Thanksgiving

Travis helping Caleb put the star on our Christmas tree

Samuel "Hey, I wanted to put the star on top of the tree"

Caleb playing at the focus on the family play area

Little Chef

Caleb getting a nice massage, doesn't he look relaxed?

Caleb "I don't like being swung around in a red tub"

Joseph and his "Big" Sean

Austin and the delicious carmel cheesecake we made for Thanksgiving

This is how we go Christmas shopping with kids

Caleb playing at the focus on the family playland

Daddy and Caleb

This past week has been very busy.  We spent two days cooking for Thanksgiving, the girls helped a lot, but it was a lot of work.  The kids didn't have school all week, so it was a little crazy.  We had Joseph's "Big Brother" sean over for Thanksgiving, and we had way too much food.  But I haven't had to cook a dinner since, so that has been nice.  Caleb even tried to help.  He took my slices of sweet potatoes, and laid them out in a row on the counter, and then put a little bit of butter on each one (see picture above)  It was really cute, and he did all this without any help from anyone.  Friday I took Austin and Betsy to the Nutcracker Ballet, we had a good time and really enjoyed it, the girls loved getting hot chocolate during intermission too.  Joseph had a lot of homework to do over the break, so I helped him a lot with math homework.  We played lots of games.  Austin and Betsy went to a "Ball" their friend down the street invited them too, and had a lot of fun dancing.  We decorated for Christmas, and got a nice Christmas tree from Oregon through Costco, it is a very nice tree, and we love it.  We took the kids Christmas shopping, and blind folded them so they wouldn't know what their Christmas presents were.  It was quite the adventure.  We also went to a Focus on the Family playland area and the kids had a lot of fun there.  We went to Denver and went to the temple, and Travis and I took turns watching the kids.  Also, on Sunday after church, Joseph had a diarrhea accident in the kitchen, and then ran all the way upstairs to the bathroom to take a bath, and dripped stuff the whole way up.  It was a very gross mess to clean up, and we had to open up all the windows because it stunk up the house.  We had a very good holiday break, but I'm very excited for school this week. 

Samuel's Birthday

Caleb hiding between boxes

Austin and Caleb

Samuel lifting weights...I mean shoes

Travis right before NTC

Travis when he got home from NTC....I know it's a little blurry but you can still see the mustache he grew

 

Samuel about to blow out his candles

Samuel hugging his bear (Uh Oh...the bear is upside down)

Samuel hugging his bear the right way

Daddy's Home!!! Yeah!!!

Samuel blowing out his candle

Playing duck duck goose

Playing on the outdoor board game we made with sidewalk chalk

Samuel on the hop like a bunny square

Playing London Bridges

Three legged race

Sack race

Samuel the birthday boy

The letter Austin wrote to the tooth fairy, after Caleb ate the tooth she lost

Lots of things going on this past week.  First of all Caleb had been throwing up every other day for the past week and a half, but has finally stopped throwing up the past few days.  But three days ago he had a fever all day long, and now has a bad cough, and stuffy, and sounds hoarse.  He has not been sleeping well at all.  The night he had the fever, he was waking up every 15 minutes.  It was an extremely long night, and I was crying and begging, and praying for Caleb to sleep better, but my wish was not granted.  He won't sleep at all in his bed, he has to sleep in bed with me or he just cries.  He is still waking up every hour on average each night, and spends half of it in bed with me, because I'm too exhausted to try and get him to sleep in his crib, and he is too sick to let him cry it out.  I have never allowed any of our children to sleep in bed with us, but apparently Caleb is extra stubborn when it comes to sleeping arrangements.  Now that Travis is home (yeah!!) there is just not enough room in our bed for Caleb too, I did not sleep well last night because, Caleb took up my spot on the bed, and I was halfway falling off, or scrunched down at the bottom of the bed.  If Caleb doesn't start sleeping in his bed, I think we may need to invest in a king sized bed.  Caleb has a "mommy sensor" while he is sleeping, he will reach out his arm to touch me and make sure I'm there, and if he feels me, he stays asleep, but if he does not he wakes up and cries.  So anyway, I have been very sleep deprived lately.  Last week Austin lost a tooth at school.  She came home with it in a little treasure box.  I told her to put it right under her pillow so it wouldn't get lost, but she set it down, and Caleb found it, and stuck her tooth in his mouth and swallowed it.  Austin was very distraught, and I finally had to tell her, I would watch Caleb's poop until I found her tooth in it, and then wash it off and give it to her.  After going through Caleb's poop a few times, I told Austin to just write the tooth fairy and note and tell her what happened.  So Austin drew a picture, and taped a fairy she made to it, and wrote a note saying "Dear tooth fairy, my baby brother ate my tooth.  Please give me money.  If I find it, I will give it back and put it under my pillow.  P.S. Please write back.    P.S.S.  You are pretty! (see picture of the note above).  Austin received her $2 that night, and was happy, and the tooth fairy wrote her a little note back.   Joseph missed school on Thursday, since he was throwing up the night before, but he was feeling better Friday so I was ready to send him off to school, when he told me he had a major project due today, and his teacher would not except it late.  So I kept him home for the first hour and half of school, and helped him work on his project.  He ended up making a video, and it turned out really well.  I got him to school with half and hour to spare, before his project was due.   All day Friday we cleaned to get ready for Samuel's party on Saturday and went shopping for party prizes and things.  Friday night, Joseph also went on a campout with the scouts.  He had no coat, because he lost one of his coats and Travis' leather jacket at school, and the lost and found had already been shipped off somewhere.  Austin also went to dinner and a movie with her "Big" and had a great time.  Saturday morning we picked up our produce basket, and went to the Golden Corral for breakfast.  We got home and started getting ready for the party.  I made the cupcakes and ice cream (all sugar, wheat, and dairy free).  While Caleb was taking a nap, and we were getting ready, we heard a car honk outside and looked out the window, and saw a solider getting out of a car.  It took us a moment to recognize Travis (he grew a moustache and his hair on the sides of his head), but then everyone ran out and hugged Travis.  We thought he wouldn't get home until late that night, so we were very excited to see him.  We finished getting ready for the party, and three of Samuel's friends came, and One of them brought their two little brothers, so we had 5 kids come, and our own 5 children.  I had to carry Caleb most of the day, because he didn't feel good, so my back is pretty sore.  We played Wii Dance kids, musical chairs, pin the tail on the donkey, three legged race, sack race, stomp on everyone else balloons, duck duck goose, London bridges, Simon says, red light green light, and the board game that we drew on the driveway.  Samuel had a little trouble at first.  Every time he lost a game, he would yell and scream, and hit and kick me because he was mad.  But after the first couple times we told him he would go to his room and miss the rest of his party if he didn't stop that.  He behaved the rest of the party.  When we had cake and ice cream, the cupcakes didn't go over too well.  I used raw cocoa powder instead of regular cocoa powder from the store, and apparently it isn't as sweet.  The cupcakes tasted like dark chocolate, and weren't very sweet, so none of the kids liked them.  I thought they were good with the ice cream, but the kids just ate the ice cream.  Samuel opened up his presents.  He got  a castle from his Grandma Kathy, an innotab from his Grandma and Grandpa Hardy, and a big bear from Travis and I.  Everybody left after that and I made Eggs a la golden rod, watermelon, honeydew, and pineapple for dinner.  Samuel had a good birthday, and loves his new presents.  Today I stayed home with Caleb, since he is still pretty sick, and Travis took the kids to church.  We love having Travis home again! 

lots of sweeping

Caleb in his tigger costume for halloween



Caleb playing in the waiting room at the dentist's office

Austin, Betsy, and Caleb going down the slide at Chick-fil-A

Yesterday there was no school due to Veterans Day.  Austin and Betsy helped me cut and tie a blanket for Samuel's birthday.  They were really good helpers, and made it go much faster.    We played lots of games together.  I also ended up needing to sweep and mop the kitchen.  While I was upstairs with Caleb, someone knocked my sesame oil all over the floor.  Then Samuel got bacon bits everywhere.  So I wiped up the oil, and then swept the floor.  Then Caleb got hurt, so I ran to help him.  When I got back to the kitchen, there were crumbs all over the floor, so I swept again, and then went and got the mopping stuff ready.  I came back to mop, and again there were crumbs all over the floor.  It was ridiculous, so I told all the kids the next person to make a mess on the kitchen floor would have to sweep the floor every day for a week.  Then I swept the floor, one last time, and mopped.  Since it was Veterans Day, lots of restaraunts were giving active duty military members free food.  Since Travis isn't here to get any, I called up the Olive Garden, and they said they would give me his free meal.  So the kids and I drove down there, and picked up the free meal, and then drove over to Chick-Fil-A where we had 2 free kids meal coupons.  They played in the play place and had a great time.  We also had a lesson on forgiveness for family home evening, where we talked about different ways we can forgive people. 

Primary Program

On Saturday we had a rehearsal for the primary program, and I had Caleb sitting on my lap.  He doesn't want to sit on my lap, and is too noisy, but so was the rest of my class, so it wasn't too noticeable.  But on Sunday, they were much better behaved, so I ended up having to take Caleb out, after I helped my class do their parts.  Joseph, Austin, Betsy, and Samuel did well on their parts from what I could tell.  The beginning of Sacrament meeting was frustrating too, because Samuel and Caleb wouldn't be quiet of hold still, so I had to take them both out.  Here it was in the middle of passing the sacrament and I'm carrying Caleb, and pulling Samuel out, when he goes limp, and I have to drag him.  Thankfully a lady got up and took Caleb from me, so I could pick up Samuel and carry him out.  So I chased Samuel around for the rest of the Sacrament, in the halls because he would not stop.  Joseph was really sweet though, he brought me out a cup of water, since I had to leave and wouldn't get any.  He also came and find me, when it was time to go up for the primary program.  My primary class was out of control as usual, but we did have a few moments where they actually listened to me. 

I will not lie

Joseph lied to me today, and for his consequence he had to write 25 sentences about telling the truth, and they couldn't be the same.  I enjoyed reading his responses, so I decided to put them here on my blog:
1.  I'm a liar , so I'm not trusted
2.  Lying is the worst thing you could do.
3.  Never lie to anybody
4.  Honesty is the best road to go on.
5.  I want to be honest.
6.  I hate lying.
7.  Lying is a hard process.
8.  I want to tell the truth
9.  I love the truth.
10.  I feel sorry.
11.  I love telling the truth.
12.  Lying is bad.
13.  I don't want to lie anymore.
14.  The truth is good
15.  Wow, the truth is awesome!
16.  Tell the truth.
17.  Don't tell a lie.
18.  Always tell the truth.
19.  I love everything to do with the truth.
20.  I hate everything to do with lying.
21.  Lying sucks.
22.  Lying is for dummies.
23.  Lying is for sissies.
24.  Lying is against the commandments.
25.  Lying is never good.

I finally got to talk to my husband this morning.  It was wonderful to talk to him.  He should be home in another week.  Last night Caleb threw up all over.  I had to shampoo the carpet, and the rocking chair, and change all the bedding, and his clothes, and my clothes.  He was so sad, I hate it when little children are sick.  Caleb seemed better during the day so we went to the primary program rehearsal, it was very interesting since I had Caleb with me.  But we survived.  I made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, and no bake chocolate oatmeal cookies to share with the kids afterwards.  They gobbled them all up right away, it's a good thing I grabbed some before we left.  Joseph got to go bowling with his "big"(big brother Sean)from the big brother program, they seem to have a good time together.  It's gotten cold again, and every time I take Caleb outside, he just says "cold, cold, cold" and buries his head into me. 

busy days

I know I haven't written the past couple of days, things have just been busy taking care of everything, and then I'm just really tired, and want to go to sleep.  I've been frustrated about the kids not listening or obeying, and gotten upset with them.  But today was a better day, I tried harder to be more patient, loving, and kind.  I prayed more, and listened to general conference talks in the car.  Caleb has shown an interest in being potty trained so we went to the store and bought him pull-ups and a toilet seat, becuase he just falls right in our regular toilet, he is so little.  I'm not ready to start the potty training process, he seems like he is still my little baby.  But, I've also learned to take advantage, when they show they are ready.  We'll see how it goes, I'm just going to let him try it when he wants, I'm not ready to spend all day in the bathroom trying to potty train him.  Caleb has started helping me to get Joseph to do his homework, while I'm telling Joseph over and over again to do homework, Caleb goes over to Joseph and hugs him then tells him "joe joe..homework".  It was great, and even better Joseph went right over and did his homework.  The kids all had dentist appointments yesterday.  Samuel has four big cavities, Joseph has one cavity, and the girls each had one tiny cavity, that didn't even require numbing, and only took 10 minutes to fix.  I also took Samuel in for his first child phsycologist appointment.  He mostly just observed him, and asked me questions.  Samuel was very frustrating though, he was going crazy in the office while filling out paperwork.  Throwing things, running away, being loud...I thought the receptionist was going to pull her hair out.  Anyway I was finally able to calm him down, and he helped clean up all the toys.  We took Joseph to scouts, and the girls to Activity days, while Samuel ran around filling up our water bottle, and dumping it out all over the floor, and then going into the bathroom, getting paper towels, and soaking the excess water up.  I voted on Tuesday, but was disappointed by the turnout.  When we were driving home from scouts it was dark outside, and samuel said "I can't see when the dark is on".  I thought that was an interesting way to put it. 

timing

So I was all excited to get an extra hour of sleep, since we change the clocks for daylight savings.  I had been slowing putting the kids to bed early by 15 minutes the last few days to make the adjustment easier.  So last night I put the kids to bed at what I thought would be eight o clock with the time savings change.  I changed all the clocks at dinner time.  During the night Caleb woke up twice throwing up all over everything.  I changed his bedding, clothes, and mine (he threw up on me too, after picking him up) and then got him back to sleep.  I was really tired, when I woke up.  I looked at my watch and it said it was 7:55am, I was starting to panic realizing we had to leave for church in 35 minutes.  Then I looked at the clock on my phone, and it said 5:55am.  That's when I realized my mistake.  I had turned the clocks the wrong way.  So instead of putting the kids to bed at 8pm, it was 6pm.  Anyway, I was really grateful for the extra time to get ready for church.  We really needed it, we barely made it on time as it was.  Caleb was acting fine when he woke up, so we went to church.  Sacrament meeting was difficult today.  Austin was mad, because she didn't want anyone touching anything that belonged to her, and I was trying to get her to share.  Samuel was not being quiet or holding still, and Joseph wouldn't leave Betsy alone, and Caleb didn't want to hold still either.  I had to take Caleb and Sam out several times.  Joseph followed Caleb out once, and Austin stormed out once, because I asked her to share her toy that Caleb really wanted.  My primary class was very unruly and I had to take one particularly disruptive child to his Dad, and even when he came back he wasn't behaving very well.  I got confused with when our class ended, because our church time changed from 9am to 8:30am, and I'm used to ending on the hour, so I told my class we were done a half hour early, and then when I realized my mistake I had to round them all up and try to calm them down again.  After church, I found out Joseph had been throwing food (I don't know where he got it) and then punched another kid in the stomach because "he made me mad"(says Joseph)  Joseph claims he didn't sleep at all last night, because he was reading by flashlight.  So I told him he had to nap until dinner.  He didn't sleep, but he did stay in his room most of the time.  Austin was really sweet when we got home, she made me a peanut butter and honey sandwhich, and put it on a large plate, and then surrounded it in a pattern with cut up apples, oranges, and sliced cucumbers.  She even made a smiley face out of sliced cucumbers for the eyes, my protein vitamin for the nose (I take a protein vitamin every time I eat, to help me digest proteins) and an apple slice for the nose.  It looked very nice.  She even brought me a glass of water, and a napkin.  I played missionary impossible with the girls, and then downloaded all the general conference talks and burned them to CDs to listen to in the car.  I made dinner of salmon patties, sauteed summer squash, and homemade french fries.  Then the girls and I made mint ice cream for dessert.  I played "go fish" with Samuel and Austin, and we watched "the best two years" and then put the kids to bed. 

Saturday

I didn't sleep very well last night, for some reason Caleb had trouble sleeping more then usual, so when it was time to get up and get chores done, I was a bit grumpier then normal, and the kids weren't cooperating, so we took a break, had morning devotional, and had a little talk, and things went better after that, well at least I handled everything better.  After lunch we drove to Costco, to buy Samuel some snacks to take to his class on Monday.  He needs to bring 24 snacks, that are individually wrapped, and can't be homemade.  Since it also needs to be something Samuel can have, I asked him what he wanted to bring, and he wanted to bring some fruit leather snacks from costco, that have no sugar in them.  So we drove all the way to Costco, and walked around and got samples, and Sam picked out his snacks.  It went pretty well....well, as well as it can go with five children, and shopping goes.  We were going to go to a park afterwards, but Austin started getting a bad headache, so we headed home.  After we got home, I asked the kids to help bring in the groceries (except Austin, who went inside to lay down) I had just brought in some oranges, when Betsy came in crying.  Apparently Samuel bit her leg, becuase she wouldn't let him bring what he wanted into the house.  He got her pretty good, it was already looking really bruised, and he broke the skin through her jeans.  So Samuel got sent to his room, and Betsy and Austin got to lay down and be taken care of.  After Samuel finished his time out, I talked to him, and he apolagized to Betsy, and did three nice things for her.  I made a dinner of waffles, fruit salad, and tossed salad, and then everyone got ready for bed, and spent a little time doing "sheep"ret service acts, since I remined them at dinner, that I hadn't seen any in a while. 

"I Joe Joe"

I haven't been feeling too well the last two days, so I haven't done too much.  I did take the kids to the dentist office to trade their candy in for money.  They earned $2 each from the dentist office, and I paid them between $1-3 for their chocolates, and put them in the freezer.  Yesterday when Joseph left for school, Caleb really missed him, so he put on Joseph's shoes (his extra ones) and his hat, and started walking around the house saying "I Joe-Joe" it was pretty cute.  Joseph has been interested in writing songs lately, he comes home from school with his lyrics written on paper.  They are pretty good, and something he enjoys doing.  The kid's school had a PTO fundrasier tonight with papa johns, so we ordered pizza, and got a red box movie "madagascar 3" and had a pizza/movie night.  Joseph didn't come home after school, so I was getting pretty worried about him, and had Austin and Samuel (our street only) looking for him, and I was calling people.  He finally made it after about an hour and fifteen minutes, and was apparently at a club meeting, that he just forgot to tell me about.  That kid is going to make all my hair fall out....

Halloween

Halloween was crazy, and I was so exhausted after putting the kids to bed, that I didn't even clean up after dinner.  I don't have pictures because I couldn't find my camera, and the kids were insistent on leaving right at 6pm when trick or treating starts. While the kids were at school, I went visiting teaching.  After school we quickly finished homework, I made dinner, and we got everybody dressed in their costumes.  Joseph was a werewolf, and he spiked his hair, and I used face paint to make his face look hairy, and he wore gray sweatpants and sweatshirt.  Austin wore her Gypsy costume, Betsy wore her Red Riding hood costume, Same decided to wear Joseph's old karate uniform, and Caleb wore a tigger costume.  I'm going to try and have them dress up after school, and take pictures, so I can post them.  We went trick or treating around the neighborhood.  There were a lot of kids around, and Joseph saw some of his friends, and started staying with them, even though I told him he needed to stay with us.  We tried staying with Joseph and his friends, but they were too fast, and we lost them.  I didn't want to ruin the rest of the kids trick or treating and I knew Joseph would probably just stay with his friends, and then come home when they were done.  So we continued our trick or treating.  Nothing too eventful happened.  Caleb was really cute, he figured out pretty quickly how everything worked and would walk up to the person handing out candy, say "treat" and grab one candy out of their bucket, and say "thank-you" and blow them a kiss, say "bye" and walk back to me.  It was really cute.  Although if the house had a lot of decorations, or scary costumes, he would have me take him to the door, and would let them or me get his candy, and then take him to the next house, without  a word.  Samuel tired out first and wanted to go home by 7pm, so we started heading back to our house trick or treating along the way.  We got back to our house by 7:45 and walked in and saw Joseph's candy bucket sitting in the entry way, but no Joseph.  I was starting to panic, when our neighbor across the street knocked on the door, and said Joseph was at the other neighbors house.  So I went and got Joseph, and thanked them for watching him.  Apparently when Joseph realized we had been separated, he went back to our house, to find me.  He went to the neighbors to call me, (I didn't have my cell phone with me) and stayed with them, since he couldn't get a hold of me.  So Joseph is in trouble, but I was very happy to see him again and bring him home.