My children are home from school for the next 2 weeks.  Which means that my sanity could be somewhat questionable.  And, what with December being the busiest month of the year, I'm going to salvage what I can, and take the rest of the year off.  I'll be back once the kids go back to school, and we get back into a schedule.  So, for now:

Park Pics: Kelsey

Oddly, while we were at the park, I didn't take a ton of pictures of Kelsey!  I suppose that is ok though, since she is home with me most of the time, and therefore, I have a ton of pictures of her from here.

She is my last baby in nursery.  And, in 2 weeks, she will graduate to the big girl Primary at church!  Talk about scary!

She is the clown.  And she loves to have attention.  I suppose with 3 older siblings, she has to figure out a way to get it somehow!

She is also unaware that she is 3 (almost 4).  She follows her siblings wherever they go.  And tries to do whatever they do.  

It's sad that the youngest grows up so much faster than the rest.

Park Pics: Dylan

This little man!  I love.  I love when I get a genuine smile!  

He is so active.  And all boy!  He tears the knees out of all of his jeans.  And he sweats.  A lot.  

This year I have been slightly surprised and very pleased with how quickly he has caught on to his school work!  Both with his reading and his math!

This year, unfortunately, he has been struggling with some anxiety issues.  And it is sad for me to see him worry about things like that.  But we are working through it and trying to reassure him when the worst rears its ugly head.

(Yes, that is a lizard)

Dirt is no match for this kid.  Unlike his sisters, who seem to experiment, he seems to just like to get dirty.

His sisters are breaking him in pretty well.  I think his wife will be thankful :)

He is a very caring soul, who only wants to make others happy.  He's my little dude.

Park Pics: Kaitlyn

My middle girl has quite the personality.

She tends towards the dramatic side, but loves to show me how responsible she is.

She doesn't love to be dirty, but does her fair share of running and trying things.

She isn't as competitive as her sister, but she just might be slightly more graceful.

(Yes, that is a lizard)

She also loves to wear girly things, ie the pink boots.  And she loves to wear her hair down and mess with it all the time.

She is loving doing gymnastics for the second year.  And I love watching her spend time with her little brother and get along with him better!

Park Pics: Kari

This year has been a busy year for my eldest.  She is most assuredly growing up.  Attitudes are starting to change and perceptions are shifting.

She was in the school wide spelling bee.  And she broke her first bone!

She got new glasses earlier this year.  She has had 4 teeth pulled so far, will have a few more pulled, and then some permanent teeth to look forward to before getting braces.

She is still her curious self though.  She loves math and science, and she loves to experiment.

Generally, she is a good helper.  And I can't wait until she gets just a titch older so she can babysit!

She is very competitive, and willing to try just about everything.  

She turns 11 in less than 2 weeks!!!  Heaven help me!

Nature

 Well, its that time of the year again.  Ha!  You thought I was going to say Christmas!!!  Nope!  Here in the good south, it is still fall like weather.  That means two things: 1) Getting into the Christmas spirit can sometimes be difficult when you are still wearing shorts and it is 78* outside.  And 2) It is finally pleasant to hang out outside, where you won't immediately break a sweat, and playing is more fun.

 Did I mention that my parents were able to spend Thanksgiving with us?  It was quite lovely!  And, since it was pleasant outside, one day my dad and I took the kids to a park.  And I got some lovely nature shots.

But, my even more favorite shots were of my family.  I only got one with my dad, but several with my kids, so the next several days will be nothing but pictures pictures pictures.  

A few things to point out about the picture below:  Its quite sunny.  Kelsey was using her "noclars".  And the rest of the children didn't want to sit still long enough to get a picture.

But I love 'em just the same :)

Christmas Parade

This year I took the kids to the Christmas parade by myself.  In the past, we have brought breakfast with us and arrived plenty early so that we could get a good seat, but not be bored to death.  This year was no different, though I did have some bigger kids who could carry their own chairs.  And we sat on the other side of the road so the sun wasn't in our eyes the whole time!  It was great!

I won't bore you will pictures of everything.  The marching bands are always my favorite.  But this year they included some super big, old fashioned tractors that the kids loved.

And the horses!  The kids always love the horses!

And, get this: we actually had to wear our coats in the morning!  Maybe it will feel more like Christmas after all!  

Spelling Bee

The day after Kari broke her finger was the school spelling bee!  If you recall, She made it as a third grader and got third place.  She made it into the spelling bee again in fourth grade, but we missed it because we were stranded in VA.  Again this year she won her class spelling bee, which allowed her to compete in the school wide spelling bee.  Kaitlyn, who is in third grade, did not win her class, and therefore did not compete for the whole school.  Which, I think is kinda a good thing, because I am not sure who I would have cheered for.

This time I didn't bring my good camera, but I have my phone with me, so, sorry for the not so great quality.

Ironically, the picture I took of her spelling her word last time was good timing.  It was the last opportunity I had to take a picture of her actively spelling as she got out on that word.  As I got ready to take the picture this time, I thought about that.  And, wouldn't you know it, it happened again!  As I took this picture, she misspelled the word "junior".  

It was unfortunate.  And this time she placed fifth.  

She was a little bit disappointed.  Of course.  But we are proud she made it this far!  Congrats Little Miss Speller!

The Tale of the Pinky

Last Thursday, I was minding my own business.  Planning on doing some work on the computer and hanging out in my pajamas most of the day.  When I got a call from the school nurse.  Now, with 3 kids in the same school, calls from the nurse aren't unusual.  This time it was Kari.  She hurt her finger during PE.  She bumped into someone and fell on the ground.  Normally I would tell her to kinda suck it up.  But she was crying.  And Kari isn't a cryer.  So, I threw on a sweatshirt (glad that it is finally cold enough that wearing a sweatshirt is totally acceptable) and drove the whole 3 minutes up to school to take a look.  Sure enough, it was quite swollen.

I called the pediatricians office, and was able to get her an appointment.  I ran home, jumped in the shower, and then stuffed everyone back in the car. (See the bruising)

He sent us to get an x-ray with these instructions:  Its probably broken.  If it is a regular brake, then you tape it and move on.  If it is broken in the growth plate, you will have to go to an orthopedic and get it set.  Thankfully, the radiologist who read the xray was quick, and the pediatrician (whom I love) got back to us quickly.  She HAD broken the growth plate.  And we were able to get into see an orthopedic about 45 min later.  By the time we got to his office, probably about 6 hours after the accident, it was quite swollen.

And here she is!  My girl with her green cast.  They still kind of buddy taped the fingers together, but then cast it so that it could heal properly.  At first, Kari was kind of excited to have a cast.  (Me too a little bit.  I haven't ever seen a cast made)  But after about 2 days she was ready to take it off.  Turns out, almost everything is more difficult to do without the use of a hand.  Go figure.

Kelsey stayed with us the whole time we were traipsing around between doctors and xray offices.  She was even super excited to get the chicken nuggets we were forced to eat after starving all day!  By the time we got to the tech who made the cast, she was done.  The tech who made the cast was super nice.  Like, really nice.  Patient and compassionate and quite good at what he does too!  And he made Kelsey a "cast" too.

So, there you have it!  We've had overnight hospital trips, lost teeth, glasses, and all kinds of adventures.  But this is our first broken bone!

Kelsey's New Trick

I'm thinking that I have a video of her doing this as a tiny baby.  In fact, here it is.  Unfortunately, she has changed a bit since I posted that video.  More grown up.  No less cute.  Of course :)

PS- Happy Birthday Bucket!

Football 101

I know some places of the country already have snow.  But round these here parts, we are still in 70s and 80s most days.  Its a bit difficult to get into the Christmas spirit.  But that does mean it is finally nice enough to play outside without instantly sweating!  As such, and perhaps because hubby is going slightly stir crazy, the fam went out and played a little bit of football the other day.

And while hubby assures me that he didn't run, he maaaaaay have been more active than he has been in at least 6 weeks.

I was actually quite impressed that he was able to organize our rag tag group of players into teams.

And even teach them a play or two!

Don't mind that they are playing football with a soccer ball.  Sometimes you play with what is available.

Though I suspect that particular quandary will be rectified soon.  Liiiiiike, the end of this month.

And, even with a back brace, a toddler, and an Abercrombie and Fitch boy...

They were victorious!

Which totally called for a high five!

Observe:

So, we have some more lecturing on the finer points?  Whatever :)

Grown Up Time

Sometimes a girl just needs sometime to herself.  To spend time with other grown ups.  To have grown up conversation.  To not wipe noses and behinds or make food for everyone else.  I used to feel guilty about it, but I find myself being rejuvenated and better to deal with things after such outings.  So, I have made sure to occasionally include them in my schedule.  At the beginning of November I was invited to attend Time Out for Women.  It is a gospel oriented presentation with music, speakers and plenty of stuff to buy :)  My rental baby mama (she does have a name, but is nice enough to share her new baby with me.  And my kids love her other kids) and I stayed the night in Atlanta.  We enjoyed the speakers and the singers.  We bought a few things.  We ate at P F Changs and even went shopping at the mall.  It was quite the lovely outing!  And, I even got to see an old friend.  Her family grew up in our ward, though she had already grown up and moved out at the time.  She went on to star in Les Miserables in Broadway!!!  AND...  she recognized me from her trips back to see her family.  She probably didn't remember my name, but she recognized me!  I felt special :)

Earlier in the summer my friend Mandypants came back to pack up her house when she was moving away.  We hosted a girls night to say good bye and went out to her favorite mexican restaurant.  Then we came back to my house to talk for hours :)  It was my kind of outing!

Sometimes, a girl needs some adult time.  Yay!

Cowboy Kelsey

Kelsey is a bit of a goof.  But lately, she has really shown a preference to play with Dylan's cowboy stuff.

She knows how to wear them.

She even has the proper stance!

Giddy up little dawgy!