Halloween

I am not a big fan of Halloween. I have never been a fan. I quit trick-or-treating in 5th grade because I didn't like it. I don't like dressing up, I don't like knocking on doors, even if there is candy on the other side. Therefore my kids have suffered because I am the biggest halloweener. (do you get the joke :)) Last year Cariña went up to the doors all by herself, did I mention she was only three then, while Sam and I stood on the sidewalk and watched. Poor girl. So this year I decided that we would go hang out with cousins to help with the excitement of the holiday. It was well worth the drive to see my children have fun that I couldn't provide them with. :)

At first I didn't know what to do for Helaman's costume but then the idea came to me. He was a cave man. Any person that has heard Helaman grunt and has seen his stocky self, knows that this was meant to be. He was adorable, and I only wish that he didn't have to wear all the warm clothes underneath. Oh well.

Then there is Cariña. We all know what she wanted to be. Well I hate princesses, fairies, and anything girly and unoriginal. I have enough sense to know that I can't tell her not to be things that she likes, so this year we had an unknown compromise (unknown to her anyway). I was inspired at the fabric store when I found the sparkley pink leopard print that she could be a cave girl princess. At first the idea was rejected until her cousin wanted to be cave-girl princess twins. So in the picture is the cave people clan. Aren't they cute.





Here is the entire group. It was a fun group and the kids had a great time.


Here is the family pictutre. The kids sure are cuter than Sam and I. I don't know how we got such cute kids.

halloween candy

I hate Halloween candy. Not just for the fact that it is terrible for my children, but I have no control over myself. So when they are over in their bedrooms playing, I am sneaking into their bags eating the candy. Why?
Do I love it? No, not really.

Does it taste good? No, not really. It is always too sweet.

Does it taste like wax? Usually, and if not wax, some other fake ingredient.

Does it make me feel good? Not at all. Physically I feel disgusting.

Do I feel good about myself? No, I feel like a failure because I really don't want to eat it, but I am.

Is it satisfying? No!!!! I only want more when I am done.

Is it worth it? Not a chance. I gain weight. It is full of hydrogenated fat, high fructose corn syrup, artificial colors and flavors, and other mystery ingredients that are usually chemicals that I am sure cause cancer. There just isn't anything good about it.

Why do I do it? I don't know, maybe because those stupid candy companies know that sugar is addicting and put more in it so that people like me can't control themselves even if it doesn't taste good.

Bottom Line

I HATE CANDY!!!!! (Why can't I be better?)

All by himself!

Helaman has a favorite pair of shorts. He seems to find them everywhere and always wants them on. I finally had to throw them behind the dresser so he couldn't find them and they could get washed. Well the washing thing hasn't happened because obviously I haven't remember them behind the dresser either. :) So much for my brilliant plan. :) Well here is Helaman with his favorite shorts that he put on all by himself. Good job Helaman!!!

How could anyone resist such a sweet little boy with such sweet little legs.


The back view. FYI he has put them on right before, (well mostly, they usually are twisted :)) but this was just too cute.

One of those moments!

The other day I had one of those moments where you question your decision about having children. Don't worry whenever these moments come they are always fleeting, and as soon as I see a smile I always remember why!

So here is the story.

I was at a craft store with a friend and I started smelling something terrible. The first thing I thought was it can't be Helaman because he just had an explosive diaper this morning. Luckily Sam was just hopping into the shower so it was a good excuse to have Sam change the diaper and put Helaman in the shower with him.

My next thought was man this store stinks, but this thought quickly left as I realized the quality of the store. Anyway I was really just hoping that it wouldn't be Helaman. But as he was sitting in the cart his jacket came up a little and his white onesie was soaked in brown, slimy liquid. Great just what I needed. So I ran out to the car grabbed a diaper (luckily I had one) and my huge bag of wipes.

When I headed in I grabbed a couple plastic bag from the store front. Mostly I just wanted to put Helaman in the bag. We headed off to the bathroom. I was lucky they had one. :) We walked in and there was one sink. I was trying to figure the best way to handle this situation, but truefully there was nothing to do but hose this kid down. So I took off the clothes and put them in the bag, but I HAD to rinse out the onesie, The rinsing would have gone much better if it wasn't a push sink that I had to keep pushing to keep the water on. :) So here is a kid walking about the bathroom with no clothes on, no socks or shoes, and poo all up his back. Lovely. :) I finally rinsed out all the clothes and had to start on the kid. I took off the diaper trying not to let anything drip and then put Helaman in the sink. It was a tiny sink so he sat in the sink toliet style. I was able to get him mostly clean when a lady entered the bathroom. Great now I have to hurry so this lady can wash her hands in a clean sink. She was obviously a grandma type and was very understanding of the messy, stinky bathroom. (I did apolgize!) I got him mostly washed off and was on my final rinse when I went to wipe his bum, but I noticed that it was really dirty. I pulled my hand away just in time for him to relieve his intestines once again. Please, is this really happening to me! So now I am trying to wash everything down the sink wipe Helaman, and clean the sink before the lady comes out. What a mess. I barely made it right when she walked out. I grabbed the can of lysol that was provided by the bathroom and did the spray for the lady.

I put Helaman in his coat, socks, and shoes and off we went. Hopefully we wouldn't be going to any more stores. :) Once I walked out my lovely daughter say, "Mom, I need to go to the bathroom." Urg, fine let's go. So she goes in and starts yaking. She is notorious for talking and putting off what NEEDS to be done. It drives me crazy! So she is standing my the stall door telling me something. I can't remember what because what I am thinking is Will you just go kid! :) Finally she gets into the stall and comes out and starts washing her hands. Her hands are covered in soap she tells me, "Mom I forgot to push out the poo." Really are you kidding me. Well go. But of course she can't because her hands are covered in soap. So we have to wash the soap and go again. So I wait and she is still yaking by the stall, again. Finally she goes and it was a good thing she did, because it was just like Helaman's. I am sure it was the 15 peaches they have each eaten the past couple of days. :) Finally we leave. My hands were so dry from washing them at least 15 times in those few minutes. :) As I left I had that question, why did I have kids.

Well it didn't take long before I realized why. I saw Helaman with his little manly strut walking out of the store with his jacket and shoes. He was so funny. Cariña was taking care of Helaman and how could I resist. They are just too cute, but I will tell you what, we sure have cut back on our peach intake for a couple of days.

Am I a bad mom?

That is really a rhetorical question that doesn't need to be answered. My daughter already answered it for me with a big resounding YES! :) You have to love four year olds that are too smart for their own good. :) Here are the reasons she gave me. . .
1. I don't listen very well
2. I always get angry.
3. I try to listen but really don't.
4. I don't let the kids buy what ever they want.

Actually I have been feeling like a bad mother lately, and that is why I asked Cariña. I knew I would get an honest answer from her. Although, I was really hoping for a "No, of course not mom, I understand the stress and worry you have been under and I know that you love us." But obviously that wasn't the answer. :) Here are my reasons I have been feeling like a bad mother.

1. I always get angry. This is interesting because I have been trying to be more spiritual and read my scriptures. I try to read a couple of chapters in the morning but my kids won't let me. They are always bothering me and crying. So it takes me an hour to read the chapters and inevitably I can't stand being interrupted anymore and I lose my temper. It seems interesting that I get the most angry when I am trying to be better. :)

2. When people ask me if I am going to send Cariña to preschool I say no. I want her to explore and learn things on her own for right now. So I always prided myself in teaching things when they ask. A couple of years I asked Cariña is she wanted to learn to write her name. She said no. So I never tried to teach her. Well she picked up writing on her own. She has always had really good finger dextarity. I mean she could color in a 1/8 inch circle when she was two. But my point is now she is really interested in school. Since she doesn't go out to school I told her we could have school at home. She was so excited and got her backpack ready with pencils, color pencils, paper, toys, etc. She has had writing, math, art. (Here is my chance to teach and be that great teacher who leads to great learning right!), but now I say no, no school right now, I am too tired. Really, How pathetic am I?

3. My heart still breaks when I think of little Helaman's tear-streaked face. These last couple of weeks I have been under a lot of self-inflicted stress. So we have not been eating well at all. My kids have gotten way to much processed, artificial flavored, colored, and sugared food. So last night when the kids didn't finish eating their dinner, I told them that they could not have a cookie at the family history activity we had to go to. We even brushed their teeth before we went. At the activity the people in charge were wonderful and had a nursery but at the end of the nursery they told the kids they could go and have a cookie. I was eating MY cookie when the kids came up. I reminded them that their dinner was still on the table at home and that they could not have a cookie, and it broke their hearts. EVERYBODY!! including all the kids that came were holding two and three cookies i their hands, and there was my kids standing there empty handed. The saddest picture was Helaman standing on his tip-toes staring at the cookies with tears streaming down his little face. He wasn't throwing a fit, just so sad that he couldn't get a cookie. I was about to give in, but made such a big fuss before we left and up to this point that I couldn't give in. If I did I would lose what little authority I have been able to maintain these past four years. But was it really fair that I was so strict when it has been my fault that they haven't eaten anything good for the past two weeks?

Oh well, what can a bad mom do?

Sam abroad????

Not a chance!!!!! We had the weirdest thing happen last week. . .

Sam's mother sent us a forward of an email that she received from Sam. It said that he was in London without money and requested money to be forwarded. Of course it was a Spam. But then I started looking at the email address and it was Sam's email, everything. So I told Sam about it and he said that he found out the day before that his email address was stolen. Apparently Sam got an email from windows that said that they had too many empty accounts and were running out of room and needed to clean up the storage space. I actually read the email and thought it was real, too. So they said to sign in and and the account wouldn't be deleted. So Sam did it. He said it looked real. Then the next day he couldn't get into his account and everyone from his contact list got emails begging for money. It is kind of embarrassing. :) So don't send us money!, unless you really want to because you love us! JK :)

The worst part was our paypal account was linked to this account. So we went onto paypal to change everything and change the link, but I couldn't remember the password. I requested the password and they said okay you answered all the questions correctly we will now send your password to your email. (Which was the email that was stolen!!!) So in desperation I contacted the bank and closed my accounts! So now we have no cards, checks with no name, so basicly we can't go shopping until we get new cards from our new banks. What luck. Just add this adventure on to the list here in Utah. This place has been the refiner's fire for us, and I am tired!

$7 improvements

Since our lives, (at this point anyway) tend to be more transient than most I have no desire to buy things if I have something already, (like a cheap white tablecloth to cover storage boxes). Also I am not willing to spend what few pennies we have for savings to buy stuff for the apt. It just isn't worth it to me. That is until the plastic tablecloth I had, and the cheap plastic shower curtain look like this. At this point I am willing to spend a few dollars to appear decent.

Does the cloth help? Well, since their is no holes it does look better, but that pile of cords is hopeless. (Our tv has no connections in the back. Oh well it was free, what am I going to do, complain) Savers was going to sell me this piece of cloth for $2. That is way to expensive for a small piece that really can't be used for much else, so I put this piece of cloth in a bag full of material for $4. I am not sure what I am going to do with the other material, but at least I got something else. :)

Below is yet another ripped project. Oh well, as you can see I was never able to get that pink moldy stain off, so the kids gave me a justifiable excuse to get a new shower curtain. On the way to the store we were telling Cariña that we were going to the store to buy a shower curtain because she and Helaman had ripped the other one. Then we asked if it was a good idea to rip something. Then she says, "Why do I feel like you are trying to get me in trouble!" Her guilty conscious was weighing down on her mind. :)


Here is our $5 (from Savers) non rippable cloth shower curtain. I thought $5 dollars is a little expensive for a used shower curtain, but I really liked it, it is still cheaper than the store, and hopefully the kids won't be able to rip this one.


So what do you think. Were the improvements worth $7. I don't know. I think it is a little expensive for second hand stuff, especially for material that is almost completely useless, but I guess anything is better than cheap ripped plastic.