Super Sunday

We had a busy Sunday today!  We had our Primary Program today.  The kids all did great, they all memorized their parts, spoke clearly, and sang their hearts out.  Lilah really got into it and you could hear her over everyone else a couple of times.   She had a great time.
Our family friend, Anne, was able to come watch the kids and they loved having someone 'special' in the congregation.  After church we had a special celebration for a member of our ward that is turning 100!  We had cake and pot luck dessert.  After getting the kids all sugared up we headed for home.  Before I could get everyone rounded up for pictures 4 of them changed out of their church clothes!  So for our pictures we decided to dress up with Anne's gift of mustaches!  They kids loved them, except for Celeste, they scared her.

 Celeste Before and After the mustache

 If you look close you can see Calvin's 2 missing front teeth.  He is trying to give Anna bunny ears. Lilah was anxious to take hers off (it made her nose feel funny) and Madeline looked a bit creepy in hers.

 The kids really wanted to see mom with a mustache.  I straightened my hair and forgot my makeup so nobody recognized me at church today even without the mustache =)

 Celeste didn't like Daddy wearing the mustache

 Celeste didn't want it stuck on her

 But she did like playing with it - I think she mistook it for a caterpillar

Playing Church

My kids love to play church.  They take turns conducting meetings, leading music, and teaching lessons.  Today they had a school holiday and the girls spent their morning playing church.

Sing it Loud

This morning after the kids went to school I heard some LOUD singing coming from the living room.  I went to check it out and found these two belting out their own songs into their 'microphones'.  I think I embarrassed them, they really toned it down for the camera.

Dressing for Tomorrow

Madeline lays her clothes out for the next day almost every night.  She loves clothes.  She doesn't usually match, but we are working on that (Mom is working on letting a few things go and we are talking about colors and prints).  Tonight when I went to kiss them good night I noticed that Lilah had laid out her outfit right next to Madeline's.  It just look so cute!

Child Labor

We put Calvin to work today.  Last week Mike cut down a tree in our backyard.  Today Calvin helped
him load most of the branches into his van and take them to the dump.  They did 4 loads!  Then Mike took the top bar off of our lawn mower handle and let Calvin' mow the front yard.  Calvin was in heaven!  He loved it!  Mike stayed close so no limbs were lost.  I'm glad he enjoys it now, because it won't be long before it turns into work instead of play.

Fall Wreath

We went to the Michaels and the girls saw all the fall wreaths and decided we needed one for our door.  Since the orange and yellow leaves weren't really doing it for me, we decided to go with less traditional fall colors.  We picked out our flowers and grapevine wreath and made it at home. It didn't quite turn out how I pictured in my head, but considering how many crafts I do - I can't complain - if I want it to look better, I need to practice.  Regardless, the girls are happy.

Caterpillars

We've been finding a lot of caterpillars outside recently.  Lilah looks for them while we wait for the bus to drop off the kids.  Today Celeste was up from her nap and outside with us.  Lilah found a caterpillar and both of them were thrilled with it.  Unfortunately for the caterpillar, Celeste has not learned how to be gentle yet!

 We had a mild winter last year which means we have a serious bug problem this year.  They are everywhere.  They are eating my tomatoes while they are still green!  The bumps and scabs on Celeste's face are mosquito bites.  Those little suckers are everywhere.  It doesn't matter how much bug spray I use, they attack the poor girl.  They are even in my house!  I hope she doesn't scar!

Evidence

I 'misplaced' my phone today.  Ok, I misplace it at some point on most days.  But today it wasn't in any of the usual places.  I had to get Mike to call it several times before I found it in the little girls' room.  I wasn't sure who had been playing with it or how it ended up in their bedroom - until I went through my pictures.   If you are going to take and play with your mom's phone, don't leave the evidence behind!   That is Lilah's foot! =)

Crickets

We occasionally have crickets in our house.  They gross me out.  They don't seem to bother the kids.  Calvin is our 'go-to-guy' for squishing any and all bugs and disposing of them.  However, today when we found a large cricket in our kitchen during lunch, Lilah had to step in. Calvin was at school and Lilah was the oldest kid home.  She went and got her shoe, went into the kitchen took one look at the cricket and  decided her flip flop wasn't going to cut it.  She came back with Madeline's sneaker.  Madeline's feet aren't even a full size bigger then Lilahs!  After a couple of tries she decided she need an even bigger shoe and hunted down one of Calvin's sneakers.  She was finally able to get that bug! 
She is now the official bug squisher during school hours!

 Ignore my dirty floor and cabinets and that dribble of milk down Lilah's dress.

Big Girl

By this age all my other kids were drinking out of regular cups.  I am always anxious to toss the sippy cups.  With Celeste I haven't even thought about it until today.  I realized that she would need to be able to drink from a big girl cup in nursery (which is coming soon!).  So I poured a little bit of milk into a cup and handed it to her.  She did great and loved it!  She needs some practice though!  Good thing they serve water in nursery.  

She said 'ahhh'  when she got done drinking.  

She now insists on feeding herself, so that's why lunch is all over her bowl and the table.

The Homestead

Mike and I went on our yearly overnight anniversary trip!  Our 11 year anniversary was August 10th, but we decided to wait until the kids were back in school before we took our trip.  It's easier on the babysitter to not have as many kids!  We got our super babysitter, Anne, to come watch the kids while Mike and I slipped away for a couple of days.  We drove to Hot Springs, VA (it's in the middle of no where in Western VA, about a 3 hour drive).  It was a beautiful drive in the George Washington National Forest.  We stayed at The Homestead - a beautiful and peaceful resort! We got the 'unlimited activities' package and had a great time.  We rode horses, Mike went skeet shooting, we went on a hayride, had s'mores, went swimming (in a pool that was fed by the natural springs, so it was warm and had water slides!) and soaked in the Jefferson Pools - free flowing pools fed by natural hot springs that Thomas Jefferson, among others, soaked in for good health!   We had a fabulous time. 

 Mike getting to know one of the horses

 Mike on his horse, Harry.  He was very slow and not really interested in walking much.   My horse, Chance, is in the background

 Roasting s'mores at an outdoor fireplace

A view of The Homestead hotel (it's huge)

On our drive out we talked about how much we love living in Virginia and how we have so many fun places to explore and visit - we can go to the beach or the mountains, the city or the country.  We have rich history to learn about and also the new and exciting to explore.  As sad as it is to be so far from 'home' we really do LOVE Virginia. 

First Day Back!

It was the first day back at school today!  Everything went very smoothly with the kids.  They all had a great day!

Madeline started kindergarten and loved every minute of it.  She made a new friend, she doesn't remember her name, but she had a pretty leotard and a purple skirt!

Calvin likes his teacher and his best friend in his class so he is happy!

Anna Elise LOVES her teacher - but has homework on the first day - she was not so happy about that

This is Celeste after they got on the bus without her and she had to come back inside

My day just went downhill from here.  I couldn't seem to get anything done this morning, I left late, went to the post office to mail my old phone that I sold on ebay, went to Target to meet a friend and realized when I pulled my old phone out of my purse that my new phone was in the package at the post office.  I felt sick, found a phone, called Mike (who went to the post office and got them to pull the package aside).  I met my friend for a back to school treat, went back to the post office and switched the phones, went home and cleaned up the worst blow out I have ever seen (considering Celeste is my fifth, I've seen a lot of blow outs!  This doesn't include the mess Calvin deliberately made).  I didn't get anything done this afternoon either, but I was so glad that the kids had a good day!  Tomorrow will be better!

Back to School?

Not until tomorrow.  But we are all ready to go and very excited!  I think that Celeste will have a rough day tomorrow when the kids go off to school.  She does not like to be left behind or left out.

Celeste wearing Madeline's backpack.  Sorry the pictures are blurry she wouldn't hold still!

Center of Attention

Celeste has to be the center of everything, all the time.  On Sunday night Mike was trying to give the older kids Father's Blessings.  Celeste didn't think the other kids should be sitting in a chair in the center of everything while they got special attention from their Dad.  She made it almost impossible.  She kept trying to pull the kids out of the chair and climb on herself.  After we did one blessing we got out another chair, just for her.  This lasted long enough to do one more.  When she finally realized she still wasn't getting all the attention she was back to pushing and pulling and screaming.  She can be such a little stinker sometimes!  We finally got through all the blessings and then gave her some of our undivided attention.  We've certainly spoiled her rotten!