A New Chapter

It finally happened. We are officially in the teen years. Cade turned 13 today! Its just weird how the years sneak up on you. And as fast as the years have been spinning by lately, I'll have an entire housefull of teens next time I turn around. Its the blessing and the curse of having the kids so close together. In 7 more years, Dayton will be a teenager! Wyatt gets baptized in March, and Dayton the next year. I distinctly remember thinking "If I can just hold on to my sanity until the babies are 2 and 3. I hope I can hang on that long." Here I am with a teenager! So what is Cade like as a 13 year old?? Well for day one, its been pretty good :D


Cade is awesome. He is so super talented. I have been so pleased lately with his attitude toward his responsibilites at church and school. When I went to his school conferences the other day I heard from all his teachers about how hilarious he is! He is quite the witty guy. There have been a few things lately that he would rather not have to do, meetings, fast offerings, that sort of thing, but he goes and does his job without complaining. He loves scout campouts, and a few Sundays ago the youth speaker was sick so 5 minutes before the meeting they asked Cade to do a short talk and he did! We didn't even know about it until he stayed up there and did it. Last week I asked him to put together a Family Home Evening lesson for us, and he did SUCH a great job. I was seriously majorly impressed! He had a scripture for each kid to read (and not just 5 in order, they were all from different places on the same subject!) and he had meaningful questions to ask the kids and have a discussion. The kids really payed attention, it was so awesome! Not to mention his musical skills! He is such an amazing musician, I wish I had more resources for him. He really should be in a performing arts school, but its tough, because I want him to have a normal life too, and I'm not sure how to mix the two. He's not sure what he wants to do either. I guess we will just do what we can for now. Anyway, this kid is fantastic! I wish everyone had a chance to have such a great son. Cade totally rocks!! Happy birthday Cade, you are amazing!!
He loves going shooting with his dad. Especially with his cool guns!

My $14 Bathroom Redecorate

It only took me a year and 3 months and a lot of yammering on about it........But I finally knocked it out! Here is the before:


I didn't realize these were sideways, and since they're just lame-o befores, I'm not bothering to fix it:
My brother Jason helped me take hte mirror off the wall over the sink/toilet, it covered the whole wall. Not so stylish



Bathroom pictures are hard, there are just no good angles to show it all. Nothing to see here anyway :D I left it messy on purpose...to add to the drama LOL ya right :D

Heres the lowdown of all the changes:
*Painted ordinary oak cabinet black (spray painted and then distressed) :Leftover spray paint $0.00

*Painted walls beige khaki color: leftover paint from family room $0.00

*Hung mirror that was given to me from my friend Wendy $0.00

*Installed new towel rack that I bought over a year ago that has been sitting in the box collecting lint next to my dryer $0.00 (I count it as free since I bought it so stinkin long ago!)

*Replaced tulips with new fall flowers I got on sale at Michaels $2.50

*Hung up 2 tin mirrors from D.I. that my mom bought me $0.00 (cuz they were a gift, right?? :)

*Replaced old rug with new rug from Walmart $5.00

*New towels for fall from Walmart $6.50

*Ribbon and Berries on towels from around the house $0.00

*Re hung old shower curtain $0.00

Grand total:$14.00!!!!!!

AFTER:





Closeup of my distressed cabinet. I debated doing it, but I wanted it to match the mirror. I have black knobs to put on it too. I love it!

This was a really fun project, I didn't actually take too long, just a few hours. This is the one room downstairs I've been hating, and now its fixed!

Wow- theres lots!

I have been wanting to post, because I have been doing a LOT of cool things but I have been too busy to post about all of the things. Heres the summary, and hopefully I can get some pictures up soon and it will all make more sense.

1. Went to Thatcher by MYSELF to chill and craft and help my mom. SO fun, wait till you see what I made!!!!!!

Here is a wreath I made last night, not in Thatcher, but I did get inspired for it while I was there and this is what I ended up with:



It looks much better in person, but this is the idea. I'll have to keep adding pics until I get a few more of different projects

2. Grocery saving total with Couponsense this week:

Albertsons: spent $20, saved $74
Albertsons: Spent $34. saved $101
Bashas: Spent $8, Saved 35

NO JOKE how cool is that!! And I have enough coupons and stuff to go back and do it again if I want before Tuesday night. Cupboards are lookin good!


3. Mom came over yesterday and we cleaned up at DI and this other salvage place. I am not kidding when I say our carts as we were leaving looked like we had been shopping at Home goods and Hob Lob, and we got TONS of cute decorating stuff for mere dollars. Like 2 dollars, 1 dollar, my mom did get 2 things that were 15 each, but the real tag was still on it and lets say.....STEAL! Lots of fun stuff is in my garage being spray painted black at this moment. Most things were fantastic as is!


5. next big home project......Guest bathroom!! Stay tuned!!

Upcoming party at the end of October, lots of fun things to do and bake to get ready for it, along with NEW adorable Miss Poppy's labels for popcorn and gift baskets. I got a hook up from a friend with Bazzil paper that came up with it. Love it! If you need any EASY popcorn gifts that are super cute and delicious just let me know, I can custom make you pretty much anything.

OK, I need input....WWYD??

Calling all moms (or anybody else??) I am really curious what you think about this situation with the kids I had tonight.

We have had issues on and off about the kids fessing up about things, for example when I ask "Who left this cup here??" I get 5 blank stares. So, obviously, it was one of them, and it seems like such a small thing, but really, shouldn't I be holding them accountable for their actions, no matter how big or small? Honestly, I usually don't even go there, I just assign one person to get the trash picked up, one to pick the stray cups, one to do toys, etc etc. But at some point, they have to be accountable, right? It's more a matter of principle sometimes. Which brings me to tonight.

I have them all upstairs after dinner picking up their rooms, etc before bed, and I notice (sorry, TMI) but there is toilet paper in the TRASH next to the toilet that someone wiped with and just threw in there. This has been a problem in the past, and I used to know who the culprit was, but I in this case am a little unsure, so I ask the 3 younger boys. "Who wiped their poop and put it in the trash can??" Again, the blank stares. Obviously it is one of them, right? So I say "You aren't going to get in trouble, I just want to know", still the "no, not me, nope, it wasn't me". SO now it turns into a matter of principle. I'm thinking today its crap in the trash can, tomorrow its about who put a dent in the car.... just kidding (I hope :D) But seriously, we need to start being accountable around here, right?? Well, NObody is admitting it. And I had made cupcakes tonight after dinner so I say "OK, fine. We will stand here in this hallway, and we won't be having a cupcake, and you will STILL have to clean until someone tells me the truth. So then Wyatt starts tearing up and says "OK, well I didn't do it but I will say its me anyway" which of course my heart was just breaking for the little guy by this point, taking the bullet for everyone. And Cooper chimes in, saying he'll admit it too even though it wasn't him (and Dayton is crying but hiding from me a little and not looking at me) So this makes me think its him. I reiterated several times, I am not going to punish you, but I need someone to tell me who did it. But I need the REAL person to say they did it. So I left them in the hallway to discuss amongst themselves and I sure wish I had a recorder going. Their discussion was pretty funny. After about 5 minutes I realize that either it wasn't any of them (hard to believe) or nobody was going to cave, I tell them to get downstairs. So we have a big discussion about why poop is bad to have sitting in the trash, along with the big globs of toothpaste, the lack of flushing, etc) and why not telling on yourself and admitting things is lying, blah blah blah blah. I ask Dayton one more time, and the waterworks start again, and more adamant denial, so finally I just sent them all to bed, cupcake-less. I start doubting, because I usually can flush out the perpetrator (no pun intended) within 30 seconds or so,(they are terrible liars) and I really hit a wall with this one. Then part of me wanted to give Wyatt and Cooper a cupcake anyway for being willing to make the sacrifice, but I thought that wouldn't send a good message. So nobody got one.

So here were the choices I had:

Start spanking them really hard with a paddle one by one until somebody admits it (this was the option used on me as a child.....yikes)

Just believe that it wasn't any of them (who it would be I'm not too sure)

Do what I did, which was not believe them, and try to make them understand that it was more about the principle than the actual crime and punish accordingly by witholding the treat and sending them to bed early.


So Wyatt brings up a point as I'm tucking him in, that mabye it could have been their cousin Ava. This makes me laugh, because obviously, she hasn't been over to the house for at least a week, and they try to use her as their scapegoat every chance they get. I can barely get her to stop playing long enough to eat, I seriously doubt she's spending time in the biohazard that is the upstairs bathroom. But then there is this.....


"My cousin Ava was over. She clogged the toilet. and she blamed it on me. My mom believed her. and I got in trouble."

Wyatt actually turned this in as an assignment at school. I bet his teacher got a kick out of it. I thought it was pretty funny. And then I felt bad that I didn't believe him. I do realize, that I am grateful that I am dealing with these situations, and not things that are really pivotal, like dating, friends, teenage parties, driving, etc etc and I'll be wishing for the days of poopy TP in the trash can and such. SO am I a total maniac control freak or did they get off too easy?? I may never know for sure I guess.