Awards Day

Hooray! The school year is almost over. Only 1 day left. That of course means a few hours of awards ceremonies on Friday.


I'm listing their awards for journal puroses.

Makayla: Consistent High Classroom Performance (outstanding work thru the year)

Wyatt: PAWS Award (positive, accountable, wise choices, safe) ,Language Arts award,
Social Studies award, Consistent High Classroom Performance, and student
council participation

Mariah: Social Studies award, Consistent high classroom performance, student council
participation, PAWS and Spell Bowl competion pin

* first grade only had 2 categories. You did great Kayla!

Sometimes I wish I could read his mind

On Wednesday I made the boys some playdough to play with on yet another rainy morning. They were sitting at the counter playing contently when I walked out of the kitchen to look out the front window. When I returned maybe 3 minutes later (if that) Coleman was climbing off the counter. He had pushed up a stool, climbed up, took my curtain over the sink down and stuck it in the playdough pan that was sitting in the sink full of water. Now my question is, why in the world would a two year old look across the kitchen and think,"hmmm I wonder if I could take down that curtain and put it in the water." Really?

What a cute smile!

Kayla lost 2 teeth this week. Actually she lost 2 teeth in 3 days. I love her little smile.

Girl's Night

Last weekend was the father/son campout. They had a blast! They loved fishing together the next morning, even if I did ruin the only bite they got all morning by calling at the wrong moment. Sorry guys :)

While they were gone, we girls decided to have a girl's night. We didn't put Coleman down for a nap that day so we could put him to bed early. We had he and Madden out at 7ish. Then the fun began.

We did our nails. I let the girls pick out my colors and paint mine. I think they did a good jobThen we did facials. Each of us had a different kind. The girls loved how Mariah's peeled off. Don't we look pretty?

Then the highlight of the evening. We settled down in my bed with a big bowl of delicious double chocolate heath popcorn to watch....."Never Say Never", the Justin Bieber movie. Oh the girls loved it!
It was such a fun night. I didn't even mind Kayla's feet in my back all night. I sure love these two. I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for entrusting me with two of his special daughters. They make my life so fun. Love you girls!!

Another day, another story

Yes, I'm talking about Coleman again. Why do I keep writing about his escapades? Well, there's two reasons.One is because they take up so much of my life. The other reason is so that one day, when he's all grown and a young father and has a very mischevious little boy of his own and he comes to me complaining, I can hand him these stories and say, "Serves you right." :)

So today I made a "quick" run to Wal-mart. My goal is to always to get through the store before they throw us out. First aisle, Cole decides it's hilarious to push all the shaving cream cans down. He loved the domino affect of pushing the first row and seeing them all crash behind. Immediately in the cart for his first time out. When I finally let him out (I'm running out of room for groceries and him) he thinks it would be a great idea to use his arm to knock off all the baby clothes off the display shelves as we walk past. We wait as he picks them all up and he's back in the cart. A few short minutes later, I have to let him out. I'm literally out of room for him in the cart. As I'm picking out some yummy weight watcher bars for me he decides it would be a great time to empty a display of Nestle ice cream toppings. I really only looked away for 15-20 seconds. We wait while he puts them all back before heading to our nightmare zone, the produce section. I hate taking him into produce. Hate. It. He loves to grab the produce bags and run while they unroll behind him. Well, today we were lucky enough to have an entire roll just sitting there which he promptly knocks to the floor and kicks. The big roll very quickly starts to unrool across the floor. I chase it. Across the produce section to the check out lines. I looked awesome. I know everyone was thinking, "What a great mom." Not. After the bags were rerolled, and the bulk nuts picked up, and the green beans bagged ( I always end up buying stray green beans that he's thrown all over the floor) we successfully made it out of the store. Well, except for the 3 containers of mini oreos we somehow ended up buying at the check out line (I din't even see him put them up there).

The rest of the day went well, for Coleman. Then the evening struck. The kids were all playing outside and Coleman comes in black. Literally black. Face, hands, arms, shirt. "What could he have gotten into that was black?" I ask. Tyson takes one look and says, "your potting soil." I run outside and sure enough, he had dug up all the flowers in two of my containers. The pretty little things were all over the ground. Luckily my kids were outside so I was spared from having to repent tonight for swearing.

I'd like to say, "Let's just go to bed and he'll be better tomorrow." I know, however, that tomorrow will just bring new gray hairs and new stories. One day I'll look back on these days and miss them. One day. For now, he's just so lucky that in between his escapades he's so cute and so much fun.

Welcome summer!

This was how my kids spent the week. Nothing like a sprinkler on the tramp. Beach towels and popsicle wrappers filled my backyard every afternoon. Each one of them loves the water. They were so excited to see our neighbors get their pool ready to open this week. We are lucky enough to have neighbors who let us use their pool whenever we want. They can't wait for that first dip as soon as the water has had time to warm. I say, bring it on mother nature. I'm sooo ready for this!!!

Less yard work for us!

Much to Mariah's dismay, she learned to mow the yard yesterday. At first she thought it would be fun and was eager to learn. Once she realized what mowing the yard meant, her exctiement went out the window. Not her favorite chore. She did a great job though. Tyson and I are just excited to have someone else who can help with the mowing :)

Spring Musical

Mariah had her 4th grade spring musical this week. It was a tribute to the 50's and 60's so she had to wear a poodle skirt. She looked so cute. She did an awesome job and it was fun to watch inspite of the 84 degree temp in the gym. She's so excited to be almost done with the 4th grade and to be a 5th grader. She really wants to go to middle school. I on the other hand, am glad she still has one more year in elementary. I am not ready for her to be in middle school at all. Not one bit. I hope the next year goes slowly and she really gets to enjoy the year. Love you Rye!

Mother's Day 2011

I had an absolutely perfect mother's day. I don't think I've ever called a day perfect before, but this one really was. The day started out great just because Tyson was home. He had canceled all meetings before church and had his executive secretary only schedule absoultely needed interviews after church, so he only had one short one scheduled. Knowing this, we had planned the night before to ride to church together as a family. WOOHOO! So, at 6:30 my hubby was still home (he usually leaves at 5:45) when my sweet girls woke me up with breakfast in bed. Loved it! After breakfast we all got ready (so nice with another set of hands) and headed out to chuch. Church went great, even Coleman did well (for him) in sacrament. We waited for Tyson for a little while after church then headed home. I told Tyson that was the best gift he could have given me, going to and from church together. Such a dream of mine. When we got home I was orderd to do nothng for the rest of the day. Tyson made dinner: grilled pork chops, a to die for salad and strawberry shortcake. Soooo goood. The weather was gorgeous so we ate on the deck. After dinner Madden and I napped on the couch while everyone cleaned up. Then I got an awesome gift. Made me cry. My sweet hubby made a book called "Why we Love Our Mom..." and had Shutterfly publish it. I love it! It has all of my favorite pics of our family and the cutest poem (which tyson wrote) to accomany them. Can I say I love it too much? We played freeze tag in the back yard and just enjoyed the evening. I never lifted a finger. Really. The kids would get mad if I even tried. I was spoiled rotten. After Tyson got all the kids down, we just talked for the rest of the night while finishing off the strawberry shortcake. A truly perfect day. Thanks kids for all the great letters, pictures, crown and sash. I loved them all. Thanks for making me a mom. I love all of you sooo much. Thanks Tyson for being you and making me feel like a queen. Love you Babe!

A melt my mommy heart moment

Yesterday I was told a great story about my Wyatt. Apparently yesterday at recess a bunch of boys split up into teams to play a game of freeze tag. When the game started, Wyatt saw a boy (James) sitting on the sidewalk looking kind of sad. When he asked him what was wrong, James told him he wanted to play tag but was told he couldn't. Wyatt said, "Sure you can," and told him to jump in. When James went to chase one of the boys, that boy yelled, "Hey, you can't play." James said, "Wyatt said I could," and the other boy said he couldn't. Wyatt went up and told him to let James play. The boy said no because the teams were already made. Wyatt said,"Well if he can't play, I'm not playing either." His friend and another friend started to get upset and Wyatt said," You can get mad but I'm not playing if he can't" and walked off with James. Within a minute or two his friends found them and asked them all to play.

I was so proud of him. It was one of those moments that melt a mom's heart. If there's one thing I want my kids to be, it's loving. I want them to truly care about people and to treat them as our Heavenly Father would want them to be treated. I want them to stand up for what they know is right. Wyatt is such a good kid, and it's moments like these that give me a glimpse into the amazing man he could one day be. Love you Wyatt!

Oh, my sweet Coleman

I so love this little boy. I really do. He has so much personalitly. I love his big hugs and kisses. I love hearing his little voice call out, "Hi Mom," when he walks in a room. I love when he comes pat my back when he knows I stressed or tired. I love his giganitc smile and the honary look he gets in his eyes. I love his "no fear" attitude.

I don't love the pen that is covering Wyatt and McCoy's bedroom all today (I was just across the hall changing Madden's diaper). I don't love the many holes in my kitchen patio door screen today. He made those with a cheese knife ( I was in the kitchen doing the dishes. He was on the deck talking to me the whole time. I thought he was still rubbing the screen with his little paint brush.) I don't like all my tulip heads lying on my lawn today. Not nearly as pretty.

Luckily, he's upstairs sound asleep now. My house will stand for another day and my mind has time to remind me of all the things I do love about him. Because I really do.

All day Kindergarten

I just found out last night that our school system will be implementing all day kindergarten in the fall. I cried. I know that may sound crazy, but I am soooo not happy about this. Yes, I have days I want to pull my hair out and days when I swear if he doesn't stop talking soon I'm going to puncture my own ear drums. I know I've complained about having to pick my past kindergarteners up every day at 10:20. But, I always love having my kids home with me. I've cried every time one of my little ones have started school. Every time. I always feel like I've lost that special time with them and now they're off into the crazy world.

My sweet McCoy is so young still. He won't be 5 until August. I was struggling with the idea of him leaving this fall for 2 1/2 hrs every day. I actually shed a few tears durring family scripture reading the other night when I realized that he'd soon be able to start reading his verses on his own ( I swear I'm not pregnant). I just felt like I was "loosing" him too fast.

Then came the all day kindergarten announcement. They say, "it will lay a strong foundatin for future academic success." Seriously? They're 5. Why do we have to worry so much about his future academic success? He's a child. A very young child. Why can't he play and enjoy his childhhood. Why can't he climb a tree and build a fort after lunch instead of working to insure his future academic success. I got to do those things as a child, why can't he?

I feel like my kids childhood keeps getting chipped away at and it makes me so upset. They are children. They don't have to worry about succeeding at anything yet; not school, not sports, not life. They are children. Why do we keep doing this to them? Let them be children.

Love his little mind

Today McCoy asked me,"what does drive the nuts mean?" What? He repeated it and I was still lost. He said," You know, when they say "You drive the nuts." Oh!!! I told him it was, "You drive me nuts," and explained (or so I thought) that it means you're making someone crazy. He said, "When you need someone to drive your nuts, can I drive them?" I said, "You're usually the one who does :)"

Are you kidding?

The other day I was in the kitchen making lunch with Madden and McCoy and Coleman were playing in the basement. Suddenly I heard Coleman start to cry and I knew he was hurt. I went down the stairs and asked what happened. McCoy said, "It was an accident." Again I asked what happened and McCoy said, "He's in the basement. When someone's in the basement they have to fight me." What? I said they absolutely did not have to fight him. After a little debate about that I said maybe they could play on seperate sides of the playroom. McCoy looked me in the eyes and very seriously said," I can't help it mom. When I see someone down here I have to throw something at him." I stiffeled a laugh, kind of, and told him to be strong. He could stop if he really tried. Where does he come up with these?