You Better Watch Out, You Better Not Cry

Guys, I wanted to cry. I really did. On Friday I woke up to pencil drawn on almost every wall of my house. And then, 2 days later, Tanner and I woke up to the biggest mess the kids have ever created. It started when Rayleigh and Jack ran into our room and Ray said, "Jack pooped!" You know your day isn't started out well when that's the first thing you hear. The problem was, Jack wasn't wearing a diaper. So Tanner went downstairs very angry. Well, you know those water beads I got for Rayleigh on her birthday? They come in a container of about 100,000. Well, they were everywhere. All over the kitchen floor. There was no where to step. We found the poop. It was also on the floor. He took Jack into the bathroom where the water was running, soaking into the floor, and an entire roll of toilet paper all wet and soggy on the floor. Everything was askew. We went into the pantry to get a broom only to discover that the kids had dumped everything off the bottom shelves and left it in a heap on the floor. Every box of cereal. Every oatmeal/hot chocolate/crystal light packet... dumped. Every box of cake and muffins. And an entire box of rice cereal completely dumped out so everything was covered in sticky powder. The worst was my box of 500 straws which probably had about 450 straws left in it... you guessed it! All. Dumped. Out. Tanner was NEXT LEVEL furious. I was trying hard not to laugh. It took us 2 solid hours to clean it all up. We locked them in their high chairs and made them watch us pick/wipe/vacuum everything up. Every time they asked for something we said, "Nope! Sorry! We are cleaning up the huge mess you made!" We sat them down and talked to them about what they did and at least Rayleigh seems to understand she made a big mistake. Jack gets it but he's only 2 so his instincts are still pretty primal.

There were some sweet moments too. Tanner started work on Thursday so that was bitter sweet. It will be nice to get back to a routine but we will so miss having him around. Rayleigh is so sweet with Ella!

HO HO HO! She's so cute.

Tanner was out working on the lights late one night so I was able to watch MY shows and talk to my mom. I had to snap a picture of this sweet little lady sleeping next to me. But then I had to talk pictures of my other sleeping babies too! I love capturing their peaceful little faces.

We had our trees trimmed recently and I wanted to pick all of our lemons before they got cut off. I'm guessing we had about 50 pounds of lemons. It has taken me forever to juice them and I'm not even done! So far, I have 2 gallons of pure lemon juice which I am freezing into ice cubes. Yum!

I took the girls out to run some errands which was brave. I don't think I accomplished anything I set out to do. I basically just followed Rayleigh around as her eyes lit up and she danced around from thing to thing. Ella had a blow out so I had to change her in the nasty public bathroom and then carry her around naked until we could leave. Lucky for her, it was over 80 degrees that day! Where is the Christmas weather???

Rayleigh playing with her current favorite: my little ponies. And Ella being entirely too big playing with her toes.

You know you have too much hair when it hurts your scalp to have it hang on your head in a pony tail for too long and when you throw it up in a bun on the top of your head, it hits the roof of your car!!! I need a hair cut...

We had fun celebrating little Mia's birthday the other day at the park. It was hot but Courtney pulled together a super cute party with cupcake decorating and adorable little party favors. My kids had a blast and I felt like a winner for actually taking them to the park.

Saturday was my parents' 51st wedding anniversary! Now I regret not getting a picture of the 2 of them together. We started the day off at the park for Ben's 11th birthday party. We were having such a great time that we all stayed longer than usual and talked while the kids played. They are so cute together and get along so well! We had cake and a pinata and the kids had fun on the slack line.

After the party we stole my mom and cruised down to the Rainbow outlet in San Clemente. We were all in desperate need of some new flip flops. Then we grabbed some food from Pedros and ate it at Strands!

We went on our annual luxury resort tour stopping at the Ritz to check out the gingerbread house and the Montage because we love it there. We did a lot of walking and a lot of chasing kids. We had a blast though and it was so fun having my mom along with us. One time when we got back in the car Jack said, "Wait! Don't forget Nanny!" She was in the front seat and he couldn't see her but we all got a good laugh out of that. Of course, the Ritz and the Montage did not disappoint.

We came home and got the kids to bed and then watched a Christmas movie and wrapped presents!

The mess of epic proportions.

We made it through all 3 meetings of church again. Mostly spent in the hall, but that's ok! Tanner tried to sneak a picture of Jack through the nursery window but he recognized Tanner's hand and phone! ha ha He loves it in there so it's ok. And Ray is still wiggly in primary but she LOVES church and she has a teacher who is great to work with her. Her teacher next year is a speech pathologist and has already talked to me about how best to work with Rayleigh. That really meant a lot to me.So grateful for our amazing ward.

Jack is in a nap rebellion but was clearly so tired after church.

Even though these kids drive me nuts sometimes with all the mess making and screaming, they really are the happiest kids you'll ever meet. They love hard and are quick to forgive. They are excited for Christmas which makes it all the more magical. But they are still more focused on the Savior and His birth which makes me feel like everything is going to be ok. They might make messes and destroy my house, but they are forming their testimonies and filling our home with light.