I want to buy this vehicle so much!

drrrrooooooling!

Their favorite job!

Ballet Camp for Courtney

I'm not a big fan of encouraging ballet for my girls...it's not the worst extracurricular,  but there are far better out there.

However,  our local studio does little 3-day camps during the year that we love!
Courtney got to do this one with her sweet tiny bestie, Milana. 

Out of my children's mouths lately

" I'm the best dancer because Jesus made me that way. He just chose  me to be the best dancer with great moves "--Bennett 

" I want a bumper sticker on our car that says, "I really love traffic! Just kidding, I'm trying to be positive."--"Brianna

"Mommy do you love aliens? You DO love aliens!"--Charity

"If we are the sheep and Jesus is the Shepherd, then why don't we say baaaah?" --Bennett 

"How do I thank Santa?.... (whispers) but I know i should actually just thank YOU!!" --Brianna

Lunchtime conversation: "Charity, do you think you're hungry enough to eat that whole bowl?"

"Mommy NO, we don't eat bowls, that's yucky."

"I want to go on Amazon and search for men's wedding rings" --Brianna

"Jonah built a whale!!" --Bennett

"Charity, chill out. Pain is a normal part of life. It's part of the plan." -- Courtney

" daddy, if you tell a child to do something you have to follow through! ....man, I'm going to be such a great mom ." --Brianna 

"I like to put my arms in the air and shout HOSANNA!" --Bennett 

"Brianna is murmuring...like Laman and Lemuel...." --Courtney 

"Oh mommy, my apologies"--Charity M

"Where's Daddy? I love that man." -Brianna

"We're not allowed to try and get dead to go say hi to Jesus"--Bennett 

"Courtney was born first because I'm a GENTLEMAN! Say thank you."

"If grapes didnt exist,  raisins wouldn't exist!" --Courtney 

"If I had to name the person that I love the most in the world, it would be everybody." -- Courtney

"Gabe is my friend even though he's the only kid taller than me. He's even a black skins!"

"Mommy, I'm actually faster than you."- Charity

Daddy to Charity: "Dancing time! Let's see your moves!" Charity: "I don't have boobs!"

Cute presents from Nonny from Paris!

My babies missed their Nonny sooooo much! I didn't even realize how much until she returned and they swarmed her! They wanted to go to her house immediately! And not just for the presents ;) They really sincerely just wanted to BE with her. Charity sat on her lap happily the ENTIRE Sacrament meeting on Sunday. She rarely does that for anyone. These were very cute thoughtful gifts she brought back for them from France. She also visited Scotland, London, and a few other places I think. I'm not personally too eager to visit Europe again. Too expensive and crowded and transportation is tricky... and expensive. We did our Denmark trip in '07 and I did France in '05 for World XC Championships. I feel like I got to see a lot. BTDT. But I'm so glad my mom got to have this adventure!

Waiting weights

Brianna has the option of hanging out in the childcare as a "helper" while I workout,  or she can just stay close to me and read or do her Summer Study.

She chose the latter, but spent her time making a little tower out of the free weights :)

Trying to fiiiind meeee....!

Identifying Icecream

We had a bunch of blackberries to use up, so we Vitamixed them with vanilla ice cream. Courtney insisted on making a label for the ice cream so no one would think it was Vanilla when it's actually Blackberry :-) The way she spelled Blackberry is so adorable, I hate to correct her....

Girls Camp day 1!

Made for my niece with love

Curly 😍💖

Brianna-Mommy time

She LOVES playing with my hair while I read to her!

She insisted on reading "sweet books."  That means stuff from the likes of Max Lucado, ie: "You are Special."  Such a great message! 

I love that Brianna is really FEELING it. I hope she always does, and we always remain this close.

Brainy Bennett

He begs for educational activities everyday. Not exaggerating or joking or even bragging. I'm in awe of it. And very supportive of course :)

Today he learned how to look words up in a dictionary and read the definitions! He loved it! 

Overheard just now:

Lily: "which twin was born first?"
Bennett: "Courtney was, because I'm a gentleman."

"WHAT, we're School Shopping already...?!!"

Raspberry picking at Papa's!

every moment

She starts each night in her own bed (sharing a room with Brianna, she loves it) but sometime during the early morning hours almost always finds her way into mine. And I love it. I'm sure someday I'll miss having my squishy baby next to me  (she's already a couple years past the time where most would consider her a baby....) so I'm enjoying it while I can! I love her sweet sweet peaceful expression and huge smile when she wakes up and crawls all over me. Or occasionally scoots away to the other side, it's funny!

I'm so grateful to my Heavenly Father for entrusting me with this angelic little one.

Patriotic Charity!

Tubing with my baby

I don't love this picture of me, but I looooove the memory of the event, so it makes the blog!

Neighborhood Parade

4th

Just a few images from our fantastic trip to Endicott for their awesome small-town (but BIG fireworks!) celebration.
Totally worth the 2 hr drive. 

Hours of outdoor swimming, games, treats, more games, more swimming, playground, live band, dancing to the music, juggling entertainer....  we love this place on the 4th!!
So glad Aunt Jenny gets us in every year :)

5 of my mom's 8 children were all there! That's pretty cool!

I got to hang out a lot with Kiya. I adore that sweet girl! She's just so pleasant to be around. No drama, no sass, kind and thoughtful... I hope I get that lucky in the teenage department when we get to that stage!

REALLY loving the temple

You know you're a big fan of the temple when you tell your kids to Dab in front of it... :) Brian took them all to go see a sweet fireside featuring Claire Crosby, an adorable 4 yr old YouTube star. It was at the Stake Center next to the temple. Meredith and Lily went too. And what did I do? Seeeeeriously enjoyed the 3 hours of nonkid time at home, and got the house cleaned up! Win-win, everyone happy!

Spending summer evenings right

Brian got home from work and was immediately pounced on by 2 eager little bike riders. They made it all the way to the Colbert Store (6 miles roundtrip!) and bought icecream cones. 

Bethany's 5th

It's pretty neat to be able to send my kids out the door to walk over to their cousin's birthday party!

No Yokeing

I became in charge of dessert for an impromptu family dinner party, so I took advantage of the fact that this is the time of year where bringing a bunch of popsicles as the dessert is perfectly acceptable. However that meant managing 4 squirrels at Yokes....for a "quick trip" (kinda impossible, since they MUST hit the deli for the free cheese stick, bakery for free cookie, and produce dept for free piece of fruit). All while each pushing  their own individual mini cart.

It's ok. I've accepted that we just make a scene wherever we go. 

Tae Kwon Do tips

Bennett earned some "tips" (colored tape) for doing great sparring today and board breaking!

Dollar Store outing

Somehow my children - Brianna especially - were convinced that there is a magical place called the dollar store and life wouldn't be complete until they got to go. So finally I gave in and took them. It happened to be one of the items on our Summer Service calendar anyway - "buy a gift for a neighbor from the dollar store to brighten their day" - so we got some cute pink ribbon/cancer/cure stuff (stickers, glitter tattoos) to make cards for our neighbor Mary who has cancer.

Aaaaand the kids all got to choose one thing, since they earned a dollar from Nonny the night before when she paid them to go dance with the dinosaur at the Endicott festival. 

Bennett was sooooo sweet - he used his dollar to get a gift for Charity!

Shopping with these 4 little people is a little chaotic. But fun to see them get SO excited over something as simple as a  dollar store trip :)

Bennett fidget spinning

Patriotic-but-not-obnoxiously-so

SistaTwins

😍😍😍😍😍  

crafty