First Snow Trip

We finally ventured out and took the kids to the snow today. I am hoping this is the start of more trips to the snow and snow skiing. I really want to get into snow skiing and snow boarding.  We just went up the road to Butte Meadows. The kids were so excited when they saw snow. It was so fun to watch them. This was their first time playing in it and making a trip to the mountains to play in it. I wish I would have remembered my camera. Oh well, next time.

Family

Left to right: Austin (Misty's), Jaxson (Diana's) Nolan and Avery (Mine), Kinsley (Audrea's), Peyton (Diana's), McKenna and Brenna (Tucker's). How cute is that?

My cousin Bradley got home from his two year mission on Wednesday, so we had a family gathering to celebrate his return. It is so fun to get together with the family. Different, but fun. Different because we are not the kids anymore, we are the moms and dads and we have kids. Knowing how much we had fun as kids, I know my kids have a blast. Those were the greatest times, playing with the cousins. It is so fun for me to visit and share our children. Everyone else is finally having kids, so now Austin, Avery, and Nolan are gaining playmates. Avery, of course, is the Janeane of their group. She wants to take care of all the little ones. (Janeane is finally pregnant!) Anyways, we had fun and the kids are tired. I got a picture of all the little kids that were there.

Student of the Week!

For the week of January 31st, Avery was the student of the week in her class. She got to be the special helper and the first to do everything, like stand in line, take roll, lead the flag solute, and so on. A part of being student of the week is that she also gets to bring home a Curious George backpack/puppet and play with it. Then you write in this journal about what you did during that week with the monkey. For me, a pain in the butt. I have no imagination to begin with it was just this huge hassel with trying to play referee while the kids fought over George. For Avery, a great joy. She carried that monkey everwhere in the house and that is all she would talk about. She would put the puppet on and pretend. I tried my best to have a good attitude because like I said, Avery felt pretty special.

I got to spend Friday in Avery and Austin's class. It was great. I really like their teacher. He does make each student feel special, and with 30 students, that is hard to do. I am so glad they have Mr. K this year. I hope that next year we are blessed with good teachers again.

Wow!

Here is last three months that I have so failed as a mom to post. I haven't been taking good pictures or writing down all the wonderful things that my children have done that I never want to forget, and then I forget. I have been enjoying being a mom so much. The kids are so fun right now. We enjoy playing and hanging out. I wish the weather was better so we could get outside more, but wherever we are our kids have fun. They are such good kids and I am so proud of them. Austin and Avery are enjoying kindergarten and have been introduced the the drama of being in school. Nothing real bad, just having to deal a variety of personalities. Garrett and I being teachers see it every day. I just hope that my kids don't have to be in classes with out of control kids. We love their teacher and the class they are in right now. There are so many good and supportive families. I feel bad being a working mom, but I know that they are well taken care of by our family and other families. The room parents just love our kids.

The twins had their birthday party at Water Sprites. It was nice to be able to give them a pool party in November. Everyone had a blast. It was so easy for us too because we got to sit back and watch the kids have a good time. Highly recommend that place for birthday parties. Nolan's birthday is coming up and he is going to have his party at gymnastics again. He loves that place. He is having a hard time right now because he is in a class with a some rowdy boys, including himself, who don't listen. So their free play at the end of their class has been taken away. They love the free play and hopefully can earn it back next week. But every time Nolan is naughty, he tells on himself. This week I made him apologize to his teacher. He didn't want to do it, but he finally did and I am proud of him for that. That is one thing I will not let my kids do is be disrespectful to people who are trying to teach them things. I have been on the other end of that many times and it is not fun.


The slide was a big hit at the party. Not everyone had the courage to go, but you can bet my boys were first in line. The little dare devils.

I feel bad. Austin finally lost his tooth at the end of November and I didn't even post it. So here it is. It was cool because I just wrapped some floss around it and pulled and it popped right out. He didn't even freak. Not a drama queen like his sis. Since then he lost his other bottom tooth as well.

Christmas. We have yet to go to the snow and get a tree. We have wanted to. We missed going with Uncle Wes by a couple of hours. So we bit the bullet again and went to a lot and paid out the wazzoo for a tree. I really liked our tree this year! I told the kids to be human trees in this picture. Of course when they do crazy things, they always want me to take a picture. I don't do it enough.

For Nolan's Christmas program some of the little kids said a nursery ryhme. Nolan recited Jack and Jill. It was so cute. They sang songs too. The whole time they were singing Nolan was flicking the little bell on his hat with the music. What a silly boy! Nolan is enjoying being at Sherons on his own. He is a different kid when he is not around his siblings. He doesn't have to prove his worth. He is really good for Sharon. I am so proud of him. One more year in day care and it is off to the hounds.

So we snuck off the Disneyland for a couple of days after Christmas. We didn't really tell anyone because we wanted to make it an exclusive trip. Not very often do we get time just with the five of us. Don't get me wrong, we love spending time with all of our friends and family, but we didn't want to share our kids with anyone this time. The trip was o.k. as it was a little rainy here and there. Nolan absolutely loved it because it was the first time he actually got to ride most of the rides. He has been begging to go back ever since.

I love this picture. (above)

Splash Mountain in the middle of winter... AWESOME!

We wanted to do something special for the kids on our trip so we got the character breakfast thinking that we would be swarmed with characters and the kids would love it...NOT. Two characters, and the boys only got to see one because we were getting our food. What a waste. We were so mad. We tried not to be though because the kids didn't really realize we got cheated.

We sat and watched the Pixar Parade which was cool because it had Toy Story. Nolan loves Toy Story.

I had to put the above picture in because of all the toys the kids fought over the most after Christmas, it was this stupid buggy. Thanks Wes and Tesha for the awesome gift. Even the boys liked it.

Norm Mackenzie, my old high school P.E. teacher found Garrett one day at work and told him that he wanted to nominate me for the Oroville HS District Hall of Fame. Cool. What a load of work, but I did it for Norm. Norm is such a great person. He is one of my favorites. He always makes it a point to hug and kiss (yes, on the lips) me every time I see him. He is at most basketball games we go to. It is just a wonderful feeling to have someone so glad to see you. There are a handful of people like that for me, my children being three of them. I am so thankful for that. These people make me feel special. I hope that I am that person to some people too. Oh, so I was going to mention about the picture. Part of the paperwork for the nomination was giving a picture. Well, I procrastinated and then when I really wanted to get it done, Garrett was gone. So I had Austin take a few pictures of me. He did a great job. Always got a good shot. Too bad I looked like crap. It was after work and I was so so tired. Like every day. And we definately did not have any good lighting. Oh, well. I don't care. This is me. Thanks Austin for being my photographer.

Soccer 2010

Avery lost another tooth. The tooth fairy is feeling overworked.

Soccer is finally over. While I might be glad, I know Austin is not, and Avery doesn't care either way. She enjoys it when she is out there, but it is not her favorite thing to do. Austin, on the other hand, is a die hard sports fanatic like his dad. I'm sure Nolan is glad it is over. Just another thing he is left out on. Garrett is definitely glad it's over. Along with football, this fall season has worn us all out, but especially dad. So yeah for fall sports being over! It was fun while it lasted, don't get me wrong. I enjoy watching the kids play. They are understanding the game more and more and it is so fun to watch them excel. Austin loves to play goalie. I think the gloves are a good motivator. Avery was queen of missed shots this year. She had the most shots on the team, but not all of them went in. She did good. Austin is getting more aggressive and getting more touches in every game. We are proud of both of our soccer players. We are proud of daddy coach too who helped out with Avery's team. She really enjoyed having her dad out there.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

The kids had a great Halloween! They were so into it this year. It was so fun to watch them and enjoy it with them. We spent about two hours out in our driveway carving pumpkins today. Avery did hers all on her own. She is my independent girl. I helped Nolan do his pumpkin face, and while I was doing Austin's grand pirate ship, Nolan continued to stab his pumpkin with whatever carver he could get his hands on. When he was done doing that, he went into asking me every 5 seconds when he was going to get to do a pirate ship. Austin helped with the pirate ship as much as he could and it turned out awesome. He had to show all of the neighbors. He is such a social bug.

So we usually go out in the beginning of November and I let the kids pick out their costumes. So at the beginning of October Nolan sees this Darth Vador costume at Toys R Us and he begs and begs for it until we finally do our costume trip. We could not find a Vador costume that fit him, so we bought one that was way too big. I did my best to alter it. I must say, I'm pretty proud. A couple of days ago, it did start coming apart, but my quick fix was successful. I thought it was funny that he chose Vador because he is my most mischievous child at times.

Austin picked out a Star Wars bounty hunter costume that cost me $40. It was a little big, but not too bad. I was able to alter it a little, but it was still a little baggy. Unsatisfied, he decides to wear Spider man. It was pretty cool though, because him and Avery were both super heroes.

Avery wanted to be a few different things, but when we got to the store, Wonder Woman is what she picked. It was awesome that she picked that because during school last week they had a super hero dress-up day for Red Ribbon week, so Avery and Austin got to go as super heroes. So cool!

I was proud of Austin this year. He got over his fear of the pumpkin guts and touched it a little bit!

Avery loves the pumpkin guts, and bugs, and frogs. Like mother, like daughter.

The first thing the kids wanted to do this morning was art. They sat there for such a long time painting and drawing. Even Nolan got into it. I'm glad that they like that kind of stuff. It was such a beautiful day today. I'm glad we got to spend a lot of time outside too!

Yesterday, I finally pulled Avery's tooth out. Before that, we went to Audrea's baby shower and my mom and all of her sisters were telling stories about teeth and what happened when they were little. Avery wanted that tooth out so bad. When we got back to mom's she kept wiggling it and trying to get it out. Finally I got tired of the drama and pulled it out. She cried. She said that it scared her a little bit. The fear of the unknown....and the blood. She finally got over it though and tells everybody. My kids aren't afraid to share.

After Avery had her tooth out and we were taking pictures, Nolan so wanted his picture taken.

Before the pull.

The kids have been playing so well together. Last night Austin wanted to sleep in Nolan's bed with him. At first they started out with their heads at seperate ends of the bed. When I went in there, this is what I found. Avery, I'm sure was socializing and probably fell asleep in the middle of a sentence. I swear, these kids talk all of the time.

New

We are all finally settling into our new routines this year. I knew it was going to be a challenge and still is, but we are smack dab in the middle of busy and still treading water. At times I just want to curl up in my bed and refuse to get up, but that will never happen I know until Nolan is out of the house.

Garrett is in the middle of football season. They just lost to L.P. last night (first time in 8 years) and it has been a rough day for him getting over football drama.

Austin and Avery are loving kindergarten and their teacher Mr. K. He has been really good for them. They come home every week with new songs and things that they have learned. We get invited to lots of parties with other students. It is cool to make new friends and meet new people. School has definately added more busy-ness, more excitement, more trials, and more memories to our family.

Avery has turned into our little writer. Rarely do I see her now without and pencil, crayon, magnedoodle, or other writing utensil in her hand. She writes stories, colors and draws all of the time.

Austin is still our little sports nut. He loves soccer. He has a great coach and a great team this season. He was so disappointed today when his game was cancelled because of rain. Austin is enjoying school, but is not taking up writing like Avery. He is very social I hear and is in the middle of whatever is the most interesting at the time. Austin came home this week with a card in his backpack from a girl in his class. It was an apology card that said that she was sorry for hitting Austin at school. She hit him in the face because Austin was trying to get her to follow directions in class. Poor kid. We have been drilling him since he was 2 or 3 about how important it is to listen and follow directions. I guess it has sunk in a little. Another one of Austin's favorite things to do is ride his bike. Right when we get home, he gets out of the car, puts on his helmet, and jumps on his bike. All boy.

Nolan is enjoying flying solo at Sharon's. They tell me he is a different person when his siblings are not around. I believe it. Without them, there is no reason to fight for attention. Nolan has been my buddy this fall. Him and I have the most time in the car together and spend our time hauling the twins around to soccer, school, parties, and field trips. He is as tired of it as I am. He is feeling a little cheated because he has had nothing of his own to do since August. He has been begging to get back to gymnastics, practice soccer with Austin and other things. We finally got him signed up for a one day basketball camp he could do with his brother and he has been so excited about it. They get to go tomorrow.

Me, I am a tired, over worked, over irritated, under rested wife, mother, teacher, housekeeper, cook, taxi driver, amoung other things I can't put into words. It has been a very hard fall for me. My house is never even close to clean, I haven't gotten a break in who knows when. Why anyone would want to be within yards of me is beyond my understanding. I am trying my best to have patience and have a good attitude, but I just can not wait for football and soccer season to be over. Then maybe I can feel a little bit closer to normal. Maybe.

So since we have been so busy and me so happy, I haven't gotten a lot of pics lately, but here are a few highlights of the fall season.

Grami, Grandpa, Dennis, Briley, the kids and Garrett and I made it to the Gridley Fair this year. We all had a great time. We rode the ponies, rode the nasty rides, ate good food, and loved playing on the tractors. woohoo

The boy at the bottom of the picture (above) is just some random kid whose parents were not polite enough to get him out of the way. I hate that.

Shasta had a pumpkin decorating contest at school. The kids were so excited about entering the contest. There was money for the first, second and third place winners and over 100 entries. All three of the kids had a blast decorating their pumpkins and they wanted so bad to win. When we got there and put their pumpkins out to be judged I felt so bad because there were some awesome pumpkins that you could tell were all done by adults (anyone could enter). It is amazing what a meezly $50 will do to people. Anyways I felt so bad because there was only a few pumpkins that you could tell were decorated by actual students at the school with very little help. It didn't seem to bother the kids that bad and Avery said that her friend voted for her. I am just so proud of my kids for getting involved and putting their hearts into everything they do.

(Above) So we went to the pumpkin patch with the kindergarten class. The kids got to ride in a school bus. They had a blast. Avery was so proud of her pumpkin that she took pictures of it and herself. Here is one of her self portraits.

(Below) Avery realized last weekend that she had a loose tooth and we found new teeth growing in. She spend two or three days wiggling her tooth and talking about wiggling her tooth. It was so funny. She still hasn't lost it yet, but she has stopped making a big deal out of it for now. Thank goodness. Austin found some new teeth growing in too. He teeth aren't real loose yet. Pictures of Austin's teeth to come.

(BElow) I can't believe how much my boys care about what they wear. This is Nolan's third or fourth Star Wars shirt. He loves Star Wars. He is going to be Darth Vador for Halloween. Go figure. Austin carefully picks out his clothes for school every day. One of his new shirt is a button up plaid and he loves to wear that and a pair of jeans and his fire belt. He so wants to be a cowboy. I still haven't gotten him a pair of cowbow boots that he has been begging for forever. Another mother from Austin's class actually told me that she thinks Austin dresses so cute. I hope they always care about what they wear. I love it when they look cute. I know that they have better fashion sense than I do anyway.