Happy Halloween 2010

Everybody wore costumes this year...


even Mom and Dad!


p.s. I made John's costume from scratch without any pattern!

p.p.s. Wyatt is sleeping with the fox. He likes how soft it is!

The Halloween Checklist

If Halloween is any indication of how exited the kids are going to be for Christmas this year.... we are in serious trouble!

The kids have been doing a countdown until Halloween for 2 weeks already.

"Mom, did you know that there are only 11 more days until Halloween?"

"Nine days till Halloween. Nine days till Halloween."

When I asked Sam what he was going to say when he went up to people's houses on Halloween he said "Boo."

I said no, you are going to say trick or treat. He said "No, I'm going to say boo and get candy".

Alrighty then, lets see how that is going to work out.

Yesterday all three boys had Halloween parties at school and came home all sugared up! It was pure craziness! Anybody that says sugar doesn't hype kids up doesn't have three boys!

We have pretty much everything checked off the Halloween checklist....

Selecting the right costume... check


Decorating Halloween cookies... check


Carving pumpkins... check


Hayride... check
Decorating the house.... check



There is only one thing left..... Saying "Boo" and getting our candy!

Hayride

Here are some pictures from the hayride that I hosted for our Mothers of Multiples group last week!

Making Headlines

I went to a school conference last week for Wyatt. It went well and I was relieved that his teachers are confident that he will be ready for kindergarten next year. Our preschool experience last year was not good and I moved Wyatt to a new preschool. The new school has 8 kids and 2 teachers. It is a much smaller environment and Wyatt is doing great! It is such a relief to know that we made the right decision to move him last year. And even though the tuition is twice as much and the drive is twice as far Wyatt is learning and enjoying school.


************************

Wyatt takes a kids fitness class on Tuesday mornings while I work out at the gym. A few weeks ago a reporter from one of the local newspapers came and wrote a story about the gym and kids classes that were offered there. And last week the story got published in the paper and Wyatt's picture was on the front page. It was a really cute story and some friends saved us some extra copies so we can save them for Wyatt. Hopefully that will be the last time that he makes the front page of the newspaper if you know what I mean!

**********************

The kids are getting to ages where some of the stuff that they say is so funny and I want to remember to write it down because otherwise I know that I will forget it. Some of the funnier comments this week.....

Wyatt: "Mom, why do real cars need gas and a battery and my power wheels car only needs a battery?"

Sam: (after I turned off the radio in the car because there was too much fighting over what song to play) "Mom! That is not fair! I'm telling my daddy on you!"

Wyatt: "Mom, why does Grandma Kathie and Grandpa Bill's house only have stairs that go down and our house has stairs that go up and down?" (a ranch style house vs. a two- story house)

Aunt Allison: "Did you mean to send me a hot dog bun inside a sandwich bag in the mail?" (not so much????)

You Peed Where?

Last week I noticed that Wyatt's room smelled like pee. Strange I thought.

But Shane sleeps in Wyatt's room and so I thought that the smell was coming from Shane's diaper in the morning. You know how even when a diaper doesn't leak but it is full, it smells like pee?

So last Saturday John took the kids shopping and I decided to give the upstairs a good deep cleaning. Dusting. Vacuuming. Wiping the baseboards and light switches. The fun stuff.

Then I decided to tackle Wyatt's room. I pulled the sheets off his and Shane's bed and as I carried them down to the laundry room I was surprised that they didn't smell like pee. If it wasn't the bed then where was the pee smell coming from?

So I figured that maybe one of the kids had left a dirty diaper somewhere in the room. I crawled around on the floor looking for diapers and when I got to one corner of the room the smell of pee was overwhelming.


I moved Wyatt's chair away from the wall and was shocked to see pee stains all over the floor!!!

I called Wyatt upstairs and said "Have you been peeing in your room behind your chair?". Just then John walked in the door from grocery shopping and he was as shocked as I was when Wyatt answered "Yes."

We grilled him. "How many times did you do this?" "Why didn't you go in the potty?" "Were you scared to leave your room?" "When did this happen?" "Did you do this because you were mad at us about something?"

We didn't get much in the way of answers. "I don't know" was pretty much it.

The punishment was pretty severe. Wyatt lost his cell phone privileges (my old phone with no services btw) and dessert for one week. It was brutal, but we wanted to make sure that there was not going to be a repeat pee fest going on in his bedroom ever again.

I told him that if he wanted to pee on the floor he would have to sleep outside with the animals. Because animals pee on the floor and then sleep next to it.


After retelling that story to friends it is amazing how many people have similar stories about their own kids. One girl said that whenever her daughter got in trouble she would go behind their couch and pee on the floor. Another girl told me that her son did the same thing in his bedroom behind his bed. My own mother told me that her girls peed in a potted tree in her living room when they were little. She has been known to make stuff up though.....

So I did a lot of carpet cleaning last week. And a lot of furniture moving and smelling the floor. I don't think that Wyatt's room smells anymore, but every time that I go in there I subconsciously smell pee.

My Mom thought that I shouldn't post that story because Wyatt would be embarrassed. When he learns to read and can read this blog, he will probably already know how to crack my password and delete any posts that he feels are inappropriate. By next year my blog will probably say things like "Mom sucks" and "My Mom is mean".

So enjoy the pee story. It might not be here for long.....

Fishing on The Farm

Deb, one of the instructors at my gym, owns a farm a few miles from our house. She has been inviting me to bring the boys and check out her farm animals and go fishing in their pond all summer.

We finally went and checked it out last weekend. It was a boys paradise.... 70 acres, tractors, chickens, a four wheeler, a golf cart, a pond, and fishing!

Deb showed the boys how to collect eggs in her fancy Amish made "chicken condo". They were fascinated with the ramps in the condo and wanted to go inside with the chickens to get a better look. We had to convince them that it was a little dirty inside and probably not the best place for 3 little boys!


Meanwhile, John secured a great hunting spot on the farm after talking to Deb's husband, George, for all of 2 seconds.


Then we headed over to the pond and caught some blue gills and bass. John said that the blue gills were ENORMOUS. I was just happy that the kids were catching fish!

I packed a lunch and set up a picnic blanket and food along side of the pond. I laid on the picnic blanket and relaxed for over and hour. The farm was sooooo quite and peaceful. The weather was perfect and the kids were entertained. It was heavenly! I am ready to sell everything and buy a 70 acre farm in the middle of nowhere now!


Then Deb drove up in her golfcart and the kids went crazy. She offered to take them on a ride and they were gone (all four of them) for about 20 minutes or so!

John and I visited with George. He is a neat guy with a lot of good stories... he kind of reminds me of a young Fred. Then at one point George said "Do your kids know Deb or are they riding all over the place in the golfcart with a perfect stranger?" I told him that they knew her from the gym, but that they would, in fact, ride all over the place in a golfcart with a perfect stranger.


We stopped by the barn on our way out and realized that they own 3 huge John Deere tractors. So, of course each boy had to sit on top of a different tractor and pretend to drive. They were in heaven!


By the time we got home the boys were filthy and exhausted. It was a fun time and now every morning the boys ask to go fishing at Deb's and ride in her golfcart. She may be the best thing next to Santa Clause!

Birthday #3

I am about a week behind posting all of the pictures that I have from this month. So let's step back about 1 week in time and check out what the boys are/were up to...

Last weekend we celebrated Wyatt's 5th birthday again with Grandma Kathie and Grandpa Bill. After I dropped the boys off at preschool on Friday they took Shane and headed out to Costco leaving me home by MYSELF all morning! It was so relaxing!

I walked from room to room in my house enjoying how clean and neat and organized everything looked.

Then I waited 15 minutes and went back and did the same thing again and you know what? It was still clean and neat and organized! Truly a miracle in this house!

Then I snapped back to reality and realized that I had a million and one things to get done on my childless agenda, so I hopped in the car and raced around town for the next 2 and a half hours checking things off my list.

It is amazing how much stuff you can get done when you don't have to load and unload anybody into a car seat!

Then I blinked and it was 11:45 pm, so I raced over and picked up the twins from preschool. Then we drove like crazy to get Wyatt from preschool and we were still about 15 minutes late. His teacher had him vacuuming the classroom when we arrived so it was all good. Good cheap labor is hard to find.

That night at dinner Wyatt lost his tooth. It had been hanging on by one thread for several days and was giving us all the willies. The adults were all excited that we didn't have to look at it wondering anymore and the kids were all excited about the tooth fairy! Everybody was happy about the tooth!


Then we did Birthday #3 with the cake and presents. Grandpa Bill and Grandma Kathie got Wyatt some pink slippers and pink pajama bottoms. He was floating on air! "How did they know that pink was my favorite color Mom?" Honey, everybody knows that pink is your favorite color. We are just wondering when pink is NOT going to be your favorite color anymore.


Wyatt, when you read this blog someday just keep in mind that YOU were the one that liked pink. I have spent countless hours trying to talk you out of getting pink STUFF. I gave up a few months ago. You can be a fan of pink forever if you want. I am moving on.


Then Grandma Kathie and Grandpa Bill bought the kids a Wii (with a pink remote controller). We have all been enjoying the Wii! It is so much fun to watch the kids try and play the games! John and I have been playing against each other every night after the kids are in bed too! Who would have guessed that a video game would be so much fun for us? Now whenever I get stressed out with the kids I turn on my Wii and select the sword fighting game and work out my frustrations into a high score!


The blog topics for the rest of this week.....

Fishing at the Farm
You Peed Where?
School Conferences
Newspaper Headlines
The New Cell Phone
One Sick Kid
The Big Mothers of Multiples sale
Hayride
Halloween decorations

Fall Festivals

Last weekend when Grandma Kathie and Grandpa Bill were still here we took the kids to a local small town fall harvest festival. It was a great way to spend some time hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa

These little horses are the perfect size for us!


Grandpa hold the nail perfectly still. I promise not to pound your finger.

An Apple A Day.....

Grandma Kathie and Grandpa Bill are visiting for a few days. We have been keeping very busy! Yesterday we took the kids to a farm for some exciting fall festivities. We picked apples and took a hay ride. We picked pumpkins and Indian corn. We rode on a fire truck and tractor. We raced down a great big slide and got COVERED in mud. We visited a candy store and then ate lunch. And that was all before noon! The tooth is gone THANK GOD!!!! I have some great stories and pictures to post about that tomorrow! I got my new phone and LOVE it! I can email from anywhere anytime on the go!!!!! Stay tuned for birthday celebration #3 tomorrow!

You Might Be Five Years Old If.....

Your teeth start falling out.


You know how to use a "REAL" cd player.


You are in charge of getting everybody to their appointments on time.


You can beat Grandpa in air hockey.



You know where Mom hides the Sharpie permanent markers.....

5th Birthday Party!!!

We celebrated Wyatt's 5th birthday on Friday with a little party at our house. This was our first experience doing an actual party with kids. I was a little nervous about figuring out how to entertain 15 kids, so we decided to host the party outside where there was plenty to do.

I hired our babysitter to come over and help out with the party since John was going to still be at work. I bought a face paint kit and Emmy spent almost 2 hours painting the kids faces. She did a great job too, especially considering that it was her first time doing any kind of face painting and her subjects were so pumped up on sugar and candy that they could barely sit still!


I also organized a cookie decorating craft project for the party. I made a few batches of sugar cookies and had the kids decorate them. We set up picnic tables outside and gave each table a jar of frosting, some knives, and cookie decorations and then sat back and let the kids go to town. They LOVED it!


Then we had a treasure hunt. I bought gold foil covered chocolate candies and Emmy hid them in the green space next to our house. Then she took the kids to find all of the coins. It took forever! Finally I went and asked Emmy why it was taking so long and she told me that after she threw the coins all around on the grass it got really windy and the leaves were making it very hard to spot the candies! The kids all loved the treasure hunt.
For dinner we had pizza and bread sticks and a veggie tray. And then we enjoyed the Costco cake that Wyatt picked out himself (it couldn't be more girly if he tried!). When all of the kids were singing Happy Birthday to Wyatt he acted really shy and embarrassed. Then the funniest thing happened. As soon as all of the kids got done singing, Wyatt's friend Quinn blew out the candles on Wyatt's cake before anybody realized what was about to happen. Wyatt was sad, but the rest of us couldn't stop laughing! We re-lit them all and he got to blow out his own candles the second time around without any help!

Finally we opened gifts and sent everybody home with a treat bag full of goodies! It was a lot of fun and I LOVED how all of the mess was outside and I didn't have to worry about getting it all cleaned up immediately!

The kids went straight to bed and were literally EXHAUSTED beyond belief! They didn't even hear Grandma and Grandpa arrive later that night! Actually, I was exhausted beyond belief that night too! It was all worth it though when I got to see my little 5 year old boy with a big smile on his face and I knew that I helped put it there!!!