#4 paradise in pinetop week!!

we have been up in pinetop-lakeside for the past week enjoying the nice weather and each other.  i drove up with the kids on friday morning and then clate came up on friday night.  he stayed through the weekend and we had a fabulous Father's day here!!  clate, i am SO blessed to have you as the FATHER of my children.  i love you for everything you does for us.  thanks for loving all of us and for taking care of us.  we LOVE you!!  Happy Father's Day!

we have done so many fun things in pinetop.  some of the highlights have been searching for squirrels, waking up late, swinging on the front porch, making smores with dad, playing cards, eating what we want, when we want, riding go karts, playing XBOX, watching movies, checking out the local gift shops, eating fudge, dancing in the rain, watching more movies, staying up late waking up late, running, hanging out OUTSIDE, riding bikes, needing to wear a sweatshirt, eating ice cream, taking walks, laughing, and just being together.  clate, thanks for letting us come here.  we sure wish you could have been here the entire time.  i'm glad you were able to get so much work done while we were gone.  i can't wait to go out on our date tonight!  i love you!!

#3 serve mom week

after our busy week of many parties, clate decided to pick this week's theme.  i love clate and how he watches out for me.  thanks sweetie!!   the kids helped so much and i was able to spend hours in my quiet room working on a Father's Day book, organizing my computer, and organizing my pics in iphoto.  i also tried to practice more in photoshop.    

it is such a blessing to have children who are willing to help.  thank you clatie, tanner, lindsay, and ashley!  i also had a family swimming party for fhe on monday, a baby shower for my neighbor on thursday, and clate had his work quarterly planning at our house all day on friday.   so on friday morning i drove to pinetop-lakeside to spend a week in a cabin.  (and no, not all by myself ;)  

btw, this picture is of me and bella in maui.  i thought it fit this week's theme.  :)  i didn't take any pictures during serve mom week.  i'm the only one voting on this week, but i think it was another HUGE success and i think i'll try it again.  i emailed my brother craig during this week and told him about it.  his response was:  that sounds so cool.  why don't you have a buy uncle craig everything he needs for college week as soon as i get home from my mission!  don't worry craig, we'll take good care of you.  

#2 *party* week

our second theme chosen was *party* week!!!!  we wanted to try to plan as many parties as we could in one week.  each of the kids got to plan their own party or parties.  they made a list of friends to invite, food to eat, and drinks to have.  their lists included:  soda, ice, water, chex mix, oreo's, popsicles, push pops, fudgsicles, peanut butter m&m's, doritos, pizza, xtra cheesy goldfish, skittles, starbursts, inner tubes, and water balloons.  (to name a few) 

 

here's what our schedule looked like:

sunday:  

3:30:  b-day party for uncle joseph @ aunt kim's house.  yummy tacos con & ice cream! 

6:00:  martineau cousins over for dessert.  aunt beth brought delicious pumpkin cookies!

monday:

2-4:  ashley's party  

6:00:   mask family bbq & swim.  joseph pushed uncle garrett in with ALL his clothes & shoes on!

tuesday:

1-3:  lindsay's party

5-9:  clatie's party (2 guys + lots of girls = smart boys!)  ;)

wednesday:

10-12:  ellie's 1st party  

2-4:  martineau cousins

thursday:

12:00:  mask cousin swim party at aunt cherie's

6-9:  lindsay's party (her 1st boy/girl party at our house!  TONS of fun!!)

friday:

2-4:  ashley's party with her best friends from school!

6-10:  clatie's party (everyone Loved playing football!  both the boys & girls)

saturday:

6-10:  tj's party (T only wanted one party.  he stuck with a boys only party too.)

here's a few of the many pictures i took:

we realized that having so many parties is A LOT of work!  each of the kids were willing to prepare for and clean up after their party.  it was so much fun having so many of our friends over in one week.  this week was definitely another HUGE success!  (planning one birthday party will be a piece of cake from now on!)

#1 no chore, reading, & cooking week

yep!  our first and most favorite week after the votes were cast in was our no chore, reading, & cooking week!  the kids didn't have to make their beds all week or do any of their normal Chores. they loved it!  they got to wake up each morning and read in their beds as long as they wanted.  if they didn't feel like reading, they certainly didn't have to do any work!  i think i loved this week as much as the kids!  each night after dinner we decided to do the dishes that had piled up in the sink all day and we picked up the downstairs.  tanner said, "mom, i think we need to do this all the time because it helped us to have the Spirit in our home."  i love that boy!  

Reading - we went to the library and stocked up on books for the week!  it was fun to watch the kids look for new books and for tanner to be as happy as he could be with the Harry Potter series we had at home.  btw, tanner read the Entire HP series in less than 3 weeks!  he is a reading machine.  

Cooking - i usually have one child in charge of dinner m-th.  this week i had them make something they never had made before.  they loved the challenge and we ate some YUMMY dinners!  ash made a chicken pot pie, lindsay made hawaiian haystacks, and tanner & clatie made steak and chicken on the bbq.  :)  lindsay and ashley learned how to make bread and Marni Short's chocolate chip cookies.  tanner has always wanted to make a fruit pizza and this was the week he did it!  i'm sad to say that they wanted to make a pumpkin pie, but we never got around to it.  we have all the stuff at home so before the summer is over, we will make that pumpkin pie.  

this week was a HUGE success!  

i'm trying something new

i love summer and having my kids home as long as i am prepared.  i wasn't sure what i was going to do this summer because i still feel like i'm trying to adjust to life with 6 kids!  i had a small piece of inspiration for our family that will hopefully work this summer.  i decided to have a "theme" each week.  i asked each one of my kids what they wanted to do this summer.  they all had their own ideas and so lindsay wrote them all down for us.  after looking over the list, i came up with different themes!  i am actually really excited about it!  i love trying new things!

hummer limo

it's crazy to think that i am old enough to have a son who will be in high school next year!  yikes!  thankfully clatie is such a good young man and he has good friends.  clatie had his 8th grade promotion the last day of school and so he and a bunch of his friends got picked up from hjhs in this hummer limo!  they loved it!  they couldn't believe the limo was for them!  i love a good surprise!  they went to mimi's cafe for some yummy breakfast and *Delicious* muffins! they all got dropped at lauren lovell's house for a swim party!  school's out!  junior high is over and it's on to HIGH SCHOOL - congrats clyde.  love you!

nathan, clate, hayden, lauren, maddie

is this limo really for us???

jacob, austin, nathan, clatie, hayden, lauren, maddie, mariah

"capturing the moment"

hummer

nathan, hayden, clatie

mimi's cafe

clatie, maddie, drew, nathan, hayden

lexi, malea, courtney, mariah

austin, jacob, lauren

i love you!