Taylor's first day of first grade

Taylor Lynn is growing up too fast. She is already going to school full time! I wasn't that nervous this year because her teacher is in our ward. Most of the kids in her class are in our ward too! It is so fun because us moms all know each other. Taylor is doing well and we both have adjusted to her being gone all day. She even walks to and from school, which is a big help to me. She walks with some of the neighbor kids and I can actually see her walk all the way. It is so nice living right behind the school. Here are some pics from her first day!

Goodbye boy boy

A few weeks ago, our family experienced a loss. Our cat Jesse was hit by a car and passed away. To be honest, Justin and I had talked about how we wouldn't be so sad to see our cats go, but when it really happend, we were sad! The kids called Jesse "boy boy" and he loved to play outside. He was an excellent hunter and unlike his sister, he never pooped on the carpet. He will be missed. Justin recovered his body and we buried him under the tree in the backyard. He even has a grave stone. The kids reacted differently. Taylor cried and drew a picture of him with our family, and we buried it with him. When we first told Ellie, she laughed and said, "Did his head come off?" But when she went with Justin to pick up the body, she was sad and cried. Jesse is survived by his sister Alice, or as the kids call her, "Girl Girl."

Justin's Birthday

My husband turned 30 this year! He can no longer tease me about being an old woman! I actually think it was harder for him to turn 30 than it was for me. He kept repeating " I can't believe I am not in my 20's anymore!" I thought, we have 5 kids, did he really feel that young??? We celebrated with our family on his actual birthday. The kids love picking presents out for him from the dollar store. Then on my birthday, I arranged a suprise party at the park for him. It was really fun! He was a little suprised, but not really. He suprised me with a treadmill, so it turned out to be really fun day! A lot of our friends came to celebrate and we ate really good food. (Thanks to our friends, the Mc Neils.) I was so busy worrying about the party, that I forgot to take any pictures. So, you will just have to imagine how fun it was.

Soccer Mom

So actually these posts are a little out of order, but that is only because I am about a month behind! I don't know what my problem is, just too much to do and not so much time to do it in! I have only a couple hours a day when the boys are asleep and I have to clean, eat, nap, spend time with the girls, and blog! This september, I finally became an official soccer mom. Taylor was so excited to start. She has two games a week and is loving it! She is learning how to play the game, and is getting better each time. It is so much fun watching her play. It also helps that the girls on her team are her friends from her class!

The rest of July

Children's parade

A lot has happend since I posted last, so I am going to try to catch up. We will start about a month ago at the children's parade. Taylor and Ellie got dressed up in red, white, and blue. They were so cute and Justin said they had tons of fun! Each church ward had a group of kids, ours were the cutest!