Sariah's Problem

We finally decided to take away the binky from the little slug bug and life really, really, really SUCKS for all those within a 5 foot radius of the child. She screams and yells and cries for the "bink" and won't take a nap anymore. I think I'm about to go insane. She cries all day long and all she wants is her "bink". James isn't the most quiet at 5:30 in the morning when he wakes up and since she's found her way into our bed each night, she wakes up with him and starts asking. I don't know how much more I can take. James keeps telling me it's worth it but I'm beginning to wonder if it really is. Afterall...he's NOT the one home with her all day while she's a monster and the only time I get a little peace and quiet is when I lock my self in the bathroom. I hope it ends soon and she realizes that they aren't coming back because I'm at my limit. I miss her beautiful little smiling face!

Our Halloween Party!

We had our Halloween Party last night and it was a BLAST!!! I am so happy that it all turned out well. I did get a little nervous when not all the tables were set up and people were showing up EARLY!!! The party was supposed to start at 6:30 and I had people showing up at 10 after and people in charge of tables didn't show up til 6:30-6:40! Oh well! It still worked out and people really seemed to enjoy it. As I walked around checking things out people were laughing and having fun, so it was a success! The youth did a kids spook alley and a scarier one that people really enjoyed. We had a fun mummy wrap and shoot ghosts and pumpkins with marshmallows, face painting, donut hang, ping pong toss, cupcake walk, ghost suckers...I think that's all. I am very pleased with my first party and I hope they continue to go well. I think I had the cutest kids there too. Tank was Anakin and Jarom decided to go with Darth Vader. Ana was Mitchie from Camp Rock, Beka was a purple horse, and Sariah was a pink Carebear! They were so cute. James and I wore our "this is my costume" shirts and that was enough. We're lame...but at least we made a small effort!

Blog-aholic!

I'm being a total blog freak today and adding a whole bunch...but I don't care. I guess the first step is to admit that you have a problem and I am....I'm a huge DORK! So, Sariah really likes to watch the Twilight trailers with me and the last one (and best I must add) came out. Sariah runs over and jumps up on my lap every time I'm watching it. She asks to watch it again by cocking her head to the side, flashing her eyes to the screen, pointing and saying "ya" (which is the way she asks permission for anything). She also has a favorite part in the trailer. She really likes when James takes a sniff and says "you brought a snack"! She loves snacks and asks for them all the time. When it comes to that part she smiles and looks at me with the cutest little grin and says "nack"! I love it. I know some of you think I'm a total dork, but I think it's cute and I will cherish all these fun moments forever.

Yeah!!!

I'm so excited...at 9:30 I have accomplished a lot. I have emptied and put away the dishes in the dishwasher and reloaded it. Did a load of laundry, took out the trash, swept and mopped the kitchen, vacuumed the downstairs, and scrubbed the downstairs bathroom. The only thing I hadn't done was eat breakfast and so that's what I did before this post. I love when I feel like I've gotten a lot accomplished...makes me feel so special! Now...on to the upstairs and some rearranging! Wish me luck!!!

Poor Little Jarom!

Little Armjo has not been feeling good since we came home from Arizona. I thought it was just trying to get back into the routine and all that. Monday he came home and went to sleep at 6pm. On Tuesday he complained that his stomach hurt and that he was tired but he wanted to go to school. Wednesday I got a call to come and pick him up, so I did. I came in with the 3 older kids to talk to Stephenie because she was watching the 3 youngers ones. About 30 minutes later I noticed I hadn't seen Jarom and no one had either. I went out to the car and he was slumped over the arm rest of the passenger and drivers seat fast asleep. I had to carry him in the house and later that night checked his temp. and it was 103.2! Yikes!!! I had given him tylenol just before checking and within 20 minutes he was back to normal. He came downstairs and got some food and then was out again for the rest of the night. He was a little more himself but not so much. All he wanted to do was lay on the couch and sleep. When we sat down at church yesterday I felt impressed to get up and take him in. We got to the ER and they were so awesome. They had to take some blood to do a cbc and he didn't like that. They did it and left the tube in his arm for the i.v. He didn't like it. Fortunately he only had a UTI...not that that's good but I'm glad it wasn't anything worse. They checked his appendix to make sure. He's feeling better today and I hope it continues. He doesn't want to take the medicine because it's gross and he takes 4 tsp twice a day. I told him what the dr. said and that was, if he doesn't take it or it doesn't work...he comes back and they'll have to do it through an i.v. to make sure he gets better. YIKES!!! Jarom decided he was going to take the yucky medicine and get better! I sure hope so because I much prefer his beautiful happy smiling face!

Tall Tales!

James is quite the character! He has been telling the kids some really funny things from his childhood. He didn't have tons of money growing up, but he likes to act like they were completely destitute just for a good laugh. One of the kids favorites is that they didn't have toys and they only had dirt to play with. They were lucky to find a fun rock and only the rich people had trees to be able to climb. It was a treat to be able to put on clean clothes after playing in the dirt all the time. Halloween was the best because instead of costumes, they were guaranteed clean clothes. He is such a NERD! When it came to eating they were able to hop up on the table and take turns chewing on the piece of meat that hung from the ceiling. He was always first and so that's why he's the biggest and Amy is so small because she was last and there wasn't much left for her. The kids think it is so darn funny and laugh forever about it. I do think it's hilarious and I love his storytelling abilities. More than anything I love seeing him with the kids and the way they just eat up the attention they get. We'll have to see what stories he comes up with next!

Standing for Something!!!

President Hinckley has exhorted us to stand up for the things that are good and righteous. Friday we got home after spending some time in Arizona with family and it was a long drive with 5 kids. Saturday I was wanting to unpack, clean the house and just relax for a while. About 8:30 I got a call from our home teacher and counselor in the Elders Quorum. He asked us if we were willing to come and stand on a street corner to help hold signs for Prop. 8. My initial thought was..."are you freakin' kidding me, it's Sat, I just got home last night and I don't want to go stand outside and hold signs up for ANYTHING!!!" WRONG-O!!! I quickly changed my attitude and told him that we would be there. We got all the kids ready and showed up to help hold signs to let others know how we feel and what we believe to be good. It felt good. Of course there were the few that drove by and gave us a thumbs down and even the bird a few times but we would just smile and wave. A few yelled nasty comments that weren't heard over the traffic...that was a blessing. One person did say that we were a bunch of bigots. Oh well. Later at Costco Bekah looked at me with a loving little face and said..."Mom, you're such a bigot." I wanted to die. We explained to her that it wasn't a nice thing to say and that we shouldn't ever call people that. It was a nice introduction to a conversation with the older kids about standing up for what we believe. It's tough to do sometimes, especially over such a touchy subject. I am grateful for the opportunity to do so and for me kids to see us take a stand as a family to try and preserve just that...our family!

Will it ever get better?

The past couple of days have been really trying for me. On Friday James and I were planning on going on a date and the whole day was set for things that needed to get done. I went for my usual walk with my neighbor and when I got home put the girls in the rub and got 'em all washed up. When I turned the water off I heard Ammon screaming bloody murder, so I go running downstairs to see water seeping into the living room carpet...YIKES!!! The toilet overflowed and flooded the bathroom and into the living room and front closet. After 1 1/2 hours, 8 ruined rolls of toilet paper and rugs strewn across the front lawn, I was done enough to go get James so he could pick up the new battery for his motorcycle. Finally we ended up going out to get some pizza and a movie (Eagle Eye and it was totally awesome!) I was enjoying the night. Sat we watched our neighbor kids and the girls room ended up trashed. There were toys from one side to the other and every inch of floor was covered. I wasn't too happy and it only took til 8 P.M. to get it cleaned. At this point I'm wanting to pull my hair out. James enjoyed Priesthood and some Denny's with some of the guys. Sun. was nice with being able to watch conference although a little unrealistic as James is yelling at the kids for moving during the 2nd session...they had filled their quota for the day! Mon. I tried to go on a walk with all the kids...JOKE!!! It isn't working and I need my exercise time because it's the perfect stress reliever to help me get my day going. I called my dad because he was supposed to have surgery and got him just before he was ready to roll and that was nice. Tues. I hoped would be a better day! I got an e-mail from Cheryl (dad's wife) and it said that dad was staying in the hospital because he had a pretty high fever and his blood pressure dropped. I wasn't prepared for this and took it pretty hard. His temp was at 105 after the surgery but dropped to 102 on Tues....big whoop!!! They were flooding him with 4 different antibiotics to try and get rid of the infection, but I think the BP went back up...it was something like 84/47. A little stressful!!! In the meantime Ammon was taking pictures of Beka's bum and then dropped my camera on the stairs and broke it. CAN IT GET ANY BETTER???!!! So, things have been a little stressful and I'm trying to pack and get ready to leave on top of it all. This morning I got another e-mail about dad and he's still got the infection and they can't find the right antibiotics to get rid of it b/c they don't really know what it is. I am totally stressed but I know that things will work out. I need to be a little more patient and have a little more faith. I really do know that it will get better, it will just take time. Thanks for reading my little rant here...I definitely feel much better!

Anyone want a marker?

I think the pictures speak for themselves. She's a cute one...no one can deny that. Fortunately the only thing that got the marker was her and the balcony off our bedroom...easily washable!

Funny Little Sariah

The other night James and I were sitting on the couch having a heated discussion when Sariah came downstairs to join us. She was supposed to be in bed but she climbs out all the time now. So, I was trying to have her say the word "shoe" for James because she says it more clearly now and I was just trying to find something for her to do. After asking her 4-5 times she looked and James and did the little crazy thing on her ear. It was so funny, but then to make us laugh even harder she giggled with her hand over her mouth. She is a little aper like nobody's business. ANYTHING that daddy does, she does. When we say prayers and stuff it's like watching twins. So, she learned these things from Dad and we love watching her do them at her own times. She's so funny and makes her siblings laugh quite often.

Thankful Little Beks

I love happy thankful little people...it just doesn't get much better than that. So, a couple of nights ago Beka got up in her chair for dinner and was so darn excited. I don't remember what we were having but apparently she was excited for it. When we all sat down and got ready to say the prayer she leaned over to me and said "Mom, thank you for this wonderful lunch it is so yummy and makes me so happy. I love you!" Aaaahhh!!! I almost cried. It was so sweet and heartfelt that I didn't really know what to say. I gave her a hug and told her she was more than welcome. I guess we can all be a little more grateful for all the things we have even if they aren't really a "big" deal. I'm glad Beka's here to help me remember that!