Five Kids or a Blizzard? Take your pick!

Tonight, I took Megan to Build-a-bear. She got a gift card from Santa In Manhattan Beach. I told her I would take her the day after Christmas. I decided it might be easier to take her by herself then with all 5 kids. So we left the boys(Derek included) home and headed for the Mall in Orem. The roads were icy and it was snowing. As we were driving home, I could not even tell if I was in a lane. I was starting to get nervous and thought, "I wonder what is scarier, trucking 5 kids through a mall or Driving in pouring snow on Icy roads?" The answer was obviously taking 5 kids to the mall. It was great to now have perspective and I was no longer nervous about driving in treacherous conditions.

The Christmas Bomb!

Yesterday morning, before the kids got up. The house looked so pretty. The whites lights glistening on the tree and on the greenery over our atrium doors. The presents were wrapped so sweetly under the tree. The Family Room, DIning area and Kitchen were nice and clean. It was a nice 10 minutes of enjoying that moment. Now I really know what they mean, when they say, "Take a picture it will last longer!" Derek had gone to go get the the kids. They all looked so cute. Ryan in Derek's arms. The kids half awake, but very excited! All them dressed in their Christmas jammies. Then it happened!!! The gift opening began and that we can keep a handle on by throwing away wrapping paper as each present was opened. But it was the opening of Teckno Dogs, Robotic spider, Remote Control Cars, Bratz Make over Doll, (I lovingly refer to Bratz Dolls as Hooker Dolls.) and way too many Spiderman toys that come with about 30 tightly twisted, wire twist ties each and their boxes that are ripeed into a million peices to get the beloved toy out of the box!! That is when our house looked like The Christmas bomb had went off at our house. It was crazy and I was thankful Costco sells batteries in bulk. My Aunt and Uncle gave us the most amazing presents. They suprised us with a nintendo Wii and they are taking both of my brothers, their wives, and Derek & I to Cancun this March. Derek and I are so excited. Especially since it will probably be snowing here in Utah and we will go enjoy 80 degree temps on a warm beach. I know gifts are not the biggest part of Christmas, but a trip to Cancun has got to hit top of WOWWY gifts!! Derek has always wanted to go fishing in the ocean and I am so excited he will get to do that!! Myself, I am hoping to hit a couple of zip lines in the rain forest area and go horse back riding along the beach.
This Year I was not feeling up to cooking a big dinnerand then cleaning up. SO we got a Costco Pizza, the kids put on the Nativiy Scene, and we watched It's a Wonderful Life on TV. It was GREAT!! We might do this every year.

How to be a in-the-closet Santa!

Actually, I have no idea how to be an "In the closet Santa" It just sounded like an intriguing title. Tell the truth. Did it intrigue you? No, you can tell me. .......Oh, be quiet! It's my Blog! If you think I'm crazy, well I would have to comply with that quick observation. But really who can blame me. Being a mother of 5 at Christmas, can really wear a girl out. Especially, all that ordering online while Derek and I shopped for the kids at Toys R Us, Wal-Mart, Amazon.com, and of course E-Bay! (We were wearing pajamas.) It is the first time I have done a bulk of my shopping online and hard to believe, I know, but the first time I shopped in my Pajamas.

OK, now about the closet thing. My closet is a walk in closet that is 16 x 5'. Now that might seem large to some of you and small to others. It is HUGE to me. Derek and I don't own that many clothes. Nor do I want to. I HATE LAUNDRY. The person who invents disposable clothing will have my undying gratitude for the rest of my life.....Oops! I got side tracked. Anyways, I have my sewing machine table and Ironing board set up in the closet and that is how I use up the bigger half of the closet that we don't use. Well, I just went into my closet and there are boxes everywhere. Infact, I can't get to Derek's clothes. It is not my fault. He is the one who stacked the boxes. Walmart and Toys-R-Us send huge boxes, for not alot of items.

You might be thinking, "Hey Lazy, wrap the gifts and put them under the tree." Well, that sounds great but, the kids take after me and poke holes in their presents to see what is in them. So I can't! I have put some Christmas presents under the tree. But I did not put any names on them. So that has stumped them, for the time being. (I just hope I remember, which present goes to which person.) It's a tricky business being Santa's Helper.

I love you Derek! Thanks for 14 fun years.

Disneyland 2007

Last March we headed to Disneyland with my brother Jim (and his family), my brother Josh (and his family), my sister Carol (and her family), and my Uncle Larry (and his family). We were quite a bunch! It was chaotic at times, but seeing the pictures it was obviously well worth it. Besides kids remembering going on rides with cousins and aunts and uncles. Oh yeah and parents and biblings, blah, blah, blah

Enjoy the Slide Show.

DIsneyland 2007 Slide Show

We are Totally Twisted!

Twister is the best game for a family. (Thus the reason we had 5 kids - Twister is just more fun that way!) We play without the spinner, which adds a new element to the game because the caller can call out anything. Which ends up pretty Twisted! I think all of our kids have learned their "right and left" from playing this together.

Twister with the kids

Happy Haunting!

So many SLide Shows, I know. WHat can I say? I love pictures (especially of my family(s).

Here is our Haunted House we made together for family night and last years pics of the kids. I have not yet got this years Halloween Pics on here yet. (I have a good excuse, I have 5 kids and I am having 25 houseguests for Thanksgiving Weekend. I'm busy! It will be so much fun though. The Excitement outweigh the STRESS!)

Happy Halloween 2006 and 2007 pictures

TRICK OR TREAT?!

Happy Halloween??

Tomorrow is Halloween and today was Kason's birthday, Austin had a court of honor, Derek was in charge of the Court of Honor, I was in charge of pretty table and refreshments at the court of honor and then Kason had wrestling practice. AAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!
I am so so tired! And the thought of getting up and getting the kids into costumes and face painting at 7:30am. Sounds so far from fun, I just cannot tell you. I really do like Halloween, I just hate HECTIC!! Austin is not dressing up for school. (bless his heart, one less person to help get ready.) Kason is going to be a BAT! Megan is going to be a "Dead" Cheerleader. Jaxon is going to be a Pirate at school and a Dinosaur during trick or treating. (The only reason I am letting him do both is because, I all ready have the Pirate stuff and a friend lent him a big warm Dinosaur costume. All you have to do is take your shoes off, climb in zip up and put your shoes back on.) He could not decide which one he wanted to be, so he will be both. Ryan is going to be a King, which is fitting since we named him Ryan because Ryan means King. My friend had a King costume and Ryan loved it. (It has a long cape and he just LOVES that! But he keeps telling me he needs a sword. I will be going as my usual haggard tired mother of 5 attire and make-up is not necessary for dark circles under the eyes. Lucky me! Derek and I usually do not dress up. Just getting the kids ready is so much work. Maybe when the kids are a little older and they can kind of do their costume makeup on their own. I have always wanted to go as Miss Piggy and Fozzy the Bear (She dumped the Frog, the Bear made her Laugh!)

Another reason my child might need therapy

Ok, so I have to give a little back ground before I tell you of the conversation I had with my 6 year old. I am LDS and in our church we usually refer to people in our church as Brother (last name here) or Sister (last name here).

I have Myofascial Pain Syndrome (MPS). (I know I had no idea what that was until, I was diagnosed by my OBGYN this last June. After 9 years of thinking I was just having Severe IBS and Kidney Stones, we found out that we and 12 other Dr.'s were wrong. (if you would like more info here is a helpful website my doc. gave me to learn about it: http://members.aol.com/fibroworld/mps.htm (I hope that works)

So, I had picked up a 13 inch TV, without thinking about it (I am not suppose to lift thins over 20lbs. It is a Trigger point for a whirl wind of pain. This was Monday night and by 1:00am I was hurting pretty bad. It was weird because sometimes when I have not had the pain for a while, I start thinking was the pain really that bad? Maybe I could have toughed it out. Then Monday night it hit and by 2:00am I was thinking, this is kind of like Labor. You forget what it feels like and then Transition hits and you say "Oh yeah that's how it feels!" My hubby woke up @4:00am when he heard me downstairs and he was able to think clearly and get my medicine. We know if I take the medicine I will be out of it for at least 6 hours and feel very sleepy, especially since I hadn't slept. So we called a wonderful neighbor who is in our church and my 2 youngest boys stayed with her. I am going to call her "Sister Smith" (I don't want to use real last names) So my son came home after having a great day with her and said, I think I am going to call Justin's mom (Justin is his buddy) Mom Smith! I said, No, honey you don't need to call her Mom Smith, she is not your Mom. Just call her Sister Smith! Ok, how confusing is that to a 5 year old?? After I said it my Husband and I laughed. I love when I can find Humor even when it feels like I am having a horrible day. I just have to remember, I am not having a bad Day, I am just having a bad moment. There can still be humor just around the next moment!