weekend is here again

I made it through another week of insanity and am coming to realize how much I love Sundays.  I love the peace Sundays can (but the bickering between my normal kids ruins it sometimes) bring.  I love Steve being home (when he doesn't have meetings) and I LOVE Sunday dinners together as a family (you know the five minutes we are actually sitting together before my kids declare themselves full or refuse to eat real food…whatever happens first.)  

Oh…and I love naps. (when I get them.)

…and I love driving around and walking through houses under construction.

…and when my husband does the dinner dishes.

Other random things I loved enough this week to take pictures of.

My friend Candice and I car pool to Marlins swim team with our four boys.

She sent me the above text.  It made me smile.  Colby gets me…and my love of the dvd player in the van. 

I found him sleeping the other day like a starfish.

None of my boys now will sleep with an upper sheet.  What are they European or something??

It's a bottom sheet with a blanket.  I hate the way the beds look, but I'm glad they are comfy.  Looks like my dream of pottery barn perfect rooms is fading quickly.

Who am I fooling??? 

Saylor is dying over this little white board my mom got her.  She will sit for hours writing numbers and words.  Before this writing episode was over, Saylor was up into the 70's.  She is loving school and learning.

The house is coming slowly and surely.  We walk around almost every evening.  As of last night we had a floor.  But my storage on my phone was full so I don't have a picture.

Hehe…sophmore pictures of Andrew.

I didn't purchase but had to take a picture of the proof for posterity sake.

Love this little thing.

Yesterday Andrew had a swim meet here in Twin.  He has one every week for the next 5-6 weeks.

We will be breathing X-country meets and swim meets for the next month and a half.

I hosted a spaghetti feed for the magic valley team and had 35 kids at my parents home for spaghetti and meatballs.  I get better at this dinner every time I host one.  By the time Colby is in high school, I will be a pro!

Don't these kids look so excited to be here??? 

Andrew swam in the medley relay (breast stroke) and the 200 free relay.

He swam individually in the 200 free where he came one second short of qualifying for state.  He wasn't disappointed, but excited he was so close.  He admitted he doesn't love the 200 free as he has to sprint the entire 200 meters.  

Andrew's other individual race was the 500 free which he swam for the very first time.

He was nervous, but obviously shouldn't have been.  He qualified for state with 4 second to spare.  I was timing him for splits for his coach and was so full of adrenaline I could hardly push the buttons for the splits.  I couldn't even complete a sentence when I realized he qualified!  

I am so proud of Andrew's hard work and perseverance in this sport.  He loves it and it shows.

Andrew's splits.

Me and my (now totally taller than me) boy.

Another fun aspect of swim team is we get to hang out with cool cousins.

Love you Holly!

After the meet was a small scrimmage for water polo.

Andrew is number 8 holding the ball.

He scored 4 goals and had a great time.

I think he loves this sport more than running and swimming combined!

Yep.  It's pretty great!

(No pics of Carter and Grady this time.  I still love them and promise to include them in my next post!)

Rupert Swim Meet

Megan and I took these four Yahoos to their high school swim meet in Rupert this morning.

Aidan, Andrew, Michael and Barrett.

And in case you wanted to know their last names… here they are.

(Andrew...so you know- me…is in charge of Canyon Ridge apparel this year and I'm pretty happy with how their stuff turned out.)

Sick of pictures Andrew??

Michael and Andrew picked out the team suits this year.  They are called War Bird.  It's pretty fitting as we are the River Hawks.

(Please forgive me for the bum pictures as I couldn't help myself.  Haha!)

 Andrew swam in the Medley relay (Breaststroke), the 200 Free, the 200 Free relay and the 100 Breaststroke.

This picture was from the 200 Free.

His goggles totally failed and filled up with water.  He had to stop, empty his goggles and keep swimming.  He was really frustrated and angry that he didn't get a good time for this race.

But I was proud of him for snapping out of his frustration and getting his head back into the meet.

His two relays were great and he pulled fast times for his splits.

I love the team support this year.  A large group of sophomores and freshman rallied around Michael to cheer him on in the 500 Free.  Andrew was holding the lane cards in the water so Michael could see what lap he was on.

Andrew on the blocks.

With a pretty start.

This was taken at the beginning of the 100 Breaststroke.

This is Andrew's favorite race that he missed going to state last year by one second.  

I was so nervous for him I could hardly watch and totally said a prayer that he would be happy with his time whatever it was.

After the race, Andrews coach while holding the timer, asked me what state qualifies time was.  I told him a 1:15.  He smiled and told me Andrew swam the race in 1:14.  He qualified for state at his FIRST MEET this year.  I tried to signal Andrew and tell him he made state, but he couldn't understand my waiving arms and shouts.  I watched him ask the lane timer what his time was and the smile that followed will go down as one of my all time parent moments.  It was priceless to see his joy!  I'm so happy Andrew's crazy hard work putting the time into two physically demanding sports is paying off for him.  Congratulations Andrew!  I can't wait to cheer you on at state!!!

After the meet we took the boys to eat Pizza with a bunch of the swimmers from the Kimberly team.

They were happier than this picture shows!

Megan caught this picture.

Love this kid…and his photo-bombing friends too!

Stem Walls

As of today we have stem walls.  They have been plastered with water proof coating (black stinky stuff) and the vents have been added.

This picture is from yesterday when the forms were still on and the cement still wet.

I've always wanted to write our names in the concrete of our home and I was ecstatic that I arrived just at the right time!

 

Steve and I walked around the house and put our initials in different places.

J + D is by our front door.

DIXON is next to our fireplace.

SD + JW is below where our bedroom will be. 

 I also added our kids names below their bedrooms.  

We are really excited about this house and I can't wait to make new memories here.

Tonight as I drove by and walked around the walls, all my names and initials were gone as the concrete looks like it was sanded down.  Bummer…but at least I know what was there.  

(And you better believe I am writing all over those framed walls!!)

Birthday Girl

Tuesday was my 38th birthday.

And for the first time in many years I did NOT cry on my birthday.  Probably because I was stuffing my face the entire time and didn't have time to cry.  (kind of not exaggerating here.)

My birthday was delicious.  I think I will repeat the eating celebrations next year!

Steve got all the kids up early, they got ready for school,  made their own lunches, and then brought me breakfast in bed from Chick-fil-A.

Loved the effort they all made so I could sleep in and wake up to grease and deliciousness!

But the gluttony wasn't just on my birthday.  My friends planned a little celebration with some of my favorite treats for our RS presidency meeting the day before!

I'm so fortunate to call these women my dear friends.

Sorry Judy…you missed being in the picture.

To add even more empty delicious calories…my mom made my favorite chocolate bunt cake with cream cheese filling.  She added three times the frosting so every bite would be amazing.

This cake of hers usually looks like it could be in a magazine…but for me she added all the goopy ugly frosting.  I told her it complimented my wrinkles and sags perfectly.  

This little buddy kept me company the entire day while the big kids were at school.

He even accompanied me to Prasia's so I could pick out my favorite Thai food dish of pineapple fried rice.  (And I ate ALL the shrimp off the top without sharing just because I could.)

To top off the evening of food celebrations, my mom bought me a gluten free pizza and then we stuffed ourselves with cake and ice cream.

A little singing.

Love my kids!

 For Grady, we re-lit the candles about four times.  This boy loves his Happy Birthday song!

Thanks to all my family and friends for making my 38th the best (and most fattening) birthday yet!

Picture Dump

Yeah Yeah Yeah…I'm behind.  

So here is a "quick" photo dump from this last week…just proving through pictures that we are keeping it real.

Grady is getting huge.

Grandma Walker's gifts are the best!

They are especially fine as they match the colors of my new house and now I can keep track of which kid didn't clean up after themselves much better!

Grady is learning the fine art of killing a soda.

He's progressing nicely.

Andrew might be regressing.

This is his best turtle impression.

Colby is sporting a Chicklet smile.

(its is the cutest)

I watch a little boy from our neighborhood who's mother I just absolutely adore.  I have him about once every two weeks when his mom works mornings.

As you can see…I'm doing a great job broadening his mind.

Just kidding…they play most of the morning before I take them both to kindergarten at 11:45.

Saylor loves having Max around.

My dad, the Ipad, and pictures of cars is a fantastic combo.

Love the recliner cuddle.

Most of Colby's tests look just like this.

He is rocking 4th grade.

Saylor passed off ALL her letter names this week and earned her first alphabet dog tag.

Carter was selected as one of six sixth graders from Robert Stuart to participate in the new middle school ground breaking.  He's pretty excited.  

I'm thinking his darling personality and almost 100% in all his classes had something to do with it.  (wink wink)

My view Monday through Friday at 3:05 pm.

Love it.

Has to be one of the best pictures I have ever seen.

Saylor's friend Preslee had a circus party Friday night and this picture was sent to me.

I laughed out loud.

Yep…thats my daughter.

Loved this picture too!

She is sassy and tough!

We are working on Halloween a little early this year.

I'm practicing my vampire makeup…not to shabby if you ask me.

These pictures are from a few weeks ago, but I wanted them saved.

A friend emailed them to me.  Andrew is loving cross country and has moved up to third on the Canyon Ridge team with his last time being around 18.5 minutes.

I'm kind of proud!