Wednesday September 30

I went and helped in Elsie's class today for our Art Smart fund raiser project.

So that was fun.

I also spent quite a bit of time today trying to figure out where Cassi's XC meet would be.

I got a text this morning from Jenni saying that she would 'See me later at Settlers park'.....cause Ayden was racing there too.

But we hadn't been told anything different than Sawtooth Middle school.

Even the website said it was at Sawtooth.

I called the school, they also said Sawtooth, but Jenni said her school said Settlers.

So someone was not going to make it to the race if we didn't figure it out!

So I called Sawtooth, she said that she was pretty sure it was at Settlers.

But then I got a text alert from Cassi's coach saying it was at Sawtooth.

So I decided to call and talk right to the coach.

He said he hadn't heard anything different than Sawtooth, but that he would call the athletic director at Sawtooth and find out for sure.

Well, not too long after that I got a new text alert saying that it was actually at Settlers park!!!!!

Whew!!!!!

Lots of parents would have been mad to show up tot the wrong place!!!!!

And I guess Sawtooth was hoping we wouldn't show up!

Anyway, it all turned out good.

We all went today to the meet.

We picked up the little ones early and headed out.

Got to see Cassi and she was pumped and ready to go.

There were so many kids running!

She had a good start and was super excited when she saw me with the camera :)

What a cheezer!

She was shooting for in the 12 minute range.......

As she rounded the corner to the finish, she was just over 13 min, but still doing so good.

She booked it and passed a few girls in front of her, then she turned her head back just before hitting the finish line....I'm yelling for her to just keep going!

(By the way, no one, mostly Madi, wants to stand by me when I yell......apparently I am really loud.....)

So when she is in line to get her sticker on the board, I went and asked her what she was doing.

At first she was confused.....

But then she was all like, Oh I was cheering for her to run faster, talking about her team mate behind her.

My heart about exploded!

How awesome is my girl!

Wanting everyone to do their best, coaching and pushing her team mates along when she is still running the race!

Proud mama moment :)

We walked around a talked a bit.

Lots of families that we used to live by have their kids at Sawtooth and Heritage, so it was fun to see familiar faces!

Then Dad took the kids to the park to play while I went to find Cassi.

It took me forever to find her....the boys were almost done with their race.

Then I see her, at the very end, she and her friend Kaili, running along side their friend Parker, who was dead last.

Cheering him on to the end.

And guess what, Parker for a PR today!

Nice work Parker!

Anyway....that's my Cass for ya.

 Time: 13:25

Can you see her cheering her team mate on......love it!

Tuesday September 29

Today was a much better day.

Not that I got a ton done, but I had a much better attitude.

Elsie was so excited that Dad got to go with her to her field trip this morning.

They got to tour Meridian City Hall and around town.

Once they headed off to school, I made myself go running.

I wanted to go, but the hardest part if getting out there!

Anyway, I decided to pull up some old conference talks.

I randomly picked the October 2008 group.

The first talk I listened to.....exactly what I needed to hear.

Funny how things happen that way :)

Anyway, the talk was L.Tom Perry's 'Let Him Do It with Simplicity'.
"In our search to obtain relief from the stresses of life, may we earnestly seek ways to simplify our lives."

Such a great talk.

Another talk that touched my heart was from that same conference.

Joseph B. Wirthlin's 'Come What May, and Love It'.
"The way we react to adversity can be a major factor in how happy and successful we can be in life."

I linked to both of those talks.

If you have never heard them, you should listen to them.

Even if your not LDS, such powerful words that will lift your soul :)

And if you have heard the talks, even recently, listen again!

I am so excited for General Conference this weekend.

I am bummed that Dad is on shift BOTH days :(

But we still record it so we can find time to watch them together.

Anyway.....so those talks made for a really great start to my day.

They also got me to go a lot further than I had planned on going :)

I got home and showered.

I had promised Port I would go have lunch with him because he had a bit of a panic this morning when he found out I wasn't taking him to school, cause dad was going for the field trip.

I am noticing more and more what makes him panic and feel anxiety.

It's not that he didn't want Dad to take them to school, but it is because he was expecting me to take him, and then the plans changed on him suddenly.

I get it.

I'm that way too, not to that extreme, but if I have something planned and that plan has to be changed all of the sudden, I have a hard time adjusting happily to that :)

Anyway.....it is probably bad parenting to bribe him with stuff like me going to lunch with him if he goes to school with dad.....but sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do right?

Hopefully, cause if not, I am ruining my kids more than I thought!

Anyway, so after my shower, I went to the school for lunch.

After that Vern and I went around and delivered invites to the 'neighborhood' party we are gonna have next week.

We have talked and talked about ding it all summer, but it never happened.

So we finally picked a date and we are doing it!

Now hopefully people show up :)

By the time I had gotten home and done laundry, dad was home.

And he was exhausted!

They walked pretty much the entire time from 10-2, and stopping for lunch in between.

His back and leg were hurting him.

And he said that Elsie was SOOOOO TIRED!

I am so glad Dad was there with her, because she might not have been much fun after a while.

After school, Elsie told me all about her field trip and how much fun it was.

I knew she was exhausted because her words were slurring so bad, it was hard to tell what she was saying.

Joanne was supposed to come after school for speech, but I knew it might be tough to get good work from her, and then with her mouth already tired and slurring words, it would not have been an effective session.

So we cancelled.

We had a nice dinner all together as a family.

Everyone was happy and lots of talking going on about their days.

I think it's cause Dad was home.

We just need him home all the time, right ;)

Monday September 28

Do you ever feel overwhelmingly overwhelmed???????

Well, that has been me today.

And not for any particular reason.

I just kept thinking today about all that needs to still be done on the house.

I also thought about how I wish I could spend more time on art/painting......I know the house should cover the 'creative' part of me, but it's just not the same.

Then I think about how I wish I had more time to dedicate to each kid and their interests......

Plus, I want to cook and give my family healthier foods.

I was on my way, doing really good until everything got thrown in a whirlwind......now I feel like I can't really get out of it.

Then there is the individual kids themselves.....

The biggest on my mind right now is probably Elsie.....but they all have things that I know could be better if I had more time to spend with each of them.

And even though Dad and I love working on projects together......this house has been a big one.

One we don't regret......but maybe would like to put it on the back burner for a while, but really can't.

'Cause you know, it's our house......

And we are so tired.

I tell myself before I go to bed that tomorrow will be a better day, and I will be more productive.....

Some days are better than others, but I still feel like I am not getting anything done!

We are not just tired, we are grumpy.

It seems like no one is ever nice to each other here, and it breaks my heart because that is what I want most.....for my kids to be kind to each other.

No, we really aren't that bad, but still not at all where I wish we could be!

Now I know I sound pretty down and sad, I'm not.....

Just things I have been thinking about.

But I also have been thinking about there being a time and a season for everything.

I hope to get to all the things that I want to get to, maybe just not right now.

It is okay for our house not to be done.

It really is.

Who cares!

I will get back to the point of cooking healthier for my family.

Maybe once we eat better, we won't be so tired and then we will all be nicer.

We will get to that point.

And I am doing my best to help the kids with what they need help with.

What they need to know the most is that I love them and I am there for them.

If they know that, then we can overcome the hard stuff.

I know that deep down inside......I know all this.

But some days, well, some days just suck.

I look at this sweet picture of my Elsie Rose and I know how hard she works just to write the words on her worksheet.

She often breaks the led of her pencils because it is hard for her to write lightly because of the concentration it takes to hold the pencil and write.

I look at her sweet little eyes, that have gone cross-eyed because her little body is so tired and worn out after a long day of school and she also went to PT today.

But that smile.......she doesn't have things easy, but she's got that smile.

And on some days, that is just enough for the both of us!

Sunday September 27

Today did not go very smoothly during Sacrament meeting.

Port was not being good, at all :(

I blame it on the full, blood moon!

Anyway, they all went to class, yes...including Elsie!

Yay!

I hope that means we are on a roll.......I hope.

I do enjoy going to MY classes!

After church, Madi and I went to Jaime's house to pick up my film camera that she borrowed from me for a class last year.

It was fun to see her for a little bit again.

Madi was so excited to see her and the first thing Jaime said to Madi was, whoa, you got tall!

Ha ha!

Yep....she's a tall one.

Anyway....

Got home and I made them dinner then made them do homework.

I am trying so hard not to have homework left to do on Sunday, but that did not happen today.

But we are trying......

Then, when it was dark, we went out and spotted the blood moon.

It is a full moon, but also a super moon, and a lunar eclipse.....all in one!

It was pretty cool.

I won't lie....it wasn't as spectacular as they made it out to be on the news.....but still cool.

I was imagining the moon taking up half the sky.....even though I knew that wasn't gonna happen, but that is what they made it sound like!

It was really cool to look through my camera lens.

If dad was home, or if I was a good mom, I would dig through all the stuff in the garage and get Madi's telescope out and check it out that way.

But that didn't happen.

Oh well.....it will happen again in like 18 years.

I'll get it out then ;)

It was kinda funny taking the picture.

I didn't want to go grab my tripod, so I put it on roof of the Mule (think golf cart type vehicle), balancing on a wooden dowel to aim it upwards.....

I was still getting a fuzzy picture because I had the shutter open for like 10 seconds, so any movement shows up....

I set the timer so that I wouldn't even have to touch the camera when it took the picture.

You can still see a bit of blurry in the stars and moon, but still, I think it turned out cool.

Maybe next time I will bring out the tripod.

Maybe :)

Saturday September 26

We got laundry put away, and more laundry washed....

Room cleaned and vacuumed.

The girls cleaned their bathroom.

A good day of Saturday morning chores.

At the book fair, we entered a contest to win tickets to see 'James and the Giant Peach' in Caldwell.

Well, Porter ended up winning.

We decided to go to the 2:00 show today.

It was about a 30 min drive, so once we cleaned and had lunch and got ready, we headed out.

We got there, and it seemed kind of vacant.

Then all the doors were locked.

Then......I noticed that I had gotten the wrong date.

It is next weekend.

How did I do that??????

So, we went to the Nampa dollar movie and watched 'Max', which we really enjoyed!

Oh well......so we will try again next weekend, but we will have to go on Friday night because dad works on Saturday (even though I think he really wants us to go without him ;)

After the movie, we got home, and made dinner, then the girls and I got ready to go to the Woman's conference at the stake center.

It was a great meeting and all really great talks.

It was a nice night with the girlies :)

No work on the built-in today......darn!

Friday September 25

After some chasing neighborhood horses and some errand running, dad and I got some work done on the kitchen built-in.

I can't show pictures yet, cause you really gotta see the full thing :)

So.......hopefully soon!

The rest of the day went pretty fast.

The kids had good days at school.

Madi went to the High School homecoming game tonight.

Which they won, yay :)

And Cassi got to go babysitting.

The little ones watched the BSU game with dad and I.

Which we also won :)

So it was a good day.

Hope to get more done on the built-in/hutch tomorrow so I can get some pictures up!

*****

We are coming up on our 4 year move in date out here to the 'fix-it-up-farm'.

Pretty exciting!

I need to go and take pictures to match with the ones I took when we first got here :)

Big differences.......

Thursday September 24

Well, I thought today would be a little less run around....but it turned out to be another crazy day!

As soon as I dropped the kids off at school, I ran to Winco to get some supplies for dinner.

I offered to make dinner for a lady in our ward, so I needed stuff :)

Got home and got that all prepped and ready, got it in the crock pot.

Then I started making biscuits to go along with it....from scratch :)

I actually love being in the kitchen, and can't wait until it is ALL DONE!!!!!!!

Anyway.....

Then I needed to jump in the shower because Bubble had invited me to go and donate blood with her at the church.

How could I refuse?

We called it our Donate Date :)

Well, after that I ran home and started making brownies for the dinner dessert.

I didn't quite get them in the oven before Madi called and she and Grant had to be picked up because their ride had a game, but they didn't know, so they missed the bus.

So I ran and got them and then made Madi in charge of cooking the brownies because I had to leave again for Cassi's XC meet.

Vern got them little ones from school again for me :)

The meet was fun because we got to go up against Aydo's team.

Cass did a great job, didn't quite get her goal.....but she still did awesome and had an awesome sprint at the end!

Bubbles came and watched her too, so that was sweet.

And to get to see Ayden and family was great too :)

Too bad we had to rush off right after because I had to get dinner to the family and then it was the school's Read Night tonight.

We ate dinner, and had the little ones do homework.

So I left the big ones to do homework, and then took the little ones to read night.

That was fun and we found a book for Elsie that is a chapter book , but big words on the page.

That is pretty exciting.

She can see fine, but uses the 'letters are too tiny' excuse all the time to not read!

Stinker!

So I am excited we found that!

And Port found a fun 3D dinosaur book too.

Got home and got the little ones in bed just after 8.

Everyone is so GRUMPY!!!!!!!

So I sent the big ones to bed about 9.

I sure hope that helps with not being grumpy tomorrow!

But I should go to bed too.....I don't want to be grumpy :)

  Time : 13:29

Wednesday September 23

Well, I have all kinds of fun pictures from today......

But my cord from my camera is reading unrecognizable on my computer.

Great!

So hopefully I can get that worked out sometime......

Elsie had to give Kaya back to the library today.

So this morning she wrote int he journal that comes with Kaya.

It was so cute :)

What a fun idea for the library to have!

I wonder when we can get another one!

While the kids were at school, I got a good run in.

Dad also got the bottom cabinets secured for me in the built-in.

It is coming a long....slowly but surely :)

About 3:40, Madi and I left to meet Cassi at the Middle school because Aubree's volleyball team was playing at LHMS.

So we met up with Drew and Heather and Kara and watched Aubree.

She did a great job and it was fun cheering for her :)

We had to leave a little early because the girls had Activity Days tonight, and I was subbing for one of the leaders who just had surgery.

So that went good.

We did have to leave that early as well to get to Madi's Powder Puff game.

Dad was there with Port.

It was so much fun to watch her.

She did such a great job and I have some fun pictures of her.

I left there a little bit early so I could go to YW.

I was late getting there, but it all worked out.

We played basketball with one of our girls teaching us basics.

She did great and it was fun.

I got home and Cassi and Avery had decorated the front porch and Madi's room for Madi's awesome job.

How fun :)

So.....I am tired.

Too bad no one had any time to get homework done! 

K....I'm not gonna lie.

I finally got the pictures downloaded......but I am way too tired to do anything about it.

So check back tomorrow.

Tuesday September 22

Whew it's been a day!

It's been fun, but very exhausting!

Today was Port's field trip to the AG Expo at Meridian High School.

I got to go with him, he was so excited.

This morning we didn't know if I would be able to go on the bus......

I asked his teacher what time she wanted chaperon's there, and she mentioned I might not be able to ride the bus.....in front of Porter!

Well, guess what happened!

Absolute meltdown.

He would not go to class when the bell rung, and I had to force him into class and tell him that I would be back.

And that it would all be okay!

he's been doing so good with not having any anxiety attacks.....

But the unknown, whether I would be on the bus or not.....that was too much for him I guess.

Funny thing is, if I would have not signed up as a helper, he would have been just fine riding the bus without me!

So do I not help in class?????

Anyway, lucky for us, all the moms who wanted to go on the bus, could.

There was enough room.

I can not believe that operation that goes on there at the High School!

It was almost 3 hours of continuous station after station, learning about Idaho and it's animals, agriculture, products, etc.

So much fun!

But very tiring!

I had 4 boys in my group......including Port.

They were very good.

Some of these boys don't have the best reputation and I was so happy when everything went so well :)

I made sure to tell them how proud I was of their behavior!

There was a bit of an incident on the bus on the way home.

Breaks my heart, and I feel bad for all involved.

Another boy in the class who has some troubles (has thrown his desk around the class before) got mad because a kid said something, I'm not sure what, but he tried to hit at him.

I stepped in so he wouldn't hit the other kid.

Well, then he started grabbing my arms and twisting them and hitting me.......

Port's teacher wasn't on the bus yet.

I didn't know what to do....what I was allowed to do as a parent helper as far as restraining him.

But luckily the other 1st grade teacher was there, and she stepped in and grabbed his arms and held them and we let the other kid out of the seat so it was just him and the teacher on the seat.

He kept trying to fight back....then he started swearing.

It was hard to hear that stuff from a little kid, even harder when all the other kids on the bus are exposed to that :(

I felt so bad, because he obviously has some problems other than just being mad.

And maybe being so tired from the day aggravated his behavior.

But it just broke my heart.

One of the little girls sitting by him was very sad and had her hands over her ears, luckily her mom was there to help comfort her.

It was very sweet when her mom switched her spots and then she started singing primary songs :)

Anyway, we got to the school and the principle met them at the bus while Port's teacher asked me to take the class to recess until she got done.

Rough situation for all :(

I hope he can get the help he needs.

I hope I can get a chance to spend more time with him in class.....he seems very much in need of some love.

When we got to the high school, he would grab the hands of the kids showing the exhibits and just wanted to be taken care of and loved.

 He is always excited to see me when I go to lunch with Porter.

Anyway....it was just sad.

So then I got home, made some popcorn for the kids to have after school, and I left again to Cassi's XC meet.

I AM SO PROUD OF CASSI!!!!!!!!!

She did so good!

She pushed and she ran the whole time......

And she cut her time to 13:17!!!!!

That is so much better than last time!

She is excited about Thursday (except for the fact that it is in two days....) so she can try and get her time in the 12 minute area!

I am so happy for her!

So proud that she believed in herself to push hard!

And I am so happy for her to see what a difference it makes to run the whole time vs stopping for a bit.

Bubble also came to cheer her on, so that was fun for her :)

I can't wait to see her blossom over the next few races.

There are only like three more :(

Way to go Cass!!!!!

You just gotta believe in yourself!!!!!!!

We got home and I made pizza for dinner.

We invited Bubble over.

Eldon has been gone all of October except for one day......with no ideas of when they will send him home.

It was fun to have her over.

She told us about some stories from when she had different people living with her at times in their lives.....

Something like 27 (or so) people have lived with them at one time or another.

Her kids friends in high school, people struggling in life, even a homeless lady at one time.

She is a neat lady who really cares about people :)

Time: 13:17

Monday September 21

Not a very eventful day.

I got *most* of the stuff done on my to-do list.....

Nope, the bathrooms didn't get done.

But other stuff got done.

I went and picked tomatoes with Bubbles for a little bit.

Took Madi to the store after school to get some tye-dye that she has been beggin for.

Homework got done, kids played and they got their dinner.

Madi went to her last powder puff practice tonight.

Her game is on Wednesday.

I get to go to Porter's first field trip tomorrow.

That will be fun :)

I am sure I will have pictures from that!

Cassi also runs her make-up meet tomorrow.

I hope she will be as pumped as she was on the day that it was cancelled last week!!!!!

She will do great!

Oh and Elsie had a great day.

We are on a roll with good days at school!

(I hope I didn't just jinx it ):  )

Sunday September 20

Elsie and I are starting a new Sunday morning tradition :)

We have done it for a few weeks, and she loves it.

We have ourselves a 'cooking show' and make muffins for the family.

Today Cassi helped out too :)

It is a sneaky way for me to work in some reading (the recipe) without her knowing ;)

As well as some math when we double stuff in the recipe......

Brilliant!

We will have to actually record it some time :)

After our muffin breakfast, we all got ready.

Cassi had to be to church early for choir practice.

And guess who went to class today???????

Elsie Bug!

I stayed with her for about 5 minutes, and then she let me leave.

I did promise an hour of kindle time when we got home :)

Hey, you do what you gotta do!

After church, our Home Teachers came over.

So that was nice :)

Then it was dinner time.

This evening we had a bishops 'fireside' with the youth.

It was a fun night and they talked about dating.

Lots and lots of kiddos at the bishops house!

Saturday September 19

Today we all kinda slept in a little bit.

I would have liked to sleep more into the 8 o'clock hour.....but 7:30 is better than 6:00!

I took Cassi for a run this morning.

She has two meets this week.....Tuesday and Thursday.

I really want her to be pumped and I want her to push herself!

Then the girls and dad did yard work....mowing and weed eating.

I finished sanding Madi's desktop.

And I got stain put on it.

It looks pretty darn awesome, if I say so myself!

She has that reclaimed old wood on her walls, and we wanted the desk to match that as best we could.

I think it turned out pretty darn awesome!

I used the same colors I used for our floors, but I just used more of the Gray stuff.

Perfect!

She is a happy girl :)

It looks great in her room!

I brought in the cabinets for the kitchen built-in.

Still a long ways off until that is done, but I am super excited about what it is gonna look like :)

The kids all got their rooms clean.

The place looked pretty great today :)

Except bathrooms, we didn't get to bathrooms......

I guess that is what I am doing Monday :)

Dad and I met up with Drew and Heather for lunch this evening.

We went to the Ram and it was a nice time hanging out with them :)

The kiddos did their homework while we were gone, so that was nice!

Then around 8ish we took Madi to her friends house so they could go to the stake dance together.

Madi's first stake dance!

She had a lot of fun.

After we dropped her off, we went to the Terry's house.

Jenni had invited us to come over for some s'mores.

It was fun for the kiddos to get together and for us all to hang out again (minus Madi).

So it was a late night......

But we had to be up late anyway to pick up Madi.

We just swung back by the church when we left the Terry's house.

It worked out pretty good.

I told them all that no one is allowed to wake up before 9 tomorrow morning!!!!!!

Friday September 18

It was a good day today.

Got some cleaning done.....

Went with Dad to his back Dr appointment that helped put our minds at ease, for now.

We will continue to get imaging done every 3 months or so to make sure things stay stable.

Then we went shopping to get some stuff for our little party that Stacia forced us to put together ;)

Just kidding!

The Morgans came over for the game tonight and brought dinner!

Ya hoo!

And Bubbles came over as well.

It was a fun, late night.

Thursday September 17

Dad called this morning and said they needed him to stay because they needed someone to drive the truck.

So bummer....but I guess I can't complain about overtime.

So the little ones got to wear mustaches to school for the 'I "mustache" be kind day.....

Elsie was all excited to have a pink mustache, but then when it came down to it, she changed her mind.

That is just fine :)

And look, Kaya!

I got her from the library.

How cool is it that you can rent and and her book along with a bed and stuff, for a week.

I am hoping to add a little excitement to Elsie's reading......

She is loving Kaya, and her buffalo skin dress :)

Today we got Madi's computer back from Dussy boy.

When I opened it and got it started up, there were still some issues.

So the amazing Dussy boy did some of his magic stuff and got it all fixed :)

Thanks Dussy Boy!

That kid can do anything!

Then I got some grocery shopping done.

While there, a giant rain storm came in and I got a text saying that the XC meet was cancelled.

Which was kind of a bummer.....Cassi was so prepared to rock it today!!

Oh well.

After the kids got home from school, we were invited to Bubbles house and she had some pie and cookies to share with us.

Then home and dinner, more rain, and homework.

Oh and a rainbow :)

Wednesday September 16

Today was 'I can be anything' (Dress up in a career of your choice).

Port chose to go as a fireman.....or course :)

And Elsie had to choose between a ballerina/gymnast or doctor.

She chose Dr. and looked so cute!

After I got the kiddos all dropped off at school, I came home and put the handles on Madi's desk and tried to finish sanding the top so I can stain it.

The sander is having troubles.....like instead of dying, it is going overly crazy fast, but then bogs down......weird!

SO I will work more on that tomorrow.

After that, I was so overwhelmingly tired......not because working on the desk....

But I was just so tired.

Maybe it is just not having great nights sleep for the last few nights.

Elsie woke up AGAIN....luckily this time she went back to sleep without me having to lay in her room with her.

But then she was up for good at 6 :(

Way too early for Elsie bug!

But she was happy and seemed just fine when she left to school, and SOOOO excited about her play date with Brooke later today.

So, like I said, I was tired!

So I took a little nap.

That was what I needed and I was all recharged.

The I ran to the library.

We had reserved an American Doll from the library a long time ago.

How cool that you can get them from the library!!!!

Anyway, we reserved Kaya and she comes with a book and bed (and a journal to record experiences).

I thought it might make reading more fun for Elsie if we try this route :)

She was so happy when she got home and saw Kaya here!

She played with her until it was time to leave to meet Brooke at the park.

Port went with the boys to Cannon's birthday party and I left the big girls to get their homework done.

I am happy there was no rain while we were at the park.

Elsie had so much fun playing and I got a chance to get to know Brooke's mom.

When Elsie told me about Brooke the first time she said "Brooke cares about me."

So sweet.

She will hold Elsie's hand out on the play ground so she won't fall.

It makes me happy to know that she's got friends who've got her back :)

We had to leave after an hour because Madi and I had to go to mutual.

We met at the park with all the YW and YM and they played games.....volleyball, soccer, and football.

The kids all had fun.

Then we had root beer floats in the rain :)

Good times!

Tuesday September 15

Oh man oh man!

Today was a day!

I knew it was gonna be a packed, run from one thing to another kind of day......

But wowza!

And last night was a rough one with Elsie waking up crying with nightmares :(

Second night in a row.

Dan-it!

So I hope and prayed that she would go back to sleep so that the day would go good for her!

She did.

But I let her sleep until almost 8:30, and we leave for school at about 9!

She was happy and excited about school though, because today's was "Our school is a safe place to be yourself" and they got to wear mismatched clothes :)

They had fun picking what they would wear.

So I got all the kids off to school.

The I headed to a meeting for YW at the church.

We had a little brunch while we ate, which was pretty great :)

And good thing, because as soon as that was over, I ran home, switched the laundry, sorted the batch I just took out, and then I headed back out.

So I didn't have time to eat.

I went to the little ones school for the Art Smart meeting.

After the Art smart meeting I had an hour to do some cleaning up before my VT came over.

She came and we had a nice visit and lesson......

As soon as she left, I hopped in the car to go and pick up Madi and our neighbor boy Grant.

Usually she gets a ride with Sydney, but she had a soccer game, and Madi 'claims; to not know her bus number......

But she will find it out for me ;)

Got home and swapped and sorted another batch of laundry before I left to go and pick up the little ones.

Elsie had a good day.

She had a rough day yesterday, and I was hoping we wouldn't have a bad day today because of how her night went!

But she had a good day, so that is great!

Port did too.

But he is acting weird....I am hoping he hasn't caught a bug.

No fever or anything, but he just seems off :(

K....so got home and got them some snacks before Joanne came over for Elsie's speech.

Again, Elsie worked really well for her.

Cassi got brought back from XC around this time.

Thank goodness for carpooling!!!!!

Joanne left, and I needed to take Porter to the store to get a present for his friends birthday tomorrow!

Got that and then came home and made dinner for the kids while helping with homework at the same time.

Then it was time for me to head out for the relief society activity.

Now I didn't have to go to that, but I really wanted to.

They did a 'back to basics' class of sorts.

Talking about clean and healthy snacks, chemical free beauty and living and then simple spiritual tools.

So it was a great meeting and I am glad I went.

It was done a little after 8, so I was able to get home and get the little ones to bed at a decent time.

I am so beyond tired right now!

I can't wait to curl up in bed...................

After I swap the laundry, of course ;)

Monday September 14

This week is Bully prevention week at the little ones school.

Today was "Hats off for Kindness!"

So they got to wear hats :)

Elsie was very excited about wearing her buffalo hat.

Best part.....we didn't have to do hair today!

When I got home I got to go running and only got sprinkled on a little bit.

We got some rain today and the temps were quite a bit cooler, which was nice!

Dad got stuff done outside in the yard and I got A LOT of laundry done!

I got my mountain sorted.

When you have the whole basement to use as a laundry room, you tend to use it ALL!!!!

So I got it all sorted and also got about 8 more loads of laundry done1

Who oh why do we have that much????

Why in the world!!!!!

I told them, when I had them put laundry away tonight, to get rid of anything that they don't wear of doesn't fit.

Hopefully we can narrow the amount down!

Anyway......

My point is, the whole day was pretty much used to do house work.

We will never finish the house if we are spending 3 hours cleaning the kitchen up every day!

Dad and I talked....we have not been making the kids do much of anything since school started.

I feel bad having them gone all day and then making them do a bunch of chores.

But we have decided that we have to have their help!

Or like I said....this house will never get finished!

So guess what we did for FHE tonight?????

We talked about working together and how we need to really work hard together on the house maintenance stuff so Dad and i can use our time while they are at school to actually finish stuff on the house!

It's my bad for giving them a break for so long........

But I am excited to get the chore chart back up and running :)

*****

After school, when I was picking up little ones and carpooling the XC kids.....

Madi helped Dad with picking weeds.

So many weeds!

See another thing to keep up on!

I keep telling Dad that we will make the yard a priority next year when we have more done on the house....

But he says that if we let the grass go now, we won't have any to save.

It will all be weeds.

And we are pretty darn close right now :(

Just another chore to add to the chart!

*****

Madi went to her powder puff football practice today.

They made her a receiver......she is pretty excited.

I think they play over homecoming weekend, which is in a couple weeks, I think.....

Sunday September 13

I got half of our Peterson Family reunion chatbooks yesterday.

The kids had a lot of fun looking through them before church.

We also had a special 9/11 Music and the Spoken Word recorded.

That was neat to watch as well.

Very emotional!

Then we got all ready for church.

Lucky me, we had enough time to take a picture of the kids before we left :)

Oh, we all know they will love to see these weekly pictures once they are old and wrinkly!

Church was good.

Elsie wouldn't go to class alone, but went if I stayed with her.

That is more than she would let me do the last few weeks.

So I will take it!

Then she went to sharing time just fine, because Dad is in there :)

After church, we ate dads yummy roast with my yummy sweet potatoes (along with other yummy stuff :)

We played some football outside.

Madi is wanting to do the powder puff thing, and needed to learn some football stuff :)

Then we had to finish up some homework.

We are all so tired from the late game last night.

Which was an emotional roller coaster, and did not end well for us.

Not at all!

Big bummer!

(Stop your gloating Dussy boy!)

Saturday September 12

We are in the middle of watching the BSU vs BYU game right now.

But I wanted to get this done.....cause I'm sure it will be a late night!

This morning everyone slept in....until about 8ish.

I took Cassi running with me this morning.

That was fun.

She's got it.

She is her biggest obstacle!

She's got speed and she's got good form.

She just has to believe that she can push through!

We did three miles and she was awesome.

Every time we sprinted she went ahead of me.

Impressive!

I hope it will help improve her time next meet to have the boost that she had from today.

She needs that confidence!

When we were gone, Dad had gone to Legacy Feed where they were having some screaming deal on propane refills :)

Port cleaned his room, because I said no playing with the boys until it was clean!

And Madi watched Elsie while she painted some of the deck.

When we got back home, Madi and I went and got started on her desk.

We got it all sanded down.

And we got it painted.

The top still needs finished sanding and we are staining the top a brownish grey to look like the old barn wood she has on her wall.

It was fun working with her and I hope we get it finished soon.

I also painted the cabinets that we are putting in the kitchen built-in.

Dad worked on the Suburban breaks today.

It had a squeak the other day, and he wanted to check it out.

He ended up replacing the hub wheel assembly on it.

Man oh man....I love that he can do anything :)

So that took all day.

Cassi and Elsie played and got some cleaning done.

Port got to hang with the boys for a bit and he helped Dad out too and he also helped Madi and I with some sanding.

About 4, Cassi's friend Kiali came over.

The XC coach wanted the kids to run 4-5 miles over the weekend.

Well, Kiali wanted to run with Cass :)

Cassi said she ran, but would love to run more.

So Kiali came over, and the got a good 2 mile run in.

Good job Cass!!!!

Kaili stayed for dinner.

We made pizza.

Then we ended the night with some popcorn and the game :)

Friday September 11

Dad and I worked on the build in thing we are putting in the kitchen.

He is not overly excited about it....but I know it will be awesome and I know he is gonna love it once we get it in :)

We also had to do some more patching with the fence because those dang goats will find any way they can to get out!

Grass is ALWAYS greener on the other side (of the fence) with these goats!!!!!

Port got to go to a friends house after school for a birthday party.

Madi left early with her friends to the football game.

Cassi wanted to go with her friends, and Dad really wanted to go too.

So we all went.

It was red, white and blue theme for it being September 11, Patriots Day.

Port was still at the party, but I came and got him at about half time.

Dad was wanting his boy there pretty bad :)

They had a fun time watching together and Dad explaining stuff to him.

Elsie was not a happy camper the first part.

Too noisy!

But when I went to pick Port up from the Edwards (where he got dropped off after the party) Vern offered her earphones.

Brilliant!

Elsie loved the rest of the night :)

Cassi got to cheer with the cheerleader and she thought that was pretty fun.

Madi was with her friends the whole time....she is SOOOO boring ;)

It was a fun night for us all.

The Mavs won and it was a good game.

Dad and I couldn't believe how big these kids are!!!!!!

One was 6'5" and 350 lbs!!!!

Wowza!