Welcome Home

There is nothing like coming home from sunny San Diego to

endless amounts of snow

your preschool reeking of dead mice
{{and your super hero husband staying up all night to beach and kill everything!!}}

Austin and Ruth getting PINK EYE.

Welcome home and back to reality.

Thirty-TWO

I am thankful for this man and rejoice in celebrating THIRTY-TWO wonderful years of his life. Happy Birthday Kurt!

First Snow

This morning we woke up to snow falling and the ground already white. I love waking up the kids and telling them to look out the window. It is so magical. Better than presents on Christmas! ;)

We are lucky we got to church on time.





In music time today the Music Leader was acting out how she was so grumpy because she had had such a bad morning and her day was going to be so terrible when Spencer in all seriousness said, "But it snowing outside!" How can your day be bad when it's snowing?!!! So sweet.

Emma and Austin built a snowman after church {and yes Austin was wearing a T-shirt and shorts. No comment.}



The older kids were sure that it was winter now because it was snowing but I explained that sometimes we are blessed to get snow in the fall. Happy blessings.

Thankgiving Program

Every year in preschool we put on a Thanksgiving Program. I like this for 2 main reasons: I love Thanksgiving and the opportunity it gives me to teach about being grateful. And secondly it takes away any pressure to do a Christmas program and we all know December is busy enough as it is!

This was my third Thanksgiving Program and I finally felt like we got it right. The first year was a flop, the second a dud and miraculously it came together on the third try. Kurt came into the kitchen after the program where I was pouring drinks to give me a high five. It made me laugh, "Yay, you finally did it!"

I was really proud of the oldest kids who put on "The First Thanksgiving" play. Each of them had their lines memorized so well and did a fabulous job. Spencer opened the play by saying, "This is the story of the first Thanksgiving. The Pilgrims have just arrived on their boat called the Mayflower. They came to the new world called America."


I just think this kid is sooo cute!

Braxton and Brooke also did a wonderful job (they all did!) Brooke is a natural on stage. :)




Thank you Kurt for always being my right hand in everything I do. You are amazing, beyond super supportive, loving, forgiving and gracious. I am so thankful for you!

Everyday

Everyday Rooster asks, "Where's _____________?" Fill in the blank with her favorite loved one currently not in front of her. Most often her dad.

"Mom, where's dad?" "Mom, where's Tyler?" "Mom, where's Austin?" "Mom, where's Emma?" "Mom, where's dad?"

She has to know where her family is all the time. "Mom, where's my dad?!!"



Everyday Spencer asks to eat peanut butter and honey sandwiches. When he wakes up first thing in the morning, always for lunch and every snack in between.

Everyday Emma tells me how much she loves school. Sometimes its shown in classic Emma notes placed in special spots for me to find. Often in her actions to never be late and never miss school despite laying on the floor with stomach cramps. But mostly it is declared, "I just love school!"

Everyday Austin laughs at, makes up, and shares ridiculous potty humor. For example, "Mom, if you take this word and add these letters and take away that letter then you could spell RESTROOM! BAHHHaHaHaHa!!!" What?!?! Seriously not funny.



Everyday Ruth looks more and more like an orphan. She refuses to let me brush her hair. She wants to pick a battle over everything she wears (I refuse to fight that one!) And inevitably will end up in jammie pants before the day is over (can't really say that I blame her.) Everyday Ruth says, "Mom, my hair is CRAZY."

Everyday Spencer asks if its Wednesday (gymnastics day!) even though he long ago mastered the concept of days of the week.



Everyday Emma Lynn is wearing pants to school more and more. It is not exclusive yet but definitely about half and half. I know it's silly but it makes me sad. The ending of an era.



Everyday Austin and I exchange the following at bed time, "Te amo un millon __________ {insert latest and greatest Spanish word learned here.}"

EVERYDAY has the potential to be busy, crazy, exhausting and amazing.

Like his mother

Austin was invited to be apart of his school's "Book Bloggers" club. They read a book, meet each week and blog in a forum setting.

The club started today. The first book they are reading is "The Dog Who Thought He was Santa" by Bill Wallace. Austin told me, in great disbelief, that their first meeting took all of recess and part of SSR {Sustained Silent Reading which is one of his most favorite parts of the day.}

But obviously he didn't mind because he finished his first reading assignment before he got home. Almost better than reading {but not quite} is the blogging.

There were 17 comments made today and 5 of them were made by Austin. Most sentences were followed by an excessive use of exclaimation points.

Mrs. Wilson who is the librarian conducting the Book Club said, "I am so excited to get started and I can see that Austin is excited to start blogging."

He definitely gets that from his mother.

Bragging Rights

Karen has been dating this fellow named Roger for a few months now. I find this to be very exciting because for one he made it through the tedious third date policy and secondly because she is so giddy with happiness.

I am the very first person to meet him. {{Hey, I'll take bragging rights where ever I can get them!}}

We had a great weekend getting to know Roger. We can see why Karen is so happy.

Time to CELEBRATE!

After being a mother for 7.6 years I am now, for the first time EVAH, running a diaper free house hold.

Let me spell it out for you:

RUTH IS POTTY TRAINED!!!

For one week now we have been wearing panties exclusively. Including at night (we have had two accidents though....)

She has done A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!

I fully believe that potty training can be easy when the child is ready. She was ready and so was I. YA-AY!

{{I am totally doing a happy dance right now.}}



Every time she goes she looks up at me with a most proud smile,
"Mom, I'm a BIG girl."

One of those moments

We had a family from our ward over for dinner tonight. Their little boy who is in Spencer's primary class really loved playing with Spencer's space ship that he got from Santa last Christmas. When it came time for them to go Kurt suggested that the little boy could keep the toy. I hesitated...Spencer has loved that toy and played with it lots this past year. My heart soften and I left the choice up to Spencer. I went to find him and asked him if the little boy could take the toy home. Spencer didn't hesitated.

"Ya, mom. I want him to keep it forever."

He found all the toys that went with the space ship and happily gave them away. Ah, my heart swelled with love and pride as I watched Spencer share like Christ did in more ways than one.

What a wonderful way to start this giving season. Spencer you are an amazing kid.