Dear Mom and Dad

Sophie got her card flipped to red today in school.  They start at green and flip it down or up throughout the day according to their behavior.  First warning gets a flip down to yellow, then orange, and finally to red.  It is at this point that a note gets sent home to the parents.  This has never happened with the other two.  Here is what she came home with:

Dear Mom and Dad,

I had a problem at school today.  This is what happened.  Today was a hard day for me to stay at a level 0 when asked.  I was reminded many times during reading and writing workshops to stop talking.  I also had to be reminded a few times to stop talking in the hallways and bathroom.  My teacher and I talked about times in school when I am allowed to talk to my friends.  Please talk to me about classroom and hallway expectations.

Love, Sophie

{Please sign and return to school tomorrow.  Thank you for your support!}

Scott will be quick to remind me that he used to get in trouble for talking too much at school all the time.  So I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.  I do have to confess, though, that I was trying really hard not to laugh out loud as I read over the note and pictured her {and a young Scott} not being able to control their chattiness in the classroom.  Hahahaha.  Sophie informed me that she has also been switched to a new seat.  Hopefully that will help...

The Jane-est of my Janes

We have a birthday girl -- the Jane-est of my Janes has turned 3!  And even though we won't celebrate with a party {and a rainbow cake} until Saturday, it is still officially her big day.  To mark the occasion I took her (and Alex) to Barnes and Noble today to let her pick out a book.  {Always MY favorite kind of birthday present. Hahaha.}  While we were there, we stopped and took time to play at the train table in the Children's section.  It was kind of nice.  I think the last time I've done that was when Ethan and Grace were my two little toddlers.  Alex was LOVING it, and Jane made herself right at home, too.  You know -- kicking off her shoes, getting real comfy, and not listening to a thing I said.   The uszhe.  

Jane's day was completely made when I found a Bubble Guppies coloring book on the way out and bought it for her along with a half a dozen or so other books for myself that I really wanted to get, too.  It's my half-birthday you know.  Hahahahaha. 

All day long Jane and I have gone back and forth with our bit --

Me:  Happy birthday, Jane!
Jane:  Happy half-birthday, mom!
Me: Thank you!  Happy birthday, Jane!
Jane:  Happy half-birthday, mom!

and so on and so forth until we've birthday-ed ourselves out.  Unfortunately, there wasn't really anything else super special done for her today so we'll have to make sure she has the best rainbow birthday party EVER on Saturday.  I know she can't wait!

Jane Felicity -- so aptly named.

Flashback Friday -- The One-Year-Old Edition

Today's flashback is a walk down memory lane inspired by Alex's first birthday.  Here are all of my babies at one year old.  It's hard to believe they were all this sweet and loveable at one time.  Hahahaha.  Just kidding -- they're STILL this sweet and loveable.  Most of the time.  Hahahaha.  And for the record, Provo Kiddie Kandids really loves props...

Ethan -- Best Hair

Grace -- Most Likely to Succeed {to the Throne}

Sophie -- Best Smize

Jane -- Best Dressed

Alex -- Most Popular {at least for the time being...}

Happy Friday!

Older and Wiser

{Take a look at Ethan's face in the picture up there -- he was NOT a happy camper.}

A year has come and gone and Alex is officially a one year old!  After a truly horrendous day of unbelievable behavior from a certain oldest son, we finally got around to the promised birthday party right after dinner last night.   I had taken Grace and Sophie to the store with me earlier in the day to pick out all the presents and "decorations" for the party and once we got home they stuffed everything into a giant gift bag while I began to make the traditional first cake.  In a non-traditional way.  Each kid has had a yellow cake with homemade chocolate buttercream frosting for their first birthday.  Every kid except Sophie that is.  Between her food allergies at the time and the fact that she had checked into the hospital with RSV on her actual birthday, I didn't bother making anything that she wouldn't be able to eat anyway. 

Well, since lover boy {like Sophie} is ALSO allergic to dairy, I used a Duncan Hines yellow cake box mix and made a "Vegan Chocolate Frosting" to go on top.  And for the record, it was actually pretty good.  Jane especially really liked it.  I used Blue Bonnet Light margarine sticks {which are dairy free as an FYI} in place of the butter and just added some cocoa powder, vanilla, and powdered sugar.  It did the trick!  And also for the record, this is the most perfectly iced cake I think I've ever created.  Or at least it was until Jane and pretty much every other kid started taking swipes of the frosting off the sides and top.  Hahaha.

Once we got dinner over with (we had waffles in case you're wondering) we managed to make the kids clean up the kitchen so we could get our party started!  Alex was pretty tired and ready for bed at this point, but there was no way the kids were going to let us postpone his celebration for another day so we persevered onward and managed to sing his song, open his presents, and eat some cake in record time. 

He REALLY wanted that monkey plate that someone took out of his hands. 

He perked up a bit once he got the plate back and we started to sing Happy Birthday.

Grace "helped" him blow out the candle.

This here stacking cups toy has caused more fights between the older kids wanting to play with it than anything else in the house right now.

NOM.  Hahahaha.

And we're ready for bed.

All in all, quite a successful little celebration.  Hahaha.  Now we just have to gear things up again in a little over a week to celebrate Jane's birthday.  Hopefully her day will go a little more smoothly.  Although with the way they've all been acting lately I hardly think that's likely.  The following quotes {from this weekend} sum things up pretty nicely as an accurate sampling of what we're up against these days.  

ETHAN (to me and/or Scott at various points over the last couple of days):  "I  HATE YOU!!!!  I HATE YOU SO MUCH!!!! I'M NEVER FORGIVING YOU!!!!"

GRACE:  "It's not fair!!!  Why won't you buy me a dog???  Please?  Please?  PLEASE? I've been waiting for so long to get a dog!  It's not fair!  I want a dog!!!"

SOPHIE (in response to me asking why she was prancing around the kitchen like that):  "Because I'm popular!"

JANE (after telling her not to say "hate" along with all the other bad words she's been using lately):  "I say hate, I say mean, I say poop..."

ALEX:  "Mama!"

Until next time my friends!  Hahahaha.

Flashback Friday -- Questionaire

So, I should probably be really embarrassed {ashamed?} to admit this, but -- I think I'm REALLY funny.  Hahahahaha.  No, seriously.  I make myself laugh out loud on a regular basis.  Perhaps I'm the only one laughing, but that's okay.  As I was reading through some REALLY old emails the other day, I came across one in which I participated in one of those chain letter/survey type things that were so popular for a while there.  And trust me when I say it had me rolling on the floor.  {Metaphorically speaking, of course.}

(from August 28, 2006)

1. FIRST NAME?
jessica

2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
nope

3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY?
while i was teaching my relief society lesson yesterday

4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
i love my handwriting

5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
sliced honey roasted turkey breast from smith's deli

6. KIDS?
a boy, a girl, and a little baby patat

7. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
yeah, i think i'm a really awesome friend. hahaha.

8. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL?
yeah -- and the last time i wrote in it was father's 
day of last year.  but i do blog more frequently than that.

9. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT?
probably

10. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
do people really still get those out?

11. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
never

12. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
frosted mini wheats or cracklin' oat bran.  
mmmmm lots of fiber

13. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
the only lace up shoes i have are my running shoes and it
just depends on how i'm using them.  if i'm going walking or
running (yeah right) than i have to tie them and untie them 
when i take them off.  otherwise i don't bother tying them.


14. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?
physically -- kind of, emotionally -- pretty strong, 
spiritually -- i'm trying, mentally -- fo' shiggidy

15. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
homemade PEPPERMINT ICE CREAM is the bomb dot com.  nothing 
compares

16. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?
their style and their accesesories?  seriously freddie?  
um, i think i probably notice whether they are outgoing or 
reserved.

17. RED OR PINK?
pink

18. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
my extremist tendencies

19. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
i always miss whoever's not with me.

20. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU?
yeah

21. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES YOU ARE WEARING?
blue byu mesh shorts (scott's) and brown flip-flops.  i'm 
planning on cleaning this place as soon as i'm done with 
survey

22. THE LAST THING YOU ATE?
frosted mini wheats!

23. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
ethan whining to me

24. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?probably blue-green

25. FAVORITE SMELL?
laundry detergent, christmas trees, those spicy scented 
candles that come out in the fall

26. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
scott's mom

27. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU?
of course

28. FAVORITE DRINK?
milk at home, root beer in restaurants

29. FAVORITE SPORT TO WATCH?
gymnastics, college basketball during march madness

30. HAIR COLOR?
dirty blonde

31. EYE COLOR?
greenish blueish

32. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
yes

34. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDING?
happy endings 

35. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
high school musical and the goonies  --  both are the kids'
new favorites

36. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
gray oregon t-shirt

37. SUMMER OR winter?
i like them both until about 3/4 of the way through and then
i'm ready for a change of temperature

38. HUGS OR KISSES?
i LOVE hershey's hugs!

39. FAVORITE DESSERT?
cheesecake, although i will eat pretty much anything.

40. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
natalie

41. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
i think everyone else i'm sending it to has already responded

42. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING?
the count of monte cristo

43. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
its red with an office depot logo on it

44. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST ON TV?
some tribal odyssey feature on discovery channel.  i'm serious.

45. FAVORITE SOUNDS?
i love the sound of crickets, pretty music

46. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?
beatles, i guess?

47. THE FURTHEST YOU BEEN FROM HOME?
barcelona, spain

48. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?
i'm really good at eating

49. WHEN WERE YOU BORN?
february 28, 1980

50. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
Utah Valley Hospital, Provo, UT baby!

First Day Jitters

{Note to self: Don't take pictures while wearing glasses.  As you can see, the children are blurry and the background is in focus.  If I had put my contacts in I probably would have noticed this on the viewing screen and rectified the situation.  As it is, I have no good group shots of the kids.} 

Well, the first day of school has come and gone.  Yesterday was the maiden voyage of the new school year and fortunately there were no icebergs in its path.  Which isn't to say that it was all smooth sailing...

Ethan -- the 4th grader.

Grace -- the 2nd grader.

Sophie -- the Kindergartener.

The morning was chaotic, prompting my favorite line of the day from Scott {who stayed home to see the kids off before heading to work}.  "Is this what it's like every morning," he asked in exasperation?  Why yes.  Yes it is.  It didn't help that we were not as prepared as we could have been and it certainly didn't help ME that I was up with Jane and Alex at different points in the night and was more than a bit exhausted still.  Throw in the fact that we were also trying to squeeze in father's blessings for the kids before it was time to go, Ethan was freaking out about being late, and Grace was just freaking out in general, and you should have a pretty good picture of how are day started out.  

In retrospect, I do think that there were some jitters at play in ALL the children.  It is kind of a nerve-wracking thing to start a new year with a new teacher and possibly a lot of new classmates.  Unfortunately, Ethan and Grace thought it would help if they took it all out on Sophie.  You know telling her things like "I don't want you to ride on the bus with me!" and "You can't stand next to us for the pictures."  Poor little super muppet. 

Alex was not a happy camper either.

Sophie was the only one who cared about getting a new outfit for the first day of school and here she is modelling it for me.  {Surprise, surprise.  Hahaha.}

She also needed new shoes and THESE are the ones she just had to have. 

Grace didn't want to leave this little guy at home.

We managed pictures, a couple of blessings, and Scripture Time {but no chores} before school and after a stressful 45 minutes or so {school starts WAY too late at 9:05} the kids were finally able to get the show on the road and loaded up in Scott's car for him to take them to the bus stop.  Getting to ride in dad's car was possibly the highlight of their morning.  Hahaha.

Cute little Grace with her pretty little face.  

Classic Ethan.  Caught mid-freakout.  

Cute little Soph all ready for school.

The rest of my day went rather swimmingly.  I made it to the gym and ran my 5 miles, enjoyed the complete solace of peace and quiet in the house during nap time while both little kiddies slept, and even managed to crash myself on the couch for about an hour before Alex woke up.  I wanted to have freshly baked cookies waiting for the big kids when they got home, but that never happened.  I ran out of time and in the end figured it was probably better anyway -- Sophie wouldn't have been able to have them and then she would have melted down about not having a treat, too.  I opted instead to load the baby in the stroller and walk on up to the bus stop with Jane and Alex in tow.  We got there JUST as the bus was pulling up and surprised the kids who were not expecting to see us there.  I was surprised to see Sophie getting off the bus not with a smile but a frown.  The distress on her face was extreme and as she walked to me and I exclaimed "What's wrong???" she could hardly hold back the tears as she told me, "My tooth got wiggly today!"  Huh?  I couldn't quite figure out why this would be so upsetting but then she went on to say that she tried to pull it out at school and it really hurt.  Hmmm.  After I hugged her for a bit and told her how sorry I was and that I loved her, she cheered right up and then excitedly told me all about the rest of her day as we walked home together.  Classic Sophie.  Hahahaha. By the time we got home she had switched gears to being ecstatic that she had "loosed her tooth" at school and proceeded to chatter on about that for the next little bit proclaiming that "dad will be so excited when he finds out!"  Hahaha.  All in all it was a pretty good day.  Let's hope that today goes as well... 

Unfettered Chaos

It is only fitting that the one year celebration day of Alex's birth should be bathed in the same absolute chaos that has reigned supreme since the moment he was born.  I'm too tired {mentally as well as physically} to produce a full recap of the day, but suffice it to say that I got NOTHING done, the kids are COMPLETELY unprepared for school tomorrow, and we didn't do ANYTHING for the little birthday boy.  I'm placing the blame fully on our middle of the night antics with first Jane -- who, let's face it, is a regular -- and then Grace who woke us up by throwing up all over our bedroom floor around the 3 o'clock mark early this morning. 

It didn't help that apparently I promised {???} the kids at the beginning of the summer that they could have "freebie" day before school started where they didn't have to do any chores and could watch TV and play on the computer all day long.  For the record, I would never make a promise that absolute to my children.  BUT, due to my complete and utter exhaustion I decided I couldn't fight them on this one and instead spent the rest of my day desperately trying to squeeze in a nap while also trying to keep a melting down toddler and a mess of a birthday boy happy and well.   I was semi-successful in both regards.

Here's Jane "helping" me to get Alex to look at the camera.  It's a miracle he survived his first year of life with a big sister this helpful.  Hahaha.

Dinner time was complete madness mixed with insanity as we tried to feed the masses, hold Family Home Evening, AND figure out what needed to be done for school tomorrow all at the same time.  Luckily, the kids agreed to postpone Lover Boy's birthday celebration until Saturday, so that was one less thing that needed to be done.  And even more luckily, once everyone was fed, happy, and calmed down, bedtime proceeded with nary a peep from anyone.  A little too good to be true, if you ask me.  Hahahaha.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that joy {and less chaos} cometh in the morning.

Happy Birthday, Alex!!!

 

 Ahoy!  I sail!  I'm sailing!  

A Future Olympian?

In possibly the least surprising development in the viewing of the 2012 Olympic Games, Sophie has stumbled upon a passion for Rhythmic Gymnastics.  After creating her own ribbon {taped to a wooden mallet for a handle} she pranced around the house all day today creating her own rhythms and routines.  It was hilarious.  And all was fun and games until the others caught onto the fun and effectively rained on her parade.  Oh well.  She'll have many more obstacles than THAT on her path to becoming a future Olympian.  Hahaha.

Did You Know?

Did you know...

• That it's Back to School time???

Faithful readers of the blog will probably know this already, but SCHOOL STARTS IN FIVE {5} MORE DAYS!!!!  Hahaha.  And one of my very favorite things about this very favorite time of year is school supplies.  Yep, it's true.  And apparently my children have inherited this love as well.  The trip to Target {with all 5 kids} on a Friday afternoon to BUY the school supplies was no one's favorite activity, but once we were home all was forgotten of the preceding nightmare and the older ones were happy as clams as they pulled out all their supplies, organized them into piles, and then separated them into their own bags.

• That I have a Kindergartener???  And a 2nd grader and a 4th grader???

I can hardly even believe it!  Three kids in school all day long in just FIVE {5} more days!  Sophie had her Kindergarten orientation earlier this week and was super excited to see that one of her friends from preschool {Jack} and another friend from summer school {Annie} will both be in her class this fall.  She also got to ride on the bus after enduring a 30 minute bus safety demonstration {okay, so she really loved it -- I was the one who endured it not so well} and was able to drop off all her supplies and meet her teacher.  Ethan and Grace got to meet their teachers and drop off their supplies this evening at the annual Sneak a Peak Night over at the school.  Grace's teacher is FRESH out of college and looks super young and super sweet and I'm sure will do a great job.  Grace was excited to see that one of her BFFs {Anna} is not only in her class for the third year running, but has been assigned a desk right next to hers by her poor, unwitting teacher.  Hahaha.  I'm thinking that seating arrangement might be changed rather quickly this fall.  Ethan was stoked to see that he got the teacher he really wanted and is equally excited about finally being in the "upper grade" hallway.  All in all it was a fun outing for everyone even if I do feel like a circus side show whenever I have all the kids with me at the school.
 

• That I have a picture of each of my children almost identical to this one?

Hahahahaha.  How hilarious is this pose???  He's just doing some deep thinking is all.  He's got a lot on his mind these days.  This past year has flown by so quickly he just doesn't know where it's gone.  Hahahaha.

• That I have finally filled and organized my beloved hutch?

And yes -- it IS perfection.  The sewing machine, odds and ends, and all my fabric fit just perfectly.  Sometimes I like to open it up and just gaze fondly on all the sights.

• That I have begun to work on Grace's baptism quilt using my wonderful quilting bee friends?

All the fabric bundles being prepped to mail out.

I'm going with a theme of "Flowers" for Grace's quilt.  Green is her favorite color and when I let her choose the specific shade she wanted for the background of the quilt, JADE is what she chose.  I went through about 3 different variations of my sample block before finally settling upon THIS one {which Grace loves} and I can't wait to see what everyone else creates.

• That Jane sometimes uses the phrase "Hot Cross Buns!" as her exclamation of choice?

That girl is crazy and I can't tell you how funny it is to hear her running into a room shouting "Hot Cross Buns!" with excitement.

• That I've resorted to bribing my children to read?

{Not pictured are a bunch of Roald Dahl books that are on the list that are in Ethan's possession -- he just didn't want to mix them in with the others.}

It's totally true -- I have.  I found this list of the 100 Best Children's Chapter Books online and told the kids they could earn a dollar for each book they read off the list.  So far it has only motivated Ethan.  Hahaha.  The list is a good one, though, and I've read about half of them myself.  AND we already own a good chunk of them as well.  I'm hoping the monetary incentive will eventually appeal to all of them and in the process they'll be exposed to some of the really good children's literature out there.

• That I've been waking up at the crack of dawn every Saturday morning to run with friends as we train for our half-marathon?

For the record, I am NOT an early morning person.  Like AT ALL.  But, I will gladly sacrifice sleep for the chance to do my long runs with friends.  Because it is so much fun.  Seriously.  I never would have thought that running for an hour + while chatting with friends could go by so much more quickly and more enjoyably than running for far less time just by myself.  The farthest I've run up to this point is a 10K distance of 6.25 miles.  This coming Saturday will be a milestone for me -- EIGHT {8} miles.  I am actually really excited to tackle this number.  Who would have thunk it???

• That Ethan has been insisting on sleeping in a {busted and more than likely uncomfortable} rocking chair at bed time each night all to be closer to the fan?  

Poor little first born.  We've been having so many issues this summer.  It really is easier not to fight some battles.  Because really -- if HE doesn't care about falling off the chair while he's sleeping than why should WE?

• That today is Scott's 35th birthday????

The birthday boy was showered with balloons at work and caused a near riot when he brought them home to the children this evening.  Alex especially was overly worked up about them.  After Scott divided them up amongst the 4 older kids, poor Alex was left high and dry and dependent upon their mercy for a chance to play with any of them.  Let's just say he didn't get much.  Hahaha.

Poor little lamb -- look at him trying {unsuccessfully} to grab at a balloon.

• And that he doesn't like cake?  Or really any big fuss made over him at all?

Poor Scott.  It really is pitiful how little we do to celebrate his birthday.  Every year I experience the same failing feeling because I never think we've done enough {or ANYTHING} for him.  This year was particularly abysmal.  The problem is he just never WANTS anything!  Dang him and his easy-going and un-materialistic tendencies!!!  Hahahaha.  J/K.  The nice thing about Scott is that when he says he doesn't really want anything for his birthday he really means it.  So, this year we just made do with a clean house for his arrival home from work and a little Graeter's ice cream for dessert.  It was a little deja vu of his 30th birthday when we were just finishing up our internship in Cincinnati and were leaving the next day.  All he had then was the same little carton of black raspberry chip ice cream with a single candle to blow out.

Do you like how Jane is bathed in the glow of the iPad screen?

He's probably wishing for a less lame birthday for next year.  Hahaha.  {He doesn't really look like this when he typically blows candles out.}

And that is that.  You now know everything.  Hahahahaha.