In My Mom's Words

I just copied and pasted my mom's post about the last part of their sleepover.  She's awesome!

Tangled Sleepover Part Deux

After returning from Rupes, we set up sleeping bags in the family room downstairs and prepared to watch my personal favorite animated movie of all time ("Tangled", of course) from start to finish! Grandpa and I laughed so hard at Rupe's because the girls were quoting lines from it with accents and all, especially Chloe, who brought back memories of her Mom doing the same! I'm sure all that knew her in high school and beyond remember that she was a master at popping off movie lines one after another and with the most perfect accents and inflections! Anyway, it was hilarious listening to Chloe do it with the same polish! It was a fun moment with the girls which made it obvious that this movie holds a special place in all of their hearts! Grandpa had meetings so the girls and I enjoyed every minute of the movie with only 1 break in the middle to put together our traditional "fruit kabobs" for snack time! We also finished tying the quilt we started last Thanksgiving to take to the Bingham Crisis Center (Women's Shelter in Blackfoot) See pics below! All five girls were amazing little square knot tie-ers and all stuck with it until it was finished!

After the movie we came upstairs and watched videos from China because the girls were missing their Rose cousins who live in Shenzen, China right now! Their favorite is of Luke, Emma, and Gavin riding these motorized animals around a big plaza area! I am not kidding, we all laughed so hard we about fell on the floor! Grandpa had returned about then and had to come and see what all the commotion was about! And he, too, joined in the raucousness! Want to join in the laughter...see the following link: You'll wonder for awhile what is so funny, but don't give up! Keep watching! Listening to Matt and Sara is half the fun but then watch Gavin as he really gets confident! Yes, yes, you have to watch to the end! http://www.onetruemedia.com/share_view_player?p=ed0d98044a5952a03121e9. The girls wanted to watch it over and over...I am serious! Then they requested to watch all of the Allen Family Christmas Videos of the last three years which we also LOVED and watched twice each! Here is the link to those:  http://allenfamilyupdate.blogspot.com/search/label/Christmas%20Movie.  I predict all of the Allen kids will have many acting opportunities in this life...what do you think?  Anyway, just a fun and laughter-filled time with our little girls staying up waaaayyyyyyy late!  However, once it was time for bed, we read scriptures with Grandpa and had family prayer and hit the hay! All were asleep within about 1/2 hour which I thought was pretty miraculous!

The next morning we awakened and while I fixed breakfast Kate and Morgan played Legos completing their work of art shown below, while Jordyn, Chloe, and Lily danced and played the piano. Chloe turned on the Demo on my electronic piano and proceeded to look like she was playing every note while the other two showed their stuff! Then they all helped to set the table for our traditional manners breakfast at which time we use the chargers, china, cloth napkins, napkin rings, etc. and TRY to use our best table manners. It doesn't always work, (you know, the occasional toots and burps followed by laughter and then, the "okay, that wasn't mannerly...excuse me!") but we have a good time trying! We had crepes this year with fresh strawberries and whipped cream, syrup, jam, powdered sugar, etc. as well as sausage, bacon, juice and chocolate milk. Yum, yum!!!! 

Later that morning after cleaning up and getting ready for the day, they all wanted to play outside! They asked me for rakes and told me not to look outside while they did something! Jordyn wanted her own separate projects to do as there were not enough rakes and she proceeded to clean out our outdoor toybox (no minor feat!), clean up the sandpile and sweep the porch. I was in the house doing a few things when I heard singing from the back yard and just couldn't help myself! I had to videotape out the window of my bedroom and out the backdoor. I'll include a video if I can make One True Media work. It was too cute not to share, so wish me luck! They all "surprised" me with raking and filling two boxes which they decorated themselves with raked-up blossoms that have fallen from our Little Leaf Linden tree...the favorite climbing tree in the back-yard! Such sweet little people...they never cease to amaze me with their goodness!  Thanks girls for doing such sweet and helpful things for Grandma! We then had lunch and took the finished quilt down to the women's shelter where they welcomed us with open arms and thanked the girls for all their hard work! You will make a sad child's day much happier through your unselfishness! Thanks, Julie, for driving all the way to Blackfoot to pick up your girls, and to Cindy and Lori for the driving they did as well to allow this to happen. You are all great parents and can know that you are raising very find young ladies! Thanks again for sharing them with us!

 Forgot to mention a little "makeover" party...just these two!

 Lovin' the movie!

 Use your creativity!

 Yummy fruit kabobs!

 You can't not dance to the music at the end of Tangled!

 boogyin' to the music!

 My princesses at our manners breakfast!

 A lego house with huge add-on garage, etc.! This photo does not do justice!

 It will never look this neat again! Thanks, Jords

 Love you, Grandma! Love you, too, girls!

 Picking vegetables from the garden

 A little swim fun

With the staff at the Women's Shelter who were so thrilled with their sweet donation!

Whew!

I'm not done yet -- I still have the Allen family reunion and the bits and pieces of posts and pictures from my phone camera -- but still!  What a relief to have this much done!  Oh, and I need to get a conversations post together, too.  My phone's voice recorder is full, so I'm missing a million funny things the kids are saying because I can't record them.  Got to make that happen soon!

For tonight, though, good night!

Farley Family Fun

We hopped in the motor home last weekend and spent the night in Orem with our dear friends, Kyle & Angie Farley and their children Gabe, Sammie, and Christian.  It was so much fun.  Seriously, how did we get so blessed in the friends department???!!!!

We started the afternoon with a delicious lunch of sandwiches and pasta salad and watermelon in 7-up.  The kids played in the water in the backyard while Angie & I visited with each other and Kyle & Stanton visited Kyle's dental office.  After the guys got home, we got the kids dressed again and headed to Farr's Fresh for ice cream.  Oooohhhh!!!!  They had the exact same Dole Whip ice cream you get at the Dole Plantation in Hawaii.  It was amazing and so unexpected to find such a treat on the mainland.  I enjoyed every spoonful and was seriously tempted to get more.  I'm hoping for a Farr's Fresh here in Cache Valley one of these days.

After ice cream, we drove over then walked to Bridal Veil Falls.  It has been a really wet year in Utah and the falls were gorgeous!  Everybody got their toes wet and Brigham dropped his hat in.  Stanton had to climb over a railing on the other side of the walkway to get it, but he got it!  Brigham was really relieved, but still put out because now his hat was soaking wet!  Once he realized it would keep his head cooler that way, though, he was a happy guy again. 
After the Falls, we went back to Kyle and Angie's home, hung out and got dinner ready for the kids.  Then we got all dressed up and went out to dinner at Gloria's Little Italy.  YUM!  That is a great restaurant.  And the gelato for dessert?  Heaven.  In fact, having ice cream two different times in one day is surely what heaven is all about, right?  I think so.
After dinner, we ran over to the Marriott where the LDS Academy of Dentists was having their convention.  Neither Stanton nor Kyle has become a member of this particular academy because, well, pretty much every dentist in Utah is LDS, so there's not really a need for the official association...BUT, we were so happy that the convention brought several of our dental friends who are outside of Utah to one location.  We visited for a good hour with Drew & Wendy Kelson (Drew was Stanton's roommate in dental school) and Tim & Caroline Owens (Tim & Caroline were some of our first and dearest friends from Buffalo - they were in school while Stanton was in his residency).  I know Kyle, Angie, and Stanton visited with some other friends, but I don't know who they were.  Anyway, that was a fun stop over and a treat to see some old friends.

We got home, found the babysitters (mostly) unscathed, and got the kids all to bed.  After a great night's sleep, we got up, had a delicious breakfast of French Toast and strawberries and then headed home.  What a great trip.  We love you, Farleys!  Let's do this again soon.

Happy Birthday, Dear Cannon!!!

I know we all say it, but HOW ON EARTH DID MY BABY GET TO BE 3?????!!!!!!

Cannon brings so much joy and laughter to our family.

We had a fun day celebrating this little man.  Because I'm so on top of things, he got to spend an hour or two with Grandma Judy while I took the other 3 kids shopping for him.  Not just for their presents to him, but for ours and Dave & Judy's too!  Yeah, I'm prepared like that.  Ha!
After our present shopping, we picked Cannon back up, grabbed a bucket of KFC, and headed to the splash pad here in town.

We met some friends, but ended up being there by ourselves most of the time since we were running so late after doing our shopping.  It was still a lot of fun, though, and Cannon got his fill of playgrounds and water for the day.

We grabbed Gnomeo & Juliet on Redbox and the kids watched that all together at home while I got busy on Cannon's birthday cake.  He asked for a Lightning McQueen & Finn McMissile cake, so that's what he got!  I was proud of myself for getting it done in the afternoon.  :)  I can't remember what he asked for for his birthday dinner and that makes me sad!

Grandma and Grandpa Rose weren't able to make it down (which I know was KILLING my mom), but Grandma Judy & Grandpa David joined us for presents and cake & ice cream.  Cannon got a giant coloring book  and candy from Brigham, Cars Memory from Lily (which got destroyed two days later...ggrrrrrrr), and an Elmo Jack in the Box from Chloe.  They each spent their own money on the gifts and were really generous!  It was fun to see them so sweet and thoughtful toward their little brother.  Dave & Judy got him the jet from Cars 2 (Siddely is his name, I think?) and some Cars guys.  We got him a Lego Duplo set that's Cars themed.  He was in Lightning McQueen heaven!
(We saw my mom a week later and she and Grandpa Rose got him a really cute bear chair and sleeping bag - he loves them!).

We ended the night with cake and ice cream, which was yummy.  I love those puffy cheeks blowing out his candles!!!

Cannon's birthday present from G&G Rose

Cannon really does bring so much joy to our home.  He is 100% confident in who he is and his standing as everyone's favorite.  That confidence makes him funny, frustrating, and full of life.  We love this guy!

A few favorites off the top of my head.
Favorite Color:  Green
Favorite Movie:  Cars 2, anything the kids are watching, Toy Story, Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger, and all the Disney channel shows.
Favorite Food:  He eats everything.
Favorite Song:  Go Go Go Joseph


Cannon, you fill my heart with joy.  We love you so much!

Johnson Family Reunion

We had a wonderful family reunion with my Grandma J and all of her posterity at the beginning of August.  It was such a treat to reconnect with so many of my cousins!  Too many were unable to be there and I missed seeing them, but I'm sure glad I got to be with the ones who were there.

My folks and Grandma J arrived in Cache Valley early in the morning on the Saturday and we all headed down together in the motor home.  That was a fun way to travel!  Both grandmas gave the kids tons of attention, which they soaked up like sponges.

We arrived early and had some time to play on the playground and visit with Uncle Craig, who had also gotten there early.

My Grandma and her 3 sons - clockwise from top right:  Mike, Deron, and Craig.

Uncle Mike had some really fun games for us all to play, including one where about 12 of us stood together on a 3'x3' wood platform and this crazy one with the stretchy sheet thing.  That one required concentration or the participants would get whacked in the head.
My cousin Erika had fun games for the kids, too.  One of my favorites was her lining them up by height, then age, then birth months, etc.  It was fun to see the kids getting to know each other.

After games, we had a delicious lunch (they ordered it from a local grocery store and we just paid for our family -- such a convenient way to feed so many people!).  During/after lunch, we had a little program.  Uncle Mike gave a little tribute to Grandma (during this, it was discovered that I had a huge smear of brownie on my bum....Cindy had to take me off by the bathrooms and clean my bum...haha!).  She got me cleaned up just in time for her, myself, and Lori to go up and sing "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" and "Sisters."  We hadn't practiced a ton and that combined with the brownie fiasco had us giggling like we used to when we all lived at home together.  It was a lot of fun, though, and I think we did at least a passable job.  After our number, Uncle Craig and Aunt Lenora (and Troy for one number, too) sang and played guitar and violin.  They have a real band and can I just say how enjoyable it was to listen to professionals?!  They were awesome.

We had plenty of time to visit and reconnect with each other, which is the whole point of a reunion, right?!  It was awesome.  Top left:  Craig & Lenora, top right: Quinn & Grandma (Quinn was one of my closest and fave cousins growing up), bottom right: Anna (Kyle's girlfriend), Kyle, and Chanin, bottom middle: Jordyn and my dad, bottom left:  Kyle & Grandma (I spent SOOO much time with Kyle and Collin growing up.  I love those boys!  I missed Collin, who wasn't there, but it was great to see Kyle again).
Also, Brigham now pretty much thinks Quinn hung the moon because he has a t-shirt of Darth Vader pruning a Death Star bonsai tree and because he WRITES COMIC BOOKS...real ones.  Yeah, he's a rock star at our house now.  :)

And we took time for some official pictures, too.

Grandma in the middle with everyone in attendance.  I won't name everyone, but just want to note how each of the children in represented.
*Mike was there.
*Mom was there.
*Craig was there.
*Jill (who passed away 20+ years ago from MS) was represented by the father of her children, Jay & his wife, Fran.
*Deron was there.

 Mike, Meg and family.  (My cousins Chanin, Derek, Korby, Erika, and Brandon were all there).

Wendy, Greg and family.  (Lori, Cindy, and I were there - Matt & family are in China).

Craig, Lenora and family (Ben, Quinn, and Troy were there.  We were missing Todd, Megan, and Kristen, as well as the Barlows: Jimmy, Faun, Michone, and Matthew).

____Here is where a picture of Jill with her children would be.  I miss Jill so much!  We missed having Ian, Mara, Michael, and Sean with us at the reunion.  Thank you, Jay & Fran, for coming and being part of the day.  And Lynn, Jill's husband when she passed away, I know you have no idea about this blog, but I missed you, too!  I hope to see you and your new wife one of these days._____

Deron, Kim and family.  (Kyle was there.  We were missing Collin).

Grandma Virginia Johnson and her 4 living children: Deron, Mike, Wendy, & Craig.  (Missing:  Baby Girl Johnson and Jill and, of course, Grandpa J.  How we love and miss him).

Grandma with living children and their spouses.

This was a truly wonderful day.  Our summer has been full of family and friends and my heart is full to overflowing at the thought of how blessed we are.
Thank you, Grandma Johnson, for keeping us all together!  We love you!

(And Johnson cousins, if you're reading this and I've left any cousins out...please help me!  It's late and I might have made mistakes!).

Vegas with the Westfalls!

Stanton and I love to travel...have you noticed that yet? haha.  We're lucky that we can do it and are glad to have a few friends who love it as much as we do.  Enter:  Brian and Linda Westfall.  Can I tell you how much I love these two people?  A lot.  They've become some of our dearest friends over the last few years and we count ourselves very lucky to know them so well and have the friendship we do.

Anyway, we took a quick weekend trip to Vegas with them in July.  It was a blast.  I know not everyone loves Vegas, but it is so dang fun for a weekend.  Beautiful hotels, great food, amazing shows, close by.  I love it.

 We flew in on Thursday afternoon, picked up our rental car, and drove out to Hoover Dam. 

It was INCREDIBLE!  We took the short tour and then walked over the new bypass bridge.  It provided an amazing view -- strangely, though, in a car, you have NO idea that you're passing over Hoover Dam....you can't see it at all.  The foot bridge, though, was spectacular.

We stayed at Mandalay Bay and enjoyed the pool Friday morning.  It was SO HOT, though, that the sand at the beach part of the pool was literally burning the bottoms of our feet.  We didn't last too long.
Walking around was a lot of fun.  I always enjoy seeing the hotels -- the lobbies are incredibly beautiful.  And there isn't a funner place to watch people than Las Vegas.  Ha!

We ate great food (our favorite that the Westfalls introduced us to on our last trip is La Salsa, for fish tacos and tortilla chips).  We went to 2 shows - O by Cirque de Soleil and David Copperfield the following day.  O was O-mazing.  I want to go back and see it again.  It boggles my mind that there are people who have dedicated that much of their life (and body) to their craft.  The acrobatics and stunts were unbelievable.  The stage was completely mind-blowing.  It was amazing.  Seriously.
Magic isn't really my thing, so David Copperfield was just 'eh' for me.  He did do some pretty incredible illusions, though, I have to admit.

The trip was a blast.  A fun short weekend with great friends.  We got back on Sunday morning just about a half hour before church.  The kids had prepared a surprise party (with lots of help from Deyette!) for Stanton (he had his 36th birthday the Saturday we were there), so we sang and looked at their gifts and drawings, changed and got to church on time!  My kind of vacation!

Thanks, Deyette, for taking such great care of the kiddos!  And thanks, Brian and Linda, for being such great friends!

Visit from Melissa & crew

I got a real treat when Melissa and her brood visited us while home from the Philippines.  Her oldest boy, Holden, had some dental work he needed to have done, so they made their way to Logan and we got some bonus time together.  Love that.

We went to Chick-Fil-A after Holden finished up (Melissa and Finn came and hung out at our house during the dental visit - Finn liked Charlie a lot!) and got some extra visiting in.  Love you Melissa!



Not long after (a week, I think?), the 3rd of our trio came down for a visit.  Alysia and 3 of her 4 came to Cache Valley for a visit!!!  It was sad we weren't able to all meet up on the same day, but I felt pretty lucky that I got time with each of them alone so close together.  I love these girls and truly treasure their friendship.
Lys, I can't find pictures -- did we forget to take any?

More Pioneer Day Celebrations!

If there's one thing we know how to do in Utah, it's celebrate our Pioneer ancestors! 

On the actual 24th, we had the parade for our little town...Chloe and Brigham both rode on the Primary float (for our ward/congregation) while Cannon and Lily opted to watch and gather candy.  The parade is always so much fun and I always get choked up seeing the Stevens family come marching along the route, dressed in their pioneer costumes, and playing their brass instruments.  They inspire me and I look forward to their entry every year. 

After the parade, we whiled away the day until about 6:30 when Dave & Judy and Jimmy & Rachel (and Shelby and Mary) came over for a barbeque.  We kept it simple: potato salad, chips, fruit, and BYOMeat.  It was so nice to be able to just hang out together.  We live a mile away from each other, but it seems like we hardly ever see one another.  I appreciate these moments. 

Judy was grandmother extraordinaire, playing games, jumping on the trampoline, sitting in the kiddie pool, you name it.

 They tried Red Rover, but that ended like it ALWAYS does -- with one of my children crying.  ha!

Ring Around the Rosey and The Hokey Pokey were big hits. 

Jimmy & Rach taught my kiddos how to throw a frisbee (thanks guys, they've been having a blast with that new skill!) as it started to get dark.  Everyone was waiting for the main event, though.....

The Westfalls joined us at dusk and the kids all thought they were hot stuff staying up when it was DARK outside.

FIREWORKS!!!!!!  Stanton caved and bought some fun, big fireworks, including one of the newly legal high flying packs.  It was quite a show when combined with the Westfall's stash, too!  Quite a show for our backyard!

What a fantastic night.  We are blessed with the best friends and family!

Hyde Park Celebration & Allen Family Reunion

 

Hyde Park 5k -- this was my first 'official' 5k ever.  It was so fun.  The course is pretty challenging - a lot of it is uphill, but it was beautiful scenery and a really fun way to start the day.  Rach and I ran a good part of it together, but split after while.  Rach came in about a minute before me.  My official time was 28:03.  I was pretty proud of myself!

The next part of the day was the annual float in the parade.  This year, Judy chose the theme, "Don't Rain on our Parade."  It was really cute and bright.  We blared "Good Day Sunshine" by the Beatles, so how could it not be wonderful??!!  The kids always love the Creamies afterward.  

Since the waterslide was such a huge hit at our Rose family party, we convinced Judy & Dave to rent it for the Allen family party, as well.  I would say it was money well spent.  We all went crazy on the thing.  Heck, even Judy joined in the fun!  Rach was brave and went down spinning sideways...I chickened out at the last second and went down frontward.  The guys were having a total blast getting huge bounces on the slide part, totally bypassing the pool, and sliding across the grass in front of the slide.  It was hilarious.  The kids all had a fantastic time and were as crazy as the adults.  We probably should have been more worried about them than we were, but they were having an awesome time.  This was definitely a highlight of the day.

It's always so much fun to spend so much time with the family.  The grandmas joined us for some of the day.  It's really unknown if they'll be with us much longer, so we cherish the moments we have with them.  And Julie & Scott and girls were especially missed this day.  I have been missing them so much lately - I wish they didn't have another year in Singapore, but darn it, they do.  We will look forward to meeting up with them in Hawaii next year where we will celebrate the 24th and then they'll be home!!  And Matt & Sara won't be too long after that, which I'm very grateful for.  The older we get, the more we appreciate the wonderful families we belong to.

What a fun way to celebrate the 24th.

Park Valley 24th

The Park Valley 24th celebration usually conflicts with Stanton's family reunion, so we have to miss it.  We got lucky this year -- they were on separate weekends.  What a treat to visit my hometown and be with my cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents!

We didn't make it out in time for the parade or program, but we got there for lunch (hamdingers, how I LOVE YOU!), the races (yeah, yeah, yeah, my kids did great, but the real news is I WON!!!!!  I won the 20+ (I think that's right) women's race and I was dang happy about it.  Seriously, there were Kunzler and Pugsley girls in that race...it was like a vindication of all my elementary school years.  Haha!), and the rodeo.  The rodeo was a lot of fun...small and fun.  And my cousin Bill's two little girls, Aubrey and Shaylee were in the Box Elder royalty this year, so they got to wear their crowns and ride in the grand entry.  Ooooh, they were so cute!

Some pictures from the day:

This is my beautiful Grandma.  This picture haunts me because I can see the light slowly burning out in her eyes.  It's been sad to see her health and her mind decline so rapidly over the last couple of years, especially lately.  I'm glad we are getting these little moments to be with her and grandpa, though.  My children are so lucky to have so many of their great-grandparents still alive and loving them. 

Cute little Rodeo Queens in the making.  And a proud daddy and grandpa, too!  My uncle Brent (dad's brother) is in the brown plaid shirt, my cousin Bill (Brent's son) is in the white shirt.  Bill was my best friend/cousin growing up.  I love that guy.

I didn't take a lot of pictures during the day, but these are from the rodeo.  The boys had a lot of fun climbing the bleachers, watching the cow riding, and playing in the dirt.

The girls had a great time, too.  They built a nest for some eggs (rocks) and decorated it beautifully. 

Bill was sweet enough to take my city slicker kids on the horse, too.  It's crazy to me that at Lily's age, I was out riding my horse, Lady, bareback for hours at a time.  I get a little sad that my children aren't having the ranch life experience like I did...but they are getting opportunities that I never had growing up simply because they live in town.  There are trade-offs no matter where you live and I know that.

It was soul-filling to be in Park Valley a couple of different times this summer (the first time was for the baby blessing of Bill's son, Wade in June or July..can't remember).  It will always be my home.  I love it there.

One Last Visit Before China

We headed up to Blackfoot for one last visit with Matt, Sara, Luke, Emma, Gavin, and Eva before they moved to China.  It was a great day and night.  We even got to go on a double date with Matt & Sara to Rupe's.  The cousins all had a great time -- it is so much fun to see them all together.  We are missing them all!

Playing Catch Up...

Oh, my.  I do not love getting behind on this blog.  Sometimes (in my worst moments), I think I'll just give it up.  But then one of the kids sits down with the blog books I've printed (it was Lily & Chloe tonight) and looks through them, laughing at the titles (one of their favorites is titled, "Back in the Saddle...The Poopy Saddle"--surprise surprise!) and reminiscing about things they'll never forget and I realize it's because of this blog that they'll have these memories.  So, even though I've been reading a ton lately (as an avoidance tactic since I'm so far behind on the blog), I'm going to take a break and get things caught up.  But first.... let me record what I've been reading because it's not very often that I go on a reading kick like I've been on lately...so, in the last 3 weeks, I've read:


Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone
Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Askaban
Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix
The Harry Potter novels are even better the second time around.  I am looking forward to starting the 6th one soon.  It was fun to revisit these after so long and after the last movie was finally made.  I have been able to pick up hints, details, and foreshadowing that I hadn't the first time...and I've been able to take my time reading them because I know the ending -- I don't feel totally compelled to get to the finish at any cost -- I can just savor the story for what it is.  I'd definitely recommend these.

The Great Gatsby (listened to this one, but that still counts) 
F. Scott Fitzgerald was a novelist I loved in high school....but guess what?  I don't think I had a clue what he was writing about back then.  Listening to this story again (and the guy who read it was phenomenal) was so gut-wrenching.  It moved me.  I loved every word of it and it stuck with my thoughts long after.


and
Matched
This is a new novel by Ally Condie.  It has a bit of a Hunger Games-type feel to it - a "utopian" society, etc.  It wasn't as well-written as I'd hoped it would be, but it is a fun story and a quick read.  I'll read the series as it unfolds for sure.

Did you see what I just did there?  I put off updating the blog with a fake post.  Haha.

I Wrote That and Then Moved on With Life...

That "Rough" post has been at the top of the blog for too long!  Life is good again, just too busy to write things down at the moment.  And the kids' funny comments are slipping through my brain, which makes me really sad.  BUT, we're living in the moment and enjoying the last little bit of summer before life changes once again.

More updates, uh, soon?

Rough...

This summer has, by and large, been absolutely wonderful.  We've had so much fun, the time has flown by, there's been pretty minimal fighting (aside from the regular tiffs here and there), there've been very few crazy meltdowns (from the kids OR me), we've had lots of adventures to keep us busy, etc.  It's really been a lot of fun.
Today, though?  Today was rough.  It started from the moment the kids woke up (I'm really not exaggerating that one) and didn't end until they were all tucked in to bed (not exaggerating that one, either).  I am beat, physically and emotionally. 
I really tried hard to keep my cool, but I had Lily in tears no fewer than 4 times today (it is NOT normal for a 6 1/2 year old girl to scribble on the kitchen floor with a pencil) and Brigham at least that many himself (NO, you canNOT watch every single LegoTV movie that On Demand offers...sorry, Buddy). 
It reminds me of the days when they were all 4 and under.  There were a lot of "these days" during "those days."
I'm grateful we're past those and that these come fairly infrequently now.  But for today, I'm beat.