First Day of School 2011-2012

Well, it was a fun summer. But I have to admit that I am SO thrilled for Back To School.

Here are the kids this morning in the order that they left:

Emma (4th grade) was off to the bus first, at 7:15am.

Then it was Micah's (8th grade) turn at 8:10am. He walks to school our neighbor, Ben (6th grade).

He's practically one of my own kids. Plus, he's much better at minding me when I assign him chores around the house.

Next came Jared (10th grade) at 10am. Off to another year of high school. He had a late start this morning, but seminary starts bright & early at 6:30am tomorrow.

Finally, impatiently, it was Adana's (Kindergarten) turn. She watched her brothers & sister get their pictures taken, and then insisted that SHE needed THREE shots. Shocker. Today she only goes for an hour, and I go with her. But tomorrow she rides the bus!

Lest you get the idea that I'm going to be bored and eating bon-bons all day, I'd like to point out that (1) I still have Torah, (2) Adana is only going to half-day Kindergarten, and (3) Emma will be homeschooling half-day as well.

So bon-bons & soap operas - no. Gallons of Coke Zero - yes.

Happy 40th Birthday Nathan!!

Nathan turned 40 on Monday, August 22.

Adana was SO excited for the presents. She picked out these bright flowers for him. He also got the Dead Poets Society dvd,

and this retro shirt. (He is obsessed with the 1950s.)

But his main present was waiting for him upstairs. The kids blindfolded him and led him into his bedroom, where he found . . .

I had the kids' pictures taken while we were down in Utah, then printed on canvas wraps. My amazing friend, Doreen, came over Monday while he was at work to hang them for me. It looks so awesome! And he loved it.

After dinner, we had some friends & neighbors over for a birthday party.

The plan was to have it outside, but it was a little rainy so we all packed into our house. It was fun to see how many people love Nathan.

Torah - 44 weeks old

Torah is such a fun kid!

And she has her brothers completely wrapped around her chubby little finger.

She has started eating a lot more "big kid" foods. There's nothing better on a warm summer evening than sucking on a salty, buttery corn cob. Mmmmmm.

She also LOVES pb&j. I held Nathan off as long as I could. (He fed pb&j to Adana when she was 6 months old).

She has a blast taking her bath in the kitchen sink.

Not a bad view, either.

Her favorite things to eat are finger foods. We tried a picnic of peas, bananas & Cheerios . . .

. . . but she's still a little clumsy with the dish.

She wears her food well. (Seriously though - her toes are still stinkin' cute, even with peas smashed between them.)

What she wants MOST of all, though, is to be able to go run & play with the big girls.

10 Month Birthday

Month 10 Notables:

• It's getting hard for me to remember Torah as an infant, because she is such a vibrant baby!


• She crawls everywhere, usually searching the ground for any tiny speck that she can pick up and eat. She's like a dog, scrounging for scraps under the table.


• Torah still nurses 3-4 times a day, but most of her calories come from food now. And she is a pretty picky eater - not on taste, but texture. She doesn't like pureed foods that are spoon-fed to her. She prefers chunky pieces that she can eat herself.


• The problem with that, though, is she still has NO teeth. Not one. Not even the slightest hint of swollen gums.


• She's an awesome sleeper. She usually goes to bed around 10pm. She'll often wake up around 3am for a drink of water and a quick diaper change. Then she's back to sleep until 8-9am.


• She's a decent napper. She likes a long 2 hour nap around lunch time, but her afternoon nap is pretty hit-n-miss. She does fine as long as she has a quick power nap around dinner time.


• Torah LOVES attention. She LOVES interacting with people and she LOVES having her picture taken. But she still only wants to be held by either me, her Baba, or one of her brothers.

Hey, can you Smurf me some Diet Smurf?

I rarely eat at McDonald's.

Except when Nathan & the boys are gone and I don't want to cook. (McD's is way too expensive when I'm feeding the boys.)

Or if I happen to be in the car without any kids (except Torah, of course, who is never more than 2" from my side) and I can pull through the drive-thru without anyone else begging for something.

Or on St. Patrick's Day.

Or when I'm road tripping with the kids and it is the ONLY place that they will all agree on.

Or when their sodas are Every Size for $1.

Or when we are meeting friends at the park for a picnic lunch, and I don't want to make & pack 5 seperate sandwiches/fruit/chips/drinks.

Or when they have really cool toys in their Happy Meals, like the Madame Alexander Wizard of Oz dolls, or the great little Strawberry Shortcake dolls. These are the perfect throw-in-the-diaper bag toys. Small, durable, and cheap!

Which is why, despite the fact that I RARELY eat at McD's, I've sort of stopped and bought 4 Happy Meals in the past few days. 'Cuz I'm really loving the Smurf figurines.

I'm still hoping to get a Papa Smurf!

Torah - 42 weeks old

This week's new skill: CRAWLING!

All

over

the

house.

This Mama Bear wishes she could come along!

5:00 a.m. this morning - the boys are off on a week-long, 50-mile hike along the Pacific coast. This is Micah's first long Scout hike; I'm SO thankful that Jared will be with him. They will be crossing rivers, hiking along beaches that can only be accessed at low tide, and camping with bears, cougars, and all sorts of who-knows-whats. It sounds like a blast! But I hate having them gone for so long.

My heart won't beat right until they are back home Saturday afternoon.

Raising Adana

Adana is grounded. For 5 days. She's 5 years old, so I thought 5 days was a reasonable sentence.

It started yesterday evening, when I was informed by a neighbor boy that Adana & a few of her friends had . . . ummmm . . . . (Geesh, do I really want to document this for all the internet & our posterity to read?) . . . Well, they pee'd on the neighbor's trampoline.

Yeah, apparently it seemed like a fun idea at the time. GROSS, I say. I promptly threw her in the bathtub and sent her brothers to scrub it clean.

Then today, she & a little friend decided it would be great fun to jump in another neighbor's flower beds. WHAT is up with these hooligans!? They completely stomped her beautiful flowers to bits.

Of course I had to march her back over so that she could give a formal apology. I have to admit that I was pretty proud of her. She was nervous to knock on the door, but she went straight up and very humbly said that she was sorry for ruining the flowers. Thankfully, our sweet neighbor wasn't angry and gave Adana a big hug. (I tell you - I live in the greatest neighborhood on this island!)

So now she's on Strike 2 and I've decided to ground her for 5 days, more as a preventative measure than actual punishment. I mean, c'mon, who's really being punished here? I'm the one stuck at home with a bored 5-year old in the middle of summer. But I shudder to think of what she'll come up with next if I let her out.

Abi, ever the helpful big brother, laughed at the whole thing. He suggested that her behavior wasn't inappropriate at all, just a little mixed up. If she had JUMPED on the trampoline and PEE'D in the flower beds, everything would have been just fine.

I think I'll go ground him too, the little turd.

Summer 2011 - Utah, round 2 (Week 3, part 2)

Alright, we're almost done! The last few days . . .

Wednesday, July 27
We all got together at mom & dad's house to watch the MLS Allstars play Manchester United. Sheri cooked us up a delicious dinner,
and Emma made dessert - stuffed strawberries. Mmmmmm Good!
The we headed down to the park by the house to play. This contraption is crazy fun. This is Jared & Sheri. I thought I was going to die when I was on it with my bro-in-law, George.

Girl cousins.

Thursday, July 28

Adana caught a baby lizard. I tell ya, that girl is good!

One of the million pool games that the kids invented. In this one, they were all clinging together on their "boats" . . .

. . . . while the "shark" would swim under them and drag them down.

It was also so blasted hot that we were sure we'd be able to fry an egg outside. Didn't work. But it sure did a number on bare feet, let me tell you!

Friday, July 29

We went over to Sheri & George's house for dinner. She is such a great cook!

Torah loved hanging out with Gpa and playing with Preston's toys.

Saturday, July 30

Our last day in St. George. Guess what we did?

Oh, how I'll miss that pool!

Although I won't miss the heart attack I got every time my crazy kids discovered a new "game."

Dad & I took the kids on a 4-wheel ride out into Arizona. Dad, Torah & I rode in his Jeep. The boys rode the 4-wheeler & the Razor with the girls.

It was another amazing view!

We'll miss you St. George!