Goooooo Team!!

This summer when we were talking about extracurricular activites with the kids for fall, Laylah said she would like to try something other than dance. I gave her a few different ideas and she decided she wanted to try cheerleading. They offer it through the county and the cheerleaders cheer for the little league football teams. She's had practices for a few weeks and last Thursday they had their first game. She was so excited, and even though they'd only learned a handful of cheers, they did so great and it was so adorable to watch. Of course, anything my kids do is adorable in my opinion, but I really love to watch something I am knowledgable about and interested in :)Stretching and getting ready for the game

They made a banner at their last practice for the team (they cheer for the Raiders) to run through when the game started. Laylah thought it was so funny that they made a banner and it was just going to get torn apart and ruined. It sure did bring back memories of my highschool cheer days of rolling out the banner and having the players run through it when they came back to the field after half-time! :)

Cheering away!

Even though they didn't win (they lost 1-0) Laylah had a great time. She got a little tired halfway through the 4th quarter, but finished through the end. She was all smiles and loved every minute. I'm glad we found something else she loves to do. I have a feeling she's going to be like I was when I was little and want to try 50 different things before she settles on something she really loves to do. Until then, I'm happy watching her do whatever!

Back to School!

The day came. The day I didn't want to come, but at the same time was so ready. The first day of school! On Monday the elementary had an open house where the kids got to meet their teachers, see their classrooms and bring all of their supplies in and organize them in their desks and cubbies. I really like both Laylah and Jonah's teachers and have heard they are great, so we're very excited for this year. Laylah is in second grade and Jonah is in first grade. Daphne is starting preschool, but doesn't start for 2 more weeks. She cannot wait! Jonah and his teacher

Laylah with her teacher.

That evening we had a special FHE and back to school dinner. I love Nie Nie Dialogues and I totally copied this idea from her. Like I've said before, I have not a creative bone in my body-so I usually have to copy :) But I think it is a great idea to get the kids excited for school and do something special for it. We had a delicious feast of broiled steelhead fish, artichokes, twice baked potatoes, fresh strawberries, buttery bread and raspberry lemonade. It was delicious and every bite was eaten.
We also talked about our family theme for the year- "Remember Who You Are". We made crowns for our activity and talked about how we are all aspiring to be queens and kings and that we need to be great examples to those around us and behave as a king or queen would, and always rememebr what we are trying to become.

I also attempted a 2-layer cake and was going to make it all cutsie on my new cake stand that I have yet to use since I bought it several months ago, but one layer didn't quite workout.... it was still delicious, although not precisely "cute" :)

Sporting our beautiful crowns that are now hanging in each of the children's bedrooms.

We closed the evening with each of the children recieving a beautiful Father's Blessing from their daddy for the new school year. What an amazing thing the priesthood is. I am so grateful to my husband for being worthy to hold and use it.

We were up and ready for school bright and early Tuesday morning. Lay and Jo dressed in carefully chosen new school outfits and Laylah told me exactly how she wanted her hair. We also had to paint her nails and toenails a bright hot pink-of course :) The kids were so excited. They barely let me snap this picture of them in their new school duds before they were off running down the street to meet their friends at the bus stop.

There they go.... so grown up!

They came home full of smiles, stories and excitement. I think this year will be a good one :)

The Summer Wrap Up

Well, it's that time of year again! Fall is in the air (hooray!) and the kids are going back to school. We had a wonderful last 3 weeks. We squished in as many fun activiteis as we could because I knew once school started I would be busy trying to prepare for this baby and then once the baby comes we won't be doing much for awhile, especially since winter will be closing in. I asked each of the kids to choose one activity they really wanted to do and we did one a day all last week. We had fun playing with friends, going on walks, riding bikes, going to the movies, playing at the park, having late family movie nights, going bowling, miniature golfing, and most of all-swimming! We also went to this way fun kid's science museum with some friends down in Richmond and spent hours there. We also have one more little getaway planned that I really wanted to do this summer but we ran out of time! So we'll be doing that in a couple of weeks. Here is a few pics of the rest of our summer-well, the things I remembered to bring the camera for :)...

Science Museum of Richmond

Laylah found this life cycle of a fetus and said "There you are at 7 months!" Smartypants :)

Golfing
Jonah hit the ball so hard that it flew up ontpo the building:

Happy School Year!!

A Giant Mouse in the House?

This is what happens if I leave anything on the counter for more than 2 minutes and leave the room:My little mousy and lover of cheese will come and take a few chomps out of it.... we'll let you have that piece Bear!

Cloudy with a Chance of Rain

I just so happen to love the rain. That's why this past weekend was my idea of perfection. It rained off and on all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I was in heaven. I kept exclaiming "Oh, this weather is so beautiful!" And my kids disagreed with "No it's not, it's boring!"

Friday evening it decided to take a break, so we went for an evening stroll-the kids hopped on their bikes. The wind was blowing and the slate gray clouds roiled above our heads. It started to look a little daunting so we turned around before our usual halfway point. We were close to home when it hit-we saw it coming from 20 feet away. A wave of rain-it was incredible. Andy said "Look! Here it comes you guys!" And then it rolled over us. We were drenched within seconds. Sadie tried to cower beneath the wagon we were pulling Bear in. He, on the other hand, jumped out and started running and splashing in puddles. He allowed his seat to be replaced by the bikes and the other kids joined him in the puddles while Andrew pulled along the silent passengers. We had several people call out to us from their garages "Do you need a ride home?" or "Do you live far?"
"No, thank you!" we happily replied. Like I said-I love the rain. Soaked-to the bone.


Saturday was much the same. The kids had to get out with their umbrellas and we also found out they had all outgrown their rainboots. Time for some new ones. Especially in this glorious state where rain is much more common than in the hot, dry desert-much to my delight. Oh well-snow boots,flip flops, and water socks worked well enough :)

It makes me happy to see that the Dead Summer Yellow color has been replaced with Rainy Summer Green :)

Top 5 Reasons

I am officially ready for autumn. I know August is only half over but I (and my heat-producing, large with child pregnant body) am just ready for September. There's only 2 1/2 weeks left. I think I can do it. But in case you needed more convincing why fall needs to hurry up and make it's presence known, I'll give you my top 5 reasons....


Reason #1- I found one of these crawling on my leg last night in my own house (and it wasn't the first time this summer either!): I know-disgusting. I almost threw-up. I hate bugs. I have felt like bugs have been crawling all over me ever since. Autumn needs to come so all the bugs can DIE!
Reason #2- This is what Virginia looks like in the fall:

Need I say more? Probably not, but I will. We came here last fall to see if this is where we really wanted to live and it was so exquisitly beautiful. I cannot wait for fall and all the beautiful colors, instead of what I have to look at now:Dead Summer Yellow (that should be a color in a box of Crayola 64) On another note, image google "autumn". You won't be disappointed :)

Reason #3- School needs to start. I know, I know. I'm always saying I'm not a big fan of school. But there comes a point (about a week before school is back in session) where I am SO ready. We are all ready. Daphne has been begging to go to preschool for about 6 months now. Laylah and Jonah are excited to see who their teachers will be and see their school friends again. Back to school shopping (including supplies, shoes, and clothes) is complete.

And I am tired. I can't believe how much we have packed into summer. And we still have a whole week left of activites planned. My kids are spoiled and lucky they have a fun mom who always wants to do stuff (haha-I just called myself fun). And last but not least, I have several projects waiting for me that I can start as soon as half my kids are not underfoot. They need to be complete before this baby arrives, and I need to get going. I only have 11 1/2 weeks left!

Reason #4-These nasty looking things:

Cicadas. There are about a billion trillion zillion of them in Northern Virginia. And they are LOUD!! Remember the forest which is my backyard? That's where they live. All day long, all I hear is rattling. At least they go to bed at night, but come 5 AM the rattling begins. And lasts All. Day. Long. Because of that forest backyard, in the spring we have birds waking us up (which is much more pleasant), in the summer it's cicadas. I'm interested to see what the fall brings. And I'm sure in the winter it will be silence. Ohhh, sweet silence....

Reason #5-Remember this couch?:

Yes, my new family room couch that I love? Well, it has been my bed for the past couple weeks for 2 reasons. 1)It is TOO DANG HOT to sleep in my room upstairs. Even if we leave the a/c on at night and I have a portable fan on me. I just can't do it. I wake up several times a night in a sweaty mess. Nasty. The humidity and heat of August just might be the death of me. That is one thing I really miss about Utah-it cools off at night. Here it cools of about 2 degrees and I swear the humidity percentage goes up. (And I do have to say-if I wasn't pregnant, I don't think this would be such a huge deal as I am making it. But it is. Because I am) There is a ceiling fan in the family room and I am right by an a/c vent, so it is very pleasant at night and I don't sweat one drop :) And 2)For some reason it is easier on my back than my bed right now. I wake up in less pain and I'm not as stiff. That's the other part of my reasoning. Autumn needs to come so this baby will come! Enough said.

Have I convinced you yet?