Being 8 is great!

Today was Carter's baptism. He was a little nervous and a lot excited. His hand made an appearance from under the water, so he had to get baptized twice. I told Carter that since he was baptized twice, he had to be twice as good. "Ahhh, that's not fair!"--I'm pretty sure he didn't believe that at all. It was a special day for Carter with lots of family and friends, and we are so proud of him. We topped off the day by going to the BYU game (BYU ROCKS--even though they fumbled--a lot!).

The Time has Come

Hey all you Cougar fans! Are you READY TO PLAY?

No More Sleeps! Today is Kindergarten!!

The long awaited first-day-of-kindergarten arrived today. Laityn was up and dressed by 6:30. (She wanted daddy to see her new outfit before he left). After some "hooray for me!" jumping, we were off. Lady lined up so cute with all her friends and marched right into her new classroom. I teared up for just a minute---I think that is inevitable--it happens to me every time. When I asked her what the best part of the day was she said "Recess! And coloring a picture of my room and my bed. Teacher will hang them on the walls so we knows what everyones is!" Too cute!

$$ the Quest for the Dollar $$

Every year our kids play soccer and every year the deal is the same---If you score a goal, you get a dollar. Up til' now, we have never paid out a cent. Carter and Lady are both playing this year. Kenzie and Maddy finally reached the conclusion that soccer was not going to be their sport (no tears shed about that decision!). We told Carter that this would be his last soccer season unless he really worked hard (He is usually more interested in throwing grass, dumping his water out, and tackling his friends). His first game he scored one goal--we were shocked! And we gladly paid him his dollar. On Tuesday, Carter scored 4 goals---how on earth did that happen?! If he keeps this up, we're actually going to have to use more than spare change to pay him. When we asked him why he was playing so hard he said "Well, I really want to play soccer again, and mostly, I want the dollars!" Sometimes you just have to go with whatever works!

Oh Happy Day!

Well, we survived the first day of school--Hooray! When the kids came home, I asked each of them to tell me the best part of their day.

Kenzie 6th grade-- "I'm the oldest in the school, and I have Ellie (BFF) in my class!"

Maddy 4th grade-- "We did mostly math and hardly any reading--it was awesome!"

Carter 2nd grade-- "I don't know, but no homework today!"

Laityn was severely put out that Kindergarten doesn't start for another week. I'm sure she'll survive--somehow--although I'm not sure I will survive the "How many sleeps til school?" question about 50 times a day!

Decipher This!

A few nights ago, we discovered this note taped to Laityn's door. She was supposed to be sleeping (typical) but instead she was making this "sign" for her door. When we asked her what the sign said, she let out with this very involved explanation. "It says no one can come in my room unless they knock and I says it's okay. No boys is allowed in my room except sometimes Jace and Carter, but they can't touch my toys. Mom and Dad can come in always. Kenzie and Maddy can come in my room too, but they have to play with me. And look, I writed my name at the bottom, so it's true!"

Betcha didn't think those little scribbles contained so much vital info!

This should be fun?!

Since school starts Monday, I decided we'd better have a few practice runs this week. So this morning, I woke Kenzie up at 6:00 a.m. While she started in on the piano, I woke Maddy up and had her make her bed, get dressed, etc. I was brushing Maddy's hair, when she went off about Kenzie leaving her alarm going. Really? If the sound of the alarm was bothering her that much, she could have gotten out of bed and turned it off. The morning continued. . . by 6:30, we were in the family room reading scriptures. Of course, Kenzie and Maddy exchanged some not-so-nice words about Kenzie taking dad's spot on the couch, and spent the better part of scripture time shooting eachother dirty looks. After family prayer, I sent Maddy in to practice. Kenzie went to get dressed---that was a whole drama I won't even get in to. Meanwhile, Lady was whining about being too tired to brush her teeth. She did, however, manage to get the lid off the toothpaste. So while she cried, she squeezed toothpaste all over her shirt (pictured above). By 7:50 a.m. (the time we normally hop in the car) everyone was fed, dressed, done with piano, and competely frazzled! I was not looking forward to school schedules already, but now, I'm truly dreading the whole thing! Couldn't we just have a few more weeks of summer?