Seriously?!

For some reason the good Lord is trying to test Jakob and I. I am not sure what we did or did not do to earn this divine privilege or what exactly we are supposed to be learning but we have been put through quite the ringer. Some highlights include:

1.  Having the car stolen and a poop ton of drama that went along with that including server issues with insurance. 
2. Purchasing a new car (which we love) but we thought we could add a bench in the back to accommodate the growing family... we cannot... which may mean we will need to purchase another vehicle.
3.  Our fridge has broken down... twice. Thankfully Jakob is amazing and has been able to fix it both times. We needed a specific part however and if we could have ordered it on Amazon it would have been less than half the price but seeing as how we like our milk and meat cold, we had to spend a little more to get the part that day. 
4. The flood that was posted about before. 
5. And just when I had gotten to the point of thinking nothing else could happen, Jakob's scooter breaks. Which is kind of a big deal as I need the car to take Duke to and from speech therapy and school just about every day and that is the only other way Jakob can get to work. Don't worry with the help of YouTube the scooter was repaired.

And this list goes on. Now I am not trying to say our lives are hard. At times they are difficult, and we have trials like everyone else. Obviously we know that everyone has their own issues and it has caused me to be SO much more thankful. Thankful for my family and for Jakob who works so gosh darn hard to keep everything together. I was saying my prayers one night and I said "As long as the kids, this baby and Jakob stay healthy, then bring it on!" We can handle just about anything and while it hasn't been easy, I have come out of it far more humble and thankful! 

E's Frist Primary Program

 E performed in her first primary program this year and I was so beyond proud of her. Jakob and I were a bit worried as she has a serious case of stage fright. Any time she was asked to give a talk in primary she would just break down and sob. So my theory for this program was to act like it wasn't happening at all. Having taught in all capacities of primary, and from my experience doing birthday parties I know that sometimes other people can get you kids to do things you can't. So the day of the program her teacher came and grabbed E and she went up and sang. 

When it came time for her to say her part she looked down at the podium and said "I can...." then she looked up and Jakob was ready to grab her incase things went south. She paused, and then she looked down again and said "keep the commandments" as fast as she could! I was ecstatic!!! 

I asked her how it went after the program was done and she said "Mama, I looked up and saw all the people and I got nervous. It was a bit scary!" I seriously can't tell you what a big deal it was for her to face her fear and how well she handled it! I am so proud of you E!! Way to go big girl!

Halloween Party

This year we decided to do out Halloween Party SUPER last minute. We decided to forgo Haunted Mansions to keep things simple and it was SOO much better. Easy clean up, quick set up and we still had fun! We decided not to dress up the kiddos so our costumes are a bit random but Jakob is a Scottish Lad and I'm a bear (It's to go with Merida.)

Stu, Barb, Gwen and Owen rocking the pirate fairy theme.

Joe, Heather and Ryder sporting wizard of Oz, so cute! 

Sam and Gretta as cats (Scott didn't dress up :) )

Braden, JoAnna and Cailtlyn (not pictured) came a bit late and I mentioned that if they wanted they could dress up, they came dressed up in fancy clothes. It was so cute and they looked smashing! 

For food we went with soups. EASY PEASY! We had an Italian sausage & kale soup, chicken pot pie soup, and Heather brought a wild rice and mushroom soup. So yummy! Then we had random treats. Apples with Carmel dip.

Barb goes all out with her themed food! Here are some deviled eggs. 

And some eye balls! 

Sam rocked out a bean dip with a web! (I mean who are these people! I have the coolest friends!)

Then we played minute to win it games which were fun! Scott crushed the cup stacking game. 

Build a tower and collapse them. I won this one. 

And how could you NOT have some panty hose on people's heads?

Joanna was quick!

It was a fun evening! The kiddos played well downstairs with the babysitters and it was great to get together with friends! We will do it again next year! Happy Halloween!

2x4 Halloween Decor

I had seen a few 2x4 Halloween decorations on Pinterest and decided that I wanted a few treasures for my porch. I had the wood on hand and so Gretchen and I headed out to the garage to cut and sand a few pieces. 

I really wanted them to be finished before the Halloween party and so at 10:30 p.m. I was up watching football and painting 2x4's. I seriously have issues, but it felt to good to be crafting again!!!

45minutes later they were done! I went for a ghost, a cat and a pumpkin. They were super simple and I thought about making a Frankenstein but decided to skip it. Quick, easy and FREE!! Those right there are the best kinds of projects!

Mom Life: Target

I fully accept that when I am with my children I do NOT belong in Target. Target is quiet, peaceful and you always want to stop and buy everything. When we are shopping, we are hell on wheels. Duke is a straight up flight risk and he is gone in the blink of an eye. He has been getting better which is specifically why I decided to dip our toes in the Target pool of wonder, but it just further clarified that we are in fact the people of Wal-Mart. 

I happened on this particular trip not lose Duke once but TWICE! I feel that in itself deserves a round of applause! Hashtag: MOMFAIL! I had eyes on the target (my son, not the store) and I looked ahead to see how far E had gotten, telling her to stay with us and *poof* Duke was gone. I saw a blur of a red sweater race by so I knew immediately that he had not been kidnapped. Then the chase was on. Trying to keep things as casual as possible because Target is like a library, we weaved in and out of the clothing department looking for him. After one lap I decided I needed an extra set of eyes and enlisted an associate. She walks the opposite direction and says almost immediately, "Ma'am, is that your son?" Every part of me wanted to lie and say no, I'm looking for another boy, about this tall with a red sweater and blonde hair. but he was mine. He had climbed against one of the walls with clothes hung on them. One of the levels was just his height and he was sticking his hands behind the clothing, pushing the clothes from the racks in one swift motion, piling shirts on to the floor in seconds. He had cleared 5 racks by the time I had caught him. Oh the embarrassment! Oh the mess!! 15 minutes later the clothes we rehung and we were back on our mission. 

He slipped away for a second time a little later, he was gone a total of 10 seconds and it further confirmed that he will probably be 10 before he is ever allowed to get out of the cart again.

And while I am sure you are reading thinking, girl, keep a hold of your child, I assure you.... I do. Unfortunately, two kids + a cart + paying for items + E talking expecting full answers + watching Duke every second + ONE MAMA just doesn't add up. Sometimes you can't do it all. And this is why Duke will no longer ever leave the cart again. Further proof that no mother, no matter how much they look like they have got it together, just doesn't! 

The Flood

One afternoon Gretchen and I were working on a project and E came upstairs all excited. I asked her what what up and she said " Mama! I am just sooooo happy! There is a puddle down stairs!! It's coming from the wall and we are playing in the water! It is so much fun!!!" As you can imagine the color drained from my face. I raced downstairs to find that our basement had flooded. Now, we knew that we had a flooding issue. Whenever our laundry machine would drain the floor drain would fill up and we would get some water, enough to touch the wall, but it always went back down. This time it was not draining. We had officially flooded all the way up to the stairway. 4 inches of standing water. So we started to bail, and mop and soak up the mess. 

So, I called the plumber, who refers me to his brother (also a plumber), who sends out one of his guys. This guy came and spent three hours snaking the line to no avail. He leaves, says someone will call and we wait. A few days later my original plumber asks how the basement is. I say they didn't fix it but they were going to have someone check it with a camera. He says he'll call me back. 3 minutes later his brother's secretary is calling telling me that the guy we had originally come out was fired because he wasn't very experienced and that they would have someone else at the house in 20 minutes. 

So this guy shows up, snakes it and confirms that we have a collapsed line. All the while I cannot use my washer. So he says that he'll be back tomorrow with a camera and a quote for how much it was going to be. He returns with my original plumber and they tell us the worst. The collapsed line is UNDER the shower in the basement. At his point all I can see is $$$.

We go through a few options, 

a) break up the floor and risk not being able to get at the pipe from the other side of the wall, which will cost $$ and then we have a hole and still have a problem. 

b) pull the shower, which means we would loose the shower and they would re drywall the bathroom and we would loose a full bath. To replace the shower we would have to do a custom shower at approx $3000 on top of whatever it costs to fix the collapsed pipe. 

c) put a pipe through the shower and tap into the stack that was in the bathroom. Yup, ghetto, but we got to keep our shower, and no holes in the floor. 

We went with option c. We also needed the kitchen stack attached to this drain because we were going to have the same issues. So four days later they were back and set to work. It took them an afternoon and we were in business. Laundry fixed! And SOOO much laundry to do after a week of no washing machine. Thay attached the sink by laundry to the same drain, it was beautiful. And then Jakob realized they forgot to attach the kitchen. So they had to come back. It was quite the hassle. 

So all in all, it is done. We are officially initiated into the land of homeowner ship and we are hoping that we won't have to call our plumber for quite some time!!

Maple Leaves

 Since our yard is infested with oak mites, we headed over to Aunt Gretchen's and there is a BEAUTIFUL maple tree in her neighbors yard. The kids asked to play in the leaves and how could you resist?!

 Pure Joy!

 This little bug was a big fan too!

Oh fall we love you!

Mom Life: Mom's of Multiple Children

Let's all just get real for a solid minute or two. Mom life is beautiful, it is charming, you have moments of eternal bliss and joy filled with tickles and laughter. But Mom life can also be a dark, crazy place filled with turmoil and embarrassing moments. Kids do not always listen, they do not always cooperate, eat their dinner or stand still or hold your hand. Being a Mom is hard and it is NOT perfect no matter how hard you try. I feel blogs, Instagram and Facebook paint this unrealistic perception of peoples lives where we think that everyone has got their crap together. Anyone who tells you that, is totally lying. I felt so put together until I got pregnant and then our worlds quite literally exploded. So to showcase a few of our finer moments I have decided to share some of the not so pretty moments in my life. Here are a few of my laugh out loud mom moments from the past two days. Welcome to the Mom Life Series

Duke goes to speech therapy at the elementary school twice a week. Our appointment time is fairly early so we end up meeting a lot of children who are late for school. This particular day, there was a Mother with her Son, she was all panicked and was holding a comb in her one hand and a little cup of water in her other. She was in her late 30's early 40's and I assumed that this was her third or fourth child. She just looked drained. We got buzzed in together and this is how our conversation went down. 

Me: Is it picture day today?

Mama: Yes, which is one of the reasons why we are late but we had a medical emergency as well so that contributed. 

Me: Well yes, that wouldn't help at all.

Mama: Yes, constipation is such a horrible thing, took him forever to pass.... and I'll stop typing out what she said right there because she went into a great amount of detail which I'm sure is exactly what ever 6 -7 year old wants total strangers to hear. The hallway from the door to the office is rather short but I felt as if we would never make it, because she just didn't stop explaining this bowel movement.

Me: Well I'm glad he's feeling better and that you guys made it to school.

At this point E, Duke and I sat down and we watched this woman, who was still frantically dipping her comb in her cup of water and trying to comb her sons already combed hair. She then touched his shirt and got a drop of water on it and frantically explained that he just couldn't have his picture taken until his shirt was dry! I sat bewildered, I mean I'm fairly OCD, but she was making me nervous. The boy finally walked through the office door to class and this woman took a deep breath and looked at me. She then said: "How do parents more than one child do this?! I mean 3, 4, 6?!? I have a hard enough time with my one!"

I then had to control my facial expression as I realized this boy was an only child. I looked at E who had dressed herself that morning in a hot pink dress with poodles all over it, Christmas tights and puddle boots. Her hair hadn't been combed or redone since Sunday (it was now Thursday) she was looking a bit haggard. Then there was Duke wearing ripped jeans and a P.J shirt from last night because his simply didn't want to take it off. And while I usually (and by usually I mean always) shower before I leave the house, today I hadn't because I was planning on going home and scrubbing toilets. So I had no makeup, hair in a greasy, sloppy pony, and I was wearing track pants and a old high school t-shirt. I did manage to put on a bra however. Despite me actually wearing a bra, we were a hot mess. 

I laughed at the lady and said, "Well, I'm expecting baby #3 which is probably irresponsible based on our appearance. Once you have more than one it's a fight to survive." She just stared at me and walked away. It was hilarious, probably only to me, but none the less further proof of how much I do NOT have my crap together.