Sara's 8th Birthday

After celebrating with her friends on Saturday, it was a family celebration on her actual birthday (Monday).

Eight is the baptism birthday, so Sara got baptism themed presents. She got a bracelet and hair bow to wear on the day of her baptism, and she got her own (with her name on the front) set of scriptures and bag. And her older brother and sister raided their tooth fairy money and gave her a total of $8.

Cake time is always a favorite, and all the kids huddled around to "help" Sara.

I am so glad Sara is part of our family. She is such a special spirit and adds so much to our home. I especially love how Sara has a gift with babies. She and Owen have such a special bond--she just has a way with him, and he adores her. I can't believe Sara is 8 already, she is growing up too fast for my liking. But, I love seeing the special girl that she is growing up to be. Happy Birthday Sara Hope!

Sara's Birthday Party

Sara's birthday was this past Monday. The Friday before her birthday, she got to go shopping with Grandma Jo. She got lots of cute clothes, including the cute zebra striped dress that she chose to wear for her birthday party.

We had her birthday party last Saturday.  We had Pizza Hut pizza (Sara's favorite).

Then we cleared away the pizza and let half the girls decorate cupcakes, while the other half got their fingernails painted (and then switched as each group finished). Savannah had a few of her friends come help paint nails, so we had a little mini salon going on our back patio.

We had birthday cupcakes (which Owen thoroughly enjoyed).

Then it was present time. She got so many arts and crafts projects. I'm still trying to clear my kitchen table of them and find a place to keep them.

It was a really fun party with such a cute group of girls. Sara thanked me for days afterward for giving her such a great party.

Football Season

It's football season for Josh.  He started practice the middle of August.  He practices just once a week (on Mondays) and it's late enough in the evening, that Scott is home from work, so he takes him and stays to watch.

This last Saturday was Josh's big tailgate party to get everyone excited for their first game this Saturday. The BSU cheerleaders, dancers, mascot, and marching band were all there to help them celebrate.

I can't wait to watch Josh play this Saturday!

A Mean Game of Tag

Last Friday I spent the morning outside with my two little boys. I pushed them on the swings, then watched them ride bikes in the driveway. When I went back in the house, I had a message on the answering machine. It was the school nurse. She said Josh had tripped in PE and hit his chin on the floor and she wanted to talk to me about the cut on his chin. I flipped through the caller ID to see when she had called, and noticed 4 calls from Scott right in a row. I figured they had already reached him on his cell phone, so I called him. He was with Josh at Primary Health getting his chin glued. Josh had tripped on another kids' foot during tag and had hit the floor so hard, his chin just split open. Josh was so brave, though, and as soon as his chin was glued, he had Scott take him back to school to finish out the day.

Cousin Camp

Over Labor Day weekend, my mom held "Cousin Camp".  It didn't start till Sunday evening, and ended Monday afternoon, so it was going to be a long drive for a short stay.  I convinced Scott to spare Owen the drive (since he isn't invited to cousin camp-no diapers).  And I volunteered to stay home with Owen and clean and organize the house (plus, I needed to be at our church to play the piano in Primary).  My husband is such a good man, that he agreed to my little plan.  The trip didn't start out so great. The little boys were sad that I wasn't coming with them, and Josh was being a grouch about having to sit where he was told. But, Scott told me that once they got on the road, they all behaved really well the whole drive.

Unfortunately, my plans to accomplish great things got derailed by Owen getting sick. He started running a really high fever and throwing up Sunday night. Monday I was able to control his fever with Tylenol, but by that night even Tylenol wasn't bringing it down (it was 105 with Tylenol). Scott got home as I was cleaning Owen up from his third round of throwing up. We put the other kids to bed (they had a great time and were totally worn out), and Scott went to the store for some Ibuprofen. We gave Owen that and stripped him down to his diaper to try and get him cooled off. We were able to get the fever down to 103, and let him sleep with us that night. And by morning he was fine. I'm just really glad I stayed home with Owen, it would not have been fun to deal with him being sick while traveling.

First Day of Preschool

Nate started preschool last week. He was so excited. It's the same teacher he had last year (Miss Tricia), but a completely new group of kids. As I walked him to preschool, I asked him what he was going to learn this year. He said, "To be nice to everyone". I said, "That's a great thing to learn. What else are you going to learn?" He thought for a moment, then said, "And to learn to count to 100. And that's it." Lofty goals.

My littlest boy is not so happy to see Nate go to preschool. He really struggled when the other 4 started school. Now with Nate gone 2 mornings a week, Owen and I just wander the quiet house, counting down the minutes till Nate comes home. It's lonely around here when school is in session.

TIRED

Loving Our Neighborhood

There are a lot of thinsg that I love about where we live.  At the top of that list, is all the kids in our neighborhood.  The other night I walked out and there were so many kids in our cul-de-sac, that I had to take a picture.  Scott said it looked like an ant hill with all the little "ants" scurrying around.  There are 16 kids in the picture, and some that were off to the side and didn't make it in.  I love that my kids have so many friends to play with here.