Frazzled

I'm really only posting this so that I can vent my frustration!

Ughhh, I just left Target and had all the kids with me. They had brought some of their own money to spend and had picked out some treats. Well we were standing in line to check out and Cadence goes and hits Dylan in the face with her candy treat (a princess candy necklace). I then told her that she lost her treat and she responded with "I"ll say sorry". Which in most cases I may have let her keep the treat since she was so quick and on her own want to say sorry. But she had already been on the naughty spot two times today (which is super uncommon for her) for not having kind hands. The news of the treat being taken away was obviously very upsetting to her and she proceeds to scream/cry. I just let her cry and throw her little fit and waited for our turn to check out. I did get down and talk to her and she would stop her fit during that time but as soon as she realized that she still wasn't getting her treat, she would start in with the crying again.

We finally check out and when I actually had to remove the candy from her hand. Her yelling is now not just crying but saying, "I don't want to". I walk out the door and am met by a woman in her 60's who leans down and looks Cadence in the face and says, "you know what, I don't want to hear your yelling!" in a nasty voice. I then say to her, "Don't ever speak to another persons child that way". And she says to me that I need to shop somewhere else because no one wants to hear her crying. It takes a lot for me to get worked up but I was instantly in defense mode of my child. We exchanged a few more words and I walked away. The lady behind me at least was kind and she chimed in by telling the lady she had no right to talk to me that way and that if she didn't like kids that she should shop somewhere else. I got in my car and was literally shaking.

I of course don't approve of the way Cadence was acting and I guess should try to be more aware the people around me and the way they feel about the situation verses not caring what they think. But tonight was the first time I've ever had someone be so in my face and rude.

Dylan said his night was ruined because that lady scared him so much. I responded with "don't let someone else not being nice ruin your day". I guess I should listen to my own advice. :)

My heart is full

Yesterday morning I told Dylan that we were going to have a play date with some friends that we don't see very often. He instantly started for looking for things to bring with us to be able to give as gifts for all the kids in their family (4). I told him that was a great idea, that he should make up little "goodie bags". So we found stickers, tattoos, pencils, etc. He was excited to be able to give the gifts and I was excited that he had thought of it all on his own.

Well, we had to run an errand to Target before arriving at their house. Dylan announced to me that he was so glad that he had brought his wallet with so that he could find somthing to buy. :) We were doing our shopping and came to the toy section, he was asking all the prices of the toys and I had to inform him that he didn't have enough money...he only had $4. Then we arrived at the matchbox cars and he was excited that he had enough to buy them. He right away told me that he was going to buy 3. I answered with "why 3"? "Oh" he says, "I'm buying one for Cedric, one for Enzo (the friends we were on our way to see) and one for me".

I leaned over to give him a huge hug and affirm him in showing my immense pleasure of his giving heart. My heart was so full!

Work Christmas Party

Mark & Israel volunteered to make lunch for their team at work for their Christmas party. It was a feast of food with tri-tip steak, cajun seasoned shrimp, mash potatoes, green beans w/bacon, biscuits and more amazing dessert than anyone could ever eat!

And they were able to come to our house to celebrate and hang out during their lunch hour. The picnic table fit everyone perfectly!

It was complete with a apple cider toast. :)

And what is a Christmas party without a gift exchange...

I think everyone had a wonderful time!

Number 34!

My birthday was on Monday...and I have to admit that I have had much better days. Not because of people not making me feel special but because I was sick all day long. The kind of sick where it was hard for me to stand up straight to walk from the sofa into the kitchen, the kind of sick that I was curled up on the floor in my bathroom just so I was close by the toilet. Not fun.

I guess the good news in it all is that I was able to celebrate with my family the night before with a great dinner & wonderful gifts. And Mark gave me my gift the night before as well which is the picture below. I love it! I've worn it every day since. I have a piece of jewelry that represents each child but this one has all of them together. :)

Michelle (Mark's sister) birthday is today. We sent her a gift package and included was a story that Dylan wrote for her. It was all his idea, words & pictures! It was so cute and he was so excited to make it for her.

I had told him that I think it will be her favorite gift for her birthday. :)

Happy Birthday Michelle!

School Christmas Stations

Last Friday I was able to help out in Dylan's class at school during his fun Christmas stations. I haven't been able to be in his classroom yet, so it was really fun for me to be able to see him interact with the other kids! They made Christmas cookies, had hot chocolate & read The Polar Express and made luminaries. :)

I also got him a new lunch box (it was a super good deal & I liked that I don't have to use any baggies, etc.). I gave it to him to put whatever stickers on that it came with and this is how he decorated it. :) He actually didn't like it at first, he thought the other kids would think it was silly (amazing how young you are when you are aware of your peers thoughts). I told him to try it out for a day and see how it goes. He gave me a reluctant "ok".

When I picked him up from school I asked how it went at lunch and he responded with, "everyone loved my box and they all wanted to sit by me!".

Fun. :)

Feliz Navidad

Star of Wonder

On Wednesday night Dylan, Cadence & I went to the Star of Wonder Christmas play at First Assembly Church. We met up with my mom, sister & nephew and niece. We have gone the last few years...it really is a amazing play. They don't hold back with any of the production of it.

human christmas tree choir and flying angels


nativity scene

Before the show started the kids were dancing and being silly to the live music playing. :)

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I don't necessarily care for "mega" churches and what the money they have is usually used towards. But I do have to say that I have respect for this church and how giving they are. All money raised from the play (after expenses) is given as outreach for tangible needs of the community.

Every day they feed 9,000 people and house over 300!

Brings A Smile

Having the lights on the tree and house always brings a warm feeling inside. There is thankfulness and excitement for giving of gifts. I really love the Christmas season.

We decorated a tree last week and Dylan did most of the decorating work this year. Cadence helped a little but for some reason she was worried about hooking them on the tree herself.

Isabelle was interested for about 2 minutes and then found more exciting things to play with :)

The tree turned out beautiful and is filled with lots of ornament memories!

We also have our lights up outside and our new addition this year~reindeer!

Merry Christmas!

I Wanna Wish you a Merry Christmas

Good times :)

Garden Bliss

On Sunday afternoon we took a tour of some gardens in our neighborhood. I was so inspired! Some were simple, others were perfectly amazing. I really enjoyed to know that so many people in our area are doing gardens and raising chickens for eggs. The kids loved it as well. :)

The picture below was of Dylan playing with the cat. He kept asking if we could get some animals, especially chickens. I of course answered quickly "yes" and Mark returned with, "uh, I don't think so".

At the end of the tour they had a picnic at the last garden. Fresh chicken soup (from ingrediants & chickens from the farms that we had been at), salad & fresh lemon bars made again by the lemons from someones house. All of it was so wonderful, natural!! I loved every part of it.

I definatly came home with plans of making raised garden beds and trying to figure out how to corral off a part of our yard for chickens. This spring I think our backyard with be transformed! And like other things in life, Mark will one day realize he loves having chickens as well. He is always good about supporting my crazy ideas. :)

Star Wars Birthday

We also had a birthday party for Dylan's good friend Thomas over the weekend. We met in our old neighborhood and have stayed friends! The boys love to play together and they both especially like Star Wars...in fact Thomas is the one who introduced him to what Star Wars even was. :)

They had Star Wars games with light sabers & balloons.

I can't believe that no one hit each other.

They also had pod races. All the kids had so much fun!

And Cadence was invited as well. She played with Ella (Thomas' sister). They found a branch that was low enough to hang from. They definatly aren't "girly girls", you can tell they have older brothers. :)

The weather was perfect to be outdoors and Thomas had a great 6th Birthday.

Cow Farm Fun

On Saturday evening we went to Superstition Farm in Mesa. It is a dairy farm and they have holiday fun on the weekend. We went with the Whittemores. It was good to be out together and the kids all had so much fun!

We had gooey smores

There were hay bails set up and I think cotton in the middle for the kids to jump into. I think this was their favorite thing.

The girls got their faces painted like butterflies. :)

And of course, Eli was content and along for all the fun.

Dylan was a big help for the girls getting up to be able to jump down in the hay area. By the end Maggie was brave enough to jump from the high side, but Cadence stayed comfortable from the lower jump off.

We had a hay ride around the farm.

And there was a petting zoo. Dylan was afraid to let them eat from his hand but did let the goats and calfs eat from the cup and of course Cadence was scared to go anywhere near any animals including the sweet rabbit.

It was a fun night and with something we have never done before!

Festival of Lights

Saturday evening we rode the lightrail to Tempe to watch the Festival of Lights parade. The kids thought it was so great to be able to ride the train. It was the first time for Cadence (that she remembers) and Isabelle both. On the ride there, Cadence kept looking every direction...it was like she was a little bobble head. :)

It was pretty cold out once the sun went down, so we were all bundled up.

The parade itself isn't all that great. But the kids had so much fun and they loved seeing what was coming next.

We were right next to the road where the parade goes by so the kids were up close and waving to all the people on the floats & the cheerleaders as they did their dances.

It was our start to the Christmas season. I think this year is going to be lots of fun with the kids all getting older!

sweetness to my ears...

Tonights prayer from Dylan:

God thank you that you keep Lincoln safe.
Thank you that you made me special and other people special.

Amen.

Giving Thanks

Every year we celebrate Thanksgiving at Mark's parents house and my side of the family comes over as well. I forgot to take a picture of the meal with everyone but the below pictures are of the kids saying what they are thankful for and then picking out a price for each item. It has been something my mom has done since I was a little kid.

Michelle was helping Cadence with writing the things down on her paper that she was thankful for. Every time Cadence would come back and sit on Michelle's lap and either play with hair or rub her face or give her kisses. It was so cute to see her be so affectionate.

Dylan worked hard on his Turkey that showed what he was thankful for. He wanted to make sure everything was spelled correctly as he was writing. :)

Dylans list:

Teacher, School, Jake, Fruit, Michelle, Grandma R, House, Cabin, Grandma B, Flower (the fish), Grandpa, World, Mom, God, Daddy, Lincoln, Animals, Janae, Friends, Cadence, Isabelle, Christmas and Food!

Cadence List:

Jett, Spiderman, Grnadma B, Mom, Janae, Isabelle, Grnadpa, Daddy, Trampoline, House, Jake, TV, Maggie, Uncle Jon, Michelle

Just the 2 of us

Mark's mom watches the kids for us overnight one night a month and it is always so nice to have a full night and not have to worry about being done by a certain time to go pick up the kids. We decided to do a lot of hiking while we didn't have the kids. :)

On Friday night we hiked Squaw Peak. We got to the top just as the sun was setting, it was beautiful! Mark actually ran almost the whole way to the mountain before we hiked (his longest run so far). He was a beast...I definatly couldn't have done it!

We went out to dinner that evening and then the next morning we got up early and hiked Camelback Mountain. I don't think I have ever hiked to the top and it is much harder than Squaw Peak. The clouds were beautiful in with the morning sun.

I had kind of remembered that there was railing on one part of the mountain but when I got to here and looked up it looks so intimidating. But I pulled myself along and made it through.

I think we did great...no stopping on either mountain!

It was great to be outside and enjoying creation!

Great Conversations

Me: (riding in the car) "Dylan, sit correctly in your seat. If we got into a car accident your seat belt wouldn't work correctly"

Cadence: "God doesn't do that"

Me: "What do you mean?"

Cadence: "God drives a car."

Dylan: "No Cadence, God doesn't need to drive a car!"

Cadence: "Yes He does, it's blue with stripes".

Life

I'm not sure if Isabelle is understanding & having independence all of a sudden or I am just feeling it more because she started walking. But she is so aware of her surroundings now, able to do things on her own and is definatly voicing her opinion about things with a high pitch squeel.

Her new thing is climbing up in the regular chair at the table and eating her snack from there. She is taking things to the trash on her own & will go get something if we as her to. She has been a lot of fun lately!

Now that the mornings are cold, Cadence likes to get ready to take Dylan to school. This was a picture from one of the first mornings it started being cold...complete with teddy bear slippers. All this and we don't even get out of the car :)

This is the kids creative way of being able to walk on the floor while it is still wet from mopping. It is a limbo game piece, but the kids have realized they can walk on them kinda like stilts to get around...creative.


Dylan loves banana bread! We put bananas in the freezer when they have gone bad and wait for enough to make bread. This time he made it all by himself...of course with a little bit of help.