Pumpkin hunting, Brown style

As with any good pumpkin hunting outting. one must start at Winco! the wildlife there is facinating. and the pumpkin selection is unbelievable.

daniel got into it right away. picking the largest one he could find. our rule. it can be as large as you want, but you have to be able to carry it.

Jakey found the illusive "square pumpkin"

Maria took her time. making us dig through several pumpkins till she found just the right one.

Anna on the other hand, found her right away.

You wanna get some strange looks. take a family picture in the middle of winco with a cart full of pumpkins. i mean really people, could you not put two and two together?

let the pumpkin lobotomies begin. for some reason this year they were facinated by the smell of their pumpkins. they kept sticking their heads in them. i was hoping one of them would have gotten stuck. now that would have been a good blog!

Maria loves her pumpkin. she wanted me to carve a really, really scary face on it for her.

Our front porch. ready to go for halloween night.

Spooktacualar!!

i am happy to report that no fingers or toes were lost this year during our carving. YIPEE!!

first annual Fright Night

sorry, i have no pics to go with this. first off, all the lights were off and we also had a fog machine going so the house was pretty dark. perfect setting for scary movies. hustled the little ones to bed at 9pm got big kids settled in. Lady in the Water, snooze fest. Signs, scared the crap outta them, The Village, they did not think was a scary as Signs. the Tremors, sorta scary, and then they watched some old, campy zombie flick on netflix. they were up till 6:30 am. i did dress up and try to scare them at 2:30 am, but they had all the lights on by then. i guess they just finished Signs. LOL so i was bummed about that, but then i overheard them going to the bathroom ( lots of soda was consumed) and they were going in pairs. so i felt the party a success. i made homemade crepes for breakfast and had them out the door by 10 am. but they gave me a parting gift of setting up the fog machine in my van! so i of course had to open up a door and blast them with the airhorn.

if i can teach my boys this.....they will make good husbands.

'Whatever you give a woman, she will make greater. If you give her sperm, she'll give you a baby. If you give her a house, she'll give you a home. If you give her groceries, she'll give you a meal. If you give her a smile, she'll give you her heart. She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her. So, if you give her any crap, be ready to receive a ton of shit.' Unknown

My little girls are all grown up

so anna came to me today and said, "mommy, i am all grown up. i can pee standing up." GASP!

"what do you mean you can pee standing up?" i ask.

she went on to say that jakey pees standing up, so does daniel, isaac and daddy. my first mental note. CRACK DOWN ON THE BOYS SHUTTING THE DAMN DOOR! seeing how i have never totally mastered the ability to pee in the woods, the second thing is i wanted to know, how? now i have noticed lately alot of "puddles" on the seat. i kept meaing to yell at the boys for not putting the seat up. now i know the culprit.

so i told her girls pee sitting down. it is just the way it is. she then asked, "when do i get to be a boy?" NEVER! the answer to that question is, never.

so i am off to re-potty train the girls. or maybe they will teach me how to pee standing up. either way, learning will be involved.

blackballed from the primary program

thest two little girls are 4 yrs old. they will be 5 this december. they are busy, i will give you that, but they are also very sweet. they love to play and make new friends. they love to "write" letters to their cousin, jaylee. they love primary. love, love, love their teacher and all the kids in their class. so i was a bit surprised to get a call from the primary president to ask me NOT to have them participate in the annual primary program that takes place during sacrament at our church. she told me, "They will not go up to the pulpit and say their lines." i was stunned! they are four years old!! i know several adults, me being one of them, that are scared to death to go up to the pulpit and talk! she said, "they will not stand with the rest of the kids and sing. they want to sit on there chairs or worse, lay down on their chairs." GASP!! they will not sing. well crap, they are destined for hell now! now she made sure and told me she has raised SEVEN children, perfect as angels, and my girls behaviour worries her. they are wrapped up in eachother. (DUH) they are so conserned for how the other one is doing that it effects their participation in class. which in turn, apparently, affects the rest of the FOUR YEAR OLDS! she does not think this is healthy and that we should seperate them ASAP when they get in school so they can develop properly. now people, they are twins, identical twin girls, they are very close, i will not deny it. they often share the same bed. they play with eachother all day long while the brothers are at school. they do great in pre-school. surprisingly the kids don't seem to mind playing with BOTH of them at the same time. WOW!

so while the rest of the kids are up in the front of the chapel doing the program, Anna and Maria will be sitting with mom and dad.

for those that DO know me i will have you know.....i was incredibly civil on the phone to this dear lady. being the primary president is NOT an easy job. having been in the presidency i know that this program is a high stress time for these ladies. for those of you who are not LDS we are not paid. these ladies are doing this pro-bono so to speak. =) so will i hold this against her? NO! the girls are four. they could honestly care less whether or not they participate. they will be just as happy to sit with mom and dad and not have to share attention with those pesky brothers of theirs. i only post this because i know of no other family that can brag, "We've been kicked out of the primay program!!" we will be proud and hold our banner high!

Pizza Bread

this a family favorite. my mom used to make it for us once a blue moon growing up. i have added my own little twists to it. such as braiding the top and adding seasoned hamburger, and topping with garlic salt and parm. cheese when it comes out of the oven.

you can use any homemade bread dough that your family loves.

divide into two or three sections.

roll out one section like you are going to make cinnamon rolls. in the middle third spread spagetti sauce, them sprinkle with mozz. cheese, seasoned hamburger, pepperoni, and more mozz cheese. finish off with another layer of spagetti sauce. cut sides at a diagonal and braid the loaf closes. put on greased cookie sheet and let rise. brush with melted butter and bake at 400 for 25 minutes. when it come out brush again with butter and sprinkle on toppings.

We are finally Official!

It took awhile for the paperwork to go through. but we are in business now and the good news is we already have a regular clientel. Daniel, aka, gassy butt, Ike, aka, knife boy, Jake, aka, just keep smiling, Anna, aka, the screamer, and Maria, aka, the i can scream louder than anna.

a friend walked up and just started laughing so hard. she could not knock on the door. i knew she was there because i heard her cackle. she asked if we were gonna keep it up all year. ya, i think so. wer are a messed up bunch

saws,sap and family. Let the insults begin

A thing of beauty, and the wood ain't too bad either. ;)

so we had our annual "go out to the homestead and have dad work us to the ground" weekend. i swear the man is insane. everyyear it is bigger and better than the last. it if weren't for the fact that I WILL inhierate everything i would not put up with the lot of them.

i always go in with self esteem firmly intact, but by the time i leave so many insults have been hurled around that i am just a shattered piece of my formal self (well not really, and if did not know they are all so cold hearted and cruel this ploy would have worked) thpppt!

daniel and ike came up with me and katie stayed home with the little ones giving them a fantastic weekend. the boys worked like men, let me rephrase that, the worked like women, meaning they worked HARD!! i am so extremly proud of them. the hauled, stacked, chopped and managed their very own slash pile all on their own. without incident i might add!!

Here are three of the piles. he will use these first. we had it down to a science. it took us an average of six minutes a pile.

Regina and her very favorite sister in the whole wide world.

Look at the way the log acctually jumps outta her way in fear!

so my dear sweet family forgot to tell me my pants were half way down my butt all day long!! it;'s okay i think they were all just jealous of my sawyer abilities. well HA!! the joke is on you because un-like you i did not have to stare at my butt all day long.

Me rockin' the chaps.

in the woods there are no child labor laws. mwaaa haa haa poor ella was the youngest at 5! and she worked the hardest by far!

Reg and kathryn cleaning out after one of the huals.

Daniel is chopping the larger branches down and ike is feeding the fire. they made a great team. and on the down time the made some awesomely sharp sticks.

Daniel cut down this tree using only a hatchet!!

kathryn sharpeding her blade. we all know now it is TEN strokes with the file and by all means but some eye protection on!

Ike rockin' it!

Ike has decided to learn the electic guitar. he is really working hard at it and we are very proud of him. but he has other motives. he thinks this is gonna reel in the chicks. and me, being a girl at one time ( we all know that once you become a mom you can not be considered a girl) knows this is totally gonna work. so i am scared. luckily the bars will be installled on his bedroom windows by the time he is 12. and the GPS anklet should be comming in the mail by saturday.

what happens when i don't have a car for three days

we run outta milk.

the laundry is all washed, folded, hung up, and put away

bathroom is spotless (well the kids are at school)

floors mopped

carpets vaccumed

plumbutter cooking

kitchen clean

toys all put away

i better stop this or hubby is gonna see the connection. GASP!

And this is why i killed my husband, Officer.

So My hubby came home tonight after be gone for a long time. work keeps away, alot. that is fine, it is really no biggie here. But he came home to a trashed house. Keep in mind the kids had a three day weekend and I had a kid sick all this past week.

He says, "Isn't there some way we (you) can keep the kids from trashing the house?

Me, "Yes, if I tie them up."

Hubby, "Well can't you just, oh i dunno, watch them? So that way you can keep track of where they are at all times and make sure that they are cleaning up there toys before they get new ones out. maybe just keep them in one room of the house.

(dear reader, we have a small house, some might even call it tiny. we have ONE room!! then teh bedrooms. If i wanted to spend all day with my children in one room.....they would have to instutionalize me by the end of that day)

Me, (I my head of course) WELL DUH! WHY HADN'T I THOUGHT OF THAT! GEESH I AM A COMPLETE IDIOT!!

Me, "Well, I am usually pretty busy and don't have time to sit and watch them all day long to make sure they clean up after themselves."

Hubby, "Can't you just train them to do it themselves. You know, take the time out of your day and parent them?"

Me, ( In my head) WHERE ARE THE KEYS TO THE GUN SAFE?

Me, That is a great idea dear, i will give that some thought.

Now mind you dear reader, we are having this conversation on saturday night. and those out there that are LDS know you do not mess with a woman on saturday night! I am doing a lesson, making sign up sheets, making poster boards for the up comming activity and of course the newletter for the month. sure, sure i had all week to work on this list but why? when i have saturday night?

so that, dear officer, is why i had to kill the man. i have just one question, it is considered "justifiable homicide"?

we just seem to keep spiraling

So Ike has been home sick since monday. Sunday night at 12:04 i am woken by the sound of someone throwing up. nothing, and i mean nothing wakes a mother up faster! for get alarm clocks that beep, they need to make one that sounds like a kid puking.

i have not eaten an apple or apple product since that night.

monday, no more puking. good, we are making progress, probably a 24 hr bug. still feverish.

tuesday, still running a high fever and wants me to pull out his loose tooth. it is bothering him. look inside his mouth to see a HUGE packet of blueish/purplish nastiness in the gumline above loose tooth. this continues to grow throughout the day. occationally he will squeeze it and it i will drain out above his loose tooth. mom calls dentist schedules an appt. for wednesday morning.

Wednesday, fever runs throughout the night around 102. this morning he gets tooth out. alot of blood and puss come out too. don't worry i won't post the picture. fever seems to have broken, still heading off to dentist. will update.

not alot going on

well i have not had much to post about because things are just moving along here.

monday- dan and daniel help move mattresses and box springs for the marshallese families
tuesday-daniel's cross country meet. he did really well. came in 50th. beat 15 other boys. very,very proud of him.
wednesday-ike's cross country meet. three hours and two hot chocolates later we watch him come in 9th out of 100 boys. we were very,very proud of him.
thursday-daniel's cross country meet. came in second to last, BUT NOT LAST!! he really pushed himself at the end. so happy for him.
friday-NO MEETS!! it is a rainy day. dunno if daniel and i will get to go play basketball. the girls are enjoying the quiet house. we are having a movie day.

anna did meet with her pulmo-cardiologist yesterday. we got an action plan for her pre-school and set them up with meds. we get to by-pass the nurses office because she needs her care very prompt and we cannot wait for the nurse if she is at another school. gives me peace of mind. we cannot tweek her meds anymore. she is on the max dose of everything. but we are doing a peak flow meter with her now so we can see how much o2 she is moving.

i guess that is all.