Painting Bedrooms

We've got the bedrooms painted! Yeah! We had a lot of fun. The girls painted their room and the boys painted theirs. What an adventure! They both did a great job! Below is some of the footage.

We tried to get a picture in front of a finished wall, but this is the best we got. David got impatient with my lack of photography skills.

Hill Cumorah Pageant

Yes, this is a delayed post . . . the pageant was in mid-July.

We always love going to the Hill Cumorah Pageant. It's just an excellent pageant that brings the Book of Mormon to life and is such a fun event for our family. This year James had a good time getting his picture taken with the characters in the pageant as they walked around before the show began. He really enjoyed this. James and the Wicked King Noah

Melanie, Melissa and James with the three wise men.

These were his favorite - the stripling warriors. It combines his two favorite things - Army guys and Missionaries.

We finally got David in one - he was too scared to get close to any of these characters.

Yep, that's Big Tex

Yep, that's Big Tex behind us. Eric and I got the chance to go to Dallas this past weekend for a conference he had. While there we were able to go to the Texas State Fair. After all the years he and I lived there, neither one of us had ever been. We had a good time!

We ate YUMMY fried food! (Melanie was so jealous - she loves hot dogs in any form! - this was a foot long corn dong - or how they say it in TX - a "corny dog")

I got to be a kid (since mine were all at home) and pet all the animals in the petting zoo! My favorites were the baby zebra and baby giraffe!

We also got the chance to get together with my Sister Angie, brother-in-law Kevin and two adorable nieces Anna and Julie. Thanks guys! It was so fun!

Okay, so this is nothing in Dallas. This is the chaos of my own home - welcome home Mom! This afternoon David emptied a big container of powdered milk all over his train table and surrounding area (This was taken after I'd already vacuumed up half of it or more when I realized I'd better be able to laugh about it later if I took a picture to document). Yay! I guess he thought it would be fun to drive his cars in. Once he did it, Rebekah and James jumped right in and had a great time driving anything on wheels through it all.

It was so nice to get away, but I really am glad to be back - hopefully refreshed and refilled enough to get me through to the next time we can sneak away ;)

Love this!

The best Mommy moments are catching my children all enjoying each other. I went in to change the laundry and found all the kids in Melanie and Melissa's bed playing together so happily. I love this! -but of course moments later they are coming in telling me of all kinds of injustices going on. Huummm, small moments. I'm so glad for the small moments of wonderful that make parenting worth it. :o)

-as you can probably tell, this bottom picture was first and as you go up you can see James noticing me taking photos and getting increasingly dramatic about it. By the end he said -"okay, Mom, I'm done. I'm done."

Muddy Soccer

Melissa and James both had games tonight. The weather has been beautiful all day, but chilly. The fields were in pretty decent condition, but still had some muddy spots. Melissa found them. Unfortunately I didn't get an action shot. She kicked the ball once and you could just see the big spray of muddy water come up with the ball. She loved every minute of it - but as you can see in the pictures not everyone got as dirty. I think Melissa won the prize. Her cousin Kaleigh must've been being pretty careful because I didn't see anyone else come out as clean as she did (-but, by the time I took these Kaleigh had taken her cleats and shin guards off, they were pretty muddy).

Having two play at the same time I have to split my attention. I watched James last time so this time just watched him for a minute and then spent my time watching Melissa. When I caught up with him later I missed getting a picture of him but he must've played hard too because he was pretty muddy. -but had a smile on his face! For kids mud=fun.

Ugh! Why didn't I take a picture?!

Tonight Melanie had a soccer game that was one of those great ones in the rain and the mud and the cold (but not too cold) - that kids love because they get to play in the mud and they don't get in trouble for getting dirty. I took some video (request from coach Eric - for working on skills) but am kicking myself for not getting pics of Melanie and her friends ejoying the mayhem. She's so cute and they had such a great time! After the game they were all talking about how wet and muddy and cold they were, but in that way that is so fun - a moment in time they'll all remember and look back on with fond memories "Remember that soccer game in that was so cold and rainy . . ."

If only I had a picture. Ugh!

She's so lucky!

Rebekah, I mean (okay so Melanie too). She's so lucky to have these older siblings that adore her. Especially her two older sisters. They are so good to her and she loves them so much! Today I came in from an errand and found Melissa holding her and rocking her and playing with her so sweetly - and then tonight after scriptures and prayers when I read stories to the kids, Rebekah climbed in with the girls and snuggled up to Melanie and fell asleep - so sweet!!