The Things They Say ***

We all woke up late this morning...even Lyndee. I love rainy days...but not enough to move to Seattle!
Rylee and I went into Lyndee's room to get her out of bed. When I reached in to grab her, she said something.
Rylee said, "Mom!! It sounded like she said "arriba - arribay"!!"
I laughed and said, "Yes, it does sound like that's what she said."
Rylee, very concerned, said, "Oh no, Mom! What if she's a Spanish speaking baby? What if she doesn't speak English?"

A perfect start to a perfect day!

Before 8 Band-Aids

A normal day. A normal night. But what *is* normal when you have 5 kids? Bryton worked on his skateboard before going to Scouts, Mykee is babysitting for Hillary, Rylee decided tonight that she wanted to use her "own" shower - therefore, took a shower in the guest bathroom, Lyndee had a bath after two helpings of hash browns and corn... and then there's Dylin. Dylin decided that if Rylee can have her own shower, it was time for her to make the switch from bath to shower. She used my shower. I left the room for maybe 30 seconds to grab a towel for Lyndee...came back... Dylin is out of the shower crying because she's bleeding. She shaved her legs. Now she has *8* band-aids on her left leg.
Dylin.

A Day With Dylin

My sweet, loving, crazy, sometimes (ok - more that sometimes) out of control, little Dylin gave me the BIGGEST scare today. It's a mother's WORST nightmare...and I'm sure I will have them for weeks.
I was outside talking with Gayla (next door neighbor) asking her when she wanted to borrow my miter saw (love that thing...and now that I got it out, I am wondering what project I can do with it...). I hear Dylin yelling (she's always yelling, we are working on her "church voice")...she's yelling "HI Katie! Hi Rylee!! Hi Madi!!!" The yelling is coming from the 2nd floor of the house. It's specifically coming from Rylee's bedroom window that has a complete drop to the rocks and curbing below...there isn't any type of roof that is under her window. (I've often wondered what we would do if there was a fire and someone had to actually JUMP out of the window.) Somehow, Dylin crawled through the blinds, opened the window all the way, tugged on the screen enough to bend it, break it and make it fall down... down on the rocks. I look up and she is literally STANDING ON THE EDGE...yelling "HI" to the kids in the back yard!!!! I yell at her (which was stupid, because she could have easily been scared by the yelling and lost her balance) and told her to get in the window RIGHT NOW!!!! ARGH!!!! My heart was pounding, my entire body was shaking...but somehow I managed to RUN as fast as I could into the house and up the stairs to rescue her. That DYLIN met me at the top of the stairs, with her finger in her mouth, looking really sad and said, "Sorry momma."
That Dylin. Heights do not scare her. She has no fear. The only fear she has is going into the bathroom alone.
I love her. But she's still in the "corner".

The BIG Performance

Last night was Mykee's 3rd "Mykee's Group" performace. She had 13 kids here dancing and singing to HSM2 songs. She has been working with these kids since September. They come once a week and pay her $2 each time. She buys the "costumes" and helps pay for the food for the performance with the money she collects. She is grateful to the parents for bringing their kids to her group. It's a learning process for both her and myself. I think the more she does this, the better she will become. I know the kids look up to her and enjoy coming...and I hope that she didn't hurt too many feelings in the process. She claims she wants to be a famous singer some day ---I hope that whatever she does, she will include "students". She loves to teach and "show". (if that makes sense)
We were talking about trying to do a Christmas Show - but I think that it's getting too late. It will hopefully be too cold to do a performance outside in December. I know Mykee is anxious to start the next session...so watch for notices. It will most likely start in January. She will do the pre-school age group on Tuesdays and the Kindergarten and Up group on Thursdays. I will encourage her to have the younger group do some songs/dances seperate from the older group.
Thanks again to everyone who came out on a family night! I always think block parties are fabulous!!! This is just my GREAT excuse to have them!!!!!

Having fun..
 
Singing...
 
Dancing...
 
Monique shared her birthday with performace day...everyone sang Happy Birthday to her
 

Hannah, Tori and Madison perform "Fabulous"

 

This is the view from across the street...

 

Noah takes a cue...

 

The Show begins!

 

Mykalin

This is the first DVD in the "Baby Mormon" series. This is the project that Mykee worked on last month. The DVD that she sang on is called "The Creation"...she brought tears of happieness and utter astonishment when we sat down as a family and listed to her. The DVD has just been released and is available at Desert Book...I even found it online. Totally cool that my daughter has the confidence to do this... and loves doing it!!!
On a side note... I took Mykee to the Hannah Montana concert last Friday night!!! During the concert, Mykee leaned over to me and said, "See mom... that's exactly what I want to be!" I'm not sure that I want my daughter living that lifestyle...but the idea of watching her sing and dance in front of 13,000+ fans...is a pretty cool thought!!!!!
**She starts voice lessons on Wednesday**

Sunday TV

Since we have gone to 8:am church and back to a 3 hour block, I am trying to implement a NO TV rule on Sunday. Today has been tricky seeing how all five kids have been sick and we didn't go to church. The kids have done a pretty good job, though - and have found other fun things to do.
When Rick got home from his meetings today, he had a surprise for us. He was able to get a copy of the DVD that Mykee was asked to sing on. We broke the rule after dinner and watched it. The DVD is the story of the Creation, Baby Style. You can hear Mykee sing 5 or 6 times. I am so proud of her, she did a GREAT job! We can't wait for it to be published and sold @ Deseret Book Store!! Friends and Family... you know what you're getting for Christmas!!!
The coolest part was seeing her name "Mykalin" in the credits. I always knew that "Mykalin Nicole" was a great STAGE NAME!!!

Goals and Lists

Goal setting has always been a strange thing to me. If you want to get something done, you do it. You put it on your list and you just do it. I like to make lists of things I need/want to get done for the day. When I don’t make a list, nothing gets done. This week, I have totally let the laundry get out of control. In a family of *7*, this can easily happen. All you have to do is miss a couple of days…or better yet, just not fold anything that comes out clean. Just let everything sit in the basket….for days. For five days, to be exact. So last night as I was walking around the house, collecting dirty clothes left in the kitchen, the TV room, on the stairs and in the bathrooms, I looked for a basket to put them in. There were no baskets. All the baskets in the house were full of CLEAN laundry… and what really gets me is that there was still so many DIRTY clothes left!!! We have too much clothing in our home… is my realization. So - on my list - starting Monday (because Monday is always better for me to start things) I will be sorting through clothes and hopefully will be able to create some nice “give away” piles!!
Other things on my List for Monday:
Sort through ALL clothing
Go to the gym - run 3 miles (Turkey Trot!!)
Start planning the Spring Fling (put my thoughts on paper)
Find someone in our ward to “serve” at least 1x this week
Start my “Christmas List”
GO BACK ON WEIGHT WATCHERS!!!!