September Update

I must preface this post by saying I know I am so behind in trying to keep up with our family journal.  When I don't post for a long time it's one or both of two things.  We are really busy and/or I feel lousy.  This time it's both.  I have just felt so tired and no energy or stamina for so long.  I always just thought it must be because I have a new baby but she's been sleeping through the nights for 1 1/2 months mostly so that's not it.  My joints, especially my knees were always hurting.  It got so bad I actually went to the doctor. I have NEVER been to a doctor other than an ob/gyn so you know it was bad.  Anyway the tests showed that my thyroid was extremely low again even with already being on a medicine and so it's been doubled and hopefully I will start to feel better soon.  It'll probably take 6 weeks to feel much of a change and then I go back in 2 months to check and make sure I'm on enough hormone.  My poor family.  I have to feel better to keep up with these five little munchkins.  It's amazing how terrible one can feel when one little hormone is lacking.  You can't understand unless you've experienced it yourself.  I am so thankful for modern medicine and can't wait to have some energy back!

SCHOOL
So what have we been up to?  First on the agenda is school.  Mikey started on August 14.  He is attending a new charter school called Leadership Learning Academy just up the road from us.  He has to wear a uniform of either baby blue, navy blue or white collared shirts and khaki or navy blue shorts/pants.  I am loving the uniform.  I wish all schools would do it.  I just bought him 7 shirts and 5 pants and he is good for the whole year hopefully.  I think most kids would be kind of bummed to have to start school earlier than their siblings but Mikey was so excited he could hardly stand it.  He was so ready for kindergarten and is doing marvelous and loves it of course.  He goes in the morning from 8:30 til 11:30 and his teacher's name is Ms. Larkin.

I love how I can drop him off starting at 8 (we never get there til 8:20) and he goes into the gym and waits for his teacher to pick him up.  On the first day we all met in the gym and the teacher came and got them and they left.  I was surprised there were no tears from any of the kids.  It was kind of weird not going to his classroom.  Last year I cried dropping off Conner and Sam at a new school but this year I was so happy for Mikey.  I think because he was so confident and ready and it was a little different because he knew a couple of the girls in his class from church and we're able to car pool with them so I only have to pick up once a week which it makes it nice.  Mikey had his spotlight day and after he told his class about himself and showed his poster they all made a poster for him with the things they like about him.  He is so proud of that poster and we had to immediately hang it up in his room and I often see him reading what's on it.  I just love that idea.

It always amazes me when my kids are able to start reading the scriptures pretty much by themselves because I think the language is not your typical language.  Mikey is able to read the verses on his own now during family scripture study.  He's a really good reader and it just warms my heart to see him reading a book to Lucy in bed before bedtime at night.  Oftentimes it will be way past their bedtimes and I realize the light is still on in their room and I'll go in there ready to yell but when I open the door he's reading to her and I just can't and will just tell them that that's the last book.  He feels so big to be reading to his little sister.  On a sidenote.  It's funny to me how relaxed you become the more kids you have.  When it was just the 3 boys, they were all in bed by 7:30 and bathed and lotioned up every night.  With Lucy she is lucky to be in bed before 9 and it's usually later and they get baths every other day.  I keep telling Conner he's getting old enough he needs to take one every day.  I don't smell him yet but it's just a matter of time I'm sure.  Neil always tells Lucy she doesn't know how lucky she is.  It definitely affects her temperament though.  Both Mikey and Lucy still take a good 2 hour+ nap every day so there is a plus side and if Eliza is asleep at the same time it's a triple bonus.

Conner and Sam started at Mountain View on August 26th, Conner's birthday. 

They both have the same classmates as last year and Sam even has the same teacher Ms. Moulton for second grade.  Conner's in 4th grade and his teacher is Mrs. Braegger.  I really wanted to volunteer on a weekly basis this year since I took last year off but I was disappointed and relieved that there were too many volunteers and I was not needed.  I'm doing Monday Folders in Conner's classroom but I am able to bring the little ones and they just sit quietly while I do my job.  In Sam's class I'll be helping with parties, book orders, and teaching a PIC class (5 week personal interest course for 1 hour) on holiday treats.  I'm supposed to volunteer 6 hours a month for a total of 54 hours a school year.  Oh well what do you do when they don't need your help.  I tried.

Both Conner and Sam are loving school.  I really like that in Conner's class the teacher has lunch with two students in the classroom so she can get to know them.  Usually they get two turns a month.  Conner really looks forward to his time.  Conner does have a hard time concentrating when the class is noisy, which is a lot so he programmed his lego mindstorm to have different alarms for different levels of noise and brings it to school each day and puts it on his desk.  It drives me crazy that he brings a $300 toy to school but he knows if it gets stolen he's SOL.  Conner's teacher is big on being organized, which he desperately needs.  He's definitely not there yet but we're only a month into it.  Sam is all about the social aspect of school.  He doesn't say much about what's going on in the classroom, rather his life revolves around what's going on on the playground.   He did have one really bad day with his friends where no one wanted to play his made up game and was extremely sad, to the point of hyperventilating as he told me he was a dirt sandwich, whatever that means.  After talking about what happened he felt better and the next day it was as of nothing had happened.  I love how easy kids are able to forgive and forget.

So now it's just me and the girls at home for a couple hours and it's Eliza's nap time.  You'd think I get a ton done but hardly anything gets done, partly because I haven't felt good but also because Lucy is so demanding and follows me around like a shadow.  I've got to get her a playmate and make it a priority.  She enjoys mommy school but gets sad because her friends aren't here like last year (they are all in a real preschool this year and I just couldn't swallow paying yet).  One day she was standing beside me as I was washing a huge load of dishes by hand so the sink was full of bubbles and she got so excited and said Mommy, you're giving the dishes a bubble bath!

She is such a girly girl though and it is so funny at times.  Last Wednesday she was having a hard time and cried all the way to school and back and was just plain upset.  She wanted to play on the kindle and I considered it knowing it would calm her down but reminded her of the rules.  Her room needed to be cleaned, bed made and other chores done.  This upset her more and she finally asked if I would help her and I said sure.  We went up to her room and started making her bed.  She got dressed in a short skirt but I told her it was too cold and to put pants on.  She put on a pair of pants and they were too short.  She was still upset so I told her Lucy I have a bunch of new clothes for you to wear this fall and winter.  Do you want to help me get them out and put them away?  She got really excited.  I got the bin from the garage and when she saw it was full of new clothes she started to jump up and down and asked if they were all for her.  She gave me the biggest hug.  I told her she could pick anything out she wanted to wear.  As she lifted each outfit out she exclaimed. " Oh I just love it.  Thank you Mommy!"  It was so fun.  We put all the clothes away and she was so happy and the tears of the morning were forgotten.  The down side is she has been changing her outfit 3 to 4 times a day because she just wants to wear them all.

TRAMPOLINE PARK
One thing the kids have found out that they love is the trampoline park.  Neil took them to one in Kaysville and it was a blast and they've been dying to go back ever since.  Mikey learned to do a flip in the air after watching Neil making both Conner and Sam jealous because they never could do one.

 

 

WARD CAMPOUT

This is the first year that the ward campout was before soccer started so we were able to spend the night.  Our ward just got reorganized 6 months ago and this was our first activity.  We love going up to Valley View.  It is so pretty and the pool is a bonus.  Now this is my kind of camping.  All the food and entertainment is provided.  This year no one took the A-frame and so instead of setting up our tent we slept in there.  We weren't sure how Eliza would do but she did great.  I am really liking our new ward.  It's small but you definitely feel needed and wanted.  Of course there are people that I miss but those people I still keep in contact with. 

 

SOCCER

The boys started soccer in August.  Neil is coaching all three teams this year which makes things really busy but I think he's enjoying it for the most part.  I hope the boys realize what a great dad they have. 

 

BIRTHDAYS

My Birthday's August 19th, Conner's is the 26th and then Neil's is September 10th.  Because they are in a 3 week span and we're lazy we keep the birthday decorations up for a month adding a little more as a new birthday comes around.  My mom was here for my birthday so she watched the kids.  I first went to renew my driver's license, a 2 hour wait.  Then I came home and fed Eliza and then I went shopping.  All I wanted for my birthday was to find one or two cute tops.  I had money to spend and a babysitter and of course I came up empty handed.  I'm guess I'm just in that in between stage because either everything was too low, too tight or just not my style, whatever that is.  I was about to buy about 5 more plain tshirts that were $5 each but put them back because that's all my wardrobe consists of.  We went to Tucanos for dinner since you get a free meal on your birthday.  The only reason I go there is for their hot wings, which are no longer part of the rotation and you have to pay extra for.  That practically ruined my birthday but the waiter was nice enough to bring me out some free of charge.  Wahoo!

Nana bought me an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen.  Memories of my childhood.

 

Conner's birthday was on the first day of school so he opted to celebrate his birthday on Saturday by going out to Chuck E Cheese.  We're not doing friend parties this year.  Conner got a telescope this year.  That has definitely been a hit.  We were luck that Grandpa Hibbert came up on his birthday and was able to show him how to use it the right way.  He loves it. 

 This year he wanted a lemon cake.  I tried really hard to talk him into a chocolate bundt cake but he was adamant about the lemon.  My kids are just a little obsessed about lemon.

Neil really wanted to take the day off on his birthday but things were too crazy at work that he couldn't.  On top of that he had Mutual and they were playing soccer so he actually wanted to be there to play so he didn't get much of a birthday on his actual birthday.  I think he had so much going on when I asked him what he wanted for dinner and what kind of cake he just couldn't give me an answer.  Finally about 3pm on his birthday he tells me he'd really just like grilled burgers and this chocolate chip cake I had just made the Sunday before and ended up giving most of it away.  Way easy for me.  He's simple to please and I sure do love him.  He really picks up the slack.  That weekend we went to Texas Roadhouse and the temple to celebrate.

JUMPING IN THE RAIN
I think one of the kids favorite things to do is jump on the tramp in the rain.  Whenever it rains they run outside to the tramp and we've had a ton of rain lately.  Lucky for them I'm so easy going and don't mind the wetness, usually.

 

 

WOLF RANK

Conner got his wolf, 1 gold arrow and 4 silver arrows in August.  During the summer he had to work on one thing from his wolf book every day until he finished it.  I think it's a waste of money to give the mom a pin.  I mean what do you do with it anyway, especially with 3 boys but I do think I deserve some credit because he wouldn't have gotten it without me on his tail every day.

 

CAMPING AT WILLARD BAY

Since the ward campout went so well with Eliza we decided to take a longer camping trip to Willard Bay and invited Allison and kids along.  We'd been here before and it's only 20 minutes from our house so I would be able to take Eliza home if needed.  We got there about 6 on Friday and set up camp.  The kids and Neil really wanted cheese hot dogs.  I just can't stomach those so I made Allison and I tin foil dinners.  It's been years since I had one of those and it was pretty tasty.  We also had to do smores so everyone was a sticky mess.  Eliza did great as always.  Why do I ever worry?

 Why does Allison look so cute when she wears the head band and I look like a bad Aunt Jemima?  She loves putting stuff on people to see how silly they look.

 Willard Bay should be called Mud Bay.  It's not sand, it's mud, which the kids loved even more than sand.  It was so gross though and they had a mud fight going on all day long.  Gross with a capital G.

 I thought it would give us something to do so I bought a 3 person raft and we took it out on the bay.  It was really hard to steer but I think we got $30 worth of fun out of it.

 Don't you love how Presley has completely coated Lucy's hair with mud.

 Mud fight!

 Mud oozing out Jaxson's ear and I'm sure lots of other crevices.

 Allison left Saturday late afternoon because she's got early church and we were planning on spending another night and leaving Sunday morning.  We went on a little family hike and came back to play some cards when we couldn't find Lucy.  Lo and behold she had crawled under the table and fell asleep on the concrete slab.  I looked at Neil and said it's going to be a rough Sunday just so you know.  He looked back at me and we decided to just go home after dinner and round two of smores.  We packed up and got home around 8:30.  Everyone took baths and got to sleep in their own beds which we were all very thankful for.

 

LITTLE "E"

What can I say about Miss Eliza other than she is my favorite baby of all time.  We all just can't get enough of her.  She rolled over at 3 months.  She got her first tooth at 5 months and her 2nd bottom one 2 weeks later.   

 She started scooting all over the floor at about 5 months.  It was so funny to see her get up on all fours and rock back and forth back and forth like she was reving up and then she'd dive in front of her.  Sometimes she's get pretty far, other times not so far.  Now at almost 6 months she has started to army crawl and she is fast.  I've had to get the baby gates out as a precaution.

 

Like I said before everyone is in love with her.  She is the most good natured baby.  I often say pretty soon she's going to go off the deep end once she realizes her sweetness is getting her nowhere.  She is going to turn but I'll keep my sweet E forever.  I love seeing the kids play with her.  They'll often get her out of her crib (it doesn't freak me out anymore unless it's Lucy) when she wakes up from her nap.  It was so sweet.  The other day Sam came home from a birthday party and Mikey was playing with her and Sam asked Mikey if he could and Mikey said no.  Sam got really upset and told Mikey it's not fair because he hadn't seen Eliza for the last 2 hours and he really missed her.  I am so thankful we have Eliza in our family.  I never knew how much I needed her in my life as well as everyone else until she entered our hearts.   

 

As the scriptures say there is opposition in all things.  Although Eliza is practically the perfect baby there is some opposition.  She refuses to take a bottle, sippy or eat any kind of food.  She just chews on a bottle's nipple and practically gags on anything you try to feed her and won't open her mouth and turns her head.  I feel like I've tried everything along with table food and nada.  I don't mind nursing her but don't want to be doing it until she's two.  It's like she's forgotten that she is part Leet and our lives revolve around food.  I've had 4 really good eaters and she is breaking my winning streak.  You know teeth and nursing is not fun so this is a long road.  I really wouldn't care but I have a professional conference to go to in 2 weeks and I can't take her with me.  Neil thinks she is going to be fine.  I guess one day of going hungry may actually make her finally eat.  We'll just have to pray and hope.

 

PINEWOOD DERBY

Our cub scouts had their first pinewood derby in a couple years so we were all very excited about it.  Conner got his car a month a head of time but did we work on it.  Of course not because procrastination is our middle name.  You know this is supposed to be this big father-son bonding experience and guess who ended up helping him.  Me and with the painting of all things.  Conner decided he wanted to do an angry birds car so we kept it simple and he did it all on his own.  Neil was able to help him the next day get the wheels on.  We combined with the other ward so there were 24 boys.  Conner came in 8th, which I thought was a pretty decent showing being our first event ever.

 Conner's cute den

 Okay I just had to get a picture of the race car our den leader made for the centerpiece.  It was so awesome.

 I love the antcipation

 and the let down when his car didn't win the race.

Conner's care got the most angry award!

 

 

FUN RUN

Mikey's schools first big fund raiser was a fun run and Mikey insisted on entering the one mile race.  Now he's a runner and loves to run but has never ran a mile before so we were a little nervous that he'd want to stop but he surprised and never stopped and wasn't even tired at the end and guess what?  He got first place in his age group!  He was proud of himself.  Our little road runner.



 

Well that's it.  I think I'm kind of caught up.  Two and half hours later.  I guess it helps that Neil's been gone and Eliza's been asleep and the other kids have all been in my bed snuggling, reading over my shoulder and playing name that tune.  I've got a pretty good life I must say.  I am truly blessed and amazed at the Lord's love for me and my family each day.  The little miracles that let me know he is aware of me and my trials and triumphs.