Our week in a nutshell!

We have had a pretty busy week since last Friday. Lucky for all of you, we were able to capture some of the CRAZINESS!

While making this...

(I just have to add that I have the greatest husband ever.. He cut out every single attachment and made the ladders for me and Kimmie)

Our son Reef thought it would be a good idea to put the screws like this...

Luckily, Jared noticed the screws there while backing in. He is convinced that Reef purposely tried to pop his tires... I asked Reef why he would do that and his response was, "It was hard to make a circle so I made a line." Well, ok then, that makes complete sense. hahah

Later on that day we had a ward Halloween party to attend. They had a game that had donuts hanging from a string and whoever could eat the donut the fastest without using their hands won. Here are my sons attempts..

 Reef tried so hard to get the donut without his hands...

Hawk could care less about the game, he just wanted the donut!

My Husband went and bought these for our boys..

(Can you say death trap... for me!?)

Not pictured is me and my Mother in Law sitting on the grass almost getting ran over by Hawk which resulted in both of us peeing our pants. Yes, it really happened.. 

My Reefy boy was STAR of the week at his school!

 I asked Reef the questions and my husband got creative with the answers. This one is by far my favorite.. 

Is he not the cutest border Patrol Agent you have ever seen?!

And... So it begins! How does this even happen?? Oh, the things we go through to have our babies!

We had such a great time with my Mother in Law. We went up to Mother Nature's Pumpkin Patch and the boys absolutely loved it!

 Please excuse the fact that half of us are not looking (my boys), this was the fifth picture taken and they still could not look at the camera...

And last but, not least...

I just had to add this one. If you have spent an hour with my Hawkie boy, then you know just how appropriate this picture is with him standing next to that sign.. 

I hope all of you had a wonderful week! Even with all the "uh oh's" and the craziness we still had a blast!

Giveaway??

A few days ago, I get this picture and text from my sister...

Now let me tell you the story behind this message...

I was talking with Erika the other day and my blog came up. I told her I always notice other bloggers having these giveaways and I always wonder how the heck they find such cool things to offer their followers. They will offer some type of bag or shoe or scarf and all the potential winner has to do is "like" the product's facebook page and start following their blog. Who in their right mind wouldn't do those two simple things to get something for FREE?! I know I would do! So, I thought it would be funny to prank the people that read my blog (dangit, I told 1 person out of the 5 people that actually read my blog.. hahaha) into thinking I actually had something worthwhile to giveaway. I would make my post title "GIVEAWAY" which would hopefully spark everyone's interest.  In actuality, it was going to be a giveaway for one of children (obviously not for reals ;)), which more than likely was Hawk, because he had probably done something very naughty that day. Well, I never actually followed through. So when I got her message I literally laughed out loud. I can't lie, it made me so happy/ relieved to know I am not the only one that has those days with my kids! My sisters can always find a way to make to laugh or smile. I am so grateful for that! 

Confession: Sometimes I feel like JUST a stay at home Mom!

After moving to Arizona, I had a hard time making friends. I learned something about myself that I had never realized before... I am extremely shy. If it weren't for my husband having friends through work I probably wouldn't have had any friends at all. I went from spending all my time with my sisters and close friends who all had kids, to friends who were newly married and weren't even thinking about children yet. It was a little lot difficult to adjust to. I always felt like a burden if we went and did something and my kids had to tag along, so I usually just wouldn't go anywhere. I would often get asked, "Oh you stay home all day long? Don't you get so bored? I could never be a stay at home mom! I would lose my mind!" It made me start thinking that maybe I was JUST a stay at home Mom, that maybe I needed more in my life. It became a very lonely time for me. I had my husband (thank goodness) to spend time with, but it was really just a couple hours out of the day and he only had 2 days off out of the week. I had to learn to rely on him more, but the person I learned to rely on the most was myself. I had to be there for my kids ALL the time. (I'm sure some of you are thinking, "Uugghh, isn't that normal?" but it wasn't for me. In San Diego I was surrounded by loved ones and an amazing support system, who would drop anything to come help us.) I didn't have help, I didn't have family right down the street, I didn't have those close friends that I could call at any moment. It was me, my boys, and my husband. I had to become a cook (my poor husband had to endure through some pretty awful meals during that time, Sorry babe!) a maid, a nurse, an accountant (horrible idea, "opps, our water is shut off? I guess I forgot to pay it..") and a counselor (the list goes on) over night. There were often times when I felt inadequate. I felt like maybe my Heavenly Father had way too much trust in me to care for these little spirits. I started to feel like my life was straight from the movie Groundhog Day. I would wake up, feed the boys breakfast, clean, fold some clothes, take a shower, get myself (who am I kidding, I lived in pajamas..) and the kids dressed, clean, play some type of game with them or read them books, clean, feed them lunch, put Hawk down for a nap, start preparing dinner, eat, clean, get the kids ready for bed, go to sleep. That was literally my routine every SINGLE day.

This picture makes me laugh so I had to share.. Does anyone else ever feel like this??

I was starting to miss my working days and I was missing my family more and more each day. Then one day, it hit me.. I am sooo incredibly blessed with the opportunity to stay home with my kids. I know so many Mom's who have to work and put their kids in daycare so that they can help their husbands provide for their family. I was JUST a stay at home Mom, but it was what I had always wanted to be. I love my boys, I love waking up and making them breakfast. I love picking out their clothes for the day. I love making my husband dinner and sitting around the table talking about our day. I love laying down with my boys and reading them books before bed. Don't get me wrong, I still HATE laundry, there are still some days where I wish I had a job, an escape for just a few hours. I still have my "lonely" days. I still have my, "I don't know how I haven't gone completely grey or pulled all the hair out of my head" days. And BEWARE!! If you come over during the day without notice, you are more than likely to find me in my PJ's without makeup on and my hair a wild mess, but when it comes down to it, I have truly come to LOVE being a stay at home Mom. I am so extremely grateful that my husband has a stable (when the Government isn't shut down ;)) job, that he provides for our family so that I can stay home and raise my kids.

With all of that said, I have to share a blog post that I read last week.. Matt Walsh's Blog. I don't know the guy, I have never met him, but I seriously LOVE this man. I know he didn't write this blog post specifically for me, but it came at a time when I needed it most! So, Thank you Matt Walsh! I think you have won the hearts of all the stay home mom's across the world!

Hot Sauce anyone??

My close friends and family (especially my husband) always tell me I make "baseless threats" when it comes to disciplining my children.. what can I say?? I am a just a really really big pushover. I'll give an example... My kids don't really have bedtimes, they lay down in my room and fall asleep when I go to bed. Well, there are some nights that I am extremely tired and they are extremely hyper. I will say over and over, "Ok.. who wants to go in their room and sleep by themselves?" They will immediately lay down for about 2 minutes and start right back up. This will go on and on about 5 times before they finally go to sleep.. in my room. :) I am totally that mom that will say, "What you did was very naughty and so now you don't get ice cream!" My child starts crying and I feel bad and say something like, "ok, you can have ice cream, just not right now.." Pathetic I know!! There is only one circumstance that I can't allow empty threats and that is when it involves my children harming others. When Hawk was about 1 he started biting.. EVERYTHING! You literally had to watch your toes if they were anywhere close to his mouth because he would sneak attack you! I tried everything from timeout, to a slap on the hand, to a spank and nothing seemed to work. My friend had mentioned that she would dip her finger in hot sauce and put it on her child's tongue if he bit someone. I figured it was worth a try because I was desperate at that point. The next time Hawk bit another child I did it and it actually worked. It was the ONLY thing that worked. He learned very quickly that biting was not ok. I never had to give it to him after that, but apparently he wanted to be sure that it would never happen because the other day I found this.. 

Our entire bottle (it was full) of Tapatio dumped down the drain! 

That had to have taken some major time and effort because that stuff doesn't just pour out. I brought the bottle out to him and said, "Hawk, did you dump the hot sauce into the sink?" His response, "No Mommy, Reef! (while pointing his little finger at his brother)" I said, "Hawky, lying is not ok! You need to tell Mommy the truth, did you dump the hot sauce down the sink??" He said, "YEP!" and started laughing hysterically. How do you get angry at something like that? He is just too funny!