I guess I'll keep them...

This was my post on Facebook this morning...

"Anyone who says motherhood is the most rewarding job ever has not had a morning like mine... I'm offering 4 of my 5 kids up for sale... Or giveaway... Or I'll even pay you to take them..."

It really was that awesome this morning...  So in order to actually want my kids to get off the bus, I'm doing a post that reminds me of how fun and great my kids can be...

A couple of weeks ago, we got some snow.  Way better snow than the inch earlier in the year...  The whole family headed out and we had a great morning.

 Brooke

 Erin

 Sam

 Alix

 One of my favorite pictures of all time...

 Ethan even came out for a while.

 Sam didn't want a snowman. She wanted a snow couch.  With an ottoman.  

"As you wish..."

Tom does like his muscle cars....

I've been working out really hard since I had Ethan and there has been lots of talk around our house about mom "getting healthy" (I don't talk about losing weight in front of the girls...).  I was sharing some of my success with my mum.  I mentioned how my friend and I have been lifting really heavy weights, so I'm not just getting thinner, I'm getting stronger.  The twins chipped in with this...

"Yeah!  She's like a muscle car because of all the muscles!!"

Which inspired this little photo shoot for your viewing pleasure...  

Natalie and I...  (And yes, we know we're nerds...)

 back squats

 military press

 chin-ups

 ab work

 And just when I think I'm awesome - I watch my 8 year-old do her first time what has taken me 6 months to build up to...

The kids were home for mid-winter break and Erin did the whole workout with us...

 It's not chaos at all while we're working out... ;)

Quote of the Day...

I was making the girls clean out the car the other night.  They were obviously thrilled.  After about the fourth time of me re-sending them out to finish, Sam had this to say to Ethan who was sitting playing with his toys...

 "Sorry, bud.  It's all downhill from here for you!"  

Pretty much, I think she's right... 

"My Hips Don't Lie..."

You know how you teach your children to try new things?  "Don't be afraid..."  "You'll get better...."  "It's ok to not be the best something..."  In theory - it's great advice.  For kids.  Taking it myself?  It's a little painful...

I'm doing Zumba.  My friend, Natalie "I'm a dancer" Aurich convinced me and another friend to give it a try on our freebie cardio day.  I'm super comfortable at the gym.  I can kill it through an hour long spin class.  I can dead lift 200 pounds.  I can't dance.  And why do they make those classrooms with giant, clear windows?  That's right - so people can laugh at you.  Luckily I'm laughing at myself too...

The instructors look amazing.  I look like an octopus.  I cannot run my feet and my arms at the same time.  And I'm pretty sure my hips are missing a joint somewhere.  I CANNOT move that way!  Today the instructor told us, "Just Samba however you want!"  Which to me, means run in place for a minute...  

And did you know you're supposed to, like, screech or yell or shout or Ai Carrumba whilst you Zumba?  Who knew?  

When I told Tom I was going to start doing Zumba he asked me if that meant I was going to dance for him sometime.  If he only knew what he was in for!  

It's a fun hour and it goes by really quickly.  In Zumba's defense, some of my hottest friends love it and do it all the time.  I bet they can dance... 

Just put it away...

Brooke wanted to have a friend over and her mom asked Brooke to ride her bike and meet her halfway.  No problem.  It's a family rule that you cannot ride your bike without a helmet.  Problem.  Brooke had left her helmet out of the shelter and it was soaking wet.  Her (mean-old) mom wouldn't let her ride the half mile without it...  So Brooke manufactured her own solution to the soaking wet pads that were leaking water all down her face and back.  Thus the Washcloth Helmet was born.  And she actually wore it that way...  All around the neighborhood...  Awesome.

It's a mustache morning...

It was mustache day at the littles school today...  And we love the Seahawks.  So in keeping with Blue Friday, went Seahawks themed...  

Oops...

Found a few more pictures I want in the 2013 blog book, so bear with me.  It's the danger of having 2 cameras...  You get surprise downloads sometimes....

Tree farm where we get our tree

 Man, that's a LOT of kids...

 New Year's Eve air hockey tournament.  So fun!  The kids had a great time trying to beat the parents.

 And all the adults got beaten but one....  Sydney (she's 10) beat Tom for 2nd place.  She came all the way back through the losers bracket.  It was pretty sweet. 

 And our annual New Year's Eve father/children graham cracker building contest.  We won for the second year in a row...  This is Tom and the girl's version of the Eiffel Tower...

 And we made confetti poppers to pull at midnight.  They were awesome.  You ever want a spectacular mess, make your own confetti and let 12 kids blow it up all over your living room.  (I was glad this portion of the party had moved to the Walther's house.  I'll make confetti to mess up her house anytime!)

 Happy New Year!  

Brian did tell the kids he'd pay them each $10 if they could pick up every piece of confetti by hand...  They littles actually thought it was possible.  We let them pick up for about half an hour before we made them stop.  I think they would have kept going until morning if we'd let them...