Feelings

My feelings have been on the surface this week. My thoughts first turn to a family that just lost their mother. I do not know the family very well. I've just known them through the scouting program, but I can't imagine the heartbreak they are going through. You are always reminded how precious life is when these kinds of things occur.
Second, today I was awarded the Volunteer of the Year award for our school.  I don't deserve it as there are so many that have helped me in my duties as PTA president. I don't need to be recognized, they do.
I got a book from my sisters called Side by Side. It's about helping your spouse in their church calling. I was reading last night how the load of a calling can be lightened by others doing their jobs. This works in everything. A mothers load is lightened when her children pick up after themselves and so on. My load is lightened by those willing to support me in my duties. So, thank you to all who lighten my load.

11/11/11 Party

I thought it would be fun to throw an 11/11/11 party for the kids.  I let them invite 11 friends, there were 17 kids total. Thank goodness again for my neighbor who helped with the kids. That and the nice weather so they could burn off some energy outside.

  Every time I said 11 in the story I made up they would pass the prize. Like the left and right story for Christmas. 

Doing a word search to find eleven, 11 times.

 Jumping on the tramp 11 times

 Doing 11 jumping jacks. Watching BriLynn try to do it was so stinkin' cute!

The prize after completing the treasure hunt that had 11 clues. Well...except the I love you cake, that was for Kevin :)

Maybe next year I'll do a 12/12/12 party since there won't be a 13/13/13

A day of bonuses

Yesterday in Relief Society a girl had mentioned that we should focus on the good stuff and our blessings. I'm going to try doing that...

My morning started out great. Got the kids and hubby out the door by 8. The three little ones were still asleep so I could shower. Bonus one (a quiet shower...so nice and rare). I got the kids fed and dressed, did some laundry then dusted the house. As I do my housework I like to listen to the radio. There was a contest, the 11th caller would get a prize if they answered a question correctly.
I was the 11th caller and here was the question:
How many players can be on the field in Football? Uhhh...yeah I'm not a big football fan. The DJ said "I'll give you a hint. 11/11//11 is coming up."
Well I get to choose a  tie or woman's necklace at a local store for free. Bonus 2! Good way to start off a day.

I headed shopping to Smiths because I LOVE the play land the kids can go to. Shopping with one is much easier than three. The baby fell asleep in the cart cushioned by all our coats. Bonus 3.

In the afternoon I watched my friends kids. It was a half a day of school so I had my six and her four. Danika called from the school and asked if a friend could come play. Lets just say I'm not cut out to have 11 kids 10 and under. A 5 month old, a 7 month old, 2 two year olds, 2 four year olds, a 6 year old, a 7 year old, an  8 year old and 2 ten year olds. My neighbor, a 13 year old girl came over to play. She helped a lot with the kids. Bonus 4!

Sure I had to clean my two year old and her sheets since she had peed the bed this morning, a kid got their fingers slammed in the door, kids snuck green sugar sprinkles and made a mess in my pantry, had to clean mud off my carpet and floor, a kid got whacked with a bat,  had to clean up flour from a two year old jumping on the flour can,  found marker on my wall, and the list could continue but...I'm going to focus on the bonuses that happened.

Bring on tomorrow :)

She can be taught!

This will be sort of random but I'm super excited about what I learned today. I was craving pumpkin chocolate chip cookies today but unfortunately I didn't have canned pumpkin. I  called my neighbor to ask her if she had some. She did but she said she also had a small pumpkin I could use to make my own. Huh....I've never done that.....well we have pumpkins that we got in Missouri. She told me how to make my own pumpkin puree so I got to work.
First of all I had to ask which child would be willing to give up the pumpkin they decorated. Thankfully Jacob though cookies were more important than a decorated pumpkin on the doorstep. He claims they are all "his" cookies and said he would share.
While cleaning out the pumpkin I was going to throw the seeds away and Kevin mentioned I should roast them....yet another thing I've never tried. Who knew throwing salt on pumpkin seeds and baking them would be so tasty. The kids think they taste like popcorn.

Here is the pureed pumpkin, I'm so proud of myself :) I'll definitely be doing this with the other pumpkins instead of just chucking them.

Now for the finished product.....yummmmmmmmeeeeeeeeee

I wanted to also mention something funny that happened last night. It was the adult session of  Stake Conference. I was busy mowing the lawn and getting carrots our of the garden and Kevin was on the roof fixing some shingles. We didn't have time to eat before it was time to go. 

When we got home we hurried getting the kids bathed and in bed. After I was finished feeding the baby I came downstairs to find a candlelight dinner on the table. AWE So sweet! I love my hubby! Even a frozen burrito is romantic in candlelight he he. Well the mood lasted up until the kids started showing up one by one oohing and ahhing the candles. They were upset that they never got dinner with candlelight. While BriLynn was at the table she got a little to close and singed her hair. Burnt hair is pretty nasty smelling. We are just glad her whole head didn't catch fire.

So tonight we will have our family dinner over candlelight. I'll cross my fingers that no one gets hurt :)

Just Crazy

Crazy hair day was on Wednesday. Danika was pretty bummed because the plan was to use red hair coloring all over her hair. After looking at the bottle it said to not use on light blond hair so we didn't take any chances.  Can you see the pumpkin face on the back of Lukes head?

Tonight Kevin and I went to an annual party of our friends. It was super fun and we played a bunch of "minute to win it" games. Can you guess our costumes?

Hope you all have a Happy Halloween!

The Trip

We usually stop and get a hotel on the long drive there but Kevin wanted to make it the whole way. We left at 5:30 Friday morning and we arrived at 4:30 Saturday morning. I can't believe he was alert enough to make it. Thank goodness for books on CD! The kids did really well, I'm always so nervous but they always do great. Thank goodness for DVD players too :)

Here are the events of the week...not necessarily in order.

We helped Kevin's Aunt and Uncle move into their new home.
We played some tennis and went and looked at the devastation left behind from the tornado that hit Joplin. It's amazing to me that only a block away from the tornado's path the homes are fine but those in the direct path were completely destroyed.
Kevin helped put in a fireplace in their backyard. I have video but the video doesn't seem to want to load. Anybody else having problems? I haven't been able to upload a video for so long, I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.


We went to a Discovery Center in Springfield. It was the coolest place! They had so much to do you could easily spend the whole day discovering things. Some highlights were the static ball, a giant bubble machine, the newsroom, and the high wire bike.

We went to Texas Roadhouse...I had seven tokens that were for a free kids meal with a paying adult. With Kevin's Brother Matt, his wife Kristine, Karin, us and Mom and Dad we had enough for the seven kids to get free kids meals. SWEET! I don't know if they do this every Tuesday and at every Texas Roadhouse but it was a kids night. They had facepainting, games, chalk to color the floor, etc... it was a total bonus that all that was going on.

We went to a pumpkin patch and picked out pumpkins. Grandma had ordered fun faces to use on the pumpkins. I found a perfect gourd that I made to look like a character from Veggie tales. Can anyone guess who it is?

The last evening there, the adults went out to eat which was really nice. It was also nice that we had finished dinner before we got the call that BriLynn had locked herself in the bathroom and couldn't get out.

Family...isn't it about time.

We had a great trip to Missouri. As I haven't had time to go through all the photos yet, I'll just post one of Grandma and Grandpa with all the grandchildren. It's always so sad to leave, although, according to Andrew we will be moving there in 4 years. Grandpa says he'll count down the days :)

Gotta love kids

Our conversation tonight before family prayer:

Kevin: (irritated voice) Danika, stop talking we are about to say the prayer
Me: Look at how nice Andrew is folding his arms and is quiet
Danika: Boys are always better than girls.
Me: No thats not true
Luke: Yes it is
Me: No it's not
Luke: Well Daddy is better than you
Me: No he's not
Luke: uh huh, cuz he's the Bishop
Me: Yeah...well I'm the Bishops wife.

We have a puppy

Thanks for your comments gals. I know there are others who have troubles far worse than mine. It's just always nice to vent it out now and then.
Things did end happier than they began. We took the kids to a family fair held at the court house. You can't go wrong with free face painting, cotton candy, pop and Creamies!

How can you not smile bringing home a cute puppy? Get this....she doesn't shed and she's potty trained. Oh and she doesn't chew my shoes, she just tries to wear them.

Can I Vent for Sec?

Sigh....I feel like things are piling up.

The weather doesn't look so great for the carnival this week which means we will be inside the school. I'm a bit bummed since I wanted to avoid it being crowded. I'm going to stay positive about it though....either way it will be fun for the kids and that's what it's for.

Conference for me wasn't spiritual. yeah...umm.. at all. When you have little ones fighting with each other, it's hard to listen and feel the spirit.

I also haven't been as supportive as a wife as I should. For Example:
(door bell rings a couple times at 4:30 AM yes AM, I had just gotten to sleep after feeding the baby)
Kevin changes into some jeans (he did have other sweat pants on thankfully..that would have been awkward ha ha)
I tell him "It's time to move"

The phone calls at 7 in the morning or 10:30 at night I'm fine with but I'm finding it hard to find a positive spin on the lack of sleep last night.

The kids slept outside in the tent Friday and two wet the bed. Unfortunately they were sleeping on top of two other sleeping bags so that leaves four sleeping bags that need washed. I can't use my washing machine, the tag says to use a front loading washer.

We are leaving for Missouri next week and I'm not looking forward to the 20 hour drive with six kids.

I need to get the lawn and garden taken care of before the colder weather hits but I don't have the energy. You know picking all the tomatoes, carrots, onions, squash and fertilizing and mowing the lawn. Just thinking about it makes me want to cry.

Speaking of crying, baby's awake. I guess the cow needs to be milked.

Yep...venting does help. But I'm still tired!