Michaels' apology letter

My 6 year old, Michael, thinks that if he finds something interesting on the floor of a store, he is allowed to take it. Today while shopping he found a bouncy ball under a shelf. I saw Michael holding the ball and warned him that he better not put that in his pocket. This is the letter that he wrote because I found the ball in his pocket!

Translation:

I am sorry mom

for stealing the ball

I love you.

more vacation photos

I mentioned previously after the House Of Candles tour, we went to the "minature petting zoo". Mini ponies are adorable..and there was some pretty cool birds there, too.

 He is so handsome.

 No, not the pony.

There were many beautiful pheasants on the farm. I guess I have never really seen a pheasant. I won't

bore anyone with more pictures of these birds but I was in awe.

Christmas morning at my house

Christmas morning...very early morning. (Child #s not in order of age)

1:00 am: child #1: "Mom, what time is it?"  Me: "Its very early. Go back to bed."
2:00 am: child #2: "Mom, can I see the presents in the living room?"  Me: "No, go to your bed." Cries. Baby wakes up.
2:30 am: child #1: "Mom, can I sleep on the couch?"  Me: "NO! Go to your bed, NOW." Cries.
3:30 am: child #2 comes into my room and makes his bed on my floor. Child #1 follows.
5:00 am: Baby wakes up...again.
5:20 am: While returning the baby to his room Child #3: "Mom, what time is it?" Me: "IT IS TOO FREAKING EARLY TO GET UP. GO TO SLEEP!!!" Cries.
5:23 am: Me to my husband: "This is the worst Christmas EVER! I hate this!"
6:00 am: Child #2 "When can we get up?" Me: "At 7. If you wake me up again I promise you we will not open presents until after Christmas!" Child #4 comes into my bed... falls back asleep.
6:55 am: Child #1, #2, #3, #5 :Mom, can we open our stockings?" Me: "Yes, go ahead."
7:10 am: Wake up Child #4.

I walk out into the living room and inform all, " I AM NOT HAPPY! You better be good. I don't care if its Christmas or not!"

Ahh. Memories.

We're HOME!!!

I wanted to make a quick post before I forget what I'm thinking...

Right now I am so thankful for my house! Don't get me wrong... 3 days of not having to do laundry, cook breakfast, lunch, & dinner, or chase my own tail while trying to keep my house neat and tidy on a daily basis, was relaxing. I smiled as we closed the hotel door behind us, suitcases in tow, leaving smudges on the mirrors, crumbs and pieces of paper on the floor, unmade beds, trash filled garbage cans, and all the lights on.

 I just entered my favorite place complete with peeling wall paper, toilet handles that you have to hold while flushing, kitchen lights that need to "warm up", and leather couches that are freezing to the touch (thanks Honey for turning the heat down....WAY down). However, the beds were made, the trash cans were empty and the lights were off.

There's no place like home.

Ginger Bread House

 For an arm and a leg you could reserve the table inside the house at meal times. 

In the lobby at Great Wolf Lodge there was a ginger bread house, not your normal pint size house. Upon first recognition it looks like a house made out of construction material. It wasn't until the second day that Cara said to me, "Mom, can I eat some of the ginger bread house?" Of course my reply was, "What? No. Its not even real." Oh but my eyes were deceiving me because IT IS REAL! A real ginger bread house! The entire outside was covered in frosting with baked ginger cookie bricks. The frosting was decorated with thousands of spice drops. If this wasn't enough the roof was real graham crackers! The inside had candy canes adorning the walls. and yes...children were eating it. I still didn't let her eat it as the mere thought was gagging. Very cool none the less.

Day 2

In the morning, after a breakfast of donuts and bagels, Zach and I took the kids downstairs to learn about wolves. They made origami wolves and learned how to howl. Haha! I think this was by far Isaacs favorite time. We went to the water park until lunch. Slides, wave pool, lazy river, rope crossing, hot tubs, and water basketball. Wow! Olivia discovered she was tall enough to go down a few slides all by herself, and that she did. Over & over & over.

Oh, and let me not forget to say, Matthew woke up with pink eye...in both eyes.

After lunch we ventured out to explore the area. We ended up at The House of Candles. Very cool! We watched a man make candles and explored the farm animals. Then we headed to the Candy Kettle. There were barrels and barrels of candy. Hard candy, soft candy, gummy candy, chocolate candy, mint candy, spicy candy, all the candy you could want. The kids (and Zach) were in candy heaven. Each of us filled out own bag with all the tooth decaying sweetness we could find...or until the scale reached 1/2 lb. We ended up with a lot of yumminess.

Thanks to my ongoing search for free kids meals I remembered reading Sonic offered "kids eat free" with water park wrist bands. Yay! We ate dinner in our van for only 10.16$. I was so excited. Even more than the candy.

Back to the lodge we drove. Dressed in our cold, wet bathing suits and spent 2 more hours in the water. The lodge offers story time in the lobby at 8 each night. Off we went. It took the kids 1 1/2 hours and me sitting in the dark, for them to fall asleep the first night and I was not going to do it again. I was determined to wear them out. It worked. At 8:45 I had 6 sleeping angels and a quiet night with Zach.

It was the best day. I am so glad we decided to come

We made it!

We arrived. Luckily, not one child was threatened to be left on the side of the road. They behaved so well and Matthew even slept for the whole ride. Upon our arrival we immediately went to our room to explore. It is fabulous with 4 beds and 3 T.V.s. Isaac thinks this is awesome. Next time I book a room I am requesting the farthest room away from everything, oh wait, we already are. (In the picture we are on the 4th floor, 3rd balcony in.) At least I don’t need to worry about hitting the fitness center.  After a quick lunch of PBJ and chips, we all got our bathing suits on and headed to the indoor water park. Everyone was having a great time…until I lost Olivia. There’s a first time for everything and I am really surprised it has not happened sooner. She ran up a water assembly to dump water buckets with Michael. I wasn’t quick enough. Panicked, I walked as quickly as I could. I had to concentrate on not slipping and falling while holding Matthew on one arm. Isaac found her crying so he took her in the lazy river. Meanwhile, I send out a search team to find a 4 year old, with a pink bathing suit, pink swim goggles , named Olivia. Happy ending… we were all reunited. Thank goodness for big brothers!

We're doing it..we are really doing it!

Van is packed with 5 suitcases, a cooler, 4 paper bags filled with food, a stroller, and a giant stuffed dog. We are headed to Great Wolf Lodge for 3 days. This is our Christmas present to the kids. They have been counting down all month. We are all excited!

This is what I've learned while packing: Babies have WAY too much stuff! Every one will be getting their own suitcases so the "their clothes are touching mine" arguments cease. (Oh wait, that was me. What? I don't want his clothes on top of mine getting them wrinkled...or next to his shoes.)

Gift of the Magi

I make this bread every Christmas to give to neighbors and family. It is so full of scrumptious ingredients.

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup mashed bananas
1 11oz can mandarin oranges, drained
1 cup shredded coconut
6 oz chocolate chips
1/2 cup maraschino cherries, chopped,
1/2 chopped figs (sometimes I omit this)

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla, beat until fluffy. Mix in flour, baking soda, and salt. Add bananas. STIR in mandarin oranges, chips, coconut, cherries, and figs. Pour into greased pans. Bake for 1 hr 15 min in 350 degree oven.

attach this quote:
 "When we find him, will we be prepared as were the wise men of old to provide gifts from our many treasures? They presented gold, frankincense, and myrrh. These are not the gifts Jesus asks of us. From the treasure of our hearts Jesus asks that we give of ourselves: ‘Behold, the Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind’ (D&C 64:34).” President Thomas S. Monson

Mom's Sweet Potato Bake

I make this every thanksgiving. It is my favorite way to make and eat sweet potatoes.

3 cups cold mashed sweet potatoes
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup butter, softened
3 eggs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

TOPPING:
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 TBSP cold butter

In the mixing bowl, beat all ingredients until smooth. Transfer to a 2 qt baking dish. Combine topping ingredients, sprinkle over potato mixture. Bake, uncovered, at 325 degrees for 45 minutes. **I put this in the crock pot for 2-4 hour on low.**

Michael at his Holiday Party

At Michaels' Holiday Party, he played Bingo with Mini Marshmallows. Sam played hooky from school so he was had the privilege of being the Bingo caller. The children then decorated sugar cookies and ginger bread men. In the end, everyone got to pick a Junie B. Jones book. We love Ms. Maynard! (Sam had her as his Kindergarten teacher, too.)

H.A.P.P.Y.

Tonight Zach and I sat down with Cara and Isaac to listen to a talk about choosing to be happy. I learned a lot about Cara during this time. H is for hard work. Cara comes home from school everyday and starts her homework immediately. Cara is good at serving others. She reads books to her sister, Olivia. She helps Sam with his homework and is willing to help me when needed with Matthew. A is for appreciation. Cara has a list of 134 things she is thankful for. Enough said. The first P is for perception. Cara rarely asks for items she doesn't have. She does not compare herself to others and always sees the good in others. The second P is for positive attitude. Cara does not let anything get her down. She comes home from school excited everyday even if she had a bad day. When her glasses broke, she cried for a minute then moved on. The Y is for YOU. Cara was born happy! I am so thankful for YOU, Cara. 

I'm married to a model

Funny story. My husband, Zach, manages a body shop. The paint company that they contract with uses the facility for marketing brochures and procedure books. Last year his car, the Infiniti FX, was featured in the photo shoot. This year it gets even better! The company asked Zach if he would be willing to be a model for the photo shoot. This is quite hilarious and I chuckle when I think about it. Here is the email he received today...he's known as the "talent".

• Car – Bronze BMW 328
• Talent – Zach Dillard
• Shots:
• Painter using device on car exterior – Wide angle view with car, talent and some background in shot
• Painter using device on car exterior – Tight crop with hands, device and paint in shot

I hope he doesn't quit his day job.

Just a day in my life.

At the grocery store today I bought 4 cases of Mt Dew and had them on the bottom of the cart, as I was leaving the store there this ever so steep ramp which caused all 4 cases to slide off the cart in the middle of the street. I ran them over with the cart before I realized what happened. Now they're under the cart. I watched people walk by and stare though no one bothered to help. Tis the season! The cases fell off again on the way to the van, at which point I mumbled curse words and threw them in the cart. Added to my frustration was the fact that I don't even drink them!

I decided since I enjoyed grocery shopping so much I would venture to BJs in the afternoon. With Matthew in the car seat carrier and Olivia in the front seat, I filled my cart with food my family enjoys, that's when Matthew decides he doesn't want to be in the car seat any longer. I take him out and now have to pull the cart throughout the rest of the store while holding Matthew with one arm. I'm over heating, sweat balls forming on my brow, at this point I start stripping down to one layer. Good thing I had multiple layers or I would of been naked. As I'm loading the van, BTW the groceries from Shoprite are still in the back along with 2 big Goodwill boxes and 3 strollers, the laundry detergent falls out, the cap busts and it spills in the parking lot. What do I do? Hurry! Think! I frantically pick the closest Shoprite bag and dump whatever was inside out in an effort to quickly recover the detergent bottle. Well, I picked a bag full of yogurt cups. Where do you think that all landed?

My family will never appreciate what I do for them.

My Best Crock Pot Dessert

1 Box yellow cake mix
1 15oz can sliced pears
1 can cherry pie filling
1/2 c butter
1 packet flavored instant oatmeal (Vanilla Almond is the best)

Layer in crock pot pears with juice then cherry pie filling, cake mix (dry), cubed butter, and top with oatmeal packet, sprinkled. Cook on low for 6 hours.

gingerbread houses at pre-school

Olivia did such a fantastic job decorating her gingerbread house at her Holiday party.

I'm not a type A super-mom. My children eat cereal for dinner and pizza for breakfast. On occasion (OK every Sunday) we have dessert for dinner. Sounds delicious don't you think? And no one complains they don't like it. I am not organized by any means, I have a pet peeve of being late to anything making me only look organized. I have 3 junk drawers in my kitchen filled with expired coupons to items I really wanted to buy, recipes I really want to try, and 100 scribbled coloring pages that I don't have the heart to throw away. I don't send Christmas Cards, or any card for that matter. I lock my keys in my van monthly. However, amid all the chaos and confusion I tread on hoping that one day I will make a dinner calender so when my husband walks in from work he has a warm, healthy meal awaiting. I will sit down every week and match my coupons to the ads and not leave them on the counter when I go to the store. I will send Christmas cards enclosed with a recent, perfect family picture, handwritten with a personalized note. I will put that darn spare key under the van. (Thanks, Honey, for rescuing me) OR I (and everyone else) will accept who I am and we will all live happily ever after.

Olivia at her Thanksgiving Feast