First Week of School

Well this has been a very odd first week of school.  On Tuesday the school called and said Emree was sick and to come and pick her up.  So I went and got her, all week she has had a very sore throat, painful ears and a high fever.  I finally took her to the dr. and she said everything looks good.  Good?  How can everything look good when you have a fever of 102?  Don't tell me everything looks good,  at least say it is viral and will have to just run its course.  Frustrating!  So she has been home all week, 1 day of the first week of school was all she was able to attend.  Glad it is a long weekend so she can recover for one more day.  When this girl gets sick, she means it!
 Yesterday I switched the kids rooms around. I moved Brooklyn into Carsons room, took down his crib and moved him into the girls room on the bottom bunk.  He did wonderfully! No crying, fit-throwing, screaming or anything, which is 100X better than how he was doing in his crib!  Brooklyn is loving her new space and hopefully this will help her to keep her area clean!  Now there are no excuses for someone else's stuff on the floor!  I was a little sad taking down the crib, but like they say the only thing constant is change.  I love cleaning out stuff and getting rid of things, it helps me feel more organized and less cluttery.
The older two are in the full swing of school and sports, it makes me happy that they are doing well.  Brooklyn is taking high school math this year and can take it for high school credit, WOW!! in 7th grade crazy! I am so proud of her. It's hard being in middle school, for her its a little moody.  Not even about school, but it's just that age, so glad I don't have to go through that again.  She is playing volleyball and I am so glad she is finally getting some exercise, it makes a body feel good.
Brady is playing football and enjoying it so much more than last year. WHEW!! Thank goodness! Last year was a mess! But he is having lots of fun, and getting the hang of it more and more!

First day of school Pictures!

Brooklyn: 7th Grade

Emree: 2nd Grade

Brady: 5th Grade

Beckett: Kindergarten

And Carson gets to stay home with me!

Beckett at his school, Willow Elementary

Chas Birthday

Happy Birthday to our Favorite and Wonderful Dad and Husband.  We are so blessed to have this wonderful man in our lives and we love him dearly!!  Connie and Verl came over to help us celebrate his special day!

 He got a back scratcher, which was hilarious! and an awesome church book!!

Beginnings of Basketball court

Here is the beginnings of our basketball court.  We got a hoop up and yes it is dark outside, but most days that is how we roll.  When we have a spare second, we do it!! The kids are beyond thrilled and I suspect will spend many, many hours out here over the years!

School Shopping

Today my awesome neighbor watched the 3 little ones so I could take the 2 older ones to an orthodontist appt., that sounds cheap doesn't it?  The appt. was super fast and so we decided we would go and get Brooklyn's school supplies without the little ones, hoping to make it a little less chaotic.  It was so fun to have the 2 of them with me.  We cracked jokes, laughed, stopped and got a smoothie and of course the said school supplies.  I love having older kids, yes they are a challenge sometimes, but to have a conversation with insight and being able to laugh together is so much fun.  Sometimes it's hard to remember that the older ones "need" me as much as the younger ones do, just in a different way.  I love opportunities like this that my Heavenly Father gives me, that allows me to really enjoy the moment and step back and realize how much these 2 "tweens" brighten my life.
Brooklyn is such a good girl.  I love that she doesn't care about what the popular thing is or what the popular girls think, she does what she knows is right, or what she wants to do and doesn't even give it a second thought.  That is the quality I am most proud of in her.  She is getting ready for 7th grade and will be changing classes every period, she is a little nervous, but when I think of her and her confidence I know she will have no problem and will be helping others along the way.  She has really been into doing her hair lately, so I remind myself to let her have a little extra time getting ready.  Love this girl!

Last night we went over to some friends house for dinner so Chas could help out with their sprinkler system.  We ate dinner and the kids quickly all went out to play.  They have 7 kids so their was someone to play with for everyone.  Charie and I and the older kids played some basketball in their front yard.  It was so fun!  Brady is becoming quite the entertainer with his dance moves and hilarious personality.  He had us all rolling with laughter with some of his moves after shots he made .  I love that he is coming out of his shell and being a little more outgoing.  He decided to play football again this year, all year he has said no, but after going to a football camp for a week, decided it was something he wants to do.  He is becoming quite the responsible kids and I can usually count on him to get things done.  This is his last year of elementary school, which I can hardly believe!  Love Him!

Gwilliam Reunion Part 1

Family Reunion Part 1

We got home from Bend Saturday night at about 6:30, and needed to be on the road as early as possible Sunday morning to head to our family reunion with the Hutchins in Oakley, UT.  Hailey rode with us down there. 

 We stopped by Kayla and Thomas' house for dinner, she makes the best spaghetti! This is their cute house in Ogden!

 The Hutchins reunion was filled with fun and games.  It rained most of the time we were there, but there was a pool table and a ping pong table, which, besides swimming, are the most favorite things to do if you are a Hutchins.  Me not so much, but it was fun to watch.  There was a week long pool, Rook, Uno and Ping Pong tournament.  Lisa and I woke up early one morning and went walking.  I miss her.  It was so good to visit and get some time together without the other 50 people there.  Mandy and I also went one morning, she is a gem, we had a great time too.  It was so fun to watch the cousins interact with each other.  Brady is loving being in the "older boys" group now.  They all got to sleep out in the cabin, which Brooklyn was miffed about because "the boys always get to have all the fun."  But he loved hanging out with the older boys, I hardly saw him all week.  Brooklyn had fun with the girls as well, but there are not many of them.  One night we had a family dance which was so fun! Thad and Trina taught all of us how to waltz, swing and two step.  It was a blast.  The teenagers learned all kinds of things and had a great time dancing! We also did the chicken dance and the hokey pokey with the little kids, which was hilarious!

All Star State Playoffs

Since the boys won districts we are now headed off to state which is in Bend.  We left this afternoon about 12.  Brady, Carson and I are excited for a fun trip!

 The other kids are at home.  Brooklyn is at basketball camp at E.O.U and the the little ones are hanging out at Connie's this afternoon, which they are so excited about.  We got to Bend about 4:00, opening ceremonies started at 5:30, so we had a lot of time, or so we thought.  We were given the wrong address and were driving around and around trying to find out where we were supposed to be, we finally got there about 5:15.  It was held at the Bend Elks field (a minor league team.)  It wasn't anything too fancy, but was fun to be there.

 We watched a little bit of the game, but went to John & Tracy's early.  My friend Katie asked her brother and his wife if we could stay there for the week, it was so nice to have a place to stay and not have to pay for a hotel for 7 nights!  There first game was at 9 on Saturday morning against West Salem. They did great and won in 4 innings 15-0.  After the game all of the team went to the Sun Mountain Fun Center to celebrate Anthony's birthday.  Brady had a blast, he rode go-carts, bumper carts, mini golf, bowling and the batting cages, it was a lot of fun.

Carson slept in his stroller for most of the time, which was really nice.  Sunday the team played at 11, we went to church, hung out and then went to the lake for a picnic dinner with John & Tracy.  It was nice to relax and spend some time visiting.  They won their game 2-1, close!  We played Monday night at 6 against Clackamas. We lost 10-5, tons of errors and we didn't play very good at all.  Tuesday morning they had batting practice out at the RV park where the coaches were staying at 10.  Then the game got cancelled that night because of rain, which moved the whole tournie back a day.  Wednesday, batting practice again and then Brian took the boys to the movie, Planes 2, which was nice Brady had a good time and enjoyed the movie, Carson took a long nap and I did some shopping as well.  We won Wednesday night 11-10 against Medford.  We were down 10-3 in the bottom of the sixth we came back and won 11-10, it was a crazy game!!  Very exciting!  Brady started off the batting order and got a base hit!  Thursday at 4 we played Cedar Mills and won 10-3. Chas, Beckett and Emree were able to come over for the rest of the tournament.
Friday they played again at 4 against Clackamas, we won in 4 innings 10-0.  So we were in the championship against Bend.  The boys played well, but had a couple bad errors so we ended up losing to Bend 17-10.  Brady had a great season and has improved so much, he loves baseball!!