Santa PLEASE!

     Oh what a fun ward Christmas party/breakfast we had last Saturday. The food was yummy, the entertainment was priceless and Santa even paid the kids a visit.

I love a good chalk itinerary.

Charlie was so excited to sit on Santa's lap.

McClane was a little reluctant to see Santa because he was feeling guilty for snooping around the house and finding his Christmas present.

Brock was feeling a little too old to sit on Santa's lap.

The cute primary kids sang "Let it Snow" and "Silent Night".

     I got another surprise t-shirt in the mail. (Thanks again Mom!)

This is a great way to find 'my people' when I'm out in public.

     Our good friends joined us at this great place, The Crepery, which is so yummy. They have sweet and savory crepes. (I'm making them take pictures because I feel we neglect photo documenting when we're out with friends.)

Chubby little Jaden is an added bonus to our double dates.

He was a good sport while we did a little window shopping.

    For family night we put together a puzzle while I read the latest story from Grandma Baker. (Yes, I cried while I read the end of the story.)

    I convinced my friend to let me watch her two littles while she did a little Christmas shopping this week. They were so cute.

Jonah and chubbers, Jaden.

     And did I mention my friend is a dog 'whisper'!? This cute dog was commiserating through sincere eye contact about her dismay over the two new puppies her owners recently acquired. It was the cutest thing. She seriously was just staring at Sabrina so soulfully and as soon as Sabrina said something like, "They got puppies!" The dog got so excited and started putting her paw up on her lap and smiling and licking her. She was so happy to have someone finally understand how difficult her life has become.

I think she was hoping there was room in the car so we could take her away from the madness of two puppies.

     So that's the fun from our week. Unfortunately our car situation has not improved. The car has been at the mechanics all week and the mechanic was truly at a loss so we picked it up tonight and will look into the best Nissan dealership to take it to next. I sure am glad we have Mark's vehicles to borrow in the meantime but I sure want my car back and functioning properly. It was also very generous of the mechanic not to charge us a dime for all the time he spent researching the car problem. (He's a high school buddy of Greg's so that helped.) Anyway, lets hope we have this car problem figured out soon and that it doesn't put us on the verge of bankruptcy.
       On a happier note, I'm 98% done with my Christmas shopping! Next fun activity, candy houses with some of the cousins! Let the Christmas countdown continue.

Houses and Shooting

      It's been a nice week minus our car troubles. It's starting to look like we bought ourselves a 'lemon'! We've had the car all of 5 months and spent a couple thousand dollars so far on repairs including new tires. Recently the car wouldn't start on the first try and the battery was showing signs of distress so we finally replaced it hoping that would fix the problem but unfortunately it only made it worse, much, much worse!! After the new battery the car wouldn't start on the second try but more like the 10th try or more, very FRUSTRATING! Greg has fixed four different things in hopes of fixing the problem but to no avail. We finally had to concede defeat and he took it to a mechanic yesterday. Now we have the privilege of driving Mark's little red truck, covered in stickers and all dinged up, all over the county. I'm glad we at least have another vehicle available but I sure do hope our car gets fixed and that it runs properly from thereafter. Car troubles are the worst and thankfully this is really our first time with severe car trouble and hopefully our last.

      Anyway, aside from car troubles it's been a good week. Charlie got to decorate a gingerbread house at her buddy J.T.'s house. Greg and I went shooting with our friends and we have a fun ward breakfast to attend in the morning. Lots of fun stuff!

She loved decorating her house and loved breaking and eating it even more.

Fun with great friends, Sabrina and Jason.

I didn't hit a single clay pigeon but I at least didn't hurt myself!

     So that's our current story. Let the continued Christmas festivities continue.

Christmas decorating, pinewood derby & birthday celebrations

     It's been a great week. I can hardly believe we're only 25/24 sleeps away from Christmas. It's a good thing we're getting ready. It's also been a fun week with the pinewood derby (hopefully our last) and celebrating my 44th birthday. I definitely have felt loved!

We got most of the decorating done last Saturday.

We got a real tree this week that the three youngest we're excited to decorate. 

    This was a fun surprise that arrived in the mail last weekend. I'm a "Seinfeld" fan through and through and I don't know why I don't own more stuff like this. This shirt truly was a "Festivus Miracle." (THANKS AGAIN MOM!)

Now I just need a 'Pole'.

     I treated myself to this cute new dress at a new store down the road. I went in hoping to find something cute for Charlie only to find out it was really a dress store for women. (It's called "Twirl" and that sounded like little girl dresses to me.) Of course I couldn't help but look around and found this cute, comfy dress at an affordable price and decided, 'why not?!'

Pocket, stripes AND black and white! WIN, WIN, WIN!!!

     Brock earned his Arrow of Light and Webelos badge along with our good friends son, Jordan. It was a fun night at our pack meeting/pinewood derby. Brock will most likely be our last son to get this award. Fun stuff!

Lego Pinewood derby was a success and genius idea! 

    I surprisingly got recognized for helping out with cub scouts as well as a birthday shout out at the pack meeting. I felt like an idiot because as they were announcing the person they were recognizing I thought they must be talking about someone else from the cub scout committee so I was nodding my head in agreement to all the praise being dished out and then they called me up. I really thought they were talking about someone else, I was so embarrassed!

Plenty of candy!

     We really splurged for my birthday and treated, almost, the whole family to dinner at Texas Roadhouse. It was so yummy and even if a few kids didn't appreciate the meal it was still a fun time.

I love a good steak!

Kayli and Tanner spoiled me with a pile of new Harley Davidson shirts/sweatshirts!

And who can resist these "Cravings" cupcakes! And thanks for the card and money mom and dad.  44's not so bad so far!

     Greg and I also went to a movie for my birthday and saw "Instant Family". It is a fabulous movie and I definitely recommend everyone see it. Such a fun night and birthday! I sure have a happy life overall and can't complain too much! Ok that's not true, I could complain a lot and probably do complain too much at times but really am grateful for my family and friends and I wouldn't trade my life for anything.

Hair, Barbies and cuddles.

     I love a week where there's only a couple days of school and no homework. Funnily enough Charlie decided this would be the week she wanted to do as much homework as possible so she's literally spent hours on the laptop trying to move up levels on her school assigned website. This is great and also a bit frustrating because anytime kids are on the computer there's potential meltdowns but she's made significant progress even if she hasn't surpassed her friend Sarah's top level yet. There was also some fun with Barbie's this week and even Carter got in on the fun. (That long hair was starting to move him in a weird direction. Ha ha!)

Sorry it's blurry.

    We also have had our favorite dog friends visiting for the week. Keeping them off our bed is nearly impossible, it's a good thing we love them.

    I decided to treat myself, the family and a couple friends to some yummy pumpkin chocolate chip cookies Sunday night. (When you only have the giant cans of pumpkin you're practically forced to triple the cookie recipe.)

This was what was left after all the kids had, had their share.

   And these two were finally 'convinced' to get haircuts. I should have threatened them sooner, but better late than never.

What a difference 20 minutes at Great Clips can make.

Isaac is now ready to start job hunting.

Carter just got 10 degrees cockier!

And these two just get along and have fun together. McClane requested a photo so he could remember his cool 'turkey' apple before he and Brock ate it.

We may not take them out too often but a drink from Fiiz is always a win with or without the kids.

     Our Thanksgiving with a few of the Kmetzsch's was fun. Sadly I only took a few photos and all of them were of Greg cuddling with his brothers. It was a fun night and all the food was delicious like always.

Thanksgiving was a success!

     Now we can get excited for Christmas. Let the snow and chaos begin. (I'm only saying that because we really need some overtime money!)

BB guns and Greg's 46th b-day

     Remember when McClane and his buddy 'little' Isaac decided to shoot each other point blank with BB guns thinking the guns weren't loaded!? Well guess what? Isaac's gun was loaded and now McClane has a small hole in his finger. I'm pretty sure he was in shock. He thought all his blood was going to run out and he was going to die and he asked to go to the hospital to get a new finger and it was officially the 'worst day' of his whole life. DUMB kids!

This is the same hand that's scarred from the treadmill incident he had as a baby.  He should probably just get a whole new hand at the hospital.

     We had quite a nice time celebrating Greg's 46th birthday. He took the day off work and we did a little birthday shopping and he found a couple cool camping gadgets for himself. Kayli was very generous and bought him the home cameras he requested. Now we can spy on the kids when we're not home. And out of nowhere, our neighbor invited a few other neighbors over for a small impromptu party on Greg's behalf. I have a feeling Greg will be looking for a way to 'pay' him back for the 'love'!

A tiny german chocolate cake and a few donuts to honor the best dad and husband!

Thanks for the birthday card and money mom & dad. (I'm not as thankful since I'm getting the shaft this year, me and my big mouth!)

    Kayli was entertaining us with her video filters and Greg thought it was pretty awesome. He also was super excited about the fun package that arrived from 'down under'! (Thank you Atkinson girls, Greg loved the cards/notes and candy!)

Thanks to Kayli our RICH, married daughter. (I can't wait for my birthday gifts, this years going to be epic!)

We have some great neighbors! Last minute parties are the best! Notice our great neighbor Micah in his pjs/bathrobe!

Fun times!
  I can't believe we're less then a week away from Thanksgiving! Time flies when you're having fun!

So this happened....

       So this happened! Isaac is officially a licensed driver and he's pretty excited about his new found freedom. He's currently driving Mark's little truck "The Red Pearl" and he's going to need a job ASAP so he can start paying his way with fuel and car insurance now on his list of responsibilities.

Stay off the sidewalks people!

     I also had the opportunity to 'love' on this little cutie a couple times this week. I'm so glad I have someone to provide me with my 'baby' fix on a regular basis.

Sweet Mary Sue!

     So that's our week. A little simpler then some but a good week over all.

Birthdays, Halloween, 'graduations' and bonus material.

       This week we celebrated Isaac's 16th birthday! Only time will tell if he will survive the next two years unscathed. (This is when all hell breaks lose and my kids lose what's left of their minds.) We also celebrated Halloween, of course! And a few other bonus events.

Dinner at Chili's was a meat extravaganza for Greg.

The big  1 - 6!

Just a little fake cheesiness. 

Thanks G & G Baker for the card and cash!

The custom Xbox remote he designed and requested.

Chocolate cake from Costco!

     Earlier this week I overheard one of Carter's friends ask why we always have so many kids at our house so I thought I should document how true that can be. I know it's because I have a lot of kids but some days it does seem a little overwhelming that we have so many extra friends here. This particular day we had 10 extra kids throughout the yard and house.

I can't lie, I don't always hate that they're all here as long as they're not making messes or fighting.

    The Halloween parade at the elementary school this year was a milestone! It was the first time I've attended this parade with no small children in tow, AWESOME!

McClane as ?

Brock and his buddy as twin Halo characters. (I have no idea exactly but Brock was happy.)

Cute Sarah and Charlie enjoying their first time in the school parade.

A less blurry photo of these two cuties!

How these buckets should look all the time not just in preparation for the trick or treaters.

     And I finally got a photo of Mark to document his graduation from High School and the diesel mechanics program from Mtech. I guess he's earned a ride on the Harley.

Greg and Charlie found a hotdog spot on their trick or treating route.

Here's the 'witches' candy haul.

McClane didn't do too bad on the candy collecting.

Brock did a little better candy collecting.

But Carter definitely wins the prize for candy collecting.

      So that's how we spent our week. Now it's November and we're cruising full-speed towards the holidays! Let the stress and madness commence!