Growing up

In my attempts to update the blog, I realized I completely forgot to post about Madisons birthday. Maybe its due to the fact that she is getting all grown up and I just like to block it out of my mind. This is her last year in elementary school. She will be starting Young Womens next year! She now owns her own bras and deodorant! I am having a hard time accepting this. She will be turning into an entirely different and more grown up version of herself soon, and Im just not ready for that yet. I dont know that I ever will be. But I guess the comforting part is that so far, in spite of her parents...she seems to be doing pretty well.

She is smart, and always makes good choices. She is a great example to her family and friends, and knows when she needs to refrain from unwholesome activities. She told me about an inappropriate game that the kids at school have been playing lately, and reassured me that she would not take part in it. Im so proud of her for the decisions she makes and the young woman she will soon be. She may know more about the scriptures then I do soon, and has had her articles of faith memorized for over a year. Hopefully it doesn't go to her little teenage head and give her the over confidence to question me! Getting older often means wanting more expensive gifts. Some of the things she inquired about was a cell phone, her own TV, and a re-model of her room. The thing that surprised me most though, was a punching bag. Upon questioning her, she went on further to explain that she needed something to release her anger on so she "doesnt hit her sisters in the face". Okay, I said she was good, not perfect. There may be some anger management issues that need to be addressed. Thats normal for the oldest child who always has to deal with 4 younger siblings always driving them crazy...right? Right?

Okay, well she didnt get any of those asked for items, but she didnt come up completely empty handed either. The first thing we did was go out to dinner at her favorite restaurant, Texas Roadhouse. That doesnt happen very often as a family, so it was a big deal. She even got to sit on the saddle and get sung to...too bad I didnt bring the camera. But I did have the camera for all of this:

Present time!

Goofball
Mario Kart DS!
Zack got her a Zhu Zhu. She still likes that type of stuff too, but Im sure it wont last much longer! ):

A purse. She had been begging for one of these as well. Very grown up. In fact, a little too grown up. I let her sisters take credit for that one. I just couldnt do it.

I just love this picture. It actually makes it look like they love each other! (:

She really loved the purse....and okay, maybe she loves them too, even if they do drive her crazy at times.

Again with the Oreo cake. She came up with her own idea this year to make a chocolate cake with oreo pudding filling and whipped cream topping with oreos on top. Yes, it was delicious!

Candles in the shape of the number 11.

And lets not forget this outfit. Hat and shirt courtesy of Mom and Dad, ear rings from her best friend McKenzie.

Looking too grown up already. Goodbye last bit of childhood innocence. Goodbye.

Random

I noticed its been a while since the last post...a little over a month actually. I guess now that the kids are in school, it doesnt seem like that much exciting blog worthy stuff is going on. So I thought I would compile a few pictures from the last couple months to blog about, just to give you your blog fix. Some are from before school, others are things that have gone on since the kids started school.

I'd like to call these first ones: NAUGHTY!

Ryan leaves to church early in the morning to attend meetings. That leaves me to get all the kids ready. This is what happened while I was busy fixing hair one morning...

Yes, that is fingernail polish. Zack thought he would help get Brylee ready to go by painting her...well toes. He then left the nail polish open, and Brylee got a hold of it to finish the job.

Next:

Brylee climbing up the pantry shelves to get to the snacks.

This one isnt as naughty, just silly.

Zack and Brylee like to take the water bottle I use to fix their hair with, and drink from it. Brylee will occasionally try to squirt in in her mouth, resulting in a very wet face (shown here, but I dont think you can tell in the picture). She thinks its funny, so why not just let her do it? The naughty part comes in when they (Zack) use the water bottle to chase each other around the house and try to squirt each other...and everything else that gets in their way.

Next up: Bubbles

I wanted to get rid of this one container of bubble bath I had, and thinking it was almost gone, poured the rest of it in the bath. Then, attempting not to be wasteful, I rinsed out the bubble container, resulting in...well what else, but a lot of bubbles!? I decided to have some fun with them, since it doesnt happen very often.

Minnie and Mickey Mouse ears.

Santa Zack

a unicorn for Alissa.

This next set happened just a few days ago. We actually found this toad on the grass when Ryan almost mowed him over. It was actually the biggest one we've found here, so he earned the name "Bubba". The kids had him in a box for a couple weeks, and I finally talked them into letting it go. I set it free behind our trees in the back yard, and then I thought..."dang, I shoulda got a picture of him!" I grabbed the camera and tried to go back and find him, but had no luck.

After putting the camera away, and going back out side, I almost stepped on him! Bubba hopped all the way back to the house. I went back in to get the camera, and called Zack over to see him again. Here he is with Bubba the toad.

Brylee liked to watch, but dont try and make her hold him!

Katelin stated, "See mom...he likes us!" She never wants to let the poor creatures we find free. But I was determined that he wouldnt find his way back so easily next time. We decided to take him for a little walk down to the pond "swamp", in the nature preserve.

So, weve lived here 3 years now, and I have never actually gone for a walk through the preserve. They keep a trail mowed down through it, and its actually right in our backyard. It looked pretty this day, because it was full of wild sunflowers along the path. Then I remembered why we dont go for walks down there..mosquito's! It stays pretty moist from the rain, so the little buggers are everywhere! Thankfully, it is late in the year, so there werent as many, but we still got slightly attacked.

Brylee enjoyed it anyway...

Wait for me guys!

Madi, Zack and the neighbor, giving Bubba a good home.

If he finds his way back to our back door again, we may have a new pet toad living at our house!

Lastly, you may think it silly, but I was excited to be able to do this today...

Brylee finally grew her hair long enough to have her first braid! A french one at that! I know, its not great looking, but it will get better! Next time, I think I will try two!

There, fix done.

School Time Countdown

This was Alissa's big year to start kindergarten, and she was so excited she could hardly contain it. We had to do something to keep her busy those last few weeks of waiting, so we made a countdown to school chain. Each chain link had an activity written on it for either something fun to do, educational, or both. I didnt take pictures of everything we did, but some activities included bowling, gym day, art day, math, educational computer time, handwriting, and spelling practice to name a few.

Here is alphabet cookies day. The kids got to cut out sugar cookies in the shape of letters and numbers, and then decorate them. Of course eating them was the best part!

Brylee enjoyed getting in on the mess too!
Decorating time. We dipped the cookies; which made up of their names and ages into chocolate, and then added sprinkles. Yummy!

Zack made sure the whole cookie...and his hands were completely covered! Sounds good to me, its just more to lick clean!

Chocolate hands!

Finally the big day arrived! All 3 girls, ready for school.

Madi was most excited for this:

She gets to be on the school safety patrol this year, on bus duty. She gets to patrol the bus and help the kids, and make sure they are following the rules. Now she really feels grown up. Too bad on her first day, she got the pleasure of helping one of the kids with an upset/nervous stomach. I always knew all those years of cleaning up throw up would come back to get her! I just had to laugh.

Arriving safely at school, Alissa exits her first school bus ride. She loved it...for now anyway.

Waiting in line for school to start. When did she get so big!?

A possible beginning of a beautiful friendship. We met this girl in line who is in Alissa's class. It was sprinkling a little bit, so I pulled out my umbrella for her. This girl was sad she didnt have one, so Alissa was nice enough to share. We soon found out that she rides the same bus, which means she also lives in our neighborhood! They even had the same backpack! Too funny!

Katelin waiting in her now 3rd grade line.

Madison, the big 5th grader.

The first day of school was a big success (besides the puke on the bus!). All 3 of the girls got the teachers they wanted. Alissa said her teacher was even nicer than she thought, and Katelin is sure she is her teachers favorite. How lucky is that!? We are so relieved they all got wonderful teachers this year!

That night we caught up on a chain link activity we skipped because I was inspired on how it should be done better, and needed the necessary materials. I have been wanting to make a growth chart for...well forever, and never got around to it. So one of our countdown activities was to finally start one. Then I got thinking...5 kids on one chart could get pretty crowded and confusing, so I decided it would be best to give them their own chart...or stick, rather. We picked up these sticks while the kids were at school and then surprised them after dinner with getting to paint them. They always love when they get to get messy! They all put on one of Dads old shirts to paint in, instead of marking up their new school clothes.

When the painting was finished, it was time for the traditional after the first day of school treat. We changed into pajamas and made ice-cream sundae's. Ice cream was the perfect end to a perfect day...actually a perfect end to any day if you ask me!

Heres the finished sticks the next day, after they had a chance to dry.

Madison's stick

Katelin's stick

Alissa's stick

Zack's stick

Part of Brylee's stick. She didnt want to hold still for a picture, so I took a close up of her measurement at birth. I caught all the kids sticks up with their recorded measurements from their check-ups. It was so fun to see how they all compared to one another.

Im pretty sure that ends one of the best good days for everyone! Now, on to homework, sick kids and field trips!