Beginning Band Concert

Date: Jan 30th

In 5th Grade you get to choose whether to take choir or band.

I figured it was a no brainer that Anden would pick choir.

But let's be honest, the choir teacher at our school is a bit whacko.

Totally sweet lady....but definitely missing a bit in the head!

So most kids quickly run to the band option instead.

Anden at first signed up for choir

then upon realizing he had no friends in there

he begged me to switch him to band.

Which means I also had to scramble and buy a trumpet for him at the last minute.

I told him I expected that he actually learned how to play this instrument!!

Tonight was his first concert.

We have yet to ever hear him practice or play.

So I wasn't expecting much.

At most like just air trumpet playing from him faking it in the back row.

But by golly he actually has learned to play the trumpet!! lol

It's kind of funny that it's his football buddies sitting all around him.

They're bringing band back!

Painting Sisters

Date:

I trusted the girls to play alone unattended for literally 2 minutes.

I came in to find this.

(notice the culprit is still holding the pink marker!!)

"LAAAIIIKKLLLYYNNN!!!!  WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER??!"

She smiles, "Mommy I painted her pink!  Pink's my favorite color!"

And poor Easy Peasy was so happy to be included she just stood there

and let Van Gogh work her magic!

I brought the girls downstairs and really examined the graffiti all over Eastlie.

Dang Laiklyn tagged her good!

I hurried and googled how to remove pink highlighter marker from skin.

Let's just say NONE of the options worked.

Poor kid.

I then texted Ryan and told him our baby was currently running around

looking like an abandoned alley in East LA.

Hey at least it's pink and matched her outfit...because it stayed like that for 2 days!!

Taylee Mommy Date Night

Date: Jan 27th

Every so often Taylee and I escape for a little date night!

She chose Sweet Tomatoes for dinner

and then I chose to take her to see The Greatest Showman!

It was my 2nd time seeing it but I knew she would love it as much as I did!

Such a fun little night with my big girl! :)

Diamond Canyon Talent Show

Date: Jan 24th

Taylee's class was in the school Talent Show.

She was SO excited to perform.

Her teacher taught them all a cute song/actions.

They did great!

The video is too long to post.

So whenever I find time to edit it, I'll post it here!

The Locker Project

Date: January 20-22

So one of my "New Years Resolutions"

was to continue to organize my house to make it efficient and clean.

(ok let's be real it's a never ending battle for this family!)

With 6 very busy people in this house,

this place can get turned into a hurricane disaster real quick.

And last I checked, FEMA isn't gonna bail me out.

So it's up to me

to keep things running smooth and CLEAN!

I've been wanting lockers for my kids for years.

But somehow it always got pushed aside.

There's very little room for something like this by the garage entry.

But I was determined to make it work.

And I guess it's a good thing I never got around to this project

since my kids doubled over the last few years

and I wouldn't have made enough storage originally!

I drew up the design I wanted a few months ago.

Ryan cringes when he sees me in project planning mode

as he knows he'll be drug right into it! lol

I finally found a weekend that only had 1 sporting event

and it ended up raining most of the weekend anyway.

So it was the perfect time to tackle this project!

I handed Ryan my design

(in it's wrinkled fanciest form that Laiklyn also scribbled all over)

and told him to make it happen.

He stared at it and then reminded me that he's not a carpenter.

I assured him that I've researched it all 

and I'm just stubborn enough to make this happen. ;)

So he gave in and off we went to Home Depot to buy the materials.

The Before Wall

(we already ripped out the baseboard before I took the pic!)

And the measly bench shoe storage that was against that wall.

Clearly it's had a better day of kids kicking the shoe baskets into place.

Then we also had a 4th child and suddenly it was outdated.

There also used to be a row of hooks

that inevitably tore off the wall after years of abuse.

I vowed not to install another one until it was exactly how I wanted it.

The Process

Installed and Primed

(I seriously lost track of how many coats of white paint I did!! ugh!)

Hooks installed

Name Tags Installed

Hook Wall Installed

And we're ready to go!

We are all LOVING the new lockers!

Ideally I would have wanted doors so I wouldn't have to

see how much junk the big kids shoved in their locker,

but this hallway just didn't have enough room for that.

So this is perfect for our space instead! :)

And the big kids feel cool having their own locker

since our schools in Anthem don't have lockers, not even the high school!

(I know so weird right!! They carry everything in their backpacks all day!)

Now back to training the kids to unload here each day after school

instead of snow piling it at the front door!!

CCV Stars Soccer Tourney

Date: Jan 13-14th

Yet another weekend spent at the soccer fields!

And another 2nd place tournament finish for these cute girls!

Jan 13th - 2 games, 2 wins

Celebrating with ice cream after one of the games!

Then back to the house to play before the next game.

 

In hindsight maybe I should have had them take off their uniforms! lol

 

January 14th - 1 game, 1 win

Then Championship game which we lost.

I'll take gorgeous sunset soccer games in JANUARY anytime! ;)

Ok so maybe Taylee was a little chilly playing Goalie!

Daddy entertained Eastlie with red licorice!

These little girls are troopers always being drug to their older siblings' sports!

Great weekend girls!!

Happy New Years 2018!!

Date: Dec 31st

We partied hard...at 7pm!! ;)

Bring On 2018!!!

The big kids were at their Dad's on NYE so it was a party with just the little girls!

They loved the horns the most! haha

Until we busted out the sparklers!

Then all they wanted was to burn themselves by grabbing a fistful of sparks!

It was even a Super Moon that night!

So cool!

My Mom in Idaho sent us a pic of how it looked there too!

Happy New Years!!!

The big kids were bummed they didn't party with us.

Anden facetimed me a couple times that night and again at midnight!

So we got to ring in 2018 with him too!

I can't wait to see what adventures are in store for us this year!

It's gonna be a good one! :)