Since we moved to Oklahoma I have mostly taken pictures with my phone only, and then last weekend I lost them all. Over 1,200 photos erased. My heart still hurts over it! So today I decided to get the few photos I had on my camera onto the computer. I wish so much I would have gotten the ones off my phone. So many memories. Uggh. Oh well. I have a hard time remembering things unless I have pictures of them. Maybe this is a good lesson for me to write down moments instead of relying on my camera.
Most of these pictures are from the summer before school started.
This girl is one of my favorite helpers. Love her so much.
I put together an ABC book of our time in New York and loved listening to these guys laughing as they looked through it.
Kyler's 11th Birthday
He is such a great kid! Oh how we love this boy. He wanted cinnamon rolls for breakfast and then he opened presents early before Dave went to work at 7am. He requested a Boise State Bronco on his cake. Then that night we had a swimming party at some friends' pool and some other friends brought a big projector screen so we watched "National Treasure" while swimming. Super fun! Wish I had the party pictures, there were some fun ones.
School Shopping
I took my fabulous five school shopping at the Quail Springs Mall and it was insanity. I had some cute pictures of the older ones pushing the younger ones in those red mall carts as we began, and then it was all downhill from there! Teasing, fighting, complaining, whining, hiding, playing with mannequins, running, disappearing. I was so embarrassed. And distracted. I didn't even know what I was buying. It was pure craziness. I vowed never to take all 5 of them school shopping at the same time again. Ever. Never ever ever.
But the next morning they did their cute fashion show to some fun music. They are pretty funny. Kyler is getting too old and didn't want to this year, but the other 4 cracked us up. They even made a runway with duct tape (which ran out on one side).
This is a random photo of technology in use. Goodness! Everyone absorbed in their own twilight zone. After this picture I hope I sent everyone outside to play until dinner.
The Night Before School Feast
The night before school started we had our feast with special crowns. And kissing hand sugar cookies (hershey kisses in the middle) with the "The Kissing Hand" story. Dave was working until quite late, but when he got home he gave each child a Priesthood blessing for the start of a great year.
They were cute making their crowns.
Kyler don't be too old for silly homemade crowns yet!
Roast, mashed potatoes, peas and rolls. On paper plates. We're so fancy.
They love to toast any occasion!
First Day of School
Kyler's school starts at 7:50am, so I took him over earlier before we got pictures.
Lexi-5th grade, Porter-4th grade, Brenner-Kindergarten
I love seeing what they pick to wear the first day. Which outfit is their favorite, which one do they feel comfortable and courageous in?
It has been a great school year so far. The kids really like their schools, their teachers and their friends. We've had some rocky days, especially at first, when Brenner didn't want to go, but it's going really good now and I love having Mia at home with me all day.
And the last photos on my camera were of this sweet little princess. I curled her hair with the curling iron for the first time one day for church and she looked so grown up. She enjoyed twirling and posing for the camera.
She melts my heart.
Our Fall was really busy with the kids' sports, I loved watching them but holy cow it was busy taking them to all their practices. Kyler was in football and Porter and Brenner played soccer. We were in the car every day after school until after dinner. It was hard to schedule homework, dinner time, family time, etc. I felt like we never saw each other! It wasn't fun. Those sports ended last week and it has been nice. I want them to be able to participate in the upcoming basketball season but I dread the run-around! So we told them they could choose one more sport to do this year, Kyler chose basketball and Porter chose spring Track. Lexi and Porter are still in gymnastics, but it will be over in December, and they still have Scouts/Activity Days on Wednesdays at the church. And I would like them to take piano, but there was no possible way to squeeze that in with everything else. I guess life with 5 kids life is just busy. I want to make sure we still have the dinner hour together, and time to be a family a few days a week at least. It makes me miss the days my kids were little and content to sit beside me on the couch reading stories, or coloring.
Among the other photos I lost, beside all the boys games, and pictures of them with their teams, and pictures of Lexi at gymnastics, was our trip to Branson, Missouri and Silver Dollar City. The 3 older kids were so brave to go on all the roller coasters with Dave. I was already not feeling super great, so I was grateful to take the younger two on the kiddy rides. They were so cute. They rode together in the little rides, and one time Brenner got in by himself and as the ride started Malia realized he wasn't sitting beside her and she cried the whole ride. I got a picture of her coming around in this little frog with the saddest look on her face, it was the cutest picture. Silver Dollar City was a lot of fun, and our hotel was a on a lake, so we spent a little time on paddle boats and canoes. Oh it was fun.
Also pictures of Halloween, Lexi doing a pirouette on a pumpkin at the pumpkin patch, carving pumpkins, Kyler receiving his Arrow of Light award and passing from Cub Scouts into Boy Scouts. And Porter receiving his Bear award. And lazy Sunday evenings outside together, and walks around the neighborhood, and Malia painting her toenails and getting it all over her cute hands and stubby little feet, and Malia asleep on the floor wherever she happens to be when she falls asleep (because she will not take naps anymore but sometimes falls asleep in the funniest positions in the afternoon), and pictures and videos at the park with the kids. Oh I'm so sad I lost all those. But anyway, I instagrammed a picture of a few of those times, and can't figure out how to get them off of instagram onto this blog, maybe someday I'll figure it out.
And in closing some quotes that have helped me, that I want to remember, from my cute friend Christal.
"A mother has far greater influence on her children than anyone else, and she must realize that every word she speaks, every act, every response, her attitude, even her appearance and manner of dress affect the lives of her children and the whole family. It is while the child is in the home that he gains from his mother the attitudes, hopes, and beliefs that will determine the kind of life he will live and the contribution he will make to society."
- N. Eldon Tanner
"Behind every great kid, is a mom who's pretty sure she's screwing it up." :)
"Motherhood is not a battle against other mothers. Motherhood is YOUR journey with YOUR children."
“Generally speaking, the most miserable people I know are those who are obsessed with themselves; the happiest people I know are those who lose themselves in the service of others...By and large, I have come to see that if we complain about life, it is because we are thinking only of ourselves.” President Gordon B. Hinckley
"You are always responsible for how you act, no matter how you feel. Remember,that. "
"You have nothing in this world more precious than your children. When you grow old, when your hair turns white and your body grows weary, when you are prone to sit in a rocker and meditate on the things of your life, nothing will be so important as the question of how your children have turned out ... Do not trade your birthright as a mother for some bauble of passing value ... The baby you hold in your arms will grow quickly as the sunrise and the sunset of the rushing days." President Gordon B. Hinckley
"You can be excellent in every way. You can be first class. There is no need for you to be a scrub. Respect yourself. Do not feel sorry for yourself. Do not dwell on unkind things others may say about you. Polish and refine whatever talents the Lord has given you. Go forward in life with a twinkle in your eye and a smile on your face, but with great and strong purpose in your heart. Love life and look for its opportunities. ~ Gordon B. Hinckley
We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today. ~Stacia Tauscher
"If you want children to keep their feet on the ground, put some responsibility on their shoulders."
"Listen earnestly to anything your children want to tell you, no matter what. If you don't listen eagerly to the little stuff when they are little, they won't tell you the big stuff when they are big, because to them all of it has always been big stuff. ~Catherine M. Wallace~
"We have an Eternity to know our children as Adults, but right now is our only chance to know our children as children." -Hilary Weeks
"Children will remember you not for the material things you provided, but for the feeling that you cherished them." Gail Swee
“There is no way to be a perfect mother, and a million ways to be a good one” --Jill Churchill
