California...2012

So, I posted about ONE day of this trip and then totally spaced the rest, and it was SUCH a great family trip.

It's completely out of order, but we spent an hour or so at the San Diego temple on Sunday.  It was a perfect day to be there.  The weather was great and the kids were being good.   

And the Friday before we went to Legoland!  We've wanted to take the kids there for a couple of years now and we found some awesome deals on tickets from our friend so we snatched it up and went!

Of coarse Pearce and Boston loved it the most....

Ok, and not to brag...wait, yes to brag...this guy was one of only 2 kids (all between the ages of 2-5) that didn't need the workers to help him get around the track a billion times.  He's an expert driver!

This girl cracks me up.  She wants to try everything out, but likes to act embarrassed when things are "cool", even if she's loving it!

This was our least favorite ride...long line, boring ride....

This was quite the scary ride for a little guy...as you can tell by his face.

And we played road games the whole way to Cali for quarters, and I believe each kid ended up with $12-$16 to buy what they wanted to at the amusement parks...Boston spotted this hat early in the day but wanted to see if there was anything else, and there wasn't, so he headed back to this spot at the end of our day and the shop had closed!!! We were devastated!  But we found a worker and she was nice enough to open it up for him and let him buy his awesome headlamp lego hat.

Jaden making the most out of the kiddie slide...atta boy!

Another pose with the coveted hat (which still....6 months later, is coveted)

And then we had to say our goodbyes...our sad, (Jaden) sad goodbyes.

But the next day we hit the beach and found some very cool spots with lots of seals and sea lions and dolphins and other things I can't remember.  But look behind kam.

One year shoot

So Kamryn will be 10 this year....I still haven't done her baptism shoot.

Vivvy turned one a month ago....I just did her shoot.  Put into perspective, a month ain't too bad.  But here's Bib's one year and a month pictures!  She's seriously the happiest, goofiest, cuddliest baby ever!  She makes us all so happy.  All of the kids wake up every morning and RUN to her crib to be the first to hold her.  And she cuddles right in with whoever gets her...as long as they grab a blankie also.  

 She's so fantastic...and so SO spoiled.  She doesn't get spoiled by grandparents like most babies, so I feel the need to over spoil as a mom...and I do.  She gets FULLY dressed everyday (even if I'm sitting around in PJ's all day) and the second she sqawks (which she's great at now), I give her a banana or a food pouch.  She is always surrounded by lots of toys and blankies in her carseat thanks to her 3 year old admirer.  She still doesn't walk, probably because there really is no need.  And we figured on average she gets 50 kisses and 20 hugs a day!  It's impossible to hold her and not kiss her a ton!!!!

Happy Thirteen Months Baby Bibs!!!!

STAY AT HOME mom

So I've been feeling like my life all of a sudden got 10x busier over the last year and a half (since we moved here).  I can never keep up with kid's schedules, the 2 babies at home, keeping the house clean, cooking and getting a little (LITTLE) shut eye.  The days seemed so much shorter, and needs became more demanding!  I realized all the moms of 4 or more kids around the ages of mine were feeling THE SAME WAY.....until I met a friend who seemed content, relaxed,  found time to chill with her kids, cooked most every single meal, her daughters hair was done everyday, as well as her own (this is a struggle for us) and her house is mostly together all of the time (she watches a ton of kids during the day, so there are 2 rooms that are covered in kids and toys most of the day, but the rest of the house seemed pretty well put together).  I realized everyone LOVES her, but she doesn't do a lot of social things.  I realized I was feeling the need to say yes to every single outing I was invited to.  Maybe because in JC I was the one that planned them, and did them and I never got invited, mostly because no one ever did girls nights, or movie nights, or family BBQ's there (well, except with their extended family).  But she did do church activities, and she did make sure her kids knew she was there FOR THEM, not for HER. I feel like up until last month, I said, "I'm going out with _____ to go and _____, you guys are staying here with dad".  a lot!  It's been hard to say no, or to find legit, honest reasons to get out of get togethers with friends, or even family sometimes, so that I can stay at home with the kids more...but I"VE LOVED IT!  And there's still a lot of selfishness in my day...ie, painting my headboard, painting my hutch, sewing, trying out new Pinterest recipes, etc....but I feel so much more productive.  I like that my kids see me get things done, rather than fret and panic and stress that there isn't enough time to do anything, and then go hang out with friends.  ugh!  I LOVE friends, and I LOVE GNO's...but I think one a month is fine, and what mom's don't like a GNO in the form of taking the kids to the park together to wear them out for nap time?!  Anyway, since I can't completely get back to my simple country life right now, I've got to simplify what I have to work with here.  Including teaching my kids to say no!  There's just so much stinking stuff going on here all the time for the kids...and they usually get a bit mad at me when I tell them they need time at home, but there are some days when i feel like they are only here for an hour in the morning and an hour before bed, and they're too young to be away from home that much (in my opinion)....and the amazing thing...if/when they complain that I didn't let them go, they're perfectly fine with staying home within a few minutes.  Kamryn isn't in an activity right now, and it's so nice! I love having extra time with her.  The boys are both in soccer, but we ditch most every week.  It's been nice just hanging out, going to parks, playing in the front or backyard, teaching them to cook, playing card games, and yes, watching tv or hilarious youtube videos together. I like these guys, and I wanna hang out at home with them as much as I can before they hit the inevitable, busy teenage years!  So thanks friend (you know who you are) for reminding me it's ok to say no, it's ok to stay home, it's ok to not be social, and it's especially ok to  be happy with it all...especially at this stage of life when our little ones need us more, and need to learn all of the domestic (even these boys) things of life!

Here I go again....

 I know...I know I've just barely posted about the amazingness of these two, but I have to again.  I blog about my crap, about how for the first full year living here I would gain a couple of pounds every week (pregnant or not), how I would hardly ever go to outings because I didn't like to be surrounded by seemingly happy people, or fit people or rich people, or how I was the world's most boring mom and made them clean and read and watch tv all day so I wouldn't have to take them to a park or come up with an activity, or play games with them.  Yup, I had my full year or that.  But things are slowly changing here in the Mulder family.  Still not happy that our farm/orchard dreams are on hold, but am LOVING these kids I got.  ALL of them. I need to get better about taking pictures of the older two...they just dont' like it...but they're great.  The last 4 days we've been dadless, and I sucked at my budget for the first week of the month (thanks Bibbian's birthday party) so we were kinda moneyless too.  So we had to get creative.  WE all loaded up and went to DI where I let them all pick out something for $2.  Boston got a huge sword that he STILL is going around hitting everything with, and a foam finger.  Pearcen of coarse got a bunch of little cars.  Jaden got yet another hat.  His friends at the moment all wear hats, so he's in the mode. Vivian got a hilarious hat, and Kam got.$(@#&**(#$@&
And then the storm starting picking up pretty strong...we all had to fight the wind to get to the car.  The older 3 were bustin up laughing (so were people in their cars watching us) and Vivian and Pearrce were miserable.  Pearce really couldn't move...it was an equal battle for him...and Vivvy couldn't bury her head into my shoulder enough.  So we decided to do something indoors...the LIBRARY!  Which was a fantastic idea....but little did I know that I have a $42 fine...thanks to my little Ms. that loves checking out books, but stinks at putting things where they belong.  So we came home, loooked in the bookshelves, under the storage units, under her bed, in her closet and a few dozen other places, but we have yet to find it.  So she might be working through a part of spring break to pay for the books.  Anyway, on our way home we dropped Kam off at Tessas and J off at his friends so they could go to a movie.  So me and the littles went home, put in our awesome Thomas the train movie and had popcorn.  The next day we wanted to go to the ostrich festival, but it was STILL rainy and cold...so we headed out to Ikea, which the kids LOVE because of the play area.  the middle 3 are perfect sizes...Jaden is now too big and Vivian of coarse is too small (and not potty trained)  so we met up with Uncle Justy and Aunt Lissy and spent our magical hour walking around Ikea.  Then OFF to the Aloha Festival, which was a little less exciting than we had hoped, but we met up with some other friends, the Garners and the kids got out some energy before we headed back to the car.  Then a pleasent trip to Sam's club (seriously, the kids were all sparkling...ok ok, they were dirty, but they were getting a long, and everyone was seriously saying what a good looking bunch) then up to visitin the Bollwinkles....where I left the older 2 and took the littles home again to have root beer floats (dad's out of town!) and watch Spongebob til they crashed.

I was just so worried about these 4 dadless days, but they went just lovely thanks to some great kids.  Of coarse one or two had their breif moments, which may have been exaggerated by my lack of sleep (the biggest downfall of dad being gone), but it was a great weekend.  Fingers crossed that the rest of spring break goes this well and that we can get creative to keep is entertaining!

And now to some pictures of my little guys.  I need 2 big pictures to go in my 2 big Ikea frames above their beds, so I pulled over on the side of the road (wasn't planning on doing it, obviously, you can see mustard on B's shirt in some of them) but I'm so in love with these. SO IN LOVE! I don't ever ever eve want them to grow up!  EVER!  They feel like they need to hold hands or have their arms around each other all the time.  It's my favorite!!!!!

 And this guy just cracks me up at this age.  He's hilarious and says the funniest things. I've been trying to get him to say hilarious more, so when he's laughing at something I laugh and say, "that's hilarious" and he'll reply, "yea, and funny too".  He's soo cool. He spends 75% of his day at the table doing puzzles, or in the toy room setting up car races.   He's cake!

and now....time for my all time favorite.....

A MOMENT!

Yesterday I read a great article that my sister Tamee posted about how older women always tell us in this phase of life things like, "enjoy them while they're young, it goes by so fast"  or, "They don't' stay little long, make the most of each day".  The lady that wrote the article commented on how sometimes it's hard to enjoy each moment.  You've spent your whole day cleaning poop and cooking and breaking up fights and cleaning some more and laundry and more cleaning.  Sometimes it's hard to enjoy it.  But there are moments.  There are always moments that make everyday worth it.  Somedays, at least in my home, I don't find the moments, and just endure til bedtime.  Lately, our days have been full of moments.   I've noticed with the previous 3 kids that it does come and go in phases, but I'm enjoying the kids in the phases they're in right now.  And yesterday was a gleaming super mom moment...IN PUBLIC...super rare for us.  I was actually OUT of my workout clothes and in jeans, the kids were all dressed...in clean clothes...that were on the right way.  Not only was Vivvy dressed appropriately, but she was in an adorable outfit that my friend made for her.  I had just pulled Boston out for a lunch date and needed to go by Sprouts...our usual wed at 10 am routine.  And of coarse, it's packed.  But then, the magical part..`..Vivian sat in the cart happily, nodding her head yes to everyone and smiling and acting shy.  Boston had his arm around Pearce most of the store and they talked about the different foods and what they wanted to do with their day.  no one touched anything they weren't supposed to, no one talked mean, no one cried, and it was magical!  Not only did I noticed (which I did from the second we walked through the door and the bakery lady let them pick out any cookie they wanted in the whole bakery...even if they didnt' want the same kind, she said she'd open 2 new boxes, love Sprouts), but others were noticing too.  I had so many ladies say, "wow, what great helpers you have" when Boston would open the produce bag for Pearce to put something in.  and yea, I let them pick things out and we have lots of produce that wasn't on our list, but I was just so mesmerized.  And so many old couples smiled and pointed at them as they walked arm n arm around.  And of coarse, Vivvy was little Ms. Sunshine throughout the store.  It was hard for me not to bust up crying with happiness as I proudly walked through Sprouts for a few brief moments of my life. 

These two carried on that way the rest of the day...even the sitter noticed last night.  

I hope it sticks! I know Boss has always tried to serve Pearce and keep him happy...these pictures are from a 2 years ago...

 And then I found these while I was searching...he looks os much like Vivian...it's adorable!  I did get that comment yesterday at Sam's club (which was NOT a gleaming moment, but my own fault...lost my wallet after I had already put $200 worth of groceries on the belt during a busy time of day...had to reload and go around to find my wallet).  An older lady, busted up laughing at my kids which I instantly was worried about (boogers, pants down, etc...) but she just said, "oh my, you can definitely tell that those two are related, they look exactly the same".  About Vivian and Pearce.

Mmm, I'm not going to go out in public all day so I can keep savoring that lovely gleaming super mom moment of yesterday.