A Fortunate Halloween Tale

It was the night before Halloween and our boys were so excited to celebrate with candy, candy and more candy!
Unfortunately, Matthew spent that night throwing up on our bedroom carpet.
Fortunately, I threw a pillow under the steady stream of chunks, so the damage was minimal.
Unfortunately, Josh was unaware of the night's ordeal and stepped in the throw-up bowl as he crawled down from the top bunk.
Fortunately, Dallan had lined the floor with towels.
Unfortunately, Matthew stayed home from school that morning.
Fortunately, he perked up and felt well enough to attend his class party which I was helping with.
Unfortunately, Josh still hadn't decided what he wanted to dress up like for trick or treating. He dressed up like a "Kid" at school because he doesn't like to dress up.
Fortunately, he has a creative mom with LOTS of great ideas!
Unfortunately, he thinks his mom's ideas are embarrassing.
Fortunately, Josh put together his own costume with random pieces from the dress up box.
Unfortunately, it started sprinkling as we began our trick or treat adventure.
Fortunately, our Mickey Mitchell, Ninja Matthew, Pumpkin Caleb, and random super-hero Josh were not deterred from their candy mission.
Unfortunately, Caleb couldn't trick or treat for long because it was a little bit chilly for him.
Fortunately, Mitchie was so cute that he could get away with taking a handful of candy out of each bowl to make up for Caleb!
Unfortunately, Matthew tired out earlier than usual because he hadn't eaten much that day.
Fortunately, Dallan and Josh carried on and we have enough candy to last us until Christmas!
Unfortunately, our last trick of treaters of the night had a man dressed up like a creepy monster with them.
Fortunately, I didn't think that Mitchell noticed.
Unfortunately, I was wrong. He wouldn't go to sleep because he needed to "hide from scary monsters that get you" and he doesn't believe me when I say there are no monsters because he SAW one!
Fortunately, all of the boys were finally tucked into bed with visions of sugar and monsters in their heads!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

'She'-lock Holmes

Clues:
A room full of wiggly boys
"Who done it?" awards
A 'round' of applause
1 flag ceremony
2 silly games
A mad dash for cheap cookies

"By jove I think you've got it!" I dressed up like Sherlock Holmes for cub scout Pack Night...

Brothers

"To the outside world we all grow old. But not to brothers... We know each other as we always were. We know each other's hearts...We live outside the touch of time"
Author: Clara Ortega

'Move' to action

Have you ever watched a movie that touched you so much that it moved you to act? Today I was watching a clip from one of my favorite movies while holding sweet Caleb in my lap. I saw "Awakenings" for the first time in high school. I was so moved by it's message that I started volunteering at a rest home every Monday after school. I fell in love with the sweet men and women I visited. One could only communicate by blinking once for "yes" and twice for "no." Another just wanted me to rub her arms for her. Another patient used to lick my cheek to show me she loved me. One loved it when I would take her for walks. I cried whenever I walked into a room of one of my friends, and they were no longer there. They often didn't remember me from one visit to the next, but I know I will never forget what they taught my heart.
In the movie a doctor asks a mother if her comatose son ever speaks. She replies "of course not, not with words..." I held Caleb tight and cried because I knew exactly what she meant.

Pony tails and hair bows

If you've ever dropped by to see me, you know that you'll usually find my hair in a pony tail. Why do I like to wear my hair in a pony tail? It's efficient! I can do my hair in 3 minutes flat! A pony tail makes it so that my neck doesn't feel sweaty and itchy. It keeps my hair out of my face so that I don't have that tickly hairy feeling. It keeps my hair clear of spit up and other unidentified flying goop.
I love pony tails. I also love hair ribbons, flowers, and other fru-fru accessories to tie around them. Why? Even though I'm a boy mom it doesn't mean I can't have a splash of femininity every once in a while. I like to have happy hair. When ever I recieve a gift with a ribbon tied around it, my first thought is, I wonder if this would tie in my hair! When I was a little girl my mom always tied ribbons in our hair, and I guess I never grew out of it! Do you think I 'll be able to get away with hair bows when I'm eighty? I'll probably be known as the crazy hair bow lady with way too many books.....

Primary program

Josh and Matthew were in the primary program today! Josh memorized a scripture and sang in a small group, and Matthew said his part like a pro!
Primary programs are an adventure at our house. Every year I have to confiscate something from Matthew. One year he secretly brought his goofy teeth and popped them in during the first song. One year he had toilet paper plugging up his nose. This year I had to take away a fake spider during the practice. But during the performance today, he said he only put a piece of lint on the girl's chair next to him and "she didn't even notice!" We're making progress!

Rocking chairs in Heaven

I hope there are rocking chairs in Heaven. I know that I feel the closest to Heaven when I'm rocking in mine. It's probably because when I'm in that chair, my lap is full of little ones who were there not very long ago. When I'm rocking Mitchell to sleep for his nap, I know I'm breaking all of the 'sleep expert' rules because I should be putting him in his bed and let him fall asleep on his own. But when snuggles right next to my heart and his breathing becomes slow and even I know this is what Heaven feels like. When I sit in my rocking chair with Caleb, we have the sweetest conversations without ever saying words. Our hearts whisper to each other, and I know this must be how we speak in heaven. When Matthew joins me in the chair and he giggles while I tickle him in his "tickle spots," I know those giggles make music in heaven. Josh is almost as big as I am when he sits on my lap to rock for a minute. While his legs are hanging to the floor and I can smell the sunshine in his hair, I know that Heaven must smell like that. His moments in my rocking chair are becoming shorter and aren't as often as I wish they were. I hope that in Heaven I have a big rocking chair on my porch- one that can never be outgrown- and one that will always face the sunshine.

What were you doing at noon today?

I was dancing to "Thriller" at the rec center as part of the "Thrill the World Campaign." Today at noon people all over the world were dancing Thriller to mark it's 25 year anniversary! Many events raise money for local charities and all are included in setting and breaking world records. So I'm feeling like a pretty totally Hip Housewife about now! You can check out www.thrilltheworld.com if you want to learn thriller in time for Halloween!! You know you want to....then you can thrill all of your friends at your next ward activity! Now I just need to buy a white glove and learn to do the moonwalk!

Mother Teresa

A few thoughts from someone I've always admired tremendously...

Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.

Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired.

Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.

I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.

I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much.

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.

If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one.

If you judge people, you have no time to love them.

In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love.

It is not the magnitude of our actions but the amount of love that is put into them that matters.

Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.

Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do... but how much love we put in that action.... Love begins by taking care of the closest ones - the ones at home.

Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.

There are no great things, only small things with great love. Happy are those.
Mother Teresa

HOPE

Hope has the power to fill our lives with happiness...Hope... is like the beam of sunlight rising up and above the horizon of our present circumstances. It pierces the darkness with a brilliant dawn. It encourages and inspires us to place our trust in the loving care of an eternal Heavenly Father, who has prepared a way for those who seek for eternal truth in a world of relativism, confusion, and of fear.
President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

A few more festive treats!

Because we all probably don't have enough candy coming our way, I thought these were cute from Kraft.com:

Thriller

Guess what dance I'm learning at the rec center? It's almost worth getting up at 5:40 AM! You know I'd thrill you with my deadly moves!
(turn off the music on my playlist at the bottom of the page)

Picky Picky

Today in a 10 minute time frame I found myself picking throw-up out of Caleb's hair, picking Lima beans out of Mitchell's ears, and picking rock hard marshmallows off the plates Josh and Matthew used to blow them up in the microwave. Pick-pick-pick- who says we aren't descendants of apes?

Game Day!

Saturdays just won't be the same when football season is over!
Dallan's secretary was able to get football shirts for all the boys- so they were excited to wear them on game day! Matthew and I got to go to the New Mexico game (rah rah!) We had so much fun! I told Matthew one of the rules of football games is that you stay till the end no matter what! (getting nachos at the end of the third quarter helped!) The grandpa sitting next to me was so fun! We had lots of high fives and had fun calling the plays. He told me that Dallan should let me come every time! Go cougs!

From the mouth of Matthew...

A few things Matthew said this week that made me smile...

When I get married I'm only kissing my wife once-that one time when you kiss her in front of all the people

I know why Caleb's head isn't round...Heavenly Father took some of the roundness and gave it to Mitchell!

I hope that when Caleb gets resurrected he'll look just the same, only he'll be able to walk and talk. (Matthew loves Caleb's winking eye)

Sometimes to learn things you just have to make a big mess!

I just love the word "lame" because it means the same thing as "dumb" only I can say it! (I guess we have to add "Lame" to the list of words we don't say...)

The pumpkin patch

Last week I took the boys to the pumpkin patch! They loved seeing all of the pumpkins, peeking at the farm animals, and jumping on the inflatable toys! They all picked out a pumpkin to bring home, so we have a nice little pumpkin family on our front porch!

"Spooktacular" treats!

I thought these treats would be 'spooktakular for Family Home Evening! (I found the witch hats at tip junkie and the cupcakes at Kraft) Yumm!

When you're close to the ground, there's more dirt to be found...

“The world is mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful.”
E. E. Cummings

It's autumn time...

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower. ~Albert Camus

I heard on the news that if we wanted to see the autumn leaves, we better do it now because by the weekend the weather would turn cold and yucky! So, I planned to take the boys to the canyon to see the leaves in all their glory. Instead, we went to a park near the mountains to see if the leaves had made their appearance a little closer to home. Nope. We ate our picnic and I started thinking that we should pack up and go further up the road to find some leaves and take some great pictures. But I couldn't bring myself to put a stop to the boys enjoying the golden sunshine, gathering acorns, rolling down the hill and playing on the playground. I'm lucky I didn't miss these moments to chase something that wasn't any more beautiful than what was right in front of me.

The greatest Seat of Power

With all that has been going on in Washington DC, I think my mom has the right idea. This is a glimpse of her most recent column. You might enjoy visiting her link sometime. (Janenebaadsgaard.blogspot.com) Her link is on my side bar. You'll enjoy reading what she has to say:
The greatest Seat of Power:
"I have come to believe that all great strides in knowledge, wisdom and positive social reform were once whispers of hope in a woman’s heart. Mothers have the opportunity to plant tiny seeds of ideas and possibilities in their children’s minds. If the seeds are good, when their children grow up, they became the givers not the takers of the world. The hand that rocks the cradle really does rule the world.
We now have women who lead the highest institutions of government and commerce in the land. Does that make them great or simply more visible? It is not our position in society that makes us great – but our goodness, the strength of our character and our willingness to sacrifice for the well-being of others. We need good men and women to lead our nation and corporations but we need more who lead our children. What happens in our house matters more than what happens in the House of Representatives. For a nation conceived in liberty cannot remain powerful if it does not remain good. A nation will not remain good unless the children are nurtured in love."
Janene Baadsgaard

Happy Anniversary!

I never knew that eternity would never seem long enough to spend with someone I love, cherish and admire with all my heart....
We celebrated our 10 year anniversary this week! We rarely leave all of our boys, but my mom was so sweet to watch them all while we went out to dinner! We even had time to browse the bookstore before we picked them up! Happy anniversary, Dallan!

The Gift

My aunt created this you-tube video; it reminds us what an important gift marraige is: (You'll need to stop the music on my playlist to hear this slide show)

Happiness is our Heritage

"In the end, the number of prayers we say may contribute to our happiness, but the number of prayers we answer may be of even greater importance."

I loved Elder Uchtdorf's talk at the General Relief Society broadcast. He closed his remarks with the following words:
"I believe that as you are faithful and diligent in keeping the commandments of God, as you draw closer to Him in faith, hope, and charity, things will work together for your good.I believe that as you immerse yourselves in the work of our Father—as you create beauty and as you are compassionate to others—God will encircle you in the arms of His love. Discouragement, inadequacy, and weariness will give way to a life of meaning, grace, and fulfillment.

As spirit daughters of our Heavenly Father, happiness is your heritage.

You are choice daughters of our Heavenly Father, and through the things you create and by your compassionate service, you are a great power for good. You will make the world a better place. Lift up your chin; walk tall. God loves you."

Nana's prayer

When our boys think Dallan and I say long prayers, he tells them that our prayers are nothing like the long prayers his mom used to say. While Matthew was in Maryland, he got to hear one of Nana's "long prayers" in person. This is her rendition of how it went:

That night I (Nana) said the family prayer and after it was over Matthew said to Dallan, "WOW, Nanna really does pray for a long time! Don't you just want to cut your legs off?" Dallan told him that it was actually a short Nana prayer upon which Matthew said, "WOW, so when Nana would pray, it would take 50 years? Didn't your legs just fall off? I guess it wouldn't matter, you would just starve to death during the prayer anyway."