Random things

Clara came down with the absolute worst case of croup that I have ever seen in a kid.  It was so scary, I was so worried all night for tow nights that she was going to stop breathing because she sounded so bad.  So i took her into the doctor and they gave her a breathing treatment. I guess it goes to show how lucky I have been with healthy kids because here she is my sixth and this was the very first breathing treatment we have had to do.  Luckily a couple days later and she was all better. 

 Russ got to bring home his school mascot owl.  He was really excited about it although you can't tell from these pictures. Haha!

I love these three!  Its so weird that for a while I thought we might only have three kids and then along these three came. They certainly have made my life a lot harder, but so much better too!  i love them so much and I cant even imagine what it would be like without them!

All About Lizzy- 13 years

My little Lizzy girl is 13!  Oh how fast time goes by.  She was just 2 years old wasn't she?  She has grown up in so many ways, but is still the Mae cute smiley girl that she has always been.  I know I say this all the time but I really admire Lizzy and her attitude.  She just rarely has a bad day.  She is just always so positive and you cant not want to be around someone like that!  I swear she always has a smile on her face and I don't know if I have ever met anyone who wants to help people as much as she does. 

It's hard to believe that she is a teenager. So many people talk about the attitude and problems they have with their kids this age and it just isn't the case with Lizzy.  She just always wants to be good and kind and helpful.  Lizzy has really grown so far this year in school. She joined leadership and I just love to see her helping others and taking that leadership role. Lizzy is one of those people that does everything and wants to do everything. She just loves being a part of things. 

Lizzy is still my eater and I love how she has a hallow leg.  She is never picky about what I feed her and loves everything and eats EVERYTHING! Its fun too because she and I have very similar tastes so I can find something I really like and know she will really like it too. 

Lizzy has really taken off this year with her running.  It's fun to see her do something that she really enjoys and also that she is really good at too.  Its fun too because she sometimes goes running with me, and although I am not nearly as good as she is, it's really fun to share it with her. 

Lizzy tried out for the play this year and she didn't get a good part, even though she deserved one.  She decided to stick it out and still be a part of the play anyway. I am so proud of her attitude. 

I love getting to talk to her and laugh with her and just have a good friend. She is always so kind and helpful to me and she really tries her hardest to make my life easier. I really do not know what I would do without her.  She can take over for me when I am feeling overwhelmed with all this craziness. Unfortunately the kids think she is really bossy, and she can be, but she is ultimately just trying to make my life easier.  I love her so much and I am so glad she is my first born because she was supposed to be. 

 I know I say it a lot, but I really love this big kid thing.  They are just so much fun! 

Halloween Festivities

The kids had Halloween off of school this year which was kind of a fun thing. We had fun reading some scary stories and then I made a fun Halloween lunch with mummy dogs. 

 

 I seem to drop the ball every year on carving pumpkins. I always forget to buy any because I always think, "Oh there is time" and then I realize that we need some and there are none left at the store.  This year that happened again. Luckily we found out that RC Willey had some they were giving away for free so Kevin took the kids one night and got them. Unfortunately they were pretty small so we couldn't really carve much, but there's always next year.  Haha!

 Clara had fun digging the guts out of her little one that she got from Annies field trip.

 For some reason Russell felt like he had to carve his many days before.  He had one of his sisters help him and he did it without even asking.  I know crazy, a kid not asking? Who has heard of that before. He carved the LA for Dodgers, but it ended up being a little bit shrunken by the time we got to Halloween.

 We even saved some of the seeds and I toasted them this year.  The kids have always been begging to do that.

 It was really weird this year because it was the first year that Lizzy didn't join us and she went with her friends. So I just had the five little trick-or-treaters. Kevin stayed back to watch the Dodger game because it was game 6 of the World Series and an elimination game for the Dodgers. I knew I couldn't ask him to miss that so I took one for the team and took the kids out.  We ended up having a blast!  It was so fun to have finally reached a point when I didn't have a baby or toddler that was crying and tired and just plain hard to take around.  Clara was the cutest and had the best time and walked herself the whole time. I only had to carry her bucket once it got heavy.  I ended up taking her back to Kevin after a while because she was ready for bed and then she came down with a fever which was so sad, but I'm glad it didn't happen until after the trick-or-treating because she was just so darn cute! 

Annie had fun going with her best friend Piper and Russell and his best friend Michael were so speedy it was hard to keep up with them!

Lizzy's 13th!

We now officially have a teenager in the house!  Our Lizzy girl turned 13!  I can't even believe it!  She is such a busy girl, involved in so many things at school that we couldn't even take her to her birthday lunch on her birthday!  We had to take her out the next week. She wanted to go to Buckhorn. She also wanted the yummy lemon raspberry coconut cake that I had made for myself on my birthday.  I didn't mind having it again, haha! 

 It was fun to take the Lizzy girl to lunch and celebrate her day!

Russells 6th Birthday

Russell is 6!  He wanted a baseball cake this year, but since I made an actual baseball last year, I decided to try for the field.  It worked out okay.  I'm not a professional, but I can hold my own.  The kids are always super impressed so I will take it. 

We had our usual family cake on Sunday and then the next Saturday we had his birthday party since it was an even year.  It comes as no surprise since I am constantly talking about it on here, but I really loathe birthday parties.  I hate throwing them, I feel like they just aren't that good and I am always really happy when the kids are on an odd year because I know they don't get a party.  I am SO bad! But this year with Russell's birthday I decided to just settle down and not get so stressed about it.  Russ wanted a lego party since he loves them, so we decided to get all the boys a small lego thing to put together as part of the party.  WE had pizza, opened presents, they made their lego car and had cake and they played. It ended up being great and really not that stressful.  I need to just do this kind of party more often. Russell loved it and it was perfect! 

 Russ was super excited because he got legos from everyone!  They are his favorite thing and he has so much fun building them! The only problem came when the big girls got overanxious about him building them and they did it for him!  So then he didn't even get to build all his presents he got!

 His friend Andrew parents got caught at a Soccer game so he got to stay with us for a while after the party so Russell put him to work helping build legos.

The party was a success and I'm sure we will be doing another lego party for him again when he turns 8. Haha!

All About Russ- 6 years

This boy!  How is he already 6 years old!  One thing that has become very apparent in this last year is that Russell loves to eat!  He has really started to get that boy appetite that makes me a little worried for when he is a teenager! He especially likes all the usual boy stuff like hot dogs and pizza and popcorn. We kid that he is like the Tasmanian Devil when he eats popcorn.  He of course loves any kinds of treats too and gets worried if we aren't having a treat after dinner.

He still really loves bears which I just love because he is our bear!  Russell has a very special relationship with  his dad and I really can understand this because it is just them with all theses girls so I am so glad that they have each other.  It has been so fun this year to have Russ start kindergarten and see how much he has blossomed and really grown up.  He got a new big boy bike for his birthday and he loves to ride it to school.  At first because it was a a bigger bike he was timid, but it didn't take him long to figure out how to maneuver it and now he does great.  Although he is still a rule follower and for that I am grateful.  I don't have to worry about him being wild and crazy when he is riding his bike home from school.

Russell loves baseball but we decided to take him our of baseball after the fall because I think he really just like the idea of baseball and not the actual playing of it and it is too much of a commitment.  We will see if in a few years he has any interest in picking it back up.  He loves the Dodgers but mostly just says that, I think because Kevin really loves them and he always wants to be just like his dad.  I'm sure when he gets a little older he will show more interest. Russ loves to build things and that's why he loves Legos so much. I love to watch him build things and he is  actually getting really good at it. He is really creative too and can come up with things on his own.  

Russ has such a tender heart and is quite emotional which I think in large part is because he has five sisters. But we wouldn't take him any other way.  We are so glad that we have the blond bear in our family and I just love this kid so much! 

Bernhard Museum

I got the chance to go with cute Janie girl on her field trip to the Bernhard Museum.  It was a lot of fun to get to dress up and go help the kids.  This time I got to help with the woodworking and it was a lot of fun.  I'm just glad it didn't turn out the way that it did when I went a few years ago with Nellie when there was an active shooter nearby and we were stuck in a small room with over 50 kids for almost two hours. Haha!

 I had made Jane a new hat and apron and myself a new hat and apron, since I'm sure I will be going on this field trip again.

Here was our whole group with the parents and the students.  We had a great time and I look forward to going a gain in a few years with Russ.

Apple Hill

We had to make our annual trip to Apple Hill.  It just isn't Fall unless we get to go up there!  We went on a Saturday, which honestly was a really bad idea.  We were planning on meeting Joe and Nicole there since they were here visiting from Utah.  The big orchard High Hill is our favorite, but it has gotten really popular and is SO crowded.  So we decided to find some new ones and we found another one that isn't as crowed and still a lot of fun.  It has the vest kettle corn and a really pretty little nature trail that the kids like to go on.  Joe was nice enough to get us some donuts from High Hill since they have the best and that way we didn't have to deal with the traffic getting in and out of there.  Then we met Joe and Nicole over at Rainbow Orchard and had some time together.  It was a really nice day! 

 When we got kettle corn, the lady was really nice and gave us a bunch of extra bags so each kid could have their own.

 The silly big girls got all the kids to do this silly pose.

 Clara needed a little help on the hike. Good thing she has the best daddy who held her hand the whole time.

 Rainbow Orchard had this fun tractor to climb on and the kids had a great time climbing around on it.

 Clara thought she was the biggest ever getting to play on it and when we were trying to take a family pciture she had to hold on to the steering wheel and you cant evne really see her in the picture.

 This was probably my favorite picture because these two are just the cutest together!  I love how they hold hands!