the big, sad for ethan, first day

wasn't i just barely posting about the last day of school? wasn't i just posting about last year's first day of school for that matter? i can't believe how fast summer has gone, really, where did it go, it just blew past us and i'm still in a little bit of denial as i sit here this weekend, that they're really going to have to go back again on tuesday.

after lunches were packed and hair looked just right (and i'm not just talking about the girl in my house either, the boys were just as bad!), i took the jr. highers over to lauri's for our traditional first day of school photos. i'm not sure how this tradition started. taylor and james only went to kindergarten together and after that we changed elementary schools, we have the cute kindergarten photo of the two of them, and i think when they made it to jr. high and started attending school together we started taking a photo of them on the first day to compare to the kindergarten photo. i'm so glad we have done this too, they have changed so much in the last three years...allie and lauren have never been in school together until this year and were super excited to join in the tradition. jr. high better watch out for these two! i knew it was time to be done shooting when all four kids started freaking out about being to school on time. the rest of the year they'll ride the bus but today i dropped them off. i also didn't even think about taking a photo of them walking in to the building, doh! what a cute memory that would've been. next year i guess.

i got back home just in time to see spencer and his posse out the door, i love that they wanted ethan in all the photos, ethan loved it too. we're so lucky that spencer's friends are all the babies of their families and don't mind too much that ethan tags along with them wherever they go.everyone was smiling until it was time for them to go. ethan stood there and watched them walk down the side walk with the saddest look when he realized they weren't coming back. poor guy. would you agree that it's time for our dad to cave and agree to getting a puppy for this sad toddler? to top things off, rich came out the door just then with hugs to leave for work.as we waved good bye to rich and watched him pull out the driveway, ethan looked at me and said with a cracking voice, "papa? allie? tee-bo? bob-bo? (spencer). it was hard to explain that they would be back later. it was a lonely day for the both of us, the house just isn't the same without all the kids around making it a happy place.

taylor a.k.a. taylor-bing, mr.t, tee-bo, tay-dog, mr.goodbar turns fourteen

the crazy week before school didn't let up just because it was the sabbath day, no way man. we celebrated taylor's fourteenth birthday with his teacher ordination, family and lemon cupcakes - his request. his birthday gift budget was spent on one item, a new full-size guitar, well two things if you count the case, which i do because it was forty bucks! he even treated the family to an impromptu serenade which gave me goose bumps, he's such a talented kid! my camera died before i had a chance to take a real birthday photo of him and after i uploaded all my pictures i figured out why. these turkeys spent a bunch of time and battery taking self-portaits. i love it. can you see spencer in the second one? i did take a couple of lame ones with my point and shoot, they'll have to do for now. ten things i absolutely love and adore about taylor wayne moore...
1. he's always willing to help out with anything, always answering, "yes ma'am" to the things i ask him to do.
2. he likes to plays the guitar and has long rocker hair.
3. he's a great singer, which goes nicely with the guitar playing.
4. he's a fantastic example to the other children in this house, the grown-ups too, we are all lucky to have him as a big brother.
5. he has an old soul and seems to see people in a christ-like way.
6. he never complains. he has been dealt a few hard hands but takes it all in stride and is always encouraging everyone else around him to be happy.
7. he is so good at math, he helps the younger kids with their math when dad is at work.
8. he's such a gentleman, always eager to open doors, carry things and other gentlemanly things.
9. he is a good friend, he always wants to include other people and can't tolerate anyone being teased or feeling left-out.
10. he wants to be a missionary so bad that he's started requesting cooking lessons from me so he'll be more prepared in the field. happy birthday mr. goodbar! we love you!

freckle face

i counted fifty freckles on ethan's face the other day. they're all from this summer, i know because a few months i was trying to scrub one off when i realized what it was and the fact that it hadn't been there the day before. that day i counted only eight. he's changing so much even from week to week. rich has a lot of freckles which means, i'm sure ethan will have a lot, which is fine, great even, i love a little freckly faced boy. it's so all-american little boy so i don't mind it one bit. it's the changing thing that's getting to me. he's just getting so big, and as cute as he is, as much as i just adore every little inch of him, it's just so hard to say good bye to the baby, especially when you know he's your last.

boys are different than girls

i didn't really think that i was very new to this jr. high thing. this is taylor's third year now and so far so good, so i was able to breath a little easier when allie graduated from sixth grade and headed down this path. however i learned that i am completely new to the girl jr. high experience after last saturday when allie and lauren spent the entire afternoon shopping for things to decorate their locker. what the? we've never purchased anything special taylor's locker except hand-sanitizer to use before lunch. i didn't remember doing this kind of thing when i was in school either, not to this extent anyway, so i was kind of surprised when they started to panic the week before school started that they hadn't gone into school to do the actual decorating yet. fortunately we found them some time on friday morning and dropped them off with wrapping paper, and many other suppliesand when they were finished all was well with the universe again. my favorite part of their decorating scheme was to hang a ton of photos of the two of them together. since they have been friends for a long time (and because allie's mom is a psycho picture taker) there are a lot of fun memories to show case. i thought this was so clever! so boys are different than girls, who knew?

farewell to summer

the week before school begins is always a bitter sweet thing for me. the kids are so excited, and so ready to go back to school that it's hard not to share in their excitement but i also panic because all of a sudden we have to fit everything into one week that we didn't do over the summer! why do i do this? i actually did a pretty good job of spacing things out this year but still found myself squeezing things in to call it done. the good thing is that by the end of the week, i'm so exhausted that i submit to the schedule and feel almost relieved to send my kids back to school. almost. the highlight of the week was for sure having rich take the entire day off on thursday - what? - yes, his first of the summer besides the 4th of july. we spend the day at the local water park, something we've done a ton of this summer but everything is more fun with dad. do you love how enthusiastic rich is about taking a self portait? i told him he looks like the uni-bomber. he has been working really insane hours trying to finish up ultimate band for the wii all summer long, so it was a real treat to have him home for the day. and what's up with this? lately when i ask my kids to squish together for a photo it takes them about ten minutes to stop touching and poking and acting like dorks before i finally get a decent photo. it's making me nuts! i guess it's a little funny, but not so much when you're standing there with the camera waiting for everyone to settle down. ethan was too worn out to act like a dork, i haven't been able to read at the pool since he was born, he's way too busy and i chase him around the whole time. he was out for about an hour and a glorious sixty minutes it was! whoo hoo!friday the blogger moms had a date to take the kids to liberty park in salt lake. i was a chaotic mess and forgot everything essential to playing in the water, including: a swim diaper, sunscreen, a swim suit, picnic blanket, water and a chair to sit in! i don't know what happened when i walked out the door that morning, i left my brain somewhere else. luckily all the other moms were organized enough to step in and my kids had fun anyway. karrie was so cute though in her little shady chair and i swear i'm buying one of these the next time i see it!ethan loves nicolette, their interaction with each other was such a crack up, if janae and i play our cards right we could have a little match making thing here! and it's no wonder that he loves her, how cute is she and how cute are her sweet little thighs?! oooh, they just look so squishy and i want to tickle them! we were missing patsy and her gang but as i was watching everyone play and interact i was so grateful that we all have kids that are easy going and similar ages and they all get along so well. we're so lucky! the day flew by (you know that having fun thing) way faster than i thought it would, it was gorgeous weather and everyone had a great time. we lost lightning mcqueen in the water but that's easy to replace so we're calling it a success! next year we're definitely making a list and being better planners, more blogger mom field trips for sure.

saturday we went to lagoon for ebay's company party, grandpa was nice enough to share tickets with us. besides our water break in the afternoon, this was all i really saw of the older kids all day. they ditched us and had a blast running from one ride to another with ashley and brandon (ya, there's that girl again!) who were great and didn't mind having tag-alongs. apey, mimi, grandpa and i took the little ones around to a million different kiddie rides which they LOVED, except charlie who definitely did not love it.ethan's squealing and "again again!" response to every ride made me so happy because it means that there really is a little bit of my DNA in his rich-saturated make up. we're so grateful to have cousins to play with especially for ethan, his favorite part of any family get together is hanging with the other little guys. when you're the tail ender of a family, other little people like yourself are hard to come by. trying our best to stay cool in the 100 degree weather...after the hot hot afternoon, and i mean ridiculous-africa-kind-of hot, it was such a treat and shock to our systems to plunge into the cold lagoona beach water that felt like it must be running straight off a glacier! brrrrr! while everyone was in the water, the love birds finally got a little bit of alone time back at the pool chairs, well, until i bugged them for a photo that is. aren't they cute?

as fun as it was to hang out with cousins, lagoon was hot and so crowded that it made for a very long day. i was happy to go home and get to bed and i don't think i've slept so well in months. the next day my feet hurt bad enough to encourage me to wear tennis shoes next year instead of flip flops. duh.

patience is a virtue

WARNING! no matter how baddly you want that fruit snack after your bath, wait until after your diaper is on before eating them. otherwise you might end up with naked hiney photos posted on the world wide web for all to see because your mom can't stand how cute your cheeks are and therefore, must take a photograph of them and share them with all her friends and family. there, now don't say i didn't warn you.