September Recap

*Savannah gets something I said I would NEVER get her * Sydney turns 11 * Real Salt Lake Game * Soccer * Summer Hair Fiasco * Soccer * Sleepovers * Zoey is 6 months * The Cannon Oubliette * School Pictures * Soccer*

(maybe I'll do more than one post a month, but don't hold your breath!)

We got Savannah a phone! The only reason we caved is because I'm still at work when she gets home. She is THRILLED! She pays for it through her allowance and I have all the parental filters set up. I must admit it's fun texting with her.



Our second child turned ELEVEN! Sydney is such a fun, spunky girl! She's super sensitive, very creative, and so good with Zoey. Happy Birthday Syd Syd!

Me and my little girl

we had KFC for dinner

I love Zoey's surprised look when the camera flash goes off in her face!

Sydney loves her cat poster

we found this at Costco, it's 50 puzzle erasers, she loves them



Sisters!



all she wanted for her birthday was Calico Critters, they're animal families and house set

we didn't have candles so... yep sparklers!

Syd was afraid her cake would burn

Zack loved it (and there's Zoey's surprised look again)

Calico Critters and house

Aren't they cute? It's SO Sydney

playing with the erasers

Real Salt Lake game

How I survive living on 4 hours of sleep...

Summer taking a break from soccer

One night I was doing Summer's hair and noticed she had bangs! She doesn't have bangs! And they were about an inch long! Then I noticed there were other chunks cut out of her pretty LONG hair! :( Every girl has to do it but I really didn't expect Summer to. She wanted to look like her best friend (who has bangs). So I took her to my friend Gina to see if she could do anything to fix it. We had to cut off a ton, enough to donate to Locks of Love. Her bangs were harder to fix, so we just cut some more to try and cover the really short ones. I was pretty sad. But she does look cute with short hair! I think it makes her look older.

The long ponytail! Sniff!

I'm starting to get used to her short hair.

Celebrating Sydney's birthday at Nana & Pops house

Before school pictures I let Savannah and Sydney get highlights in their hair. They traded for babysitting. They look so cute!

more soccer

Summer in the pink leggings

Another milestone...we said we would never do sleepovers. Savannah has had the opportunity to sleep at a friends' house with several girls (they stay up all night watching movies and doing blind make-overs) so we thought that would be ok. We also decided kids can sleep at our house. Sydney had 2 friends over and they had so much fun! Sydney was such a good little hostess, making sure everyone was having fun and comfortable. She cleaned up everything the next day (partly because we said we wouldn't do it again if there was a big mess) She was very responsible. I'm still undecided about sleepovers, if I want to veto any form of it, what do you think about it?

Cambrie, Sydney, Eliza


*** ZOEY IS SIX MONTHS ***

I love this cute little nugget SO much! She melts my heart! She is such a blessing and brings such a sweet spirit to our home. We love you Zoe-Zoe!!!!!












(da da daaaaa...) The Oubliette "The forgotten place"

Tom had this great idea to make an "oubliette". A place where he collects things that the kids have left out. They have to earn back their stuff, either by buying it back or doing chores. And they can't just leave it in there because it will end up at DI. They each have a box in our closet. I love the ideas he comes up with. The other brilliant idea he had was to have the kids wash baseboards and floors when they fight. LOVE IT!!!!!


Summer kicking the ball in

Me and Zoey watching (boy do I look tired!!!!)


SCHOOL PICTURES...you either love them or hate them...

(I might be doing some re-takes)

Savannah my 7th grader

Sydney my 5th grader

Zack my 4th grader

Summer my 1st grader

I have never been so happy to have soccer over!


thank goodness!


I don't have any pictures of Sydney or Zack's games. :(



♥

Witch Doctor

Not really but it was "witching hour" at the doctor! Why I schedule all the kids appointments at the same time is beyond me!? I think the doc wanted to give them Ritalin shots right then and there! And the tension kept rising in me every second that passed...we were there for 90 minutes. It would not have been that bad except I could sense the doc's frustration, and his comments didn't help..., "do they ALWAYS giggle like this?", "you really have your hands full", "let me know how school goes the first few weeks"...

I really love my spirited children but it's hard when we go out to appointments or shopping, those are the times I want to die. Not really, I'm just being a drama queen...we all know they get their passion from me and their ADHD from Tom! Great combination! NEVER a dull moment in our house, but I do love it. And yes, I still want another little one or two, I think nothing could change that! :)

WHY?!

Why do I wait all summer avoiding the inevitable?! Why do I take kids with me when I'm trying to get work done?! Why?!

(Monkeys on crack! Seriously, I don't know how else to describe it!)

cute little monkeys though!


AND WHY am I surprised to find THIS after talking with another teacher for 5 minutes in the hallway...


4 hours at school, only 1 hour of actual work!!! *SIGH*

Why would you do that!?!!??

Those words come out of my mouth WAY too often. So here is what happened the day before Summer's surgery...

I was getting ready to go to a friends' house to help cook food for YW camp, I told the kids to go outside and get in the car. One minute later I come outside to find newspaper ALL over the lawn and the street, like everywhere!!!!! I see Sydney and Zack ripping up the Sunday paper (which is huge, and still on my driveway) jumping and giggling and screeching. Well, it was MY turn to screech! This is one of those times that my blood pressure rises instantly, all I can think about is all the mess, the Lehi wind carrying the papers, and how mad I am! I wish I had the frame of mind to take a picture! So I told them to "pick up all the papers, every single one! And you just lost your allowance!" Then I called Tom to cry about it! I may expect this type of behavior from toddlers BUT Sydney is almost 9!!!! And Zack is almost 7!!!!! Come on!!!! So we finally get all the papers up and drive over to the house where I"ll be cooking...I find a chocolate bar in the car and so I share it with Savannah and Summer, none for the naughty kids (they cried!) I know, I'm mean...but it felt good! :)

Impulsive, Creative, Unexpected, Consequences...

Words that come to mind in describing my sweet Sydney. She is IMPULSIVE, she is extremely CREATIVE, she does the UNEXPECTED, and she doesn't think about the CONSEQUENCES...um...nightmare teenager??? I really hope not! She is darling and cuddly and one of my favorite things to do is to lay down with her at night and talk, she also likes me to tickle her neck...

But...I have some stories to tell and most of them involve fiascos while we are out! So I will share a few things even though my blood pressure WILL rise as I recall these events.

COSTCO... I never EVER learn, so I keep taking my kids to the store (maybe because I can't pay a babysitter and my mom lives too far!?) and every time before we leave the car, I talk to them, bribe them etc, so I think "THIS time will be better!" Wrongo! A few months ago... we are in the middle section of Costco where the clothes are, Summer is in the cart and Savannah is next to me...Syd and Zack go around the corner and I assume they are looking at the toys...30 Seconds later I catch a glimpse of something in the corner of my eye, up high, and look over to see Sydney and Zack running on TOP of the mattresses, which are stacked like 6 high, of course I'm there in 1/2 second, glaring at my kids, they didn't even come down right away until a worker started walking over, maybe they could see the fire coming through my eyes! And what can you do with an audience???? Cry! I did call my mom right away and her first response is, "Sally, why do you keep taking them out!?" Apparently she has had many calls like these before... I think Costco must have a board somewhere telling these kinds of stories and I bet half are about my kids! Syd is usually the ring leader! When I ask, "What were you thinking????" She says, "I just thought it would be fun." Can I channel this energy in a good/productive direction? We'll see. Another time, I was returning something at customer service and I hear a worker yell out, "Hey, get off of there!" I could feel time stop as I turned around to see Sydney and Zack climbing ALL over the huge tire display, I am mortified. But really am I surprised? My friend put it great when she said Sydney does the unexpected.. Oh yeah, and I have had several friends and family members say I should get "Super Nanny"! I would love to see her try! Good luck! And this is just the tip of the iceberg ... and I still want more babies! Yep! I just need to never take them to the stores!

Just a quick list of some things Sydney has done...flooded our house making the bathtub into a pool while I was on the treadmill (this one was bad, I cried for HOURS and Tom even came home from work because I was SO upset) ...putting our kitten in the toilet for a bath, closing the lid and flushing...emptying all the bottles of syrup and honey onto the floor...cut her hair and Savannah's...lays on the floor at Walmart to get all the treasures from under the shelves...hides in the clothing racks until I am crying because I can't find her...had a "pee party" at my friends' house in the window well...at the SAME friends' house (sorry Krissy) she, and Breezy, turned on the hose and made mud and then threw a ton of it on her white stucco house (I wish I had pictures because they were covered with mud from head to foot) on the funny side, Krissy hosed them both down...again at Krissy's house- we hear these crashing sounds from the basement and go down to find Sydney, and others, breaking tiles against the concrete floor...also at Krissy's place, Syd, and others, were sliding down the mattresses onto the bed boards on Raegan's bed and broke the frame! (Um, Krissy, I understand if you NEVER want us over again)...hides in the rows at Costco behind the food pallets...opened a huge bag of mini M&M's and threw them ALL over my classroom while I was in a meeting...was taking a shower with Savannah and thought it would be "fun" to dump an entire bottle of shampoo out, Savannah was the one to fall and split her chin open!

Just to name a few.

I do love my Syders but she tries my patience like nothing else! I think her brain is going 100 miles a minute and she is too smart! I may want to forget these stories now but I do hope they will be funny later! Our good times definitely outweigh the bad. And 80% of the bad happen at a store, so I should just avoid those like the plague! Of course the kids are perfect for Tom! So not fair!

I love you Sydney! You definitely put the SPICE in "sugar and spice and everything nice".

Christmas Day!!

SO, on Christmas Eve the kids snuck into my closet and found some of their things, (of course they weren't wrapped yet because we didn't get to go shopping until after the 20th). And of course I cried but figured out a punishment that fit the crime...we told the kids they couldn't open their presents until after we went to Nana's house which is better than my first reaction..."We're taking everything to DI" I would've never done that by the way! Tom and I felt bad that our Christmas had been ruined, the surprise aspect and seeing our kids reactions at opening their gifts...but Christmas was awesome anyway because it's not about the gifts! So after I stayed up until 4am wrapping, we woke up at 8 and Tom said, "Should we let the kids open their gifts now?" Yes, we caved! It was cute to hear how "surprised" they were...even if it was a little acted! :) Thus we have Christmas Morning...





The traditional Miller breakfast which should be called brunch because it doesn't start until 10:30 ish. We always do British "crackers" and have to wear the crowns!





Christmas dinner at the Millers...