Witches and Mummies

Here are the kids costumes for Halloween. They loved them. And the girls actually wore them everyday last week except for Monday. It was not fun washing their clothes every night, but you have to have clean witches.
Morgan

Paige

Oakley

Andrew

Aiden

And the whole Hoard.

I'm 100% Positive She's My Soul Mate

Kip and Lafawnduh want to wish you all a Happy Halloween. Kip loves Halloween about as much as he loves technology. Hope you all have a great one!

And here is a tasty little treat for you all to enjoy. Wish it was louder, but what can you do.

A Change of Plans

I had my afternoon planned perfectly. I had returned home from being gone all morning doing all the things we mom's do and I was going to tackle my house. It is horrifically dirty. And for those that don't ever believe that my house is messy-here is proof. Which is actually very embarrassing to show. If you can't see very well I am sure you can enlarge, but that might really gross you out. That is Aiden's pee all over the back of the toilet seat. It has been there for 2 days and I haven't done anything about it. Needless to say, I have told the boys if they can't aim they can't stand.

Anyways, back to my perfect afternoon. I was going to clean my gross bathrooms and I looked outside and saw my kids trying to build a snowman. I was going back and forth on what I should do when I saw Aiden and Andrew trying to lift a huge snowball on top of another one without success. That did it. The toilets could wait. We set out to make the perfect snowman.

Kimmy got home and was secretly taking our pics through the window, which turned out surprisingly well. Not because of Kimmy's picture taking abilities, but because my windows are about as clean as my toilets.

And here are the builders (Paige and Morgan were at Preschool) with their perfect creation. The kids love their snowman and were singing and dancing around it trying to make it come alive like in Frosty the Snowman. He didn't come alive obviously, we didn't have the magic hat.

It was a great afternoon and I think I made the right choice.

{Oh and I also chose to blog about it rather than clean my gross toilets, so if you pay my house a visit, use Brooke's bathroom. She has recently cleaned hers. }

The Deer Hunt

We went up to the cabin this weekend. It was so awesome. It was pretty cold so we spent the majority of the time inside next to the fire. It made Trent and I want a (working) fireplace in our house. Although, I don't think I would get anything done besides drinking hot chocolate and reading. Maybe not a good idea at this time in our lives.

The Neffs were up participating in the deer hunt and were nice enough to come and see if my kids wanted to go "hunting." They took the three older ones for about 20 minutes.

The kids loved it. Aiden would quickly look back and forth searching the woods saying, "I hear a deer. I hear a deer." Unfortunately they didn't get their kill, but maybe that's a good thing. And thanks to the Neffs. They are amazing people. Seriously, who is that nice?

And those are the only pics I have from our trip. See what I mean about not doing anything but laying by the fire....

Blood...Everywhere

A while ago Andrew kicked Aiden in the face that resulted in a bloody nose with blood doplets everywhere.

In the bathroom:
On the toilets and cupboards:

On Aiden:

And a trail of droplets from the play room where the beating occured, all the way up the stairs.

Blood is a hard thing to get out of carpet.

Witches

On Thursday we went out and saw the witches at Gardner Village. I fit right in with my current witchy attitude. Actually, the witches at GV seem a lot nicer than I am...
Me and My Hoard. Oliver is just considered one of us now.

The kids love their cousins and can't get enough of them. It is always fun to get this crew together.

And I love my sister-in-laws. What I am not loving is how I look in this pic. I look even fatter than I really am and that is pretty bad. I feel like Monica from Friends when everyone was making fun of how big she was in the videos and she replied, "The camera adds 10 lbs!" And Chandler says, "How many cameras were on you?" Ya, from the looks of it there were a few on me. And from the looks of it, the cameras have no affect on Heidi and Jamie.

We had lunch there. Always a fiasco feeding The Hoard.

And here is the whole group.

Annie, Jamie, Grandma Teri, Maisy, Josh. Andrew, Oakley, Aiden, Oliver, Morgan, Me, Heidi, and Jackson.

We ended the day with a pony ride courtesy of Grandma Teri. Most the kids loved it. Andrew threw one of his bipolar fits and was ornery the whole ride. Typical.

It was actually a great outing and I think we all had a great time. Thanks for the fun guys!

Focus on the Good

I feel a lot better about things after letting myself vent to the blogging world. And it didn't hurt that all of you had such nice things to say(which is not why I did it by the way). But I have decided to try and focus on the good things in my life, which are many. My kids still drive me crazy, but I also love them like crazy. So here is my first post of the good things in life.

Cokes, Slurpees, and Refinancing
Trent and I just closed yesterday on our refinancing mumbo jumbo. We got a killer rate and the best part is it's only a 15 year loan. Which means when it is time for our kids to be graduating from high school, going to college, and going on missions, we will have no mortgage. Perfect timing I'd say. And so to celebrate, we hit up the local Maverick. Trent got his 44oz coke and I got my coke slurpee. It was awesome.

Retirement

Its not all darkness and depression here at The Hoard. We do have cause to celebrate. This has gone into permanent retirement:
What is so special about this garbage can? Well, it is our diaper garbage can. Let me repeat.

We. are. no. longer. using. our. DIAPER. garbage. can. . .ever.

Thats right. We are now diaper free in our home. At last.

Tired

It seems that most of my posts mention something about how tired we are as parents of The Hoard. I don't mean to beat a dead horse, but we ARE tired. Things should be getting easier with kids in school and such, but it isn't. We try to do fun things to take up time with the kids, but it always ends in a fight of some sort. Well, lets face it, it usually starts with a fight too. It seems my kids are constantly fighting and I am constantly yelling and putting them in time out. I don't know if they fight more because there are so many of them close together or what, but it is wearing me down. I just can't handle the crying and whining. And what is with having to ask them 10 times to do anything. Whats a mom to do?


And that's the question I am throwing out there. It seems that all the posts out there in the blogging world talk about how much they love being with their kids, how cute and sweet their kids are, and how much they love being a mom. I am just not feeling that right now. And how did I go from someone who would give anything to just get pregnant to a mom that doesn't want to be around her kids? Really, how does that happen?

So instead of judging me because of the reality of my feelings give me some ideas to make me a better mom. I would love to wake up in the mornings to happy children, sunshine, and rainbows. Is that too much to ask? I am sure most of you are thinking stop whining, but its my blog and I'll whine if I want to. Sometimes you just need to.

And as to not end this downer post on a downer note, here is our attempt at decorating our pumpkins (which we got from Luke and Kim's pumpkin patch).
They seem like such good kids. ;)

Trent's Near Death Experience

While Trent was running up Mueller Park Trail a bone chilling growl stopped him and his friend in their tracks. As they turned their heads towards the sound they saw one of these crouching 15 away: The mountain lion started advancing towards them so they took the advice of Joaquin Pheonix and started acting insane with anger to scare it away. I think Trent's massive size intimidated the creature and it ever so slowly started to retreat. After it disappeared they continued on with their run and made it safely home. My children are lucky to still have a father and I am lucky to still have a husband.

Scary Hill

I am a new fan of Go Deal Go. If you haven't check it out yet you should. You get some pretty amazing deals. The first one I purchased was a combo pass to Cherry Hill. We only paid $4 per person and each person got to do miniature golf and 3 other activities. Maybe that is why things are seeming so expensive to me lately. I am used to the 50-75% off price I get through Go Deal Go.
We redeemed our vouchers for family night this week. The kids love anything spooky, so naturally they loved Scary Hill. They are being zombies in this pic, if you couldn't tell.

You should have seen these guys play. I am thinking the average score per hole was 17. They were pretty excited when they finally "golfed" the ball into the hole.

After golfing we did the hay maze. It was hilarious. The kids were so excited and ran into the maze. 10 seconds into it, as soon as Paige, Morgan, and Oakley realized they were lost, the screaming started. Trent had to go and rescue them. On the other hand, Aiden and Andrew loved it and were screaming with joy.

After that we went to Hamster Haven. The kids had a blast playing in the HUGE ball area.

They loved to hide:

And emerge:

And escape:

Trent and I loved just sitting there on the bench relaxing. Perfect activity for family night. The best thing is we still have tons of punches left. We may be heading there for the next family outing.

Zoo Time

We had a field trip at the zoo for Oakley's preschool class last week. It was a perfect day for it too. Slightly overcast and cool weather. However, I am still shocked at the cost to get it. $41 for me and 4 kids to get in, ride the train, and carousel. And that was with one free child and a coupon for everyone.
Oakley's class

Paige, Oakley, Morgan, Oliver, and Oakley's friend, Caroline.

This metal elephant is always the kids favorite "animal."

But when asked what their favorite thing was, it was the "spinning thing" meaning, the carousel. And then the train of course. The kids did love running around and seeing all the animals. So, I guess I shouldn't complain about spending money.

I did come away from the zoo with a new fear though.

The Ostrich:

Maybe one of the creepiest looking animals around. I wouldn't want to come across one in a dark alley, thats for sure.

This poor little bird...

...scared the crap out of me this morning.

I had just sent Oakley and Oliver outside and a few seconds later I hear the loud boom. I had no idea what was going on and I ran to the sliding door to see Oakley running from the middle of the yard yelling, "a bird, a bird!" Then I saw it. A fat quail, twitching on the ground.

It had flown right into this window. Do you see the smudge at the top?
Here is a close up where you can see a little feather stuck to the window.

Poor little guy was jerking for a good minute. Can't wait for Trent to get home to take care of it.

And the weird thing is, my windows are far from clean. How could he not tell he was flying straight towards it? The hand prints are a dead give away (no pun intended).

Blue Sharks

The boys had their last soccer game last week. Lets just say we really need to practice for Spring...
Love Aiden's face in this pic.

And it started raining when I was taking pics of Andrew, so all his are a little blurry. It very well could have been my picture taking skills, but I am blaming it on the weather.

And here is the team, The Blue Sharks. They didn't win one game, but they had a lot of fun. Like I said, we really need to practice. The coach was awesome too. He gave all the boys a real shark tooth on a necklace at the last game. The boys thought that was pretty cool.

Gymnastics

The girls started Gymnastics this month and LOVE it. Everyday they ask if it gymnastics day. Unfortunately, they only have it one day a week. And it will be like that for a while. How do people afford so many extracurricular activities for their kids???
Paige and Morgan got their leotards for their birthdays. Oakley is a little jealous, but what can you do?

Here they are on the balance beam. It was Disney week and they were being Simba crossing the log bridge.

And of course they love jumping on the tramp and doing their straddle legs.

And I love gymnastics too. Thankfully, Oliver just sits right next to me and stays pretty quiet the whole time. So I get to sit there and read for an hour. It is lovely.

St. George Marathon #3 and Other Things

Here is another reason for my lack of posting. I am never home. We went to St. George this past weekend for a little vacay and the Marathon. It was a good time, but I already need another vacation WITHOUT kids. They are killing me these days.

First up Jeepin:
Trent pulled the jeep down so we could visit the "big sand" with the kids. Trent loves to drive the Beast and will take any chance he can get. Not sure it was worth towing it down and the flat tire and blow out, but Trent probably has a different opinion on that.

We were going up some red rock and kept sliding down sideways. The kids were pretty scared and I have to admit I was nervous too. However, Andrew was just fine and looked out the jeep and said, "I know the problem. There is a big hole right there." He thought it was great.


We finally made it to the big sand. The kids loved it. Lots of sand in lots of places on their body, but they loved it!


And here are some awesome jumps and poses from Paige and Morgan. Like I said, the kids thought it was the coolest thing.

The Marathon:

It is always fun to go see Trent finish his races. And the kids love it as much as I do. And as always Trent did amazing!

He came in 38th I think. I guess I should know this for sure, but I don't.

The kids love seeing Trent afterwards, but I really think they like the treats he brings them.

Last Bouldering:

Kim and Luke, being the awesome Aunt and Uncle that they are, took the 3 older kids climbing. The kids loved it. And I loved seeing the pics and video afterwards. The greatest story was when Andrew swore trying to get his climbing shoes on. On the video it shows Aiden and Andrew having a discussion on what are swear words and what aren't. I wish I could put the video on here, but I can't. Maybe someday. And just to clarify, Trent and I don't swear, who knows where Andrew got it. It couldn't be the kind of movies he watches....


So thats it. Stay tuned for gymnastics, zoo, and the last soccer game. Hopefully soon....if at all.