The woman you will be...

Every once in a while in between times of being nearly 12, and social activities, in between times of being totally annoyed with your siblings and worried about you hair you have a moment. This was one on those sweet glimpsed into your future.

From this to that (see next post) and back again

We were walking through the store and Quinn spotted this white shirt and tie and told me he wanted it. 'Why?' I asked. 'Because dad has one,' he answered. I tried to talk him out of it because I thought there was no way this 3 year old boy would keep a tie on the entire 3 hour block of church, I tried to talk him into spider man, bat man - one of those sure thing purchases... nope this was the shirt and tie (except for the small fact that the 4T didn't begin to fit around his football playeresk neck! and I had to exchange it for a size 5 and roll up the sleeves.) What a young man!

Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil

School Starts

As much as I didn't want my kids to start school last year - I wanted them to start this year! I don't know what it was... but I was ready to let them move on. Anna started on Monday. And came home very happy and confident (a first for her). Kaid started Tuesday and came home very happy and confident (a relief). And Quinn started Wednesday and came home begrudingly (because I wouldn't let him drive.)

Bekah Back to school

I just realized that most of you would be unaware of where Bekah is. She chose to live with her dad for this school year. A tough decision for me. But Bekah has been wanting to do this for a couple of years and I felt very strongly that this was the time to let her spread her wings. I don't really like to talk about it, but it is what it is. Of course I miss her, and of course I hope that she will want to be back here with us, but she felt strongly that she needed to try this and I felt strongly that I should let her. She actually started school two weeks ago and is doing well. I did talk her into letting me buy her one new school outfit before she left, and no those are not plastic pants, though that is what they appear to be in the picture!

Low Blow

It must have been a day. It seems I have plenty of them lately, but Kaid looks at me all innocent and in his sweet little voice says, 'hey mom how come you sound like the yelling teacher at recess?' Nothing like a sweet observation to stop you in your tracks!

Birthday Parties

I have to admit I managed to throw some mean birthday parties this year. While I am typically a planner July and August snuck up on me and so did Lexsie's, Kaid's, and Craig's birthday's ! BUT I managed to pull off some totally awesome parties. For Lexsie's I called up my mother in law and asked if we could do a family thing at her house... I know, I am good. It was fabulous. We had Dora the Explorer accessories thanks to Grandma Sandy and Craig and I made a quick trip to Wal-Mart for presents (that we could take home on a plane). And Lexsie was thrilled! Just watch the video below for proof!

Kaid had a huge end of school year party, and between a trip to Missouri and Craigs work schedule his birthday kind of got swept under the rug. So the plan was to go to the science center with Craigs parents for the day and then have Cake that night. I texted his best friend the night before to see if they were up for a party starting about 8 pm the next night. Luckily Heber's mom is very forgiving of my mad birthday party planning skills and let Heber come. Despite my lack of planning the party turned out pretty fun. We ended up with about 10 kids, all their parents, and enough presents to fill a small toy store. I even found some party favors I had stashed away. Notice the awesome wrapping paper! (Painters tape and white paper) I know mad party planning skills!

And last of all was Craigs birthday. This man always says he doesn't want a fuss, but deep down inside he wants big presents and a lot of fuss! So I thought I'd keep it casual and let the kids plans something simple. CHUCK - E - CHEESE! That's what it started as. Then we decided a new set of golf clubs (because his were so old that people were embarrassed to golf with him) which led to a treasure hunt to find all the golf clubs, which led to clues written on each child's stomach in permanent marker which led to each child hiding at a different friends house, which led to hitting a bucket of balls at a driving range which led me to texting his work friends and inviting them to CHUCK - E - CHEESE which I think ended in a lap dance? At least that is what the pictures look like! And so all of Craigs friends and all the kids friends ended up celebrating at Chuck's which was surprisingly fun because as it turns out all of Craigs work friends wanted to go to Chucks but never had a reason that wouldn't make them look like creepy people.

So now the parties are over and I am truly impressed with what I managed to pull off the night before the big days, and so glad I don't have to do it again for another year!

There has been a spree of vandalism at our house.

The preferred tool of choice: chalk

The culprit I discovered lurking around our house...

Quinn kept trying to ditch Lexsie this afternoon and she was not happy being left behind, so I finally asked him what was going on? Couldn't she just sit by him? To which he pointed to his shirt and said, 'hey no gils!'