Here I Am!!!

Little Callie is our little ham. If she ever feels like she is not getting the attention she deserves, she will start doing little tricks so we can't help but look. She has been this way since forever. It is so funny. Tonight we were spending some quality family time and wrestling/doing gymnastics, etc. After awhile, the kids were chasing each other around the house and the grown ups were left chatting in the living room. It was at this point that Callie came running into the living room, looked at us all, and excitedly announced, "here I am"! Then she proceeded to do a few tricks, including spinning in circles and throwing herself to the floor. Too funny.

Speaking of Callie, she is just a tiny bit dramatic. She is pretty good at coaxing a few tears when she needs to. Her bottom lip pout is stellar as well. The other day she came up to me holding her arm and she tearfully said, "Cade Blade (she always calls him that). Hit. My. Leg"! I could hardly contain myself.

For this next story, let me give you a little background. When my kids are in the bath, I will hand them a bar of soap and tell them to wash themselves. They will then proceed to wash their bums and legs, etc. So lately, Callie has been referring to her bum as her "self". I guess that is what she notices being washed the most in the bath:) so anyways, a couple if times she has very dramatically told me that Cade Blade or Kimber hit her self, as she points to her bum. Cracks me up every time. No pun intended. Haha.

We sure love our Callie girl. She is so cute and funny and we can't imagine our life without her:)

Oh and Callie reprised her role as Thing 1 for Halloween this year. Here she is with her sidekick, Thing 2.

Latest Happenings

Well I had the surgery and it all went well. I spent the night in the hospital and came home Saturday morning. I have enjoyed a lazy week hanging out with my kids and reading:) my mother-in-law has been great and I didn't cook all week!

Jeff and his dad took the four oldest camping in the mountains last night. They were cold. But I think they had a good time. They came back all dirty and smelling like campfire so I'd say it was a success:) Michelle and the little girls and I went to dinner and shopping. We stayed out too late and had lots of fun. The girls were troopers and Callie learned the word "shopping". They are definitely little girls- they loved every minute of it!!

We didn't really do our fall snacks this week since I was recovering but we did manage to make some Oreo ball eyeballs and some football whoopie pies! The eyeballs didn't look too great but we know what to do differently next time. I thought the footballs were cute-and they tasted yummy as well!

Jeff is finishing up one class and getting ready to start another next week. That man is amazing and I love him.

Fall Break is officially over and I have to start making lunches again. It was a good break. Next week we get to have Lane's birthday - big 4 years old on Wednesday! Time flies.

Oh and just for fun, we girls went to a little boutique today and I saw the cutest saying, "a good cook knows that it is not what is on the table that matters; it's what is in the chairs". Love it! It is definitely going on my wall. When I have a house. Which will be someday.

Today's Adventure...

Last night, as I was getting ready to go to my very first Round Table as a Cub Scout den leader, I started feeling a little achy and my tummy started hurting. This was about 6:45 and by the time I got to my meeting, I felt terrible. I barely sat through the two hours- I was so cold and achy. By the time I left to come home at 8:45 the pain had settled in the lower right side of my tummy. After a few hours of misery, the pain subsided somewhat and I was able to sleep a little. Long story short, I have spent a good portion of today in the ER and will be having my appendix removed shortly. Not exactly what I wanted to do today but what can ya do, right?

Jeff is on his way here now and his mom has our kids. I am so grateful to her. I only hope I am up to doing some fun things with the kids next week for Fall Break!

Too much fun

Today the younger ones and I headed to the park. I think we are finally getting into park weather but it was still a little warm today. But we had lots of fun! Kimber definitely loves the swings, Callie prefers the slides, and Lane just has fun with everything. It was so nice to be outside with the kids and I am loving that I don't have a tiny one or a big pregnant belly! I can actually play more with the kids and I love that. There is joy in every stage, I guess:)

Today's snack: witch broomsticks! Lane thinks they are pretty awesome - I hope everyone else does too! I am having lots of fun with this themed snack thing:)

I love fall!

A few weeks ago I decided that I should try to have a snack ready for the older kids when they come home from school. They always eat anyways but I figured maybe this would keep them in the kitchen talking to me for a while and maybe they would be able to focus on their homework right away. Well, they LOVE it! And I love having that time to chat with them after their day.

So in October, I thought it might be fun to have fall/Halloween snacks every day. This is what we are having today: candy corn cheesecake mousse. Yesterday we had deviled eggs with olive spiders on top and Monday we had pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. So far the kids are having fun and I am too! It is fun for me to think about it ahead of time and try to be creative.

I am having so much fun getting ready for the holidays! We are working on Halloween costumes and Christmas stuff as well. We were at Hobby Lobby the other day (love that store) and I am pretty sure Callie and Kimber love it too:)

Lane's birthday is coming up and he is so excited about his Halloween birthday! He says he wants a telescope which would be pretty awesome.

I may be wrong but...

It might be just me but I'm pretty sure my kids are about the funniest around. Take the twins, for example. Kimber has started this thing where she closes her eyes and thinks that we can't see her. I'm sure that is pretty normal for someone her age but there is something about the way Kimber does it that makes you want to about die laughing. She shuts her eyes tightly so they're all crinkly around the edges but then her eyes aren't really all the way closed so she can peek through.Then she gets this huge smile on her face and turns her head back and forth while you "look" for her. Sometimes she ducks her head and other times she will just throw herself on the ground and try to sink into the carpet:) It's pretty hilarious.

Callie is our little talker. You can even understand her when she talks; it is not just blabber. And she says some pretty cute things. Yesterday she wanted a banana. As I started peeling it and the actual edible banana became visible, she said, "Oh! There you are! There you are, banana!" So stinkin' funny:)

Lane likes my hair. Always has. I think it is getting worse. He really only likes it when I have a ponytail and then he grabs the whole handful of hair, right where the hair band is holding it, and pulls on it and tugs it every which direction. Lately he has started telling me that, "I need yours hair." One night I finished singing to the boys in their room and was leaving when they all started telling me how awesome I am (I know, I'm so lucky). Lane pipes up, "Yea Mom, you have nice hair." I think that my hair may be my only redeeming quality in his eyes:)

Cade is loving school, now that it is his new normal. He is so funny and such a blessing because he likes everything done the proper way and in order and so on Monday afternoons, he gets his whole week's worth of homework out and finishes it all by himself. No direction from me. Just him. He always chooses orange to color with, unless he doesn't have a choice. And his coloring consists of scribbles. The first few days of school, he was not happy because "all we do is color, cut things out, and glue." What can I say? I don't blame the kid.

Cole loves going to the same school that his dad went to. One of the first days that he had P.E., the teacher came up to him and told him, "I know who your dad is." Then he took him into his office and showed him a football that his dad had signed, back when their after-school football team won the championship. So fun. Another thing Cole likes is that he might get to be a Mountain View Toro in high school. Sometimes he and Jeff ride their bikes over there to "see what the Mountain View Toros" are up to. This morning, we stepped outside before school and he heard the marching band practicing. "Mom! The Mountain View Toros are practicing - can I stay out here and listen?"

Maddie is an aspiring chef. She loves to watch cooking shows with her grandma and is always trying new recipes. Some recipes she finds on the internet, others she makes up. A couple of weeks ago, she made a batter, poured it into some mini loaf pans with some canned peaches and made her own version of a cobbler. She made up the entire recipe by herself and it wasn't a disaster. She made deviled eggs the other day and mixed up the mustard, mayonnaise, etc. and just put it on top of the egg yolk instead of mixing them all together. When I told her how you really make them, she smiled somewhat sheepishly and said, "I thought there was something a little funny about them."

All right folks. Here is the evidence; you be the judge. Aren't they about the funniest kids ever? I love them and I am so lucky to have them.

Bittersweet

I keep telling Jeff how much I am loving being here in Mesa; I love getting inexpensive produce, I love the grocery store sales, I love swimming in the backyard, I love getting Utah fruit and canning them with my sister-in-law, I love making day trips up to the mountains to visit my parents, I love spending so much time with Jeff's parents, I love our new ward, I love it ALL. But I miss Hewitt. I miss my friends. I miss my ward. I miss the small towns and the green fields. I miss the Cameron Park Zoo and the Mayborn Museum. I miss Movie Night. I miss the fireflies. I miss the Texas accents (I plan on saying y'all for the rest of my life, hehe).  I miss playdates with friends. I miss it ALL.

I think one of the reasons this move has been so hard for me is because I know we won't ever move back. When we moved there, we knew that if things didn't work out or if we didn't like it, we could always move back. The thing is, things did work out and we loved it. Our time there was just done.

I am so grateful for Jeff's new job and the opportunity we have to be here in AZ. I will forever be grateful for the years we had in Texas and for the friends and memories that we made. Like I said, bittersweet.