Girls' Room Day 7

Man!  Today was busy!  Mike and I started off really early at our exercise class.  It is our last really hard class.  Mike had a tough time.  He didn't get to sleep (work stuff) until 3, and then we got up at 5.  The class was brutal for him today.  After I got the kids where they needed to be I spent quite a bit of time cleaning the bathrooms.  Usually the kids do this every Saturday, but with Jorja's birthday coming up I decided to get it done now.  It was a great plan.  The only problem with it was I somehow hurt my back while I was cleaning the tubs.  No idea how I did that, but boy does it hurt!  Especially if I need to go downstairs.

I taught Preston's computer class today.  It is really hard for his Chinese teacher to do this with the kids, so now I do this with another mom. Only the other mom couldn't make it today, so it was all me.  It wasn't too bad and the time went fast.  I was grateful for that!

When Preston's class was over, I checked both Jorja and Preston out of school.  Then we went to their reflections assembly.  A little backwards, I know.  I didn't want them to have to go back to their rooms and gather up their things after the assembly.  Preston entered a picture he drew of himself and Shiver.  He called it, "Shiver on a Sunny Day".

Preston

Jorja made a balloon animal frog family.  Obviously the balloons didn't make it this long, but there were pictures of her balloons.

Jorja

We picked up Maysen and Stockton as soon as the assembly was over and headed down to the City Hall.  I wanted to get new passports for the kids.  Theirs expired back in June.  I was hoping to get the forms filled out before we got there, but I ran out of time.  I told the kids it would take longer than I wanted it to because I needed to fill out the forms, but I cleaned all the bathrooms for them - so they should be willing to wait. They did pretty good, but it was time for Stockton to go to diving as soon as we got back.  He was not happy about that!  I was not happy that he was not happy.  Once we were back from diving I had a few minutes to scarf down dinner before heading out to my stake YW meeting.  Man!  I'm tired!

Chelsea has been working non-stop in the girls' room.  It looks amazing!  I love it!  Chelsea doesn't like the dragon scales.  She said it looks like a robot dragon and that isn't what she is going for.  I think the dragon looks fantastic.  

Jorja's frog also got a stick to stand on.  I left the window in the picture so it is easier to get an idea of how big the frog is.  So cool!

Girls' Room Day 6

Chelsea came back this afternoon!  She spent the day working on Maysen's dragon.  It looks amazing!

Chelsea

 Maysen's dragon's tail

Stockton had a surprise birthday party for Johnny today.  He was pretty excited to go to that.  Maysen drove to therapy and then drove me to the store so we could get a gift card.  She is getting pretty good behind the wheel.  She only has a few more hours to go until she can officially get her license!

Stockton's Reading!

I have loved seeing Stockton reading.  He has been reading a lot.  I just had to take a picture.

 Stockton

Stockton said, "Mom!  I'm only reading because I have to!"  That's okay, I still love to see him read.  Maybe next trimester he won't wait until the last two weeks to read four books.  At least I'm glad he didn't wait until the last day!

For Young Womens' tonight we had a Camp Wrap-Up.  They showed a slide show that Maysen put together.  She did a great job.  The girls (and leaders) all loved it.  Nice work Maysen!  

Armour of God

Wow!  It is sure beautiful!  When Jorja came home from school I asked her where Preston was.  She said he was playing outside.  He looked so cute playing in all the yellow leaves.  I ran to find a camera only to have him come inside.  When he found out I was looking for a camera, he ran outside and waited for me.  Haha!  His other siblings would never do that!  He wanted me to cover him in leaves, but I just didn't have time for that kind of fun.

Preston

Shortly after the above picture was taken, I took the boys to get their hair cut.  Then I took them pants shopping.  Their kind of day!  While we were shopping for pants I was reminded many times of why I hate shopping and why I doubly hate shopping with kids.  We did survive though, so that was good.  Stockton was so excited when I pulled into Chick-Fil-A and ordered a party platter for dinner.  We sure ate healthy tonight!

Stockton had an assembly tonight at his middle school for Red Ribbon week.  He agreed not to do drugs so he could skip the boring assembly.  

After dinner we had Family Home Evening.  Preston had the lesson. He had Mike's help and did such a cute job!  His lesson was based on Ephesians 6:13-17.  Here is Preston with his full armour of God.  His loins girt about with truth, the breastplate of righteousness, feet shod with preparation of the gospel of peace., shield of faith, helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit.

Preston and his whole armour of God.

Preston absolutely loved it.  Especially when we were throwing the fiery darts of the wicked at him.  He is pretty good with that sword of the spirit.

We then went swimming for the last time of the season.  It was so much fun!  Everyone swam today, even Maysen.  I did too.  I was a little worried it would be too cold, but once you got in it was fine.  My toes stung for awhile since the outside was so cold and the water was so warm.  We played and played.  We had different contests and played several games of categories.  It was such a perfect night.

We finished off the night with Jorja's Family Home Evening treat. Apple nachos.  Delicious!

I love days like today.  I love my family.  I love how much my kids love each other.  It was seriously a perfect evening.

Preston's Talk

Preston gave a talk in church today.  I meant to help him get it ready this week, but time just slipped away from me.  This morning I asked him if he would help me write it, but he was not interested.  Stockton came to my rescue and said he would help Preston.  This is what they came up with.

My name is Preston Smith, and my talk is on how I will share the gospel with all of God's children.  There are many ways we can share the gospel.  One of the best ways to start is by being a good example. All you have to do is be nice to people.  Our family invited our neighbor, Audrey, to church one week.  She has started to come to church more often.  I am glad I can share the gospel with others, and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Preston did great.  He spoke clearly and everyone could understand him.  After church Mike told me about the first version of Preston's talk. It went like this.

My name is Preston Smith and my talk is on helping others.  My brother helped me by writing this talk. The end.

Preston didn't like that version very much.

Anne Marie's Shower

Matt stayed over our house last night.  He had game night with his friends.  We left the door unlocked for him.  I heard him come in about 1:30 in the morning.  He stayed today and worked on the shed with Mike.  I really need to take a picture of that because it is looking good!

Ange and I went to Sam's baby shower today.  We gave her a bag full of clothes.  People were comparing it to a Mary Poppins bag.  The clothes just kept coming and coming.

Grandma and Grandpa gave me a blanket to take down for Anne. Grandpa asked if I could give it to Sam at her shower.  Yep.  It is beautiful.

Sam and Anne's blanket

I took the kids to get passport photos.  Theirs expired last summer. Now that the government is back in business, I want to make sure that is done.  I then took them to Iceburg to get milkshakes.  On the way back home, Mike called me and told me Olivia was there.  She had been at our door for twenty minutes.  I'm hoping that it just seemed like twenty minutes.  I had texted her mom and asked if she wanted to come over.  I didn't hear back so I forgot about it.  I felt so bad!  Jorja was thrilled Olivia was there.  They made cookies for their teachers.

Max came over while my dad and Cathy went to a seminary reunion. Mike and I worked on apples.  Again.  I totally forgot to watch the BYU game.  I was hoping it was a really late game when I checked to see what channel it was on.  The game had just finished and it looked like it was a good one.  Oh well.

Girls' Room Day 5

Chelsea went home today, but she managed to paint a moon on the ceiling before she left!  We asked the girls if they each wanted a moon. They decided they wanted to share the same moon.  The metal thing that the moon is over is where the curtains divide the room.  Chelsea put some glow-in-the-dark paint over the moon.  Just a bit to test it.  It looked so cool!  She is going to put more on it before she is finished. Love it!

I spent the morning painting with Chelsea.  She is so sweet.  I probably talked her ear off!  Haha!  Jackson sure picked a gem!  Chelsea mentioned how surprised she was that our kids never fight.  She listens to them as they fall asleep and couldn't believe how well they get along. I have to agree with her.  They do have their moments, but overall they adore each other.  Makes my life extra amazing.

The rest of the day was semi-crazy.  I didn't get to watch Stockton dive again.  I almost forgot about diving.  I noticed the time five minutes before he needed to be there.  He most likely missed warm-ups, which he was not disappointed in a bit.

We are hoping to redo our kitchen.  We met with our neighbor who is working on different designs for us.  We liked them a bit, but are not in love with anything yet.  I have a hard time visualizing things.  Hope we can do this and that we love it.

Girls' Room Day 4

Mike and I started off the day with the hardest exercise class ever! Michael Banks wasn't there.  He had a substitute named Bobbi.  Oh man!  I seriously wanted to cry.  And throw-up.  It was so hard.  My legs and knees are killing me.

The kids have two days off for fall break.  It seems like we have been running non-stop.  It is so nice to have life slow down a little bit. Although I wasn't able to watch Stockton at diving because I needed to get dinner over to someone in our ward.  It was nice not to have to deal with school though.

The girls' room is looking amazing!  I am loving watching this come together.  Incredible!

Maysen's wall

Preston tried to take a picture like Chelsea.  It didn't work out as well, but still very cute.  These are our attempts.

Preston

Girls' Room Day 3

I had to take Maysen early to school today.  She had a big test.  All the sophomores had to take it.  It took several hours.  As a result the rest of her classes were shortened to about a half hour.  Nice way to start off a long weekend!

Chelsea painted a frog on Jorja's side.  She didn't want Jorja to feel bad that Maysen's room was being worked on.  I think Jorja is in love.  This frog is so cool!  It is huge!  Love, love, love it!

Jorja's frog

 Maysen's scenery

Chelsea took this cute, silly picture with the frog.  I begged her to send it to me.  She is playing leapfrog.  Awesome!  Isn't Chelsea just adorable?

Chelsea

We have been surprised at how hard Chelsea has been working.  We knew she had arthritis and she warned us that she would need a lot of breaks because of it, but she doesn't take any.  Seriously!  She works non-stop.  I hope she is having fun, because I am loving it!  This room is going to be amazing!

Girls' Room Day 2

Wow.

 I love it.

Mike made a paneling for the water turn off area.  We have just had a pillow stuffed over that hole.  The paneling looks much better than the pillow.  I can't believe how cool it looks with Chelsea's painting over the top of it!

We had a combined activity today.  Where's Waldo.  Mike was one of the Waldos.  He was hard to spot!  He stood in front of the arcade texting for awhile.  No one found him.  Then he went and played Mario Kart.  Maysen and Stockton walked right by and didn't even notice him. Jordan was the one who recognized him.  Although he noticed because Mike turned around when he heard Maysen's and Stockton's voices walking away from him.  Jordan was in the right place at the right time.

Brother Holmes made the kids do handstands before he would give them their tickets.  Stockton was doing a handstand for a LONG time!

Maysen, Bro. Holmes, Jordan's head, Stockton

 All the Waldos.

Bro. McHenry & Andrew, Erica photoboming, Mike

Bro. Holmes, Hayes, Bateman, Heaton

Sis. Nunes, Beaudoin, Sabey, Yauney, Back

Brother Tanner

Andrew McHenry was a good sport!  His sisters about died when they saw him!  No one could recognize Sister Back until Sister Antonelli started talking to her.  I wonder where Sister Antonelli is?  She was dressed as a nun.

Girls' Room Day 1

Chelsea is amazing!  I'm so excited about this room.  I have no idea how Chelsea can just look at a picture and recreate it.  Unbelievable! Maysen's side of the room is going to have dragons on it.  Jorja's side of the room is going to have frogs.  Big surprise.  This is going to be so much fun!

Maysen's dragon

 Looks awesome with the mirror!

 I painted the blue ceilings.  Yes, I am amazing.

 Chalk outline of Jorja's frog.

Haystacks and Pie

We had our family dinner today.  Taco haystacks and apple pie. Delicious.  My dad also brought up presents for Millie and Maysen.

Bubs and Millie

 Maysen

 Matt was a good sport.  I think it was Jorja who decorated him.

Chelsea came down from Idaho today.  She got here a little bit before the rest of my family went home. I'm excited to watch her paint!

Double Bunk Beds

Maysen got to go out to breakfast with the Laurels today, welcoming her to their class.  Wow.  Maysen is a Laurel.  Crazy.

Mike and Matt worked on the shed out back.  We also worked on apples, of course.  And we moved the girls' beds into the boys' room. We will be painting the girls' room.  And by we, I mean Chelsea. Chelsea Fuller (Jackson's new wife) is coming down from Rexburg to paint the girls' room.  I am SO EXCITED about it!!!!!  Meanwhile, all the kids are going to be in the same room.  They seem to be pretty excited about it, except Maysen.  She's not too disappointed, just not as excited as the other kids. It took forever to get both bunk beds up, but we got it done!

Preston & Jorja

 Preston & Stockton, Jorja & Padz

 Maysen

 Jorja & Padz

 Stockton

 Preston and a dangerous looking outlet.

 Preston

I stayed up late to watch the BYU game I recorded.  It was worth it.

Eric. Aubrey. Jennifer. Lily.

We were able to have Heather's kids come over to play all day today.  It was awesome!  I begged Heather to let them come over so she and Zac could work on their house.  Heather's kids had fall break, so they were out of school.  Luckily today was short day, so Jorja and Preston were home early.  Jorja had THE BEST time with Eric and Aubrey.  Preston loved playing with Jennifer and Lily.  Especially Jennifer.

Jorja, Eric and Aubrey really wanted to go swimming.  I warned them that it would be really cold.  I hadn't had the heater on, so there was no chance it would be warm.  They wanted to go swimming anyway.  We found swimsuits for them to wear.  They claimed to have fun, but there was no chance I was getting in that water!

Aubrey, Jorja, Eric

 Aubrey

 Eric

 Aubrey & Eric

 Jorja & Aubrey

I am so mean.  I wouldn't let Jennifer or Lily go swimming.  Just because I didn't want to get in.  Preston, Jennifer and Lily played in the "sandbox" while the other kids swam.  They would have much rather been in the water, but they did great playing in the sand instead.

Lily & Jennifer

 Jennifer, Preston, Lily

 I find this picture adorable.

Heather's kids did not want to leave when she came to pick them up. Yea!  I am so glad they are moving closer to me.  They will be about thirty minutes away.  Not too shabby.  I am so excited to see Heather's house!  Especially in the winter.  I heard they have an awesome sled hill out back!  Can't wait to go play!  Hope they invite us!