I'm so glad when Daddy comes home

These kids sure do love their daddy.

Especially watching basketball together. I'm pretty sure June is saying, "Go Zags!"
How cute that they're holding hands!

While Pat was gone, I busied myself with making this skirt for Nora. My intentions were to wait and give it to her for Christmas but I thought it was way too cute (and I was a little proud of myself for doing it) that I HAD to give it to her right away. There are so many things you can do while wearing a big puffy tutu!



This last time of Pat being gone was surprisingly easy. Not easy really, but went really well compared to other times. The kids were we'll behaved, we played a lot, and basically just tried to have a good time to make the days go by faster. Which they did.

My new trick is to not let them have naps anymore
(not that Kyle would be cooperative to the idea of a nap anyway)
that way, they are asleep by 7!
You'd think that I would be able to get so much accomplished in those hours before I go to bed.
Not if June has her way!
That's HER time!
I don't mind, really. She doesn't get enough snuggling during the day.
So the evening hours are ours.
THANKSGIVING!!!
We had a real nice Thanksgiving.
Darin and Charla came down. We cooked for at least 6 hours straight. Ate A LOT of delish foods. Then played...trains...and more trains!
We really enjoy having Dad home. He has even ignored work for the last couple of days
(not entirely - but mostly)
Hopefully he'll be here for awhile longer.

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE being a mom to these crazy kids?!
Have I mentioned how much I LOVE my husband?!
We are blessed!

Still Here

We decided to tough it out and stay here on our own.
Surprisingly, it hasn't been too bad.
We've actually been having fun!

Too make things interesting, I packed up the kids and drove to Seattle to see my brother Darin and his wife Charla. Its only a 3 hour drive. Totally doable for a day trip. Darin was performing in an Opera and I wanted to see it. So Charla was a HERO and offered to watch all of the kids for 3 hours. What a champ! Cheers to her! It was a kooky Opera that was fun to watch. I hadn't been without my kids (well, for anything besides a doctor's appointment) since May. Well overdue!

One more week to go!

Someone Else

I don't usually let the boys shower with me. That's the great pleasure for "someone else". But that "someone else" is not here right now.

Tonight is Enrichment night and I want to go. A chance to get out of the house and talk with other girls without my children (nursery is provided!) You bet I'm going to go...even if they are cranky with fatigue. Leave that to the young teenager girls, I say. Its good for them. But I DON'T want to take pig pen, potty stenched boys...so I let them come in the shower with me. Not two seconds in they both say at the same time,
"We want to potty in the hole (the drain)!"

...and they did. Nice.

Thanks "someone else"

*this just in: Kyle was crying in the kitchen about having something stuck to the bottom of his feet (have 3 toddlers - the kitchen floor is often a mess).
So I tell him, "just brush it off. its not a big deal."
Next thing I know - he's in the bathroom with his toothbrush, yelling for me to turn on the water.
Mom - "what are you doing?"
Kyle - "you said that I needed to brush the yucky off of my foot so I need you to turn on the water for my toothbrush!"

Good Bye - AGAIN!

(us before we were married...as if I even look like that anymore, I wish!)

My husband has left me...again! Where does he keep going? Germany, of course!
Do I ever get to go with him?
NO!

I never posted that he was just in Germany again a few weeks ago. His company paid for my mom to fly here and drive us back to her house. Mom to the rescue again. And was it ever crazy. My sister was living there as well with her two boys. So we had 6 kids under the age of 4 under the same roof for 2 weeks. Good Grief! My mom is a saint!
Anyway, it seems that just as he is getting settled in at home its time for him to leave again. I decided that I'll tough it out here on my own for a few days and then maybe make my way to my parents. We could probably survive on our own...we'd be malnourished and naked...but alive. So for sanity's sake...MOM!

Does that make me a wimp?
Maybe.
But I think I love my kids too much to be their sole caregiver for 2 weeks...
Scary!

I joked with Pat that I'll get the kids birth certificates and passports in line just in case we need to move to Germany - since he goes there so often anyway - we might as well live there, right?I'm sure that the "those that be" wish that he would never leave. And that's fine...as long as we can be there too. I'm all for it! Wouldn't that be a dream?!

2 hours down. 334 hours to go.
I miss him already

Four

I shouldn't be allowed to post another thing until I get one thing straight!
Lane has turned the ripe old
age of
FOUR!!!!

There, now everyone knows.
(details and pictures to come later)

Its Autumn Time!

And how did we celebrate...
We went HERE

And enjoyed these

Did we mention...DAD CAME, TOO!

And the outing wouldn't be complete without this

At the end of the day?
"This was the best day ever!"

Sunday afternoon at the Temple

Today was the Primary Program and of course we were LATE! So we ended up sitting on the opposite side of the chapel that Lane was on. I couldn't even see him - what a bummer! But from what I was told - not only was he the only Sunbeam singing, he sang every word to every song. How cool is that? So cool! He even went up to the microphone and recited his part from memory. And for that he got a $1 gift card to McDonald's from the Primary Presidency. It was real nice that all the kids had their parts memorized. What else was awesome about the program? When it came time to sing "I Am A Child Of God" I knew Kyle would sing along cause that's his favorite song but Nora sang along, too. She knew quite a few of the words. I had no idea. Awesome! And cute. Oh, Lane also received an award for "Most Eager."

After church we decided to take a drive to see the Temple. Its about 30 min away in Portland - a good away for the kids to get a little (much needed) nap in - which usually doesn't happen on Sundays. It wasn't really cold - just super windy. So even though there is a picture of me that is truly awful, Kyle's hair in the wind was worth showing the world my need for a serious hair intervention!!! I so LOVE the Fall colors...