Cheese

Milo usually has a special smile for pictures,

but after watching me take these soccer pictures

of Jonah he insisted I take his picture under the tree, too.

And he stood there and smiled a real smile.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present Milo's Smile.

And as a side note, this is how most of our

"conversations" go these days:

Milo: I want to watch Super Why, know why?

Because I want to. Know why?

Because I want to watch Super Why, know why?

Because I WANT to. Know why?

And on and on . . . about anything that he happens

to want to eat, watch, play, etc.

Ruby's Got Joy! (school)

Ruby started Joy School today!

We have a big group this year, but the girls

outnumber the boys, so hopefully it will be

easier than the last time we had a big group.

(We had 6 boys and 2 girls and it was a really hard

year, as evidenced by the fact that I have no

posts or pictures from that year - we were busy trying

to keep the kids from going completely wild.)

Anyway, here's our class, and Ruby's

mandatory "first day" picture. Also, the art project

she made in school today. We talked about rules,

and how even crayons have to obey rules -

when they get hot, they have to melt.

A few years ago they melted all over my ironing board.

I hung onto it, and was happy to save another ironing

board by pulling it out and using it to melt crayons today.

Ruby is really excited to have some new friends

who are GIRLS! Last week she made all her classmates

cards; today she asked me every 2 seconds "how much

longer" till Joy School; during free play time today,

she led her new friends in a much anticipated

game of Musketeers; and she is already asking

how long till she has Joy School again.

Here's to a great year!

Super Jonah

Jonah sort of had a rough start to school.

When class lists were posted, he was assigned to

one teacher, and by the time school started,

he was assigned to a different teacher.

While his mother was thrilled with the switch,

Jonah was not. He was really, really sad.

But, I think his "new" teacher has won him over.

Her theme for the year is "Super Hero Squad,"

and they spent the first week in Super Hero Training.

On Friday, the kids got their first progress report,

and a Super Hero cape with their initial on it.

How could a first grader resist?

By the end of the week he seemed pretty happy.

And he got even happier on Saturday!

His uniform was delivered to our home just minutes

before he needed to leave for his first soccer game!

Although there was no official score,

Jonah informed me that his team won 6-0.

AND, he got treats at half-time and post-game.

I don't think the week could have ended any better.

11 Years

So . . . yesterday was Maxwell's birthday,

and today is the first day of school.

Today is also my anniversary, but it feels like an afterthought.

After John and I had decided to get married,

we had to decide WHEN to get married.

He was still in school, so the "easiest" dates

were in August (before school) or December (after).

John and one of his roommates made a List of pros

and cons for each month, and then passed the list

to me. My roommates and I added to the list,

and not one of us thought to add this to August's cons -

"future children's first day of school will conflict

with anniversary celebration nearly every year."

What were we thinking???

Anyway, John and I were married on

August 23, 2000 in the Idaho Falls Temple.

Here's a glimpse of some of the family and friends

who were there to celebrate with us 11 years ago.

It was a wonderful day.

And one of these days, we will get to celebrate

our 11th anniversary. It just won't be today.

:)

Past anniversary posts-

2006

2007

2008

2009 - evidently we didn't celebrate this year, either

2010

Already?

It feels like we blinked and summer was over!

This morning the boys went back to school.

Bentley is in 4th grade, Maxwell is in 3rd,

and Jonah starts 1st grade -which means he gets

to eat lunch at school and have more recesses!

Here are their back to school pictures "my way."

And here are their pictures "their way."

And some more shots from our morning.

The last one is of Jonah in line for computers.

I saw him as the kids and I left the park by the school.

Looks like he is doing fine so far.

Maxwell is Eight!

Eight years ago our Maxwell was born.

We had just moved into our house,

and Bentley was an only child.

Things have certainly changed a lot in the last 8 years.

Today we got to celebrate our little Max.

He chose eggs, toast, and orange juice for breakfast.

For our lunch date, Maxwell and I went to Asian Panda.

In the afternoon, the 3 older boys and I went to

the back to school open house (school starts tomorrow).

For dinner, Maxwell chose Dominoes Pizza.

Then we watched him open presents and ate the

chocolate cake with white frosting that he requested.

Besides our immediate family, Greg and Elizabeth

were able to be here tonight for the party.

John wanted me to mention that our kids get an

allowance of $1 a week, so about $52 a year.

Tonight, Maxwell received $56 in birthday cash.

John says we no longer need to give the kids an allowance.

That $1/week seems pretty weak next to birthday money.

Maxwell was very grateful for all his gifts -

especially the money.

Here are the past birthday posts for Max:

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

And our Maxwell in pictures:

Burley or Bust

Last year, my parents "kidnapped" the 3 big boys,

and took them to Mindy's town for the county fair.

This year, Ruby was included on the guest list,

and Mindy encouraged/nagged me to come visit as well.

Jonah was adamantly opposed to my presence

during his "kidnapping," so I came up with a Plan B.

On Thursday, I drove to Idaho with all 5 kids.

I was able to see Mindy's new apartment, her school,

her ribbons, her fair, and I sampled a Maple Bar.

Then, I brought Milo home, leaving the four older kids

to have some parent-free adventures in cow town.

Here's the rundown of their fun-filled vacation in pictures.

1 - the boys in their cowboy hats (courtesy of Mindy)

2 - lunch at the fair

3 - Bentley's food of choice - cheese balls

4 - Bentley, Milo, and Max with Bubba

5 - Grandma and Pa with Milo and Ruby

6 - Kenna, Kylie, and Ruby running wild

7 - Bentley and his mustache

8 - The 6 travelers ready for our trip

9 - Jonah playing teacher at Mindy's school

10 - leaving the fair

11 - the other side of the table (lunch at the fair)

12 - Max pretends to be Miss H

13 - Bentley contemplates the mysteries of rural Idaho

14 - Milo and Ruby at the head of the class

15 - Taco Bandito (flashbacks to my childhood)

16 - John enjoying the peace and quiet.

Our place was a bachelor pad for a few days -

just John, Mike, and Greg.

When they checked out of the hotel,

each of the kids got to choose a prize.

Maxwell chose a treasure map,

Ruby chose mirror clings, Bentley got a pen, and

Jonah picked some glasses that he can drink through.

Choose Your Battles

The boys had a couple of requests for this summer.

They wanted to go camping, and they wanted to hike.

John and I talked about camping, and I really

thought that we would take the kids.

But . . . thoughts of getting up in the middle of the night

(if we were lucky enough to be asleep in the 1st place),

struggling to escape the tent to take one of the kids

out into the darkness to find an outhouse (or something)

plagued us, and the camping trip never happened.

School starts a week from tomorrow, so we decided

that we had better make good on one of our promises.

(The Y hike didn't count because it was scouts, not family.)

So this morning, we took the kids to hike to Battle Creek Falls.

It was a pretty easy hike, and although there was an

obvious trail, the kids still found ways to trail blaze.

Ruby walked the entire way in and out,

proving that she can in fact walk all the way to the

school without needing someone to carry her half way.

We started up to the top of the falls, but the slippery

rock was worrisome with our adventurous kids,

so we hiked down to the bottom of the falls instead.

Luckily, Milo reminded me to take the camera

so I have a bunch of photos to share. :)

Hopefully the kids will forgive us for not going camping.

After all, we bought doughnuts on the way home today!

La Fin

Swimming lessons are over!

The kids got their report cards yesterday,

and this morning all of us got to go swimming.

Even Milo! He was more excited than he looks.

It was one of the first times that swimming with

all five kids was fun. Usually it is a chore. (For me.)

Maxwell got to go down one of the big slides - he grew!

Jonah was still too short, but just barely.

Next year should be his year.

Bentley got to dive (flop), and Ruby swam a little!

The older kids took turns showing John their new skills.

Milo had a difficult time staying warm, but had fun.

He really likes the little kids' slide.

In other news, the three older boys got new jeans and

shoes for school, and Ruby got a new outfit for dance class.

I want to know where she learned these poses.

Maybe it's genetic. My Mom had some pretty

good poses as a little girl.

Mindy, your new assignment is to find some evidence.

Thanks in advance.

Here We Go Again*

Maxwell attended his first Cub Scout den meeting today.

His birthday isn't for another week or two,

but there is only one other boy, and he just turned 8.

Their leader thought they might as well start together.

Plus, it's kind of boring to be the only cub scout. :)

Maxwell was nervous and excited (and goofy).

(Here's Bentley preparing for his first den meeting.)

Maxwell has a little practice being a cub scout.

He has tagged along with Bentley to den and pack meetings.

And last month, Maxwell and Jonah hiked the Y

with Bentley, the rest of the Bear Den, and me.

I was worried about the two little guys making it,

but they led the rest of us the entire time.

I had to keep telling them to slow down and wait up!

I think Max is going to be a great cub scout.

*I've been thinking "here we go again" today, and

it reminds me of this song, it's a good one.

Persistence

Yesterday Jonah tried walking to church

with his eyes closed.

I think he might have been cheating a little,

but his method was flawed.

About halfway to the church he walked into a pole.

Greg said something about a lesson learned.

I'm pretty sure we can expect Jonah

to give it another go next week.

He's not one to give up easily.

August Five

The five kids at the pool today after lessons.

Updates:

Bentley has decided that his life will not be complete

until he has a DS (preferably his own, but he is willing

to share with his brothers if they will help him buy it.

He spends a great deal of time trying to think of ways

to earn (term used loosely) money for a DS.

Maxwell just got a scout shirt. He gets to start the

program a few weeks early because there is only one

Wolf right now and that's just boring. :)

He gets baptized in one month (September 3rd)

and is starting to feel nervous about 3rd grade.

Jonah hasn't had any more ear problems.

He is the only one of the boys to be excited about school.

He can't wait to be in 1st grade because he will

get to eat lunch at the school. He will also be on his

first soccer team, and hasn't mentioned soccer in a month

Hopefully he will be as excited as he was when he signed up.

Ruby wore jeans a couple of times this month

because she overheard Bentley say that she

looks like a big kid when she wears pants.

Her favorite show to watch for most of the past month

was any episode of Voltron - maybe because of the Princess??

I'm not sure. Maybe she likes the robeast fights.

Milo discovered tantrums (for tantrums sake) this week.

Hopefully it will be a short faze, although Ruby is still

in that "faze," so my hopes are not too high.

He loves to sing, and is singing most of the time.

His favorites - "Never Say Never," "Baby,"

"Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam," "Baby You've Got It,"

and "You Give Love a Bad Name."

He also likes to pray, and has adopted his sibling's

practice of praying for the food to "cool off fast"

regardless of whether it was hot or cold to begin with.

The collage pictures are from a concert we went to tonight.

The Mollies opened for The Rooftop Concert Series,

and I really wanted to hear them.

John had a genius idea - he bought the kids smoothies

to share. The smoothies lasted almost the entire 30 minutes,

so I got to listen! It was great, although not as easy to

take five kids as I thought it would be.

I usually overestimate the fun factor of family outings.

All is well, though.

I got to hear The Mollies sing (then we left),

and John bought me one of their CDs.

The Passing of the Towel

Once upon a time (in 2008) Ruby was the towel girl.

The towel has been passed,

and Milo is now the one to hand the kids their towels.

It's a job that he doesn't take lightly.

Swimming Notes

When I told my Dad that I took Milo to swimming lessons

today, he said that I must need more material for a blog post.

But, Milo was actually really good!

Hopefully that will last a few days. :)

Ruby waves, shouts "Hi Mom!" and tells me she loves me

whenever she happens to see me at swimming lessons.

Even if I'm sitting on the opposite side of the pool.

I've never had that happen with the boys.

She did the same thing when I got to observe her dance class,

so I can see why they limit parent observation days.

Bentley swam all the way across the deep end of the pool

doing the backstroke. He was awesome!

Maxwell and Jonah's teacher asked if they were twins.

They said, "No! Why would we be?"

Someone else asked that question recently.

I took the two of them grocery shopping with me last week,

and as we waited in the check out line

(well, I waited, they misbehaved), a woman walked by

and asked if they were twins. The boys were shocked

into behaving until we left the store.

Another Year of Swimming Lessons

Bentley, Maxwell, Jonah, and Ruby started

another year of swimming lessons today.

I left Milo home with John today, so I could just watch.

It was really nice, and a reminder of how lucky

I am to have John around so much of the time.

As the kids get older, swimming lessons are becoming

a little less of a chore. It's still a production, but not as much.

We've had some pretty crazy swim sessions.

Today I looked over some from other years.

Here are the ones that stand out:

Lessons for Bentley - 1st Day 2006

Lessons for Bentley - 8th Day 2006

Jonah's Accident - 2008

And Afterwards - 2008

Swimming Lesson Summary - 2010

And this wasn't from swimming lessons,

just a family swim trip, but how cute is Ruby?