Okay first, I have to admit today was a LONG day – I was feeling so grumpy and tired, and the boys were monkeys, really… I swear they were making as much of an effort as possible to give me a headache… Of course I started on less sleep than absolutely necessary and feeling just increasingly off kilter. I was really really not looking forward to all the Halloween shenanigans tonight… But I know three little monkeys that were – so I gathered my grit and got my little guys all dressed up.

And I have to say – it was really worth it, not only did they have a really great time, but it was SO fun to see them having such a blast. Plus they were little photo posers, it was like a Halloween miracle!

And here is your proof – three boys actually looking at the camera!

And a few more great poses:

Out trick or treating:

And this treasure of Reece REALLY enjoying his loot!

How can an over tired and slightly grumpy pregnant and sick momma NOT smile after a night like that!?! Now I have to rush off to try to get some work done, I am scrambling to finish up a kit for this weekend, and to my surprise I discovered tonight after uploading my pics that the kit will be a PERFECT match! (hehehe and that is all you get on that for now!)

Happy Halloween everyone! We are still fighting off our cold a bit, but i think that we have atleast started to get better instead of worse! So knock on wood we should all be up for a bit of trick or treating tonight and maybe back to feeling like our selves by the end of the week.

Last night g surprised us by coming home from work with 5 pumpkins, all size appropriate for the 5 little members of the Clingerman family… It is something we do every year for halloween since we first got married, and although if he asked me I probably would have said I was just way too tired and overwhelmed for pumpkin carving, I couldn’t be happier that we decided to do them.
The boys were SO excited and so helpful about getting each of their pumpkins carved, and each of them gave daddy detailed instructions on how they wanted their pumpkin to look.

Here is Reece supervising dad’s carving of the the “Angry” pumpkin he requested:

After daddy finished his, he tested it out to see if his face and the Pumpkin’s faces matched, what do you think???

Gareth and Owen worked to draw out their plans for daddy beforehand, here they are working on Owen’s Pumpkin:

Owen’s plans included a pumpkin that was “Surprized.” He gave dad specific instructions on how that should look – including a mouth shaped like an “O.” Here they are demonstrating while they carve:

Gareth drew his whole Pumpkin design on his own, and It included something that was Pokemon related somehow…. but it turned out to be really cute!

And while Daddy carved Gareth’s Pumpkin, I carved up my own little girly momma pumpkin. Ofcourse G carved his own pumpkin too, and all the while the boys admired their work – they were really so excited!

And in the end we had a great family of 5 happy pumpkins – and four very happy boys too!

Ofcourse the mommy behind the camera was very happy too – especially after my whole, life is passing us by post yesterday, it was really really nice to enjoy this special night with my boys!

I’ll be back soon with some cute little dressed up candy seeking boys to show off! I hope everyone has a happy, treat-filled, and only slightly spooky halloween night!

I just found these pictures… look Owen and Reece at the pumpkin patch this year:

(yes avoiding the camera and looking miserable, because it was a really cold, wet day)
And here they are sitting on the same hay ride last year:

Today I’m having a total panic attack – I can’t believe how fast this past year has flown by…. or should I say, I can’t believe how I’ve just let this past year pass me by! So preoccupied with this or that, so overwhelmed pretty much all the time, and always waiting… waiting to feel better, waiting to stop having morning sickness, waiting to get pregnant, waiting to find out the gender, waiting to be done being pregnant…. just waiting constantly…. and look at time just ticking past me all along.

Even today, as I’m already feeling the pressure of all the moments that are slipping away, i have to admit, I spent most of the day miserable with a cold and just waiting for the day to be OVER so the kids could go to bed and I could have a moments quiet.

For some reason I was going through my old layouts last night, the ones I made one and even TWO years ago, and I just am feeling terrible that I don’t do that as much as I used to, I captured so many great “in the moment” pages and memories for my kids and myself. Yet lately I’m always preoccupied with this that or the other thing letting the moments pass, sometimes I don’t even pick up the camera for some of those great photo opportunities – and I’m starting to worry that I’m missing out actually enjoying some of the great things in my kids lives.

Maybe it is the hormones talking, or the fact that all my boys have gotten so big, Reece doesn’t even seem at all like a baby any more….. Honestly it is probably mostly the fact that I’m sick AGAIN, and tired of feeling so out of it…. but it just seems to be the constant state of affairs lately, and all the while time is ticking by. I wish I was doing better about living the moments I have you know???

Maybe just a wake up call day for me…. I need to sit down with my kids and play more, I need to scrap more so that those moments that we do have I don’t forget.

Maybe instead of beating myself up about what I’m not doing, I should soak it in, I should just appreciate the little things that fill my life with light. Like the way Reece takes a break from making total chaos to sit and ever so gently brush the hair out of my eyes, or the way that gareth kisses me, and then my tummy every single morning and every single night, and Owen is just such a treasure, he has the kind of focus I’ve never seen before, whether it be hours of playdough or learning the names of ALL the fish on animal crossing. Gareth reading books with me every single night – my son actually reading TO me. Plus Owen and Reece have grow to be such pals – they call eachother “best buddie” all the time, and come up with the cutest games to play.

And then there is g – keeping us all anchored while I’m sick, or coughing, or contracting (or probably all of the above) He comes home after working a ten hour day and helps cook dinner, draws and plays with the kids, helps get the boys settled down in their room at night – not an easy task with our little owen and reece… He is so sweet to me too – even when I’m feeling a bit over emotional about life passing me by…

Felling a bit emotional tonight -hormones anyone??- But you know, tomorrow, I think I’m going to have to do a little less stressing and a little more soaking, because (sick or not), life is good. Plus, next year is going to be here before I know it!

Well before I had my ultrasound, I found this CUTE baby boy bed set on E-bay, I told myself if it was a boy I’d get it to up my excitement and spoil little man number four….

So yesterday I decided to get on and just bid the lowest bid (25 dollars, instead of the buy it now of 50) and then I would just see what would happen – it is listed several times on there, so I figured if I missed it the first time I could buy it now later.

Well what do you know I WON! (25 dollars plus 20 shipping) Was all it took and I’m SO excited… and now ofcourse ridiculously nervous that it isn’t going to work out! We will see, but in the mean time I thought I’d share my excitement with you!

Okay now just tell me that is not the cutes thing you have ever seen! Baby and biggest brother Gareth are going to be sharing a room (pretty much the best choice considering the options) and he is loving the robots! Gareth Got transformer sheets for himself so they’ll have a whole little robot thing going on in there.

So after I actually GET it in the mail I’ll link you all to the seller on ebay – just wanna make sure they are legit first!

Hehehe! so excited!

The last little member of our family – little MISTER Clingerman number four:

Yep – IT’S a BOY! Apparently we do boys so well God just keeps sending them our way!

I’m feeling very excited, and happy to have seen our little one, and now that we know a boy, it just feels right. For all of you doubters out there, you should know there was NO denying it – this guy was more than happy to show the goods even when we were really trying to look at other body parts (hehehe, how boy is that of him???)

Anyways he looks totally healthy, did a bunch of wiggling and moving for us, and even gave Gareth and Owen the thumbs up! – which they were beyond thrilled about ofcourse!

Now I can focus on getting things all ready to go for our little man around here I’m excited!

So – just because I’m thrilled and because I’m wanting everyone else to be with me, here is a little goody for you up for a limited time!

Thanks for coming by and celebrating with me!