Halloween Activities

Despite these last 2 weeks being absolutely terrible - croup, diarrhea, vomiting, fevers, and FLU!!- we did manage to do our yearly tradition of painting pumpkins with the kiddos for H-ween! It was great. We even had Brett skype in with us for a quick FHE lesson and he got to watch the kids make a mess...um paint their pumpkins.

 hehehe...surprised i actually pulled this picture off!

 That's Daddy on the Computer!! Yay!!

 
 This being Brody's first year, he actually caught on quickly and I was very surprised that he didn't stick the paint brush right into his mount. He did make out with his pumpkin a little when I asked him to take a picture for me, but he had a great time i think.

Cason, who is currently battling the flu, thought it would be funny to give it a little kiss too. Poor kid was miserable the whole time, but I think he had some fun.

He was so sick...I think this was about the time he had a 103 fever! Not cool at all!

 

 Adalie was trying to act all grown up and like it was no big deal she got to paint a pumpkin. BUT that quickly changed when she saw i got sparkly paint. Then the squeals came one cue!

It was messy. It was fun. I am glad I covered my table in newspaper!!

Pumpkins DONE! Next Monday fhe...caramel apples! Yum!

Some of Fam Pics 2013

 Some of our family pictures thanks to good ole' Leslie Pfau! Can't wait to get the rest and see what she's done with them!

It actually is Kinda Funny...now.

It WAS not, however in the LEAST last night from about 4:30 to 7 p.m. Lets' recap my Wednesday...

LONG STORY WEDNESDAY. It started out bleh, as it usually does at 5:30 a.m these days with the boys. WHY they wake up that early?? Who the heck knows! Even though I was grumpy pretty much all morning, clanging and banging dishes and pans as I tried to get them all breakfast, I was determined to try and make it a good day and get stuff done! Despite my crappy attitude, I managed a quick bike ride with the boys, 1 1/2 Sean T hip hop abs workout videos, playtime outside with the boys, a load of laundry folded AND put away, a babysitting gig, dishwasher loaded, and a clean kitchen. AND I felt quite accomplished because I had managed to keep the chitlins alive for another day! Funny how the moment you start to feel confident and successful you get knocked down to size. And I got REALLY knocked down to size, literally 10 mins after I gave myself congratulatory praises. It went DOWNHILL fast...

First, Cason - who has been extra whiny and defiant lately - (i blame no-daddy issues at the moment) - thought it would be hilarious to pee all over the back wall and toilet when he went potty. It was in fact, NOT hilarious. For dinner, I thought it would be fun to have brinner with a quick and easy batch of chocolate chip pancakes. Then, Brody thought it would be funny to dump out his milk and some syrup and paint a lovely masterpiece on my kitchen floor. He had it everywhere - hair, ears, eyebrows, bellybutton -  e v e r y where! Quick bath to fix that situation, but while I had Brody in the bath, Cason went to use my bathroom. He decided he needed lots and LOTS of toilet paper, so the toilet overflowed when he flushed it. Oh and did I mention he had diarrhea?? Ya, fun. Another quick bath for Cason and LOTS of disinfectant in my bathroom. WHICH while I was cleaning up THAT mess, the children were still ONE step AHEAD! Adalie had found a sticker book and decided THAT would be funny to cover her brothers, and I mean COVER, her brothers in them...and Cooper too. I also noticed glitter on them...which she got from her backpack that she had in a baggy that she DID NOT close. Another quick bath for the boys, who put up a knock down-drag out fight every time I get them OUT of the tub, and glitter still in the bathtub to clean out. Whilst I was cleaning up from dinner, it was strangely quite (which always means something bad here) and I found Cason and Brody in my bathroom, opening up my maxi pads and sticking them to the wall. While cleaning up THAT fiasco, Brody found the sticky cricket trap by our back door and started picking out dead crickets. And also was driving his race car over it, which got stuck on the sticky too. Absolutely Gross. Brody followed me around for 1 1/2 crying and screaming. The Dog Pooped on the floor. Adalie would NOT practice her piano. I had to do scripture reading and prayers with them through wails and tears...from all of us. They fought over which book to read for bedtime - which I ended up picking and NO one liked, but I read it anyway- while they still cried. They went to bed. I cried, and I am pretty sure had a panic attack also, while eating almost a whole bag of Cheetos by myself and a diet coke at 8:00p.m.

Holy Cow...OH! and want to hear some dinner convo from tonight??

Adalie: "Hey mom, I have a BULLET in my desk at school."
ME: "Adalie! Where did you get a bullet? (meanwhile my mind reverts back to one of these past weekends when Brett and I were going to a shooting range and a box of bullets got left in the car which is possibly where she grabbed it from)"
Adalie: "I don't know someone put it in my backpack and I put it in my desk at school!"
Me: (panicking of course because i n this day in age WHO knows what people will think of my first grader and or her parents when they find a BULLET in her desk at school!) "Tomorrow you need to bring it straight home! DO NOT tell anyone you have it and DO NOT show it to ANYONE! Just stick it right back in your backpack and BRING IT STRAIGHT HOME!"

Not only did that add to my stress of an overloaded mind (I get to deal with the government today in a fun herring about our finances...ughhh long story there), but I COULD not get to sleep thinking about my 6 yr old being thrown into jail on possession charges of some sort! However, while talking to my husband in the evening he says to me "Are you sure its not just a fake bullet from one of Cason's toy guns?" UHHH, why did that thought NOT even cross my mind?? I had been riding Adalie ALL night about how important it was to bring it home, not have it at school, and how much TROUBLE she would be in. She was close to wetting her pants with fear I am sure...

So this morning, when she woke up (took all I had not to wake her up to ask her) I asked her what the bullet looked like. "It's long. And orange. And it has one of those sticky purple things on the end of it that sticks to things when you lick it." I spent the rest of the morning apologizing and letting her know i might have overreacted, but please still bring the TOY bullet home. We aren't supposed to bring toys to school.

Wednesday -- I thought I kicked your trash, but you came back with a few swift kicks of your own!!

Little Wins

Ok, so let me just start this one off by admitting that I am a HUGE emotional wreck today. My hubby left us again this early a.m. for another week. My kids got up at 5:00 a.m. shortly after he left. I could not sleep all night because I kept THINKING about him leaving in the early a.m. I only have 2 more Saturdays and 1 Sunday with him before he leaves again for another 11 weeks. My house is a massive wreck. I lost my wedding ring. I gained back 2 lbs. AND it is that time of the month - which is why I am sure the emotional fiasco is well displayed. So, i am writing this now before I update everything else, or I will forget the wonderful reminder of the Lord's tender mercies.

So, Sundays are always bad days. My boys are so rambunctious and I will throw everything I have at them to try and keep them still for even a second in sacrament meeting. Brett has been with us for the last 2 Sundays, and will also be here next Sunday - so they are a little more bearable with a have someone to help tag team them with me. Any who, I had to lead a choir number and before I even went up there, i had managed to snag my pantie hose. Cason had a melt down 2 seconds before I went up and I had drool down my backside and also crayon mark where Cason had been stuffing crayons under my but on the bench. So, I am sure I looked wonderful in front of everyone who, because I am the choir director, gets a nice view of my butt-x. I had also forgotten my wedding ring. I thought I had taken it off in Adalie's bathroom, because I usually do when I fix her hair. That way the gel doesn't get stuck in my ring and get it all sticky. So when I looked down, i really didn't think too much of it not being there because I have done that before - left it on the bathroom counter. We got home from church, and it always gets so super busy and hectic the moment we walk in. It's 4:30. Church clothes are quickly shed and ALL over the house.  The kids are whiny for a snack. We are trying to get dinner going. The football game is starting, but the kids want a cartoon. We let them have a movie, but now they fight about which one it will be. Still trying to get dinner going, and while in the process there is all kinds of food and utensils all over the counters and floors. Brody is extra clingy and tired because he only slept for an hour before he had to wake up for church. I had a HUGE headache and it is creeping back even now just thinking about the day yesterday.....it was just so, so much crud that didn't really go away when I woke up. Dinner was still on the counter and the floors. Church clothes still on the floor. Baskets upon baskets of clothes needing to be folded. Dirty dishes everywhere. Still whiny children because they decided to wake up at 5 and 5:30. Left over remnants of Brett getting ready to leave the house. AND i realized i had never found my wedding rings...and here is where the story serves the purpose for me and I quit whining myself.

I went into the bathroom expecting it to be on the counter. Wasn't there. I was a little worried, but not too much because even if Cason had played with it or moved it it had probably just fallen on the floor. Looked there too...nothing. Sometimes, I also leave it by my bed stand where i put my lotion on. So i took a quick look there too....nothing there either. Then I started having thoughts of Cason trying to maybe "clean it" in the sink and it falling down the drain. Or maybe he had the urge to flush it?? Start panic mode. Grabbing a flash light to look down the drains. Tearing up every room thinking maybe it fell off somewhere...then I get a flash of a memory and i knew EXACTLY what had happened to my rings, although NOT good news. While driving in the car on the way to church, I opened the glove compartment where i keep some extra lotion, took my rings off and set them in my lap. After putting the lotion on though, I never put my rings back on. I got out of the car and unloaded children with them still in my lap. Which, thanks to gravity of course, they fell off as soon as a stood up and I never even noticed. So after being out all morning with the boys running errands and grocery shopping, I made them climbed in the car while i begged and pleaded with the Lord to help me find my ring. I was headed to the church thinking maybe someone had found it and put it in the lost and found? Maybe by some miracle it was in the grass where we had parked?? Just hoping, and balling my eyes out, the whole way there. So I park close to where i think we were on Sunday and start walking around. After about 15 mins, I find my band. I am happy, but it is only a cheap band I wear with my engagement ring because my real one has broken and sits in my jewelery box at home - so I am not THAT happy. It's my engagement ring i would really like to find. After walking over the same spot 50 million times (i kid you not) i finally see a glimmer of something in the middle of the parking lot about 10 ft away. IT IS MY RING!! I broke down. Sobbing on my knees in that parking lot, with my boys yelling at me through their car windows that they want out!! I get back into the car and Cason is asking why and I am laughing and crying at the same time, and doesn't quite get the explanation of "i am happy".

So point of the long, drawn out story?? I am so incredibly thankful for the Lord and the way he cares, even about my trivial things that probably have nothing to do with my spiritual progression. The little wins he lets me have. Like my kids sleeping in an extra half hour from time to time. The stain finally coming out of a shirt I have washed a million times. The right lid to my dinner pot that it took forever to find. The chocolate milk spill that came out of my new couch. Brody throwing my new galaxy note across the room and the screen not cracking. Finding that cricket in my bathroom that has kept me awake nights upon nights with it's ear-piercing chirping. Helping me find my wedding ring, that not because it is the most expensive thing in the world and i would have been upset to lose that much money in something, but because it has so much more meaning behind it than that for me. Things like this really remind me that He is very aware of me and my situation and does not forget me in HIS prayers either. He is always on my side and will always take the time to remind me of that.

Anywho, my emotional wreck of a day or two has turned into be a very, very grateful day. Although my house is still a wreck, I have absolutely no energy to do a single thing, and my kids are still incredibly whiny -- that's just life right now and today I have turned out to be ok with it!

Hello Again Folks!

Yes, yes I know, super bad blogger forever. Busy summer. Lost computer cord. Single parenting. All have played a role in blogging NOT being a top priority of life at the moment. HOWEVER, it is time to catch up on the B and L Sorensen household as of late. So, lets see...

We started off the summer in good ole' Utah for Brett's first clerkship rotation. My wonderful sister and brother in law were kind enough to let us invade their space for a whole month so that we could be with Brett for a bit longer before we lost him for a bit. We had LOTS of fun and I had so much help with the kiddos from everyone. I know we were hard to live with, even if they will not admit it out loud =). We got to see cousins!

 

I got to hang out with my sister a bit. Went to the zoo. Brett took the kids fishing. went to a water park. Temple with my hubby. Cheap babysitting for dates, and a trip to My FAVORITE restaurant for my favorite food!!

Tikki Masala!! YUUMMMYY!!

 



One of our last weekends with Brett, we took the kids to good ole' Cherry Hill for some fun in the sun! Favorite part of everyone's? The dragon slide. Because they would even let little Brody go down with us on our laps and Adalie felt like the ultimate big kids getting to do the slides by herself.

I held Brody almost the entire time on my left hip that he left his little hand print on my left due to sunburn =)

Took the kids to a jump zone! they LOVED it! A whole hour of entertainment for 10$ a kid. Not sure if I will do it again but it was a fun thing to cross off our bucket list!

 

Anywho, I have about a million pictures to share of our summer, so my plan is to get them all uploaded and just sorta do a picture post to catch you up on life. Here are a few that I have so far. Also there will probably be random day to day post in there too. I am just going to pretend I am good at blogging again...

ENJOY!

I have been spending forever getting caught up on all of yours!

Going private...leave me you e mail if you wanna be apart of this party!