Monday, September 09, 2013

Back to School BBQ


I had a long day at work ... I even plugged in my headset!  Nice :)

After I got home from work, we had fun going to the school back to school night.  Phillip got to go on the bounce house .. I always seem to run out of money at those things.  The girls were fine with just the playground :) 

The kids are excited about our new job chart .. I'll post a picture tomorrow :)


Happy Henrie :)


Can't pull these kids from the school!




New day! New beginnings!



I have realized that I need to at least keep up this blog at least as a family scrapbook.  

I will update once a week if not more!

I do love instagram & kinda of Facebook.  

This will be where I record funny stories & things that my kids say :)

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Heeber Creeper

June 2nd 2012

We celebrated the end of school and the beginning of summer with a ride on the Heeber Creeper. The kids loved looking out the window of the train.

Amelia said, "Grandma is taking us on the cweeper cweeper."

I took a picture of my Grandpa's farm which is adjacent to the Heeber Creeper train track.

We also hung out with the family at the cabin. Good times!

Monday, September 17, 2012

Kindergarten Graduation

We were excited to celebrate Phillip's graduation from Kindergarten. He really enjoyed his time in Mrs. Thornell's class.

Highlights from Phillip's year:
Phillip got into Mrs. L's ( the principle). Club for learning to write his name the school way. Each month they do a drawing and randomly pick kids in the club to have a pizza party with the principle. Phillip was picked the first time!

I got to help with testing once a week out in the hallway. Phillip would be very upset if I didn't mark his she perfectly.
"Mom, why is there a circle and not a check mark?!"

Phillip increased his love of math and science. He got better at reading because he liked checking off the numbers from his take home reading.

It was a great school year!

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Recap Coming Soon!



I have been neglecting my blog for TOOOO long!

My new goal is to update at LEAST once a month.  A practical goal for myself!  I can DO IT!  I don't need to wait until January 2013.

I have been fairly busy blogging on my Securemama site.  It has gotten some additional traffic.  I have had some speaking engagements as well.  Securemama to the rescue!!

The problem is that I'm still working part-time, still taking care of these four cute kids, it has been hard to document all of the funny stories and things they say in the bloggosphere!

Well ... here I go!  Hopefully I haven't forgotten everything that has happened in the past 5 months!




Saturday, May 12, 2012

Look back on April ... Look forward to May

Lily's dance recital! Lily was sooo excited to get dressed up amd do a cute dance with her friends. She blew kisses and hopped around the stage. Even though she was the 17th to perform, we were so happy to see her on stage.

Sports T-ball & Soccer!!

Phillip in ACTION!

Pete is coaching T-ball. It's a little like wrangling cats,but Phillip is very motivated to get the ball even if it means he has to run into a pile of fellow team members to make the play.
Here's me at my BYU women's conference booth.  It was a great experience.  My mom was there and helped out a lot!  It was a lot of work, but well worth the time!

Here's Henrie's latest Instagram photo.  He is getting more and more chubby every day!


Easter!

How could I forget?! We went to the annual Mapleton Easter Egg hunt. We also had a fun little easter egg hunt at home. What cute kids!





Friday, April 20, 2012

Happiness is Having a Sister!




I was thinking of all of my sisters on my run today.  I was thinking of how they have influenced me and my path in life.  Not until this afternoon, I realized today was the anniversary of when my little sister Julie died at the age of 18.  It still is bitter sweet and we all miss her dearly.

Emily - My oldest sister Emily, even though she talks really fast on the phone, has such calm and reassuring personality.  I often would escape to Emily's house.  During the Summer months when I was still living at home.  (I think I may have lived with her for a total of a year if you added up all of the time).  Or, during college when I needed to just talk and hang out.  She is always so positive and caring.

Cheryl - Cheryl helped me to learn to put my best foot forward.  She did my hair and got me dressed every morning until I was 8 years old.  "Beauty is Pain!" She would say while brushing out my hair.  She even rescued an haircut disaster in college.  I cut my hair in the middle of a date.  When I was all dressed up to be picked up, my hair was a boy haircut, brown and greasy.  She got me an appointment and paid for some highlights so I could feel better about my hair.  Even though I often times feel tired or awkward, I know I can try to look my best.

Mary - Mary gave me a fascination for the ever-improving mindset.  There is always a 'better' way to do something.  We would make custom 'home-made' planners during my first year of college.  (we couldn't afford a franklin planner).  By the next year we had to buy all new materials because we had to re-work our design.  Imagine our lives now with 100+ apps to make your life easier.  It just takes forever to find the 'best' app!

Al - Al has always had a zest for life and was never scared to try and figure out something new.  She went to China to teach english for six months.  She is now running a farm with goats, chickens, & sheep and 8 kids!  She helped convince me to move to Philadelphia.  She was moving but assured me that her friends would look out for me, which they did.  It's amazing the things you can accomplish when you are not scared to get out and try something new.

Suz - Suz helped pave the way for the little sisters.  She did Tennis throughout school, which I copied.  She ran track her senior year, which led me to run track the next year.  She was in student government, and so was I (the next year).  Get the pattern? She kept telling me to major in Information Systems.  She even forwarded me a copy of a friends offer letter to entice me.  She has always encouraged me to learn and do more in school, activities, and now in real life.

Becca - Becca helped me learn dedication and perseverance.  I was behind her in College and thought about going into Accounting.  Anytime we talked about owing money to each other she made me say in Accounting Lingo "I need to debit my Accounts Receivable and credit Accounts Payable." (That was totally wrong, that's why I'm not an Accountant today).  Becca is nervous to take on any new hobby or craft because she will not go halfway.  She started running again after her last baby (who is 18 months old) and just ran in the Boston Marathon! Amazing!

Julie - Julie taught me about bravery and courage.  Julie is my little sister by 14 months.  We were often confused as 'the twins' because we both had blue eyes, blond hair, and were the same height.  She quickly passed me in height as well!  She was diagnosed with cancer at 16.  While in remission she would go on 'photo safari's,' fly kites, and started picking up where she left off.  When the cancer came back, she had a fighting attitude.  She said, "I know that this is probably the hardest thing I will go through, but it's not THAT hard."  Towards the end, every day was a fight and she was strong and courageous, not for herself, but for all of us who didn't want to see her go.

Bina - Bina helped me have fun laughing, singing, and being silly.  I am a goof, and will always be goofy.  Bina just helps accentuate that aspect in me.  During college we would do such crazy things together.  I went to pick up Bina from the testing center and decided to dress as a princess.  I started chasing and calling after random guys, "My Prince! My Prince!"  We would often go to 7-11 in the weirdest outfits.  Bina helped me realize that we are all a little weird and "That's OK!"

Saturday, March 31, 2012

March Madness!

I kept meaning to post a new entry, but everything has been moving at a quicker pace around here.

Highlights of March
  • Henrie's baby Blessing
  • Phillip learned to ride his bike.
  • Pete Coaching T-Ball, & Phillip's first Soccer Game.
  • Amelia is learning to go on the potty.
  • Henrie is smiling and sleeping.
  • Spring weather and being outside!
  • Lily had her dance dress rehearsal.
Lowlights of March
  • The Flu bug came and went.
  • I did mountains of laundry cleaning up lots of potty 'accidents.'
  • Looking for missing dogs

Here is a picture of our little lucky charm! Can you tell which one is Phillip and which one is Henrie?

After the wind storm, we had a lot more pine needles to clean up. BUT all of our sycamore leaves were blown into other yards! Yay!! the glass is always half full! We added another swing to the tree. We now have 3 swings one tree and a baby swing ready for Henrie on the other tree.



Here is Phillip digging his mine shaft. He kept drawing plans for his mine shaft during the winter. He also created an outline of the step by step process .. 1) wait for summer 2) dig with my shovel 3) dig with dad's tools 4) get my friends to dig etc.

Phillip even mentioned that he wanted to have a 'mine shaft' birthday party, but his friends don't HAVE to help. Only if they wanted to. He has since said that he doesn't care that much about gold anymore. Now he is looking for diamonds.


Amelia was throwing a fit, so I put her in timeout. I knew she needed a nap but it was already 4:00. I waited a few minutes and peeked in the room and saw this cute little napper on the timeout chair.


I took a picture of our morning ritual. The kids love to wave at the window as Pete pulls out of the garage on his way to work.


Lily's dance rehearsal! She loves being a girly girl! I did my best with her hair. I was amazed by some of the work of other 'stage moms'!


Phillip on his bike!

Phillip's first Soccer game! He really wanted to do soccer, but we had already signed up for T-ball. So we are doing both! Pete is in charge of T-ball and I will be in charge of soccer. ;-)


Here is T-ball practice. There is the GREAT Coach Olsen taking a knee with the 5 and 6 year olds and teaching them the fundamentals of baseball.


In all it has been a busy but fun month! I can't wait for more games, dances, and spring weather to do some planting.