A Deacon

Brayton passed the sacrament for the first time today. I was sad to miss it - Zac was home sick. But Shawn said he did a great job and I'll get to see him next week. It's amazing how fast he is growing up.

The 12 Year Old

Yes, it's true. We now have a 12 year old. Bring on the teenage years! He celebrated by eating soupapillas and cold cereal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and no that's not a laptop, but it's close. It relaly does have an important purpose in his life! I also had dentist appointments scheduled and he was SUPER annoyed with me about that. I tried to tell him that I thought he'd like getting out of school early, but he said he'd rather be in school! Anyway, once that was over we got to do the fun stuff and I think it turned out to be a fun day for him. Anyway, I better run. So much for a peaceful afternoon. The rain has turned to snow and there was just a giant boom of thunder and Shawn just called and I guess they have dismissed school so I better run! Happy Birthday Brayton!

Having a little one around again is a lot of fun...and a lot of work

Our little Zac is such a blessing and such a little monster! I feel like the last few years watching our kids grow into big kids has been kind of liberating for me. Actually very liberating. When I think back on those years when we had our kids so close together and I'm sure everyone thought we were completely nuts. But we were actually kind of nuts and also very happy to have so many healthy kids. It's so interesting to look back on your life and wonder how things would be different if you had chosen to do things differently. And I honestly wouldn't change how close in age our kids are. Even with the sibling rivalry and annoying each other they really are good friends and Zac is like the cherry on top of our big sundae - that's what the kids call him. They say his hair just HAS to stay red so he can be the cherry.

With everything Zac gets into now I wonder how on earth we made it through those years when the other 5 were so little. But we did and here we are. And we survived. Now that Zac is on the go constantly and hurting himself almost constantly I feel like I'm going back in time. He is napping right now and all the others are at school and I am LOVING the peace in the house. oh sacred naptime. Just hearing the rain outside and myself breathing. so peaceful. Lately I feel like I just can't keep up with life, but it's quiet moments like these that allow me time to ponder and realize that it all is worth it and that it really is so much fun to raise a family despite all the messes and noise and challenges that kids come with.

Science Man

We had the annual science fair at school this week and Ethan earned a 2nd place for 5th grade. His project was pretty quick (we did it in one day - he really didn't want to do one and it wasn't required for 5th grade, but we "made" him do one anyway) And it turned out really cool. My idea for the project won out. I have always loved rainbows and thought it would be fun to learn about how they work. Shawn wanted to see if video games make you dumber or smarter or no effect. I convinced him that you can't get accurate results about that in one day. AND everyone knows that video games make you dumber anyway -lol. I love writing lol. It makes me lol! I feel very computer savvy when I write that. Anyway, Ethan did great. Got some pretty pictures too! Love the rainbows Ethan!