Good Intentions.....

I was determined to start this blog off the right way in the new year, and I even almost, kind of, made a resolution to blog once a week. Good thing I didn't! :)
Cary and I never make resolutions, mainly because we don't want to feel like the schlubs that we are when we break them two days later. With that said, I am going to do some things better this year. I Must! Blogging just might be one of those things that I work on a little more. Quiet time around 8.30 at night is the perfect time for me to sit down with the lappie and type my happy little guts out.
Sometimes I get a little sad and frustrated because I can't blog about my girls like I would love to do. Right now they are foster childrenm, and even though they are legally free there are still tons and tons o' rules that we must follow. One of which is that we can't post names or photos really on the web. Total bummer for me.
They make my heart happy. It's a challenge every single day and I try desperately not to use my "angry" or "grumpy" voice with them. However, they are such special little spirits and I am realizing more and more everyday that they are meant to be part of our family. It is a bizarre thought, I know.
I was out on a girls night recently and we were all cackling away and complaining only a teensy bit(yeah, right) about how unfair life can feel sometimes. All of us have been unable, thus far, to have children naturally and all of us are foster mummies. One of my dear lovelies said something that seems a bit profound to me. She said that Heavenly Father knows what he is doing and "our" children do come to us, one way or another. How true this has been.
Cary and I have been foster parents for a little over a year now and we have had some real doozie experiences. Our first couple of placements were more difficult than I could ever adequately describe. Our next placement was a sibling group of three little darlings who were with us for a little bit over six months. They were, and still are, our kids. They have since been able to return home with their mother, but we are lucky enough to be able to stay in contact with them. They are part of our family and always will be.
We are looking to adopting the three princesses we have now sometimes this spring/early summer. We have to wait out our time and we will see what happens come April.
Last year was a really good year. We know that this year will be too, as well as an exciting year full of changes. We can't wait! I will even try to write about them! :)
Oh! And, I'm officially a minivan driving mommy now. Cary brought home a purdy little Chrysler Town and Country minivan on Saturday. I love love love it. She's the same colour as our Dodge Truck, George. Can I just tell you how wonderful it is to get three girls into the vehicle to go somewhere, anywhere, and not shove and push and pull the seatbelts and listen to "MOM! SHE WONT HELP ME... SHE WONT MOVE... SHE LOOKED AT ME AND BLINKED TWICE!" Yes, that is all over! Huzzah! This morning as we were on our way to church, Cary decided to clock them and see how long it took them to get into the van and buckled....Are you ready..... THIRTY SECONDS!!! (writing it out was so much more dramatic than just typin the numbers!) It's fabulous, at any rate.
I have a wonderful husband. I have beautiful girls. I have a good life. I am very Blessed. I love my dear family. I love my cuckoobird friends.
And I say these things......

Gingerbread House!

We had Family Home Evening on Tuesday night because Monday night was chaos for our little household.
I bought a gingerbread house kit and decided that we would incorporate that into our night. The girls had a Buhlast doing the house. I, however, had a couple of mini breakdowns. Yeah, I know it's all about the kids and I need to give up control and all that jazz. However, I want to help them make it look absolutely beautiful! Our definitions of beautiful are not the same, at all.
Cary read the instructions for the house and directed me on how to do it. I was in charge of piping the icing! Mmmmmm. I told the girls it tasted really horribly and they would NOT want it in their mouths. They looked at me with that face that knows mommy is telling a fib!! Rude! :) So, the instructions didn't tell us to pipe the icing on the windows and doors BEFORE we assembled the house, and we did not! HA! I tried to do it after we put the pieces together but it became a gooey white mess and wouldnt stay where I put it. (kind of like my girls!)
I piped and piped and did not do such a great job. The people who did the house on the box definitely cheated and used different icing tips! They did not include these in our kit and I think it is because they knew our house would look far better than their house! Jerks! We poured out the candy into bowls and let the girls go to town decorating it however they saw fit. We should have divided the candy and gave each their own bowl because we had a couple of meltdowns. Someone got all the round ones! Oh no! Well! Someone else got all the flat ones! Gasp! Horror! Ooooooh the tragedy!
And, don't you worry we did not waste even one piece of candy. No Sir! We put every last bit of candy on that house! What a sight!

In the end, I think it is truly a lovely little house and we had such fun building the thing! This will definitely become one of our family traditions.






As a side note....I purchased our kit at Walgreens this year for $9.99! It has been the best kit that I have bought. It included all the candies, and there were 3 of 4 bags of them! In the past it's been like one small bag and I have had to go buy more things. so frustrating. So, if you're looking to score a sweet g'bread house kit, go to Walgreens! :)

Some more PIX!

Last weekend we were able to have a wondeful visit from some of our favorite friends. They stayed with us for 6 months and were able to go home in August. We are fortunate enough to stay in touch and still visit them.
This is my little Yoalli. She is one of my little love bugs.


This is a photo of me and my buddy Cuauhtli. They have Aztec names and are almost impossible for me to say properly. I love their names and can't imagine them being any one else. This little guy cracks me up!!


And this little peach is Tonathiu. He is my tough guy. I can't remember how I got this smile, but I did and it was a doozey! I love it!


And, just as a side note.... The girls G & B were in the bathtub yesterday and I hear G say...."DOMINOES! HOP IN AND LET'S GO!!"
So, they had been watching Dora's Santa show the night before and Dora said "Vamanos,hop in and let's go!" It cracks me up! I love Dora!

OH Christmas TREE!

I was starting to feel a little bad for leaving the craptacular weekend post up for so long. We've been so blessed since then and I should have changed it long before now. Our three girls are making this Christmas quite magical for us. Their spirit is very infectious. We put our Christmas tree up the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I have always had to have my tree "JUST SO" and I was determined that this year would be no exception! What do I know? Not much. I was very maticulous in decorating the tree and allowed the girls to help place ornaments exactly at the proper designated location! It turned out beautifully! AH! My tree! Then, I started feeling a wee bit on the guilty side because I knew that even though they thought the tree was lovely, they would have liked to been more a part of the process. I probably should have got a swift kick in the pants. So, I decided to put a tree up downstairs just for them. We decorated our music/toy room with a bunch of old goodies that I've been saving for ages. I put up the old charlie brown tree and realized that I didn't have enough ornaments for their tree.
I decided that we (me and the girls) would make paper chains for the tree and they could decorate the individual chain pieces however they like. We used stamps, markers, glitter, stickers, you name it! We made a chain over 6 feet long and it was lovely! We each made a link with our name on it as well. I think it's going to be one of those things that I am going to have to keep, but I think we will make a new one each year. We spent all afternoon on Sunday making it after church. We were probably down there for a good 4 hours. I thought for sure my three year old would get bored and wander off, but she was probably the most excited about it! They loved it and it turned out great.
Over the past couple of weeks I have noticed that "MY" tree has undergone a couple of transformations. The ornaments are mysteriously being moved from one place to another and we now have candy canes all over it. I have decided that it makes it even more beautiful and I will let them "fix" "my" tree as much as they like. Even as an old bat, I am still learning. Thank goodness for that!
We put their stockings up as well, which is a completely new thing for them. They check them every day in hopes that Santa has snuck in our house and left a goodie for them even though it is not Christmas. Maybe he will start sneaking in on the twelve days of Christmas and start leaving them a treat! I'll have to ask Daddy about that one. :)
Speaking of Daddy...one of his mates from work has a Santa suit that he is loaning us. Cary wants to dress up for the girls and I think that is wonderful! I can't wait to get some photos of that!!
In the meantime, here are some photos of our beautifully decorated trees. :)
Merry Christmas!

Craptacular Weekend!

Okay, so I've been a little lax in writing on this blog. Who has the time?! Let me tell you, a three year old keeps you quite busy! The afternoon seems to fly by faster than the speed of light once we take our kindy girlie to school at 12.30pm. And, sleeping in? Fuhgettaboutit! How I miss the days of sleeping in until 9 or 10! Saturday mornings are dance classes bright and early and Sundays are early church! Wow! Talk about complaining! I'm the Queen!
So, Friday we woke up to a yard full of lake. City offices are closed on Fridays, did everyone know that? Great Plan Gov'nuh! I heard the neighbor kids yell at Cary, "What happened to your sprinklers Brother Nicholas!?!" I flew to the window and saw the lake o' water. nice! Cary was late for work and so he left it to me to figure out how to fix the problem! After some calling of after hours numbers, I finally got in touch with a fella who seemed a bit miffed that I was calling him at 8 am on his day off with a problem of massive proportions! Suck it bro! He did come a little after 9:30ish and low and behold the lake was still there and spewing forth more water. I heard him call his co-worker, "yeah it looks like we have to fix this thing today!?" What made him think that he wouldn't? I was quite accurate in my description, yet he doubted me. Bah! They did fix it and here's the photos to prove it. They weren't the friendliest blokes I've ever met, but I probably wouldnt be too friendly either if I had to work on my day off....you still get paid though, yeah?!
Anyway, we are still waiting for them to pave over their hole...and they dang well better!
Saturday came and what would you guess might happen?! Well, our HOUSE sprung a leak this time. NICE! A pipe in the wall, hot water pipe even, sprang a leak and we had to call a plumber ASAP to come and fix it. My basement was soaked and is still a bit stinky. He had to cut into my dining room wall to get to the pipe that was located in the bathroom. We still have the hole. Yes, It's loveLy! the upshot is that I get to paint that wall now. I'm thinking a nice red, Cary however is thinking red does not equal nice. :) So, if your house ever wants to spring a leak, try to talk it into sprining it during the week. Paying for after hours service kinda hurts the pocket book. I should have had a better relationship with our house, and then maybe it would have waited a couple of days. Schoonover Plumbing in Lehi is the absolute best though. Great and Patient guys who are really quite reasonable in their prices. Thanks for fixing it fellas! :)
All of this on top of two sick little girls and one sick big boy that acts like a little girl when he's sick. And, guess what!? Mom got sick too! I stayed in bed most of the day yesterday and so did everyone else. I wish I could stay in bed today too. However, a mummy's life is not one of beds and bon bons is it?
I really thought that I read that in one of the manuals!! Anyway....we're on the mend and Thanksgiving is in a couple of days. I'm really excited to have Thanksgiving with the girls this year. I think it will be lots of fun. I am also going to venture out into the wilds of Black Friday land! When you have to buy 3 baby alives, you have to find the best deals possible! Thanks WalFart! At least you have some good deals! :)

A Great Little Spot...

and a great little giveaway!
Okay, so I dont have a whole lot of time to myself these days and finding time to blog is quite the challenge. I still try to keep up on everyone's blog and today I found a really cute blog today that is giving away a tutu that this gal makes. How cool is that?! I hadn't even thought of that before! If you go to her blog http://thenaulutribe.blogspot.com/ you can enter for a chance to win. Go and have a looksee...they are really too cute. And, her hubby is a poly! :) She's gotta be great! :)

Punkin' Carvin' Extravaganza!

So, I decided this year that we would let the kids paint their pumpkins while Cary and I carved our pumpkins. They all have little pumpkins and I think by the time we carved them, only a stem would be left! :) Our friends came over with their two girls and had a fun time with us. There was so much goo and so many seeds....ew! Cary is crazy insane about keeping his hands clean, so this activity was a little bit of a stress for him. His pumpkin is a little bit different, but I like it. I decided to use a sticker/carve kit for mine and it did not turn out as well as I had hoped. He's kind of a droopy ghost these days. Ah well, it was fun! :)

The girls have their costumes and we are almost ready to go for Halloween. This will be our first year taking kids 'round the neighborhood. Well, Cary's first year! ;)

I kid! I kid!

Enjoy the pix. :)