Kid’s Marathon!!!

My kids ran a marathon!  Not all in one day like I did, but over 2 months.  They have a Kid’s Marathon that they do here.  It is awesome!  Between September 1st and October 29, they have to run a total of 25 miles, but only up to 5 miles per week.  On the 29th of October, they bring their completed running logs to the race to get their number and t-shirt.  Then they run a 1.2 mile fun run to complete the Marathon distance of 26.2 miles and each finisher gets a medal!  I am so proud of my kids!  Congratulations Liah, Emily and Sean on your awesome accomplishment!!!

Here they are before the race:

Cousin Avery came to cheer on her cousins and aunt Jill.

Avery and I were the cheering section. They had these support signs at the expo before my marathon.  I knew it would come in handy!

Go Liah!

Here is Sean about to cross the finish line!

Here are our awesome Marathon medals!

Congratulations Liah, Emily and Sean!  You guys worked so hard!  I am so proud of you!!!

First Day of School! 2011

I can’t believe summer is over already!  I’m not ready for my kids to be back in school. My Seany started Kindergarten today!  I can’t believe is old enough.  Here’s hoping things go well… let’s just say it’s a good thing his sisters went to this school before he did… LOL.  Bless his little heart!

Doesn’t he look handsome??  It’s hard to believe he ever does anything wrong with that sweet little face…

We had Belgian waffles for our first day of school breakfast.  Yum!

Here’s my little Emily.  She’s off to 2nd grade today!  She has Mrs. Hagedorn again this year, and she is so excited!  Isn’t she pretty?

And here is my Liah.  She is in 3rd grade this year.  She is so excited to be in one of the portables.  Not sure why… and her teacher is Mrs. Vera.  Liah is so excited that she has a pretty teacher.  Clearly, in her mind, this is what makes a good teacher.  Last year, her teacher wore hoop earrings, and she was so excited.  This one wasn’t wearing hoop earrings, so we’ll see if she lives up to Liah’s standards.  LOL.

Here is Sean in his line next to Mrs. Sisemore!  Both the girls had her, and she is fabulous!

Sean and his new friend Cole.

Addy starts preschool in one week!  I can’t believe it!

Still another hour until I pick up Sean… what to do, what to do…

Happy First Day of School!

My two favorite quotes of the day…

On the way back from the girls’ concert tonight…

Girls: “How long does it take to get to Mexico?”

Mom: “About a day.  But I wouldn’t go there right now.  It’s a little dangerous.”

Emily: “Why?”

Mom: “What do you think would make a place dangerous?”

Liah, in her duh, this is the obvious answer voice: “Chihuahaus.”

(she was super confused why I was laughing the rest of the way home)

…and then tonight…

Addy was wearing his Batman pajamas.  I picked him up to snuggle him.  After a minute, he started squirming to get down.

“I need to go save people!!!”

I about died tonight…

…laughing, that is.  We were sitting at the table having dinner when my children started to inform me of their plan of defense, should anyone try to kidnap one of them.  I am usually pretty good at keeping a straight face when they tell me stuff, especially when they are completely serious.  Now, my brothers and I used to have our own defense strategies, should a robber or someone come while a babysitter was at our house, which mostly involved “kicking his butt and shoving him out,” but my kids’ was pretty much awesome.

I kept a straight face while Emily informed me that the kid who was being taken would throw a toy to the unkidnapped one.

I kept a straight face while Liah told me that they would then proceed to grab the persons shirt, then kick, punch and bite them.

However, I totally lost it when Sean informed me that they would then proceed to stick the kidnapper to the fence with gum.

Liah and Emily both agreed, only after seeing my reaction, that gum would never work.  Sean thought about it for a minute, then suggested glue.  Liah thought about it for a second, agreed, and informed him that they would probably have to stick it to the kidnapper’s back.

Good plan, kids.  Good plan.

My kids’ hopes and dreams

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Liah: A meteorologist!

Emily: Maybe a doctor or a nurse… or maybe just nothing, like you are, Mom. (did I mention how great she is with compliments?)

Sean: A fighter fire.

Addison: Big!

From the mouth of a second grader

Today we were watching General Conference, listening to Richard G. Scott speak about happiness at home. 

Emily: Mom, you need to do this because you and Dad fight a lot.

Mom: Well sometimes Dad is mean.

Liah: Mom.  When boys are mean to you, it means they like you.

Chore Chart

Emily: “Hang up coat and backpack?  Why is that on there? lol”

Mom: “Um, because you never do it.”

Yesterday, about 20 minutes before the girls got home from school, I came up with a spur of the moment brilliant plan.  Make a “chore chart” for all of the things I have to remind/fight with them to do everyday.  Rocket science?  No.  But I had never done it.  I taped it up in an obvious place with a sheet of sparkly stickers right below it.  My girls were defenseless against the sparkles.

They came home, saw the chart, read the directions and excitedly went to work.  “This is going to be so fun!”  Emily even kept writing in more jobs for herself just to be able to put up a sticker.  It’s the first time I haven’t had to fight with her to get her stuff done.  The girls even helped the boys do their “chores.”

Today as they walked out the door for school, they both excitedly asked/begged me to have another chore chart up when they got home.

Who knew?!  Not holding my breath, but hopefully this will last…

There’s been a rumor flying around…

And now I know it’s true.

Yep, it’s official.  My girls are insane.

…guess I’d better get the hot chocolate ready…

Liah’s Baptism Day

Liah has been looking forward to this day for so long!  If you have seen her at all this year, she has probably informed you that she would be getting baptized October 9th.  Well the day finally came!  On Thursday, Oct. 7, Grandma and Grandpa MacGregor and Aunt Lorie flew in from California.  Liah and Emily were so excited to have Grandma and Grandpa pick them up from school.  Addison even decided that everyone was pretty great too, to my relief, rather than calling everyone “I WANT MOM” like he did the entire summer.   Friday we had dinner with some awesome friends and then Grandma and Grandpa Meredith flew in from Virginia that night.  Our fabulous neighbors let them stay at their house so they could be close.

Grandpa MacGregor bought icecream for us all on Thursday.  There is just something awesome about a baby eating an icecream cone.  Their eyebrows raise higher than humanly possible as they take each bite.

This was pretty funny too.  Each of my kids have a song that I wrote for them.  Addison requests his all the time and pouts when I’m not playing it.

Here is me not playing his song:

…and now I am… although he wouldn’t smile because of the camera…

Lorie and Sean.  One of the reasons Lorie is so popular is the “ice cream game” on her Ipod.

Saturday, Grandma and Grandpa MacGregor took the grandkids to see a movie.  They saw the movie that came out on Liah’s birthday, "Legend of the Guardians.”  She had been wanting to see it simply because it came out on September 24th.

Her baptism was Saturday afternoon.

Here are some pictures from her baptism:

I also gave Liah her new scriptures.  She has been so excited about these!

Daddy and Liah

Grandpa Meredith and Addy

Joel, Amy, Michael, Emily, Grandpa MacGregor

Liah and her best friend Savannah

Savannah: “Colby needs a hug too!” (hey Seany got in a picture too!)

Liah and Mommy

Grandpa Meredith and Liah

Emmy stealing the show:

Aunt Lorie and Liahbug:

After she got baptized, Liah commented that she was SUPER happy, and then she told me after she was confirmed that she was SUPER DUPER happy.  Some other memorable moments were Grandpa MacGregor’s talk on baptism, and also the grandparents singing “Baptism.” 

Grandma Meredith gave Liah a special gift for her baptism, but I have to wait until after Avery’s baptism to post the pictures, so here is one.

After the baptism, we had a BBQ at our house.  Here are some pictures from that:

Aunt Lorie bought a cake for Liah!

Liah had asked Lorie to sing at her baptism, but since we had to share the program with another family, there wasn’t time to do both.  So instead, Sunday before Lorie and Grandma and Grandpa MacGregor went home, Aunt Lorie sang with Liah at our house. 

Here is Liah writing in her journal about her baptism:

Grandpa and Seany (I love grandparents coming to town… my kids get all the books read to them that I always skip… lol)

Liah and Grandma MacGregor

Lorie and Liah

Monday morning Grandma and Grandpa Meredith went home.

Liah was so happy to have the support and recognition from all of her family. 

Congratulations my little Liah! 

I love you!