Snow

The first snow of the season has already come to our area. We have actually had 2 weekends of snow storms already. I am not ready for them. But I know that my kids are! We got out all the snow gear and got everyone ready for the season, but in the process of doing that I realized something. I have saved things for the next kid, but this hasn't always worked out to my advantage. For example this year. I have snow pants for every child, but I realized that James has outgrown the ones he wore last year. That is not a problem, because Henry will need them and use them. But when I went looking for some for James I could only find them in 3 colors.....pink, purple and a magenta. I realized as I was putting these pink snow pants on James that I should have done better. No, I could have done better. I think if I could give anyone advice here, especially if you are planning on a big family, plan ahead. Plan to save yourself $$ by reusing coats and things like that. Now I don't mean to plan what size your kids will be in the next year, as that is not always easy to do. I mean plan for colors. I wish that I would have gotten clothes (especially like coats and snow pants) that were more unisex colors than gender specific. But some of that I couldn't have planned on either as a lot of these have been hand-me-downs from other people. So when you see James outside playing.....don't laugh. For one, he doesn't care that his pants are pink. For another, at least he is warm and dry!

Tea party

No, this is nothing political. This is just one of those normal things that parents are asked to do. But the only thing normal is that it was this child that asked me:

I mean, seriously, how can one resist the look in his eyes? How could you tell this child "No" I can't play with you. He is such a joyful child. He can find the joy in just about anything. I really need to take a page from his book.
I am not sure what I was doing, but when I came into the family room he had laid out all the dishes and with that look (that you see above) asked me if I would play with him. So I sat down to this:

And we had a wonderful little tea party. Now some may ask where was Henry in all of this? Well, he is a baby and so James and I get a lot of time during the morning while Henry takes a nap. It was fun to play with James with toys that normally you would expect the girls to play with....but James doesn't care.

First day of School 2013

The first day of school has come and gone. On that first day I sent away these cuties:

I was left with these two at home. I wish that I could have gotten a better picture of Henry, but he wasn't happy that James was pulling on him. Henry would have rather been crawling around than sitting on the couch for a photo.

Henry still takes naps (thank heavens) so while he took a nap this is what James and I did:

Katherine on her first day of Kindergarten!

 Jacob 2nd grade.

Mariah--4th grade

Wyatt--7th grade and Bethany 5th grade

Amanda is a senior!! Wow, I can't believe that.

So some may wonder how I can get all these kids to school....simple: I make them ride the bus. I don't like the traffic that occurs around the schools at the start of the day and the end of the day, so I simplify my life and let (make) them ride the bus. I mean how else can I do it when every school it starting at the same time and I have 4 different schools? So I have Amanda at the high school and she actually gets to drive because of early morning seminary. Wyatt is at the Middle school. And then I have these two at another school:

 And these two go to the same school:

 So other than Wyatt and Amanda this year, everyone has a buddy at their school. It works out nice....until it comes to parent teacher conferences!


These are just some cute expressions that James had as I was taking pictures that morning. He is such a ham!!

Summer Recap

We didn't do a lot this summer, yet we had some fun times and made some memories. So to recap. Wyatt, Bethany, James and I all had birthdays this summer. We took a couple of trips up to see Grandparents....and even got to see my Grandma and some of my aunts! I am only going to post a few pictures and so you will get one post of our summer via pictures!!

Wyatt's Birthday present from his primary teachers! How cool is that of them. Thanks for that!

Wyatt did summer band and they had a mini concert on the school front lawn. So hot and fun too!

We went up to my parents for Gabe's 20 year class reunion.....and the kids had fun in the trees.  Amanda was working and couldn't come with us.

 Henry with my Grandma K.

 Another trip north to see family. This was taken at the War memorials outside of Cody. Again Amanda had to work.

 This balloon actually came right over the house and I thought it was going to land on our roof! But it made it right to the vacant lot across the street. We have a balloon rally every year, and don't have to go anywhere to see it as it comes right to our door!

 Love this smile! This is some of his birthday loot!

 My birthday cake that the kids made and decorated for me!

Summer piano recital.

 I played a duet with Bethany for this recital.

 Bethany with some of her birthday loot.

So there you have it our summer in just a few pictures! We had fun and now it is off to bigger and better things.

Trampoline (with Daddy)

Shortly after I had been jumping on the tramp with James, I came inside. James stayed on the tramp and then I heard him calling for help (he can't get off by himself). I had already taken my shoes off, so Gabe went out to get him. The next thing I see is this:

Do I have.....

I made smoothie for breakfast....this morning actually! Hey, that means we are getting up to date! As James was drinking his he runs into the kitchen from the dinning room and says, "Do I have a mustache?" 

Why yes, yes you do James! After that all the rest of the kids would take a drink and ask the same question. I couldn't catch pictures of them fast enough....but they were having fun!

This is how we play the piano:

Doesn't he look so pleased with himself? Yes, he also plays it in the conventional manner, but more often this is how he would rather play it, just a boy and his cars.

A boy and his bike

James has become an outside boy. He LOVES to go outside, even when I don't know about it. It doesn't help that he knows how to open our doors and so he doesn't even need to ask to go outside. He had a bike, he loved his bike and it broke. He was upset when we couldn't fix it. But I think that we made up for it in part by getting him this:

I don't know....do you think he likes it?? 

The only drawback to this bike, the pedals are on the front wheel and he isn't tall enough to reach them. The other bike had the pedals under the seat. I guess he will grow into it right? The thing that he likes about this bike too.....it is Lighting McQueen. I mean isn't this every 2 year old boy's dream?

Trampoline

I am so thankful for this investment that we have. My children have gotten more enjoyment out of this than anything. So the other night I was going inside and I see James on the tramp. I decided to go jump with him for a minute. I feel blessed to have done that as I got to see the joy on this boy's face. He truly knows how to enjoy the moments as they come. Besides.....how can you pass up doing something that puts a smile like this on someones face?

And check out those socks! He found some of Katherine's to put on. 

Regression

Sometimes when you have a new baby, the next older child does a bit of regression. This time for us is no different, just different in how it shows up. So here is James thinking that he is the baby again!

Nutella Thief

When  we have nutella in our house, I almost have to keep it under lock and key. If I don't this is what happens:

He is just too cute, even when he is doing something naughty. I mean how can you resist that smile?