Last night we went to Bakersfield for the Keller's annual Halloween FHE. We had lots of fun and ate yummy food that I didn't have to cook! It was great to see everyone, I feel like we've been gone much longer than a few months... all the kids have grown and changed. Caleb was super excited to see his friends Ethan, Walker, and Conner. He started asking Sunday night when we were going to Ethan's house. I took my camera, which is a pretty big step for me, but I only took three pictures. Mater(Caleb) and the Fire Chief (Ethan) were very happy to see each other. By the time I got Lighting McQueen(Amanda) and Tow Mater in the same room they were both tired and ready to go, Caleb refused to put the costume back on, I even tried bribing him with money and candy. At least I know he is able to stick to his guns and won't give in to pressure! He came up with a new name for me yesterday. He calls me meanie a lot but yesterday he added mama so now I am "Meanie Mama" I guess he thought that sounded good. I have no delusions that I will ever win in the fun parent contest, Meanie Mama and Fun Dad those are our roles!

As a parent I've learned three things the last week,

1. Your kids will always find a way to embarrass you ( okay I knew that but I didn't know you shouldn't try and "save " yourself). We were invited over for dinner Sunday by some great people in our ward, they have two kids close to Zachary and Ryan's age. She cooked a wonderful meal: pasta with a choice of red sauce or a seafood white sauce. I encouraged Josh to try the seafood sauce, he stood there and looked at it and said no, I responded with, are you sure? to which he said "mom it smells like crap" here is where I should have just moved on... but I couldn't so I said, I know it smells like crab, that's because there is crab in it. So a little bit louder comes "I said it smells like crap". I know she heard him but she just smiled and ignored it, and he got red sauce.

2. If someone asks how you deal with a certain situation, let's say like how late you let your kids stay on the phone at night and you say "Huh, we don't have to worry about that yet" you will have to start dealing with it within days! Thanks Dany-- it's 8:30 by the way.

3. With four kids someone is always going to be mad at you, and when it's all of them at once admit defeat, go in your room close the door and take a mental moment. Everyone will be happier, and if that doesn't work cry, it's guaranteed to make at least one of them feel bad.