follow up thoughts, and pictures!!

My friend left this comment on my previous post. Oh, she is so wise. :)

 “My message to you today, my brothers and sisters, is simply this: the Lord is in control. He knows the end from the beginning. He has given us adequate instruction that, if followed, will see us safely through any crisis. His purposes will be fulfilled, and someday we will understand the eternal reasons for all of these events. Therefore, today we must be careful to not overreact, nor should we be caught up in extreme preparations; but what we must do is keep the commandments of God and never lose hope!”
M. Russell Ballard, “The Joy of Hope Fulfilled,” Ensign, Nov. 1992


 Just know that although I am not happy with the State of the Union, nor of it's current leader, I am happy with the State of my family Union and really do not plan to concern my time or thoughts about things I really have no control over. I will pray for him and hope the leadership as a team can work together.
I get to be a momma of 4 beautiful children, and so I will work on teaching and training them to be strong, courageous, thoughtful people instead of worrying about other things. :)



On a more fun note, we got school pictures back and thought I would share. I know lots of moms refuse to pay the high price of school shots, but I choose to because this way I know I have one really great picture of each of my children to document each year.

{A} age 9, 4th grade

{K} age 7, 2nd grade

{a} age 4, preschool

{k} age 2

thoughts and updates

I know I haven't posted much lately, but I did want to mention a couple of things. I have a pretty heavy heart this morning after yesterday. I am very disappointed that Mr. Obama has been reelected. I was so hoping for this country to wake up and see the good in Mr. Romney. I fear for this country. I worry about my children and the evil they will have to overcome. I will pray that Mr. Obama will make good choices for the better of the whole country and not for his socialist plans.


It has been fun to watch my boys learn about the election and how hard the teachers worked to help them understand the electoral system.

Also, {K} started in a new classroom this week. He was tested for the full-time GATE program recently at school. He is now in a 1/2 combo class. So far, I am really impressed with his teacher and hope for the very best for him!!
{A} has been in a 3/4 full-time GATE class since the beginning of this school year. He has struggled adapting to the rigors of a much more difficult program, but I have seen progress in his organization skills. Next, we are working on helping him to listen more intently to the lessons at school, and to use his time more wisely during class. I am still convinced he is where he needs to be though. He received high marks on his report card which tells me he is learning the material, we just need to work on time management. I am excited to see what he can learn this year.
{a} is LOVING preschool. She has a wonderful teacher who is helping her to be completely prepared for kindergarten. There are 8 kiddos in her class, which is a great size. She is the oldest in her class. I love that she loves it!!
{k} is ready to have his tonsils out. Unfortunately, he is not old enough yet to do so. In the mean time, he is miserable and snoring all night long. He wakes regularly and makes noise. It has been a rough couple of nights.

End of School

I thought I published this in June, but apparently not. These are the teachers for 2011-2012 school year.

{K} with his first grade teacher Mrs. O

{A} with his 3rd grade teacher Mrs. C

we have had this trike for a while now, but we recently replaced the tires so the kids all ride together.

back to school

Yesterday was the first day of school for the 2012-2013 school year. {A} started 4th grade in an all day Challenge (Gifted and Talented) Program. {K} started 2nd grade with an awesome teacher that we love! {a} will start preschool next week, also with a teacher we love. The boys were so excited yesterday to start school.

I have the opinion that my children should get to choose what they wear, so I dictate very little what they choose to wear on any given day. (Understanding that I am still the one who BUYS their clothes. :)) This is especially reflective in what {K} chose to wear for the first day of school. Blue and orange stripes with green camo shorts. :)

{K} is 7

just over a month ago, {K} had a birthday and turned 7. crazy!! We had a small family party, and mom and dad came. he got to sleep over for 2 nights with gma and gpa this time and he got to buy a fishtank and 3 fish. since then we have managed to kill 4 goldfish. not a good track record. we plan to do a bit of research and try again soon.

{K} I LOVE YOU!! You are fun and funny. You are crazy and silly. You are sensitive and compassionate. I love all these things about you. Have a fun year being 7!!

{k} turned 2!!

Holy Smokes!! My baby turned 2!! {k} turned 2 last month, and I thought I would give a quick recap.

{k} is an adorable, sneaky little boy. He is really fun, and funny. He is entirely too busy, and gets into everything. He keeps me on my toes and has us laughing regularly. He loves attention, swimming, motorcycles and spending time with his Dad.

{k} got a battery powered atv, motorcycle, bubbles, sandals and a truck/trailer with motorcycles on the back for his birthday.

The Dr. says he is in the 85% for wight and somewhere similar for height.  He had a double ear infection when we went in for his yearly checkup. We really didn't even know! But, we are aware that within the next six months (or so) that he will have his tonsils out. Currently they are huge and know that since all his siblings had their tonsils taken out at about age 2 1/2, that {k} will get his taken out soon, too. LOVE YOU BoBo!!

6 quick things+ 1 funny

1. Last week we went on vacation. Vacation at our home looks like camping. We spent two nights/days riding our four wheelers. Day 3 we went to a hot springs, and day 4 we went to another hot springs. Day five we came home. We had such a fun time. I love my family.
2. I am wondering if we all got a little bug from swimming--we are all itchy, and have headaches.
3.I am horrible at taking pictures. The only pictures DH took were two on his phone.
4. DH is in charge of his family reunion this summer. Translation: I am in charge of DH's family reunion this summer. It's been an adventure to say the least.
5. {k} turned 2 this week. He just isn't a baby anymore. It kinda makes me sad to think he is probably our last, and our last isn't a baby anymore. :(
6. I am still running. I started week 5 yesterday, and haven't had to push a stroller the last two times I ran. It was heaven. :)
1 funny. {K} said something cute the other day. After sneezing, he said, "Oh Great! When I bless you, snot comes out of my nozzle!"

i can do hard things

It's hard.
Really hard.
and yet, I still desire to get out and do it.
whenever I hear my "running songs" I yearn to be out running.
but, it's hard.
like really hard.

i have started Couchto5K over and am on week 4.
only this time i get to run while pushing 95 pounds of wonderful kids.
so, today we needed to return some movies to the library. why not kill two birds with one stone, as they say.

we set out.
i thought, I can do this.
but, it was hard.
really hard.
i didn't quite run all the time i should have, but i did almost all.
and between running and walking, we made it down 1.2 miles to the library, and back 1.2 miles home.

and now, i am exhausted.

here's to tomorrow, because i know i can do hard things!!!

6 quick things+1 funny

1. We went camping over the weekend with family and friends. Despite the cold/raining/snowing weather, we had a wonderful time! We had 3 trailers to use as our shelter, so we really didn't feel like we were stepping all over each other. I can't wait to go again.
2. The tire almost blew up while driving to our destination. We noticed the truck was vibrating really bad. So we went to get the spare off to use instead, and it was burned up from the muffler. Seriously, burned all the way down to the metal. It took us 5 1/2 hours to complete a 2 1/4 hour drive. However, the kids were amazing, and we are so grateful to our friends for being so accommodating to the change of plans since it took us so long to get there.
3. While camping, my BIL set up a "Top Shot" style shooting course for all who wanted to participate. {K} took my spot and had such fun! After, he shot a .22 and hit the target 9 out of 10 times. I couldn't believe it! He was completely unassisted. {A} shot 4 blackbirds with his BB gun. It was so fun to watch them succeed!
4. I shot a pistol this weekend as well. It scared the bejeessers out of me! But, I think I might like to try it again. :)
5. It's the last week of school, so while I was at the school volunteering today, the boys and I gave their teachers their end of year gift. Each of them got an IPOD. We found them used on craigslist and they were both so excited to have an easy way to have kid appropriate music available at the touch of their fingers. It was fun to see them light up at such a cool gift.  The boys were pretty excited about it.
6. I am so grateful to my friend {M} who watched my kids all year so I could volunteer. That is such an important thing to me and I so appreciate her!! (I am super sad she moved, and am praying that she gets to come back, soon!!)
1 Funny:  The other day {K} climbed into the van and noticed the 1st Aid Kit I have in there. He wanted to know if I keep band-aids in it. I told him yes. Then he asked me if there was such thing as a 2nd Aid Kit!! Ha Ha. That kid is hilarious!!

6 quick things (well, ok, only 4)

1. I went running this morning. It's hard. I run with a double stroller and about 55 pounds worth of kiddos strapped in. I decided to restart couchto5k at week 3 with the hopes that I can build up my endurance since I am running with the stroller. It's going ok.
2. We are making plans for a family vacation early June. We don't want to travel more than a few hours from home. We plan to camp. Where should we go?
3. Mother's Day was nice. Two adorable gifts and breakfast in bed. {K} made a mug decorated by him, and {A} painted a really pretty vase with flowers in it. They then had the painting laminated.
4. {a} has one chore. Empty the Dishwasher. She earns $.50 each time. It's a FIGHT nearly every day.
5. guess I only have 4 things to talk about this time...

6 quick things.

Saw the idea of 6 quick things today on another blog, and thought, that is something I could do. Get some thoughts out there, share what's up with us without the pressure of any pictures. We'll see how it goes...

1. DH is out of town for business, again. It feels like a very regular occurrence lately.
2. Next weekend is Scout Overnighter, again. It definitely is a very regular occurrence. (for the past 4 years)
3. {k} is crazy busy. He REALLY wanted to go outside today in the pouring rain, so I let him. I honestly thought he would stay on the covered patio and play on a bike or in a car or something like that. He didn't stay on the patio. He meandered all over the back yard, through the mud, to the rocks, all without socks, shoes, or a jacket. Silly boy was loving life. He told me it was "wet".
4. {a} can't hardly wait for preschool. She knows that it will start after {K}'s birthday. His bday is the middle of July, and preschool starts after Labor Day. It was the closest milestone I could think of.
5. I have been baking up a storm lately, and have really been enjoying it.
6. {A} got some great news recently. It meant some big conversations between DH and I. Not ready to share, but it means a fairly large change for him in the coming months.

{A} turned 9

I just noticed that I haven't posted about {A's} 9th birthday. We had a fun, little family party. He got a bb gun among other things, but that certainly was the highlight.

{A} is a delightful young man. We love having him as a part of our family. He is super smart and motivated at school, which is such a fun thing to watch. It is a delight to watch him learn and grow and be so excited about neat things he learns at school. He just took his ISATS and scored very well. (I am amazed they have those tests on the computer and know their results as soon as they have completed the test. Isn't technology amazing?)

{A} loves scouts and is part of the Bear Den now. He is working hard to earn his bear patch. We signed {A} and {K} up for a short 5-week Chess class, and they are both excited to become better chess players. Love you, {A}!!

{k}'s blanket broke

so {k} has attached himself to one particular blanket, and one particular corner of that blanket. It is really quite gross. He sucks on it, sticks it in his ear, eyes and nose. It was very ratty. So, I cut it off. I sewed up the corner on his blanket, and he really doesn't seem to care. The video is cute.

He says quite a few things now. "oke" broke, "up" cup, "uh-uh" for yes or no(he now will nod his head to agree when he wants something), "nore" more, "ball" ball, "u-key" monkey. eta: "ninner" dinner, "um" some, "um" yum, "eese" cheese.
He received an adorable stuffed monkey for Christmas and has totally attached himself to it. It's really cute how much he loves it.

He is 20 months old now. He loves nursery and being funny. He is silly and loves to laugh. I can already tell he is going to be hilarious and a joker/teaser when he grows up. Much like {K} and his Dad. :)

check in

so it's been 4 weeks since I began the Newlyweds on a Budget weight loss challenge. and since then, I have lost 6 lbs. It's been an up and down battle, but for now, 6 lbs is 6 lbs!! I seem to have lost momentum, but I am hoping to find some more really soon. :)