Don't Slur Your Words....

Take a city wide power outage and 2 silly boys discussing it and what do you get?
A tongue twister, a mother laughing and 2 boys wondering what was so funny.
 The boys were trying to say, " A city shortage of power." Unfortunately it all slurred together and came out, "A shitty power."
Oh my, I know it's bad, but it made me laugh and my boys really had no clue what they said.

Move Over Nanny McPhee.

Why haven't I called? Where have I been? What's going on? Have I dropped off the face of the Earth?

 No, I just have a few new things to keep me very occupied lately.

Turns out Nanny McPhee ain't got nuttin' on me.

My day is filled with lots of children. It starts off getting my oldest 3 off to school and then it's me and Sawyer. Not bad, right. 

At noon every day I head on over to my neighbor Becky's house to watch her cute kiddos. Thankfully, after 2 years of being laid off, Becky's hubby Christian was able to find a temp job. The only problem is they have young kids at home. As luck would have it I had just finished working at the farm and when Becky asked for help I was able to be there for her. 

So now my afternoons are filled with Becky's diva princess Cait- 3 yrs old. My Sawyer- 2 yrs old. And Becky's Twins, Maci and Beckett- 1 yr old. 

Hold the phone that's not all. Once school get out, my 3 return as do Becky's other 2 boys. If you're keeping track that's 9 kids all together. Ages 11-1. 

After school it's snack time and homework time. I love it when the kids are willing to sit down together and actually do their homework. Xander and Brenton (Becky's boy) go straight to work on their homework. They know if they finish it I'll let them play video games. What two 9 yr old boys wouldn't do their homework for that reward. 

Dawson and Landon are both in 1st grade, so their homework is pretty simple too. Sometimes they'll have the same spelling list as each other which means I can quiz both boys at the same time and homework goes a lot quicker. As for Kenzie, when it's not a gymnastic day she is more than happy to play with the babies. She hopefully is getting her baby fill cause it looks like she won't be getting that from me any time soon= ever! 

9 children= best birth control ever.

As an added bonus for me, I get to see Becky every day when she gets home from work. It gives us a chance to chat and laugh about silly stuff. What woman doesn't need a little adult conversation and stress relief in her life. 

OK. now it's time for my secret confession. I hope Christian's job becomes permanent. That way Becky can quit her job and stay at home so she and I can play all the time. She can join me and Jen on our lunch outings and in the summer when all of us moms are gathered in the back yard, Becky can come hang with us too. 

For the record, I did invite Christian to join us, but I think it was a little awkward for him to be out with a dozen kids and 3 other moms. I don't see why! 

Well, that's what I've been up to lately. It's a crazy-fun time and I love it. I'm thankful I was in the position to be able to help Becky and Christian out. They are great friends and I'm glad they trusted me with their kids. (:

Little Miss Maci and Sir Beckett.

It's A Car Invasion!

To say Sawyer is obsessed with all thing cars is an understatement. I'm not just talking the movie cars. I'm saying all cars, trains, tractors, digger trucks, and basically anything with wheels and can roll.
His latest thing is to find as many cars as he can and line them all up. Then he plays with each one, one by one. Once he's finished with one, he parks it at the end of the line and moves onto the next car.
As a mother I love watching his creativity flow. I enjoy seeing what makes this youngest little child of mine tick. He is so mush like his siblings, yet so very different.
I know one thing for sure. He makes my heart happy and he very much needed to be part of our family.

As I type this he is currently playing with 2 trains. Or "Chugga- choo-choos" as he calls them.
One more side note.
See the green tractor by his head. Yep, I learned to drive one like that. Only real!

Christmas Crafting

Honestly, I couldn't wait any longer to get going on my Christmas craft. So I didn't wait.
 It might be before Thanksgiving, but I do have my new crafts displayed.
Here they are:

Practice Makes Perfect

Dawson surprised me one day with his declaration of, "Mom I practiced my spelling all by myself."

Imagine my surprise when I heard these words. It was music to my ears.

Then I discovered where he practiced them.

Yep, that would be my fridge door.

Thank goodness it was dry-erase marker.

When I looked over at Sawyer, I said to him, "Sawyer what are you doing?"
His reply, "My homework."
I giggled and asked, "What homework do you have."
"Angry Birds."

Halloween Treats

One last Halloween post. I promise!

One a nice, lazy Sunday afternoon we, as a whole family decided to stir up some yummy, spooky fun.

Sawyer and daddy are whippin' up some 

yummy rice crispy treats.

Mackenzie, Xander, and Dawson

 pressed the crispys into cute, little ghost cookie cutter shapes. 

I think they ate as many treats as they made.

Our finished treats.

We passed out plates to different neighbors.

 Since I didn't want the kids eating rice crispy ghosts all night long, I needed to feed them something. Why not feed them pancake ghosts instead.

Dawson was one happy little man.

A Little Corny.

I had to get shots of Sawyer's first attempt at corn on the cob.

Nothing taste better than burgers and corn on the cob.

(BTW he's in a sleeper because it was after church, pajama Sunday)

Halloween 2012

Our Halloween started off early with classroom costume parades. I had to get kids up, ready and off to school by 7:45 and then get me and Sawyer there by 8:10. Needless to say, Sawyer got a bum change and we were out the door with sippy cup and go-gurt in my purse. It was all good though.

The kids are dressed and ready for school.

A few fun shots before I sent them out the door.

All the kids during the costume parade at school.

After the parade, I came home and got myself and Sawyer ready for the day. My morning was interrupted by a phone call from Tyler. He usually only calls during the day if he has a question about the bank account, needs me to find a paper for him, or is calling to tell me he is being sent out on a business trip. This call however was neither of the above. He was asking me out on a lunch date.
Since I've been working at the farm so much on the weekends, our dates have become non-existent. So he remedied that with an unexpected little lunch outing. We lived it up with a trip to Costco followed by Chick-Fil-A. Yummy.
I had to hurry back to the school by 1:10 for Dawson's class party. I'm the room mom for his class so I kinda had to be there. Honestly, it's so much fun to be able to help out and make things extra special for the kids.

 We had 4 different stations the kids rotated around. The stations were, sugar cookie decorating, Halloween bingo, coffee filter pumpkins, and a capture the ghost game.
All the stations were run by parent volunteers and the were all a huge success.

And what did Sawyer do during the party?

He found a bin full of toys and entertained himself the whole time!

After the class party it was time to bring kids home from school and get homework done. Yes, I still made my kids read and do their spelling. Evil I know!
As part of usual Halloween tradition, Ty brought pizza home for dinner. Before we knew it, it was time to get Sawyer dressed in his costume and head out trick-or-treating. Because it was a school night most people seemed to start sending their kids out at about 6:00. My kiddos were eager to join them.

My little pirate is ready to go.

All my cute trick-or-treaters.

And 

How they really are.

Sawyer trick-o-treating at Natasha and Becky's houses.

Christian hooked him up with a peanut butter cup.

 I may or may not have stolen it from him.

 The kids lasted about till 7:30. I should say, Ty and Sawyer lasted till then. When Ty got home, I met up with Tara. She and I took the kids out till about 8:30. Then it was time to come home, stash the candy out of reach, head to bed and hope the kids go to sleep.

Happy Halloween from our house to yours!

A Little More Hee Haw Fun.

While I was busy at work the kids were busy at play.

The boys in the corn.

The boys on the animal train.

Kenzie was somewhere. But I don't know where.

See this beautiful tractor.

This is the one I learned how to drive!

Are you impressed yet?

Well, if that didn't impress you then I'll add that I also learned to drive a John Deer. And I learned how to drive the animal train tractor.

If you were keeping track, that's 3 different tractors I drove this year.

GO ME, GO ME!

Giant Pumpkin Drop

This is the 4th year that Hee Haw Farms hosted a giant pumpkin drop. I was lucky enough to be able to work it and the kids were lucky enough to come down to the farm and play again.
The giant pumpkin growers, Kyle and Carrie Fox bring their giant pumpkins they grow down to the farm and with the help of their crane friend we have a pumpkin smashing frenzy. And it's all for a good cause! For every pound of pumpkin smashed, 10 cents is donated to 'The March of Dimes.'
In addition to the giant pumpkins, spectators can purchase a pumpkin of their own for $2 and go up in the crane 175 feet high and chuck their pumpkin off. It is so much fun!
This year Hee Haws will be donating almost $6,000 to 'The March of Dimes.'
FYI the largest pumpkin dropped this year was 1,171 pounds.

Here are some shots of different pumpkins falling for a great cause.

Getting 3 giants ready to go.

(The guy in shorts and black tee is Kyle Fox, the pumpkin man)

And away they go!

This cage of pumpkins is going to drop into a huge pool full of water.

People could purchase a 'rubber duck for a buck' and when the water splashes, whichever duck splashes out the furthest that person wins a free chicken dinner.

Ready or Not here they come.

Just a few of the pumpkins.

Can you imagine growing a pumpkin that size.

Here's looking at you.

Next year, I hope you'll pull up a pumpkin and join us for an amazing, fun day.