Mason is 3!

WOW!  Was it really 3 years ago that I gave birth to a 9 pound baby boy?  Mason is such a cute, sweet, fun little guy.  We love having him as part of our family.

Five for Friday

1.  This was the last week of the summer reading program at the library.  Reading logs were turned in...everyone got a free book...until next summer!

2.  I have done a few things to get organized for the coming school year.  I put our schedule/routine on a poster board and put it in the hallway...It only brought a few tears from Jenessa!  (She hates a change in the routine!  I did have to make some slight adjustments for next year to accommodate getting Mason to preschool.)  I have also created more of an organizational wall with menu plans and zone cleaning plans.

3.  We got back into piano lessons this week after having 3 weeks off!

4.  Kessiah had an orthodontist appointment today, it looks like her braces will come off next time!  Yippee!  She will then have a retainer for awhile before doing a second round of braces.

5.  Summer Olympics 2012 in London started today.  We watched the opening ceremony tonight instead of our usual family movie night.

Saturday update:  Logan and Ryan were able to go miniature golfing with 2 other boys from Logan's Primary class.  It was a good father-son bonding activity!

Corbin at 15 months

Corbin is adorable!  He has 4 teeth, eats everything that we do, sleeps all night long, knows how to tease, and tries to keep up with his older siblings.  He is a busy little guy and we love him to pieces!

Of course he is currently at the wonderful stage where we have to put the kitchen garbage on top of the island (because otherwise he is constantly pulling stuff out of it!) and we have to be really careful about closing the bathroom doors (because he loves to play in the toilet!)

Five for Friday

1.  It was a pretty normal week for us.  Swimming lessons, library, summer movie...no piano lessons this week because our teacher is on vacation.  Jenessa and Sienna even got a playdate in with some friends who are moving soon.

2.  I continue to try to get organized for school.  This week my main focus has been Logan...I'm just trying to figure out what I want to do with him.  My plans are pretty simple...but I still need a plan....and it helps me tremendously if I get most of my copies made for the year and get pages torn out of workbooks and put in file folders according to month.  Also, I realize that he is a boy!  I know...no big surprise there.  But I am trying to come up with other activities besides just doing worksheets...that worked well for the girls...but I'm learning that boys need more physical activities!   I got another book ordered for Sienna...I think I just need to get one more.  I printed out the history topics for Jenessa and Kessiah (I like to check out books from the library for them that go along with their history topics)

3.  In an effort to get ready for fall...I got Jenessa, Sienna and Logan registered for soccer.  Kessiah hasn't played soccer for a couple of years...it's not her thing.  She has decided she would like to try a ballet class this fall...so I set up a time for next week for us to go and check out a dance studio.  I also got us re-registered for gymnastics.  They changed the time of the homeschool class...which will be a bit of an adjustment from our past routine.

4.  I did nothing to potty train Mason this week...after last week I decided to take a break!  It was turning me into a mean and crazy mom!

5.  I FINALLY got the organizing shelves that I got for my birthday set up in Kessiah's closet...yep...that's where they are right now.  I have better organized my school things that have been in the closet...it looks so much better!  And while I was organizing that, I found a few things I had forgotten about and/or lost!

Five for Friday

1.  We started a new session of swimming lessons this week.  Logan is repeating his class because the next class was full.  Sienna moved up a class and is doing great.  On Thursday her class went off the diving board...this is something she has been begging to do but I haven't let her because I can't be with her when I've got the little guys.  She thought is was great!  She had no problem running off the board and jumping in!  Kessiah is doing fine in her class...Jenessa is in the same class.  Jenessa had some trouble on Tuesday...it's a harder class where they have to swim laps and Jenessa had talked herself into thinking she couldn't do it (even though they are both repeating this class from June).  I had to spend the next two days doing a lot of pep talks and on Thursday she stuck with it and did fine.

2.  I've spent a good part of this week getting reading for 1st grade with Sienna.  I did K12 with Kessiah and Jenessa at this grade...but I feel like I still need more flexibility than K12 allows...so I'm planning on doing my own thing with Sienna for one more year.  I've been making copies and organizing materials.  I still have a couple more books to buy for her.

3.  We got our books from K12 this week for Kessiah and Jenessa.  It's fun to see what Kessiah will be learning this year and it's fun to see Jenessa's books and remember doing them with Kessiah.  While we were putting their books in their cubbies Logan and Sienna wanted to get their books out too...so I had to get their books in their cubbies as well!

4.  I've been working to potty train Mason again this week.  I tried for the first 2 weeks in June...with little success...so I didn't do anything the last 2 weeks in June knowing that we would be going on vacation the first part of July.  I really wanted him to get this before school starts...I have more time right now to focus on this and he will be going to preschool next month...but we'll see!

5.  The boys have all been sleeping in the same room...except for the fact that Logan always finds his way into our bedroom during the night.  Unfortunately, this situation of having Corbin in the boys' room means he doesn't sleep until 9:00 anymore!

July Vacation 2012 Camping

We decided it had been 7 years since we had been on a family campout...and even then it wasn't our whole family!  It was 7 summers ago when I was pregnant with Sienna and I stayed behind at my parents house while Ryan took Kessiah and Jenessa to Idaho and they went camping.  Our kids were appalled by that fact and we decided we had better change that fact this summer!  We had fun and are already making plans to go camping again next summer with our Idaho cousins!

From the look on his face I think I would call his first camping trip a success!

Do you see the way Corbin is looking at those Cheetos?!?

July Vacation 2012 Idaho

We had a great time in Idaho.  Our kids look forward to this trip all year, they love to see their cousins that they usually only see once a year.

Ryan bought some water balloons and the kids had a great time throwing them at each other.  I was surprised at how fast the balloons were gone...but with that many kids all after them it didn't take very long!

We had our traditional 4th of July BBQ at Brett's house.  Good food and good company.  Brett flooded his side yard while we were there and the kids had a blast getting wet and throwing balls for the dogs. 

 After the BBQ we were off to see the fireworks...Idaho Falls puts on a great show!

Can you see Mason's face?  He was NOT happy to be there...the fireworks scared him!

 We did sparklers and had our own little fireworks show in the back yard a couple of days later.