Pumpkin' painting

Hayley was excited to show me her pumpkin that they painted in class this week.  We are getting Fall Fever (pumpkins, hayrides, apple cider, Carmel apples, crisp mornings, fallen leaves, reds and browns) BAD since the weather has been wonderful!!  She was so proud of how colorful hers was (thanks Mrs. Knapp for creating my little artist) hardly and orange spots left! It was perfect size for her!

Flash Cards

OK, so I am the flash card queen you name it we have them: color, shapes, letters, addition, subtraction, multiplication, sight words, are just a  few that I have done with the kids. They love doing them so much (totally serious--no sarcasm, honestly) that the other day Hayley made her own and brought them to me to "quiz her!"  They are random words she had chosen from in her room that she thought were flash card worthy. She cracks me up on a daily basis--just hope I can keep up with her as she gets older.

Mommy Night Out

Saturday night we had a Mommy Play date at none other then "The Cheesecake Factory!" It seems like all the time we are planning play dates for our kiddos and never really get a chance to have some much needed Mommy time, so we fixed that. Rules for our evening were as follows: No fast food, No time limit, No kids and No highchairs. Simple and easy to follow.  Dinner was wonderful and we had a great time having actual conversations filled with lots of laughter. I am blessed to have such an awesome group of friends. Looking forward to our next night out!

Only a preggers lady (Manda) would come to Cheesecake Factory and order a cheeseburger and fries..guess that's what Colin Tate wanted!

Manda let me get in lots of belly rubs

(she is SO tiny...due in 6 weeks)

Picture Day

The kids looked super cute on picture day so I snapped a quick one while waiting for the bus. I am taking

the kids over fall break to get their pictures done simply because I hate school pictures--always over priced, never enough for our mammoth size family and I am never satisfied with them. Can't believe how much older the kids are looking, they are growing up too fast!

Bad Mommy

I  lost my "Mother of the Year" award on Friday. Got a phone call at 4:05 from school saying that the kids were in the front office waiting to be picked up (school dismisses at 3:45). I told the kids to ride the bus home today but forgot to send a note stating the transportation change (usually are car riders on Friday), there for they waited in the car rider line.  I immediately left the house and headed to town to get them--going 85 (speed limit is 55) thank you Jesus no cops around and arrived at school in 15 minutes (usually takes 25-30) to find my kids out front in Mrs. Martins car having a grand ole time!! After fighting between the teachers, Mrs. Martin, Mrs. Sienicki and Ms. Heiss over who was going to bring them to "The Mitchell Lane"--Mrs. Martin won. Guess it pays off to have friends in the school system once again--thanks Kristen, I owe you big time!
*This is the first time ever that the kids had been "forgotten" at school*
 

Pictures from Dad

Dad sent me some pictures today that he had taken at school last week during Grandparents Day.

Samantha and Hayley

Hayley and Bonnie

Hayley

Samantha, Hayley, Bonnie

Study Island

Hunter receive his very first Study Island award (mastering 3rd grade Number Properties and Operations Math Skills) for this school year today. I am so proud of him and all his hard work he has been doing.  Keep it up buddy.

PJ's?

This is what Hayley had put on for bed the other night:

bikini bottoms, long sleeve Halloween tshirt and Ug house boots!! I could barely quit laughing long enough to take a picture. There is never a dull moment at our house, even at bedtime!!

Mid-terms

 Seems like yesterday we were starting school and now its already time for Midterm reports, crazy!! I can't even begin to tell you what a great year we have had thus far (knock on wood):

Hayley has made the transition to first grade wonderfully and has become  more self sufficient as far as her medicines and lunch routine goes. She (well, we both) was very spoiled by Mrs. Forberger, so I was concerned, but thankfully that was for no reason. I have gotten many complements and notes from all her teachers that she is one smart and polite cookie. Guess all her beatings are paying off! Her mid-term report was all EP (Excellent Progress) in all areas: Reading, Spelling, Written Language, Math, Social Studies and Science. She continues to get 100's on her Spelling and AR test!! Mrs. Goodlett also made the comment that she is an "Awesome student! Very hard working, helpful and hard working"

Hunter is loving school and has learned so much, I tell you he is a human sponge! I can't believe how different it is from last year. Thankfully he had a wonderful teacher (Mrs. Sienicki) who pushed him above and beyond which prepared his for this year.  Mrs. Buynak is his homeroom teacher, Mrs. Catlett is his math teacher and Ms. Tanner is his writing/grammar. I can't believe that he is big enough to be in third grade, let alone be switching classes! He has gotten all 100's on his spelling test, and is the only student to pass the fast fact test in Math for addition and subtraction! He is working on multiplication now--poor Mrs. Catlett!! His mid term report was as follows: 100 % in reading, science, social studies, writing, art, music and PE, 99% in Math (he is tore up over this!!)  I am so proud of him and his hard work, lets just hope he keeps it up for 9 more years!!

Grandparents Day

Friday was Grandparents Day at school and the kids were super excited to be able to eat lunch with their special  guest. Thanks to Ma, Pa, Pop, and Grandpa Fisher for taking time out of their day to share this special day with them.  The kids are truly blessed to have such awesome grandparents and great grandparents in their lives. WE LOVE YOU!!

4 under 3?

That's right, I had 4 kiddos under 3 on Friday and we had big time fun. Most people, including Brian, say that I am crazy for keeping all these kids, but it didn't bother me one bit. I had told Diana that I would watch Lana and Nathan while they painted so that they could move. We weren't in the house 10 minutes and toys were strung from here to there and the laughter was non stop.  I love getting to play with these kiddos, I can  spoil them rotten and send them home-I am getting SO good at this, guess it just means that we need more nieces and nephews-(HINT, HINT Amy, Erin, and Angela)

I was cracking up because Lana loves to play cars, no babies for her!

 

After lunch we played outside for a while, Lana LOVES to jump on the trampoline. Nathan on the other hand took some warming up to the idea, but he loved it. He kept clapping his hands and bouncing on his bottom.

 

You have to look real hard, but Lana's hair is all staticy, she thought it was funny!

We took a rest from all the jumping and headed to the swing set and bikes

Nathan was so content and relaxed he was ready to doze off, all that playing made for a tired boy.

 Lana wanted me to paint her finger nails to match Hayley's while Nathan was napping.

Lori had called to see if she could bring the kids over for a while so that she could run some errands. Clayton and Lana have became good buddies from hanging out at Team Kids and our play dates. It was SO cute to see the smile on both of their faces when they saw each other. Better watch out when they get older!!

Oh. my. goodness. The laughter, shrieks, and squeals that came while playing were never ending. I am so glad that the all the kids had so much fun playing together. Who knew that hot wheels entertain kids for hours upon end.

*Just a side note: we do have other toys, but for some reason all the kids want the hot wheels.

Nathan was in awe watching everyone play.

 

I had to laugh, Clayton went to get the baby stroller out of Hayley's room (he says that is his bulldozer, complete with sound) and wanted me to put Leah in it, so I did!  She is getting to be a chunk! Don't worry, I DIDN'T let him push her around, although he wanted to take her for a walk!

I do have to say that aside from all the craziness of changing diapers, bottles, filling sippy cups and snacks, it was such a fun day. I hated that my kids were at school, they would of loved to be in the middle of all the fun. Thanks for letting all of your kids come and play with me, its keeping me young!

Leah Beth's first day

Today was Leah's first day with Clayton and I, we had a busy day filled with lots of fun. I am so glad that things went smoothly, I was worried about Clayton since he is used to not having to share me with anyone but Brian and most days and he is asleep a lot of the time. Don't know why I was so worried, he did wonderful and is such a good big brother and helper!! The biggest concern for him was how are we going to feed cows with the baby??? He is truly a farmer in the making and takes after his Daddy and Brian.

Once we got the kids on the bus, (Yes all 5 of us :Hunter, Hayley, Clayton, Leah and I, were waiting at the top of the drive this morning for the bus) we came in and had breakfast like usual and it just happened that it was Leah's feeding time too--so far both are on the same eating schedule--BONUS!!! I fed Leah in the kitchen so that Clayton and I could talk about what we wanted to do today and he could tell me all I needed to know about Leah Beth, and let me tell you he told me EVERYTHING I will ever need to know about "his baby".   It melted my heart!!

We played cars with Leah,

and on Leah,

As we were taking our daily walk it was so precious to hear Clayton telling her about all the trees, cows, hay, pond,bugs, birds, flowers, and caboose.

We walked to the end of the road  to see the lake (Taylorsville),

and climb on trees.

No walk would be complete without a (water) gun to shoot deer and turkey's and a cell phone to call Daddy and David when we get the big one!!

 sang songs,

read books,

counted her toes,

just for the record: LORI painted her toes...NOT ME!!

measured their feet,

changed diapers,

Clayton was so "cited" to have the job of wipes and taking the diapers to the trash!! I am blessed with such a good helper.

 

fed the baby (again)

 burped the baby,

This is Clayton's blanket (he called it his baby when he was little) that I had in the pack and play. He wanted to give it to his sister so that she could take her naps like he did when he was little....again my heart melted as I wiped away a tear from my eye.

took naps,

(again on the same schedule!)

 and got snuggle time in,

 Brian and Clayton walked to the end of the drive to meet the bus (I was feeding Leah)  and once the kids hit the door, it was a mad dash to see who could get their hands on Leah first!!

Hayley got some kisses in too!

Hunter was amazed with how tiny her feet are!!

There was so much more that we did and moments that I wished I had taken pictures for Dan and Lori, but it wasn't possible. I know there are so many more memories, stories, and pictures to come as we continue our days together.

I am so blessed that I get to be apart of both Leah and Clayton's life. I say that Clayton is my son from another mother--I can't imagine not having him. We all miss him when on the days that he is not here and it brings tears to my eyes with the thought of him going to school!! Now we get to add sweet Leah to the mix and  the craziness of our family as we  watch  her grow as well!! It will be busy at times and I may loose my sanity, but in the long run, it will be oh so worth it!!