The First Days of School

 Taylor started the sixth grade this year with Mrs. Narteh, which means it is her last year of elementary school. Yikes! I really cannot believe that she is this old--I can remember my own sixth grade year so well. Taylor is tall, tender, and tenacious. She is shy and often quiet, which can often be misinterpreted as aloof. But she can also be silly and funny and courageous. She read the Hunger Games trilogy this summer in about a two week period (much to my chagrin). She is naturally athletic and seems to have a knack for almost anything she tries. She loves being with her cousins or friends, lounging on the couch watching Cupcake Wars or Phineas and Ferb, tumbling on the trampoline or in the front room, and is a bonafide "foodie." She loves cookbooks, recipes, and watching the Food Network. Her style is "sporty" and she would rather be wearing a T-shirt, bastketball shorts, and a ponytail more than anything else. Shopping is a chore that typically involves crying. She is growing up so quickly, and I can't wait to see what life holds in store for her.

 Loryn started third grade this year. She was reluctant to leave her most beloved teacher, Mrs. Kussee, but I'm sure she'll like Miss Wilkins. Loryn is fierce and funny, whimsical and witty, competitive and crazy, dramatic and daring, imaginative and inspiring. She is full of song, dance, laughter, and heart. She wears her heart on her sleeve and is a hopeless romantic. This summer, she and her best "frenemy" and cousin, Katie, were inseparable--always putting on plays, shows, dances, dressing up, and pretending. Sometimes we call Loryn, "Legs" because that seems to be the majority of her body right now--long skinny legs. She is growing up quickly too and I don't know what happened to my little bird.

 Among my four kids, we had three different "first days", hence the different clothing.

 Fisher was positively ecstatic to start kindergarten this year. He has been desperately waiting to walk to school with the big kids and be in the same school as his sisters and cousins. He was literally jumping and skipping all over the house. He soaked it all up and reported every little detail. He wasn't as ready academically as my girls were, so I was a little tentative. But he seems to have taken to school like a duck in water. Fisher is a true delight, always happy and smiling and eager to be part of things. He is such a tender, sweet, affectionate little guy, but still manages to be all boy. He loves to wrestle, tease, make "boy" noises, tease his sisters, play the Wii, emulate his dad in everything, and play sports. This summer, he was his Grandpa Wayne's little shadow. Since we live with/next to his grandparents, I would frequently find Fisher missing. He was almost always following grandpa around--killing wasps, tinkering in the garage, or hitting golf balls, or snuggling in their bed watching cartoons.

 Miss Quincy is our little princess and she knows it. She gives us all orders in her remarkably high-pitched, speech-problem laden little voice. And yet, somehow, we all adore her. She is truly hilarious, full of sass and attitude and personality. But she is my little shadow. Since the moment she was born, she has been stuck to me like glue. I call her my "Little Koala" and she calls me "Mommy Koala," usually as she is tied around my leg. This summer, she spent most of her time trying to keep up with the big kids and surprising her grandparents with early morning and late night visits. Her oldest cousin, Lindsey, is her "best friend." She started preschool this year with Miss Sherryn, who has taught all my kids. She loves school and seems to have everything under control.

Catching Up 2012

Ok, it's time I simply came clean. I have been AWOL for about nine months. And the task of trying to "catch up" this sad little blog has been far too daunting for me to face! So, I'm just not going to do it. You'll just have to take my word for it that we have done a lot of amazing things, been a lot of amazing places, and taken a lot of amazing pictures in the last nine months. And maybe, just maybe, you'll hear about it some day. But, in the meantime, we're just going to forge ahead.

It's the picture side of things that is really too unbearable to overcome, so I'll just sum up the last nine months with words.

Fisher graduated from preschool. Loryn got baptized. My girls both placed in the Rock Canyon Fun Run. Taylor went to 5th Grade Camp at Big Springs (just like her mom and dad did at her age). My beloved Papa Ace passed away, I had 4 cousins get married, threw a few wedding showers, etc.

In the spring, we purchased a house with Dan's sister, Jen. It was an old, smelly, little house in need of a lot of TLC. But it was in a great location and showed promise, so we scooped it up with the hope to "flip" it. Over the course of the spring and summer, we took almost everything out, put new stuff in and it ended up a thousand percent better. We accepted an offer on the quaint little cottage last week and we should close on it some time in September! It was a great project for our kids and for us. We all learned a lot, worked a lot, and were able to rally around a common cause.

 We ate a lot of Hokulias, attended a lot of soccer games, saw a few movies, reunited with our cousins from Florida and Texas for a few weeks, played with a few friends, did a lot of handstands and cartwheels, made up a lot of dances to the latest pop songs, watched A LOT of Olypics . . .

 We bade farewell to our favorite single "aunties", who are still our favorite and still our "aunties," but no longer single and no longer so close. Very sad and very happy all at once. We had a great 4th of July always with hot air balloons, swimming, family BBQ's and fireworks.

Over the summer, went to Idaho, Lake Powell, Lagoon, Kamas, Seven Peaks, weddings, parks, playgrounds, picnics, canyons. We had a jolly time spending our summer with cousins and friends and now we're lamenting the quick end of it and returning back to school!

Bowling at BYU

Dan's brother, Brint, moved to Florida in February to go back to school. Natalie and the kids stayed back for a couple weeks to pack up their house and tie up loose ends. We did our best to make the most of their last week here. They even spent a couple days at our house after they'd packed up their house.

What would a final hurrah be without a trip to the BYU bowling alley? Natalie's kids had never been bowling before, so we definitely had to fit it in before we sent them off. Everyone had a blast!

 The "older kids" keepin' it cool.

 Kenzie and Taylor, sweet little friends 18 months apart (and kind of hard to tell apart from far away!)

 The "younger kids" all born within a six months of each other. A terrible trio indeed!

The little boys, Fisher and Luke, six months apart.

It has been such a blessing for my kids to have so many cousins both close to their age and close in proximity. But, the Rosses are starting to spread out a little and it's a little hard for all the kids. Dan's little brother is in Texas and his older brother is headed to Florida. I keep reminding them that I never lived in the same state as my cousins and we're still best friends!

St. George

So, way back in January our little family was able to take a quick little jaunt down to St. George for a three day weekend. Dan hates this picture because it was 55 pounds ago (yay Dan!), but I still think it's sweet.

I was able to take a lot of pictures with my fancy schmancy new camera Dan bought me for Christmas. (yay Dan!) The kids had so much fun playing on new playgrounds and just having a change of pace.

I love my little kiddies and it was so nice having them isolated from everything and all to myself.

Quincy got a legitimate black-eye, by the way. We don't beat her, for the record. It was quite the shiner, though.

Quincy is our little climber and is really quite good at it. She can climb anything and everything with the greatest of ease. Another reason to call her our little monkey.

Christmas Church

I really liked having Christmas on a Sunday this year. It really helped to keep the focus of the day on Christ. Our ward is legendary for putting on amazing Christmas musical productions during the sacrament meeting and I heard that this year was particularly wonderful. Quincy and I elected to stay home, however, because she was still under the weather.

Christmas Morning

I'm not going to lie, Christmas morning was a little rough. Quincy had been up ALL night throwing up. I ended up "sleeping" with her and waking up every 1/2 hour to clean her up. We did 4 loads of laundry that night. I literally did not sleep. Not fun. But these kiddos, unaware of it all, woke up bright and early to see what Santa had brought them. This is Fisher's reaction to the Transformer he found in his stocking. He said, "Go BYU" as he made this gesture. Apparently, that is the truest expression of delight. He is hilarious.I take a bajillion photos of my kids opening their presents every year and I still don't know why. Who wants of picture of themselves opening every single present? Anyway, these are just a few of the best.

Patiently Waiting

Because we like to subject our kids to torture of unimagineable degree, we make our kids wait to open their Christmas presents until my parents arrive on Christmas morning. Here they are waiting excitedly.

The Booby Trap

When my husband and his siblings were growing up in this very house, their parents planned elaborate booby traps every Christmas Eve that prevented them from getting to their presents. The tradition lives on in our family. This year we put saran wrap between the banisters and wrapped string down all the stairs. Finally we put all of air mattresses on the lower stairs. And by "we," I mean Dan, of course. We were surprised at the ease with which they overcame this booby trap the next morning, however. Clearly, their skills are improving with age. It was the first year in our parenthood that we didn't have to wake our kids up Christmas morning!

Christmas Eve II

When we got home from Christmas Eve Dinner at my parents' house, Wayne and Jody invited us in to open our presents from them. First, Grandpa sang the kids a cute little Christmas song on the guitar.

Quincy got this wonderful tiara, boa, and tutu set truly fit for the princess she is. They also all got pillow pets and Taylor got some true blue Cougar attire.

Here they are all excitedly opening the first presents of the season!

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve this year, we were lucky enough to combine our parents for a wonderful dinner at my parents' house. We had the traditional ham and potatoes. It was the first year we didn't have my Papa Ace with us in as long as I can remember, so it was a little sad. But, it was fun to have a nice meal with my kids and all four of their grandparents.

Following dinner, the girls each played a couple Christmas songs on the piano and then we all sang Christmas carols (we're not big singers, but it's a tradition that Jeffrey insists upon!) Finally, we concluded with a very humble attempt at re-enacting the Nativity. A very simple and perfect evening.

Adieu

It is now 12:45 am. I am officially at my wit's end with my impossibly slow computer, that has succumbed to snail-pace status thanks to a wonderfully protective filter I installed to protect my children from the wicked wiles of the media. But, I can no longer bear it. So, until I receive another spark of energy to continue on my journey to update this blog, I bid you farewell. It may be days, or months, or years. But I will return.

Sleep Under the Tree

As soon as the kids got out for school for Christmas Break, we planned a family sleepover by the Christmas tree. We lined every inch of our family room with air mattresses and sleeping bags and cozied in for the night. The kids thought it was fabulous.

Almost every activity in our house inevitably ends in wrestling.

First Snow!

There is something magical and invigorating about the first snow of the season. I kept telling myself this on an early Saturday morning as I hunted down winter clothing items from the four corners of the house that we moved into. I believe the necessary clothing was scattered and packed hither and yon throughout the house, only to conclude that much of it no longer fit! But, in the end, there was a celebratory jaunt in the snow.

Cornucopias

Some ideas are just better on paper, aren't they? My sister-in-law and I, in an effort to be cute and crafty moms, attempted ice cream cone cornucopias with the kids in preparation for Thanksgiving. They didn't turn out as well as we envisioned, but the kids had fun trying. So, we gave ourselves an "A" for effort and were reminded that we are not the crafty type. (P.S. Do you like my mini remodel of the kitchen? I removed the cabinets that hung over the island, painted an accent wall robin egg blue, and hung curtains. Cute, huh?)

Stripping Wallpaper

As I spent days stripping wallpaper and dripping in beads of sweat from the steamer, I decried wallpaper as a crime against nature, the great abomination. However, I've repented. There are actually some cute wallpaper prints out there that I might even consider myself.

But wo be unto the person who shall inherit that wallpaper twenty years hence when the print that seemed so cute and stylish is now atrocious. I mean really, gluing paper to your walls! Such a sticky, icky mess! But my kids (and eventually, my husband himself) were very helpful and supportive in removing this marvelous mauve masterpiece from the walls of Loryn's bedroom.

Goofy Taylor

You know, my Taylor is an old soul. I've said this from the beginning. But, it always rubs me the wrong way when people suggest that she is a little too serious or even sullen. When Taylor gets comfortable, she is as silly and goofy as can be.

Halloween

So, this is the conclusion to a day full of festivity and sugar. My kids (plus a friend) came home after a long night of canvassing the neighborhood and poured out their loot to sort through it in the front hall.

Loryn proudly displayed her butterfly costume in the school parade. Taylor is now too old to participate in the parade and went roller skating with her class instead. Fisher's preschool parade reduced him to tears and he boycotted the entire evenT. Apparently some kid had convinced him that his Hulk costume was stupid.

Alas, we went home and changed to our back-up costume of a pirate. He perked up and we went trick-or-treating at our Papa Ace's. My Papa was tickled to see the kids in their costumes (or at least he pretended to be!)

Taylor and Fisher dressed alike for trick-or-treating. I personally think they are each other's clones. At home, we call them "Team Dan" because they look like their dad. We call Loryn and Quincy "Team Hillary" because they look more like me. Technically, they don't even look like me--they simply look LESS like Dan.

Colonial Day

Taylor had a Colonial Day at school this year at which they played colonial games, ate colonial food, etc. All the students were told to dress in traditional colonial dress. Strangely enough, my colonial wardrobe is a little lacking, so we had to ask our grandmas for help. My mother was so kind to make this dress for Taylor and Grandma Ross made the bonnet and scarf. Taylor was definitely the best dressed kid in the fifth grade that day. Plus, she had a wonderful time of playing marbles, carving soap, making butter, and square dancing.

Ward Halloween Party

The Halloween Party at our church building was a blast. Dan threw together an impromptu Michael Phelps costume at the last minute and was quite the riot.

Pumpkinland

Pumpkinland is a tradition at Halloween time. This year, we went with Fisher's preschool class. It was a cold and windy day, but the kids had a great time!

I love my babies. They have the strangest love/hate dynamic. Their relationship continues to baffle me. It takes all my strength and energy to harness their passionate emotions, but I love them desperately.