Halloween festivities

Hooray for Halloween being over. Here are a few pics of the eventful day PJ is a cowboy

Trey is the bob the builder

Addie is a scary witch

The haunted house at Grandma Patty's party was very scary!

AAAHHHH!

I even dressed up as the evil karate mama

Carlene and I ran the Salem witches run this morning. Lots of fun

The big birthday

This little stinker just turned two. He decided to jump right in to being a 2 year old. He spent all morning throwing tantrums.

This is Mr. October. Just check him out

Daddy is assembling the gift from Grandma Carla. It is a hit with all of the kids

Peyt is enjoying his birthday cake

We had quite a few characters show up to his party. Spiderman(aka Noah) took the time to come and celebrate

We played games like the ring toss, bean bag throw, had a fish pond and face painting. We had carnival cake and Halloween cupcakes. And the kids got to take home cotton candy with spiders in it.

Sophie getting her face painted

Maddux with one of the prizes from the fish pond

Look at all these fun people. It was a great time (I hope). I always wonder why I do these parties. You would not believe the mess that 12 guests between the ages of 18 months and 5 years can make.

My baby is turning 2

On the 29th of October Peyton John Huff will be 2 years old. It has been a very busy two years. He joined our family when Trey was only 16 months old. It has been a good but not relaxing time in our lives. This is the very first pic I saw of Peyton. He was 2 days old. I didn't actually meet him in person until he was 2 weeks old. Alabama law allows birth mothers to change their minds up to 14 days after signing.

Peyton has been a joy in our household. He is a happy kid. But he is so mischievous sometimes I think i am going to lose it. He goes by many names such as Peyt, Peyters, PJ, the Tank, Peyby, Pey Pey la pue, fatty.

One of my fave shots of PJ. Rhonda took this photo

another favorite of mine. I love his cheeks and lips

This is his new two year old pic. He was a monster and not cooperative at all. We had to cut him out of a group shot to get one of him at all. What a stinker. I should also add that this morning after getting him dressed for pics, he, yet again, got into the vaseline and hair product and covered his entire body in it. So off went the clothes into the wash. His pants were still wet at the studio. And speaking of group shots....

Here it is! This one is for Landan who is a major Utes fan.

Anyway, happy birthday Peyt! We love you

ending the debate

a while back I had an unpleasant encounter with an acquaintance. She told me that stay at home moms have the easiest job in the world and we, who are stay at home moms, never have any right to complain. I would like to share my feelings on this never ending debate on stay at home moms vs. working moms.

1. life stinks! some women are working moms but would rather be at home. Some women who are at home would rather be working else where.
2. Whether you work outside the home or in it does not make you a bad or good mom. It is what you do with your time.
3. If you are doing your job right, staying at home with your kids is hard. There is a lot to do both with the kids and maintaining your home. I have young children so I know that most of my work will be destroyed faster than I can fix it. I get to deal with crying and meltdowns and intercept sibling fights, help with homework, play taxi, pay bills, grocery shop, yard work, read to my children, educate them, play with them, monitor what they are eating, sleepless nights.......... and in return no one says thank you Stephanie you did a great job today! here is your paycheck. But I am grateful I can be with home with them even if it means we cannot afford every luxury in life... I realize that this may not always be the case so I am trying to appreciate that I have this opportunity now.
4. I have worked part time(very part time) for several years so I had a glimpse of what it is like to be a working mom and I didn't like it. Trying to make sure you always have a care taker for your children, having to miss work when they are sick, feeling guilty for leaving them, coming home tired and then have to start on the house work and be a mother, it is frustrating and hard

But my point is..... why do we feel the need to be judgemental? No one can say who has it harder. So many things have to be considered, whether you love what you do, how many children you have, their temperaments,disabilities,your own standards of acceptable,financial situation,single parent, absentee parent, support groups, close friends and family..........

Let us as woman just appreciate each other and realize that except for those few individuals, we as mothers are doing our best and doing what we think is best for our families. It may be not what we wanted to do or it may be exactly what we wanted. But either way, it is life so accept it.

Now after than rant I would just like to say I appreciate my children and the opportunity I have to raise them.
Now if you will excuse me, it is Monday and time to clean the toilets. Peace and Love to everyone

Isn't fall break great?

Fall break has been very outing full at the huff household. We have gone to Red Barn pumpkin patch, Hee Haw Farms, Docs Pizza, carved our pumpkins into jack o Lanterns, and Addie and I went to see "cloudy with a chance of meatballs" in 3D. Trey insisted on riding lady style on his horse.

Trey loved the corn. Funny thing, I took off his shoes at bedtime last night and it was covered in corn. I can't believe he never complained about his feet.

In the corn Maze, Addie thought we were lost for good and actually cried. Good thing Grandma was there to comfort her.

Trey could have gone down the slides for hours.

enjoying jumping in the hay

At the pumpkin patch I tried really hard to get a good picture of all three but that just isn't going to happen

Addie trying to cheer up Grumpy PJ. He definitely wasn't happiest little pumpkin picker

On the wagon ride back to the barn

Look at our great jack o lanterns! Fun times! Landan actually joined in on this activity.

yoga

I had the opportunity to teach yoga tonight to a group of lovely young women. It was a lot of fun. I always feel so good after doing yoga. Thanks Megan for the opportunity and for the very yummy diet coke that you so kindly purchased after the class.

My assistant Addie

the girls who stuck it out to the end

Good Friday

Since the beginning of the school year, Addie has begged me to check her out of school early. Not just for the sake of getting out of school early but so she can have her name called over the intercom from the office.

So today I checked her out early and we went shopping for coats. I was very pleased that Addie's favorite coat also happened to be the cheapest. We also went to Burger King for lunch. It was actually quite enjoyable. I loved hearing the squeals of delight over getting chicken nuggets and sprite. I thought Santa must have just visited.

Upon arriving home Addie and I made Halloween treats before rushing her off to her Nutcracker rehearsal. It was a really good day! Which was good because it was a really lousy week. That is a post for another time.

Happy 38th Anniversary Mom and Dad

My mom and dad celebrated their 38th on September 10th. Since getting married in 1971 they have added 37 members to their family. 8 children 7 in laws and 22 grandchildren. They are and were wonderful parents. They are fabulous grandparents. We sure appreciate everything they do for us.

Their love tree from 1971. It is the heart that says JD + CH

Their new love tree since the other one is dying.

We went to Brick Oven to Celebrate

We had a great time. I hope they have 38 more good years in them.

mischievous

I have discovered each of my kids have their own unique ability that they use very well to torture me. Addie is sassy. Trey has horribly tantrums and Peyton is mischievous! Yesterday we heard multiple flushings of the toilet and ran down the hall to discover that Peyton had been cleaning our toilet. I was horrified and impressed. We have the disposable brushes and on his own he had attached it to the wand and scrubbed the toilet. The toilet looked pretty darn good. but he was soaked up to his elbows. (No picture didn't think quick enough about the camera on this one.) Today I heard the bathtub water running and found him in the tub fully clothed.

He disappeared during conference. I ran upstairs to check on him and found that he had opened a box of mac and cheese and emptied it's contents all over the living room floor.

As sad as it is to say this is my reality right now. This was not just one of those weekends this is every day. Hopefully this phase will not last long.

We are the champions my friend!

Well We finally did it! After four years with two second place finishes and one third, we are finally the co-ed softball champions! I found it to be an especially enjoyable victory because the other team was bragging on facebook that they had already won it before we played. And of course they were very sore losers and accused us of not playing by the rules when they lost. Addie modeling the blanket we won. She has already claimed it

me running to first. totally safe

Our team. Minus Kenneth and Angela Rowley and Heidi D. I hope I didn't forget anyone else.