So, today I got the kids all ready and took Kyson and Aspen to school. I grabbed Jesi and Britton and told the girls we were heading to the zoo. They didnt want to go. I couldn't believe it. What kid doesnt want to go to the zoo? They wanted to go to a local mall instead and play in the Dino area. So, we did that, got pretzels, and saw Santa. Yes, you read that correctly, Santa is at the mall. My goodness. Anyways, I took this cute video of Sage.

And here is a picture of her and her beloved.

Sage met Ben when I took Sage to Denver to see a specialist who deals with mastocytosis. She adores Ben. She calls him "My Ben" Its too cute!

Its lonely here without them...

So late Friday night I started feeling sick. I had been SO tired all week, and this explains it. Anyways, Friday night (well, Saturday morning about 1 am) I went up to bed and noticed I had major pink eye. YUCK. So I took out my contacts and went to bed. This was my only pair of contacts I had, and I had to put them back in because I had a photo session with my nephews Saturday morning. Ya, that made it lots worse, but I can't shoot in my glasses. I came home from that and slept for hours. I have a very good husband. He napped too (Its nice our kids are old enough to do that) but he noticed it was getting late and got up and fed them ect. I slept through it. I must have been super tired.

Sunday morning I was so much worse. A Cold, pink eye, fever, sore throat, ect. Ya, not feeling well. So I started calling the moms of kids I watch to give them a heads up. Sunday night I still wasn't feeling well, and knew that today I would want to rest, and poor Sage would be bored to tears. So I called Shirley and asked if she would mind coming and getting Sage in the morning and keeping her til the afternoon. Shirley thought it would be better if I let the kids miss school, she takes them all, and they get to sleep over. She will have them home tomorrow morning, about the time school starts.

They picked the kids up this morning at 10 to 9. So, for 13 hours and 41 minutes I have been kidless. Its too quiet and I miss them like crazy. I can't stand them being gone while I sit at home. Though I know for certain they had a blast today. They ALWAYS have a blast with Grandma, she gets down on the floor and plays games and puzzles, drives cars on the rug and pushes them on the swingset. Today she took them to the theatre to see the new Madagascar movie. Lets hope for everyone who was there's sake, that no one gave away any pets in this movie. That always leaves Sagey bawling. Poor kid. Guess I better quit telling Farren we are getting rid of Lola (the cat) when she pukes on my floor (like she did a few hours ago).

Anyways, I felt mildly better today, so I did some laundry and cleaned the kids rooms.

About 2 weekends ago, I told Tiffani I was running out of laundry. I usually keep up on laundry really well (I didnt before, but the washer we got about a year ago really helps) Anyways, I hadn't done laundry all the week before. And I didnt do it this week, the weeks were too busy and then I was sick.

All I can say if my kids can go over 2 weeks without any laundry being done and still have their drawers 3/4 of the way full, I can see I may possibly buy too many clothes. In fact, cleaning today, in the girls room, I noticed about 3 pairs of capris of Sages that still have the tags on them, and a few sun dresses, all new with tags. Oops!

I am still pretty drained though. Lifting the kids mattresses to change sheets made me dizzy. After that I layed back down and watched "Made of Honor" with Patrick Dempsy (cute movie, but predictable, reminded me of My Best Friends Wedding) And I watched Far and Away with Tom Cruise. I have always liked that movie, though it bugs me to no end that when they get off the boat in America, all the flags have 50 stars. Not correct at all. Oh well, still a good movie.

We also rented some the other night. Kyson and Farren were upstairs in our room watching Indianna Jones, the girls and I watched Kit Kitteradge. It was too cute. Aspen has been wanting the Kit Doll from American Girls for a while now, so she thought it was cool to see her in a movie. She kept saying Mom, there she is, that is teh doll I want.

At the beginning of the movie they previewed a movie that will be in theatres in January. Its about the upcoming 2009 Girl of the Year doll, and the movie focuses on bullying. It looked pretty good, and from what I can see from working in the kids class, even 1st graders need a lesson in bullying.

I miss my kids. I hate being away from them, even though sometimes it is nice to go out with my husband!

Thanks again Shirley, I appreciate it SO much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just 10 hours and 15 minutes til they are home, then they have school all day.

Two of the World's Cutest Guys!

Today I was able to photograph these handsome fellas!

Thankful

I am sitting here after catching up on my friend Sarah's blog. She is so inspirational to me. She has it "all together" and is always so positive. (She even built a house and requested NO dishwasher be installed, its been YEARS and I still can't get over that. I panic every time ours goes on the fritz.)

Anyhow, tonight she has reminded me of the things in life that you can be thankful for. It doesn't have to be huge. She reminded me you can be thankful for things like warm, cozy socks. I am currently wearing pink chenille socks to keep my toes warm.

I am thankful for the cute things that come from my children's mouths. Tonight Aspen was playing with baby Zane, who isn't always an easy baby. She is so patient with him, and held him and paced the floor with him the other night while I finished prepping dinner. I told her she could lay him down, he wouldn't get hurt if he cried for 10 minutes, but she couldn't bear the thought. So, back to tonight. She is playing with him, eating his belly. And I say to her, Aspen, you are going to be such a good "Mommy" She looks at me and says, Mom, I can't be a Mommy, I have NO CLUE how you guys get babies into your tummys. Ya honey, we will have that chat later! I find it so sweet and precious that the fact she is 6 has nothing to do with why she cant be a Mommy.

I am thankful for caffeine. Some days, I just need it!

I am thankful for CD Players and IPods. The radio with its ads just makes me crazy. I get frustrated when I can't find a song I like playing. (silly I know)

I am thankful that marriage is a learning process forever. This afternoon I was feeding Zane and watching a repeat of 7th Heaven on the Hallmark Channel. One of their kids was talking about how by the time you are married a year, you know all there is to know about each other, and the conversation must get pretty boring. I thought to myself, well, even though I know all there is to know about Farren, our conversations don't get boring. We can argue politics and gay rights. We talk about the kids and people at work. (his work) Well, tonight I was proven wrong and reminded that we will ALWAYS be learning new things about each other. My husband does not know how to snap his fingers. He just can't do it. I had NO idea. I thought everyone could snap. So, I am thankful, that after 8 1/2 years of marriage, that we are still learning about each other, and enjoying the heck out of the process.

I am thankful for all 4 of my children, even though I can't hug and kiss Savannah everyday like I do Kyson, Aspen, and Sage; I am thankful that I am so lucky to have been chosen to have her. I miss her, and I wish she were here with us, but I am thankful for the time we had with her. I am thankful for how her death strengthened our marriage, when it causes most couples to divorce. Don't get me wrong, I am NOT thankful she died, but I am thankful for the lessons she has taught me, and I am thankful that I am a better, more compassionate person because of her.

I am thankful that my friend and neighbor, Angie, is doing well after her heart surgery that came very unexpectedly.

I am thankful for so many things. Little and big. I think that we, society as a whole, forget sometimes to be thankful for the things we have. I am thankful to have such great friends who remind me to be thankful for the little or unexpected things in life.

And after trying to fix it a gazillion times, I am NOT thankful that this post wont double space between paragraphs!

Halloween Pictures

Since it is so far past Halloween, I will keep this short and just show pictures, and this one cute video if it works. I don't think this camera has sound though. Major Bummer! The boys were too funny dancing and singing about peanut butter and jelly, and Sagey was adorable shaking her "groove thing" Its a dark video, we were in the school gym!

Obviously Sage was a bee, Kyson Batman, and Aspen a clown. They had SO many parties to attend this year, and they had a total blast! Enjoy the pictures!!

Just The Two of Us!!

So as a special reward (which seems to happen almost every weekend) the kids wanted to sleep downstairs and watch a movie and eat popcorn. So we got them all set up, and Aspen came upstairs. She wanted Mom time instead of movie time. So, she invited me to her room for a sleepover.

We got pillows from my bed (I HAVE to sleep with my pillows) and we turned on a movie and I slept with her in her room. She thought that was the coolest thing ever! She thought it was even cooler that I was still there in the morning when she got up, and I didn't sneak out to my own bed in the middle of the night.

We really feel that one on one time is super important. We try to make sure the kids each get time with one of us, uninterupted. I took Aspen to see Annie at Kingsbury Hall, and I took Sage to Disney on Ice. Farren just took Kyson to the Utes football game, and I have plans to take him to a dinosaur show that is coming in January. Those are some of the bigger things we have done, but usually its small things, like Farren rotates who gets to go with him Saturday mornings to dump papers and go to the bank. Sometimes kids will get to stay up late with just Mom and play a game or do a puzzle.

We hope that the kids will remember these special times, and they will remember they are not just part of the family unit, but also individual people. We are very lucky to have such amazing kids, and we want them to know each of them is so special.

My Sweet Sweet Girl!

The next few posts likely wont be in "calendar order" I have lots to tell you about, but who knows what order they will get put down. I will put Halloween pictures and talk about the cake I did for Heather soon, but I wanted to tell you guys how sweet my little Sageycakes is.

She can not watch Charlotte's Web without bawling. She gets so upset, that the time we had a babysitter, I had to put it off limits to watch. When it gets to the part where Fern has to give Wilbur to her Uncle to live on their farm like a normal pig, Sage just cries. She is so sad that Fern has to give up her beloved pet.

Well, Friday night I moved my little TV from my scrapbook room so I could watch a movie while I decorated Heather's cakes. All week I have done little to no housework. I had 8 kids, plus a few extras here and there all week. So, the most I did was wash my dishes since my new dishwasher quit working. (We got that repaired on Friday, the wiring in the control panel had come undone.)

Anyhow, I decided today would be a great day to organize my pantry. Its full, overflowing. We have so much stinkin food! So, since the TV was already in there, I popped in Andre. We were watching (the girls are sitting at the table with a snack) and I look over and Sage is silently sobbing. I asked what was wrong. She said they were talking about getting rid of the seal. She said that is the saddest thing she ever saw. LOL. She cried off and on through the entire movie.


My sweet little Sage. My other kids have never been so perseptive in movies, but she certainly is.