First Day of School!

Alright, I know I'm an over-poster today. Three posts in one day? It must be a record.

So here I am in my semi-quiet, half-empty house. I ought to be folding the twelve tons of laundry in front of my washer or cleaning up my living room, but blogging is the best procrastination tool ever. I can dork around while I feel like I'm keeping up on personal history. As Conner would say... EPIC!

Chance's first day of 8th grade. Where did the time go? For some reason, in the spring when we signed up for his classes, we didn't sign up for Orchestra. WHAT? So when we went to register we moved his schedule around, dropped Spanish, and put Orchestra in its place. This makes me feel happy. He's also taking Computers in Business and Foods Exploration for his other electives this semester. Pretty exciting!

Conner is starting 6th grade this year, so he'll be the oldest in the school. It flips me out just a tad that he and Chance will  both be in Junior High next year. Strange, right? He has Miss Perkins, who we already know is an awesome teacher because Chance had her two years ago.

Payton is in 4th grade this year. His teacher is Miss Morgan. She is young, energetic and seems like a lot of fun. Payton, of course, is lookin' his studly self this morning. Why does he always look too cool for school?

And my sweet little Bella. She's a bit sad that she's not in the same class as Kara this year, but she's excited to make some new friends. Her teacher is Mrs. Luther who used to teach the music. She seems like the classically perfect 1st grade teacher, sweet and wonderful and loves the kids already.

Chance was already gone when this picture was snapped, but it was still too cool not to include in the first day of school montage...

I guess they're ready to face the world, although I'm not even ready to face the laundry. I hope you guys have a fantastic day!

Happy Happy Birthday, from all of us to you...

... we wish it was our birthday so we could party too! HEY!

A week ago today Wade turned 4. He's growing up so fast, particularly in the last couple of months since the boys have been out of school. He's taken to reciting youtube videos and Shrek 3 scenes constantly. We hear no end to "Chance, you be the Shrek. Conner, you be the Artie. Payton, you be the Donkey, and I'll be the Merlin." He has a great brain and is amazing at memorizing things. It blows my mind that he could potentially start kindergarten next year! I don't know why, but for some reason I group Bella in with the older kids but Wade is one of the babies. Wade's my buddy, he often tells me, "Mom, you're my girl." and we get into plenty of fights that go like this:

Wade: "Mom, I so much love you."
Me: "No no no, Wade, I so much love YOU!"
Wade" "No no no, Mommy, I so much LOVE YOU!"

and we just continue this on and on until we're yelling ourselves hoarse. Wade loves being the boss, long bubble baths, pizza and popcorn, broccoli (which he calls trees), computer games, play-dough, and books. He hates getting his haircut, having to get dressed when he's not ready to, and gets mad when he tries to talk but everyone else is talking too loudly. He's been known to yell "BE QUIET!" and when the room is properly hushed, usually within seconds, "Mom, can I have a drink?"

Wade, you're truly my sunshine.

And now for the pictures!

Grandma and Grandpa got Wade a remote-control Wubbzy. There aren't pictures of him driving it because I didn't have any AAA batteries, but Grandpa and Grandma remedied that quite quickly.

See the glee on his face? That's because he's just learned he can squirt this water gun at his brothers all he wants.

It was another "How To Train Your Dragon" birthday. Wade wanted to see it again, so we made an entire event out of it.

You may have thought this was a picture of Hiccup, but it's actually Wade.

This was approximately 2.720 seconds before Wade started whacking Chance with the axe.

Wade voluntarily sharing his armor with Bella. Awww!

And then he proceeded to beat her down with his sword. Notice how she is wearing the armor, but she's the one running.

Wade, you're my boy. Happy Birthday!

Summertime Catch-up

Hello all! I know I promised pics from Fish Lake but guess what? I didn't take a single one. I was too lazy. That proved fortuitous though - Wade's birthday and the first day of school were also coming up and I couldn't find my camera battery charger, even though I've completely turned my house upside-down. My camera's battery died in my arms this morning as I was taking the last of the 'first day of school' shots. So, dear reader, if you are in possession of a Panasonic Lumix camera and don't mind loaning your charger to me for a few hours, let me know.

ANYWAY. I guess it's time for me to wax nostalgic, seeing's how the kids are all off to school and summer is officially over.

Nothing to do with summer. Wade was so tired he didn't even eat, just climbed in the chair and fell asleep.

And now... swimming at the pool!

A torrential downpour that I quite appreciated. I always love it when my grass gets watered and I don't have to drag the sprinkler around the yard.

Bella's goreous new dress

Swimming at Spanish Fork Reservoir

I think the looks on their faces means the water's COLD!

   Chance didn't want to get in the water because of the cold.

Does this mean he's getting old?

Carter happily played in the dirt for hours and only ate a little bit.

Wait, a lot. You should've seen his diaper that night.

Wade mostly played in the dirt too, but he got in the water toward the end.

Bella and her cousin Addison sunning their backs on the beach. They were entirely inseparable.

We've had a great summer. Although I'm excited for the kids and will be happy to have less mess, more food, and less noise around here I can't say I'm totally happy that summer is over. What will I do without my boys to babysit or start computer games for Wade? What will I do without my silly kids to make me laugh or fully describe their video games in step-by-step detail while I yawn? Wait, I think I can survive without that last part. The good news? Lake Powell is in 3 weeks, so summer doesn't feel completely over yet!