The Settles' Visit!!!

Christine, Megan, Alyssa, and Madi (missed you, Brittany!) were able to come visit last weekend after Megan graduated from BYU (Go, Meg!!!). We only had them for about 48 hours total, but we sure fit a lot of fun into that small amount of time. Megan made Sydney say "Hey, Chow-da" about 100 times...all the girls had fun meeting Jake, we played Nerf dart tag and Guitar Hero, made more chocolate lava cakes, and fit in a lunch date and a little shopping. It was super-fun to have them all here and made me even more excited for our Woodman reunion in December.
Say cheese!!!

Madi, Ryan, and Sydney took turns showing off their amazing trampoline stunts. Madi did an unbelievable split jump, Ryan did his signature back flip, and Sydney a top-notch front flip. Sydney SOOO enjoyed having Madi (and the other girls, for that matter) here! She was finally in the majority as a girl, something she never gets to experience. :)

Of course, Ryan had to show everyone his stellar Guitar Hero abilities. Everyone wanted a turn to try and keep up with him, but really, no one stood a chance. That boy is freakin' amazing when it comes to that game! I love the picture of little Jake already trying his hand at the guitar.

Megan, Brandon, and Sydney played Nerf dart tag for forever...I think Megan mostly just got a kick out of Sydney wearing those safety glasses. It was pretty funny! She seemed to go instantly cross-eyed when she put them on.

I'm so glad they could all come...we don't get visitors from Florida very often (ever)! Thanks to all you guys for a super-fun weekend!!!

Back to School

Well, the kids started school last week...phew! The last month or so has been crazy around here with our Disney trip (I'll get around to blogging about that now that school is back in session) and all our family visitors (also more blogging to come). I'm looking forward to a more structured schedule and some time to myself (with Jake, of course...).

Brandon and Ryan each started school on Wednesday. Ryan is in 4th grade and his teacher is Miss Schofield. This is the first year that he won't have an older brother at the elementary school with him. He had a great first day and seems to be liking school so far. Brandon is in sixth grade, which means he has moved to middle school, also known as junior high (how old am I?!?). I think I was more nervous about it than he was, but he loved it! He forgot his ID card on the first day and was freaking out a little, but everything worked out and Mom eventually got him his card. He likes most of his teachers and doesn't mind the uniform code too bad. He just wishes he didn't have to tuck in his shirt!

Sydney started kindergarten on Thursday. She was SOOO excited! She is in the same class as her two little neighbor friends, so she is thrilled about that! Her teacher is Mrs. Browning and she loves her! This year her school has changed the kindergarten schedule. Instead of going every day for half of the day, she will go on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and every other Monday for the whole day. On her first day, I went and ate breakfast at the school with her, per her request. It was fun to watch her excitement! Then I dropped her off and drove away... Once she got home that afternoon, I asked her how her day was, and she said she liked everything except recess. What?!? She said it was too hot and she wanted to go inside, but all she could do to cool off was to sit in the shade. Never in a million years would I have thought that her least favorite thing on her first day of school would be recess! Oh, the irony!

I'm so happy they are back in school and things can get back to normal around here. I have high hopes of catching up on my scrap booking (I'm only 2 years behind...) and getting a lot of other things done. Just 5 more years and Jake can go to school!

Lizzy Fun Day Part 2

So I said the best was yet to come, and I wasn't kidding. Here we our with our amazing chocolate lava cakes. They were amazingly delicious!!! It took a couple of test runs to get the timing just right, but it was worth the effort!! Happiness and harmony is all I can say. :)

Lizzy Fun Day

Today was Lizzy Fun Day! Me, my sister Liz, and my mom took a few hours (without the kids) and had a fun day. We went to CostCo to get some pictures of Lizzy's graduation developed, had lunch at Olive Garden, and spent some time at Bed, Bath, and Beyond, where we spent some quality time in the massage chairs, although not quite enough time, since some other ladies were like, "Can we have a turn on those chairs?" Seriously, it was Lizzy Fun Day--no, you can't sit in these chairs. At least, that's what I wanted to say, but we were nice and gave up our chairs instead...whatever!!

It has been so fun to have them here for a few weeks. I'm glad we got some fun pictures today of the festivities. And the best is yet to come: chocolate lava cake after dinner tonight...woot woot!!!

Sydney Grace is 5 today!!!!!

My baby girl is 5 today! She was up early, of course, and opened all her presents before her brothers were even awake! She's been coloring her new Tinkerbell posters and is already wearing her new Hello Kitty shirt and sunglasses. :)

I'm so glad to have my one girl, and I'm grateful more every day that I only have one...she's a little firecracker! She has enough attitude for several girls! Since she was a baby, though, she has been (at least in my opinion) STUNNING and she keeps getting more beautiful all the time. I'm so not looking forward to the time when boys start noticing her, as I'm sure they will...

She has such a sweet spirit when she wants to. She loves to help with the baby and in the kitchen, and her favorite time of the day is when I crawl in bed with her and we read her bedtime story. She really is a joy, and I'm so glad to have her in our family. She definitely keeps life interesting. I think I'll really miss her when she starts kindergarten next month. Love you, Syd!!!!!

Sydney's Brithday Party

Well, today Sydney had her very first birthday party. We don't let our kids have a lot of parties. Mostly we're just lazy--it's a lot of work. Plus, we don't want them getting too spoiled. But this year Sydney has been to a lot of her friends' parties, so she really wanted one. She wanted to invite a few boys, so we couldn't do anything super-girly. We came up with a water theme. We had a slip-n-slide, water balloons, water games, and we put the sprinkler under the trampoline. Good thing, too, because it was over 100 degrees today!

Her actual birthday isn't until Monday, so she only got one present from us today since it went with the water theme. Here she is with her new flower sprinkler. It sprays in all different directions.

I let Sydney plan all the details--she colored and wrote on the invitations, she picked the lunch menu (chicken nuggets, watermelon, carrots, and chips), and she picked the theme. I'm usually not good at letting go of control like that, so I was proud of myself!

She just keeps on getting darker and darker. It's so not fair! I told Tim it's really pathetic, but I'm so jealous of her tan! Something I never have had and never will have... How cute is that face though?!?

She really wanted cupcakes instead of a cake. Easy enough!Present time! She got so many fun things. Thanks, everyone!
We played a game where the kids were on teams and they had to soak a sponge with water, hold it over their head, then run across the lawn and squeeze it into a bucket. The boys won that game, but the girls won the next one. She had a really fun time and I'm glad it's over. :)

Unbelieveable!!

Last night Tim's dad called and said he needed some help with the horses. He wanted to move ours (Lady) to another pasture with their Shetland pony. So we went over there and they got them moved O.K. We all were sitting in the yard talking when Tim saw Lady run through a hot wire fence in the pasture that was blocking a ditch full of water. She then tripped really badly (at running speed) and pretty much did a somersault and landed on her head/neck. She ended up in the ditch.

Tim had started running to her when she ran through the fence, but by the time he got to her and I caught up with him, I heard him say, "She's gone." I couldn't believe it! One minute she was running through the pasture and the next minute she was dead...it was crazy! The poor kids were all with us and Sydney was so sad. It was a rough visit to Grandma's...

Apparently, Tim is pretty sure Lady must have broken her neck and died instantly when she fell--nothing we could do. It all happened SO fast. The only good thing is that she died so quickly and painlessly. I guess that would be the best way to go, with no suffering.

So now I'm sure we'll be in the market for a new horse for hunting. CRAZY DAY!!! It still seems like a wild dream today, but I know it really happened. Sad.

We'll miss you, Miss Lady.