The Armor of God

These pictures from FHE were too darling not to post. 

I'm pretty sure the costume was more distracting than study aid, but they enjoyed it!

School days are here again

I'll be honest, I was excited for school to start. The boys were at the point of fighting more than playing and Alec needs the structure! 

The first day was all smiles and happiness:

But, the rest of the week was more:

My fabulous sister-in-law, Carly sent that and she was right on the money! 

Alec is a talker. Boy, girl, child, adult-he doesn't mind. So, he's been getting in trouble for talking in class. At first I was upset, but in the grand scheme of things,  talking (as long as it's not unkindly), is just not worth getting upset over. I know in a few weeks he'll get used to raising his hand again, but for now he needs me to love and support him. To not make him feel bad because he's not perfect. So, we talked about why talking out of turn can be disrespectful and how other children need the opportunity to answer questions. By Friday? He was back on 'green'!! I know he'll still have rough days, but not getting upset at him when he made mistakes, really built his confidence in his capability to improve.

A few pictures from the rest of us:

"Do I look cool, mom?"

"Always."

Hide and seek counting with Tessie!

Evy finally agreed to be the demonstrator this week at gymnastics:

First day at 'Let's Play Music'!!! We are so in love with this program!!

She didn't love gymnastics

Evy LOVES to climb things. We've always joked she'll be a natural gymnast, especially when the boys were doing gymnastics and she desperately wanted to join in. So, I signed her up for a session at good old parks an' rec. 

Granted we were about 20 minutes late, because on the way I found a stray and we HAD to run her home so she wasn't wandering the streets.

First, she would NOT take her sandals off. Second, she screamed and refused to follow the group. So, I calmly stayed back with her. Finally, when had they had free play time, she climbed, slid, rolled, and hung. 

Alec was supposed to be taking pictures, but he was a little distracted by 'Star Wars Angry Birds' on my phone, so I snapped these two at the very end while they were waiting for the gummy bears. Well, the other kids waited. Ev stood up and grabbed one from the lid. 'Carpe de gummy bear', baby!

The boys got to sport their bright, new orange soccer cleats today:

Ahh, I adore these kiddos!

7 children, ages 7 and under running around our house Monday.

My mom decided to stay in Utah all of August. We agreed to help watch cute little Emery (1) whilst she's gone. Child count: 4. 

Last week I had promised my darling Visiting Teaching companion to take her two older children for a day so she could enjoy some time with her darling newborn son, Krew. Child count: 6. 

My sweet aunt texted to see what we were up to, she was watching her grandson, so we invited them over to make cupcakes for FHE treats. Final child count: 7!!

It was noisy, chaotic, and fun!!

We made rainbow cupcakes-over two dozen for everyone's FHE treats. 

Swimming burned off the excess energy, but the dark storm clouds, drizzle and "scary thunder" chased us back into the house.

Doesn't my nephew Ryan have a face you could kiss all day?

In my defense, I only ever wanted 6 children!

Beach

Our favorite family vacations, are quick weekend beach trips to my grandma's house. We've found that more than two nights away from home with small children is no longer a vacation...and slowly seeps into the field of tantrums and exhaustion. Also, trying to match schedules with others just adds stress to a time we want focused on enjoying our family.

So, we have a good routine of our own down. We drive Paul to work Friday, then pick him up on our way out of town.

Saturday morning we pack up lunch, snacks, and head to a beach. This time, Paul had done a little research and decided we should try out El Matador beach, just north of Zuma in Malibu. It was a super treacherous walk down to the beach along the narrow path and some rickety old stairs! But, it quickly proved worth it when we found some cool tidepools and caves to explore.

Alec quickly made some new friends, and they were busy collecting crabs, sand crabs, and looking for anemones. James doesn't particularly enjoy making new friends, so he hung back with Paul, Evelyn, and I.

Evelyn has definitely hit the terrible twos, and our beach trip was no exception. Lately everything scares her, and at the beach it was the loud waves. 

Being the kind father he is, Paul filled a large bucket with water and Evy proceeded to sit in it and inform us she was taking a bath.

She thought it was hilarious. Once we were all exhausted, Paul made two solo trips taking our things back to the van, so he could help me carry the little two back up. 

We clean off sand at the car, change the kids (they always fall asleep), then drive back to grandma's to bathe everyone and order Mission Burrito! Sometimes we eat there, but lately it's nicer to eat at my Aunt Jerri's-she lives 5 minutes from my grandma-so we can visit with her and my cousin, Colin, also. This trip we watched a Percy Jackson movie which Colin had chosen special for Alec. Alec loved it. James was scared, Evy was bored. Paul took them back to grandma's and Alec had a special late night. 

Normally we leave super early Sunday morning to make it back in time for our ward in Vegas, but neither of us were teaching and Paul really wanted to meet a business partner that lives in CA, so I had planned to go to church with my grandma, at St. Martin's of the Field, an Episcopalian church. She's gone there since my father and aunt were children, and it's always fun for her to show off her granddaughter and great-grandchildren. But, she was pretty tired so we opted to stay in whilst Paul was out.

James, trying on grandma's glasses.

Evy, trying on my deceased grandfather's glasses.

The good news was, I got some good videos of my grandma answering questions that will help with our family history. She's 88 years old and can still remember everyone's birthdays!

By the time we drove home, the kids were exhausted.

This is our kind of paradise.