Once there was a snowman....

Once there was a snowman...tall, tall, tall.

But in the sun he melted...small, small, small.

This is what was left of the kids snowman just hours after they made him. Hard to believe it was the same day, the weather was so different!

We woke up to cold and snow! The kids begged to play in it, although it was only inches deep. First snowfall of the season and we haven't even hit Halloween yet! It's a little early. The kids said, "Santa is coming!" Ha ha! I guess a little snow will make it feel more like the Christmas season. I have felt the sudden urge to do a little holiday shopping myself!

Brian was on his way out to D.C. and when I texted him the weather report, he responded with" it's beginning to look a lot like....Halloween?" What season are we in anyway?

I think I felt the premonition of our last days of good weather on Sunday and Brian and I took the kids to play and bike around at the park. Turns out we were right, for this week anyway! Look at the sun and short sleeve shirts! It doesn't seem right that you can take pictures in the same week that look like two completely different seasons! Zoey's mind may change like the weather, and in Utah, that's a totally correct statement!

This picture caught my attention as it accompanied an article on motherhood. It seemed to speak my language...like looking at that picture made me feel like it described my life!  The article was titled "Things Not to say to a Frazzled Mom." As I read through the article, I chuckled a little along with the writer because I felt the same way recently. I am wearing those shoes!

 Here is a little of what she wrote:

SALT LAKE CITY — This last week was very busy for our family. It was filled with soccer games, gymnastics and dance classes, Scout meetings and parent-teacher conferences. To add to it, my husband was working late every night, allowing for no chance for me to go to the grocery store alone.

We needed food, and paying a babysitter to watch the kids while I shopped would have completely negated any money-saving efforts. So, I did what I needed to: I loaded all five of them up and took them with me.

Now, generally speaking, my kids are pretty well-behaved, but on this particular day I would have had a difficult time convincing even the most gullible of people that this was the case.

When we rounded the first corner, we caught the eye of an older gentleman. I knew it was coming; I could almost say it right along with him: "Are those all yours?" My first thought was that I should have said it along with him; that way I could yell “jinx,” which would have shut him up right then and there.

My next thought was to be smart and say, "No, I just make it a habit of picking up all the neighbor kids and bringing them to the store with me." However, being that I was taught to be kind and respectful, I smiled and said, “Yes.”

We continued our shopping, being the brunt of many judging looks and pitying smiles. Then we actually got to the check-out line somewhat victorious — meaning my children were all still within the general vicinity of the cart, they all still had their shoes on, and I managed to not get any “extra” items put in the cart.

It was all downhill from there. I know the stores put all those goodies at the check-out line for a reason, and it is malicious and mean. I know for a fact that a mother was not behind that decision.

Needless to say, all heck broke loose. All five of my children had the worst case of the “gimmie-gimmies” in the history of ... well, ever. I looked back at the lady behind us, and out of her mouth came the mother of all (dumb) comments: “You've got your hands full, don't you?”

That's it? Out of all the things you could have said, you stated the obvious? Clever, Miss. Very clever.

I was about to say just this when I was snapped back into reality by the sound of Skittles spilling all over the floor. We were quickly whisked away as to make room for clean-up efforts to ensue.

The sight of my cracker-adorned car had never been more welcomed.

I know I am not alone in having experiences like these. All too often, parents of large families are bombarded with rude and thoughtless comments that, although sometimes unintentional, prove to be hurtful and often demeaning.

Please, when you see a mother or father who seem to have their “hands full,” be thoughtful in what you choose to say to them. If it is not uplifting or encouraging, just don't say it.

However, I have had times when individuals have seized this opportunity as one to encourage and positively lighten the situation.

I love it when older couples smile at us and say things like, “Those were the good times,” or when they point out how cute my kids are and tell me that it does get easier. My mother once told me of a time when an older gentleman said, “Hands full now, hearts full later.”

My favorite uplifting comment made to me was from my sweet sister-in-law. Upon hearing the news that we were expecting our fourth child in as many years — while she was undergoing fertility treatments to conceive her first, and had every right to be resentful — so lovingly said, “Babies are always good news.”

Please, when you see a mother or father who seem to have their “hands full,” be thoughtful in what you choose to say to them.

If it is not uplifting or encouraging, just don't say it. If you can't think of anything to say, a simple smile will suffice. After all, as the saying goes, “A smile is worth a thousand words.”

We are all doing our best, and in my experience that is more than enough.

I could go on and on with my own similar experiences but since this post is already long enough, I just wanted to say THANK YOU to my Mom who has realised my hands are full...and instead of just mentioning the obvious, she has stepped in and helped me out. She comes once a week so I can get out of the house without the car full of kids to run errands, get groceries, attend Dental/Doctor appointments, and other needed things by myself. I can't mention enough how helpful it is!!

What I know now is that I can never look at a mother with her hands full and not want to help out!

Halloween Party

We had a Halloween party we attended last Saturday. The kids had such a blast we were tempting to call it "Halloween" for the year! ha ha. Too bad they are getting just old enough to be too smart for such trickery from their parents. Eli loved "spooky,spooky, ghost" a Halloween rendition of "duck,duck, goose" and the older kids loved the piñata.

 Zoey and I went as witches. Here is Zoey using her very best "Witch" face :) She held her hat on her head most the evening so it wouldn't blow off from the wind or while running around...

 Calvin is in the infamous turtle costume! All four kids have been this turtle for their first Halloween, so it has a lot of sentiment behind this cute costume. I loved seeing him in it! his cheeks filled out nicely making him look all the more the part of a turtle.

 Without prior planning, all the Gray girls dressed as witches. Here we are in our hats and dresses and scary poses!

These are just the desserts that were treated with. The party food was catered and very yummy. We had meal in a pumpkin (much like my moms), bread, potatoes, salad....and lots and lots of Halloween treats. Eli had a cookie every time I looked at him, and since the table was just the right height, presenting the food at his eye level- how could he resist?

Fire Drill and Friendship Week

The last week before fall break, Jackson had fire safety week at school. I got to attend the field trip to the local fire station with him as the culminating activity. It was an exciting week! 

Then on Sunday, someone pulled the fire alarm at church and we had  an exciting fire drill interrupt our Sacrament Meeting. It was kind of fun, to be honest! Eli made sounds as loud and as real as the fire alarm so that once we had congregated back safely to our seats, people around us thought it was going off again. It was funny. 

We had been planing to do our own home fire drill for FHE, so the very next day, we had some practices and taught the kids how to make it out of the house, where to meet, what to do, what not to do...all the things they'd need to know. It was a great run through. Eli was really afraid of the fire alarm. 

For our "Dessert Activity" we made a spooky haunted gingerbread house. It was all a very fun time. The Haunted house no longer exists, I'm sad to report. It has been eaten. I figured it would, so I'm not too bothered by it. I was just waiting for it to happen, and it happened sooner than I expected. I thought they'd pick at it slowly until it was wasted away. But no. I was taking a shower this morning and found it shredded to pieces when I made it downstairs. And the kids all had marks of orange and black frosting to prove "who dunnit" :)

This week also starts the first day of our ward friendship week. This year, we have three widows and a less active/ part-member family. We started the week of nightly gift giving by leaving some cheery fall flowers. The rest of the week has poems and gifts that go along with each night. The kids totally loved doorbell-ditching! I love this tradition because I love the feeling of helping brighten someone's day. 

 Our secret friends left the kids face masks to wear and make. The LOVED it!! Such a fun idea!

our poems: 

(Day 1: Flowers)

(Day2: given with canned peaches and recipe)

The week of Friendship has just begun,

And we hope you’ll enjoy our gifts of fun.

You may ask, “Who treats us so well?”
But that is our secret and we’ll not tell!

We’ll give you clues as to who we are,

The first one is -- we don’t live far!

Another clue, in this poem we will sneak,

To help you guess by the end of the week.

We like to camp and Dutch-oven cook,

We’ll share a recipe from our family cook book.

And so we leave you with a small gift and rhyme,

We canned these peaches just in time!

                                                               

Enjoy!

Peach cobbler

Ingredients:

½ cup butter, softened

2 cups flour

4 tsp, baking powder

1 cup milk

1 quart canned fruit

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375. Grease a 9x13 baking dish. Mix dry ingredients together and cut in butter until the mixture resembles oatmeal texture. Add milk and mix thoroughly. Spread batter evenly on the bottom of the baking dish. Add the canned fruit with juice on top. Bake for 45 minutes or until knife inserted comes out clean.

  

(Day 3: given with home-canned slasa and chips)

Although we now claim Utah our home,

Once on the plains of Texas we roamed.

If you’ve ever traveled to the heart of the South,

You’ll know what South’ners like to put in their mouth!

Preparing good food is nothing short of an art,

So for today’s gift we leave you our part.

Salsa is one thing that we love to eat,

We hope for you it’s not too much heat!

You may look for this jar in stores near and far,

But it can only be found where they fly the Lone Star.

We hope you enjoy this gift and our poem,

As we leave behind something of us in your home.

(We like it served warm, cantina style, with chips, or over eggs, in tortilla soup, nachos-- you name it!)

(Day 4: Given with bag of BYU mint candies)

We have many reasons to like BYU,

Our majors were Health and History too.

It hasn’t been long since we were students with books,

Now they collect dust in corners and nooks.

You’ve heard of the saying, “To thine own self be true,’

And that’s why we’re loyal to the white and the blue.

We’re fans of the cougars, through and through

And to the athletes who play for BYU.

Have you narrowed it down to a half dozen families at best?

If this clue doesn’t help you, just wait for the rest!

Day 5: fall basket of apples and carmel dip) 

Day 6: given with pumpkin dish filled with candies)

The man of the house has a truly ‘green thumb,’

While She is learning just how gardening is done.

We’ve grown all sorts of food in our garden,

This year, we grew lots of pumpkins for carvin’

We have plenty of pumpkins, we’d love to share,

But you’ll have to come move it yourself if you dare!

Our pumpkins are too big to move within reason,

Instead is a dish you can use through the season J

(Day 7: reveal ourselves with "last act" of box of microwave ACT popcorn) 

Our oldest boy is clever and funny

He likes to do chores and spend all his money J

Our girl is active and never a bore,

Appropriate for her age, she’s almost four!

We have a boy who just turned two,

He copies what other people can do.

Our youngest just started to solid-food eat,

He has rolls and a laugh that can’t be beat!

The man of the house works in Lindon, not far,

You might see him in a red truck- not driving a car!

His wife cooks and she cleans and gets the kids dressed,

All on less than a full-night’s sleep of rest! J

Have any clue yet as to who we are?

If you have—you’re a real shining star!

Calvin is 5 months!

The big milestone Calvin hit this month is starting solid foods! 

I was planning to wait until Calvin was six months to put him on solids (since he's had signs of food allergies and it was recommended by our pediatrician to breast feed until 6 months to minimize potential food allergies), but he was just starving! I had to nurse him every 2 hours....so I caved and gave him some rice cereal and he's been the happiest baby since! 

He can't get enough. We've tried bananas and butternut squash and he's been happy with them all. He's chunking out and has fun rolls around his legs and arms. He's cooing and making a lot of fun vocal noises. I need to record that on video, because he's got the happiest baby sounds! I love it! He's also starting to roll around. It's very fun to see him try so hard. He loves his jumper and rattles and toys.

This is the stage of babies that I really enjoy and from here until their first birthday, they grow up so fast!