My first Thanksgiving play!

 My buddy taking a bow after his First Thanksgiving play

Wednesday morning, I got up at my normal time to get my buddy on the bus. After he got on the bus, I rushed home to get ready to go to the school.

I had to get in the shower, fix a breakfast cake for the classes "feast", get the other two kids ready and make it to the school early in order to get seats for a kindergarten play featuring my son, the corn.

I rushed and rushed frantically around my house, and got to the school an entire 45 minutes too early. That was way early!

We popped our heads in the classroom and saw the pilgrim men, the pilgrim women, the Indian men, the Indian women, the preacher, and of course the ears of corn.

Those kids were so excited and looked so cute sitting there with their legs folded. I dropped my cake in the room across the hall and made my way to the cafeteria for my first every Kindergarten play!

We got to sit on the second row. My buddy was right in the front row waving and giving me a thumbs up the entire time. 

His little part was to say "pop, pop, pop" each time the narrator said "corn". Each little section had their own three word part. Talk about totally cute!

So this is my life now, rushing around making yummy food to take to school plays to see my kids do and sing really cute stuff!

And guess what, I love it! After all, this is what Mormon Mommy's do, right?

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A Girl and Her Makeup

My Princess is obsessed with makeup like any little girl. She is constantly asking me to help her put on my makeup. She loves to be super fancy!

The other day, she came into my bathroom and shut the door. She told me she was putting her hair in some ponies. She was in there quite a while and was being very quite. I didn't think anything of it because she's a pretty good kid and I never thought she would put my make up on...

boy was I wrong!

I called to her to open the door and she timidly opened the door...and I saw this sweet little face. She had used my eyeliner on her eyebrow.

"Mommy, I put some makeup on my lashes"

It was all I could do to not laugh!

Crinkle Face

My little man makes this most awesome face. It encompasses so many emotions for this little guy! He crinkles his face to show happiness, excitement, love and also extreme distress.

It's amazing how this little expression can mean so many things to such a small little guy. Most of the time, we laugh when we see this little crinkle face. My older kids have taking to calling him, "Mr. Crinkle Face." It's hilarious to see him do it.

Today, I would like to have my own little crinkle face. I really wanted to take a nap today. After 4-5 days of waking up early, I am so ready for a little siesta (nap). I was under my covers with the TV babysitting my Princess, when Mr. Crinkle Face starts screaming from his crib.

He's trying to get rid of one of his naps and instead of two naps is only taking one 3-4 hour nap in the middle of the day. But today, he only slumbered for 2 hours. Not long enough for me to finish reading my book and get a little shut-eye at the same time.

So here I am blogging instead of napping. Just imagine me sitting at the computer with my own little crinkle face. Because, let's be honest, that's how I feel on the inside. Crinkled.

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What does your Friday night hold for you?

--Oswald and I are playing volleyball with some of the people from our church. I'm pretty excited about it! I played volleyball in Junior High and High School. I was the setter. There's nothing sweeter than having an awesome set end in an even awesomer (that really is a word now!) spike! Gives me goosebumps just thinking about it!

Secrets...how do you feel about them?

--I think that secrets have their place, like for Birthday's and Christmas. Some times secrets can cause rifts in friendships and even worse in marriage. I think that some times you just have to wait for the right time to tell your secret. Cuz not every secret is a bad secret. Just my opinion.

I burnt dinner...

I was cooking dinner when my Princess came up to me and asked me if I would play with her and her brothers.

I couldn't pass up those puppy dog brown eyes. They just melted my heart, plus sometimes they will play with their toys longer if I am in there.

I walked down into their room and immediately lost myself in a world of make believe. It was as though I was transformed from one world into the next.

I got so carried away I forgot about dinner. But between putting skirts on my head like a headband and helping my kids get in their "fanciest" clothes, I lost all track of time.

Before I knew it, I had the dinner simmering away and we were having a dance party! We like to dance to Taio Cruz Dynamite and to Shakira Waka Waka. We turn up the speakers on the computer and have a blast!

 Even the boys like to be fancy! I guess it's time we get some "boy dress-up" clothes!!

 I think I could actually be part of Shakira's Waka Waka video with this outfit on! I had so much fun and a dance party is just another way to burn a few extra calories!

I will burn dinner any day if it means I can see these three cute kids laughing and smiling! It's the best part of being a mom!


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What do you think is the best part of being a mom?

--I love the laughing, the hugs, and the unconditional love! It's amazing how much such little people can love!

What are your plans for the weekend?

--We're probably going to start packing up this apartment! I can't wait to get out of this place and into a house that will have much more room than we do now!

Ode to Breakfast!

Last night my cleaning people came through my apartment like a whirlwind. It was amazing! They were scheduled for an hour, but they finished early. They cleaned the kids room, the kitchen, the living room, and even started the laundry. Maybe you've heard of my cleaning people? Their names are Oswald, my Buddy, and my Princess. We knocked out so much even before the timer went off that we played 10 frames of wii bowling.

I am not so good at wii bowling. No matter what I do, I can't get more than one strike every 10 frames. My kids even do better than I do. Oswald gets super frustrated because I don't like to be told what to do and when it comes to bowling and he's getting 200+ points every game, I am pretty much over it. I don't want him to tell me how to do it because it makes me feel like I stink worse than I do. It's a personality flaw. I just have to deal with it.

Speaking of personality flaws...I love to cook. Maybe that's not a personality flaw, but somehow I needed to transition into what I wanted to write about today.

We had a breakfast party this morning. We're down to mere days until school starts, and we want to party as much as we can before we start waking up early.

For breakfast I made some breakfast cake. My mom used to make this for us when we were kids living at home. I have to admit, it did not turn out as good as it has in the past, but it was still yummy and the kids all enjoyed themselves.

If you wanna try this yourself here's the recipe:

Breakfast Cake
3 eggs
1 1/2 c. milk
3/4 c. oil
4 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 c. sugar
4 1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt

mix wet together
add dry
your mixture will be thick and a little lumpy. (see picture below)

Pour into 9x13 baking sheet.
melt one cube (or stick) of butter pour over top
add handful's of brown sugar on top and sprinkle cinnamon over that (be very generous)

bake 375-400 until cake passes "toothpick test"

Grab a plate, glass of milk or OJ, and enjoy!!

What is your favorite breakfast?

--mine is French Toast. I can guarantee that I will get it twice a year, no questions asked. I get it for Mother's Day and my Birthday!

How do you keep your house cool in the summer when the oven is on?

--I completely FAILED at this today...my house got so hot I started sweating. I'm sorry to my friend and her kids for the overheating we all felt!!

What are you making for dinner tonight?

--I am debating making some chicken salads or some pasta. Can't quite decide. Don't know why picking the meals is so hard for me!

Friday Funny--

We have several old cell phones around our house that have turned into toys for the kids. One phone still has a battery that we charge and they send "texts" to everyone they can think of. Their little fingers going 100 mph! It's amazing how efficient they are at texting. LOL

Anyway, last night my little man could not get the phone to turn on. It had been on the charger for the entire day, and I took it off to plug my phone in. He got really upset.

LM: Why did you take my charger off the phone? I can't get it to turn on. (pushing the button several times)

Oswald: You just have to hold it down. (referring to the button)

My Little Man turned the phone upside down and it still didn't turn on!

Outtakes...

 While we were on our Florida vacation...we stopped and played at a park. While we were there, we decided to try to get all five of us in a shot. None of them turned out really well, but the outtakes are quite hilarious!

 My Buddy took this...not bad. But I guess my Princesses hair was in her face...and that just wouldn't work!

This one turned out the best...so if this is the best...we have some work to do!

Poor Buddy and little Man have got the raw end of this stick...and who knows what my Princess is doing. Maybe she thought she wasn't in this picture?

My poor Buddy always had his head cut off...at least you can really focus on those purdy brown eyes!! And the baby...he's over these pictures already!

Cultured

My big kids holding the "playbill" to the High School production of the musical, Annie

A few hours after the most traumatic experience of my life, I packed up my big kids and headed to one of the local high schools to watch a musical. 

The kids were putting on the production, Annie, and neither of my kids had see or even heard of Annie. And neither of them knew what a "play" was, so they were in for a real treat.

We arrived at the auditorium a few minutes before curtain call and the area was buzzing with excitement. There were tons of people outside buying flowers for their favorite actors and concessions for their little ones. 

My kids were so excited to get their tickets, but as we walked inside, they took the tickets from everyone. 

We sat in the seats staring at the big red curtain. Above our heads perched high on the cat walk was a teenage boy in charge of the lighting. A pianist sat in the corner on a keyboard playing the music for the show.

When the lights got dark, my kids faces lit with excitement. The didn't know what to expect.

The acting was fantastic. If lines were missed, the audience had no clue. The stage was amazing. The props were perfect. It was hard to believe it was a high school musical. 

About half way through the first act, a little girl sitting in the same row as us puked...that's right...puked all over the place. Her parents rushed her out the door, but not fast enough. She puked again before even exiting the auditorium.

That didn't matter to my kids. Their eyes were glued to the stage. They thought they were watching some sort of magical TV. 

When the show ended, 2 and a half hours later, my kids did a standing ovation for the cast during the curtain call. They just couldn't get enough. 

And I'm glad I took them. It's a night I will never forget.

Have you ever taken young kids to a musical/play/or any other "cultural event?" I'd love to hear your stories!

Sometimes my Princess is the hardest person to photograph!

A Milestone...

Each of my kids have done things differently, at different paces.

My Buddy, he was the slowest one. I like to think that he was more observant about his surroundings, so he took his time doing things like crawling (9 months old), getting teeth (9 months old), walking (15 1/2 months old), and really talking (2 years old). But one thing I can say about him, once he decided to do it, it was 100%. He never crawled slowly...he was by far my fastest crawler. He got two teeth at 9 months and then 6 when he turned 12 months old! Once he walked, it wasn't long before he decided to run! And don't get me started with talking...he opened his mouth and spoke in sentences. He is still quite pensive when it comes to everything, just like his Daddy.

My Princess, on the other hand, did everything super fast! Crawling (7 months old), walking (11 months old), and she talked by 18 months, but it was two words put together. She is Miss Independent and always has been. Just amazing how much faster she did things than her big brother.

Now my little man, he crawled at 6 months (army style), he says "mama" and "dada" and has been saying those two words for a couple of months. And today at 8 months old,  WE HAVE A TOOTH! It's amazing how long it's taken him to cut this one little tooth! He's been drooling for months and has been especially clingy these last few weeks. I was so excited when I put my finger in his mouth to dig out a random piece of whoknowswhat he picked up off the floor and found a tooth! The big kids and I did a happy dance of sorts!

I looked at my little man in the crib yesterday and he's getting so big. He's not really an itty-bitty baby anymore, until I hold him in my arms and nurse him, then I realize that he's just a sweet little baby who needs his mommy. I can wait for him to crawl (on hands and knees) and I can FOR SURE wait for him to walk! I don't want him to grow up too fast, can't he stay little forever?

Funny Story

This past Sunday I had to leave for an early meeting before the rest of my family. I usually try to help Oswald get the kids ready, at least a little bit.

This particular Sunday, I had gotten my Princess dressed and done her hair just like I did in this picture. I left for church and Kevin brought the kids an hour later.

I had tithing slips for my kids to hand to the Bishop. He's the leader of our ward, and no he's not paid for his service.

My Princess walked up to him, handed him the envelope, and I see him asking her something. She smiles and he smiles...she walks away.

"What did the Bishop say to you?" I asked her. Really wondering if she responded to him. She's not one to talk to men at all.

"Did he ask you what your name is?"

"No."

"Well what did he say to you?"

"He asked me who did my hair, my mom or my dad?"

"What did you say to him?"

"I told him, my mommy did it."

I'm sure he was just trying to get her to talk to him. But come on now...of course I did her hair. Like Oswald has that kind of talent!

Road Tripin' with little kids

A good friend of mine and I went on a vacation--if that's what you call a road trip with 6 kids all under the age of 6!

I had a great time, but I learned a few things along the way. Let me share 'em with you!

1. Make sure the seating arrangements are the most ideal for the situation. If needed, place the oldest between the babies to insure the little ones are played with, pacified, and have ample attention given to them.
2. If the DVD player is on, make sure that the movie is what my Princess wants to watch. If this rule is not followed, beware of the incessant whining. (don't say I didn't warn you!) 
3. Upon arrival to your destination, make sure there is enough Mexican food to last the week. I'm just sayin'
4. On the subject of food, don't drive with 6 kids if you're on a food plan. Your eating habits will plummet when you sink into that huge bag of Hershey's and grab a caffeinated soda (something you haven't had in 5 months!)
5. Make sure the driver is paying close attention to the direction he/she is going. That will save you at least 20 minutes: 10 minutes going the wrong direction and 10 minutes finding the freeway again! 
   

If you follow these 4 simple steps, the road trip will be smooth sailing! But if not, it just might take 5 hours to reach your destination that is only 3 hours away. I'm just sayin'

(in all honesty, we had a fantastic time. The rides were smooth, the food was yummy, the conversation was great and best of all we got away from the norm for a few days! Thanks friend!)

Bored?

We've been stuck in doors for over three days now. There is 6 inches of snow and ice covering most of the roads. Luckily, I had enough food to last us for our snow bounded days, but I did not have enough creativity to keep my kids from having cabin fever.

Let's break down the days of being snowed in and we'll see if it wouldn't drive you a little crazy, too!

Day 1: We got showered and went right back to put our jammies back on. No use in getting dressed, we weren't going anywhere. We watched, something like, four movies! That's right, four!

Day 2: We got out the kids puzzles. We worked on puzzles while Oswald braved the snow covered streets to get his work laptop in order to work at home. I think we watched two movies this day. No biggie, we watch at least one movie every day. Oh, and we can't forget about the insane number of times I transformed my Buddy's Transformers!

Day 3: We actually got dressed today! We sat around the house playing toys and trying to figure out what on earth we would do! Then, my Princess took matters into her own hands...

That's right, my little creative genius got on her new bike and started pedaling away! She tried her hardest to ride, but the carpet, plus pedals with "spikes" make it hard for a barefooted 3 year-old to go very far.

I am happy to report that we did survive being stuck in the snow, and we have finally made it out of our cave. But one good thing did happen, I now have a new way to save money on gas: get snowed in for 3 days and not drive anywhere! What would I do if I lived up north? Probably end up hibernating like bears, I guess!

But that's what it's like for this Mormon Mommy.

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What did they just say?

My little "Elves" after they helped wrap gifts for Oswald and my little man!

Each day in my home brings new and sometimes, completely RANDOM things! I love to write down some of the things my kids say, it helps me remember what they were like and what was going on in our lives when they were acting so darn cute!

My Buddy:

A couple of nights before Christmas, we geared up to look at Christmas lights. We popped popcorn and made hot chocolate for the kids. (This is a tradition of ours that we look forward to each year) We got into the car and before it even got started, my Buddy said in the most dreamy voice, "this is the best day ever." Just melted my heart!

My Buddy is not fond of broccoli, but I feel it's important that he tries all the veggies multiple times before he's allowed to completely dismiss them. On this particular night, I had made broccoli. He looked at me as I was putting the leftovers away and said, "Is all that broccoli done?"
I replied, "Yes."
He looks at me and while wiping his forehead says, "Whew, just wanted to make sure we didn't save any of that stuff."


He's pretty sassy some times and today was no exception. He looked at his sister and me and said, "I'm the rule maker. Rule #1, eat breakfast, then lunch, then have a party for dinner." My kind of rules!

My Princess:

She has been playing by herself a lot lately and using her imagination. I caught her playing make believe these are a few things she has said.

"And then the prince came to kiss me" (really? already talking about kissing? I thought I had a few years!)

"My brother doesn't want to play Princess with me" (do you blame him?)

"I can't wait to live in a castle. I can't wait to live in a castle. I can't wait to kiss Prince Charming!"

She came up to me the other day with her toy stethoscope and said, "Mommy, I wanna talk to your heart." So I put the stethoscope on my chest. She didn't like that and moved it and said, "No Mommy, your heart is in your stomach."

She was giving me a kiss today and pulled back, looked at me very seriously and said, "I am not a Prince and you are not a Princess?"
I said, "I'm not?"
"No, you have to live in a castle and dress like a pretty pretty princess and have a Prince Charming."

Sometimes I have to "help" my Princess eat all of her dinner. Tonight I was sitting really still, you know when you're looking off into space not really thinking about anything in particular? That's what I was doing when she says, "Mom, don't get frozen."


She also loves to look at me when I'm being slightly serious and say to me, "Mommy, make a smile!"

Maybe she needs to be reminded to "make a smile?"