Halloween 2009

Despite my personal aversion for Halloween, I thought the kids looked great this year.

This was taken tonight (Halloween) right before the kids left for Trick-or-Treating. The other pictures are from the Trunk-or-Treat a few nights ago.

Emma was a robot. She designed her costume herself. She really wanted to create a slot for her candy so she didn't have to carry a bucket. It was a good thing she did because once her costume was made she couldn't move her arms. Her sign said, "Please insert candy here."

Abby was a bat. She was this a few years ago, but wanted to reprise. Fine with me. She looked great.

Matt was a dragon. Again, it was a redo from a former year. If my children want to wear a costume that we already own, I'm totally fine with that.




Millie dressed up for our ward Trunk or Treat, but she didn't for Halloween night. But she was an especially delicious M&M earlier this week.


Hope you had a fun Halloween night!

Laugh of the Day

'Fess Up Friday, Picture Dump and "What the Heck Happened to Matt?"

'Fess Up Friday

With Halloween coming up tomorrow, I knew this week was going to be tough. Our ward had their Trunk or Treat on Tuesday night, so for several days now I've been wanting chocolate. And, I'm very proud to report that I didn't take any candy out of the kids' stashes. I'm pretty sure that was a first. I did, however, ask Josh to pick up some extra bags of candy at the store. And then I ate them. Okay, not all of them, but it's just a matter of time.

The other reason I expected this week to be a little rough on my weightloss was because we upped our workout routine this week (muscle weighs more than fat, right? Right???). Tara and I are doing my newest video. It's a Biggest Loser workout with Bob. We add to our workout routine every two weeks for a total of six weeks. Because this was Week 3, we added 15 minutes and have discovered that the cliche "Misery loves company" is incredibly true. I think my favorite moment of the entire week was when Tara turned to me and said, "What have you gotten me into?!" If my body wasn't so insanely sore I'd heartily laugh outloud.

I also missed two days of workout this week. I need to workout tomorrow to make up for it a little. It's just really tough to wake up early on the mornings after you've been up with sick kids and/or husbands.

How'd you do?

Picture Dump

Millie

Millie and Ashton at Peter Piper Pizza. If you are on Facebook with me, this is the night of the infamous Millie-pooped-on-my-shirt-and-we-still-went-out-in-public-where-Millie-wore-just-a-diaper-and-bib fiasco.

My nephew Cody.

Emma's cute hair.

Abby's cute hair.

Ashton and Millie playing with the Tupperware.

The kids dressed up this morning for school. They were supposed to be book characters. Emma and Cody took off before I could snap their pictures, but Abby was running a little late. She is Miss Viola Swamp from the Miss Nelson books.

"What the Heck Happened to Matt?"

Saturday night we had dinner with Josh's cousin, Bobbie, and her family. I've never met this side of Josh's family before, so this was kind of a big deal to me. Bobbie is really nice and I really enjoyed spending time with her and her family. I had met her husband Mark once before because he helped us unload our moving truck into the storage unit. Good people.

Matt's splint

Anyway, Matt and the other kids were jumping on the trampoline. I've never been a fan of trampolines. I'm still not. One of the kids jumped onto Matt and his arm got hurt. Thinking he was just being overly dramatic (not uncommon at our house), we told him to calm down and it would be fine. After a few hours, though, he was still complaining so Josh took him to the ER. I expected to hear that his wrist was sprained or something, but no, it's broken. The ER told Josh that Matt had a green stick break, which is like what a green twig looks like when you try to snap it. Luckily, they were wrong.

Matt's glow-in-the-dark cast. Cool, right?

When we went to the orthopedist on Tuesday (one reason I missed exercising that day since we spent nearly four hours in their office) we found out his break is a buckle break instead. He'll need a cast for about three weeks. It heals quickly, but he does have to be very careful because bumping it could aggravate it. So, that is the story of what the heck happened to Matt.

Evolution of a Mother

I recognize that I have changed a lot over the years. I am no longer the happy-go-lucky girl I once was. Now I like schedules and routines. But as much as I have changed as a person, I have also changed as a mother. Over the last 8 1/2 years I have evolved in motherhood.

Baby 1: Mommy says, "Oh, look at all these cute new baby clothes! I'm so lucky!"
Baby 4: Mommy says, "Oh, look at all these hand-me-downs! I'm so lucky!"

Baby 1: Mommy says, "Somebody went poopies! Let's change your bottom!"
Baby 4: Mommy says, "Ugh! Go change your diaper, Baby! You stink so much you're making me gag!"

Baby 1: Mommy sterilizes Baby's high chair and puts her food in a nice little bowl because even babies can learn good table manners.
Baby 4: High chair, schmigh chair. Mommy swept the floor so Baby's Cheerios go in a pile on the floor for much easier access.

Baby 1: Mommy says, "Oh no! Baby is sick! Call the doctor for an appointment in the morning."
Baby 4: Mommy says, "Someone grab me the Tylenol. We're in for a crappy night."

Baby 1: Baby is sleeping and the house is silent. Mommy can catch up on house stuff or maybe even rest.
Baby 4: Mommy yells, "YOU KIDS BETTER BE QUIET AND STOP RUNNING AROUND BEFORE YOU WAKE UP THE....OH! OH, GREAT! NOW SHE'S AWAKE, GOOD GOING, KIDS!"

Baby 1: Mommy says, "Look! Look she's walking!"
Baby 4: Mommy says, "Oh no! I just un-kid-proofed everything!"

Wow. It sounds like I've become quite cynical and negative over the last few years. Maybe someday (in at least 17 years) I'll get to be that happy-go-lucky girl again.

Halloween Diva

My husband loves Halloween. Having an October birthday, he often combined his birthday with Halloween. My children also love Halloween. Halloween is a big deal to all these people. They love the costumes, the candy, the scary movies (Josh does, at least).

Here is where we insert the song, "Every party has a pooper that's why we invited you!" I don't dig Halloween. I'm not excited by costumes. I can have chocolate any day of the year. And I don't do ghost or bloody movies.

I'm going to put myself out there for all of you to judge: I prefer having a costumer and entire costume department to dress me up. I love having my own makeup artist. I get a kick out of someone else doing my hair. As "low maintenance" as I try to be in my everyday life, I don't enjoy Halloween because it's too much a do-it-yourself affair. I am a Halloween Diva. When kids come to our door (because I don't want to take the kids trick-or-treating so Tara will take the big kids while our husbands are at work and I'll stay home with the babies and answer the door) I'll be wearing...wait for it....REGULAR CLOTHES! I know, I am NO FUN! I did get into the spirit a bit today as we prepared the kids' costumes for the Trunk or Treat for church tomorrow night. The kids are going to look great and I enjoyed getting their stuff together this year. I just wish Josh didn't have to work so he could enjoy the night. He had to work last year too. (Last year my brother took the kids trick-or-treating.)

I do wish I got into the spirit more. I hate being the stick in the mud. But I will do everything in my power to make sure the kids have the costumes, hair and make up they want. I'll be their costumer/hair/makeup artist. And I'll be glad that Josh will be there to help me with it all before they leave Saturday night. Maybe next year I'll learn how to make our costumes so we can all be really cool. Maybe that will help me get into it more.

Primary Kids and Their Program

Today was the Primary program. Because of the way the LDS church is set up, all the programs are uniform throughout the world. This month the Primary children (ages 3 - 11) sang songs and gave short talks for the Sacrament Meeting. Because we just joined this new ward, the kids didn't get to have any individual parts. But several kids didn't get their own speaking parts. Evidently, our three Primary aged kids put this Primary group over 170 kids. Can we say Holy Cow? The ward we attended when we first moved to Montana had a total of 15 kids in their entire Primary program. And that included our kids.

The program was very nice. I realized that I actually miss my Primary calling. I thought I'd be happy to return to Relief Society after spending nine months with the 3 and 4 year olds in the Sunbeam class and six months with the 10 year olds. But I miss them. I miss Sharing Time. And I especially miss Singing Time. I love the Primary songs. Of course, one of my favorite songs is I Am A Child of God. But one of my other favorites is I Wonder When He Comes Again. The kids sang that one today.

I loved watching my children sing today. They made me happy and tearful all at the same time. The girls happily sang along to the songs and Matt proudly sported his new splint on his broken arm. That story will be up after I get a few pics. He's fine, but he's milking this for all he can.

What's your favorite Primary song?

'Fess Up Friday

Despite my late night sweet tooth, this week's efforts were successful. This week I lost 3 lbs. If I were on The Biggest Loser, I'd be below the yellow line, but I'm not, so I'm happy about this. Especially since my average weekly weightloss is about a single pound. I've about lost all the weight I packed on this summer. It makes sense that winter would be the time of year to gain weight--your body wants extra insulation for the cold--but I've found it so much easier to lose weight and stay in routine during the school year while the kids are not under foot. MWF Tara and I groggily meet each other in the living room at 5am, but Tues and Thurs I'm on my own. Those days I have the possibility of children underfoot, but the little kids don't want to exercise with me like the big kids do so they pretty much leave me alone. I'm fine by that.

So, to sum up my exercise/diet confession: Exercise = good. Food = good. Yes, I ate cookie dough this week. And yes, I let Jabon talk me into a few late night sweets (you know it's all your fault and I'm just innocent, right, Jabon?). But I tried even harder to keep my calories under control. I couldn't find a kids' plate at Ikea (don't know where one is around here) but I did try to keep my portions in line with that idea and I didn't have seconds. So far, that seems to have made a huge difference. I've also had to restock my gum supply.

In other news, in case you missed it on Facebook, we have a contract on our house. It took some negotiations -- major -- but we got it worked out. It sounds like they are first time home buyers who want the grant because they want to close by Nov 15. Hey, the sooner the better, is my thought. It'll be sad to sell our house that we've loved so much, but it's time to look around here and get ourselves into a much more permanent situation. Tara and Jabon have been very patient with us and we need to make sure we get things taken care of before we wear our welcome too thin.

Anyway, how'd you do this week?

"Goofing Around"?

This picture is what Jabon considers "goofing around." I'm looking forward to when we are all healthy and off work so he can "goof around" taking pics of the entire Johnson clan.

I haven't updated on the kids lately except to complain about them being home for way too many days. That's not very nice of me.

(Another of Jabon's "goofing" photos:)


Millie is getting too big for her britches. Her first top tooth has just popped through and the other one is on its way. With her bottom teeth, she was such a little angel that I didn't even know she was teething until I felt the tooth itself. So not the case this time. This little girl is loud and forceful. Her personality is strong. Very strong. She's pretty much guaranteed that everyone around her knows that she's not so comfortable. And the drool. Oh, the drool! Remember the Tom Hanks movie Turner and Hooch? 'Nough said.

Millie has also begun pulling herself up and cruising along the couch or the loveseat or the tv table or the kitchen table benches or the...well, I think you get it. Josh said yesterday that she spends more time standing up than she does crawling around. I think he's pretty close to accurate.

Millie and Ashton (Tara's youngest boy who turns a year old tomorrow, Oct 22) are quickly becoming good friends. They gravitate towards each other. Ashton even followed Millie and me all the way to my room at the front of the house so he could be with his favorite cousin. The other day Millie was standing at the couch. Ashton came over to her to be by her and put his hands on the couch and knelt up as high as he could. He's still working on the standing part, so he was having difficulty imitating Millie completely. Instead, he fell back onto his bottom, surveyed the situation, grabbed Millie by the bum, and pulled her onto the floor next to him. As long as they don't become Kissing Cousins, we're good.

Celebration

The kids are heading back to school tomorrow!

Woo Hoo!!!!

'Fess Up Friday

We're back, Baby!!! Now that I'm settled in enough and the newest season of Biggest Loser is on to inspire me, it's about time to get back into the swing of things.

This week I started my exercising again. It's been a while since I actually got off my duff to do some real, serious exercising. I'm so glad to say that I've been successful this week. I think the best thing I did was ask my sister Tara to workout with me. The good thing is that neither of us have wanted to disappoint the other, so Monday, Wednesday, and Friday this week we held each other accountable (even though I was late coming out to the living room each day). The tough part was the only time Tara has to workout is before she heads off to work, so we got up at 5am those days. We don't workout together on Tues or Thurs because she has class those days and we'd have to get up even earlier than 5am. Thank you, no. So, I kicked my can five times so far this week.

I knew I was a little behind from not working out in so long, but I was really upset on Tuesday when every muscle in my body was extremely sore. Then I realized what part of my problem was: several of the items I had planned to come to Tara's house got put into the storage unit and are completely lost until we unload the entire thing. But, I did manage to salvage a few things. So, I lost my 5 lbs weight that I've been using for the last 8 months, but I did have my 8 lbs weights. Lifting those extra 3 lbs per arm has been noticeably challenging. But I'll have buff arms in a few months.

My biggest problem (and it always has been despite my self-denial) is my diet. I'm not dieting. I'm just trying to eat healthily with reasonable portion sizes. It's the portion sizes that get me. My weight has gone back up to the amount it was when I hit that plateau for two or three months. This scares the crud out of me. I don't want to wake up so early and work so hard for no results. The food is going to have to change! Something will, at least.

By the way, anyone else shocked by this week's elimination on Biggest Loser? Some people yell at the TV when watching sports, I yell when I think the wrong person is put on the chopping block. I think my brother-in-law thought I was a little off my rocker.

How'd you do?

One Goal

Today I have just one goal: SURVIVE!

Let me preface this by saying that I'm really enjoying staying with my sister Tara and her family. They have been so generous to allow 6 additional bodies to overtake their home. And I really hope that I'm helping them out with their three boys, meals, and trying to keep the house standing.

The challenge right now is that this week has been Fall Break. For an entire week I've had 7 kids that I've been trying to take care of ages 11, 8, 7, 5, 4, 11 months, and 9 months. The kids had their regular half day on Wednesday and then additional half days on Thursday and Friday. They've been out of school this week and are off yet again next Monday. It's like Arizona doesn't want the kids in school or something.

The additional challenge is that the kids have gotten along pretty good so far. I'm not jinxing myself by saying this. I already know a blow up with the kids will happen. They're kids. And 57% of them are my kids. And as much as I'd like to avoid this by keeping the kids engaged in fruitful activities, that just hasn't happened. For one thing, I don't have enough seatbelts in the car. For another, I don't want to carry two infant carseats around at once (my exercising has resumed--look for 'Fess Up Friday tomorrow--but I'm not that good). And the other problem is paying for five kids to do something. The park is the obvious solution, and I'm sure there's one closeby, but I've resigned myself so much that now I'm just lazy.

So, with the bickering picking up today, I just want to survive. There may be naps in our immediate future, and for more than just little ones. I WILL SURVIVE!

Leave It Alone or Remake It: That is the Question

Last night I was inspired by the television. Today I got to thinking about movies.

Today Abby chose the movie Annie for us to watch. If you've been reading along with me for a while, you know that I love that movie. Because of Carol Burnett, who played Ms Hannigan, I developed my comedic timing and ended up playing several drunken idiots in college (on stage, not in real life). I've always aspired to play Ms Hannigan on stage. Forget Annie. I want to be the scantily clad, mean, drunk lady. (Give me a break--I never really rebelled as a youngster.) I was horrified when I discovered that the version we were watching was the Disney version made in 1999. I have nothing against the actors in that movie. I love Kathy Bates. But she ain't no Carol Burnett. I watched enough to realize that it wasn't an exact replica, but it wasn't too far from the original movie.

Here's my question: Why mess with a good thing? The 1980s version was just fine the way it was. And it didn't omit the song where Ms Hannigan tries to seduce Mr Warbucks (one of the best songs on the soundtrack). I know, it sounds like I'm promoting a filthy movie, but I just love it.

So I got to thinking. What movies would I boycott if they were remade? Here's a very brief list.

Gone With the Wind (unless they expand it another three hours to include all the material from the book that wasn't in the movie)

Casablanca

A Christmas Story

I'm sure there are more, but my mind is blank right now. Any ideas? What other movie remakes should we boycott if they are ever made? And on the other hand, which remakes do you think were successful? My votes go to Oceans 11, The Shaggy Dog, and Father of the Bride.

Inspiration From the Boob Tube?

Flipping through the channels of late night television, I had an epiphany.

Life is like a sitcom.

When you have a chance to watch a rerun (think back on your life), you get to see how the beginning of the series affects the end. And you sit there and think, "Did the writers really plan that out so brilliantly, or did it all just fall into place?" Sometimes I wonder, Is this the way my life was supposed to go or did my choices cause my path to meander and change directions?




If my life were a sitcom, I think it'd have to be called Growing Pains. Oh, wait, that's been used. Are You Smarter Than a 5-year-old? No, too close to the gameshow. Ah, I know. Sick and Tired...all about the nurse and his exhausted wife. Their four children are loud and bicker. They have the cooky in-laws (if you think I'm talking about you, you might be right). Dramatic moment cliff-hangers (some of which I've never expounded in this forum). And a live studio audience. No canned laughter for my production. And I want it funny enough to make the audience gut-laugh. You know, the kind that starts at the bottom of your stomach and bursts outloud.

Any takers?

Good News and Bad News

Things are happening around here...

Good news: Tomorrow I'm picking up on my exercising.
Bad news: Tomorrow I'm picking up on my exercising at 5am so I can use my sister Tara as a workout buddy. Good luck to me.

Good news: The kids aren't behind at their new school, despite the fact that MT schools started a month after schools here did.
Bad news: The kids aren't behind at their new school, despite the fact that MT schools started a month after schools here did.

Good news: Josh is working his first overtime shift tonight.
Bad news: Josh is working his first overtime shift tonight.

Good news: I have a few activities planned for the five big kids this week.
Bad news: I have a few activities planned for the five big kids this week because there is no school for the next six weekdays.

Good news: It's time for bed. I'm sleepy. And I'll just leave it on a Good News note.

Happy Birthday to the Man of my Dreams!!

(Yes, Josh, I'm talking to you.)

Yesterday was Josh's birthday. It was a good day. The kids had a short day at school, so by the time they got home we were ready to start our fun day.

We started out having lunch with the kids (our nephew Brett came along too) at Rally's. Can we say, "Holy crap, give me more of them french fries"? Yeah, 'Fess Up Friday this is not. We took our food over to the Mesa Cemetery for a picnic. That might sound weird, but we went visiting Josh's grandparents.

This is not a picture of where we picnicked, but it is a shot of the Mesa Cemetery. It was the best Google could do for me. We sat by Grandma and Grandpa Stratton's headstone, under an olive tree, and ate our lunch. When we were done, we took an old toothbrush and some cloths and scrubbed their grave marker to make it beautiful.

Afterward, we headed to the Mesa Temple and walked around the Visitors' Center. Isn't it so incredible?

We got to look around the temple grounds and in the Visitors' Center we saw all their different displays about families being together forever. It made me teary eyed. Okay, really it made me cry a little. A lot. Fine, I totally bawled my eyes out. I just get so overwhelmed by the thought of our little band (as crazy as my children drive me) will be together forever. Well after this mortal existance we will still be a family, bound by the eternal bonds of marriage. You can absolutely feel the Spirit of God just inside the Visitors' Center. It's amazing and it was the recharge we've all needed. We got to stop and spend time at the Christus as well. Beautiful.

Later, Josh and I went on a kid-free date. I know, I just talked about how excited I am to be with my entire family for eternity, but sometimes it's necessary to get out just the two of us. We went to Red Lobster for their endless shrimp special. I had the chicken. Although, I did branch out and try the shrimp. I've had this aversion to shrimp ever since I was about 9 and my dad went shrimping. He brought home coolers full of shrimp and then my sister and I had to stick in our thumbs and pop off their heads. Talk about being scarred for life. Gross. Anyway, my Cajun Chicken Linguini Fettucini was delicious.

After dinner Josh and I decided to stay out just a bit longer. We took advantage of the amazing Arizona October night air and went mini golfing.

Josh actually worked here in high school. He was a Revenue Manager. He told me (halfway through our game) that he used to come out and golf a round after each shift. I think that may have something to do with the fact that he beat me by about 72 strokes. Maybe not that many, but I didn't let him add them up. It was pretty obvious who won. If it hadn't been that the place was decked out for Halloween, I would've forgotten that it was October. The night was so peaceful and wonderful.

After such a great day, I'd have to say that I could easily get used to being here in Arizona. I'm glad you had a great day too, Baby!!

Arizona Top Ten List

Arizona Top Ten List...

Things I need to get used to:

10. The heat (a given)

9. Sand. Everywhere.

8. Driving time: it actually takes time to drive places.

7. The water is dis-gus-ting!

6. If you're not speeding then you're impeding traffic.

5. Southwestern architecture. Everywhere. (It's hard to tell residential and commercial buildings apart.)

4. A high LDS population. It's been nine years since we've lived somewhere where a single neighborhood might house as many as three wards.

3. Seven kids in one house. Ever thought of having five kids ages 11 to 4 and then a set <1-yr-old twins? It hasn't been too bad, but I'm very, very glad that most of them go to school during the day.

2. Cookie-cutter houses in cookie-cutter neighborhoods. I'm too much a traditionalist. Remember when buying a house meant you had to look at the actual house you were interested in and not the model home? (The house hasn't sold yet, so we're just looking, but still...)

And the number one thing to get used to in Arizona...

Realizing that someday I'll have no point of reference that Millie will understand when I tell her it was below zero on the day she was born in Montana.

Adventure on the High Seas...

...or the desert, whatever.

Guess who's back online! After having an incredible time with Josh, we loaded up the moving truck and spent the last three days driving down to Arizona and we are now officially here. We are in Arizona. Can you believe it? I'm pretty sure I can't. I think I'm still in a surreal state of mind. Somehow, I really don't comprehend the changes that we are experiencing and about to.

Here's the skinny on what we've been doing...

While Josh was in Montana we had some fun. We finished packing the house and garage, we took the kids mini-golfing, we had a chick-flick moment in the airport when he first arrived. It was really nice to have my husband with me again. I didn't even mind sleeping in a double bed with him (a double is a bit small for the two of us).

Josh left on Thursday, so I spent that afternoon doing things around Mom and Dad's house. Friday Dad and I went to pick up the moving truck in Helena, which is about an hour and a half away from Great Falls. Then more packing. See, the kids and I moved into my parents' house the day Josh first left for Arizona. So, for several weeks our daily-use things intermingled in Mom and Dad's stuff, so I had additional packing to do to separate our items. This was the hardest thing of the whole packing process. I worked it Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Ugh. So much packing!! Frustrating!!

Saturday we spent loading our moving truck with some wonderful friends. It was nice to have that part done, but I was still getting all our stuff at Mom and Dad's. Finally, everything was packed (although I got virtually no cleaning done at Mom and Dad's. I feel really bad about that).

Monday morning we took off. Dad drove the moving truck and I drove our van. We also were able to take my friend Emily and two of her boys to visit her folks in Utah. We stopped in Logan for a second to drop some maternity clothes off to my sister-in-law. Then we rushed off to stay the night with my friend Cindy. What usually takes an average of 9 hours to drive, ended up being a 13 hour trip. It was a monster of a drive. The good part was having the nice company of Emily and her boys. The bad part was that the day was so looooong!! We had a good visit with Cindy, much better than in July when we stopped by for just a few hours. Sorry to all my friends we didn't get to visit. I wish we had had more time to spend with everyone. We'll have to do a big BBQ sometime.

Tuesday we drove the rest of the way through Utah. We stopped in Kanab, which happened to be where we met up with Josh. We stayed at a hotel that was used years ago when several Hollywood actors stayed in Kanab while filming different movies. The members of the Rat Pack stayed there. In fact, Frank Sinatra's wife, Eva Gardner, stayed with him. When her mother wanted to come stay, he didn't want the hotel to go out of their way to accommodate her, so he suggested they turn a closet into a single room for her. Today it's called the "Mother-in-law". As we got there and checked in, we got two of the last three rooms available. Josh, the kids, and I stayed in the "Anne Baxter" room. Dad got the "Mother-in-law". We all got a kick out of that.

Wednesday (yesterday) we finished our trip and got to Tara and Jabon's house in the late afternoon. We spent today unloading the moving truck (thanks to Josh's cousin's husband, his brother, and some guys from our new ward) and then turned the truck back in. Whew, one hurdle done.

Tomorrow I'll go get the kids into school. Next week they have two half days and then the week after that they will be on Fall Recess, so they'll have no school at all. This, plus the fact that the schools here started at the beginning of August, I'm afraid the kids are going to be a bit behind. We'll see.

And to try to put me into reality, here it is my second night in Arizona and I'm already sleeping alone. Josh went back to work tonight. Maybe we'll get some sort of routine soon. That will be helpful for me to wrap my mind around this whole new adventure.