Sunday, October 28, 2012

Confessional

I CONFESS....I am so surprised that I have actually carried on this blog.  I am not great at keeping up to date and I post very sporadically BUT I have been going for a little more than 3 years now.  I haven't stopped blogging for more than a month at a time.  I now have 250 posts (251 if you count this one) and I enjoy looking back through them.  I blog as a way to keep our memories.  It's my form of scrapbooking.  I like to do it so that we can always remember the fun things....and not so fun things....we have done or been through as a family.  Of course like a scrapbook I tend to highlight some of the more upbeat and positive things.  I hope that others know that I am real, I don't sugar coat things and I am not pretending life is fabulous when it isn't.  I have my flaws which I try to highlight through these confessional posts.  I look forward to 3 years from now looking back on what they did now and giggling.  They are some awesome girls that make me laugh all the time!

I CONFESS....I am literally sitting on the couch with crumbs all over my chest and stomach as I write this.  I can't write or do homework without eating and I am quite the sloppy eater.  I generally leave the crumbs until I get up next and then brush them right onto the carpet.  Yes, I am a slob!

I CONFESS....I love when I tell my girls it is time to settle down for bed in my 'serious mommy' tone.  I love that they listen to that...usually.  But the thing I love more is when they settle down and I surprise attack them by rolling over the back of the couch onto them, or starting a tickle fight, etc.  It is at this time that their giggles are the absolute best!  If I could video one of these giggles I know that I would never be sad because I would just listen to it over and over.  There is no way you can avoid smiling, it is just contagious.  I love that as uptight as I can be at times, we can still have fun!

I CONFESS...I am already getting really excited for Christmas.  I usually don't get excited until about mid November but this year I just can't help it!  Trust me, we don't skip Thanksgiving.  It is one of the most important seasons to me now that I am a mother.  I want my kids to learn to be grateful. We are so blessed and I need them to grow up knowing we are blessed and they need to thank God everyday for that.  I was at a Primary Presidency meeting with the stake the other day and had a prayer explained like this "Always thank before we ask...that's why Thanksgiving is before Christmas."  It was perfect.  I love that as we go through November we take extra notice of all that we have.  It makes a good lesson as we start the holiday season and look for ways to help those who have less than we do.  It's always a family event to give to others and I hope a lesson that my girls will remember and teach to their children.  For now though....I am still SUPER excited for the Christmas season!

Pumpkin Carving

This Saturday we were going to head to Frightmares for the last time with our Lagoon passes but didn't go because on Friday night Kadence threw up.  She was totally fine but I HATE that people don't stay home or keep their kids home when they have been sick.  We quickly changed plans to something equally fun and decided it would be the day we painted/carved our pumpkins.  The girls were thrilled.  Shelby decided to paint a "rainbow with dots"  Here she is in the beginning..
 Kadence decided on a vampire but while we were letting part of it dry she painted a "black and white rainbow with dots" on the backside of hers.
 Here's the vampire before the blood.  She obsessed about adding the blood to the point it got really creepy and I had to ask her to calm down or I wouldn't let her paint blood at all.  :)
 David helped Shelby to paint her pumpkin.  Notice how he is holding the brush as well as she is? 
 Well this is what happened when she wanted a drink.  She would keep 'painting'....and grab a quick drink.  She wouldn't even pay any attention to what her hand was doing.  It made me laugh so hard.  Thats what I get for buying them special drinks for pumpkin carving night.
 These are the pumpkins we grew in our own garden.  I was pretty excited since we have only been able to grow 1 before.  We had 7 but I gave one to my nephew for him to take to school with him for an assignment.
 FINALLY....the blood!
 And the dots
 Finished pumpkins and two proud girls!  Here's the front...
 And the back...
 Then it was time for the girls to get a bath and some PJs and the adults started on theirs.  Here is Shelby watching Jeff.  She was obsessed with the 'flesh' of the pumpkin and she kept feeling it.  She's equally as weird as her sister.
 Jeffs finished product...
 David working on his nerdkin....
 I told ya it was nerdy!  Its supposed to be some sort of equation for light....and the light shines through it.  He was pretty proud.  I was impressed with how well it looked all lit up.....but embarrassed of his nerdiness.  Ha!
 I think I have decided I like painting pumpkins more than I enjoy carving.  I did Frankenstein this year.  I still need to add bolts to his neck, but you get the idea.
 Here are all the finished products!


Reflections and Funny Feet

This year is Kadences first year entering into the reflections contest at school.  This was a BIG deal in Davids family and they entered every year.  I entered once....won 3rd place and $7...and never entered again.  I know that doesn't make a lot of sense, but I haven't ever been known to make a lot of sense.  The theme this year was "Magic in the Moment." David decided to help her do a string painting.  He struggled in the beginning letting Kadence do it all the way she wanted but about 5 minutes in he was thrilled with her choices!  I on the other hand can't help them with projects because I struggle letting them do it.  He was thinking they would paint the canvas one solid color for the background.  Kadence wanted to paint it more than one color and wanted to do stripes.  She did that part all on her own minus putting the paint onto the plate.  Then dad showed her how to dip the string and set it on the canvas.  She loved it!  Here she is dipping...
 
 She is my kid who doesn't mind getting dirty!
 Here she is setting her string onto the canvas...
She helped us name her entry which will be titled "The Magic of a moment in imagination."  Here's the finished product and one happy girl!
 While daddy and Kadence did her art project, Shelby and I prepared her shoes for "Funny Feet" day at preschool tomorrow.  (They are learning about the letter "F")  I found some old shoes that we use for hiking/camping and glued googly eyes all over.  Then we added ribbon that had been curled for bows to the eyelets.  She helped by handing me all the googly eyes.  She calls the curled ribbon springs and thinks her shoes look like monster shoes.  She makes me laugh.  I'm happy she won't just be in her old dingy slippers but will be excited to show off her new silly shoes!
 The finished product!

Friday, October 19, 2012

Kadences 6th Birthday!

Kadence was SO excited to be turning 6! She talked about it since she turned 5 so it has been a long awaited day.  We started with our usual birthday breakfast of donuts. Also notice this balloon.  What a PAIN it was to get! Zurchers no longer will fill any balloon larger than 14" due to the helium shortage.  Well, all the mylar balloons they sell are bigger than that.  I had my eyes set on this balloon so I bought it and figured I'd take it to Maceys to fill.  I then got latex balloons that coordinated with her party so they could be used both days.  I got the hi float so that they would last for both parties. (that were less than 24 hours apart)  We were lucky and Maceys did fill the "6" balloon for us so I was very happy.  Wrong!  The balloons with the hi float stopped floating that day!  We had thrown away the receipt and so we were just simply out of luck.  She was fine with it, but mommy was super frustrated because Zurchers wasn't too nice when we were there either.
 Shelby had told me quite a while before Kadences birthday that she wanted to take her sister to the movies for her birthday surprise.  (cute!)  She made a card telling Kadence that we would be going to see Ice Age 4 in the drive in the following week.  She also gave her a new happy birthday shirt.  I love this picture.  Shelby was so proud of her present and Kadence loved it!
 Birthday girl!

Man I love them!
 We decided to give Kadence 6 presents for her 6th birthday.  She also celebrated with family on her birthday (The 6th of July) at 6 o'clock.  One of the presents was $6. We wanted to make it special since it was her golden year birthday. 
 She wanted cupcakes that had blue frosting that looked like waves.  When we picked out the cake mixes, she chose strawberry and chocolate.  Not my favorite with the blue, but what the birthday girl wants the birthday girl gets!
 Jeff always comes a little early to give the girls their presents.  You can tell by this picture that Kadence was thrilled to have a bow just like Merida!
 She ended up getting spoiled rotten by the entire family...thanks!!

 Make a wish!
 She struggled to get all 6 candles out, it was pretty funny.
 Some of the kids eating their cupcakes.

I didn't get any pictures of the adults because they don't appreciate me taking their picture.  It was a success and she felt super special which is what is most important.  I love this girl so much! She is such a caring girl.  In fact, I don't know anyone who is more compassionate than her.  She takes good care of her sister and is always super helpful for mommy. (Except when I need her to be of course)  She is super smart and loves to read.  She's spunky, energetic, and sassy and I love her to the moon and back! (Thats what she always tells me)

Kadence's 6th Birthday Party!

Ok, so 3 1/2 months later I am finally going to post about Kadences birthday.  (I'm terrible at blogging!)
 
Kadence turned 6 this year which meant a friend only party and then a family party with cake and ice cream.  She was so excited and I was thrilled to be able to have 10 kids vs all the relatives, neighbors and friends.  Not that it isn't fun, but putting together 60 goodie bags is exhausting.  She decided she wanted a water party which surprised me because she doesn't usually like water or swimming.  A water party it was!  I decorated with tiki men and luau stuff.  Then I got to plan the goodie bags and food.  I bought hibiscus tote bags and filled them with everything you would need for a water party so that kids could just show up in their swimsuits and we wouldn't have to worry about who forgot a towel, etc.  The bags had sunglasses, a fan, a squirter, a towel, a lei, a rubber duck, a water ball, a water bottle and some candy.  They also got to take home an fin fin pet when they left. 
 
 For food, we did hibiscus fruit skewers and store bought cupcakes that were water themed.
 For the drinks, daddy had to have this inflatable palm tree.  He doesn't ask for much so when he wants something for them, it happens.  We filled it with different drinks and had umbrellas for them.
 Mommy and Kadence!
 Family picture!
 The patio decorations (And a tub of water balloons)
 I try to get something thats a surprise each birthday for the girls.  This time was squishy baff.  It basically turns water color and then it gets....squishy.  I thought it was disgusting, but they loved it!
 It turns into a gel...almost like the inside of a diaper
 We played in the water while everyone arrived. Obviously the kids enjoyed the squishy baff.
 We played duck, duck, splash! Instead of saying goose, you splash the water balloon on them.
 We also played hot potato with the balloons
 Then it was time to eat! The kids all ate their fruit before the cupcakes.  It made me laugh because it wasn't what I expected at all.



 Then present time!  Shelby got this for her sister.  It has 5 unicorn stuffed animals inside a stuffed castle.  Kadence loves unicorns and loved this!
 Then we gave them their goodie bags and the water fight began!
 Luckily I bought squirters for us adults.  :)
 Shelby didn't play after getting her goodie bag, she just set up her own little paradise away from the water.
The party went pretty well, but there were some downs.  Before the party even started Kenzley stepped on a bee.  Our clovers attract bees and she was their victim.  We put a sprinkler on the clovers and it eventually made the bees leave.  Also, it rained on our party.  Since it was a water party, it was like a giant sprinkler so it worked out ok.  Lastly, since its 4th of July weekend we always have a hard time with guests not being able to make it.  It hasn't ever been too bad since we invite EVERYONE, but this was different.  We ended up inviting a few people last minute (Like the day of...with the stern warning to NOT bring a present) so that Kadence had friends at her party.  Overall the girls did great!  There wasn't any fighting and Kadence had a blast! 
 
As usual this party couldn't have been a success without the help of David and Jeff.  They are always so willing to do whatever I need them to do no matter how small or ridiculous it might seem to them.  Without them, theres no way I could throw the girls parties.  Thanks guys!!