Settled into School

Wait a minute...where did the summer go?  We didn't do anything big and extraordinary this summer but we did have a lot of fun.  We went bowling, miniature golfing, swimming several times at the lake, played at several parks, went to Elitch Gardens, camped in the backyard a couple of times, Emmy had a luau birthday party, and Brandon played baseball so we spent many nights watching baseball.  Oh, and I ran three different 5k races this summer...go me!  I started running in May and I am finally to the point where I really enjoy it and miss it when I don't do it.  Yep, just an ordinary hanging out with the family kind of summer.  It was nice.  It was also busy, which is why I have pretty much sucked at blogging.  I will have to try to do better.

Now the kids are all settled into the school routine again.  They have been back in school for a month now and they all seem to like their new teachers and classes.  Brandon is in 3rd grade, Emmy is in 2nd grade, and Katelyn is in half-day kindergarten in the mornings.  We have been riding our bikes to school most days now that Katie got her training wheels off of her bike.  It has been good exercise for all of us.  Lucky for me we only live a half-mile away from the school because I have to make 3 trips to the school everyday (once to drop them off, once to get Katie, and once to get Brandon and Emmy). 

I have started volunteering at the school again too.  I like to see what is going on in the classrooms and see how my kids are doing in the classroom setting.  Plus, I can give dirty looks to all the little punks who make fun of my kids, or push them in the hall, or call them a crybaby...you get the idea.  Just don't mess with my kids and we can all be friends :o) 

Here are some random summer pictures and some pics from the first day of school.  

Here is the luau cake I made for Emily's 7th Birthday.

Brandon shooting his BB gun at the farm.

They had a blast playing in the mud!  What can I say...my girls aren't always the girliest of girls.

Millie got in on the fun in the mud too!

Ready to go to school.

I built a fire for smore's all by myself :)

And I put the tent up all by myself.  Fun times! (although putting it away is not so much fun)

Brandon batting in one of his games.

Brandon trying out playing catcher.

This was Brandon's baseball team.

Brandon and his friend, John, tied up their sisters and stuffed them in the closet.  BOYS!

Dance Recital 2012

 All dressed up and ready to go!

The girls had their dance recital  this week.  They were absolutely adorable!  I love watching the dance recitals!  All the little girls all dressed up and the little preschool girls have no idea what they are doing and it's just too stinking cute.  Our girls both did really well in the recital this year.  They were in the same class this time around (mostly to help with mom's sanity because it's hard having everyone in something different all the time!).  Watch the video of their dance below!  It was taken at their dress rehearsal and they did quite a bit better in their actual performance but it gives you an idea of how their dance went (and I apologize for the shakiness of it...my 8 year old son insisted on being the camera man) :o)

Other than that summer is a super busy time of the year around here!  We have had two picnics at parks this week and today we had 4 friends over to play.  We always seem to have extra kids around :)  Brandon has at least 1 baseball game a week and he is LOVING it!  I should probably get some pics of him doing baseball on here.  We are going to go to Elitch's next week I think and we have our annual camping trip at Hermit Park next month after Emily's birthday.  Too bad we can't have campfires this year :(  They have banned all fires because of this stinking HUGE High Park Fire.  I guess we will be roasting marshmallows over the camp stoves instead. We hope you are all having a fun summer too!

Teacher Gift Ideas!

I was trying to think of some good ideas for teacher gifts this year and I found TONS of great ideas on Pinterest.  The kids had a hard time picking one to do so we did several different ones.  Basically all the teachers will be getting something different.  Maybe we overdid it just a little bit?  The kids had a lot of fun putting them all together and picking what they wanted for their teachers.  I think they all had great teachers this year.  Here are some of the ideas we tried:

First off we made the teachers new clipboards.  They are much more fun to look at than the usual boring brown.  I love Mod Podge.

You are a CUT above the rest...scissors cut, get it?

You are o-FISH-ally the best...goldfish and Swedish fish candy.

I am one smart COOKIE thanks to you...on a package of cookies.

You are a SCENT-sational teacher...on a candle.

Emily's favorite was this one.  We need S'MORE teachers like you.  With all the stuff to make s'mores.

You are one of the RIESEN'S I love school.  (Riesen, reason, get it?)

And this one, I'm SODA-lighted that you were my teacher this year.  Adorable.  I found these free printable tags here.

Like I said, we may have gone a little overboard...oops.  :o)

Welcome Millie!

I never thought in a million years that we would have a dog...but apparently the kids finally got dad to break down and let them get one.  They all fell in love with this little puppy at my mom's house and they all cried every time we left her house because they were afraid it would be the last time they would see the little furball.  I'm not sure if it was their tears or my hubby finally realizing how much time I spend alone while he is working ALL THE TIME and he thought I might enjoy a little puppy to keep my company, but either way we ended up with little Millie.  She is a short-haired toy poodle.  All the other puppies in her litter were long-haired.  The vet said that it's uncommon to get a short-haired one but it does occasionally happen.  I think she is much cuter than the other ones.  She is a lot of fun but she is the typical puppy.  So far though we have only lost a couple rolls of toilet paper and a wooden spoon from the kitchen.  We're working on the potty training too but I think she is getting better.  In some ways it's like I have a toddler again!  She is about 3 months old.

Easter Banner

My daughter, Katie, asked me to get the Easter decorations out this morning so we could put them up.  Then I realized what a pathetic collection of Easter decorations we have (or perhaps I should say don't have).  So we decided that maybe we could make some of our own.
I have seen some of these super cute banners that are made out of old book pages so I thought it would be fun to do one for Easter.  I found a template and design that I liked here at Creations by Kara.  I decided to spell Easter on mine instead of just doing all eggs because my kids love words and reading so I thought they would like it better.  They helped me pick out the papers for the eggs too.  It only took me about 30 minutes from start to finish and I think it's cute.  I couldn't find my ink to ink the edges but I might ink some edges later when I find it.  Not bad for a first attempt.  Next time I might do a little more with it. 

Spring is here!!!!!

I am so excited that spring is finally here!  I have been over the whole winter thing for a while now.  Soccer started again today.  Woohoo (I think)!  Brandon seems like he has a pretty hard-core coach from Texas.  Apparently people used to pay him $5000 a year to coach them at his soccer club.  Emily and Katie are on the same team, which is much easier for me, but maybe not so easy for their coach.  And somehow the soccer Gods have smiled down on me this season and all my kids have practices on the same days and at the same times!  It's AMAZING!!!!  It will be an interesting season.
Spring Break starts this Friday.  We are taking the kids to see Disney on Ice Friday night (but shhh, don't tell them.  It's a surprise!).  I'll have to think of something fun to do with them next week too....but what?  Hmm...

Brandon's first pinewood derby is next month and quite frankly, I have NO FREAKING CLUE how to make a car out of the little block of wood.  My hubby better understand that if he doesn't help out on this one our son will literally have a block of wood on wheels for his car.  Should be fun!  If anyone has any good derby car tips, please do share!  I think we'll need all the help we can get ;o)

Emily is finishing up a unit in 1st grade about patriotic symbols.  She made a cute little video with her pictures that she drew.  I thought I would share it with you.  I might be a tad bit partial but my kids are pretty amazing!


 Oh, and here's a couple of the latest cakes I have made:

This was a zebra print cake for a girl's 17th birthday party.

And this was for the Relief Society birthday celebration.

Brandon and Emily decided to bury Katie in the sand.

Um, I'm not really sure what to say here...

I really have no idea what they were doing...

 When the gun is out...TAKE COVER!

We had a naughty little leprechaun TP our house with green crepe paper.  At least he left a trail of gold-wrapped chocolates to make up for the mess :o)

Wow I stink at blogging!

Hmm...so apparently I have been pretty much sucking it up in the blogging department lately.  I guess sometimes you just can't do it all!  December was absolutely insane around here.  Poor Brandon was sick with a fever for 12 days and missed a week and a half of school right before winter break.  After 2 ER visits and just about every test they could possibly run they figure he had campylobacter, which is a bacteria you can get from animals (like cows or chickens).  Luckily he finally got better but that kind of put a hold on my holiday shopping and preparations so things were really rushed and I had a harder time getting into the Christmas spirit.  Bummer.  Of course now that we're are working on paying all those medical bills we probably won't be in a much better mood for a while. Things were pretty busy and hectic through the holiday season but now they are back to the normal "busy but not so busy it's going to kill me" way of life.
Emmy had her 1st grade program last week and it was adorable!  The theme was "Where the Wild Things Are," which works perfectly for a bunch of crazy 1st graders.  Emmy LOVES to sing and did a great job. 

 

The kids have been having more fun in the snow, which is always a good thing.  Although I must admit I could do without the wet mess they seem to track through the house every time they go in and out.  I'll have to try to think of a good way to deal with that...but I'm thinking with my kids it's an impossible battle. 

Katie and her cousin, Lexi

My nephew, Hayden

Hayden's messy face