2 months since I have last posted!! Crazy how time flies! School has been in for 2 months. Routine is nice.  Briggs is in Mr. Howgg class grade 4 and I am so glad I requested him he is the perfect teacher for Briggs!! Nyla has Mrs. Snidal Grade 2. She is such a great teacher and really glad that she has her!! Benson is settling in nicely into Kindergarten! He has Miss Ikeda.  He is surprising me at how well he his doing. He is talking lots! He has made a new friend all on his own!! He has been there and hid friend has come here! It makes me so happy!! He is in the middle of the group as to staying on course with school work. He is printing and coloring is doing so good! We are doing lots of review for him after school! I hope that this will help to get ready for grade 1.
Hannah is loving being just with me.  She is a busy girl who LOVES to color on anything!! Herself, toys, walls, dressers!! This kid is funny. She has a spite fire personality  and can be a great cuddlier at the same time!
We have just finished football.  Briggs had a WAY better season this year! He played REALLY WELL at the start of the year but slowly stopped!! He has so much talent that boy that he is dripping with it. I wished that he would be consistant all of the time!  We have also started piano for him.  He is moving along well with that and is liking it.  He for the most part will practice willingly! Lets see if this keeps up! He loves cubs! And is super excitted to go and learn! He is also doing choir at school! A little positive peer presure goes along way. It is nice to see him finding things that he loves! I wish that he was more willing in family prayer and scripture study!
Nyla is doing ballet again and is liking it. She does it with a her friend Reese Hill.  It is nice for her to have a friend in the class. We also carpool. So nice! She is doing violin again and is doing really well. It is so nice to have music in the home!! She is helpful and kind to others. She has gotten a little bit sassy lately though!! I think it is her trying to spread her wings. Growing pains! She DOES NOT like getting up in the morning!
Benson is doing gymnastics. And for the most part he really likes it!! I think that he wishes he was playing soccer instead, but I couldnt do everything! He loved going to all the football pratices and "helping" dad coach and run around with the other kids there! HE is becoming super social it is really nice to see.
Hannah is starting to want to play with friends and love to play babies house! She is letting me do her hair, finally, and the miracle, she is keeping in it in for the most part!! She is pretty much potty trained as well!! Love it!  I however miss having a baby!! Sometimes I wished I would/could have another one! I think Trevor would die!!
Trevor has been super stressed at work. He is afraid that he is going to loose his job! I feel that he is fine.  He has had 2-3 people come looking for him and offering him jobs!! He is getting the snip tomorrow! I know in my heart that we are done having kids.  I have had 6 babies, but I love the first moments of the baby stage! They are so precious, but so much work!
We went to Emma's for Thanksgiving! It was a nice meal but I feel like we are outsiders there, No body really cares about the siblings and even more the inlaws! I feel like I am just meeting them for the first time but I have been apart of the family for 14.5 years!! Its shameful really! My ideas are always shot down and we are always really accommodating!!
We had Halloween.  The kids were super excitted about it! Briggs was a hobo that had a sign that said Will work for money (super cute) Nyla was a witch and she was super  cute! I did green makeup fo r her and she didn't like it very much, benson was spiderman. He really wanted to be Iron man abut I really didnt want to buy another superhero costume!! Hannah was a ladybug.  She was cute! We did the school carnival (Briggs had to do a game this year and he was very excitted about it.) Him and 2 firends did the game together and they made a beanbag toss game.  They were wanting to do the staris at the school to the stage but found out they couldnt have them so I went and got boxes and covered them up and they used those.) and then hannah and benson had naps and we went to the trunk or treat and then trev went with the older three with some of Briggs friends and I took hannah around the culdesac and then we handed out some candy. It was a busy day!!
I have been wanting to switch my friend group! I feel like I need more Christ centered friends! I thought that I was making progress in that area only to feel like I had been totally belittled! I try really hard to seek those who need a friend and a sense of belonging! I don't always feel like this is reciprocated! I know that there is a group of women that I would like to be a part of more that get together and weekly to discuss confrence talks. I REALLY wanted to be apart of this! My one friend was invited to be apart of this group and she invited me but was told to uninvite me! It really really hurt and still does hurt! How embarassing for me!! I was told at church and had to go home and I bawled for a couple of hours! How does one do this? Am i that bad of a person to not be included! I know that I dont have a lot of earthly goods to offer to people  but you will have my love and loyalty. This hurts just writing about it! I wasn't often left out in high school but i feel it now as an adult!  Trev and I are great people! I know that I have things that I need to work on, my patience, my thinking before I speak, and sometimes I can be conformtational. Its really hard to be kind to this person when I know what she did to me. I VTed her for 3yrs I thought that we were friends! But I feel that it is only a front. Some people can be so shallow!
Things a plugging along. I have become guarded in who I talk to and who I go out with.  We have stopped that for a while! I need to be with me and be fine with me! I do have good friends however and for that I am thankful for!
I have been working out at 5am in the morning this past

Summer Time Fun

I cannot beleive that summer timeis coming to an end!! It has gone by so fast!! It really has been a great summer!! It started with Quading out at Grandpa myrons land!! We had a great time!!! Then it was on with summer games! I was able coach Briggs soccer team with another person.  Both are kids tryed out but there was only going to be one coach! I knew that Briggs was not going to make the team he as he was only able to make it to one tryout! I really think that tryouts at 9yrs old are crazy!!! These were all good soccer players! So I stepped up to coach!! It was fun to be with Briggs. He is a great kid! THe kids played hard and did really well they came in 5th! The next event was swimming! Briggs and Nyla were both in this event. Swimming 4 times! Nyla placed 1st in 25m backstorke but was DQ at the end because she turned over to touch the wall!! Briggs made it to the finals in all of his events! He thought he lost and didnt want to swim again, but he came 2nd in 25m back stroke 4 in 50m front crawl and 5th in breast stroke!! The next day he placed 3rd in 50m back crawl!! 

Trev had YMs camp and Briggs had football/basketball camp and ended up getting stitches! 7 right above his eyebrow. His youth leader got him with his cleat when Briggs was helping deomndtrate something! We went to Calaway Park with Trev's family and had a great time!! The kids loved going there!! We were able to go out to Magrath to the slip and slide there a couple of times!! That was always a lot of fun!!! We went Rafting a couple of times with friends and Grandma Butler down the St. Mary river!! It was great!! We had a crazy Storm!! It was almost like a tornado!! IT was really scary! Our house got hail damage and it wrecked our basketball hoop and trampoline! We Went Camping with Grandma Anderson in Kalispell for a week! That was alot of fun and had great weather! We went rafting 3x once with the Walburger family, once with the Heggie family and once with Grandma and Grandpa! It was a lot of fun and we saw some pretty secenery and we even saw a bear!! This scared Benson BIG TIME! Trev went fishing while I took the kids swimming and we went shopping and to the waterslides! Such a great time!! We came home for a week went boating with some friends and the kids tried tubbing and knee boarding they had a great time! We went swimming in stirling and henderson and peoples backyard pools. We went out to Wallys beach and to some parks!! We had dentist appts, and eye appts! And then we went again to Kalispell staying in our time share! We went rafting again with all of the wilde family (Chelsie Lindsays family) it was fun to be with them. Then the next day we were invitted to go boating with Hunter and Carol Heggie and the Ormanstons were there as well.  It was so FUN!! I am thankful my kids get to spend time with these poeple to be able to do such fun things!! 

It has been nice to just be us as a family! We havent really had any playdates or alot of outings with other people. I really feel that we were able to develop so closer realtionships with our kids! Family is so important!! I love my family with all of my heart and want to be the best mom that I can be!! I have great kids!! I am really sad to have to give them back to school!! I will miss them alot!! 

Until next time Summmer!! We miss you already!!!

Coming to an end!!

The year is coming to an end!! I can not believe that my babies are growing up!! Some days its nice and some days it makes me want to cry!! Briggs just turned 9!!! That is crazy to me because where has the time gone? And I'm shocked that he has made it!! He is turning into such a fine young man!! I am so proud of him.  He had a bday party at the bike jumps!! He loved it. The boys loved and he has such a nice group of boys to play with!
We are full swing into soccer right now! We have it 4 nights a week and sometimes it is crazy!! Briggs is playing summer games!! I and another parent who neither of us know anything about soccer are coaching a time!  We signed up because we wanted our kids to play and we had a feeling that ours wouldn't of made the team! There had been to tryouts before this one was on his bday and the other was on sunday. I knew that the first coach had already made up his mind about soccer. It will be good and we just might surprise him!
Nyla is moving along well in violin. It is neat to hear her play she is doing so well.  She has come a huge way in her first year!! I hope that she keeps this up!
Benson loves soccer.  He is pretty good at but is BEST skill is that he shows good sportsmanship!! He is compassionate towards everyone! I love this boy.  He moves to kindergarten in the fall.  In some ways he is ready and in some ways he isnt ready.  It breaks my heart that he might be made fun of!
Last leaves me Hannah!! She is pure sunshine and attitude!! This week she has learned how to crawl out of her crib!! WAWA! She has cut her own hair with scissors!! She needed that incident fixed!! She has had a fair bit of potty accidents!! She has emptied a package wipes! Dumped shampoo! And crawled up into her second story window sill!!  She is feisty and lets everyone know what she wants but she is growing up so nicely!!! Her funny sayings. I wan it NOW! Ok mom! I got it! I hade it! (hate it) pretty funny!
Trev and I celebrate our 13 wedding anniversary today!! It has gone by very fast!! I love him more now then when we got married.  He is an awesome man! He is kind and patient and a great father!! I sure choose great when i married him!! Sometimes I think that I have dropped the ball for him!! I feel that I have married up when I married him!

marching along

life just keeps moving along!! We finished swim lessons and gymnastics and basketball.  But we are not done violin or dance, and we are about to start soccer in a couple of weeks!! When did life get so crazy! Dont get me wrong I love the buisness but I always thought that things would slow down once my kids were in school. Ugh!!
Trev's parents came home from there mission and it was great to see them again.  Emma was super sick and still is not recovered.  My kids are glad that she is home and are eager to spend more time with her.  They were a great example to my children.
My brother brent moved to California this month, and we miss him already.  We hope that a nice family moves into there house.
I have felt the need for some self reflction this past month.  I am not the mom or person I want or need to be.  I NEED to stop getting so angry and stop yelling at my kids more in particular Briggs  It really does impact things.  I have also started working out again. I need to get back to where I was and shed some weight/bagage along the way.
Benson is going to go to Lakeview in the fall.  I had is IPP meeting last week and they are saying that he might not get Puff because his speech is improving. I see signs that it is but I am afraid that he is going to fall into that grey area and always have to play catch up.  It worries me alot.
Briggs and Nyla both got their report cards and they were great.  They really have some great teachers working with them.

The Lesson

On Wednesday Briggs and Benson went to Declean and Hayden Courts birthday.  They had a lot of fun swimming.  On thursday morning Briggs came to me and told me that he took some of Benson's bday money, and gave me the rest back.  I was upset and a little frustrated.  ( I managed to keep my emotions in check.)  I thought that we were behind this! I sent him to his room and took some time to think and pray about what I was going to do about this situation.
I went in and saw him.  I sat down with him and asked him why he did it.  I asked him if he ever went with out anything.  I asked him if he wore nice clothes and had a nice bike and got to do fun things.  I told him that he didnt need to steal things, he already had more then enough. I reconginzed that this was   a teaching moment.  I asked him how he felt, and why he did it.  He told me that he wanted candy.  I asked if he didnt get any at the bday party.  He said he did, and he told me that he felt sad about his choice.  I asked him if he felt this way before he spent the money and he said yes.  I told him that the Holy Ghost would always let him know if he was doning something wrong, and that the Holy Ghost did warn him.  I then said were you scared to tell me. He said yes, but he knew he needed to. I told him that was the Holy Ghost telling him that he needed to repent.  I was on the verge of tears the whole time.  I told him that he said sorry but now he needed to make his wrongs right.  I asked him how that should happen.  He said that he would have to loose some of the money that he worked for by shoveling the neighbours sidewalk.  I believe that there was a lessoned learned here.
We promptly then rounded up everyones money and went to the bank!!!

Breath of fresh air!!

This past week  the kids had off of school! We went to the bike jumps on Saturday and on Monday we went to Waterton for Family Day.  We were invited by friends to hike to Forum Falls and other friends to Cameron Lake by snowshoe, and other friends to go on a sliegh ride and go Sledding down bertha trail head.  We didnt want to hear any whinning so we went sledding! It was so MUCH fun! We sledded from 10:30-1:00 and stopped for lunch and then again from 2:00-5:30. Trev went up behind the tree line and the snow was so deep that it was up past his waist and he broke to sleds. The kids were really tired and we stayed to have supper at Waterton Lodge.  They crashed in the van!! We then spent the rest of the week recovering and doing bday parties and play dates and laundry.  By recovering I mean that Benson and I both got a cold because we were wet most of the day. It was a noce relaxing week of no lessons and school runs and driving!!! So nice to be able to do fun things with our kids!! I hope they always know how much we love them.

one more

I wish that I had one more hour in the day to get things done!
I wish that I had one more set of hands to help kids out!
I wish that I had one more of me to be in the place that I need to be in all the time!

I wonder if anyone else feels like this ever?  I love my family but sometimes I struggle to be where I need to be when I need to be there.  Sometimes I feel like oppurtunites have been missed because I am taking care of someone or something else, and them my patients leave and I that leaves with me with just want ing them to go to bed so I can have some quiet!!  Once they are asleep I just wish I hold their little bodies close and never let them go!! I love them so much, and my goal is that they may always know and feel that.  Sometimes I am able to do that, and sometimes I am not the mom I should be, and yet they still love me and want me to be apart of them. So thankful for them. I love them.

My goal is to be more present and to be more pateinet in the little day things that do not matter as much as a hug and a kiss!

Benson

Benson is doing a great at school.  He is starting to really pick things up.  I am so pleased with his progress. He has a few friends in his school that I convinced to go there.  It has made a BIG difference. He is still behind in his speech and might always be but I am so glad that he is starting to build a support network for himself. I am really nervous for when he goes to kindergarten. I don't think that he is ready.  He has a hard time writting his name, and can't count to 10, and doesn't recognize a lot of the letters.  We work and work and work at this.  I am so worried.  I just have to trust that all will be well.  I love that little boy so much my heart bursts and I just want to keep him safe and protect him.  I want him to stay little!!
He just turned 5 and that was hard on me.  He is growing up to fast.  He is an awesome little buddy and a joy to have around.  We went swimming for his bday and he had 8 little friends.  They had a great time.  He has 2 little girls that he really like.  And he had to have them sit right beside them.  Wouldn't it be funny if he married one of them?
Benson at 5:
Benson favorite,
food: apples with peanut butter
colour: red
outside: ride bikes
friend: burke hall
girlfriend: Olivia Muise and Bridgette Lindsay
toy: spiderman and batman houses
Likes to "read" books and likes to swim.  He also likes to be the "big brother to Hannah when Nyla and Briggs are at school!

violin

Well Briggs did not take take to violin at all.  We weren't going to let him quit but his teacher suggested that we should stop things to keep it a positive experience.  Nyla on the other hand has been playing this year.  She is very talented and plays very nice.  She is willing to practice for the most part.  Her hard work is starting to pay off.  I am excitted to see were she will be by the end of this years lessons.

ski time

We just came back from spending a week in whitefish skiing and swimming.  It was SO much fun!! We pulled the kids form school for a week and stayed at Meadow Lake.  There was on one there.  It was really quite nice.
Briggs Nyla and I went skiing.  We skied teusday and wednesday.  We all had lessons in the morning and then skied together in the afternoon.  It was great.  I was SO TIERD by wednesday afternoon.  My shines hurt.  I had not been skiing since Jan. 1 1999.  So it had been awhile.  I was nervous about taking the kids because my own abilities were really lacking!
The kids did great and really liked it.
Trev stayed back with Benson and Hannah and they swam in the morning and afternoon and in the night.  The had a great time with their dad. They don't usually get to spend time with him like that.  It was a nice reversal.
I hope to be able to do this again.