So Darn Cute!

I could watch and listen to this kid laugh all day long!

A Knight's Battle

At the This Is The Place Heritage Park, Dynamite took a little class to learn how to be a Good Knight. The boys were taught the virtues of a good knight, then they built swords and were divided into the Lions (red) and the Dragons (blue). They did a little practice fighting (video 1), then Dynamite led the Lions as the two groups charged each other (video 2). Next, they fought a "battle" (video 3). There were 8 more on the blue team than the red team (not sure how that happened). Dynamite had a great time and I thoroughly enjoyed watching them battle. He was in his element!

My favorite part comes in this video when there are a bunch of blue-sworded boys against just Dynamite. And it doesn't even seem to phase him.

I Had Almost Given Up Hope

I was very close to giving up hope that little Cutesome would ever learn to crawl. I thought he might just skip crawling and go straight to walking, but alas, he finally figured it out - just 2 weeks before his first birthday! Time to baby-proof! I was worried about him not crawling because I've heard that there is a correlation between crawling and learning to read. Now I'm sure I can expect him to learn to read with no difficulty whatsoever.

Is this the cutest thing ever??? He is at such an adorable stage.

This week Cutesome's first 6 teeth broke through the surface of his gums. Yep - 6 this week. 4 on the top and 2 on the bottom. He also learned to sign "more" when he wants more food and learned to go forward and sideways in his walker with ease.

First Day of School

I survived the summer! I wasn't sure I was going to make it this year, but we did it! The kids did a great job getting ready this morning without any trouble and once they were off to school I was down-right giddy. It was just so quiet and peaceful and clean! It is shocking how much more I can accomplish when I don't have four kids to take care of, instruct, respond to, break up, and entertain.
The kids had a great first day and are off to a great start. Dynamite began first grade, Confidence began fifth and Vivacious began fourth. Little Cutesome is the only one home with me! Dreamer said this morning, "Just 5 more years and you'll be all alone during the day". My only regret: I didn't take a nap and now I'm super tired.

Birthday Girl!

These are pictures of my little birthday girl from the past couple of years. These are the oldest pictures of her I have on this computer, so sorry, no baby pics!

Happy Birthday, Vivacious!

My sweet little Vivacious turned 9 today. I can't believe she's so old already! She is a middle child and I see many traits in her that were mine as a child (i.e. need for reassurance that she's great, comparisons with the other kids). She is very good at memorizing and knows several children's books and a couple of poems. She gets along well with just about everyone and is a kind friend. She is also a very smart girl; she does well in all subjects of school and her teachers have always loved having her in their classes. She seems to do well at everything she tries. This year she played softball, took dancing and piano lessons and just began soccer. She is a fast runner and likes to race. Vivacious really is a beautiful girl (and she looks more like me when I was a kid than my other kids do). She loves to play card games and snuggle and tries to get her dad and I to rub her back or run our fingers through her hair constantly! Vivacious started 4th grade today (she's the youngest in her class) and her first-day-of-school picture is posted below.

Even if she weren't all of these things, I would still love her forever just because she is my daughter. She has a sweet spirit and I am excited to see what kind of woman she becomes as she grows up. I know Heavenly Father sent her to me and I'm happy that she is part of our forever family. I will do my very best to teach her the important things she needs to know to be happy as an adult and will try to give her all the attention that she needs.

Here are some pictures that have been taken in the last couple of months.

The Amazing Ashlie

Ashlie has become an amazing swimmer this summer. She has taken swimming lessons almost all summer long and tries out for the Recreation Center swim team tomorrow after school. In the video below you can see her going back and forth across the pool. She is really quite good at every kind of stroke and I have no reason to believe she won't make the swim team.

She swam for an hour every day last week without breaks - as soon as she completed one assignment, her teacher gave her the next. By the end of the hour she was pretty tired, but she swam steadily the entire time. I am so proud of her for setting and accomplishing this goal this summer. She is such a great kid!

Long Time, No Posting

I cannot believe it's been nearly a month since my last post. Oh, how I've wanted to blog, but this month has been just insane. School starts tomorrow and I could not be more ready for the kids to start again. This summer has been chaotic; the kids create an unimaginable amount of mess everywhere they go and there is constantly someone needing (demanding!) my attention. I can't wait for the peace and quiet during the day while they're away. Don't get me wrong - I adore them all, but it just gets to be a little much sometimes and a break will be good for all of us. This is the first year I have really been ready for the kids to go back to school. Usually I mourn them returning to school because I love having them around, but I guess this summer has been a little more stressful than most for me.

My sweet little Cutesome just gets sweeter and cuter. I'm serious. I fall more in love with him every single day. Here is a video clip of him playing "basket ball" for the first time.