This is what I wake up to...

What a good way to start my morning!

The temple...

Being a member of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints, is the greatest gift I have in my life. Because of my relationship with Heavenly Father and my Savior, I know what this life is really about. I dont have to walk blindly, alone or afraid because I have them right beside me. It has taken years for me to believe it, but I know they love me, I know I am a daughter of God who has a purpose. I am strong because I can reach out to them in prayer and I feel their love in the evidence they have given me. I am thankful for the scriptures, the priesthood, eternal families, the sacrament, Christ's atonement, the knowledge that there is life after this, our amazing prophet,church leaders, temples, diligent missionaries, the organization of the church,and the importance placed on families.I am thankful to have a husband who served a mission in Brazil, who married me in the Salt Lake temple, who enjoys going to church every Sunday, sings in the Choir and loves Jesus Christ with all his heart. Our marriage has been beautiful because of these things and I couldn't be happier. Having the gospel in my life is a gift everyday that I get to enjoy. It brings me peace and reminds me to love and serve others as Christ did. I am so happy we were able to go to the Boise temple open house yesterday. It was wonderful to walk through the doors again and take the kids to see what we hold so sacred. They really enjoyed their experience there. Tristin liked the gold embelishments throughtout the temple, Grace loved the babtismal font, Daisy thought the Brides room was beautiful, Willow liked the booties she got to wear on her feet, Roman enjoyed his nap and I was brought to tears just being inside and feeling God's love for us. I am so thankful for the gospel in my life that helps us become closer to Jesus Christ.I would be so lost without it.

.25 Halloween shirts...

Last year I was at Walmart when they reduced ALL their HAlloween stuff down to a quarter. Everything- huge bags of candy, costumes, clothes, decorations- it was awesome! I grabbed a few silly shirts for the kids and I let them wear them to school today- they were super excited!

So thankful...

I knew when we decided to have our 5th baby, life was going to change, yet again, but I was prepared as much as I could be. Having 5 kids is crazy sometimes, but for the most part it's been pretty awesome. Yeah, getting out the door is a nightmare and never fun, but when I watch my babies throughout the day, my heart swells a 1000 times, like the Grinch's, and I am reminded how blessed we are to be parents. As I watched Grace walk away into the school this morning, I was almost brought to tears.She is growing up so fast. She is a fire cracker. She is wise beyond her years. She is constantly in motion. She is an amzing student with a love for kitties like you've never seen before. I love my kids so much. I love them for all the same reasons, and for a dozen different ones as well. This morning went so smoothly with Grace and she offically won the "getting -ready- in- the- morning- with- a -good attitude" award! I tend to get so busy throughout the day that I forget what I am doing half the time. When I stop and think about it, it hits me that I am raising future leaders, thinkers, problem solvers, teachers, gymnisits, doctors, poetry writers, vetrinarians, inventors, band members, chefs and clothing designers. I am raising little boys and girls that will grow up and hopefully become Mommy's and Daddy's one day. I never thought about it before, but I am raising those who will be caring for my grandchildren. What I am teaching them daily (or not teaching them) will ultilmatly affect their lives- A LOT. That is huge. I was reminded this morning of the difficult yet breath taking responsibility I have as a parent. I have to remember that each minute I have them in my care, it can be a learning experience and if I'm too worried about keeping everything spotless- they are never going to learn to do anything. Yesterday the little girls and I were baking a cake. When it came time to crack the eggs (yes, my least favorite part because of the gooey mess), I said, "I'll crack them." Grace said, "That's ok Mom, I can do it, Grammy showed me how." I realized that through her almost 6 years of life, I hadn't given her the oppertunity or taught her myself how to do it because I didn't want the mess, but that my Grandma had showed her on a recent visit- how to do it. She was so proud of her self and of her abilities and wanted to show me how great she could do. I just stopped and thought-Stop it Emily! Let them crack eggs! And so I did. Grace cracked hers and willow cracked hers, and yes the shells fell into the batter and I had to fish them out, but who cared? They were having fun. They were doing something themselves. Besides, how else were they going to learn, if I didn't take the time to teach them now? Oh, how Heavenly Father teaches me! Often it is through a loud voice saying "Emily- stop it!" But slowly I am learning too. I am grateful the Lord loves me and is patient with me as I try to figure out how to teach my babies how to live and grow and develop their talents.Thank you eggs for reminding me what is really important. And thank you Lord for my chance to be a Mom, they are my world and I love them to the moon and back.

Mr Man in his big boy clothes...

I have many weakness. Many. One of my biggest though is kids clothes. I just love them. I could care less about my clothes falling apart (like my jeans, and my bras and my shoes just to name a few), but I love cute clothes for the kids and because 99.9% of my shopping is at yard sales, I can afford too! I found the cutest baby Gap coat for Roman for $ 2.00 on Friday (yes, I even debated getting it, I am that cheap!) But I had too, it was darling. At the same sale they had the CUTEST stuff and I wish I would have bought some of the shoes, all $ 3.00 each. She had name brand stuff that had hardly been touched. I found a cute Hurley shirt for him and a few others that were super cute as well. The picture doesn't do it justice, but the shirt is so cute!

Sleeping Beauty...

Oh how we love this little guy. He is so sweet and we are so blessed to have him in our family!

Our other G-ma...

Our friend at church, DeArley, has become our other G-ma and we love her to pieces. She and I have become great friends and I love her. She was Grace's teacher years ago, I had to steal her from Primary to have her on my activity commitee last year and now I visit teach her- it's perfect! We go yard saling together on the weekends, hang out and eat pizza together, go shopping for fabric, Tristin mowes her lawn every week and we constantly fight over who gets to do nice things for the other person! Like last night she stole my Redbox movie to return for me because she knew how tired I was and last weekend she insisted that Trav and I have a date and she watched the kids for us. She is a wonderful friend and I am so thankful for her friendship. When I heard she was going to spend $ 50.00 to park her car at the airport a few weeks ago on her last trip to Wisconsin, I said, "No way, let me take you and pick you up, that's too much!" I told her it didn't matter if it was at 3:30 AM drop off or a midnight pick up- I couldn't allow her to spend that kind of money! Well, it turned out to be $ 80.00 to park, so I was even happier she let me do it! She's a great mix of G-ma and friend and we think she's pretty special! We love you and you mean the world to us G-ma Green!

I forgot to post these last week of the Scouts super cool election night that Sister Izatt put on for Pack meeting. We talked about voting and the importance of it, we played a trivia game about our local leaders and then she had a voting booth for the boys to vote on their upcoming activity. She did a great job and it was really cute. (And Jana, I did vote to pull weeds/rake leaves at your house! Sorry it didn't win!) Thank you scouting program and leaders, we appriciate everything you do!

My neck (and shoulders & jaw & back)

This is just for my documenting- skip this post if you dont want to hear my complaining! It was almost a month ago exactly that my neck started throbbing and aching. I though it would go away, perhaps I pulled it or twisted wrong, but after a week I started to doubt it. The pain was awful and I guess I thought if I just "wished" it away- it would dissapear, but I was wrong, again. By week 2 I knew something was wrong because the pain was getting horrible to deal with. Advil was saving me, but it felt like my vertabre were crushed up inside each other. It killed. Like last year when it happened, just the weight of lifting up my head was too much to bear. By week 3 my headaches were more inteanse than normal, my neck felt compacted & crushed, my shoulders hurt So bad and my jaw started aching agin. My back just had it's normal pain, the pain that I am so used to feeling. I knew it was time to do something because by this time I wanted to cut my head off. I just laid in bed almost in tears everyday. On Monday I went to a Chiropractor here in town. He was a nice guy, just not one that was going to target the problem and help me, so I called my chiroprator in Boise and went in 3 times this week. The drive, gas, and time it all takes isn't fun- but I was at my breaking point and desperete. I wish I could say I am feeling better, but the pain is still horrible. I've been iceing it and taking Advil but hopefully I'll start feeling the effects of getting my back straightened out. I've had 3 different Chiroprators ask if I have been in a car accident, and each time I've said "Nope." They have all been shocked because of how messed up I am. On Monday I was asked if I was a gymnast growing up, and again I said, "No." He said I had a horrible curve in my lower back which was causing a lot of my problems. Dr Dudley did a back scan and found all my problem areas so they could target them. A huge problem is my lower back is not straight and curving in the oppisite direction which is why I've had back pain probably my whole life. He said when it's going the wrong direction, the rest of my back pulls in the oppisite direction to compensate and try to balance it out. The problem is, your body can only compensate and adjust for so long until you hit a wall- that's what has happened. The pain has been awful. After 4 adjustments, he said my upper neck is getting better and he's working at getting my jaw, back and shoulders better as well. Oh how I pray...

School desk & new book shelf...

A few weeks ago I found this cool desk for $ 2.00 at a yard sale! It was already bright yellow but it needed a few more coats to make it shine. I just happened to have yellow spray paint that I picked up from a yard sale for .50! On Saturday I found this tall book shelf at a yard sale for $ 1.00! I knew it would replace the one already in the girl's room, that I loved, but I was grateful for the added space (drawers)of the new one. I painted the black edges and drawer fronts and the girl's love it. It is pretty huge but it's worth it when I see the kids reading and enjoying their books!

Roman...

Jog-a-thon...

Last week the kids had their jog-a-thon at school and earned $ 116.50 for their school! I was surprised at how well the kids did! Tristin made it around 7 laps, Grace did 7 laps and Daisy did 6 (although only 5 were counted. I kept track too, but she wanted to go off her teacher's count!) Good job kiddos!

3 months old!

Guess who turned 3 months old on Saturday? That's right, Roman is 3 months already! Crazy huh? I love this little man!

A little motivation was all I needed...

I just returned from the kid's jog-a-thon at school a few minutes ago. Before the run started I was chatting with a friend about how I needed to start going to the church work out group not far from home but I was lacking motivation. I told her she should come with me! (basically my sad attempt to hold someone else accountable for my work-out program!) After the run ended a SUPER annoying girl found me and proceeded to ask a thousand questions. " Oh is that your baby? Oh, it's so cute. Can I hold it? Why not? Is that your blanket? Is that where he's going to lay down? Can I sit on it? Can I have some gum? Why not? I like your baby. Can I hold it? Can I have some gum? Why not, she's chewing some? Your little girl is walking over there. Can I go too? Why not? Seriously- it continued forever and not to mention she had the world's loudest voice. She was the most persistant little thing I have ever met and before leaving she asks: Are you going to have a girl? And I said "nope, I'm all done having kids." Then she said, "Is it a girl?" And I pointed to Roman and said, "no he's a boy." Next she said, "No I mean the one in there," sticking her finger in my stomach. I half laughed and said, "No there's no baby in there." "Then why does it look like you have one in there? she asked" "Well, I said a little shocked, "it just happens sometimes." Finally she left and I just stood there now trying to suck in my stomach even more. Where the heck did you come from? I thought. I kinda just stood there and collected myself half wanting to cry, half wanting to slap her and half wanting to reach for a carton of ice cream to drown in. Seeking some reassurance I asked Daisy as she was walking by if I still looked pregnant. She wrinkled her face and said, "No!." I told her about "brat- face" and she tried to reassure me. It didn't work. I guess that was all I needed today, right? A little motivation...

ReOrganizing...

I've been working on a few projects around the house lately and it feels to great to dejunk and reorganize. Yesterday I worked on the girl's room for hours. I got rid of 2 garbage bags and it was super. Today I was working on redoing my Calendar Board. I'm still working on repainting a few items and trying to get better with a menu, so it isn't complete, but it's getting there again!

Miss Willow turns 3 years old!

Miss Willow turned 3 years old yesterday and we celebrated with a Dora party! We were planning/picking stuff up on clearance and finding treasures at yard sales for the past few months. She had a great time but was a little shy at times and pretty quiet. She was embarrased when we sang Happy Birthday, but I know she loved it. She is such a sweet little girl and I'm glad she had fun with all her friends. It gave us grown ups an excuse to get together and eat! (I tried a few new reciepes Mom! Can you believe it?!) I made a warm bean dip w/ chips, tortilla pinwheel wraps, cookies sandwiches, ice cream cone cupcakes, strawberries & dip, apples and caramel (Angie made that yummy goodness!) carrots/celery & dip, water, and a pack of store bought cupcakes that were marked down that she REALLY wanted and we put Dora stickers on top of. Thanks everyone for coming and celebrating with Willow! We love you guys and appriciate your friendship!