First Day of School

(getting some last minute advice from Dad.)

Today we now have a 4th grader, 3rd grader and kindergartner!! I did better than I thought I would dropping them off, especially Ellie. She has three good friends in her class and her class is very small--13 kids--so I didn't worry too much about her. She did great at drop off and didn't seem nervous at all! Eliza and Libby were happy to ditch their HEAVY backpacks at their desks and are excited to get into the groove of things. Now it's the long, difficult wait until pick up time to hear how their day went! P.S. I didn't make it to the school at lunch time because I had a presidency meeting, but I did go early this afternoon, but no one was out. Oh well! I had to imagine them in their rooms!

Ruby

I've been wanting to write down some cute things Ruby has been doing lately. She is such a fun girl and we all could just eat her up! In Ellie's room, there is a little upholstered chair by their bookcase. Anytime Ruby has something that she shouldn't have (i.e. my phone, an iPod, an open cup of water, etc. etc.), she always goes and sits in that chair! So when she is in that chair, we know she has something she shouldn't. It really is so funny. The other day I made cupcakes with Eliza and the next morning, we found her in "the chair" like this:

It was pretty cute even though it was a mess!

Another cute thing she does is before I put her down for a nap, she'll try to stay up longer by saying, "Hattie kiss." So we'll go find Hattie and Ruby will give her a kiss. Then she goes through all the girls' names to give them all kisses before she goes down for her nap. "Bibby kiss." "Si-sa kiss." "Eh-ye kiss." It's so cute and the girls love getting their kisses.

In the mornings, after Brian is ready for work, we hand out scriptures and read them, then we say prayers. Right after the "amen," Ruby runs up to Brian and gives him a big hug and says, "Bye, bye Daddy." He loves that!

Almost 8

Libby's 8th birthday is coming up this month. Today she had her baptism interview with the bishop. Both Brian and I wondered if she would even consent to go, just knowing how reserved she can be in those situations. But when we told her about the appointment, she was totally fine with it and almost seemed excited. Brian took her to the church this morning and she did great. She is very excited about her baptism day and we've been making plans for a couple of weeks now of what she wants for that day. We went last weekend and took pictures in her dress. We had a lot of fun together doing that.

This year she also gets to have a birthday party, so we've made her invitations and will be sending them out soon. She is going to have a peace sign theme. We've had fun planning all the details! Here is the invite we came up with.


Eliza actually took the picture back in June. She got all the girls dolled up and took them outside for a photoshoot. Libby happened to make a peace sign in one of them, so it was perfect!

Back to School

Tomorrow is the first day of school for our girls! Ellie's first day of kindergarten! My heart strings will be tugged all day long!!! I think I might drive by the school around her lunch time to see if I can get a peek of her at recess. We had meet the teacher last Thursday and everyone seemed excited about heading back to school. Nervous but excited.

A friend told me about this cute idea, so we made "confidence cookies" tonight. A couple of days ago I put M&Ms in a mason jar and labeled it "confidence." I didn't say too much about it but told them if they needed some confidence they could take some. (Hattie seemed to need a LOT as I found her sneaking lots and lots of confidence that past couple of days.) So on and off they have been having "confidence." Tonight we made "back to school" cookies and at the end after they were on the cookie sheet, I said, "Wait. These cookies are missing something. They need some confidence." So we got it out and put the confidence on top. I hope they'll remember it as they go back to school. I did say the best confidence they got was the father's blessings they all got tonight. It was so sweet--after Libby's blessing, we gave her hugs and I thought I noticed a little tear on her face. I didn't want to point it out or say anything, but she said kind of nonchalantly, "I always seem to cry." It was so sweet--especially coming from Libby. I told her it's okay because I always cry, too.

Lately

We've been busy around here. All last week, I took on the big project of cleaning my den. It is something I've been needing to do for a LONG time. I just knew it was going to be a huge, time-consuming job. I set up a table in my den so I could clean out my cubby thing that holds all my craft stuff. I worked every day on it for quite a while and by Friday night, it looked 100x better. I actually like going in there now! So that was a big job.

Next, we set up the extra bed in Ellie and Hattie's room for Libby. So those three girls share a room now and we will eventually move Ruby in with Eliza so we can be ready for the baby when he comes. It's not ideal having two bedrooms to split between five girls, but it is what it is and we'll make it work for now.

Other than that, we are just winding down summer with school starting in a couple of weeks. And that is another story--trying to decide where to send my girls for school. It never ends!

Shadow Box

If you live in Utah, you might have seen a familiar face (in a picture) on Studio 5 yesterday. Check it out here.

Great Article

I just read this article in the Ensign, and I really, really liked it. It's called "Start Moving."

Sometimes I get paralzyed with not knowing what decision to make, so I won't make one or I worry about the choice I made--if it's right or not. I thoroughly liked this article and the analogy of the smoke jumpers. It helped me realize that I just need to use my own intelligence and make the best choice, and if it's not right, then He will intervene and help make a course correction.

Anniversary

Last Thursday, Brian and I celebrated our 11th anniversary. He whisked me away on a little two-night getaway. Somehow he managed to convince my brother and his wife to watch our girls while we were gone. I think they were worn out by the time we got home, but everything seemed to go well. Ruby was afraid of their dog Billy. She was okay as long as he didn't move, but once he got up, she freaked out a bit.

After we dropped them off, we headed to the temple, which was a perfect way to celebrate where we were 11 years ago. Then we headed to our hotel--the Hyatt at Gainey Ranch, which is where we went after we were married, too. After settling in our room, we got a recommendation for dinner. We ate at the Spotted Donkey near the hotel. It was Mexican food and pretty good. The best was the queso dip we ordered at the beginning. After dinner we went to Scottsdale Mall and shopped for a bit and we grabbed some Yogurtology before heading back to our room.

Friday morning started with a huge breakfast. The TV in our room was pretty fuzzy, so we called to see if they could fix it. They spent a little while working on it and changing out a cable. So I guess for our trouble, they comped us with free room service breakfast. Yum!


From there we went to a car lot to look for a car. Brian has been thinking about getting a car for a while now--it's just time. He's been driving a 12+ year old car for the past, well for as long as we've been married almost. So we spend the morning into the afternoon at the dealer and ended up buying one. He is really excited--it seriously has so many great features, especially the cooled seats that are really neat. The bad thing is that it wasn't at their lot and is being delivered, so he doesn't have it yet. Hopefully it'll come soon.

From there we grabbed a bite to eat, then actually went home to get ready for a wedding reception. We went to that and then to yes--Yogurtology again--and then back to the hotel. On Saturday we went back to the mall and then out to Gilbert to Potato Barn where I found an awesome table and chairs. Brian couldn't convince me to buy it yet, although I really want to! We grabbed lunch and then headed back to pick up our girls.

We had a fun time together and enjoyed celebrating our anniversary.

Regionals

A couple of weekends ago, Brian and Eliza headed out to Albuquerque for her junior olympic regional track meet. They left Friday morning and got there late afternoon. Saturday mid-day was her event (high jump). She ended up getting 4th at the meet and qualifying to go to nationals, which we decided aren't going to attend this year. They headed home after she was done jumping and got home late Saturday night. They had fun together and had fun trip. Eliza had a great track season, but we are glad to see it finally be over!

A Good Listen

If you have some spare time--maybe while you are cleaning or driving--this will make for a good listen.

Enduring it Well: Interview with Meg Johnson

Gender Reveal Party

A while back before I was even pregnant, I saw the most darling idea for a gender reveal party on www.supermommoments.com. I thought it was just so darling and loved seeing the picture of the couple opening the box to reveal either pink or blue balloons, telling them if they would be having a boy or a girl. I knew if I were going to have another baby, I totally wanted to do that since it would be a big deal either way what we were having--either our 6th girl or a boy after having 5 girls. So, fast forward a few months, I was planning to do a gender reveal party with family and few close friends. I figured we would find out in the middle of July, so we'd have the party around then. But like I mentioned in couple of posts ago, I was able to get in for quick ultrasound. I hurried and put together the party since I knew I couldn't wait too long to find out. So here is our party in pictures.

the invite--ended up having to e-mail it out since it was so last minute...


We had everyone who thought it was a girl to wear pink and those who thought it was a boy to wear blue. These are the "teams." Note that I am in blue but really thought I would be seeing pink balloons. Brian went out the night before and found a lovely pink Rick Springfield t-shirt at Goodwill.



We had everyone tally his or her vote as they came in. I didn't get a picture of the final tally though.


My parents brought over a bouquet of pink roses with blue baby's breath. So fun!


The food...aka "What are you craving?"



We had food for sweet (oreo truffles and fruit), salty (chips and salsa and dipped pretzels), crunchy (kettle corn), chewy (dipped marshmallows and Reisens) and sour (lime and lemon bars and sour patch kids). We also served lemonade and water.





We had everyone offer name suggestions. Some funny ones were Brian Jr. (which was in both the girl jar and the boy jar), "Nacho" and "Stink.


We read those names, then it was time to open the box! The morning of the party, I went to Party City along with a big box and the envelope. I explained to the male employee what I was doing and instructed him--after we left--to look inside and if it said "boy" to put blue balloons in the box and if it said "girl" to put pink balloons in the box. The guy looked at me a little interestingly, then called for back up reinforcement, so I explained it to a female employee. We left and I was just dying, thinking of them opening the envelope and knowing before anyone else!! I had Terri pick up the box in case anything went wrong and she saw something. She would be the only one who knew and it wouldn't ruin it for me or Brian. I was SO nervous opening the box! I was prepared to open it and see pink balloons. It felt like I was opening a mission call! We undid the ribbon, then had to undo the tape they put on the box. We finally opened it and found...




BLUE!!!

Words cannot describe how I felt at that moment. Shock. Disbelief. Excitement. Everything!! It was just so bizarre to see blue balloons in the box. I really expected to open it and see pink. Everyone cheered and yelled (you can see the video below). It was so fun; I am so glad we did it this way to find out what we are having. So priceless. We looked at the ultrasound and it seemed pretty obvious that it was a boy. We hadn't see anything like that on the previous 5 ultrasounds we've had. LOL.



Yesterday was filled with even more emotions. I took Eliza, Libby and Ellie and we went up to the outlets and started his wardrobe and got a few outfits for him. As I was in Gap looking at a shirt, the thought hit me, "We have to do scouts now!" Waaaaaaahhh!! Haha. Pinewood derby--all of that!! Ugh! LOL. And I have to learn how to tie a tie. And what do little boys wear to church? We have to basically start from scratch--new clothes, new socks, new blankets, new burp cloths, etc!! Overwhelming! New car seat, new swing. It'll be fun though. The best part is that we get to get rid of all the clothes that are too small for Ruby! It'll be so nice to clean out like that. All in all, it is a huge shock for us to be having a little boy, but we couldn't all be any more excited.

The Big Reveal

Track

A couple of weeks ago, Eliza competed in the Junior Olympic state track meet. She high jumped and got second place. Next weekend, she and Brian will go to New Mexico so she can compete in the regional meet.

The Wait

This envelope keeps staring at me! Actually we have tried to stay busy so we don't think about it too much.

It's a...

Today I had a doctor's appointment. I met my new doctor and I think I will like her just fine. She told me that at my next appointment (I'll be 19 weeks) they will do the anatomy ultrasound. And I said, "And find out what it is! It's kind of a big deal for us." I told her that we already had 5 girls, so it was going to be a big deal either way. She said, "Do you want me to see if Don (the U/S guy) can tell you now?" At first I said, "No! I don't want to know yet!" But I told her we were going to have a little reveal party, so as long as he could write it down and put it in an envelope, it would be good. So I have the envelope 10 feet from where I am sitting! I closed my eyes during the ultrasound so I wouldn't happen to see anything and he put the news in an envelope. We are planning the big reveal for Friday night. We can't hardly wait! Any guesses?!?

Budding Photographer

We finally bought a new point and shoot camera since ours seemed to have bit the dust. So last night Eliza helped the other girls get dressed up and she took them out back and took pictures of them. I think she is very creative!
P.S. Libby got a haircut while I was at girls camp...I was very nervous at first when she called and told me she wanted to go shoulder length, but I think it looks darling!

6

My posts have been few and far between lately--probably because I've been either sleeping or in the restroom or trying to find one thing that sounds good to eat. Baby number six will make its appearance mid December. When I tell people, the most common response is, "Was this planned?" Haha. Or another common response is, "AGAIN?!?!" Or "Were you trying for a boy?" Well, no, we were trying for a baby. I think we'll get that! I think we'll find out sometime in July what we are having, so that will be fun.

Swimming Lessons

This year Hattie and Ruby had swimming lessons with Miss Jenny. Hattie did great. Ruby did well, but the pictures will tell you what she thought about it! The other three girls had fun swimming while they others were in their lesson. After lessons we went to my parents' house for lunch. We already miss that tradition this week. It was a fun two weeks!