Syd in a sentence

At the beginning of the school year, Syd was asked to describe her personality in one sentence. Then they got to make a poster using decorations that supported their sentence. This is what she came up with:

Snow Day!

It seems a bit odd to go from the 4th of July straight to a snow day.

We woke up to quite a bit of heavy snow.

Trees are down and power is out.

The gym is closed.

Most importantly...school is out!

The girls could not wait to get out and play.

While Dozer is inside sleeping on his nice comfy bed,

Howie is out jumping and digging in the snow.

9 years ago

I became a mom...
This post is long overdue.
Sydnee wanted a red, white and blue ice cream cone for her bday this year...I went back and forth between a flat cutout cake or a 3D one...I wasn't exactly sure how I wanted to do it, but the 3D idea won.

The morning of the 4th, we all ran in a 5k (minus Justee, she got to hang out with Renae) with our friends, Josh, Sherri and their kids Jadyn and Ashlyn (Ash rode in a stroller pushed by her mom...crazy in the huge crowd.)

Despite the very slow start due to fighting through a huge crowd that had to bottle neck out onto the course, Sydnee achieved a new PR. (which I can't remember right now and I hope I find it somewhere) and took 2nd in her age group - 10 and under.

Sydnee decided she wanted her ears pierced for her birthday. When Chuck wanted hers done too...Sydnee happily agreed...as long as Chuck went first. ;) There were no cries or whimpers...just momentary face pulling...and a little hand squeezing.

Both girls said it was much easier and less painful than expected (I don't know how they feel...my ears are yet to be pieced.)

Sydnee was very happy with her birthday presents and party that held on the following day.

I decided that we are going to choreograph some words and pictures with our sparklers next year. I'm excited about it!

Sydnee had a water bday party with her friends...she was even nice enough to invite some of her friends little sisters who are friends with Charlee.
This is the cake without the two scoops of ice cream...I ended up using the giant cupcake pans to make the cake.

No strings attached

This little girl will be awaiting her first visit from the tooth fairy tonight!

(Let's hope it only takes one night for that forgetful fairy to find our house.)

Hooray! It's picture day!

I remember thinking about what I was going to wear for picture day a few days in advance, the teachers telling everyone to brush their hair and teeth for that day, and sitting in front of the lights and camera and smiling after the photographer called you some funny name....Things haven't changed much.........
Picture day is quite the event for my girls. Sydnee has been saving her "picture day outfit" just for this day...she hadn't worn it once yet. Charlee wasn't as sure about what to wear, so she modeled a few things for Sydnee the night before and they decided together. They both wanted to pick out new earrings to wear (and you can't even see Sydnee's.)
Of course when they get all dolled up for pictures, I have to take a few before they leave.
The sad thing is, I bet they sit and smile in front of the school photographer a lot nicer than they do for me...They aren't too cooperative when I want to take pictures...the camera clicks twice and they want to run away.

Summer Visitors

We were lucky enough to have the Burtons come visit us this summer! The kids had some fun at a splash park one day, but it wasn't too long before the older ones were looking for more adventure than some fountains...

After seeing lots of other kids jumping off into the river, I told the girls (Syd, Char, Allie, & Karlee) that we would stay a while longer if one of them jumped. To my complete surprise, the older girls said no and Charlee immediately said, "I'll do it!"
Now, this was a complete shock to me and I doubted very much that she would jump once she got up there. I've always thought Charlee to be our little chicken...especially after Disney World.
I was totally wrong. She got up there and jumped without a moments hesitation. (We won't get into how she swam the wrong way (against the current) trying to get out and began to panic enough that another lady jumped in and pulled her out...mind you, she was already in a bathing suit and wet and reacted before I (fully dressed and dry) could react...that clears me of any "slow-to-save-your-own-child" accusations, right?)

Of course the other girls couldn't let Chuck be the only one to jump, and they quickly all followed.:) They all jumped a few times, even Charlee (who made sure to swim the other way) before it was time to go home.

Journee was great at keeping the younger ones happy, while I was taking pics.

(6/28/11)

Father's Day Weekend

The Saturday before Father's Day, we got to go up and visit the flight facility. The girls always have a blast playing in the helicopters.
The girls made a special breakfast for their Daddy and then gave him some presents...they were wrapped in paper appropriate for a father of 3 girls.

I guess we all can still love him in spite of the horrible shirt he is wearing...besides his awful taste in basketball teams, he is a pretty amazing father.

(6/19/11)

Showcase and Talent Show

This all happened on the last day of school last year...Sydnee had her talent show in the morning and Charlee had her showcase in the afternoon. Unfortunately Justin had to miss it for drill or meetings or something like that. It was an action packed last day, but the girls loved every minute of it.

They also handed out lots of awards for students...Here is Sydnee getting her Presidential Fitness award (or something like that)...It was for running the mile in under a certain time and doing a certain number of sit-ups etc.

Clip of Charlee being shy...luckily she warmed up toward the end and actually held her head up. :)




Sydnee on her pogo stick...

(5/19/11)

Art is fun

This is what happens when your kids wake up early on a Sat...and their mischievous/creative juices are flowing.
Of course Justee was the guinea pig.

Apparently the first attempt wasn't good enough, and they scampered away to do more damage.Thank goodness they didn't find the permanent markers.

(5/21/11)

Better late than never...Butterfly Release

This post should be dated 4/18/11. I guess I pretty much took the summer off when it came to blogging. I have so much to catch up on...
This was back when Charlee was a kindergartner...Now she is a big 1st grader! Can you believe it?!
We did this when Syd was in Miss Jensen's class as well...The class gets a bunch of caterpillars and they get to watch the whole process of their metamorphosis, and release them once it is complete.
It takes the butterflies a while to warm their little wings and take flight...

Once they decide to go, the kids aren't too far behind.

Charlee's class (plus a few siblings) patiently waiting for a popsicle

Moab Adventures

A couple of weeks ago we were able to enjoy our first camping trip this year. The girls were very excited! After our lovely middle child had a bout with car sickness and campground after campground was full...we finally found this gem of a campsite. What a relief! 3 little girls were going to be very disappointed if they had to sleep in a hotel.

The real reason for this trip was to take Mark and Jessica's engagement photos. My parents were heading down for Mark's grad and to help him move out of his dorm, so it was great to spend time with them too. After the pics were done and we saw all of Arches we wanted to, we moved on to Price, where all 3 girls got at least one strike while bowling with Mark and Jessica.



After the big mile and a half hike up to the Delicate Arch, Syd said it best, "It was worth it!"

Justin did a lot of carrying Justee, and she still conked out for a good nap before the day was through. This caused Justin and Justee to miss out on the small hike we took where Syd and Chuck found their favorite spot. It was a small crevice between rock walls filled with nice cool sand. They had a blast there.

39 years...that's a long time

Ok, so I am not very good at remembering dates (you'd think I was I man or something.) I would never have even known it was my parents anniversary if I hadn't heard it from my sister, Vicki.
So, as I am sitting here waiting to hear from Justin...he is supposed to be on a flight coming home from Dallas, but it keeps getting delayed due to weather...I figured, why not steal her post? :)

Happy anniversary to my amazing parents!

I love this picture because I think Chuck sure looks a lot like Ashlee in it. (and Trey looks like you Vic. Don't ya think?)

Thanks for being great parents who love each other, and raised 5 great kids...especially your 4th child. I really love you both.

Thanks for staying on top of things, Vicki. :)

Huge Relief

There is no way to describe how happy I am to be done with this bathroom! ...well...pretty much done...a door missing isn't that big of a deal is it?
This whole project started in early March. I wanted it done right along with the rest of the basement, but Justin had his many excuses for why it had to wait...

Just like everything else, it took WAY longer than I was told it would. We had so many setbacks and problems. I would be writing forever if I went through all the things we had to go back and fix, so I won't even attempt. Even the last thing, which was hanging the shower curtain rod, took a week. That tile was ridiculous to drill through, so I decided I was going to glue it. One side took really well, but the other was not holding...so after days of letting glue dry, back to drilling it was.

Before grout:

After grout:

Finally...a working bathroom in our basement: