Halloween Costumes!!

My kids are so fetching cute!! So here's the low down on what they are this Halloween:

Ethan: US Marine (His face make up is sooooooo cool if I do say so myself. I'll post better pics later.)

Garrett: Ninja (his face make up is cool too)

Chase: Rockstar (he has a super cool guitar which was the major part of his costume)

Mckenzie: Glitter Ghost (She is sprayed from head to toe in glitter. Too cute)

Carter: Big Bad Biker Dude

They were so so so so so excited. I love how excited they were. I hate Halloween, but seeing how cute they are gets me all excited! Love it so much!

Chase

NO! I DID NOT PUSH HIM OUT OF THE CAR....

Poor baby Chase!!! He started out having a great day but it didn't end so well for him!

He had his 3rd grade IEP this morning and we found out that he will be done with speech by Christmas break this year!! How exciting is that? We were pretty sure he'd need speech therapy for the majority of his elementary school experience but coming this far in 4 years is phenomenal for this kid! I am just BURSTING with pride.

Chase is a super hard worker. He knows he has struggles, but it NEVER stops him. I never have to ask him to do his homework. He just does it. He is the best helper to me. When he was sick this week, he voluntarily did his homework while I was in the shower instead of watching TV. He thought it was a better use of his time. How awesome is that?!?! All of his teachers have loved him. And who doesn't love him? He's almost perfect. (He just won't let me kiss him in public)

However, on his way home from school, he was running after his brother and fell. He must have face planted or something because he has totally scraped up his nose and forehead. He also scraped his shoulder and knee. I felt so bad. According to him, he was lucky Conner Scoubes saw him fall, so Conner ran home to get Sister Scoubes who rescued Chase and brought him home. So, thank you Sister Scoubes for saving Chase!!

Today

I try not to post negative things.... but the last 10 days have been less than fun. It started when I did something to my back. I'm not sure what I did. We were playing around at Bridal Veil Falls and I slipped on a rock. It didn't hurt or anything. But on the walk down to the car, my back started to tighten up. We drove down to Canyon View park for a picnic and I could really feel some pain. I decided to lay down on the grass while the kids played. That was a BIG mistake!! The next thing I knew... I couldn't get up! It hurt so bad. And it was like that for about a week. It's still stiff but I can function.

To add to my fun, every single one of my children has been sick. Of course, they don't all get sick at the same time. They get sick one at a time. So one child or another or several have been home from school. Doug helped a little by taking the kids to his house for an extra night last week but I still had kids during the day and WOW!! My poor babies... they just hung out in my room, many times both of us ending up crying. It was pretty sad.

And to top it off, as much as I love fall, I HATE Halloween. And Ethan just added the cherry to my sundae today. He wanted to be an army guy for Halloween so we've been gathering things for his costume. I was supposed to take him to Uncle Sam's Army Navy Outdoor store this evening while Mckenzie was at dance but we passed Halloween USA. He HAD to go in. He found this Master Chief costume from Halo and wanted it so bad but it was $40!! There is no way I'm spending that kind of money on a cheaply made costume that has a mask that he can't even wear to school! I said no. He threw a fit. He called his dad. His dad said no. He threw an even bigger fit. Fun. I wanted to push him out of the car on the way home, but I didn't. And not just because there were witnesses... but because I do love the kid and I knew I would eventually feel bad.

It's very hard to come home at the end of a crappy day, put cranky kids to bed and sit alone in a quiet house. Usually I clean or something until I'm exhausted but tonight I'm just sitting here. I would cry but I can't. My friend lost her husband recently and I feel guilty for feeling sorry for myself. I made this choice to be alone. Her choice was made for her. So I shouldn't feel like this.

I am frustrated at the turn my life has taken. Or at the turn I've allowed it to take. Part of me would like to push the rewind button. But it's a small part. I've read my partriarchal blessing a hundred times over the past several months and I think that even though I made some mistakes and I veered off the course, I'll be ok. Everything happens for a reason and everything can be turned around for my good and for the good of my precious children. We'll be ok. We'll be better than ok.

I just keep thinking that I made it through another day and I still have 5 out of my 5 original children. I didn't have to replace any.

Fall

I love fall! It's my favorite time of year!! This past weekend the kids and I did tons of yard work. We made a contest out of it, the winning team got slushies. (Kenzie and Carter worked their tiny butts off!) While cleaning the backyard, we found a baby snake that Mommy picked up with her bare hands!! We now have a new pet named Fluffy. It's actually kinda cute!

We decorated for Halloween and bought pumpkins, ranging in size from super big to teeny tiny. And then after church on Sunday we went up the canyon for a hot dog roast. It was so peaceful and relaxing!

Their Mother is Out of Control!

So, I'm doing the single mommy thing. It's been super fun. I'm exhausted. Ha ha. My children are awesome and they are holding up very well with the whole separation thing. I have to give kudos to Doug and I because I think we've tried to keep things as normal as possible. However, apparently since Dad has been gone, Mommy has taken over the household and I've begun to torture everyone. Here is a list of things are my children consider to be torturous:

Taking baths
Cleaning rooms
Picking up anything and putting it away
Eating only one snack after school
Waiting till after dinner to play Wii
Cutting finger nails
Putting laundry away
Wearing socks with shoes
Brushing teeth
Wearing clothing that matches
Feeding and/or taking care of their pets
Doing homework
Drinking water instead of Koolaid or soda

I have been informed I am out of control. During a bedroom inspection with Carter on Saturday, I informed him that shoving everything into his closet was not how we clean rooms in our house and I told him he needed to clean his closet. After flopping around on his floor for awhile and screaming at the top of his lungs, he finally calmed down enough to ask me for my phone. I asked why he needed it, assuming he was going to call his dad. He said no, he was going to call 911 because I was the meanest mom in the world. Ethan informed me on the way home from church as I was instructing everyone what to do with their church clothes when they changed that I was out of control because I was insisting on keeping everything like it was Spring Cleaning day or something like that. Argh!

Do they still sell Calgon?

Back to School

The kids started school today! Garrett and Carter were up first and dressed by 8 am, complete with backpacks, and waiting in the living room to go to school. They don't go to school till 9:30. I did have to remind them to eat breakfast, brush their teeth and put socks on.... They were so cute. Anyway, everyone did eat breakfast with their backpacks on. It was hilarious. I loved it.

We're excited about everyone's teachers. I think we'll have a good year!! We've had Carter's teacher and Chase's teacher before, so we know we'll love them!

So here's to a good year! Go Windsor Wildcats!!

Wordless Wednesday: