Weekend Update

Marianne ready to go with Mom and Dad
The kids eating pudding pops.This weekend was great.

Two days where I felt like myself more. Where I felt like life would go on after 3 children.

It started with a dinner date with Jake on Friday evening. Of course Marianne tagged along. The kids hung out with Grandma and Grandpa and we got away.... for one hour.... which felt like three. The hour was not even uninterrupted as Marianne, of course, was awake. But small whines from a 3 week old pale in comparison to a house full of small children climbing all over us every minute for something from one or both of us. It was my return to society. Well I had clothes and makeup on and was out on the town.

Saturday was a relaxing and productive day. Jake took Marianne for much of it except to hand her off for me to feed her. He was watching a lot of football so she just hung out on the couch with him. Which meant my arms were free! Free to clean and cook. In one Saturday I got more done than possibly the entire last eight weeks. It included obsessively cleaning out most the closets and cupboards in the house. And it was awesome! Seriously you should see my closets.

oh wait. you can see them. Here

Sunday brought our 1st attempt as a family of five to get through 3 hours of church. My kids are so cute. Loud. but cute. Sam was so excited to wear his new "big tie" I made him. He sat and sang "I am a child of God" the opening hymn, except that he doesn't know how to sing, he just yells the words. When I picked up Kate from her primary class she had one lone Cheez-it in her hand. Her teacher said they had eaten some, but she had chosen to save one for her brother. And held one Cheez-it in her small sweaty hand for most the class- denying herself to eat it so she could give it to the brother she is so sweet to. And she did. And he ate it right up.

And that was the weekend.

Oh How I Love Halloween!

Because it is just possible I may love Halloween more than most anyone, we threw a Halloween party. It was Saturday- early- as to not crash our own kids Halloween. It was a lot of work, but tons of fun.


My favorite part of a party is actually the prep. I love decorating and cooking and putting everything together. And if it is all about my favorite Holiday- even better.

The Food-
Skeleton Cupcakes.
Eye ball punch
7 Body Parts Layer Dip

FrankenBride Cake made by Lisa- Those Freeman's know cake.

Not pictured-
Witch fingers,
Moldy Bread,
Pumpkin Bread
Halloween candy,


The Decor-


Have I mentioned that I like scary Halloween- not cute Halloween.

Saturday afternoon, a few hours before party time I decided to turn the hallway into a spook alley. It worked pretty well and was fun to do. I think it is a repeat.
Jake came up with our costumes- as he does every year. He is so sweet to let me splurge to throw fun parties, perfect costumes and spend my time doing whatever Halloween prep I want.
The Freeman's- Karl and Ellie from Up
We completed the Saver's found attire with a dozen balloons, hand crafted grape soda pins, and an adventure book. We love Halloween. We go all out. Next time we will not spray our hair color though. We each took four showers and were still scrubbing paint off in the sink 10 minutes before church yesterday.


The Guests-
The Babies- A Cuddly Bear and Tiger Lily- complete with synthetic braids.


The Carpenter's- Peter Pan & Captain Hook.
I need them to email me a picture of them- I took like 8 picture of them, but with their camera not mine.
Awarded- Exceeded our Expectations Award
Because Jeff told me he wasn't dressing up, and then he came in a hook, perfect burgundy coat and waist lenght black hair.
The Sim's- A Pilot a Steward.
Awarded- Best Cross Dressing Award.
Because in real life Rodney is the Pilot, but perhaps Lisa should be, because she looked adorable in the pilot uniform.
The Ensslin's - Red Riding Hood and The Big Bad Wolf
Awarded- Somehow both the Ugliest and Sexiest Costume Award
Because well... obviously. Dee is always super hot, Drew is normally good looking himself, but not with a wolf mask, gross hair glued everywhere, and a tragic Moo Moo.
The Lind's- Lugi and Mario. Sadly Mario is a nurse and was called off to work just a minute from our house, with her thik italian eyebrows already painted on.- so sad.
Awarded- Best Last Minute Award. These two called me at 3:00 pm to say they were planning on coming and were going to start working on their costume. That means they pulled off Nintendo Perfect in less than 3 hours.
The Terry's- Mrs. Pac Man Arcade Game
Awarded-We Would Have Never Thought of That Award
Because we just barely watched "The King of Kong" and it was hilarious, but we still didn't think of turning an arcade game into a Halloween costume. So creative.
The Pearson's- Mr And Mrs Potatoe Head
Awarded- Best Overall Costume.
I mean their eyes and lips and hats were all interchangeable! Had I not known them well enough to recognize the way they walk, I might not have known who was underneath.

The Games-
We planned a Halloween characters challenge. men vs. women.
Challenge 1: The Spider Challenge- get all your players through a super size spider web without touching the web or using the same passage way twice.
Challenge 2: The Vampire Challenge- All players work together to drink entire pitcher of vampire's blood.
Challenge 3: The Mummy Challenge- Wrap a team member entirely in toilet paper.
Challenge 4: The Bat Challenge- Using only one roll of duct tape, suspend a team member to the wall for 10 seconds.
This was my favorite part of the party. I think next year I will think of more Halloween character challenges.
The boys won. Though their ten seconds in air videoed seemed more like 3. Just saying.
And a little eyeball ping pong to finish of the night.

And we still have two weeks of Halloween season to go!

My Mom was a Halloween super hero literally.
She let me host this party in her basement. The theater seemed perfect for scary movie fest.
She lent me tons of Halloween lights.
She threw a party for our kids and their cousins at our house so they could be both babysat and not feel ripped off they missed out on the party I had been talking about all week.
The dressed in costumes, made pizzas, did Halloween crafts, and watched a movie my glow stick light. Sounds almost as good as our party!

McDonalds, Marshmallows and Super Readers

It is not like Jake camping with the Scouts is any kind of rare occurrence.
But I still seem to make each evening alone with the kids into some kind of holiday.
Mostly because it helps the evening go faster, easier, and some how seem less lonely.

This evening the kids got some pretty sweet McDonald's Happy meals, then ate these face size marshmallows while watching Super Readers.

More than anything it seems like Jake being gone= us eating like we are ten-year-olds without parents. I am not sure why having him gone gives me all the reason I need to not cook dinner and serve my children everything that is wrong with our food system.
But this is what seems to happen every time.

It is more than likely than not, that I will eat a sleeve of Oreo Cookies by myself as I online shop after the kids go to bed tonight too.

That is just how we roll without a father figure I guess.

My conscious has already come to terms with it.

Sam Eats Spagetti

I decided to take Sam to the after hours clinic this evening.
We tried the normal Walk In Clinic over at the IHC.
I am not sure why.
We waited over twenty minutes and had not even been checked in yet.
Some meth mom had her naked 7 year old sitting on the check in counter describing symptoms of a sick child that made me never want to go in the same room, let alone check my child in at the same counter where she currently sat, naked (she was wrapped loosely in a sheet).
For real parenting???

In frustration I gave up and headed to the 5 minute clinic over at the Clock Tower on Main.
I should have headed there 1st.
They are awesome.
We were checked in, seen, written prescription and checked out all in under 8 minutes.
Not to mention there were no naked children with what sounded like the Ebola virus in their waiting room.

Sam has joined the ear infection club. Just as I suspected.
He also apparently has a sinus infection the consistency of cheese. and the color of the hot green shirt I am wearing in the header picture of our blog... no really, I just happened to be wearing the shirt when I took Sam in and that is what the Doc told me

What does this have to do with the pictures.
Well Sam hadn't eaten dinner when we left.
We were gone longer than planned
He very happily consumed the spaghetti and watermelon he was given upon his return.

Spaghetti and Watermelon??? Does a messier dinner exist?
Likely not.





More than anything, he made me laugh as he ate.
I needed a good laugh today.
There is something good about having a Dr. tell you you kid is really sick.
It makes me feel better about not being able to stand him all day, and gives me hope that I will be able to stand him in a few days once the antibiotics have taken effect.

Here is to no more colds in summer time.

One Year Older

It was my birthday this past week.
28.
We celebrated a bit on Tuesday before we left for our Sun Valley vacation
The kids and Jake each got me a gift, this included random stuff the kids felt I wanted from the Dollar Store, some sheet music, and a crushed ice machine, which if you know me suits me well.
Jake also made me a chocolate cake, as he does every year.
This year he had help.
A 3 year old who is fascinated with birthdays and has been asking me what kind of birthday cake I wanted since it was her birthday in April.
When I told her she could pick, she decided if I wasn't going to have an Ariel cake like her, a dog cake was the 2nd best thing she could think of.


Though in the end it ended up looking more like a bear.
And so after sleeping in a bit, I heard her at my bedroom door shouting
"Happy Birthday Mom! We made you a Bear cake"
Her excitement about my birthday was what I was looking forward to on my birthday the most.
I also got breakfast in bed, and the kitchen decorated in my yellow streamers.

Memorial Day Weekend Part 1

Memorial Day Weekend is a success so far and it is only Monday morning. Lets start off by sharing these adorable pictures of Samuel eating a cookie and rolling on the floor laughing. It is not the cookie he is laughing about, it is that he is so exhausted after playing all day with two little boys we watched for some friends.

Jake built and launched a rocket on Saturday. The kids all thought it was neat. Funny enough on the 1st real launch I corralled our children plus the extras we were watching onto the stairs and in my lap so we would not get hit with the rocket, and somehow the rocket was angled just right so it flew over our heads, spilled 2 liters of water all over us and we didn't get to see the rocket flying about 100 feet up.
Don't worry we tried some more and managed to not get wet those times.
Kate flies the rocket through the air.


Kate and Crystal making silly faces. Kate made hers all by herself and searched all through her craft box just to find the last two googly eyes because she wanted real eyes.

Working in the garden. We put the last of the starts in the garden this morning. Hopefully we are freeze free from here on out. Though we moved the garden this spring so we could have a bigger plot it is still not big enough. I have plants way to close together. It is going to end up like a jungle in there, but oh well. We have ten tomatoe plants, 4 zucchinni plants, 4 pumpkin plants, 8 peppers plants, 4 potatoe starts, 12 pea plants, 5 green bean starts, 8 corn starts, 5 garlic plants, 10 strawberry plants and about 50 onions all successfully growing at this point. I am looking forward to making and canning delicious salsa, Kate keeps telling me she is going to eat all that healthy food.
..