A little scrap of paper and a smiley sticker...... who knew.

So today is Sunday.  One of my most favorite, yet most dreaded days of the whole week.  How does that work?  I'm not sure.  But it does.  These last few months of doing Sacrament Meeting on my own have not been my favorite.  But I think I've learned a lot about my kids and what motivates them and what doesn't.  It's funny how one week something will work though, and the next it doesn't.  That will never cease to amaze me.  This week's little gem was this little scrap of paper with a smiley sticker on it.  Pulled that together during the last few minutes before we left for church.  I instructed the kids that during Sacrament meeting I would be watching them to see when they were reverent.  If they were sitting quietly in their seats they would receive a smiley sticker.  To represent how their Mom was feeling at that moment (and I added later, how Heavenly Father and Jesus were feeling as well, but at the time, all I cared about was making me happy apparently).  I added that if they were naughty their slips of paper could be taken away as well.  These little slips of paper could then be turned in after church for treats.  Did I know which treats I was referring to?  No.  I did not.  But I was sure I could scrounge up something :)  I also threw in a little clause to my son who likes to take his stinky little socks and shoes off during Sacrament meeting and wave them in the air for all to see.  I won't mention any names.... he knows who he is.... this clause contained the following:  if he could keep his socks and shoes on through the whole meeting, he would be the one that got to choose what we have for dessert after dinner tonight!  How cool is THAT!!!  And we actually had quite a few choices tonight (went a little overboard shopping.... but they were good deals, so it's all good :) ). 

Are you starting to wonder what kind of crap these little angels put me through last week???  Yes, I was desperate for something better to happen, and I was looking for even the slightest bit of a help with this week's even though I had found out during the week that they pipe the meeting into the RS room and also the Mother's Lounge which happens to be fairly large, enough to fit my kids and I.  I am a stickler for Sacrament Meeting.  I'm not sure what it is, but I HATE, I repeat H A T E not being in the Chapel for the meeting.  It's crazy for someone with 6 children under 8 to have such an obsession, but I don't care.  I want my kids to learn how to go to church, sit still, and be quiet.  It's a good thing to learn and I feel it's helped my three who are in school to be able to focus and be respectful of a teacher.  But I digress..... where was I?

Okay, so Sacrament meeting came.  I had sent Nate home for some much needed Cheerios before he left for work.  SO glad I did that!  That changed EVERYTHING.  Erika sat there quietly eating her cheerios and the other five..... well..... they sat there as quiet as could be.  All five of them.  Hardly made a peep at all!!!!  They sat by their buddies.  Kelly helped Luke making mazes and letting him solve them (which can be a tedious job with how quickly he goes through those).  Noah sat there watching Brad color, sucking his fingers and patting his nose with his eeOh, and Charity was there on the end (my little "buddy sub"- in case someone boycotted their buddy, she was the replacement- she was also Erika's buddy, but Erika was glued to me today, so that was out) just sitting there.  Not coloring, not drawing, not even reading!  just listening to the talks.  I was A M A Z E D!!!!!!  I bet I looked so silly with that big cheesy grin on my face.  Just in awe that something as simple as a little scrap of paper could work so well.  Oh, yeah, after a few minutes I remembered to start the scraps :)  THEY HADN"T EVEN HAD ANY YET!!!!!!!!!!!  Ah, it was just so awesome.  Words cannot express how wonderful that meeting was.  And honestly, I hardly remember a word that was said because I just couldn't believe my eyes.  I had to keep checking to make sure i wasn't getting ahead of myself.  But nope.  They stayed that way through the WHOLE meeting!  Erika of course had her moment and then the SWEET lady in front of us (Sis. Bradbury for all you Viewmonters) took her out.  Which.... HELLO!  Does it get any better than that?  No it does not.  Oh, I am just SO BLESSED!!!  Heavenly Father made my day today.  He helped me think of this simple little idea, helped me pull it off, and helped my little angels to care about it.  Wow.  I'm just so happy about it still. 

On the way out to the car Lukey asked me, "Did we do good, Mom?"  I let out a huge "YES!!!!!  You guys did FANTASTIC!!!"  Probably scared the cute little teacher who was carrying Erika to help me out to the car.  Then he asked, "So do we have to practice when we get home?"  "OF COURSE NOT!!!!  No practicing when you guys do so awesome!!!!"  I screamed!  He was thrilled and we all skipped off to the car (as well as you can skip in a foot of snow).  Not even the trouble I had getting my car to start once we were all buckled in could wipe of that cheesy grin!  It was there to stay!!!  I'm really loving our ward too... everyone was so nice today.  The lady who took Erika, the kid who walked us to the car, the man who was helping with my "dead battery" that wasn't really dead.  It was just so wonderful.  I felt like I was in a dream!  What an awesome day.  Just had to share that all with you.  May you all find that one little thing that helps make your day go as amazingly as mine did.  And hopefully it will work again someday :)  For now, I'm just glad that it did the trick today.

Oh!  And Lukey DID manage to keep his shoes and socks on the ENTIRE meeting!!!!  (he made one small request that he could take his socks off then put just his shoes back on, but there were only 10 minutes left so I was able to stall :) )  He chose Cinnamon Rolls for dessert.  On the way home when we he was making the decision, someone else mentioned that they had wanted to have Rootbeer Floats, and since I was feeling so giddy, we threw those in as well :)  What an awesome Sunday we just had.  Bribery is the best policy :)  Way to go Luke!

Only 4 more Sundays to go!  We can do it!  I know we can!!!

Thanksgiving Day

This was the first time we had seen the deer so close to the house :) 

We had Thanksgiving Dinner with my family this year.  We were in charge of the turkey, so since Nate had to work Thursday morning, he spent most of the evening, the night before, preparing the turkey for me to bake the next day.  He does an AMAZING turkey!!!  The stuffing is my favorite!  Sausage and peppers!!  MMMMMMMMM, so good.  I'm not sure I cooked it long enough.  It seemed a little undercooked in some places, I blame that on Bambi, but it was still VERY delicious, and VERY moist.  The girls and I made our little mini pies (or pie pops if you put a stick on them :) ), that morning.  Those were really fun and way easy.  I wish I'd tried them months ago when I found the recipe.  And lucky for me I got that pie crust for dirt cheap the day before :).  We went up to my Dad's around 2:00, finished baking the turkey until 3:30 ish, Nate got there (after stopping at our house for some extra items) around then also, and then we finally ate at about 4:00.  There was a lot going on in the kitchen, but it was a lot of fun.  I was glad my Aunt Bambi and her husband Rex and also my Uncle Ken made it too!  Along with the rest of course :)  Everyone from my family was there.  It was great!  I wish we'd had a better set up for eating.  I felt weird eating a room away from my kids, but I have to admit it was kinda nice at the same time :)  They totally didn't eat though.... just played.  In fact, by the time I'd remembered to get my camera out, they weren't even at the table anymore.  And Nate and I sat with Brent and Sarah with a few places in between us all.... it was funny, but whatever.  Who cares it's Thanksgiving right!  All that matters is the food!  And it was ALL fantastic!  We had SO MUCH FOOD!!!  And leftovers too!!  It was great.  We watched a little football (an old game, come to find out later.... still laughing about Rex getting all into 2 years ago's game !!!!!  HA!  hilarious!), watched some of my Dad's old home videos from when he and his siblings were younger.  That was pretty cool!  I can't believe how good the picture is for such old film!  My Dad had them put on DVD and it was really neat to be able to see everything.  My Dad hasn't changed AT ALL!  Looks and everything.  Though he looked taller for some reason.... he must be shrinking.  After the home videos and the cleaning up (yeah, I loved that we waited to clean up.... I hate cleaning up RIGHT AFTER eating!  Drives me nuts), we hmmmm and haaaahed over what movie to go see.  Steve was the most persuasive and his argument seemed the most compelling, so we ended up seeing Mega Mind.  I thought it was hilarious!  Funnier than I expected.  I could do without some of the adult humor in a kids' movie, but over all it was really cute.  I will need to go see Tangled soon though because my girls were set on that :)  Heidi too.  And Sarah..... what am I saying, MOST of us wanted to see Tangled :)  We'll go next weekend I guess :).  After the movie we went back up to my Dad's to eat the yummy pies.  Brent and Sarah did an awesome job on the pies.  They always go all out.  I wish I had theier ambition when it came to pies.  They were really good.  And I was completely stuffed when I got home.  Should have eaten more of Heidi's salsa to wash it all down :)  So anyway- good times.  Another Thanksgiving is past.  Crazy how fast time flies.  I enjoyed it.

This is my cute NEW nephew Alvin.  Isn't he so handsome!!!!  I am totally jealous of his hair.  My baby is almost a year older and SHE has LESS!!! 

(not sure why Brent's head didn't make the cut for this photo, sorry Brenty-poop)

This was the beautiful Thanksgiving Sunset.  I hadn't realized how much I'd missed the sunsets!  Nate and Brent ran out to get pictures.... I'm glad.  He got a ton, these were my favorites. 

This was funny, my Dad was playing with the kids on the floor and he got Erika to wrestle with Noah.  She was pretty good at it too!!  Cracked me up!  They were going at it for a while before Noah finally called it quits!  She's been so funny lately with her little body doing big girl things.  She was spinning in circles the other day (in what seems like slow motion) it's SO CUTE!!  And so fun that she would even think of doing that. 

Future Memories

- 11-22-10, Monday, we did a little bit more moving, brought the desk down and computer.  That was a job.  Monday was also the first official day of our new carpool for Brad.  I love it already and it was even my turn!  We just do it one whole week and then get 3 weeks off!  How fabulous is that!  I'm really excited.  I was so awesome to volunteer to do it that week since there were TWO WHOLE DAYS in the school week (duh, I still feel like a dork for acting like that was a great thing.... I had forgottten about the holiday), but whatever.  Brad really likes one of the kids in the carpool, Bennett.  So that's been really fun for him.  I'm glad he has it.

- Tuesday we had our Fire and Stranger Safety FHE after Charity answering the door late at night while Nate was not home and I was downstairs.  It's been a while since we had a door of our own that people knocked on.  Lucky for us it was the Secretary in the Bishopric just wanting our phone number.  And how naive am I, I gave it to him even though I really hadn't recognized him from church the day before.  Yeah weird.  ANYWAY.  Our fire alarm was going off for silly little incidences on the stovetop, and so the kids are totally freaked out by any cooking and any strange noises in the house.  Their toys are in the same room as the furnace, so anytime it starts up they come running out all panicked.  The oven timer sounds a lot like the smoke alarm too, so that's been interesting anytime I cook anything they stress about what that noise is.  Hopefully they get over it soon because the FHE didn't really stop it from happening either.  But at least now we are a little more mentally prepared for an emergency and the kids can tell the Firemen that we "have a meeting place" now.  It went okay, but Erika skinned her finger with a razor and that kind of ended things.  Then the Bishop and his counselor came over and we juggled all of our misbehaving children for about an hour while we talked to them.  I'm really surprised at how clueless our kids really are to the whole vistor thing.  They really don't seem to remember how you act when there's company.  We'll get practice now though, I"m sure.  I'm so glad ot have a front room that people can come and sit in and visit though.  That's been heavenly really.  The kids have loved running around on the hardwood floor too :)  It's like a stage I'm told :).  I did enjoy the visit from the bishopric though.  They were really nice!  And really friendly with the kids too.  Asking each of them what they like to do.  It's cute how they'll say really random things that I never would have thought of :) But it sure was fun.  I like it when people take interest in the kids too, it makes them feel more welcome and more like people I think :).  We weren't able to get Luke to spin on his head, but the kids showed off all their talents and skills :)  That was fun.

- Wednesday was our first day of Fall Break.  The kids and I bummed around all day.  Then Kelly and I went grocery shopping.  I totally wouldn't have gone if it weren't for all the deals that I had coupons for that expired that day.  It was an amazing shopping trip!  Saved $62!!  Makes me happy to say that :).  Kelly was blown away by how many people there were in the store.  I loved that Kelly piped in while I was trying to help an old man find something.... she had noticed the sign first and didn't hesitate to tell us even though she can be really shy at times.  When he thanked us he said, "Thanks for helping a blind old man".  And later on in the shopping Kelly asked, "Was that man really blind?"  How adorable is she!!  Can you imagine grocery shopping the day before Thanksgiving, BLIND!!!!  Wow, that would be tricky :)  Anyway, then after shopping we all went SWIMMING!!!!  For our annual, Thanksgiving Eve Swim!  This is only our second time doing this, but I really want it to be a tradition.  My siblings and our families all go swimming together.  It all started with the Lehi pool's 1/2 off day.  The kids had a blast!  I'll never forget how hard it was to erase the cheesy grin from my face when I saw Bradley try a FLIP off the diving board!!!!  SO BRAVE!!!!!!!  And then right after that, RUNNING and doing a cannon ball off the HIGH DIVE!!!!  What a stud.  Brad's so fearless!  I love that about him!  Charity braved the high dive, came back down the ladder, braved it again and got a raging applause from everyone in line.  She sure knows how to play it :)  She did great and got even more brave each time!  Kelly sticks with the diving board.  I don't blame her, she's so tiny, she'd break into pieces if she went off the high dive!  Luke said that he was "only 4" so he couldn't go off the diving board :)  Little does he know, he's one of the best swimmers out of all of them!  But I'm not going to push him.  Noah was SO brave this time at the pool!!  The last few times we've gone he's taken hours to get warmed up to things and by then it's time to go.  But not this time!  He was playing all over the place, all by himself!  I loved it!  He looked so happy and carefree.  Erika really surprised me (though I don't know why) with her aggressiveness in the pool.  She couldn't stand having to hold my hand as she walked around in the shallow, and it was pretty much a no go when it came to going deeper than she could touch because that meant mom had to hold her!  She had a blast though!  Went down the slide a few times, splashed in the water, almost drowned herself a billion times trying to bend down and crawl.  Also everytime she pulled her hands away from me she would lose her balance and almost tip over.  I bet that's a good way to practice balancing though for someone her size :)  She had a blast.  I'm sure she would love to go bakc again soon.  I loved that most everyone came.  Even cute little Alvin got in the pool.... he looked right at home most of the time!  So cute.  And Charlie too.... it's fun to watch he and Noah play together.  Good times.  I hope we really do make this a tradition.

Pictures Finally!

This is just a few pictures in our new backyard (which we L O V E!!!!!).  I must have been sick of unpacking, not really much of anything here :) just my cute kids breaking in their own backyard.

This backyard is incredible!!!  You totally can't see how far back it goes in this picture (it's really a terrible picture all the way around, but anyway.... it goes WAY back there).

the kids love our "new climbing tree".  Just because Brad cries and is scared until I come rescue him out of it doesn't mean we can't call it a climbing tree right?

I think the bathtub is one of my most favorite things to have right now.  The kids have LOVED taking baths again.  Even Erika who really can't remember taking a bath.  Noah calls it "take a bath tub".  We've really been a while without one.  Funny how little things like that can seem like a luxury all of a sudden.

Erika LOVES tomato _______.  Anything with tomato.  Especially Italian foods.  I think this was our Sloppy Joe night, but she totally went nuts on it!!!  It really reminded me of a picture we have of me like this.  I'll have to find it, we look alike to me :)

This smile especially.  It's almost like the one my Dad taught me.

So another cool thing about our new house is the neighbors.  Well, not really neighbors, because they're in OUR backyard, but they are starting to feel like family anyway.... the DEER!  I'm all for letting them hang out here too after that new thing that the Bountiful Police can shoot them if they're in the street.... that's nuts.  We have had deer in our yard almost every single day since we moved in.  They're gorgeous!!  It's really fun to walk upstairs and look out this huge picture window and see these beautiful creatures.  The kids have loved it especially.  Brad was out there trying to play in the snow and came in all pumped up and a little scared because he had seen one out there.  He was cute about it though.  I think it's so fun!  We've been really lucky with having yards that the animals like.  Fun stuff.  I'm definitely less nervous about deer than moose though, just for the record :)  And it's mostly been female deer.... no males yet.  That might freak me out a litt.e....

You can see some more tucked back in those trees (too bad I don't have a telescopic lens....)

The kids looking at the deer through the kitchen window.

Can't get enough of that tub! 

I also wanted to point out the tiny little owie on Erika's thumb there.  She had found a razor (which I'm still trying to figure out how it ended up in the toy basket in the living room) and I think either before or during Charity's retreival, she skinned her thumb.  It bled like crazy!  And of course it happened right before the bishop and counselor came to visit us.  We had one crazy time trying to keep her from touching everything and freaking out about having to have a paper towel on it.  She's SOOOOOO strongwilled (which is just a nice way of saying she's super stubborn!)  We love her though :)  And luckily it healed really quickly.

This was our first day off for Fall Break.  We really just bummed around.  It was really nice.  I got caught up on my blog, got my coupons all caught up and made a menu and shopping list.  Very productive, pajama day :) 

Nutshell

I haven't had internet access for over a week and a half.  It has definitely been an eye opener to how much I rely on the internet.  I'm sure I'd survive without it just fine, but I sure hope I never have to.  SO much has happened, I'm not really sure how to get caught up.  There are a lot of BIG DEAL things that have happened that probably deserve their own posts but I think I'll just get overwhelmed and give up on it all if I try to do that.  And I'm sure you all don't really care how it's posted, it's just me and my obsessive compulsive blog posting that will suffer.  So anyway- here's the last week and a half in a nutshell.  A really big, long and drawn out nutshell.

- Tuesday, 11-9-10 we went to Parent Teacher Conferences.  It was strange that we happened to have it exactly one year from when we had it last year (that sounds funny :) ).... basically we had Parent Teacher conferences the day before I went in to give birth to my 6th child and that stuck out to me :)  So this year it was funny to do it the day before Erika's birthday again.  Just a coincidence.... anyway.  I LOVE Parent Teacher Conferences!!!!!  I hope I always do, but I am savoring every moment of the constant compliments and praise of my children :)  I feel very blessed to be their Mom.  Charity is the fastest reader and typer in her class.  She seems to be Mrs. Rice's favorite.  I like that she gets teachers who understand her and "get her".  She's way ahead of the class in her reading level, I think she said it was above a 6th grade reading level but that the tests didn't go higher.  That makes me proud of her.  She's a smart girl.  We decided to work on focusing and paying attention to what she's doing as our goal.  And for my goal I am going to quiz her on her times tables.  She did need a little improvement in that area.  I love hearing how helpful and what a good friend she is.  Kelly's teacher kinda bugged me in that she focused more on the few little negative things than the millions of positives that she mentioned, but didn't say a lot about.  Kelly is apparently "too fast" at doing her work and finishes with too much time.  Her teacher wants her to slow down.  I agree that some things were done hurriedly, but that's Kelly.  She's a busy little girl.  Got stories to write and pictures to draw.  Her teacher showed us a few of Kelly's stories and I just have to say, I LOVE how this girl writes.  She's so creative and so full of ideas.  Her teacher agreed.  Her teacher's biggest complaint though was that Kelly gets hurt too much.  Apparently she's needing an ice pack after every recess.  This is kind of cute to me, but she's going to work on being more careful outside and being a little tougher.  It's tough because I know how dramatic she can be, but I've also seen how tough she can be when she breaks an arm and has to have it reset.  I know that sometimes she actually is hurt but it's hard to tell with all the other stuff I guess.  Anyway, I think her teacher needs to relax :)  Kelly is the fastest reader, she's at the highest level in reading, she's taught all of her classmates how to make books and she shares hers with her class regularly.  She's amazing at her math and of course writing.  I love that she is known as the class mother, she takes care of everyone.  She is helpful too of course for the teacher.  I'm glad Kelly loves school so much, I think it's a great place for her to nurture that.  This was our first Parent Teacher conference for Brad.  I will admit I was nervous for his.  But boy were we ever surprised!!!!  His teacher absolutely loves him!!!  (or she's good at faking it :) )  She said he is very helpful in class and that he's the one she thinks of to do the big things she needs help with.  She said that he is right where he needs to be with reading (phew!) and writing, and that his math and pattern skills are way off the charts.  She showed us a bunch of tests where he just excelled in the math sections.  Makes me wonder if the whole Baby Einstein movies helping with Math and logic is real, he loved that show as a baby (as embarrassing as that is).  I was really proud of him though!!!  It's fun to see him doing so well at school especially with how much I worried.  And not that the teacher needed to say anything, but finding out that he was doing okay socially too was a nice relief :)  I worried about that for some reason.  I think it's because I compare him to 2 girls.  I need to stop doing that.  I asked about his "r" and "l" sounds problem and she said not to worry about it until next year but to work on them and try to help him focus on fixing them.  That was good to hear too.  That he's not "supposed" to be able to say those until 8, so that was nice.  We've been practicing.  So anyway, the kids did great!  The night was a success and they all got to pick out a book at the Book Fair.

- Thursday, 11-11-10 was Grandparents and Goodies at school.  Grandpa so willingly took the girls and had goodies with them.  They were in the Book Fair picking out books when the bell was ringing and hadn't made selections (Grandpa spoils them) so he just handed them a $20 and told them they could pick something out after school.  They were so funny with their choices of books.  I feel bad because I laughed a little when I saw Kelly's but it's a book that she REALLY wanted and I had talked her out of it the few nights before at Parent Teacher Conference.  Kelly got a IM lingo book.  So now she can say things in code.  She loves it :)  And it makes me smile :)  She won't tell grandpa what she picked.  That's probably my fault.  Charity picked the book number 2 of the book she had picked out before (and finished, I might add, in 2 days!). They were very grateful for Grandpa's generosity and I was glad that they got to have that time with him since they were both a little sad to be moving out of his house.

- Friday was my big packing day, which looking back, I did a terrible job.  We had been so worried that things would fall through for some reason, that I hardly packed at all.  I just got too excited to be out I think too, that it was hard to pull myself together.  I regret that. 

- Saturday was Charity's big day!  The Hoop Shoot Contest at Viewmont!  She had been practicing all morning and a few days before.  She did SO WELL!!!  We were so proud of her.  If you'll remember she only made the one shot at the first one at her school, so her 14 out of 28 at this one was PRETTY IMPRESSIVE to all of us!!  (The first three were "practice shots" and she made all three of them, so I count them in the 14 :) )  She was really only judged on the 11 out of 25 though.  That's still WAY better than the other girl did (there was only one other girl her age)  The other girl kept stepping across the line or missing.  It was kinda sad for her, but Charity still made more shots than her anyway.  The whole thing was put on by the Elks Club.  I had no idea, I thought it was a school thing, but they invited us all to Cafe Alicia afterward for a little awards ceremony and hamburgers and hotdogs.  It was such a neat thing to be a part of!!  Charity was so excited to get her own trophee!  She will now move on to the Northern Region (whatever that is) and will compete in Tooele on January 22nd.  We're really excited for her.  She's all pumped to keep practicin and getting even better.... she's SURE she's going to move on to State and be able to travel "and stay in a hotel!"..... I"m hopeful!  She is really good!!  The rest of us were just along for the ride.

- Saturday night Nate loaded up a lot of the boxes we had packed, and brought them to the new house!  It was really happening!!!  That was good!

- Sunday we said goodbye to our amazing ward.  I really do miss that ward.  Everyone was so awesome and welcoming.  No matter how many ups and downs we had with thoughts of moving and several false alarms, they still treated us like we were going to be there forever and that was huge for me.  I loved feeling like we belonged there.  We also went up to Nate's Parents' house for the Family Meeting.  My kids drove me nuts, and I thought I was going to scream, but I did win the candy jar full of chocolate, so all was well.  It's hard to go to that without Nate.  I hate that he has to work on Sundays.

- Monday we went and got the moving truck, and slowly (well, I was slow, I don't know what's happened to me, but I was just dragging the whole time, I think I was sick) loaded up all of our crap and moved into our new home!!!!  This is of course temporary, we only signed a 7 month lease, but we're VERY happy to be in our own space, and have our own place.  We wanted the kids to be able to finish out the school year here, and also Kelly's baptism (thinking ahead may get me in trouble, but I assume she will be baptized the 4th of June, so we will be here with people she knows).  Since we assume we will be buying a house in Stansbury Park before this lease is over.  That's all assumption, and we all know what assuming does..... (ask if you need clarification).  I canNOT tell you all how happy I am to have so much room again!!!  This house is amazing!!!  I LOVE all the storage space!!  There is a place for E V E R Y T H I N G, and THAT is PRICELESS!!!!  I really have had fun unpacking things and putting everything away.  I know that's probably cheesy, but hey, that's life.  We've enjoyed the house immensely so far!

- I should have mentioned all of the false alarms with Nate's Check ride.  For the week before and the first week after moving, Nate's Superviser kept scheduling with him to be checked out, but then changing it.  It was VERY nerve racking for Nate, and would have been without all of the move stuff going on!  Wednesday the 18th, after pulling off a huge 8 person family move, and after months of his trainer saying he was ready, he got his checkride from his Supervisor-Nate was FINALLY checked out!  What a huge sigh of relief!!!!  And then another huge deep breath :)  He can now control airspace in areas 15 and 16 all on his own!!!!!  On the D-side.  This is not the end of course.  People keep asking if he is now certified, and even though it's a bummer to say, no, he is not.  This is just the first big step and we are NOW where we were supposed to be a year and a half ago :)  So this is now uncharted territory and just VERY exciting for Nate.  I don't think many people could understand how thrilled we are to be at this stage.  Just because it's not the end, doesn't mean it's not awesome :)  So anyway, if you see Nate, you'll have to congratulate him, this was big.  I'm so proud of him!  We can now say he's a controller without feeling like we're jumping to conclusions :)  Even though he's been one since July 11th, 2008 it hasn't felt this real.

-  My kids all said really funny things this week, but I can't think of what they were now.  Nate will remind me.  I'll leave this spot for them.

- Thursday, 11-19-10 was Bradley's big Thanksgiving Feast with the Kindergarteners.  I decided that it would be a fun thing for just he and I (and somewhere I didn't want to be juggling lots of littles) so I asked Sarah to watch the rest of the kids, but then when Brad heard that his brothers weren't coming he was bummed.  So I ended up compromising and bring Luke :)  It was a fun time for both of them and I.  Good food too!  I was impressed!  I don't remember school lunch tasting so good!  Brad got to show off his feather hat and necklace that Charity had helped him make the week before (she gets to go help out in his class a lot, which I think is awesome!).  He was cute, showing us around even though he wasn't really sure where he was going in the lunch room :)  He was happy to show off his brother.  I loved that they both made sure to "save room for their cookies" that they had seen at the end of the line :)   Cute, CUTE kids. 

- Wednesday and Thursday were the first days I allowed the girls to walk to school from our new house.  It's actually closer to the school eventhough we are not really in the boundaries anymore.  I was happy to find out that the ward is split down the middle with the boundaries so there are a few people in all of the kids' classes that go to the same school.  It works out nicely if you ask me.  Anyway, I let the girls walk, equipped with a map and everything, and about 15 minutes after leaving, they were back on the doorstep, crying and confused about where they were supposed to go.  Charity had known and been right, but Kelly didn't think she was.  It was sad, but we drove and everything was fine :)  They all walked home okay, and then walked TO the next day and did fine.  It was kind of scary for me again to let them go.  I know it's good for them though, so I try to be tough about it :)  I do love the fact that i can stay in my jamjams a little longer (guiltfree). 

- I forgot to mention that the RS president came buy as we were moving in and got our info.  Then throughout the week we had visits from more of the presidency.  One in particular has been so amazing and welcoming.  I hope to be like her someday.  She brought over a list of all the kids, my kids' ages who live nearby.  So thoughtful.  She's been a good friend.  Feels good to say that I have a friend nearby.  She has a son in Brad's class so they've been total buds too. 

- Friday night the girls, Nate and I got to go see The Nutcracker!  It was a pretty cute version (simplified of course) of the Nutcracker.  My cousin's little girl was in it as a "cookie" so we were lucky enough to hear about it and get tickets.  It was up at Weber.  I loved taking just the girls out.  Gives me a taste of what it will be like without the little LITTLE ones someday (not that I want them to grow up, just pointing out that there are benefits.... no strollers, crying, diaper blow outs!.... you know what I mean, just big kids that enjoy what they're out doing and have smiles on their faces :) ).  I'm not sure it was really Nate's thing, but he enjoyed it :)  (and the Jazz game specs from his phone during intermission :) ).  Charity and Kelly liked it.  It was a good evening.  Thanks to my Mom for watching the kids even though Simon was ill.

- Sunday was interesting.  I loved meeting the ward, they are awesome!  Lots of elderly people, SO FUN!!  And lots of kids too, which is a change, a good one.  THey were all VERY welcoming.  Sacrament meeting left much to be desired.  My kids were horrible.  We ended up in the foyer of course, and then left early because I couldn't take any more of the obnoxious comments from the guy sitting on the chair across from us.  Really people, if someone has six kids, reminding them of it and commenting on how crazy that is while they are freaking out all over the building, is not really helpful, or polite in any way, shape, or form.  I have no idea who he was, but he bugged.  I'll be happy when the shock of our family's size wears off of these people too :) that's for sure.  It's normal, and we go through it quite often, but yeah, I'm sick of it.  It's funny because the people who lived in this house before us had ELEVEN kids!!!!  (don't ask me how they fit in here.  It's only3 bedrooms!)  So 6 should seem like nothing right??  I guess the 20 or so years since they lived here have erased some memories.  So anyway, I will be happy when the new year starts and we go to 9:00 church.  I'm tired of Nate having to go to work during Sunday  School, right before Sacrament meeting!  It's nuts.

It's Birthday Time for Erika!

Erika's big day started without her :)  She had 5 siblings who may have mistaken the day for Christmas as far as their excitement goes!  They were all so anxious to wake up and celebrate her day.  Brad was the first to notice that Mom and Dad did not decorate for her birthday and was slightly disappointed.  I took the opportunity to let him and his sisters take care of it while Erika was sleeping in.  And I'm so glad I did.  They sure blew me away with how much they got into it and how well they did.  They got out the crepe paper and did some pretty cool new arrangments with those.... an "E" on the wall and a smiley face.  I thought it was really creative.  We had taken them all shopping for her gifts, but some of them had not found anything so they were frantically searching for something in their own toys that she might like.  Then wrapping them with our butcher paper and coloring the paper.  They worked so hard on her sign and the decorations, EVERYTHING.  The girls were too late to walk, and I totally had to drag them away from the birthday stuff to wisk them off to school.  I just knew Erika would wake up while I was gone taking the girls and of course when I walked in the front door, there she was, sitting on Grandpa's lap, all puffy faced, receiving an awkward amount of attention from her brothers.  It was ADORABLE!!!  They insisted that she open one of the nicely wrapped gifts that Grandpa had for her, and he wanted to see her in it too, so I consented :) (as if I had a choice) even though it goes against tradition :).  She got THE cutest outfit from my Dad!!  Cute fluffy vest with white shirt and black pants.  It's so dang cute.  So we put it on her and let her model it for us :)

You can see how cute she was in it :)

We spent most of the day just bumming around with Grandpa, Erika's choice :) and then we ran a few errands (not very exciting) and made her cakes.

don't judge, I did my best :)  She likes Kitties and Kelly and I really liked this cake idea, so I tried it out.  I wish I'd followed the instructions better on the feet, they're humongous!  But it's cake, so who really cares :)  The little one was supposed to be much smaller, it was for Erika to pig out on.  

Erika went down for a nap around 3:00 and did not wake up until we forced her out of her dead sleep for her party.  I don't think I've ever seen her sleep that long.... it was strange. 

She opened her presents.  Or rather, she watched her siblings open most of her presents and then kind of tore a few pieces of paper off of others, she got lots of clothes, a couple of dolls, a doll stroller, a teddy bear, a toy radio, and a book that she picked out earlier at the store.  This girl sure goes nuts at the store.  It's really hard to not want to buy everything for her.  She had 3 different noisy toys on the cart with her, I was trying to see which one she liked best, and then I reached up and grabbed this book and when she saw it her arms flew up, knocking the toys off and she would not be happy until I gave her the book.  It was adorable.  I'm not sure how I got it away to buy it, but I must have :)   I'm glad she likes it so much :) 

I think the favorite gift of the night was this doll that my mom got her.  She was wiggling with excitement from the first moment that she knew what it was.  It was torture for her to wait for us to get it out of the box, and she freaked out slightly when grandpa grabbed it away to cut off the impossible bomb proof packaging.  She was thrilled!!  She gave her baby the biggest hug when she finally had her.  It was A D O R A B L E! ! ! !  She loves dolls.

Then she got her cake.  She was clueless as to what to do with the candle.  Should have prepped her on that a little I guess :)  I blew it out for her.  She seemed a little weirded out by the whole thing actually :)  And all the attention I'm sure.  We were so lucky to have such a good turn out!  All four Grandparents, two Uncles, an Aunt, cousins, friends, and sibs.  She was pretty loved that night!

She picked at the frosting a little, then the kids showed her how to eat it and she got a little more into it.  I LOVE that my kids were so excited to be involved and fun for her.  They were so sweet to her and loved spoiling her.  Gives me chills just thinking about it.

I think she actually even enjoyed this part a little once she got over the fact that everyone was staring at her.  She's funny because she will eat anything and everything she finds on the ground or floor or toilet lid.... wherever, but has to pause and think before even attempting the food we put in front of her at mealtime.  Cracks me up.  It's like she doesn't trust us or something HA!  She's funny.

She didn't get too messy but I was grateful that I chose to do the white frosting alone on her cake :)  Less mess is the best.

And of course she ended it all with the birthday grumps :)  She was done and wanted the cake to be removed from the picture :)  She played with her friend Sophie, walking around, watched all the boys play with her stroller oping it didn't get broken (oh, wait that's what I did), she seemed to have a good time :)  I loved it!  I'm glad that we got this kind of closure on her year even though I still haven't given in to the idea yet.  She's just my little baby still.  I think she had a good time.  Happy Birthday Baby Girl!