Boo! Did I scare ya?

Every morning I get greeted by the same scary surprise. Hannah, without fail, will try to sneak into my room, the kitchen, the bathroom when I'm going, anywhere... to try to scare me. It is always "Rarrrr! Did I scare you?" And Jeremy and/or I have to jump a mile, only sometimes faked, and she laughs with complete satisfaction at scaring her old parents. I have to admit, she has her moments where she is really stealth and can genuinely make me jump and that just makes her even more proud of her accomplishment. Tonight, she went so far as to put on a mask in the Walmart toy aisle and then snuck around the corner to scare me. Hannah has always been her own person, but lately her individuality has made me laugh out loud sometimes. Maybe it's the happy, juicy cheeks that make her so endearing, or maybe it's her fun personality, but she is definitely a sweetie!

(On a side note for any who care - I certainly do -Last week she had her first clean urine sample in the past two years. She is finally free from a UTI. It was a glorious doctor's appointment - And I think it has contributed to her happiness. We have finally found something that works and she is so much less stressed, as am I).

Four. No, Five... Who's on first? Who.

(Abby on a normal night doing her homework - all business)

(This is Abby this week - a hysterical, giggling mess)

Every night Abby has reading homework, and a lot of it sometimes. Last week I made our own Abbot and Costello bit. She had a list of words to read and number four was the word FOUR. So when she'd get to it she'd say "four" and I'd say, "yes, I need you to read number 4". Then she'd say "four" and I'd pretend to be annoyed and say again, "yes, do number 4" Then she'd squeal and giggle. This would go on for a few minutes until I had no more witty ways to tease her, so we'd go on to number 5 and so on...

Well this week, she once again had the word four, but it was on the review column of words and this week it was number 5. She was devastated that we'd have no way to joke around with it.

(here's part of her list)

1. way

2. find

3. follow

4. found

5. four

6. full

But her ever so clever mom came through. Here's how it would go down...

Let's read your words, Abby. Start with number 1.

way

number 2

find

number 3

follow

number 4

found

number 5

four

OK, you can do number four again

found

Now do number 5

four

Abby we already did number 4 can you read number 5?

four

No, we're not doing 4 we're doing 5. Please read it.

four

Abby, I'm getting kinda tired of this, Stop arguing with me and do number 5

four

OK we'll go back to number 5 later do number 6...

full...

Ok are you ready to try number 5 again?

four

Forget about it, I quit. Go have your dad help you (At which point, Jeremy takes over the game for the next 10 minutes, until I tell them she really does need to get her homework finished and she goes on, but not before she is hysterical and can hardly breathe from laughing so hard. It will really be a sad week next week when the number four is no longer on her list.

But it beats last year when I'd arrange her sight words to be read in this order - I- like- to- go- do- do... She never really appreciated that one. I've come a long way. And Abigail really does have a great sense of humor. I love that girl!

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever!

We went last weekend to see the play the "Best Christmas Pageant Ever". And it really was the best Christmas pageant ever! It was a children's production and absolutely hysterical. I had recently read the book to the kids not sure if they'd like it, and they loved it. Hannah started counting down the days two weeks prior to the big play. They were all so giddy to go. And believe me, it was no disappointment. I laughed out loud, Laura even snorted once she was laughing so hard, then I bawled, no surprise there. It was amazing. Those kids were so talented. I'd highly recommend anyone in the East Valley go see it this weekend before it goes away. After the play, the kids got to meet some of the actors. Their favorite, by far, was Gladys - the meanest Herdman of them all. They even got their picture taken with her and were a bit surprised that she wasn't mean in real life. At one point Annie asked if she could tell her a secret. She whispered, "Are you the meanest Herdman?" I laughed really hard. I wasn't sure she got anything out of the play at all, but apparently she did.

A good night, a great play with a great perspective on what Mary must have felt like, great company - the Ricedorff's, Laura, John, and Mom and Dad, and a super fun way to bring in the Christmas spirit.

So Thankful

I love Thanksgiving. It seems to be so underrated as a holiday. I love making my Thankful list, the one that my mom started making us make growing up, that I have continued to make every year since. Although, sometimes my list is in my head and not on paper.

Well, this year, my kids have been somewhat whiny lately. They complain about everything, from their clothes, to having to go to church, to what's for dinner. Some of my kids are worse than others, but I'm not naming names. So last night for FHE we continued our lesson from last week in the car about being thankful. We talked about Polyanna and my favorite story from the movie. It's the story where she asks for a doll and the mission sends her a pair of crutches instead. Her dad made up the Glad Game and they found something about the crutches to be glad about. They were glad they didn't have to use them! I love that story and I want to have Polyanna's outlook on life and her gratitude. I fear my kids' ingratitude is coming from their mom. So we decided to make our own family list, but this year we did put it on paper, individual pieces of paper, and then taped them all over the walls, as a reminder of how fortunate we are. The kids have never been so excited or participatory in a FHE. It was one of those FHE's that make up for all the ill prepared ones.

Our walls look something like this -

my family

my bed

the rain

food and clothes

my trike

Jesus

Jeremy's job

Maddix's puppies

friends

The Book of Mormon

my Grandparents

my bike

temple

teachers

America

Atonement

Bishop Fletcher

President Ostler

President Monson

Maddix

aunts and uncles

cousins

Maddix's clothes

my wife

Bodgie

books

my babies

the ten commandments

Mom

Dad

TV/movies

I love the honesty in their answers. I hope our list can continue to grow this week and that we can all be a little more grateful.

Holiday Services

If anybody is looking for any of the following services during the holiday season, please don't go anywhere else. You can come to the Platt home and surely get a bargain. My kids will probably try to charge you a lot, but they're very negotiable.

My kids are offering:

Jake - Hair styling

He's fantastic, and you only lose about half your hair in the process. Multiple ponytails are his specialty, but he also rats and teases.

Hannah - Etiquette Lessons

She will teach you the proper way to act at dinners and family functions

Annie - Fashion lessons

For those who don't know how to accessorize your outfits, Annie's the one for you. She can even show you how to make a leotard look cute over a dress and pants all at the same time. I can't even begin to tell you how many comments (I wouldn't go so far as calling them compliments) she gets each day on her get ups. When she sees clothes she likes, she wears them ALL together

Abby - Photographer

She can come to your house and photograph every messy corner of your home. She also takes great pictures of bums, and nostrils. I haven't posted any of her work due to the fact that I'd be way too embarrassed, and we already have a picture of me with awesome hair. Oh wait, she took the above picture of Hannah.

P.S. - As it turns out, Annie and Hannah are just as good at picture taking as Abby. And Hannah can also come to your home and help you learn how to wear tights with short t-shirts.

Abby - my almost 7 year old with pierced ears

Last year when Abby's birthday was coming up, I asked her if she wanted a party or to go shopping with just her Mama at the mall. She chose the latter. We had a joyous time and even peeked our heads in to Claire's contemplating getting her ears pierced. I had to be 10 to get mine pierced because my mom didn't want to have to care for my ears for me, good logic right? Using that reasoning, I talked her out of it and APPARENTLY I told her we could do it when she turned 7. Leave it to my elephant memory child to not forget something, because a while ago, she started reminding me that that is what she wanted for her birthday.

So last night for FHE, we loaded the family in the van and headed to the mall. On the way there we threw in a little lesson on gratitude and the pilgrims. The kids each took turns saying what they were grateful for. Hannah was the most eager, yelling out 5 things to each person's 1. Jeremy even said, and I quote - "I'm thankful that I saw that cruiser bruiser before anyone else!" Then he hit me. I digress, sorry - back to Abby.

We got to the mall, and we spent a good chunk of time picking out her earrings. Then it came time for her to sit on the chair for the piercing. Jake was rather disappointed that the gun wasn't more intimidating. All were staring at her hoping for some great drama. It didn't happen. Abby took it like a man and did great with the first ear. The second one was a bit more painful I guess, 'cause I could tell she wanted to cry, but she stayed composed and was all smiles as soon as she got to see herself in the mirror.

My camera died right as the girl was getting ready to do the first ear, so I had to wait until this morning to get the after shot.

Happy Birthday, Peanut!

Autumn Time

I'm a little behind with things. In fact, Saturday night it finally caught up to me when I dreamed that I didn't get anything for my kids for Christmas and thought I could trick them into celebrating it a few days late so I could go to K-Mart. I don't even shop at K-Mart. Needless to say, I woke up in a panic. I guess the things that I usually stay caught up on, I haven't been. For instance: I'm way behind in my Reading and Phonics Class. My house is a mess. I haven't made my detailed Christmas list yet. I haven't even mentioned Halloween on the blog and we hadn't made our annual Caramel Apples.

So here goes...

Halloween was fantastic. As I mentioned before, we had some flip flopping on our costumes, but we ended up with a solid Halloween and all the kids were happy with their costumes. We had our ward Trunk or Treat and Chili cook-off. It was great fun and such a fast and easy way to trick-or-treat. Then we headed off to my mom and dad's house to bug them for the second time that evening. We looted their neighborhood and the kids made out with a ton of candy. When Hannah was asked if she got any candy, she replied, "Too much candy!" Annie didn't have much candy in her bag when we got home. She would get a treat at a house, and as she'd walk away she would be opening the wrapper and eating the treat. I'm pretty sure she littered all her trash as she'd walk down the walk because there were no wrappers in her purse.

On Sunday we enjoyed a quiet evening passing out candy at home. That was a first for our family. Hannah gave out huge handfuls to every one that came our way until I had to fire her and take the job over myself.

The kids

Steve Nash -with a nasty wig that never did comb down like Nash's hair.

Belle - who ended up looking like a homeless kid. She shed her shoes and picked up a coat that she got quite dirty with chocolate drool. At least I got her to take off the black and hot pink dress she was wearing under her costume. Score a small victory for me.

A pink witch -Hannah got a hold of my blush before the partying began. She looked sunburned.

A vampire - with awesome crimped hair and black hair spray and no fangs because they hurt her mouth.

Annie and Keelie - the Princesses

Last night we decided that it was better late than never to make Caramel Apples. I think the kids enjoy the event of making them better than eating them. They all ate about 6 bites and quit, but they had fun making them (not like it's even hard to do- that's something Hannah would say). Jeremy and I kept reminiscing back to our second October in NY when Abby was just about a year old. We made caramel apples and she went to town on one. She ate it all and left only the stick behind. My all time favorite picture is of her chowing down on an apple, her mouth wide open, caramel dripping and drool oozing from her mouth. She was so darn cute as a baby -still is for that matter.

Jake

Annie

Hannah

Abby - notice the wrap on her wrist. She was crying that her wrist hurt, so Jeremy wrapped a towel around it and tied it with a shoelace. All Better! Best placebo cure ever!

The Girls - Our caramels didn't come with sticks this year, so we improvised and used spoons.