I am a glutton for punishment....

So here is my problem.  I get an idea in my head.  It's a nice idea...fun, pretty original, and doable.  But ME, I can't leave well enough alone.  My juices start to flow, and one by one, new elements come to me to make the idea better, BIGGER.  This goes on and on for a little while, until the idea becomes so grand (or at least it's grand in my head), I can not fathom just letting it go. I absolutely cannot rest until I turn this idea into a reality.  The problem is that I sometimes forget I have 3 kids now and one of them is a newborn.  Like I said, glutton for punishment!

So it all started with this banner my friend and I found on Pinterest.  It was adorable and a great decoration that the kids could help make.  She was wonderful enough to buy all the supplies for it.  We took the kids for a nature walk to collect some items for our banner and came back to her house to put them all together.  We found out very quickly, this was a challenge in itself, bringing 5 kids on a walk and then actually expecting them to glue things onto felt.  Ha!  Needless to say, the moms had to do most of the work.  But, the banners turned out super cute and we were very pleased :)

Now my wheels start to turn. Here's how my brain works:  "Wouldn't it be so cute to take a picture of my kids holding the banner?  We could send it to everyone in the family......Oh, but what would be even cuter is if I did it with lots of leaves around....oh and I could put an indian headress on Eli and a pilgrim bonnet on Landry, but what will Cooper be?   A TURKEY!!!  Then I have to dress the other kids in full garb.  Headwear will not be enough."

SO, I drag the kids to hobby lobby to get all my supplies.  I decide today is the day I am going to make this happen.  I spend all morning getting the costumes ready, trying to convince my kids it will be fun to dress up, and stuffing my pockets full of candy to prepare for full-out bribery.  Nevermind the fact that my house was already a complete disaster and I had a gassy baby on my hands.  I strapped the baby to me with the Moby Wrap, distracted the big kids with playdough, and kept on truckin.

I managed to get the kids dressed with minimal screams and tears, then threw everyone and everything into the van.  We took off to the nearest Nature Trail.  My plan:  Get Cooper set up quickly while letting big kids explore a little, then entice them back with Smarties.  Once they were back, I would convince them to hold up the sign and smile big smiles while I snapped beautiful, glorious pictures. 

And THIS is how is actually went down: "Come back!"  "Too Far!"  "Don't Touch that, it could be poisonous!"  "Don't go over there, there could be snakes"  "Oh no! Cooper's crying" (Paci In) "Come hold the sign, I've got candy!" "Eli, put your feathers back on"  "Hold the sign up higher" "Oh Gah Eli, Put the stick down!"  (Paci out, Paci In) "Come back Eli, I've got candy!  Please!!"  "What about m&m's?"  "Cooper's crying again" "Lan, look this way" (Paci Out) "Everybody say Gobble Gobble" "Snap, Snap Snap" (And pray I got something)


Who's idea was this again??!! 

And here's what we got:

We'll call it a success :)

I'm exhausted.

I Heart Faces - Orange

When I had my October Baby, I couldn't rest until I got his picture in the pumpkin patch.  Here he is, 2 1/2 weeks old.  No doubt I went home with the BEST little pumpkin!

See other lovely "Orange" entries here: