Our life with 7 kids: March 2014

First day of School!

Summer is over! We are so sad but happy and excited at the same time! Gone are the long days lounging in the sun, at the lake, in the pool, sleeping in, checking out beautiful Montana and long bike rides for ice cream at Sweet Peaks!

However, the new school year is also sooo exciting! New friends, new classes, new teachers, a new grade, and sometimes a new school. The kids were ready for school and I have to admit-this year I was not ready to send them! I wanted a few more weeks of them at home all day with me! We never seem to get through our list of "have to do's" and "want to do's" no matter how hard we try!

Grace was so excited for her first day of Middle School! 6th grade! Woo Hoo!!

Logan: 3rd grade

Teacher: Mrs. Preston

Lauren: 2nd grade

Teacher: Mrs. Harvey's

Claire: Preschool

Teacher: Mrs. Windauer

Random end of summer pictures

Our Garden! The kids had so much fun planting the garden and kept checking everyday to see what had grown!

The kids lived in their swimsuits!

Outdoor movies!

Grace decided she wanted to sell her electric scooter and after much debate Logan decided he wanted to save his money and buy it at the end of the summer! Grace and Logan went back and forth on the price and the terms of the contract. (Grace wanted Logan to give her all his treats for the rest of the summer-it was a no go on that one!) They finally wrote up a contract and then they both signed it.....and right after Logan decided he didn't want to save his money for the scooter because it would take way tooo long and he didn't really want it. After much discussion on how when we sign a contract we have to go by it he continued saving and said that once he bought it he was going to sell it to someone else for more money! (of course, once he got the scooter he decided he loved it and he didn't want to sell it!

Lucy's 4th birthday!

Lucy Lu! We love this girl! She is so sweet and fun. She insists that she is not the "baby" of the family and wants to be able to do everything her older siblings are doing. She loves everything Minnie Mouse, pink and having her nails done. She loves to cuddle with Daddy and wrestle with the boys!

4 things we LOVE about our Lucy girl!

1. She is the best cuddler!

2. She is ALL girl-except when it's time to wrestle!

3. She loves Minnie Mouse.

4. She is a Daddy's girl-she is his little shadow.

Claire's 5th Birthday

Crazy, awesome Claire bear! 5 years old! Can't believe so much time has passed-it has flown by! Claire is our fun, you never know what to expect kid! She is always surprising us with what she says and does. She loves to sing and will belt out into song everywhere we go! She is excited to be going to "Pre-kindergarten" with Mrs. Windauer at St. Matthew's School again. Some funny Claire Quotes: "I wish Bon Jovi was my Dad." "Mom, I have three dads; Heavenly father, Steve Dad and Paul Dad." "

5 things that we love about Claire!

1. She is spontaneous and spunky.

2. She says exactly what she is thinking.

3. She is very opinionated and really wants to have straight hair like her sisters!

4. She give the best hugs!

5. She prefers vegetables over fruit!

Lauren's 7th birthday

Lauren. She is amazing! It's hard to believe that she once was my little baby that hated her car seat and screamed bloody murder every time she was in, the baby that loved crawling after Logan and Grace because she wanted to do everything they were doing. If she felt like she was being left out she would cry and cry. She was -and still is- an amazing sleeper! I remember people wouldn't believe me when I told them she would sleep 12-14 hours a night and still take two naps a day when she was 1 years old! The girl LOVES her sleep! Lauren is such a happy joyful fun girl to have around! She is so happy and always is content to do anything. She loves to ski, play outside, play house, help me cook, read, swim, and hang out with Grace. Grace got her own room this summer and Lauren misses her desperately and is often found sleeping on the floor of Grace's new room. She is a AWESOME big sister to Claire and Lucy and is so helpful and patient with them.

The 7th birthday is a HUGE deal at our house because that's when we get our ears pierced. Lauren has been waiting for this day and was VERY excited! She decided on the day of her birthday she wanted to go and get her Texas doughnut (HUGE DOUGHNUT), go to Big Mountain with mom and try out the Aerial adventure park, eat lunch and then on the Claire's boutique to get her ears pierced! In hindsight, we should have done the earrings first because she was so excited for them that she raced through all of the other activities so she could get to the earrings!