Dancing Queen

Our little dancing queen had her very first dance recital and did great! She loved getting all dressed up, having everyone come to watch "her" and all the applause. Chad and I were beaming we were so proud of our little cutie:)They boys were hootin' and hollering for their sister the whole time and Celeste was such a little trooper, but zonked out before Carissa got on stage. I did get one blurry video, and fortunately all the dances were videoed and parents could get a copy for like $1 so we got a few of those and Grandma and Jodi took pictures as well so I think we are covered.

Brilliant Boys:)

We had parent teacher conferences this past week and we were blown away by the reports!! Our boys were referred to as “BRILLIANT”!!!! They are both doing so well and we could not be more excited. They are both proficient in all areas. C.J. is reading at a level 15 and excelling in math as well. Quinn knew all his sight words and is reading at such a high level that he will be in his own reading group!! Carissa and Celeste are adjusting to daycare wonderfully, it is so nice to have a little break in the middle of the day to go visit them. Work is going well and I am enjoying seeing my boys in the morning at school. Next week I will be working with a student in Quinn’s class and will be able to go to his classroom as well as specials (P.E., Music, etc.....):) It will be fun to be with him.

Party Time

The kids all had their Halloween Parties today so Celeste and I spent our afternoon running from party to party. We dropped Princess Carissa off at her party and then headed over to the boys' school for the Halloween Parade with Chad. After the boys paraded across the stage we helped set things up for CJ's party. CJ's teacher asked if I could get things organized for their class party so I called my friend Aubrey because her little girl is in CJ's class and pawned it off on her (thanks for ALL your help:) We then went to check Quinn's party out.
After the boys parties we went back over to spend a little time with Carissa at her party. They all had so much fun, we are so lucky our kids have such great teachers who take the time to do such fun things for our little ones.


Last night we had a chance to celebrate Mom's birthday with dinner and cake and ice cream out at our house. We had fun getting all together and celebrating our wonderful mom:)

After the party I asked my mom to help me finish up costumes for the kids' Halloween parties the next day (thanks soooo much for the help, they were so excited to see their costumes when they woke up this morning, especially Sonic. He ran around like a crazy man:)

Pumpkin Time

Last night for FHE we carved Jack O' Lanterns. The kids drew the faces they wanted carved out on their pumpkins they picked, I cut the tops off and we let them go at it for awhile until they were up to their elbows in pumpkin goo..............., then Chad and I finished them off for them.Very messy but very fun! After we had all the goop out of the pumpkins I sent them upstairs for a bath while I finished carving the pumpkins and put candles inside (fastest bath ever I might add:). Then they got a treat of popcorn and peanut M&ms to enjoy while they sat around with their pumpkins all lit up. I am not sure how out and about we are going to be this year for all the Halloween activities going on with all the sickness going around (we are trying to stay away from it), but we are planning on the trunk-or-treat on Sat. for sure and the normal stops of grandma and grandpa's and aunt Jodi's. The kids all have their Halloween parties at their schools on Friday as well, so I am sure they will get plenty of treats.

BIG Changes

We have some big changes coming up in our lives......... I have been working on my Elementary Ed, degree for the past 18 months and I am set to graduate and begin my student teaching program in Aug. I was then going to start subbing to kind of get my foot in the door until a full time position opened up that I could apply for. We have been praying and working to be able to do what was best for our family. A couple of weeks ago there was an advertisement for a paraprofessional job for a Special Ed. Aide at the Elementary and Middle School, Chad and I talked about it and decided this would be a great in, where I could get to know the students, the staff and how the system works. I would also be able to do my observations and go right into my student teaching from there. I decided to apply and ended up getting the position. Things are happening a little sooner that I had originally anticipated when I went back to school, but when opportunities are placed in front of us I feel it is important to take them.
I found an amazing lady who has recently moved to Lovell and opened an in-home day care right around the corner from the school. She is a member of the Church and is great, I have taken the girls over a couple times already to familiarize them with the whole concept, Carissa really enjoys going and is already asking to go back and play. I was hoping the school would just let me take Celeste to work with me in a back pack if I promised she would be really good, but no go;) I am awaiting my background check to go through before I officially start so I have a little time to wean myself from my little girlies:( I am excited to be able to be around my boys and dad during the day though, that will really help.

Conversations:)

Yesterday as I was driving around running kids to activities and other errands we had the following conversations:)......
Q: Hey mom, someone kicked me today at recess:(
Me: What did you do?
Q: Um, kick him back..... hard.
Before I could say good job, don't start fights, but finish them;) CJ jumped in.....
CJ: QUINN!!!, what have I always told you and told you, don't be mean back! IGNORE, WALK AWAY or TALK IT OUT!!! How could you?!?!?....
Q: Sorry, I didn't know those were the rules.

Oops, guess I didn't know the rules either:)

The next conversation we lead into was:

CJ: Mom, today in the lunch line some girls kept tickling the back of my neck and I did NOT like it!!!
Me: What did you do?
CJ: I asked them very nicely to please stop.
Me: Did they stop?
CJ: NO! They just started giggling and doing it again......
Me: Well, girls are kind of silly. When they like you sometimes they do silly things to get your attention.
CJ: Well, that is NOT the way to get me to like them!!!

Kiddo Update

CJ came home from school today very excited. He told me that he ran for student council and that he was nominated!! He told me that his teacher asked the class who would like run for class representative, she wrote the names of all the kids who raised their hand. Then everyone was to put their head on their desk and close their eyes and raise their hand for the person they wanted to vote for when she called out their name. He also got his name on the 100s board today (thank you grandpa), they are working on the streets around the school and they have orange cones set up to keep students away from construction, some were knocked down and CJ went and picked them all up to keep the kids safe;)

Quinn is loving kindergarten and is getting into the swing of things, he works really hard to keep his green ticket, if he keeps his green ticket all week he gets to pick a prize from the treasure box.

Carissa had picture day today at school and was so excited to get all dressed up for the occasion. She is loving school!

Celeste had her 4 month check-up and shots on Tuesday, she weighed in at 19lbs13oz. she is off the charts and still growing, she is such a little chunk! I LOVE kissing her chubby little cheeks all day:X

CJ a.k.a Chad

This was just too cute not to document. As most of you know CJ’s full name is Chad Kevin Lindsay Jr. There is another little boy CJ’s age also named CJ, this has proven to be a little confusing in the past when they have been in the same class. He would be CJ L. and the other little boy was CJ P. The last time they were in the same class was pre-school, this year they are in the same class again and his teacher was asking him how they would know which one she was talking to and asked if he wanted to be CJ L. He thought about it for a min. and then decided he wanted to be Chad. She told me that night at parent night what he had decided and said she asked him 3xs if he was sure he wanted to be Chad. He assured her he did and so he has been Chad at school this year. It still throws me off a little when one of his teachers or classmates refer to him as Chad or when he brings his papers home and it says Chad at the top. Too funny, he told me he would be CJ next year if CJ P. wasn’t in his class.

Carissa's 1st Day(s)

Carissa had her 1st day of dance lessons on Wed. and she was so excited to get all dressed up to go dance:) She is our little dancing queen and loves to shake her little bootie any time she gets the chance. She loved that there were mirrors covering the walls and she could watch herself twirling and dancing the whole time.

Today was Carissa's first day of pre-school. She has been so excited and very anxious since the boys started a couple weeks ago. She looked so big in her new school clothes with her little back pack. Chad came home from work to see her off and brought a surprise, a Hannah Montana notebook, she was pretty excited! When she got to school she found where she was to hang up her back pack and then she found her buddy Braxton and was all set. She had such a fun day and can't wait to go back Monday:) Three in school, wow;)

Labor Day Weekend Fun

The kids were pretty excited to find a flag in the front yard this morning, they recited the Pledge of Allegiance and sang The Star Spangled Banner, it was pretty cute:)

We had such a busy, fun weekend. My cousin Jessie and her hubby Aaron met us Friday night at Tyler’s football game (which they won, yay Tyler!) Then the next morning we headed out to the overlook, from there went on to the wild horse range to see if we could find any Big Horn Sheep and Wild Horses.........no sheep, but we found a few horses cooling off in the shade. We ended up at horseshoe bend to let the kids swim and cool off and play for a while. We then headed home to get ready to go to the mountain, we spent Sat. evening at 5 Springs and roasted hotdogs and made s’mores:) We hung out with Chad’s family Sunday night for dinner, Tammy and the kids were in town for the weekend so it was fun to see them. CJ has had a lose tooth for a couple weeks, his first, it has been hanging by a thread and it literally fell out of his mouth last night while he was sleeping. Luckily he found it this morning, so we put it in a safe place to save it for the tooth fairy tonight. He is hoping for $100 dollar bill to help towards his computer fund, but ah hopfully he will settle for a $1 bill.

Overlook

Wild Horses cooling off in the shade

Kids coolong off in the water at Horseshoe Bend

CJ's new smile

Aaron hanging out with Celeste and Liss hangin with Edward;)

Big Boys off to school:)

Wow, my two big boys were off to school this morning and they couldn't get out the door fast enough:) (Of course my camera was dead so I had to use my phone) Quinn has been waiting so long to ride the bus and go to school with CJ and CJ was more than happy to show him the ropes. I am so glad they are best buddies and can look out for each other. CJ has his back to school night tonight, Caissa has an open house tomorrow for Pre-school and then Quinn has his back to school night on Thursday.....First week back and already my calendar is full, we wouldn't have it any other way.

9 years and still going strong

"As you sit side by side through this roller coaster of life remember to scream from the peaks, hold hands through the dips, laugh through the loops and enjoy every twist and turn. The ride is much better when you share it together."

Chad and I at 6 flags in St. Louis on our 1 year anniversary:)
Yesterday was Chad and I's 9 year anniversary:) The past nine years have had there ups and downs that comes with work, school, and 4 beautiful kids. It's hard to take time to be together. With kids starting soccer practice in the mix yesterday we got home a little late and didn't have a chance to do anything special, but we wouldn't trade our busy lives with our kiddos for the world. I am looking forward to another year together and more time to spend together. With all the ups and downs life truly is a roller coaster and it's been a great ride that I never want to end...................

Kids+Mud=FUN!!

One busy evening as I was trying to get some homework done and Chad was busy as well, we noticed we were strangely uninterrupted for a long time and the kids were a little too quiet. I went outside to check on them and I found them standing knee high in mud. My first reaction was “what a mess!!!!!”, but then I thought “ya know they are having fun and being good, why not?” So we let them have at it while we finished up. I then started them a bath and had them strip down outside and one by one I handed them to their dad to go and put in the tub.
The bottom of my tub was caked with mud after the bath, but they had a good time and they clean up so well:)

Party and Parade:)

Friday was Grandpa Anderson’s 85th birthday; we had a barbeque for him over in Uncle Danny’s garden. It was fun trying to sneak pictures of grandma and grandpa (thank goodness for zoom lenses, lol:) Aunt Kelly and little Michael came to join the party; it was good to see them.

The next morning we took the kids to the Cowley parade since we missed the others this summer. Carissa had fun shakin her bootie, and they all got more than enough candy:)