Sunday, November 24, 2013

     Winter is definitely here.  I love the snow.  It is a cozy situation, but hey, I can stay indoors for the most part and just enjoy the gorgeous icy scenes from the windows.  Ryan has always hated snow, and I am sure it is because he has to work in it.  It always hinders his work, freezes his concrete, and makes his equipment hard to start.  It has snowed and been snowy for about four days now.  Because of this, Oak has not been able to get out and ride his bike.  This bothers Oak to a large degree.  Instead they have been stuck inside, building huts, scooting around on Ryan's creepers, and carting each other around in mattresses.  Sags has been reading, and Jams has a new steer to take care of. 
     Moroni has still been struggling with bed time and nap time.  He pretty much throws a fit when it is time to go to sleep.  I have tried rocking him, giving him bottles, laying by him, and playing boring shows with the sound down.  (The last one worked like a charm for Chlo.)  For awhile he wanted me to pace rapidly around the floors with him.  This wasn't doing much to get me any sleep.  Frankly he was quiet, but he didn't go to sleep either.  He would, however screech in protest when I would stop.  So, now I just act bored while he throws himself on the floor and cries.  It is pretty sad.  I know this is a phase, but I hate it.  I feel like if the behavior is ignored, he will stop.  I just act like I am asleep, and I hope ends quickly.  He is a happy and delightful kid the rest of the time.  He is very smart, and can follow instructions already.  He helps me put laundry away, and even gets the clothes in the right drawers.  He also loves to sing and dance.  He shimmies around on the table, and twists and turns when the girls are practicing their dances.  He is quick to laugh and smile.  I love the little dude.  What a great addition to our family. 
     Chlo has been into decorating with bungee cords.  Ryan loves bungee cords, and he uses them all the time.  He ordered some this week, but I don't believe he knows that they came, because Chlo immediately put them to good use.  I spacily drove around with a few attached to the back bumper thanks to Chlo.  I finally asked about them and she explained that she was just decorating the van with bungee cords.  "Duh"...she likes to add, when I ask her obvious questions.  Yeah, what was I thinking?
     Ryan and I celebrated our fifteen year anniversary this week.  Jerusha decorated the house with signs, and Ryan took me to Milt's for dinner.  Steaks are so unbelievably savory.  It was a good time.
     Jazzerz performed in the craft fair this week.  Her teacher had been riding her pretty hard because she was struggling with a cart wheel that had to be done in the routine.  We decided that we were going to get Jazz on track with her cartwheel.  It was a right handed cartwheel, and Jazzerz had the tendency to want to go left.  Anyhow, Ryan was even trying to demonstrate the cartwheels for her.  Jams helped her over and over until we began to see some huge improvements.  By the time that Saturdee rolled around I felt confident that Jazz was ready.  I watched her from the audience.  She danced beautifully, and faced the wrong way when she did her cartwheel.  I am sure no one noticed but me.  Try, try again Jazz!
     We did family pictures in the snow yesterday.  I hope they turned out well.  Cute Chlo was trying to smile through her shivers.  Mo kept throwing fits, and I had to bribe them all to keep smiling for the camera.  We came home and made cinnamon rolls to fulfill the bribe which, Mo enjoyed immensely. 
     After all of the craziness with Jazzerz dance deal, getting ready for pictures, we came home to a messy house.  I had invited one of Saggers friends to come over and do hair, and this proved to be brilliant.  She did great, and I wouldn't have made it without her.  The house was filled with clothes, and hair fixing tools.  Anyhow, we all pitched in and cleaned things up.  I ran to the store for some milk, and while I was gone, Rooshkie headed up a hut making program.  The living room was pretty much not accessible at all.  She had also used my hand weights to keep the blankets in place which is never a good thing.  Someone always ends up in the hut, getting clobbered on the head by a ten lb weight.  I frowned at the hut when I walked in.  The hut had included every decent blanket out of the bookoo fudge, and my rocking chair added a nice wing onto the hut.  I frowned, and Jerusha swore up and down that she would clean it up. 
     Ryan went to bed early, and I was trying to get the kids to bed too.  They were all beaning around the hut loudly and happily until Mo entered the scene.  He was like a wrecking ball and this made Jerusha squeal and squawk with disappointment.  She bawled and screamed while Mo, within moments demolished the beloved hut.  Then "klunk"  an eight pound weight fell on Rooshkie's head which caused a ton of more wails out of Rooshkie.  All this time I am trying to shush everyone, and check on Rooshkie to get them to quiet down.  I finally told them that I had to have the rocking chair.  Even though Mo is impossible to get to sleep initially, he will let me rock him back to sleep if he wakes up in the night.  Most nights I spend half the night in the chair with him. We cleaned the hut up, and a very upset Rooshkie went to bed.  Chlo scared me however.  While Mo was throwing his nightly bedtime tantrums and I was snoozing, she was standing there in the dark wondering how to help him.  Chlo startled me.  I sent her back to bed.
     The hut went back up this morning in all of it's glory.  I noticed that they used books to hold the blankets in place this time.  They crawled and squirreled around that thing all morning.  I told them to include Mo this time and he seemed to enjoy hanging in the hut with them.  I had to pull them away from the hut to get them ready for shrsh.
     Oak has really taken up whittling this week.  He likes to sit on the back porch, sharpen knives, and whittle sticks.  He took a whittled stick to shrsh today. I am still unsure about that.  Chlo also showed up to shrsh with the most hideous doll in the world.  She had colored the back of the doll's head in bold strokes with a blue pen.  It was naked, with a grubby body and grubby face.  It was quite shabby to say the least.  I was kind of embarrassed to be seen with Chlo's doll.  She was very insulted when I questioned her about her doll.  It is beloved to Chlo, obviously.
     I bought Ryan a new creeper for the garage for his birthday.  It is a creeper that has a seat, and it works well to roll around the garage for tools and tinkering.  For whatever reason someone brought it in the house this week.  That thing got raced through the halls, round and round the kitchen, and rolled all over the bathrooms.  It banged into people's shins repeatedly though, and this caused quite a bit of distress.  I threatened to take the creeper back to the garage over and over.  The fact of the matter is, I was glad that they were being entertained by it.  Mo would place bullets and food items on it.  He then would race to and fro.  He would then either add to the food stores, or place his bottle on there.  Off he would go again.  The creeper has gotten many miles put on it this week.
     We had a niece return from a mission this week.  It is so good to know that she is back.  We felt bad that we didn't make it down to that.  The snowy weather, combined with the fact that we will be gone from our ward next week prevented us from going.  I was put in charge of the Christmas program.  I am trying to get things organized. I hope that her reunion with the family was really great today.






     Jazzerz on the fun-time creeper is the top picture. Mo is on Miranda's head in the next one.  She is the sweetheart that helped me with hair on picture day. The next two are of Jazz ready to perform.  Hut making fun is next and the one is of Chlo peeking up out of the Bookoo fudge.

Monday, November 18, 2013

      I must admit that as a mom, I have been so proud and pleased with my kids, that it has brought tears to my eyes.  I have also been so embarrassed that I could cry.  Today, embarrassment prevailed. 
     This has been a good week overall.  It was good to be back, and get back in the saddle.  I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Ryan.  I love him and I really enjoy our time together.  He is fun to talk to, and be with.  However, I feel like a fish out of water when I am away from my kids.  It was good to get back to hauling them to and fro, and cooking and cleaning for them.  I really enjoyed getting stuff unpacked, and cleaning stuff up.  The kids got their dance costumes this week, and Sags got back to her guitar lessons. 
     Ryan ordered a package of grease guns this week for greasing up all of his equipment.  It came in a normal box, with wadded up paper for packaging.  Mo and Chlo had a ball with that stuff.  They seriously played with that stuff for hours and hours.  They rolled up in the paper, threw it at each other, and used it as blankets.  I was amazed at how much mileage we got out of it. 
     I have enjoyed watching Oak grow up a little bit, and go to school.  His teacher said that he was doing well, and he seems to enjoy kindergarten quite a bit.  When I picked him up after school one day, he seemed quite pleased with himself.  He explained that once again, no one had been able to "tag" him in their daily game of tag.  He said, "they didn't tag me today, and they haven't tagged me ever in my life."  I love that he is speedy, and feels important. 
     Chlo has been exhibiting some odd behavior this week.  She has some sudden paranoia about someone robbing the stuff out of our home.  Because of this fear, I find all sorts of odd things hidden in my bathroom closet.  There was some of her stuffed animals in there one day.  I questioned her about it, and she said that she was hiding them from the robbers.  Forgive me for thinking this Chlo, but if someone actually did break in, I doubt your stuffed animals would be a hot item to take.  I am thinking more along the lines of some of Ryan's tools.  Anyhow, my phone would turn up missing, and I would scour the house for it.  When I finally would mention it to Chlo, she would produce it from all sorts of odd hiding places.  One of those places was her duck puppet.  I never would have found it in a million years.  Oak also caught her eating crackers in his bed, which really made him mad.  She just shrugged and explained that she was exercising??????  Yeah, that makes a ton of sense.
     I had the opportunity to go with my parents, and meet Doug and Larissa at the temple this past Fridee.  It was very enjoyable, except that my mom kept pointing out all of her secret friends that I do not know.  "That is Marleena Hall, Angie....surely you know Marleena from Escalante???"  Ummmm that is a big "no."  Doug and I teased her a bit, because she told Doug to bring the usual "Waldorf Salad" for Thanksgiving this year.  Waldorf Salad????  As far as I know, that stuff has never graced our Thanksgiving table.  I think she was secretly trying to be like Anne Romney or something.  My poor mom cannot do anything without getting teased though.  We love, to tease each other.  To us, it is how we tell each other we care.  Crazy, but true.
     Jams and Sags went down to the temple to perform baptisms for the dead, and Ryan and I got with a realtor and looked at a house.  Yep, I want it...I get way enthused about everything though.  I told Ryan to buy it for me.  I mean hey, they only want $950,000 for it...easy right?  The property would be ideal.  It is secluded, and grassy.  It also has some nice farm ground, and a big barn.  Yes, I want it.  I also want to move to Oklahoma, and I would love to live on the mountain somewhere.  I feel that we need to make a move here soon.  I am sure that Ryan will help me make this happen.
     Today the kids have been just awful.  Weaning Mo has been a nightmare.  He was up most of the night Saturday night, and he woke up really early this morning.  He woke up the whole house with his wails.  Chloee woke up, and joined in bawling with him.  She bawled and bawled, begging for a peanut butter sandwich.  I got up and made her one, which ended her crying fit.  Mo, on the other hand refused to be consoled.  I made him a peanut butter sandwich too because I figure that hunger is probably his biggest problem.  He gets hungry, I can no longer nurse him, and so he gets really mad.  He bawled and hauled that sandwich around, and refused to take any bites.  This was at like 5 am.  He bawled until six, when I finally got up and began to study a lesson that I had been asked to present in Oakers primary class today.  He bawled and bawled while I studied.  I tried sticking him in the bath.  He bawled all through the bath, fiercely clutching his sandweech which he refused to eat.  I must admit that after the bath, I didn't want him to eat it.  Finally he ate some cereal, at like 7:30 and his mood switched to extreme joy.  He giggled and goofed around all morning after that.  I couldn't help but be appalled at him. 
     The kids had some secret game going before shrsh that was raucous and rowdy.  I think this is why they had a hard time settling down for our Sunday meetings.  It included force fields, and shields.  It had much screaming and pain, rastling, and squealing. Everyone was wallering on everyone else. After my escapades with Mo, I kinda just let them play so they would give me a break.  We had to scramble to get them ready, which set the stage for a rowdy sort of feel at church.
     Sacrament meeting was a full on nightmare today.  There is not one of my kids that were good.  I finally sent Sage out with Mo.  Sage was furious with Jamie, and was calling her all kinds of ugly names, and Mo was flip flopping around and bawling.  Sending them out, improved things quite a bit.  Oak kept complaining to me that he was starving, Chlo kept rubbing her head on the bench, and everyone's legs.  I had fixed her hair up so nice, and she ended up looking like a human cotton ball.  The talks today in shrsh were excellent too.  I need to come up with a reward system.  Seriously, something has got to happen to improve our behavior at church.
    The home teachers came over today, and again I was mortified by the kids behavior.  Jazzerz was rolling around on the floor with her rear end in the air, Chloee was rastling with Rooshkie, and Mo dumped a big bucket of toys all over the floor.  After that I looked over to see Jazzerz sucking on her toes, and Jerusha was ripping paper into strips and licking it.  Oak also began dragging Rooshkie around by the feet.  This whole time we are trying to have a normal conversation about General Conference.  I kept shooting them horrified, and mortified looks which did nothing to improve their behavior.  Oak finally looked at them and said, "Wow, you guys have been here a long time!"  Which actually wasn't true at all.  It was just terrible.  I have heard that kids seem to lose all sense of normal behavior when the home teachers are over, but this was a bit ridiculous.  I was discussing this sort of thing with Ryan's cousin Tayna.  She comes from a family of 11 kids, and she claimed that they got spanked sometimes after the home teachers left.  Because of this, they didn't really like to see them come over.  I can totally see why.  Last month, we sent one away with a bloody nose after his rastle with Oak, this month, everyone acted way dopey.  Whew...hopefully I can figure out how to get my kids to act decent. 
     Ryan and I went to a convocation at the University about preserving our religious freedom.  It was actually pretty horrifying.  Ryan is on the front lines of the freedom battles in so many different arenas.  State's rights, gun control, reducing business regulations etc.  I had no idea that our religions are under attack too.  Former Governor Mike Leavitt was the keynote speaker, and he did an excellent job of explaining things.  I wouldn't know how to live without my religion.  I was so frustrated with my kids' Sunday behavior that I had to turn on a conference talk by Sister Beck just to put things back into perspective.  It did too.  It calmed me down, and helped me to realize just how much being a mom means.  At that point, even though I was sleep deprived, I felt like enjoying them again.  I turn to my religious beliefs to fix just about every problem I ever face.  When I get upset at someone I know that I have to forgive them, if I consider myself a follower of Christ.  It makes all of us better people.  America needs religious freedom in order to stay moral.  This is another fight, I am sure Ryan and I will enter if necessary.  I learned a lot.
     The convocation had its price, however.  When I came home, the girls had let Mo run amuck and he had spread honey on the counter tops.  He then had proceeded to stick cocoa crispies all over in the honey.  Ryan mentioned it to my older girls, and they hopped right up and cleaned it all.  They are pretty good gals, but obviously weren't paying Moroni a ton of attention.
     Well, on to a new week.  I love Monday's and all of the new and fresh possibilities that a new week brings.  I am thankful for all of my blessings. 



  Notice the nice dumped toys in the background...thanks Mo!

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

     Last week was definitely different than normal.  Ryan has been fighting a lawsuit in Texas for months now, and was expected to be in court last Thursday.  I had found him flights etc. but he really wanted me to come with him.  I felt like this was pretty much impossible, and he did try to get the courts to move his court date back.  They refused, and so Ryan arranged for his parents to keep the kids, and we ended up flying out of Las Vegas on Wednesdee morning.  It was an adventure and that is for sure. 
     Another thing that needed to happen is that Moroni needed to be weened.  I was way concerned about leaving him, but Ryan insisted that it was long overdue, and I had to agree.  I just didn't want to admit that Moroni was no longer my baby, but he hasn't been for a very long time.  The dude pretty much grew up as soon as he was born.  Too fast for my liking.  Anyhow, I was way torn about leaving my kids, but Cliven said that he was missing the kids, and could use some help in the melon patch too.  It was all settled, and I was leaving alone with my husband for the first time in five years.  We have always had a baby to tag along, and I have never left my kids for four days.  I truly was a nervous wreck.  I knew that nights would be especially hard with Moroni.  Ryan agreed to deal with Mo the first night, and Jamie said that she would deal with him the rest of the nights.  I truly have incredible kids.  Jams is where its at.
     After one rough night with Moroni, Ryan claims that he was saying, "Mom....Please!" by the end of the night.  I was able to hold him and get him one of Grandma's sourdough pancakes to appease him.  I kissed them all goodbye, and Ryan and I drove to Las Vegas to catch our flight.  I knew that my kids were in good hands, but we walked away from dance lessons, guitar lessons, school, and field trips.  The list goes on and on.  Anyhow, it is way hard to leave.
     Our flight from Vegas to Albuquerque was pretty uneventful.  I was reminded that I don't especially enjoy flying, even though I think the whole concept is extra incredible.  I trip out thinking about how high we are, and how I have pretty much put my life into some stranger's hands.  I always say many prayers for that pilot, whoever he is.  I love just looking and staring out the window.  The whole first flight, which was only a little over an hour, was just Ryan and I staring at the changing landscape out of the window.  We flew over Bundyville and the Bundy Reunion grounds,  it is incredible how fast those planes go.  Our flight from Albuquerque was delayed and then the pilot stalled and stalled...he slowed down several times.  When we actually hit Dallas (which is incredibly big) he circled around and around, and up and down.  He slowed down time and again.  Ryan and I were begging for a parachute.  They made it clear that there was a VIP on the ground and we couldn't land yet.  By the time we finally landed it was getting dark and I wanted to shriek.  We looked across the runway and Air Force One was parked at a terminal.  President Obama was in the area promoting Obama care.  This whole situation made me mad at him all over again.  Ryan and I had a really hard time figuring out their freeway system, and we couldn't get our bearings because it was dark already.
     We ended up going the wrong direction thanks to the GPS we rented.  We did finally figure out how to reset it, but it was going haywire when we first rented it.  To top it off some weird punk came banging on our window wanting money.  I was cussing the fact that for the first time in my whole marriage, my husband had no weapons on him.  Thank you airport security.  Anyhow, we did find an Outback Steakhouse, and the extremely good steak and bread got us in a good mood again. 
     The hearing went well, and I was grateful for an impartial judge.  Ryan will have to go back for a trial, but we weren't the only ones the business was attempting to sue.  One guy wanted to get with us and compare notes.  He had big plans to countersue.  Ryan and I just wanted out of the city, and so we beat it out of there as soon as we could.
     The landscape down there is unbelievable.  They don't have to irrigate.  Everything is green, and there are thick trees, and ponds everywhere.  We headed north to go and visit Herb and Eve Bundy who live near Hugo, Oklahoma.  We got a little bit lost and the GPS didn't work out there at all.  Ryan was in a gas station studying a map when a couple of men caught wind that Ryan was looking for a Bundy in the area.  With their Texas drawls I liked them immediately.  They knew where "Bundy" lived and one of them agreed to lead us there in his truck.  I was grateful for their kindness.  When we got to Herb and Eve's I went a little bit insane.  It is absolutely incredible.  Their fields are green and beautiful....and I am talking bright green.  They have ponds, and healthy cows.  It smelled clean and fresh up there.  You could just breathe in the farm freshness.  Herb and Eve's home smelled and reminded me of my Grandma and Grandpa Shurtz's place in Escalante.  Their property reminded me of the Peterson Pasture in Boulder.  I fell in love and began wondering why in the world Ryan had not moved me back there.  There are farms and ranches everywhere.  The small ones are 90 acres.  Herb and Eve's daughter Mary had just moved there with her husband and kids and I clicked with her immediately.  Her little boys were out running around the pasture and they were trying to rope their dog.  I could just picture Oak and Moroni out there with their little cowboy hats.  They would have all the room to run, ponds to swim in, and trees to climb.  Ryan and I spent a lot of time checking out ranches, and studying the area.  I am all for going back there.  We definitely need to pray about it.  We might miss our parents too much though. 
     We were glad to get back to our kids and the ranch.  Mo had survived, and Jazzerz claims that he kept catching toads and would squeeze them.  Thankfully Jazz would save the toads.  Hot Toddy was saddled up and the kids got to ride him around the ranch.  I was so grateful for Carol and Cliven.  They have a million things going on, and yet they took on my seven kids and even enjoyed them for four days.  They had picked melons, played on the haystack, and played with cousins. We attended shrsh in Bunkerville and I was so happy to see that Chlo's favorite teacher Oscar was there.  I literally had to remove Chlo from their classroom when shrsh was over.  Chlo loves Oscar and his wife.
      Mo still acts like he needs me, and I am glad.  Ryan and I had a great break, and the kids did too.  I had to laugh when I got Oak ready for school the next morning.  The girls had all showered as soon as they got home.  Oak didn't care either way.  He walked in and I could see his grimy arms and I gasped.  I marched him into the bathroom and began to scrub.  His hands were stained brown, and would not come clean.  Oak said "well Mom...I ate like 30 pomegranites.  It stained my hands brown."  I am so grateful for the VO ranch.  My kids had a great time and didn't want to leave. 
     Back to reality, and homework.  Sags had a presentation today that involved an experiment which required me to go purchase all kinds of odd items.  Rooshkie is back to all of the ten year old girl drama, and Jazzerz sang in the Veterans day breakfast yesterday. I have been enjoying some savory melons that we brought back from the ranch.  My Mom and Dad dropped off jerky, nerds, and popcorn and I would say that things are pretty much back to normal.






Monday, November 4, 2013

     I have missed my husband badly this weekend.  He had to work all week, and all weekend.  I am so glad he is busy, but I am feeling a little bit gypped today.  We get used to family time on weekends, and this weekend that just didn't happen.  Hopefully next weekend.
     Our week was great and action packed.  I mentioned in my last post that we had to go over to Panguitch and teach the kids some dances.  This was to take place on Tuesday, and I was horribly nervous.  I knew that they were going to just turn the time over to us, and I feared that it would just be us and the cricket noise.  Ryan and I haven't danced as much as we used to.  There is always the Bundy reunion, but half of the time there, I am getting kids to bed or scooping up sleeping babies off the benches and laps.  He ends up dancing with everyone else usually.  Anyhow, I kept telling myself, that because it was for a stake activity it would work out.  I firmly believe that whom the Lord calls, he qualifies.  Ryan worked Tuesday, and I started getting the kids ready pretty early because I wanted to get over there early.  Of course, with Ryan's busy schedule, this didn't really happen.  We got over there in time to go over a few things thanks to Mormon standard time.  Anyhow, Ryan and I have done these activities on a ward level before, but this time because it was for the stake we had urged them to hire Steve Gifford to come and deejay the event.  This made all of the difference.  He does such a good job at keeping the kids out on the floor dancing.  Jams and Sags had invited Demi to come, and we had all of our older kids out dancing.  It turned out to be a total blast.  At first the kids were standing around with their hands in their pockets acting sheepish.  I paired them up and we taught them the barn dance.  They caught on really fast, and they really seemed to be enjoying themselves.  I urged to Steve to play the Cupid Shuffle while Ryan and I discussed what to do next.  Everyone was acting a little sheepish, and I sent Jazzerz out there to do the Cupid Shuffle, and it was funny because after Jazz broke the ice, they all jumped in.  I recall a Bundy Reunion when Chlo was tiny.  We had camped outside of camp quite far.  I could still hear the dance, but because of the baby Ryan and I had opted to stay out there and be with her and Oak while they slept.  I had sent Jams into camp with the kids on the 4-wheeler.  Anyhow, it was getting close to midnight Utah time and I was getting way concerned about Jazzerz.  I was sure that she had fallen asleep on the cement slab somewhere.  I had Ryan stay with the babies, and I hiked into camp alone to put her to bed.  I approached the dance floor, and was shocked to see little Jazz on the floor, quietly doing the Cupid Shuffle with the rest of the Bundy teenagers...(at that hour, that is about who was left.)  I urged her to come with me and she refused.  Bewildered, I walked back to camp alone.  Anyhow, once again, it was Jazz, Rooshkie and a bunch of teenagers enjoying the Cupid Shuffle.
     Ryan and I decided to teach them a harder dance that included partner changes and more complicated steps.  They caught on to this one quickly too, and we all had a really great time.  Steve played the Macarena and the Hokey Pokey, and it was time to go home.  My kids were all pleasantly exhausted on the way home, including Mo who had been entertained by Kyler the whole time.  I was grateful for that opportunity, and the youth of Panguitch went out of their way to thank us, and they let us know that they had had a lot of fun too.
     I know I mentioned Oak's couch moving on facebook, but I am not sure if I have mentioned it in the blog.  Oak likes to move the couches around to show his strong muscles off.  The problem with this is, it is odd to be chatting with people, and have him suddenly move the couch.  There are usually abandoned crayons, wrappers, and loose change that need to be cleaned up, which is just sorta embarrassing.  Last week, I found a huge stash of toothbrushes.  Gary reminded me that Chlo likes to play with toothbrush families and this is probably why they were there.  So true, but I feel bad because I couldn't figure out where all of the toothbrushes went, and like a space cadet I kept buying replacements.  I should have checked behind the couch...duh.
     We also had Halloween, and Ryan's birthday this week.  This was kind of hindered by an accident that took place on Monday night.  Jams and Rooshkie were being really squirrely and rastling around the living room.  I knew someone was going to get hurt, and I urged them several times to tone things down.  Of course, this went ignored until Jamie kicked Rooshkie in the face and knocked out her front tooth.  Jerusha's front tooth broke in half about a year ago while she was riding her bike.  She ran into a pole and broke her front tooth off.  I took her right in to the dentist, and he attached a temporary tooth in hopes that the permanent tooth was not dead and would heal.  Anyhow, Jams knocked out the temporary with one kick.  This meant that Rooshkie had to get into the dentist, and the first opening he had was Halloween morning.  Ryan is doing a job just around the corner from the dentist's office and he agreed to take her.  However, he didn't get off of the job site until late, and we all sat around and waited for Rooshkie to get home so we could go trick-or-treating.  On top of that it was Ryan's birthday, and I was really wanting to take care of him.  We had come up with a costume and had it all ready for Jerusha when she came home.  She was way disappointed in what we had come up with.  She frowned and sulked for awhile because she wanted to look like the scary ghost "mama" from the latest scary show.  I will admit that Mama was going to be hard to pull off, but I had found a creepy wig, and a tattered dress, but no.  Not good enough.  I finally dressed her up like Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter.  She looked really authentic too.  Wow, I am good at pulling together last minute costumes.
     I forgot to mention how much Chlo had been anticipating Halloween.  She has been asking about it for weeks.  On Halloween morning she got up really early when I was seeing Ryan and Jerusha off.  It was still dark outside.  She asked if it was Halloween, and I confirmed that it was.  She got all excited and wanted to go trick-or-treating before the sun was even up.  I told her that no one was going to have their candy ready yet.  I asked her again what it was that she wanted to be.  She told me again that she wanted to be a "flower ghost."  Ryan whistled and exclaimed at how spooky flower ghosts really are.  He then started singing "Ghost Flowers in the Ground" to the tune of "Ghost Riders in the Sky."  This did nothing to improve Chlo's mood.  She frowned at her Dad.  I laughed and laughed.  Needless to say, she couldn't find her spooky flowery pillow case, and ended up being a lion instead.  Ryan and I took the kids and we trick-or-treated for awhile, had some birthdee pie, and went to bed.  Ryan said that he was too tired for partying, but seemed to like the gifts we got him anyhow.  He is pretty low maintenance and that is for sure.
     We had the opportunity to keep little Madeline (sp?) for Barry and Mindy on Saturday night.  She is so sweet and little.  The kids fought over turns to hold her the whole time.  She was happy, and made satisfying little noises.  I finally took her amid many protests and just held her and rocked she and little Mo to sleep.  Both of their little heads smelled good, and were warm.  It was very enjoyable.
     We had a couple of terrible injuries this weekend.  Chlo split her head open on Saturday morning.  Ryan is usually our go-to first aid guy.  He wasn't around, and so I clipped her hair, and shaved her head around the gash, and glued it shut.  It had bled really bad and her little blonde hair was dripping with red blood.  Poor Chlo was about as freaked out by it all as she could be.  Ryan checked my handiwork when he got home and said it looked good.  Moroni split his foot open on Sunday morning too.  Oak brought him in and he was kind of complaining a little bit, but I stuck him on my hip because I was making some preparations for Sunday dinner.  I finally looked down, and noticed that the floor had blood drips all over.  We glued poor Mo's foot shut, and stuck some socks on him.  He didn't even cry, and it didn't slow him down at all.  There are currently bloody footprints all over my bathroom, and I need to go clean it up.  Thank goodness for super glue, and that little kids heal up fast.    Mo ran all over the house and ran all over shrsh.  I am just grateful that he feels up to running.
     Shrsh was a complete fiasco without my husband today.  There is something about his presence that demands some respect, and the kids behave way better when he is around.  I looked up at one point, and I was alone on the aisle with Sags and Mo.  Jamie had recently asked to go and get a tissue, but apparently everyone had followed her out.  I waited and waited awhile for everyone to return with Jamie being the only returning child, and she had her tissue.  Finally I went out and started tracking the naughties down.  A few friends who were in the hall had spotted Chlo and Jazz, and they said that Jazz had been chasing Chloee around and around the building.  Oak was doing who knows what, and Jerusha claimed that she had gone and gotten a drink, but recanted later saying that she didn't go and get a drink because it was fast Sunday and she was fasting.  It made me grateful and realize how much of a help Ryan is.  We are always together on Sundays and he was sorely missed.  Mo missed him too because Ryan usually sits in the nursery with him.  I didn't feel like the nursery today, and so he came with me to class, and he kept trying to outyell the teacher.  In Relief Society he kept handing his water bottle to a lady, and then pushing the room divider way in.  I knew that he was disrupting the Coal Creek Branch's Relief Society  meeting  with all of his room divider intrusions.  We finally ended up in the foyer for good.  The van was "deader n a doornail" and we ended up having to walk home.  For sure one of the kids left some kind of a light on or something.  Luckily we didn't make it the whole way before Tammy Nesmith picked us up.  Nice gal Tammy. 
     Chlo came and handed me a stick that was pointy.  She explained that it was for "turning people into frogs."  I am also kind of disgruntled with her this morning, because she locked us out of my bedroom again.  Ryan put a new door on our bedroom.  It is heavier and more sound proof so that I can put babies to sleep in there, and they won't wake up with all of the noise.  It is harder to spring the lock though.  Luckily Sags will be able to get me in when she gets home.  She is my expert lock picker.  In the meantime, I am sitting here, after a hard workout...not smelling like a summer breeze, needing a shower, and my clothes.  I guess it will have to wait for my Sags to get home.
    








     The pictures are of our pumpkin carvings at fhe...Mo looking like Groucho Marks, Chlo wrapped up in a garbage sack?????  And everyone decked out for Halloween.  Mo refused to wear his puppy costume and so Ryan wore it.