Clever Traders

Dallin came up with this candy trading idea. Each boy had their own candy area, and the center of the pillows was the "up for grabs" zone where unwanted candy was put up for trading. That "Fun Dip" was a hard one to get rid of.

Happy Halloween - Bah Humbug!?

I will have to admit, I am a Halloween "Scrooge". I don't really look forward to this holiday with all the scary, gory decorations, and the costume headache. I don't like spending time and money on costumes that will most likely only be worn once, and find myself in an onery mood whenever I think about it. The month of October usually goes by very quickly for me because I know Halloween is coming up at the end. I usually prefer to make the kids' costumes (which is where the stress comes from), and not knowing how to sew very well, I dread the job. I try to start gathering costume parts early to avoid the last minute scramble, but inevitably I procrastinate and am still finishing some last details the night before.

I have found the day of Halloween to be an overall busy day for moms. Before school you have all the costume business. Later in the morning there is usually a parade at the school, which means mom shows up with the camera, sits in the gym for over a half an hour waiting and waiting, while the preschool aged kids run around and around and around the gym. When the parade finally gets to you, you get to see your kid for a split second as he jogs by. You are lucky to get a picture, but most of the time you have to stop the parade for a second for a photo, which makes a gap in the line, causing the kids to run to catch up with their class, thus the jog-by photos. Then, there are the class parties that most moms end up helping with in one form or another. Some years are worse than others depending on which box you checked at "Back-to-School Night". After school the kids are constantly pressuring moms for dinner to get ready so they can go trick-or-treating. Chili has been our traditional Halloween dinner for years since this would be the only time I could get them to actually eat it with trick-or-treating dangling before them. Once dinner is finally ready (which usually takes longer than usual, for some reason), there is the whining and complaining and negotiating of the number of bites to be done. It's the worst feeling ever as a kid to be eating dinner while trick-or-treaters are coming to your door. After dinner mom and the kids are out the door for an hour or two. Or, mom stays home and passes out candy, walking to the door 50 times. Once the kids come home, it's candy, candy, candy, undressing everyone from their costumes, which usually involves washing off make-up, etc., then on to the regular night routine. By the time mom falls into bed, she has been on her feet all day going from one thing to another. It's one of the busiest holidays for moms. You would think Christmas would top the list, but most of the work is done before the actual day and you get to actually sit back and relax a little on Christmas Day.

All of this being said, I will have to admit that I had a good time this year. I dressed up for the first time (as a witch, what else?), which the kids really got a kick out of. After the initial costume headache had subsided, I actually enjoyed making the last minute details. This year our school told parents to come to the gym a half hour after the parade stared to avoid the long wait, Dallin's class party went better than I had imagined, and I bagged the chili and made Potato Cheese Broccoli soup, which my kids love and takes a fraction of the time to make. There was still the negotiating of bites for dinner to be done, but not nearly as bad. Leon took the kids trick-or-treating while I stayed home and passed out candy. Not wanting to go up and down the stairs to answer the door every ten minutes, I stayed in the kitchen and cleaned. At the end of the night, my kitchen was SPOTLEESS, with no clutter piles or anything! Trick-or-treating ended earlier than usual since they had gotten an earlier start. They dumped out all their candy, sorted it into piles, did the usually trading, and ate their fair share. (What's great about them being little is they prefer "Tootsie Rolls" and anything that resembles an eyeball over "Snickers" or "Reece's Peanut Butter Cups". With it being Friday, we let them watch a movie before bed, with their candy bags by their side.

I can't wait for them to go back to school on Monday so I can raid their candy bags while they are gone. Now that Halloween is over, it's on to the next holiday!

Jayden the Pirate, Cameron the Bat, Dallin as Indiana Jones, and Landon the Ninja.

The End of An Era - Sympathy, Please

Okay, so most of you who know me know that I LOVE a good bargain. And, you would also know that my entire wardrobe and that of my family has come from Mervyn's. Having a friend who works at Mervyn's, I get the inside scoop to all the great sales. I have been able to clothe my family for next to NOTHING for the past 9 years. Truly, you can get an entire outfit for a toddler boy (pants and a shirt) for $3.00. I became a master at combining discounts and sales and looked forward to Mervyn's clearance sales like they were holidays.

That being said, it was devastating to learn that Mervyn's is going out of business and is closing EVERY store for good. Our store will be open until December 31st. After that I will have to find another source of bargains to clothe my family. I cannot tell you how heavy my heart is and how desperate I am to find another store with deals as good as Mervyn's. I think it will be very hard to top the deals I was able to get at Mervyn's. I've had friends and family tell me about other "great deals" they get at other stores, but seriously, Mervyn's topped them all. Any suggestions? Where do you get your best bargains?

Dinosaur Park

Okay, with UEA weekend came a bit of pressure to go and do something fun. Leon did not take any time off of work, so we pretty much stayed at home and played. But, Saturday we decided to bag yard work and go somewhere. Being such beautiful weather, we picked the outdoor dinosaur park in Ogden. It was a bit of a drive, but that made it seem like more of an outing.

A Leon classic.

After the dinosaur park we found a couple of geocaches in a park nearby. The kids sure love geocaching. It's like a treasure hunt where you have no idea what the treasure will be or what it will look like. Another group found these same geocaches earlier in the day and left some LAME, girly stickers, so the "treasure" wasn't all that exciting this time. But, the kids always enjoy the thrill of the hunt just as much as the "treasure" at the end.

The Simple Things

Sometimes it's the simple things in life that bring the most frustration and the most joy. My "toy room" is case in point. I try to be an organized person, but with four boys, it's an uphill battle. I have given up and generally try to avoid the toy room. When the going gets really tough and I've had just about enough frustration, I call in reinforcements by the name of "Robyn" (name may or may not have been changed to protect her identity). I've used "Robyn" a couple of times in the past and know she has a way of setting me straight with her BRUTAL honesty. Everyone needs a friend who isn't afraid to tell you what's what and doesn't judge you for the AMOUNT OF TOYS you have or the dust bunnies and DEAD FLIES in the window sill.

My goal was to get EVERY toy in the house organized into one room. It has been a major irritation of mine to try to put a toy away when its home could be in one of five different rooms. With "Robyn's" help we managed to transform the chaos into order. The boys have actually played in this room and with toys they haven't played with in a long time because the pieces weren't all together. At night (now, I know the novelty of a clean, organized toy room hasn't worn off yet), the boys are happy to clean up and put everything away where it belongs. (If you noticed I made labels with words and pictures to make it easy for everyone.)

Now, when I walk past this room, I get a little bit of joy and satisfaction - thanks to a friend I like to call "Robyn."

First Snow of the Season

Waking up to snow on the ground was exciting for most of the boys. However, Landon was a little confused and upset by it. He has been asking about upcoming holidays and has been confused to see Halloween and Christmas decorations both at stores. We've been telling him that first it's Halloween, then Christmas. Upon seeing the snow Landon said, "Oh, did we miss Halloween?" and starts to cry. I guess he thought snow meant Christmas and that he had missed Halloween. (And, yes, it was Sunday. No judging, please.)

Conference by the Fireside - Ahh...

Isn't this just the perfect picture?

Four boys listening to the prophet by a cozy fire. Ha!

(Skittles and candy corn work wonders.)
Whoever invented "General Conference Bingo" should get the Peace Prize. My boys actually look forward to Conference and sit quietly (well, relatively quietly) listening intently. The deal is they can either eat the candy on each "Bingo", or go for "blackout" and eat the whole board at once. For some reason, they all thought "blackout" sounded like a better deal. It was literally the last 30 seconds of President Monson's concluding remarks when Dallin heard the word "obey", giving him a "blackout." I tried explaining to them that eating each "bingo" would give them more candy in the long run, but they didn't believe me. Oh, well. It kept them entertained for two hours. Maybe I should come up with "Grocery Store Bingo" to get all four boys to behave through Macey's. Hmm.