Joshie's 4th Birthday

Happy Birthday Joshie!

We had a Carnival Party out in the front yard with all of his friends. Jared made a ton of popcorn in his popper and put on a juggling act for the kids. Jake and Cam helped out with games- Jake with bowling and Cam with the fishing game. Some of Josh's aunts came to help, too. They jumped at the chance to be real, live 'Carnie Folks'. Abby was a clown and did the duckie game. Libby was the bearded lady and painted faces. Manda stuffed pillows in her Mumuu and was the Fat Lady with the sucker match game. We also had a beanbag toss and a cake walk.

Josh said he had the best party and that's all that really matters to me!

Manda and Sam at the Sucker Match game. The blue sheet is the back of the fishing game.

Jared juggling for the kids. Would you ever believe that his sister made that shirt for him when he was in high school? I hope it didn't scare the kids - this was supposed to be a FUN party!

Manda, Ethan, and Kaelen (jake's friend that also came to 'help'

Josh's 4th birthday (cont.)

Grace at the beanbag toss that was run by our neighbor, Alicia

Libby did the face painting. Here she is with James/Hitler - I think she got a little bored!

Abby was a clown, and, again, Lib was bored so she gave Sammers a more 'mature' look

Killer Deal of the Day!!

I got five 12 packs of soda for 38 cents!

So, we went to Smith's to get a prescription and right there in the door was Momma's real medicine : Diet Coke 5/ $10!! So, since our Smith' is still having their Grand Opening, you can get a $10 gift card for each Rx you transfer to their pharmacy. (Am I the only one that plays the 'transfer for gift cards' game?) Anyhow, I got my Rx and my gift card. Then, I used the $10 for food storage like a smart woman - seriously, if we are in dire straits, I'm gonna need my Diet Coke! Anyhow, 5 for $10 minus $10 plus tax comes to 38 cents. Ta-Da!

Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren...

So, we're at Taco Tuesday (Del Taco) and here comes a nice looking family to join us in the Playland. They played for a while and then the mom calls out. "Heber, Willard, Parley! Come on, we have to go pick up Sariah!"

This bugs me so much! I don't know why it bugs me and that bugs me.

Are you more righteous if your kids have Mormon names and get beat up at school? If I had named my kids after a few prophets, I bet they'd still beat each other up and talk about poop at the dinner table. Are those the only names you could come up with because you lived in Utah your whole life? (I say that as I mentally go through where each of my friends grew up!) Really, are you hoping your child lives up to that namesake? Good luck on that one! It's like Jared said when I brought it up him (and imagine yourself saying this!) "Get the hell in the car , Nephi!" (Yes, Jared cusses like a sailor) Anyways, kids will be kids, a name isn't going to make them behave any differently!
What is it? Tell me why people name their kids like this and then maybe I can figure out why it bugs me. Meanwhile, I'm gonna try to keep my kids from beating up the prophets in the playland!

It's a Stinking Grocery Store, People!!

So, this was my thought before I realized I was there, too, in the middle of it all!
The new Smith's Marketplace in Lehi opened at 8AM this morning. I thought I'd run over, of all things, to look for Bakugans. My thought was if they're out all over toan and on the internet, a new store just opening would surely have them. Well, I got there at 8:03 due to the fact that if you keep your kids out of school to hunt bargains, you can get in trouble...blah, blah, blah.

1. Anyways, it was a crazy madhouse run amok! I know that's repetetive, but that's what it was! It was like WalMart on Black Friday morning! Right in the front door, they had cereal for $1 a box and you know how I'm a sucker for deals , especially cereal deals! I started loading my cart up, but ran into 2 problems.You had to buy 10 to get the price and I had left my coupons at home. I know this sounds really stupid, but I couldn't do it. 10 for $10 or go back later and get 10 for $5? Some lady kept pushing me and reaching around me to get her Lucky Charms. She finally bumped me hard enough to make me drop my goods. "Oh, sorry" she tried. I gave her a dirty look without even thinking. It's not like me to treat shoppers' rudeness on the spot, I much prefer the 'tell all my friends about you later' method. So, I put my cereal away and walked to the toys to cool off.
2. The actual peg for Bakugans was already empty. Luckily, they were prepared with a worker on every corner, and she showed me a secret stash near the games. Another mom followed me to the stash, but I warned her that "they were all mine!" Um...just kidding, do I really look that scary? She hesitantly took a couple after I promised her I only needed 3 for stockings.

We did get the dollar milk.We didn't get the dollar bread, they were out. And, I wasn't about to wait in line for the freebies: sausage, juice, eggs, and muffins.

So, after preschool, I gathered my coupons and we went back. I got my 10 cereals for $5. I got my 6 loaves of $1 bread. I got my 10 boxes of hot chocolate for $5. I even got my free eggs & sausage. I only waited in line for 20 minutes which was awesome because it was still a madhouse! The people working there were amazingly friendly and helpful. And, I think I deserve a prize for going there twice the first day and not hurting anyone!

Feeling the Spirit

So, we're driving home from WalMart tonight after a nerve racking grocery trip with 4 kids and 1 mom.
The conversation goes:
C: Mom, what's Flirts?
J: It's a place where gangsters hang out and play pool.
Me: Yeah, sometimes theres are a lot of motocycle guys there and they probably play pool there.
C: Do they smoke there?
J: Yes. And they drink alcohol!
C: Could you go there if you wanted to?
Me: Well, you have to be 21 to go there. But, you can't feel the Spirit there.
J: Yeah, well I can't feel the Spirit at WalMart, either!

So, the weatherman said we might get a little snow today. I guess 'a little' is relative because the stuff went up to Joshie's knees! He couldn't wait to get in in this morning so I finally let him go with an umbrella. It was coming down pretty hard until about 9:30 this morning.

Sam really wanted to get out there, too. I took him out to the edge of the garage and let him tough a little handful of snow. After that, he stood inside the front door and watched Josh run around outside.

This is Sam from the outside. I went out to take the pictures of Josh and this is what I saw when I turned around to come back inside. His little face was all smashed up against the window so he could see as much as possible!

Since we had to go to WalMart to get snowgloves for Josh, Cam needed a silly ski hat like Josh has so he could have a funny picture on Mom's blog. His fingers are some weird boy thing that resemble claws and are made out of my printer paper. Every boy in the house needs his own set, so how many pieces of paper is that?

We have the best Home Teachers!!

Brother O and Brother D are the best home teachers! A month ago, I called and asked if the home teaching message could be about getting along with our brothers. Brother D brought 4 jars with him. One empty jar for each of the 3 big boys and one full on pennies and nickels for me. Each time the boys did something nice for each other, they got a penny in their jar. If it was really nice, they got a nickel.

Fast forward to last week when the home teachers came again. They counted the money in the jars with the boys. Jake had 38, Cam had 30, and Josh had 29. Brother O gave each of the boys a Halloween treat for doing so well. Brother D gave Jake a leather kit to make a comb case. He came over last night and helped Jake tool a cactus into his comb case, whip the edges together, and stain it green. He also brought some scraps for the other boys to practice on so they would know how to put a kit together when they win with the most pennies!

Jake & Brother D poking the dots trough the tracing paper to make the cactus. Afterwards, Jake went around it with a tool that pricked the leather so it would stand up a little.


Cam & Josh working on their leather pieces. They had to get it wet with a sponge and then pound the letter and shape stamps into the leather.

Halloween

We went Trick or Treating at Libby's house for Halloween. This was the first year that Joshie really understood what was going on. After each house, he ran back to me and showed me what candy he had received at the door. They all wore the same costumes as in previous pictures = Jake was a Jedi, Cam was Batman, Josh was a ninja, and Sam was a spider.
Jake opted to stay home and Trick or Treat around our neighborhood with a friend this year. It was hard for me to say yes. I think it made him feel really grown up, though. He was a little bummed that they had to go with some of the older boys that got to decide when they had enough candy. I think he was planning to bring home enough to last him 'til next year!