My little Cheerleader

I know that this is very overdue, but I finally got some pictures of Alia cheering.  She had her last game on Saturday.  Unfortunately, it was the only game all season that they cheered at that the NM team lost.  There are 4 teams that they take turns cheering for.  It has been nice because they always cheer at the home field.  She had a great season and loved it.  I'm really proud of her for doing something so "out there" and not only sticking with it but really excelling at it.  I tried multiple times to include some video, but I can't seem to get it to post, so pictures will have to do!

The race pictures are here

Here are the picture from the 5k/1k race that we did.  Conner and Ann-Elise ran in the kids 1k race and Mike, his buddy Peter, and I all ran in the 5k.  However, I thought I'd spare everyone and didn't buy the picture of me!

!

The Fall - And not the season!

We've already had quite a week.  On Monday, as we were waiting for the preschool bus at the corner, Adrie fell and hit her ear on the stop sign pole.  She hit right on the tip.  You know that part that HURTS and BRUISES???  Ya, that part.  She decided that she still wanted to take the bus to school, even though she was crying.  I thought she was being quite a trooper.  As soon as I got home I called her teacher and told her what had happened so if they needed me to come get her, they had my number.  She made it through the day, no problem.

Then yesterday about 20 minutes before we were to go to the bus stop, she was running up the stairs.  The same stairs that she has run up a million times.  Well, this time her foot slipped and she went down.  Hard.  I was sitting close by and figured out what happened as soon as I heard it.  She was crying and I, being the wonderful mom that I am, very calmly told her to come over to me.  Well, as soon as she turned to me I saw the mouthful of blood.  Great.  That got me up!  I went over to her and picked her up.  We went to the kitchen and grabbed a paper towel.  In the mouth it went.  I just needed the bleeding to slow down enough so I could see what the damage was.  HUGE hole in her lip.  Huge.  It was about the size of a pencil eraser.  Gross!  Her teeth had cut through her lower lip almost through to

 the facial skin on the outside.  It was so deep that you could actually see the teeth imprint and bruise on the OUTSIDE!  She also had a rug burn on her chin.  Poor thing!

I called the advise nurse, just to make sure that my initial diagnosis was accurate (nothing can be done.  We don't stitch the inside of the mouth...).  Yep.  I must have done this before because I was right!  So I kept her home from school and gave her some tylenol.  That seemed to help the pain.  She is such an amazing sport.  She very rarely will complain!  Here are some pics.  The first one was about an hour after it happened yesterday.  Pretty fat lip!  The rest are from today. Sorry my camera is so bad.  Maybe for Christmas I'll have to get a new one (hint hint Michael!)

And actually today, the outer part that was just bruised yesterday is scabby and crusty so I'm thinking that it did cut through the whole lip.  Yuck!!!

A beauty

So, I just finished my "quirks" post and thought that I HAVE to post this picture of Adrie. She is such a little dolly! I took her to her tumbling class last Saturday and Brenda, you'll be happy to know that I even took my camera!!! Because of the light in the gym, only 1 picture turned out well, but it was perfect!

Becki's Quirks

Well I've been tagged twice now to list 6 of my Quirks. So, I suppose you are all dying to know what they are. So, here goes...

1) When I travel, I'm compulsive about having a clean hotel room or condo. Seriously. EVERYTHING has to be put away. No living out of suitcases for us! Kitchen has to be spotless and every dish done. Funny thing is that my own house is NEVER clean. Doesn't matter how hard I try, the kids mess it up faster than I can clean it, so at this point, I've pretty much just given up.

2) As much as I complain about all my kids clothes, I can't stop buying them more. I HATE the laundry, but I love to get cute/cool stuff for them!

3) I'm obsessive with my computer. If I sit for a minute, I want my laptop to check my email accounts and the few sites that I visit regularly.

4) Can't sleep in an unmade bed. Ok, I stole this one from Mary, but it applies to me too! Even if it's midnight, I need to make my bed before I can sleep in it. Luckily I think this has rubbed off on Mike and if he goes to bed before me, he'll do it for me!

5)I obsess about 1 thing. It doesn't really matter what it is at the moment, but it's all consuming. It could be a new craft, a book, an activity or, one of the worst, planning a vacation. Oh man, that one's a nightmare. Making sure everything is going to be perfect! It's all I can focus on.

6) When I fold laundry, it has to be on my bed. And the bed HAS to be made (of course). The funny thing is that if I don't feel like making my bed, the laundry will wait.

I know that there are many more things I could add to the list, but we'll just call it good at these!

Thanks to Brenda and Mary for "motivating" me to do this one!

A day in the sun

So, after our fun day with my niece, Chayli, our family headed out to a local farm for their annual fall festival.  I think that one of the great things about living in a rural area is the great fresh farm foods and fun!  I took the kids to this farm last year and let them run a muck.  They have been begging for the past month to go again.  So, with all of the amazing sunshine yesterday, we headed out.  Mike even came home from work early so we could go as soon as Conner got home from school.  As soon as we got there and we all got our tickets, we were off to the fun stuff.  The kids wanted to go through the kids maze first.  That was fun.  It was really nice to see all the kids getting along and taking turns helping (and actually enjoying) the littler girls.  After the kids maze we headed to the dark maze.  Oh my goodness.  Talk about insane!  I think we spend 40 minutes in there, in the dark, and it's HOT!  After finding 20 different ways to get to the same spot in the maze (and NOT the exit) we decided to come back out the way we came in.  That was a bit discouraging, and Conner was NOT wanting to give up, but alas, there was much to do and we were running out of time.  Next we were off to the obstacle course.  Again, the kids were amazing.  Totally cute.  Next was the corn maze.  We walked in and decided that we weren't up to another maze and backed back out.  Mike took the kids to play in the big pirate ship made out of hay while I headed into the store to buy some apples.  After buying about 30 pounds of them, I headed back out to the family.  As soon as the kids saw me coming, they stopped what they were doing and came over to help load everything in the Suburban.  How cool was that?  No one complained about wanting to stay.  It was awesome.  It was a fun day and I really enjoyed spending the time with everyone.  Once again, I'm sure they'll be anxiously awaiting next years trip!

Enjoying a cousin

My sister went out of town and left her daughter (2.5) with my parents.  Because my sister lives in Bend, my girls don't get to spend a ton of time with their girl cousin very often.  But because she was close, my parents brought her out to our house to play today.  We decided to take all the girls to McDonald's for lunch.  All of my girls were home today because of an inservice day.  It was so cute to watch the girls giggle and laugh.  And the older girls were so sweet with the younger ones.  I forgot my camera (what's new?) but snapped a couple (really bad) pics from my phone.

One Word

*Use the first letter of your last name to answer each of the following with ONE word...*they have to be real places,  names, things... nothing made up!  Try to use different answers if the person in front of you had the same 1st initial.

1.  What is your last name?............................Lader

2.  4 letter word................................................Lips

3.  Vehicle.........................................................Lexus

4.  City/Neighborhood..................................Laurelhurst

5.  Boy Name..................................................Liam

6.  Girl Name..................................................Leise

7.  Occupation.................................................Lawyer

8.  Something you wear...............................Lingerie

9.  Food.............................................................Lasagna

10.  Found in a bathroom..............................Lysol

11.  Reason for being late..............................Listening

12.  Something you shout.............................LISTEN!!!

13.  Animal........................................................Liger

14.  Body Part...................................................Legs

Race Day

On Saturday we took the younger girls to my friend Mary's house (thanks Mary!!!) and Alia had to cheer at a game.  Mike, Conner, Analyse and I all went out to Gresham (like the new spelling?  I'm tired of her being called Ann, so we're going to try it for a while...).  It was a FREEZING cold morning!  We had all preregistered, so we just had to get our numbers.  They also outfitted us with some "cool" running gloves.  The grown ups got white ones and the kids got some stretchy blue ones.  Time to go line up for the kids 1k race.  Conner was in top form.  He did a little warm up run with dad and got set to go.  Leise (or would it be Lyse?) was a little more reserved, as was her mom who was running with her!  We got set to go.  Conner worked his way up to the front line.  Analyse and I hung out towards the middle.  We weren't in any hurry!  After a little pep talk from the race organizer, the kids were off.  Conner was off like a bolt of lightning.  You have to give it to that kids.  He's FAST!  Analyse was more reserved.  In fact, about 5 steps into the race she was in tears and ready to quit.  She doesn't do so well when it's something that is new to her.  And especially if it's something that she feels pressure to finish (umm, like a RACE!  Hadn't really thought that one through!).  I just grabbed her hand and we ran together.  She was really wanting to quit.  But me, being the good mother that I am, wouldn't let her.  I didn't care if her side had a cramp.  She was going to finish!  Conner passed up before we even hit the halfway mark!  I actually think Mike was having a hard time keeping up with him!  Anyway, as we turned the last corner, Analyse was ready to sprint.  She let go of my hand and ran as fast as she could to the finish.  I think she finished in about 8 minutes.  We caught up with Conner.  Little man was first!!!  He finished in about 4 minutes.  That was cool.  Both the kids were enjoying themselves now that their part was over!  But we were on the the big people next!

The 15k races started 10 minutes ahead of the 5k racers.  It was still pretty cold, but we shed our outer layers to get ready for the run.  The first racers were off.  Now countdown for the rest of us.  Mike and his buddy Peter were close to the start line.  I, however, was towards the back.  No point making the fast people run around me more than they needed to!  Whistle blew and we were off.  It was a nice course.  Mike and Peter passed me on a little out and back that they had at the start of the course.  They were at a pretty good pace.  I knew that they'd finish well.  I however, was passed by the oldest guy running and then later in the course an old lady WALKING with a CANE!  Seriously!  She smoked me.  Oh.  Did I mention that I was RUNNING???  Now that's a good one!  I did see Mike and Peter again as they were coming around, almost done.  As I was coming to the end, I saw Conner and Analyse waving to me.  They wanted to finish the run with me.  That wasn't nearly as much fun as I thought it would be.  They never stopped talking or asking questions.  Oh, now I remember why I like to run.  The silence!!!  I finally finished.  I ran 14:40 miles.  UGH!  But I didn't really train so, I was willing to take my time!  Mike however, finished 3rd in his age group and his buddy Peter finished 2nd in his.  By then the sun had decided to come out and we were able to enjoy the beautiful day.  We had to stick around for the awards for the guys to get their ribbons.  They also had a raffle and Conner won an Adidas basketball jersey and Analyse won a shoe wallet.  Now it's time to get ready for the next race.  November 15th we'll be doing a 10k.  Guess I'd better actually train for that one!!!

Where does the time go?

So, here I sit.  Quiet.  Ahhh, now that's something I could get used to!  If it wasn't for the annoying sounds of Nemo in the background all would be well!  Anyway, I just can't believe how quick time is flying by!  It seems that I just posted something and it's already been a week.

I keep thinking that as soon as something "exciting" happens, I'll post about it, but nothing "exciting" seems to happen around here!

So, let's see...

Conner got his first progress report from his new school.  He did really well.  Out of 10 grades, he had 5 A's, 3 B's, 1 C and 1 D.  The C and D are in heath and reading.  Reading has been a huge struggle for him forever.  Not surprisingly the Health class requires a lot for reading and then testing on what you read.  So in my mind they kinda go together!  We were very impressed with the work that he's doing.  There is definitely some room for improvement, but for the most part, we were thrilled with how well he's getting along.

Alia is still knee deep in Cheer.  And she LOVES it.  I am so impressed with how dedicated she is.  And she's GOOD!  I mean REALLY good!  Makes me (the old cheerleading captain) very proud!  She ended up not cheering at the game last Saturday due to standing water in the "cheer" section of the field.  Lucky us!  I really didn't want to be out in the pouring rain anyway!

Ann-Elise is amazing.  She is a fabulous student.  Really!  Every subject.  It amazes me how easily everything comes to her and just how well she's able to do in all subjects.  I feel very distanced from her again this year as I have yet to spend any time in her classroom.  I should probably try to fix that...  But I do enjoy those 2 hours a week that I have of quiet time.  I don't know if I want to give those up for some time with 25 7-8 year olds!

I'm not sure how Adrie survived prior to preschool.  That kid LIVES for getting on the bus to go to school.  This week we've added an even more exciting element to school.  HOT LUNCH!  Oh yes.  Not just pb&j from home anymore!  But real food too.  She loves to come home and talk about all of her friends and is just in love with both her teacher and her aid.  What a little dolly.  She is getting so big.  It amazes me how quick they grow!

Caile hasn't been feeling well the past 2 days.  That makes life pretty difficult for me.  She's already a hard kid, but add a fever and not wanting to be put down on top of it and it's horrible!  I'm not sure wh

at's wrong with her, but hopefully it will be short lived.  Other than that, it's been fun taking her out for outings while Adrie is in school in the afternoons.  In fact today she became very upset with me after I put Adrie on the bus and told her that we didn't have to go anywhere today.  She was pretty adamant that we go SOMEWHERE!  I'll have to plan more fun things to do with her while it's just the 2 of us!

Mike and I have a 5k run that we're doing on Saturday.  I haven't been very good at running lately so Mike made me go out on Monday with him.  I'm STILL sore!  But I need it for Saturday, so I'll be out there again tonight trying to better my time.  I'm excited about this run.  It should be fun.  They also have a 1k kids run that both Conner and Ann-Elise are signed up for.  Alia's cheering, so she's off the hook.  Still not sure what I'm going to do with the ba

bies, but I'm sure I'll figure that out before Saturday (well, one can hope!  Any volunteers?)  Conner's pretty excited about the run.  I think he'll do pretty well.  He's quite a quick runner.  Hopefully the short distance will be good for him.  He has asthma, so long distances are pretty hard for him.  But this should be just fine...

I also started making cute little hair clips for the girls.  I love them.  The girls seem to like them too.  They are

 really easy to make and pretty quick.  It also helps when the older girls get excited because 

I can use them to help! 

Oh, and on a purely fun note.  Mike and I are headed to Tampa for 5 days next month.  I booked the airfare last week and just finished by booking the hotel today.  YEAH.  It's really going to happen!  A funny story:  Mike is going for a business conference.  Therefore, his company is paying for the hotel the first 3 nights that we're there.  It's actually a really nice hotel (too rich for my blood!  When we have to pay, we'll be moving to another, not so nice hotel!).  Last Wednesday night I was online showing Conner the hotel.  Looking at the pictures.  Drooling over the really nice beds and awesome view.  Then I sent him to bed and headed upstairs to check out one of my favorite shows "Ghost Hunters" on SciFi.  I'm not paying a whole lot of attention because I brought up my laptop to do some more research.  On one of the rare moments when I was actually watching, they gave the name of the hotel in Florida that they were going to be checking out.  For ghosts.  Real ghosts.  Guess what?  It's the same hotel that Mike and I are going to be staying at.  The really nice one that his company is paying for.  And they found PARANORMAL activity.  Oh my.  Now let's add to my fun vacation the GHOSTS that live in the hotel too.  So, this should be a fun trip!   I'll let you know how that goes when I get back!

A fun day with friends

Today was school picture day for Ann-Elise and Adrie.  Seeing as how Adrie doesn't go to school until the afternoon, I had time to get her all dolled up.  Ann-Elise is, as always, gorgeous, so I wasn't too concerned about her pics.  However, Adrie has freaky hair, so I asked my friend Mary to do her hair this morning.  So, after the older girls headed off to school, I loaded up the younger 2 and we went to visit Mary and 2 of her kids, Jeb and Kaze.  Jeb is about 9 months older than Adrie and they have VERY similar temperments.  They are crazy monkeys!  And they LOVE each other.  And now that I think about it, even though Jeb is older, I think they'll be in the same year of school.  That's cool!  Anyway, after Mary did Adrie's hair and her and I visited for a while, I took the girls home.  But while we were visiting, she told me that I should bring Caile back in the afternoon so she could play while I had a dentist appointment.  Never one to turn down free babysitting, I took her up on the offer.  So, we got Adrie on the bus and then headed back to Mary's.  Jebby (as the girls call him) was so excited to see Caile to play with her, so I jump at the opportunity to head out the door.  After my dental appointment and running some errands, I picked her back up.  Mary had to be at Activity Day Girls at 4 and she didn't have a sitter so I told her to bring over the 3 of her kids that she had at that time.  So, I had Kaze (almost 1), Jeb (almost 4) and Seth (6ish).  Oh my goodness.  What fun my kids had!  Adrie and Jeb were jumping off the walls (literally!)  Conner was LOVING having 2 little boys to play with.  Seriously, I don't think I have ever seen him so patient and considerate with ANYONE like he was the Jeb and especially Seth.  Too cute!  Ann-Elise and her buddy Brooke were enjoying keeping Kaze entertained.  The boys spent a lot of time flying a kite.  Then it was more fun to take the broken one and just glide it back and forth for a while.  Anyway, here are some super cute pics of the kids while they were playing!

Adrie and Jeb just chillin'.

Big hug

Group hug!  I love Jeb's expression here!

 

Seth with the "glider"

Conner playing with Seth

Alia striking a pose

 

Janey.  As adorable as her mom!