It's beginning

...to look a lot like Christmas!

And this year, I decorated the WHOLE tree. Maxwell is doing pretty good not touching... too much. We'll see ;)

Do you see that gorgeous sunset through the window? Today was an amazing day! My kids had a picnic lunch outside, ran around barefoot, perfect blue sky.

I took advantage of the beautiful weather to get our outside lights put up. Yesterday's rain, tomorrow's chill coming, and a brief rest of James's kidney stones issue (yes, kidney stones! Oy.) I grab a chance whenever I get one.

Aren't they pretty? The bushes are all the way across the left front of the house, covered in lights.

My favorite time of the year :) I was thinking of that country song that says "the place I love the most is my front porch, looking in" but I don't listen to country that often so I don't know who it's by! Life is good. God is so great. Getting to make a memory and be in the moment watching the people you love take in that moment knowing they'll remember it forever, that's the good stuff.

I intended to dec the cherry tree in blue lights, but I just bought tickets to go to Utah at the end of this week with all the kids, so much to get ready before we leave. I think this will have to do! Utah, here we come!

Old/New Toys

When you put things away in a storage unit- for the hopes of selling your house- but you don't, it gives enough absence to make the heart grow fonder of the things packed away.

Like this train table. If your kids are complaining that they're bored, I highly recommend packing their beloved things up for 5 months, then bring them out again. It was like Christmas morning (or evening, when we brought them back.) No one woke me up asking for breakfast the next day, I found them all playing in their rooms instead. And that is where they have stayed for the past 4 days, when we were actually home that is.

The not-kid-friendly vacation

When we told the kids that we were taking a vacation from school, and Daddy was taking a vacation from work for a week, they couldn't figure out why we weren't going out of town anywhere. It was hard for them to learn the difference between "a break of doing something" and "a trip."

James hadn't used his vacation time the entire year so we kept discussing what we would use it for, since this year is almost over. (wow, really?) But when he's so busy at work, he spends his weekends enjoying his family/errands/date/get together, sometimes even catching up at work... or mentally recovering before repeating it for another busy week! That leaves A LOT of projects that never get attention.

Like a patio. You don't realize how unpretty your surrounding gets after a few years, until you pressure wash! James pressure washed the entire house, patio, front porch, playground set, and even got a little carried away and pressure washed his riding lawn mower.

James also switched outlet plugs for pretty white ones instead of 20 year old ivory ones with paint on them.

He installed new light fixtures in the bathroom and hallway.

Put a new stain on the freshly pressure washed playground.

Trimmed bushes and pruned various fruit trees and vines on the property.

Took over my duties for a day of kid classes and meal fixin'.

And my favorite... finally hooked up plumbing to the master bathroom sink that we remodeled 2 years ago. I don't mind having to now clean 2 bathrooms for that little gem.

We also had to put in a new one of these puppies, which wasn't on the agenda.


The old one was original to the house, about 20 years old. The front panels started leaking, and it poured into the hallway, so it was a matter of time before it burst. It wasn't repairable, and I'd like to avoid another flooding of my house thank.you.very.much. James took Kellan for "guy time" to go buy this, and when they got home Kellan asked me "How many more minutes until our house explodes?" He took that one literal, my little worry-wart.

Here was my big one: The boys room!

This book case used to be red, now it's a dark chocolate brown.

James is very proud of his hunter motif he is instilling in his boys. I concede, it's pretty cute.

I also (finally) made a few sewing projects for my soon-to-be new nephew, got to sleep in until noon one day, had fun at a birthday party with the kids (click the link and try to spot my kids in the mayhem of kids on a sugar rush) and snuck in a date night with the husband for the Harry Potter premier.

This afternoon wrapped up the whirlwind with the kids in the Union County parade on the float for the Nutcracker. (sitting in the middle is their friend Andy, thanks Tiffany for the pictures!)

I hope to never vacation like this again for a very long time. I have never looked forward to a Monday for the hopes of slowing things down!

From the mouth of babes

I love when the little people learn to talk. Because soon after comes singing, silliness, and praying. Maxwell has learned to talk rather early, and is already showing symptoms of the same monkey brain that his mommy has- swinging from one thought to the next. You've got to be quick to keep up! It usually goes something like this:

Me: Maxwell, say: 'Dear Heavenly Father'

Him: Dear Heffly Father, and another one deer, a mother father deer.

Me: Yes, say 'Thank you for all the deer.'

Him: And the cows.

Me: Ok, and the cows. Thank you Heavenly Father for all the animals. Say 'Thank you for our home.'

Him: Thank you in da home. Home on the range. All the cows. Maggie, Grace, Mrs Calloway.

Me: Yes, all the cows. Say 'Thank you for our family.'

Him: Love my family. Yo Gabba Gabba? Kellan, want to watch Gabba? Kellan, brother! Oh, brother!

Me: Ok, Maxwell, be reverent. Say: 'In the name, of Jesus Christ, amen.'

Him: Alamida Slim?

Oy. And we're back to Home on the Range, and the naming of all the cows. Bless his pea pickin' heart, he's a chatty one.







Watch the video for a good jam! (And to find out the Yo Gabba Gabba reference.) Having kids just gives me an excuse to not look too dorky saying this is one of my favorite songs!

Toe-mayto, Toe-mahto

If you were an animal owner, and you arranged something like this, with a barracade in the front, a black sheet over the top to cut out light, and gave a bowl of snacks to the animal... it might be called a cage.

Throw in books and a DVD player with children instead, and it's called a FORT.

Same thing.

Cage (pronounce: kayj)
-noun: a device created to enclose or confine, usually created to keep mice, monkeys, etc.
-verb: to confine in, or to keep enclosed, as in caging in small animals for keeping.

Woah Horsey

Do you see either A) a spokesperson for great bone density, or B) the before picture for what NOT to do with a very large toddler?

Not gonna lie- this picture is a little uncomfortable, but hilarious! What a tough Great Grandma.

It's only Wednesday?

It has been a rough week!

My right hand has been killing me- totally numb on the last two fingers and aching all the way up to my neck, which is what is causing the pain. James said to me yesterday "quit holding your hand like that, it's making me feel bad." Uh, sorry love! My hand is making ME feel bad! But he made up for it later with his magic and helped release the pinched nerve.

Yesterday we took to our traditional tuesday dinner at McAlister's Deli for kids-eat-free night. Kellan took his first bite, of salad, and choked. Which caused him to vomit- whew, atleast he didn't need first aid response, which a kind lady at a table next to me jumped up quickly and offered as she saw Kellan choking. But because it was lettuce, it dangled in his throat, and kept triggering him to gag- so he kept vommiting. Like a waterfall. EVERYWHERE. I had to end up taking Kellan's dripping soaked clothes off of him right there at our table, and put his Jacket around him- he and I were equally mortified by the experience, but I'm glad the end result was that Kellan is ok.

Maren has been behaviorally-uh, challenging all week as well. She is a peachy little angel to anyone besides those named Kellan Moore, and friends/family tell me it's hard to picture her being as ugly as I describe. Well, doubt me no more, I've got evidence. Which is mild compared to the tornado that she graced me with when I reminded her that the grounding was still in effect when we came home today from our school field trip that I didn't want to cancel for the others.



Will she hate me for this one day? Probably. Is 5:45 p.m. too early for bed time? I don't care, the kids can figure out when they choose to crash and burn, I'm pulling the covers over my head and staying there until Saturday.

(sorry the video is so small, it's taken on my cell phone. I'm ashamed to admit that we don't have a camera to capture such joyous moments of raising a family.)

Halloween 2010- Moore Style

This year no one in our house had pneumonia (cough, cough, me) and I didn't have a newborn either, so we had a LOT of fun to make up for from the last two years. This is Maren's favorite holiday, and with the phase that Max is beginning into with dressup and pretending, I think he has made this his favorite holiday too.

Anything to do with sugar is Kellan's favorite.

Maren was so excited to be a villian to the Superhero duo. Mostly though, Catwoman wears red lipstick, so naturally Maren insisted on that accessory.

We had a lot of fun at the church Trunk-or-Treat. I have to say, any time that you can condense the work it is for mom and dad to take the kids to overload on candy, it's totally worth it. All the kids at the church repeated their loop around the parking lot to all of the cars until the adults were picked dry.

James was the Big-Bad-Bed Bug, and I was a Glow Bug (yes, my bug bum really glowed with some glowsticks stuck inside the balloons.)

What a loot they took home! I thought we should just forget about trick-or-treating all together since it fell on a Sunday this year- and we pretty much did just that anyway. We had a day of baking on the Saturday before where we made yummy peanutbutter- um, I mean, Monster Brain cookies, and the kids filled their own pizza pockets for dinner.

Turn your head and pretend that you can tell it is a Mummy filled with blood and guts ;)

Since Maren wasn't feeling well on Sunday, we didn't go to any bigger neighbhorhoods for more loot, I only took the boys out and we managed to walk one mile but only 6 houses. Ah well. It was a great time anyway with the kids at perfect ages to create all of these fun memories, I think I had the most fun, what good little sports they are to provide so much fun and entertainment!