Since last time

Mom said it had been a month since the last blog-just about! We've had two birthdays-Meg and me. She loves being 9, and although I've bee dreading this one-it's not so bad!!!
Michael had his big band concert. We have been practicing one song for so long, so long that I can't remember why/how we thought it was the right one....it was a terrible one. We have been suffering through it for months...and they didn't play that one! Oh well--he thought it was great.
Everyday for school we are out the door by 7:55, but for some reason getting out the door early one a Saturday is a momumental task.
There is always a lot of whining, compaining, and general "I'm not going" attitude.
Doesn't matter what it is, a game, walk, family outing. They don't want to.
It it's a chore...like this morning we're going to clean the yard---WATCH OUT
Today Matthew had to be at a test in N Scottsdale at 9am.
Lizzie had her preschool Rodeo (no sibs allowed), also 9am.
Dave went with Lizzie.
I flew up to the test with everyone else in tow, somehow made it on time.
We finished at 10:30--off to PVCC track meet--drop off our 4 oldest.
Go get Lizzie who Grandma rescued from the rodeo so Dad could run the meet.
Home to clean the house ALL day because it has really never recovered from Christmas.
My expectations are always high with only 2 of our 6 home, but these 2 little ones are tornados.
So while I decluttered(only when big kids are gone -declutter=throw away) and organized in the bedrooms, they dumped and scattered everything in front. So with my 5 hours with only 2 kids at home, the house looks a little bit worse than when I started---ugh!

Happy Birthday Jon and other stuff

Jon has been counting down to his birthday since about July--MADE IT!! He started off his day with with a bang...made soccer goal straight through our front window--notice the broken glass behind this beautiful birthday face? Just as a side note--each of our three boys has broken a window in the last 7 months, starting with Matthew--on the first day of summer break--a golf ball through our bedroom window. Then Michael, football, through the other front window, and now this. No more balls in the yard, boys!!
In other news....
School kids finished up another quarter working really hard-especally Michael. We love his teacher, but SHEESH she is a hard grader--love the high expectaions, though. He has really had to stretch, but made honor roll again.
Meghan made the all star team in soccer and her team won...onto softball next week!
Starting with Saturday of the all star game, a stomach virus got us--Rachel first-then bang, bang, bang--all of us. Christmas day was the first day we had no throwing up--6 straight days. I have just finally caught up with the laundry.
This is all of the kids trying to look happy making gingerbread houses. Such a bummer--candy everywhere, but nobody could eat it.
Loved the break, and sort of sad everyone has to back tomorrow. We needed another week since the first one was spent being sick.

Halloween and Happy Birthday Elizabeth

First of all, the Princess turned four. FOUR!! I can't believe it. She kind of got the difference between her bday and Halloween this year, where last year she kind of thought the whole event was HER big celebration. It was a full day--first a 2 mile road race in the morning, then home for a bit finishing off putting together costumes, then soccer for Meg, then home for the birthday party, then costumes on, off to Trunk or treat at church, then off to real trick or treating. It was exhausting, but really fun.


We had an Indiana Jones (Michael), gypsy (Meg), Darth (Matthew) Luke Skywalker (Jon),
an angel (Lizzie), and Rachel was Snow White--really it was the only costume she would wear. It was a fight to get it on, and then a battle to get it off when it was all over. She is so stubborn in her two year old glory! She loved trick or treating--she lost all shyness when she figured out EVERYONE was giving out candy. She was eating out of her bag, wrappers and all, as we went.
Look at this sugar filled, happy girl looking for more!

Spring Break

Hooray, a week off of school for our kiddos. This means busy days and a very messy house, but it is fun to have them home. Maybe the greatest thing is ...not packing lunches in the morning, ugh!! Much of today was spent filling and then launching water balloons over our house. I noticed that our neighbor has a few popped balloons on his roof. I can't believe how far they can go. We also got to go swimming thanks to Grandma and Grandpa's heated pool.
The kids BEGGED to eat outside tonight. The weather was so nice, so I let them. I love picnics out back, but the problem is that someone ALWAYS dumps their plate. With all the people in our family you can only have so many dumped plates and then you're just out of dinner. So tonight I made nine hamburgers with a stern warning that there would be no more, dumped or not. We would have been okay, but Lizzie kept following me around with her plate, telling me how yucky everything was (she must have missed me enduring a cloud of smoke, grilling that thing for her!) She did dump hers, but then sat on the ground and ate it. I guess it makes it a little less yucky with a little dirt and grass on it.



We had such a fun day in Flagstaff last weekend with my college friends, especially Grace, Kathy and Larah. These are best friends that I ran cross country and track with, roomed with, and just spent so much time with. I have so many great memories with them at NAU. We watched the Big Sky meet in the dome and remember how we hated racing and working out in there. We went to our old dorm and found our old rooms. We were trying to show our kids where we lived, and they just weren't that interested, but it was so fun for us. On the way home, I thought about how we were so young when we all left there, and now coming back together, married, kids, many life experiences...it was just the coolest. I'm so glad we were able to go. Coach Mann was even there, and it was to seem him.

We're off to Tucson tomorrow to visit the Reid Park Zoo.