Another Birthday

One month after Madi's birthday, it was time to celebrate again. This time, it was for Alissa. She had an odd birthday this year, turning nine, so we celebrated as a family. She was excited to open the gift from the kids.

She got nail polish from Katelin,

a necklace from Madi,

and all the kids got her a box of some of her favorite candy with cute sayings tied in and written on them. For example, the Reses Pieces said "We love you to PIECES!" Its been too long for me to remember the other ones. Thats what I get for being a late blogger. I guess you can use your imagination. : / 

 Since Madi chose to get started on a room of her own in the basement, Alissa got the idea to do a room makeover. She felt she was getting too mature for her Disney Princess room. She decided to go with a theme of one of her favorite things, giraffes. Had I known how rare giraffe patterned decorations were, I may have talked her into something else. I did get lucky and found this brand new giraffe picture frame for cheap at Good Will. She loved it.

 She also had mentioned that she loved this rug at Target when we were there, so I got that for her and used the colors on it for inspiration.

 I was happy that Alissa chose a pretty simple cake this year. Just chocolate with peanut butter frosting and reses cups. We added twisty candles to make it cuter.

 Then she opened a gift that came in the mail from her Grandparents and Aunt. 

She got another necklace, 

 the Teen beach Movie,

 and a shirt.

And now for the room reveal. 

I couldn't find any older girl style giraffe quilts, so I decided to make them. Brylee shares a bunk bed with her, so I actually had to make two. Between school, the holidays and everything else, it took me 4 months to complete, but I finally got the blankets done. I used the colors from the rug to pick out the fabric. Its hard to tell, but the pink material is the giraffe pattern. Here is Alissa's blanket.

and Brylee's. As you can see from Brylee's bed, she still wanted to hang on the the Disney Princess theme. 

And her rug and newly painted wall. The giraffe figure and the chair were added from Christmas.  

Since I had a hard time finding giraffe pictures, I asked an atristically talented young women in our ward to paint us a couple. Here are the finished paintings. This one goes with the room colors. 

 And this one is more realistic.

  She gives it all a thumbs up.

How did our little girl get so big!?

Deeper into the teens

No matter how many times I beg the kids to stop getting older, they don't listen. Madi's gone and done it again. This year she decided to be 14. Since her joining of pinterest, she has discovered a whole new world of delicious treats she wants to try. This is the one she chose on her birthday, staying with her tradition of including Oreos as she does every year.

 Oreo crust layered with cream cheese filling, chocolate pudding, whip cream and more oreos on top. Oh yeah, it was good. 

 And now for a display of some of Madi's other favorite things...

Birthday Cards made by her siblings.

 Birthday cash from grandparents.

 Since Grandma Taylor and Aunt Mindy recently visited, they got to know about some of Madi's favorites first hand, and sent them to her, including...

Socks

  One Direction (Especially Nial...the blond)

 And Duct Tape

 Her brother and sisters also know Madi very well and got her some of her favorite treats. 

 As a blooming teenage girl, I thought she should start going easy on the birthday parties...at least the big planned events where Mom does all the work. Since it was an even birthday, she decided she did want a few close friends to just come and hang out with her and share in some cake. Again, are we shocked it has oreos?

 Someone needs to teach her how to use a knife...or maybe not. 

 And if your wondering where her gift from Mom and Dad is this year well...

besides the gift of life, all Madi really wanted from us was her own room. We agreed to START on it. That got her so excited that Ryan made a deal with her. If she wanted to have more progress on her room, she could put all her money she earned from refereeing soccer toward it, and Ryan would match it. With some help from a few willing friends, we now are done with the framing. 

 This will be her future closet and built in shelf for her books.

Its probably going to take a while, but she is happy to have it started. It also motivates her to earn more money to put toward it. Maybe for her next birthday, it will be finished!

Back to School

Well, its back to school time again!

This year is going to be interesting because these two are in the same class. Its part of a new way of teaching they call "Next Generation". Its supposed to be more individualized so the kids can work at their own levels, and not just on  standard based grade level learning. Their class is split between 1st through 3rd grade, and there is around 75 kids in their class, with 3 main teachers. Then those kids get put into smaller groups based on their level of learning. For example, Alissa is accelerated in reading and she is in  a group with about 5 kids. In math she is more baseline, so she is with a different group of maybe 10 kids. So in theory, if there is a really good 1st grade reader, they could end up being in a group with 3rd graders. They only meet all together for group instruction. It is a bit more independent, and I haven't seen as much homework come home. I will be interested to see how this works out and where my kids compare next to the other kids in their grade level, by the end of the year. 

Here's the whole group. Watch out world! 

 Katelin is in middle school this year. We're glad she has Madi to show her the ropes. She was a little afraid she was going to get stepped on at school because she is so short. ;)

The next week it was Brylee's turn to be big. She was really excited to go to school like her older siblings!  

I guess that just leaves me with this one for part of the day. Whatever will I do? I have to admit, I was very lonely at first. I had a hard time going to the grocery store by myself. I miss my little partner in crime. Its been 13 years since I had to stay home alone. ;( 

 So...to fill the void in my life, I went back to school too. Alissa made me get a picture of my first day as payback. 

Life has been very different for me lately. I have been doing a lot of reflecting trying to figure out what I should do now that my kids are growing up. School definitely keeps me busy, and I still don't know which direction to take it. I cant really imagine doing anything but being a stay at home mom. I stay motivated with the idea of setting a good example to my kids that getting an education is important at any age, and if I can do it...so can they. I have also enjoyed being able to succeed and feel like I am learning new things. BYU-I gives me the kind of instruction that helps me to become a better mother and wife, and helps to strengthen my testimony too. Even if I don't want to grow up and still don't know what I want to be, at least Ill have the tools and confidence to do it. Plus I get to go through it with a few great and really fun ladies in my ward. ;)

Update on pictures

We recently went through Ryans phone and found all the missing pictures from Door county. I knew we had taken more! Heres a few more from the beach and camping...

Breakfast at the tent

 The bike ride view

The beach

 Madi made Zack and Brylee into mermaids

 The playground at the campsite