Great to be 8!

Little D is eight! I can hardly believe it. Soon he will be baptized and be an official member of the church. He is so excited. Today we let him open his presents before church and he was loving it.

Little A gave him 2 GIANT water guns! I kinda think that he will have a hard time holding them up once they are filled with water.

Little C gave him a DS game. Nijago. Or something like that.

Big J and I gave him a New bike! It has 6 speeds. He tried to race me the other day. I let him win. (that's my story and I'm sticking to it)

Grandma and Grandpa Moss gave him his first very own set of scriptures. He was so proud of them. He carried them around church today and showed them to everyone. He was thrilled that they said his name on the front. Now I will have to look into getting him a scripture bag. They also sang to him in primary today and he got a pencil to mark his scriptures with. Next month he will be getting Baptized and we are excited to have my parents and his friends come and watch him do that.

Here are some cake shots!

Daddy lighting the cake!

Dark, glowing cake.

Got them out in one breath!

Father and Sons Campout 2011

This weekend Big J was able to go on the Father and Sons camp out. He has taken Little D once and this year he was able to take both boys!. They were very excited to be able to go. They went up on Friday and came back at about 2 on Saturday. Big J said that they all had fun and that it was a good trip. Little D agreed and showed me his bite!

Apparently he was bitten by a lizard that he caught. Little C was so exhausted he fell asleep in the car on the way home, about an hours drive, and then I couldn't even get him to open an eye for about 3 hours after they got home. And then Big J and him took another nap! He was soooo tired. But even he said that he had fun and he made sure to tell me, " Danny something something bite!" I knew that he was telling me about the lizard bite. I said I know, its Okay. So it was a good trip.

Meanwhile I was up at 5 am looking for the missing bolt to my new bike. I had lost it the day before after putting the child carrier on the back and then deciding that it was not going to work. when I got done taking it back off the bolt to tighten my seat was gone. So all morning I searched for a suitable replacement. Finally finding one on Little D's old bike. The reason that I needed one so badly is that its Iron Week again! Yep I'm doing it again! We were set to go on a big bike ride that morning to kick it off and get a chunk of our biking done early. So I had to have a seat! Before I could go on the ride thought I had to go sit in the cold on a side walk at 7 am and wait for tickets to go on sale for Little A's dance recital next month. I would never think that you would have to wait in line 3 hrs just for tickets to a little girls recital. But the seats are assigned and so if you want a good close seat then you have to get in early. We ended up in the center of row 9. not too bad. Needless to say we only got a 20mile bike ride in between the chaos of finding something to tow a child in. But it was a fun ride and I will probably go again. We saw tons of butterfly's, squirrels, rabbits, lizards, ducks, and even a snake.

next post will be of little A and I's Girls night!

Kids are funny little people

Today at the dinner table the kids were arguing over what a rectangular prism was and weather or not that is the shape of a gas tank. Little A was drawing it in the air and Little D was correcting her. She had it just about right

Also and interesting conversation about staring contests.

Then there was talk about Justin Bieber, wherein Little A says, "I can't say his name cause it freaks me out!"

There was also talk of who Little D was going to marry, which I must say is a much better choice than his last one. This one is at least a member. He said that they already had a "conversation" about it. I didn't realize he knew the meaning of the word conversation.

Where did these kids come from?

GOAL!!!

Little D scored his first GOAL last night! It was the last game of the season and we were starting to think that it wasn't going to happen. Which would have been fine too. It was the first Goal for the team, he was standing in front of the goal when it was thrown back into play. As it was rolling by he kicked it in. He was so excited! You should have seen his face! We were cheering so loud! He put one fist in the air like Yeah! I did it! It was so cute. We had told him that if he scored a goal he would be able to go out for ice cream, so after the game we took a trip to Cold Stone for victory ice cream. His coach also told the team that they would get a dollar for each goal. So he also received a dollar. His team has the tournament games this next Friday, where they will play 2 games and then if they win those they go to the Sunday games I guess. We are going to be going out of town and wont be able to participate so I'm glad he got the goal last night.

Their practices are on Wednesdays and this last practice is where they told us about the Tournament. Big J had taken Little D to practice and he told me this story after they were home. After hearing about the tournament Little D was talking to Big J and said, "So they have games on Sunday?

And Big J said "Yes."

"Well Sunday is the Sabbath day and should we play soccer on Sunday's?"

Big J said, "Well, I don't take the boat out on Sundays."

And Little D said, "Yea, I don't think that I should play soccer on Sunday. Dad do you think I should skip those games?"

Big J said "probably" Followed by Little D with "That's what I thought too."

I was so proud of him when Big J told me this I almost cried. He is such a smart boy and so sweet. I do feel sad that we won't be able to be here on Friday to play in his tournament, but he already decided to skip Sunday so we might as well skip Friday. I told Big J that the only other option would be for him to stay home with Little D. He said well you should just go by yourself. I was tempted but told him that if I were to show up without kids my parents would freak out and tell me to go home! I had to take at least one. So far the plan is to all still go to AZ, but that could change I guess.

Double Vision

Everyone keeps saying how much Little C looks like Big J. But then they also say that Little D and Little C look the same. Well Little D looked just like Big J for a while too. He has the stronger genes. Anyway I got to thinking that I would post a blog with a picture of each at the same age, to see if people could tell them apart.

So here is the first one.
Baby pictures.
Which one is Little D and which is Little C?

Next is 2 and 1/2 years old.

This was actually hard for me to do. Just because all the pictures that I found I could totally tell who was who. I'm not sure if that is because I knew which was which or if its just because I am the Mom. But Big J couldn't tell them apart so I guess these are good. Its also harder to find a pic of Little C without one of his siblings in it also.

So there you have it can you tell them apart?

First Ever Soccer Game

Well as most of you know we signed Little D up for soccer this year. His team name is The FIREBALLS. He has been loving it and is excited every Wednesday when he gets to go to practice. He has a great Coach that seems to be pretty easy going about the whole thing which is nice since its his first year. They have had only 2 practices so far and he is still a little awkward but he will get it soon I'm sure. He wants to be able to bounce the ball off his knees. He thinks that is pretty cool. I told him that he just needs practice.

So Friday was there first game of the season. He was pretty excited.

He is number 4 and made me take this picture of the back of his Jersey.

Here he is practicing stopping and kicking the ball.

And here are a few pictures of the game. It was dark so these aren't the best.

(He is in the middle)
My camera wanted to use a flash but that didn't get me anywhere so I turned it off but then It wouldn't take them fast enough so this is as good as it gets this time.

(Here he is in the front #4)
His next couple games are earlier in the day and should mean better pictures.

He did well for his first game and is still a little timid and unsure when he gets to the ball he is not sure what to do yet. He was able to kick it a few times. I told him to just be more aggressive and when he gets the ball just kick it to his goal. He was proud of himself for getting the ball a few times.

So this Friday is another game and I will post about it then and hopefully have some better pictures.

Another First

Yesterday was the first day of school. I was so excited! I can't believe that Little A is in kindergarten already. She was very excited. When all the other kids showed up she started to act shy though. Once I was able to leave I think she did just fine. She was very happy when she got home and I think that she thought that she was a big girl. She was able to ride the bus home and she thought that was cool.


She is also excited to ride the bus to school today. Even Little D is excited to get to have her on his bus. Little D had no problem getting back to school. We dropped his backpack at his class and he was off to play. I stayed with Little A until her class got started. She said that her teacher read her stories and sang her songs. Little D is harder to get things out of and would only tell me that all they did was do a word search and play bingo all day. But I think they had fun. There were no tears today about having to go back so I would consider that a good sign. Well the bus just drove away so I guess I had better do some cleaning or something...

We just had to jazz up this backpack with some bedazzle jewels!


Little D 2010 2nd grade.

Pool Party!

So today was Little D's birthday. He is now 7 years old. Man! That's crazy! So for his birthday he asked for a Watch and and Alarm Clock (which he has been begging me for for months) and Lego sets. He got all those things and more.

Little C thought that he was so cool posing just like his big brother!

We had a pool party for him and it was great. I bought him 2 disposable cameras so pics at the party will follow later after they are developed. He had about 8 other kids show up there were about 6 girls and only 2 other boys. So all Little D's girlfriends were there. We swam from 10:30 to 12 and then we had pizza, cake and opened presents. The party ended at 1pm so after presents I let them all play until their parents showed up.



The cake said Use The Force Danny! And I couldn't find anywhere that had Lego Star Wars cakes so I had them make me a cake that looked like outer space and I added some Star Wars Lego guys on top.


I also found an awesome alarm clock that looks like a GIANT Lego piece. Its awesome! Well at least I thought so.


He also got 2 models that he can build with his dad. A few books to practice his reading. A Bug catcher set that has already come to haunt me. I wish I had never suggested it to Grandma.

His watch was from Little A and she was very adamant that this was the watch. I tried to get her to chose a Transformer watch but she insisted that this was the one. But Little D loves it and so that's all that matters. His friends gave him a Lego set, gift card, dart gun, motorcycles he can paint, Nerf basketball set, marshmallow shooters, Iron man figures, and money.

** A POST INSIDE OF A POST **

DON'T BUG ME!


About the Bug Catcher Set. I thought that this would be fun for the kids to catch butterflies, ladybugs, caterpillars, and earwigs and rolly poly bugs.

In fact Little A opened it all up and was all ready to go catch bugs. She was gone about 10 mins and came back with nothing.

However fun I thought this would be for the kids, I was not factoring in their father....

Within minutes of going outside Big J comes back in with a big jumping spider! YUCK! He puts the spider into the container. After which he says to me this is the best present EVER! Then goes out to try and find food for the spider. He comes back no more than 3 mins later with a BEE!!! A bee he caught with a net and sucked up with the bug vacuum included in the set. I just about died. This was the almost cool part but still gross. After about 10 seconds of the Bee being in the canister the spider had caught him and killed him. The spider is now just sitting with the bee in its mouth. We have been waiting for him to wrap him up but so far no go.

Guys are so yucky!

That's one way to group date!

Today Little D came home and said, "Mom, I have a meeting with the girls at Cold Stone, and I have to go."

I said, "What?"

His reply, "And dinner too so... I might be late getting back. So can I go?"

"When is it?"

"5 O' Clock" (and yes he said O clock)

"Where else are you going?"

"Lillia's Grandma's house and then Cold Stone"

"What day is this happening?"

"Saturday, every Saturday."


I think that I just went into the future 10 yrs!

It's like you're flying!

Little A learned how to swing all by herself today! She came home from school and just started swinging. I didn't even have to get her going. I asked her how she learned and she said at Pre-school. So Thank You Miss Michelle for teaching Little A how to "pump". She must have been daydreaming whenever I tried to teach her. I was tired of pushing her in the swing for all of our park trips. As I'm sure you were tired of pushing all those 4 and 5 yr olds.


I went to take a picture of her swinging and the camera battery was dead so now I'll have to try and remember to get one on here later.

Also needed is a picture of Little D and his toothless smile. He has now lost both his front teeth. He looks silly and talks with a lisp/whistle now. And before I know it he will be in braces I'm sure. They grow so fast and now all Little A talks about is when she will lose her teeth.

(This is Little C's favorite place lately. He sits there and eats right from the pretzel bag)

As for Little C, he has been wanting to sit on the potty. He doesn't ever go, but at least he isn't afraid of it. Hopefully in the next couple months I will be diaper free!

Sometimes its so simple

I was talking with a friend at the gym yesterday and telling her how I was having a hard time getting Little D to want to read. I think that he knows more than he thinks/shows because if he gets mad enough at me telling him to read it he will read it just fine. It always ends in a yelling match or me getting tired of trying and saying "OK fine. I'm done." Which only ends in more tears because if you know Little D then you know that he is a pleaser. And he will cry more because he wants to do it. Anyway, its been hard and I don't even want to sit and have him try anymore. Sometimes I wonder if he is dyslexic or has some other problem that I don't know about. My friend said that its normal for kids to switch letters around until about 3rd grade and I knew that because I've told it to friends before. But I was trying to find some reason that this was so difficult for him.

She told me that her daughter was the same way and that she hated reading because it was so stressful. Then she did the following and it was a lot better. She asked me if I read to him. I told her yes but not the books that he was trying to read. She suggested that I first read him the book and make it fun with voices and other things. And then give Little D a turn to do the funny voices. She said to try and make it stress free and fun. And if he came to a word he didn't know to just tell him and move on. (I always make him try and sound it out) I thought... How did I not think of that? Its so simple. I guess I was just focusing on getting it done.

So last night before bed I told him to go get a book and he did. Not without yelling at me telling me that he was NOT READING ANYTHING! First I read the Curious George story and used voices and tried to make it sound fun. (Big J is better at voices and fun than I am) But it totally worked. After I said, "Now its your turn." At first he was telling me no and throwing a little tantrum but then I told him that when he got to the parts where people were talking he could make up a funny voice he was more on board.

He read the entire book. There were times in the story that there were 2 or so pages with no talking and I thought for sure he would give up. But he didn't. There were also times when I thought maybe I'll just read this page and let him read the page with the voices. But I didn't. He loved it. When he was finished he went back through making up the story and voices trying to make it funny.

I also told her about how anytime I tell him to do something he yells and says I KNOW!!! Or I CAN'T DO IT ALL! I'll ask him to change his clothes and get his shoes on and he will reply I KNOW! To which I want to say, "Then why aren't you doing it?" She then suggested that I try not to make it a command. And basically to phrase it differently and let him be more responsible.

So this morning I said to him after he was done eating, "I know that you know what you need to do to get ready for school right?" He said yes and I said "OK then." He came out later and had his shoes and socks on but hadn't changed his shirt. I asked him if he forgot anything and he was like, "No." I said, "Didn't you wear that shirt yesterday?" He then went to change it. I went by his room later and noticed he still hadn't changed his shirt. (he was looking at a Curious George book) I told him that he still needed to change his shirt and I got, "I KNOW!" So it didn't work perfectly but it was better. Maybe a few more times and he really will be able to get ready all by himself.

He did say that he had never read the book he was looking at before. So I told him we would read it tonight. And I didn't get a tantrum.

Its funny how sometimes all it takes is for someone to say, "Hey! Try this" In order for you to see how simple it can be.

Christmas Time Was Here!

Twas the night before Christmas... We were invited over to a house of our friends for dinner. (just happened to be the scene of an incident a week earlier. I will tell at the end of this blog post) It was nice to be able to go over there and celebrate. The kids decorated cookies, they were supposed to be for Santa but we found it hard to get any to save for him. They all just wanted to eat them. We ate and watched a little of the "Christmas Story" and ate some apple pie. Then we took the kids home, spread out the reindeer food, set out the remaining cookies and sent them to bed. We had to wait a while to make sure they were asleep for Santa to come cause I know how Little D likes to get up 10 times to tell us something. Once Santa had come I snapped this picture and went to bed.



Little D woke up first at 6:30 am which isn't bad considering some kids get up at say, 4 am. Once the other kids were awake we let them go to town. They were all happy with their gifts. I took a picture of Little D and his excitement when he opened his present from Santa.


It was Star Wars Clone Wars Wii game with light saber controllers.


Little A got just about everything Tinkerbell and has been very happy with her dress ups she got and make-up that Santa gave her.




Little C got 2 ride on toys and has been very protective of them. He is getting better at no crying when on of his siblings gets on them. Big J received 2 ties one was a reindeer tie (Little D picked out) and the other was black and blue (from Little A). He also got a CTR tie tack that Little A picked out also. I received a iHome Alarm clock to go with my Ipod touch that I got for my Birthday.

Later we invited some friends of ours over for dinner. I took a picture of the tables cause they looked to pretty.




We had a good time together and again it was fun to spend the Holiday with friends. Well I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We had a good Christmas here. And we are grateful for all the gifts that we received from everyone this year! Love You All!

Space Bags

(Oh and I have never gotten a space bag to be that flat. Its always got bumps and lumps!)

This last Saturday was spent cleaning out Little A's room. Before you couldn't even open the closet doors. But Now I have cleaned it all out and have her book shelf in there. I re arranged her whole room. Now she has a little more room to play around in. So what was taking up all the space in her closet and in Little D's closet as well? BABY CLOTHES!!

Its so frustrating because I have all these baby clothes from Little A but no where to put them. Little D has a lot too but at least I am using them for Little C. When I'm not sure when or if we plan on having more kids it frustrating. So I'm just not sure what to do with them all. If I keep all Little A's stuff and we have another and its a boy. Then what? Do I still keep all my girl stuff in case of another or by that time is the gap too great?

So I was trying to figure out how to store these and thinking that I needed them to take up less space so I thought that I would try space bags. Has anyone ever tried these before? I bought some like 2 years ago and only like 2 of them held the air out. The others seemed to slowly refill with air. I don't know what that was about. but its an awesome concept. So I thought that maybe I had just gotten a bad batch and went and bought another set from Costco. I noticed that the valve thing is different. So I am hoping that they would do what the others have done and re fill. After having them sealed for a day though it looked like they were getting air back in again. I re vacuumed them and now they seem fine. So I am wondering? Is this common practice to have to vacuum them and then wait and then do it again? Or am I doing something else wrong?

I'm hoping that they will work because now I have all Little A's clothes under her bed and all Little D and C's clothes will go in the attic. By the way, I cleared a space for them on Saturday. And I found a gold mine of stuff that I don't even remember having!

Are you 6 or 16?

(Photo by Kim Anderson)

So when my Mom was here we asked Little D how school was and he gave the usual answer,"Fine". Then we asked him who his friends were.
He named a few and then said, "Oh and Isabella" I was trying to figure out who she was when he followed with, "I'm going to marry her!"
Mom and I both started laughing and then I asked him why he was going to marry her.
He said, "Cause she's so cute!"
We were still chuckling and said,"Oh, O.K." We told him that since she wasn't a member he was going to have to baptize her so he could marry her in the Temple. He said," I know."

Then fast forward to Yesterday when I asked him how Isabella was doing. He says with a sigh,"Oh, alright." Then there was a long pause. Then he said,"I think she has another boyfriend".
I asked why he thought this and he says,"Well, she doesn't do anything with me."
I asked what she was supposed to do. (wondering what the girlfriend responsibilities were for a 1st grader)
He said,"Well when we get to chose partners she always chooses someone else! She never picks me!"
I told him that it would be fine and that he had a lot of years before he could marry her. Then I thought that I really needed to go volunteer so I can find out who this girl is.

Little A asked if she was a "Kissy Girl" (which is what Little D normally calls girls) He said."No that was last year when I was in Kindergarten."

Another First Day!

Well its that time of year again, when Mom gets no sleep because she is more nervous about school than her kids are. Little D wanted to go to school by himself today. He said he knew what room he was in and he wanted to ride the bus. I was thinking, (more like panicking in my head) "But you don't know about recess and what about after recess when you have to line up, how will you know where to go?" He eventually said, "Alright you can take me but I want to ride the bus home." I agreed and took him to school to take pictures.



This year Little D is in 1st grade. His teacher is Mrs. Hashim and everyone that I talk to says that she is very nice and a great teacher. I was glad to hear this because with Little D being my first to go to school I didn't even have a clue who the 1st grade teachers were, let alone who was good.


Little D was excited to find out that 2 or his good friends from church are also in his class. Last year he was in class with Hailey but not with Noah. He also saw a lot of kids from Kindergarten last year. One thing that Little D was excited to find out about was that this year he gets a desk! So when they got in this morning they all got assigned a desk. Little D and his 2 great friends are at the same cluster. I made sure to tell him that he had better be good or he wont be sitting there for long. So we will just have to see how long this arrangement lasts.



I'm kinda bummed that he is staying longer at school only because now he eats lunch at school. Which means that now I have to pack him a lunch! I just know I wont like this. Plus Little D hates sandwiches. We are gonna have to find some that he likes.

So now he is at school and I'm wondering what I am going to do until 2!

***Note: Little D came home and said he sits with all girls and only one boy now. Looks like he didn't listen and was talking too much after all.***