Tangled

Adrienne is doing a dance to a song in the "Tangled" soundtrack this year. The girls all have wigs (which they hate, I guess they are hot). I love the costume though, they look so cute.
Adrienne has a problem looking at the camera. Sigh. Do you love the cheesy smile?

This is her dance group and teachers. I'll bet I can guess what these girls are going to be for Halloween (or at least what Adrienne is going to be).

Here is her dance:


Unfortunately, I got my own "tangle" of sutures. It was on my shoulder and pretty sore every time I moved my arm and pulled on them. They finally came out and the wound looks great now. My boys thought it was cool that mom had to get stitches.

Only Happy Kids Sing...

I am feeling much better and need to update, I know. I caught this little moment the other day and had to share even though Burke thinks it is too much.
I laughed.
And laughed.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Halloween, At Last

Yes, I know I am finally getting around to posting the Halloween fun, but it is worth the wait.

Right?

Nathan, after much consternation about Kohl's not sending his much needed accessory, was a Doctor for the school Halloween party (we improvised using the scrubs I work for work when I was pregnant with him, with some tailoring, of course).
Annika borrowed a costume from her friend again because of Kohl's late shipment (not my fault, I proclaimed as I clicked purchase on October 21). Annika was very cute as an Asian princess, or as Mulan, whichever she decided was more glamorous.

Kade was a mummy. Which I sewed. With lots of cheesecloth bits flying up my nose as I did it.

Adrienne was a cute little red witch.

Once the Kohl's shipment came (the day after the school parties) Nathan was Albert Einstein and Annika was still the neighbor's Asian girl costume because I got the wrong size. In my own defense, I ordered the size it said was for kids 8-10 years old. When it came, I said 8-10 years old= size 12-14. GRRR. Oh well, maybe she can wear it in 3-4 years.

I had the opportunity to plan the parties for the 2nd grade and for Kade's class in third grade. It was very stressful for me, but we got it done, and the craft and the games turned out to be lots of fun. Adrienne got to come and hang out in the second grade and the third grade parties, so she thought she was pretty awesome.


The weekend of Halloween, we headed up to the library for their annual party which is usually pretty fun, especially for the younger kids.
Nathan won the costume contest for the "Smartest" costume and was able to pick out a book.

Kade won too for the all around best costume! It validated all of the tacking of cheesecloth that took many more hours than I thought it would.

After the library party, the boys went trick or treating with their friends, and the girls got to go with their dad until a friend's mom picked them up and took them out for a little while.
They were soooo excited and felt like they were big like their brothers to be out without mom or dad.
Adrienne got separated from the group though, because the house they went to didn't give her candy fast enough and the other kids left her. She was a little upset at that, but seemed fine once she sat down to munch on her candy.

Burke and I were home alone on Halloween night.
He got to fulfill his fondest wish (next to getting his truck).
He wore a horrendous mask and scared the bigger kids who came to the door.
His chuckles and comments of "They screamed like little girls!" Were pretty funny.
Love that guy!

The First Day

Adrienne has started kindergarten.
It was bittersweet.
She was so excited.
So was I.
But a little wistful.
I am now a mother without a baby, or a toddler.
I don't even have a preschooler anymore.

WEIRD!

I love the freedom, but miss having my little sidekick with me through the day.
However, I just realized on Tuesday that I can go to the temple in the morning if I am so inclined.
Or I can go back to bed for a nice little morning nap.
Or I can organize my closet, if I were so inclined.
So far I haven't been inclined to do the cleaning or organizing that I need to do, and told myself I will do when Adrienne is gone.
I have been going to the doctor for light treatments.
I just got a sunburn.
It hurts.
But hopefully it will help.

Anyway, here is my big girl on her first big day:
She was so excited the night before she didn't sleep well.
She finally fell asleep at around 6 AM. I woke her up at 7. She was tired and sleepy and told me in her sleepy voice, "Mom, I am five years old now. I am big enough to go to kindergarten, so I am big enough to know when I should get up. I am too tired right now."
She managed to make it up for breakfast, a cute first-day hairdo, and had her backpack on for half an hour before the bus arrived.
This is my kindergartener coming home from the first day.


I am so proud of all of my children. It is a great blessing for me to see them grow up and learn new things and try different experiences.

The Birthday Girl

Adrienne had her birthday in August. She was more than thrilled to finally turn 5!

We decided to celebrate with a party with friends. (I am a bad mom-- this is only my second friend party ever).

We had a big waterslide courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa T. There was a watermelon cake and many gifts.

Adrienne was in heaven.

I would have liked to post some pictures, but they are all gone into cyberspace.

It was a great day and she felt like the VIP that she is in our family.

Now for the interview:

Favorite color: Pink and Purple

Favorite food: McDonalds Happy Meal with Chocolate Milk

Favorite book: Olivia

Favorite movie: Pink Panther, Aladdin

Best friend: Ella

Favorite thing about going to school: going in the keva to listen to stories

What she wants to be when she grows up: A doctor

Favorite thing to do with family: go out for ice cream

We love her so much.

She is our last little princess, and is off to school this year. I miss her, but I am excited to be able to help out in school this year a little more than I have been able to in the past.

Cousins and More Cousins

We have had lots of family time lately. We spent the 4th of July with Burke's family. Everyone gathered together to remember Burke's dad, as it has been one year since he passed away.
The cousins were so eager to play with each other.
Adrienne especially loves her cousins Acacia and Ava.
They are joined at the hip.
They absolutely love each other.
I'm sure they made Grandpa laugh.
We also were able to be present for the blessing of my newest nieces, Paisley and Zoey. I forget how tiny and sweet babies are until I am around them.
They were adorable and fun and I loved holding them and giving them a bottle, and everything else that comes with babies.
I am sure Grandpa would have loved to have been in the circle to bless his granddaughters, and celebrate their birth at the family gathering afterward. He was missed.
Later that week we traveled to visit Burke's brother Justin and his family. Justin was called to be in the bishopric in his ward, and asked Burke to ordain him as a high priest. It wasa wonderful opportunity for all of us to be there and for Burke to perform the ordination in place of his dad.

As we were leaving, they invited Nathan to stay with them for another week. He jumped at the opportunity, and we (a little wistfully) re-packed his belongings and said good-bye.

He was so excited, and I was thrilled for him. But I am a mother hen and have been worried about him already and it has only been one day.

Burke and I called him tonight. I reminded him to brush his teeth. Really good. Because his aunt really can't tell him they look gross the same way his mom can. Can she?
He sounds like he is having fun, but maybe missing us a little more than he thought. (Or that's what I'd like to think.)

Maybe we're missing him a little more than we thought too...

So What?

Adrienne had a dance competition on Saturday. Her dance was called "So What" by P!nk. The little girls were so cute, but got a bad case of stage fright.

Their teacher couldn't come and I don't think they felt comfortable with dancing in a big auditorium.

I guess it doesn't matter much. Adrienne got a "Participation Trophy" at dance on Monday (I hate those). She hasn't let it out of her grasp since then, even sleeping with it last night.

Plus, she got to wear makeup. A big thrill for a young girl.

We took some pictures. I asked her to do a pose. This is what I got:

Then I asked her to smile:

We finally ended up with this:

Much better.

Here is her dance:

Medical Care on the Cheap

This:
Is supposed to be attached to Adrienne's arm.
Nathan took care of it while "helping" her to get in the car the other day.
I think when it slid off it scared him more than it did her.
And they were all scared of me when I came on the scene.
You know that "deer in the headlights" look they get when they are about to get in trouble?
There were four pairs of eyes looking at me as I climbed in the van with my previously lost keys in hand.

Nathan began by telling me he was trying to help, Kade was trying to stuff her hand back in it, and Annika was busy tattling.

I checked her hand and felt the area that was broken. The doctor told me he was just planning to push on it and move it around to make sure it was healed.

I can do that, right?

So I did. And it was.

And Nathan saved us another visit to the doctor.

Thanks... I guess.

Pretty Girls

I did this on the girls' hair Sunday for church. It turned out to be so cute, but didn't hold up very well. By the time they got home, the ribbons had moved around too much. I have a new plan to try to keep it in place, but I'll have to wait for a while to try it out because the girls weren't impressed with this 'do.
Here is my littlest munchkin's hair:

How about that cheesy smile? Love those girls.

Spring (?) Break

We spent spring break up in the mountains. It wasn't so spring-y, but it was a much-needed break.

The first challenge was getting into the cabin. This picture was taken with Nathan standing at the entrance to the driveway.
We decided to take our chances and try parking on the road. "The Man" left us a nasty note, but by then the neighbors took pity on us in our poor minivan and let us park in their plowed driveway.
Then we had to get all the stuff in our work-horse van into the cabin. It wasn't pretty, and involved some yelling and wet boys, but we finally got settled in and warmed up with some hot chocolate.
After that, the fun began. We played games, watched movies, and went tubing. We tubed and tubed and tubed.
The best part was there was a really long hill where we could drop off the kids and one adult and then meet them at the bottom. We loaded everyone and all the tubes up and drove around to the top to let them go down again. It was so much fun.
One morning we availed ourselves of the local Easter-egg hunt. It was a massive undertaking. There must have been a thousand kids in the events center. For us, it ended up being a moderate success.
Adrienne had a bit of a struggle to pick things up with her cast on, but I let her tough it out. There were many parents who got in there with the 4-5 year olds and grabbed candy, though.
It was a little ironic because the grumpy man who kept telling me to leave my 4 year old daughter there alone felt pretty dumb when I was the only parent who was actually waiting on the sidelines and letting my daughter get her own candy.
Annika seemed destined to "find" all the stupid scraps of paper the organizers spread out as advertisements for the sponsors. She mostly ended up with a bag full of papers. Nathan's bag mysteriously developed a hole in it, so as he was furiouly filling it, other (rotten) kids were coming behind him picking up the stuff he was dropping. The kids had fun though (except for a disappointed Nathan) so that is all that matters, right?

After the big hunt, we went to the city park to play fox and geese, a family tradition on my side. I was appalled that we had never taken the time to play it before. I got to teach the kids and Burke to play. It was hilarious. When Adrienne got tired of running around, she said that she wanted to play fox and squirrels and she was going to be the squirrel hiding in its burrow. She walked away and sat in the snow to rest. After the fun in the park we let the kids play on the playground for a while. We had it all to ourselves, since it was freezing. The kids didn't seem to mind, though.


We finished the afternoon with a stop at the famous local burger joint. I got a turkey sandwich (sigh) but treated myself to a nonfat yogurt shake with Oreos that I'm sure kept it nonfat(YUM).

That night it snowed. A lot.The kids decided to take advantage of the new snow and tubed down the driveway while Burke and I loaded up the van.
We were a little worried we would have to move in until Memorial Day, but our faithful minivan got us out and we headed home to check out the Easter baskets the Easter bunny had left us.
It was an amazing weekend and we had so much fun. Thanks for letting us use the cabin Grandma and Grandpa!

Hot Tubbin'

Aunt Kellie's family came up to visit us. Well, they came to ski, so we went to visit them at their hotel. It was nice to see everyone and let the cousins visit with each other.
We decided to take advantage of the opportunity to go sit out in the hot tub.
I got in with the kids because Burke couldn't find his swimsuit. (How convenient).

We started with a bag tied around Adrienne's cast, but lost the bag later when we noticed it was actually holding the water in.
Adrienne decided that Aunt Kellie and cousins Hannah and Becca were the greatest. We almost had to leave her there to live with them forever.
In the end, we convinced her that coming with us would be okay.
It was a great evening, thanks guys!

Hey! Let's Go Bowling

We went bowling a couple of weeks ago. I figured out that bowling is not my strength. I think I should have had them put up the guards for my turn too.
Maybe I should have used Adrienne's technique:
It seemed to work for her. The boys also had a pretty good showing, except for one incident where Kade threw (and I mean threw) a gutter ball. The guards were up. And it went in the gutter. I didn't know you could do that. And darn it, I didn't get a picture.
Nathan was pretty good once he tried a smaller ball.
Annika was mostly there for the food. She would throw the ball and then run back to the table to eat her pizza without even checking to see how many pins she knocked down. There's a girl with the right priorities.
Of course, Burke ended up being the bowler of the day.

I think Adrienne had the most fun when she discovered the hand dryer.
We had a good time, and more importantly, everyone could gloat that they all beat mom!