Jordan's Senior Pictures

A couple weeks ago, I took a few pictures for a friend of mine. Jordan was kind enough to come along to be my photo subject while I found places to use and got my camera set up. He never reads this blog, so I am posting all of his best shots HA!

Dad's the Bestest

Yesterday afternoon was a beautiful summer day. The temperatures were approaching 80 and it wasn't terribly humid, it was an afternoon perfectly fit for  outdoor fun. We packed up the kids and the wagon and walked ALL 100 feet to the "quarry" aka courtyard, to play some games. We played soccer, climbed trees, defied gravity and so much more! Brandon was nice enough to let me sit on my butt the entire time take some pictures, which we all know, I enjoy a little too much( says my 1,000+ pictures on my iphone....) 

Side note: Seriously, what did we do before digital?! I took 236 pictures of my kids playing soccer...236!! Do you know how much money that would have cost in film? $35 dollars plus I would have had to pay about $25 to have them developed just to "throw away all but 25. $60 down the drain! Digital.Is. Brilliant! However, it does cause people to become over-picture-taker-people. Side track over.

As I got home and was looking through the pictures, I noticed one thing. These kids LOVE playing games with their daddy, and he LOVES playing with them! They had so much fun doing the simplest things. I enjoy going out and kicking a soccer ball around, but not like Brandon. He turns everything into a weird game that is somehow the most awesome thing the kids have every heard of...EVERY.TIME. They was so much joy and delight and it was awesome to see but it was awesome for me to get some pictures of it. Kids laughing and giggling is one of the greatest joys we get as parents, and lets be honest, it is WAY better then the screaming and tantrum throwing!

 I am so glad that I ramble on these blog posts day after day, and ever more gladder( yup just made that up) that I turn these blogs into a book. One day, when I have dramatic teenagers wining about their lives, so bored, never doing anything fun, blah blah blah, I fully intend to sit them down and make them look at each joyful memory, one page at a time! Then again, I will probably have perfect kids who appreciate everything, are never bored and never wine, so we will just look at these during family weekend time, you know, because I will be cooler then their friends:) 

Either way, here are a some of our quarry happenings. 

Samuel wanted to play soccer too, so daddy used him like a foosball guy, everyone thought it was pretty dang funny!

Swinging kids always terrifies me. Dislocated shoulders, accidental let go, peed in pants...terrifies me! I agreed for one turn each!

Our little cautious Benjamin. For as brave and adventuresome as he is, he doesn't like swinging fast or going high. It was funny to see how slow Brandon had to go with him. 

Samuel loves his daddy now. It was only a matter of time before he shifted to dad's team, they all do, *sigh*

Elias was getting over being sick and he was super tired by the end, lucky for Elias, Daddy can still pick him up and snuggle him, all 4+feet of him.

Kids and their daddy. 

Annie Update

I have been playing around with my camera a bit this summer and Annie is pretty much the only willing subject within a 10 mile radius. I ended up with quite a few pictures of her! I haven't done kids updates in awhile so I figured it was about time for one!

Stats: Annie is growing like a weed! She is almost out of 5T clothes and fits best in 6-6x. She is roughly 45 lbs making her only 5 lbs lighter then her oh so skinny brother. She has been pretty healthy but likes to get rashes and viral fevers every once in a while. At least we are used to them now and don't bother to worry about them!

 Activities: Gymnastics twice a week, Ballet and soon to be soccer and tennis! So far Annie has done all the girly activities and in a few short weeks she will venturing into what most would consider real sports, although I don't think anything compares in difficulty to gymnastics! Annie will also do LEGO club starting in October.

Loves: Being the best-est sissy mommy who ever did live! I cannot express to you how helpful Annie has become. She went through a defiant give me attention period. She has come into her own and takes great pride in helping me cook, clean or taking care of her brothers. I threw out my back and was rendered immobile for a couple of days. I am not being sarcastic AT ALL when I say one day, Annie looked after Benjamin and Samuel for me while I wallowed in my own misery. She got them snacks, solved spats and played with them, this girl rocks! She also loves Disney princess and playing dress up.

Message to Annie: Annie my love, you want nothing more in this world than to be in love, married and a mommy. When you time comes, and trust me dear, it WILL be after you are 16( she thinks this is an acceptable age) you will be the best mommy there ever did live. You take care of your brothers like they were you own babies and you have such love and compassion for them. You are, however, still super crazy! You have lots of spunk and sass and say the darnedest things. You love dresses, skirts, princesses and your daddy. You get thrilled when you get to see your gymnastics friends or go to ballet with miss Leigha. You love to color, draw and do your "schoolwork", lets hope that never changes!You are my girl you are my world you are my bean, you are my everything!!! Love you sweets!

School Decision

As some of you may know, it has always been Brandon and I's plan to homeschool our kids.
Last year, we made the decision to send the kids to school due to the fact that Elias was still on an IEP and the logistics of getting him to and from school for those services would have been daunting.  Elias graduated from his IEP in April and finished up the school year wonderfully! Brandon and I went back and forth on if we should send him another year and we ultimately decided that starting homeschooling as soon as possible would be what is best for our family.
I have no problem with the public schools and both Annie and Elias ( and Benjamin and Samuel) will participate in summer school classes if they desire and later on, sports( again, if they desire). We decided to  homeschool for several reasons but the ultimate decision was that we wanted to provide our children a religious education and have them exposed to God whenever and where ever appropriate. Last year, during the first week of school Elias asked one of the lunch room attendants if he says his prayers before his school lunch and they told him "we don't pray in school". It was not malicious, it was probably some young 20 something who was just answering a Kindergartners question the best way she knew how, it did however remind me, that this day in age, God has no place in school. There are several other reasons we are looking forward to homeschooling such as:

•  not dealing with the hot mess that is pickup and drop off at Century
• Not having to worry about those darned snacks. 
• Not having to wake up sleeping kids to feed them and get them into the car to get Elias to school on time. 
• Not having to see Elias come home at the end of the day starving because he refuses to eat 90% of school lunches
• Not having to curb bad behaviors picked up at school.
• Being able to take field trips and cater the curriculum to their interests and learning level. 
• Having the kids be able to spend as much time with their dad as possible on his days off! 

and on the list goes. Most people who find out we are homeschooling are pretty supportive, the usual question is how will they socialize, which by the way I find odd. Shouldn't the first "concern" really have to do with education quality? Anyways, I assure you, these kids are in no shortage of social situations. Slated for the fall we have: both kids in gymnastics, both kids in homeschool tennis, both kids in soccer and Annie in ballet! After soccer we will probably pick up swim lessons for the kids. I have also started a LEGO club at the library that will meet once a month starting in October and have joined a couple homeschool groups and we have a gathering for that next month. I think since deciding to homeschool the kids social life has increased drastically! Anyways, I look forward to this adventure that is homeschooling! Wish us luck!

University Splash Park

The summer fun continues! The heat finally arrived this week at we had several close to 90 degree days. I can think of no better way to spend these days then in or near some form of cool water! Grandma has been promising the kids that they could go to University splash park and for once, I got to go too! Brandon had a pretty bad headache so he stayed home with napping Sammy while the rest of us headed out! 

Once we got there, the kids had a blast, of course! Annie and Elias each saw friends at the park and everyone had a grande time playing and splashing and playing some more. Two hours flew by and before we knew it, it was dinner time and we headed home. 

Not much says "summer" more then happy kids playing in water, and as you can see, they sure were happy!

Yearly Haircuts

Ah, back to school time. A time for school supplies, new clothes and fresh hair cuts! I usually give the kids hair cuts during the year but with back to school pictures and what have you's I like to have them professionally done at least once a year. Last year was the first year we did a big group haircut and it went pretty well so I figured we should give it another go.

My lovely hair cutter person, Kristi has been cutting my hair for years and is brave enough to do all four of my kids hair now too! Each kid wanted different things. Annie wanted her hair cut to be long like tangled( I think she is missing the concept of CUT). Elias wanted a fohawk, Benjamin wanted all his hair cut but NOT by the purple cutter( Brandon scrapped him last time and he had the purple guard on) and Samuel wanted nothing to do with anything. Since we had a clear understanding of what each child wanted, off we went to Kristis! 

The oldest three kids and I went off first, the plan was to have Brandon come later with Samuel so all Sammy had to do was scream his way through one hair cut then we would be done. The kids all did great. Annie ended up with the slightest trip, Elias spiked his hair at the end but did not get his fohawk and Benjamin got all his hair cut but NOT by the purple cutter. Samuel screamed but not nearly as bad as I thought he would. I would call the trip a success!

Before and

After

Benjamin Before and

After

 Last year there were a lot of tears from Benjamin, this year he looked really concerned and made sure there was NO purple cutters but he did well!

 Annie and Elias hanging out waiting for their turn

Elias Before and

After

 Elias wasn't thrilled but he did great none the less

 Before spike and an after spike

 Samuel before and 

After

 So, Samuel didn't' like this too much....we got through it though.

 Sup