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!

Cross Country

Lizzy joined the Cross Country team again this year.  She has discovered that running is really something that comes naturally to her and she really does enjoy it.  She made so many strides this year and really improved as the year went on.  She had some up and downs over the season and at times frustrated me because she would admit that she wasn't trying her hardest.  But in the Finals she got her PR of 9;34 and finished 8th overall out of 10 schools.  I was so proud of her in that race because I could tell that she really tried her very hardest and that is the most important thing in my opinion.  I don't care if she isn't the very best as long as she gives her best.  I really am looking forward to next year because I know she is going to be even better!

The Pumpkin Farm

 We took our annual trip to the Pumpkin Farm with Miss Patty's Place.  Usually I kind of dread this trip, because I am on my own, with a preschooler and usually a baby or two, and it is just exhausting lugging them all around.  The year Annie was a baby I forgot my stroller and it was a little bit of a nightmare trying to deal with everything and keep everyone happy and lug them all and our stuff the whole time.  This year was totally different!  For the first time I actually had a great time!  Clara was big enough to do all the stuff that Annie could and we seriously had such a blast!  Clara decided that she was as big as all the preschoolers and she had to sit up with them while they dang their songs and participate as well. It was awesome!  She is getting so big and so fun.  I am really enjoying seeing them have more independence and having us all enjoy stuff more. I am loving being a mom of older children!  Its the best!

 Annie and her friends.  They have a smaller class this year and it has been really fun to have some really close frineds for Annie.

 I just cant get over how big this little lady is!  She is just so fun to take places, because she is so easy and happy to be there!

                                                      They had fun on the hayride.

                                                           And in the cornmaze

                                                             My big girl Annie

Probably their favorite thing to do was to pick out a pumpkin to take home.  They loved the little pumpkins. It was such a fun day with my little gals!