The guy below had to let a live tarantula crawl on his chest for 1 min. Others had to eat things like a cow tongue, three king worms, nasty drink concoctions, and the kicker of the evening was when a poor girl had to eat three live goldfish!!! I was dying!!! Let's just say I did NOT test my fate that evening. Troy did and as luck would have it all he had to do is stand with his arms out straight for three minutes! BORING!!!

I didn't think we were going to be able to pull of the third party; the annual family Halloween party. We had so much going on and it just seemed simpler to stay at home. Anyone who knows me knows that I HATE to miss out on family functions so by Thursday night I caved in and we made it work. And I am SOOOO glad I did. It's not everyday that you get to see your family (especially this bunch) all decked out in sweet Halloween attire!

Grandpa and Grandma Smith with their great-grandchildren

My mom and dad

Hallee and cousin Olivia

Me and my gang

FALL LEAVES

Fall just wouldn't be complete without playing in the leaves. Thank goodness my parents back yard does more than the trick. My dad saved this pile of leaves just for the grandkids. Good thinking Pops!

CRAFTING

The girls and I managed to do a little crafting this month as well. We made these cute kabobs out of gummy/gooey treats to give to all the cousins. A little sticky but a fun project. I also realized a few days before Halloween that the girls did not have trick-or-treat bags. So, I came up with the perfect way to rid my pantry of all those empty food storage cans. :)

Note: It helped to microwave some of those tougher candy for a few seconds to make it easier to slide. We also put them in cellophane bags and tied black tulle around the bottom.

PUMPKINS AND THE PUMPKIN PATCH


The pumpkin patch is always a favorite! Full of photo ops, the quest to find the perfect pumpkins, and mini corn mazes.

All of which leads up to the MUCH anticipated pumpkin painting night.


Check out our masterpieces!

SUGAR COOKIES

We made sugar cookies one night for FHE. Looks like the cookies got the best of us!!

So there you have it. Add on a trip to Cornbelly's, the Scarecrow Festival, the witches at Gardner Village, class parties and the school carnival and you now know why I am saying that Christmas doesn't stand a chance.

Send in the clowns

Well the big day finally arrived. Nope not Christmas. Not a birthday. THE SCHOOL CARNIVAL!! Hallee came into our room about three times the night before unable to sleep because she was SOOOOOOO excited!!!

Troy and I made a booth for the carnival. I was a little leery how it would turn out but it ended up being a big hit! Kids would come up to the booth pick a number, say "trick or treat" and then lift up the flap that they had chosen. Behind each number were various "tricks". Things like being sprayed down with silly spray, a water bottle, blasts of air, fog horns, or a semi-scary mask.

My fears of a flop came true the first few minutes when instead of laughter came shock and tears from the little ones. Fortunately, once a few big kids did it the surprise element caught on and they LOVED it.

My kids had a blast and I can't believe how much time and effort goes into putting on this carnival.

MY LITTLE CLOWNS....

Their costumes this year were inspired by my cousin Lorren's costume last year. Thanks for the fun idea Lorren!!! My girls complained about having to be clowns all the way up until I finished the final product and then they ended up loving them. (I even got a few apologies about the amount of whining I had to endure during the process).