Racing at the Derby!

On Wednesday night Karter had his much anticipated Pinewood Derby!  He was so excited for it to come.  Karter loves Scouts!! He raced his car that he had worked on with his dad and Grandpa Abbott.  He was so proud of his derby car!! He won an award for "The Sportiest Car" and he was very happy with that!  I am glad that he had such an awesome time and experience!  We are so proud of all your many accomplishments Karter, keep it up!! We love you!   

*Karter's excitement over the Pinewood Derby.

*The ability to learn new skills.

*Haircuts :)

*Family time (especially Family Movie Nights)

*Running errands with only two kids in tow (while the others are in school).

*Nate having a day off.

*Loving parents (both sides:) and for their willingness to help.

*Pilates.

*The fact that February is only in 3 days!

*Brekken's crush on his little friend Sydney... (it is very cute to watch.)

*Brynlei helping me with the laundry! (She really does love to help and does a good job)

*Grandpa Abbott & Nate helping and teaching Karter how to build his first Pinewood Derby car!! (good bonding moments)

*My Beehives.

*Good neighbors and their friendships!

Basketball 1.24

Karter and Brekken's basketball games last Saturday were awesome!  Karter's team played a really advanced team and played awesome!  They only lost by two, the score was 26-24 (I think).  Brekken's team killed the other team!  End score was 20-10!!  Good job boys!! We love watching you progress each week!

Just a little behind......

Okay, so I admit that I may be just a little behind on this.  On the 12th Brekken celebrated his "school" birthday!  I thought this was really neat.  Brekken's birthday is in July so being a summer birthday he never gets to celebrate his birthday while he is in school.  His teacher wanted all the kids to be able to feel special and have a day that was their own.  So she picks days when the summer birthday kids can come and celebrate their "school" birthday with their class.  They are spotlighted and get to make a poster, sang to, get to have their parents read their favorite book, bring treats, and wear a special crown.  Brekken was so excited to do this  that he counted down until it for days!

Brekken's spotlight poster!

Brekken wearing his crown.

Nate reading Skippyjon Jones to the class :)

When I asked Brekken who he wanted to read for the class he said he wanted his dad.  Nate took the day off just to be able to do this for Brekken!  The birthday song that the class sang was very funny (I forgot to take pictures of them doing the actions.)  Peyton and Brynlei came along and helped pass out the treats, which of course were Reese's peanut butter cups.  

* That Leia made it through everything alright. 

* When my kids say sweet things that totally make my day!

* Basketball season for the boys!

* That February is getting closer everyday!

* For Brynlei's little "teenage" conversations...

* Tickling matches with the boys.....

* Time to organize a little bit more...

* Being here for my children...

* That playing soccer makes Nate happy...

* Kisses & Hugs!

* For sisters who just call to talk (it means a lot)!

* For the many blessings that our Heavenly Father gives our family!

* Examples of others...

* For Valentine candy...(I know it makes those last 10 pounds that much harder to lose but it is just so tempting.)

* Watching Peyton's excitement to be "Star of the Week" at Preschool!

* Traevn's enthusiasm for accomplishing running a marathon at school!  He has worked so hard for this and to see how happy he was when he received it was priceless!

*Brekken's humor and the way he always keeps us laughing!

* Watching Karter grow-up (way to fast, I might add) and doing older boys things i.e. building his first pinewood derby car mostly by himself.

* The warmer weather :)

baSKetBAll

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Along with all the excitement from Leia, Karter and Brekken started Jr. NBA basketball on Saturday!  They both play for the CAVS (different teams).  Karter's(#8) game was first, they tied 24-24!  This is his first year playing, and he played so good!  He loves basketball and hopefully he will be able to use his height to his advantage:)  Then we had a break between games, so we decided to pass time at Grandma and Grandpa Abbott's house.  Then it was back to the courts.  Brekken (#5) played two games back to back.  They lost the first one but won the second one!  He played awesome!  They both enjoyed it so much that I can tell this is going to be a fun season!

What a weekend!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

So our weekend was pretty eventful.  Let me backtrack for just a minute.  We own two purebred german shorthair pointers; (Princess)Leia and (Han)Solo.  I bet you can't tell that our kids named them after one of their favorite shows:)  Anyway, on Friday night Leia went into labor.  This is one thing I can honestly say I never thought that I would ever do in my life.  She was in labor all day.  The first puppy came at 11:30 PM (a boy!)  Dogs can go up to four hours before giving birth to the next puppy, so as you can probably tell this was a LOOOOONG night! The second puppy didn't come until about 3:00 AM (another boy!)  Nate ran to Walmart to grab a few things, thinking he had time before the next one came, but the third one decided to come at 3:30 AM (a girl!)  Around five Nate and I were exhausted to say the least so we thought we would try and rest for a minute.  We checked on Leia and she was ready to give birth again (another boy!)  By 6:00 AM we decided we should probably try to at least get a little bit of a nap before the kids decided to wake up.  Well, the kids let us rest until 7:00 AM until they decided to wake up for the day.  They were so excited to see the little puppies!! Well, we checked on Leia and she was ready to go again.... so around 8:00 AM she had another little girl!  The kids had a primary activity/party that they had to get ready for at 10:00 AM.  I drove them over to the church, came home, and around 10:05 Leia gave birth to another girl!!  We knew that she was probably close to being done, so we let her rest.  I just have to say that it was kind of a cool thing to experience.  Now we have six little purebred german shorthair puppies to take care of.  The kids LOVE them!!!  and of course they too all have Star Wars names:)  The boys are: Chewy(chewbaca), Luke(Skywalker), and Vader(Darth) & the girls are:  Amidala(Padme), Ahsoka(Tano), and Aayla(Secura).   

HeArT DeCoR

Well since it is officially less than one month to Valentine's Day, I don't feel guilty putting up my V-day decorations.  I love the month of February, which may be why two of my children were born in that month and that was the month that Nate and I were married.  Having decorations up get the kids all excited about the upcoming holidays (plus I may tend to get a little excited myself:))  I love holidays and traditions and making new traditions for each one.  We will have to see what fun stuff we can come up with this coming month....

i HEART february!

Thankful Thursday

Wow, has it really been a week since I last posted?  Time just never stops does it?  That week went by fast!  I am thankful for many things:

*My kids personalities.  Each one is unique but they make our family what it is!

*That my laundry pile disappeared :)

*New episodes of Biggest Loser, The Office, American Idol, etc....

*For the DVR so that we can watch them when we actually have a minute.

*Karter and Brekken's basketball games starting on Saturday!  

*Family Movie/Game Nights!

*PRIESTHOOD BLESSINGS!

*Nate playing soccer again competitively on an indoor league team.  (He LOVES to play and hasn't for awhile besides coaching the kids.)

*Brynlei's little sayings....

*Reading.

*A home.

*Heaters.

*ICE. :)

*My kids' friends and friendships they have.

*For the many blessings I have in my life.

I promise to post more this week.

It's been awhile.....

*For a new year and new beginnings.

*A new dishwasher!

*For parents who continue to be there for us.

*For goals and resolutions.

*Upcoming basketball season for Karter and Brekken.

*For new friends....

*For old friends...

*New adventures and learning experiences.

*Teaching in YW.  

*Getting to spend time with my children and be with them at this time in their lives!

*New Church time...9:00 was torture:)

I heart reading.....

I love to read and have loved reading since I was a kid.  There is just something about reading a really good book (the kind that just sort of takes over your life while you are reading them) that can make all the stress of life disappear, if only for a little while.   One of my favorite things in school was when we would get a book order.  I would spend a lot of time pondering just what my choices would be, knowing that I couldn't order everything.  It was sometimes hard to just choose a few.  So skip ahead a few years....... When I started having my kids I KNEW that they would all love to read just like me right?  That that was just going to be one of the characteristics that I would pass down... I started with my first and read to him every chance I could because this is supposed to instill a love of reading or so they say.... and I have continued this through each child.  Well, let's just say that our home library consists of hundreds of books. I LOVE kids books!   The kids do love them and do love reading, some of them more than others, which is alright with me.  They all have their own favorite stories that have to be read over and over and over..:)  One of the bonuses of having kids in school is that they bring home book orders, even Peyton (who is in preschool) gets to bring some home.  It truly is like Christmas morning to me when I find them in their folders, backpacks, etc.  I look at them and just like when I was a kid the choices aren't always the easiest.  Well Tuesday, Peyton brought his book order home (his preschool always sends 4-5 book orders home at the start of each month) and as we were looking through them you will never guess what we found.  The stars must be aligned because there on the front page of the third book order was all the SkippyJon Jones books staring right at us.  So needless to say, those will definitely be added to the list of new books ordered.  Maybe I am just a sucker when it comes to books and reading but I feel that one day my kids will truly understand my passion.  Now if only they had a parent book order that could come home every month....:)

Happy Birthday Jamie!!  We love you and hope that you have an awesome day!!  Thanks for letting us party with you the other night.  Just wanted you to know that we are thinking of you today!!!

NeW YeAr, NeW mE!

Tonight for FHE we will be going over what family goals and personal goals we want to accomplish or start this year.  Some that the kids have already mentioned are pretty funny.  I will post some after we decide which ones we will do.  

The new year for me (and I am sure for everyone else) is a time to reflect upon goals set over the past year and which ones were actually met.  This year I have decided to really set my mind to accomplishing mine and not procrastinating anymore.  I thought that I would share just a few today and as I decide on more I will list those also.  I think writing it down in our blog helps to hold me more accountable to these goals.  Remember these are in no particular order.

*Lose those last 10 ANNOYING pounds!!

*Learn how to play the guitar.

*Have a more fulfilling and deeper relationship with Nate.

*Go on more dates.

*Finally start digital scrapbooking.

*Be healthier.

*Strengthen my testimony in the gospel.

*Live in the moment.

*Be more positive.

*Overcome my social phobia/social anxiety!

*Develop my talents.

*Be a better mom.

*Help my kids develop their talents.

*FINISH school!

*Be a better sister and daughter.

These are just a few that I have thought about.  Hopefully, this week I will be able to add the rest of the family's to the list.

New Year's Day

Yesterday, we took the kids to see Disney's new movie "Bedtime Stories."   The kids loved this movie!  It was quite entertaining.  After the movie, we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Graff's house for Grandpa's traditional "New Years" soup (which of course was yummy as always.)  Then we took the kids home bathed them and played Disney Monopoly (a game they received for Christmas.)  It was a fun day to spend with family!! Now on to making some resolutions.......

New Year's Eve

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

New Year's Eve we had Grandma and Grandpa Abbott, Jamie, Braden, and Emalee over to celebrate the night with.  The boys' wanted to play Guitar Hero on the Wii with them and show them all our mad "rocker" skills (Ha, Ha).  It was fun and we rocked hard!  The kids just kind of ran around back and forth playing with each other, watching movies, playing games, throwing popcorn everywhere, etc.  We ate too much (as always) and played Tribond, which just for the record Dan and I won :).  The kids were pretty much wiped out by the end of the night.  After the crew left, Karter was the only one (out of all my kids) that made it to watch the fireworks outside.  We had a lot of fun and need to make this a tradition each year!