V.I.P.

I'm a V.I.P. in my FAMILY I'm a V.I.P. you SEE! I'm a V.I.P. in my FamilEEE and that's a very good thing to be! A Very Important Person! A Very Important Person! A Very Important Person that's SAM!!
Today was Sam's V.I.P day at school. We got to make a poster of his favorite things and share with his class why he is such an important part of our family. We talked about how he loves his family and loves to play with his brothers. His favorite foods are Turkey, Ham, Salad, Ramen Noodles, Egg Nog, Pumpkin Pie and Cookies. His favorite colors are Red and Blue, his favorite games are Shrek Super Slam and Clue Jr., he likes the movies Monsters Inc. and The Cat in the Hat and he loves the book "Cookies, little bite sized life lessons" (this is a new book from Grandma Reading and he LOVES it!) He also likes to watch "The Suite Life of Zach and Cody" on TV and he LOVES Spiderman. After we showed his poster the kids got to ask him a few questions. He called on his best friends first, then he called on a few girls which I thought was really cute. They asked really great questions for their age I thought, like "what is your favorite Holiday" and "What is your favorite kind of Ice Cream". I went and stole Joshua out of his class for a few minutes so that he could be there too, he was really excited to be there and Sam was so happy to see him walk in. I couldn't find his Spiderman figure to take to show the class so I settled for his Disney Mix Max (he calls it his Ipod) and his Spi-dog (speakers) we played one of his favorite songs which is "I walk the Line" by Johnny Cash, this CRACKED his teacher up and she kept saying "you like Johnny Cash, Sam?!" Then she told him that she likes his songs too. It was really funny. She is a FANTASTIC teacher and SO good for Sam. She is so positive and just LOVES LOVES LOVES her little 5 year olds. The kids all sang the V.I.P song and then at the end they did the Chicken Dance which was HILARIOUS! They had so much fun doing it, they are all so cute.

At the risk of seeming a little too "video happy" I'm including the videos I took in his class today. Mainly for me to look back on later, but they are pretty cute to watch if you don't have anything better to do. :)

Here is a clip of the class shouting er...singing the VIP song to Sam:

Here is a clip of them doing the Chicken Dance:

I could watch this all day! :)

Okay, it took forever to upload these last two videos for some reason or I would have added them to the previous post. I know they are all basically the same thing, but all three of them crack me up for different reasons so I thought I'd share them all. :) Man, I love this kid! :)

Are you ready for THIS?

We got our Christmas decorations out this weekend and Gabe has been glued to this Santa ever since. I've heard this song so many times I'm beginning to hear it in my sleep. Isn't he the cutest stinkin' thing you've ever seen? It appears he's got more than just looks in common with Aunt Sharla, he can MOVE like her too!

My FUTURE?

Note to self: DO NOT go on vacation and leave my 4 boys home alone when they are teenagers...

Wake up MOM!

(Joshua whispering) um...mom...wake up, Mom...Wake Up...LOUD WHISPER...MOM, Are you awake??

Me: I am now...what is it?


Josh: Um, remember how this is the last day of school for the week, um, my teacher told me yesterday that I had to turn in my Indian project...you know, the one that was due yesterday...my teacher said I HAD to turn it in today or I wouldn't get any points so I need to turn it in today... okay?(speaking as if it's totally done and just needs to be put in his backpack)


Me: UH...Joshua...WHAT INDIAN PROJECT???? What are you talking about? Do you HAVE it done? Have you been working on it? I'm totally lost!


Josh: REMEMBER?? That yellow paper that said we had to do an indian project and that it was due on the 21st? REMEMBER??


Me: dumfounded stare....


Josh: Er...so I thought maybe we could work on it before school and we can get it all done and then I'll turn it in and it will be okay because then my teacher will give me the points.


Me: Joshua...it is 7:30 in the morning. Your bus comes in a 1/2 hour, how ON EARTH are we going to create an indian project by 8 o'clock?


Josh: We could just work on it really quick, I'll run and get dressed and you can get out the stuff and we'll be really fast! (my eternal optimist)


AARRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!! NOT the best way to wake up I tell you! BUT, AMAZINGLY ENOUGH....we DID get it done and it looked pretty cute I must say, Joshua had some great ideas and loves every kind of craft so it was right up his alley and he had a ball!


This was just the BEGINNING of my horrible no good day on Wednesday...(if you don't like really REALLY long and wordy drawn out stories of a rotten day then please stop reading now and try again tomorrow when the tone might be a teensy bit happier)


Still here? Okay...here goes:

I took the boys to school (they missed the bus on account of the indian project) and got home and thought to myself, WOW - a WHOLE day home, I can get everything in order and make sure I'm ready for tomorrow. YAY ME! Then I remember to call the toy store because while I was there yesterday looking for a very popular item that my 8 year old wants for Christmas I was told they were out of stock and to call every morning because they get new shipments in every night. So I call and WOW, they have 26 in stock but hurry up because they go really fast. Okay, so I'll run to the toy store, pick up the toy, come back and still have the rest of my day to clean up and get ready for tomorrow. THEN I remember that Sam has early day because it is the last day of school for the week and I don't have time to make it there and back SO I wait...which ends up being fine because by the time I get myself, Gabe and Will ready it is almost time for Sam to come home. He gets home and I call the store AGAIN just to make sure I'm not too late - nope, not too late, still tons left so we head out (after SLAMMING my two middle fingers in the door of the car...YEEEOOUUCCHH) We make it to the toy store and I happily walk up to customer service and ask them nicely where I would find said toy..."um, we don't have any of those in stock" is what I am told. Wait a minute! I called literally 15 MINUTES AGO and was told you had 26! "Oh, yeah that...SORRY about that, but that number you called is actually our call center and they have access to our store inventory and also what the inventory on our trucks are so they must be on one of the trucks that has been delayed. We should have the truck by Friday - Sorry!" So I say "but the lady I talked to on the phone SAID "Thank you for calling the Murray Toys R US, how can I help you?"..." to which the cust. serv. girl replies "oh yeah, they do that, they'll even say things like "let me check the floor for you" but they CAN'T check the floor because they are in a completely different state!" Oh...isn't that nifty. So I say "Okay, well can you call another store for me?" and she says she will and we head to the phones. After waiting for AT LEAST 1/2 hour for her to call two stores she says "okay, the store in Sugar House says they have ONE left, I've asked her to hold it for you but she can't because we can't hold anything for people until after Christmas so I asked her to hide it and she said she will and her name is....oh shoot, I didn't get her name, but she hid it for you. " ....I am just kind of staring at her right now, not saying anything yet because I'm trying to figure out how to nicely say "HOW ON EARTH AM I SUPPOSED TO GO AND FIND SOMETHING THAT IS HIDDEN IN A TOY STORE WITHOUT THE SLIGHTEST IDEA WHO HID IT???" before I can think of a polite way to put this she says "I should probably call her back and get her name so you know who to ask for, huh!" UH.....YOU THINK????? ARGH! So she quickly calls back and tells me I need to ask for Sandy. Ok. Sandy....got it, and we head out. About 1/2 way there I think to myself, I better call her and make sure she will be there when I get there, I can just imagine her going to lunch and me asking for Sandy and being told she'll be back in an hour. SO, I get the bright idea to call and make sure she knows I am almost there. I call 411 to get the number and call the store. "Thank you for calling SugarHouse Toys R Us, how can I help you?" Um...are you ACTUALLY the store or just a call center? "Er...we are a call center ma'am but I can assist you with anything you need!" Okay, can you get Sandy for me? She works in the store. "Ma'am, this is the call center, you'll have to call the store directly" Okay, you see..that is what I TRIED to do, I don't have the SECRET number for the ACTUAL STORE, can you give it to me or transfer me to the STORE? "yes, ma'am...hold please." .....Then I hear the SAME greeting again but this time it actually IS the store so I ask for Sandy. Sandy gets on the phone and I tell her I'm in the parking lot (this is how long it took to reach her) now and do I just ask for her to help me find the toy. She assures me that she has it and to find her in Customer Service. I unload the 3 boys and we head in. There are a few people in line in front of me so I patiently wait. Finally it is my turn and I get up to the counter where Sandy greets me by saying "um...let me guess, you are the person I just talked to on the phone?" Me (still happy at this point) "Yep, that's me!" Sandy: "I am SOOOOO SORRY, but as soon as I got off the phone with you, I turned my back to help a customer and my boss SOLD IT right from under my nose, I swear I had it here for you less than ONE MINUTE ago!!" Me.."Okay, what should I do from here....can I get a raincheck for it?" (I forgot to mention that today is the LAST day this toy is on sale...for TWENTY DOLLARS OFF I might add!) Sandy: "Well, if it says quantities are limited we can't do a raincheck but lets see if it says that in the book" We look, and it does NOT say quantities are limited so she says: "Oh, good, this should be okay, let me just check with my manager" and off she goes. She comes back and says "my manager won't let me do it, he says that we can't do a raincheck on anything that is in the toy book...I'm really sorry!" me: "Okay, do you think I could speak to him?" Sandy: "yes, if you think that would help, he's in the baby section." SO off we (the boys and I) go. We find him and I go up to him and politely say "I'm sorry, but Sandy just came and asked you if I could get a raincheck for a sale item and you said no and I just wanted to explain to you that I have been dealing with this ALL morning long and have been told conflicting things from two of your stores AND came ALL THE WAY out here because I was promised that I would find the LAST one only to find that it has been sold a mere seconds before my arrival. I have a suspicion that the reason all your computers are showing you have this item in stock but you actually don't is because the sale ends today and you are purposely not putting them out until Friday when you can sell them at full price (admittedly, not the best thing to say to the guy but I REALLY DID think that is what they were doing!) All I'm asking for is a raincheck so that I can come this weekend when I KNOW you will have them available and get them at the sale price - why isn't that possible?" The Manager tells me that he is sorry but he just can't give me a raincheck for anything in the toy book for the sale that ends today and then totally looks away from me and continues to stock a shelf. - UH, HELLO! ARGH! - So I say "so, what are my options...is there ANYTHING I can do?" Manager: "No, I don't think so, I'm really sorry" so I start to walk away and with every step I'm getting angrier so I turn back around with tears brimming in my eyes (yes, this is a toy I'm talking about...I'm actually almost CRYING about a STUPID TOY - I should have known at this point to just give up on my day and go home and crawl back into my bed...) Anyway, with tears welling up I look at the guy and say "you know what...I really DON'T THINK you ARE sorry, I mean WHAT IS THE BIG DEAL about just writing a raincheck for something that doesn't say limited stock and that I can come back and get in ONE DAY?" ....to which the Manager replies..."Ma'am, I'm just afraid that I'll write you a raincheck and you won't be able to get the item" (oh YEAH RIGHT) so I say "I don't think that is possible when ALL of your stores say they have 25 in stock RIGHT NOW, which means that there are trucks CARRYING this item that will arrive probably tonight if they aren't in the back already and besides, what is the harm in just writing a raincheck just IN CASE?! I mean, if I don't get one I don't get one but at least if I see one I can have the chance to actually get it at the sale price and I JUST DON'T SEE why as a MANAGER you can't make the executive decision to do that for me!" (looking back, I think that was the phrase that finally got him, I think it made him feel very important - like he really could make executive decisions or something...DUH!) ANYWAY, with a HUGE SIGH (seriously, like he was about to sign over his first born child to me), he looks at me and says "okay, let's do it" ... AAARRRGGHH!! BUT, PHEW! IT'S ABOUT TIME!!! SO, he takes me back to Sandy who is very happy for me and glad (and a little surprised it seems) that I got through to him and writes out the raincheck and we are able to FINALLY leave with BARELY enough time to get home before Joshua gets off the bus. Thankfully about 1/2 way home my friend Tricia calls to ask if it is okay if she gives Joshua a ride home because she is there to pick up Cydney and Joshua wants to go with them. I explain that I'm not home yet, but is it okay if I pick him up from your house? Absolutely! she says and we decide to let them play for awhile which gives me time to run to the store to pick up a prescription and a few other items. We get to the store and the pharmacy is closed for another 15 minutes (just keeping with the same lucky theme!) so I go to get my items only to find that they are COMPLETELY out of frozen strawberries. I get everything else on my list and go back to the pharmacy. They don't have it ready, they don't even have record that it has been called in but it is "probably on the managers messages and he's trying really hard to get them all cleared off so if you'd like to finish your shopping and come back..." Well, the manager doesn't look NEAR ready to finish clearing messages and I am ALREADY finished with my shopping so I bag it...it's just vitamins anyway, I can get those later - so we FINALLY head home. I'm in charge of the Turkey for Thanksgiving and I've been anxious to try a new recipe from a friend in my ward that raves about how tender and juicy the Turkey turns out so I stop by her home for a copy of the recipe and the roasting bag she is donating to me (since I didn't know I needed one). I get home and start preparing things and realize I don't have ANY Chicken stock and the recipe calls for at least two cans. I can tell at this point that loading my kids back into the car to go BACK to the store is JUST NOT an option because I'm quite certain they'd hang me by my eyebrows just for mentioning the idea so I call my friend again to ask her if BY CHANCE she happens to have any leftover that I could borrow until Friday. She does and ACTUALLY BRINGS IT TO MY HOUSE! (Okay, so there WERE bright parts of the day) THANK YOU THANK YOU! So, I get my Turkey in the bag, and put it in my biggest casserole dish because I also forgot a roasting pan and figured it would be fine in this. My baby has been asleep since we got home allowing me to get the Turkey in AND the bulk of the house cleaned up (another bright spot) and I'm feeling pretty positive at this point that things are looking up. Right as I am thinking this I begin to hear a hissing sound...getting louder and louder...I creep to the oven and look inside to find the juices are spilling over the top of the casserole dish onto the bottom of the oven and into the gas flames below (because putting something underneath the dish to catch the drippings would have been MUCH TOO EASY!) So I RUN downstairs to Mark (who is studying) and tell him to hurry up and come upstairs and tell me what I should do because now smoke is beginning to come out. Mark comes to my rescue and we get back to the oven, he opens it and quickly closes it again and says "MEL! That is SO DANGEROUS, this could start a grease fire!" and WHHOOOOSH! He was right, all of a sudden there was an actual FIRE IN MY OVEN!!! AAAAAACCCCCCCCKKKKK! I quickly turn off the gas, which puts out the fire and Mark and I just kind of stare at the stove while the kitchen quickly fills with gray smoke. We check on the Turkey and suprisingly it looks just fine so we decide to move it to the downstairs oven and put the one upstairs on self clean to get rid of all the mess. Um. BAD IDEA. REALLY REALLY BAD IDEA! About 20 minutes later the 3 boys run frantically down the stairs (where I'm talking to Mark a minute before returning upstairs) to tell us that the whole house is filling up with smoke so we all RUN back up to find the ENTIRE UPSTAIRS in a thick thick fog of gray smoke and a HORRIBLE HORRIBLE SMELL! ARGH!! So we go to the oven and it appears that the worst is over because there is no longer any smoke near the oven itself so we decide to leave it on self clean and open all the doors and windows to air the house out. It takes about 1 minute for the heat to air out with the smoke and soon our house is FREEZING! Our thermometer said it was 46 degrees INSIDE by the time we were finally able to close the doors and turn up the heat again. PHEW! SO, after that fun adventure I move on to make the Strawberry Pretzel Salad that I have been craving for MONTHS and have been SO excited for this excuse to finally make it. I start by making the crust, but wait...it needs to bake and BOTH of my ovens are unavailable so I have to wait until the Turkey is done (thankfully only about 30 minutes) to bake the crust. I finally get it baked and cooling (oh, and I decide to PICK UP the burning dish with my fingers to move it from the stove to the table, thus burning two fingers on my right hand so now I've crushed two fingers on my left hand and burned two on the other hand) and start working on the first layer only to find that I am short a container of cool whip. I thought it only called for one, but alas, it calls for two (I'm not surprised at all, at this point I have accepted my lot for the day and am just rolling with it) so I call down to Mark to let him know I'll be back and I'm running to the store. THANKFULLY, I am able to make it to the store and back, finish the dish, wake up my baby to eat (who has STILL been sleeping this ENTIRE TIME) and make it to bed by 11pm (which is a pretty reasonable hour for me) with no further catastrophe's. HALLELUIJAH! SO MUCH FOR MY EASY GOING, JUST STAY HOME and casually get things ready for the big day DAY. WHEW!!! Oh well, some days are just like this I suppose. I will post about Thanksgiving later because it was really fun but my fingers are about to fall off and I'm sure (if you've stuck with me) that you're about to fall asleep from boredom so I'm going to end this post finally. HOORAY!

Smitten

Well, it's official...were are all completely smitten by this little guy. You should have seen every one of us acting like complete idiots all weekend long just to get a smile. SERIOUSLY, it's very addicting. He's almost laughing now and just grins, grins, grins all the time! He stole Mark's heart on Sunday as he did nothing BUT smile at his daddy everytime he looked at him. We are so lucky to have him in our family. I know that the last post was of him but this picture was just too cute not to post. We had a family photo shoot on Sunday with the boys in their Thanksgiving brown sweaters. You are all probably sick of these by now but they are my FAVORITE so they wear them often. I had to go to every mall in the state practically to get them last year so I figure they better get some good use or my efforts will have been futile. :) We went grocery shopping on Saturday and Mark bought some egg nog for the first time this season. The boys were on an egg-nog high all weekend long. Every time they drank it they had to say "cheers" Gabe especially loved this concept and has tried it each time he drinks his milk. We are SO excited for Thanksgiving! We are having dinner at Shar's and then going to a Thanksgiving movie. This is a tradition of ours, I remember times when our extended family came along and we filled 3 ROWS of the movie theatre - these are such wonderful memories to me. We've also been known to fill the theatre on New Year's day, but I haven't done that with the family in YEARS! ANYWAY, I am in charge of the turkey, potatoes and pie, Shar is doing a ham, jello, rolls, stuffing and yams. YUM YUM YUM!!!! Happy Thanksgiving EVERYONE!!

Mr. Minty

Mark seems to have a name for all of our babies' pajamas. I think this started with Gabe, but he may have named them all along. Anyway, now that Will has inherited all of the pjs that Gabe wore it is funny to hear the same names repeated. The first time Mark saw him wear these he said, "Hey! It's Mr. Minty!" He's also said we should color brown polka-dots all over it and he could be Mint Chocolate Chip. Here are some other favorites: (keep in mind, they are all taken early and when he's hungry and not in the best of moods) :)

Peppermint Stick:

Mr. Stripey:

Picnic Boy:

This outfit is new (I LOVE it Becky!) and has been named "little Jailbird"

So funny! I love the picture of him smiling at the top. He is such a sweet little baby and we love him SOOO much! It is so cute to watch the boys interact with him and try to make him smile. He's SO lucky to have three big brothers!

Hugs from Heaven

WOW! What a difference a little better perspective can make! Yesterday was kind of a nothing day. Saturday was SUCH a LONG and stressful day (more about that later) and Sunday was great like always but full, so yesterday I felt no motivation to do ANYTHING at all. The bigs went back to school so it was just the littles and I with NO motivation to get anything done. I had to return a pair of Jeans to Gymboree because I had gotten the wrong size and didn't realize it until I put them on Gabe and they were too tight. Since I didn't have anything planned for dinner I called Mark and suggested we meet at the mall to eat. He was SUPER tired but willingly obliged, we had a yummy dinner, I took back the jeans and we let the kids play in the dino-land for awhile and came home. I stayed up WAY too late but had the chance to read my cousin AD's blog and felt totally inspired. Her story was simple but it totally touched me because MY kids are like those sweet little kids right NOW, they are small NOW and I am throwing days away because of silly excuses of being too tired. I KNOW how fast kids grow up. I've seen how fast my Sister and Brother's children have become teenagers and adults, one of them with nearly two children of her own (Courtney's baby girl is due in March), and I swear every time I blink mine get bigger - so WHY do I let a day like yesterday totally go to waste?!! So last night (actually this morning as it was 3am) I vowed to make today count, I knew I would be tired but I am determined not to ACT tired, it is my fault I stayed up so late, not theirs! We had pancakes (the boxed kind that you microwave---I DIDN'T SAY I vowed to be SUPERWOMAN!) and fruit for breakfast and then we went into the FHE room and had a lesson on Jesus and becoming Fishers of Men. Gabe said he wanted to say the prayer and it was so cute because he totally doesn't repeat after you, just says what you just said in his own way...Mom: "Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for the boys, help us to have a good day today, Help us to enjoy our lesson, Help us to think of thee all day"...etc. Gabe: "Dear Jesus, tank you day, tank you Mommy, tank you Mah (Sam backwards without the "s"), tank you Zosh, Jesus Tyst, Men" Anyway, the boys loved it, they missed their bus - we watched it drive right by out the FHE room window, but it was worth it and I don't feel tired AT ALL, I'm sure it will hit later, but I feel great. SO THEN to top it off, my visiting teachers came by today and the lesson was WONDERFUL, she talked about Elder Eyring's (I think) lesson about writing down when we feel that we've received extra help from above. She called them "Hugs from Heaven" and included a little notebook for me to write them down and a bag of Hershey's Hugs. SO SWEET! My Heavenly Father LOVES ME! Little old ME, I am just one little person on this full to capacity Earth yet he makes sure that I feel of his love and devotion at times when I need it the most. I am SO blessed, he has sent me an incredible and loving husband, 4 beautiful and inspiring boys, a wonderful family and still he never leaves me alone, he's still always up there sending me hugs right when I need them and I couldn't be more thankful for that!

Pretzel Instructions:

Hey there! Okay, so a few of you have asked about the pretzels so I thought I'd put the instructions here. They are actually just from frozen Rhodes dough - seriously guys....that IS homemade to me. :) HA! I'll consider a frozen Lasagna homemade if I'm the one that sets the oven, bakes and serves it.

Anyway, I got the idea from a recipe for "Witches Fingers" that I saw on a Utah show...not "good things Utah" but another one and I can't remember the name. To make the pretzels you thaw out the dough (no more than 4 at a time) in the microwave for 25 sec. then turn them over and cook again for 25 sec. Then take them out and let them sit at room temp. for 15 or so minutes. If you can shape the dough right out of the microwave you can go ahead and use it, I just let mine sit for a minute to get a little more soft. Boil a small pan of water and then reduce to a simmer. Shape your pretzels and put in the simmering water for 1 minute. This keeps the dough from rising too much in the oven making it more like a pretzel than a roll. Then take them out, sprinkle with salt (I used sea salt) and Kraft Parmesan Cheese if desired (VERY YUMMY)and glaze with a beaten egg (beat with 1 Tablespoon of water)place on a greased baking sheet and bake at 425* for 12-15 minutes until golden brown.

To turn them into Witches fingers just roll them into breadsticks, and knarl up the "fingers" by pinching them in various places to form knuckles and warts. Use a butter knife to put 3 "lines" in the knuckles, then boil. THEN take sliced Almonds, paint them with red food coloring and put them in the top of each finger for the nail. SO FUN!!

Okay, last one I PROMISE!

I had Sharla e-mail me a picture from her phone so I could get one of her and Gabe dancing. HAHAHAHAHA!! Okay, I'm really done now, thanks to my playing all day I have a VERRRRRYYYY messy house to clean tomorrow. Ugh. I can't wait to show this to Gabe when he wakes up!

This is CRACKING me up!!

Okay, so I happened to use the exact same two as Megan used on her site, but what can I say, she has good taste, these were the best ones! The boys have been in fits of giggles today watching these videos over and over! I'm going to try to do one of Shar and Gabe. :)

HILARIOUS!!

Thank you to Megan for doing this on her blog which inspired me to create one too. This was SO much fun to do, I LOVE Mark's face here...PRICELESS!! I just might have to try them all! Stay tuned!!!

created at jibjab.com

Flowers!

Joshua gave me a flower today. Not the store bought or hand-picked kind. NOPE, even better! He drew it in chalk with notes all over the cement that said "I love you Mom" I am so lucky! I love these little reminders of how sweet my boys are. I know he's not going to be 14 and writing notes for me with sidewalk chalk so I better appreciate it while I can. I love you TOO Joshua! My life is blessed just to have you in it!

Pretzels!

Today I made homemade Pretzels, Cheese Quesadillas and Pumpkin Cookies for lunch and Peggy's Chicken Pillows for dinner. Yep, I totally rocked yesterday. Today we'll probably have cereal for all three meals. :)

Tough Love

Okay, so I have a theory...deep in every tiny baby's heart is a desire to sleep. To put themselves to sleep, to not dread sleep and to find dreamy, peaceful, wonderful comfort in sleep. Therefore, since my now 8 year old was just about two months old I started the "tough love" method of putting him to sleep, letting him cry it out if needed until he learned to put himself to sleep. I never let him cry for longer than 10 minutes at this tiny age and he got the hang of it immediately! It worked so well that I've done the same thing with each of my babies at around this time. Well, Will has still been sleeping in our bed (because seriously, it is JUST SO MUCH EASIER!!!) and has been sleeping ALL night long for at least a few weeks - I realized the other day that he is about the age where I should start laying him down to sleep before he's actually "sleeping" and let him put himself to sleep. SO, I tried this a few times by laying him on our bed (the bed he's been used to since he came home from the hospital) and it worked like a charm, one second he's awake, the very next second he's out like a light, not even a whimper! YAY ME! (Okay, it's obvious by the Yay Me! remark that I've been watching WAY TOO MUCH Zack and Cody with the boys - but it's the first thing that came to my mind so I'm rolling with it!) So then Friday afternoon I thought to myself "Hey, this is going so great, I should try putting him in his crib!" And thus, the screaming began...AND, to top it off, I'm discovering that the 4th time around I'm a MUCH bigger sap than I have been with the other three...maybe I should say "first two" since I've pretty much been going downhill since Gabe started using his beautiful chocolate brown puppy dog eyes as ammo on me from the time he was about 4 months old. I've always been secretly proud of my parenting skills as far as following through, standing my ground etc...until he came along and I swear he takes great pride in being responsible for my parental undoing! :) ANYWAY!!! ...as I was saying, I'm a MUCH bigger sap with this perfect little baby boy and hearing him cry scream for even a few minutes about did me in. So much so, that I didn't even try the crib yesterday - but TODAY was a new day, I woke up ready to tackle the crib with Will but not the potty with Gabe...BABY STEPS PEOPLE!! The potty will have to wait for another day. Once again,ANYWAY!!... I took the boys to see "the BEE Movie" today and when we got home I could tell that Will was exhausted and not hungry since he'd been eating nonstop in the movie so I thought it would be a good time to give the crib another go...Now I also have another theory, based on prior experience and that is that there are steps to the crying it out method that you can hear just by listening to the cry itself. I believe it goes something like this:

Step 1 - the whimper cry that seems a little confused as to what just happened, as if he is saying: "HA! Yeah right Mom...really funny, yep - the crib is cute and all, love the soft sheets, but you're not fooling anyone, I mean COME ON! You didn't REALLY think you'd get away with putting me in this thing did you? Now pick me up, hold me close again and I'll calm right down...last chance! Oh yeah right...like you REALLY think I'm going to go for that binky thing that you just shoved in my mouth...Seriously Mom...I'm about to get really upset here...I'm NOT KIDDING!" which leads us right into Step #2...

Step 2 - the increasingly "louder by the second" cry...louder and louder and seeming to say: "Okay, okay - I get it, you're trying to prove a point. Point noted, now PICK ME UP, this isn't funny anymore!! For CRYING OUT LOUD (HA! Cute little pun I didn't even plan on) this is RIDICULOUS! I will give you ONE MORE CHANCE to pick me up and I will calm down...ONE MORE CHANCE! - HOW MANY TIMES do I have to spit that binky out before you realize I DON'T WANT IT!! Okay, you've done it now, you asked for it...here GOES!" onto Step #3...
Step 3 - the full-on SCREAM! "Oh....you've REALLY done it this time! I'm a NEWBORN for heaven's sake! I'm not supposed to be allowed to cry like this...you just WAIT until Daddy gets home! He's going to get an earful this time, I tell you WHAT! Don't you think this is working, don't you DARE think this is working, I'm NEVER going to stop crying NEVER, you've done it now, you think I'm kidding but I'm not, I am NOT KIDDING - I am going to cry forever...you just...sniff, breathe...sniff...you just ...sniff, calming...sniff...you just wait..sniffle...breathe.... and finally, Step#4...

Step 4 - the occasional sniffle and suck in of breath..."okay Mom, I think we started off all wrong...OBVIOUSLY, you're serious here, I need sleep, you can see that, I mean even I can see that, you know I don't normally act like this, I don't know what got into me...why don't you put that binky thing back in my mouth and we'll start over...let's just pretend this never even happened...you forget about it...I'll forget about it, heck! I'm a newborn, I've ALREADY forgotten about it! No hard feelings? No?? Okay good - over and out.....ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ....
And there you have it, the tough love method...those four steps - if your babies are as predictable as mine will occur in 10 minutes or less (the time seems to increase the older they get which is why I like to start trying at about 2 months)and your baby will be OUT for the COUNT! So did it work today??? Like a charm, he was out for 2 hours, HOORAY! The best part of this story (other than the fact that it is almost done, HA!) is that I laid him down there again tonight after FHE (Sam chose to play "Sardines in the dark" for the activity which is VERY hard to do holding a baby) and he went out without a peep and was still sleeping until I got him up to change his diaper and put on his p.j's for the night...where is he sleeping now?? Uh...right beside me in our bed as I type this on the laptop...he might not leave our bed in the night until I stop nursing...I think I'm just getting too lazy!!! Hooray for my little crib sleeper! I am so proud of him! I love this baby!!!

Last of the Halloween Goodies...

Happy November!!! Since I still have a few Halloween stories to post I thought I'd better do it fast before November gets too much underway. Seriously though...CAN YOU BELIEVE IT IS ALREADY NOVEMBER!!!! At the end of this month I'm going to have a three month old and I swear he was just born a week ago!!! ARGH! I can't believe how fast time flies by!!

Anyway, we've had such a busy week! Saturday we went to a Halloween party at our friend's house. We all dressed up and it was SOOOO much fun! Rachelle did WAAAAAY too much and everyone had such a ball! I guessed the correct amount of Goblin's droppings in the jar and got to bring home the jar of Milk Duds!! She even sent all the kids home with darling little halloween themed snow globes!

Sorry for the blurry photo...it was all I had, but Gabe is in such true costume character...don't you think?? :)

Tuesday we went to Murray Park with our friends Tricia, Cydney and Ben. It was SO much fun! We went to Burger King first and the kids had a blast playing in the playplace there, so much in fact that we had a hard time getting them to leave to go to the park. We'd never been to Murray Park and it was SO pretty and SO much fun. The kids had a ball playing on the playground and then we went and fed the ducks. There were leaves EVERYWHERE, it was SO beautiful! I tried to get a picture of Will in all of the leaves but he didn't think it was very much fun AT ALL so I could only take a few before he totally lost it. I guess being set down in a bed of crunchy scratchy leaves is about as fun as it sounds!! :)

Monday night we went to a Halloween Carnival put on by Elise's Drill team. We went last year and the boys loved it so they were UBER excited to go when they found out she was doing it again this year. They wore their costumes and played lots and lots of games with tickets, ate cotton candy, hot dogs, soda, cupcakes and every other kind of sugary thing you can think of. Then they got to go out to the grass in the pitch black and hunt for Goblin Eggs (orange and black easter-type eggs) and fill their trick-or-treat bags. There were 5,000 eggs and even more candy and mini pumpkins just on the grass. They filled up their bags with the eggs in no time and spent all of Tue. morning going through each one. Nope...we didn't paint a Pirate's beard on Gabe's face (below) ...that's pure chocolate! Ugh.Tuesday night we carved pumpkins and made a huge mess as we carved one for every member of the family. Joshua wanted a scary face, Sam wanted the "traditional pumpkin" look, Mark did a moon and star, we tried to do a Mickey Mouse head for Gabe but it didn't work out so then we turned it into a pumpkin face. Mark did a cute little face for Will's and as the only girl in the family I saw it fitting to cover mine with hearts. :)


Wednesday afternoon Erika came over and watched the boys so Sharla and I could go to a movie. They LOVE Erika so they were absolutely thrilled! It was so fun being with Shar and relaxing. Will was a little cranky in the movie but it was okay because we were the ONLY ones in there! We watched "Why did I get Married" (I think that is the name) it was okay. I liked it, but it definitely wasn't my favorite. I think I just liked being out more than anything. :) Mark was going to pick up pizza but got to Papa Murphy's and the line was out the door so he called and said "how 'bout Mcdonald's instead?" The boys scarfed down their food and threw on their costumes and headed out the door to trick-or-treat. Mark took the wagon and they had SO much fun. Gabe was so excited to try out his new trick-or-treating skills and they all came home with their bags FULL of more sugar. yay. ugh. But I'm glad they had fun! Sam woke up on Thurs. morning sad that Halloween was already over and "how come it went away SO fast??" I wanted to explain that he'd just endured a FULL WEEK of Halloween type activities so in reality his Halloween lasted WAY LONGER than usual but instead I just tried to get him excited for Thanksgiving, it didn't really work though, because what is the fun in just getting together to eat a Turkey??!!
Thursday I started cleaning the toy room downstairs. HOLY COW! I'm SO mad at myself for not taking before and after pictures because SERIOUSLY - I've NEVER seen a room so completely and utterly destroyed! Conclusion: we have WAY too many toys. I'm thinking of giving Santa the year off this year as from the looks of the toy room they don't need a SINGLE THING! I'm still not done but I'm close. The boys helped a little and it should get done today I hope.

Anyway, that's our crazy week! I hope everyone had a FANTASTIC Halloween!!!