World class gymnasts

It was parent's day at gymnastics last Thursday. That just means it is the end of this session, so the parents get to come watch that day. So I finally brought my camera along to catch the girls in action. Hayden is in a class with 3-5 yr. olds. It is small but a little more chaotic becuase they are still trying to figure out that whole listening thing. Taylor and Payton have class after school with 5-8 yr. olds. It is a huge class this session but they still have enjoyed it.

Each class they spend time warming up and working on handstands. Then they rotate between bars, trampoline, mini-trampoline, and floor. They all really enjoy the trampoline. There are different routines for each level. It is always an exciting day when someone moves up to the next level. Taylor and Payton also enjoy the stretching at the end, because they can almost do the splits all they way. The classes aren't rigorous but it sure is an outlet for all their energy.

Thou shalt not steal

Everybody knows that Hayden enjoys getting into her sisters' things while they are at school. And last Tuesday was no different. I hear this strange shaking noise coming from Taylor's room and this is what I found:

Not only was she trying to get gum from Taylor's gumball machine, she was breaking into it to get a penny out to use. And as usual, when she got caught, she went on her merry way like nothing ever happened.

Ever have one of those days...

...when you can't wait for bedtime. I have -- a time or two, or a thousand. Well that was me, several nights ago. I had rushed to get the girls from gymnastics, finish making dinner, help the girls with their homework, then feed the hungry clan so I could meet Tammy at the park. After a sweaty 5.7 miles, I head home, jump in the shower, and get the girls ready for bed. I could hardly make it up the stairs, and all I wanted was to rush this bedtime extravaganza along. It usually involves prayers, a song, and tucking in for each girl. But I was all about skipping the songs for that night. But Hayden begged me for just one song. And also, could I rock her while I sing to her instead of just kneeling by her bed. So, as the phrase "man, I am nice" runs through my head, I haul my 45lb. "baby" into my lap in the rocking chair in her room. She asks for a primary song, then another. I was too tired to get up so I agreed. She wanted to hear "I Love to See the Temple." So I start singing, and she joins in. Then from the other rooms I hear the other girls singing along. It was beautiful. I was tempted to stop singing so I could just hear them. But, I knew if I stopped, they would stop, so I kept on. It was the best 2 minutes of my day. It was one of those moments, when you feel so blessed to be a mom of such great kids. A true tender mercy, for a tired mom.

Here we go again

I know it has been a while since I blogged, but better late, than even later, right? Things are pretty much business as usual around here. School, carpool, laundry, dishes, more laundry, more dishes, cleaning up toys, homework, gymnastics, church, meetings, giving Hayden my undivided attention all day every day, and spending a little quality time together as a family.

Nothing terribly interesting has been going on, so I'll post some pictures I have.

We spent one night a couple of weeks ago playing Apples to Apples Jr. These kinds of games are so much more fun now that Taylor and Payton read well. Anyway, here are the pictures with a little explanation.


Payton was pleading her case for "underwear" being a good match for "flat."

Hayden is pleading her case for "snowflake" being the best match for "flat."

Hayden trying hard not to pout one of the times her card isn't picked. Because guess what whining and pouting gets you when we are playing a game. That's right, a one-way ticket to bed.

Taylor just gives me here best smile anytime I turn the camera on her. I

As usual, Bryan willingly plays along.

I don't remember what day this was, but it must have been a Friday night because the girls are wearing their tiger t-shirts. What a great date-night activity. I am sure Bryan and I played our own game after the girls went to bed...Phase 10. That is usually how we chill in the evenings. I swear, we know how to have a good time.

Aren't they the best?

After we got home from Math Night, I sent the girls upstairs to brush their teeth and get in bed. I told them I would be up in five minutes to tuck them in. This is what I found:
They were all in their jammies, with their teeth brushed, and in bed. Hayden was reading Hop on Pop, Taylor was playing with her doll, and Payton was laying there patiently waiting. I love these girls.

Observation of the day

Hayden: Mom, my crocs and my apple are the same color!

After eating her apple, she told me her teeth hurt. I look in her mouth and see that her bottom two teeth are loose. She is obviously really excited. I told her I was worried that between the 12 teeth Taylor has lost and the 8 teeth Patyon has lost, I don't think the tooth fairy will have any money left for her. But she told me it was okay because the tooth fairy has 152,000 dollars.

I sure am going to miss her next year when she is in Kindergarten.

Speaking of losing teeth, Payton lost her 8th one at school yesterday. She put her little tooth in her tooth box last night and prayed that the tooth fairy would bring her at least $1 because that is all she still needs to be able to buy the baton and pom-pom set at Red Balloon. Well at 4:45 this morning I hear some commotion upstairs, and I run up to make sure everything is OK. Payton was wide awake sitting on her bed counting her money. Her prayers had been answered. The tooth fairy came and now she had more than enough money. I, of course, turned off the light, pointed at the clock and told her to go back to sleep. The best part of this story is that she couldn't go back to sleep in her bed, so she had to get in my bed, where Hayden already had been since 4:00 when Bryan left. So much for me getting back to sleep.

Math Night

We spent the evening at the school for Math Night. Here are a few pictures from the festivities. It wasn't too crowded so we got to do most of the activities on 1st and 2nd grade halls. At each activity, they give you a little take-home packet so you can also play the games at home. All of the halls had an estimation game along with the other activities and Taylor won 2nd place for estimating how many cubes were in the jar on 1st grade hall. She won the book she is holding in the last picture. It was a nice evening that ended with us running by Kidz Klozet for me to pick up my unsold items and my check. It was a whopping $82 baby!!!! That will almost make up for what I spent at Sams yesterday, or Target on Saturday, or Wal-mart today. Man, that money is long gone already.

This game is "Make a 10." It's like memory but instead of matching numbers you are trying to find two numbers that add up to 10. Considering Hayden didn't quite get it, this lasted way longer than necessary.


On this game you predict which picture the spinner will land on the most then spin a bunch of times and tally the results to see if you are correct.

Same kind of "guess where the spinner will land" game.

This game had something to do with rolling dice, adding up the numbers, figuring out how many minutes past the hour it would be on a clock, etc. I'm not exactly sure because Bryan helped Taylor with this one.

The kids had a good time. As much as they enjoyed the games, I think they really enjoy seeing all their friends and teachers outside of the classroom.

Don't you hate it when...

...you have to take down the fort so the kids can go to bed? These pictures are from Sunday night. They love to build a fort and the weekends are usually when they have enough time to build one and play in it before tearing it down for bedtime.

On a side note:

Hayden made this delicious jelly sandwich for me on Sunday night while I was uploading the videos of the girls singing. She didn't want me to be too hungry. Isn't she sweet?

How about a game of tag

I see these tags on other blogs all the time, so I thought it would be fun to start one. Here are the rules:

1. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
2. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
3. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

So here we go:

1. I L-O-V-E the smell of Pine-sol.
2. I eat M&Ms in groups of 4 or 5. Not too few, not too many.
3. I don't trust the new 2x laundry detergent so I always add a little extra for good measure.
4. I like to browse the non-fiction books at the library and check out random books. (Want to know about IRAs, the guy that regained his sight after a lifetime of blindness, or what Ann Coulter thinks about Hillary Clinton?)
5. I think seatbelt laws for adults are dumb. If you don't want to buckle up, you are not hurting anyone but yourself.
6. Water is usually my drink of choice.
7. I am freakishly strong.

I am tagging Lynne, Stacey, Mom, Dianne, Liberty, and Brooke (Hey Brooke, thanks for the comments. I will be e-mailing you soon.) I didn't link your blogs here because that is too complicated for me. I don't think anyone else reads this blog. But, if you do, you are tagged too.

The next American Idols

I was talking to Lynne on the phone this evening and Hayden was walking around singing "Oops... I did it again." How does she know that song, you ask? Here is the link. Who knew that a little harmless fun on Barbie.com would turn my girls into wannabe rockstars. Anyway, I asked her if she would sing it on the phone for Lynne, but she said no. So I asked her if I could put a video of her singing on the blog and she agreed. Hayden immediately got Taylor and Payton involved and they orchestrated this little number. They even picked out their own "costumes." I am glad they decided to put clothes on because two of them were running around in only their panties. What do you expect in a house full of girls?

*Be sure to pause the music at the bottom of the page so you can hear the rockin' vocals on the video*

They decided to also do "What I Like About You." (another favorite from Barbie.com)

Here are also a couple of pictures of how Hayden and I spend our day while the girls are at school. She loves to play games. We spend lots of time playing checkers, Connect 4, Dora dominos, Trouble, Cariboo, Dora Memory, and Webkinz. I hope her Kindergarten teacher will play games all day with her next year or we are going to have a problem.

Hey Hayden, take off you jacket and stay awhile.

I usually can't get her to wear a jacket, but on this day, I couldn't get her to take it off.