Hippity Happity Birthday Girly!!

Eme had the great fortune of having her birthday fall on a half-day for school. She was so excited to have a great breakfast, to then be able to go out to lunch, and to be able to spend all day playing with new toys and gifts!!  Since Nana and Papa had come by Sunday night with their gifts (Wednesday nights are our busiest w/cub scouts and boy scouts just 30 min apart), she got to wear a special new outfit for her great day :)

Breakfast: german pancakes, orange rolls, and orange juice.  Plus the traditional gift before school.

More gifts after school: a Build a Bear gift card (enough for some clothes for one of the 2 bears she already has), and a teeny tiny La La Loopsy doll (not Lego-like to my chagrin).  Then we headed off to lunch and to buy some bear clothes, while Aidan watched the others (I love that he's 12!).

I love that their outfits matched :)

Eme wanted chocolate butterfly cakes covered in chocolate frosting (ganache).  Okay, those aren't too difficult, no colored icing or piping required!!

More princess dress-up dolls, and her very own Junie B Jones books, she was in heaven.

And, a new, non-guillotined Cinderella (sadly her last one had a bit of a problem after Davin got his Napoleon doll from Paris-no joke, we were able to get her head back on, but it was very "floppy"). Eme has told everyone to keep away from her new doll, they can play with the old one just fine though.

Two of my favorite pics from Sunday with Eric's parents.  Eme was so happy to get the new Olivia book (sadly Maddie was sick all over it two weeks later, and we have had to replace it, we still need to get Nana to re-inscribe the new book).  Along with some cute clothes, she's one happy girl :)

And Eme with her very own bucket of Legos!!! This girl couldn't have been happier.  She had a great 7th birthday, love this amazing girl :)

Horsemanship Merit Badge...aka Camp Flake

The boys got to go up to Kent's ranch and work on their horsemanship merit badges and have a camp out.  It all went really well, with one exception of a horse getting saddled backwards (not my kid-too short :)  It wasn't Aidan's first time ridding, and it won't be his last.

September 12 in 12

Ah, a Wednesday, a typical mid-week day filled with 6 am wake up, scripture reading, kids eating breakfast, rushing them off to school. The usual household chores.  You're in for a real treat, Wednesdays are my BUSIEST day...

Before the locust arrive to devour everything in sight.

The mad rush to eat as many bowls of cereal as one can before it's time to leave for school.

Lunches, lunches, lunches (plus some dirty dishes...)

It's Maddie's turn to head off to school.

Ah, the bane of every mother, laundry.

A quick trip to Costco after Maddie finished school, and because she was such a helper, a churro for a treat!

I re-did the picture wall-completely rearranged the frames and bought some new ones too, which is why we headed to Costco, I picked up some never before printed wedding pictures :)

Math-someone is NOT happy :(

Squeezing in some reading in before cub scouts.

Eme lost a tooth, FINALLY! She's been wiggling that one forever!

Eric had been released the week before, and was paid a special honor at the Court of Honor (along with the other released YM presidency and assistants).

Aidan showing off his horsemanship merit badge.  How did this kid get so big?!

Another visit TO the Science Center, and FROM the Tooth Fairy

We decided to squeeze one more visit to the Science Center to see the Math Alive exhibit before it left.  Which meant a (dreaded) Saturday visit.  Since Eric had some chores to do (yard work), and insisted wanted to come with us, we went MUCH later in the day than I had originally planned.

And, so of course it was more crowded, what do you expect on the closing weekend of a fun exhibit, at 2 in the afternoon? Oh well, live and learn.

They also had a brand NEW traveling exhibit from the Children's Museum of Indianapolis: LEGOS!!

Um, it was okay. But we've been to THAT museum, and I expected A LOT more from them.

And Eme finally lost another tooth-it has been wiggling forever!!

August, in passing

August has come and gone, and well, it hasn't been as difficult as months past have been.  Some highlights from this month are:

• SCHOOL!!! The kids have all completed a full month of school, and so far so good :)
• Apparently I have a crazy Vitamin D deficiency (as in 11 instead of 50-60-no bueno), this would explain why my hair falls out like it did post-partum, my nails constantly break, and I am always tired. Headaches? I won't hope, I can't, just yet.
• I made a quilt as a surprise for a friend, who needed it.  It made my heart happy to do it.  Now, to get my attention span back long enough to work on a twin-sized quilt and I'll be back in business!
• I made two new recipes: a WONDERFUL Grilled Chicken Tzatziki ;and a Sun-dried Tomato Chicken, from a Cooking Light cookbook I've had for years-really good, we've already made both again.
• My Our 14th wedding anniversary. Oh, my do we look YOUNG!! For our anniversary this year I went to Costco and had them put all of our negatives onto a cd, so I could reprint pictures whenever I wanted to.  I printed off a few pictures that we've never had out before, FUN!

Crazy Hair Day...

...yes, Davin is in DIRE need of a haircut, but it works well for crazy hair day.  Don't you think?

Eric's creation: nerdy in front...

crazy in the back.

My contribution: Medusa inspired mis-matched pony-tail braids.

They both LOVED it.  We were HEROES today :)

Even Maddie wanted in on the fun!

August 12 in 12

When the 12th falls on a Sunday I just can't seem to get 12 pictures taken.  I blame that 8 am church time, along with the 3 hour block, and then the fact that I take a nap in the afternoon doesn't help either.  So, here's 8 pictures of a lazy Sunday afternoon, not 12.

Eric watching Netflix on the Kindle

Davin reading, still in his church socks

Ahh, the LEGO bucket...

Can you believe that this floor was clean yesterday?!

The girls' floor is still clean, and Maddie's bed is still made even (I'm sure it's because they've been destroying the boys room)

Eric went camping AGAIN over the weekend. And so, of course, I decided to clean out and re-organize the entire pantry. Here it is in it's still vomited all over the counters state.

Three of the quiet, but messy, LEGO builders

It's 10 pm, and Aidan's backpack and shoes are STILL on the floor where he left them yesterday when he got home from his camping trip. I have refused to deal with them, YET.  Eric has left a BIGGER mess in the garage from his trip.