Strep...

Boston stayed home from school today. He ran a fever all night long and just wasn't himself lastnight. I had a busy afternoon and was running all over, and right after school the kids had Parent Teacher Conference. We had to have them early so that Morgan and Zach could go to football at 5:30. It was a crazy hour at the school trying to meet with all 3 of their teachers! During Bostons SEP I looked over at him and he just didn't look good! I felt so bad for not noticing earlier, and he didn't even have a chance after school to say anything! Sure enough we came home and he was running a fever and was on the couch the rest of the night. I kept him home today and by nighttime he had gotten worse. I decided to take him into the Dr. tonight so we wouldn't have another long night ahead of us! I was so glad I did, cuz his strep test came back POSITIVE!!! This is only the second time he has had strep in his life! My other kids had it all the time, but not this boy! That's how I knew something was wrong with him, he just wasn't himself! So, now he gets to drink the yummy pink medicine that he loves (he really does!) for the next 10 days! Oh the joys of starting school and your kids catching every germ that is out there! Now I just hope the rest of us don't get it! I'm going to keep my fingers crossed!

This little girl of mine...

This little girl of mine is turning into a little busy body!!! This picture above is a rare moment for her, so I soak up all the shut eye she gets!!! Because believe me, it's not very much!

Oh, is she ever busy these days!!! It is so fun to see her curious side, and she is oh SO SMART!!! She understands everything we say to her, and I'm sure if she could talk, we could have full on conversations! :)

The other morning after taking the kids to school, Boston was at the bar eating breakfast while I was doing the dishes. Since Halle doesn't like to sit in her high chair anymore (cuz her daddy spoils her everytime he eats and puts her on his lap and feeds her yummies) she was roaming around the kitchen and stopped to take a look at what was in the garbage can, apparently this cookie was sitting on top and she decided to grab it and start eating it! (smart girl!) I guess I didn't notice it for a bit, cuz THIS much was gone when I saw her! Ha ha! I asked Boston if he would grab the camera and take a picture of her since my hands were wet and this is what he took! I thought it was so cute how he just got her chubby little hands holding this half eaten cookie! Watch out, we may have a photographer on our hands! :)

Halle's new trick is CLIMBING!!! She loves to climb anything she can! This is one of her favorites, is to climb up the side of the stairs! This particular moment she thought she was pretty funny and was making the cutest squeals! I grabbed the video camera to record her and as soon as I did, she fell down! Whoops! She had never fallen before!

She was fine though...

this was her when she got up and looked at me!

I call this her teeth smile! Too cute!

Boston loves his little sister, sometimes a little too much! He is always wanting to hug and hold her (mostly to torment her) and she knows how to tell him to stop! He is so protective of her though, and is always watching out for her!

I think she was half laughing half crying here!!!

My little girl will be 15 months on the 21st!!!

Time for more shots! :(

Kitchen Table...

This is what my kitchen table looks like EVERY day after school!

Oh, and this is without any mail, usually there is mail piled in there somewhere too! When my kids went back to school it drove me crazy that the table would end up looking like this every day, even if I had cleared it off that morning, so that I could at least look at a CLEAN table during the day. It seems as though I have tried to figure out many times, a way to organize all of their schoolwork, papers, crayons, pencils etc. and it still looks like this!!! I have come to the realization, that as long as I have my little ones at home, I'm going to have to get used to it! :) We have had this table since we got married 13 years ago, I find myself table shopping every once in awhile because I want a new one. I think this one is old or ugly, or has too many sharpie stains on it, or easter egg dye, or scuffed up marks! But then I think about how nice it is for the kids to be able to do their projects on it and not have to worry about them coloring on the table or ruining it! We don't even lay down newspaper when we color eggs anymore, and the dye eventually comes off! :)

This table is old and worn and has many memories made on it!

I have a perfect picture in my head of the "perfect" kitchen table I will have

one day...

but for now why my kiddos are home and running around with crayons in their hands, I'm going to enjoy my old table

because I know one day when it is all cleaned off and empty I'm going to wish all those papers and crayons were still there!

4 is PeRfEcT!!!

My kids came home with their school pictures a couple of weeks ago, and I finally hung them on the wall yesterday. I had them up before, but had Halle's taken this year, so we had to move everyone around and make room for her! :)

I am loving the way my wall looks with 4 pictures!!!

I know it sounds silly, but look how perfectly they all fit together!!! That is the way we feel about Halle completing our family! There just needed to be one more! Brinley knew that there was a little sister waiting for her! She is a perfect caboose to our family train! We love her to pieces and wouldn't trade her for anything!

ClEaN WoRdS!!!

Every Thursday night my kids have practice spelling tests for the next day. Well Brinley's teacher sent home a list of fun things that they can do to practice for their test. She is supposed to choose 2 from the list and do them at home! So I let her choose the 2 SHE wanted. Well, one that she chose was to write her words in SHAVING CREAM! She had so much fun! The boys were at football practice, so she had her own time to do it! (Until Boston came home and saw what she was doing, and wanted to join in on the fun!) There were some fun cute ideas that we will be trying this week again, I'm sure! :)

Halle eating a cookie in her high chair which she hates to sit in now! She would much rather mom or dad hold her and share their food!

We had to let Boston join in, he had fun writing his name!

I put the kids in the shower after and even let them do it on the walls in the shower, it was nice cuz they could spray it off after. I think I let it sit on the counter too long before I wiped it up, it was all hard and greasy and wasn't real fun to clean up! :)

Conference Weekend...

I always love Conference weekend! It is so relaxing, and a great time for each of us to get a little boost! Sunday morning we were eating breakfast together around the table (which never happens on a regular Sunday because of Morgan's morning meetings) and as Boston said the prayer he blessed that we would have a good time at church. When the prayer was over Brinley said to him, "Boston, we're not going to church today, it's General Conference". His eyes got big and he said in a loud voice... AGAIN??? And started doing a dance around the kitchen!!! ha ha ha! It was really funny! I went to sugardoodle and printed some packets for the kids of activities to do while they were listening... they LOVED them! My kids listened to more of conference this year than they ever have! Boston is totally loving the writing/coloring since being in kindergarten! He is always wanting to write, and is constantly asking how to spell things! After looking at their packets I realized they REALLY were listening and coloring pictures about the stories that were being told! I was so impressed! As we were all veged out in the living room Zach mentioned that it was harder to concentrate when watching at home v.s. the church (he learned from going to the priesthood session with Morgan the night before) he said there are too many distractions at home... as his itouch is in his hand... go figure! :) I was thinking about how spoiled we are today with the technology there is. Watching Conference is bliss with DVR! It was so nice to be able to pause the t.v. if we needed, to rewind if someone was talking or Halle crying, or her toys making too much noise that we couldn't hear! :) Or fast forwarding through the music to get caught up... no actually I love the music in between speakers, I love to hear my kids sing along if they know the words! Saturday morning we were at football and weren't able to watch/listen, but with the click of a button on the computer I am able to listen to the talks I missed! It really is amazing! I love hearing our prophet speak, the kids always get so excited to hear/see him! I just bought the book "To the Rescue" the Biography of Thomas S. Monson. I wanted to read it with Zach.

We truly are blessed!

Turning into a Young Man...

This is how we started our morning... on the FOOTBALL FIELD where else?

Today my little boy turned 12! I can hardly believe it! It seems this is a birthday we have been talking about for a long time now. We have always talked about when Zach would turn 12 and receive the priesthood. I always wondered what our lives would be like at the time...

So, here we are today! This is it!

Right now Zach is at the priesthood session with his dad, Halle is asleep (which is amazing) and the kids are playing night games outside with the neighbors (I can hear them yelling and laughing outside the window) and I have been thinking alot about this boy of mine. He is such a good kid, I just love being with him! I just wish he was home more! :) His days consist of school, homework, physical therapy, and football practice almost every night! And I think we may be crazy but he just tried out for a 6th grade basketball team that is playing in 3 different leagues during the week and he MADE it!!! But that's just what we do at this house, we move on from one sport to another! :) No really, Zach LOVES it and he wouldn't have it any other way! I know we have to have a happy medium somewhere, and I know that Zach can get overwhelmed if he has too much going on at once, we just really need to be careful. Usually MY happy medium and Morgan's happy medium are 2 different things though. I will have to say though, that I would much rather have him busy playing sports, than getting into trouble cuz he was bored or had too much time on his hands.

And this is how the day ended...

Zach finally got to go to the Priesthood session of General Conference tonight, for the 1st time

ON his birthday! Zach's birthday always falls on the weekend of General Conference. So, this is something he has been looking forward to for a long time! He was so excited to go with his dad tonight! We got him this new suit for his birthday, he was so excited to wear it! He will be getting ordained in a couple of weeks and be able to pass the sacrament at church!

I remember the weekend we brought him home from the hospital it was Conference and it was so neat to have this healthy newborn baby in our tiny little one bedroom apartment and be able to listen to conference and just hang out and hold our new little one who was the first to make me a mommy! Oh, we were new at parenting, and he was so patient with us! (Still is)

I love this candid picture of Zach, this is how you see him MOST of the time! He always has a smile on his face! Oh, he looks so old...

Z hangin out with a few of his friends!

Every year on the kids birthdays we let them choose their "special" place to go eat. Zach chose Tepanaki! Yummy! A place we all love to eat at! Well, Halle didn't love it so much!

My happy boy!

I was going through some old pictures of Zach from when he was little. Well, when he was LITTLE was before we had digital camera's. So all of his pictures are in books. I was so good about getting them developed and putting them right in a book! He would love looking at them, I miss that with my other kids, cuz now days all our pictures are just on the computer, I rarely even print them out anymore! :(

This is a picture of Zach in the 1st grade, they had COWBOY day at his school, this was all we could come up with! He looks more like a farmer to me! Ha ha!

This is Zach on the first day of pre-school. He went for 2 months while we were living in St. George and then we moved to Phoenix and I never put him back in there. He was my only one to go to pre school, if that even counts! I think I just thought he HAD to go, cuz that's what everyone else was doing... silly mom!

When Z was in kindergarten and 1st grade (and a little bit of 2nd) he wrestled! I thought it was cute when he was little, but it was so stressful for me when he was out on the mat! I didn't like it! Luckily he injured his back and we had to take a break from it and just never put him back in!

I will never forget when Zach was in the 2nd grade and ALMOST broke his nose!!! Yes, he was playing catch with his dad in the backyard and was going to catch a pop fly and missed! It got really swollen and bruised, but healed up fine! He just had a REALLY fat lip for a long time!

I know he will kill me for posting this picture, but I think it is so cute! When he was little he loved to sit on the toilet backwards! Well, I guess he sat a little too long this time and actually fell asleep! It must have taken him awhile to get it out! ha ha!

These were our family pics in '05 the year Boston was born! I loved this one of he and his sister walking and holding hands! :)

The boys! Zach was so happy to get a baby brother!

Zach swimming with the dolphins at Sea World

July '05

I had fun going through these old pics of him tonight! Me and my sister were talking today about the happy kid Zach was and still is! There is really no one else like him! He was the most vibrant happy baby ever! He is so fun to be around! I just love this kid!

So, Happy Birthday to you bud! You are growing into a Young man, and I can hardly stand it! I'm going to enjoy every step of the way!

12 things I love about my 12 year old...

1. his smile

2. his laugh

3. his kind heart

4. his enthusiasm for sports

5. his enthusiasm for reading (NOT)

6. his willingness to help (when Morgan's not around, he is always so sweet to help me do things, like getting my door, pushing the cart, carrying in the groceries, carrying my bags so I can hold Halle, I don't even have to ask... he is such a gentleman!

Every morning when I take the kids to school I love to watch Zach as he walks into the school, he ALWAYS holds the door open for whoever is going in, (a teacher, a mom, a student) it is so sweet!

6. he loves to stay up and talk at night

7. his innocence

8. his smelly self after football

9. his love for food! ( just like his mama)

10. his love for music... and ability to sing the words to a song after only hearing it a couple of times!

11. his love for his family

12. for wanting to choose the right and be a good example to his friends

I am so proud to be your mom Zach! I love you!