instagram overload

I really have the best intentions to keep up with InstaFridays…and then life just happens. So I’m going to just do a huge Instagram picture dump.

Enjoy…I hope.

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This boy makes me laugh everyday and helps me remember how awesome this job of being a Mom really is.

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I’m trying to appreciate our Walmart’s effort of having a section of Gluten-Free food.

But maybe placing it on the BREAD aisle isn’t the best idea and then to place it behind a pole just adds to the wonderful Walmart experience.

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I truly love LaLa’s hair.

When I am stressed and feeling like I don’t have control of anything I make her wash her hair so I can blow it dry.

At least I can control her hair.

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This happens…

On a regular basis.

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My drinking problem is a little out of control.

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Now I remember why I had all these kidlets.

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Rubio’s…how I love thee.

And salmon tacos made the love even stronger.

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This is finally happening almost daily.

My body is happy.

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I took the babies to see The Croods.

eh…it was alright.

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I love everything in this drawer of mine…

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Yum!

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Fathers and Sons happened.

And no ER visits. That’s a win.

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I had a horrible “flu” for a few days. Like lose 7 lbs in 5 days sickness.

It felt good to put make-up on and feel pretty again.

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While making Teacher Appreciation gifts I may have consumed too many of these.

And gained back every bit of the weight I lost being sick.

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Mother’s Day is very emotional for me and I will be forever grateful for these amazing children that I have been blessed with.

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The best part was stealing a kiss from Einstein.

No 13 yr old boy wants to be kissed by his Mom…especially in a picture.

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My favorite gift from Mother’s Day may have been the card that LaLa made:

I’m so glad I’m not poo!

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School is almost out. Four days left.

I hope we survive these last four days.

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It was time for the kidlets to go to the dentist. I always take them all in at the same time. We kind of overrun the dentist office.

Four kids had great check-ups and made it in the Cavity-Free Club. Ham and I will be making another visit to the dentist soon.

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LaLa was Star Student in our town.

They invite all the Star Students to a town council meeting to give them the award and they get have their picture taken with the Mayor.

Pretty exciting stuff for our little town.

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Roo was the first of my kidlets to make a solar system for school.

What are the chances she’s the last?!?

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I started this book a few days ago.

By started I mean I put my book mark in.

I’ve kind of lost my reading mojo.

I miss it.

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It’s almost warm enough for me to get in the pool.

It’s been warm enough for everyone else, but I kind of need it bathwater warm.

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Eight years ago I looked like this:

The next day LaLa made her triumphant entry into the world.

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Speaking of the Birthday Girl.

I sure love this girlie.

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The birthday cupcakes didn’t last long.

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Find me on Instagram @embracethechaos

There are actually pictures that I post there that never even make it to the blog…

InstaFriday…On Saturday

I am a day late joining Jeanette over at Life Rearranged for '>InstaFriday. Better late than never, right?

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The kidlets all bright and shiny on Easter.

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I finally took the Boyz to see The Hunger Games.

I’m not going to get into the book vs. movie debate. I like the books and I like the movie.

And if I see one more Team Peeta/Team Gale comment I am going to look for a nest of tracker hornets. This isn’t Twilight. Twilight is garbage. If there was going to be any team it should be Team Katniss.

The End…as she steps off her soapbox

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Poor Harley is old…and decrepit. Some days it’s even too difficult for him to make it on his dog bed.

Mollie doesn’t mind making sure the dog bed gets used.

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My purse is a MESS. I was digging through it looking for something and was ashamed.

I think I might have found part of the problem with the amount of crap in there.

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Einstein got to dissect a pregnant dog shark in his ELP class.

I thought it was gross and wasn’t too happy that he brought home a dead baby shark.

He thought it was awesome.

I guess there are some days that a Mom isn’t always right.

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Speaking of gross.

How does she do that with her thumb? And why?

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It’s a good day when you have one of these…

That gets turned into one of these…

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Are you on Instagram?

I’m there as @embracethechaos

Can you tell I have my favorite Instagram filters? Maybe I should branch out a little.

Where Did December Go?

Well let me share a few pictures and I will tell you where our December went.

We had a delightful month and I think I checked every thing off my list that I wanted to get done.

So here is our month in a really long, picture-filled post:

Our first Christmas activity was Gingerbread houses. Yes we made Einstein participate under protest. I explained we were decorating them, not eating them. He was still a little freaked out.

I found this awesome little kit at Target.

Five little houses, five not-so-little kidlets. Perfect.

I started putting the houses together

and set the kidlets loose to decorate.

I tried not to get to involved and let them do their houses anyway they wanted.

Which is a little difficult for the control-freak that I am.

But you know I really held back when half of Ham’s house looked like this:

And the other half looked like this:

And that is exactly how he wanted it.

Big Daddy really enjoyed the decorating…maybe a bit too much.

The reason I didn’t worry too much about how their houses looked?

That’s right. After they all went to bed I decorated my own house.

And then we had a lovely little gingy village.

A gratuitous Instagram shot.

The next thing on our list was a visit to a certain jolly elf.

I am so happy that my teenager loves me enough to be willing to go sit by Santa. At least I don’t make him sit on Santa’s lap, because that would probably be a bit much.

After visiting Santa we went to pick out the yearly ornament for the kidlets.

I finally made the step to rely on my iPhone for pictures and I didn’t even bring any other camera with me. This is huge for me, but I do love my iPhone and Instagram. But silly me totally failed at taking pictures of the kidlets with their ornaments. Gah…

The next night was Big Daddy’s office party…and not a picture taken.

Later that week we had our ward Christmas party. The littles were excited to get to visit with Santa again.

All the kidlets had parts in the program, the littles sang with the Primary and the Boyz participated in a very funny “The 12 Days of Scoutmas”. Yeah no pictures of either one…but here is a great picture of the ward.

A few nights later we made our trip to the Mesa Temple to see the Christmas lights.

They were as beautiful as ever.

And the weather was chilly so it really felt like Christmas.

We made a stop in the visitor’s center to visit the Christus to help us remember the real reason for celebrating Christmas.

That same week we fit in 2 different band concerts.

It was so nice last year when the concerts were together, but this year they were both pretty short and sweet.

Are you still with me? Only a couple more weeks to go…

A new tradition we started was to sit down and sing Christmas carols and read a story each night. It is a wonderful way to slow down and spend some quiet time together as a family. We have a nice collection of Christmas stories and found some great ones at the library too.

On the 18th we had most of Big Daddy’s family over for dinner and The Nativity.

We have enough kidlets to cover all the major parts including baby Amanda being a perfect Baby Jesus. (We could always use a few extra shepherds next year Steven and Christina)

LaLa was so excited to get to be Mary this year.

We only had to remind her a couple of times that she was holding an actual baby and not a doll. (We did put the stools on the carpet to avoid any serious accidents.)

The next day I meant to send a text to Big Daddy and accidently sent it as a tweet.

I just opened the last Dr Pepper in the house. How the hell did that happen?!?

@embracethechaos on Twitt · via Twitter

Oops!

I had a great friend and her daughter stop by to save me from utter destruction. So there are times when a mistake is worth making.

Good thing I had the extra fuel because my next morning looked like this:

LaLa got a citizenship award.

Roo was on the Principal list honor roll.

Einstein was on the Principal list honor roll

and the middle school advanced band performed.

Thankfully school was finally out for Christmas break.

And wouldn’t you know it Roo decided that it wouldn’t be Christmas without at least someone being sick and sacrificed herself to a nasty ear infection.

Her being sick didn’t stop us from going to see The Forgotten Carols.

It was the first time that we had taken the kidlets to see it and it was as amazing as always.

The next night my Dad and his wife had a family Christmas dinner. The group was a little bigger than usual since my brother and his family came down from Utah to spend Christmas in Arizona.

And as this picture clearly shows their lives revolve around me…ummm not.

But I did invite my self to a yummy sushi lunch with them and my beautiful SIL Karen.

Reading this post makes the month seem more stressful than it actually was. We had a good mixture of busy and family time.

And finally we made it to Christmas Eve. The night we had all been waiting for.

As we drove to my extended family Christmas Eve party Ham had already had enough for the day.

We only stayed a short time at the party since Roo had shared part of her illness with Big Daddy. This is a quick picture of the group waiting to be entertained.

When we got home Pickles had made an early delivery of gifts.

Who doesn’t love new Christmas Jammies?

I am not sure when or how the tradition of changing into the new jammies right then and there started, but it makes me laugh.

Roo tried to find a little privacy.

Now they can go to bed…

Well there were a couple more things that needed to be done before they could go to sleep.

We finally got around to decorating cookies for Santa…

and maybe some for ourselves.

And we couldn’t forget the reindeer.

Ham kept a look out for Rudolph and his red nose.

I love seeing the magic of Christmas through the eyes of a little one.

And finally it was time for everyone to go to bed.

The kidlets woke up to a “peeking deterrent”.

This isn’t a very good picture, but the look on Ham’s face is priceless.

We finally gave them the go ahead to break through.

And we had a very Merry Christmas.

And Santa had visited the Chaos.

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas too.