Mrs. Clause Big Mistake

A couple of weeks before Christmas, Mrs. Clause had a great idea. She saw in a magazine a basketball hoop for her 7 year old. Not just any basketball hoop; this had a double sided hoop that timed you and counted the baskets that you made. PERFECT! Mrs. Clause put it in their shed and forgot about it until Christmas Eve.

Mrs. Clause came into the family room ,after putting children to bed ,and what she saw kind of left her in shock. This basketball hoop that Santa and his helper had been assembling for about 30 min. looked like a big pile of crap. There were screws everywhere, poles in every direction and two not very happy looking people. Now what Mrs. Clause hadn't realized was that the basketball hoop was about 7 feet tall, my guess is 8 feet long and Santa and his helper had no idea where to put the thing. Mrs. Clause suggested the toy room so they moved it in there. Then my bright little sister realized that there was no plug in that room to plug the thing in. Plug it in? Mrs. Clause thought that it would need a couple of batteries and that would be it!

3 Hours later (11:30 PM) the hoop was set up, Santa had been up for 21 hours, his helper had been up about almost 19, and the two of them kept glaring at Mrs. Clause. I have no idea why!

The hoop. I swear to you this picture does not do it justice. The thing is HUGE!

The kids other toys are stuck in this room forever. They can't get to them to get them out.

The very excited 7 year old!

Parker and the "helper" amazed at what was before them.

Mrs. Clause learned to look at the size of things on the boxes that she buys. Santa learned never to trust his wife when it came to deciding what the children should get. The helper learned to never offer up his services again. But, Parker loved it and that's all that matters.

Let it Snow!

The past couple of days we have gotten quite a bit of snow. The first day that it started, the kids got so excited that they immediately put on all their snow gear and ran outside. Since then, we have more than doubled the snow on the yard, but on this day, this was all the snow that we needed!

Chad practicing for our big ski trip in a couple of weeks! He's never been, but maybe practicing on the hill in the front yard will be enough so he doesn't break a leg.

Pk and Lex at the bottom of the hill. Lex took off down the hill with nobody knowing and Pk ran over to catch her from going into the middle of the street.

Lex doesn't seem fazed that she scared anyone. She got down the hill and started eating the snow that had collected on her glove.

Tan starting the whole thing. I looked up and Tan had a determined look on his face and the next thing I know he took off!

Tan getting snow off his dad's truck.

Pk shoveling the little bit of snow that we had got. Little did he know that the next couple of days he would be out there a whole lot more.

All bundled up for the cold.

Tan dancing because he was so happy to be outside.

Lex happily eating the snow. That's all she did, we just had to explain that if it was yellow she couldn't put it in her mouth. Hopefully, she listened.

Is this a sign?

So, this is the week before my finals. I have been dreading this week since I started since I remember how stressful they can be. I went to my night class and he gave me some great news. My final was going to be a take home one! Yay! Then he said that it would be three essay questions that had to be 2-3 pages long. Oh! Well at least I get to do them at home.

On the way home I heard a song that was talking about it being a brand new day. I was starting to get really pumped up and thinking I can handle this. Then I walked through the door.

Lexie came running up to see me excited and happy. I picked her up and started walking downstairs, and she threw up all over me. I ran her to the kitchen to clean myself up, and she threw up all over herself, the counter, and the floor. I tried to clean everything up but Lexie was screaming, and my poor mother cleaned up the mess, while I cleaned Lexie and myself off. I took her downstairs and found out that Chad had been throwing up too. Brand new day, huh?

The flu ended up not being that bad between the two of them, and the next day I went to my other class where I heard some more great news. This final will be a take home one as well! He's going to give me three essay questions that need to be 3 pages long! I did the math in my head and this weekend I will be writing 15 pages of essay questions. I think this might be a sign of how well my finals are going to go. So, get ready my two siblings who proof-read for me. Your going to have a busy weekend!

Friday Nights

On Friday nights we have a tradition in our family. We pull out all the mattresses, blankets, pillows, and we have a camp-out. We put on a movie, pop some popcorn, and go to sleep when everyone gets tired. I love it because I get to have all of my kids in one room. The kids love it because they get to stay up late, and eat junk. Chad hasn't quite learned to love it yet!


Me and Lex ready for our fun filled night.

Mom and the boys. I'm getting a little tired, but I made it a goal to stay up later than the kids.

Chad wishing that he was in his happy place. He tends to go there a lot in his mind.

The kids watching their movie, and Lucky wishing that she could eat the popcorn. She was waiting for one of them to drop a piece.

These were the last happy memories from the night.

Tanner jumping on the mattress, which we don't allow because some little kid, not naming names, gets hurt a lot when he is doing this!

Tanner in time out because of the jumping on the mattress incident.

Parker and Lexie sharing a nice bowl of popcorn.

Lexie deciding that she didn't want to share anymore and tried to get away with taking the whole bowl for herself.

Lexie crying because Parker found her and she had to share the bowl again.

I found Chad in the pitch black in one of the bedrooms, talking on the phone. He was trying to hide from all the kids, but he can't hide from me! I dragged him back out there to help.

Why do we do this? Because the kids won't let us forget, and because we keep hoping that one of these times we may actually make it throught the night with no crying or fighting. Good luck to us!

The Leaf Blower

Our Thanksgiving was very quite this year. It was my parents and most of my siblings, except for the one that decide's to live as for away as possible from her family! The kids had a lot of fun with their cousin and they were all very hyper most of the day. Now, it wasn't the turkey that was making them excited. It wasn't the pie that they had to look forward to, or being able to stuff their faces the entire day. No, it was the excitement of the leaf blower.

The kids went outside to play in the sandbox because it was such a nice day. They all got so dirty that their Papa told them they couldn't come inside until they got clean. That's when Papa pulled out the leaf blower. As soon as the kids saw this, they ran back to the sandbox and covered themselves in sand. They were rolling aorund in it, pouring it over their heads, just to see how much sand could be blown off of them.

After this, the blowing began:

Pk picked up the dog so that she could take the majority of the hit.

Miranda who his so little that it looked like the power of the wind was going to blow her away.

Tan thinking that the dirtiest part of him was his bum. He was probably right!

I love this weather

Today was such a beautiful day! We went and played outside in the morning because it was so nice. I love that its the middle of November and it stills feels like early October! I know that I have said it before but this is my favorite time of year!

Lexie and Mya playing with some rocks, because the sand was to wet to play in.

Lexie and Mya torturing Lucky. It's what they do best.

Lexie had major attitude and she wouldn't turn and look at me. She kept saying "No momma!"

All three looking down the window well at all the balls that have been kicked down there. I think this time it was number 3!

This is in the front yard. I love the color that these leaves change to.

Tan up in his fort. Notice that he doesn't have a jacket on. Are you jealous Lindsay??

Playing in the field behind the house. This was covered in snow two weeks ago and the dirt was completely dry now. I know that I should be praying for some moisture but I don't want to. This is too perfect!

She did it!

My little Lexie has done the impossible! She has gone twice on the big girl potty. She runs up to me and says that she needs to go, and SHE GOES! This is exciting, but the most exciting part is that she didn't try and stand up to do it. Yes, she has been trying to go to the potty while standing in front of it, like a boy. She would swirl her little hips around and around and when you would ask her what she was doing, she would tell you she was going pee like Parker and Tanner! This was then a lesson to Parker and Tanner to close the door while going to the bathroom so there little sister wouldn't watch them. All we can hope for is that this will continue, but in the mean time, GOOD JOB LEX!!

You're not 30?

Have I ever mentioned that I am not a big fan of my birthday? I kind of don't like getting older, and I think they are a little depressing. Well, my birthday is in the near future and this nice person came to drop of some cookies for me at the beginning of the week. Very thoughtful, and I really enjoy talking to her but I don't think we can be friends any longer!

We were talking about birthdays and how they are not fun once you get passed a certain age. You can no longer throw yourself birthday parties and you don't get to be the queen for the day at school anymore. And she happened to say, "Ya you know when you hit like 30 they get worse and worse right?" I kind of just blurted out, not very nicely, "I'm not 30!" She looks astonished for a minute and then goes, "You're not?" Now come on! There is nothing wrong with being 30, if that's how old you are. But when you are not 30 and people are acting surprised by that then I think there may be a problem.

I now have come to the realization that I look not only my age, but older than my age as well. I am at the age where my 7 year old makes fun of how old I am. I am at the age where my husband, who looks like he is 12, may soon look like my child. And after talking about all of this I think I feel a wrinkle on my face. This birthday may top the most depressing of all. Not only am I getting older, but apparently people are going to be surprised that I'm not older than I am! Can you imagine what I'll be like next year when I actually hit 30!!!

Halloween Fun

Halloween was so much fun this year. This year we made the kids work hard for their candy and took them all over the neighborhood trying to get as much as we could! I technically took Lex on two streets and then came home with her. But, I told Chad that he couldn't come home until the boys bags were filled to the top. That way I would have a bigger selection to look through after they went to bed!

Tanner and Parker's pumpkins. This was the first year we let them carve them, by themsleves. After we saw them both handle a knife we quickly changed our minds and helped them.

Mine and Chad's and Lexie's Chad got so into carving he hid the pumpkin from everyone until he was finished. Strange considering he didn't want to carve in the first place.

Everyone on their way out the door!

Pk was batman. This was a last minute purchase after the other costume fell through. Lesson for me: Do not procrastinate!

The boys school had a parade that day and me and Chad kept seeing all these students dressed like nerds. I immediately thought of Chad (he, he) and we put this costume together in five minutes. Sad thing was, some of this we borrowed from my dad, who had worn this stuff some time in his life. Huh, maybe I dressed up the wrong person to be the nerd!

Tan as a skeleton. Like I said last minute costume, and I bought it too small, I thought it would fit. He had the biggest wedgie all day!

Lex, who had a great time trick or treating. She got so good at it, that eventually kids would walk by her and she would take the treats out of their bags without them knowing. I taught her well!

Is it Lunchtime yet?

Are dog Lucky knows exactly when its lunchtime. As soon as I put Lexie in her highchair the dog goes and sits under it hoping to catch the food that falls from Lexie's attempts at trying to get the food in her mouth. Lucky always gets quite full!

She's making begging noises while waiting for the food.

My Smartness part 2

Ok, so I have been in school for about two months now, and this past week was midterms. Now I did not know this until someone from my class happenend to mention how many tests she was going to be taking. Then I looked down at my syllabus, and the doom set in. I had yet to take a test, just the ever popular quizzes, and my heart started to race and my palms started to sweat. Then a thought occurred to me; where is the testing center in the first place?

With a very detailed map, which a girl in my class drew for me, I found it! It was really crowded and a lot bigger than I remembered. I walked in there with my student id and my number 2 pencil and loudly said my name and class. That's when I noticed a couple of people looking at me and the girl at the counter shaking their heads. So, I must have been more nervous than I thought because I didn't think I was that loud. Then I remembered that I am used to yelling at the top of my lungs to be heard, so I think I need to tone it down a little.

I started the test and began to feel very confident in myself, almost to the point of cocky. This was going to be so easy. I sailed through to number 25 and then got to number 26; I didn't understand the question so how was I going to answer it? I did what they tell you to do, which was process of elimination. But what they don't tell you is what you do after that, when you still have 2 possible answers? Then I remebered that they say when in doubt put C. Well, what if C isn't an option? This continued for the next 25 minutes, where I then decided to just put down an answer and leave. I got my score, (which is totally irrevelant), and went home defeated.

Next, I had to write 2 papers for another class and decided to send them to my very smart, annoyingly so, older brother to read. When you get a phone call that starts out, "Do you have a pencil ready", you know you're in trouble. 45 minutes later, I turned in some well written papers, so Brad I hope you get an A. Because they were pretty darn good!

Parent's Trait's

When I was little I thought of all the trait's that I possessed and wondered which ones I would pass down to my children. I didn't have much that I wanted my children to have, but for some reason those are the ones they inherited.

In the first picture you see Parker and Chad, who no matter what they try in the athletic field, they accomplish it and are pretty good at whatever it is.


Chad getting on the skateboard, which he hasn't been on in years, and he picks up right where he left off. Kind of not fair!

Then there is Parker. We made him lay down on it because he didn't have his pads or helmet on. But, he took off going full speed laughing the whole time.
Lexie, didn't want to be left out, got right on the skateboard and was pushing herself around and around.
Then, you have me and Tanner. We are one in the same when it comes to our coordination skills. Which means, that we have none. When you can trip going up stairs, and then continue to slide all the way back down, you might be lacking in your ability to even stand upright sometimes. Yes, I in fact tripped this past week while my children looked on laughing!
Tanner, who was so excited to be on his scooter on flat terrain. We live on a hill so we had to take them to the church parking lot so they wouldn't decide to see how fast they could make it down the hill.

Maybe 2 minutes later he had already fallen off his scooter and scraped up his whole arm. Tanner should probably be the poster child for why you wear helmets.
So after that he decided he was done with the scooter and he was going to try the skateboard. But as you can see, he is headed straight for Lexie's bike completely unaware that there is going to be a crash in his near future!
After his crash with the bike, he decided his safest bet would be to get on the little bike, because even if he fell, the damage would be minimal. I'm so sorry Tan that you had to inherit this. But hey, at least you also inherited my looks!! HE HE