Fall Happenin's

It has been an exhausting few weeks, but I am trying to get into the spirit of things and get over my grumpiness, trying REALLY hard. Last weekend I finally decided we could make our traditional Halloween sugar cookies. It was quite the process.... with three helpers you never know what you'll get. We used the same pumpkin cookie cutter and came out with at least 8 different shaped/sized pumpkins! Talent, I tell ya:

EVERYONE got to frost....

Brayden was very serious about his job and he was in charge of the sprinkles. I have to say he did a very good job compared to where we started a few years ago.... however, the girls are still in training.

I'm not really sure how many each child ate, between baking, frosting and sitting down to actually eat one, but no one threw up from too much sugar, so I consider that a success!

While I was at my outdoor soccer game on Sunday the boys built this impressive Geotrax track while the girls napped. When I came home I was so shocked, it was really quite cool!

I have to make it clear that Kent and B each have their own train. No sharing b/n the two. I had to capture this pic. of Kent. He sat on the couch (after all the work was done) and enjoyed his soda and controlled his remote control train around the track. Whenever he wanted to change it up he had Brayden push the switch on the track. I tell ya, the guy knows how to play! :)



Brayden's words:

This last week B has come up with some pretty funny thoughts. I need to write them down before they escape me. Grandma Phillips came over on Wed. night to help ease my craziness since Kent was out of town. I decided that we should get out of the house and have a Costco hot dog dinner and do some shopping. As we were loading into the ol' mini van, I said, "EEWW our van stinks, what is that smell?"

G-ma: "Yeah, it smells like dirty underwear."

Ellie: "My Daddy wears underwear, do you wear underwear?'

G-ma: "Why yes I do...."

Ellie: "No, YOU no wear underwear, Brayden wears underwear."

Me: I knew where she was going with this so I tried to prompt her, "What do girls wear?

Brayden: "BA-GINAS! (vaginas).

Sandy and I trying to stifle our giggles....Me: "I was thinking panties, but yes, girls have vaginas....

Brayden: "Boys have penises!"

I'm so glad we got that all cleared up.

Today I was folding clothes on my bed and I had the clock radio on.

Brayden: "Where's that music coming from?"

Me: "Dad's clock radio."

Bradyen: "Does Dad listen to that music to lull him to sleep?"

Seriously who says that?

" YAY for MOPS School!"

These are my big girls....I know all these pics. look the same, but I couldn't choose b/n them, so I posted almost all of them. Sorry.....this was yesterday before we went to MOPS. MOPS is a mom's group that I go to. We went last year and the girls have been asking all summer when we get to go back. They were more than thrilled when I told them it was time! They INSISTED on wearing their backpacks to MOPS school. Dani also INSISTED on wearing her "sassy shoes." IDK where she gets that, I am all about my comfy shoes.

This is both of them yelling, "YAY FOR MOPS SCHOOL!"

When all was said and done, they were a little cranky when I left them in their daycare room. The lady said they cried a little and were clingy. Hopefully next time it will be a little better. They seemed happy when I picked them up to go home though!

Happy Birthday Daddy, Uncle Kelly and Auntie Shelby!

We had a busy party weekend! Auntie Shelby and cousin Hunter came into town. We celebrated Kent, Kelly and Shelby's Birthday! Shelby is 11 months older than Kent and Kelly. Can you imagine?!? Sandy (my MIL) had three children under one for a few weeks there....I always think about her when I am having a rough day, or a rough few days..... I do ask her for advice but she honestly doesn't remember ALOT! I'm sure she was just on survival mode for a good five years, at least. Ok, back to our weekend.... this was mac & cheese and hot dog night at Kelly and Sarah's. All the cousins, except Noah, who we missed! Keegan, Brayden, Dani, Owen, Ally, Ellie and Hunter.

Keegan and Brayden delivering the birthday presents.

All the kids couldn't wait to find out what Kent got! Sandy got him some cold medicine, it was percfect, we've all been pretty sick this week!

I know this pic. is blurry, but Ally looked so cute, I had to post it.

Owen giving Hunter love.

Shelby, Great-Grandma, Grandma, and Great-Grandpa.

Kent, Shelby, Kelly, Ellie and Brayden.

Auntie Sarah and Uncle Kelly were brave enough to have the boy cousins (4) sleep at their house and we got all the girls at our house (my girls plus Ally). I am pretty confident I got the best end of the deal because the girls just played with their kitchen and played "Mommy and Daddy." They were so darn cute, it was nice to just have the girls. Ally even taught Dani and Ellie some of her ballet moves. Two and three year olds doing ballet is almost as funny as watching four and five year olds play soccer!

The next morning we went to Sears to get Halloween pictures of all the kids. What a grand idea to begin with, plus the morning after a sleep over, not the best plan..... we got it done, but the pics. could have been better. Oh well, it's a good memory and the pic. tells it all. I will post it when I pick it up.

A day with Dad AND booger soup!

For a while now, I have wanted Kent and I to be able to rotate weekends and take each child one at a time, for some "special one-on-one time." Sunday was Brayden's first day with Dad! They went out to breakfast at the buffet by themselves, and enjoyed a magnificent breakfast. Then they came home and started a project that we picked up at Home Depot the day before. It is a fire station bank. They had to sand it, nail it, paint it and put the "decals" on. It was very sweet watching my boys work together. Brayden is such a good listener and follows directions so well, the project turned out great! Kent took the time to make sure he didn't go against the grain and consistently painted in the same direction. Who would have thought of this? I have to say I think I would have handed over the paint and let him have at it. The end result is amazing, and you can tell they really worked hard together!

I don't have a pic. of the final product, maybe later......

As I was working on the kids' Halloween costumes, (yes, I'm making them, more to come in the future) Kent started to get dinner ready. We were going to have clam chowder and focaccia bread. Brayden let Kent know he did NOT like clam chowder. Surprisingly, Kent let B pick out the kind of soup he wanted from the cupboard (I am assuming this is only because there wasn't a whole lot of clam chowder and he didn't want to waste it, when the kids wouldn't eat it anyway). Unfortunately, Brayden picked broccoli and cheddar soup. I don't even know where this came from, or why it's in our cupboard. My only assumption is that I bought it for a recipe, then forgot about it.

As Kent was dishing up the bowls I could hear the conversation from my bedroom.

Brayden: "EEWW what's the chunky stuff in there?"

Kent: "Boogers. It's booger and cheese soup! Doesn't it look yummy?"

When I walked out to the dining room B was sitting at the table with a disgusted look on his face.

B: "I"m NOT going to eat this.

Kent: (Who tends to be a hard ass when it comes to eating and manners at the table). "That's fine, you can go to your room and if you decide to eat, you may come out, otherwise we'll tell you when dinner is over."

B bolts out of his chair to his room. The rest of us sit down and enjoy our soup and bread. After 5-10 minutes with no sound from B's room, Kent says, "Maybe you should go talk to him."

I went into B's room and pretended like I didn't know what was going on.

Me: "What's up, what is going on?"

B: "I DON'T WANT TO EAT BOOGER SOUP!" Then a whole stream of tears came out.

I, of course, burst out laughing, wouldn't you know? I let him know that Dad was teasing and we wouldn't feed him boogers, "Remember we tell you NOT to eat your boogers? Why would we feed them to you? With a huge sigh of relief he ran back and got into his chair and devoured his dinner.

Wouldn't you think with our sarcastic personalities our children wouldn't be so gullible? Hopefully they'll start to catch on soon!

Homework and Halloween!

Ahh, the first week we're back and B has homework. I know pre-school homework really shouldn't be a BIG deal, but jeez, just finding the time to do it was rough last week. PLUS it had to be crafty! My craft supplies are a little limited, but B busted open his "craft closet" and all was well. Grandma Phillips was over for dinner so I put her to work afterwards. B had to make a person that represents him. I think it came out pretty cute!

The finished product....cotton hair, denim patches for pants, pom poms for buttons, thread for shoe laces and a button nose. Nice work guys!

Yesterday we got a special treat in the mail for Grandma Wagener....a big box full of stuff we forgot at her house AND new Halloween Jammies! The kids were all very excited!

They're a little wild and they glow in the dark! How lucky can they be?

For some reason, B can't take a normal pic. anymore.

Here's a good one of all of them, this may be a X-mas card pic. because I don't know that I'll be able to get them to all look at the same time again.....maybe I should have made B's bed?!?

Brayden's first soccer game!

My nephew, Keegan on the far left, trying to get a touch on the ball.

I have been looking forward to this day since Brayden was born. I was NOT disappointed. It was pure entertainment watching eight, 3-5 year olds try to kick the same ball. I laughed so hard, I almost peed my pants. (Yes, some of it was inappropriate laughter). At one point the WHOLE green team was on the ground. I am pretty sure it was their fault, tripping over their own team mates. All the coaches swooped in and put each one back on their feet, while the red team scored once again. They don't keep score at this age, I discovered mainly because it would be impossible! We were scored on, on an average of every 30 seconds. The score had to be 20-something to 1.

Brayden is on the green team, which was the Green Beans. Now they have decided to change it to the Fierce Sharks, which no one can say. That's where my occupation comes in handy. Each night after practice I am going to have speech therapy sessions so they can cheer each other on appropriately. J/K! I have to say, I am disappointed they aren't the Green Beans anymore.
The fans: Ally, Ellie, and Owen.

Warming up the all-stars before the game.

This was early in the game when I was watching nicely/quietly from the side.

Right after this, Brayden scored a goal!! However, it was for the wrong team. It didn't even phase him though. He came running off the field so proud and excited, yelling, "Mom, I GOALED!"

I gave him a high-five and said great job! I then said, "Do you remember that you are going the other way, and you're supposed to kick the ball in the other goal?"

He looked at me like I was nuts, "I know Mom, but that was WAY too far away. I would have had to run all the way down the field, this one was much closer!" Always thinkin' I tell ya, so smart. :)

It's all B! One v. four!

Half-time pep talk, it went something like this:

"Coach, can we play on the toys? Can we have a snack? I'm all done."

Coach Brian, "No, we're not done playing soccer yet. Who knows which way we're going? What do you do when you see the ball? What do you do when the other team has the ball?"

Grandma Phillips and her three grand daughters, such loyal fans.

This was right after Brayden scored his goal in the RIGHT goal!

This was right after Brayden ran and ran all the way down the field with the ball and didn't score. Yes, he is crying. He was a little distraught that after all that work, he didn't "goal!"

High-fives and finally the best part, SNACKS!

It was our snack day, we got to hand out ding-dongs and capri suns, how does it get any better than this?

Brayden's first day of school

Since we were on vacation, Brayden missed the first week of school. I know, we're those BAD parents. But, since he has already had two years of pre-school and he knows the routine, I wasn't too worried. He missed the kindergarten cut off by four days, but I think in the long run it will be a good thing. Hopefully he will be a leader, since he will be old for his grade level. We shall see...here he is on HIS first day of school. He looks so grown up to me, I can't believe he is getting so big!