Have you ever?

Have you ever had 8, 12 year old boys sleep at your house? I have and I have the bags under my eyes to prove it.

Last night was the annual yearly planning meeting for the deacons at the Carn compound. I can tell you I was a bit surprised that the first thing all the boys did was play with Morgan's Barbie doll house and then proceed to dress up in fairy wings and tutus! I have pictures but I will save them of the embarrassment.

Over the last 15 1/2 hours I have heard belching contests and discussions of eating pizza until you puke. My entire house wreaks of bacon and lets just say that the smell coming from my basement...well...it smells exactly like 8, 12 year old boys slept there. If you can't imagine what that might smell like you are welcome to come and experience it for yourself.

I have exactly 50 minutes left before the cleaning and deodorizing begins. I have to say that they are a great group of boys and it is fun to watch in the background how differently boys interact. Only 364 days until I get to do it all over again!

Happy Festivus . . . for the Rest of Us!

Sorry - I had to blogjack Brook again for a special occassion.

As all of you know, today is December 23rd. Time to get out your aluminum poles (because tinsel is distracting), invite over your friends and celebrate Festivus. Please feel free to comment on the annual, beloved sharing of grievences and don't leave out any details on your family's feats of strength.




Enjoy it while you can . . . Soon enough it will be time to go back to work at Vandelay Industries.

Christmas Recital

My kids had their Christmas recital this last weekend. Ethan just started playing 4 months ago and I have been thrilled at his progress.

They both practiced a ton and I loved hearing Christmas songs being played in my home the last few weeks. They both got cold feet and had a few slip ups here and there but I was so proud of them. I especially loved seeing Ethan play a duet with his dad. It was so cute to see his little smile through the whole song.

It was another great year and I love to see the progress they are making. I am so proud of all their hard work.

The story of Fanta

To any of you out there that may not know just how competitive Charlie's brothers and sisters can be you must hear the story of how Fanta came to be. My sister-in-law recently put a picture up of their newly acquired Fanta and said that she would tell the story of him some day. I figured that each kid in the family has their own perspective and we needed to jump at the chance to get the TRUE story out for all posterity to read someday.

It all began many years ago when Diane hand painted this Santa as a Christmas decoration for their home. It was well loved by all the Carn children and a fond memory of Christmas past. As years went on Diane's taste changed and she filled her house with all sorts of new shiny decorations and poor Santa was left in a box for many years.

(Real Santa)

Charlie and I moved to Chicago and we were approached by Diane our first Christmas there wanting to know if we wanted Santa as she was going to throw him away. Charlie jumped at the offer. I not having the nostalgic value behind it actually thought it was kind of ugly and was not thrilled about having a beat up Santa placed front and center on our mantel each year. I since have grown to love Santa and look forward to taking him out at the start of the holiday season.

It wasn't until one of the brothers found out that we had Santa that the tales of unfairness and plotting ways to retrieve said Santa begun. The boys actually went to such great lengths that they stole our garage door opener out of our van, broke into our house and held Santa hostage. Literally, they put duct tape over his mouth and vowed that we would never see him again!

The game was on. Charlie and I were now on the hunt. We did not let anyone know that we noticed that Santa was missing. They all thought they were so sneaky. We did some breaking in of our own and finally found and rescued Santa from his brothers house and brought Santa home...where he belongs.

We since have kept Santa under close supervision. He is hidden so well in our house you would have to take the house apart board by board to ever be able to find him. As a joke a few years ago we said we were so tired of hearing about all the whining and complaining that we would bring Santa back with us and place a bet on the Bears game at Christmas, that whoever guessed closest to the final score would win the Santa. The kids were ecstatic to say the least.

Why anyone would believe that Charlie would actually give up willingly something his siblings were so jealous over is beyond me. The search was on to find a fake Santa...or as we like to call him...FANTA! We found an exact replica on EBAY. The only difference was the weight. The original Santa weighs a ton. Charlie spent hours painting the new Santa. We debated on filling it with plaster to make it heavy and trying to distress it to make it look older but in the end we knew that it would never pass for the real Santa and we were tired of spending anymore time on it. We packed up Fanta and headed for Chicago.

(Fanta and real Santa)

So we made our bets and at the end of the game guess who one.....CHARLIE. SURPRISE SURPRISE. So now we were stuck with real Santa AND Fanta. Now what were we going to do?

The Carn's had a huge family reunion this summer and we decided to offer once again to bring Santa as a bingo prize the final night. Tension ran high and the siblings have never before taken bingo so seriously. It ended up that my sister-in-law Bridget won it for her and Brad. Ahhhh...the moment of unveiling had finally come.

Fanta came out of his box and for a brief moment there was joy that Santa had finally been stripped away from us. It was not until closer examination that the betrayal had been discovered! Can I tell you I was more than a little worried for the safety of Charlie and myself.

So now Fanta resides with Brad and Bridget...and the drama continues over why Charlie the golden child was so unfairly bestowed with Santa. So there you have it. The true story of Santa and how Fanta came to be.

(Fanta in his new home)

Ross and Diane, I highly suggest if you have not put in the will yet who gets the advent calendar with the precious star, you might want to do that soon. The controversy over that one item alone may be enough to take out your entire family!

Naughty or Nice?

A few days ago we did one of our yearly Christmas traditions when we visited Santa at his magical house. It is beautifully decorated and I think I look forward to it just as much as the kids do.
We were smart this year and went early in the season when we did not have to wait outside in the freezing cold for 2 hours. We walked right in where it was warm and cozy and hopped in the sleigh for some pictures.

Then each of the kids got to visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus and tell them what they wanted for Christmas this year. I was expecting Sam to cry but he did really well. We didn't get a shot of just Logan...maybe next year.

I am loving this time of year. I love that we have finally lived somewhere long enough that our kids have traditions that they will remember for the rest of their lives. We look forward to our stop this week at the world's largest Christmas store!

Change of title

This book was a classic in my home growing up. I have thought of this title many times over the last week and decided to make some changes to it to better describe what we have been through the last 7 days.

I will try to make a long story somewhat short. We now have made a new Thanksgiving tradition for ourselves. It's called the stomach flu...and I highly discourage anyone from following in our tradition. It seems that each year that I try to host Thanksgiving we all come down with the stomach flu.

It started this year with Charlie. He came home from turkey bowl and started to complain of an upset stomach. By the time we finally got the meal on the table he made himself a plate sat down and no sooner had he put his fork in his hand he ran from the table and spent the next 24 hours between the bed and the bathroom.

The clock was now ticking to see which of us was going to be the next lucky one. By Saturday Charlie was feeling a bit better and had taken some of the kids out to pick up some dinner. I got a phone call a few minutes later to come meet him at the car because Sam had thrown up all over.

The 5 days after that we all were hit one by one like an army being overtaken by the enemy. Next was Logan, then Abby, then Morgan and Ethan (they managed to both get sick literally 4 minutes apart).

So....I was the last soldier standing. How I was the last one since I have been the one to clean up all the stuff coming out of both ends and have not left the house in 6 days is beyond me. I had a sinking feeling in my stomach for more reasons than one. Charlie was leaving to go out of town. Yup, you heard me.

Sure enough he left at 4:00 this morning and I was left at home with not 1, not 2, not 3, BUT 5 sick kids home from school and the last soldier standing was finally brought to her knees (literally) at 8:00 this morning.

It has been a long day of survival mode. Thank heavens that Abby is doing well enough to give me a hand between bathroom breaks. I actually have about a 1 hour window between pit stops where I feel kind of ok'ish...thus how I am able to be writing this right now. I am sure I should be doing something better with my time, but I am sad and lonely and this is my only form of human contact. How lame is that?

This is a brief summary of my last 7 days:

Pots of homemade soup made: 1

Loads of laundry done: 18

Packages of wipes gone through: 4

Bottles of Pedialyte: 4

Loaves of bread eaten for toast: 4

Sleepless nights: 7

Times carpet cleaner used: 8

I have also been through an entire container or Clorox wipes and a whole bottle of bleach and have literally washed every sheet, pillow, and blanket that we own. Needless to say, I am tired and ready for Charlie to be home and have a house full of healthy happy children again.

Funny enough being sick during Thanksgiving does make you thankful for a lot of things. I am thankful for 5 normally healthy children. I am thankful for my own health and for that of my husband. I am thankful for disposable diapers. I am thankful for flushing toilets. I am thankful for a wonderful washer and dryer and an amazing carpet cleaner. I am thankful for my yummy twisted peppermint hand soap from bath and body works that has made all this hand washing a reminder of the holidays around the corner. I am thankful for prayer and the strength I have received from it over the last 12 hours. I am thankful for times of trial that let us reflect on all of our many blessings that we have.

Now if you will excuse me...I am off to visit my best friend the toilet!

November Visiting Teaching

I don't know about you but November and December are always difficult months to get visiting teaching in. I decided this month to make a little treat and drop it off to the sisters we visit. They turned out so cute that I thought I would share the idea since it was super simple.

I love this website. She makes the cutest little handouts each month for visiting teaching. I printed it out and rolled it up and tied it with a cute bow.

I attached them to these little boxes I use all the time from Michael's. I just love them because they come in all different colors and sizes.

Then I filled them up with some of these yummy treats that I LOVE to make. They are quick and the kids love to help and the combination of sweet and salty is just perfect. All you need is some round pretzels, Hershey kisses, and m&m's. Depending on the colors you use you can make these for almost any holiday.

So...if you have not already done your visiting teaching for the month you may want to give this a shot. Now I just have to get mine delivered before I eat them all!

Morgan's Book of Jesus

Today my little Morgan came home from church and started busily working on something. She came to me when she was all done and said, "Mom, you have to read my book." I quickly opened the pages and this is what I read:

Here is a translation for all of you out there who can't interpret 6 year old spelling.
I know my Savior loves me. I love The Church of Jesus Christ. I know I should listen. God gives us the power to love our friends. God loves us as makes us love Him. He made the earth. I love God and Jesus. You should listen to the first article of faith. We should love our friends. God gives us the love. I love our friends. This book is about Jesus. I love Jesus. He makes everything. The end.

This little project was completely her own idea and it was so sweet to read her little testimony in her own little words. This one will for sure get tucked away in a special little spot to hang on to. I am so thankful for my sweet children and the examples they are to me. This was just the book that I needed to read today!

One INCREDIBLE Halloween

This Halloween ended up being a theme year for us and we all dressed up as one "Incredible" family. The kids loved seeing Charlie and I dressed up with them and we have had a great time the last few days at friend and ward parties all dressed up.

The season started with our pumpkin carving. The kids always sketch out their drawings and then we do our best to transfer them to their pumpkins.

They dig our the guts and then we help them carve away. Morgan did all her own carving this year and she did a great job.
We were able to attend our friends grown-up only Halloween party and it is one of our most favorite times of the year. The costumes ranged from pregnant nuns, Mr. Clean, Simon and Paula, Shrek and Fiona and lots of others. We played games and had a great time visiting.

We had our ward trunk-r-treat this year as well. We went all out and decorated our trunk with lights and spiders and homemade bats and ghosts that the kids made. We also had lots of dry ice to add to the spookiness of it all. Someone in our ward had a "brilliant" idea to shoot off a candy cannon. They said it was full of soft candy but the last time I checked a Starburst heading straight for your face at 20 mph does not feel so soft. It ended with about 20 kids getting hit and screaming and crying. I will be surprised to see if the candy cannon makes an appearance again next year.

It was a great weekend. We had fun with friends and our kids. Now we just need to try and sell all our costumes on ebay and start the hunt for next year!

On a lighter note

One of the best parts about going to Utah is getting to spend time with friends and family that I don't get to see very often. I thank my sweet husband who allowed me to go without children so I could just go and enjoy my time there.

I spent some wonderful time with my family. We had lots of laughs and I enjoyed my time up at my parents very peaceful cabin in the mountains.

My dear friend came and met me at the airport since I had to wait a few hours for my brother and his girlfriend to get there. She brought me yummy soup and ice cream and we had a blast chatting and people watching.

One of the best highlights was getting to see my sisters brand new baby, little Noah. He was just as cute as can be and I was thrilled to snuggle him. I also was able to spend some special time with my sister just driving and going to buy Noah's blessing outfit.

I also spent time with my sisters kids. They are so cute and fun and I can't wait to get all of the kids together in July. They have so much fun together.

I also got to see my cute grandpa and had fun visiting with him.


The last night I was there I went to stay at my friends house. Her family just happened to be having a Halloween party that night and they came up with a great costume idea to go as "sister wives".

We laughed and laughed as we did our poofy hairdos. It will for sure be a night to remember.

I am so glad I was able to spend some special time with my friends and family that I miss each and every day. Hopefully the next time I am there it will be under better circumstances, but I really enjoyed myself and am missing them already!

Celebrating Grandma Jane

I just returned home from a wonderful visit out to Utah to celebrate my grandmother's life.

The day was perfect in every way. The picture above is the view from the cemetery where my grandma was laid to rest. The funeral was beautiful and it was wonderful to see family and extended family.

Here is a picture of all of the brothers and all of the sisters. I don't know that anyone could remember the last time they were all together. It was wonderful to see the support that they gave to one another and to see the love they had for their mother.

My grandma is finally back home with her husband and we all had a special feeling that she was happy to have moved on and is at peace.

I feel so blessed to have been able to say goodbye to my grandma and celebrate the wonderful life that she lived. It once again reminded me that family is really all that matters in the end and it was wonderful to be surrounded by so many people who I love and who love me.

Grandma Jane

My sweet grandma Jane passed away last night unexpectedly. The last few months I have lost both of my grandmothers and it has given me time to reflect on life what is really important. There have been some very sweet peaceful moments where I feel so blessed to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I am thankful for the perspective it allows me to have of eternal families. I am grateful for the decision my grandpa and grandma made to be sealed in the temple many years ago.

My grandma was a very special woman. I always said if anyone deserved a first class ticket right to the celestial kingdom it would be her. She had 13 children and raised them all mostly on her own. My grandfather passed away when the youngest child was only 2. My grandma is the picture of strength and energy.

She always had such life in her eyes. You can even see in this picture that sparkle that she had about her. She lived in a very small home with only one bathroom. With 13 kids her home was always filled to the brim but I never once heard her complain. Never once. She was the glue that held the family together and she will be greatly missed.

My grandma gave me my nickname, Snickerdoodle and I will always love her for that. She was there for me on some of my most special days. My baptism and my wedding she was there supporting me. On my baptism day she gave me a beautiful butterfly necklace. I still remember it's shiny golden wings. Each time I see a butterfly necklace I think of her. I think of how at my baptism I was given the beautiful gift of the holy ghost and how with that gift I became transformed as a butterfly does.

I know that the reunion in heaven with her husband and son must have been a joyous one. In the end she was surround by each and every one of her children as she left this life and continued on her journey to the next.

I feel blessed to know that I have yet another special angel watching over my family. Grandma, I love you and I thank you for the amazing woman that you were. Your strength is inspiring and I look forward to seeing your sweet sparkly eyes one day again in the heavens.

24 Times

24 times...that's how many runs it took me to get to my official 5K. I just finished running an entire 5k, no walking, no stopping, no nothing!

The longest I had gone so far was 2.2 miles. Tonight while I was running I was feeling pretty good so I figured I would give it a shot and I did it.!!!!!

If you had told me 8 weeks ago that I would be running a 5k I would have thought you were crazy. I am feeling good for setting a goal and working hard to accomplish it. I am going to stick with my 5k for a few weeks and then ramp my training up to 4 days a week and start working towards a 10k.

Besides my running goal I have also been working at weight loss. Most of it has been through portion control and making better eating decisions. While I find myself hungry quite often I am feeling like physically I am starting to get my body back. After 9 years of having kids I guess it was about time to work on myself a little.

To date I have lost 18 pounds. My minimum goal is to lose at least another 7 pounds and my ideal would be to lose another 17. That may be wishful thinking but I am going to try.

So...tonight I am feeling pretty proud of myself. I just did something I have NEVER done before and never imagined I could. I hope to have another post just like this in a few months telling you I just finished my first 10k!

Where were you 6 years ago?

Six years ago I was about to welcome this little beauty into my life.

Six years ago Abby became a sister.

Six years ago my heart grew even bigger as I instantly fell in love with my little Morgan.
This weekend we celebrated Morgan's 6th birthday but her official special day is today. She picked the events for her party day. We started with breakfast at her favorite spot. They gave her a free Sunday since it was her birthday. And yes....I let her eat ice cream at 8:45 in the morning. Am I a bad mom?

She then wanted to go roller skating with the kids. They played games and won lots of tickets and skated their hearts out.

We came home and had a little party and opened presents. The kids then made a HUGE fort in the family room and got in their p.j.'s and watched a movie and had a sleepover. Morgan and the kids had a great time. The kids loved giving her their presents that they bought for her.

This is what my little Morgan is like at age 6 just in case she ever reads this one day and wonders what she was like.

- She can burp almost as loud as her father, but politely giggles and apologizes each time she does.
- She is competitive. She loves soccer and running and trying new things. She picks up on physical things pretty quickly.

- She loves to sing. I can usually hear her all the way down the hall at church when she is singing in primary.

- She loves to read. I find her most nights in bed after I have told her to go to sleep up reading just like her big sis.

- She hates cleaning. She does well at her Saturday chores (cleaning the toilet and sorting laundry) but she usually finds any excuse to get out of cleaning. She is my first child to hide clothing and toys under her bed to pretend she cleaned.

- EVERY meal she is the last to finish and the only one who forgets to clear her dishes.

- She is girly and loves to wear pretty clothes and have her hair done curly but she is also rough and tumble. She is loud and loves to wrestle and get dirty and be crazy.

She fills our life with joy and energy and I can hardly remember what life was like before she came. I love you Morgan!

Alterations

I have always been a little on the shorter side and when it comes to finding pants a lot of the time they are just a little bit too long. I often find pants that I like but they drag on the ground and with our long winters the thought of trudging around through parking lots filled with slush and snow always makes me put the pants back on the rack.

Recently I found some pants that I liked but once again they were just a bit too long. I thought I would call around to a few places and just find out how much it might cost to have them altered. I did my homework and found a place that only charges $10. Not bad if you ask me. So I threw the pants in the car and decided to give it a shot.

Here is the first pair before:

And after:

Second pair before:

And after:

I was quite happy with the outcome and feel like a grown-up having pants tailored to fit just me. So, if you are at all like me find a good alteration shop and give it a try. I'm glad I did!

Soup

This weekend I made the most delicious soup and I thought I would pass on the recipe. It makes a ton so you can either cut the recipe in half or make the whole batch and freeze it in smaller containers for quick dinners later on. Enjoy!

Olive Garden Pasta E Fagioli

2 lb. Ground beef
1 1/2 cups onion; diced
1 3/4 cups carrots; chopped
1 3/4 cups celery; diced
3 cans diced tomatoes (each can 14.5 oz.)
1 can red kidney beans
1 can great northern beans
88 oz. beef stock (this is a little less than 3-32 oz broth containers)
3 tsp. oregano
2 1/2 tsp. pepper
5 tsp. parsley (freshly chopped)
1 1/2 tsp. Tabasco sauce (see note at bottom)
45 oz. Spaghetti sauce
8 oz. small shell macaroni; or pasta of choice

Brown beef and drain off fat. Add onions, celery and tomatoes and simmer for 10 minutes. Drain and rinse beans and then add to the pot. Add beef stock, oregano, pepper, Tabasco, spaghetti sauce, and noodles. Add chopped parsley. Simmer until carrots and celery are tender, about 45 minutes.

****The Tabasco gave a great heat to the soup for adults but if you are making it for a family with small children the spice may be a little too hot. My kids LOVED this soup and only one complained that it was too spicy. When I make it again I will probably only add 1/2 tsp. of Tabasco and see how it works. If I was making it for just adults I would keep the recipe just the same.