Sunday, November 30, 2014

Kessiah is 14!

Wow!  It's crazy how these kids keep getting older!  Ryan and I took Kessiah and a couple of friends to see the Hunger Games movie.  They came back to our house and decided to curl her hair...as you can see in the pictures!

I sure do love this girl!  She is growing into a beautiful and talented young woman.  She was pretty excited to win a science competition with her school recently...the prize was a $50 Amazon gift card!  She is becoming a great piano player and loves to read.  She is very responsible at caring for the animals that she is in charge of. 









Thursday, November 27, 2014

Thanksgiving 2014

We held our 2nd annual "crazy dinner" on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.  Everyone got a food assignment and $3 and this is what we had for dinner!  I must be doing something right in our everyday lives because both Kessiah and Jenessa commented on how much packaged food we had!  That is something I normally try to avoid!  Thankfully, I was supposed to get a side dish and my pick was a green salad...at least we had something healthy!



On Thanksgiving morning, Ryan took Kessiah and Sienna to the park to play a football game with people from our ward.  The girls all had their food assignments to help me get dinner on the table.  And we enjoyed a yummy feast.



I truly have much to be thankful for!


Sunday, November 23, 2014

Weekly Wrap Up

Monday was piano lessons and 4H Robotics.  The girls made marshmallow launchers out of pencils.  Monday evening is our family game night.  Jenessa had a couple of games for us including worm races...2 people each got into a sleeping bag, started in the kitchen and "wormed" their way towards the master bedroom door!  Lots of laughs!

Tuesday Kessiah and Jenessa had book club.  I was grateful that another mom drove, I felt like I got a lot done at home during that time...plus I was able to make dinner!

I wrote about what we did on Wednesday in a previous post.

Thursday we enjoyed our homeschool group activity.  We have been learning about money/economy for the past couple of weeks.  Today we had a Market Day.  Every child came with something to sell, each child was given 50 cents and they had to sell their goods or services and buy from others.  There were several food items, bookmarks, origami, and games...we liked the chance to shoot a bow and arrow!  I had 4 kids who brought food items so it was a whirlwind of activity in our kitchen that morning!







On Friday, Kessiah had an orthodontist appointment and she got to babysit that evening.  Ryan and I went on a shopping date and bought groceries...including supplies for Thanksgiving next week!  In the mail on Friday I was excited to get the doTerra essential oils that I ordered last weekend.  As of Sunday afternoon I have used the lemon, deep blue, on guard, and the slim and sassy.



Saturday was 4H rabbit club, Sienna was excited for her first meeting.  That evening Ryan and I went with Sienna and Jenessa to an Activity Day activity where they were honoring their ward grandmas that have helped them with several activities over the past year. 

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

A Day in Our Life

5:45...My phone alarm went off, but I didn't get up until 6:05 when Ryan's alarm went off!  I got up and put Sienna's birthday pictures on my blog.

6:30...I woke Kessiah and Jenessa up (Jenessa didn't get up right away...I guess she was having a tired morning as well!)  I exercised with a DVD for about 20 minutes.  During this time Logan woke up and came downstairs.

7:00...I showered and got ready for the day, Breakfast time for everyone except Corbin...who was also having a slow morning and was still in bed.

7:30...Devotional Time.  For the rest of this month I am sharing a talk from General Conference each morning.  Today we talked about the sacrament.  Sienna and Jenessa each played a Christmas song that we sang along with.

8:00...Kessiah had her leadership class, Sienna and Logan started their math.  Corbin woke up and he joined Mason at the table doing some worksheets.  I'm not sure where Jenessa was...probably feeding the dogs.

8:30...Jenessa had her leadership class.  Kessiah went outside to feed the horses and chickens.  Sienna was still working on her math and Logan started his Language Arts.

9:00...Kessiah had her STEM class.  Sienna was doing her benchmark test for Language Arts.  Logan finished up his work and the boys had a snack, then I sent them up to clean their room.  I emptied the dishwasher.

9:30...The boys were still working on their room, Sienna was reading.  Kessiah was still in her STEM class and I found Jenessa doing her math.  I went into the office with my ipad and checked my email while occasionally helping Jenessa.

10:00...Kessiah practiced her piano and then did a science experiment. (She dipped some paper in an alcohol/water mixture, then we lit a match to it and watch a flame appear without burning the paper!)



Jenessa made a to do list for the rest of today.  The boys were still "cleaning" their room and Sienna practiced her piano.  I got on the computer to check any deals on Amazon and Hip2Save (Christmas is right around the corner and the computer helps me find some good deals!)

10:30...Jenessa had her Humanities class.  There was more snacking from the boys...and they were still working on their room.  I looked at some things on the computer for some activities/worksheets for December.  I think I found some things on teacherspayteachers about Christmas around the World.

11:00...I pulled out our Thanksgiving menu from last year and made a few changes.  I ordered a turkey roaster from Walmart.com.  The boys were STILL cleaning up their room.  Sienna practiced her piano.

11:30...I got leftovers out of the fridge and ate lunch.  The rest of the crew came in to get some food.  Ryan came home and ate lunch.  I cleaned up the breakfast and lunch dishes.  The 4 youngest played outside.

1:00...Time for Co-op.  I get 5 boys at my house for a couple of hours and Sienna went to our friend's home to learn more about the Westward movement.  Kessiah and Jenessa worked on school assignments.  I got on the computer to check email and start this blog post.

2:00...I got on oilsuniversity.com to learn some more about the doTerra oils that I ordered over the weekend.  Checked on the boys a few times, they were having a great time.  Kessiah and Jenessa still working on school assignments.

3:00..Co-op was over...Sienna came back home and my extra little boys go back home.  Jenessa is working on a family history project for Activity Days and I called my mom to ask her a question about an ancestor.  Kessiah, Jenessa, and I talked more about the ancestors Jenessa was learning about.  Sienna peeled some carrots for dinner.  I started the beef stew.

4:00...Mommy Reading Time...More Adventures of the Great Brain.  I finished up the beef stew and made some quick artisan bread to go with it.  Kessiah, Jenessa, and I talked about their 4H sewing projects...the first meeting of the year is coming up on Friday and I wanted them to have an idea of what they wanted to do.  Jenessa went outside to feed the horses.

6:00...Dinner time

6:50...Ryan pulled in just in time for me to take the girls to the church for their activities without needing to take the boys along with us.  I came home and put dishes in the dishwasher, we said family prayer with the boys,  I took the boys upstairs to get them ready for bed (that means brush teeth, read stories, tuck them in, listen to their prayers).

8:15...Ryan went to get the girls while I worked on this blog post.  They came home, we talked, they went to bed, and I finished this post.

Sunday, November 16, 2014

Sienna is 9!

This spunky, energetic girl just had a birthday!  She keeps me on my toes as I try to keep her busy with good things.  She is a good big sister to her younger brothers.  She is excited to be old enough to join 4H this year, has been doing much of her schoolwork independently, and is a great reader.

We had to split her birthday up a little because of our crazy schedule that weekend (her birthday was on a Sunday...the Phoenix Temple was dedicated and Ryan had to be at the church for most of the day to help usher.  Kessiah was gone all day on Saturday at the Cultural Celebration)   We did presents, Papa Murphy's pizza, and watched a movie on Friday evening.  We did cupcakes on Sunday.

She was excited to get some new earrings.







Weekly Wrap Up


On Monday we cleaned and vacuumed the Suburban and then went to Wendy's for Frosty's!  No, we did not eat the ice cream in the newly cleaned car!




Tuesday was Veteran's Day.  Ryan has been wanting to climb to the top of Granite Mountain for awhile...he decided it was the day to do it.  So he took the girls and Diamond...I stayed home with the boys (they aren't ready for that hike yet!)




Wednesday I ended up taking Jenessa to the dentist.  She lost part of a filling a few days ago and it has been bothering her.  I expected to just have them look it at...but we ended up getting it pulled while we were there!  We did have the option to get it filled but it was a baby tooth...and Jenessa chose to get it pulled!


Saturday was Jenessa's All Star Soccer Game.  She had 2 practices this week with all the all stars and had a great time at the game.  She played goalie the whole game which is what she loves!

Kessiah had a fabulous experience participating in the Culteral Celebration for the Phoenix Temple on Saturday evening.  She was one of about 4,300 teens singing and dancing to celebrate the history of the Phoenix area for our prophet and others who were able to attend.



Sunday morning we were able to attend the dedication of the Temple at our stake center.  We are so excited to have a temple closer to us...although it will still take us over an hour to get there!

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

What has been going on around here?

It has been a crazy couple of months around here.  We had 5 kids playing soccer on 5 different teams which meant I had to get kids to practices 4 evenings a week.  They had fun but I'm glad it's over!  Every Saturday morning I would take a picture of the game schedule so I knew who had to be on what field when!


1.  I have started babysitting a little girl in our ward a couple of times a week.  She is 3 and hangs out with Corbin most of the day...they get along great.  She has been an easy addition.

2.  Kessiah has been enjoying practices for the cultural celebration that will take place for the Phoenix Temple.

3.  Ryan and I were able to go to the Phoenix Temple and help usher during one morning of the open house.

4.  We were able to go as a family to the open house of the Phoenix Temple.




5.  My parents came down for a week in October to see some soccer games and a piano recital.


 They were also here to watch us carve our jack-o-lanterns and participate in Dracula's Diner!










6.  We have lost a couple of chickens and a rabbit to our dogs!

7.  We have started boarding horses on our property.

8.  Kessiah started her second round of braces, Jenessa was disappointed that she had to wait a little longer for hers!

9.  I have been called to be the Primary Chorister.

10.  We have been plugging along with school.  For the most part we have our routine and follow it!  We enjoy the coop that we are a part of.





11.  I loved watching the boys go outside to rake the leaves...I think it was Logan's idea and he got his brother's involved!  They were having a lot of fun!




12.  We went to Out of Africa.  Feeding the giraffe was definitely a highlight!







13.  Ryan finally held a tarantula without gloves!  He has been wanting to do that almost since we moved to Arizona!  Jenessa was actually the first one to get brave enough to hold it!


14.  My boys put on a puppet show for me!  The Three Little Pigs.