My Little Soccer Players

We played soccer this fall for the first time. Bud has been begging to play ever since he played baseball. Beaner decided to do dance instead so I don't have any pictures of her, but she did say she wants to play soccer next year. I think she had just as much fun going to all the practices and games and Big D and I did. She made a lot of new friends and was never lonely or bored.



Bud was in Heaven. He plays soccer with his friends all the time at school so it was pretty cool to play against some of them at games. Bud was so funny to watch run down the field. I used to say he danced when he ran when he was younger. It made me sad to think he'd grow out of that. Well, he didn't. He was just so happy to be playing he'd dance as he ran. Toward the end of the season he got pretty good, not at dancing but at soccer. I would say he was one of the top players on his team.



Bug started the season off on a high. She scored a goal her very first game. She also has been begging to play soccer. I don't think this is the last time we sign them up, it's a good thing there is Spring and Fall soccer seasons. Bugs team did great, but they got cocky and lost a couple. I think it was the best thing that could have happened to them because it helped them to focus back on the game. She did great the hole season and loved every minute.



Bear was very entertaining to watch. All these five year olds and none of them really know what they're doing. Sometimes they would make a goal in the opposing teams goal, but we still celebrated. Sometimes they would forget which side of the field they were suppose to be defending, but we still celebrated. Sometimes they would get tired and sit down in the middle of a game, and we yell for them to get up. Sometimes they would get in water fights on the side lines, and we all laughed.

It was a great season, the weather stayed beautiful for us, and I can't wait to watch them play again in the spring.

Baseball Season

The kids played baseball this season. Beaner wasn't really excited about playing but she was a good sport about it when she found out her BFF was going to be on her team.



She never whined about going to games. She just didn't have her heart in it. I don't blame her, I wasn't in to sports at her age either.



She was a little scared of the ball but she did get a few hits and even made it around all the bases a couple times.



Now Bud was another story. I don't know if it's just a boy thing but he was so excited to play baseball he'd stand in the outfield dancing as he'd wait for the ball to come to him.



He took direction very well. Every time his coach or I yelled at him to try some thing he did it and he was great.



I'm not going to lie to you, I did have to yell at him to stand up a couple times but I think that comes with the age.



Bear was so excited to play baseball. He was so patient watching his siblings participate in sports and all sorts of fun stuff that he's been too young for. This being his first year playing sports he was super excited to learn what to do.



He was a little distracted by the female players on the other team, the little flirt. Every time he'd get on base he'd start chatting up the other team players. I'd have to yell at him to run so his teammate could take their rightful place on base.



His coach was really good about giving the kids a turn at trying to catch the ball. The hard part was teaching the kids what to do with the ball once they got it.



Of course, Bug had to tell me at every game how unfair it was that she's the one who really wanted to play baseball and she's the only one who didn't get to play. In my defense I really tried, her age group started their season a whole month earlier than the others. So, Bug had to come up with other ways to entertain herself. I think she did a pretty good job.

Bear up to Bat

My baby gets to play baseball for the first time this year. He is super excited.



You can't really see the excitement in this picture, but trust me it's there.



He is a natural at the tee. He hit the ball off the tee the very first try.



He even knew right were to run. I think this is going to be a great baseball season. Of course, I'm going to be living at the ball park with three kids playing. The only one that didn't get to play was Bug. She is just out of the play for fun and into the competitive sports bracket, which wouldn't be too bad except their season starts a month earlier and I missed the boat on signing her up.

Trust me she tells me every day how unfair it is that she's the one who loves to play and she's the only one not playing. I try to make it better by telling her she's all signed up for soccer this fall, but I'm still in the dog house for baseball.

Anyone Need a Contractor?

A couple years ago Big D and the kids were wrestling on our bed when Big D put his foot through the wall. I thought a quick patch job is all it needed until I started taking down the broken sheetrock and discovered black mold. We were in no position to fix it so we didn't bother it for awhile, I know that probably isn't the smartest idea but when you don't have the $$$ what are you going to do.

I finally decided to tackle the wall and see just how far this mold went. I was scared it went all the way into our restroom and up in the ceiling. I ripped out one complete wall and it kept going and so did I. I had to rip out our closet but it stopped before it reached our restroom, yeah! It also didn't make it up to the ceiling, few.

In order to fix our bedroom, which is in the basement we decided it is a good time to upgrade at least one of our windows and make it an egress window. Long story short we had to move out of our room to get every thing done that needs to be done.

We ended up getting rid of our toy room and turned it into our quiet room/office. The former quiet room is now our bedroom, yes, that would be upstairs :0(



The last time the toy room was painted was ten years ago when it was our oldest, Bug's room. We took every thing out and I figured I could live with patch marks on the walls before I could live with big holes every where.



So our little contractors in training helped patch the 150 holes. Grandpa would be so proud. I think construction is in the blood.

Needless to say, all our bedroom project has told us, is we need to redo our whole house. Thank goodness we can do it one room at a time.

Primary Activity

We took all the kids, that were interested, to the temple for a tour and a picnic. A lot of people thought we were crazy for wanting to take that many youngens to the temple grounds. They all did fabulous!



Bug standing in front of the Baptism for the Dead entrance which is going to be remodeled starting next month.



Bear and Bud standing next to one of the oldest trees. It is a Linden tree and it will probably be ripped out in the near future.



Beaner is standing in an arch that they use to take bridal shots.



Bear is standing in front of the temple holding his card he received from the visitors center after we watched movies about sharing.



Beaner enjoying being center of attention. She's going to make a b-e-a-utiful bride one day.



Bug hopefully practicing for when she comes back to get her bridal shots in front of the temple, but not for at least another ten years.



Bud showing off his card as well. I don't know why they felt like they needed to hold those up, maybe they were just proud of their trip.

A Day of Haircuts

The Primary Presidency took all the kids from Primary to the temple for an activity. We had a nice tour of the grounds where they showed us plants that aren't grown anywhere else in Idaho Falls (just because they won't grow) Flowers that are going to be ripped up next month to make a reflecting pool, and the entrance people usually use for Baptisms of the dead which too is being remodeled next month.

We watched some movies in the visitors center, learned about nebulas (places where stars are born), and how tiny our planet really is in the grand scheme of the universe and all the Lord's glory.

On our way home Bud got ahold of some putty which ended up in his hair, so guess what we got to do when we got home?



We get to cut hair. Since I had to cut Bud's I figured I'd torture Bear as well. If you look close you can see the putty in Bud's bangs.



This is how he looked after I just removed the putty. I asked him if he wanted me to leave his hair like this, he said probably not.



I usually shave both boys head, and Big D's too, but I wanted to leave it a little longer on top with Bear, Bud didn't have that choice anymore. I think they turned out pretty cute. It will be a nice summer haircut, at least for two weeks until we have to do it again.



The girls and I decided we wanted nice summer dos too. We looked at a bunch of different hairstyles on the internet and which haircut looks best to match the shape of our faces. Each girl picked the cut they wanted and we were off to the barber.



Beaner chose a cut pixie haircut. She has so much trouble with her brushing her hair, it's so thick and gets rats nests so easy. She gets mad every time I make her brush her hair ten times before it looks good. I think this is the best choice for her, I'm glad she decided on this one.

Bug and I actually chose the same do, a layered bob. I think it makes her look so much older, which I tell her every day she really must stop doing. This will be nice because she wanted it off her neck, which it is, but it isn't too short as to accentuate her round face and make it look rounder (if that is even a word).

Both girls have already had a lot of compliments and I can't quit running my fingers through Beaner's hair, because I can.

Now the only one who needs a haircut is Big D, where's my razor?

Chivalry Isn't Dead

I took Bear with me Visiting Teaching the other day. My partner is about 85 years old, she is the cutest.

Margie, my partner, was bragging about what a big helper Bear has been calling him our future priesthood holder.

He showed her how to open her car door, he would hold her hand as we crossed the street to help steddy her, plus, he would run up to the door and push the doorbell for us.

She was quite tickled with him.

As she was bragging to one of our sisters about Bear's chivalry she looked at Bear and asked, "If you already do all this great things now, what are you going to be when you get older?"

Bear looked at her, tilted his head and without a beat he said, "Five".

Laughing Only Makes it Worse

I know I write a lot about Bear, it's because we spend the most time together. Yesterday I went in the kitchen to make him and Bud lunch. On the counter was a left over bagel from breakfast.

Bear decided he wanted to munch on the bagel while I made lunch. He grabbed it and started to tease me saying, "I'm going to eat it". So I started teasing him back telling him that it was my bagel.

He hurry and took a bite to mark his territory, so to speak. I laughed and lunged like I was going to chase him to get the bagel back.

He took off running and smacked right in to the corner of the wall. His bagel, including the piece in his mouth, flew one way as his body bounced the opposite way. He hit so hard his little body bounced a good three feet backwards.

Instant screams shot out of his mouth, understandable. I felt so bad but at the same time I was trying to hold in the laughter that was building inside of me. I knew if I started laughing I wouldn't be able to stop and it would so make things worse. Bear would cry harder, which would make me feel worse and laugh harder. You see where this was going.

I was a good mom though, I held my laughter back but I did hide his face as not to see the massive smile on mine. I rocked and kissed him all better.

Now he looks like he has a horn that is trying to protrude out the middle of his forehead. It's a good thing a horn wouldn't slow him down. He cried for maybe five minutes and then he was off playing again, minus the bagel.

If I would've let my laughter out he probably would've cried for a good thirty minutes. I really am a good mom today, I'd probably be an even better one if I didn't go around causing my kids slam into walls.

Hold Your Shorts

Ann, Bear, and I went to Costco for a minute to pick up some sugar snap peas. We thought we'd walk around for a minute before we went to walk the dogs.

Ann stopped to look at the books and I thought of some thing I wanted to check out real fast. I started walking away with Bear hanging onto the side of the cart. I told him to say good-bye to auntie Ann because we were leaving her.

He got a bit panicky and started screaming, "No, Hello Ann Hello". Before he had a total melt down I said, "Hold your shorts, we're just going to go see some thing really quick and then we'll go back to her."

He calmed down and I made it to the other side of the store. I was looking for what I wanted and Bear said, "Mom, I can't hold it any more."

I got a little panicky this time and asked, "Hold what? Do you need to go potty?" He said, "No, I can't hold my shorts any more."

I looked down and he was hanging on to the cart with one hand and his shorts with the other. I laughed and told him he could let go of his shorts.

He then asked why he had to hold his shorts. How do you explain to a four year old what an expression is?

I tried and failed.

Music Festival

Our kids' school has a school wide Music Festival, which is just a fancy way of saying choir concert. It is mandatory for all students and last year when we went it was three hours long. It's one thing to listen to your own child sing but it's another having to stay and listen an entire school take turns. Oh, and my kids' school goes up to the eighth grade.



The principal must have received tons of complaints after last years performance because this year it was only about an hour and a halfish. It was still too long for Bear. We had to try and entertain him so the parents around us didn't freak out on us. He enjoyed taking pictures with Big D's phone for awhile until he got it taken away because he kept pushing buttons he wasn't suppose to.




After the kids were done singing on stage they'd walk by us on their way back to their seats. Bear was so bored that he had to make sure and butt in when it was time to take Bud's picture. I guess he was entertaining us as much as he was himself.



Beaner is learning about potatoes this year so her song was about potatoes. That is one thing that is pretty cool about the kids' school, they make up their own songs and music to go along with it. Here is Beaner as a potato. Doesn't she look delectable? I especially love the eyes on the potatoes, very creative.

Big B's Birthday

It was Bear and Sweeton's birthday yesterday. We don't want Bear to celebrate his birthday with a looming cloud of sadness because his brother died, so we make Bear feel as special as possible and we visit Sweeton's grave on another day to celebrate his birthday.



We asked Bear what he wanted to do for his birthday and he said go to McDonald's and play on the toys. We don't take our kids to McDonald's very often and we never buy them a kids meal when we do. That might make us bad parents but oh well. I think it makes it that much more special when he does get a kids meal.



All the kids enjoyed their kids meal and toy inside, some alien thing that shoots part of its ship in three different directions.



Bug was very adamant that she was not getting a kids meal, she's too old for a kids meal. She's so funny.



Bear invited his cousins, Lowell Jr. and Hyatt, to come and play with him and help him celebrate.



They are very animated little boys and it is so funny to watch and listen to them.



After McDonald's we went and got ice cream at Farr's.



We thought it best to let them eat at the store before getting back into our car.



I think we hyped the kids up on sufficient enough sugar to call Bear's birthday party a success.



We also got sufficiently chilled to the bone, and then we took everyone to the park.



It was still sunny and beautiful when we went into Farr's but by the time we got out and over to the park the sun was just low enough and the ice cream had circumnavigated body and everyone was cold. We let Bear open his gift from mom and dad, play with it for a bit, then hopped in the car for and emergency potty intervention.

"Biggest Loser" Night at Our House

We love love love watching the "Biggest Loser" show on TV.



If nothing else I love watching the kids try and out do each other.



They are pretty good at motivating their mother too. I ended up walking on the treadmill after they were all done playing on it.



I think these guys really want to go to Disneyland, what do you think?



I guess you could say I'm running my own "sweat shop".