Grampy's Tacos

This week has been a doozy. It started out with Hyrum puking all over the livingroom floor. Thankfully, I was already in the middle of mopping so we hardly missed a beat until the entire upstairs toilet got covered, followed by the downstairs toilet a few hours later. Camilla made her way home from the bus on her own (it stops two doors down, but this was a first for her). She came in while I was cleaning up Finley's barf mess. The following day Joseph gulped down a whole bowl of tomato soup and then proceeded to barf it back up right into the bowl it came from. He really wanted to eat it again, and it truly looked perfectly fine, but I convinced him otherwise (yuck). He slept it off most of the day. Neither of the boys had much of an appetite for the rest of the week. On Thursday night I went to bed feeling yucky and ended up running to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Friday wasn't a very happy (or productive) day and I was grateful for premade meals, Curious George, and the dozen yellow roses Mr. Stannix brought home for me.

Today has definitely been an improvement. The weather was so warm for this time of year and the older two spent the entire day at the park playing with some kids in the neighborhood. Joseph ran errands with Daddy all morning while Finley napped. I enjoyed the quiet time and organized a little bit more. Mr. Stannix oiled all the door hinges (nothing more annoying than a squeaky door on the baby's room), and helped me hang pictures and decorate a bit. It's finally starting to feel like home, and it's nice. 

We ended our happy day with a dance party and Grampy's tacos. This family recipe has been passed down all the way from Mike's great Grampy Finley Gardiner. They take a long time to make, so it's only a meal we enjoy on special occasions and we figured that everyone being healthy and pictures being hung was special enough. I love having everyone in the kitchen while Daddy fry's the tacos and uses his mad skills to flip them in mid air. I get to fill them after they've cooled while my filling portion gets critiqued by Mike. There's always lots of laughs and maybe a little bit of spinning, dipping, and smooching in the kitchen. I've been craving these twice fried tacos for quite a while and my craving was definitely satisfied!

Recent Art Work

The First Snow

 Today we woke bright and early for Daddy's first day of work at his new job. Daddy was the first one awake and by the time Finley woke up the rest of the children made their way into the baby's room rubbing the sleep from their eyes. Everybody then got themselves ready for the day while I made breakfast. I put out Joseph's clothes for him, and after running out naked three times to wave bye to Daddy he finally got himself dressed. We ate breakfast together, had scriptures and prayers at the table and had some time to spare. We all walked Camilla across to the bus and I listened to the boys' silly fake cries the whole way home as they told me how much they'd miss her today. 

While I was tidying up the bedrooms I happened to glance out the window to see giant flakes slowly drifting to the ground. The first snowfall of the season always gets me excited! I called to the boys and they ran to the window in the kitchen to watch the snow. It seems so magical to me. Perhaps it's the thought of Christmas being right around the corner, or homemade cookies to warm up the kitchen, or cozy evenings in front of the fire crocheting.

 Finley was mesmerized by the giant flakes and kept trying to reach out and grab them. The only thing better than the first snowfall of the season is watching my baby experience the wonder of snow for his first time.

 The boys stood there and watched for a good five minutes as the flakes began covering rooftops. Then they begged me to let them outside to experience it first hand. They headed out into the backyard to catch snowflakes on their tongue and tug the sled across the yard. When their hands were too cold to play any longer they came inside to a warm heatbag and cozied up to a movie while I finished putting away the laundry. I can't wait for Camilla to come home from school and share her excitement of the snow!

Time Change

I'm not sure who's genius idea it was to put the time change the same weekend as Halloween and a full moon. Today was a bit of a gong show. The children woke up at 5:00am (which wouldn't be so bad in normal time) and I was not ready to start my day. Luckily I had anticipated the early morning and glued a smile on my face while we played and got ready for church. The older two sat amazing during sacrament meeting while Finley napped in my arms. Joseph was practically vibrating the whole time (it might have had something to do with the six suckers he tried to eat at once after breakfast). They all enjoyed their classes while I paced the halls with Fin who was far to screechy to attend any classes for any length of time. It's hard to accept that this is how Sundays will roll for a little while, but I know it won't last forever. After church I rounded up the kiddos while Mr. Stannix took care of some duties with the young men. Hyrum ran everywhere despite my pleas for walking feet and his ears tuned out my voice. Camilla chatted my ear off all the way to the doors and Joseph tried desperately to get away from me and run out into the parking lot. I stood at the doors directing the older two with my words while Finley twisted and turned in my arms and Joseph limp noodled and swung around to escape my hold on his hand. If Mr. Stannix hadn't arrived when he did I probably would have burst into tears. 

We made it home and I fed hungry bellies and then cleaned the kitchen to get rid of my angry feelings. Mr. Stannix read stories and kept the kids downstairs so that I could take a breather. Before I knew it dinner time had rolled around. I sliced the roast, Mr. Stannix mashed the potatoes and I drained the carrots in the pot. When we all sat down to eat Finley began screeching impatiently for food and Joseph started crying because he had dumped half of the salt shaker into the mashed potatoes. The noise level was almost unbearable. Mr. Stannix dealt with Joseph, coaxing him to eat and stop crying, while I tried to feed Finley quick enough to suppress his impatient, ear piercing screams. It didn't take long for the tears to fall. Once Finley's bowl was finished, I couldn't take his screeching any longer so off to the bath we went. When Mr. Stannix finished his dinner he watched the baby while I dished up and ate my dinner. 

After Mr. Stannix cleaned the kitchen we declared it an early bed time and began the routine of jammies, teeth, scriptures and prayers. Daddy took up Joe while the older two helped me do a quick tidy in the basement. Finley crawled around in the playroom until it was all clean and then I turned out the lights and turned on the hall light by the bedrooms. After Hyrum's backrub and a quick chat I said goodnight and went to Camilla's room. I then noticed that the playroom light was on again, so I walked around and turned it off. When I got back the hall light was off and I told the kids to quite playing with the lights. I flicked the switch by the bathroom to turn on the hall light and then went in to tuck in Camilla. When I came back out the playroom light was on again, so I walked around to turn it off. When I came back the hall light was off again and I shook my head as I realized that the lightswitch by the bathroom turns on both the hall light AND the playroom light. So when I was walking around to turn out the playroom light I also turned off the hall light without even noticing. I laughed at my stupidity and apologized to the children for scolding them. Luckily they have a sense of humor and also laughed at my mistake. Extra hugs and kisses were given and then I went upstairs to put Finley to bed.

Once the house was all quiet Mr. Stannix lit the fire downstairs, put on his listening ears and helped dry my tears from an overwhelming couple of weeks. He helped quiet my fears and hush the thoughts of inadequacy that had crept into my head over the week. I am super grateful for the priesthood and a loving husband who can give me blessings of comfort from my Father in heaven when I need them most! It was good to end on a positive note.

Halloweeny

Today was a busy day. We started out with a scrumptious breakfast of homemade waffles topped with ice cream, strawberries, bananas and warm syrup. We organized the garage, cleaned the basement, baked some bread, ate some treats from last night and then carved pumpkins with the kids! It was a busy day, but so fun. I loved watching Finley expreience his first pumpkin carve. It always takes a little bit to get the kids into it and Joseph wasn't really up for touching any pumpkin guts at all. I am glad that my kiddos are okay with simple, because it was a very simple Halloween.  Our poor little pumpkin ended up looking kind of sad. The costumes weren't crazy creative but the kids were excited anyways!

Happy Halloween from our crew to yours!!

Trunk or Treat

My Mamma and my sister both spent the night last night. We had a nice slow morning with the kids as Camilla had a day off school. I slipped out before lunch to run a few errands with Hyrum and my Mom made me take a nap when I got home. I've been pretty exhausted lately and secretly welcomed the opportunity to rest. 

Daddy arrived home in the early afternoon and is back for good! He starts his new job in the City on Monday and I am so looking forward to seeing him before and after work.

Finley had an early dinner but joined us at the table while we ate anyways. He hammed it up the whole time and had us all giggling. Shortly after dinner we got all dressed up and headed out the trunk or treat at the church.

Mr. Stannix dressed up as Jonah in the belly of a whale.  It was pretty awesome!

Camilla decided she just wanted to be Elsa tonight.

Sir Joseph made a pretty awesome knight.

Hyrum and I found this super hero costume on sale today and he begged me with stars in his eyes. He's been wearing his old old 18 month sized superman costume forever insisting it still fits even though it goes up to his knees. He was quite pleased with this one and had a pretty good laughing fit over the "undies".

Elsa took off on her own for the trunk or treat which left me to hang out with these two cuties.

Our last trunk was Daddy and then we went inside to dance and eat treats.

Finley hung out in the carrier snoozing most of the night and I dressed up as a moon. Together we were the cow that jumped over the moon. Not my best idea, but I tried!

These two shook their booties as soon as the music came on. They were adorbs. After a lot of dancing and fun and meeting new people we took off to put our littles to bed.

Kicking off Halloween

Camilla came home yesterday and reminded me that she needed a costume for school today. Luckily Auntie Emma was here for a visit and was able to help us put something fun and simple together. With moving and getting things organized I hadn't thought much about Halloween so I was glad to have the help! Camilla woke up super early today since she was so excited about the Halloween party. We had a nice early breakfast and then snapped a few pictures before I walked her to the bus stop.

When we left the house the sky was still pink and the weather was mild. Hyrum and Camilla walked hand in hand across the street to where we wait, and he made me wait until she sat down and waved before we walked back. Those two are best buds.

My Mom arrived early afternoon with a warm hug and sprinkled sunshine on us all afternoon. My sister and I put together a few batches of cookies with the boys while my mom rolled a couple apple pies. It was great spending the afternoon with these two! 

Auntie Emma's puppy was a huge hit with the littles. Seeing Joseph snuggled up to copper after his bath was pretty darn adorable!