The Girls Started Preschool. Wow Their first day of school.

This past week...

So as of Monday September 17th we have a little crawler.  I finally discovered why Thomas has hesitated to crawl.  It is the hard wood flooring!!!  He will only crawl on the carpet.  Poor little guy just did not want to hurt his little knees.  In the past week he has gone from rocking with a little movement to crawling across the room to me last night.  He is so cute and gets so excited. So now we need to baby proof the house again.  My little guy is getting sooo big :(.

This past weekend  we went to Josh and Mallory's house for sweet little McKinley's baby blessing.  She is a super good baby who is mild mannered and a cute little butter ball.  Thomas enjoyed trying to give her open mouth kisses.  It was a nice little get away.  Josh gave a wonderful blessing to his sweet little girl.  It was awesome to see all of the family be together for such a wonderful event.

Speaking of event... Josh signed us all up for the Lathrop Mud Run.  It was a 3 mile run with several obstacles that included a lot of mud.  It was a blast.  There were 9 of us who participated.
Here are some pictures.

After the fun race!

My favorite photo.  It is of Braden coming up for air. Completely drenched in mud.

Kevin jogging down to the next of several mud pits.  Oh wait Dad is shouting my name I guess I will pose for the picture.

This is a picture of Christy standing in the mud and I am swimming in the mud.  I do not know who the other lady is.  We all dove in the mud I guess a bunch of people were climbing over the pipes and tires.  Its a mud run people you might as well get covered in it. I discovered I could go faster if I just grabbed the mud with my hands and let my body float in the small amount of water there was in the pit.  Unfortunately for Christy, Rob and Kevin, the mud irritated their eyes so badly that they suffered the rest of the day into the evening.  So note to self... if you are going to do a mud run be careful of it getting in your eyes.  Kev had blurry vision for awhile during the day as well.  All in all it was a really fun event.  Thanks Josh and Mal for scheduling it into our weekend.        

I was worried about coming home from Josh and Mal's house.  It seems like coming home from vacation is always a bit harder.  Unpacking, cleaning, catching up on sleep, and being content with ordinary life.  However this morning was an awesome morning with my kiddos.  I got up, said my morning prayers, put in a load of laundry, and went for my morning jog with my running friends Sarah and Andrea.  We ran about 3 miles at a little under a 10 minute pace which at this point is good for me.  I came  home and cleaned the house, unpacked, and put another load of laundry in while I let the kids sleep in, just a little.  Then I awoke the kids and they seemed to be content.  Typically they are a bit grumpy trying to get back into the routine.  A couple grumpy moments but none that lasted too long.  Then my sweet little Ella, who has a very strong will, decided to be the grumpiest little girl ever.  So after losing my temper last week I have decided to really try to use a calm yet firm voice and just allow her to sit in timeout. She had a huge screaming, kicking, then broke her toddle bed fit.  The other kiddos must have felt a little compassion in the heart for my frustration with her.  Seeing me take a deep breath, telling her firmly that her behavior was not acceptable and closing the door to her bed room was probably their first clue.  After a long timeout and explaining to her why it is important to be good listeners she was able to eat breakfast.  Unfortunately for Gabriella she had to eat alone because while she was pitching her fit we all ate.  My heart melted when Olivia and Madalyn were so eager to help Ella.  We had 30 minutes until school was going to start and they were ready to go.  They asked if it was alright to help Ella get breakfast.  I was grateful that they helped.  The twins really saw a need and jumped on the opportunity to be big helpful sisters.  Gabriella loved every minute of all the attention she was getting from both Olivia and Madalyn.  They mothered her and sat with her while she ate.  It was finally peaceful in my home.  Jaydn had turned on some primary hymns and played with Thomas while I was getting ready to go for the day.  As we were ready to leave Gabriella was singing, "Once There Was A Snowman".  Having 5 children can be very challenging at times.  This morning I was able to try to stand back a little and enjoy the journey of my sweet children.  Yes dealing with Gabriella was super difficult but I was able to keep my cool and the spirit in my home.  I truly enjoy being a mother and I am grateful for my children.