First Day of School

First day of THIRD grade and KINDERGARTEN!!

 

 They were up early and excited to go!!

I was worried Ella would have some nerves once we got to the paly ground,

because she has in the last few years,

but she did great!!

She wasn't nervous,

and I could tell by her body language,

that if she was feeling nervous,

she was determined to feel brave and have a good day!!

 

 Scarlet has a little advantage of her peers with the 1st day of school.

Because she was in the Early Childhood program,

and then in Pre-K,

 going to the Kindergarten play ground and lining up wasn't anything new for her.

She has her little cousin I her class,

which makes me happy,

because cousins are your first friends and I want them to enjoy being close.  

 

She looks stressed in her pictures,

but that is just her "I'm here." face!!

The other 2 little boys in the pics are from her primary class,

so a few more familiar faces!!

 

I went up to volunteer at lunch.

I know first graders sometimes struggle with getting packages open,

so I was sure there would be some stressed out kindergarteners!!

I was very happy to see my girls looked happy and were having a good day!!

I think we are going to have a great year!!



As Summer Closes

This summer has been filled with glorious moments,

high stress,

and spurts of draining boredom.

 

We finally bought a new home,

one to call our own!!

To say we are very excited is an understatement!!

Unfortunately the process was pure stress and I'm grateful I'm not bald.

Maybe a post for another day, if I feel brave!!

 

We spent the days playing,

moving,

watching too much TV,

moving,

cleaning,

moving,

swimming,

moving,

and swimming some more!!

 

 

The best part of summer is,

my daughters get to see their daddy a lot more.

He is starting his 4th year working weekends.

During the school year, they don't see very much of him.

 He was supposed to be 'helping'.

 

 I haven't handed my husband the keys and told him to take his children somewhere, ANYWHERE, and not come back for an hour it quite awhile!!

But this last week I just needed a moment to not have someone asking me to find something, feed them, tattle, or ignore me.....this includes my Brent himself!!

So I shuffled them out the door and I didn't care where they went, they just could not stay home!!

Brent was headed to his parents house when he saw the Logandale Pak had been flooded.

The rest was an hour of blissful splashing and rolling in the water like dirty little ducks!!

 

 

We were not able to go on a family vacation this year.

(See above mention of constant moving and loan appointments)

I decided I wanted to do something fun,

so we went to Fiesta Family Fun Center in St. George.

I had extremely low expectations,

but they've totally re done it and it was FUN!!

We raced Go Karts, bowled a game, and played arcade games!!

It was fun and the best part was seeing my little girls so happy.

School will start in 2 days and we are all excited.

We're all looking forward to structure and something to keep us busy,

and the girls are looking forward to seeing their little friends.

I'll miss them, but this is a fun time of year!!



Happy Birthday To My Beautiful Monster

My baby is officially 5!!
I'm still in shock and denial.

Today we had her kindergarten evaluation.

She did wonderful!!

Her Pre K teacher from last year moved up to Kindergarten and Scarlet was placed in her class again.

We are SUPER happy about that!!

It makes us all fell more comfortable about her being gone all day, and Mrs. Taylor already knows her little habits.

She is VERY excited to go back to school.

This morning when I told we had to get ready to go 'to the school',

she thought I said 'go to school'.

She had her back pack out and her shoes on and was asking which outfit to wear!!

She's so excited and I'm happy for her.

She will be young for her grade, and initially I was worried about that.

And I was worried about ALL day class.

And if she would be able to eat fast enough.

And if she would get tired.

And if she would miss me.

When we had our final IEP meeting last May,

I shot these questions at her teacher like we were in a lightning round.

She very sweetly reassured me that:

Technically, she had already been in half day kindergarten since she was 3 1/2.

Sometimes they just get into a groove and then the half day is over and they have to go home.

Class will not be so rushed with more hours to complete tasks.

 

I knew all this was true.

And I knew I had to do what was best for HER, and not What I wanted.

But I am going to miss them both.

 

Mothers of young ones,

my advice to you:

enjoy the days before school starts.

Sometimes they suck,

and they're hard,

and those little ones seem like they are siphoning the very life out of your soul and you feel like you want to run screaming to the crazy house.

And then they go to school,

and everything goes by in a flash.

And then they are 8, and want to do their own hair, and pick out their own clothes.

 And you actually secretly wish for them to catch a little bug so they will let you snuggle them.

Or they turn 5 and when you ask them if they're ok to be left in primary,

they are truly offended and reply with, "Mommy, it's just primary. I think I can handle it."

And you are so happy for their independence,

but a part of you wants them to need you a little bit.

 

Scarlet's present have trickled in from extended family.

Which is fun, cuz then something new shows up every day!!

 Aunt Joshlyn gave her the most awesome dinosaur/monster slippers. Ever.

 

And she wants to wear them to the store.

Aunt Joshlyn for the win!!



Scarlet's Birthday: The Party!!

The water bouncy house is worth every penny even if it is used only for summer birthday parties!!

 

 7 little girls and 1 boy at this party!!

Right now he thinks it sucks, but in a few years I don't think he's going to mind when his sisters and cousins have a bunch of friends over!!

 

 Scarlet specifically wanted a dragon cake.

This was as good as I could do!!

I feel like it turned ok.

Dragon-esque!!

Maybe a little alligator-y.

 

 Why is that candle a 5!?

When did she turn 4, let alone 5!?

 

 I love my glorious little duck.

She is sweet and strong and feisty and wonderful.

I love that she is tough as nails, but tender hearted all at the same time.

 

 

 It didn't take long for Renn to discover the #1 no zone in the house for him.

Also a very determined little spirit!!

 

 Who doesn't love opening presents!?

 

 She has wanted a 'CleverKeet' like the one Ella got for her birthday SO bad.

 

 It's hard to be little and have your birthday second!!

Those 5 weeks have felt long!!

 

But she persevered and it paid off!!

When we began moving,

I got a little fed up with all the toys I had that were not being played with.

I sold some.

I donated some.

And Scarlet got A LOT of educational toys today!!

 

Scarlet I love you.

I love who you are.

I love that you cuddle with me.

I love that you can share, even if you don't want to sometimes.

I love that you sleep like a starfish.

I love that you get so excited.

I love that you care for others.

 

My Little Chefs

We love the Food Network at our house.

Ella especially enjoys watching 'Worst Cooks in America'.

And I've learned a lot from it!!

She loves to help me cook.

And always wants to taste test it before we're all finished to make sure I've put the perfect amount of spice in.

 

The other day she wanted to 'plate' the food.

She completed her soft taco with a cilantro leaf.

It was perfection!!

 

 Scarlet is not quite ready to plate her food.

But she artfully arranged her olives before she made olive fingers!!

School starts soon and I'm going to miss these little kumquats. 

Jr. Cheer Camp

The chickens went to MVHS jr cheer camp this week.

They had so much fun!!

 Ella is still probably the smallest girl her age.

The poofy hair helps!!

 

 I was very proud of Scarlet for being brave and doing most of the routine.

She stood frozen in fear for a few minutes but with encouragement from her very out going cousin,

she was prodded into motion!!

 

 We have 4 girls in the family and 4 boys.

Perfect!!

I am delighted to see all 4 of them at cheer camp!!

Hehehe

 

 Not that I really care.

If they come to me and want to play soccer or volleyball or football!!

I will support whatever they want to do!!

I just know cheer best,

and a little bit of dance.

 

 I was so proud of them.

All of them!!

Scarlet and Elise were adorable.

Ella did awesome at her dance.

Jara, who is quite reserved and shy, was 1)willing to go to camp in the first place,

2)Totally rocked!!

 

I love my babies.

I love my niecies.

It was a fun week for everyone!!



Baptism Day

Ella was baptized August 6, 2016.

It was a wonderful day!!

Everyone was well behaved, and we had wonderful support from our families.

I'm a quite serious person, and take things very seriously.

So it means a lot to me when people, especially people I love, attend special events.

 

Ella is a very carefree, fun, happy girl.

She is also very curious and inquisitive and likes things to be explained to her.

We had several little discussions about baptism, The Holy Ghost, and the Atonement.

Even though she is only 8 years old, she listened intently, asked questions, and I feel she grasped her own level of understanding.

She was very happy on her baptism day, and she was very reverent.

I could see her little spirit truly feeling all it could.

 

 Scarlet was well behaved and did not cry or ask to go home once.

So I'll take that as a win!!

 

 Scarlet and I matched.

Yes it was on purpose.

It took 2 other Amazon orders before I found something that looked decent!!

 

Ella wasn't nervous.

It make my heart truly happy to see her sitting with her daddy,

listening to her Uncle Jed give a talk on behalf of the stake.

Her confirmation was very sweet and special.

I could see her little face from where I was sitting and her smile was wide and bright.

I'm so grateful for all our family who came and supported us.

I had one of my lovely Aunts, and Brent had one of his.

Our wonderful bishop and his beautiful wife were there.

All of Ella's cousins with exception of a few were there.

It was lovely and the day was filled with joy.

 

 

I'm terrible at taking pictures.

I didn't take any at the dinner we had after!!

So we grabbed a few after church today of us all together.

 

 The lovely Ms. Sabrina made Ella this beautiful flower crown.

She proudly wore it to sacrament and we're going to dry it for her memory box.

 

 

It was a lovely day.

I didn't want to leave the church.

The feelings of love and The Spirit were so strong I wanted to stay there in that bubble forever.

I am so grateful for this gospel.

I am grateful for my Savior and I love Him.

I know that if I follow God's plan, I will always have peace.

I may not have pure joy every day, and I certainly will not have a perfect life.

But I will have peace.



My Little Girl.....is not so little anymore

Ella is going to baptized tomorrow.

And I bought water proof mascara for the occasion about 6 months ago.

Ella has grown up so much.

She doesn't need to hold my hand at the store anymore.

She wants to play with friends.

She argues her side to the DEATH.

But she is deeply sweet.

And caring.

And kind.

She loves her Heavenly Father and her family.

She is so smart and curious,

and I know she is destined for great things.

My girls seem to be maturing and growing up before my very eyes and it just makes me cry.

I'm very happy for them and I'm excited for every new phase and stage,

and all the new adventures ahead of us.

But I only have 2 and it goes by so fast.

 

A very lovely woman Named Amey took Ella's pictures and I LOVE them.

We have never done professional pictures for our kids.

They were very, very fussy babies and by the time they got older I figured I'd just do them myself.

But this is a very special occasion.

These are a few of my favorites.

 

I love you Ella.

I'm so proud of you and I want everything in the world for you.

I'm so excited to see you enter into the waters of baptism with your father tomorrow and become a member of our church.

I love this gospel and I have complete faith that you will grow into a righteous and spiritual woman.

You are better than I am, and I will do everything I can to guide you in that way.



Gravady

All my friends with children have told me I MUST go to Gravady.

Yes, that is how it's spelled!!

I've been trying to convince Brent but he was skeptical.

More loud noises and dirty children and a drive to Vegas didn't sound like fun to him!!

 

But guess who had the most fun?

Guess who was boinging around the place leaving his children in the dust?

Guess who wanted to do ALL the obstacles?

 

Yeah.

It was this guy.

 

I tried to help Scarlet have fun.

We had an hour 'flight pass' and she lasted a little over half way before the noise and music and crowd and over stimulation was too much.

We sat on a couch and while she buried her head in my lap.

I was sad she was sad.

But at least she had fun half the time!!

 

 Ella has been watching ninja warrior with us and has decided she wants to do it one day.

She happily climbed her way through the whole place!!

And she's pretty good!!

 She inherited some excellent climbing skills from myself.

It's just a necessary adaptation when one is so short!!

 

 And I have clingy feet.

We had a lot of fun and Brent has promised that we can go back another time before school starts.

He is working weekends for the FOURTH year in a row,

so during the school year, play time is very limited.