Shinanigans

Witch festival.
Kids like it.
But they like whatever when they are with cousins/friends :)

I love my family.  I don't know if I have a picture with just my kids : /
I stared at this one for a while.
I am beyond blessed.
* Evan struggled to get his arm over the witches extra large bust.  But he was determined and would have done so if it turned him around backwards! *

Moo-stache.
This, here, was taken at our ward party.
This girl is adorable.  Shawn and I have her in our class.  She is OB...SESSED with Wesly.
She snatched her from my arms and off she went.  Her mom has become a good friend of mine.  They were so excited to sneak away and get her face painted.  I think she looks pretty cute in blue : )
Side note:
I whipped up a batch of chili with no knowledge that it was THEE annual chili cook off competition.
I had the #1 award winning chili.
I died.
But I must say so myself...it was pretty darn good.
And so easy.
I googled a white chicken chili.
The one that popped up happened to have all the ingredients I had on hand.
So that one it was.
Google can now award that chili as the 37th ward award winning chili.
THAT should get them some reviews.
Love google.

I was elevated with some major cooking confidence after winning the chili cook off.
I attempted a squash soup.
Turned out exactly what i looks like...
baby barf....as Raegan so kindly described.
My dog wouldn't even have it.
You win some...you lose some.

Just a pic to remind myself to let go.
Pre-kids..
a table like this would make me go mad.
Now...
whatever.
PS the table looked like this for a good week.  Guess thats what happens when you have a crawling baby who barrels through anything left on the floor...so move it to the table...as Mayci so brilliantly discovered. 

Never happens.
Had to document.

Twice in one week...
Miracle.
She is precious.
So is cousins face behind her:)

Boys.
I say smile.
This is what I get.

I say c'mon guys...smile.
This is what I get.
Evan, Mayci, and I enjoyed dad's volleyball game while Rae and Wes stayed behind with a sitter.
It was awesome.

I love nothing more than finding this at my foot.
She is amazing.

So amazing that I couldn't pick just one.
Thank you collage.

Mayci with her goofy pose to match her goofy smile.
Bless her.
Bless her.
Bless her.

The days following Mayci's tooth extraction I did not say no to her.
She wanted to paint my nails,
and paint my nails we did.
Although she didn't stop at the nail...she did the whole finger tip.
Whatever.
I let her proceed.
Karalee walked in and busted a gut.
She gave me permission to have some limits.
We laughed pretty hard.

Spoiled

After Mayci's incident with the front teeth...I spoiled her.  This was one of those occasions where she asked, I obliged.  Instead of painting the finger nail, she painted the finger tip.
Aunt Karalee stopped by and saw the masterpiece.
She was a little concerned about how far I would go in spoiling her.
She gave me permission to have boundaries ; )

My goofy toothless wonder.

All I want for Christmas...

One day, my sweet Mayci, when you have a child that knocks her teeth out and has to wait only 4 years to get them back, you will see you are not only a witness to the cruelty...
YOU WERE THAT CHILD TOO!

The pictures really speak for themselves.
Painful.
Heart wrenching.
Gruesome.

And bless her in the bottom right picture.  This was how she would smile.
With her eyes only cause...well...
cause she didn't want to move her mouth!

Once our family and friends heard what happened to this precious angel...
we were swarmed with visitors and gifts.
It makes my eyes sting now.
Its times like these when you look to the Heavens in gratitude for family and close friends.
First my sweet brother came over with an oreo shake.  I had to take a picture of the two.  It was so sweet.
Karalee stopped by with an ice cream cone and concern for my whereabouts : )  Swept up a big mess I hadn't gotten to.  And continued to offer her help throughout the day!!
Laci came over with a toy for JoJo and a shirt for Mayci AND Wesly...along with some comforting words with all too familiar stories!
Grandma came with barbie and halloween toys.
A friend took Wesly and wouldn't let me say otherwise.  She was just stopping in to say hi, but could clearly see the anxiety I was experiencing as I was prepping for the dentist appointment.
Rachel called her mother-in-law who happens to be the secretary of our dentist with questions and answers.
And I got many phone calls and messages too.
Im sure Im forgetting a kind gesture,
but bottom line,
we are blessed.
Its in the day to day hustle and bustle that Im sure everyone every now and then gets a little lonely.
Especially as a mother.  During the 'season'.
But...
I am never alone:)
And neither are my kids.
And Im so grateful for that.

*the left picture is the morning after her teeth were pulled.  Raegan helped her read her note from her tooth fairy.  Mayci was thrilled that her tooth fairy named twinkle left her teeth for her to show all her friends.  Raegan has never been so sweet as she has been these past few days with her little sister.  It warms my heart*
 

Just some more pictures of my precious.  She actually posed like that in the upper left.  It was awesome.  Upper right is how she runs at people that enter our home now.  Bottom left is gross.  And bottom right pretty much makes my heart bleed.  It is right when the dentist finished.  She is resting on my chest trying to make everyone happy in fulfilling their dumb requests to smile.  Its like when the dentist asks you a question when he has both of his fists and numerous tools jammed in your mouth.
She tried.
As I held her tight.
I was a pretty tough cookie and held it together pretty well for the sake of not scaring the crap outta her,
but that night,
when she was sound asleep after ASKING to go to bed,
I propped her up on my lap in her bed,
slowly and gently inserted a syringe of tylenol in her mouth,
then layed with her in my arms and sobbed.

I love my kids.
So so so so so so so much.

Im so glad this wasn't worse than what it was.
I hate longboards.

________________________________________

How this happened in a nutshell:
Mayci was sitting in front of Raegan on the longboard.  As Raegan was slowing she grabbed Mayci on the shoulders.  Anybody that knows Mayci knows...she loses all sense of anything when being tickled.  It tickled her when Rae grabbed her shoulders, and in an effort to abort Raegans tickling clutch, Mayci lunged forward.  Face first in the road.   #1 parent of the year.
Thank you.
And goodbye.

Bless me.

What do you do when your 3 year old says:
"Mom...look...take a picture!"
WELL
Of course you take the picture.
So glad I did...cause its pretty precious.

When Mayci can convince Evan to play with her when none of his friends are available :/
It is the darndest scene to behold.
These two have the best imaginations.
I love that Evan refused the barbie,
and used the halloween skeleton.

Holy moly pa joly kid.
Look at that face!  She went from excited...to..."I CANT CONTOL MYSELF EXCITED!"
She is amazing.
An amazingly large HAND FUL too!!!
I sure hope when her mouth is full of her pearly whites
(because thats always what I chalk it up to be - teething :)
she is a bit more content.
Although I can already predict...
she will be a busy one!
Does she EVER sit in my arms?!
Or in a stoller?!
Or in her carseat?!
Yes.
She does.
But she is not very pleased about it (to put it politely).
In fact...this here may put it into perspective:

Once upon a time my visiting teacher called and asked if we wanted to join her for ice cream.
I agreed to.  And made the mistake of offering her a ride rather than meeting her there.
She jumped in my car as joyful as can be.
And the life of Farrah and kids in the car began.
With Wesly.
The most wretched scream you could imagine.
The whole way there.
She looked at me so many times shaking her head with laughter in utter shock that a child could truly make your eardrums vibrate and said through her horrified humor:
"Oh bless you Farrah.  Oh bless you.   Oh my, bless you."
We laughed as she screamed.

The next day she was at my doorstep with a sweet little gift.
She commanded I open.
Opened I did.
And there in my hands lie a pair of ear plugs.
I laughed.
She was serious as a heart attack and said:
"You need these."
They are in my car.
I use them.
Raegan will be getting some too.
Only because she has asked me 400 times to use mine ; )
Bless me.