What Else?

Eliza LOVES taking pictures, so she'll take my camera (as I hold my breath) and snap away. I love to see what she captures. She's also documenting what else we have been up to...


Definitely happened while I wasn't in the room. :)

Eliza loves to get everyone dressed up and hair done, then take their picture.


At least once a day, Ruby will look out the window and say, "Grampa coming, yay!" She would love for him to come every day!



Playdates!



This was documented by me...I got a "parking" ticket a few weeks ago at my girls' school. Went to court because it was so silly. Court sure was interesting. I felt a little out of place. When the judge called me up, I didn't have to say anything. He just said he'd make the fine zero unless I wanted a hearing. Um, no thanks. So I felt glad it was so simple!

Hattie's First Day of Preschool

(hair courtesy of Eliza)

I didn't realize just how far behind I am on this! Hattie had her first day of preschool earlier this month. She is loving it. Today we had her first field trip. We went to the Great Arizona Puppet Theater and saw a little show--"Baby Bear Goes to School."

Libby's Baptism

Last Saturday (the 3rd) was another special day for us as it was Libby's baptism. She was very excited and quietly giddy about her special day. She looked beautiful in her white dress and in her baptism outfit. She wore the baptism outfit that my mom made and that I wore when I was baptized. It has also been worn by many of my cousins, nieces and Eliza. Libby's baptism was part of stake baptisms and there were two other kids that day being baptized. Everyone met together for the beginning part, then we separated by ward for the baptism and confirmation part. Brian baptized her and then I helped her get ready. My mom was in there, too, to take the wet clothes while I helped Libby get dressed. While in there, she gave Libby her "daughter of a king" bracelet. In there my mom said to her, "The key now that you are all clean is to make sure you don't do anything wrong!" Matter of factly, Libby replied, "That is why we have the sacrament." It was cute. While we were in there getting ready, one of our favorite babysitters--Kaitlyn--played some of Libby's favorite songs on the piano while everyone wrote a note to Libby that we put in a little album.

After she was ready, we went into the Primary room for the rest of the program. My dad gave a great talk about the Holy Ghost and at the end gave Libby a cute little blanket to remind her of the Comforter. The last part was her confirmation and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was a really special day and we were so pleased with Libby being baptized.

After everything was over, we went to our house and had some family over for some food and desserts. What a great day!

Conversation

I really enjoyed listening to the Conversation with Virginia Hinckley Pearce. I didn't know she had 5 girls and one boy. I loved the part where she talked about that--it sounded VERY familiar!

Weaknesses

I have a few lately:

Candles
LOVING my two newest ones from Bath and Body: Cinnamon Sugared Donut and Apple Crumble. YUM!!! The cinnamon sugared one smells quite similar to my favorite one that Gold Canyon discontinued a while ago (Strudel and Spice). If I want to get a lot done around the house, I just light one of these and get to work!

Hot Cocoa--I know, so weird with it still being so hot.

Puppy Chow/Muddy Buddies.

:)

Actual Birthday

Sunday was Libby's actual birthday, but this one is spreading out from last Friday to this Saturday with her baptism! But on her actual birthday, she had pop tarts for breakfast, then opened her gifts. She got a dress she had been eyeing at Target, some peace sign note cards (which she used that day to write all of her thank you notes without be nagged at all!), three books (has already finished one), a picture for her room, and she also got a nice set of scriptures.


A while back my parents bought Libby a scripture case for one of her gifts. So that morning, Libby called my mom and asked when they were going to bring it over. She convinced my mom to drive out while my dad was at a meeting so she could have it in time for church. Libby was certainly pleased!



At church, I got to substitute her class, which she thought was kind of fun on her birthday. Her teacher had made brownies for me to take and share, so she was able to celebrate there a little, too. For dinner she choose garlic chicken pasta and ice cream for dessert.

(I think we have a little bit of an ice cream problem.)

Her birthday celebration continued on into Monday when I took treats into her classroom.

On her birthday, I gave her a list of eight things we love about her. Here is what we said:
1. Your sense of humor
2. Your desire to be obedient
3. That you keep your room clean and love to clean other places in the house
4. Your laugh
5. Your smile
6. Your unselfishness
7. That you love to learn and love school
8. That you are getting baptized.

This has been a really great year for Libby and she has grown a lot. She is fun to be around and has a tender heart and genuinely cares for others.

Libby's 8!!

Yesterday was Libby's 8th birthday. The celebrations started Friday though with her much anticipated friend party. She had lots of friends and a couple of her cousins come. It was a fun, loud time!


Libby wanted a peace sign cake, so we borrowed an idea for a favorite blog. It turned out really cute.


When the guests arrived, they colored a peace sign.



Then we had pizza and soda. From there it was game time and that is when the decibel level reached concert loudness and didn't lower until everyone was gone.

We played some "minute-to-win-it" games.





We played pin the peace sign on Libby.


And we played a very loud round of the candy bar game.



Then if that weren't enough fun, we did a scavenger hunt where they collected items at each place to fill their goodie bag. At the last spot, they were led to the kitchen to start craft time!

We decorated composition books.


And we made button rings.



Then it was present time followed by eating of the peace cake.


I think Libby had a fun, memorable party!!

Leave No Trace

This week I am really being hard on my girls to get them into the right school routine. I figure hopefully after a rigid, regimented week, they'll be more in the habit. In the past I have printed up daily charts for each of them that they needed to do. It worked, but I wanted something a little different. So I am trying a weekly chart that is divided into three parts per day: morning, afternoon & night. So in the morning, they have certain things they have to do in order to get a sticker or star on their chart. Same for the afternoon and night time. They have the chance to earn three "stickers" per day. After so many stickers, they earn something small. This week if they earn 10 stickers (we started late), they get a candy bar of their choice. In the future I might up the anti and if they get it all filled in, they can buy hot lunch or get a Lunchable or something in their lunch.

Another big thing we are stressing is something Brian instituted one time. He told the girls about the "Leave No Trace" policy when he goes camping. He applied it to our home. When we go into the bathroom, we shouldn't know that Eliza, for example, just got a shower because the towel is on the floor or her dirty clothes are strewn about. Or we shouldn't be able to tell that Ellie did her hair in my bathroom because the drawers are left open with hair stuff hanging out of it. I think they are catching on, but it is taking a lot of reminding. But our house is cleaner and I have less to pick up after they are gone, especially in the morning after they leave for school.

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!