Jasi turns 8

Jasi turned 8 on Dec 4th, 2010! She was so excited to have her birthday party at Chuck E Cheese! The best part though was that she doesn't have to ride in a car seat anymore. She is definitely starting to feel grown up now!

Jasi had a blast in the ticket blaster! I didn't think she was going to catch on at first. She just stood there looking at all of the tickets. She walked away with quite a few though! Thank goodness for the crown they gave her it happened to catch some for her. You can see Layla in the back of the picture. She wanted to go next!

Elliot even came to the party and had a ton of fun! He really liked all of the lights and music. He spent most of the party dancing and watching everyone. That is while he wasn't trying to get to the pizza!

I have regained some of my sanity!

The 2010-2011 school year has started and I couldn't be happier. I love my children but they get bored when they aren't in school. Boredom leads to nothing good especially when your 7 and 10 years old. Jasmine has started 2nd grade and Hailey is *gasp* entering her last year in elementary school in 5th grade. I'm truely hoping this year goes by slowly. I'm not ready to have a child in middle school yet. I  just came to the realization in typing this out that at some point I will have children in High School, Junior High, Elementary and Pre-School. Ha and I thought we were busy now.

Trying to Keep Up....

We have been so busy with the start of cheer and school that I don't know whether we're coming or going at times. I know I need to get better about updating this....

Layla has been moved up to the Pre-School classroom. She is too young for the class but they agreed that with her potty training and her vocabulary that she would benefit being with the older kids! I dropped her off for her 2nd day yesterday and she ran right in without saying goodbye. I had to ask her to come back and give me a kiss. She has been telling me lately that she's a big girl. I guess I should have known that running away without a goodbye was coming but it didn't make it any easier. I guess my little girl is going to grow up whether I agree or not!

Preslyn is really trying to keep up with her sisters. It's wearing her out in the process though! She is finally sleeping in her own room in her crib. I was starting to get worried that she was never going to sit up on her own. Though apparently she was practicing when I wasn't watching because she can go from laying down to sitting all on her own now! I'm afraid the same thing is going to happen with walking.  She's working on crawling but right now all we have is the army crawl. She moves so quickly that I hope she stays at this stage for a little while longer. I don't think I'm ready for her to be completely mobile yet!

Give and take

I recently accepted a head coach position for Hailey's cheer team. It has been nice to leave the house for a couple hours every night. Though when I accepted the position I didn't think about the fact that I would have to leave Preslyn. Yes, she's 6 months old and the longest I've left her for is maybe 10 minutes. This week has gone really well. I've come home and Paul has had the kids bathed and asleep. I don't know how or why I'm enjoying swapping 4 girls for 50 but it's working and a much needed break. I never thought I would hope for the kids to still be awake when I got home. Tomorrow I have to leave Preslyn for 7 hours and I feel sick over it. I'm not sure how she'll do without me for that long and it breaks my heart to think of how she'll feel.  I love being able to take some time to myself but giving up my time with the girls is hard.I know I'll be racing home after training tomorrow to hold all of my little girls!

Go Jets!

Tomorrow is the official start of Hailey's cheer season. She is so excited to be back with her team this year. After their team did such a wonderful job in making it to Nationals in Orlando, FL last year they are all pumped to go again. They have a lot of hard work ahead of them but I'm sure they can do it! Thank goodness the plan is to start fund raising ASAP instead of all of us taking such a big financial hit right before Christmas. We're going to be busy but Hailey loves cheer and works hard at it so it's all very worth it! Starting tomorrow practice is 4 days a week for 2.5 hours of conditioning. I'm considering signing up to help the team but we'll see what happens. I could cheer 12 years ago maybe I still can!

3 years

Paul and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary yesterday! Our 3 years together have been fun and it feels like we have done so much in that time. We went out to dinner last night while my Dad watched the girls. Preslyn was the only one that tagged along. I can't remember the last time we were able to get out together. We are usually found running in opposite directions with the kids! Our time together made us realize that we need to do it more often. Hopefully yesterday was only one of many to come.

Glutton for punishment

                                                       

It must be that special sparkle in their eyes that makes me do the things I do. I can't think of another reason that I would agree to take on a horse with our busy lives. Angel was offered free to a good home and Papa made the generous offer to help us out. Angel is a 19 year old part Welch Pony and Quarter Horse. She has been fully trained as a gaming horse and will be great for the girls to learn with. She's even helping me to get over my fear of horses. She is very sweet and mild mannered. She is a great addition to our family and the girls have fallen in love. Layla has even gone out for a ride and has now become a cowgirl just like her sisters. For now Preslyn is content sitting in her carseat watching everything but I'm sure Papa will have her on a horse as soon as she's able to walk!

Growing up is hard to do

Jasmine has always been our little helper. We are trying to find something for her to do that is just for her! In trying to do so I think we've found her another situation to help! She brought home her paperwork last night as a mini cloverbud (not a rosebud like we thought.) She is very excited to start 4H! Her primary function at the shows she cannot participate in will be to help the other girls by grooming, cleaning stalls and holding horses. It may not sound too exciting but she couldn't be more excited to have time with her Papa and the horses!

Uncle Jake has come home and is teaching Hailey how to be responsible! She came to me yesterday with a list of reasons that she should have a cell phone. She also had ideas of what she could do to earn the money to pay the bill and consequences for not completing her work. I was shocked to say the least. Paul and I were already discussing getting her a cell phone for her birthday but she may be getting it sooner thanks to her well thought out presentation!

Preslyn learned how to roll over on 6/12! She's now rolling over like a pro! She gets very frustrated when she gets over and tries to eat whatever is under her. Her new found hobby of rolling over is making her a bit cranky. She starts to roll the second you put her down no matter where she's at. Rolling over in the swing is not working out too well!

Layla has entered the "leave me lone" stage. She wants to do everything herself. Finally after having to deal with this stage with my third toddler I have learned to start getting her ready first. I'm not going to fight it and just try to help her along when she needs it. She spent a day in inside out and backwards Dora panties because she wanted me to go away. I'm also no longer allowed in the bathroom unless she asks. So she has her little stool in there so she can get on the potty and she's actually doing quite well!

Summer Fun

The school year is almost over and we'll be getting ready to plan our summer out! The planning is probably more to keep me going so we don't sit at home. I have a feeling we will be using our zoo pass almost weekly. Thank goodness we also have a park close.

Hailey has decided once again that she wants to cheer! I'm excited to watch her cheer again but not looking forward to having Layla sit still in a stadium. At least Paul will be able to attend with me instead of coaching this year but there goes Thanksgiving again :(

Jasmine is going to be joining 4H as a rosebud. She is not old enough to show horses in a 4H setting until she is in third grade but is working towards showing at a Halloween show with my father in October. She was thrown several months ago and still hasn't been back on the horse. She wasn't injured because my Dad caught her but she is still very nervous.

We are still trying to decide if Layla will be going to school this summer. She is doing so well there but I'm sure she would enjoy staying home with her sisters. We'll probably try to find a sports or dance class that Layla can attend to get some energy out.

Poor little Preslyn is just along for the ride this summer. She is so laid back that I'm sure she'll be happy to do whatever her sisters are doing. Maybe we'll get her something so she can float around in the pool with the girls!

I'm really trying to make it my goal to keep the kids busy this summer so that they don't get bored. Hopefully we'll be able to spend a lot of time with Mimi (Aunt Brandy), Elliot and Uncle Jake!

New Blog

I'm not the most interesting person in the world but have enough friends that blog that I figured I would give it a try! The girls are changing so much every day the blog will make it a little easier to keep up with my girls and our lives!