different is good...

when i sent these 2 munchkins to a charter school

i didn't think it would better

i thought it would be different

different is good

different is working

straight a's for lils

straight m's for ev (meaning he has "mastered" every concept taught so far)

it's ok to be different

because different is oh so good!!

proud of my 2 little munchkins:)

another dance

cowboys and indians

halloween 2011

barbie head won this year for "best costume"

a jensen didn't win last year

so losing this year was not an option.

in training

i guess we are going down this road again

evan is starting a little earlier

he even has the spitting down

he might just throw as many strikes as his brother

maybe a tad bit slower

but still strikes:)

and we spend hours planning our outfits so we can look this good.

makes me smile

last but not least

she has been asking for weeks, "is preschool open yet?"

today it opened.

and she was so happy.

5 hrs a week i get all to myself.

what will i do?
enjoy it:)

9th & 11th

9th grade~wow.
she wore her pink in honor of her friend gabe.

who was killed this summer in a car accident.
pink nails, pink shirt, pink bracelet and pink shoes.

i hope he LOVES his junior year as much as i did.

and a junior? and then a senior?

ugh.

4 is for fourth & k is for kindergarten

new school year.

new school.

new friends by lunch time on the first day.

so proud of lily.

she is going to rock the 4th grade!

i know evan i can't believe you are in kindergarten either:(

a day at the lake

the big 1-6!

16 presents

what a lucky boy
and it was so fun

to have all of his friends and family

take time out of their day

to bring them

i take this exact picture every year

my dad gets frustrated every year

sorry dad

i wish he would stop growing too.....

favorite

lily draws me lots of pictures

this is going to go down as my favorite

lily is saying "come on" to jess

telling her to hold hands with brendan

jess says "no"

only one thing wrong with this picture

i am not quite that skinny

i want to keep this picture forever

but my track record is not that great at keeping track of things

thats why i posted it

my lily

seriously the cutest 9 year old i know

and not just because she draws me super skinny:)

graduation day

he's off to the "big school" now

he actually sang and did all the actions

and made sure i clapped after each song.

congrats evie!

we love you:)

prom

he looked so handsome even with that "ginger" colored hair he was sporting.

a boy and his dog

the older 3 begged and begged to get a dog

the little 2 had no idea what was going on

i gave in

guess who takes care of jack jack the best

the little 2

they feed him, they play with him and they hold him

everyday.

thank goodness i have 2 responsible children:)

tis the season

as rick would say, "it's the most wonderful time of the year." i have to agree with him.
our "B" pitching varsity. yes we are proud. all his hard work is paying off.

~GO VIKINGS~

easter 2011

what a wonderful easter we had

has to go down as one of the best

the hunts, coloring eggs

spending the day with family

celebrating the one who gave us everything

there is nothing better.

his first date

MORP 2011

this made me feel very, very, very old..........

my weekend

watched a baseball game in the freezing cold and even snow

it was worth watching it in the snow

my boy played varsity for the first time

it was awesome

they lost but it was still awesome

took care of my sick, really sick jess

let lily make the biggest fort (mess) in the basement with her friends

rushed to church

rushed to work

rushed to a birthday party

sent my little boy off to disneyland

oh how i wish i went with him

helped clean out b's closet

and laughed when he tried on all the clothes that i was sure would still fit

and of course didn't

watched a great movie with popcorn and LOTS of butter

it was a good weekend

now it's monday

spring break can't come soon enough

eye of the storm

i taught a lesson on choosing faith on sunday. i prepared my lesson way ahead of time and felt pretty good about the whole thing. except for the fact that i get ridiculously nervous. i hope that part goes away or gets better. anyway i taught about choosing faith over everything else. choose faith over fear, choose faith over doubt, choose faith over the unknown or unseen and choose faith over pessimism. it is time for me to practice what i preach. i write this so that maybe someday my kids or grandkids will read this and learn something from it. something has happened that is unfair and will make life a little challenging for us this year. i am mad about it and frustrated, but that gets me nowhere. i heard that in life we will encounter storms. some storms will be small and some will be big. but during big storms there is the eye of the storm. that is where it is peaceful and calm. i must choose faith to get to the eye of the storm and realize that somethings are out of our control and someone else is in charge. i still will be in the storm but i will not let the storm inside of me.

that was kind of deep but i loved that analogy.

and i cried

brendan got asked to his first dance

and i cried

i have no idea what that is all about

but when lily brought this stuff into the kitchen

i knew what it was

abby is her name

abby is taking my big boy on his first date, first dance whatever you want to call it

they do grow up way too fast

but this is really kind of fun and exciting

and he tried to down play all of it

but i am his mom and i know him quite well

and he was excited.

who knew

who knew black electrical tape and the halloween box could be so fun on a lazy sunday afternoon.

at last

we did it

you would think with potty training 4 other children i would be a pro

nope

she was a stinker and took a while and i took a while

but she did it

and i am so happy

no more diapers

no more babies
ahhhhhhh

i wanna be cool

so i decided i wanted to be a cool mom when i was entering the world of having teenagers. not so cool that i dress like a teenager or act like a teenager but just a mom thats cool. i won't be cool and take my kids toilet papering. jess thinks these moms are just the coolest but i guess i will never be that cool. probably because i know that the mom and dad are the ones that have to do most of the cleaning up. i know this because rick and i just had to clean up soggy wet toilet paper in our yard. i want the kids to come hang out at our house and feel welcome and comfortable. i also decided that i want to be really nice to the girls that brendan brings around. and really nice to that girl that someday will be his girlfriend. too many moms were not that nice to me and i was always scared to death of them.

the other day he told me he was liking a certain girl. wow. he told me that. a day later i asked him a really silly question like," so are you guys like together?" he told me no, because she wasn't sure she liked him and she was trying to decide between him and another guy. this is what was going through my mind.

WHAT???? ARE YOU KIDDING ME????? SHE HAS TO DECIDE IF SHE LIKES HIM???? SHE MIGHT LIKE SOMEONE ELSE INSTEAD??? SHE MIGHT NOT LIKE THE MOST HANDSOME, HARD WORKING, ATHLETIC 15 YEAR OLD WITH A SENSE OF HUMOR OUT THERE????? WE ARE GOING TO KICK THIS GIRL TO THE CURB AND FORGET ABOUT HER!!!

that is what i think. so maybe i will be kinda cool but this business about being nice to the girls that are going to come around is going to be a lot harder than i thought. just sayin.