soccer season under way

Our first game is Saturday. It'll be a good one!

homeschooling

Our morning begins.
The end of the day.

it's better I find out after

D&G had a fun labor day. She how they, with safety first and foremost on their minds, are wearing helmets and safety belts and pedalling slowly down paved roads with special bumpers on the side!? They are cuties! Hopefully they'll come visit for Christmas and we can find some exciting activities to do: like decorate gingerbread villages, watch Santa Clause (the trilogy) and play KB. I miss them and at the same time are so happy they are doing great and are happy. (no one told me motherhood causes split personality disorder)

Speaking of SPD, Brother is doing great at Kindergarten. He told me he is the best reader (read: only reader) in his class, they got to play on the playground today and he opened his juice box all by himself at lunch. I am so proud...and at the same time I miss having him here. He's so sweet and fun to have around.

H had a better day, we got a lot of work done, finally, she's enjoying our book on Louise May a lot and she and G play nicely together. She went to activity days this afternoon and had a lot of fun.

We had a little incident tonight. Brother was watching TV and H walked in and didn't like the volume he had chosen so she karate punched him in the gut. Which lead to much weeping and wailing and a girl sent to her room in her pajamas at 6pm. After a long while she felt bad and wrote a sorry note. I think we won't see any more of this. Self control is number one in the class and while I like the group thing for them to do, and the confidence it gives her hitting her brother is not okay.

this and that

E started Kindergarten today. He was very excited. He had a new back pack, a new lunch box, an arm load of school supplies and he was on his way. The girls and I drove him to school and walked him in. He put his stuff away and sat right down with his hands folded ready to learn. I wondered about how he was doing all day. When I went to pick him up he was very excited. I asked if he had made any friends and he said yes. Who? Well, there was one boy who is also a "orange frog" he said I don't know his name but I'll call him...Um... door holder and he was REALLY nice. I asked him why he called him door holder and he said because he held the door open for everyone. Okay.
He found the bathroom okay, got to go to computer lab, heard lots of stories, everything was great except for lunch. He was too shy to raise his hand for help and so couldn't eat his applesauce or drink his juice. We didn't practice lunch this summer because I thought he'd be home with me this year. So when he got home we sat down and ripped those pesky straws off those darn boxes and unwrapped them and stuck them in the box. Luckily Lucy is a willing drinker because we had to open several until he felt confident that he could handle it on his own. The applesauce was too hard so we practiced raising his hand to ask for help. Tomorrow I think I'll stick in only zip locks and the juice so he can have an easy day. Other than that it was two thumbs up!
I thought he'd be exhausted but when he got home he went swimming, ate dinner, went to 2 hours of karate and then still wasn't ready for bed so I guess he'll be fine. Maybe it'll catch up with him tomorrow.

Now it's 9:30 and we have everyone tucked into bed and I am watching Throwdown. Seminary started this morning and S and J are tired. It's a pie throwdown. I am not a huge lover of pie, although DH likes it a lot so I try and make it regularly. I do like pumpkin on the holidays and strawberry. Back in the day we used to go to Marie Callendars after __________(fill in the blank) and I almost always got the strawberry pie.

This morning S and I went to see the judge about her ticket. Once upon a time when I was shopping for little diapers and little pink dresses (the early years) I never thought I'd do some of the things I have done with and for my kids. Seeing judges is one of those things. She got a fine, and traffic school and a 90 day probation. I thought that was very fair. S is stressed, as she should be. I think we won't see such a lead foot in the future. There was a creepy guy flirting and smiling at her yuck! so we made a break for it as soon as we could.

Yesterday was labor day. DH has a three day work week this week. Nice.
We spent the day cleaning up the garage, front porch and bathroom closet, also outside and pool took DH's time. Then we went to see "Surf's Up" which was really cute. It was playing at the dollar theater and Monday is their family day so if you have a group of 3 or more it's only 50cents. We had 11 people (J brought friends) and we got in for $5 total. Sweet!

H and I are reading a very interesting book about Louisa May Alcott's childhood.

Dinner groups are coming together.

I got bit by fire ants today :(

Cooking tip of the day: if you are baking cookies and still haven't remembered to buy more brown sugar you can add molasses (don't ask me why I have that and not brown sugar) to some white sugar and make a substitute. I made a batch tonight for my karate kids and they were a yummy warm before bedtime treat.

exhibit B

teenage girls, delicate blooms of young womanhood!

I am somewhat of an expert on teenage girls, having a) been one and b) having had three daughters who are or have recently been teens and c) having served in YW for 7 years and now am teaching the 15-16 year old Sunday School class.

So, when they are not in public~ going to school, looking nice, smiling sweetly; what do they do?

They like to make faces for the camera and for each other and in the mirror.

and in the car and with their friends and while eating green eggs and ham.

speaking of eating...they like to eat. and run amuck in the dark, they wake up when the sun goes down and get very silly.

They catch frogs, and swim and laugh and run around...loudly.

and eat. Did I say eat?
A house full of teens and their friends can clean out the pantry quicker than a swarm of locust.

They also watch youtube video's of people burping, falling down, breaking things, being silly and being loud.

Did I mention they are loud?

Of course they love movies, books, swooning over Edward (even if they claim to "hate the book" they still can talk about it for hours)

They play with make-up, scream, try on clothes, lay on the bed dreaming and talking and laughing.

They are a delight. Full of energy and fun and hope for the future.

I love teens

even if our house is loud, our pantry empty and my computer is sequestered in a cloud of Cheeto dust, giggles and flying fingers on the key board so that I can't get to it.

first day of school from last week

E and G say good-bye to J. They will miss her after a fun summer of playing.
S is a Junior! Whoo HOoo!
Our little fish.
3rd grader.

where I randomly babble...

oh my goodness, it's almost midnight and again a day has gone by that has been too busy to write. I've been a slacker, and meaning to catch up. I have a good year+ of solid blogging (read: journalingish like venture) and lately...nothing. or close to nothing anyway.

So I am tired, and ready to go to sleep but I figured if I didn't take a minute and at least bullet it I would forget the things I write down to remember and then where would I be?

• Week one of back to school is done. J and S both are swamped with homework and football games and back to school stuff. S is driving this year, which is such a treat for me. Last year I was spending about an hour and a half in the car driving her to and from school every day.
• Friday night mom had a few couples over for dinner and games. It was very fun.
• Saturday was the baptism.
• Today we had church, and choir, and seminary meeting, the the girls had Bof M night and we went to dinner at mom's. She also invited the Smiths, which was very fun. We played Killer Bunnies~ the marathon 2 hour long version since we have so many decks combined now.
• Last weekend we had the Roberts over and mom and dad and played Killer Bunnies.
• Besides KB I also played many games of Wizard Chess (brother is pretty good), Dominos and Old Maid.
• H went to the doctor, we're still fighting the UTI.
• H also had her first horse lesson with the new teacher and horse. Taylor, the teacher, was really nice and Midnight, the horse, was gorgeous. Next week I'll have to take DH's camera and get a picture. She wants to ride English, so we are going to be tacky as all get out and let her do it in western boots. Maybe we'll get the English gear for Christmas.
• I'm very excited, the first weekend of Oct. DH and I get to go to MD with the Lockheed group relocation tour. It'll be like a little vacation.
• Also so excited because "Survivor" is coming out this month.
• Been working on dinner groups, we have lots of couples. My sweet friend and accomplice in this little endeavor came over on Friday afternoon to my hot and messy house to work on it with me. And we had so much fun laughing and talking. Lucy loved her and she pretended not to notice that we were a disaster. That's a good friend!
• Home schooling week one didn't go as great as I had hoped. Turns out that cooperatively working on assignments isn't H's strong point. And then we had our co-op meeting on Thursday and things just felt really not right. I had been worried about E missing the best year of school (Kindergarten) and we were having some fighting issues and things got changed around from how I thought it would be. I came home and DH and I had a long, long talk about it and decided that brother would go to public school. I spent Friday getting him squared away and he'll start on Tuesday. He is SO excited and happy and besides that fact that we bought curriculum and now get to go and spend a small fortune on mandatory school supplies (it's always about the money) I am really glad. I really feel like that is the best place for him this year. So now we'll just have H home with Lucy and I.
• Soccer practice started. DH is coach.
• Sparring pads for all the karate kids were acquired.
• Wednesday night the cub scouts had their pack meeting at our pool. It was very crowded and very fun. The kids loved having so many friends over to play.
• Yesterady was Millie's birthday. She is four. It was also my brother's birthday.
• Back to school time is always so expensive. Why is that?
• I'm done, and tired, good night.

H's baptism

Today was a big day for our little Muffin. She was baptized by her dad. We got up early and went out to the stake center. We had time to take a few pictures before hand.

There were four children baptized.
We met all together in the chapel and Pres. Sagers introduced each of the kids. Then Tori gave a talk on baptism.
H was the fourth one to go and she was so excited! She smiled and was hopping in her skin waiting for her turn.


After she was confirmed and got the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Sara was also baptized today. She and H have the same birthday too, which is fun!


Lots of H's friends came to share her special day with her!

Our family has a tradition that after the baptism the newly baptized child gets to pick where we go out to eat. H picked Olive Garden. We had a fun time, the soup there is so yummy!

What a great day!

once upon a time

She was a pretty teenager ready to go to her first high school dance. We had spent a lot of time shopping for a dress that the pretty and modest.

Her sisters lined up to watch her walk down to the stairs and head out the door with her friend Meridith.

The girls had a great time, she came home excited and happy and spilling over with the story of the night.

Now she's 20! Yesterday was Dani's birthday and she's no longer a teenager. I talked to her on the phone and the kids shouted "happy birthday". She was at school (she's grown up to be very responsible) and that night she and Greg (and in love) were going to go to a movie.

I hope it was such a fun day!

I love you Sweetie!!!

S is for speedy

Uh Oh, we have one of these are our house. S got her first ticket on Sunday. And it was a biggie. Now she'll have some costs, and a trip to stand in front of the judge and hopefully then no more lead foot.

...or this will be her transportation in the future.

obsession

Old dream.....
New dream!!

It's all about the horse now. H wanted to please, please, please take more lessons. She was so sad that camp was over and bid a tearful good bye to Cinnamon.

She said she would gladly switch from dance to horse lessons please, please, please.

So we switched. She'll go twice a month for the same price as once a week of dance, which is okay. And she is very excited.

Now we talk horses, read horses and dream horses.

recap

Where does the time go? Weekends go by so fast. DH had an off Friday. We had the ward swim morning at our house and quite a few people came. Brother had a great time swimming with his friends.
H was at camp and we had her "show" in the afternoon. Friday night the big girls had a special meeting at the Petty's. They had such a fun time. They had dinner and a craft and a dating lesson/fun night. While they were there the rest of us went to Tia Rosa's for yummy Mexican food then down to Barnes and Noble. Very fun.


Saturday DH and the kids had karate. It started with E but has grown to H and DH too. They are all enjoying it a lot. DH thinks he might get his yellow belt this month, I think E and H will before Christmas.

Saturday night we had the Venturing Crew over for a meeting/swim party. S went to Sports Fest. Mom and Dad got back from their summer in CA and they came over too. We stayed up too late playing Killer Bunnies but we are excited to have them back.

Today G went happily to nursery again! Yeah!! After church we had the Roberts and mom and dad over for dinner. Julia made yummy salad, I need to get the recipe. Then we played Killer Bunnies.

After they left we had some family time, did back to school blessings and are trying to get to bed early as tomorrow is the start of a new school year. ....I can't believe it.

learning to jump

watch here

now she wants a horse of her own

running through the paces

Lucy found a good place to watch.

Horse Camp Fun

H and her faithful mount Cinnamon.

She had a great week. They learned to walk, trot, go around barrels and jump over a low bar. Today we got to go to the show and them go through the paces. H was beaming the whole time.

All the kids got a golden horseshoes as an award at the end. H got the horse shoe of caring.

what I did today.

6:30 woke up, saw that it was only 6:30 smiled and lay back down.
6:35 Lucy walked in wanting to read a "boup"
7:30ish H was up and getting ready. I was making her lunch and getting stuff together for camp.
by 8:30 we were all up, fed, stuff gathered, dressed, prayers said and out the door.
9:00 dropped H at camp
9:30 got to Mom's house: checked her messages, swept the floor, cleaned the bathroom, did some tidying.
10:30 got home and cleaned up breakfast mess and living room.
11:15 Ms Maricarol came over to do speech with Lucy.
12:15 made a quick lunch
12:45 headed to Kellar for violin stuff
2:30 done with errands and on our way to the church for J to leave on the YW trip to the museum.
3:30 home again.
checked blog, read some books, picked up a little
4:10 left to go get H at camp
4:30 got H, sat in car to watch the horses run into the corral from the back field
5:00 got home and headed to the pool for quick swim
6:00 fixed dinner and ate and cleaned up for the evening.
7:00 Julia came over to hang out while her boys were at scout stuff
made banana bread together, talked and laughed
8:00 put kids to bed
8:05 put kids to bed again
8:07 see above
8:20 let kids up to have banana bread with us.
8:30 put kids back to bed.
9:00ish DH called that he was on the way home
9:20 DH home
Julia and I had banana bread with him (just to be polite)
9:45 Julia left
H finally went to bed
10:00 blogging
as soon as I'm done it's off for scriptures and teeth brushing and bed.

Tag

My on line friend Texasblu at Becoming a Heaven on Earth tagged me.

1. Here are the rules
2. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts
3. Players start with 8 random facts/ habits about themselves
4. People who are tagged need to write there own blog and need to post their 8 things and these rules.
5. At the end of your blog, you need to chose 8 people to get tagged and list their names don't forget to leave them a comment telling them to read your blog.

My 8 random things about me.....

1. I love the smell of horses. H has been going to camp this week and she loves it. She didn't even notice a smell, but brother walked up with me yesterday to pick her up and right away plugged his nose. He said he'd have to ride with one hand cuz it was so stinky! He's wrong, it's wonderful and earthy and horsey!!


2. I love string instruments. I keep trying to make a violinist out of one of my kids. J is pretty good but quit lessons before she got great. Now it's H's turn. I am thinking of switching to the cello for E and G, I love it's soulful sound too.


3. I hate the crunch a bug makes when you kill it...ick!

4. I never polish my finger nails but always do my toes. I feel nak*d with pale toes.


5. My favorite TV shows are: Amazing Race, Ace of Cakes, Survivor, and Throwdown with Bobby Flay. I am already counting down until they start their new season and I L.O.V.E. the DVR so I can watch when it's a good time for me.

6. My DH has good hygiene and is very smart, two things I think are very sexy about him.

7. I like to think of baby names. I have some favorites that I never used. Sometimes my sistah's and I, or the big girls and I will play the "if you had quad girls what would you name them" or "if you had 12 kids and had to name them in ABC order what would they be called" and other variations on the theme. All my kids have different first initials, which worked out great for blogging purposes, but some of my favorite girl names that I didn't use started with E so that was a bummer. They were: Eliza (which I would have broken the rule for but DH didn't like it), Emmaline, Eleanor and Darcy (which doesn't start with an E but I love, I also like Quinn for a girl ~ this is a random list after all :) )


8. I don't think I am a very interesting person and often feel like I don't have anything to talk about...I have stuff, it's just mundane stuff.

so, if you got this far then tag you're it.

my space....private or not.

My three older girls have my space accounts. (well, Dani did I don't know if she still does or not but S and J do) I don't look at them every day, or really very regularly at all but if they are up on the computer I will sometimes sit down and spend a few minutes looking.
I don't consider this an invasion of their privacy because a) it's on the world wide web and b) see a. I know some mom's who would not agree.
Besides that they often call me over to see a new picture or background they have on it or whatever.

For the record I would never go in their rooms and read their journals or letters or whatnot, unless I was invited. I have never had reason to think I needed to do that and if I did I would ask them. I do know mom's who do.
I do look at photo albums and web pages.

Sometimes I will read comments their friends have left, or I will look at their friends pages.

Sometimes what I see there disturbs me and I think if I were the mom I would want to know what was there.

Do I tell that mom? Do they all look and know already?

How much space is good and trustworthy and fostering independence and how much is negligence or a sign that I am too busy and not involved enough.

These are tough teen questions. Parenting when you are checking diapers, reading Brown Bear Brown Bear and looking for t ball cleats is physically hard. Parenting when you've got dating, driving, thinking, independence seeking teens.....well, that's a whole other kind of exhausting.

I don't normally solicit comments but I am interested to see what you think. Whether you have a teen yourself or if you just remember what it was like when you were a teen, or when you had a teen.

busy busy day

Mondays are going to be kind of busy for us, although today was even busier than will be typical. H started TAFA today. She loved it, and so did I. It is a big, bustling, friendly place with lots of kids taking lots of classes and meeting in the lunch room to chat and laugh together. Lots of mom's sitting in the halls waiting for kids, and lots of younger siblings everywhere.
H is taking Suzuki Violin 1. Her teacher, Ms. Kathy, is very nice. We came with a bad violin but this afternoon found the good one in her size. We need to fix her bow but with any luck will have that done before the next class.
Then she has drama and choir. She said of the three choir was her favorite. After those three she will have lunch with her friends and then we'll be done for the day. My plan is to take E and G to the museum or the zoo after violin (where we have to stay) and to get her after lunch.
Today E got to go play at his friend Jason's for the whole morning, which was great because I didn't have to drag two littles around while H and I chased down classes and tried to figure out what we were supposed to do. Next week should be better.

This week is also equestrian camp. H LOVES it. Her horse is a cute little pony named Cinnamon who she wishes she "could put in my pocket and take home". On Friday there is a show. She came home dusty and tired but very happy. J took her for a swim while I fixed dinner and she went to bed after FHE without a fuss.

Brother had a pretty good day as well. He got to play all morning with Jason then when we got home our friends called to see if they could come swim and then he got to swim with his friend C. Yeah!

J baby-sat and had a student council meeting. She's baby-sitting tomorrow too, making lots of money!

S went to work. S just finished reading Eclipse and J is in the middle of New Moon so there's been a lot of vampire talk around too :)