Oh My Kids!

Lately all my kids have been cracking me up with the things they come up with. I thought I'd write down the ones I can remember.

Abbi:
This little girl has been full of questions lately and she'll sit there and think things over and come talk to me. Anyways I was getting ready to go on a date with Richard. Abbi was in the bathtub in my bathroom and I was doing my hair and make-up. This is how the conversation went:
Abbi - What do you and Daddy do on a date?
Me - We go out to eat, and talk and sometimes shop.
Abbi - Do you kiss Daddy (with a really funny look on her face)?
Me - Yes we kiss.
Abbi - OH THAT IS DISGUSTING!
Silence while she is laying in the bath thinking.
Abbi - When I get married will I kiss? (It's working....me pounding in their heads that they don't kiss till they are married.....we'll see how long that lasts!! ha ha)
Me - Yes you will Abbi.
Abbi - OH THAT IS SO SO DISGUSTING!!
It was a funny conversation that made me laugh! The whole time we'd been talking I was doing my hair. I was trying something new and flipping my hair out. I was turning around and looking in the mirror and fixing the back of my hair. Abbi then looked at me and said, "Oh mom you look so cute, just like a little girl." I was like, "Oh I don't know if I want to look like a little girl." Then she looked at me and tilted her head and said, "Well mom that's the only thing I know how to say that you look cute and like a little girl." Oh that girl just cracks me up!

Abbi wearing my ski goggles and eating her grape float for FHE treat!

Brianna:
Lately Brianna has been surprising me and actually trying different foods. She's the pickiest eater EVER. She only eats certain things. But I've been asking her to try at least one bite of everything. Most of the time she throws a little stink and gets all grumpy. I then say, "Brianna you used to eat apples (or pickles, meat etc) all the time." She looks at me funny and says, "I did." Then she takes a bite and gets a huge smile on her face and say, "Oh mom this is so deeelicious." "I think it is deeelicious, I try a new thing. That's good, right mom?!" Oh she is a picky girl but I love her to bits!

Funny Brianna wearing the goggles!

Cadence:
Cadence is always saying something that cracks me up. My favorite is when she is trying to tell me something but is laughing too hard. It always makes me laugh so hard, which makes her laugh harder. It's so funny! So the other day I was getting ready for the day and she walks into my bathroom and says to me, with her hand on her hip and her head flung back, "Mom do I look walkie?" I asked her to repeat it, thinking I heard her wrong, but she said, "Mom do I look walkie?" When I asked her what walkie means she said, "You know walkie, so I can go rockie and rollie." Oh my, it was so funny. She got all dressed up and they were having a dance party down stairs. So now she'll ask me randomly if she looks "walkie" and she'll start laughing! She's so funny!

Everyone refused to wear the goggles until Cadence put them on and laughed and did her big smile. Then everyone else wanted to wear them! Funny Cadence!

DJ:
DJ has been going to speech every week. It's been amazing at all that he is starting to say. He gets so excited when he says something new too. We are starting to put two words together for him. He practised and practised so he could say single words. I don't know if I mentioned before but he has appraxia, which means he has a hard time with making specific sounds. Then he has a hard time switching from one sound to another, for example his name DJ is 2 sounds and he can make both sounds by themselves but has a hard time putting them together. He's been doing so good. He'll surprise me sometimes and just say a word that he's never said. I took him to a western store in Cutbank last week. We were looking for something and he found a stick horse and was riding around the store. All of the sudden he stopped and pointed up at the ceiling where there were ropes hanging everywhere and he yelled, "Mom rope." He so wanted a rope. Then he found a belt with a horse buckle and he wanted that. Then he kept yelling, "boop (meaning boots) boops mom." I put a cowboy hat on and he was one happy little boy. He kept calling himself a "yeehaw". He was not a happy camper when I had to drag him out of there. He was crying wanting his hat and horse. So sad. I needed one more gift for him from Santa, so my mom kept him occupied while I ran back in and bought him the stick horse. They even wrapped it for me, so I could hide it from DJ. What a cute kid. The other night he brought his up his big car and turned it upside down in our room. Then he ran and got all his tools and he spent a long time in our room "working" on his car. He was very serious and was checking the wheels then fixing them. It was so so so cute!

DJ wasn't very impressed with the goggles but he put them on!

They are all getting so excited for Christmas. We've done some fun FHE activities to help remind us the real meaning of Christmas. They've helped me make some goodies and put them together for friends and neighbours. We went a delivered most of them last night for FHE. I was smart this year and put the cookies and chocolates in a cute little box. That way we didn't have a repeat of last year when Cadence accidently dropped the whole plate of cookies on the floor in front of the person we were giving them too! No this year my girls fought over who was carrying a box of goodies out of someones house and ended up dropping the whole thing on the floor and everything fell out. Sheesh, something always happens!

Last weekend I took the kids into Cardston and we played at Richard's parents place. I took 2 kids at a time and they found a present for their siblings. They drew out names and I helped them pick something out. I brought 2 back with their gifts and their grandma Spencer took them downstairs and helped them wrap the presents. They were in heaven, and had fun picking out the "perfect" present for their sibling. So cute! It was nice out too and they went out and made a snowman with their cousins. It was a fun Saturday. Richard was working at home taking out our furnace upstairs and replacing it with a wall heater downstairs. So nice! He also ripped out the walls and doors at the top of the stairs so it opens up the upstairs to the downstairs. I'll post a picture so it makes sense. It's not all finished yet, but it sure is going to nice when it's all done!

Where the hole is in the floor that was where the furnace was with walls surrounding it.

Now instead of a walls and a door at the top of the stairs it's big and open. Still have to mud and tape and paint and match the floor, but I'm so excited!

Christmas Going Ons!

The Sunday after I got home from Black Friday I took the kids to church on my own. I believe I mentioned this in my last post. We went out to my mom and dads for dinner after church. We got out there and the wind came up like crazy. It was SO WINDY out. It just got windier and windier (if that's a word!)! Anyways, we were all sitting on the couches talking when Cody all of the sudden yelled, "Look at all the bales rolling." We jumped up and looked out the window and sure enough a field of round bales were rolling away. It looked crazy. It was so windy! We had noticed earlier that there was smoke in the distance. When the sun went down we could see the flames in the dark. There was a huge grass fire on the ridge. It was very deceiving though, because it looked like it was just on the other side of Temple Hill. We could see the flames. We then saw the Lethbridge fire out the back windows of my parents house. Driving home Cadence was very worried about all these fires that she could see. We heard later that the wind blew semis over and off the road all down Highway 2. It was pretty crazy.

Not the best picture but this is from my parents front yard and the Ridge is probably 25 miles away.

DJ is a busy little boy, always! He loves to figure things out and then show me. One night after I told him to go get is jammies on he came running into the kitchen yelling, "Mum, mum,". I looked over and he had put his shirt on like pants and his pants on his head. Then he kept calling himself a puppy. It was hilarious. He did it all on his own!

My crazy boy dressed in his jammies, his way!

The first Thursday in Dec was Magrath's Hometown Christmas. Last year it was freezing cold out, so it was nice this year that we didn't have to totally bundle up. We took the kids and we met up with Theron and Renae and their two boys. First we went and saw Santa. This is the first year that none of my kids have screamed or cried with Santa. I got the cutest picture of all of them with Santa. Love it! We then went and checked out a couple more stores and the kids got to go ice fishing and got a prize. They had a lot of fun!

Best picture ever with all my kids and Santa! So cute!

My 3 girls lined up to go ice fishing!

Loved this picture of DJ and Keaton. So dang cute! Those 2 boys are crazy together, they have lots of fun!

On Saturday, Dec 4th, we finally got our tree and all our Christmas decorations out and we decorated our house. The kids were so excited. Richard even got on the roof and put lights on. The weather cooperated with us and it wasn't freezing cold out or windy. It's so fun to see how excited the kids get over Christmas. I even bought a train to go around our Christmas Tree. That was a huge hit. We didn't set that up till last Sunday.

A week before hand the kids painted some decorations I got from Costco. It was a huge hit and they all had fun painting!

Decorating the tree!

Abbi was trying to reach the higher branches.

My four crazy kids in front of the tree! They loved helping me get everything out for Christmas!

I've been driving school bus lately. I sub for anyone who's sick or took some days off. I've subbed in Raymond and Magrath. So that's been busy for me. The kids love coming for a ride on the bus. They are so good with it too. They usually sit there and watch all the kids. It's nice to make some extra money, especially at Christmas time!

The kids got their Christmas outfits on for the last couple of Sundays. The girls dresses from last year still fit them good and they look so cute in them. I got DJ the cutest outfit that actually matches the girls perfectly! He loves his new tie and vest. He always says he looks like daddy!

Don't my 4 kids look so cute?! Love that DJ matches his sisters!

I took a lot of pictures and these were the best two. DJ thought it was funny to stick his tongue out in most of them!

Richard and I ready for church too. We never have our pictures taken together, so Abbi kindly offered to take our picture. She did a pretty good job.

Everyone was so excited to see the train going round and round!

Abbi and Brianna watching the train. I've even caught Richard in the livingroom by himself playing with the train! So funny!

I've felt like the weeks are flying by. I've been busy doing a lot of different things and trying to keep my family healthy. The kids were taking turns getting sick. Cadence has gotten the worst of it all. She had strep throat and had to take the grossest medicine ever. Then she was crying about going bathroom. She didn't want to go to school. She'd scream and cry saying her tummy hurt. This went on for 1 week when I finally clued in to what it was. The poor girl had a bladder infection. She's finally over that. I felt so bad.

Tiffani and Emily were the designated chocolate dippers!

I was the designated roller! I was covered in cornstarch, and that's why my hand is like that so I don't get it everywhere!

We were hard at work. I'm sad I didn't get a picture of Mom or Megan who were our designated chocolate melter's! We all worked so well together! It was fun!

Here's Mary, Brianna, Ali and Cadence playing outside.

Things did get a little crazy, but at least they stayed down in the tv room, racing around and practicing their gymnastic moves!

Part of our finished product. Yummy chocolates!

The rest of the chocolates. Yum, yum, yum!

So that catches us up to now. It was kind of a quick readers digest version of the last couple of weeks. We've been super busy but having fun too! Only one week left of school before Christmas! Yeah!

I Lost My Marbles!

I was seriously wondering if I lost it last week as I was standing in line at Walmart during Black Friday! Yup, I went and did it this year. I talked my sister, Megan and SIL, Emily into coming with me. Suckers!! Ha ha, no we had a lot of fun. Richard stayed home with the kiddos and we headed out to Kalispell, MT on Thursday afternoon. I had booked a hotel on priceline about a month ago. I was pretty excited and had done my homework and my lists were made. My goal was to start and finish my Christmas shopping.

We got into Kalispell around 7pm. We totally forgot that it was American Thanksgiving, thus no restaurants open. Not even fast food ones. Crazy! We were getting a little desperate and looking everywhere. Luckily we found the one and only restaurant open, Burger King. Yeah, we got to eat! Then we checked into our hotel, The Laquinta. I changed into my comfy yoga pants, because I was ready to do some running!! ha ha!

We then headed out to Walgreens. I had a few items on my list there and it wasn't crazy there, so that's a bonus! We were feeling pretty good and excited to go shopping as we drove to Walmart. By this time it was 9pm and the Black Friday specials didn't start till 10pm. So we were thinking we had plenty of time. We pulled into the parking lot and we were shocked. It was packed. I parked and we got into the store and we all got a shopping cart. It was CRAZY in that store. Someone told me to bring walkie talkies so we could keep in contact with each other. We tried to borrow some but couldn't find any, so I went and bought a pair before we left. Ssshhhh, it's one of Richard's Christmas presents! ha ha! Good thing he doesn't read this thing very often! Anyways, I went and stood in line in the Garden Center for the bikes I wanted to get. Megan and Emily walked around Walmart to try and figure out where things would be. All the Black Friday items were in the middle of the isles and wrapped in heavy black plastic.

Well when 10pm came around I stayed in line, hoping I would get my bikes. I would see people come in with an item in their basket that I wanted. So I'd run over and ask where they got it then I'd page Megan and tell her. Megan and Emily got everything on my list as I waited in line! They were awesome. I saw a friend about 10 spots ahead of me and ran up and asked her to get two girl bikes. She was the next one in and got my bikes. YEAH! We came out of the garden center and came to a halt. You couldn't move. Megan  paged me and told me they were in line at the opposite side of the store. So I thanked Olivia and slowly started making my way over. I made it and got in line with Megan and Emily. We didn't have to wait very long. We got through and got out of there. I was so happy with everything I got. There was no way I would of gotten anything without Megan and Emily. Thanks guys!

We then headed over to Target, where there was a long line up. We got in line at about 11:30pm and waited till midnight. We got in the store really fast. We had decided to go separate ways and get certain things. This time we didn't take a cart, we thought we were being smart! I ran and started grabbing my items. I got to the toy section and grabbed 2 Disney Princess dolls with the matching dress. They were the same one, but last ones sitting there. By this time my arms were loaded. I started hurrying down the aisles looking for one more doll. I found them on the bottom shelf. I grabbed one, and then decided to switch one of the same dolls for Belle. I was straining to grab Belle, and a lady came up and offered her help. I explained which one I wanted and she picked it up to put it on my pile in my arms. She stood there and looked at it then looked at me and said, "I think I'll just keep this." , and then walked away. I was shocked. By then there were no more dolls left. So I went away happy I got 3 dolls. We had a really good laugh about it later. Emily also missed out on her big item. So we paid and left.

We then ended up at Shopko and got stuff on my list there. By this time we were slowly shutting down! The line up was insane. We took turns standing in line while the other two either sat somewhere or shopped. We finally got out of there just after 3:30am. We were beat. We decided to go back to the hotel and sleep. So that's what we did. My feet hurt so bad that they were throbbing as I laid there! Of course all I dreamed about was shopping and I kept dreaming that we went back to Target and I got the Belle doll and Emily got her item. So when we got up in the morning I told them that and we all laughed, and decided we'd go back to Target.

First we had a yummy breakfast and then went to the mall. I felt like the walking dead. I even had a few people tell me I looked really tired! Thanks! ha ha, I probably looked terrible. Oh well. After the mall we headed back to Target. I wanted to get some clothing items that I didn't even bother to look at the night before. First I went straight to the toy aisle and guess what I found. One disney princess doll left, Belle! Funny eh?! So I got the Belle doll anyways! Oh and Emily got her item, there were two on the shelf. Good thing I listened to my dream! ha ha! We then stopped at Walmart and I ran in to get a few things I missed, and I got them. Then we went back to the hotel to take a much needed nap.

It was a very fun trip, if not a little crazy! I'm so glad we went. I am basically done my Christmas shopping. YEAH! We were adding up our receipts and I was a little bit afraid of what my total was going to be. But I had to keep telling myself that it was all of Christmas and the girls (3 of them) birthday presents. Man, things just add up! We came home and had to shuffle through the burb and figure out what was whos! We were packed to the ceiling. I'm kicking myself for not taking any pictures. After my kids went to bed I had to go to work and hide all the gifts! Mission accomplished!

I have the best husband ever! He watched the kids all weekend and I came home to a very clean house. So impressed. Half my kids were sick when I left them too. But I came home and they were all happy! Thanks honey!

I took the kids to church by myself on Sunday because Richard ended up sick. Sacrament meeting was a little bit crazy but we made it through. DJ ran and sat on a bench by himself right during sacrament. I left him, because he was sitting so good and even took the water by himself. Later he was beside me and I was dealing with one of the girls. I turned back around and he had straddled the back of the bench and was riding it like a horse. I was trying to pull him off and he hooked his feet on the bench. Little stinker!

So that was my crazy, insane, and FUN weekend! Not sure if I'll do it next year, but we'll see!