Vacation Sunday

I am not a huge fan of Stake Conference.  I know blasphemy!  I call it vacation Sunday, it only happens twice a year so when it does come around I like to do fun things.  This year we started the morning off with a fun family bike ride and then decided to go to Mt. Charleston for lunch and a nice hike.

 Tyson is finally getting a little braver.  He walked along every fallen log he could find.

 Hayden of course will follow her brother anywhere so she had to be on the log too.  We didn't let her walk it like him but right after this picture she jumped off and luckily I caught her.  I should have known she was up to something, just look at that face!

 Tyson loved walking on the boulders.

 So of course Hayden had to do it too.  The problem is Hayden has no self preservation instinct and didn't care where her feet were going.  I got a huge shoulder work out from grabbing her hand and lifting her up right before she bit it.  Keeping this girl alive is a full time job!

Taylor had a rough time of hiking, she had crashed while racing her bike in the morning and I don't think she was feeling too good.  She had an all out tantrum because we wouldn't carry her jacket and asked her to wrap it around her waist.  You would have thought we were killing the girl by the amount of screaming.  When we got to our designated turn back stop Taylor had to go the bathroom and Jason had to deal with it because I was feeding the baby.  They both came back soaked and Taylor gladly put her jacket around her waist after that :) 

Tyson and his follower.  Gotta love these nuts!

gymnastics

The girls are enrolled in their first gymnastics classes.  I wish they could do the class together but because of their age groups they are in different levels.  Taylor was not excited about her teacher.

 He's kind of a weird looking guy with a bunch of tattoos.  He also has a lot of rules and is quick to call the kids out if they are not following the rules.

 Taylor really did not like this apparatus.  She can't quite figure out to put her feet under the bar and over her head.

 She was not a fan of this one either, you are suppose to keep yourself up and go across the whole bar using your upper body strength.

 Not her best showing :(

 She did like this tunnel, I mean who doesn't like going through tunnels?

 But ask her what the best part of her day was, it was this:

 Her teacher would tell the kids if they didn't hurry through the tunnel he would get them, and then he did!  He was over by the trampoline and then all of a sudden he was flying through the air and landed on the tunnel. (No kids were in the tunnel when he landed) The girl now LOVES her teacher and tells everyone how much fun gymnastics is.

 Such a crazy girl!! 
Hayden started gymnastics the day after Taylor and she was pumped up to finally get to be on all the fun things I didn't let her go on the day before.

 She loved the balance beams.

 She is a crazy monkey and loved hanging on the bars.

She couldn't quite figure out the rock wall and got stuck like this each time.

 About half way through the class everything started going downhill fast.  Hayden was done listening and would throw herself on the floor if asked to perform a task.  She didn't want to stand in line or listen to the teacher.  Another big problem was Ryan had a major poo blow out.  What is a mother to do?  The class is only 45 long, do you take both kids out to the car and then back in again and change the baby so you can enjoy 5 minutes?  Well that's not what I did, I held the stinky baby with poo up her back and dealt with the 2 year old tantrums.  In another attempt to get mother of the year, when the class was over and we finally got to the diaper bag in the car, it was EMPTY!  Good times, good times!  I am going right now and loading the car up with supplies :)

September 12X12

Woohoo! I finally remembered to do a 12X12!

 Our mornings start pretty early around these parts.  I get the guys up at 5:45am every morning and get them ready for their buses.  This morning I did it with no kids hanging on me which is always nice.

 After I got Mark out to his bus I went upstairs to find this.

 We had a small carpool this morning, one of the other Mom's had to volunteer at the school so she took the Somerset crowd and I had the preschool girls; Taylor and Becky.

 Right before we were rushing out the door for school I looked over at our chrysalises and saw that there were two butterflies out!  I was trying to be frugal and didn't buy the butterfly feeder and thought I could make one on my own.  You are suppose to use a sponge soaked in sugar water.  In my panic to feed the butterflies I trashed under the sink and only found a used sponge.  I made sure it was clean but then freaked out the rest of the day that maybe it wasn't clean enough and the kids would come home to dead butterflies.  Stress I tell you!!

 This was our first time with butterflies and it may never happen again!  When the caterpillars come they come in a small plastic container with a paper on top and a plastic top on top of that.  When they form their chrysalises they are suppose  to attach to the paper, you take the paper out and pin it to the enclosure.  Super easy right?  Well our stupid caterpillars didn't get the message and ATE the paper and then attached themselves to the plastic top!  Hence the craziness you see in this picture, we used duct tape, an index card, safety pins and wire to get them attached to the enclosure.  Stress!

 After Taylor got home we had her friend Becky over.  Sad thing was we came home to no power in the house for about an hour.  Luckily our swings run on batteries!  Ryan's nap was not interrupted :)

Hayden passed out while watching Dora.  Our motto in our house is leave them where they drop.

 While the girls were occupied I tackled the laundry monster.

 And then with a rare spurt of energy (thank you mountain dew), I tackled the horror that is the girls room. 

 Tyson had his first soccer practice for his soccer league.  I think it is going to be fun, we've never played on a real league before just church soccer.  I begged the boy to wear soccer shorts but he would not be swayed.

 After practice we headed over to KFC.

Finally when we got home we busted out Tyson's homework and then played some sight word blast off.  Tyson earns a dollar for every game he wins.  He takes the game very serious, he has been saving up for a lego set all summer and is $4 away.  Well, that was a small glimpse into our crazy world :)

Kids photography

Taylor is bound and determined to master the self portrait.  Here is her most recent attempt.  I think it's awesome :)

 Tyson is her favorite model to photograph.

 

 

 

She also loves to take pictures of her "Ry-Ry".

 We have ceiling fans in every room of our house and they are constant amusement for the kids.

Taylor is in this picture but she was still in charge of the shoot.  This picture is courtesy of Tyson.  

The kids think putting bunny ears on anyone is hilarious.  Poor Ryan was their latest victim.  Gotta love these crazy kids!

My bike

They other day we went to buy me a bike.  Another attempt to be a more active family.  We are looking to get a little trailer to pull the girls behind the bike. 

 Putting it together was a family affair, of course :)

 Taylor is really big on taking pictures lately so the rest of these are courtesy of her.

 The self portraits got a little crazy so I took over for her.  Don't try to understand what is on her shirt, it is an original Taylor design.  We bought dollar store shirts this summer and the kids painted whatever they wanted on them. 

Well, I have ridden on my bike one time.  It scared the heck out of me.  When did I get so old?  And the expression "just like riding a bike" not true!!  It did not come right back and took many laps up and down the street before I got it.  I better quit blogging and start riding, wish me luck!

Life with Hayden

Hayden is always moving.  The child never slows down.  The other day while I was going through some boxes Taylor grabbed the camera and tried to capture Hayden in action.

 Hayden loves to run laps around the living room furniture.  She also loves to sing and eat.

 I believe here she is doing all three.  I'm pretty sure those are goldfish in her hand. (Let's hope!)

 She stopped mid lap to check what I was up to.

 

And then was off again.

I know all the kids went through a crazy phase but I just feel like I can never take my eyes off of this one.  Just this morning she was getting into the van, I turned to get the carseat in and Hayden was on the floor of the garage.  She is more accident prone than anyone I've ever met!  Life with Hayden is never dull :)