Whoops...

So I was going back through old folders and realized I forgot to blog a few things.  Vivvy's first food!  She liked to blow her bottom lip so her food would shoot straight up all over her face, then laugh.  Luckily she's over that now, but it was a hilarious little thing.

 And our fantastic trip to Mund's Park with our friends and Jason's business partner...the Ferugusons!  WE had an awesome time and so did the kids.  These two are a year or 2 apart, and Jaden is uh, much smaller, so they both thought they were stronger so they arm wrestled.   It was close, but I think Byron won 2 and Jaden won 1.

 And the younger 3 and parents decided to go for a huge long hike while the older 5 stayed at the lake and fished.  And of coarse, they caught a big ole fish that they thought they needed to gutt and clean and NOT eat.

 Boston loved the hot tub...even though it was so so cold outside.

 This guy is just cute.

 And then Sunday came...time to go home...but not before celebrating National Dessert Day by having a little Iron Chef America!  Our ingredients were just random things left at the cabin.....

 Let's just say, mine was an ice cream cake with an oreo crust and a hard chocolate shell top.  Mmmmmm

 ok ok, her's was an amazing peanut butter chocolate thing.  I guess we're both just super amazing dessert chefs.  haha! And obviously we were in cabin mode....neither of us usually look like this...we're usually super super good looking...yes sheree??

 And of coarse, the naughty monkeys by the beautiful red tree before we packed into the car to head home.

It was an awesome weekend with watching some guy fall from space, playing games on the phone, hikes, food, Walnut Canyon, and MUD!

It's all happening so fast

(Vivian and her birth week friend Andie)

This little kid....is growing WAY TOO FAST!  Doesn't it seem like I just gave birth!? It does to me.  Although I'm glad those first 6 months are over. I do love love having a newborn, but I never have had post partum depression like I did this time, and it was awful.  not just crying everyday, but I honestly found no reason to do anything at all.  I didn't want to be around my friends, I didn't want to go to church, I didn't want to wake up, I definitely didn't want to get out of bed and be a mom, and I didn't want Jason around.  I didn't want ANYTHING.  I did want to cuddle my baby, but I wanted her to sleep more.  I was sad and mad and never satisfied with anything.  It was honestly the worst 6 months of my life.  The fact that it was summer, and that we were back in the place I hoped to never be again didn't help, but to add to that, 5 small kids at home, and hormones.  Not my favorite time of life. I still feel like I'm a bit off, but it's slowly coming back.
Back to the adorable perfect, too fast growing baby.  Some of her accomplishments this month:

 -a tooth!  NO!!!! That's the worst!  The end of the gummy smiles.  I was hoping she'd be a late bloomer like Kam, but bam!  She's got one on the bottom and 2 more wanting to come through on top.  It is pretty cute, but just another sign that my baby is growing up.

 -last week she learned to stand up in her crib when she wakes up.  Which should have been a sign to fix things for the next accomplishment.

 - she fell out of her crib this morning.  Sad.   I was laying in bed and heard her cry, not a whiney "I'm awake, come get me" cry, but a, "what the WHAT?!  I just fell out of my nest and it's dark and I can't fly" cry.   It was sad....time to lower the crib.

 -food.  She's an eater.  We started her on veggies last month, but this month she loves to suck on apples, eat little pieces of fruit, and don't tell J, but I let her have half of a breakfast cookie yesterday.  I don't think she got much of it in her mouth anyway.  But now it is time to start her on small pieces of other food.  Sad.

 -sitting up!  She started sitting up either early this month or late last month.  She's still pretty roll, but she does sit up.

 - and last but of coarse not least...CRAWLING!  She started scooting last month, but now it's a full fledged (and perfect, according to Dr. Mulder) crawl!  It's so cute. She's super chubby, but still super little for her age, so everything is so much cuter and littler. I love it!  And every once in a while, she's come up on one arm and one hip and strike a pose. It's too cute.


And there you have it, the ever depressing, inevitable accomplishments of Vivvy J McMulder!

I LOVE MY KIDS

Ok, we have a lot of kids.  Well, unless you're Beth Glen, then we don't...we're slackers, but we get a lot of stares, and questions "are they all yours?!" and other things because we have a lot of little kids.  And I LOVE them!  I love how different each of them are!  I love that in 10 years they'll be teenagers, and we'll hopefully all like each other, at least for rare moments, and I love that they picked me to be their mom!  Thanks kids!

best giveaway

we LOVE Elf on a Shelf, so of coarse, I'm going to do all I can to win this giveaway!  Just look at that fantastic car that our elf needs!!!!!

HERE is the giveaway!

Just a little sneak peak

So, other than ME, I LOVE these pictures. I have never put real effort into clothes for pictures until this year, and we haven't done dress up clothes, like nice, dress up clothes for um, about 6 years, so I figured it was time.  I've gotta give credit to my friend Erin Watson for taking the pictures, and Jamie Hixon for making the girls dresses, and the boys ties.  They both did fantastic!

Disclaimer: I did throw the pastel/vintagey finish over there pictures....with Erin's permission.

Family pIcnic

This last weekend my parents were in town so we decided to have a picnic at the park, that quickly turned into a picnic at the Gutts since it was so cold. Baby Bib was all ready for the cold, but liked chilling inside being held by Aunt Paula

 And these boys. I just love them.  Poor Stratton is the victim of a 3 year old that is learning power over little ones, so yesterday he did get drenched by our fountain water.  But most of the time, they play nicely....

 Same deal with these guys....sometimes Boston falls victim to an all powerful 10 year old, but for the most part, they play well, well, they play rough, but get a long...I guess. I still don't understand boys.

 Pearcen wanted to grab a shot with Vivian....Vivian, did not.

 Unless there was lots and lots of entertainment behind the photographer...which yes, there was.

I wish we had to have family picnics every weekend!  My kids just love their cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents. I do too!

Pining to Pin

Things I don't like right now:

When I pin something and by the next day it says that 54 other people have repined it.  Ugh, I don't want the exact same thing in my house as 54 of my friends!

Not pinning something for that exact reason, and then losing it somewhere in cyber space...double ugh!

When something you made a year or 2 ago is being pinned, and will now be all over everyone else's house.

Pinning delicious fall recipes...and then EATING THEM ALL UP!



Things I do like right now:

Having Danica to actually MAKE things we pin together

Pinning...I'll admit it..I love it! I love trying to do at least one thing from my boards a day now that I'm facebookless (yup, it's a new word, and I hope more people learn/do it!)

Looking through people's pins to figure out what to get them for Christmas/birthday.  Takes all the annoying guesswork out of holiday shopping.


Thanks Pinterest, and no thanks Pinterest.

Baby Oliver

haha, Just kidding.  But I did dress her up like a baby boy this week. I found this pair of pottery barn overalls at a yard sale for .75 and pulled out Pearcen's old goofy sherpa hat and made her pose for fun.  

I love this baby girl!

picture of the year

So, the year is slowly coming to an end, and I feel it safe to make the call for picture of the year.  This picture is from Stratton's 1 year, gigantic, circus birthday party.  There were bounce houses, face painting, tons of food, popcorn, tents, clowns, etc...    

After the kids had played on the bounce house slide, grandma and grandpa were persuaded to take a go at it.  Happiest picture EVER!!!!!!

Love you Mamasita and Papito!!!!!

My beautiful super hero...

Yesterday, Pearce was wearing the Superman cape that aunt tamee made for Jaden 5 or 6 years ago and I decided to go cut out a felt mask for him.  He then decided he should fly, so I asked him if he wanted to fly on the trampoline, and he did. 

 I LOVED just watching him, but even better was when he kept saying, "mom, take more pictures of me!!"  I don't think I've ever had a kid say that!

 Don't mind if I do son.

 And then he crashed, laughed and decided it was nap time.  Doesn't get much more perfect than that!

One of my next posts will be on the continuous messes of Pearcen Paul when not being supervised or entertained constantly.....still perfect though.

Hodda air bawoon!!!!

Almost every morning we wake up to a hot air balloon in our neighborhood sky.  Pearce gets excited everyday!  He runs out, "hodda air bawoon!"  And he tells me he wants to go with me in one.  Too bad I'm a sissy about em now.  

More anxiety

About 2 weeks ago I had a very close friend post an article about, "if you vote for Romney, defriend me" on Facebook.  He is a gay friend, and a friend I've had since I was a little girl.   I had to come clean and let him know that I did vote for Romeny (early ballot). To which a few of his friends attacked me, and I moved on.  However, he private messaged me saying that this is about civil rights for him, and it's JUST POLITICS AND POLICIES FOR ME.  Obviously, my dear friend does not have kids.  I feel like the second I had my first baby 11 years ago, EVERYTHING is about them.  Every decision I make, I think first how it will effect the future of my kids.  Trust me friend, it's more than politics and policies to me too!

Last night was a rough night.  I woke up every other hour with panicking thoughts, "what are we going to do?", "what's the point it trying to make more money?"  "why not just go apply for food stamps and have Jase stay home from work more?"  But we still need to teach our kids good work ethic, teach them how to be economically wise, and teach them the American heritage, and pray, pray, pray that America snaps out of it after another 4 years. What's left of America.

picture hair...

So the last few days I've been doing my hair different to figure out how to do it for pictures. I took a few with it up, but now I can't find them.  So here we have center part, curled back.....my usual...realizing now that the center part probably sn't meant for me.

 center part curled forward, scary face.  Again, not for me.

 no make up, 11 pm, ponytail and headband...I've gotta say, not for me, but no worse than the first two faces.

 And then I started looking back through our old photo booth pictures and I got sad...my house!  I miss my house...A LOT!  But here are a few gems for you to enjoy.

I call this one, snoody librarian

 I call this one beautiful sister in law next to hobbit face.