A few extra kids...

My friend Amy went to Utah to attend her parent's 50th wedding anniversary celebration. Her husband Aaron had to be "away" for a few days as well. So, we've had Caite and Hayden staying with us for the past two days. They are a joy--always happy and smiling. My kids have loved the "sleep overs" and they've all had lots of fun.

Miss Caite helped me pick a few things from my garden. I'm afraid this cucumber got away from us--it's too big. The bell pepper will be good though.
Dinner with 8 kiddos. 14, 12, 9, 7, 6, 5, 4,and 2. And doesn't Kammie just look thrilled.
Waiting for Kammie and Zac's bus to come so we could then get Spencer, Hayden and Caite to their school.
Caite and Kammie.

Yummy Dessert

Jordan found a recipe for a chocolate lovers dream dessert. Kate was willing to get in on the action. Chocolate Mousse in chocolate cups.
Yum-o!
Happy Girls!

Cute Sidnie story

Kammie had to collect some pictures for an Alpha project at school. As we (Kammie, Sidnie and I) were looking at different pictures, we came across a family picture that had everyone but Sidnie in it. Sidnie was able to point out everyone in the photo and name who they are. I then asked her, "Where's Sidnie?" She looked at the picture, and then pointed to herself and said: "Right here!" What a smart girl.

Blog Neglect

I guess I haven't been taking many pictures these last few weeks, therefore I have not posted anything here on the Blog. I know I don't have to include pictures, but, it makes it easier to write about things.

This past week [September 13th] the school district implemented the school time change for elementary schools. (You'll remember that a judge ruled that they had to take the 40 minutes a day they added in, out of the school day.) Instead of going back to the way it was, the new start time is 8:25am and the day ends at 3:10pm, but for our school [Pine Forest], since some of the buses run a high school or middle school route and then an elementary school route, school ends at 3:10, but the bus isn't available until close to 4pm. My kids have been riding the bus to school in the morning and we have a carpool set up in the afternoon for pick up. It has gone well so far and I'm very pleased to have my children home sooner. Thank goodness for a judge with some sense.

Spencer recently has decided that he wants to go around without his shirt on. I don't really encourage that, but he does it without me knowing sometimes. Sidnie now thinks that she can do the same thing. This is how I found her a couple of Sunday's ago after church. She was wearing Kate's heels and running around without her shirt on.
Silly Girl Sidnie!
Filling Kate's shoes..


This past week at school, Spencer had to make a "ME" star for school. He listed his favorite color (brown), his favorite toy (Lightning McQueen), his favorite food (pasta) and his favorite book. He couldn't choose just one, so he chose Curious George and Scooby Doo books.

J had a birthday, shout Hooray!

Jordan turned 12 this past week and was invited to go to her first Young Women's activity. She had lots of fun and was welcomed officially into the Young Women's program today at church. She also recieved her Primary Certificate of Advancement from the Bishop. (Oh how she loved sitting on the stand today to be recognized. It's hard to believe I have two in there now.)
We celebrated her birthday as a family with her requested meal of Spaghetti and meatballs. Then we opened presents and had cake. Yeah!

We were trying to get a shot of Jordan and the presents, but how can you resist a cute little sister that wants to be there too.
All the kiddos had to get in on the next shot.

A purple school shirt...
A purple cloak that she wanted Mom to make.
A pink school shirt...She got new pants for school as well.
The Cake!
The candles...
Blowing out the candles.

We sure love having Jordan in our family. She is a joy to us.

A visitor of sorts

On Tuesday, Sidnie's best friend Halle came over to play while, while her Mom went to the dentist. After playing inside for a while, they wanted to go out in the back yard. The girls immediately climbed into our playset and I got distracted with my flowerbed and the weeds therein. I pulled a few, when I saw a small SNAKE in the dirt near our Hosta plant. I was unsure if it was a safe/good snake or not. I easily caught it with a sand toy and a bucket. My neighbor's came over and were trying to help me determine what kind it was. My neighbor reached the handle of his shovel down into the bucket and the snake coiled and tried to strike at the handle several times. It was an agressive little sucker. But in the end, we determined it was just a garden snake and we let it go. I'm just glad it wasn't a baby copperhead with a mother and 4 siblings nearby. Phew!
You can't see his darker head in this one very well.
You can't really determine his size either from the bucket. He was only 5 inches long or so.