Outings

~Bailey~

~Taylor~
~Emma~
~Payson & Jack~
~Rian~
~Dakota~
While Jacy recovered from the birth of baby Kendall, Megan and I had a full and fun week with the rest of the kiddos! Dakota and Rian are out of school on Fall Break this week, which proved to be a blessing. They were very helpful on all of our little outings and loved to each be put in charge of one of the little ones.

Monday was a beautiful day outside so we decided to head to the pond and feed the ducks. The kids had a blast and I considered it a complete success, mostly because no one fell in the water!

Tuesday Megan and I took on a bigger, and much scarier, task of taking all 7 kids to the mall. A quick side note for effect...kids are ages 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, and 9! After some time in the play area we went to the food court for lunch. On our way out we took a detour to the pet store to play with the puppies. We almost made it out the mall doors with no incidents until Jack swung his arm through the air and knocked over a kiosk jewelery display. One of the glass necklaces broke and I had my first "YOUR KID BREAKS IT, YOU BUY IT" experience! Luckily for me, it cost only $5.99, and is the perfect addition to Dakota's box of collected treasures.

Today we let the kids play while Jacy was at Kendall's first check-up and then decided to take a trip to Cabela's. Mine and Jacy's kids love that place, and Megan's girls have never been. It was really alot of fun, and the kids were all on their best behavior. Jack even managed to make it through the store without breaking anything! Afterwards we had to say goodbye to Megan, Emma and Taylor which is always hard. We wish they lived near us also!

Its been a busy few days, and although I am exhausted, I am looking forward to doing more fun things with my kids before they head back to school next week.

Dad

"The only thing better than having you for my dad,

is my children having you for a grandpa."

We love you dad/papa ~ have a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Go Rian!

This past Saturday was Rian's first official competitive soccer match. She was super nervous before the game and had a serious case of the butterflies. As soon as it got started though, she got over her nerves and absolutely rocked it! Some of my favorite pictures from the game...

Student of the Month

We are so proud of Dakota. Every year since Kindergarten she has been chosen Student of the Month in either August or September. It doesn't take long for her teachers to see what a special and sweet girl she is!

I love to go have breakfast with my kids at school! It was spirit week and Friday happened to be crazy hat day, so Dakota wore the cowboy hat that Papa C. gave her. Isn't she cute?!If there's one thing that Dakota absolutely hates, its being in front of a big crowd. You can clearly see it on her face!
Her class was chosen to sing the National Anthem for the rally. While we were having breakfast her teacher came in to tell her to meet them on stage, and that they had saved her a seat in the front row. She was not thrilled.

Shout Out

Just want to direct everyone's attention to the Phoenix College stats to your left...

<<<------

I am so excited and proud of Dave and his team. They are currently undefeated, in first place and ranked 8th Nationally! They are playing beautiful soccer, it is absolutely amazing to watch. We have a tough away game against Pima on Saturday, but I have total confidence in them and I know they will go into the second half of the season with as much drive and passion as they have shown us so far.

GOOD LUCK, BEARS!!!

Scootin'

Jack is so happy to finally have a scooter like his big sisters. Now that the evenings are no longer unbearable, we can go outside and let the kids have some outdoor fun without the threat of heat stroke!

My Stars

Jack wore himself out, and because he had no nap this particular day, he completely crashed in Dave's arms. He slept on the ground for over an hour while children ran at full speed around his head and soccer balls flew past him, missing his nose by inches. Its so rare that I actually get to watch Dakota and Rian, so I took my chances. It was a beautiful thing!

Rian has finally come out of her shell. She loves soccer and plays so hard. She has great coaches, Hugo and Bree, who she adores. She is still a little nervous, not sure about what, but gives it her all anyhow! She is definitely the cutest little thing out there!

I can't say enough about Dakota. She continues to amaze me. If I can't have my girls in leotards and tutu's, this is how I want them! I am actually really looking forward to their future, and mine as well, as I get to watch and cheer them on!

Stuck

I would first like to thank the makers of this table, for creating the perfect spot to put my son when he needs some "Alone Time". Next, I'd like to thank my parents for giving us this table for Dakota's 7th birthday. Finally, I feel I must thank my very sweet and well-intentioned daughter, Rian, for introducing Jack to this new little hole, which I now like to call "Time Out!"

Abondonment

Most mornings I will let the girls bring Lucy with us on our walk to the bus stop. It actually is such a sad thing to watch. As the girls walk away from her, she stands there... watching them... crying. Eventually she will turn around and walk back toward the house with me, but not before letting everyone know just how devastated she is.

I must walk up and down my stairs at least a dozen times throughout the day while the girls are at school. Most of the time Lucy just watches me, but somehow she knows when I'm coming down because IT IS TIME! Her very favorite time of day- they're almost home! As soon as she sees me coming, she runs to the laundry room where her leash is and starts her whining again.

I guess it makes perfect sense. I try not to have anything to do with her all day, and Jack chases her around with whatever form of torture is in his closest reach. So it seems about right that she would want the two people who love her the most to be home with her! And they feel the same way, it is very sweet!

Three

Cupcakes & Ice Cream...

Lots of cool new toys...

A pop gun, bug home, clothes, and a baseball and bat.

A cool remote control truck from grandma & papa C.

Scooter, new jammies & bedding from grandma & papa O.

Happy Birthday BIG BOY!

Speed & Skill

Dakota has really stepped it up lately in soccer. It is so much fun to watch her, especially at her indoor games! She has lots of speed just like her dad and she really uses it well. She's gotten more aggressive, but in a good way. Check out the size of the boy she's taking on in the third picture! I love watching her continue to improve, master her skills, learn and enjoy the game.

P.S. Rian is playing indoor too but was sick this past weekend. I'll post some pictures of her after their game next Saturday.

Jack Time

Since the girls started back to school, Jack and I have had plenty of one-on-one time together. He can be so much fun, as long as I have lots of extra energy to spare! Some of his favorite things to do during the day include...

Baseball.

"Its my turn, then your turn, then my turn.

K mommy?"

Watching movies in forts left by his sisters.

TRAINS!



Play-Do

And of course my favorite time...

NAPTIME!

But not before a couple hours of play. Consequently trashing his room! I used to lie down with him until he fell asleep. It didn't take him long to realize that if I'm not there he can get up and play. So he now yells at me to "You Go Away!" as soon as I tuck him in.

Oh, and this is how he leaves the house every day now.
I understand the sword, but I don't know what the headband is supposed to be!?

Anyway you look at it, he is one cute little devil!

First day of school!

Last night, the girls got out all their new school supplies and packed everything up. They carefully and proudly laid out their new backpacks and outfits.

While we were out shopping on Saturday, Rian was having trouble finding a pair of shoes that she wanted and that fit right. All of a sudden she ran up to me with these awful looking things and said "MOM, LOOK. FANCY NANCY SHOES!!!" I said, "Do you want those?" And her reply was an enthusiastic "Yeah, she's only my favorite character!" So cute. They also each picked out their own new first day of school outfits. I think they did good!

Each of the kids then took their turn getting a father's blessing. That's the most still I've ever seen Jack sit without a tv in front of him! It was very sweet.

This morning, my alarm woke me up at 6:40, I wanted to have time for uninterrupted scripture and prayer before waking up the girls. But it must have also woken up Dakota because on my way back from the bathroom I glanced down the hall to see her already dressed and making her bed. I took a few minutes to get my stuff done and by the time I got to her room, she had her teeth and hair brushed and was on her way downstairs, ready to go. Rian took a little more effort but was excited to get up and going once she realized why I was trying so diligently to get her out of bed. It was actually Lucy sniffing and licking her face that finally did the trick!


Rian was a little nervous on the drive but that all went away as soon as we got to her classroom and she saw some of her old friends. They both have wonderful teachers and I am excited for them and their upcoming year.

I even had time to put together little treats for them to give to their teachers. I know, I'm a dork. But I thought they turned out very cute!

Summer comes to an end...

I was thinking about this post and became really mad at myself. I was so bad at keeping my camera handy this summer and therefore missed so many opportunities at the perfect shot. We did lots of fun things over the past few weeks to keep ourselves busy. Unfortunately you'll just have to take my word for it, because I don't have any proof in the way of pictures!

Some of our favorite activities...

Trips to the mall to see the dogs and eat ice cream

Swimming at Lifetime

Swimming at grandma and papa C's house

Weekly movies with cousins and friends

Playdates with cousins and friends

The kids favorite thing to do at home is rearrange my furniture to create forts. I allowed this one to stay up when the kids went to bed so they could play in it the following morning. In the meantime, it made a cozy little bed for Lucy!
Lots of tv watching! There's only so much else you can do when its 115 out!

Rian came into our room late one night and simply said "Daddy, can you please take me out on a date?" How could he resist? That weekend, the three of them headed out for a night on the town. They went to dinner and saw G-Force in 3D.

Now, I wasn't sure this was actually possible... but it seems we FINALLY wore Jack out!