piggie pie

Today was Carter's Reader's Theater. He was one of the narrator's in "Piggie Pie"...which is a very funny little story! He was so excited to have me and Jace come and watch him perform.

This would be the only time Carter was sort of sitting up in his chair. He was the king of slouching for most of the story. I've never noticed him do that at home, but he was seriously sliding right off his chair. He knew his parts well...practically had his lines memorized. He reminded me he "had really practiced so he would have lots of expression!" Too funny!

Gritch the witch had some funny lines right here...you can tell by Carter's grin!

Jace could not have been prouder to sit by his big brother on the carpet. Ya gotta love all these teachers who work so hard to make school a great place for our kids!

not to brag, but.....

Just had to give some overdue credit to my 12 year old. This girl spends 15-20 hours every week at Courage Reins. She cleans stalls, brushes out the horses, feeds, assists in lessons for disabled children, and recently was promoted to a mentor (she helps train the horses and gets more riding time). She absolutely loves everything about it, even on the days she comes home wet and snowy with mud up to her shins (that is some fun laundry...yick!).

She is also serving as Beehive president and is working so hard to unite the girls in her class. Her first report card was straight A's, and she was just inducted into the National Jr. Honors Society. I try not to brag too much about my kids....but sometimes, you just can't help it! Lucky me to have such an awesome girl!

for the love of a little boy...and some birds

So...the first picture is just one of those crazy-birds-flying-all-about-the-house moments. Saturday, during the snowstorm, we looked outside to see the neighbors house and yard literally covered with birds. They were completely gone just a few minutes later...weird but pretty cool to watch.
Now, onto the next story...the love of a boy. Jace is my constant pretender. He is Batman, Superman, a Jedi, a Ninja, super-ooper-duper-man...the list goes on and on. Today was my clean/put up Christmas decorations day. Jace brought me a walkie-talkie, cape, and mask.
"Hey mom, you are gonna be Batgirl! Hurry! You can use my cape and make sure your talkie is turned on so you can hear me talkin'."
"Ya know...this cape is a little small."
"Yah, that's okay though cause you just need it, so you can be Batgirl."
How could I say no? We went on an adventure to save ourselves from all the bad guys in the house, and of course, Jace makes all the rules, so we won!

We made one awesome superhero team!

dinner in a can

You know what happens when Tim calls and tells me he has to work late and doesn't need dinner because he had a late lunch? I save the dinner I was making for tomorrow and go see what's in the food storage room. No sense wasting "real dinner" when the kids will be happy with something fast and cheap. Tonight we found canned spaghetti...which is just wrong and should not exist, but it does. I mixed up muffins and heated the spaghetti (came out of the can looking like a jellied can of pasta). Comments during dinner were as follows:
Lady-- "mmmm....this spaghetti is addicting."
Carter-- "this is so good I don't even want to save room for my banana."
Maddy-- "it tastes like Spaghettios, I love it!"
Jace-- refused to touch it.
Kenize-- "ummm, it's okay, but yours is a thousand times better."

Thank goodness at least Kenzie prefers homemade sauce and meatballs. Guess I know what to make the next time dad is a no show for dinner! Oh...by the way...I ate muffins.

checkers and fingers

Yesterday morning Jace was searching for someone to play chinese checkers. It was 7:20 a.m. and every other person was busy getting hair done, practicing piano, eating breakfast....all that stuff you do when you go to school. I told him he'd have to wait until we came home from dropping everyone at school. Ten minutes later, I found this:

Could he be any sweeter playing his game with lion?

Now for the fingers. Maddy picked a birthday dinner of "food you can eat with your fingers". Laityn started this over a year ago on her bday, and now, it is everyone's choice for their bday dinner...except Kenzie (she's kind of over pb & j sandwiches unless it's lunchtime). Maddy was super excited when I pulled bagel bites out of the freezer (I'm too cheap to keep them around on a regular basis). Mads also requested the food in picnic form so they could watch a movie. Aren't you just wishing you could fill up on all those bitty bites of food?

Of course, if you are watching a movie, there must always be popcorn of some sort involved. Maddy's favorite is sticky pink popcorn.

Jace said next time it should be blue popcorn for BYU. Maybe I'll have to do that...if they can actually play a real game tomorrow in Wyoming!

eleven is heaven

In about 30 minutes, our little Madison will be 11. She is the sweetest kid you'll ever meet...even on her grouchy days. Maddy is still a believer in all things magical...fairies (all kinds, even the tooth kind), Santa, leprechauns with pots of gold, wizards (the Harry Potter sort), princes who will carry you away to a castle for a happily, ever after ending....seriously, all things magical. Maddy is a very hard worker. School has never been easy for her, and she spends at least a couple of hours on homework nearly everyday, but it pays off and she does really well. One of the things I love most about Mads is her laugh.....it is absolutely contagious...and once she starts, it's almost impossible to make her stop. Love you Maddy!

summer of 2006...7 years old

Geared up for her double party...we celebrated for Maddy and Morgan on Sunday.

Yep...Littlest Pet Shops...for my 11 year old

Lady and Bailee looking longingly at Maddy's new Pet Shop house...she did open it and play with Lady after everyone left...Laityn was in heaven.

26 candles between those two girlies.....and don't ya love all the kids in the background helping with the blowing out?

Happy Birthday Maddy! We love you!

spooky night

Well...we did it...we survived all the Halloween craziness! The kids dressed up three times this week. Once for Tim's trick-or-treat at his school--on Friday for the Halloween parade--and today. Can I just say that I am so glad the girls don't need makeup/glitter/fancy hair on a regular basis? The kids, of course, loved every minute of everything Halloween. We have so much candy, we'll be eating it until Easter. Such a fun week!

Jace...the firefighter (he loved everything about the holiday this year!)

Lady...50's girl (although she couldn't ever remember exactly what she was..sometimes it was a girl from the 20's, then a girl from the 80's, those numbers ending in 's all sound the same!)

Maddy...the princess (which she informed me was probably too baby-ish for a 5th grader, but she loved it anyway!)

Kenzie... child of the 70's (and yes, those were my 70's duds from the mid-90's...and I can still fit into them, barely!)

Peace out.

Kenzie wore the 70's stuff for school and saved Batgirl for Halloween night. Kenz went to her first Jr. High dance on Friday after school...all I can say is she is absolutely my daughter. Her exact words were "So mom, can I go to every dance for the rest of the year? It was so awesome! The best! I loved it!"

Dr. Carter....wasn't totally sold on the whole Dr. thing until he found out Brit and Hunter were being doctors too. Then it suddenly became very cool!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!