Okay so I tried

After watching Ratatouille, I wanted to try and make it. Well just tell me it looks like it or I'll cry he he. I didn't have a oval casserole dish so I just used a regular one. It takes a while to spread out the veggies (I'm not as fast as a rat) but, it was fun to make and fun to look at.

Where have my babies gone?

So kids everywhere this time of year head back to school. Our kids started on Tuesday. When did I become the Mother of a 3rd and 1st grader? Where did the time go? Also on Tuesday, BriLynn turned 9 months old. To think that she will be ONE in three more months. AHHHH. I want my babies to stay babies. Luke starts Preschool next week. He is so silly, the other day he said "Mom, I don't want BriLynn to go into lava or she'll die." Ya sweetie, neither do I. I guess watching Shark Boy and Lava Girl with the kids wasn't such a good idea.

Family Reunion

We had a great time this last weekend at my family reunion. Ya know I grew up there, but this time I realized how much I took for granted. The area is perfect for recreation and the lake was beautiful! The kids sure enjoyed it too.

Kevin took the boys fishing and they were hooked (no pun intended he he).
We celebrated Kevins birthday there also. He is a great husband and Father. I often wonder why I have been so blessed with such a giving, caring, and not to forget handsome man!

Yet another performer in the family.

My kids often sing at table. When they do, BriLynn does this. What a funny girl!

Pics, teeth and school

We had our family pictures taken last Saturday. I think the pictures we got worked considering BriLynn was tired and Jacob was not wanting to stand still for two seconds. They were just a seven dollar package so I can't complain.
Teeth wise... Andrew lost another tooth last Friday. I don't think we've ever had to play tooth fairy twice in one week.
Now for school... When I went walking this morning, Mary and I were talking about traditions for school starting. Does your family do any? Certain breakfasts you prepare? Or things you do the night before? We do Fathers blessings the night before. I think it would be fun to do something for them that morning besides a delicious breakfast so if you have any ideas I would love to hear them. Oh and I also want to do a last hooray for Summer. So next Monday from 1-3 your welcome to come with your kids to have a water party at my house. Plus the kids may wear themselves out and get a good nights rest for school the next day ha ha.

Friends

It's amazing the friends that come and go. There are so many people I would love to keep in touch with but as time goes by and the more kids we have it gets harder. How often have you said "we really need to get together sometime"? I was grateful that Heidi, my roommate from college called me up to see if we could get together for lunch. She lives in Idaho but she is visiting her parents. Cari (the one on your right) lives really close. Do you guys ever ponder on the good ol' days of being at college? Or even High School?
I also wanted to share that we have a new toothless face in our home. Andrew lost his first tooth yesterday. He was very excited to see the tooth fairy had visited.

Parents are great!!!

What a fun weekend/week. We went to Missouri for Matt's wedding (Kevin's brother). He got married in the St. Louis Temple last Friday. They are a beautiful couple! I know I'm awful but this is the only picture I got. I put the camera in my temple bag after taking this and there it stayed. I'm hoping my sister in law will send me the picture of us at Lambert's (hint hint Steph :) If ever you are in Missouri the place to eat is Lambert's. It's the home of the throwed rolls. The food is great and the atmosphere is even better. They have a guy come out with hot rolls, you just hold up your hand and they throw them at ya. It was fun to see Kevin's Grandma get excited over catching them. They also have other people walking around with side dishes so you can really pig out. While we were gone my parents stayed with the older four kids. It was so nice to come home and find that my Mom had made us dinner, cleaned the kids clothes, and washed the bedding. If that wasn't cool enough my Dad had mowed the lawn. Ahh...I may have to invite them to watch the kids more often ha ha. Thanks Mom and Dad!

FHE Reverence

So we are again trying yet another strategy for reverence in our home. (Ya know I could write a book with all the strategies we try) This time it's for FHE. The older kids do pretty well but it's Luke and Jacob that we are hoping this works with. We put their names on cups and put peanut M&M's in them (candy always seems to do the trick). If they were disrespectful or disruptive we took one out of the cup. It worked really well, we'll do this for a few weeks and see how it goes. We won't be able to next Monday though since we will be in Missouri. Kevin's brother Matt is getting married. My Mom is coming to watch them so I'm hoping that the kids will be good for her.