Riley's First School Halloween Party

Even though I was dreading taking all the kids with me to Riley's school for her Halloween party, I wasn't going to miss it for anything, so I dragged them out, put Emmersyn in the Moby wrap and prayed that it would go smoothly. I got to her school, helped her get dressed in her costume, watched the kids pull the pinata strings, and eat lots of treats. Towards the end they went in the gym for lots of fun games and at the very end they had a cute parade where they sang songs and did all the little motions. She was so cute and I cannot believe I'm already going to her school functions. Seems surreal that she's old enough to be in school...

Pinata

Riley's class

Riley and her buddy, Ethan

Riley's whole class+the two year class!

Honesty

This post is going to be very honest. I'm tired. I'm beat. I'm exhausted. I'm run down. I want to sleep. I need a break. My head is spinning. I love my kids (and my husband) more than anything in this entire world but at this very moment, as I write this, I'm so tired I can hardly function. I'm still sick--going on 4 weeks of a constant headache and the room spinning. Lincoln is sick. Emmersyn is sick. I've been getting 5 hours of sleep for days, probably weeks, and even those 5 hours are broken up and I'm tired. I haven't had a break for longer than an hour or two in months without one of my children on my hip.

I couldn't ask for a better husband than I have. He does so much for me, for the kids. He gets up at night, sometimes more than I do, if one of the kids are crying. He cleans the house when he gets home from a hard day at work. He takes Riley and Lincoln out ALL the time so I can get a little rest. He makes our bed. I don't. He puts the kids to bed every night by himself. Yet, I still am utterly exhausted. What gives? I get more help from my husband than probably 95% of women/mothers out there...yet, I still feel like I can't get everything done in a day.

I want my mom, or my sister to come visit just so I can get a little break. I have great friends down here who OFTEN offer to watch my kids, but they have their own and I don't want to impose. BUT I wouldn't mind asking my mom or sister :)...they are family and I miss them (well, I miss all of my family). I wish we lived closer so I could get a little help sometimes because I'm tired and wish I could call them to take the kids for an hour just so I can take a nap.

I shouldn't complain, I know I really shouldn't. I've been so blessed. Ty and I have an awesome relationship (even if I do wish we got to spend more time together BY OURSELVES). Our kids are happy and healthy. He has a good job that provides for our family and he doesn't work too much and for goodness sake, I get to stay home and raise our kids! What a blessing that is! Even if on some days, like today, I don't feel very lucky to get to stay home. I don't feel "lucky" when I was up 5 times last night with the kids, up at 5 am with a sick and crabby two year old, had to hold Lincoln all day because he was sick or when I had to give Emmersyn 2 baths because she had 2 major explosive diapers, attempt to fix Riley's curtains because she "needed more light in her room" and decided to pull them down...you get the picture of how my day went. I am still lucky to stay home and I do know that. It has just been one of those days and I'm tired.

I am thankful for the weekend and wish I could sleep for the next 2 days! Today is just one of those days where I don't feel like a very good wife or mother and I wish I could just forget about it! Ahhh...good thing tomorrow is another day.

Vertigo.

Vertigo. One small word that has made my life miserable! The past three weeks I have been suffering from what the docs say is vertigo--an inner ear thing. Anyways, three weeks ago I ended up in the ER because I couldn't even stand up without falling over (literally). I had to call Ty home from work on Thursday (the day I went to the ER). I couldn't even get off of the couch to pick Emmersyn up when she started to cry because the room was spinning, I was so dizzy, and my head hurt so bad I thought it was going to explode. Every time I tried to get off of the couch I would fall over. For literally two weeks I couldn't function. I just got through the day...somehow. My poor kids watched more tv those two weeks than they have the entire year, I'm sure!! Not that they complained, but I don't let them watch much tv normally!

Anyways, I am finally starting to feel better. I still have a massive headache that hasn't gone away for even a minute in the past three weeks, but I can at least stand up now and walk without falling over! My blog has been severely neglected but I'm about ready to start back into things...check back for updates :)!

Happy Halloween!!

For Halloween this year we were planning on taking the kids trunk-or-treating and trick-or-treating in the neighborhood, but since I ended up in the ER the night of trick-or-treating we just took the kids to our church for trunk-or-treat! We had a great time and it was a beautiful night. In fact, I'm pretty sure the kids were sweating with all the layers I had on them (it was probably at least 60 degrees that night.) I guess I'm still used to Michigan Halloween's!

Riley was "Jessie" from Toy Story 3. However, you may notice that she actually has on the Woody costume. Well, I looked for WEEKS for the Jessie costume in her size and couldn't find it anywhere except on Ebay and since I wasn't about to pay $100 or more on a costume she chose to wear the Woody costume and I braided her hair like Jessie's :)! Good enough for me!

Lincoln was Buzz, along with every other little boy out there. But that's what he chose so that's what he got. He was, however, the cutest Buzz Lightyear out there!

Emmersyn was suppose to be the cute toy Alien from Toy Story 3, however, I wasn't anticipating her being SO big and when I tried it on her it didn't fit anymore :)! So, she got to be a cow instead...kinda fitting if you think about it :)!

Even though the kids' outfits didn't exactly turn out how I was anticipating they didn't care and had fun anyways. They got lots of candy, which I have completely consumed!

Big and Small

Big and Small. Two words that describe my girls. Here are Riley and Emmersyn wearing the same outfit. Riley was 15 months old and Emmersyn just turned 3 months old. Emmersyn is really big and Riley was really small. In fact, Emmersyn weighs more at 3 months than Riley did at 15 months! (and it's not like Riley was a tiny baby, she was 8 lbs 3 oz at birth)

Riley and Uncle Kolby

MI Visitors!

I was so excited once I knew my Dad was going to be okay after his surgery because he was going to have six weeks off of work. He said he, Jamie and the girls would come visit for a weekend! We haven't had many visitors and since it would be really difficult to drive home with all three kids myself, I was thrilled when they said they'd come see us!

We had such a good time. I LOVE when my sisters come because they love to play with Riley and Lincoln and they play SO well. Reagan and Riley are only 5 years apart, so they are starting to like and play with the same things (ie. Barbies, Littlest Pet Shop, Babies, etc) and McKenna and Lincoln always join in too! I really felt like I barely saw Riley and Lincoln for 4 days because they were constantly entertained, it was a nice break.

While they were here, the kids swam a few times in the pool, we went shopping, went to the Jump House, ate Chick-Fil-A, Jamie and I scrapbooked and we all just spent time together. I was so worried about my Dad and just seeing him after his surgery reassured me that he truly is doing so well. Just seeing him face-to-face was sureal because 3 weeks prior I didn't even know if he'd make it through his surgery and now, here he was; laughing, playing with the kids and spending time with us!

Dad and Ty sporting matching "Flavor Savors" :)!

Two of my favorite men :)!

Their stay was way too short and I was so sad to see them go, but hopefully we'll make it home soon and get to see everyone again soon! (Especially since my Kasey, Corey and Micah moved back...of course once we move again they move back...BAD timing Kasey :)!!)

Gritt's Pumpkin Patch

We decided to take the kids to a pumpkin patch this weekend to pick out a pumpkin to carve. We had a great time and love taking the kids to new places! The best part about the day was that it was October 23rd and 85 degrees!! We were all sweating in our long sleeves, I wasn't anticipating it being so warm (not that I'm complaining though!).

My three mini pumpkins!! To get all three kids to look at the camera and smile at the same time is near impossible. Here's our best shot :)! 2 out of 3 isn't bad, right??