day by day

Monday:

Steve gave the boys haircuts in our bathroom.

Carters face shows perfectly how he felt about the "bowl" cut. 

 Steve joked about keeping it that way.  I didn't.

Also Monday:

Grady's shirt tells it all- he is a boy wonder!  He wants so bad to ride like the big kids.  

Adorable picture, but had it been taken in the actual driveway, I'm sure their would have been blood and tears.  Sorry Grady, you are not quite big enough yet.  Give you a year and you'll be cruising!

Tuesday:

I'm getting the hang of this scout stuff.  Pack meeting was good and finished in an hour.  

(Miracle of miracles.)

Wednesday:

The high school has late start.  This means Andrew and his two friends come hang out at my house after seminary until I give them a ride to school around 8:15.  

They usually eat a boat load of cereal and then play games. 

I love when they are here…and I'm going to always feed them so they will come back.  Teenage boys are like cats in that way.

Today:

Bringing back old toys stored at the office is almost better than Christmas itself.

We took our house off the market until probably January, and as soon as the sign was off our lawn, the kids begged for their bins of toys back.  My front room is currently swimming in loved toys.

I was getting used to the house with much less clutter…so I have mixed feelings about the toys being back.

This picture could be from any day this week.

I pick up the elementary boys around 3:10 and then swing over to the high school to get Andrew.  Saylor usually falls asleep before we leave Perrine.  

She claims she doesn't need naps, but takes one almost every day.  Her "I'm not tired" routine is not very convincing.

Small Tidbits of Motherhood Wisdom or in other words, What I Learned This Week

Nutella on a baby fork may entertain an 18 month old for a few short moments, but the effort spent cleaning up cancels the previous time out.

Homemade birthday scavenger hunts are the best presents ever.

Little girls calling from their self made beds in the master bedroom for you and the other kids to be quiet is hilarious and slightly aggravating.

(Steve and I have promised Saylor a trip to Toy Town if she will sleep in her own bed for 7 consecutive days. She's on day three and determined.  Hopefully this works.)

My kids will be bribed with toys AND food.

We got our Saturday chores done in record time this morning.  It did require two trips to Chick Fil A though.  I will do this every week if my kids clean without complaining.

(I'm setting a dangerous precedent, I know.)

Other motherhood gems not pictured: (and be grateful they are not.)

-I know my day was fulling when I inserted two suppositories and cleaned out an infected belly button (don't even ask) all by mid afternoon.   Don't worry, I washed my hands between jobs…and after for that matter.

- Found out today that in the game of Water Polo, certain decorum is required above the water line, but below the water line, anything goes.  Say What?  Why is my son playing this game?  Oh yeah…because of the smile and excitement on his face after he plays.

Last week in phone pictures, because lets face it, I don't get out my real camera enough.

Without further ado, here is journaling at its finest caught with my phone camera.

One of Colby's best buddies moved to Alaska for a year.  She is a bug lover!  We couldn't help ourselves when we found this crazy leaf bug on our front porch.  We had to snap a picture and send it to Sydney.   Can't wait until you get home!

Yep, we let Grady play with a glucose meter at church.  I was surprised when he could successfully place a strip in the meter!

I figure its good for his fine motor skills (wink wink) and it's obviously good for my sanity.  Whatever keeps him busy and quiet!

Having a grandma live across the way from preschool has definite perks!

Grady on Grandma's lawn!

Bosch mixer lids make great toys!

This little twerp has learned how to open doors.  He is into everything in our house-  EVERYTHING!

Scout field trip to the library.

Their favorite part was riding the elevator.  Hilarious.

 Late start on Wednesday mornings means extra breakfast before catching a ride to school!

(Teenagers eat a lot.)

Saylor's new backpack FINALLY came in the mail.

She loves the backpack, but told me her outfit was NOT cute at all.

Little does she know that I would wear her outfit if it came in my size! Silly cute girl!

Saturday Andrew had his first swim meet in Rupert.  

It's extra fun when cousins are at the same meet!  

Getting ready on the starting blocks.

Andrew did great and swam really well in all his events!  He is excited because he just has to shave a few seconds off his breaststroke time to qualify for state. 

This is what he did after the meet.

ZZZZZZZZ….

Saturday night was cousin night at Grandma Dixon's!

 Andrew stayed at Steve's parents house after dinner and caught a late ride to the stake dance with Anavey and Jane.  I love love love that Andrew has so many fun cousins to spend his time with…its even more wonderful that one of them DRIVES!  I think Andrew might be having too much fun if that's even possible.

Grady went to nursery today for the first time!

Looks like I won't have to break out the glucose meter as a toy anymore.

 (He did great and only fussed at the very end.  I'm praying he is this good next week too.)

After church today, Carter decided to make himself an FBI badge.

(Where he gets these ideas is beyond me, but I will encourage the tv being turned off for long periods of time more often.)

I was impressed.  

The self portrait of him holding a gun was my favorite part…other than the bacon duct tape holding it all together!

Picture of the Week

Really, it doesn't get much better than this picture I stole from Steve's niece Anavey.

Grandpa Dixon's truck filled with cousins and attacked by Colby.

It's a classic.

Have a mentioned how blessed we are with cousins?  It's like a party every time they are together.

Three cheers for cousins.

Three cheers for Grandparents.

Three cheers for Colby and his ability to scare an entire truck full of Dixon kids.

Preschool

Today was Saylor Kate's first day of preschool.

She has been…dreading…this day for weeks now.  Weeks.

The last few days have been especially dramatic.  (wonder where she gets that trait?)

 She has been counting down the days until she HAD to go to preschool all the while telling me that she refused to go.

Oh Brother.

Today, her anxiety and drama were no different.

She came up for breakfast this morning with a huge frown on her face, laid her head on the counter and sighed.  "Today is going to be the WORST day ever."

 She oozes a positive attitude I tell ya!

But luckily, she rallied.

She got dressed in her outfit that we picked out last night topped off with new (Meaning I found them in the back of her closet.  I forgot that I bought them on clearance last year!) cowgirl boots with pink stars.  Pink starred cowgirl boots can make anyone feel amazing right?

She had Honey Nut Cheerios for breakfast (a favorite) and requested her hair down and curly.

By 9 o'clock we were ready to go!  We stopped first at Grandma Walkers house and had her walk over to preschool with us.

Saylor was nervous and quiet the entire way over but walked in brave as ever.

When I picked her up two hours later, she proclaimed that Miss Sharon her teacher was, "THE BEST TEACHER EVER!"

I think Saylor is going to do just fine in preschool!

Weekend fun

Last night we took the family to the Canyon Ridge homecoming football game.  Andrew is not pictured because he is well…too old and cool to sit by his family. 

Colby told Steve he was only going for the food.  One hot dog, a bag of popcorn and two suckers later he was still hungry.   

Carter was, lets say, less than happy to be at the football game.  There is something about 10 year olds and their surliness.  Good thing Steve and I both know this is a stage.

Saylor was crazy happy to be there and was even more happy when I noticed her pink boots were broken and I told her I would get her a new pair next week.  

Grady demanded that he hold the pop corn bag most of the night and stuffed his face with chubby fistfuls of popcorn in between dancing to the loud music between plays. 

Good times. 

Grady was the ham of the evening.

I won't admit to how many times his sucker hit the bleacher floor and then went right back into his mouth.  EEWWW.

Other darling pictures of my favorite Grady in the whole wide world?

Gorilla long board rides.

Dad is the best!

Relaxing on the comfy couch!

We love this little boy wonder and can't believe we are lucky enough to have this ball of happiness.

First week of school down and half way through the second...

 I would by lying if I said the first week of school didn't kick my trash.

KICKED.  MY.  TRASH.

I can without hesitation say that I have never been busier in my life and my mother of five brain is struggling to keep up with schedules, callings, homework and life in general.

Mind you, my 'to do list' is filled with all good things- but like all moms, the list is really full.  And for the record, I hold those mothers who work full time in the highest reverence.  My mind is wracked trying to think how they do everything AND work.  I have a few friends who I think hide a shiny flowing cape under their clothes because they must be SUPER WOMEN.  

My super hero name would by Crazy Women or better yet, my Indian name would be "Cries in a Corner".

I'm a little overwhelmed.  Can you tell?

I was called to be the den mother over the Bears a few weeks ago.  It's going to keep me hopping.  I haven't had a "weekly" calling for over three years.  YW's was more feast or famine.  This is going to be steady and really fun.  I'm excited to work with Colby on a weekly basis as his Den mother over the Wolves is my new partner in crime as two-deep leadership goes.

Last week we had a Rain Gutter Regatta.

Colby-Colbs took second place overall.

He was pretty pleased.

So with my new calling, I am gone every Tuesday night and Steve is gone every Wednesday night with young mens.  We're both trying to be patient and help each other out with our callings.

….random side note…

A package of sticky felt can keep my kids entertained all weekend!

The side burns might be by favorite.

Back to the craziness.

Andrew, now a freshman, is our busiest child.

On top of school, early morning seminary, homework and YM's, he is on the Magic Vally high school swim team.

He practices four days a week for two hours and only one hour on Friday nights.

The other day I figured out he swam almost four miles in a little less than two hours.

That makes me tired just thinking about it.  Last night was his first water polo practice.  He woke up this morning with extremely sore legs from treading water.

So in addition to taking him back and forth to swim practice, I'm juggling with how to keep enough calories in him.  I'm worried about him losing weight.  (Yeah…tough spot to be in. cough cough.)

I went to Costco this morning and spent almost $300 on mostly food for Andrew- high calorie food that is also high in protein. 

Eat Andrew!  Eat!

Carter is loving fifth grade and has a sudden ravenous desire to read.  I'm fulling supporting this desire.

(I may have spent some of that Costco bill on books for Carter.)

He starts Marlins up again tonight and I'm sure he will be annoyed with his reading time being interrupted. 

I'm grateful for Carter's (mostly) happy attitude towards homework and responsibility.  This is his last year of elementary school and its just going to get tougher and more busy from here.

Colby is also loving school and thinks his teacher is amazing. 

He showed some maturity last night and finished his homework with no prompting from me.  I'm hoping this trend continues.   Colby is growing up! 

…another random side note…

I have about 20of these monsters in paper bags in my pantry ripening away.

My tiny pear tree is mighty in spirit.  I'm hoping (really hoping) when these are ripe, I will have time to dry them.  Dried pears are the BEST!

Despite my house not selling, or even showing, I continue to scope out ideas for our future home.

This fireplace is in a house our same building is finishing up.  I love it and am trying to figure out how I could work this into my home…with my 10 foot wall…while adding a bigger mantel.

Why am I waisting perfectly good brain power on this now?  Who knows.

Coping a little with junk like this.  

They were for Andrew…really. (even though I know he doesn't like coconut.)

Confession:  I just really needed to lick the can of sweet and condensed milk alright!  ALRIGHT!? 

And Carter has begged to learn how to make cream puffs.  He made this batch with just a little help from me.  That kid is going to be an amazing cook one day!

Last but not least…the neglected child.

The one always in a car seat running older siblings to school, lessons and practice.

The one who hasn't had a hair cut since the first week of JUNE!

 I love you Grady, and your cute short hair, and you happy smile…and when you take three hour naps.

You are the best!