State Water Polo

Last Saturday we left at 5am to attend Andrew's state water polo tournament in Boise.

It was all day and included four games throughout the day.

It was long and these kids played hard.

 A good friend and member of Andrew's swim team traveled with us and was gracious enough to take pictures.  She did a great job!

Andrew was placed on the A team this year.  He played the majority of the time in two of the games and scored at least 5 goals throughout the day.  Andrew plays the outside position most of the time and is responsible for getting the ball to the inside players to score.  Their team is getting great at passing and making plays.  Andrew helped in many assists that led to goals scored.  I'm proud of my water polo player...and happy he still has all his teeth!

(Especially after his braces JUST came off.)

The Magic Valley Team came in 3rd place overall.   Great job!

Sick

Carter and I have strep.  I took him in last night around 7:30 with a fever, sore throat, stomachache and headache.  While we were there I asked the nurse if she would swab my throat too.  Yep, we have strep.  I have had a sore throat and body aches for the past three days.  Duh, why didn't I go in earlier?

Today I'm enjoying the fact that Carter and I are contagious and we cant go anywhere.  Ha Ha!  To a busy mom in December, that sounds pretty heavenly.  Bring on the hot cider, movies and pillows.  Bring on the mandatory rest.  Bring on the fact that I can say NO to everything on my list for the next two days.  Why does being sick sound so awesome?  (It's not awesome if I didn't have antibiotics and copious amounts of ibuprofen.)

Also my computer is sick.  I'm using (and contaminating I'm sure) my mom's computer right now.  My computer is at the computer doctor getting a tune up.  So right now I have no access to my pictures...so I can't post the many things I want to - the main thing being Andrew's state water polo tournament.  He played so well and his team came in third place.  Pretty awesome!  Also, my house is getting trimmed up at the moment.  Shelves, door frames and trim are going up and will be for the next few days.  It was like Christmas last night when I walked into my pantry and saw the finished shelving.  I may have honestly shouted out loud!  It's so exciting!!

So...the point of this post being...I will post pictures of life again when both my computer and myself are feeling better.

Thanksgiving weekend and maybe a few more days thrown in

After looking through my pictures from this last week (there were A LOT), I have an overwhelming sense of gratitude for the things in my life.  They are not huge things, but put them all together and my life is extremely good and fulfilling. 

So in absolutely no particular order (that would be boring and involve more work) here are just a smidgen of the things I have been blessed with in the last week.

I'm grateful for a really awesome uncle who taught my son how to solve a rubix cube.

This smile has been plastered on this boy's face since he solved the sucker the first time.

He has since solved it again and again, and it seems never to get bored.

Thank you Uncle Jeff!!!

I'm grateful we have access to awesome orthodontists who are willing to help my kids have beautiful smiles.

Here is one of them.

Thank you Dr. Ward for Andrew's sweet grin.

The braces came off today and Andrew is excited to say the least.

I told him no smooching...even if those braces were off.

(I would actually faint if he was smooching somebody.  AHHH!!)

 I'm grateful for a house that is trucking along.

The driveway was poured and blanketed just before the weather turned bitter and the snow fell.

Whew!

I'm grateful for Grandpas who are willing to play for long hours in the cold just to hear the squealing and fun.

It snowed 6 inches this weekend.

I'm grateful for a car that has absolutely no problem blasting through snow drifts...and the heater works something awesome too!

 I'm grateful for family history games and the parents who are willing to teach it.

I'm grateful for early Christmas parties and cute nativity costumes.

(that cow costume was off 5 seconds after I took this picture.)

Not sure it could get any cuter than this!

(That little angel in the background had a hard time standing still up there!)

I'm grateful for awesome grandmothers who purchase matching Christmas pjs every year!

...and I'm grateful for a crazy brother who photo bombs in his wookie pjs.

I'm grateful for sweet cousins who give thoughtful gifts!

(too many pictures to post...but my kids scored.)

 I'm grateful for three little girls who played for four straight days without one argument or fight.

The love was thick with these three!

 The picture is turned, but I'm still grateful for the opportunity to create memory books for my family.

We now have pictures preserved for years and years to come.

I'm grateful for our white elephant gift exchange every year.

This was the BEST gift...I covet it a little!

Grateful for this beautiful family of mine.

Could a girl be more blessed to grow up with these people?

I'm grateful for snow clothes, boots, gloves and hats that kept the cousins warm and cozy so they could play their guts out all weekend long!

 Grateful for my sisters and photo bombers!

 (sorry Cara, we missed you in this picture!)

I'm grateful for Cash and Carry and their enormous syrup isle that just makes my sodas taste even better!

(obviously not all my gratitude is for serious stuff!)

And lastly...I'm grateful for cheap Pottery Barn stockings with the wrong names embroidered on them that I scored for only $4 each.

...Well, Andrew and Grady got lucky, but the rest of them I am picking out.   That or Carter is going to be renamed Finn. 

Love these People

Family Pictures 2015

I'm in love with all these people.

Grady Paul

age 2

Saylor Kate

age 5

Colby Virge

age 9

Carter Dean

age 12

Andrew Stephen

age 15

So Random

Truly...this post is random.

As is the port a potty sitting in the middle of my street.  The freakishly strong wind blew it right off the sidewalk and into the road.  It makes me neighborhood look super classy.

My parents have deer in their back yard all the time.

They are beautiful to watch.  This night, there were six of them, one being super young.

My kids are loving the zoo in the back yard.

 Dry wall is done.

It's been done since Tuesday, but nothing else has happened all week.  I'm struggling being patient. 

I really really really want my own house again.

(Its hard to be patient.)

By the time Steve and I can walk through the house everyday together it is dark and cold.

The landscaper has been working on our retaining walls and this night I was too cold to get out of the car.  Steve checked it all out though.  I took pictures while enjoying my heated seat.

 Andrew's good friend Barrett had a birthday party yesterday night.

This is a fantastic group of kids.

Today...we put up the Christmas tree.  As you can see by my face, this is not my favorite thing to do with kids around.   They love it so blasted much and having them around is not great for my OCD anxiety.

Grady "helped" the most.

Good thing he was so cute while driving me so crazy.

Be grateful for your looks Grady...they might have saved your hide today!

Colby my violinist

Sometimes I feel my darling middle child gets neglected.

Colby is my happy go lucky-go with the flow kind of guy...and sometimes I feel he gets left out of the family limelight.  

He's been my most independent child so far and often is self sufficient in many things.  This being the case I wonder if he gets the attention and recognition he deserves.

I mean really, what nine year old gets up by himself at 6 am everyday, gets dressed, fixes breakfast, and fixes his own lunch before I get out of bed?  He's dreamy.

So for today, I think my Colby Colbs deserves his own post!

This afternoon Colby had a violin recital.  

His pieces were Gabotte by A. Thomas and Pax by C. McMichael.

Seriously, the cutest violinist I ever did see.

 

Tuning up with Sister Call.

Gavotte

Colby performed his solo piece with ease and didn't act nervous in the slightest.

I couldn't have been prouder.

 Pax was his next piece and was a group number.

To the right is his cousin Annie and two girls to the left is Meg.

It's so fun to see him play with these older girls.  

I had to take this picture as he was

1. the only boy 

and 

2. definitely the shortest violinist.

It was funny to watch.

His cousins are much more advanced in their violin abilities, and I so appreciate how patient and helpful they are with Colby.  He is lucky to have such wonderful cousins.  Man we love them!

Colby you did a beautiful job today and I'm so grateful I was able to hear you play. 

Thanks for being you Colby!  I'm one lucky mom!