Brag.... if I must

I was upstairs this afternoon cleaning and I heard magic downstairs. Bryson and Addy were singing and playing instruments together. They have many things to do in their pastime today, for it is Saturday. Not a tv or computer or radio was on(or an x-box or wii). What a beautiful sound for a mother to hear. Bryson even let me take a short clip of him, that is I must say, a rare occasion.

(This is so funny. Carson is hiding over there behind the chair eating a whole pack of gum. You see his back? When he can't see us, we can't see him.)
Addy wont miss a minute to shine so here she is too. I cut off the end of her song, the 2nd time, but she just wouldn't stop singing:) No, really is was an accident.

I love ya kids!!

Halloween Time

I have been out of sight for a while. Lots has happened here in the great Salt Lake City. First of all, winter is here and I am not too happy about the freezing, constant snow that will now be here for 6 months. Yes, the first real snow storm has come. We got out the snow clothes. Sure is sad for the people here who LOVE the beautiful, warm Florida weather. Oh well, time to get ready for the wonderful white Christmas that rarely misses Utah. Yeah.

Carson thought he was ready for the bitter cold.

Luke, Janet, Kevin and AddyYes, Randy really did dress up. I'm so proud. It lasted a whole 20 minutes. Thanks Janet for the costumes. It was fun. You see a slice of Corah's body? She was a wrestler for trick or treating. Bryson, Cole and Corah did whatever it took to not get a picture of them in their costumes. I don't know, maybe it's the pre-teen thing. Thank goodness one of them likes to smile for pictures. Addy smiles and poses anytime I need her to.
For Halloween Addy was Queen Elizabeth for school and for part of the day Carson was a frog until he begged to be a lion.

Uncle Kevin helped us carve pumpkins.

And Dad stood there and looked cute.

Lizard Heads are the bomb

So, we had a good time making lizard heads. Thank goodness these boys help me learn what I need to on this earth. Where would I be without the love they continue to give so willingly?

Cole assured me that his nerdiness was cute.

Not what I ordered

At what age do we realize that socks do not magically appear in the sock drawer? It has been a rough morning and I don't remember choosing this life for myself. I know these days only pop up once in a while, so I am grateful for such great kids and great days every other day. But, today, in a round about way, I called my child a dweeb and I need to be taken to counseling. This morning Addy was being great so rahh to her.
Bryson and Cole have been making these dumb, folded, paper, chomper things and I hate them. This is how the bad started:
Me: Bryson, why are you not dressed?
Bryson: I can't find any black socks.
(All 4 kids wear black socks everyday, so that's at least 30 black socks that need to washed and folded and put away a week, counting Randy's and my own.)
Me: Did you wash your clothes this week? (Bry and twins are doing their own laundry-kinda, well not really at all.)
Bryson: Ya, but there are not any clean black socks.
Cole jumps in: We can only find girl black socks.
(To make things easier, we have all uniform clothes in the guest bedroom including all of the kids black socks in 1 drawer. Come on--that's simple right?)
Bryson: I don't know why I can't find any boys black socks.
Me: (As I was loosing it, maybe just a soft yell.) Do ya think the Magic Sock Fairy forgot to put the socks away?
Bryson: Mom, I don't know where to find them and anyway, Cole and Corah wanted me to fold these guys for them.

Me: (Counting slowly to 10 in my head) Bryson, please get some socks in the clothes basket in the laundry room and get your stuff in the car.
We all got in the car to leave and somehow 5 thousand of these dumb chomper guys got in too.
They are so adorable. I got these out of the trash. The other 92 of them were too crumpled up from last night. And, the really good ones, with teeth and eyes and tongues and wings got taken to school. So, I am trying to be grateful that these are simple, harmless joys for kids and they are just being creative and cute. But, I couldn't contain myself any longer when Bryson started chomping them in my face while I was driving. He just had to make these weird loud screeching noises for me to loose it.
I am such a bad mom because I didn't think before I spoke.
Me: Bryson, stop that!!
Bryson: eeeerrrrwwcccccc
Me: Bryson, only dweebs made those kinds of things when I was in school.
(I don't even say the word dweeb, in fact, I don't think I have ever said that word.)
There was a pause.
Corah in the back with her nice sweet voice: Mom that wasn't very nice.
Bryson: Mom, my friends know me and they like them. They make them too. Anyway, I don't care if they call me that.
I stuck my foot in my mouth and softly said, "Bye. Have a good day. I love you all."
So, now I am home and realize that I do not deserve the kids I have. Should I really not care so much if they are not doing their laundry?
I will love and kiss them all when they get home and I guess I will just have to fold dumb chomper guys too.........Such a wonderful life if my worries are socks and chomper guys!!!
(Corah corrected me--the paper things are not chomper guys, they are lizard heads...duh)

BYU

We had the chance to go a BYU game a couple of weeks ago and go visit Cindy and Kevin. It was so fun to be in Provo with them and take Bryson and Cole to their first BYU game. They got to sit in the college section with Cindy. They loved it.

Randy, Cindy, Bryson, Kristy, Cole the mophead and Kevin

Love ya Sis.

A LONG AWAITED DAY

American Heritage of South Jordan has just opened up their new school. Our kids have been so excited. It is beautiful inside and out. These kids have been counting down the days. They absolutely love it and cannot wait to get up in the morning. (Let's hope it lasts.)
Bryson, has also entered middle school. He has a locker and sports ed and block schedule with 10 classes. I am loving the grown up in him. He has always been an old soul and now he gets to use his smarts. I better love these babies now while I can still control them. No, I am just kidding, I don't control them, I'm just keeping them in a special, beautiful bubble. (I'm trying to remember that in 3 short years we will have 3 teenagers.) Slow down the clock. Please.

FOR THE LOVE OF POTATOES

Potatoes, potatoes everywhere!!
Randy, Grandpa and Grandma (and Toots) took the annual trip to Idaho to get some delicious Idaho Potatoes. I used to laugh at them and the love of potatoes, but we have joined the club. Randy is now the ring leader. The craziest part is they got 5,000 lbs. Yes that is correct. Five thousand pounds of potatoes. To be exact it was 4,905 lbs. I know it sounds insane, but they are taken now.

Thanks Dad and Randy!!

These too.

They got them bagged before I could get a pictureThere is Bev in the background wheelin and dealin.
She feels like she is back on the farm.