Preschool Halloween Parade

Elle was supposed to be asleep today during drop off making us miss the Preschool Costume Parade. But since she decided to only sleep for 20 minutes this morning we were able to make it! Luke decided to dress up as a football player, mostly because he got to wear Kai's pads! He looked great and just like a real football player! They walked around twice and then went around to the different departments in the Municipal Center to get candy! It was his best day of school yet! HA

Also, Elle got beat up by a little boy while we were waiting for the kids to come out. He pushed her down and pulled her hair. Oh man was she mad!

Babies Need Sleep

On occasion, I may overreact. Tonight may have been one of those times.

Elle had one very short nap today. When we got home from piano I saw Luke already asleep on the couch. I knew with everyone else at football it was going to be a nice quite evening, which worked out perfectly with the big plans I had to paint my nails.

Everything was going according to plan. Elle was asleep at 7, and Luke was still passed out. Sometime around 8 the rest of the children and Brian came busting into the house. After the third person slammed the basement door Luke was fully awake! Shortly thereafter I heard Elle crying.

Enter possible overreaction.

After my unfortunate outburst I left Elle upstairs with Olivia. After a short cool off period I went back up to talk to Olivia. When I walked into her room she had Elle on her lap and was reading her a story. I think Olivia has mastered the make-your-mom-feel-like-the-worst-mom-of-all-time act. I snuck out to grab my camera but when I got back up the moment was gone. We tried to recreate it, but Elle was clearly still tired.

I talked to Olivia about what to do when she hears Elle crying and it clearly isn't time for her to be awake. You know, the opposite of going in, turning on all the lights, and picking her up while Ethan is being as loud as humanly possible in the hall.

Then, of course, I apologized.

And still had time to paint my nails.

Primary Program

This year 4 of my children were in the Primary Program. I have been looking forward to this Sunday since school started. We've been practicing parts and songs at home for weeks. (By we I mean me and Luke. The older children just look at me like I'm crazy when I want to practice with them! HA)

I wish I had video of Luke's amazing singing performance. He knew the words and sung his little heart out, complete with closed eyes and a slight head shake. IT WAS AWESOME!

The spirit is always so strong with those sweet children all up on the stage sharing their simple testimonies of the Savior. I wish we would have invited some friends, shame on me for dropping the ball. Thank goodness there is always next year!

Until next year.

Fall Parties

It was "fall party" day at the elementary school. It's always a highly anticipated event and this year was no different. The school decided it would be best to have the parties first thing in the morning instead of at the end of the day. I'm assuming it was to avoid the early dismissal craziness where everyone is looking for their children. Good call, Haine!

This year Kai and Olivia really thought outside the box for their costumes. Olivia went as a basketball player,

and Kai went as a football player. Their creativity makes a mom proud!

Poor Ethan doesn't get to dress up now that he's in Middle School. He was a little annoyed about it this morning which is why I think he was so short with us all. At least that's what I'm choosing to blame it on.

I volunteered to help in Olivia's class and I brought 2 Minute to Win It Games. The first one was the cereal box puzzle. Much harder than it looks, however we decided that the Cheerios one was easier than Lucky Charms. The other game I brought was a cup stack, and that was a huge hit. I of course don't have any pictures of it.

Before she left for school Olivia kept reminding me what time that party was at, and for me not to forget Luke and Elle. Showing them off is the highlight for sure!

This week Olivia is the start student. She gets her own special desk with all the stuff she brought in to share. I wanted to get a picture, but she was extremely embarrassed so that was the best I got! HA

Then I took it a step further and tried to get a "selfie" of all four of us. She was REAL thrilled about that!

Since Elle decided to get up at 6:45 this morning she of course fell asleep in the car on the drive home. UGH! After I laid her in her bed she slept for 20 min. She was a real joy after that.

While I was trying to get Elle to sleep I heard the UPS man stop in front of the house and ring the door bell. I was trying to be quick since Luke ALWAYS goes to the door no matter what. As I was laying her down I thought it was so weird that I didn't hear Luke get the door. I hurried downstairs to see what would keep him from getting a package, and I found him sleeping on the couch! Fall Parties are exhausting!

Brian and I didn't go out tonight, I'm not really sure why not, so Ethan and I hung out watching Duck Dynasty all night. That's a handsome boy right there!

It was early to bed for us. Kai has his semi final game early tomorrow morning! 

GO RAIDERS!

Ordinary Days

Ethan's eye has been bothering him for a few days now,so this morning we took some pictures to send to Dr. Nate. Unfortunately, I sent them to the dr while he was three time zones away, which completely slipped my mind. Even though it was 4 am he assured me not to worry and he would call me in a few hours. I hope doctors don't charge time and a half for early morning eye drama!

Last week I went over to visit with my friend Bonne Jean and meet their newest sweet baby girl Keira. While I was there she asked me how Elle is doing with all my decor. I sent her this picture and explained it's not going great! Unless you want to count Elle as my newest coffee table statue, minus the being still part of course.

Side note, babies in PJs with messing hair are totally good for the soul! 

And it snowed, for about 58 seconds.

The Pumpkin Carving Aftermath

Everyone didn't get their pumpkins carved last, which means I woke up to this disaster on my kitchen table this morning. I've bee working diligently on having the kitchen clean before I go to bed at night. This morning as a cleaned the kitchen around the table I smiled thinking of last night.

Grateful for the hours of laughter we all had together last night.

Loving them chant "eat it, eat it, eat it!"  And teasing the big brothers for the littlest brother being brave and going first!

The intense decision making, while carefully choosing what they would carve.

Brian's magic on the printer, wowing the children with his abilities to make their images larger.

I so crazy in love with these people! Life can get busy, loud, unorganized, and exhausting with five children. Mornings life this are a great reminder of all the great things that are having a big family, and love is certainly not lacking here. 

Everyone didn't get their pumpkins carved last, which means I woke up to this disaster on my kitchen table this morning. I've bee working diligently on having the kitchen clean before I go to bed at night. This morning as a cleaned the kitchen around the table I smiled thinking of last night.

Grateful for the hours of laughter we all had together last night.

Loving them chant "eat it, eat it, eat it!"  And teasing the big brothers for the littlest brother being brave and going first!

The intense decision making, while carefully choosing what they would carve.

Brian's magic on the printer, wowing the children with his abilities to make their images larger.

I so crazy in love with these people! Life can get busy, loud, unorganized, and exhausting with five children. Mornings life this are a great reminder of all the great things that are having a big family, and love is certainly not lacking here. 

FHE and Pumpkins

Tonight Kai was the opening prayer for family home evening. Kai, who can be a little on the wild and crazy side, usually has the sweetest most sincere prayers. I always look forward to the tenderness and love he expresses as he prays.

I folded my arms with a smile on my face, anxious to hear what was on his little heart. (and possibly looking forward to the high praise he usually offers me.)

"Please let this family home evening go fast so we can get to carving pumpkins!"

Ummmmm, HURTFUL!

Well, despite his plea for speed we had a great lesson based on Ether 12:27. Which promises us that if we are faithful and take our weaknesses to the Lord he will turn those weaknesses into strengths. We had two sided charts, on one side was a self portrait of us, and on the other side was the Savior. On our side we wrote 5-6 weaknesses we have that we need to work on. (When math facts was one of the things listed I know I hadn't explained myself well enough!) On the other side of the paper we listed Christlike attributes.

The goal is for us as a family to choose one Christlike attribute a month and work on it together. We are going to replace dinner time Best & Worst with Gems & Rocks. Our Gems being the times during the day we succeeded in displaying that attribute, and Rocks being when we didn't. My hope is that we will all better recognize the spirit in our lives as we pray daily for the help and guidance.

(After General Conference I looked through my notes and feel so strongly that I need to be helping the children feel the spirit daily so they can learn to recognize it for themselves.)

Brotherly Kindness is the attribute we all agreed would be an excellent place to start.

Onto the part everyone has been waiting for........ the pumpkins! This year we have 27 for our own family the children have all been chomping at the bit to carve those bad babies!

Spoiler alert! Since some children of mine took FOREVER deciding what they wanted to carve, 3 of the 4 pumpkins only got cleaned out. Boy Howdy were they disappointed when I told them that 8:30pm was too late to start to carve and the fun would have to wait yet another night. Good thing I was able to remind them of "brotherly kindness" before we started out on a bad foot!

The pumpkin that did get finished was none other than LUKIE'S! He was quick to pick the superman logo and the two of us got straight to work! We are quite the duo!

Thankful

Sometimes when Elle wakes up from her nap she's still a little sleepy, and so we snuggle up until she is ready to rejoin the world. Those are my favorite days. We lay on my bed as her eyes slowly shift from open to closed, and then open again. 

I can help but remember the day Brian and I went to the temple to prayerfully ask if our family of six was complete. I remember sitting next to Brian, both of us silent, until I looked over at him and said, 

" there's one more."

He smiled at me saying, "and it's a girl."

And here she is, the answer to our prayers. This perfect baby girl. 

Sunday

Twenty Eight

Today I turned 28.

It was sometime in between vacuuming, laundry, dishes, planning the ym/yw activity, dinner, football, dirty diapers, and dropping off forgot lunches I paused and just smiled. It wasn't a drop everything and think about Danae day, however it couldn't have been better!

Today I can't think of anywhere I would rather be than at home, taking care of my family. It's a tender reminder that this is just where I'm supposed to be. I smiled and remembered that I get to be here today, doing these things. I got to do them yesterday and will hopefully get to do them again tomorrow. The happiness and joy that comes with the trials and frustrations of being a housewife have changed and molded me into the person that I am. 

Life can be hard sometimes. But I'll take that hard if I can have birthdays like this for the next 20+ years. 

Pumpkin Launching

For mutual tonight all the young men and young women were together. We were in charge of the activity and our trusty president Alyssa came up with the idea to have a pumpkin launch. All the youth were so excited and once we worked out all the specifics so was I.

Each class and quorum got to pick two pumpkins, order picking was done randomly by picking out of a hat. Once they had their pumpkins they had 20 minutes to get them hollowed out and weighing between 6-8 lbs.

Then we headed to the back parking lot where Brian (my hero) had built this 8 foot tall pumpkin sling shot. Each class took turns launching their pumpkin and a member of our Bishopric marked with chalk how far it went.

It turned out to be such a fun activity and the Deacons won! After we cleaned up the parking lot we headed in for donuts and hot chocolate! 

Happy Birthday to me! 

Tough Lessons

When I'm sitting in the car at piano and Mrs. Maurhoff comes out between the children's lessons, its a sure sign that something's up. In her sweet kind way, she asked me for the children's birth dates, and then informed me that of the songs Olivia was to practice the previous week she only played 2 correct notes! TWO! She told me how she spoke to Olivia about how we can "practice" or we can practice with purpose, and challenged Olivia to do the latter. She's a real gem I tell ya!

Olivia had already ran off to play with Kai during the conversation I had with Linda, which gave me a few minutes to think about what the consequence should be for wasting Mrs. Maurhoff's time and our money.

When she came back we had a talk about what had happened in there. She, although at first was defensive, came to explain that this week she didn't play the pieces she was assigned but instead played her favorite pieces. While I was still a little frustrated, I get it. She's just nine.

Understanding however doesn't remove consequences. Olivia owes Brian and I $17 dollars for the lesson. Since she has no money, she will have to work it off. I've created a chart full of jobs and their value, and she will have 2 weeks to pay off this debt.

Pumpkins

The grocery store up the street from us has these 2 day sales every three weeks or so. As a general life rule I do my best to stay as far away from that place as humanly possible during said sale. The stress of it all isn't worth a good deal to me I guess. 

Well, make an exception because when I was in there buying ALL the cereal (because it's on sale $1.99/ box. I guess I do like a good deal) I saw the ad said $2.77 per pumpkin. I pauses, rubbed my eyes, and did a double check. 

So it was set, I would be at the Shop N Save doors at opening time the first day of the sale, and I would enlist my trusty partner in insanity (Brian) to help! He was thrilled as always to be up at the crack of dawn doing something he deemed crazy. But he did it with a smile and that's one of the many reasons I love his guts!

So we ended up with 37 pumpkins. 12 for the youth pumpkin launch and 25 for us. 25 doesn't seem like over kill does it? No, didn't think so!

Update:

This evening Brian told me that his buddy at work commented on the photo I posted of all the pumpkins. He told Brian he loves to see what our family is up to, and that all those pumpkins cracked him up. Brian's reply, "When the wife says she wants 100 pumpkins, you go and get 100 pumpkins."

That's a good man right there, ladies!

Sweet Baby Kate

This afternoon I was flipping through my camera roll and found these gems. Do I even need to state the obvious that Elle isn't a car seat fan? 

Does it make me mean that I cracked up when I saw these? 

Photo credit to Ethan W. who always resorts to picture taking when Elle is being a maniac in the car. 

14 Months

Elle's 14 months old and practically perfect in every way. 

We drag her from Timbuktu and back on a daily basis and she takes it like a champ. 

She lights up when the children get home from school. 

She is generous with her hugs and kisses. 

She is a dancing queen and her moves include the classic booty shake, and a darling shoulder shrug. 

This girl can eat.

She climbs and is obsessed with being ON the table.

She hates grocery carts that aren't shaped like a car.

She is short and stout. (still wears 3-6 month clothes, but I mostly buy 6-12 now)

Size 3 diapers

Takes 2 naps, when time allows.

Weighs 22lbs

Height, who knows

Love you sweet baby Kate!

October

The best month of the year aka my birthday month is FINALLY here! I can't explain it, but October just makes my heart happy!

Tonight for family home evening we skipped the lesson and went straight to the activity, decorating the house for Halloween. Every year when Brian brings the Halloween stuff down from the attic we have the same conversation. 

"Where is all the stuff?"

"This is it, Danae."

"UGH, Lame!"

It was fun to put our stuff up and think of new ideas of things to get. Top of my list this year is a potions tray. 

And then it was over. And the family room looked like that!