Some things that have happened since I last blogged:

1) The bleach bottle and I had a falling out.  I'm serious.  I'm not sure we can ever be friends again.  If only she had not spilled her self all over my newly folded basket of laundry.  If it were only my kids' clothes that were ruined, we might have been able to salvage our relationship.  But no, she went for my favorite shirts and destroyed them all.  Rude.

2) My computer got fixed!!  This is happy news indeed.  In fact, we took a jaunt down to the Apple store where Max rekindled his love of all things Apple while I lamented the damage he inflicted upon my sweet MacBook.   But alas, the Apple store employee took pity on me and fixed my computer for FREE.  Yes, all $755 of it was done for FREE.  Did I mention FREE?  I love the Apple store.  I might marry it--I love it so much.  Um, especially if my engagement gift was an ipad.  You hear that Apple store?  An ipad would seal the deal!

3) Ella got baptized.  Lots of people came.  Everyone got fed.  People had places to sleep.  The laundry got done and everyone went home.  Oh, and some lovely pictures were taken too.  I intend to post those next.

4) We spent Thanksgiving in the Frozen North.  Literally.  We flew up to Utah Wednesday night then drove 4 hours to Idaho the next morning to spend Thanksgiving with the Hayes side of my family.  It was wonderful to see everyone and laugh at all the family photos my grandma has on her walls.  Did I mention that my Grandma rocked the pumpkin pie?

Quotes by Kate:

At dinner tonight:


I don't want to have four kids.  I'll have to wash millions of dishes and drive to and fro--my life would be pandemonium.


Yep.  You've pretty much got it down, Kate.

Never leave home with out it.

Max threw a huge tantrum today.  He decided that he wanted a cracker as soon as I had all four kids buckled in the car (for the fourth time before noon, I might add) and I refused to go and get him one.  We were on a short jaunt to pick up a couple of playmates for the girls and I knew he could last.  The plan was to turn on the video and let him tune out for a few minutes.  Apparently the cracker was more important to him than I realized.  He screamed, cried, kicked the seat, wiped snot on my newly cleaned car all the while screaming his mantra, "I want a cracker!! I want a CRACKER!"  Over and over.  There was no reasoning with him.  The kid wanted his cracker.  But as I explained, I cannot produce something that I do not have.  This made no sense to him.  He felt strongly that if he screamed loud enough I would somehow acquire the power to rearrange molecules and produce a cracker for him.  Believe me, by the time the 20 minute drive was over, I was wishing that I could.  Anyway, he got his cracker as soon as we got home.  He calmed right down and thanked me politely.

A few hours later, we were in the car again driving to soccer practice.  After a few minutes, Max thoughtfully piped up, "Momma, I no want a cracker."

Well, thank GOODNESS for that!

The best place in the world!

Jackson:  Mom, Chuck E. Cheese is the BEST place in the WORLD!
Ella (In her best big sister know-it-all voice) : No, it's not J.  It's Heaven.  That's the best place in the world.
Jackson:  Oh, yeah.  (Pause) I mean the best FUN place in the world.

This is how we roll:

I really wanted to post this other picture of Max helping but it showed how Robert likes to dress when he helps around the house.  Let's just say it's a similar look.  

We like to nap on the couch after a hard day of work in our underwear but we wear our pants for that.  

So far 8 is G-R-E-A-T!

 Happy Birthday, Ella- burrito.  We love you and I can't think of a better way to express it then posting this picture of  me squeezing the daylights out of you, with only one eye opened, and a little bit of my religion peeking out.  That's some serious love.

Ella was wise enough to choose to come into this world on conference weekend.  I say "choose" because I spent 3 whole days in the hospital waiting for her to greet me.  I would have been happy to wrap the whole thing up within 6 hours.  However, a fortunate by-product of her reluctance to enter the world was that she got to spend her birthday at the cabin with some of her favorite people.  We had a lovely celebration in her honor complete with a kill-your-diet chocolate bundt cake.  Oh, sometimes I still dream about that cake.

Feel the love. 

Jackson provided the entertainment.  

We take blowing out candles seriously.  As you can see from Jackson and Robert, we allow no interference in the process.  So don't even try to breathe in the direction of our candles.  We will take you out!

Oh, Ella you are so lovely.  

It was one of those years.  The one where I agree to host a birthday party  for my child.  It was also one of those days that Robert decided that he would try and be as far away as possible (Brazil).  I don't understand why twelve squealing 8 year-olds playing games and doing crafts doesn't sound like a fun evening to him?

I'm just guessing but I think Ella had a great time.  

No one likes a frowny face :(

Jackson came home from school yesterday with a frowny face paper.  This means he was not able to sit in his chair to do his work, did not practice proper hall procedures, and spoke without raising his hand.  These are hard things for Jackson.  He can't even sit in his chair during meal time so I can't imagine how this challenges him at school.  Anyway, I expressed my disappointment in his behavior culminating in him crying it out on the couch.  Don't worry, the remorse lasted about 30 seconds and then he got distracted by a remote control car.  All better.  Anyhow, I was having a frank discussion about how we behave with him on the way to soccer practice.  To share his feelings with me, he broke out in song.  Yes, song.  It was so adorable, although I was trying hard to stay stern.  He sang about how he tries his best and works hard.  He sang about how he loves me and how I take care of him when he is sick and all the time.  Suddenly he stops and says, "Mom, sometimes my eyes water when I'm just so happy."  I look back at him and sure enough his eyes are "watering".   That, of course, chokes me up and I say, "Me too, J.  Me too."   How can you be mad at a kid like that?