Everyday Moments; its a mess, but a beautiful mess!

Sometimes I love it, sometimes I don't.  But whether I like it or not, this is what my livingroom looks like on a daily basis....

"This Is The Place- Heritage park"

Not sure how the pictures got all scrambled out of order, but this is a look at what we did when visiting the park....

 Lunch!  All over...

 Playground

 Proof that Pierson was there too.

 Petting zoo

On top of the Pirate Ship!

 Horses

 More zoo... Bennett loved it!

 Lastly, the train!

All tuckered out!  Now THAT is one full car.  3 car seats, 1 booster, and 1 infant carrier.  Whew!

This is what I get to see every morning....aren't I lucky?!?

Sofa kids with bed head!

It's a boy. I mean... "ITS A BOY!!!!"

Yeah, so I really tried not to bawl during my ultrasound when I saw a suspicious looking "turtle" on the screen and the technician wrote "uh-oh" on the screen.  I am still getting over the disappointment but when I think about my 3 little boys playing football with their daddy it fades away.  Anyway, now we are in baby prep mode (again) and making our nice short list of baby things to buy which, BTW, actually includes cloth diapers this time.  I know I am nuts, but I spend $75 a month on diapers and I just cant do it anymore!  We are also discussing names and I am afraid this baby might leave the hospital known as "Baby Boy shumaker," "#4" or "unnamed."   Help me out here guys!
    Some unrelated happy news is that my parents are passing on their van to us for the winter so I will have a car to drive and a way to get places during the day!  I am SOOOOO excited.  Look out, a possy of Shumakers is coming your way!

    P.S. You know, I really hoped Ava had some spiritual intuition when she kept talking about her little sister.  I had really only been thinking about girl names and I had even started gathering girl clothes; but alas, I guess we cant always control these things.  However, if I had to pick who is in control, I wouldn't be picking myself.  So its all good, right?
    I should have gotten a clue last Sunday though when I was sitting in Young Womens and as I was looking around the room I got this sudden feeling.  I cant even describe what it felt like, but it was powerful enough to make me cry and realize that I wasn't prepared to find out that I was having a boy (if that is what the baby happened to be) and that a room full of girls was not in my future.  Still, I fought it and tried to ignore the feeling...but it didnt change anything!

Happy Halloween!

Cam was a pumpkin, Ava was Snow White for the party and a witch Saturday for trick or treating, and Bennett was an octopus. I couldnt get a great picture of the kids together,but this is what i do have...

Cameron was sooo happy, comfy, and just stinkin' cute (just like his little personality)

I was way bummed when I looked at the pictures of Ava and realized I forgot to untuck her white collar on the dress...dang it! So no pictures with the "full Snow White effect".

 

But She is cute anyway, right?

I definitely got the most complements on Bennetts outfit. I paid a lot for it when Cam was a baby and it is by far the best baby costume ever and I plan to use it with all my kiddos. Bennett was by far the hit of the show.  Sorry, no great pics of him either.  But you know my kids, they are all perfectly adorable!

Our version of a lemonade stand

When the kids are bored on a Saturday morning what is more perfect than a lemonade stand?  Three problems with the idea: first, there just aren't that many cars willing to stop on a busy Saturday morning and give kids money for something they don't really want. Second, I am NOT one for making homemade lemonade (time, cost, waste when it doesn't get sold, etc). Third,  Ava would have a hard time exchanging money/giving change. 

  Solution:  a FREE otter-pop stand in our backyard for the golfers!!!  For those of you who don't know, our backyard bumps right up to the golf course:

Ava and Cameron LOVED it, and it's a great way to literally show them and teach them about tithing.  They had a BLAST and actually managed to make $8.50 in tips in about an hour (which is better than what I make when I work every once in a while selling art in Costco).

We even still manage to make a profit after you deduct the cost of the otter-pops that get eaten by the golfers and (most impressively) by my own children.

LOOOOOOONG DAY

It's been one of those days, You know, 12 hours of not leavening the house and talking to no one except a three and two year old (I guess I talk to the baby too, he just doesn’t talk back; and sometimes thats a nice thing). Billy leaves before we are up, and will get home tonight when the kids are in bed... I guess I'm lonely. But the kids are having fun. Wanna know what they did today?


They started with smearing their breakfast all over the nearly cleaned couch and love seat

Then the soaked the portable DVD player and my cell with hand sanitizer; now my phone is completely broken.  Who knows when I will have the funds to get a new one.  If we didnt have this stupid contract with AT&T I would just give up my cell!

I have play dough in my carpet that I need to try to get out now

Cameron managed to empty two boxes of dryer sheets on the stairs (in case your wondering that is almost 500 dryer sheets pulled out one at a time).

We baked some bread and I turned my head for one minute; next thing I know, all of the salt is on the floor...

Then my children wanted a snack and got out a tub of whipped topping and covered themselves from head to toe while finger painting the newly cleaned kitchen floor. ( I tried to find the camera to take a picture, no luck)

You'd think I'd be use to it, since this isn't an unusual day, but it is still as hard as last week. I guess it doesn’t help that its coming close to that time of the month... oh, motherhood. It really hope it gets easier, and if not, I guess I'll come out a more patient person in the end.

Chores

Every morning Ava helps me with the dishes (and Cameron attempts to help).  These are from this morning.

Playing with Amelia!

We dont get to play with friends very often anymore because we only have 1 vehicle for the next year or so, but here are a few pictures from our last visit with Amelia  (one of Avas "bestest best friend").

Without a doubt, the girls FAVORITE game to play is dress-up!