Shark Girl

Finally Andi lost a tooth.  She was a late bloomer I guess.  She has been waiting and waiting and waiting to finally get a loose tooth and "all" of her friends have already lost teeth.  In fact, she even grew her adult teeth in about 3 months ago.  She looks like a shark!  See:

She is so proud.  The tooth fairy came for a visit that night even though there was no tooth.  Here's the story...One night Andi asked Cory if he could pull it out.  I don't think she really even knew what that entailed.  She just liked the attention, I think.  So Cory got the floss and wrapped it around and just yanked it.  And out it flew!  It flew behind Cory, hit the wall and disappeared.  Really!  We looked everywhere for it and couldn't find it.  So she wrote a note to the tooth fairy and stuck it under her pillow.  Luckily the tooth fairy remembered and brought $2 because that's what was in the tooth fairy's wallet. 

Spencer's 1st Day of Pre-K

Isn't it funny how fast they grow up.  Here's the big boy on his first day of Pre-K.  And isn't it funny how the norm (in Roseville anyway) is 2 years of preschool!  Didn't there used to be a time when preschool at all was optional?  I'm a victim of the whole "high expectations in preschool" way of thinking.  There is a new teacher this year and at the meet and greet she kept talking about art, then play time, then art, then snacks, then art...  So I raised my hand and asked her if she was going to talk about the abc's or numbers at all.  She said a snide remark to her colleague and then said "yes, they'll know they're numbers 1-10 by the end of the year."  Wow...I was speechless.  They all learned that the first few months LAST year!  Needless to say, we sent over the very intimidating kindergarten teacher (Ms. Jordan) to introduce herself and help her know that a lot is expected out of the kids before they even start kindergarten.  We'll see how it goes. 

This big guy is really starting to be a lot of fun.  Not that he wasn't before but you know how they grow up and their personalities are more apparent.  Well, he's definitely a boy.  He's an outside boy who NEEDS to run around and move his little body.  He's turning into a big helper for me, too. Just today I asked him if he could please play with Trevor while I do the dishes.  He put him in our puppet bin and pushed him around the house.  Trevor was cracking up!  And Spencer was having a great time.  Those 2 will have a blast together when they're older. 

We had such a nice evening

 Last night was beautiful.  It cooled down to a very manageable temperature.  In fact, it was close to perfect.  One of those nights where the air just feels so good on your skin.  After dinner we had nothing going on so we went outside.  I took our huge watermelon outside and onto the grass.  I took our really long knife and I cut it into triangles.  I usually cut it into bite size chunks so we avoid the sticky sweet mess, but I went full guns.  Hey- live a little!  The kids ate it like candy while they played.  They ate that whole thing!  Juice was dripping everywhere.  And I wasn't bothered by it one bit.  It was just so wonderful outside that I was in a great mood.  Well, great mood because everyone was happy and getting along and acting the way siblings are supposed to act (in my dreams, anyway).  Now, this is what I want to bottle up and keep forever...

1 day of the new school year

Whew... I feel like I can breathe a little bit more now. The 3 big girls are back in school. They were so excited! As you can tell, scarves were the big fettish this year. Last year it was Paul Frank (the artist of the monkey).

Andi has Mrs. Goulding who is very tall. The top of Andi's head probably only comes up to to the top of her thigh. That sounds weird. To say thigh. Well, she does! Andi was so nervous walking to school. She kept saying, "My tummy hurts" but I think it was butterflies. That is so sweet. I can remember being nervous the first day of each year! It's a big deal. Then of course she forgot her lunch but luckily I caught it right after I dropped her off in her class so I was able to run home (well, I mean pushing the 3 little kids in a stroller in 85 degree heat, so I wasn't really running) and bring it right back. Hmm, interesting way to start the school year...



Ainslee began 3rd grade and has 2 teachers who team teach. Mrs. Lederer and Mrs. Holmstrom are veterans of the school. One thing I have to say about the teachers at this school is that they are all good looking. I mean, really they are! They all dress straight out of a magazine. It's kinda funny- there are not a lot of jeans amongst the teachers. So you can imagine how I feel when I go volunteer in the classrooms. Ainslee just loves school and does really well. Her STAR testing (CA Assessment) from the spring was mailed home a couple of weeks ago. I couldn't be more proud. She scored 450 out of 600 in English and 565 our of 600 in Math. She is considered "Advanced" in both. Wow. I actually have a kid that is smart in Math?!?! I hope she keeps that up!

And here is our Ashley who is starting 4th grade. She is on the upper grade playground now! She didn't seem nervous walking to school but she wouldn't leave my side until the bell rang. I don't blame her. I'm cool! I can fit 3 kids in a sit and stand stoller. Who wouldn't want to be near me... She's got a man teacher again this year- Mr. Henshke. That makes 3 in a row. I'm hoping this teacher will be really strick with the bully in the class "Naughty McKenzie." Ooh, she's rotten. In fact, when Ashley found out she'd be in the same clas again (3 years in a row). She cried. And not the weeping and wailing I-need-attention cry. It was a heartfelt tears rolling down the cheeks cry. I felt so bad. We're crossing our fingers on that whole situation. The good thing about "Naughty McKenzie" is she is just rotten with everyone- not just Ashley. Her STAR report came back awesome as well. She scored 488 our of 600 in English and 550 out of 600 in Math. Another Advanced title. I can take no credit for Ashley and Ainslee's smarts. That would all be because of Cory. He's the smart one. I'm the good looking one. Just kidding. He's good looking too. Yes!!! I am so lucky to be the mother of smart kids! Should I have them tutor ME in math?

It's funny have 3 little ones at home all day now. It kinda feels like I'm starting over again. Like when only had Ashley, Ainslee, and Andi. I keep thinking that I'm going to have some time during the day to catch up on projects and hobbies. Nope- I can tell that's not going to happen. But that's okay. I'd much rather be with my kids now than do projects. Even if I'm grumpy about it sometimes.

Mr. Last Guy

Trevor has a new trick. Is it crawling? No- he's been doing that for about 6 weeks now. Is it sleeping through the night? No- he's been doing that since he was 2 months old. Is it arching his back when he doesn't want his sisters to hold him? No- he's been doing that since December. So what is this new thing? It's pulling himself to standing on everything! His favorite is the dishwasher because he likes to pull everything out! He's a funny kid.

And this is what happens when you leave your oatmeal bowl on the table within his reach. What a surprise to come back in the room and see this mess!

Easter

Yes, we are alive. And contrary to popular belief, having six kids will not kill you. Sometimes you may feel as though you are slipping into oblivion; it's actually just the noise level giving you a headache.

So how appropriate to start posting with a big event like Easter. We had a nice low key one this year. My brother, sister-in-law, and their 2 kids came from San Fransisco for a visit on Saturday. We did the Easter thing then (which was kinda nice). I made the traditional dinner: ham, funeral potatoes, carrorts, rolls, spinach salad, lemonade, toffee chocolate poke cake, and key lime pie. And you would be surprised with what I made. I don't come across as very domestic- oh, but I am. From scratch I made the rolls, the lemonade, the poppy seed dressing, and I candied the nuts for the salad. And it was good.

The egg hunt was spectacular! 65 eggs were hidden in our backyard which made for a very quick hunt. I think the kids were in a candy coma as we openend the eggs.

Here are all the kids, my 6 and my bro's 2 (Magnus and Leif are the bottom right hand corner).

Unbelievably, the sugar gets into their systems almost spontaneously. Just look at Spencer as proof...

This little guy needs more camera time. He is a big and very hefty 8 1/2 month old. Oh and he's so good. Can you believe how blonde he is?! The sun is shining on it a little bit but he is definitey tow-headed. I need to take a picture of my darkest, Andi and my lightest, Trevor. It's kinda weird.

Here's Steve's oldest boy, Magnus. He and my Avery are just a few days apart. He's a cute kid and looks just like his dad. I think the candy coma had hit him at this point. He's just so chill.

We have chuch from 1-4 this year. Bummer for Easter dinner but great for Easter breakfast. We made our tradional Bunny Pancakes and the kids helped decorate them.

This is Spencer, 4, and Avery, 2. It's nice to see Avery actually sitting in front of her food although I think this was only for a few seconds. She does not sit. Ever. And Spencer is not poking his pancake which is good. He's got this nasty little habit a poking (or, err, hitting) everything in sight.

Here is Andi, 5. I'm surprised she's just sitting still. Most of the day she's bustin' a move. That's different than dancing. She doesn't dance- she hip hops. But she's never taken a class. Her body just naturally kinda does that stuff.

Here's our Ashley, 9. I'm surprised she didn't write a full length book about this bunny pancake. She is very into using her imagination and creativity. And perfection.

Ainslee, 8, is a great singer. It's funny how from an early age you can see what they are all good at. We have a Singing Wii game and she blows all of us out of the water. Cory and I will try (pridefully) and she gets much higher scores than us. We cannot figure out how she does it! She is just that good.

Geez, my camera stinks. It couldn't be that Avery steals it and when I find it somewhere it will have a whole new set of fingerprints on top of the old ones. Bummer. This is the "Hurry up and smile cause we gotta get in the car or we'll be late for church and daddy thinks taking pictures is dumb but mom yells and says that it is important for posterity so everyone needs to just deal with it" picture. I think it turned out pretty good.

Halloween Happenings

Didn't it stink having Halloween on a Sunday this year? Luckily for Cory and I, the kids had just as much fun handing out candy in their costumes than Trick-Or-Treating. Of course we had the ward Trunk-Or-Treat 2 days before so that cured their candy craving. It's so funny to hear what the kids want to be for Halloween. We have a big bin of costumes that we've been collectin over the years. So pretty much everyone except Ashley and Spencer has a costume each year. We do give them a choice to be something else- but they always choose from the bin. Hey- it works for us!

Ashley decided to be a witch this year. Here's her best witchy face.

Ainslee wanted to be SuperGirl this year. I think it's just because she could wear red lipstick.

Andi was a queen. For years she's been waiting to be the queen and it was finally her chance.

Mr. Spencer was a knight in shining armor. He did wear shoes, I promise. And he had a nice looking helmet- it's just not on. About 5 minutes after we got dressed in costumes, he pounded the sword into the ground and it broke. Seriously? The story of our lives. ANYTHING can be broken. That I know.



Okay. I know you can't tell, but Avery is a blackbird. I saw a cute and easy tutorial on Little Birdie Secrets.com for how to make a little chickadee but Avery has these awesome black biker boots I wanted her to wear. So she became a blackbird. I actually made the costume although it didn't include the sewing machine. And there are feathers on the wings and skirt but you can't see them. So if you ever want to do a blackbird- don't. Go for the chickadee.

And this little guy was a pirate- duh. Nothing more to say about that except that I could eat him he's so dang cute.

The circus:

And there were parties at school. No- not costume parties. Those aren't allowed in our school. DO NOT GET ME STARTED. They're called Harvest Parties so technically the kids are allowed to dress as harvesters (what the?).

And it was the end of red ribbon week so they could "Reach for your dreams when you don't take drugs" and wear their PJ's to school. Seriously? That is so gross! PeePee smelling jammies? That idea won over costumes? Whatever...

And we took the traditional Apple Hill trip. Nothing like breathing fresh air once in a while.

And for a surprise, Cory's Grandma came to visit her daughter Karen for a few weeks. Since we only live 5 miles from Karen we go to visit with Grams fora little while. She came over to see our house and kids. That was fun for the kids and it makes a great generational picture (almost).