Donner Museum

Let me tell you, this vacation has been one for sick kiddos.  We woke up this morning to Payton throwing up.  She looked miserable.

The plan this morning was for all of us to go to the Donner Museum but with Payton being sick we couldn’t all go.  So Dave volunteered to stay behind with her and I took everyone else to the museum.  I remember the first time I went that I was afraid it would be boring but it turned out to be really interesting.  I think my sister and Anthony had the same thoughts about going but Anthony told me after that he thought it was pretty cool.

There is a movie that you can watch that tells about the Donner Party’s journey, a small museum with artifacts found in the area, a cool monument that shows how deep the snow was that winter, and a self guided tour of the area around the museum including where one of the cabins stood.

The kids weren’t too interested in the movie, in fact Caeden thought it was scary and decided she would rather sit in the lobby than watch it.  They were a little more interested in the museum because of the “really big bear” and all the guns.  Haha!  But the hit of the visit was the self guided tour; we made it into a scavenger hunt for the kids and had them find all the number markers.

 

 

I am so glad we went.

Thanksgiving

What a wonderful day! 

I have SO much to be thankful for. 

First and foremost, I am so grateful to be alive.  I am so grateful that Heavenly Father has allowed me to stay on earth and be a part of my children's lives.  It is scary to think how close I came to not being here.

I am so grateful for Dave.  I really think I am the luckiest girl to have him as my husband.  Loving, patient, thoughtful, hard working, awesome father...these are just a few of the qualities he possesses.

I am so grateful for my kiddos.  I love them so much and feel so lucky that I was able to have them.  Especially my little Austin.  Being a mother is the hardest thing I have ever done but also the most rewarding.

I could go on and on but I won't.  ;o) 

It has been so fun having my family here.  Crazy but fun.  We took this opportunity to take a family picture.  The last time we took a family picture was when I was about to deliver Lincoln.  How time flies.  All things considered (5 small kids, one being sick, and trying to get them to look at a camera with no photographer that has been set with a timer) I think the pictures turned out pretty well.   

 

We are so silly.

I can't forget to talk about the food!  Dave has been talking for years about wanting to fry a turkey and this year we finally did it.  The turkey was so good!  It was the moistest turkey I have ever tasted and it smelled so good cooking.  The rest of our meal was super yummy too.  We also had salad, broccoli, mashed potatoes, rolls, deviled eggs, and our usual Sweet Potato Casserole.  Jen agreed to do the desserts and boy oh boy did she deliver.  Homemade apple, coconut creme, and chocolate mouse pies and rice crispy treats.  So so yummy!

Truckee

We made it!  Yay!

Jen has been going hard core on the working out and looks great.  I am jealous!  I know.  I know.  I just had a baby, almost died, give yourself some time blah blah blah.  I just want to magically be like I was after I finished "Making the Cut" with Jillian Micheals after I had Lincoln.  It is so hard starting over again.

Jen brought Brazilian Butt Lift to Truckee and asked if I wanted to do it with her.  "Absolutely!  Let's get a jump start on working off what we will eat tomorrow"  Haha!  It was a fun work out.  I felt silly doing it in front of the whole family but hey, whatcha gonna do.

Maddix has had a rough day.  He was super whiny all morning.  Jen and Anthony thought he may be teething but at one point he came and sat on my lap and I happened to catch a glimpse of a sore on his tongue and then after looking into his mouth on the inside of his lip.  I immediately thought, "Oh crud, he has Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease."  Jen looked and hoped it was just canker sores.  We decided to go to Rite Aid to ask the Pharmacist their opinion and hopefully get something to help with his discomfort.  The Pharmacist said it just looked like a virus and that we could try OraGel and Mortin.

Soon after we returned from Rite Aide and gave him the medical  he started screaming and screamed for 2-3 hours straight.  We decided to take him to Urgent Care.  Tranquilizer anyone?  :o)  Anyway, we pull up to what we think is the only Urgent Care to find it is closed.  What?  Fortunately, there was another Urgent Care just a few blocks up the street and we were able to get in.

Diagnosis.  Hand, Foot, and Mouth.  Great...We have one miserable boy.  At least Caeden is feeling better.

Thanksgiving Feast

Today was the Thanksgiving Feast at Almaden Country School.  Payton was so excited because her "Big Buddy", Morgan, would be coming to class, taking her to the feast, helping her get her food, and then sitting with her to eat. 

I guess they did some crafts too because she came home with this fancy head dress, necklace, and a place mat.  I love ACS!  Payton is having so much fun and is doing so well.  Her teacher always has good things to say about her.  We are so proud of her.

Tonight we left for Truckee.  We planned on leaving at 7 and as usual we left right on time...at 9 o'clock.  Haha!  I wish I would have taken a picture of the cars, they were packed to the max.  We had to put the kids in and pack around them.  :o) 

I think we would have made it up here with a lot less stuff if we would have just done our grocery shopping in Truckee but after talking it over, my mom and I decided that instead of facing the craziness of everyone doing last minute grocery shopping we would do it early and take everything up with us.  We had so much food.  I hope we eat it all...or do I?   Haha!

We squeezed everyone into two cars for the trip.  We hadn't even been on the road a hour when we got the message that Caeden threw up in my parent's car and that they were at a gas station in the most disgusting bathroom ever trying to clean her and the car up.  Eeewww.  Poor Caeden ended up throwing up a total of five times on the way up to Truckee.  At one of the gas stations they stopped at the attendant actually charged my mom 25 cents for a bag.  :o/

I hope she feels better soon and isn't sick our whole time in Truckee.

Quiet Time

Naps are quickly becoming a thing of the past with Lincoln.  However, today the kids seemed to be really ornery and Dave insisted that they take a nap or at least go to their rooms and have "quiet time".  Both kids protested nap time but agreed willingly to the quiet time.

Lincoln's quiet time turned into nap time.  LOL  (He is covered in Squinkies.)

What a day!

Who new rainy days could be so fun?  My idea of fun on a rainy day is to sit on the couch with a cup of hot chocolate reading a book or watching a movie, the last thing I want to do is run outside and play.  Payton and Lincoln saw it was raining, grabbed their rain boots and umbrellas, and headed outside to run around and jump in puddles.  They had so much fun it made me rethink my idea of fun and think about getting my own pair of rain boots.  :o)
 

While the kids were out playing in the rain I was busy cleaning up the house and trying to get ready for our trip to Truckee for Thanksgiving.  While I was cleaning up the cat's area I bent over to put something down and threw my back out.  I almost fell on the floor.  Ouch!  I have been in pain all day, no matter what I do it hurts.  Since it hurts to sit and lay down and it hurts to stand up I figured I would just suck it up and keep working on my to do list. 

I had just finished cleaning up the kitchen and dining room area when lunch time rolled around.  So I fixed the kids lunch and kept on cleaning.  When they finished lunch I asked them to carry their dishes to the sink and said they could go back to playing.  That is until I walked backed into the kitchen and saw the mess they left on the floor under where they were eating.  I said, "Oh no, I just cleaned this area.  You don't get to mess it all up again.  Go get a broom and dust pan and clean up your mess."  They happily, even excitedly, ran back to Payton's room and returned with their toy brooms and dust pan and cleaned up the mess.  Shock...

I really need to give them more opportunities to help out.  :o)

Payton is supervising.  LOL

Since we are going to be in Truckee for Thanksgiving I thought I would get a jump start on decorating for Christmas.  Yes, my back is still killing me... But we got the kid's Christmas bedding out.  So worth it.  They were so excited.  Running into their rooms, jumping onto their beds, giggling, and saying, "Thank you mom!" It made me smile.

My grandma asked if I made the quilts.  Haha!  I wish.  Love you Grandma!

Dylan's Birthday Party

Lincoln's friend Dylan was having his construction birthday party.  Oh boy was Lincoln excited to go.  All I have to do is say Dylan and he heads for the door.  I am so glad they love playing together.

I wish I would have gotten a picture of the cake.  When Lincoln saw it he said, "Hey, there is a cake with dirt on it.  There are trucks on it too.  Mommy, that is going to be so yummy."

I am go glad I caught this picture.  I watched him gather up his "friends" and set them on the bench next to him and then started talking to them.  He is so stinking adorable and makes me laugh.

Breaking Dawn

I found a great idea on Pinterest to take an old picture frame and turn it into a magnetic board.  I thought it would be a great place for the kids to display their artwork.  This summer my sister was out shopping at some garage sales in Willow Glen and found me a couple of cool frames for cheap.  I think they ended up being $2 a piece.  Nice!

I have a friend that had some pictures taken of her daughter holding a picture frame.  They were super cute so I thought I would try it out.  Umm, my children are not cooperative when it comes to taking pictures.  These are the best I got.  At least you can see what the frame looked like before being painted.

 

I have two frames for Payton's room and two frames for Lincoln and Austin's room.  I think they are going to turn out really cool.  The only thing I wish I would have done with one of Payton's frame is to have caulked the corners.  Oh well.

 

The kids were excited about the frames at first but quickly faded and decided playing on the trampoline was more fun.  Haha!  They were a lot more cooperative with the picture taking when I told them I wanted to try and get a picture of them in the air.  Austin was having a great time in his rocker just being outside.  He is so cute!

 

Tonight was also opening night for Breaking Dawn - Part 2.  I am SO HAPPY that there was a 10 o'clock showing and that we didn't have to wait for the midnight showing.  Jen and I usually end up taking a bunch of silly pictures to keep us entertained until the show starts.  This time was no different.  Some of the picture were pretty scary.  Jen has a pretty fancy little camera that takes photos with different effects and one of the effects made it look like you could see right through my shirt.  Whoops!

 

Park Day

Today was play group at Cahalan Park.  Payton and Lincoln love this park because there are a bunch of trees with low branches that they can climb in and run under.  Today Payton informed me her and her friends played Star Wars and them Minnie's Play House, I love their imaginations.

In the last 5 minutes at the park Lincoln decided to throw tanbark at one of his friends because he got upset.  I called him over and had him sit in timeout.  He got upset and started yelling, "Mommy, I don't like you!"  What do you say to that?  I told him that we don't say mean things and that it isn't nice but he said it a few more times so I just ignored him.  I asked a friend of mine where they learn things like and what you do about it.  She chuckled a little and then said she didn't know.  Then she followed it with a compliment saying that I am always so calm with my kids and that when she gets upset with her kids she tells herself to stay calm like Kimberly does.  Haha!  Boy I have the wool pulled over her eyes.  What's more is that I always she her as an example because she is always so calm with her kids.  Anyway, felt good to hear.

Payton came home with a handout from school saying that November is National Picture Book Month and that they were aiming to read 6,000 picture books in the month of November.  If each child reads at least 20 picture books they will exceed their goal.  Last night we started reading.  Payton and Lincoln each get to pick one book and we sit down and read them.  Even Austin joins in on the fun.  Haha!

It has been fun.  I love snuggling up with all of them.

Brownie/Cookie Goodness

Found these little delights on Pinterest this morning.  I thought, "Hey, the kids might like making AND eating these today."  I told Lincoln that I found a recipe that you make a brownie with chocolate chip cookie inside it.  Immediately he said, "Oh, I like those cookies mommy.  They are very yummy."  Haha!  Then I asked if he would want to make them with Payton when she got home from school.  Did I really even need to ask?  :o)  Payton was on board as soon as I said brownie and cookie together.

I pre-measured all the ingredients so it would be easy for the kids to help add all the ingredients.  Made the cookies and put the dough in the fridge while we made the brownie batter.  Put a scoop of brownie batter in each muffin cup and then a scoop of cookie dough.  While I was scooping the brownie batter Lincoln kept asking if he could have a taste and would follow the spoon with his finger.  A couple times I caught him dipping his finger in one of the muffin cups.  He thought he was being all sneaky, but it is hard to be sneaky and have chocolate smeared on your face.  Haha!

They looked really good until I tried taking the out of the muffin tins...The bottoms kept falling apart.  Fortunately, on some of them I was able to just mush the bottom back together.
 
At least the kids didn't care what they looked like.  :o)

Project Baby Blanket

How much do you think three moms can get done with 9 kids (3 of which are infants) playing near by? 

That is a great question.  Haha!  Today Tess, Jessie and I got together to finish a baby quilt we had started for Ela at her baby shower. 

With all the kids out of school today we had a houseful of activity.  The kids gave each other tattoos, trashed the play room, colored, ate lunch, jumped on the trampoline, took the front wheel off of Lincoln's bike, and watched a movie.  They had a busy day!  :o)

 

Fortunately between the three of us, we were able to keep all the kids happy (including the babies) and finish the quilt.  Yay! 

Ela was super excited and loved the finished product.  So worth all the work.

 

Rumba wanted to help.

Primary Program

Today was Payton's first time participating in the Primary Program.  She had both sets of Grandmas and Grandpas there in her cheering section, as well as, several aunts, uncles, and cousins.

She was so excited to participate and we practiced her part and the songs all week.  She did great!  We are so proud of you Pay Pay.

Also, Austin had his hair done for the first time today, a little Mohawk.  He wanted to be just like his brother.  They were both so cute!

A birthday party.

Caeden and Maddix had a joint birthday bash tonight. 

It was a great shindig.  Food, kid's games, coloring what more could you ask for?  How about a live band?  Yup, Jen hired a band...Vasona.  They were great and most everyone had fun rockin' out to their music.  My Dad thought it was too loud.  Haha!

As usual, Jen out did herself on the cake.  I guess pretty much everything on the cake was edible (the speakers were rice crispies) and the base that the cake was on was set up with flashing lights (way cool).

Bath Time!

I have mentioned several times how Austin loves bath time and I wanted to document it with a video.  Click to see our little fish doing his kick kicks.

Here is a video of Austin in the bath.

Austin is 3 months old!

I can not believe Austin is 3 months old.

He is such a handsome little boy.  We love him so much!  I find myself giving him little kisses all over his head all day long.  He is my little joy.

Payton and Lincoln also adore him.  Whenever they see him they come running yelling gruffly, "Austy!" and proceed get right in his face to give him hugs and kisses.  I am just waiting for him to give them the stiff arm. Haha!

What else can I say about Austin.  He is a happy baby.  Just keep him fed and dry then put him down for a nap when he is tired and he will give you smiles all day. 

He loves having people's undivided attention, for someone to look him straight in the eye and talk softly to him about whatever.

He is starting to talk up a storm.  Dave put him in the swing a couple nights ago and he cued away for about 20 minutes.  He is also starting to kick, bat, and grasp toys.

He loves bath time!  He kicks and kicks and kicks.  He is a little fish.

I tried to take some pictures of the kiddos today.  I love this first one of Lincoln and Austin, they are so cute!  The second picture cracks me up.  We tend to get a lot of this kind of picture no one looking at the camera and everyone having a silly expression on their face.