It's funny how it works....when you have a lot to write about there is no time to write it down, and when you have plenty of time to journal, you have nothing to write about. The past couple of weeks have been very full. I am learning to like busy, because when I'm not, I don't know what to do with myself. Busy keeps my mind from thinking about things that don't matter, or over thinking them. So, no more complaining about being busy.
I am very routine oriented, and a few weeks ago my morning routine changed and has kept me busy! Typically I have been jumping on my elliptical as soon as I send my dear sweet children off to school. I would do that for a half and hour, and then finish my morning with chores, shopping, running Sophia to the library, etc, before nap time. Now I send the kids quickly out the door so I can make it to the gym. I realized that I needed a little extra push in the exercise department. While my weight was where it used to be, for some reason my body parts aren't. I got the gym salesman to give me a sweet deal, and I made it my birthday present! I could tell that I wasn't as in shape as I thought, as I found my self hobbling up my stairs the first week. Being sore is a love/hate relationship for me. I LOVE that I know I actually worked something really good, but I hate the pain. I have been quite diligent, going every day (minus a few that Sophia was sick). I have to say that it actually is saving me money, too! How you ask? The time I spend there is less time I have to spend shopping! What a great budgeting plan!
The children's activities have also kept us very busy. The weekend after Aubrie's party was VERY full! Friday, Aubrie had a her much awaited class field trip to Flagstaff. She had to be at the school by 6:00am. Thankfully, Ben had an early job and it worked out perfect for him to take her!! Waking her up wan't a problem. I never saw her get ready so fast! It's amazing how she hasn't been able to do it since! I had to get up and exercise before school, because that morning I was going to Ethan's class for his Rodeo Day. Friday night Boston had a football game and Aubrie got home at 8:30 from her field trip. She went right to bed because she had a dance competition the next morning. We were up at 6 and out the door by 7 to get to her dance competition in Gilbert. Meanwhile, Ben stayed back and juggled 3 football games, and two soccer games, with the three kids. He is a champ! Aubrie and I finished just in time to rush back to watch Ethan's music performance, and then Ben and I headed off to dinner! My pillow was my best friend by the end of the night! Of course, I won't be leaving you hanging on all those events, so I'll break them down.
Aubrie's Flagstaff Field Trip
Aubrie had a GREAT time. They enjoyed the comforts of a charter bus for the journey. The kids had a fun time watching movies on their ipods, texting each other in their DS chat rooms, etc (time sure have changed!). Aubrie loved all the activities and places she visited. She couldn't stop talking about them. Her favorite place seemed to be where she got to see some old Indian ruins and look at their pottery, living quarters, etc. She was digging around in some dirt, and she swore she found a piece of broken pottery!;) Do I see an archaeologist in her future?!!! For dinner they stopped at a Peter Piper Pizza, and of course I don't have to say how much fun she had doing that with all her friends from school. I'm glad her competition was only on Saturday so she could go on this trip!
Ethan's Rodeo Day
Rodeo Day was a blast! The kids all dressed up in the cutest outfits, and had fun with so many cute activities. The first activity was actually two. They panned for gold and shaved. How did they do that? Well, they gave them real shaving cream, and they used the big popsicle sticks to "shave". They had hand held mirrors, and a water basin.
For the panning for gold, the teachers spray painted rocks gold and they used the sand toy sifters to pan with. It was so cute!
The next activity was their "branding"! They branded each class with their own symbol using letter stamps. They then did a color activity.
The next activity was horse racing. They had made horse heads early in the week, and they slipped them over yard sticks. They had a blast doing this.
After that activity they moved on to musical chairs. Ethan was cracking the lady up who was in charge, and she kept saying how funny he was. I kept silent, until one of the Mom's told her he was my son. He was just being himself. Dancing and jigging to them music, without a care in the world!
After musical chairs, they moved on to lassoing stuffed animals.
Then they all ate their smores, that the Mom's made and were baking in the sun during their activities.
Here is what a lot of the smores turned out like.
The Mom who did it admitted that it was probably her, and blamed it on sleep deprivation. To her defence, she is a Mother of a newborn baby! I'm so glad I went. What a fun time, and I got a lot of great pictures for his class slide show!
Aubrie's Dance Competition
Aubrie did very well. She had a lot of energy in her dances and she smiled a lot this time. Her groups did well, but this competition had a few studios that were very competitive. The girls from these studios spend about 10 to 12 hours at their studio (at least) a week. Luckily the girls are still young enough not to notice and are just happy knowing they performed their dances well. The competitions are usually great about awarding all the girls with something, and so they don't figure out the ribbon placement until they are older. They just know they ranked Gold, and are so memorized by the trophies that the ribbons don't seem as important! I'm proud of Aubrie and all her hard work at dance!
Boston's games
Well, Boston missed his soccer game. I thought it was at 9:00, but when he got there his team was walking back to their cars. Oops. I looked at the next weeks time. Ben said Boston was pretty upset about the whole thing, but luckily his foot ball games made up for it! Honestly, we thought that Boston's tournament would be short lived. We figured he would have two games at most. There are some really good teams who have been around for awhile, and dominated. Boston is a great player and has great teammates, but we knew they were outmatched. We were pleasantly surprised when Boston's team won all three games on Saturday. I was quite sad, actually, to have missed them. Ben kept texting me the scores, and I was so happy, picturing Boston's huge smile on his face after every game. He was so proud to have his medal. (Even though every team got one!)
Sophia having fun at the games!
Ethan's game
Ethan was picked up by a soccer team just a few weeks ago. I was a little nervous since he had only played in a rink. I just could imagine him kicking the ball out of bounds and way past the soccer net every time. Ben wasn't there to watch, since he was at the football game, but his coach said he did really well. Ethan was really excited to play. His enthusiasm for soccer has skyrocketed since he has been playing for this team. It's so fun to see him get so into it.
Ethan's music performance.
Ethan is such a crack up! I see somewhere in his future getting nominated for class clown. He always puts a funny spin on everything. Sometimes it's not the right time, but he still gets a laugh, because you just can't help yourself. It's not like he is trying to be disrespectful, he just finds the humor in everything. I guess that's a talent. He was cracking us up (along with many others as I found out later) during the music performance. There were several parts where kids got up and played tone bells to certain songs. When Ethan was on the tone bells, he not only played the bells, but bounced up and down to the beat of the music. It wasn't settle in any form. The funny thing is, I don't think he even really noticed he was doing it until he saw us laughing and smiling. He was very dramatic throughout his performance. I loved that he wasn't shy in the least bit, too! I thought he might be a bit nervous, since going was kind of a last minute decision. We didn't know if the games would be done in time, so I didn't think he was going. Luckily he can go with the flow like a champ! It amazes me how he has learned so much from that class, especially when he refuses to listen to the CD's or practice anything. Guess he is actually doing some listening in between all his clowning around!
We had a kink in our day, as Sophia was coughing like crazy and there was no way I could take her to church. I couldn't' imagine staying home and being without the older ones, but I also couldn't imagine being away from her. I told Ben I didn't want my family to be divided for Mother's Day and that I would rather we all stayed home and the kids could all sing to me here. Well, that wasn't exciting enough to celebrate my special day, so we decided on a picnic. Of course, a picnic in 90 degree weather is no picnic, so I suggested we take a drive up North and enjoy a picnic there. Montezuma's Well came to my mind. We had gone there for a family picnic when Ethan was only a month old, and I remember it being very secluded and quiet. I knew that was the place for us. On the way up I was trying not to feel guilty for skipping church as the kids were asking why we were buying gas on Sunday! I tried to talk to them about the ox in the mire! I am always quite hard on myself when I miss. I hardly missed even when I had babies! I do admit that this ended up being the BEST Mother's Day for me EVER! I had such a great time with the kids. 
