Friday November 30

I was about to go to bed and realized I hadn't blogged yet.....

I am trying hard to finish up all the editing from all my sessions this year.....cause I want to just have the rest of December (minus the one I have tomorrow) for just me and my family :)

*****

We got some rain today.

I wonder what this winter will end up like......it is pretty mild.

I am not complaining....I like it mild.

But I do think a couple weeks of snow would be fun.

And then onto Spring :)

 

 

*****

Had another hard day with Cassi.

Starting to think maybe I need to take her in to her Dr to see what we should do.

I talked to her principle about it today, cause Cassi went in before lunch to call me and wanted me to come and see her at lunch.

I didn't answer the phone, cause I didn't know the number....anyway.

I went to see her at lunch and saw the principle and she said that Cassi said she didn't want the lunch they were serving, so the principle offered to switch lunches with her and that made Cassi happy.

Only it wasn't about the lunch.

Mrs, Blair, the principle said that she thought it might be something else, cause you don;t act so panicked about not liking the lunch they were serving.

Last night we looked at the menu and she said she liked what they were serving, so I didn't make a lunch today....

And when we were headed out to the car, kinda late, she decided she wanted a cold lunch.

I told her there wasn't time and that we had already talked about it the night before.

She panicked and kept saying her tummy hurt and didn't want to go.

I told her she was welcome to stay home but I wouldn't be coming home after I dropped Elsie off so she would be home alone.

ANYWAY.....

When I went to lunch I took her a treat and she wanted to come home with me.

I know maybe I shouldn't do that....but telling her I will see her at lunch 'allows' her to let me leave in the morning.

And if I didn't show up, I not only lose that bargaining chip.....but won't I lose that trust too?

AHHH!

Well, it is the weekend now.

And Dad will be home the beginning of the week.

He is better at getting through to her.

I love that girl and I just want her to be happy and not feel so worried and sick.

Thursday November 29

 

I am not liking this getting dark early thing.

By the time the girls get home from school, there is not very good light in the house.....so I don't get very good pictures.

I know it is dumb....but I hate it.

Oh well.

I usually turn it black and white cause it makes it look better.

I love black and white anyway :)

Not a big deal...just venting a bit....

*****

The big girls kinda got a long today after school.

Then we all had a big blow out later tonight....

We are all good now, but man oh man!!!!

I hope teenage years are easier ;)

 

 

We went a little while with Cassi doing good....

But since we had the break, she has had a hard time leaving us again.

Each day seems to be getting worse.

But so far I have talked her into going to school.

I am sending her a surprise in her lunches.....notes in her bag.....anything I can think of to help her think ahead in the day and have something to look forward to.

It really is exhausting.

I have to be careful in the morning not to do anything that makes her 'feel bad' or we go downhill.

That has been going good, but I don't want her to think she can get away with not doing things I ask her to do, cause I am not making a big deal of it....so she doesn't feel bad and break down.

I feel so bad that she feels this way.

We try to talk about thinking about good things.

I tell her if she thinks about sad and bad stuff....all she is gonna feel is SAD.

But is she is positive and thinks about happy stuff, then she can't help but be HAPPY!

And she tries....

We say a lot of comforting prayers.....and sends Dad texts to help her feel better...and I am always trying to remind her of fun things coming up....

I just wish I knew exactly how to help her 'snap' out of it....but I don't think that it is gonna be as easy as that.

Wednesday November 28

Madi has been without a coat.

She wore her work coat one day and someone called her a booger.

So she didn't want to wear it.

But Madi is kinda picky with what she will wear.

Finally she found one she wanted in a black Friday ad.

I went to go get it today....I know the black Friday deal was no longer....but she loved it, so I went for it.

Well, the coat was $40 and very thin...

I couldn't do that.

So I went over to Ross and found this cute one that was the same brand but half the price....and much thicker.

She loves it.

Score :)

I told her that even if someone calls her a pink and black drizzled marshmallow, she HAS to wear it.

And she has been wearing it all day.

So I think it's a good one.

 

 

*****

I had activity days with the girls today.

Man, they are some hyper girls :)

But i think it is gonna be a lot of fun!

Tuesday November 27

The girls got together this afternoon to make themselves some scarves from some scrap fleece my sweet neighbor, Bubbles, gave us.

There were some very nice minutes there of no fighting.

My favorite thing :)

 

Monday November 26

Tonight we kinda had a FHE.

We wrote letters to Santa.

I know...not really religious....

But we also talked about what our plans are gonna be for giving service and charity this time of year.

I am very excited about it all and I think the kids will have a very beautiful Christmas

 

Cass and Port were hard at work filling out their paper for Santa.

I found a cute printable for them to use.

 

We had to force Madi to add more to her list.

She did not give us....err, santa....much to go on.

 

 

Elsie thought it was fun looking through the ads with Dad.

Fun stuff.

 

 

Porter LOVES the mailbox!

He insisted the letters be put in the mail right away.

Not scared at all.

I love that boy :)



Sunday November 25

Today was pretty unorganized at church.

Like i said, we lost a lot of primary workers, but not many children.

I went with Elsie to class to wait to see if I could talk her into letting me leave once her teachers showed up.

Well, teachers never showed up.

No one showed up for the Sunbeams in the row in front of me either.....

So guess what I got to do :)

I talked Brent into coming with me and we took the two classes with us.

I didn't have anything planned.

So we talked about Thanksgiving, colored some pictures that another nice teacher printed off for me.

And we talked about what we are thankful for......and then played hang-man :)

I am sure things are gonna be a bit more organized next week, once we get some teachers.

I hope I can get Elsie to go to her class without me being there.

I am so excited to be a part of Sunday School with Brent and Relief Society again.

*****

After church we just took it easy and watched some movies we had recorded on the DVR.

Elsie has been working hard on her loose tooth.

Obviously not too hard, since it's still in there :)

 

Saturday November 24

We spent a lot of the day cleaning the playroom.

The kids had breaks here and there...

But we got a lot done.

We were told by Dad that we could put the Christmas tree and stuff up if they went through all the toys in the playroom and cleaned it up.

We have a big bag to donate and two more big bags that got thrown away.

And everything is organized in the right boxes.

I need to go through the individual boxes now and get rid of more stuff, cause I am not sure what they all kept :)

Porter cracked me up the whole time.

He would bring me any toy and said he wanted to 'donate it to the other kids.'

It was pretty cute :)

He didn't last too long though....going through stuff.

But Elsie stayed the whole time and helped to sort and throw away trash.

The big girls were awesome too.

They kept pretty steady going all morning.

Funny how you work in one spot all day, all together and then you leave that room to find all the other rooms a disaster!

How does that happen???

Oh well, I guess one room at a time.

 

Sooooo Dad......

Toys are sorted.....

When you gonna bring that tree in????

Maybe for Family Home Evening on Monday :)

Friday November 23

We had to say goodbye to Emmy today.

We had so much fun with her and we are so glad she came to be with us for Thanksgiving.

She got home safely this evening and the only thing that made that 'okay' with the kiddos was the promise that we will see her in about a month :)

*****

Porter has this friend.

His name is Tyler.

Or how Porter says it 'Ty-yer'.

Tyler is 8.

And Porter thinks he is just the greatest thing in the world.

We have hung out with their family a few times and once or twice Tyler has given Port some of his Transformers to borrow for a while....

And that's what made Tyler his Best Friend!

It is pretty funny.

Not sure Tyler even knows how great Porter thinks he is :)

Anyway, Tyler and his family brought Port a birthday present over today.

Porter was so excited.

Tyler gave him a couple of his best Transformers.

And Port was in heaven!

The night before Porters birthday I asked him when he wanted to open his presents and he told me that he "will wait for Ty-yer to come and then we can start the party."

I told him that for now it will just be our family.....so he was so happy that Tyler came over.

He was a happy boy playing with is new Transformers for the rest of the night.

 

 

Thursday November 22

We took advantage of the beautiful day to take some pictures....weird right???

Well, not for me :)

We had some time before dinner was ready.

And I wanted to get a picture of the kiddos anyway....and why not add Brent and I in for a quick shot.

And lucky for me, Emmy was here to take it :)

We did already get family pictures done....but you can never have enough, according to me anyway.

 

I am so Thankful for my little family.

So Thankful for the hard workers they are.

The love that they give and the sweet moments we have together.

We have our rough times....

We fight a lot.

But we are always on the same team....we always come together in the end.

 

Glad to get a good shot of my man and I.

I am so Thankful for him.

 

I am also so Thankful that Emmy came to stay with us for Thanksgiving.

We all had so much fun.

And little Elsie was in heaven :)

We will sure miss her when she is back home.

I am thankful for the huge role she is in my kids lives!

*****

The big girls were great helpers this morning getting stuff ready for the big dinner.

 

They had fun having there own 'jobs'.

 

Then it was time to set the table and carve the bird.

Oh my goodness, Emmy had the best way to cook the turkey.

We put it in the crock pot with two cans of cranberry's and 2 packets of Lipton's onion soup.

It was in there for a little over 5 hours....

THE BEST TURKEY EVER!!!!!

It was so moist and yummy and perfect.

And I am not a turkey fan.

I was very impressed.

 

This branch was a bit of an inside joke.

This morning we saw on the Today show some center pieces people made.

Brent saw the one with the branch and said 'I could do that' (totally making fun...)

And from then on the joke was on.

I asked Cassi if she would gather the perfect limb for Daddy's center piece.

Then the big girls colored on sheets of labels and we wrote things we were Thankful for on them.

Then stuck it on the tree branch.

Just Might have to be a new tradition.

 

 

The big girls also made our place setters to go on the back of our seats.

Cute little colorful turkeys.

They were so cute and perfect for the day.

*****

It was a fun day spent together.

We just ate pies.

SO YUMMY!!!!

Now we are watching a movie and soon it will be bedtime.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wednesday November 21

Happy Birthday to our sweet sweet boy!

I cannot believe he is 4 years old!!!

He is so much fun.

He makes me laugh all the time.

He is clever, smart, and cuddely.

He also has a crazy amount of energy and is a pretty rough little boy.

But I love him so much!

He makes me smile every day!

 

 

*****

I will fill in the details of his day later...cause it is so late.

But this boy had the best day and he ended the day as a very happy little 4 year old!