Grace's Birthday

Grace had her birthday party today. We had it at the barn. It was a lot of fun. We invited 5 friends and the girls groomed the horses and rode them.

Grace on Big G

Tate was a good little rider and said she wants a horse. Takes after her Mimi!

After we went home for cake and ice cream and opened gifts and played Fibbers!

Day 1

The kids have a four day weekend! Yay! That meant that Grace and I could ride together for the first time! 

After riding we had a full day. We went to wal-mart, played  just dance, read scriptures, made cake batter treats and cookies for the party tomorrow, ate Hawaiian hat stacks, watched a movie, read a lot of stories and enjoyed each other's company. Oh and Dani cut my hair.

The girls put on a talent show.

These two giggled all night and woke up at the crack of dawn last night. Tonight we got them down earlier.

Penny enjoyed some late night treats!... Since sleep is not on her agenda.

much better!

Two little girls, an aunt and a niece, reading bedtime stories together.  Now that's a sweet sight!  Of course Mimi got to read some too.  Looking so forward to this next week and some fun time together!

On the way home from the airport we stopped at Red, Hot and Blue.  The food was pretty yummy but the company was top notch!

Gracie and Tate

Grandpa and Penny

These two were happy to see each other again!  We spent quite some time in Lu's room with all the dogs and kids and chaos!  Loved it!

room for two

All tucked in

You can barely see little Lu snuggled in amongst the stuffed animals. But she is there warm and snug and ready for a good nights sleep. I spent my day getting ready to have the girls arrive. We washed the sheets and put out fresh towels, went to the store for some diapers and baby snacks and made sure the toys were ready. Then we headed off for the airport. On my way I called Val to chat. Much to my surprise Dani answered the phone. I couldn't figure out what happened; after some discussion it turned out that I had the wrong day! They are arriving today not yesterday:( 

I turned around and went home, gathered up all the children and took them to Panera bread, then we went to the church. It saved Rob a drive he would have had to go home and get them and then turn around and go back. Grace had fun at activity days they planned their calendar year. She has amazingly awesome leaders! They really go the extra mile to make it nice for the girls. Hannah's group played human foosball. She said it was kind of crazy. Ethan went to scouts. I sat on the couch and talked with the other mom's. It was a good night.

Amazingly even though I did a lot of picking up and cleaning yesterday there is still cleaning to do today. How does that work?

first world problems

I find this so frustrating and a recurring theme in our home.  We buy the children something they "need" and then they do not have it when they need it.  For example, Grace likes to fish with her dad.  They like to fish year round and in the winter it is a cold muddy mess so she "needed" outdoor fishing boots".  Rob bought her some and they very happily traipse off to fish from time to time.  Today we are going on a field trip to Elms Beach.  An outdoor environmental field trip where it will be raining and muddy and cold.  I told Grace this morning put on your fishing boots.  Then we went to find them and after much searching only came up with one and then she remembered that the other was in dad's car.  So now she has to wear her new tennis shoes, which we just got last week because she outgrew the old ones and I would have made her wear the old but I gave them away.  While we are there her feet will be wet and cold and when we get back we will wash them and then they will be drabby. I will then be frustrated because for the next three months she will look even a little more scrappy each day.  She's my  hardest one to get looking nice walking out the door because a) all clothes itch and bother her but of the offending choices the only ones she can even consider wearing must be soft and comfy (read: sweat pants in the winter and shorts in the summer) and she takes her cute hair styles out almost every day so add to that some stained shoes and she's going to look like an orphan.  How does one exit a car with only one shoe on?? and why oh why, even though we provide a special location for the children to store their shoes (specially designed shoe racks in each of their own personal and not shared closets) and remind the children to put them there, is it so hard to put them away…together.  Would not you have thought at some point while putting one shoe into the closet "hmmm, I probably will want to wear two shoes when I next need these" and perchance go and fetch the lost mate?

weekend recap and a monday report

traffic near my house

Saturday was rainy on and off.  Ethan had a hurt foot and he pretty much played video games with the big boy all day.
I went to the grocery store.  The girls had friends over.  We went on a date to the Front Porch and ate most delcious baked banana cheesecake and salmon.  Yumm yumm.

Sunday I went to the Bowie ward for their ward conference.  It was really good and nice to see everyone up there.  On the way back I hit some heavy traffic ;)   When R got home we had chicken pot pie, the Casserole Queen's recipe, and played Mexican Train.

at the barn

This afternoon Gracie and I went to the barn.  It was a muddy mess, and it was wonderful.  Tonight for FHE we talked about being true disciples of the Savior.

Sheila, Jenna, Holly and Tori

Got a fun text from Tori today.  She's in Utah and had lunch with Jenna.  It's great to see these smiling happy faces.  Love these ladies.

random this and that

Hannah and Alyssa have no classes together this year.  A sad fact that they find tragic, and honestly so do I.  Also they have not really hung out much since summer so tonight Alyssa is over and the house is a little noisier, and a lot more fun!

The big girls are doing well.  Everyone is happy and healthy and busy.

Today was library day I guess :)  The next generation of book lovers is safely on course.  Can't wait to see them next week!!

last night's game

Clenna are good.  School is back in full swing and J is exhausted, but looking forward to some girl scout cookies.  I got some graduation dates today.  Clayton in April on the 24 and Jenna in Aug on the 14!  Yay, the end is in sight!

Sierra is also back to school and based on her Facebook account I think she's on a trip to Seattle.  Sierra, call your mother!  :)

Tonight Bub had a soccer game.  They won 5-3.  He got hurt. It's been an injury ridden week for him.  Being a mom to a boy is so fun...as long as you don't mind injuries. This week alone he came home one day with a black eye because " the bus stopped abruptly and he and John fell out of the seat and knocked heads", no other children suffered any mishap

which is not at all suspicious. He crashed his bike riding on ice and hit his head "but don't worry mom I had on a helmet" and he jammed his toe playing indoor soccer by colliding with the opposing team in foot to foot combat, "but we won so it's all good".  

And I guess Grace needs an update too.  She just signed up for French lessons after school for the rest of the year. She's turning into a busy girl as she already has chess once a week, riding once a week, Brownies 2x a month and activity days 2x a month and cello lessons.  All that and she has time for rainbow loom banding, reading and getting A's.