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Grattitude

Five things that I am grateful for at this moment in my life:

* the ability to serve my Heavenly Father

* support from a wonderful husband

* a healthy family

* the desire to do right

* fun friends

Today was a good day. I started off the day again on the beach with friends. Ellie and I walked and then enjoyed a park day with friends from church. I am so thankful for the gospel. I am truly blessed! Goodnight

Back to School

Summer is gone and school is back in....routines, lunches, homework, schedules, and deadlines are back in full swing. There are some things I miss about summer..a little more freedom to come and go.

Some cuteness that has been going on around here is Miss Elle Belle. The older kids set out their clothes the night before the first day of school with excitement. Ellie didn't want to be left out so in the morning she came into my room to wake me and ask me, "Mom, what matches with this so I can go to preschool?" She was holding a cute shirt. Ahhh, that was the cutest! I felt so bad for a moment to have to break the news that she wasn't going to be attending preschool but that we could do our own preschool at home. We went out first thing and picked out a small backpack and she also found some mini scented markers, pencils and a pencil pouch to hold it all for her to play school. It is the cutest thing to watch her go through her items and color on a jr. pad of paper that fits into her backpack. Once the older ones got home and the backpack pile was back in full swing Ellie had to find hers and put it right on top of the pile. She isn't a baby anymore....she is a big girl!! It is so fun to watch her develop and grow up. It is so nice because she loves to put her items all back into the backpack and put it away when she is done. She is not known to leave things out around here. Everything has a place and it should be put back is pretty much what she lives by.

She also loves to go through her flash cards and tell me the colors and count the items. She has a great attention span and sit and do it for awhile...(30 + minutes).

Mitch, Casey and Emily are enjoying school so far (yesterday was their 3rd day). Emily is now at school with the others all day. It is pretty nice to not have the kindergarten schedule. Those 3 hours were gobbled up so fast. I have 2 more years until we are doing that again. Mitch is in a 4th/5th combo, Casey is in 3rd grade and Emily is now in 1st. Thankfully they are having fun with each other. Casey and Emily play together at recess which I think is cute. I am so glad that they all look after each other. The first day of school Casey carried Emily's backpack and jacket down to the car for her. I just love to see my boys doing that for their sister. Mitch said today that he starts to worry a bit if he doesn't see anyone in Emily's classroom after school when he goes to pick her up. I like to hear that. He cares about her and I know that makes her feel good. :)

I have started walking/jogging with some friends at the beach in the morning after I drop off the kids at school. It is a beautiful thing. The beach is about 3.8 miles from my house and is so convenient to take the stroller and walk on the hard pack sand. The walk is 4 miles or so and then I like to do a 2 mile jog as well. I love to get out and run in the fresh air. Nothing like walking along the shore in the morning. Today we saw a family of dolphins swimming along as we walked pretty close to the shore. Very cute!!

it's late and way passed my bedtime. Ugh!!

Summer is Definitely Here.....Beach Days, Swim Lessons, Scout Camp

Summer is here and how nice it is to not have to get the kids up and ready for school every day. The best part is that I don't have to make lunches every morning. Even better than that is that Ellie is potty trained and has been for a couple of months. We are a diaper free zone!!! First time in 9 years that we aren't having to buy diapers. She is the best potty trained child ever. It took 2 days and she was doing it all by herself. And she doesn't wet the bed. Ahhhhhhh!! Potty training with Ellie has been the best and easiest experience I have ever had. She is so dang cute in her big girl underwear. She loves it!! She feels like a big girl now & is just like her sissy.

So far summer has been full of activities. Mitch and Casey were able to go to Cub Scout Day Camp for a week. They had lots of fun and especially loved the archery and BB gun shooting. I heard for about a week how they want a bb gun for Christmas. That just reassures me how boy they really are. :) Gotta love it. I found out that they are dead aim at shooting. It seems they take after their mom. :) It was a fun experience for them and Casey mentioned that he wished it went for a whole month. I'm glad Casey is so excited about Scouts.

This past week we have been over at the High School for swim lessons every day. The kids are loving it and we have one more week left. Elle Belle loves the water and seems to be showing no fear of the water. She is the one I didn't sign up for lessons this year. Next year for sure.

We have been able to share many days with our friends at the beach this summer. I love it. I have found that with 4 kids at home during the summer, the beach is our best friend. They have plenty of room to run, get dirty, throw sand balls, get wet, roll in the sand and not hurt a thing. We were able to spend last Monday night at the beach with a few other families for a bonfire. It was so great and the kids had a blast. I can't wait for the next one. It was much easier than I thought. With the kids being older, they help more with carrying all that is required. The sunny days have just been so wonderful. I can't express how thankful I am to live where I live. I don't think the weather is better anywhere else. The water could definitely get warmer up here on the central coast. Uhhhh 55 degrees just doesn't cut it. Of course, the kids still get in. i don't know how they do it. The one thing that is driving me crazy about our beach days is that the truck is just full of sand. Boogie Boards, chairs, buckets, bags and 5 people that have sand in every crevice pretty much unload it all inside the truck. Every where I touch seems to have sand. Ahhhhh!!! If it means the kids fight less, bicker less, enjoy each other more than I will deal with the sand. It has been fun to see the boys really getting out into the water this year. Casey is loving his boogie board and really getting out there to ride the waves. It's great!! Another sign that the kids are growing up.

We have plans to join with some other families tomorrow and enjoy the 4th of July.

The countdown is on....8 days until we are on a plane heading to Aloha land. The kids are excited and I am ready for a vacation. This next week will be busy around here. We have swim lessons every day, laundry to get done and packed, primary activity that I'm involved with, Sharing Time that I'm handling, and hopefully the kids will be extra helpful. I've got to get some pics on here soon. I have 800 pics on my camera. i'm so bad about loading and printing my pics. It's just another project that needs to be done when I have a free minute.

HAPPY 4TH!!!!

Feeling A Bit Sluggish Today

Just a short post to note my feelings today. I feel very sluggish and tired today. I am going to try and take a walk with Ellie to spark any energy that may be in me. Todd and I did our workout last night and maybe I'm feeling the effects from that. I am enjoying working out together. It has been fun! I am having a hard time sticking to the way of eating the program suggests. I'm trying again today. I have to look at each new day as a chance to start again and do my very best. I'm now really trying hard to cut out the sugars.....I know again. I do better with less sugar. Especially at night while I'm sleeping. I hate to sweat so badly in the night and be miserable in wet sheets. I know it is because of the way that I eat. Why is it so hard?!!!!

Ellie just ran up to me and hugged me around the legs and kissed my leg. Does it get any better than that? I love that about her!!! She is so dang sweet and loves to be held still.

I'm hoping to get all of loads of laundry folded and put away today. It was foreign to my ears to hear Todd's mom tell me that she does 1-2 loads of laundry a week. Wow!!! I can't even imagine. I'm sure when it is like that for Todd and I that I will be wishing there were kids clothes for me to wash. I guess that is what Grandma is for. :) I better get back to work. I have one hour before Emily gets home. On your mark, get set, GO!! Let's see if I can finish it all up.

300th Post/It's Been A Good Kind of Busy Week

Last Tuesday my mom came to visit. Yeah!! It was fun having her up here. She hadn't been up since Thanksgiving so it was nice. We shopped a little, ate way too many goodies, watched boys baseball games, and she helped me with singing time in Primary. She made a valance for the girls room with pillows for their beds. She played with the kids and had Emily laughing most of the day yesterday. Emily constantly had hiccups from laughing. I love to hear her laugh. We had a surprise visit from Todd's mom and aunt on Thursday night. They came down to visit for a few days. It was nice to have so many helping hands. :) We all went to church yesterday and my mom helped me with singing time. Just another Sunday that I was wearing multiple hats!! :)

Friday, we went to Avila Barn and let the girls feed the animals and then shopped in the market and found so many good items....green grapes, blueberries, breads, fruit spreads, salsa's, strawberries, dish towels, fudge, watermelon, fresh basil, etc. It is so fun in there. Lots of cookbooks, baked items and cutsie decorations too.

Saturday we watched the boys play baseball and have fun on the field. That night my mom and I worked on singing time for Primary the next morning. We all went to church together and it was really nice. I loved that there was someone to watch the kids while I went to my meeting. It is really great to have family around. Grandma Carol and Nancy left last night after Todd made a great batch of Chicken Chili for dinner. He did a great job and we loved every bite. :)

This morning, I changed sheets and took the girls comforters to the laundromat. My mom and I headed to Wal-Mart for a few items and then came back to hang the valance. Cute Mom!!!! She did a great job and it looks so cute in there. The girls love it! I took Emily to the dentist for a cleaning today and all checked out just great. That was music to my hears. Ellie just loved the dentist and can't wait until it is her turn. She wants her teeth cleaned too.

This post is so jumbled but that is about how I feel today. I need to finish up the clothes and vacumming. I'm pretty much falling asleep right now on the computer. I better get my buns off of the chair and get them moving before I face plant onto the keyboard. I'm slepy today! Time to make dinner and finish u

It's Friday!!

Today we have a birthday party to go to for our neighbors babysitter. She is turning 31 I think. She has planned a party with about 10 children for her b'day. She is so cute and so fun. Her theme is a garden party so the kids are going to plant their own plants in pots. She is making potstickers and I am making pb&j sandwiches for 15. It should be fun for everyone.

Spring break is coming to a close. It was a hard week for me. I love the freedom to come and go and not have to worry about schedules but I think I do better on a schedule. When I am forced to get up early, I do more and get going sooner. It has been nice to sleep in this week since I have been doing this new workout regimen...P90X. I should say both Todd and I are doing it. I think he has lost a couple of pounds this week. He really changed up his eating. He is doing really well! Me on the other hand, the scale hasn't changed. Oh well, I want to see inches change the most. I love the program and look forward to a new workout each day. I did Yoga last night for 1.5 hours. Oh boy, that is almost too slow for me. It is much harder than I ever imagined. All of the balancing is tough. The stretching is incredible though.

Yesterday was eventful....Ellie got hit in the head with a bat. It just about killed me. I can't stand to have those things happen. Emily was up to bat and Ellie came up too close. What kills me is that the boys who were pitching to her and could see Ellie getting closer didn't stop the game and move her. It got her right behind her ear. It just split the skin barely. The blood pretty much just stayed on the cut. She was fine thankfully and this morning is telling me that her owie is all better and not hurting. She then was trying to be so helpful and help me with laundry. She had me follow her to the washer so that she could show me how she helped. There was a big pile of the powder on the ground so I just knew what I was going to find. She went right to the dryer and opened the door..."see Mommy" She had put cupfuls of powder all over the clean, dry clothes. It was too cute. She had the right idea. How cute is that. All I could say was oh, thank you Ellie. Todd later told her to have Mommy help her when she wants to do laundry. :)

I'm off to get ready and make a boat load of sandwiches for the party this morning.