Happy Birthday Addie!

I had this whole other thing typed out yesterday, but of course it didn't save/post. Addie has been driving us all near crazy over her birthday! She has been sooo excited for weeks! She woke up at 5 AM and could hardly contain herself until Derek got home from his paper route so she could FINALLY open all of her presents. Her teacher called me 2 weeks ago to make sure that in fact I was bringing a treat to her class on Addie's birthday. We love Addie's enthusiasm. There certainly are no dull moments when she is around. I honestly can not believe how quickly each of my children are growing up! I can't believe that Addie is 8 already. She'll be baptized next month! She started going to Activity Days this month, which she thinks is about the coolest thing ever! I am a mean mom and don't have friend birthday parties for my children. I do however let them have one when they turn 8. Addie so excited for that. I am doing that Friday after school. I am not a very creative party planner, so we are doing some crafty things (donated by grandma) and making gingerbread houses. I was trying to keep things simple and not very expensive, but I just don't think you can do a birthday party under $75 dollars. I'm avoiding mopping my floor, and doing much cleaning until after her party. I know my kitchen will soon be covered with powdered sugar, sticky candies, and who knows what else! It should be an adventure! Anyhow...Happy Birthday my big 8 year old Addie! We love you!

Here's a few pictures of her birthday party. (I barely made it....)

addie

10-31-09 Halloween By:Addie
Today is Halloween!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m going to get lots of candy!!!
I hope I get the candy I like best witch are kit-kats crunches and
reese’s peanut butter cups. This type of candy makes my mouth
water because they are so good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



(Addie loves to write stories. This morning she discovered we had microsoft word on our computer and this is the story that she wrote. She makes us laugh..)

halloween parties...

One of my friends had a halloween party on October 24th....it was a lot of fun, I just can't believe these pictures were taken less than a week ago. No coats...leaves still on trees....grass is green...now it's all white.....! Trick or treating ought to be fun............yeah right!

Snow Day Times Two!

We are having some huge snowfalls here in Colorado! We've got about 18 or so inches of snow as of right now and it's still snowing! The kids have been out of school for 2 days. Yesterday we made cookies, soup & bread. We stayed all cozy and warm and watched movies too. Today I just couldn't convince them to stay inside!

Chandler turned 10!

I still can't believe I have a 10 year old! This summer we did the summer reading program and got free kids meals at CiCi's. For those of you who don't know it's an all you can eat pizza/pasta/salad buffet. If you know me, I HATE buffets. Just thinking about who touched what, or the last time people washed their hands....gross....ward potlucks....yuck, yuck....I have to stop thinking about it. Anyhow we took the kids earlier in the summer to use their coupons and they thought this place was "IT". Chandler and Addie both decided right then and there this is where they wanted to eat on their birthday's. So, I put on a brave face and we took them again for Chander's birthday dinner. Chandler was determined to eat 10 plateful's of food. I was getting worried he would make himself sick, so we counted his fork and cup to total 10! He surprises me on how much food he can eat! And then 5 minutes later being hungry again. I don't get it!! So...here's a few pictures of the kids at CiCi's.

Our Latest

This was taken a couple of days after school started. If you look closely at Brinley's nose it's all skinned up. She fell and "rug burned" the end of her nose. It looked so awful!!

Proof that sometimes he will practice his piano!

Addie after her 1st day of 2nd grade. She did great! AND had a great day! Thank goodness!

I can't believe I have a 2nd grader and a 4th grader.....

Brinley on her way to try to find someway to stow away on the bus too!

Chandler at the end of his first day of 4th grade.

Chandler, Addie & Sydnee (girl I watch) at the end of their 1st day of school!

If you look closely you can see Addie lined up ready to get off of the bus on her 1st day of 2nd grade!

Lined up ready to get on the bus for their 1st of school! Addie was very nervous! Chandler thinking he's so grown up!

Brinley, Addie & Chandler ready for their 1st day of school. (Not Brinley yet, she just wants to grow up way too fast!)

Let's see, where to begin.....well school started for Chandler and Addie. They are both thrilled to be back to school! Addie loves her teacher this year and is FINALLY excited to go to school each day. Thank goodness... I don't think I could put up with another year of tears everyday!

Piano lessons started again with a new teacher. Our previous teacher moved to Oklahoma and now her daughter has taken over for her. She is a college age girl and so far is doing great! The kids seem to like her and the treats she hands out at the end of her lessons.....

Soccer season has also started. I think we are officially an over the top soccer family. Derek plays, Chandler and Addie play, Derek coaches and he referees. It is keeping our evenings and Saturdays very, very busy! Brinley wants to play too, so when the kids put on their soccer gear she insists on having her cleats on as well. I just couldn't bring myself to add one more game to our Saturdays just yet. Derek is coaching Addie's team this year. He has a team of nearly all girls with only 2 boys. A couple of the girls are in our ward so it makes it fun for Addie. The nice thing about Addie's age group is the games are usually around the same time and always at the same place. She's a good little player and not afraid to get her petite little self in the thick of it all. Derek is proud that she can knock over other players twice her size....Chandler is on the traveling team now. So I will be taking him to most of his games by myself. I get to venture further into eastern Colorado to teeny tiny towns and hopefully won't get myself too lost. I figure as long as I have cell phone coverage we'll be in good shape! Chandler is a great player, not nearly as aggressive as Addie, but he can run fast and is great at passing. Derek is playing on and adult men's indoor league in Ft. Collins. His games are usually Monday nights around 8:30, so we haven't been to any yet this season. Now that school has started the kids are usually wiped out by 7:30ish. I am assuming he's doing great. He comes home happy and tired.

Chandler is involved this year in some new activites. He decided to run for student council and was elected. He has student council meetings every Monday before school. Luckily a bunch of other kids in our ward and neighborhood were elected as well. So we have quite the carpool going. I think I'll only have to drive every other month. Another new thing he is starting is band. In 4th grade the kids can start playing instruments. They are bused to another elementary school in our area after school and get to do that. He has been excited about this all summer. Last week we went and tried out some instruments and he has decided to play the trumpet. I smiled and secretly thought ohh...I am going to need some serious ear plugs! I keep teasing him he's going to have to practice in the garage.....although that may become reality once we get the instrument later this week. He also celebrated his 10th birthday on the 1st. I can't believe I have a 10 year old kid. My how time flies! He's turning into quite the young man. I am amazed daily by what he knows and how well he can handle himself. He's very patient and mild mannered. He's a great kid and I feel blessed to be his mom!

Brinley is home with me. She is lonely without Addie and Chandler. She asks everyday about them and then asks "Where we going, Mom?" and usually follows up with "What friends are coming?" She then is very disappointed to find it is usually just me.

Derek also started working from home. Most days it's nice to have him home, but I miss having my own space. We are adjusting to being around eachother so much. I am trying to not get in his way or give him a hard time about all the soccer games that he watches while he works. Overall things are going well. We've certainly kicked up our schedules. Some days I feel like all I do is run up and down Highway 60, but I suppose this is what life is all about....:)

2 days until school starts.....

I can't believe school starts in 2 days! It is so bittersweet for me. I hate the thought of them being another grade older officially and just growing up so stinking fast! However, it will be nice to go the grocery store with only 1 child instead of 3. It sure makes things simplier that way. I think in some ways I do crave "routine." I always look forward to having no set schedule but, then having routine helps me structure my time better. I tend to procrastinate way too much.
Addie had a rough year last year with her 1st grade teacher. She was a great teacher, but not always very nice. So she has had anxiety all summer long about having to return to school. We met her teacher (which I already knew since Chandler had her for 2nd grade too) and I did explain the issues we had last year. She is such a great teacher--she said she would go out of her way to help relieve Addie of her fears. Hopefully it will all work out and Addie will have a better year this time around! Chandler's teacher seems awesome too. I think he will have another great year!

What we've been doing since I last posted is lots of swimming, Nana, Papa & Uncle Zak came for a visit, riding bikes, swimming, playing with friends and visiting Grandma.

I talked Derek into taking today off of work so we could do some fun things with the kids as a "so long to summer" type thing. He's been busy, busy with work so we haven't done a whole lot with him. One of Addie's favorite places to eat is at Qdoba for breakfast....so we got up early and took the kids to breakfast. The best thing about that is I didn't have a dirty kitchen to clean up! Then we went to Fort Collins to use our free miniture golf passes we got for completing the summer reading programs. We went to Fort Fun. We let the kids minature golf, even Brinley. She made us laugh because she kept getting into the water and stealing everyone's balls. Watchout if you were near her when she was hitting. Whoa!! Derek took Addie on the go-carts and Chandler is finally old enough that he got to try them out all by himself today. He was soooo proud! He went super slow around the track and kept getting hit by all of the older kids out on the track, but he loved it. He can't wait to go back and do it again! That boy loves cars and has since he was 6 months old. I hope that never changes! Derek also took Brinley down one of those super high 20 foot slides. The first time she had a look of fear on her face and then she broke into a huge grin and said Again, Daddy, again! So he took her one more time she screamed in laughter the whole way down. Chandler and Addie did it too and they said it was "Totally Awesome!!"

It was a fun day. I know I'll miss the laziness of summer...hopefully this year is a great one for us all!