Checking In

We are on Day 3 of our Disney World trip and having a blast. On our first day here we ate at a place called Chef Mickeys as a character meal. Thomas was actual glowing the entire night. I guess we didn't realize before how much he liked Mickey Mouse. He was saying the cutest things and having so much fun with the characters. They were having so much fun with him, too. Every picture from our group had Thomas in it staring up at the character even if he wasn't supposed to be in the picture. It was too cute. Then he just blurted out "Mom, I just LOVE them!" What a sweetie pie. I'm so glad I got most of it on the camera.

On Tuesday we went to Magic Kingdom and yesterday we went to Hollywood Studios. Today we are going to Animal Kingdom and then tomorrow we will be going to Magic Kingdom again and hitting all the rides that we missed the first day. The kids are having a blast!

It's too quiet!!

I have never been in my house without all my children being here. It's kind of weird. I have a lot of thoughts today so I am going to write down as many as I can. I am taking my SIL's 31 for 21 challenge and going to try to write in my blog every day in the month of October.

Thought number one. I have had only two children this weekend and it has been a piece of cake. It has been quiet and easy to maintain. No fights to break up, no children back talking, no homework, etc. I remember back to when I was a mom to just my first 2 children. I thought it was very tough. My life seemed so busy with the demands of motherhood and being a good wife. Now that I have older children I realize that I had it easier back then and didn't even know it. I wonder if I will look back on this time of chaos and say the same thing. I had it easy back then. I hope not because my life is certainly not easy right now. It's usually very LOUD at my house. It has been nice having a quiet home but I really miss my oldest kids and my husband.

Okay, I'm going to go to bed now so I will continue my thoughts tomorrow. I need to get some sleep so I can get back to normal. I've been under the weather all weekend.

My Babies are in Utah!

Here is a pic I took this morning at 4:45 am right before they were leaving with Bryan to fly to Utah. Andrew had a fever so it was really hard sending him off when he wasn't feeling well. I offered to have him stay home but he just wanted to take medicine so he could go see Grandma and Grandpa Cardon.

My little sweetheart!

Bayden had been playing in the playroom for the past hour with no complaints at all.  I've been sitting in my stamp room next door working on some projects when I decided that it was probably time for him to come out of there.  This is what I found......

We mean business

This is the new lock that Bryan put on our pantry door. Yes, our kids are not perfect and get into things. This is one of the ways we are trying to "help" them.

It's a new day!!

There are so many things that I want to blog about but I just can't get it into one thought. This has been a pretty good week. I have had many personal experiences that have made me a better person, too. I am so happy to be here on earth at this time. It is amazing to me to see everything that is happening to the economy and in the world in general. I am grateful to have the gospel in my life. I'm grateful that I can only be ME!! That's right....... I'm just Robyn. I am not anyone else, and I embrace that. I am no longer going to compare myself or judge others for their choices. I can only love them, and be who I am!

This week I have had a chance to really sit down and study Preach My Gospel. In our stake we were asked to do all the study sections by the end of December. I'm really enjoying it. I kind of feel like a missionary! I know, I know..... every member is a missionary. I don't know if it is because of this new study tool for me or because I've been praying for missionary experiences but they have been happening.

I'll tell you about one that I had last Tuesday. It's actually a really good one. It's funny how Heavenly Father answers our prayers. Sometimes it comes with a dose of humble pie. :)

I was driving Madelyn to her piano lessons, which happen to be in our neighborhood, when I spotted a garage sale going on with an outside toy I've been looking for!  I made a mental note to stop on the way home and check it out.  Well, after I picked up Madelyn from practice I stopped by as planned. I walked up their driveway when a little boy came out to greet me.  I told him "hi".  I then saw they had a cute dog in a kennel thing, and I asked the older lady standing there if their dog was for sale.  She gave me a strange look and said "no".  I just laughed and continued to rummage through their things and walked over to the outside car toy that I wanted.  I put my hand on the top and said in my best "make a deal" voice ...... "How much you want for it??"  She looked at me strangely again and said "I don't know, let me ask my daughter".  A girl about my age then came out of the garage and the older lady asked her if she was planning on selling that toy.  Then it dawned on me and I said, with my head hung down, "this isn't a garage sale, is it???"  They both looked at me and said "no".  I was soooooooooo embarrassed!!!!  I started talking to the girl and we do have some things in common so I am going to bring her some bread this week, but it is so funny how that all worked out.  

Hope you all have a great week!  We have some unexpected things coming up this week but I cannot blog about it.  It's top secret!!  Shhhhhhhhh!!  

Bryan's Lookalikes

Andrew's Lookalikes

Andrew's Lookalikes

Make Your Own Pizza

Last night our girls had some friends over to swim & play so I decided that it would be fun to have a "make your own pizza" night. This is usually a Christmas Eve Tradition but I found this GREAT recipe for pizza dough that was very quick. It turned out wonderful and tasty!!

Thanks Sarah & Gale!!

I decided to try this out after seeing it on both your blogs. Looks like I'm not that bad..... hem, hem!!

My first digital scrapbook page

Okay, it's hard to admit this but I have no idea what I am doing here!! I downloaded the free trial of PSE to see if I can actually do this. Here is my very first page. Of course, I will not have this printed or anything, it's just a test. It wasn't that hard to do the basics but I know that I have a lot more to learn. Baby steps!!

High School Musical On Ice

Yesterday a good friend and I took our girls to go see High School Musical on Ice at the State Fair.  It turned out to be a really good show.  We knew all the songs and I think I was the only one singing along.  My poor kids!  I totally embarrass them every time we go to something like this.  How did someone like me raise shy kids??  I just will never understand that one!  Anyway, here are the pics.

Under the weather!

I'm so bummed!  I was totally ready for church this morning when Thomas comes in clutching his stomach and screaming.  I ended up staying home with the little ones while friends picked up my oldest 3.  Bryan is in the Bishopric so there was no way for him to come and get the kids before church.  I'm thinking it was a good thing that I stayed home afterall because I feel really icky now, too.  I was dizzy this morning but thought it was because I actually got 8 hours of sleep for the first time.  I'm wondering now if I have a little virus.  Hope not!!!

Anyway, the boys and I are just going to have a quiet morning while we wait for the others to get home from church.  I have some things to update you all on on my blog so we will see how I feel.

Things we couldn't do......

..........in our old home!

Some of you have been to our old house and know exactly what I am talking about. Our kids could not play outside because we lived on a busy road with a very steep driveway. The children are so excited to be able to ride their bikes out front, sit on the hammock, and swim. All fun things they couldn't do before. They now prefer to spend most of their time outside after they are done with their chores, school work, and music practice. Here are a few pics.

The first day of school

I am just realizing that I never posted about my kids' first day of school. I had to drive them to the bus stop in our new neighborhood since we weren't moved into our new house yet. Here they are!

Here is our Madie going into 3rd grade.  

Here is Andrew going into 1st grade.

Katelyn was so excited to start 5th grade.

Progress!!!

Yes, it finally happened.  We closed on our new house!  I am so super excited to get everything organized and in order in my life again.  There are sooo many workers at our house right now.  There are people working on the new wood floors, people stripping the wallpaper, painters, people working in the attic, and people installing our new iron fence around our pool.  It is so good to see progress in all that needs to be done.  I picked out most of my paint colors today and can I tell you that I stressed more about that than anything I've done in awhile.  I am really good at picking colors for cards/scrapbook pages but when it comes to home decor I STINK..... and I say that with a capital S!!!  I can say that I am learning and willing to make mistakes in the process.  I picked yellow for our Master Bedroom, blue for one of the half baths, tan for Bryan's office, and pink (of course) for my stamp room.  We decided to keep the wall paper in the formal dining room.  At first look I didn't really like it but after talking to people who have taste, I realize that it really could work for us.  I'm willing to give it a shot!!

Today also was the first day of school for the kids.  I will post pics of that later.  One thing at a time.  Hope everyone is doing well!!  

I can't sleep!!

It is 2am and I am still up.  I think the weight of the world is finally coming down on my shoulders.  What have I gotten myself into??  We are closing on our new house Tuesday, moving in on the 27th, and there is still so much to do.  Everyone has asked to help but I can't think of one thing I can delegate.  I just got up out of bed and wrote a "to do" list and it was one entire page long!!!  We are putting this house on the market next week, too.  The kids start school on Wednesday and I have hardly even given that a second thought.  They are going to be in a new school making new friends.  Are they going to adjust okay?  Madie had so many friends in her current school so I hope she will quickly make new ones.  I'm glad we are making this decision while they are so young but it is still going to be a little rough on them.  

Anyway, I hope I am able to fall asleep soon.  I have sooooooo much to do in the morning.  The main one is laundry!!  Our washing machine isn't fixed yet (that's an entirely different story) so my pile is growing and growing.  They will come and fix it on Tuesday, only two weeks after we called to have it fixed.  Not complaining, just giving facts.  :)

I hope everyone has a great week.  I just cannot wait to be in our new home and settled.  What a stressful thing moving is.

Piano

Madelyn & Katelyn both started piano lesson 2 years ago when they were ages 6 & 8. They have both done very well and love to play the piano! This year Andrew is going into first grade so it is time to get him started with lessons, too, but the only problem is we can't find someone who is able to take all 3 kids at once. Hopefully we will find a teacher in our new neighborhood who can fit us in, as there are at least 6 teachers listed in our subdivision. These pictures were taken of the girls at their piano recital in the Spring.

Our little Diva!

Our little Madie is sure growing into quite the Diva!! The other day I came home with a new pair of HSM2 jammies for her and to our surprise they came with a sleeping blindfold. She couldn't wait to go to sleep and try them out. Funny thing is that sometimes Madie walks in her sleep and she came all the way down the stairs and in to my room with those still on. I guess it's not really that funny, really.

We're moving!!!

Okay, the cat is out of the bag..... we are officially moving!!  The "SOLD" sign went up this afternoon and we will be closing on August 19th.  That means that I will have a lot to do in the next 3 weeks so wish me luck.  We are only moving 5 miles from our current home but it will be new schools for all the kids.  It's going to be a big change but our family is so ready for it.  Here are some pics I took today.  

Sweet Brayden

Peach Picking

Yesterday I took 4 of the kids to a farm to pick peaches. It was very hot but we got quite a few. I have 1 1/2 bushels sitting inmy kitchen waiting to be prepared. I'm going to make some preserves tomorrow and can some of the others. Here are a few pics I took.

Jonas Brothers Concert

For Katelyn & Madelyn's birthday they both got one ticket to see the Jonas Brothers. We have all been looking forward to this concert for 3 months. Bryan and I took the girls while the boys stayed home with a sitter. Here are some of the highlights.