Ryan turns 2 and Halloween and More

This is going to be a long post folks.

A lot of stuff went down last week. First off I had a bit of an ah-ha moment that I'm going to take a minute to write about. I have had mixed feelings about our house since our purchase back in 2007. We bought it at the peak of the market and the market crashed and we lost about $60,000 in equity right off the bat. Plus we couldn't really afford it. Just because you quality for a particular loan doesn't mean you can afford it. So we were house poor for a long time. We didn't have hardly any extra money at all. My friend Jen would joke every time she looked in our empty fridge. Flash forward a few years and we were about to refinance and get a much better loan with a lower interest and without a balloon after 10 years (thank goodness). Flash forward a few more years and we were able to pay off our second mortgage. As these years are going we have four children. The market changes and we have equity in our home again. Scott's job changes and we have at least 2 years before a bank will make a loan to a non salary salesman. As this is happening we are realizing that about the time that we could qualify for a new loan the housing market is up again and we may not be able to afford a bigger house.

This was a very depressing realization to me. I got on Craigslist and searched jobs for a minute. In doing this and after having a very hard conversation with Scott I came to the conclusion that I had to adjust my thinking. I was sick of feeling stuck in my house. It made me feel like I had no control in my situation. But as I thought for a minute about the possibility of trying to find a job and possibly having Scott stay with the kids during the day and him working at night that sounded horrible to me. I also didn't like the idea of getting into a bigger house and being house poor again. What is the benefit of living in a bigger house that you can't afford to furnish or decorate? Or being in a big house but you can't afford to go out on a date? So instead of feeling like I am stuck in this house I feel like I am choosing a different lifestyle. I'm choosing a life where I get to stay home with my kids. I'm choosing a life where we have money to actually fix/update things in the house. I'm choosing a life where we have a little money for little luxuries like lunch out with friends. I'm choosing a life where I can afford dance lessons for my kids. So for now I have no plans of moving anytime soon. Who knows things could change and we could move someday, but if we don't that's okay. My craft room may also be my laundry room and my closet may be my nursery, but that's okay. That's my choice!

As I came to this conclusion I decided that I wanted to buy a piano immediately. I have been waiting for my new house to buy a piano but that may not happen. So I jumped on Craigslist and bought a piano. The price was right and they were willing to deliver it to my house for free! Sold. It is old and sounds terrible. Ha. We are getting it tuned in a few weeks and I hope that helps. Fingers crossed! Corbin and Gabby will start piano lessons from their aunt Jory in January. I can't wait for the daily battle of forcing my kids to practice. Ha.

So now onto the happenings around here. On Tuesday Piper and I were able to join Gabby on her class field trip to the pumpkin patch. It was fun. The best part for me was when Gabby didn't want her hot chocolate so I got to have it. Ha. That night Scott and I were supposed to be able to go to a work adult Halloween party. I was excited. I had arranged for a babysitter a few weeks before but when Ryan got up from his nap there was throw up in his bed. He continued to throw up the rest of the day. Poor buddy. That date got canceled! The good news is Scott took my dessert I made for the party and I won first place! I'm going to get a gift card for my prize this week. Awesome!

Thursday was Ryan's birthday. I was going to post pone his birthday because I didn't want him to be sick but then he seemed fine so we decided to celebrate. We had our usual birthday breakfast. Scott was going to be working that night so we decided to take some family time at lunch. I pulled Corbin out of school and we had birthday lunch at Burger King. Then we came home and hurried and iced the cake and Ryan opened presents. I took Corbin back to school and then drove the girls to dance lessons. We had pizza hut for dinner that night and then we carved pumpkins. Ryan ended up still throwing up once that day.

Friday I was in charge of Corbin's class party so I went to that. It was super easy, a bunch of parents helped bring things and I was in charge of the games. They played hot pumpkin (like hot potato) and then they played a pumpkin relay race. That night we went to the ward party. We had dinner and then we left because I didn't want to do the trunk or treat. I think one night of getting candy is enough. After the ward party we headed over to the Hunters house for their Halloween party.

On Saturday night we went trick or treating. It was fun! Little kids are so fun at this age to go trick or treating with. Ryan was the best. He tried really hard to keep up with his siblings. They would be ahead and go to the door first and Ryan would run as fast as he could to catch up and he would yell, "run, run, run" while he went. So funny. At every door Gabby would say, "look at my baby, he's a lion, he has a red bow on his tail." It was so cute and funny. And I'm not joking when I say she said that at EVERY door. When someone asked Piper is she was going to cast a spell on them she said, "I'm just a kid." I thought that Ryan was better but he threw up again last night and had some diarrhea this morning. Hopefully he will be better soon.

Well that's about all!

Piper and Ryan can be pretty cute once in a while when they aren't fighting like cats and dogs.

Girls at the petting zoo at Lindor Farms. They were plugging their noses on their own and wouldn't take them down for the picture. Hilarious! City girls.

Popcorn and hot chocolate. Piper is wearing her coat AND Gabby's coat. She was cold. Ha.

Ryan was by far the sickest on Tuesday. I was tired of changing his clothes so I started having him hang out in his diaper and a towel.

First prize, no bake peanut butter cheesecake. Yum! Recipe here.

Birthday breakfast.

That cake wasn't the coolest but it was good.

Presents.

Our one lonely pumpkin from our garden. About a month ago it was about the size of an apple. It's pretty cute, just not the right color.

Awkard Mitzi pose. Princess Leia and Han Solo.

My friend Jen and her husband were Emily and Victor from The Corpse Bride. They were awesome!

Ryan Lion. He wore his costume from last year. He wouldn't wear his mane but that was okay because it didn't really fit. Ha.

Piper witch, but remember she's just a kid.

Gabby princess

Corbin ninja!

Piano before

Piano after. I just painted it black to spruce it up a bit. Even though I am in love with all of THESE painted pianos I just didn't feel like painting it a crazy color would really work in the space that I'm working with. So for now it's black. Paint is super cheap so I could always change my mind later.