August 2019

August was a month full of a lot of simple days spent hanging out with all of these cute little people. Honestly those simple days are some of my favorite. I enjoy having things to do and fun adventures to go on but I also love days when I can just hang out at home, walk to the park, and play with my girls. Too bad there is always so much cleaning and work that gets in the way and spoils all of our fun. Dishes, laundry, and cooking always has to be done. The challenge is finding a balance that works. I made the kids do a lot more chores and help out a lot this summer. They hated it but it sure helped my sanity. 

We started out the month of August with speech and counseling for Brynlee and with a trip to the school for the book and a bite program in between. The girls played with slinkys and ate lunch at book and a bite and we all played with linkin logs while Bryn was in counseling.

We babysat a cute little baby the next day and then went with his family to check out a new park they put in not too far from our house. It was super hot out but the park was lots of fun and there was water for the kids to play in so they could keep cool. 

Kuna days was on Saturday and we had a blast at the parade and the kids enjoyed the free kids carnival. They went on a train ride and did a couple of the bouncy slides before the lines got too long so we went back home and hung out until it was time to watch the fireworks. We watched them at grandma's house again this year. We had hot dogs and homemade ice cream while we were there and the kids had fun playing on the new swing set that Joel built for grandma since her old one broke. Grandma's house has the perfect view of the fireworks from her backyard and then the drive home is nice and close with no traffic. It is fun to celebrate this little town we live in. 

The next week of the month brought with it corn harvest. I froze several bags of corn with the help of my little crew and Joel helped me to finish it up after we got all the kids in bed. We had Madison over for a sleepover one night that week. Brynlee spent most of the day making several batches of cinnamon rolls. The girls had decided when they were planning this sleepover that they were going to have a lemonade stand but we had no lemonade at our house. Brynlee changed it to sell cinnamon rolls and we had a big pitcher of water that they handed out. As soon as Madison came I helped them finish up the cinnamon rolls and then Annalyn helped them to sell them. They had several people buy them and they made a decent amount of money. We took Madison with us to meet some friends at the new park the next day and we all had a blast playing at the park.

Later that week we helped grandma with her garden, we took Brynlee to speech, went to book and a bite, and had Annalyn's friend and her little sister over for a play date. We went to Elowyn's third birthday party and had a lot of fun celebrating with her. Summer got in trouble right before the party started and almost missed it. She helped me to pick out and wrap Elowyn's present but then decided she wanted to keep it so she hid it in her room, opened it, and had the entire thing unwrapped and was playing with it when I found her. She also lost one of the little accessories that went with the toy. I made her miss part of the party so she could look for the lost item but we never did find it. Luckily she calmed down in time to go so she got to participate in the bubbles, cake, and the pinata. 

Summer has been having lots of meltdowns and tantrums lately. Usually there are multiple ones a day so my sister Alesha suggested that I make a calming corner somewhere in our house for her. I decided that would be a good idea so I converted the little room under our stair into a calming corner. We put some signs up and I bought a bean bag and some sensory things to put in there. Alesha came over one day while the girls were in school and helped with the signs. All of my girls love it in there. I have tried it out a few times. It feels pretty nice and cozy and has helped Summer to calm down on several occasions already. 

We had to spend some time getting everyone ready for school this month. Brynlee had back to school night first and we had to make a trip to the store to get some last minute school supplies for her. All of the girls got their hair trimmed, even Miriam insisted on a chance to sit up in aunt Heather's chair to get her hair brushed. Summer loved the treatment the most and laughed through the blow drying experience. Brynlee got her hair cut pretty short again. She will decide she wants it long but will usually only last a few months before she decides to chop it all off. We took Annalyn and Kyla to their back to school night where they got to meet their teachers and put all of their school supplies in their desks. We had our ward back to school party and the girls had a lot of fun coming down the water slide they had. Then before we knew it, they were all in school again. Brynlee walks to school while the other girls usually ride the bus. 

To end the month I took all of the girls to one more trip to the park. My brother brought Elowyn and all the girls had a fun time playing at the park and in the water since we were still having beautiful warm days. Joel spent the day helping his brother Jake with his house so it was good for us to get away and have something to do. 

      Joel and I both felt inspired that we should try to take one of the self reliance classes that are offered by the church. We got my grandma and mom and Joel's parents to agree to help babysit while we took the class for 12 weeks. We decided to take the financial planning class. We almost took it a year ago but the timing just didn't work out and it seemed like too much of a commitment when we didn't think we needed help with financial planning. We have kind of been getting into a boring routine and we both felt like we needed to make some changes to strengthen our marriage and family. Focusing on this goal together and having two hours a week away from our kids seems just like what we needed.  We went to the first meeting on the last Sunday of the month and we got put in a group with a few people we knew and we are meeting from 4:30-6:30 which seems like a decent time because then we will still be home in time to put kids in bed. Life is pretty good and we are excited to see what the future brings.

     August had some nice hot days and the kids enjoyed playing in the water to keep cool. They played with toys, rode bikes, and played with friends. Annalyn went to chuck e cheese on a date night with her grandpa and had a lot of fun. Kyla went to a birthday party for her friend Kynslee and had a great time doing that. Miriam had a birthday party and she had her one year check-up. She hated the shots and her legs were sore for the rest of the day. All of the older three girls are liking school so far. Kyla and Brynlee both got homework right away. Brynlee got to go to activity days and she did speech this month. We took a long break from speech right after school started so that we could go at a new time. We did counseling once and then the counselor kept quitting on us. I tried to just get Brynlee a new counselor but they really didn't have one at a decent time so I just put her on a waiting list. I mentioned to Brynlee's teacher that she has anxiety and that it causes a lot of stomach aches and she suggested that we have her talk to the school counselor. I met with her and she seems super nice and Brynlee seemed happy with that arrangement. It should be helpful because they will work with her teacher to help her deal with her anxiety at school. She has had a lot of attitude lately. She is only nine but I am seeing a lot of the defiant pre teen attitude already. I am hoping if we deal with it now she will be super helpful and well behaved by the time the attitude should set it. That's what I am telling myself at least.

Back to School!

      School is officially back in session for the year. The school that the girls have been going to only goes up to third grade so Brynlee had to head to the other elementary school down the road that had only fourth and fifth grade and she was absolutely dreading going there. All of her best friends had moved so last year I had put her name in the lottery to go to the charter school that is just down the road from our house. She was number five on the waiting list in the spring so we figured she had a pretty decent chance to get into that school before school started. We went ahead and got all her school supplies and got her all ready to go to the other school and then I got a call just a week before school started that she got in. She was pretty excited about it. She was stoked to get to walk to school all by herself. We went ahead and got her registered and got the rest of the school supplies that we would need so she would be all ready for her new school.

The School Brynlee got into started three days before the rest of the girls started. That meant Brynlee had to get up and ready for school while everyone else stayed home and played all day. On her first day I couldn't find my nice camera but I took a few pictures with my phone. All of my other girls were still in their pajamas but they still wanted their picture taken so they snuck in for a few shots. 

Brynlee starts school earlier and gets home sooner than the other girls. Her school is from 8:05-2:45 and she gets out at 1:30 on Monday. Anna and Kyla go from 8:50-3:50 and usually they ride the bus so they are gone from 8:15-4:15. Wednesday is early release for them, they get out at 2:50, but they have to wait 40 minutes for the bus to pick them up at school so l have been having my sister pick them up on Wednesdays. It has been a little tricky to make all of that work. So far Brynlee is loving her new school. She likes her teacher, has made some friends, and loves that she get to study spanish, keyboaring, and she has music every other day. This school is very structured and it pushes her which is perfect for Brynlee. She does get more homework than she is used to and that was hard at first but she is getting used to it and getting it done pretty quickly. Since she gets out so early on Mondays that has worked perfect for her to still be able to do speech. We were going to keep doing counseling for her but her counselor quit and then there was no time where she wouldn't miss school. Her new school has a school counselor that Brynlee is going to talk with and she seems super nice so that should be great. 

Annalyn is in second grade this year. She gets to have the same teacher that Brynlee had for second grade and her good friends Nolah is in her class. She is moving soon though so Annalyn has been pretty sad about that. Luckily she has seemed to make a few new friends and is liking school.

Kyla started Kindergarten this year. She was pretty excited about it. She got to be in the same class as her cousin Remi, two of her other friends from preschool, and a friend from church so she was super excited about school. We got a call from the charter school that Brynlee is going to saying that Kyla could get in just days before school started. I talked to Kyla about it and she was pretty adamant that she wanted to go to school with Annalyn and all of her friends all day every day. The charter school just does half day. I told the school no and Kyla has been pretty happy about it. A week after school started one of Kyla's friends that was in her class got into the charter school. Kyla was a little sad but she told me it was fine since she had already made lots of new friends. Kyla hasn't looked back. She is loving school and already starting to read simple books that her teacher is sending home. She gets homework every night. I don't make her do it but she wants to do it and usually does more than her teacher asks her to do. She does get a little tired and grouchy and there was one hard morning when she refused to get on the bus in the morning but we worked through that and she is loving school.

 

It has been hard to have all the kids in school again but it has also been kind of nice to have time with just two kids at home. I am glad they have all made friends and I really hope they all have a fantastic year. 

Miriam's First Birthday!

For Miriam's first birthday we decided to do a "One in a Melon" theme. Miriam loves watermelon so I thought it would work great. Brynlee and Annalyn didn't totally get the whole idea of how she could be "one in a melon." Brynlee thought it should be "One AND a Melon," since she is one and she likes watermelon, she isn't IN a watermelon. The theme was my sister Alesha's idea (none of my other kids had a theme for their first birthday) and she bought a onesie for Miriam to wear for the party. Brynlee helped to make and decorate the main cake while Annalyn helped to make Miriam her own little smash cake. She was the first of my girls to get her own little cake as well. All of my girls had a lot of fun helping to decorate for the party. We had a few family member over to celebrate with us. My brother Brian came with his family, Alesha brought her family, and my sister Heather and Remi came. My grandma also came and Joel's parents came at the end of the night. We had a lot of fun celebrating this sweet little baby and her first year of life. 

We started the party off with pizza and watermelon and then we got out the cake and Miriam loved it. She didn't even attempt to blow out her candles, she just stared at them. She was pretty quick to get her little hands in there when it was time for cake and she ate as much of that little cake as she could get in her mouth. There was not a lot of cake left by the time she was done and she got her face pretty well covered in cake. 

 After we finished the cake and changed Miriam back into some clean clothes, we had her open up her presents. She had a lot of little helpers but she got in there and ripped open a few of her packages. She got some sunglasses (She loves glasses and is constantly trying to put my glasses on her head) and a tunnel to climb through. She loved that thing and all of the kids spent the rest of the party climbing through the tunnel. She also got a little piano and a cute stuffed animal that all of the kids had fun playing with. 

This sweet girl really is a lot of fun to have around and we had a blast celebrating with her. It was a fun night. Happy First Birthday little Miriam. You really are one in a million.