Gifts from Italy

So when Scott was in Italy, he got us all gifts that he sent home.  I think that mine was the best of all!

 

The kids were mortified when they saw it and told me that it was totally inappropriate and to please not ever wear it when people come over.  Every chance I get, I put it on, whether people are over or not.  I should get mother of the year!  Speaking of that, I really should.  On Friday when it was Mia's date night, she wanted the family to go to the Roller barn, to roller skate.  I was by far the oldest one there, but I have to admit, I was rocking it on the skates and I knew all the songs!  I tried getting pictures, but with all the skating, they all turned out blurry.

Missing Scott

So this is where I found Mia on Sunday.  She is missing her Dad and was looking at the digital photo frame that Scott did before he left.  Every picture has Scott in it.  At first I really hated the digital photo frame, it really made me miss Scott, but now it is nice to just watch all the photos.  Only 2 more months to go, and then he will finally be home just in time to move.

We are still alive a kicking!

We made it through another week.  It has been so busy since we returned from vacation that I feel like I don't have time to do any blogging.

Scott and I decided to sell both of our homes, so I have been trying to get them ready to go on the market this week.  Hopefully they both sell pretty fast.

Our friend Chiko came into town on Tuesday so we have been having fun with him in between Piano lessons, soccer practice and games, gymnastics, Cub Scouts, Young Men, Young Women, school and homework, school meetings, and making dinner for another family.  No wonder why I am so tired!  The first 3 days of the week I was averaging 4 1/2 hours of sleep a night.  I have also started taking a class on Thursday nights. ( Like I didn't have enough to keep me busy) It is Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University.  It is amazing and I have been learning so much, anyone interested should check it out, or give me a call and I would be happy to tell you more about it. 

Emmi has made it through her first week of seminary.  I am so thankful she gets picked up every morning.  I have gotten up a couple days with her, but the other days I just couldn't get myself out of bed.  Thank goodness she is a morning person.  Friday night was rough, we were all exhausted, Chiko fell asleep on the couch at 7:30, Emmi went to bed at 8:30 and I was out on the couch by 9:30. Poor Kaleb didn't get his date Friday night, but we did go out yesterday and I beat him on the go-cart track.  Somebody crashed into the back of him and made him crash into the side of the track, and I lapped him...twice.  Awesome!  I will take that over video games any day!

Funny Kaleb story of the week.  So on Tuesday I was calling out KALEB!  and he replied IS AWESOME!  I busted up laughing and told him he had to do that at school when his name was called for attendance.  He told me he did with one teacher, but the kids were being loud in the class and the teacher couldn't hear him.  All well, I got a laugh out of it.

Brody had a game yesterday, and he is playing amazing!  His team won 11-1.  I felt a little bad for the other team.  Brody was goalie the second half and was able to keep out all of the balls.  I love watching him play, he is getting so much better than he was a year ago, and I think he is really starting to understand all the rules and the concept of the game.  It has finally clicked!  Yay Brody.

Mia is Mia.  She loves gymnastics and is improving every day.  She is also not a morning person. (wonder where she gets that from) and trying to get her up and ready for school on time is not the easiest thing.  I have found that making her a nice hot breakfast in the morning gets her out of bed faster though.  One day I made french toast using Angel food cake and topped it with syrup, whipped cream and strawberries.  Oh my goodness, they were so good!  That got her out of bed fast!

I started working out in the morning with my friend again since school has started.  We started INSANITY again.  Wow, my body has hurt so bad this week.  At least it is a good hurt, I think.  I am feeling pretty old, especially when I get out of bed in the morning.  That may be because I need a new mattress, but am too cheap to get one before we move.

One of these days I will post pictures and tell you of all the adventures we had on our trip, but the thought of editing the pictures is a little daunting.  We took over 500 pictures!  So this will have to do for now. 

No more sleeping in for me

Emmi started seminary today.  Oh how I wish Scott was here to take her.  No more late nights for me. Yeah right, I think I will need to start taking naps.  (too bad they never work out)

First Day of School!

Today was the kids first day of school.  It is nice to have a routine again, but I will sure miss sleeping in.  The kids made sure that didn't happen the day we got back from our trip.  We drove back on Sunday and got home around midnight.  I finally got to sleep around 2 am and the kids were up at 7.  We have been so busy since getting back, I really haven't had time to update the blog.  Sorry Scott.    Here are the kids first day of school pictures, the aren't very good, I was in a hurry to get them out the door! Party Time, ok not really, but it was sure nice to have some peace and quite.

I can't believe I have a daughter in high school!  Wow, not looking forward to getting up and driving her to seminary at 6:15 am on Monday!  Good thing she is a morning person and will wake me up when she is ready.  She is so responsible.




Kaleb is in middle school all by himself this year.  I am sure he is happy that Emmi and her friends won't be tormenting him anymore.



Brody and Mia are in 4th and 2nd grade.

Lots of Pictures!

We are in Wyoming today, only 200 miles left to go until we get to Mt. Rushmore!  I am so excited,  although I wish Scott was here.  As I was driving through Montana yesterday, it reminded me of Texas.  It seems like the never ending state.  I think it was around 550 miles, that makes for a long day of driving.  It is a good thing my kids are such good travelers.  I have to say, so far they have been great, I better knock on wood so that it stays that way!

So I have been a slacker when it comes to taking pictures, so I stole these pictures from my sister's Facebook page.  Thanks Kristina!

Emmi is 14!

Fourteen years ago today, my little Emmi Doodle was born.  She has been a blessing in my life.  I am so grateful to have such an amazing daughter.  She is always willing to help me out, she is so good with her brothers and her sister, she is so talented, and beautiful.  Thank you Emmi for being you!

For her birthday we are in Moscow, Idaho visiting my sister and her family.  We went to church and she saw an old friend from when we lived here before. When we got home from church we had her birthday cake.  I was on Pinterest (surprise, surprise) and Emmi saw a cake made out of fruit that she wanted.  I made an attempt, it turned out ok, nothing like the picture, but it sure was tasty.  I was very happy not to have all the sugar though, and there were not any left overs.   

After lunch, we headed up to Spring Valley to do some fishing.  It was funny because 8 years ago for Emmi's 6th birthday we had gone up to Spring Valley and Emmi caught her very first fish.  Today was not so good for her, she didn't catch anything.  She did have a few bites, but they always managed to get there way off the line before she reeled them in.  Brody on the other had caught 5, Kaleb caught 2 or 3, and Mia caught 1.  All in all we had a good time.

Tomorrow we are off for another adventure.  Ok lets face it, a long drive.  We are on our way to Mount Rushmore.  I can't wait to see it, It is on my bucket list of things to see.

I will try and post pictures, but I only have the kids laptop, and I forgot to load the camera software.  My bad.  Sorry Scotty.