BYOH

Dinner at our house sometimes feels like a contact sport. If we ever invite you over, don't forget to bring your helmet.




Not pictured: Donovan wearing his rollerblades to the table EVERY SINGLE NIGHT!

"We never do anything fun"

Donovan is a boy full of emotion. I'm pretty sure he takes after me in his ability to emote so well. When he's happy, he's very happy, loving life and having a great time. When he's upset, the world is ending, he's hugely mistreated and everyone is out to get him. With school starting, he's been a little on the upset side, probably because he's exhausted from trying to behave and concentrate all day at school. He would have you believe that we never do anything fun because we would rather make him sit and read, do chores and gasp...play outside. I would just like to point out, for the record, that we aren't as evil as he sometimes thinks we are. We did at least 3 fun things this week:

We take them to sporting events like the Broncos game last week.


We let him pick out his own clothes. This is actually a little more fun for us, or at least more entertaining.


And I took them to the balloon festival this weekend. I even got them doughnuts....with sprinkles.

I wish I would have taken more pictures of all the balloons, and more of the kids by the balloons. Better luck next year.

Remind me why

Can someone please remind me why we thought it would be fun to have four kids, or even one for that matter? With Matt back to his 10-11 hour days, it's been a week from the underworld!!!!!

Here are a few of my favorite comments that I've had thrown my way:
-I hate you mom, I does, I hate you
-You ruined my whole life
-You should do your exercise video
-Mom doesn't want us to have any fun
-Go away
-You always make me gross food
-Nobody wants to see you in your pajamas

Here are a few of the things I've resorted to in an effort to cope and keep peace, most of them make no sense at all:
-Made a chart to determine when each child will sit in the front of the bath
-As a punishment for being totally out of control, I took away scripture time
-I ate a whole pack of sour gummy worms
-I put Donovan and Howie in a time out for waking up Nina and Cameron
-I told Nina she couldn't use soap to wash her hands because she didn't really go to the bathroom, even though she sat on the toilet
-I probably said and did a lot more irrational things, but in my state of mind, I can't recall them

So yeah, I'm not quite sure why we thought this was all going to be fun!!!




Look at them, they just exude craziness. It's a good thing that I think they are pretty cute kids, it's probably keeping them alive!

The big first days of school

It finally got here! I think we were all equally excited for school to start (minus Matt who was completely dreading it). Howie had his first day of preschool yesterday. He wasn't a bit nervous. He had a great day and was excited to show everyone his "homework." He especially loves that his "bestest buddy" Kyle is in his class.
Donovan started 1st grade today at his new school. We put him in Whitman where our good friends' kids go. It's closer to home too, we will be walking on all good weather days. He didn't feel nervous either, mostly because his sweet friend Jenna (Kyle's sister) is in his class and she took him under her wing.



Howie and Kyle. Howie is actually 4 days older than Kyle, he's just a ton smaller!



Donovan's school had a little "opening ceremony" that was pretty cute. The blond girl to his left is Jenna. Donovan is about 6 month's older, but once again, much, much smaller!


Nina will be home schooling it with me. Our curriculum includes potty training, obeying your mom, and keeping out of all lotions, pastes and gels. That lovely black eye is still shining away.

Isn't it obvious?

It wasn't obvious to me.

Me: Nina, what are you doing?
Nina: I'm just setting up my picnic mom. And I'm not being naughty up here.





And Nina's lovely shiner comes curtesy of Howie (kind of). We'll call it the result of a "friendly" game of tag.
And a quote from this sweet face:
"I hate you mom, I does, I hate you." At 2 and a half, she's pretty darn good at expressing herself. These sentiments came from my not allowing her to go to Donovan and Howie's friend's house for a playdate.

Last of the summer fun

Well summer is almost over. Matt is already back at school and the kids start next week. We tried to do a few little things together before we are back in "school mode". We had a fun summer with lots of trips and activities and we are sad to see it come to a close.


We couldn't convince Howie to try his bike without the training wheels. He thinks he'll give it a try when he's 5.


Nina being Nina



Donovan is getting pretty good. He rode around the church parking lot until he got bored, which didn't take long. Every time we try to get him out to practice he'll say, "did you forget that I already learned how to ride my bike?"


A little fishing at a pond near our house.


Some of the last down time he'll get.

Tragedy averted

Matt proved himself a hero yesterday. We were camping (again) near a stream and Nina tripped and fell down on the bank. Luckily she didn't fall into the river, but her sippee cup wasn't so fortunate. As it floated further and further down the river, her screams were louder and more urgent. It was the most horrible thing to have ever happened to her in her entire life (or so you would think with her cries and pleadings for Matt to save her "bottle"). It finally got stuck in some debris across the river so Matt bravely trenched across the current and rescued the prized plastic cup of milk. I was a little disturbed at how good Matt looked in capris though.

The difference 1 year makes

Rachelle came by last week and took some pictures of our kids. We did the same thing last July and I wanted to show how much the kids changed throughout the year. The difference in Nina's pictures is the most obvious, but the boys each look a little bit older. It's crazy that there wasn't even a thought of a Cameron a year ago, and here he is in all his cooperative glory. (the picture we have of him is the only one of him not crying. His hand is a little blurry, but we'll take it)

Happy Birthday Donovan

Yesterday Donovan turned 7 years old. He has been counting down to this day for a long time. I remember telling him once that he had 194 days until he turned 7. We started the day with a treasure hunt to find his presents. His reactions throughout the hunt were pretty funny:
stop 1, Krispy Kreme doughnuts: "Oh, those are some Krispy Kreme's." (said very matter-of-factly with zero emotion)
stop 2, a Lego soccer game: "Oh yeah, I remember that." (he peeked at this present from his Marshall grandparents last week. This was also said with no excitement)
stop 3, a Mario Kart game for his DS: "Huh? Mario Kart?" (once again, no emotion)
stop 4, a pair of rollerblades: "Rollerblades? That was easy."

Even though his reactions weren't quite what we would have expected, he loved all his presents. Here are some pictures from his big day.



We beat the 104 degree heat by going to a little water park near our house with some of his cousins. Thanks Jill for the free coupons! He can't quite show 7 fingers with that pretzel in the way.



Mmmm. You'll notice 2 glazed doughnuts are missing. When I picked them up the night before, they were fresh from the oil (appetizing, I know) so Matt and I couldn't resist.




At the water park with Cambri and Kate.



Bowling with Jackson, Ellie and Beckett (more cousins) a few days before his birthday.



These were as close to a Mario cake as I could get.