I lay in bed doing calculations in my head. Over the past 5 years, actually a little less, (57 months) I have been pregnant for 30 of those months. That is more than HALF the time! 3 Kids in 3 years and 4 months. Here is the breakdown: F/W '02 Pregnant with Ellie. Fall '03 Ellie arrives. F/W '04 pregnant with Caden. F/W '05 Caden is 3 months old. F/W '06 pregnant with Max. F/W '07 Max is 8 months old. Now I know why I have NO Fall / Winter clothes. Seriously! And the few things I do have are too big :) b/c I got them just 3 months after having my 2nd baby. The reason why I was agonizing over this when I should be sleeping is because I spent hours this weekend trying to shop for clothes. I ended up with 1 shirt and a skirt/blouse for church. I have no idea what my "style" is or what I like or what looks good. And because I have being buying pretty much "disposable" clothes for the past 5 years since my body has been constantly changing I have a really hard time spending lots of $$$ on an outfit. Sure I found some things I liked but I'm not going to spend upwards of $60 on a shirt. We don't have a mall here so keep in mind my selections are limited. I really really need some new clothes but am frustrated b/c it has been so hard to find anything. And I don't know what is up with all these baby doll shirts. I am NOT pregnant, WHY would I want to wear something that makes me look/feel pregnant????

But on a lighter note Caden snuck into the garage refidgerator while I was getting ready for church this morning and ate through 3 popsicles :) Ellie knew he was in there and didn't say anything!!! Thats what we get for teaching her not to tattle.

I love fall. The food, the smells, the colors, the weather. Not to mentions the holidays and birthdays :) This is my favorite time of year. The leaves have changed, the mountains have snow and the temps have dropped (high 50s day, mid 30s night). We had Sunday pot roast for dinner, I made pumpkin bread friday, and I have clam chowder on my menu this week. MMMmmmmm . . comfort food. I love to wear sweats, snuggle up with a blanket and watch all the premiers of my favorite shows. I get to wear jeans and sweaters and all my favorite colors (brown, red, green, orange, black). And with the shorter days I actually manage to get in bed at a reasonable time. Whats not to love?

I seriously can't deal with a 2 year olds irrational behavior. My past hour has gone something like this. Caden screams "Breakfast!" I tell him he already had breakfast, but ask if he would like something else? A bannana? Caden agrees, I tell him to go sit down. He screams because I put the bannana on a black napkin instead of a white one. I put the bib on. He screams. He rips it off. So I take the bib and rinse the morning cheerios out and hang it to dry. Caden screams for his bib. I put it back on him. He screams because it is a tiny bit damp. I take it off. He screams because he wants it. I tell him it is wet and offer him 3 other bibs. He screams. He continues screaming because he is cold and needs a bib. You need a bib because you are cold? Seriously, now that he can make sentances he does, but sometimes they don't make sense. I try to explain again that the bib is wet, he is not cold and just eat your bannana. He screams. I put him in time out and threaten to take the bannana away. He screams. I get him out of time out. He gives me a hug. He sits down to eat his bannana and wants a bib. Again I offer 3 bibs. He screams b/c he wants his bug bib. He goes back in time out. He comes out of time out and gives me a hug. He sits down to eat his banana. He asks for a bib. He decides on the "vegetable" one FINALLY! He takes a bite of his bannana FINALLY! He cries for more milk. I explain that he has half a cup of milk. He screams. I tell him to drink his milk. He screams. Finally he drinks his milk. He eats more bananna. His hands get dirty. He screams. I tell him to wipe it on his napkin. He screams because the napkin is black. AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH. And it is only 930 am.

Ellie turned 4 today! She had a Pirate Party to celebrate. Everyone had a lot of fun and tonight when I was putting her in bed she thanked me for the "best birthday ever". And that is what makes it all worth it. :) The party started off with the coolest invitations. I diped paper in coffee to stain it and make it look old. I then printed the invite in Pirate language and used an treasure map with an X as a watermark. I torn and burned the edges for the finishing touches. Ellie & Caden dressed up in their Pirate costumes that I made. They looked so good. I also made a pirate ship cake with cannons, sails, and a pirate and treasure on top. When everyone arrived we decorated their pirate hats with feathers, jewels, and puffy paint. We also colored some pirate pictures. Then we played pin the key on the treasure map. Each kid had a key they tried to pin on the X of a treasure map. They were blindfolded and spun around 3 times. Then we ate lunch. We had hotdogs with sails to make look like a ship and some goldfish "swimming" on the plate. After lunch came the awesome cake. The kids seemed to love it. Then we did the treasure hunt. There were 5 clues to find the buried treasure. Each child got a treasure box with gold coins (plastic and chocolate), necklace, ring, compass, telescope, skull wistle, treasure map, pirate money and an eyepatch. I found the awesome pirate favors at walmart in a party pack and then just added the coins and necklaces. After the treasure hunt the kids came in to open gifts. Ellie got a lot of fun toys. Then everyone went outside to play until the parents came to pick them up. I would say it was a sucess. The only thing that suffered was my poor jute rug under my kitchen table. There was SOOOO much chocolate cake smeared into it. I got it all cleaned up though with my trusty steam vac and now it is just drying. Click below for pics and video from the Party.

Fall has arrived here in Bend. Its dark at 7 and definitely jacket weather in the morning and evenings. I love it! But the shorter days are messing me up. I feel like it 10 pm when it is only 7. And I find myself getting tired much earlier. I had to run some errands today and when I left the house it was already dark. It was weird. But the kids love it. They think I am letting them stay up late every night :)

Caden put 2/3 of a jar of hair wax in his head today. And then repeatedly said Beautiful! But after a couple minutes he realized he didn't like the way it felt with all this goop in his hair. I did manage to get a picture.

Ellies birthday festivites began today. She recieved a package from Grandma S. and opened it (with permission). Thanks for the great gifts! Ellie is boucing off the walls with excitement for her birthday. I don't know if she can wait til Saturday for her party.

Well, Ryan is back and we are all loving it. The kids just can't get enough of him. We basically had a 3 day weekend which was nice. We got some yard work done and basically just spent time hanging out together. I did manage to sneak away for a couple of hours on Friday night for some much needed "me" time.

I sold the 3 costumes so far! And I have had multipe requests for other costumes. I need to get busy sewing. I also need to make Caden his pirate costume this week. Ellie's Pirate Party is on Saturday and I thought Caden should have something to dress up in too.

I love it when babies get to this stage. Max just started sitting up on his own last week. He loves to play with toys and balls. I can't believe he is almost 8 months old. He can't quite maneuver around yet but I'm sure he will be crawling before I know it.

Has it really been six days since my last blog?

I have been staying really busy with the kids and the house since Ryan hasn't been here to help out. By the time I get the kids to bed and the house organized I'm so tired that all I can do is just sit and relax or go to bed myself. Only 2 more days til he comes home. Yeah!

I have had some trying moments with the kids since he has been away. But overall they are great kids and make me smile. Here is a list of my favorite things they have done this week:

1. Ellie "reading" Caden books.
2. Caden standing in Max's crib at 2 a.m. trying to stop him from crying by sharing all his toys
3. Max sitting up on his own and playing with toys
4. Ellie singing primary songs
5. Caden hugging Ellie when she is sad or crying
6. Max laughing and getting really excited every time I feed him "real" food
7. Ellie donating all her piggy bank money to help people that don't have clothes or blankets
8. Caden and Ellie playing picnic or hide-and-seek or pretending to be asleep
9. Ellie drawing pictures and writing ellie loves mom at the top of the page
10. Caden saying "ooohhh beautiful" to ellie when he saw her in her church dress and ellie sooo excited caden had paid her this great compliment.

Crater Lake was awesome. We just drove down there for the day. We left here around 9 and made it there by 11. The lake is so blue. It is the deepest lake in the U.S. and the 7th deepest in the world. They have a really nice campground there too. Next summer we hope to go down and camp then take a boat ride out to the island and around the lake. We drove around the rim but didn't hike down to the water. It is a steep mile hike down on loose gravel. Spectacular views from the rim though.

We did some fun things with Ryan's parents before they left for their cruise. On Saturday we drove up through Sisters. We did a little shopping and had lunch there. Sisters is a quaint little cowboy town that is full of professional artists. It is fun to walk down mainstreet and browse the shops. Then we drove up to Camp Sherman and went to the fish hatchery there. The hatchery is located on the Metolious River. The river is very blue and just beautiful. The hatchery was mostly empty but they did have a pond full of huge trout. The kids loved seeing all the fish. We will have to go back in the spring when the hatchery is at full capacity.