Kennedy'a Big Solo

Kennedy had a solo in the her Christmas concert last night. I thought that you would like to see it. It is a little small but she is the first one singing. Enjoy!

This Past Week

Ok, I know it has been a long time and I am sorry. My mother is making us do family updates to her while she is on her mission so I thought that I would take the shortcut and paste what I sent her so I at least have something to post. It has been entirely too long since I posted something and since my camera is broken, I figured this would do.

This past week, what happened, or didn't happen? Morgan started all-city Orchestra this week. She took principle chair 3rd violin. She was pretty happy. That means that now she has a rehearsal every Monday from 4-5. That is after a full day of school and an extra magnet class of 45 min after school. I get to go up to school early because Kennedy can't ride the bus home and can't be "unattended" at school, so we go and sit for an hour until Morgan is done. Anyway, other than that she is busy with life in the 4th grade. She is very excited to start playing the viola this year. She has decided, all on her own, that she wants to switch to the viola now so she will be ahead of everyone else by the time she hits middle school. They don't teach viola in elementary so there are 50 million violinists and no violists so she is getting a jump start on everyone,. Pretty smart if you ask me, which she didn't. She is also very excited because Friday she came home with the ugliest safety orange belt I have ever seen. The fifth grade will be going to camp in a week so the 4th grade gets to step up and be "safety patrol" for a week. She didn't take it off for 2 days. She may have some control issues and I don't know where she gets it from. It probably doesn't help that Scott yells for "safety patrol" for every little thing that could possibly go wrong so I have had to deal with things like, "safety patrol, Kennedy is still in her PJ's." "Safety Patrol, Emersen didn't put her clothes in the hamper." etc. Lots of fun and she is really enjoying it.

Kennedy is on the student council. I don't think she has any idea what that means other than all the kids in her class voted for her and she gets to help design the t-shirt but she is excited. She is doing very well in cello and has passed more songs than any other 3rd grader. Not that she really cares too much. She just goes and does her thing. She has been really into her hair lately. Not just the "bumpit" but I had to sponge roller her hair last night for church today and when we took them out she decided that the dress she had picked out was just not good enough and needed a wardrobe change. That and the fact that she loves makeup and it doesn't matter what kind. Yesterday I came home and she had applied zombie makeup to herself in preparation for Halloween. One has to prepare, you know!

Emmy is so ready for school. She is busy telling me everything and doesn't often stop talking for anything. I have to tell her in advance what day tomorrow is and what we will be doing. She doesn't like it we aren't going somewhere or she doesn't get to play with friends for a "long time". She loves her daddy quite a bit these days and I think she is just getting used to seeing him more. She has appointed herself his personal hairdresser. Scott is such a good sport. The other day she told him that he had to wake her up so she could do his hair before he went to work. When she woke up and he was gone she was a little upset until I told her that he had "tried" to wake her up but she was too tired to get up. She said, "well, I guess he will just have his hair in his face all day."

Ian is forever busy. I am constantly amazed at how different little boys are from girls. He never just sits still, unless he is watching "Cars" or "Diego" is on and I get a little something done. He loves cars and trucks and throwing things. He loves to "jump" even though his feet never leave the ground. He loves shoes and it doesn't matter who they belong to. He loves to tease. I'm not sure why that is either. He is so snugly and I love it, that is when he is tired or I haven't been paying close enough attention to him. I just want to eat that kid sometimes. He is too cute.

Scott started a new job a few weeks ago and I love it. He is still trying to figure it out but I couldn't be happier because the quit at 5.. That is right. 5pm. Which means that by 5:30 Scott will leave because he is the last one in the office and feels a little funny still being there. He gets to eat dinner with the family. I didn't think that was ever going to happen again. I love it.

Me, I don't know, I am the mom. Oh, I guess I played in the stake women's volleyball tournament yesterday and now I have trouble walking up and down my stairs. It was great though. We dethroned the giants that have reigned for as long as I have been here and it was great to hear their cries and complaints that we were "not playing fair". Music, sweet music is all I can say. Justice has been served. You just can't show up wearing shirts that say "All stars" on them and think you are going to get away with it forever. It was great.
I can relate to Melissa with church. It is a struggle every week. As I sit on my pew with my 4 darling "well-behaved" children and watch my husband sitting on the stand all by himself I have to wonder why I agreed to such an arrangement. A few weeks ago I actually caught myself reaching over to yank on someone's arm to stop a fight and said, "Sit quietly, be happy and think about Jesus!" I had to laugh at myself on that one. Who says that? Are you kidding me? The lucky thing is that Ian loves nursery. Thanks heavens because he was going to love it or die in it as far as I was concerned. Anyway, we made it home in record time today because a friend of ours make the mistake of telling us that they race us home every week. Given that they live about 5 minutes closer and only have 1 kid and both parents. That didn't matter to my kids. They spotted their car in the parking lot today and told me to park closer to the exit so we could get out faster. They, Morgan and Kennedy, then orchestrated who would pick up Emmy and Ian so we could get out faster and set up a meeting spot. We were home in record time and the girls even got to leave a nice little "We won, we won, we shot the bee bee gun" song on their answering machine. It was a good Sunday.

Love September Favorite Skirt Pattern GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Love September Favorite Skirt Pattern GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

I will update later. I have had a lot going on from school starting to Scott's new job to starting my own little craft show business and ending summer. With my camera currently broken, it isn't as much fun to post but I really wanted to enter this giveaway.

Summer Swimming

I have been meaning to post this for quite some time. We have been having a blast swimming this summer. I thought that I had more pictures of all the kids. I will have to get some more but I did manage to get a few of Ian. Everyday I am reminded that boys are different from girls, even at an early age. Ian has always liked to do his own thing. This isn't any different in the pool. I started the summer putting him in a baby float. The girls loved it at this age. They would just kick back and float. Not Ian. He hated it. He even managed to climb out of it. He wanted to walk around the pool and do his own thing. So out of frustration, I put some floaties on him, just to make sure he didn't fall in and drown. He loves them. It took all of about 30 minutes for him to figure out how to keep his mouth out of the water. He now absolutely loves swimming. He will jump off the step and swim across the little pool. He can spin circles and is in love with the water.

I Actually Made This!

My friend Melissa is amazing. She can literally sew anything. She came over today and helped me sew a purse. I didn't even know that you could sew a purse. But I did! I made this purse today.

It even has pockets on the inside: one for my phone, one for my keys, two for pens, and a velcro pouch for other things. I just wanted to let you all know that I am pretty proud of myself. I think it turned out pretty great, if I do say so myself. Thanks, Melissa!

Camping over Memorial Day

We went camping over Memorial Day weekend and we had a good time. The best part was there was a little ravine right behind out campsite. There was an actual vine hanging from a tree and you could swing from it. Mind you, this is not a rope. It is a vine. I thought it was pretty cool and we all had to take a turn on it.
We went fishing and Scott got the prize, 2 turtles. I was upset that I didn't have my camera with me. He was upset that he had to get 2 snapping turtles off his line.
While we were fishing, there was a crane hanging out and Emmy really wanted to go get it.
It was a good time. A little hot but we enjoyed the time we had together. Oh, I almost forgot. I saw fireflies for the first time. It was the coolest thing.

Kennedy's Award Ceremony

Kennedy has worked really hard this year. She did a great job in second grade. At her awards ceremony we got several awards. She got a trophy for practicing 100 consecutive days. She was also one of 3 second graders that got to be part of the performing strings trip to San Antonio. They went to a competition and got 3 trophies: one for superior ratings, one for best in class (all elementary and junior high groups), and one for best in show (all groups, including high schools). She was also got put on the principles honor roll. That means that she got straight A's. Go Kennedy!

My cute Emmy

With Scott in the bishopric, we don't always look our best at church, but we are there. This last Sunday, Emmy actually let me do her hair. I thought that I would try something my mom used to do to my hair when I was little. She was so proud of her special hair-do.

Ian's first haircut

It was time to take Ian down and change him from a baby to a little boy. I had a little bit of a hard time with this one. I have to admit. They are only little for such a short amount of time.
But it was time.
He didn't really like the whole thing either.
But then he got a sucker and it was all worth it. Even if he was still a little mad about it.
I think he got over it. He looks so big. Where did my baby boy go?

Ian

Ian is getting bigger everyday and I think it is fun just to enjoy the new things he can do. He found a new place to sit.He likes to keep moving and he loves to wear Daddy's hats.
He loves to climb. His favorite thing to do is to get into things that he is not supposed to. He loves to climb up on the table and sit in the middle of it.


He loves to play in my messy pantry. I just can't help but love this little guy. Isn't he cute?

Happy Easter

I just wanted to show that we can get the kids cleaned up for those special occasions. Happy Easter!

Hunter's first camping trip - Double Lake

The Hunters went out on their first ever camping trip to Double Lake. The view was beautiful.We had a great night roasting hot dogs and having smores. Aren't they cute campers?

A little view of the campsite.
We tired to fish in the morning only the fish didn't want to cooperate. We had a great time and can't wait to go back there again.

Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo

The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo comes every year in March. It stays for about 3 weeks and we love it. We weren't able to go last year because Ian was so little but we make it this year.
We parked and rode a charter bus to the rodeo. The girls got to ride in the back seat and they thought that was the best thing in the world.We started with some fun on the farm. They got to walk through life on the farm.
They milked (actually water) cows.Emmy tried her hand at planting.
I think she makes a pretty cute cow.
They got to collect eggs too.
Then came the petting zoo. Have you ever seen little kangaroos in a petting zoo before?
Ian enjoyed the animals.Then came the pig races. You can't beat pigs running for an oreo.
We got to see a cow being milked.
The girls wanted to ride the Ferris wheel. They were very excited to start with. I think Emmy cried and Kennedy got scared when she figured out the chairs moved. It was quite funny.
Morgan and Kennedy finished the day with a "big girl" ride. They had a blast. We love the rodeo. See you next year.

Happy Mother's Day

I know that I haven't posted anything recent in way too long and I am going to catch up later. I wanted to write something tonight. I just read the best blog entry ever. I don't even know the lady who wrote it. She is just the friend of a friend but it really put things into perspective and I thought that I would share it before Mother's Day hit. She talked about how most of us should more appropriately call it Martyr's Day instead of Mother's Day. I put myself into that category. It seems like nothings seems to work out right and I always end up in tears and feel like a horrible mother by the end of the day. That isn't going to happen this year.

She talked about how she would always leave church feeling like she was failing on almost every front. Then she realized that she was the best mother that her kids would ever have, no matter her shortcomings. I have to agree with her. It is important to remember that it is not a competition. We do the best we can and love our kids to the best of our abilities and that is all that is asked of us. I think mothers on a whole get frustrated because our husbands can't read our minds. Poor guys. It is a losing battle for them. We don't know what we want and so we set them up to fail every time. If I were them, I would stop trying.

So this year, I am doing things a little differently. I am taking the hint of a friend of mine and make a list of how I want my Mother's day to go and it is going to include a menu. I am not saying that I want diamonds or jewelry or any gifts, actually. I want to not have to get the kids ready for church. I want to eat quiche for breakfast. I will make it the night before. No one likes it but me but that is okay. I think that is what mother's day is about. I want to not have to chase my 16 month old during sunday school and relief society. I don't want to cook or do any dishes but still have a clean kitchen at the end of the day. I want to sit on the couch and read a book, and rest. I don't think that is a lot to ask for but it would make my day. It isn't that my husband wouldn't have given that to me in the past. I just never asked. I wanted it but never asked for it. That is my fault and not my family's. This mother's day will be different and I expect it will be the best one yet!

The Simple Joys of Life

Ian found a new toy this week. This is his new favorite place to be. It is supposed to hold his toys. Now he pulls all the toys out and sits in it and just laughs. He is so proud of himself. You have to love the simple joys of life.