Smart Boy

Brig talked Jim into a nature walk tonight and they had a great time! It was starting to get dark, so Jim thought it was a good time to stop. 

Jim, "Buddy it's gonna get dark."

Brig, "It's OK, I have a light in my pocket."

Of course he did! 🤣🤣🤣 Not only is this little boy incredible at problem solving, but he's prepared too! 🤣

Silliness

Some silliness with my littles today. 

Spoiled Pooch

Another spoiled pooch moment. This little dog loves to sit on my lap, but he's picky about my position. I have to sit sideways making a perfect little nest for him or else he'll bug me until I change positions. 🤣

Youth Activities

My kids have such great leaders and friends at church! I'm so grateful for all of them! 

Piccolo

Annie is excited to play piccolo this year!

Romanian Meatball Soup

Romanian meatball soup. Yum! Everyone loved it, and the giant pot full I made didn't last long!

I randomly came across this recipe when I was looking for a new soup to try. It sure makes me miss Alexia! ❤️

Homecoming

Annie had fun this weekend. She marched in the homecoming parade, performed at the football game (choir and marching band), and ended with a game night with friends instead of the dance. They didn't want to go to the homecoming dance, but they wanted pictures, so they dressed up for a quick picture, and then changed back. 🤷‍♀️😄

Dinner Fiasco

Silly fickle kids! Dinner progression went something like this:

"Mom, what's for dinner?"

Me, "Pizza casserole."

Them, "Yum!"

Me: starts making dinner.

Them, "You're putting cauliflower in it?!"

Me, "Yep. You'll like it."

Them, "You're ruining it! We won't eat it!"

Me, "You can't even taste cauliflower."

Them, "Yes we can! It's gross!"

Me, "I guarantee I won't be sad about leftovers."

Them, "You're putting green peppers in too?! Those only go on supreme pizza! Yuck! We are NOT eating this!"

Dinner comes out of the oven and I give each kid exactly one piece of cauliflower to try. I'm hoping they will eat a little bit, but I'm also hoping for leftovers.

Them, "Yum! I want more!"

"Me too!"

"Mommy, I want this for my birthday!"

"Mom, I like it even better than smoothie!"

"What?! It's almost gone?! I want some more!"

And on and on. 🤣

*I* almost didn't get a full serving because they finished it in minutes! 🤦‍♀️ Sadly, there were no leftovers. 🤣🤷‍♀️🤣

XC Meet

It was a beautiful day for another cross country meet! We loved cheering this boy on and we even got to watch several friends run. These runners are seriously impressive!

Bikes and More

Alex built a little go-kart. The kids have been pushing it all over!

This cool kid learned to ride his bike!

We took a break one day to visit Jim at work for a car show. 

Co-op

Everyone was so excited for co-op to start again! The kids love their classes, and I enjoy teaching mine. Days 1 and 2 were a success! 🤩

New Glasses

Abby is excited about her new glasses!

Cross Country

Alex's first cross country meet! He did great! I don't understand how to read his results, but I know that his time was way lower than in practice. 🤣🤷‍♀️

Also, this was the first xc meet I've ever been to. I didn't know what to expect, but I certainly wasn't expecting so many people! It was a little tricky navigating with my youngest kids in tow. LOL!

Logan is 16!

Logan started off his 16th birthday by getting his driver's license! It's been AMAZING having another driver in the house! He's been so willing to give his siblings rides, and also to transport himself. It's been so helpful!

He also got to wear the birthday hat in seminary. 😄

We celebrated as a family the following Sunday because it was such a busy week. We sure love this kid!

Spoiled Pup

This funny little dog knows how to get what he wants. He mostly only barks inside if he wants something, usually for someone to come into his zone for attention. (He's not allowed in our front entryway and he knows it.) Well, I heard him barking inside in the middle of the night and didn't think much of it until it had gone on for over an hour. I finally went down to check on him and figured out that he wanted a blanket. Yep, he's pretty spoiled! A warm blanket totally fixed the problem. 🤣🤣🤣🤦‍♀️

This little dog loves the school year. He gets so much snuggle time while kids are working!

School, Day 2

Day 2 of our school year was actually a lot better (mostly positive). A perfect day doesn't really exist with six kids in six grade levels, so I feel pretty good about a day like this. These two boys were finishing up some chemistry and pre-algebra, and they wanted to show me how they feel about those subjects. 🤣