The hills are alive

Went to aspen this weekend. Hiked maroon bells and took the gondola at aspen resort. Spent a lot of time chasing gray. And our room smelled of Bryn's stinky feet but it was a fun trip. 2 more weeks of fall break. 

You cut me deep shrek

So gray's first words were dad and dog. But it broke my heart a little that he didn't say mom until he was 18 months. He could say truck, vroom, chick, out (his favorite word) and bailey before he said mom. It kinda cut me deep. 

Three long weeks

Fall break lasts 3 weeks. They were melting down today and ifs only the first. Ack. 

Some infinities are bigger than other infinities

Watching the fault in our stars with Lauren. We also played truth or dare as a family tonight. We all have pen mustaches that may not come off before church tomorrow. 

Little gray

Mom i go fast I race. 

The beginning of the end

I'm currently waiting for the girls to get out of school. Then tomorrow will kick off our 3 week fall break. There will most definitely be tears by the end of the break. I don't know if all of us will survive. First we were going to go to cal then Utah now nowhere. I've got to figure out what we are going to do on our unplanned stay cation. Pray for my sanity. 

Waiting is the worst

Aaron had his interview for the mini vp at redbull last Friday. We should know this week if he got it. If he doesn't get it, he needs to find a new job by jan 1 cuz his current job will go away. I hate waiting. Brutal. 

Harry!

Just watched the order of the Phoenix with bryn. Finally someone likes Harry potter. It has been crazy frustrating to have kids who refuse to read these books. Now off to bed. 

bubble bubble bubble guppie guppie guppie

It has been a nuts day. It's one of those days that I got a ton of stuff done but it doesn't seem like I did anything. And then sweet little Bryn bawled her eyes out after school because she didn't get the job she wanted for an upcoming field trip where they live and work in this mock town. She wanted to be a doctor and instead she is the hospital accountant. She was devastated. I haven't heard her cry like that in a long time. Maybe she needs more sleep?

Ava is the perfectly middle kid; for the most part, she keeps out of trouble but then avoids doing pretty much everything I ask. Pulling her teeth would be easier than getting her to clean her room, do her chores and don't even get me started on homework. But she was a great playmate for Gray today which helped a ton.

Morgan is still working to get off the naughty list. She faked that she couldn't read at school. So they put her in a special reading group with the special reading teacher. Seriously. I was so mad at first and thought good, now you'll learn what happens when you fake it. So she has way more homework for reading but now it is backfiring because they won't let her read books that are at her real level. I keep calling them and emailing them to send home harder books. And they recognize she can read but they want her to read independently. I'm not quite sure what that means because I just sit next to her as she reads the whole book without help. I don't know if she is pulling stuff at school but the specials teachers over there assess weird. They did this to Ava last year, same story, she needs help. But then Ava was one of the best readers in her class by the end of the year.

Gray is my buddy. He loves to ride his bike and play with trucks and watch bubble guppies. He has to sleep with three blankets at night and calls them "bits." Every morning, we walk/jog the neighborhood after we get the kids out the door for school. He rides in the stroller and eats icees. He loves to bounce on the tramp and play with bailey. And he's not the most stable kid, he falls a lot. Makes Bryn look good actually. He's already had staples to the back of his head and he's got a nice harry potter scar on his forehead.

Lauren is coming into her own. 7th grade has been a ton of hormones and drama. And yet still no period. A new girl moved into our ward and Lore was great about be-friending her--she's even in our carpool to school. But now she's really getting to know Madison and the girl is a major flirt. This is throwing off Lore's game. Lore likes boys but does not go out of her way to stalk/talk to them like madison. So we have a ton of drama because of it. It also doesn't help that the deacon Lore likes is hot for Madison. This has been a new parenting drama for me because I probably relate more to Madison, I was definitely a flirt in 7th grade, but I also don't want my innocent little Lore to grow up as fast as I did.

Too tight Too tight

It is no secret that Morgan and Bryn do not like to wear socks. Possibly because we wear flips all summer and are barefoot at home. So wearing socks and closed-toe shoes to school is a major issue in our house.

Since school started, Morgan has thrown raging (like crazy who are you rage) fits about not wearing her sneakers (that she picked out at the store). She claims they are "too tight." But when she can kick them off her feet while they are double knotted, I know this to be a bogus claim. Because of the fits, Mo has become our house elf. I counted up to a hundred chores before she finished her last fit and now she is working off her debt to society. She is also officially on Santa's naughty list. She has four months to get off. Since being put on the naughty list, the fits have ended. It also helped that she had to wear her shoes all day (even to bed) for 20 days. She likes her shoes now but still hates socks...

This leads to my Bryn story. Bryn is ten and in the fifth grade. So you would think she would be used to socks, but she's not. She hates them but she also knows throwing a fit gets you no where in this house. She went the sneaky route instead. For the past few weeks, her feet and new shoes have been getting quite pungent. Burns the nostrils. Aaron and I were baffled because she puts on a clean pair of socks every day. Does she just have crazy stinky feet? Was she wearing the same socks again? We couldn't figure it out...until last week, when Aaron noticed that Bryn had been cutting off the bottoms of her socks (so her feet could be free inside her shoes) and tucking her refurbished ankle-warmers into her shoes to make it look like regular socks. Scoundrel. She's now on the hook for buying new socks. And I have to do a sock check every morning.

kids, man.

How do you like me now, chinstrap?

So I'm doing a challenge with my sisters that requires me to journal everyday. This means I'm about to be extremely chatty over the next 8 weeks. Cheers to christy. 

Being that I've had blog fatigue for a while, I have a lot of stuff to share. Get ready for a ton of backstory (so that I don't forget some of the crazy that is my life). 

But this is is for tonight since I'm writing from my phone in the car in the high school parking lot while my kids are at swim team. 

Journal for today: check. I'm going to win the money.