Having a Bad Day

After coming home from school and doing her homework, Shelby asked if she could play Xbox. I said sure, but she could only play for 30 minutes. I made sure to check what time she started. When there was about 5 minutes left, I told her. Well, she'd not started the timer when she was supposed to and she thought she still had 21 minutes left. I had to remind her that it's 30 minutes from when she starts NOT from when she starts the timer. She tried to do a mission on her game, but ended up running out of time. She started getting upset and refused to turn off the Xbox, so I had to start counting to get her to turn it off (which is a BIG no-no in our house and can lead to losing Xbox privileges).



I think she must have been a little tired that day because usually we don't have these kind of problems, but she got upset and went upstairs in her room to cry. Well, her sisters love being with her, especially after she's been at school all day, so not too long after she went upstairs, Taylor and Payden went up and joined her. She was NOT happy. She kept telling them to leave and to leave her alone, but they wouldn't. She finally came downstairs and grabbed a piece of paper and pencil. By this time Tom had come home from school. We asked her what she was doing, and she said she was making a sign for Taylor and Payden. Here's what it looked like:

"Do not climb up the ladder. P.S. Dad and Mom will get you if you come up."

"Do not disturb."

"Go away."

Well poor Shelby just has mean parents because when we saw the sign, we busted up laughing. It was SOOOOOO cute and SOOOOOO funny. By this time, it was time to start the movie Tom had gotten to watch with them, so she calmed down and the sign never got used. It was funny though. Poor girl. She doesn't usually have meltdowns, but you can always tell when she's tired because things get so hard for her. Oh, and can you guess who took the pictures of the sign? . . . Shelby. Funny girl.

Poor Boy

This is what happens when you have 3 older sisters and you poop on your last clean blanket . . .

Our Halloween House . . . Finally!!

During September, I bought Wilton's Haunted Halloween House for us to decorate during October. Well, it took us FOREVER, but we finally got around to decorating the house. The girls were so excited. Of course they got extremely excited when they found out we'd be decorating the house, but it took a bit for us to get everything together, so they sat around waiting and waiting. Payden has had lots of allergies lately and is continually picking her nose, so she did that to fill her time. I also caught her numerous times throughout picking her nose.





Shelby and Taylor decided to listen to Tom's new iPod while they waited. Tom won that iPod at the Army booth at the American Dental Association's annual meeting the day before. We never win anything, so it was awesome to win an iPod. Shelby was so excited to use it and kept showing me each and every song. It was too funny.

The way we do this is I make the icing and take pictures and get the supplies while Tom, the artsy one, decorates the house with the girls; I really like how we have it set up and things go so smoothly. This year we were smart enough to do one of the sides first so that the icing wouldn't drip down. The girls were just crazy with anticipation as Tom drew on the windows and door.

Of course, Payden had to climb on the table, so she could see (and eat the candy).

Taylor ended up climbing on the table, too, so that she could reach the house and be a part of everything. Once Tom finished drawing everything on that side, the decorating began.

It was so crazy with all the hands putting candy on the house, but they did a good job of being patient with each other and with not getting upset.

After they finished the other sides of the house, they set to work on the roof. I had to smile at Tom because I would have just quickly put the icing on, but he took the time to make lines in the roof (again that's why he's doing it and not me).

Thankfully, Declan fell asleep in the swing as we got started, so we were able to decorate without any interruptions from him. I am amazed that he can sleep around the girls because they are always soooooo loud, but generally it doesn't seem to bother him.

As Tom added more decorations to the house, Taylor went to take a look. I thought she was so cute standing there watching.

Finally we got out the extra icing we'd bought . . . yeah I don't make my own :) . . . and tinted it green to put down as grass.

By this time, Payden had been done decorating the house for a while and decided instead to come "help" me with dishes.

After they were done, I had them get on the table to take a picture with the house. At first they were all sitting up, but with skirts on I just couldn't get them to keep modest. It didn't help that Payden and Taylor kept trying to tickle Shelby. I finally had them get down on their tummies and was able to get an okay shot.

So here is our creation:

I'm so glad we do this each year. It's such a fun tradition. It's wonderful doing things as a family, and it's the projects like these that make the holidays even more fun.

Photo Session with Kids

We had a birthday party to go to today that was going to be a little carnival outside. I decided to pull the girls' hair back in French braids to keep it out of their way. This was Payden's first time in French braids, so I decided to take a shot of the 3 of them. Taking this shot of them was pretty easy.


Getting a shot of the front of them was a typical photo session with kids . . . taking many, many shots before you get a halfway decent shot.




I don't know what Shelby and Taylor are doing with their mouths, but this was a good shot, we needed to go, and I was done trying to get them to pose for me. Crazy kids!!

Date Night

Friday night we had a date planned, so one of my old Laurels came over to babysit. We were just going to take Declan like usual because I nurse and he's still so little. Well, it was about 8:15, and he was already asleep. He'd been falling asleep for the night around 8ish lately, and so was probably already asleep for the night. Tom didn't want to take him and our babysitter was willing to watch him, so I nursed him and laid him in his swing because it would be an easy way to get him back to sleep if he woke up. Well, through the nursing and everything he stayed asleep. We figured he would be okay, and so we left for out date . . . just the 2 of us. It was SOOOOO weird. Here I am with a newborn and I nurse, and I'm actually out of the house on a date without him. Now we left instructions to call us if he woke up and seemed hungry, and, since we'd only be 15 minutes away, we could come back really easily. We also showed her the spare bottle and formula, which I always keep until I'm done nursing. So off Tom and I went to eat dinner. We had a delicious dinner at Macaroni Grill, and then headed off to the theater to catch a movie. As we sat in the theater waiting for the movie to start I texted our babysitter to see if everything was okay. It was. When we got home after the movie it was about 4 hours from when we left and everyone - all 4 kids - were still asleep (even the babysitter was asleep. :); she felt bad but I know my kids are all quite capable of making themselves heard if they need something). It was so weird and so crazy that we actually got to go on a date all on our own, but it was also so nice!!!!! Thanks to Claudia for babysitting and thanks to Declan for being such a wonderful baby and thanks to my girls for going to sleep and not waking back up. What a wonderful night!!

Do You Need Some Antiques?

Do you need some antiques? We know where you can get some. The road we took to get to the Blue Bell factory was FILLED with antique signs. FILLED!!!! On the way back, Tom decided we needed to take pictures of them. Since I was in the back helping out Declan, that left Tom to drive and take the pictures. By no means did he get all of the signs. I think I deleted about 10 shots where he snapped the picture to late, and then there were tons of ones that he just didn't even see in time to get the camera ready. Anyways, here's our ode to the antique signs on the way to Brenham, TX . . .

Declan's Many Faces

In true Orme fashion, Declan loves to make faces. On the way to the Bluebell Ice Cream factory I'd occasionally have to go back and sit by Declan. He was making faces, so I decided to snap some pictures of them. I think they're too cute, and they make me laugh. Keep it up Declan . . . you're definitely following in your dad's footsteps.

Concerned Face:



Puffed Up Cheek Face:



Half-Smile:



Talking to Me Face:



Full-Blown Smile:



Happy-Talking Face:



Hidden-Lip Face:



Full Lip Face:



Small Lip Face:



Sticking My Tongue Out Face:

BlueBell Ice Cream Factory

Since Tom didn't have school because of the ADA meeting, we decided to go see the Blue Bell Ice Cream Factory. We dropped Shelby off at school, and then, once we were ready, we picked her up and headed out. Of course the girls watched movies while Declan slept on and off. At one point when I was in the back seat calming Declan Tom told me to grab the camera and snap a picture of Payden. This is what she was doing:

I then decided to snap a shot of everyone . . .

First, goofy smile Payden

Second, big Shelby. She looks SOOOOOO big in this picture. I was shocked when I saw it. I wonder if I just think of her as small because I'm her mom because I definitely don't think she's as big as she looks in this picture.

Third, big-eyed Taylor.

And fourth, drool-chinned Declan (he's my first drooler).

After a LONG drive (we got stuck behind a work crew going about 10 mph . . . AHHHH), we finally made it to the creamery. We got there around 1:30 and the next tour was at 2, so we had a little time to kill. I took the girls potty, and then Tom and I switched so that I could feed Declan. He and the girls headed outside because being with the girls in the gift shop while waiting was NOT a good idea. It was good because I think they were able to burn off a lot of energy by running around. Tom got a shot of Declan and me as we came out to find them.

Here are the girls standing outside part of the factory. Those were also the lawns the girls ran around on while we waited.

Just before 2 we headed into the factory. The tour started in a little theater where we watched a video about how the factory got started. They really did a nice job with the film. It was short and funny. Perfect for our girls. After that we headed into the factory. We got to see how the ice cream was made. The girls really did an awesome job. We were afraid they'd get bored, but Shelby and Payden would just sit at the windows watching the whole process. Taylor would look for a bit and then kind of go off and do her own thing, but she was still fairly calm and not bothersome to the other people, so we were happy. At one point, Shelby and Taylor had found a spot at the windows, but the spots on either side of them were taken by an adult who was looking on. Payden just went up to the man standing next to Taylor and pushed herself in front of him. Tom and I thought it was too funny. She definitely knows what she wants and is not going to let someone get in her way. After the tour, we headed down to the ice cream shop attached to the gift shop and got our free ice cream . . . soooooo delicious. The girls really had an awesome time, and you can't beat free ice cream, especially if you haven't had lunch yet, so you get ice cream for lunch.

After the tour, we decided to take a few more pictures of the things outside the factory (you can't take pictures while on the tour). Here is one of the old-timey delivery trucks.

They got these hats after the tour. Payden LOVED wearing it, but it kept falling off, and so she'd smush it back on her head and walk around. Needless to say, the hat was demolished by the time we got to the car.

There was a statue of 3 men looking at clipboards. I'm not totally sure why they had these statues made, but we headed over to take a picture with them. Payden turned to look at us, and it was so cute. Of course you can tell who's putting her hat on her head, and there was definitely no allowing Mom and Dad to fix it (she's definitely 2).

Finally we got a shot of them in front of the three men . . . I guess I should have read the inscription to see what it was all about.

On every bucket of Bluebell Ice Cream is their logo - a girl pulling a cow. Taylor was DYING to go see the statue of their logo and of course we had to take a picture with it. You can tell who set up this shot . . . the girls are milking the cow . . . Tom of course.

As we started to head back to the car, Tom had us stop to get a picture in front of the factory.

While snapping that picture, the girls caught sight of a train, so we made one last stop before we headed to the car.

On the way to the car, Tom and the girls played Follow the Leader and jumped, hopped, skipped, crazy-walked all the way to the car. It was fun to watch.

It was a fun family outing, and we love doing these sorts of things. There's a few more things we're hoping to do before we finish here in Texas, so it was fun to be able to check this off.