Tips for a worn out Mom

I know my mom was in my position once upon a time, and I know my sisters are both living this right along with me....so this is for you! I'm totally agreeing with #9 and #13 right off the bat.

 

1. Lower your standards for cleanliness and order.
2. Did that? Lower them even more.
3. Your house will never look like a magazine spread, period. Embrace that.
4. No matter how many baskets you buy to contain toys, they will always be visible. Embrace the Toys ‘R Us/ frat house-chic decor....
5. You can never have too many Popsicle in the freezer. How many bad moods have been fixed by a simple Popsicle?
6. If you can’t change them, change your perspective. For example I read recently – probably on Satan’s website Pinterest – that toothpaste is great for cleaning things like faucets. So now when I go into the bathroom every day and see toothpaste splatter all over the bathroom faucet I think about how my children have done half the chore of cleaning for me. How considerate of them! Then I wipe it off while cursing.
7. Those chores that no one ever wants to do. Decide if you would rather do it yourself, badger your child to it, or let it go. If you are confused about what to do, see Number 1 on this list.
8. No one cares what is stuffed under your child’s bed, why should you. Unless it is old food. In that case, you should get a dog.
9. If you have boys, your bathroom will always faintly stink like pee. Invest in some Febreeze and count down the days until they move out and you can go visit them and pee on their bathroom floor.
10. Don’t buy white furniture. Unless you enjoy screaming at your children every time they go near it.
11. However bad a situation might seem, one day it will be funny. I have a few for which I am eagerly awaiting for the funny to kick in. Any time now….
12. When your child is a young teen there will be nothing more embarrassing than your very existence. Use this to your advantage. Start planning early.
13. Do not paint any walls in your house with flat paint.
14. Be okay with letting your kids stumble sometimes. Whether that is turning in an assignment late because they didn’t do it or wearing an outfit so hideous you have trouble looking at them without laughing.
15. Noise cancelling headphones are great for blocking out whining, bickering and the endless episodes of Sponge Bob.
16. Socks do not have to match. Every day is Crazy Sock Day at my house, which is infinitely better than Crazy Mom Day.
17. The crayons will break and it is okay to throw them away rather then save them to make some sort of craft that involves the hair dryer. In fact, I give you permission to not feel guilty about all the crafts you know you will never do.
18. Your children will not die from eating the occasional hot dog or frozen pizza. And by occasional I mean more than you are really willing to admit.
19. If your children are driving you crazy arguing with each other, start an argument with them. Then your children will bond over their mutual hatred of you and be quiet.
20. Children do not appreciate top sheets or high thread counts. Buy neither.
21. Homework time is the worst time of the day. Help your kids and yourself by having a designated time and a quiet place to do homework. Preferably in a neighbor’s home.
22. Just say No to ironing.
23. Last, but not least, some chocolate and some really bad TV makes everything seem a little better.

Ammon is 9!

It's a flame beyblade.

From the siblings he got a trick card and some money to pay his own way at the archery range. Imes' got him a wallet and a beyblade. Grandparents Smith Star Wars Legos, Grammy and Jerry cool shirts, and from us some rockets with engines, igniters, and a battery. We are all excited to take the rockets to the park and shoot off! They both go about 1000 feet up. In the mail for the boys this week came gifts from Idaho: nerf guns from Abby, Legos and Angry Birds kites from grandparents. Happy birthday to my favorite oldest son!!

Trunk-or-Treat

I drew a Death Star on a silver tablecloth for the van. Brady was Hans Solo, I was Leia, Ammon was Darth Vader, Zenock was Luke Skywalker, Gideon was Yoda, and Ayla was an Ewok. I made all the costumes....with some parts coming from various thrift stores to complete the look. I did run out of Velcro Saturday night, so a part of my dress is actually safety pinned...but who cares? It was awesome to have a family theme!

Ammon's friend party

He had a beyblade themed party with three friends. The babies knew just what the stadiums were for!

We had a beyblade competition. In the first round Ammon took first, in the second round Bryson took first. All the boys earned certificates of achievement for various things like best spin, wildest spin, and best team spirit. Then we had nacho cheese hotdogs for dinner and beyblade cupcakes for dessert. They all ran around outside playing with swords too. We all had a ton of fun with three extra boys for a while! I am totally a fan of having small birthday parties at home rather than big combined ones at the park.

The cupcakes were supposed to look like the fire blaze beyblade.

One of the boys included a pack of mustaches in his present to Ammon. They all tried them out; it was hilarious! FYI, they are all doing the ripping pose...getting ready to rip their beyblades.

Pink, guts, and moochers

 

Dad and Mom, this is the dress you got for her last Christmas. She's now tall enough to wear it!! I had to wait until she wasn't crawling anymore at all because it's so long I knew she'd have trouble getting around all the pink fluff....btw, this dress is really poofy.

 

Obligatory pumpkin carving. This year we just bought one jumbo one. Pintrest showed me how to cut the pumpkin for easier gutting and carving....totally awesome!! Sadly, I didn't get a picture of the front, and now it's starting to wilt and be gross...so sorry. It was a witch that flew into a tree.

Showing me how excited he is about watching his train movie

Finishing off my cereal.

Stealing my peanut butter and jam sandwich and my mangos for lunch, and yes, that is his macaroni and cheese on the table too. This kid!! I think he ended up eating 1/4 of my sandwich and two or three pieces of dried mango....along with his lunch.

Hiking

We drove up to Mt. Charleston for a hike on Thursday since the kids didn't have school. We originally wanted to hike the Echo/Little Falls trail, but we found out after getting up there that all the trails on the south side of the mountain were closed because of the huge wild fire there earlier in the summer. So we went on the next hardest hike on the other side of the road, Flescher Trail. It was longer than we had planned....but Zz was the only kid who had a real problem wanting to get to the end. It's hard to walk over a mile, climbing 850 feet in elevation. Near the end we stopped in a mostly cleared spot for lunch. Brady had the brilliant idea to bring along our 72 hour kit food to eat so we could rotate it out. We both carried kids, while the boys carried water and food.

The cake, the birthday song...and presents!

This, my friends, is a bald eagle head cake. The cake itself was an easy chocolate cupcake recipe I adapted slightly from yourcupofcake.com, and oh my gosh was it good!!! I loved it! I put marshmallow cream in between the layers, which was a little too sweet overall, but I didn't know what else to put in there besides more boring frosting. I like to change things up, you know?

 

He had such a great day! He picked Little Caesar's pizza for dinner...."from the pizza store" with breadsticks. He chose a huge tub of cookies and cream ice cream from Winco and some fun Halloween chips and salsa to eat for later. Then we had Uncle Jason and Sage over for cake, ice cream, and presents. He got a beyblade and a cool super hero ensemble from Aunt Bethany and Uncle Jason and Sage, beyblades from his siblings, Batman and Joker playhouses with some heroes and villains...someone needs to go to jail right?? (I called them Batman doll houses....please don't tell him I said that), and some games for his Leapster thingy.

Birthday boy!

Zenock took two friends to the Bird Preserve for a neat class about why some birds are scary on Halloween. We got to walk some of the trails outside after the class was over. All six kids loved watching some birds run in front of us or fly over us on the trails. I loved taking Zenock and his friends on this adventure! I'm so glad we have such great, free, family friendly activities here!! They learned about owl poop and what kinds of things are in it. They learned what kinds of birds are all black, they listened to a vulture call...people sometimes think it sounds like someone screaming. The teacher talked about what vultures do and why they are important. It was a fun time for everyone!

Woah! There's a big white bird flying over there! We later found out it was an American White Pelican. Bird maps are pretty informative for kids that can read.

Way up high in a viewing tower!

Another pond. This one is on a long bridge!

Ayla likes to travel in style :)

Zenock and his friends in front of a really cool bird nest tower! It was so tall!

Heading back to the car. I think Ayla and I were the only ones not running.

Thanks Isaiah for the awesome TMNT fishing game!! It's fun to play with everyone!

Thanks Ben for the awesome Batman Legos!!! He LOVES Batman!

Everyone is having a blast checking out the fun new toys! Who doesn't love a good fishing game?
Tonight we are having pizza...."from the pizza store" at Zenock's request. Then I made an eagle birthday cake for after. You all get to see pictures of that later.

Thumbs, shakes, and movies

I love it when they suck their thumbs at the same time.

We enjoyed In-n-Out shakes for a dessert last Friday night. Brady and I love strawberry and chocolate mixed. Ammon had chocolate and vanilla, like a twist cone. Zenock tried strawberry and vanilla mixed. Ayla and Gideon mooched off of everyone, sometimes not wanting to give the cup back. The awesome cashier there offered to take our picture in the middle of helping other customers. It was awesome! The weather here is soooo nice, even after dark, so we ate them outside on their picnic tables. And then we had to rush home because Gideon had an accident. We had a great beginning, and a stinky ending.

Super Saturday craft day at the church was the 12th. I had to take all the kids because Brady was at work all day. Ayla is on the far left, almost falling out of her chair. Then Ammon, Zenock, three kids from church, and Gideon. They watched Cars....but the entertainment only lasted about 15 minutes before they were back in the gym bugging me. Next year Brady is either taking time off or I'm getting a babysitter because craft day isn't productive, or any fun, with four kids running loose everywhere. Ayla also burned her thumb grabbing the hot glue gun shortly after this picture was taken. Needless to say, I was very happy to take the kids home for naptime.

Poop Sucess and Decorations

With a full week of potty training under his belt, Gideon finally pooped in the toilet! He was soooo excited, and scared at the same time. He earned this awesome front loader. Today was mostly successful, so I think he's getting there.

This is our front "yard" this Halloween. I made a paper mache spider body and put a ball in for the head, then wrapped it all in a black plastic tablecloth. Then cut holes in the body for the legs, which are pipe insulation tubes. We tied it to the tree with rope and zip ties.

Park time with the littles to kill time before lunch. They love sitting on a lap for the slide.