Denny's before Disney

Gotta load up before a long day at the Park! Here are some pics from breakfast. What a change just getting something to eat has been these days. Sophia is making it so much easier to enjoy a meal these days! Ben and Boston watching a game (well Boston not so much in this picture). Ben is so happy that Boston actually likes watching a few minutes of sports!

Never a serious moment for this kid!

Karate Awards and Super Human Tricks!

Last Monday, at the end of Ethan's karate, I heard them calling out "Ethan's family". I finally realized he was having his first evaluation. He did really well, and earned his first star. He was so excited to finally have a star ironed on his belt. He is doing well, and is learning the Kata's very well!

On the way to Disneyland, I look back and find Sophia doing this! What a crazy girl! Here we come Leno! (or is it Letterman?)

Fashion Show

So lately, the kids have been very style conscious. That doesn't necessarily mean they follow the crowd in everything. Boston is always a sure bet for originality. Here is the new hat he picked out at Tilly's the other day. The hat he had "always been wanting"! He wears it to school all the time. It makes it easy to spot him on the playground! He reminds me of a cross between Justin Timberlake and Michael Jackson! I love how they all have their own style. I'm mainly posting this so they can go back one day and see how they dressed in 2009!

After finally tracking down these Van's for Boston, at Tilly's, Aubrie found this outfit there!

After a shopping spree at Justice earlier in the week, Aubrie orchestrated a compromise in order to get it. She matched half! Aubrie was true to her debt, and had to practically force it on Ben, as he always wants to give them everything in the end! All I have to say is that Cindy Lauper better be LOVING this comeback, because it's the only one she'll have!

Ethan picked this DC hat out! The favorite clothing brand of the boys these days?

The whole look!

A Few Creative Minds

The kids always complain that I throw away their art. I keep explaining that I can't keep everything. I then promised I would take pictures before I threw them out. So here are few.

Aubrie's Diorama of Primary Sharing time

Kids Singing

Piano player and pulpit

Ethan's Scarecrow

(I love his water coloring!)

How could I?

Getting Ready for Church (She actually is excited! She LOVES church)

So I have only heard a few stories , but until this week I never fell into the following category. Let me start by saying that Thursday night is the busiest night for our family. The kids have activity after activity, that overlap each other. Also, Ethan's music class requires that a parent attends every other week. This Thursday was the "parent" week. So now that I have that set up, imagine Ben getting an emergency call for work, right before it all started. We thought it would be quick and he would be back in time to pick up the kids from piano. However, Boston was too sick for piano, still, and so I had to take Aubrie and wait for her lesson to be over, leaving me no time to come home and get dinner started. On my way home, I get a call from Ben telling me that the job is taking longer than he thought. So I had to find Aubrie a ride to dance while I took Ethan to music. Ben still wasn't done, after music, and so I swung by the house and grabbed Sophia, to give my Mom a break, and went to pick up Aubrie.

Aubrie still had about 15 minutes left, by the time I got there, so I went in and let Sophia play in the toy area, while I watched Aubrie dance. Sophia was playing so quietly, I hardly noticed she was there. While at the studio, Devney (the owner), needed me to help Aubrie try on some jumpsuits, for sizing. After we were done trying them on, Aubrie and I left, to go meet Ben at Subway. Noticing anything wrong yet? Subway is about 10 minutes away. As I was pulling in to the parking lot, I was thinking that I would let Aubrie stay in the car with SOPHIA....ahhhhh....Sophia wasn't in the car. I forgot her! I couldn't believe it. How could I? I was on the phone with Ben when I realized it, and I kept saying over and over, "I forgot Sophia, I forgot Sophia." I immediately turned around and headed back to the studio. Aubrie didn't believe me at first, because I have played that trick on the kids a lot, when my Mom has her at home, and they are wondering where she is. I was breaking all kinds of speed limits to get to her. I kept saying, "I can't believe I forgot her. I'm such a bad Mom". Aubrie was so cute, telling me to calm down, and that I was a good Mom. Somehow Ben beat me there (well he not only speed, but went over some medians.) Sophia was clueless that we were even gone. Luckily the people at the studio know who she is and who she belongs to. I was just afraid she could have gone out the front door without anyone noticing. And I couldn't get over that i had forgotten her. I put the experience on facebook the next day, and hearing everyone else's "forgetting the child" stories made me feel much better. This is a defintely a story Sophia will be telling, or using against me, when she gets older!

Result of Sophia getting into the pool closet!!

Out sick

This week I got a lot of extra quality time with Boston. Boston came down with the flu, which kept him out of school for 3 days. The flu has been VERY bad this year, taking record numbers out of school, for several days. Aubrie's class had 17 kids absent in her class over a week ago. Boston got the worst of it, which is unusual. Out of all my kids, Boston hardly ever gets sick! He does get stomach aches, but never the flu. Since Columbus Day was on Monday, it was almost a full week off for him. He started coming down with something on Columbus day. We got lunch at Red Robin, and he didn't have a very big appetite. Then when we were at the movie (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs), he kept complaining that he didn't feel well, and kept laying on my lap. As soon as we got home he went and took a nap (something he NEVER does). He had a constant temperature and no appetite until Thursday morning. A few times, to get his temperature to come down, I had him dip in the pool. He thought that was cool (literally!). I kept him busy with workbooks, make up work, movies, and I made him take naps when Sophia did. He was really good about that. It was nice to have quality one on one time with him, but by the end of the week I was feeling bad that he wasn't feeling better. I was happy, and so was he, when he got to go back to school on Friday. I volunteered on Friday, in Aubrie's class, and checked on him during his recess time. He was outside playing soccer and having a good time. I'm sure he was glad to be back playing with his friends!

Hello! Goodbye.

Hello Bed!

So after many escapes, Ben waking up with Sophia staring at him, oh, and Sophia asking us over and over for a "big girl bed", we finally made the switch. I took Sophia to karate and dance on Wednesday, while Ben broke down the crib and put up her bed. The only twin size bedding I had was Buzz Lightyear. I pulled that out of the closet for Ben to put on when he was done. When we got back this is what was waiting.

I guess Ben couldn't stand the thought of his little girl in Buzz Lightyear bedding. Having the Dora bedding definitely made the surprise all the more exciting for her. She was so excited to sleep in her Dora bed. She didn't fall asleep for a couple of hours the first night, because she was so excited. She didn't get out of bed, but just laid their wide awake. Since then, she has made the transition very well. Of course, I should be knocking on wood, because I said that about her potty training and now she is back to pull ups and no trips to the potty. After our trip, I'm pulling out the underwear and throwing out the pull ups. There are no excuses now that she is in a bed!

Goodbye Crib!

Later that night, as we were bringing her crib and rocker downstairs to the garage, it was like another chapter closing in my life. Aubrie was upset that the rocking chair was going. She kept asking me to keep it. Honestly, if I had a place to put it, I might have thought about it. It's the rocking chair I rocked all my babies in. That's the sentimental part of me. I'm sure I'll be crying when we sell it and some stranger is driving off with it!

The crib and rocking chair I've had since Aubrie! How 10 years have flown by!

Prison Break

So yesterday, after putting Sophia down for a nap, I was enjoying a few hours of peace, checking up on emails, facebook, farmville.... You know, all that important stuff. Ha, ha! Anyway, I kept hearing noises, but passed it off as the cats. I did think it was a little weird to hear a door close, but couldn't think of what else it could be. It's wasn't until I heard a thud, that could not be created by a 14 lb agile cat, that I started to get concerned. I ran towards Sophia's room, hoping my worst fear wouldn't be confirmed. When I opened her door she was laying on top of her dresser, face first (obviously in the middle of a climb). She shot me this big grin, like she had been caught. I then noticed that she had several toys in her crib, and that she had her PJ's on. ( I put her down in a sundress!) I quickly moved her dresser to the other side of the room, and laid on her floor until she went to sleep. So far no escape acts today. But she did want her door open tonight when we put her down, and I did sleep on her floor for 10 minutes until she fell asleep, at nap time. I'm not ready for her to be in a bed!!!! I'm hoping the repositioning of the dresser will detour her for a few more months. Of course, her not being in the bed has put a damper on her potty training. I realized I had never had a kid in a crib and in underpants at the same time. It kinda makes it hard for her to use the restroom in the middle of the night, or early morning. Hmmmm......more time in a crib, or a fully potty trained kid? What will give me more sanity? I'm thinking the crib!

Caught on Film

Just some random pics to share!

Currently these are Sophia's favorite shoes. I originally bought them for church, but she wears them every day. You can tell by looking at the scuffs and scratches on the toes. This particular day she decided that these bright pink socks would look good with her ensemble. ( Did I mention she picks out her clothes every day?) Being my fourth, I have learned what battles are worth fighting. This obviously wasn't one of them. The people in Target got a kick out of her!

Last Thursday we went to AH-SO for dinner. It was the best the food has tasted, but the service was awful and it was FREEZING. Boston couldn't take it anymore and broke down and wore Aubrie's jacket. Doesn't he look so pretty in pink? He didn't realize I was capturing it on film until the second shot, obviously!

The other night, after putting Aubrie down, she remembered she needed to make a cake for a play in class. I panicked, thinking she needed to make a real cake. She told me she just needed to make one out of paper. I asked her how she planned on doing that. She told me she was going to cut three circles (all different sizes) and tape them together. In my head I imagined three circles just glued on top of each other. She came down 30 minutes with this. Well, actually it was much nicer. This is the aftermath of me running it to her school on a windy day, and her bringing it home in her backpack. She is super creative! If it was me, it would have been three circles slapped on top of each other.

Really no story with these pictures. Just can't help but whip out the camera and take random pictures of this girl. She LOVES the camera, and gives me some of the funniest looks. Speaking of LOVING the camera. The other day we took the kids hiking. Ever so often, Boston would strike a pose and say, "Wouldn't this make a good picture". He and Sophia have a lot in common!:)

Nine to Three

That's how long we were gone this morning doing Soccer. What have we gotten ourselves into? I remember my Saturdays being relaxing. We would do some housework, yard work, etc and then hang. Not going to happen anymore! Actually, we left the house at 8:32 to make it to Bostons game which is only 5 minutes away; but you have to be early to warm up!! We found that out last week:) Boston had a great game. He played very well. I am amazed at his skill. Since he spends all his time playing kickball and tether ball, I had no clue he could play soccer. His team worked well together and pulled off a win. Boston was super excited.

After his game we headed to the pharmacy to pick up the other half of Aubrie's prescription (For some reason the insurance company made us get two separate doses at different times. Lame!) We then stopped at Sports Chalet to get some more light weight chairs. We stopped by the house and Ben took Ethan over to the fields for pictures, while I hung at the house for about 30 minutes getting kids fed and a few things organized. We headed back out for Ethan's game at noon. Ethan was still feeling a little under the weather, but wanted to play. You could definitely tell. He was dragging big time on the field, and would only get aggressive when the ball came his way. His team lost. The other team was really good and had some kids that looked like they could be Boston's age.

Aubrie had pictures at 1:00, so we just got some food from the snack bar and found some shade and hung out and watched a movie. Ben ran Sophia back to the house for a nap, (my Mom was home), and Ben came back and joined us.

Aubrie, too, did not have the energy level she had last week. She had a lot of good steals, but didn't have what she needed to take the ball down the field and really get aggressive. Her team did really well, though. Winning 3-1. (or was it 4-1?). Anyway, despite not feeling their best, they still had fun, and pushed through.

After the games, we came home and the kids just rested and watched TV. Ben had priesthood session at 5. While he was gone, I dragged myself on the elliptical for one last work out for the week. I was determined to get 5 work outs in this week. I ended up being on there for an hour and a half; my longest time ever. I think it was a good stress reliever from a long day. After my workout, I fed the kids, finished some laundry, and picked up the house. There was still time for a game of Sorry and Memory with the kids. Tomorrow is General Conference, piano practicing, and catching up on missed General Conference. It was weird not watching today. So grateful for Tevo! Another week gone by so quickly!!!

Apple Day and Hair Ties

Ethan's Kindergarten in their "Apple Day" hats

This past week Ethan's class has been focusing on apples. Friday was apple day, where they did several projects that included apples. The teachers asked for volunteers to help with the stations. I helped with the painting station. The kids took cut apples and did the famous "apple stamp". It didn't turn out as cute as it was supposed to. Most of the artwork looked like big blobs. The kids enjoyed theme selves, so that was good enough for me. The other stations were making puppets, hats, coloring, tasting apples and picking your favorite, and helping make applesauce. After their stations, the Mom's got to stick around and watch them go through their normal morning routine, which included Calendar, days of the week, popcorn letter, etc. It was great to be there for that and see how much Ethan enjoyed it and participated. I can tell why he loves it so much. His teacher is so laid back, and makes it fun for them. It was a good morning spending time with Ethan, and meeting and getting to know other Mom's.

When I got back home I took Sophia out for some shopping. I made a run to Justice to cheer Aubrie up, and also reward her for all her hard work. She is working so hard these days. She does all her homework and activities without complaining. I'm so proud of her. I ran upstairs with the bag and put the clothes on my bed and then asked her to get something and bring it to me. She was so excited and appreciative for all her things. That makes me want to spoil her even more, when she is so appreciative. While I was out, I also bought some ribbon and hair ties so Aubrie could make special hair ties for her soccer teammates. Sh did a good job. She made two for every girl, "in case they wore piggy tails". She put them in little clear bags and put a cute note, for each girl, on envelope labels, and used them to seal the bags.

She was so excited to pass them out today. All the girls were so grateful and put them in their hair. That made Aubrie feel good. I love her giving personality. She is so good that way.

16 missing!

This week Aubrie wasn't feeling well. Well, actually she hasn't been doing well for the past two weeks. Between sore muscles, a cough, headaches, and congestion, she has missed her share of dance classes and made Ibprofin her new friend. Finally, after much complaining of pressure under her eyes, I determined that she must have developed a sinus infection. Ben took her out of tap early, on Wednesday, and took her to the doctor. I guessed right. (Don't Mom's have that special Diagnostic skill?) She came home with some antibiotics (YEAH!). The next day she was feeling better, but came home from school with news that 14 kids were absent from her class. I knew that wasn't good news. She developed a fever and missed school the following day. I received an email from her teacher informing the parent's not to worry about missed work. No work or tests were administered in the whole 4th grade due to increased amount of absent children. There was a total of 16 absent in her class, alone, on Friday. I guess the flu worked fast through her classroom. Aubrie's fever came and went, and she seemed better by nightfall, and all her other "original" symptoms of sinus pressure were gone. Ben and I went out for our normal date night, and recieved a call a few hours later that Ethan had a temperature. I should have known that something was wrong with him, because he came home and said he was tired (when I told him that morning he could ride his bike after school) and just crashed on the couch and WATCHED Boston play video games. Today he and Aubrie had a roller coaster day. I'm hoping no one else gets the flu, and it will quickly pass through our house! Darn the flu season!

Student of the Week

So Friday the kids came home and said that Ethan was on TV. What? Of course, I wasn't believing a word of it, until they explained that he was on the TV at school. Their school has TV monitors in each classroom, where they do morning announcements, messages from the principal, etc. I'm sure they also use them for showing movies while the teachers take a nap. Ha! Ha!

Anyway, apparently the school has started this new "golden ticket" system. When the kids are showing good character, their name goes on a golden ticket, which goes into a drawing. They choose a handful of tickets each week. So here are Aubrie and Boston watching the announcements and hear Ethan say his name in his little baby voice, "Efan", as they are asking the students to introduce themselves. Apparently Student Council (the ones doing the announcements) thought he was cute and loved his freckles (according to Ethan).

So what does he get out of this? Cutting rights!!! He gets to cut in front of the lines all week. I let him get lunch in the cafeteria and he said it was totally cool that he got to cut to the front! I'm so glad that Ethan got picked. It meant a lot to him. He is doing so well in school. He loves his teacher, and loves to go and learn. He loves all the things he is doing...soccer, karate, music. He works really hard, and is very focused.

Ethan and Aubrie had their first soccer game Saturday. Aubrie did very well, considering she had no idea what she was doing. I was impressed that she just jumped in and did things, without acting fearful or nervous. I think if I was 9 and played my first soccer game with girls who had played before, I would have butterflies in my stomach. She was very aggressive, and also willing to play goalie. I think she realized that position wasn't where all the action was, and wanted to get back on the field. Once she gets her positioning down, I think she will do GREAT!

Ethan did very well, too. He was a little tired at first. He had just sat in the sun for an hour watching Aubrie's game, and kicking a ball around with Emmy. He also went to bed at 12:30 the night before. Once his adrenaline started going, he was a machine. He was all over the ball, and sometimes all over the players. He was just focused on kicking the ball no matter where it landed. One time he accidentally kicked a coaches hand as he was picking up the ball, and he also kicked it out of boys hand who tried to pick it up. It was kind of funny, actually. Ethan finally got his Karate Gi and equipment. He wore it for the first time yesterday. He did so much better than he has ever done. Everyone (the other Mom's and the instructor) noticed it. Amazing how having his uniform on helped him do much better. He was so cute, and I didn't even get a picture. I'm taking one on Wed, for sure, and posting it.

Afternoon Taxi Driver

Last week went way to quick. I honestly can't think of anything I did besides run kids to activities, go to Young Women's and watch the season premier of House (my favorite TV show). I'm sure I also got some Glen Beck in, too! The weeks just pass by so quickly these days. Before I know it, it is Friday and I'm gearing up for another week to come. It's all very good, but also very exhausting. I think I'm about to paint my car yellow, and start talking in a New York accent! I hope the kids really do love all their activities, and I'm not running them around in vein.

Growing up I wasn't involved in anything, until I got into Jr. High/High School. I remember spending my days, after school, out with the kids in the neighborhood, watching TV, playing in my room, etc. I wonder what produces a happier childhood, and if it really matters. I was a happy kid. Of course, times were much simpler then. Now our kids lives are filled with video games, computers, etc, when they are home. Especially if you live in Arizona. There isn't much playing outside unless you are swimming! (Well, for 8 months out of the year anyway.) Where am I going with this? I just hope at the end of it all, all my time and energy (along with all my kids time and energy) will help at producing more well rounded adults!

I'm posting our weekly schedule for family history's sake. I'm sure the kids will love looking at this someday, and it might be helpful for me, too, when I'm a Grandma and wondering why I don't see my own Adult children very often! I'm sure I'll also look back at this schedule in a few years and think how easy I had it! Ha! Ha! BTW, if there is some bad person stalking this blog, we have 3 doberman pinchers and all of my kids are black belts in Karate!

Monday

4-6 Aubrie's Dance

4:30-5 Ethan's Karate

Family Home Evening

Tuesday

4:15 Aubrie's Activity Days (every other week)

5:00-6:00 Aubrie and Ethan's Soccer Practice

5:30- 6:30 Boston's cub scouts

6:30-8:00 Young Womens

Wed (my easy day)

4-5 Aubrie's Tap

4:30- 5 Ethan's Karate

Thursday (the killer day)

4:30-5:30 Aubrie and Boston's piano

5:30-6:30 Ethan's music class

6:00-7:00 Aubrie's Hip Hop class

7:00- 8:00 Boston's Soccer Practice

Friday....NOTHING!!!!!!

Saturday

3 Soccer games at random times, and sometimes a dance practice

Ben...maybe you should print this out;)