on my to do list

today i had to do...
go to bed bath and beyond and take back curtains
go to sam's and get tire pressure checked on my armada
go to walmart
go to goodwill and drop off two bags of clothes
go to the bank and deposit my Christmas club check from my grandma and grandpa
organize my craft room which looks like two homes combined all their junk and threw it in their
hang two sets of curtains
hang up bathroom fixtures in basement
hang up shower curtain in bathroom and rod
hang up curtains in guest bedroom
sand a table
paint a table
paint stars
paint two chairs
cheer andy on while digging a huge whole in our yard for that darn couch
put up Christmas stuff
make cookies for YW who helped me weeks ago
fold, hang up and put away loads upon loads of laundry
clean and vacuum both cars
finish the twins birthday invites
start Christmas cards
start dozens of crafts

Things I got done...
it is too depressing to write, to say the least no too many of the above jobs were completed today

oh and andy wanted to see a movie and we can NEVER find a babysitter!

gratitude IIII

I have to say being in Andy's family has some HUGE advantages. Being one of 11 children, can be so much fun. Not that everyone has all been together at once yet, but still...so much fun.

My sister in laws are so awesome. They are some of my very best friends. I totally lucked out. Michelle, Brandon's wife, and I can talk for hours. We have some of the same exact ways of parenting and see eye to eye on a lot of things with our children which is hard to find sometimes. I have known her for a long time. I am so grateful for her in my life. She is such a great example to me and I am better for knowing her.

Paige, Brian's wife, I talk to just about everyday. We instant message each other. She has been there for me for a lot of things. It is so nice I can just sit down to my computer and ask her whatever I need to know. I often refer to her as Dr. English. I ask her everything and she always has an answer. This girl is as smart as it comes, and I fully take advantage of it. I do not think I would even know how to email if it weren't for her, much less instant message, facebook and blog! She is a blessing that I am so grateful for and know I am the one that got lucky out of our friendship! Plus she has talked with Edward...had a date with him actually. Check her blog!

Saraih is Jake's wife. When I read her blog I am so impressed by her. When we visit of talk on the phone I always am left thinking, she is amazing. She is a good mom and has a lot on her plate and she is always on top of things. She is able to handle so many things thrown at her and I am so grateful she has such a great attitude even when she is sick or her kids are sick of her husband is out of town. And she is one crafty little lady and fits crafts in all the time even with three small children.

Sarah, is Matt's wife. When Matt was dating Sarah all he would ever tell us was that she was just like me. I was so eager to meet her and see what she was like. Sarah is such a sweet mom and such a good mom to their little girl. Diana is so cute and I love checking the pictures that Sarah puts on their site. Sarah and I do have a lot of the same ideals. I have recently found out that she has a love affair with clorox wipes a lot like my own! I hope to see her more and more and be able to continue our relationship more in person. She is a great gal and I am grateful for her in our family.

Gloria, the newest additions:), is Adams wife. I love this girl. She is spunky and sweet and fun to be with. Since they have moved closer we have been able to see them more and get to know each other better. They are staying with us for Christmas and we are so excited about it. She went to school for teaching and you can just tell she is an amazing teacher. She is always concerned about doing what is right and is such a sweet mom to her darling little boy Jordan. I am lucky they live close to us so we will be able to see each other a lot and get to know each other even better!

Michelle, Andy's sister, is such a great friend. I have known this girl since she was little little. I cannot believe the woman she has grown up to be. She is one of the best mom's I know. She is so good with her girls. She is patient and kind. I owe so much to her for all the help she has given our family. She is so willing to watch my kiddos. All of them. And there isn't anyone I'd rather them be with. I am lucky we live near each other. We have such a great relationship and she is one of my best friends.

Nicole, Andy's sister, was such a huge help over the summer. She is always willing to get in there and help out in whatever way needed. She doesn't wait to be asked. She is so great with my kids and shows them constantly how much she loves them. She is so good with them. We love talking with her and see how her life is at the Y. We miss having her here, but are so grateful she gets to have the BYU experience. She is a wonderful young lady and we are so grateful to have her in this family.

Cherise, Andy's sister, is so high spirited and kind. We love having her around here. It was so fun her senior year of high school to have her hanging around a lot. Every time we would ask her if she wanted to do something with her friends she always said she rather be with us. It was always a party when she was here. Always fun. She went away to BYU-I this semester and is already engaged. I cannot believe it. We love her so much and cannot wait to see her soon. Her fiance is staying with us over Christmas so I am sure we will see lots of her too, can't wait!

Last, but not least, Cami. What a little cutie she is. My kids adore this girl. Bennett's whole life has revolved around Cami. He absolutely loves this girls and my other children have followed suit. They all love her and she is so helpful and loves to play with the kids and read them stories. We love having her here. She is actually downstairs with the kids right now as I type this. I love this girl. I am so grateful for be here and watch her grow up. She is such a treat!

So as you can see I am blessed. Not only do I have Andy as my husband, but marrying him not only did I get the sister I always wanted, but I got NINE! I am a lucky lady I tell ya!

busy work

man oh man i tell ya. ever since i have NOT been pregnant anymore and after a few weeks or recovery, i have had so much energy. probably just a normal amount, but after so many months of doing nothing i feel like i am doing so much. i am so happy my love for cooking a baking and crafting has come back.

what i am really excited about it my new craft room. i have so many crafts i am working on. so many. i have about 10 things i am going to do not counting the twins birthday invites. i am working on a craft i started at super saturday, i am working a darling teacher gift, i am working little gifts i am sending to everyone in andy's family. should be fun. i am going to stay up in the wee hours of the morning tonight to get my craft room done so i can have my own personal space by tomorrow! woohoo!! let the crafts begin.

"I am one stomach flu away from my goal weight..."

Today is my lucky day! After a rough morning with all four older kids sick, I had Andy come home. Once he got here I told him after lunch he could go back because I could handle it, they seemed to be getting better. He went back and his sweet patient that apparently was in a lot of pain sent me flowers for allowing him to come back to work. Wow what a nice lady. A day that started out with the nasty smell of sick kids ended with a lovely smell of beautiful flowers. What a cute vase too! A little acorn! I am a lucky woman. Have any of you ever sent your dentist, much less dentist's wife flowers before? I have never. I am liking it though...

Name that movie?

Yesterday Bennett came home from church and took a nap...odd. He woke up and threw up. Nice. In my eight years of being a parent I have never had a child throw up. Why did it have to start.

He went to bed and was just as white as a ghost and threw up about 20 times. Poor guy, I felt so bad for him. He couldn't eat anything. I told him he had to get better to go to school because he was off most the week and would want to go these two days. He woke up and came into my room with his clothes on, coat and backpack on his back. I asked him if he felt better and he said no and I asked why he got ready and he said because I wanted him to go to school. Honestly even if he wasn't sick this poor kid threw up so much yesterday that I wouldn't want to go to school either it had to wear him out. So he took off his coat and bag and went back to bed.

I had to get up and get ready for Paxton's 2 month check up and then I was going to go to the dentist. I got ready, fed the baby and went into to get Maddox out. All three of the kids were being so quiet. I walked into Maddox's room and he wasn't there as I inspected closer I noticed there was throw up all over his sheets. Bennett got him out and cleaned him up he said, but he jammies were still gross all with his pants at his ankles.

I then went to Cortland's room and he very excitedly showed me chunks...gross I know, sorry to not spare you the details. He obviously did it in his sleep because he had no clue what is was, where it came from or that he did it. Next was Jadeyn and the poor girl was just beside her self. She was holding her mouth saying, "I don't want it mama", I felt so bad for her. They are just still too young to know what to do when it happens and to explain what is going on.

They obviously would not eat anything. Luckily I had Andy's mom coming over to watch the kids while I was gone. When she walked in I told her I would not blame her if she wanted to leave and she graciously accepted the nasty duty.

I left making it in time for Paxton's two month check up. He weighs 10 pounds now. He is kind of on the little side. His head is still in the 46 percentile which is so tiny compared to Bennett's head, but then again Bennett still weighed a pound more than Paxton at birth compared to Pax at two months, so it shouldn't surprise me. Poor little Paxton got 4 shots. I felt so bad he was laying there cooing and smiling at me, which is my most favorite thing in the world and then in comes the needles. He survived and off to Target we went.

I went to Target and got some Pedilyte and too many other things too. I always seem to spend way too much money there. I should ban myself from there completely, but it is like a drug to me!

We got home and Andy was here for lunch to help get the laundry going, sanitize the house and put kids down for naps with me. They haven't been sick yet again today so that is nice. I am happy to get things back to normal. My house smells of lysol, clorox wipes and room fresheners.

Last night I woke up once and thought I was going to throw up myself and luckily did not. I was so mad and didn't want to get sick and then thought of Devil Wears Prada where she says, I am one stomach flu away from my ideal weight and I literally thought to myself, maybe the stomach flu wouldn't be all that bad. I am crazy I know. Although it would be more like I am four stomach flu's away from my goal weight.

I never thought I would blog about throw up, but I guess it was bound to happen when you have 7 people living under one roof! So I am off to sanitize a little more while listening to my new Abba CD thanks to Target. What a love hate relationship I have with them!

My family...thankful III

I am talking about my parents, grandparents, aunts uncles cousins. I sound like one of Bennett's prayers that is always how he starts his prayers off.



My mom and dad are such good parents. They still are so involved and love their children so much and have always instilled in us the importance of families and our little family in particular. We always had dinner around the family table even though my brother and I always had stuff going on. We had the basics down to a good family and I am so grateful for that.



A few things that I am just so thankful for are how supportive my family has always been to my brother and I. I was so active. I danced, cheerleaded, was in the band, took piano lessons, ice skated, was in the orchestra, swing choir, concert choir, took french horn lessons for 17 years, was in all the plays and musicals, voice lessons, played soft ball for many year, played soccer, ran track even though I was horrible at it and they never missed on recital, concert or game. Sometime I would get so embarrassed by there incessant screams at my games, but I was always so grateful for their support. On top of that they never missed one of Kyles games either. He played baseball, football, soccer, ran track and was good at it, and just about every other sport you can think of. Plus he played in college and they went to all of those games too. These games were in different states. That always meant so much to me. I was always so grateful to know the things that were important to me, meant something to them as well. I felt very lucky for that in my life.



We always took family vacations even if the money was tight. That was always so fun and till this day we still talk about the funny things that have happened while we were on vacation. Good times I tell ya.



I never once worried as a child. I think so many parents let their worries conflict their children and they never did that with me. I have always been so grateful for that too.



I feel so fortunate this day for my parents. They are some of my best friends. I love how much they love my children. My children are so lucky to have them in their lives. What a blessing that is. I have never seen grandparents more in love I tell ya.



Thanks mom and dad for always being there, for being good parents and instilling in my the desire to be a parent myself. Words could not describe my gratitude.





I have been so grateful my whole life living around my extended family. I cannot imagine it any other way. I have always lived by my grandparents and had always had the best relationship with the both of them. [I will have a post in the near feature talking about my grandparents.] I never knew growing up how lucky I was to live close to both sets of grandparents. I soon realized when I got older that not many people at all live near their grandparents or even had grandparent's living. I even had great grandparents most of my childhood life. I really was so blessed. I have so many memories with them. I am grateful for that.

I have even always lived near my aunts, uncles, and cousins. I have really good strong relationships with them all. I cannot believe how lucky I am.

I am so grateful for my family. What a blessing it is to have them near me again since we have moved home. Growing up every holiday was about being with family and we have that again. I love every ounce of family time.

Friends part II

I could go on and on about friends, but I only have a week so I have to be selective. I wish I could talk about my awesome friends from high school or my sweet friends from Provo, that we still miss and we haven't lived there for 9 years. I wish I could also talk about all my amazing friends in Chicago. There are SO many!



I have a friend in Chicago that I honestly think is an angel. She would be so embarrassed if she is reading this. I will not mention her name and if you think you know her, please don't embarrass her. She is so humble and sweet. I just have to share these things for my personal sake. I want this written down to be remembered forever.



I don't even know where to start. I am seriously tearing up thinking about where to start. My friend is amazing. She is so smart and one of the nicest people you will ever meet. She is so caring and comforting. I am so lucky to call her friend. There are so many things that she has done for our family that I couldn't even name them all, but I will share some special moments around the time Maddox was born.



So we were poor little dental school kids expecting our fourth surprise child. I was stressed. She always knew what to say to make me feel so grateful and lucky. Right before I was going to have Maddox I was so stressed out who to leave the three kids with while I had him. I didn't want to stress anyone out. She offered to keep them and it was so comforting. I was so grateful. I have a hard time asking anyone to watch so many children especially 12 month old twins. I felt so comfortable having her watch them. We dropped them off and I didn't think about them once after that. Normally I am so nervous to leave them that I would just worry myself sick and she is that kind of person where you just don't worry, she is that awesome.



I had Maddox and we all got home. The next day she knocks on our door and brings in hundreds of groceries. I am talking anything and everything. And fun things that being in dental school we wouldn't buy. Things that are prepared that you just warm up type of things. Diapers like you would not believe and formula. That was one of the sweetest things anyone had ever done for us.



Now let me say that our fridge and freezer was FULL. So full it would not close almost. Putting the groceries away just made me cry. I could not believe that anyone could be so generous. She had no clue that just a few hours before Andy and I were in our room discussing the fact that our loan for that semester had not come in and wouldn't for another week or so. We had to call our landlord upstairs and tell him and he was ok with that, but here we had a growing family with 4 children and no food or diapers. I said a prayer and was instantly comforted. We said many prayers in dental school for financial reasons and many times I still felt so stressed by our situation and that time I didn't. Literally minutes later she came knocking on our door. So not only is she just the sweetest person ever, but how in tune is she.



We ate that food for months. I even kept one of the freezer items in the freezer so every time I opened the freezer I would remember their generosity and would myself feel the importance of giving. That freezer item made the move with us and is in our freezer now too. I am always inspired by it.



That family has taught us so much. I hope to be like them one day. My favorite song is because I have been given much I too much give. I shall divide my gifts from thee with every brother that I see. I am so grateful for their example and "gifts". I will always remember them for so many reasons and each time I give I know that I learned from them.



One more thing I want to mention. One time they had a party at a restaurant in Chicago and hired babysitting for us. It was such great food and so much fun for us to have a little night out, which we never did. And for Andy's graduation we went to the most amazing restaurant ever. It was the best food I have ever eaten at the nicest restaurant we will EVER go to. They again hired babysitting for us and it was such a special night. It goes down in the books for being one of the best nights of our lives. It was amazing. I still smile every time I think of it and was just talking about it when we went out with my family this past weekend. It makes me giddy thinking about it.



Thanks you guys if you are reading this. Seriously we are so grateful for all the things you have done for our family. You have always been in our prayers. We are so thankful for people like you making the world a better place and it is a better place because your family is in it.

A week of thanks...

This week I plan on taking each day on my blog and writing about something I am grateful for. And today I want to start by talking about friends.

I have always been blessed in my life with really good friends. I feel very fortunate for this and have always realized what a blessing that is. I remember being in junior high and being sad to move onto high school and thinking there is NO way I will have better friends ever in my life than I do in junior high school. I moved onto high school and literally had the best girl friends in the world. I thought the same when I went to college, it would be impossible to have as good of friends in college as I did in high school and sure enough I found great amazing friends.

Today the one friend I would like to focus on is a friend from Chicago. I had some really great friends there. I feel so blessed to call so many ladies there my really good friends.

When we moved into the Chicago ward at church I wasn't sure I would find any friends that I really liked, like the ones in Provo. I just decided it was up to me to find friends and if I wanted good friends here I would have to put forth the effort. I went to Enrichment night and looked down the table and saw a familiar face. I could have swore it was my best friend growing up, Jodi. As I got closer it wasn't. I knew it wasn't her, but it sure looked just like her. I introduced myself and told her the similarities she had to my friend and I am sure she wondered what kind of crazy lady she was talking to.

About a month later this sweet lady called me and asked if I would be interested in coming over to her home and can some pickles. Ok first, I am not sure if anyone knows of my love for pickles, but I REALLY love pickles, so of course I said yes. And I was dying for a friend so I was so excited to get to know her better.

At the time we only had Bennett so I packed him up and over to Lincoln Park we went. Her home was just beautiful. I am talking homes you see in movies or magazines and the most amazing part of the home were two things, the kitchen and the warm feeling you had by being there. This kitchen was just amazing. I wish I had pictures, which I wouldn't post for her privacy, but I would like to have pictures for memories myself:). They were also just finishing up the remodel in there. It was really fun to see the before and afters.

I got there and we instantly hit it off. She is just so kind and makes you feel so comfortable. We talked and talked and talked. I knew instantly that she would go down in the books for just a really good friend and person. She has. At the time she was expecting and I wanted to be. I talked to her for many hours about that and she was so helpful and giving me lots of pointers and information. I still think she has some part in getting my twins here. I think of her often when I think of them and am so grateful for her advice and inspiration.

From our day canning we got together many other times. While I was there canning she asked many questions about dental school. We were new to the whole dental school and still so nervous about how it was all going to work out. Living downtown going to dental school was not cheap. The semester loan they would give us was about 1200 dollars short of what we needed to pay rent for the semester and that was just for rent not including food, car, etc., etc.,. A few weeks later she called me and asked if I would be interested in watching their darling little girl while she ran errands a few times a week. Of course I would, she was so sweet the perfect little girl. I did that for a while and it was so fun and we made just the right amount to pay our monthly expenses. What a blessing it was, all over a few jars of pickles.

I remember one time going over to prepare her home for a big dinner her husbands office was having at their home and it was so fun. We cleaned and made home made ice cream. Set the table all nicely. It was so fun. We ended up not having one fork to complete the setting so we put out the serving fork for her husband. I don't think he used it, but still to this day when I think of that and him eating with that huge fork I laugh out loud...so funny.

Anyway, there are so many friends that come into your life. It is so neat when you get one that really makes a big difference. She and her husband really changed our lives in ways they could never possibly know. We know it and are so grateful for their friendliness and for a great pickle recipe. Who knows where we'd be without it!

I love Edward

I love the whole Cullen Clan...I loved the movie. I loved it. I think I have a mom crush on Robert P. Hmm, did I just admit that?

my dad

a little blog here just asking for prayers for my sweet dad. poor guy is going through some "stuff". not to cast my problems, or his, before the blogging world, but i know and have seen some amazing things through the "power" of blogging done so i thought i would just ask for a few prayers. i feel like i have been doing a lot of that lately. paxton and now my dad.

10 years ago while i was in college he had a heart attack. that was hard, harder on me than him i think. years later he ran into a fence during a softball game coming into home and cracked his head open getting hundreds of stitches. he then found out a few years ago that he has a rare type of cancer. this again isn't as bad as it seems, some bad side effects, but the kind of cancer you die with and not from, so that is good, as good as cancer gets i suppose. there aren't any treatments you just deal with it. 6 months ago he had a blood clot in his heart and it was relieved literally seconds before it would have been too late. now last week he had a stroke. not the kind of stroke i think of when i hear of stroke, but an eye stroke. still not good, but the only thing it effected was his sight in one eye. after getting some blood labs back looks like he has some number WAY too high so now he is going back to an oncologist.

the poor guy has always had a pretty positive attitude about it all, but enough is enough already. i know what it is like just to have a cold and that is all you think about, i cannot imagine the stress he may be feeling. so that is where all my friends come in. i would really appreciate all the prayers we can get. if you are into that sort of thing, please keep him in your prayers. it would mean so much.

These 'TWO"

will be three next month...

how can that be...i am tearing up a little bit making their invites...my babies, not quite babies anymore...

around the house

{these three are best friends}

{he is SO skinny}
{i honeslty do not think i could feel more blessed, these children are mine, how am i so lucky}

{pretty girl on the new couch that will not fit in the basement}

{big boy in his chair}

{maddox loving daddy's coat}

{maddox LOVES this baby}

{these two are inseperable}

{a new dress from grandma...she is so cute in all her dresses, but this one is just so sweet}

My little one

Paxton is getting so big. Well actually he is not getting big, he is getting old. He still looks so tiny and little to me, which I love, what are the chances that could last for about 18 years? He is so fun and still so good. I cannot believe he is TWO months young.

Here is what he is up to...

He sleeps a lot, I mean A LOT!

Holds his head up really well

Is beginning to smile a lot

He is still a really good eater

Sleeping 9 hours a night

He doesn't complain when the kids maul him, which is always

He is such a pleasure to have in our home

I couldn't be in love more...

I love how huge the binky looks in his mouth

He shoots...

He scores!!!!Bennet played soccer again this year. This was his second year playing. When the season started off he didn't seem to interested. It also happen to be the week I was in the hospital. My dad took him and said he seemed to not even want to be there. I was pretty sure it had to do with all the uncertainty in his life at the time.

Sure enough the next week he all of a sudden became a huge assett to the team. In fact he scored the most goals on his team for the season. Sometimes up to 5 goals a game. Even the coach at the end of the year party said, Bennett you were the biggest surprise of the season.

I am so happy for him. You could totally tell he was so pleased with himself throughout this season. I would normally have to stay home with the baby and he would come home and be so excited to tell me how it went.


Now we will have to wait till next season. Until then, good bye soccer...hello cold weather!

Halloween...finally

{Bennett did the skeleton pumpkin himself...pretty good if you ask me}

Oh boy, did the kids love Halloween. In the morning when they woke up Cortland instantly said so sweet, "it's a happy Halloween". He has pretty much said that every morning since.

They kids had a fun day. I had my 6 week check up and got the ok to start working out. I then went to Bennett's school party. We had Papa Murphy's jack-o-lantern pizza and off we were for a night of trick or treating.

It was just so cute watching them walk up to each home. They got quite the haul too. Our neighborhood is the GREATEST 'hood for trick or treating. Every one goes all out. They have hay rides. Every one decorates and lets talk about the good candy. What happen to smarties and sprees? I guess those were the days gone by because my kids pretty much got ALL chocolate candy bars with MANY MANY FULL SIZE!!!! Luckily Bennett's teacher asked for candy donations for the treasure box. My kids are not really into candy other than a sucker. They ate some candy Halloween night and have not touched it since. Andy and I are happy we shipped it off to the teacher, because let's just say...we loved the candy.

{This is not the best photo, but I love how J has her arm around C...so sweet.}

{My little tasty banana}

{Cortland the monkey with a major ouchie}

{the two monkey's with there banana}

{these two walked around like this all night just chatting away, not really interested in the candy, just enjoying eachothers company}

{daddy and maddy}
{some more halloweenie food}

{biscuts, with sloppy joes and jack-o-lantern cheese}
{our dinner in the pumpkin it was SOOOOO tasty!}

help me...

i am trying to make a blurb book and i am all sorts of confused. i didn't think it would be hard. i just can't figure it out. i think once i get how to use it it should be fine, but it has been a half hour and i have gotten nowhere! i need a nanny and a computer tutor.

I have a question...do you have an answer?

So what do you do if this happens???
Yesterday Andy went to Ashley furniture store.
He bought a couch for the living room.
While walking out he sees his favorite sectional for the basement that we decided to wait on.
He watches them put a clearance sticker on the sectional.
He calls and says, we NEED it.
After a short conversation and realizing it was one great steal we agree.
Let's get it.
We get it.
We buy two couch's in one day.
Not so genius when you are trying to save.
We do it anyway.
We get the "steal of a deal" home.
Andy and the other two amazing guys who offered to help cannot for the life of them figure out how to get the over sized couch, which by the way looked on the smaller side of couches in the showroom, down our stairs.
Tried through a window.
Didn't work.
Tried everything.
Nothing worked.
We get a little down and out.
We remember FINAL SALE no returns.
Andy suggests Craigslist.
Way to good of a deal for that.
I suggest...
cutting a whole in the floor and lowering it into the basement.
Jokingly of course.
Kyle, my sweet brother who helped us with that as well as the "worlds heaviest piano" today suggests...
digging around the window in the back to make a bigger opening.
So guess what we will be doing this week.
You guessed it.
Digging a larger whole around the window well in the back...
UNLESS...
you have a better idea...Any answers????

what's going on?

I am sitting here on my couch after a long day of many many diaper changes looking at my sweet not so quite newborn and wondering where the time has gone? I haven't even updated my blog in a long time, I seem to always be "working" and planning ahead.





Our basement is just about compete. There are just a few things that need to be done. We need to do the shelves in the closets and hang the mirror in the bathroom and it is done. Fun huh? It looks great. There is only one thing I regret...we did NOT put a closet in the toy room! What on earth were we ever thinking. I mean initially we were planning on it, but since it is kind of like a big open room there was really no way to do it and use the space well, so we didn't and now I am mad. Oh well. It looks so great. Yesterday I had Cami here, my sil who is 11, and she helped me with the kids and get some things done down there. Everything in our unfinished storage has about 2 inches of yuck on it from the framing, dry wall, carpet, you name it. I wanted to clean off my food storage and get that organized and placed where it needs to be so I can take inventory on what we need. I plan on working on that tomorrow at Aldi...love that place especially the new clean one they just built! It will take forever to get the basement where we would like it, but it will look fantastic once we are done. I am lovin' it and so are the kids. I want to do some fun things in the toy room and my craft room, but that will have to wait I am sure. Just getting it livable is taking long enough. Anyway look for some more Monday Makeovers once we get the basement done.





We also painted the living room that used to be home to our millions of toys. (Please tell me why one earth we have more toys than Toy's R Us!) It is Y- E to the LLO, I tell ya. I mean it is Yellow. I was wanting a yellow kitchen and decided with the family room being a blue color it wouldn't work so I moved my yellow room to the living room. I like it, but it is BOLD. I am pretty sure it will be the only room I will want to change in the future. You will see photos of that room soon as well. We still need to pick up our piano my dad bought for us years ago at an auction...can't wait to get it!





I am getting excited for the holidays. I always get a little stressed about this time each year. I get nervous to be able to balance out time wisely during the holidays. I always am so afraid to hurt someones feelings, but I am getting older and realizing that I need to think about my children first and figure out what is good in our little family's schedule and go from there. We are having several house guests and I have already made menus up and plan on making the meals a head of time and keep them in the freezer when needed. It is always such a drag to leave the fun to make the food. The snacks and treats keep me busy enough, so I am thinking this should really help. We will see. As far as Christmas gifts--I am WAY behind. I hope to tackle a lot of that this weekend. Normally each year I get our kids one larger gift and a book and then a family game. We don't go all out. There are several reasons why. One, I do not like Christmas day to be all about the loot. Yes it is so fun to see my children open up gifts, but I like them to be able to enjoy what they get and not be so overwhelmed with so much that they don't even know where to begin. Also they get so much from my family that it would be WAY over board if I went out of control. Anyway, so I need to get their gifts and family gifts and hopefully be done before the stores get to out of control.





My teeth, my poor teeth. I got into an accident when I was single at BYU and knocked out all of my front teeth. I have a bridge and several crowns. That being said I had great teeth before that. No cavities. In fact I got my first cavity when I was 24 when I was pregnant with Bennett. And I had not one or two but NINE. I have never fully recovered from that. Before I got preggers with Paxton I had to have a tooth pulled because my temporary filling fell out. I am sure you are all happy to learn about my dental woes, but my point being Andy has been going to town on my teeth. I finally have a new bridge, well in the works. And I will basically have a tooth lift, because every single tooth will be new. I am excited to see my new mouth. Should be done by Christmas I hope! It is weird having your husband inflict all that pain on you...weird.





So we have been getting our NICU bills. YUCK! I cannot believe how expensive that was. I knew it would be bad, but this is out of control. The overall bill was outrageous, but the part we need to cover is horrid as well. I am not sure how we will do that, but hopefully blessings with keep on coming. We have felt so grateful up to this point for everything I am sure this will work out. And there is no amount that I could pay that would ever show my thanks for a healthy sweetheart...speaking of...





My baby is EIGHT WEEKS OLD!!! He is so darn cute. I am in love all over again. He is making little cooing sounds and stares me in the eye while I am feeding him. Be still my heart. I am so in love with my little man, who by-the-way is sleeping not 8 BUT 9 HOURS a night!!! Oh I love him, see people, that is exactly why I keep having them, they are perfect! I am kidding, but still how grateful am I for this sweet little miracle. I can't even begin to express that.





I am a little bit worried about the new president elect. Don't get me wrong I am happy to see a new president come in and get things settled down again and I hope he can do that, but his whole hope for socialized health care has got me a little worried. I have spoke to my SIL about this and I am sure she is rolling her eyes right now because we have both said there is no reason to get worked up about something I cannot change, but still it makes me a little nervous. I guess we will see how that goes!





This morning I was just about to lose my patience when I walked in on Jadeyn trying to change Maddox's poopy diaper. Lovely right. And at that time every single one of them were poopy. I know I know, it is way past time to get the twins potty trained, but I fully believe it is best to let them decide when they want to be "trained". Anyway, I was bending down to change a diaper and I instantly thought of the country song Your gonna miss this. I am so grateful that in my adult life, married with children, I have never wished away any part of my life. I never have wanted life to hurry along, or move faster. I actually want exactly the opposite. I know I would miss this. They can be a handful, life can be stressful, but I would miss this, I will miss this. These words ring through my mind a lot I tell ya...


You're gonna miss this

You're gonna want this back

Your gonna wish these days

Hadn't gone by so fast

These are some good times

So take a good look around

You may not know it now

You're gonna miss this



The part about the dog barking the plumber there one kid's crying one kid's screaming sounds all too familiar :)

PS I promise to add photos tomorrow!

My baby

Paxton is SEVEN. WEEKS. OLD.
I am in awe over this little guy.

He is such a treat.

We just all love him to pieces.

He is still sleeping 7-8 hours a night,

he crys when he gets hungry

and I have made him wait too long.

He enjoys the mauling he recevies

from the kids and snuggling all the time

or being held.

Today

I have been meaning to update my blog and haven't gotten around to it. I still need to put our Halloween pictures up and blog about Bennett's soccer season. It has been kind of slow around our home. We have been staying in and enjoying our little family.

I went to the Dentist yesterday, he was really good I must say and pretty darn good looking, shh don't tell Andy. I have needed dental work for sometime now. It feels like every time I could go to the dentist I was pregnant. So while I am not pregnant I thought I should get in as soon as I could. He prepped three teeth for a bridge and drilled out all my silver and filled with white composite. It looks so good. I need to go in two more times. By the time I am done every single tooth in my mouth will have been fixed or altered in some way. Sheesh it is a darn good thing I am married to a dentist. We are still arguing over the color of all my new teeth. Andy prefers teeth that are normal tooth color with a yellow slight tint and I want white WHITE. Not movie star white where they are so white they look grey because you can see through them and are seeing the darkness of the back of your mouth, but white. Anyway, the dental appointment went pretty well. He is good. I did not even feel the needle go in. The ladies at his office loved that I brought Paxton in just passed him around the 3 hours I was there. Fun times, I tell ya.

You know I have to say that this day, well last night was a pretty emotional night. Whether you are Red or Blue I don't think anyone would deny that this step we took as Americans is a big one, one that will always be remembered in this country as a day we became closer to being united. A day in History that our children and their children and so on will be taught and feel proud of that that is where our country is who at one time wouldn't even allow women or African Americans to vote had one of each on the ballot. That is amazing and I am so pleased to live at this time. My voice was heard even if the one I voted for didn't win. Here's to a untied next four years. I personally feel that we need to support the president of the United States and I plan to do so and will teach my children the same.

So I plan to update my blog with some photos soon. I also even have some Monday Makeovers I need to start doing again. So be on the look out for some new pictures!