And the lucky winner of all my money is....

ZARA!  Take a look at the following and you will see why.  Dear Jared, are you ready for this???

Its PINK!

We are all in shock.  This baby is a GIRL!!!!!!   AAAAAAAHHHHHGHGGGHHGHHHH!

My reaction: "I don't know how to do hair!"

Jared's reaction: "How will we protect her!?"

The boys were all super happy.  I was tickled with how excited they were.

Then last night Tyson had a concern.  "Mom, I feel bad for our baby girl.  I mean come on!  Who has FOUR older brothers!?"  I just told him I can think of several young ladies who do and from what I can tell, they are seriously loved and protected ladies.

I am over the moon, as you can guess.  I know I would have been happy for a boy again but come on!  Now I will get to shop on the pink side, which has heretofore been known as "the Dark Side."

Total joy.  :) :) :)

11.11.11

Marabeth is obsessed with the number 11.  And cupcakes.  And she is amazing at getting people together and having fun.  Combine those things, consider the date and you have a reason to celebrate! (I work for Hallmark on the side.)

Halloween Happened - 2011

In spite of my efforts to the contrary, things keep happening.  Alas, Halloween was a fun day and here is the proof.

This year was pretty easy costume-wise, thank goodness.  Will wanted to be Sherlock Holmes, which just involved teaching him to say "Elementary, my dear Watson" and giving him my tweed coat to wear plus a great hat and a homemade cape.  Oh and a magnifying glass.  Tyson wanted to be Cookie Monster, purportedly because can do such a great imitation of the voice.  He borrowed the hat from a friend, found blue clothing and painted his own face blue with some blue eyeshadow.  He insisted on tilting his head down for all pictures...   Zach decided to dress as Harry Potter at the last minute.  He was very cute and had that fact verified to him by a group of teenage girls, which absolutely left him beaming.  Oliver stayed home with me but was dressed in the boys' old froggy suit and was adorable!

We had an awesome crowd at the house and enjoyed food and general silliness.   Baby 5.0 and I
are sooooo glad its cider and pumpkin cake season!

And then there is this mildly disturbing photo.

Last but not least, here is what I did with the loot.

I'm not sure how this idea was born but it is working out great for us.  First, I told the boys to pick their top ten favorite treats that they could keep and not share and eat at will.  This was soon negotiated to 11. :)  Then we sorted all the candy and ranked it in order of yumminess.  Next, we assigned the candy a Monopoly money value and made a chart depicting how the boys can "earn money."  Their tasks are just their everyday things we ask them to do, like practice instruments, do chores, read, etc...  I am loving this system because the candy is leaving slower, hence no upset tummies or sugar buzzes.  I also love the motivation it added to our daily routine.  I was the banker at first and now I just kinda watch and let them work it on the honor system.  And yes, there is a parental tax on the candy still.  Ha!