Happy Halloween!!!!

dressed and ready to go!

School Parade!!

No TV day two

Day two.
I worked again today. I feel like I'm cheating.
I called to check in during lunch time and Taylor had caved! "only for a minute" he claimed, but I reprimanded him and they turned it off.

Ex came over and fixed my computer tonight (he's a computer specialist) . I called him last week and asked him to. I quite surprised myself when I did it, but was even more surprised when he agreed, and came happily to do it. He actually started working on it last Sunday after he dropped off the girls. Then when he brought the girls home tonight, he stayed.
it was the most cordial two hours we've spent in the same room in 5 years. If it could just stay like this for the next 20 years then we could raise these girls so much better. A combined effort from both sides works so much better than the friction and contention that's lived among us for so long. We had some interesting conversation, and he even sat in the same room as Taylor without incident.

TV withdraw Day One.....

I must admit,I was quite worried about today. The girls are home for UEA break so I was sure it was going to be a long, long dragged out day for poor Taylor.
I conveniently had to work today secretly grateful that I would be gone for the worst.Taylor said I didn't miss a thing because the girls were so busy they didn't even miss it!
Megan had a Halloween party and then spent the afternoon at her friends house.
Ali played most of the day outside. And is currently at a sleepover.
I've had to remind Megan a few times tonight that we're not watching the TV and I hate to say this but I think the person who's having the hardest time is
.
.
.
.
..............ME!
I missed having it on in the background while I cleaned up the kitchen.
As I sit and type this, I am struggling not to click the remote that is 6 inches away from me.

I WILL be watching the Bachelor when Megan is in bed.
after all, I deserve a little bit of Me time right? I'm making the effort too.....

Big Changes

I've been thinking of doing something drastic for a while now. something so drastic that I myself have had a really hard time making the commitment.

but I'm telling you, something has got to change around here.

Starting tomorrow.

That's right, No more TV.

It all started with a little Suite life of Zach and Cody. You would think being Disney it would be good and wholesome right? Not so much.. That show is nothing but disrespecting conniving children treating their elders/parents with about the same respect as they give their dirty socks. I banned that show months ago when I noticed the girls catching onto some of the behaviors from the show. I've noticed more and more the disrespecting attitudes and language that "kid" shows are portraying and The impact they are having on my children.

Although I love Disney as a whole, and DO like some of their 'Tween' shows just fine,I've banned more shows since then and wondered how TV has gone so wrong.

Ali is too old for the likes of PBS, and I won't even let her turn on Nickelodeon.

so then what?

As I thought about how much the TV had a hold on our lifes, I knew that it was getting dangerous. I threatened to take the TV out of the girls room the other night for not following the rules, and both of them were sobbing, begging me to give them another chance. I had NEVER planned on having a TV in my children's room to start with and that scene proved to me why!

I talked with Taylor about it, and he's totally on board. I am really hoping that after a few hours of drama TV detoxing, then maybe just maybe things will start to turn around here.

Maybe the girls will actually make the effort to spend time doing things with each other instead of going to their separate floors to watch different shows.

Maybe they'll start reading more and doing something that builds brain cells instead of watching them deteriorate....

Maybe they'll drive me a little crazy... that will be okay..

TV is not as important as sitting down and reading with my children.

I'll keep you updated on our progress, but for now, my goal is Two weeks.

maybe after two weeks we'll throw in an hour a day...

maybe by then, they won't miss it?

To end

here are the Girls School Pictures..

I can't believe how grown up they're getting!!

(By the way, these are pictures of their pictures as I don't have my scanner set up....)

Sick!

ME....

UGHHHH!!!!


Bed.......


Please..........

I hope to be back soon.. until then.. please say a little get well prayer for me, my stomach begs you.

Fall

Halloween Party

Our Halloween party was a total Success!
the Kids had so much fun, and the house is TRASHED!

I guess that's proof!

First we painted pumpkins.

Taylor put up a great big tarp over the patio to keep out the rain and cold. It worked beautifully. The Decorations were perfect.
After pumpkins we played the "mummy game" which consists of wrapping your partner up with an entire roll of toilet paper. remember that scene in "Grease" where they are at the dance and they tip that big hat full of toilet paper? It was like that.. Toilet paper EVERYWHERE!

then we decorated cupcakes....

after that all 20-25 kids ran amuck...
I think it will take another week to clean it all up..

Pumpkin Patch

We took a little trip to the Pumpkin patch because you know...

Its tradition!

Mattie thougt it was funny to peek through the pumpkin

Megan wanted a "Tiny baby one"

Ali picked a perfectly shaped medium sized pumpkin that was only 5 Dollars!!!!

(When I was 8 that pumpkin would have cost a quarter!)

(I used a little "old school" finish on this picture.. I like how it looks)

Have you ever had one of those days where you have a million things to do, and you DO a million things, but they aren't those million things that Needed to be done?
Did you get that?
Well , that was the kind of day I had today.
What I DID do.....

• Gave Matt a haircut (I did much better this time)
• made another batch of Chicken noodle soup (from scratch Noodles and all)
• ate half a pan of O henry bars (oye)
• cleaned up the book shelf and the two hundred videos that literally crumbled and fell on me when I tried to move it. (dumb cheap bookshelves from WalMart!) I did finally thin the videos out. Which was WAY over due!
• thinned out the other bookshelf full of books.
• cleaned out the toy closet While Matt and Megan helped me tear it apart!
• Fed my Mom, and my Neighbor dinner (yummy warm soup of course)
• was Shocked and horrified when Megan decided she didn't need to run to the bathroom when she had to 'go' really bad and just kept sitting there until I found it! ( I was playing on the floor with Matt in the kitchen when I noticed a yellow puddle under her seat) She didn't seem to care until I called her on it..
• Did two loads of laundry
• cleaned the kitchen 3 times
• cleaned two catch all areas out (that's a big feat on its own!!).

Quick Megan story...
the other night, I went in to check on the girls. Megan was sitting on the edge of her bed . I asked her what she was doing and Ali shot up in bed and started yelling at her. I asked her what was wrong and Ali tells me that Megan had gotten her 'wet'.
I asked Megan what she did and she said "If I tell you the truth, then I won't get in trouble right?" I said "it doesn't work that way, but you better tell me the truth anyway".
so she said that she had gone to the bathroom and filled her mouth up with water, then she had walked into their room and spit it out all over a sleeping Ali. I asked her what possessed her to do that (not in so many words) and she said "I don't know.. I just did it"
Where does she even get these ideas?
peeing at the dinner table because she doesn't feel like going up the stairs!!!
spitting water all over her sleeping sister!!!!
What do with her?

Monday

Meg missed her first day of school today. She came home last night with a terrible cold so I kept her home.

She felt much better this evening after a two hour nap.

Matties 4 top teeth are still trying to come in

and he was terribly cranky for most of the day.

I spent a majority of the day carrying him around

and dosing either one of them with Motrin.

He finally cheered up this evening

And when I was able to put him down he

chased me down, laughing his head off with his dog walker toy

and then he decided to help me unload the dishwasher.

I have a hard time cleaning when Mattie is around.. he climbs into the dishwasher when I'm doing the dishes, destroys the piles of clean laundry when I'm folding, and chases the broom crashing through the swept pile when I try to sweep. I love it.

Bath time.

(watching a Little Hannah Montana before Bed)

Toofers....

And I missed it.

Meg lost her first tooth.. the big girl milestone, and I am missing it. The tooth fairy will be coming to Ex's house tonight.....
This is one of the many trials I face because I chose out of my abusive marriage.
I received a call from an extremely excited little girl and my voice cheered her on as a tear streamed down my cheek.
I miss them.

Typical morning… and the rest of my Friday.

My Morning
We started off with our regular morning routine where I drag the girls out of their beds kicking and screaming. (They don’t realize I feel the same way most mornings). Then I spend the next 20 minutes debating Megan on her attire. “No Megan, You can NOT wear Alex’s size 10 skirt, because you thinks it’s beautiful.” “Yes, you HAVE to wear underwear”, “Megan quick wigging out and just put your stinking socks on!!!!!” “oh, Megan PuhLEASE just put your boots on”
And in between all of that I’m re-directing Ali from the many million distractions that she finds every morning. “Ali, get your Shoes on”, “Ali, put your stuff away, and get your shoes on”, “Ali, get your shoes on, come eat breakfast” “ALI, IF YOU DON’T PUT YOUR STINKING SHOES ON, YOU’RE NOT GOING TO HAVE TIME TO EAT!!”… And then as we’re walking out the door, “ALI! Where are your shoes?” Ugghhh!. Its a lot of work getting those two off in the morning.
As I walk back in the house after dropping them off at school, I see Ali’s backpack sitting by the door.
Pretty typical.
Its my morning verbal calisthenics..
This morning
I put Matt down for his a.m. nap and set out to make the crucial choice between taking a shower (which I hadn’t had the opportunity to do in two days), taking a quick nap (which I hadn’t gotten to do for weeks), or cleaning.
Nap won… but no sooner had I laid my head down than my doorbell rang.
Like I said. Pretty typical morning.

The Rest of my day……….
We had Kate over to play after school, I like play dates because the kids are less likely to complain that they’re bored, which in turn gives me time to get something done. Kate and Megan play really well together, and Megan told me just today that she [Megan] is a nice girl now because she wants to get the principal pride at her school. (I’ll take whatever incentive that works).. .
When Ali got home, I sat out in the front yard and played games with the girls while Mattie walked around the yard using the baby carriage as a walker. (Shhhh, don’t tell Daddy.. We’ll just pretend it was a big monster truck). The Weather was good and my kids love the outdoors. They get that from me.
Around 4:30 Mattie pointed up the stairs and babbled something very persistently. I walked him up to his bedroom and he practically threw himself into his crib.
He slept until 6:30!
I’ve been in a mood lately to cook things that I’ve never tried before. I made porcupine meatballs the other night, homemade butter flake rolls and cinnamon rolls the day after that and so last night, I decided to try my hand at Chicken noodle soup. From scratch! Stock from the bones, home made noodles, the whole bit! It took HOURS! And only 4 calls to my neighbor Jeanne for instruction. I had no idea what I was doing, and no recipe. It actually turned out really yummy. I was quite proud of myself.
When Matt woke up he was in a great mood. He was giggly and playful, finding great Joy in pulling the clothes out of my organized laundry piles. He’d pick up an article of clothing and before he could even do anything with it, he was giggling and rolling around, climbing into my lap and falling all over himself.. I LOVED every second of it.
Good Day I’d say.
Hope yours was too.

Field Trip

Today Meg's Kindergarten class took a field trip to the Fire Station.. Mattie and I got to go too.

The kids were so funny asking the most ridiculous questions, and telling all their random little stories..

Meg was one of them she raised her hand and said

"um, when I was with my daddy Troy, we saw a fire up in the mountains".. ...

On the way back I had a little girl from her class tagging along the side of the stroller playing with Matt. Meg must have been a little jealous, because before I knew it she'd ditched her place in line with Kate and was on the other side. They competed for mine and Mattie's attention the whole way back to the school.

The Whole Class

(above) on the Right Meg's best Friend Kate. On the Left? yep. thats JACK!

The kids thought it was pretty funny when he put on his mask and talked through the funny filter. Then he got on his hands and knees and pretended like he was comming into find them in a real fire, The Kids had to scream really loud so he could find them.. Good fire safety education.

The mommy bonus....... um... could they be any Hotter? no pun intended

Not needed, but needing more.

I may not be a food source any more, but I'm still the Mama.

My Baby decided to ween himself two days ago. Its been a hard break for me. I thought that I would be the one weening him. He's just over a year, and That is longer than I nursed either of the girls. I didn't mind. It was that one thing I could do for him that no one else could. I know he's the last baby I will have, and I haven't wanted to give that bonding up. Is it funny that I miss it? It breaks my heart a little that he won't come to me and want to nurse every time he's hungry hurt or tired. He still needs me right? I don't want my kids to grow up so fast. It hurts a little more than I thought it would.

I did have a few things to distract me from my sadness though.

Megan came down to drop something important off.......Angie had to make an emergency trip to Salt lake for her pet turtle who was ill. And Lucky me, They stayed to play!.

we had 9 kids running around this house for over 5 hours! I LOVED it! We took the opportunity to take some more pictures of the littles. (because come on, whats a trip to Jessica's house without a little photo shoot?), and While conference was on in the background we made cookies and watched them disappear into the Little hands that reached over the counter.

I LOVE having Friends over. I love filling my house with people I love. I thrive on positive, uplifting, Non Judgemental, Unconditional friendships. (by the way.. I missed ya Ang,Mich,Emmee,and Oly Wish you guys could have come over too) I'm so lucky to have such great friends.

Maternity shoot

This family was so much fun to shoot tonight.

I just love the shots we got, even if the light was terrible!

Their little boy was ADORABLE just look at him!

Here are some of my favorites..

Back to Basics...

When I started my blog months ago, my intent was to have a place to write down and share the little things in life that I wanted to remember years from now.

My Kids, my thoughts, my life.

I haven't written half of what I could have. And wish that I had. So from now on, you've been forewarned. This Blog might bore the pants off you, but that's okay, because its mine......

So to start, I'll catch up on a few things...

Ali

Ali's been in Gymnastics for a few years now. She moved up from continuously doing cartwheels everywhere we went, to doing back bends, and then back walk overs..(with a little bit of help). Well During Matties first birthday party, her cousin who is two years older than her, whipped out a speedy little round-off back hand spring. Ali was first a bit discouraged, but with ALOT of help (a.k.a standing next to her with my arms ready to catch her) and a few days on the neighbors trampoline, She has accomplished what she set out to do, and that is a beautiful back hand spring all by herself! YEAH Ali! I'm so proud of her. She hurt her arm the other night so we're back two steps, but with some more coaching I think she'll get back out there.

Ali is Such a timid little girl. She has always been afraid of the unknown. The wind was blowing pretty fiercely tonight, and she asked me if it was going to be a bad storm. "Might be" I replied, which sent her into a complete frenzy! "MIGHT BE? LIKE A TORNADO?" she cried. ugh!

The other night I made the mistake of telling her that her feet stunk. No big deal right? uh no. Not for Ali. she went into complete hysterics, hyperventilating and crying. I couldn't help myself, I burst into a fit of laughter and that just fueled her dramatics. "YOU RE NOT SUPPOSED TO LAUGH AT YOUR OWN DAUGHTER!!!" cry, sob, hiccup.....ugh... It took a good 5 minutes to talk her down.

I really hope she learns how to manage the drama. Its exhausting. She is so tender hearted. SO full of love and snuggles.

I don't walk Megan to her class in the morning, I walk Ali because I know that between the two of them she is the one who needs my presence. This morning she wouldn't leave my side. I told her to go ahead and get in line, and she said "no, not until you give me a hug". I love her my little softy..

Megan..

Underwear, Socks, Pants, Shoes, you name it, its an issue! We spend many mornings battling it out over the itchy, bunchy, 'hurty', wedgie making fabric. Most mornings we compromise, but some mornings I admit I just give up. If what she's wearing covers her body, and we can walk out the door, then its all right with me. She will Not wear anything that has a button on the waste, which pretty much takes anything Ali wore out of the hand me down pile. She hates underwear because every pair she has gives her "wedgies". I've tried many different styles and patterns. Nothing works. Last year we went through three pairs of boots because she wouldn't wear socks, when the fur on the inside became too "fluffy" then we had to retire the pair. I have a feeling I'm in for that again this year. She's worn her rainboots for a week straight now.

So today we were eating lunch and as she sat across from me shoveling in her lunch, she mentioned that she wasn't mean to Jack anymore. This surprised me as she has talked non-stop of her adoration of him since school began. So, I questioned her "We're you mean to Jack?". She realized she'd given herself away and immediately became nervous. After quite a bit of coaking, and stressing the importance of being honest, I finally got it out of her that she'd been punching him on a daily basis! PUNCHING HIM!!! She said she stopped only after she was able to ask his mom for a play date last week! I was a little more than shocked and embarrassed. No wonder his mother gave me weary look when Meg had asked her if she could play with him sometime. Meg's always been on the aggressive side. I don't really know where she gets it. In fact her pre-school teacher pulled me aside one day at the beginning of last year and told me that she was a bit "handsy". We'd worked extra hard on it and I had hoped that it was out of her system. We had no issues the rest of the year.

I warned her Kindergarten Teacher that she had a tendency to push her limits with others too, but hadn't heard anything so I have just assumed she has been doing fine. I had a talk with Megan about it today. I am contemplating talking to her teacher about it. What do I do with this girl of ours? She makes me laugh atleast twice a day.

Mattie

He Still won't say Momma, or Dada. He'd rather say "treaaay" His first word? TREE!!! he LOVES bushes, trees, flowers! Anything growing out of the dirt! He loves crawling around on the grass and in the dirt pulling all my flowers and plants out of the ground. We walk the girls to and from school everyday and he loves being out in his stroller, pointing at everything we pass, especially all the big trees.

The other night I was taking him up to bed. I always tell him its time for "night night". Ang was over and as we were walking away I said, "say night night" and he did! clear as a bell! stinker! second word? NIGHT NIGHT! not momma..... tonight Jean called "thank you" as she walked out. Mattie repeated her so clearly.

He Loves to be outside, and I am afraid its going to be a long winter.

He stands alone and pushes his walked around the entire room. I think he'll walk soon.

so there it is..

I am hoping that I get the chance to write more often.

Since going full time again at work Its been hard to sit and write anything. My days off are spent catching up on house work, and herding children. When The kids are finally asleep, I'm ready to crash in my bed and veg out on mindless TV.