HaPpY HaLLowEen

What do you get when you take a

HIPPIE

and a FAIRY?

You get AUSTIN, who is 14 and too cool to be hangin' with hippies or fairies of any kind, and is irritated that the fairy is even taking his picture:(

You get ABBY CADABBY, who is all FAIRY just like her mother!

You get LYDIA,who is the most beautiful HIPPIE ever!

You get SAVANNAH, who is the funniest and cutest HIPPIE ever!

You get MAGIC, PEACE, LOVE, and what the??? You get ZACH, who is a CrEepy, ScAry, dEmOn??? We are still trying to figure out how you get this from a HIPPIE and a FAIRY!

Is this not the scariest thing you have ever seen?




I had so much fun making Halloween costumes this year! One of my best friends, Christine Baggaley, gave, let me borrow? her sewing machine. I am not really sure if she is getting it back, since she said I could keep it at my house and she will come use it if she ever needs to. Austin and Zach were a little bit of rain on my parade, since they wouldn't let me make them costumes. Zach at least let me make the outer gauze like stuff for school, since he couldn't wear his mask.

September 20th, Abbie's Birthday!

I can hardly believe how old my kids are getting.  Abbie turned 11 this year.

Abbie with Savannah and her cousin Daphne.  Lydia made birthday hats and Abbie is wearing the Birthday Girl one made especially for her.

Nanny (Jude's mom), usually buys these cakes from Backer's Bakery in Salt Lake.  They are yummy, beautiful and really expensive!

Abbie wanted Julie, an American Girl doll for her birthday.  Nanny and Papa were happy to oblige.  I was kind of glad she wanted a doll, that means my baby isn't all grown up just yet.  She also received some accessories for her doll from her cousins and from everyone else she received more money than any 11 year old needs.

On Abbie's actual birthday, we went as a family to Piccalo Brother's Pizza. Usually the kids get to choose anywhere they want to eat on their birthday, but Abbie was a real trooper and agreed on Piccalo Brother's, because we had a gift card for there. We used sparkly silver iron on letters to make her a Birthday Girl outfit that she even wore to school; unfortunately, you can't see it very well in any of the pictures we took.  After we ate dinner, which was really yummy, (I have to recommend their pizza) we went to the movie "Kung Fu Panda II." It was actually a pretty good movie.

I sure do love this girl, and don't tell Austin, but she is a much better babysitter than he is.  Now that she is 11 I feel a little more comfortable leaving her in charge for small amounts of time.

First Day of School 2011

Back to school is always bittersweet for me, while I am usually ready to surrender the demons to the school authorities, I also miss the freedom summer brings.  It was also made very evident how helpful the kids were with Savannah when they were home all day.

Zach started 2nd grade this year. He has an amazing teacher, Mr. Burnett, who has a lot of experience dealing with kids who struggle in one way or another.  We thought Zach may need extra help both academically and behaviorally, but it turns out that he is doing exceptionally well in both areas. His teacher continues to assure me that Zach behaves wonderfully in class.  Zach tends to be wild and crazy at home, so one day I asked why he is so good at school, but a wild man at home. His response, "I hold it all in at school, so I have to let it all out at home!"

I guess I'd rather him be really good at school and crazy at home than the other way around.

Lydia started 4th grade this year.  She has the same teacher Abbie (Abby has decided to spell her name with an ie this year) had last year, Mrs. Johnson, whom we love.  Mrs. Johnson noticed right away the difference in personality between Abbie and Lydia.  She noted how Lydia is more sensitive than Abbie, in fact she said, "If someone was bothering Abbie, she would tell them to shove it, but you can tell Lydia gets upset."

It is funny how these are the things I love most about each of them and they are so different. Lydia's sensitivity and Abbie's self-confidence (a nicer way of saying selfishness).

Abbie with glasses  

 Abbie without glasses

Abbie is in 5th grade this year.  She is in a 5th/6th grade class.  We were really apprehensive about this at first, but Abbie has made some new friends who are 6th graders because of this, and so far it is working well.  I often thought Abbie would do better a grade level up, since she is usually the oldest in her class.  She has Mrs. Brown as a teacher and I love how organized and structured she is.  I think that is the only way a split class can be successful.

Getting on the bus. I love that the bus stop is right in front of our house.



Austin is a 9th grader at Sand Ridge Jr. High.  He is a smart student.  I would like to say he is a good student, but the headaches of missing assignments prevents me from saying that.  He almost always receives 100% on all turned in assignments and tests, but somehow he misses an assignment here and there.  He always seems to pull off honor roll grades in the end, so I am grateful and proud of him for that.  He is a really good kid and makes good choices most of the time.



From the Size of a Loaf of Bread to a Chubby Cheek, Cake Eatin' Birthday Girl

Happy First Birthday Savannah Rae!

A Week Without Gadgets

Because of endless bickering between my children, a week ago, I confiscated all technological gadgets that they owned. This included the wii, nintendo ds's, i-pods and although I didn't completely take away the computer, their time spent on it has been very limited. We have not had any TV reception for months now, but we did have a Netflix account which enabled us to stream movies and shows through the wii and computer. Well, I canceled Netflix too. I was supposed to give the gadgets back today, but I DON"T WANT TO! I can't believe how much nicer our home is without these things. Oh believe me there is still fighting, but not having to hear "this game is so stupid, because he (he usually meaning Zach) made me die," or "(insert really whiny voice here) Mom, I called to be Mario first and she won't be Luigi!" is Priceless!

Now, I don't think I am going to get away with completely banning all these things, but there are sure going to be some pretty strict limits placed on the use of them!

I also developed a new chore system for the kids. Well, not really new, but lets just say I created more chores for the kids. As Lydia put it when she told Jude, "We got new chores now. Mom's just making us do all the stuff she used to do."

So, the chores give them something to do with their extra time not spent on their gadgets, I have extra time to play on the computer since I have limited their use of it and they are doing all the stuff I used to do! This all seems like a win-win situation for me.

Memorial Day 2011

It feels so much better to visit Isabella's grave site now that she has a headstone. We are so grateful to the Dempsey Burdick Foundation for their generous gift of supplying her headstone.

We had a nice Memorial Day spent with Jude's parents visiting the grave sites of Isabella and some of Jude's relatives who are buried in Salt Lake City.




We enjoy this tradition, because it brings back memories about the family members we have lost, which creates the perfect opportunity to share those memories and stories with our children.