I don't think that's chocolate!

Taya came in from outside today with what looked like chocolate all over her face. I looked in her hand & she had a stick covered in mud. She obviously thought it was a chocolate popsicle of some sort & dug right in. She had the most disgusted look on her face! She ran up to me & pointed to the wipes & then pointed to her mouth! It was hilarious!

Eight is Enough!

Try explaining to the German ice cream man that all eight of them aren't yours! We were cracking up! He kept making comments like "Lots of children!" "Wow, big family!" "Too many kids!" "Crazy!" in his broken English. I'll tell you what's crazy...giving ice cream cones to two one year olds! What a mess!! But they loved us for it!

Slippin' & a 'Slidin'

The girls earned a slip'n slide for their grand prize during Camp Tonsofun so we broke it out & had a blast with all the kids here. I was glad the Miller kids were still with us because watching them get their faces soaked made my girls not quite so scared of the water splashing in their faces. They had a BLAST!!

Countdown in 8...7...6...5...4...3...almost 2...1...& NEWBORN!

Our friends wanted to take a trip to London for the weekend, so we took their 4 kids so they could enjoy a few shows while they were there. Next month, Trek & I want to drive down to the temple in Switzerland while they watch our four. It's a perfect little trade-off. SO, we have a VERY full house this weekend. I just had to take a picture of them all because it looks so funny. We have 8 kids all under the age of 7 (......ages 7, 6, 5, 4, 3 ,almost 2, 1, & our newborn). I think I'm going to need a HUGE nap on Sunday afternoon...what you do think?

All Smiles

Look at this cutie pie. Bladen is "ALL SMILES" lately & I'm loving every minute of it!

I'm just seeing how to upload videos to this blog. This video is of Cadence at her school's "field day" the last week of school. I never knew she could HULA HOOP like that! I came straight home & bought her a hula hoop to play with here at home. She loves it.

A Day at the Lake

Today I took the kiddos to the lake with some friends. Stausee Biersdorf out here is beautiful this time of year & the weather couldn't have been better. The kids played at the little playground there...Lorien managed to fall off the highest point of the teeter-totter at one point (but she was fine), & Taya enjoyed the odd construction cones spread all around the park area. A friend of mine took Cadence & Lorien out on the lake in a paddle boat as well. We had a blast, but now we're all tired. That much sun drains you. As I write this, all 3 girls are "DEAD ASLEEP" on the couch. I can't get them up for the life of me. Cutie pies!

Hair Today....Gone Tomorrow

It always drove me crazy growing up when I wanted to cut my hair off & my whole family would cringe at the very idea. My hair was down to my knees for heaven's sake. I dreamed of the wind whisping through my short locks, but it never happened. I always got the "NO!" when I asked. I hated that. But now that I'm a mother, I'm beginning to understand why my own mom did things the way she did. Cadence has been begging to get her hair cut short for 4 months now & I've consistently told her "this summer..." to postpone it as long as I could. Well, now that summer is here, she began asking again. In the back of my mind I remember those feelings myself when I was her age & finally I decided to let her make the choice herself. I took her to Rosie's today & she told Rosie "I want it just like my mom's!" I gasped & Rosie looked at me with huge eyes questionably. "Do it!" I cringed as every lock of hair fell from her pretty little head, but it's her hair & it's time I let her choose how it's done (within reason, of course). In the end I stared at her in unbelief. She doesn't look like my darling little baby anymore. It's definitely going to take some getting used to. She looks like a big girl, a more mature girl. I don't know if I like that or not, but I can get used to it. The cut is adorable, just mature...& it's perfect for summer. It's kind of funny how BLONDE her hair looks right up next to her PALE PALE skin. I styled it two ways when we got home....curled with a curling iron & then flat with a flat iron. Both are adorable. Little sweetie! You're beautiful! I love you!

CAMP TONSOFUN!

Well, this entire week I tried an experiment with my family. I decided to do a "summer camp" with them the week after school got out that would not only get the "family" ready for summer, but the house as well. So at Family Home Evening we sat down & the girls came up with a name for our camp: "Camp Tonsofun!" We dedicated a full week to spring cleaning in fun ways.

I gave each of them a string & for every chore they completed they got to put a bead on their necklace. At the end of the week, they had full necklaces.

I planned the week out so that we had one big cleaning "project" to complete each day (painting the walls, cleaning the "haunted house" aka under the stairs, clutter scavenger hunt, etc.)

I also set up routines with each of the girls & they made charts for themselves so they know what needs to get done each morning when they get up & each night before they go to bed.

We mixed it up a little by making our beds blindfolded & cleaning the toyroom with our legs tied together.

We did a camp craft each day as well to break up the "work." And then each night for dinner we spotlighted one member of the family. I made that member their favorite dinner & we each told that person what we loved most about them as we ate dinner together. Each night we did a fun activity together after dinner (made up a skit, played video games, played kick the can, went to a movie, etc.).

And then on Saturday we had our field day full of fun competitions (bubble blowing, hula hooping, water balloon volleyball, keep away, etc.) followed by awards.

It was SO MUCH FUN....I mean, "TONSOFUN!!" and we'll now make it a family tradition.

White Canvas!

So, we've spent this entire week spring cleaning in a fun family camp setting we called "Camp Tonsofun!" We've had a blast & got a ton accomplished in 5 days' time. One of the projects we

completed was painting all the walls on the inside of the house so they are nice & white again (no more crayons, pens, scuffs, black, fingerprints, etc.). The walls looked awesome, but it proved to be too tempting for the little one. To her, it was a FRESH NEW WHITE CANVAS! Little pill! I tell you...she is a stinker! LOOK AT THAT FACE!!

But we still love her!! Look at this cute face!

Cheese Gone Wrong!!

Okay, so seriously....what exactly are we eating when we buy that shredded parmesan cheese in the refrigerated section of our grocery store? I have the Olive Garden recipe for their alfredo sauce, & I make it for Trek because it's his favorite. I've always used that nasty "powdered" parmesan in the spaghetti section of the store & it's turned out fine. But I found pre-shredded parmesan this time & thought, "WOW!! This will make it taste even better than the fake stuff!" Yeah, right! So...I made the sauce according to the recipe like I've always done. I threw in my 1/2 pound of parmesan and THIS is what happened!

It literally became GLUE in the bottom of my sauce! I scooped this out with one giant scoop! It all stuck together easily & plopped down on the plate. Needless to say, I didn't eat dinner last night (even though the "glue" was gone). I just couldn't. The rest of the family loved it though.

Where do I begin?

So, hi!!! And welcome to my "krazy kingdom", also known as my crazy life with four crazy children & my wonderful husband who I sometimes count as one of the kids. Let me introduce you to my royal subjects...

First, there's me. I go by several names: Dani, honey, Mrs. Potter, Sister Potter, but more commonly...MOM, Mommy, Ma (pronounced m--a [a as in apple]), or as my oldest calls me: THE EVIL QUEEN that ruins EVERYTHING!

Next we have the King of our Kingdom...Trek. He's been my Knight in Shining Armor for almost 8 years now. He goes by several names as well: Trek, Trekkie, Buddy, Lt. Potter (military man), but most commonly...Dad, Daddy, & Ma (also pronounced m--a [a as in apple]). But for some reason, he doesn't get the whole "evil" vibe from the kids. He's perfect in every way

according to them (well, to me too). He's very good at "being" like a kid when the kids are around which is why I sometimes consider him one of the kids. He keeps me young!

Now we'll move on to the kids. Princess #1 is named Cadence. She also goes by a few nicknames..."The Boof" from daddy & "Angel Girl" from me. She is currently 6 years old going on 18. All I can say is she's going to be trouble when those precious teenage years creep in. Th boys already love her. She is a neat freak & has to have everything perfect in every way. She's smart as a whip & you have to be careful because she catches on to things MUCH TOO WELL for a girl of her age.

Princess #2 is named Lorien. Where have you heard that name before? Yes, we named our child after the Elven forest in Lord of the Rings. But the word Lorien in Elvish means "perfection" & "beauty." She also answers to "The Bug" from daddy & "Baby Doll" from me. She is 4 years old & acts 4 years old. (Thank heavens) She's our little clutzy girl & is always walking into doors, walls, & trees. But she really truly enjoys life. Everything is about having fun to her. If somebody asked her to jump off a bridge she would ask "Is it fun?" rather than "Is it safe?" (typical Cadence questioning) and BAM, she'd be in the water....probably after hitting her head on something in the process.

Princess #3 (yes we have 3 little princesses in our kingdom) is Taya. She answers to "The Squick" from daddy & "Princess" from me. She will be 2 the end of September & she is going to be the death of me. Talk about terrible 2's! This kid knows how to push my every button. From throwing poop down the stairs to emptying 5 gallons of water on my kitchen floor in 1 minute flat...she keeps me on my toes. HOWEVER, for being a little terror, she has got to be the cutest little thing you've ever seen! She has this cherub face that you could just kiss over & over again.

And finally, we have our little prince....although at this point he's more like a dragon spitting milk (instead of fire) all over everything he comes in contact with. Bladen is almost 2 months old! He has no nicknames yet (we do call him "little man" because he does indeed look like a little old man), but it usually takes a year for a good one to develop entirely. I can't tell you much about him yet...because I don't know much yet. He poops & he cries & he cries & he poops. And we love him more than anything.

So there you have it! Welcome to our KRAZY KINGDOM!