John's piano recital

Last night we went to a piano recital for John. He did great! We were in the car about to leave and I asked him if he had his music and he said he didn't need it because he had it memorized. For my piece of mind I made him bring it anyway, but sure enough he didn't need it. He played, March of the Clones by Bober I think. We are so impressed with his motivation to practice 40 minutes each day, he only occasionally needs some encouragement to get his practicing time in. He's come a long way and he is really playing well. What makes it really great is that he really seems to enjoy it. Grandma Gunnerson (Grandpa Gunnerson wasn't feeling well) and Grandpa Bishop (Grandma Bishop was visiting teaching) both came. It was nice to have them there. Last night was the opening football game for the BSU Broncos so anyone we had there was just a bonus. Mark was a trooper and was happy to go, he just brought the little T.V. in the van to watch on the way there and on the way home and offerred to take Seth out to the van during the recital if he got restless (we all know what he would have done in the van). Unfortunately for Mark, Seth did just fine and didn't need to be taken out. We got home during halftime though, so all was well. John, we love you and are proud of you and your talents! Keep it up!

Broken Binky!!

While the older kids are hitting milestones by starting a new school year, Seth is marking his own milestones here at home! I decided today was the day to break him of his binky habit and I snipped the nipple part off. I was putting him in the van to go visiting teaching this morning and he asked for it, so I showed it to him and told him it was "broken". He kept asking me, "binky broken?". It kind of broke my heart, but I'm trying to be strong. John and Cooper were big pacifier babies, but I took it away with both of them around 18 months, nursery time. Ella would never take a binky and sure enough found her thumb and still sucks it(at night mostly). Seth has been our most challenging baby and has just (the past six months, I'd say) mastered some important things like sleeping through the night, so I've hesitated taking away his binky until now. I guess it doesn't help that he's the baby of the family either and I don't want him to grow up so fast. I've noticed it does interfere with his talking, so I decided it should be a priority. It was a little hard getting him to fall asleep at nap time, but he did it. Wish us luck on not caving!!

Yikes, I'm 32 years old!

Thursday was my 32nd birthday! It was a wonderful day! We had a combined birthday celebration at the park earlier in the month celebrating Cooper's, John's(a bit early) and my birthdays. It was a fun evening with family from the Bishop, Gunnerson and Parker sides and my Mom and her friend Jeff. So I thought because of our earlier celebrating, my actual birthday was going to be quiet and uneventful (which I was okay with), but it turned out to be a busy and fun-filled day.

Throughout the day I enjoyed lots of phone calls with birthday wishes (one was even from Kamber in London). My mom sang to me over the phone which was great! I also received b-day wishes via the internet, I love the internet. George and RaNae were passing through Caldwell on their way back home and stopped by to say 'hi" and brought me some homemade plum jelly. It was great to see them. Later in the morning my good friend Michelle had some flowers delivered to me, some very pretty, colorful mums. That was a nice surprise.

In the afternoon Amanda came over to hang out and brought me some more lovely flowers, a yummy cake and had bought and brought over some supplies to give me a pedicure. Can you believe that? That's going above and beyond, but was a lot of fun and I now have cuter feet to show for it! It meant a lot to me that she would spend the day with me away from all of her own responsibilities.

In the evening I took Cooper to piano lessons and got to visit with one of my best friend's, Sheila, for a little while. Her son Landon teaches Cooper piano. She gave me a pumpkin spice candle and some chocolate and a cute sign that says "family" that I've hung on the wall going up our staris above the pictures of the kids. It was sweet of her. After piano, our neighbor watched the 3 older kids and Mark, Seth and I went out to eat at one of my favorite restaurants, Red Robin. Mark made my day special by bringing me home some Dove chocolate (which is another favorite of mine) and a funny card that he had all the kids sign. After dinner we stopped by Target and he chased after Seth while I looked around and spent my b-day $. I got some scented lotion and some cute notecards.

I'm not sure I deserve to feel as special as I did on my birthday! I am so grateful for my family and friends. I love them so much and they make my life meaningful and complete. Well, that's it for now. The birthday celebrating isn't quite over yet though, tomorrow Amy is taking Amanda and I to Olive Garden for lunch. I'm looking forward to it.

Back to School x 3

The biggest thing this last week has been the kids going back to school. We've spent a lot of time this summer preparing for school to start. The kids have the wonderful opportunity to attend a new charter school called Vision Charter School which just opened this year. The school's focus is Arts and Sciences. They were lucky enough to all get in for which I am grateful. It is really close to our home and they even provide bussing. We have helped this summer with getting the school ready to open. Mark has helped them move in and lay sod and I have helped with cleaning the inside of the portables and painting the skirting of the portables. The kids even have pitched in and helped too! I signed up to be on the PFA(parent/faculty association) and there are only 3 of us on it so far so we'll have to see how that goes.

We've been doing other little things all summer to prepare for school to start. The kids all had their physicals with the pediatrician this summer and had their immunizations updated. Cooper got new glasses, too. The kids have been doing workbooks all summer and reading everyday to try and keep up their skills. I hope it pays off. We've also been school supply shopping (which is expensive for 3 kids) and school clothes shopping (which is even more expensive with 3 kids in uniforms) and we've been ready to go and excited.

I'd say the first week has been successful. On Monday we had a ribbon cutting ceremony and grand opening for the school where Superintendant Tom Luna helped our principal, Mrs. Oldenkamp, cut the ribbon. Following was our Back to School night where the kids put away their school supplies and looked around their classrooms and met their teachers. Tuesday was John and Cooper's first day back and Ella and I had a little meeting with her teacher that morning. Her first day was Friday.

John is in 6th grade and his teacher is Mrs. Waffwa. He's excited becasue they offer a golf club/lessons. He has been dying to take golf lessons. He's also excited to take drama and learn Spanish. The whole school gets instruction in Spanish every day which I thought was cool. Since he's in the sixth grade he got to choose between band and orchestra and he chose to play the trumpet in band. We picked up his trumpet yesterday. After about 5 minutes Mark told him he'd have to practice from now on in the field near our house. We'll have to see how he fits it all in, piano, trumpet, scouts, etc.

Cooper is in third grade and came home the first day telling me about his new friends and how the school is so much better than he thought. He seems to like his teacher, Ms. Lords. Cooper takes piano lessons also and is just starting his first year of tackle football. We went today to pick up his helmet and pads and practice starts next week. We're excited to see him play. He also just turned 9 and earned his Wolf badge. We're proud of him and he's excited to start Bear Cub Scouts.

Our little Ella started kindergarten! I missed her a lot the first day. Kindergarten at this school is all day. She looked so cute and I was glad she had big brothers to help her on the bus, etc. She seemed to really like her first day. They talked about dogs. Her teacher is Mrs. Craker. She has a thing with not going to the bathroom when she's away from home. Last year at pre-school she never used the bathroom while there. I thought with Kindergarten being all day she'd surely get over that. When she came home I asked her if she used the bathroom while at school and sure enough she hadn't... all day!! We'll have to see how she overcomes this fear because she's bound to have to go during the day sometime this year! Ella's also starting a ballett/tap dance class with two friends from church. I'm probably more excited about this than she is.

Sethy was kind of lost with all of the kids gone, especially Ella. He really loves her. He made all kind of messes during the day for me to clean up and just kind of followed me around the house. He is starting to talk so much so that is new. He's so much fun to have in the family and makes us all laugh. He's so cute, we all just love him and wouldn't know what to do without him. Currently, he has a little obsession with helicopters.

We're official Bloggers now!

Mark has been saying for months that we needed to start a blog! I enjoy other people's blogs so much and am excited to start our own. The reason I am so excited is that it will give me a chance to do some journaling of the daily experiences and happenings (big and small) of the members of our family. I am not very good at keeping journals but seem to be pretty good at being on the computer lately, so maybe this blog will help my efforts. We'll have to see!