Gee Thanks

This last weekend was a lot of fun. I got to spend time with my twin, my mom, my other two sisters and sister in law at Time out For Women. I took Jonathan with me since he is still nursing. Here is a conversation I had with my twin sis Susan.

Me: I'm so excited, I had two people ask me if Jonathan was my first baby.

Susan: Really? Couldn't they see all that gray in your hair?

Good feeling gone...gee thanks sis ha ha.

Well that was nice

Last weekend we went to Ryans Place park to play. We didn't know River Heights Apple Days was happening but it sure was nice. They had a bunch of things for the kids to do for FREE :) There wasn't huge lines which was great. The Army was there also giving the kids free name/dog tags. Afterwards we played at the park. We may have to find out when it's happening next year to go again :)
Jonanthan's face in the bottom picture sums up how it went.

Schools in

I have to admit that it has been nice to get on a schedule with school being in. The kids love their classes and teachers. I feel like things with the PTA are going well also. We had around 25-30 parents at the last meeting which is the most I've ever seen in my six years being a member.
Here is their first day of school picture.
Danika is in 5th grade with Farmer, Andrew is in Mr. Smiths 3rd grade class, and Luke is in Mrs. Ballams 1st grade class.

Jacobs first day of Preschool was today. He was sooooo excited. His teacher visted us a few weeks ago. She gave him a puzzle piece to decorate and a bag that says "Jacob's sack about Me". He put five things in it that he liked (his blanket, his monkey and puppet monkey, his hexbug and a notebook calculator book he got out of the mommy and daddy buck store.)
He was all smiles as I dropped him off.
Notice Andrew and Jacobs shirts. Ummm...I wonder what they like to play?

Family Pics 2011

I wanted to get family pictures taken since we don't have Jonathan in any. I'm so grateful for my friend Amy. She does such a great job, doesn't charge much and gives you the disk to make as many copies as you want. LOVE HER! Thanks so much Amy!


I love Mother she loves me, We love Daddy yesiree
I love brother, he loves me.

We love sister yesiree

They love us and so you see...


We are a happy family (your singing it now huh? he he)

What was I thinking????????

I have a saying in the kids bathroom that says "Insanity is when your mind says no, but your mouth says sure I'd love to."
Well I'm sure "I'd love to" wasn't in my answer but I still said yes none the less. I just hope I can handle it all.

Three children in school (the homework battle begins), a son going to preschool three days a week. A two year old who swears she's Dora and a five month old who nurses and is just learning to eat. Oh did I mention he is still waking up two to three times a night... ugh. A husband who is gone every Tuesday, some Thursdays and all day Sunday. Taking care of the lawn and garden. Making meal plans, Fixing meals, shopping. Paying the bills, visiting teaching, preparing music time in primary, doctors visits, dental visits, orthodontist visits (you get the picture). Cleaning the house, doing laundry, making sure the kids get attention from Mommy and everything else that comes along. Well that doesn't seem to be enough... So I'll just add on PTA president. Yep...what was I thinking? Oh yeah...I wasn't.

Prepare yourself

Don't say I didn't warn you. This is a bunch of pictures from some of our recent activities.

Swimming lessons.







Fun painting



Water fun with friends at the park.




Fun at the cabin.
Notice Danika's poses ha ha

Cute Cute Boys!!!




Fun visiting Grandparents. This is my Grandma Steele, she is turning 94 this month. She was snapping beans when we got there. Just an amazing women!


Just having fun being together


I'm amazed how fast the Summer has gone. Only a few more weeks till School begins (sigh)....I'm missing the kids already

A lot of firsts!

My baby is 4 months old....sigh...as I was telling my friends yesterday he has been such a fun and happy baby that I actually entertained the idea of having a seventh. That thought quickly diminished as the other kids started fighting. I couldn't decide which one to post so I'll post both.

Here is his first time trying a pickle. He actually liked to suck on it after the first taste.
And his first time with cereal. He has been waking up every two hours through the night so I thought maybe it was time for solids....it didn't help, he is still waking up a lot through the night.
I read this idea in a book and thought it would be fun. To do smores with mini marshmallows over candle light. The kids had fun. Of course many started on fire he he.

Life Lessons

Yesterday was eventful. As we had packed up from camping up at our ward campout we decided to drive around and find a small hiking trail. We found one that lead to Rosy's mine. Sounds interesting eh?

Clue #1: Those coming off the trail said it was "a hard hike" (They were scout age)
Clue #2: They also mentioned you had to cross through water three times(their pants and shoes were soaked)
Clue#3: It was a 3 mile hike with 6 SMALL children
Clue #4: We had two small water containers
Clue#5: Jacob just had sandles on
Clue #6: Kevin and I were running on probably three hours of sleep
Clue #7: NO BABY CARRIER

Poor Jacob thought we were headed to Treasure Island (from a Dora video). He was all sorts of excited on the way up. After finding that there wasn't any treasure there he was pretty bummed.

Ummm...what were we thinking?

I just took this picture, BriLynn is still recouping today.

I have to say I'm proud that we made it the whole way and back. We were all wet and tired but I think it made us stronger as a family. Sure made my arms stronger too from carrying one child on my shoulders while another in my arms. I guess that old saying "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." applies well this time :)

Proud Momma

Danika sang in church yesterday. She did such a great job. I on the other hand made many mistakes on the piano but thankfully no one noticed. I don't know why I sign up for these things, I guess I hope that if I do it enough the nervousness of performing in front of people will go away. No luck so far. I'm pretty sure I'm more nervous playing the piano than I was dancing for a crowd in college.
We took a video later while Kevin's parents were listening on the phone but alas it won't upload.

This picture will though... I'm all for free stuff so when my neighbor told us about free meals at Chick-fil-a on July 8th, I was all sorts of excited. You could wear a cow hat that would get you a free entree or if you dressed fully like a cow you could get a combo meal free. I had my costume planned out but that day I got mastitis (I think the only other time I've had it was when I nursed Danika) I didn't feel up to making costume so we just wore the hats. BriLynn loved the cows. She hugged them many times.

Blah....

Ever felt like not doing anything? There are so many things I should be doing (like making my meal plan or cleaning) but I don't feel like it. It's one of those days that the kids have probably watched more TV than they should but I need some down time.

Here are some pics from the last month.

BriLynn wanted to be like Mommy. What can I say, I'm a cheapskate and won't pay the 40 plus dollars it is to highlight my hair. So my sister comes over and does the 6 dollar cap kind at wally world. You can't tell but BriLynn has plastic wrap on her head for her cap.A little FHE fun.

Guess who's three months!
This little guy is growing too fast. I love his pose in this, it looks like he is cheering for himself.

I thought it would be cute to take a picture comparing Jonathan's feet to Kevin's.

We took these pictures to see if the kids looked like us. BriLynn and Jonathan are not in them but what do you think?