update-Sadie

sadie is enjoying 8th grade. we signed her up for next year's classes and i can't believe she is going to be in high school. it was tough deciding what classes to take. we decided on debate, spanish, mostly honors core classes and dance. she really loved her tv/broadcasting class and her teacher is trying to pull some strings to get her in the program even though they never take freshman. we will see. her teacher also just won the districts "teacher of the year" and is supposed to have one student introduce her at the state level. she asked sadie. i thought that was a huge compliment. she just got her report card and has worked so hard to get a 4.0 each semester (she did an amazing job keeping up with school through all our transitions and not having internet/printers set up). she ran for student government freshman rep, but lost to her really good friend. it was disappointing, but she felt ok about it and i was very proud of her for being brave enough to put herself out there, especially because she has only been here for a year. she had to get a letter of recommendation and her history teacher wrote it for her. it was worth the whole campaign. it was the nicest, most complimentary letter anyone could ever imagine. she is a great girl.

these are pictures of her 'informance' during her dance class. it was beautifully done.

she plays the violin beautifully and has started working out with my brother and dad to see if she likes basketball.

she continues to be an awesome big sister. she did a preschool with her FACS class and she was so excited to have max come and hang out with her at school.

other than that, she loves hanging out with the great friends she has made here.

and an update on sadie....

would not be complete without adding some of the surprise self-photos i always find on my phone and computer:) love them!

star light star bright

kai's "starry night" was picked to be hung up by the office. he was pretty excited about it. notice the bird that showed up in his night sky. i find bird drawings everywhere these days. he loves to draw them.

the store

max went on a field trip to the grocery store. i was so happy that he wanted me to tag along. a little old man stopped me and asked if all of the kids in his preschool were mine. thank heavens no.....i told him just the boy in the red shirt was mine. he looked at max and said, "he is by far the cutest." he was a happy man... max got a free donut which made him a happy (little) man too.

time out

we have been so distracted with house stuff lately that max and i took a time out. we dropped everything and spent a relaxing day at the library. it was a needed time together. he has handled all these changes and transitions like a champ. he is such a great kid! he is my forever optimist. today on the way to school he told me how great it is that we have the hotel to live in and we don't have to live outside....in a tent...like that one guy (he was talking about lehi)

outlet

dave was excited to start church ball this year. i think he needed an outlet from house stress and work and it is the one night a week that he can get some sort of exercise. kai hopes and completely thinks he is capable of filling in if the team needs an extra player. in this picture he is walking off the court, disappointed they won't let him play. he is the best little stat keeper ever! i have a stat app on my phone and he sits for the whole game and takes stats. i'm sure dave is the only church ball player that gets a full report on how he did after the game.

before each game they have to stand in front of this picture of Christ and recited something about being good sports. it is pretty funny. dave had to ref and one guy was getting out of hand. we were laughing that he should make the guy stand in front of the sign until he was ready to rejoin the game....you have to love church ball.

bringing in the new year

we welcomed in the new year with dave's family. we had a wii "just dance 3" party. i was surprised at how serious kai was. he was in it to win. it was great!

dave has asked me what my new year's resolutions are for 2012. they are all pretty basic. i think i am taking an abe approach. sometimes he sets goals like eat a whole slice of pizza in one bite. i decided on low pressure goals this year. getting into our new house, getting organized and unpacked, have a baby, start on food storage, make sure everyone has a real bed (this hasn't been the case up to this point in time),

AND BREATH! i don't want to start anything crazy or set myself up for failure. i just want to get settled, organized, enjoy this new baby, and count my blessings.

happy new year (late, of course)!

valentine memoirs

(yesterday we spent the afternoon getting ready for class parties. i thought we would do it the easy way and just buy valentines...kai and abe both that was lame and kai ended drawing a picture for every kid in his class to go with the store bought valentine. this is the valentine box abe made for his class party. we have limited resources in the hotel, so i was impressed with his creativity!)

happy valentine's day!

here's a play by play of our day:

wake up and decorate the table for valentine's breakfast/scriptures--kids like their valentines.

dave gets home from work just in time to meet the boys in the parking lot and take them to school.

dave returns and max surprises him with a heart cookie (in a bag) taped to the hotel door:) we do a quick exchange of valentines for each other.

i leave for a three hour glucose test. my earlier test came back high, so i head out to have my blood drawn every hour...i tell dave i will pretend it is a really hot/icy cold vampire sucking my blood. the test results turn out normal--yeah!

dave cleans and vacuums out my car and delivers a valentine to sadie at school

dave and max pick me up from the hospital and take me out to lunch then drop me off to have a massage.

they pick up all the kids from school.

i take sadie to violin.

dave, abe, and kai get haircuts, which ends up only dave and abe because kai decides against getting his cut.

we make a quick trip to the house to look at carpet that was installed today. max rolls on it.

sadie tends and dave takes me to dinner. we get steak and salmon. it is great sitting next to each other for a few minutes.

dave takes sadie and four other girls to heart-attack their friend's room

i volunteer dave to take the boys swimming after homework is done. they last twenty minutes due to it being valentine's day and the pool is dimmed with purple lights and couples are kissing in the pool. the boys end up swimming in our tub and dave ends up laughing that i would think a late night swim with the boys is a good idea on valentine's day.

tuck the boys in bed

max needs ice because his mouth is too hot to sleep

re-tuck

max can't sleep and pretends to sleep walk, so serious

dave tells max a short story and they both fall asleep...but dave has to wake up so we can

plan sadie's school schedule for high school. we have a 7:30 am meeting with the counselor in the morning. crazy!

what a day! i am super glad i have such an awesome hubby and kids to love for infinity.