Christmas

We usually spend Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik's house and have a traditional candle-light dinner. This year, though, Grandma and Grandpa had to be up in Idaho for a funeral. We missed them! We managed to have a good time on our own, though. Kevin and I were in the mood for fried chicken. So that was our Christmas Eve dinner: fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, vegetables, fruit salad, and lots of biscuits! We did manage to light a candle, too.
After dinner, we had a family program. We talked about the little drummer boy and his gift to the Savior, and then we had each of the kids play a Christmas song for us on their instrument. We thought of gifts to give the Savior in the coming year and read the Christmas story from the Book of Mormon and Bible. Then we sent those little ones (and the big ones, too) off to bed!

Kevin told the girls that if they woke us up before 7am, that they'd have to wait until 10 to open their presents. In the end, it turned out that they set their alarm clocks wrong and they didn't get up until 7:30! I thought that was quite nice, really. Here they are while dad makes them smile for the camera before they can storm the room where Santa has left gifts for all of them.

Santa brought a laptop for Savannah and iPods for Sarah, Megan, and Mariah. That makes us sound RICH, huh?? Actually, they are all Hong Kong knock-offs that I bought on eBay. Let's hope they last over a month! :) Hey, they might! And they were excited to get them. Cheyenne got a new bike and Calianne got a cupcake kit and a gumball machine (just for the record, that is a lot more affordable than an ipod -- even a Hong Kong iPod -- and that's what she wanted!)

Later, after our traditional Dad-provided french toast breakfast, we opened gifts under the tree from each other. It was a lot of fun. Savannah shopped for everyone at the antique mall (one of her very favorite places) and Sarah crocheted a scarf for everyone. The other girls shopped for each other at the dollar store. It was fun to see how excited they were to give presents to each other.

After weeks of Bethany unwrapping presents and having to rewrap them, on Christmas morning she wasn't very interested. Probably because she'd probably finally learned that she wasn't supposed to unwrap presents! With a little prodding, though, she managed to get through to most of her presents. It was fun to watch her. She is trying to talk more and more. Mostly this results only in lots of jibber jabber, but she has mastered the word, "MINE!" This, accompanied by her already mastered dirty look, convinced many of her sisters to surrender their gifts to her, even if only for a minute or two. We knew she'd give them back.

On Christmas day we just hung around and played with gifts. We had take and bake pizza for dinner (loving it!) on paper plates with Root Beer. I think that's pretty festive. That night Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik made it back from Idaho and stopped by to make our Christmas complete.

We had a really nice Christmas. What a blessing to have all our children with us and to enjoy them at these fun ages. I wouldn't trade being with them for anything in the whole world. I know we will always remember these fun times.

Here's to more fun times in 2010!

The Cruise

We left Thursday afternoon on December 17th to go on our cruise. The night before, however, Sarah's orchestra gave us a send-off concert! It was her first orchestra concert ever. I thought she did a great job (and the rest of the orchestra, too). They played many favorite Christmas songs, but started off with "Twinkle Little Star" which I suppose is mandatory to playing any string instrument.

Kevin and I flew to Long Beach on Thursday and boarded our ship on Friday. We were so excited!

About halfway through dinner, when the ship pulled away from the dock and started chugging through the seas, I did start to have second thoughts. The motion of the boat made me a little sick. Luckily, we slept through most of it and we woke up to find ourselves in Mexico -- as proclaimed by this giant flag!

We had a great time shopping in Ensenada. I had been to Mexico a few different times with my dad growing up, so I felt comfortable with the town and the people and on asking for a different price! One shop owner saw us with all our bags and said, "Hey big spenders! Now you come in my store! It is my turn, eh?" We just laughed and had a good time and spread our money some around Ensenada.

That night our ship chugged out to sea again. It didn't bother me as much that time and Kevin and I spent some time walking around the ship and seeing the big show. The next day, Sunday, we were at sea all day. The ship dropped anchor and the seas were calm. Kevin and I found some lounge chairs up on the top deck and watched the sea and talked about our kids and things we want to do. We ate really well all day and in the afternoon we went back to the main showroom and watched a funny show called "Love and Marriage" and then watched their Christmas show, which was decidedly lacking in spiritual content, but I suppose was a good effort. We also watched a movie in our room that day, too. It was fun and relaxing.

Monday was officially Kevin's birthday. Happy Birthday, Kevin B.!!! By Monday morning, we were ready to head home and see all those little girls that we call our own. We got home without any mishaps and were able to give the girls all the Mexican skirts we'd bought in Ensenada (as well as the necklaces with their name written on a piece of rice!) Don't they look lovely??

We even made it back in time for Megan's birthday! She is now officially eleven! Happy Birthday, Megan! We love you!

The girls spent the time we were at the cruise with their Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik. We never could have done it without them! We are so grateful for all their hard work! They even had a birthday dinner waiting for us when we arrived back on Monday so that all these birthdays could be celebrated. It was the greatest! We love you Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik!

It's a boy!

We found out on December 14th around 12:30 p.m. that Skinner #8 will be a boy! Kevin had just finished telling the sonographer that we had seven girls so far and the sonographer said, "Well, this one's not!" At which time there were many exclamations. I laughed -- which is awkward when someone's trying to do an ultrasound of your belly. The sonographer said, "You can go ahead and cry if you want to." I thought he was talking to me, which I thought was weird since I didn't feel at all like crying, but I found out later that he was talking to Kevin who said that he just about did start crying. He's a good man and he loves his daughters, but this'll be fun for him, too!

We then started talking about how we won't even know how to raise a boy. The sonographer, who has both genders in his offspring, said, "You just raise them exactly the same. The only difference is that this child you can teach to pee standing up." !!! I love that. It is my favorite quote, so far!

We waited until everyone was home for dinner before we told the girls. They were so excited to know by that time that it was hard to get everyone to sit down. After the prayer, Kevin told them it was a boy! Then there were many more exclamations and much screaming (mostly from excitement, I hope). Before the screaming had even stopped, someone had called Grandma Gazdik and put her on speaker phone. Upon hearing the news, she promptly began to cry. She managed to sob how happy she was. To which I couldn't resist replying, "You sure don't sound happy!"

Then there were many fights over the phone as the girls called one friend after another to tell them, "It's a boy!!!" I don't think any news has ever traveled so quickly.

There were some concerns expressed, though. My oldest daughters all declared they will NOT change his diapers and they thought the sonographers comment about teaching him to pee standing up was GROSS! Heh, heh. Looks like they're going to have a lot to learn!

They are also very concerned that boys are MEAN. I assured them that we would teach him not to be mean. It is too bad that they've had this experience. Why is it that boys are so mean? Especially to the ages between 8 and 14? I don't know. Perhaps they will all learn to be more understanding of that part of a boy's life, as well. We can only hope!

I keep having realizations of how this will be different. First good things like, I won't have to do his hair! Kevin can have a legitimate reason to attend Fathers and Sons -- with one of my children!! Kevin can take him to the bathroom! Then other things hit me like, I'm going to have to do cub scouts!

Heh, heh. I guess this will be a learning experience for all of us! Having a boy is going to shake things up around here. But we are ready. Bring on the adventure!! It is going to be so fun for us.

Bethany has taken to wearing her coat around the house. We are pretty sure it is not from cold, but more from a desire to always be ready to go. On this day, she wanted her coat and a shawl and a bag. Whenever she sees anyone move toward the door she says hopefully, "Go?" Whenever I get my coat on, she follows me around the house while I round up last minute things and says, "Go? Go?" When I finally pick her up and step outside she says joyfully, "GO!" What a thirst for adventure, huh? Last Sunday, I picked her up and took her with me to deliver something to a neighbor -- since she already had her coat on and all. It was like negative 5 outside. We didn't get four houses away before she started looking at her hands in consternation and saying, "Owie!" Yes, Bethany, there is a very good reason that we don't "go" more often in freezing weather!! Not that she understands that though. She continues to wear her coat around the house and ask to go.

Megan had an exciting moment this week. She finished her 10-week chess club. Remember that she didn't know anything when she first attended? Well, they have been having a tournament for the last few weeks and guess what? Only one person in the whole club could beat Megan! She came in second place and got her name announced to the whole school. We think she is pretty cool.



We started basketball practices this week. Kevin is coaching Sarah and Megan's team and they have practice Monday from 7-8 and Wednesday from 8-9. I am coaching Mariah's team and we had practice M and W from 3-4. It made the week pretty busy. Kevin and I both love it, though. Oh, and so do the girls!

We still managed to make treats for teachers, etc. this week. We dipped pretzels this year. I liked it as a project because it involved everyone all at once but also was pretty simple. We delivered Saturday morning. Yeah! Merry Christmas! We had an especially good time delivering. The weather warmed up (mid 30s!) and Megan and Mariah started throwing snowballs at their dad. I could tell all that softball playing was paying off. The rest of us just sat in the car and laughed!

Also on Saturday, but in the afternoon, Sarah talked me into taking her to a local performance of the Nutcracker in which a friend of hers from school was going to be dancing. Savannah and Megan and another friend came along. It was really fun! The two princes were from professional ballet companies but the other dancers came from the different classes of this ballet academy. It was really fun to watch the little girls dance with their dolls and then up through the ranks to the toe-shoes and the soloists. My goodness! What a lot of effort. The dancing was beautiful and the music, of course, . . . well, that Tchaikovsky was a very talented fellow. I really had fun. And the girls did, too!

While we were at the ballet, Kevin made snowmen with Mariah, Cheyenne, and Calianne. Yay for warmer temps and a fun dad!

Oh, babies and Christmas. Isn't that something? She loves the lights the best!
On Monday, we decorated our tree! Kevin brought it home after work. The girls were so excited. We already had the decorations out and they decorated the tree in 0.3 seconds -- or something like that -- it was really fast. We did listen to Christmas music and found spots for our multiple child-proof nativities. It was a fun night. I think we got so many smiles in this picture because of the excitement of the self-timer on the camera! Will Mom make it in time? Quick! The light is flashing faster! Beth even thought it was cool.

On Wednesday night, we went to the junior high to listen to Savannah sing in the school choir concert. They did a great job, sounded beautiful, and Savannah looked lovely. She loves the school choir dress. I think that even if she didn't like to sing, she would join the choir so she could wear the dress! She does love to sing, though, and it shows in her face. It was fun to watch her! (Those are four-strand braids, by the way, and I did them! Woohoo! Go me!)

On Saturday we had Mariah's "friend" birthday party. Don't they look like they are having a spectacular time??

We played games, made bracelets, ate pizza, opened presents, broke a pinata, and had cupcakes. In between it all, those girls were incredibly silly and had a spectacular time! Happy ninth birthday, Mariah!

Also this week, Kevin and I went to the ward choir dinner at the high school with friends from our ward which has become a holiday tradition for us and we really enjoyed, as usual. And we had the ward Christmas party where the primary children sang "Away in a Manger" accompanied by guitar. That was beautiful. I liked that alot.

The other night, after we had put everyone to bed, Cheyenne came back upstairs -- which is not at all uncommon. Kids come up, we send them back down -- at least twenty times (it feels like) before they stay down. I said, "Cheyenne! What are you still doing up?" She sighed and said, "I just really love being awake!" That made me laugh. I don't think I have ever gotten such an honest answer! And I remember feeling that way as a child. I definitely lost that somewhere along the way, though!

Merry Christmas! We hope all is well with all of you!

Hello everybody! Tis me Savannah. I understand that you are confused why I am here and not the usual Katy Skinner (mom) but I have been given permission to give my random happiness a form of life upon this page. I HAVE FINISHED NANOWRIMO!!! I have done it 50,000 words and even before the month ended. I feel like I have been set free and given the prize of a lifetime. What a great sense of accomplishment my mother would say. I say "YES! I proved that a 13 year old kid with enough determination can do it. Also during this month I had my piano lessons, participated in three different choirs, went to school, and still managed to stay (mostly) sane. So now that I have finished I for some reason still feel like I should be typing... Yes that's why it says mostly sane. Well I must get some sleep now or I will combust. Till... Well I don't know when my mother will let me talk your ears off... So for maybe the last time I say goodbye.




wait your still here... go away

Week of November 23 - November 29

It has been a busy and exciting week for us! On Tuesday, Mariah was in a reader's theatre at her school that talked about Squanto the Indian. Here she is up on stage, that's not her with the microphone, though, she's two more children to the left. She did a great job! They even sang "Over the River" when they were done. Cool! Did you know that was a Thanksgiving song?



On Wednesday, Grandma and Grandpa Elton arrived from Las Vegas. We were so excited to see them! They always bring sweet love into our home. Beth crawled onto Grandma's lap to help her with her phone.

She also crawled onto Grandpa's lap to help him with his homework. (He's taking college classes at UNLV. Cool, huh?) It was pretty nice of Bethany to help!

On Thursday, I had to get up early to put our 23.35 lb turkey into the oven. That is one big bird!! Around noon, my sister, Amy and Paul and their three girls arrived also from Las Vegas to help us celebrate. We finished our part of the "fixin's" and carted everything and everyone over to Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik's where we had a terrific Thanksgiving feast! Here's the little girls at their table:

And the bigger girls up at the counter:

And the grownups at the big table:

I still can't believe we all fit so nicely! Amy and Mandy are missing from the pictures. It was kind of hard to get everyone sitting down at the same time! Whenever you eat with kids, you get up and down a lot. This is an inescapable fact.

On Friday, we went to downtown Salt Lake City to see the lights on Temple Square. None of my pictures of the lights turned out too clear and it was hard to get our big group together since there were a MILLION people doing the same thing. I did get this really cute picture of all the cousins in front of the giant gingerbread house in Little America, though. I think the gingerbread was even real! It sure smelled good!

On Saturday, everyone LEFT! Horrible, I tell you. That's when I read too many books and didn't get anything done. The days before it, though, were wonderful, and I was so glad that so many of my family got to spend so much time with us! What a blessing! What a happy Thanksgiving!

If you think our week was over, though, you'd be wrong! Mariah Marion Skinner turned nine years old today! Today is her birthday! So, this evening we went again to Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik's house, this time decorated in balloons, and had ham and funeral potatoes for Mariah's birthday dinner (her request). Her favorite gift was a stuffed pig which she asked for at least a month ago. Funny, huh? As soon as the twins saw it, they both wanted a stuffed pig for their next birthday too! ?? I guess it is kind of cute. She got some cute clothes and a computer game and a gumball machine AND a ukulele. We are standing by for some stellar new performances!

One little, two little, three little indians . . . Actually, just two. But aren't they cute?

It was Indian week in Kindergarten. So they got to make beads and necklaces and weaving things and leather pouches and headresses. They also got to shoot a little bow and arrow at pictures of buffalo and deer. Watch out! They are fierce hunters now! They also got that cute face paint. What fun, huh? No wonder it's so much fun to be a kindergartener! Somewhere in there, they also learned the letter "I." Wow! It's magic!

On Saturday, Savannah had her first concert with the Hobblecreek Singers. It was in the morning in the art museum and featured Thanksgiving music. Fun, huh, since there are so many Christmas things to do in December. Here is the choir singing as they walk in:


I wish you could see Savannah's face when she sings. She's so animated. It's a beautiful thing to watch her sing -- especially because I'm her mother and I love her so much!

They did a great job and she really enjoyed it. I did, too!

Kevin and I took Megan out this week for her night alone with Mom and Dad. She wanted to go to the Art Museum. That's kind of easy when you have one down the street, huh? So, we went and walked around and picked out our favorite ones. Kevin's favorite was one of the temple spires, mine was of a mom teaching her little toddler to pray, and Megan's favorite was a victorian marriage scene with a lot of detail. We had a fun time together. Megan is a sweet girl.

I went to see my midwife again this week and heard the little heartbeat again. It makes me so happy to hear that little heartbeat! We scheduled my ultrasound, too. We will know if it is a boy or girl on December 14 around 12:30. We are betting on a girl!

Speaking of girls, look at what our youngest little girl got into! Isn't that a riot? I can just hear her little mind thinking, "Cool! These stick to your pants!" She is crying because I kept trying to get her to stand away from me to take her picture. Poor thing! Being adorable can be such a trial.

Week of November 2 to November 8

I have been trying to talk Kevin into going on a trip together for his big birthday that is coming up. He finally agreed and we have booked a little cruise to Ensenada Dec 19 - 21. Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik have agreed to watch the kids. We are so excited! This will be our first ever cruise and we are so looking forward to it! So, if any of you cruise afficiondos out there have advice for us, send it this way!

On Monday, we went during Kevin's lunch break to order our passports. We hope they will get here in time. Since they cost so much, I told Kevin we'd better use them a lot in the next 10 years to get our money's worth. :) Sounds like a plan, huh? The best thing was that it was a lovely, mild, fall day and the three of us (Kevin, Beth, and I) went out to lunch at this fun little cafe afterward. We got to play "newlyweds with one baby" for a minute!

Tuesday night was Young Women in Excellence, so Kevin and I got to go to the church with Savannah and Sarah and have a nice sit-down dinner. It was fun. I can't believe I have two young women!

Thursday night we had our Relief Society midweek activity. We had ladies quilting, making puppets for the humanitarian center, and another group learning to make hairbows. I was in the last group. Watch out world! Sarah and Megan helped out in the nursery. They did a great job and Sarah even got her first babysitting job out of it! She was on cloud nine! She babysat Friday night for four children for almost four hours and earned $17. She did great, I have no doubt.

Savannah got to go see Music Man at the high school with her choir on Saturday night. She had great fun and also came home on cloud nine. She is still going strong on NaNoWriMo, by the way and hit 25,000 words on Sunday! Holy Cow! She's lucky, though, because she can spend all day long on it if she wants -- and she does. We've started to make jokes about Savannah being down in her "cave!" I never really had that luxury when I did NaNo. Funny that!

We hope you are all well!

Since we weren't home for Halloween this year, the pumpkins that the girls got from school didn't ever get carved! Lucky for them, they have an accomodating father. While I was gone to a church meeting Tuesday night (as were Savannah and Sarah), Kevin carved jack-o-lanterns with Megan, Mariah, Cheyenne, and Calianne. Isn't that cool? Here's the enterprising crew:

I decided not to do National Novel Writing Month this year (nanowrimo.org), because of my pregnancy, but Savannah is giving it a go! If you don't know about nanowrimo, the goal is to write 50,000 words in one month. Oh, it is a killer. It is to a writer what a marathon is to a runner -- with the same feeling of accomplishment, let me tell you -- and you can still walk at the end of it -- but other than that, it's just the same. Savannah hit 12,000 words today. She should be at 13,336. She's pretty close, though, and determined to catch up! I think it's a great project for her. I just miss my computer . . .

The days here have been beautiful! I walked outside this week to find the trees had all turned orange! And they had sprinkled their orange brilliance all along the ground as well! And the sun brightened it all and the blue sky offered striking contrast. Ah! Gorgeous! Glorious! Every day has been like that. The orange trees take a long time to fall. We worked on the first piles on Saturday and found our lawn again (as did just about every family in our neighborhood!) Alas, though, by the end of the day, our lawn was sprinkled again. Such is the glory of fall! Here are some of our hard workers:

Even Beth got in on the act and tried to figure out what we were doing. Eventually she figured it out and would carry three leaves at a time over to the truck and put them in. What a helper, huh?

We hope you all are having a glorious fall, as well!

Week of October 26 - November 1

The girls had no school on Friday because of Teacher Development Day which translates into "Teachers need a day off after talking to parents in conferences all day long the day (and night) before." So, I talked to the teachers in conferences and they told me that all was well. To celebrate, we left town Thursday after school and drove down to Las Vegas to visit family and celebrate Halloween with the cousins!

We arrived late Thursday night after Beth spent about 1-2 hours crying at us in the car. (Which is 4-5 hours of her not crying at us, so that's pretty good, but it didn't really feel like it at the time!) Friday we hung out at my mom and dad's and walked to the park. Amy's family came over and we visited. Then we drove down and saw Pete's family as well as his new baby, Oliver, who is very, very cute. Then Savannah, Sarah, Megan, and Mariah went to sleep over at Aunt Diane's new house! Cousin Samantha went with them, too.

The next morning, Diane took all those nieces to work with her which meant swimming in UNLV's pool! Fun, huh? Grandma took Cheyenne and Calianne over to play with Amy's kids while she tended for them and Grandpa, Kevin, Beth, and I hung out in the quiet and got some things done and some more visiting!

That night we went over to Diane's house for dinner and then trick-or-treating! Look at that fun group of kids!
It was a little crazy trying to keep up with all of them going down the streeet, I tell ya, but with enough adults and a lot of determination, we managed it. Savannah was an indian this year, Sarah was Hera, wife to Zeuss, Megan was a Krispy Kreme Doughnut employee, Mariah was a cat, Cheyenne was a princess ballerina, and Calianne was tinkerbell. Sweet, huh?

The next day was Sunday and we all went to Pete's sacrament meeting to see baby Oliver get blessed. It was great. I was so proud of my brother and his big family and so happy I could be there with so many of my good family. My heart was full as they say.

Then we drove home and Beth didn't cry at us, but we did have to feed her candy and let her watch the nursery rhymes DVD over and over. She gets very excited whenever she sees a dog on the TV. She points at the TV and says, "Da! Da! Whoa!" It was very entertaining just to watch her!

We had a fun weekend.

Week of October 19 - 25

Look! We had a canning project again at the Skinner house! This is actually the only one of the year. I did tomatoes, but I did them on my own, which is fine since you usually only have a little bit at a time. Not so with fruit! Since I found out how much easier it is to can when I put my children to work, I will never go back to doing fruit on my own! They are terrific! We did six boxes of apples (all free from my neighbor) in four hours -- not counting set-up and clean-up. Mariah was at a party when this picture was taken, but when she got back, she helped, too. We even put the neighbor kids to work when they came over to play -- in a Tom Sawyerish type move. Tricky, huh? Canning applesauce is a MESS, so doing it in the backyard was heaven, too. The girls were great and never complained and did everything I asked of them. (Bizarre, huh??) At the end of the day, we canned 15 1/2 gallon bottles and 4 funky bottles that hold 7 cups each which would be the same as 37 quarts. It was a very productive day!

You know, canning in Utah has got to be a lot easier than anywhere else. First, I often get offered free fruit from others' trees or produce from their garden. Second, when I take on a project like this, I can go to my neighbors, who also can, and borrow more pots and canners and strainers, so I can easily set up the production-line you see in the picture. Where else can you live that your neighbors have those kinds of things??!!

Let's see. Everyone went to school this week, although Mariah has not felt well with headaches and a sore throat. The thought of missing school makes her very anxious, though, so she went even so!

The girls all spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa Gazdik's house Friday night (except Beth) so Kevin and I got to go out to eat and watch a rented movie completely uninterrupted!

Megan and Sarah joined the new, after-school, school choir and even though they've only been doing it for two weeks and it only meets one day a week, they've been singing the songs together ever since. It is fun, especially since they are not typically my spontaneous singers.

Beth started saying, "No! No! No!" this week. I guess that's what I get for wishing she would start saying a new word -- any word! It's actually very handy for her especially when she's outside and we start bringing her in and she starts squirming and yelling, "No! No! No!" Nice. Actually, she started saying, "Owie," this week, too. She's still signing "down" for when she wants up and signs "eat" pretty regularly. I'm working on the sign for "milk." She also says, "Mom," and "what's that?" But that's all.

Overall, we're doing well. The days are glorious, even though they are getting cool. Take care!

Before I begin, let me just say:

1. No, we didn't decide to try one more time for a boy.

2. No, I am not trying to keep up with my brother -- worthy though he is of emulation.

and 3. Yes, we do know what causes it.

I heard a heartbeat today! It looks like there will be another Skinner on Brookside Dr. before school lets out for the summer.

I am 12 weeks and two days today and am due on May 3rd. All of us here on Brookside Dr. feel very blessed . . . and very excited for spring!

Savannah had a rough week. She started feeling ill last week and it continued into this week. She missed almost half of the week! It was her last week of Cross Country, too, so she was really sad. We also felt chagrined that the timing of her sickness was so unfortunate. But, what can you do? The kids actually only had three days of school last week, so by the weekend, Savannah was feeling better. Yea! She will have to be a cross country star next year.

The weather this week was glorious! Look at that fall color right outside my front door!


Since the kids didn't have school and the weather was so nice, they did a lot of playing at the leaf hotel across the street. Actually, this week, it got changed to a magical school for girls. This is a picture of some of them across the street at their favorite autumn haunt. I have such patient neighbors!

Here is Sarah giving a tour if you are interested:

On Friday, we decided to go to the zoo! "This is the place" where we had lunch (heh, heh):

Here's everybody in front of the giraffes! When I went to buy tickets, I said, "One adult and six children," and the ticket lady said, "One adult and SIX children??!?" I counted back really quickly in my head, "Uh, yeah?" I replied a little less confidently. "Wow!" said the ticket gal, "You are one brave lady!" Funny, huh? As if they're tough to take to the zoo! The older ones take care of the younger ones. Mariah took pictures. I hardly had to do anything! It was great.

Cali and Cheyenne were so excited to see the zebras!

Even Beth found a friend!

By the time we made it to the gorillas (which are pretty much last), we'd been at the zoo a little over an hour and a half. The girls were saying, "When are we going back to the car?? My feet are going to fall off!" Whimps, huh? I told them it was a good thing Hogle Zoo is so small, they'd never make it in San Diego!

Friday night, Kevin's dad came and went out to eat with us and stayed the night. It was great fun to have a visit from Grandpa Skinner!

Isn't that sweet? Why is it that babies this age love to help with the dishes? It's such a cute stage -- if you can handle the water sloshed all over the counters and floor and, of course, on the baby herself. This is the kitchen after I spent an hour doing the dishes. Yes, a whole hour! It was just the dinner dishes and I even have a dishwasher. I also have a husband and seven children, but my husband was at a meeting at church, and I thought I'd give the kids a night off and let them play. Nice, huh? Yeah. I don't think I'm doing that again real soon!

Anyhoo . . . At Savannah's school, they had "Dress up like a hero" day. Savannah dressed up like Sacagawea. Look at that! She is a natural. Too bad I didn't get a close-up of the stylin' rock earrings!

The girls have been playing in their leaf hotel all week -- so much so, that Megan didn't do any of her homework, as I found out on Friday. Nice, huh? That is going to have to change. On a happier note, she started chess club this week! She is going to make huge progress since she didn't know anything at all on her first day! She's game, though and ready to learn!

Here is Sarah and her cello since I didn't have a picture last week. Looks like she's having fun doesn't it?

It has been so cold here already that I talked Kevin into buying me a little electric fireplace. It is warm and has pretend flames. I love it! I planted bulbs on Saturday -- so, I am already dreaming of spring!

Week of September 28 - October 4

Sarah has decided to join the 6th grade orchestra at school. She is learning cello! Can you believe it? We borrowed a cello from a neighbor, fixed the strings, bought some rosin, and she is set to go. I encouraged her to give the cello a try since we already have two violin players, plus the cello would give her extra practice on the bass cleff. Then I watched her carry it home . . . and repented all my encouragement! My goodness! How many times did I lug my violin back and forth from school and curse myself for not taking up the flute instead? I suppose it's good that I didn't base her decision on the weight of the instrument. She's having a good time. It is definitely not the same quality of instruction she would get from a private Suzuki teacher, but I am loving, actually, not being involved! Hee, hee. Do I sound like a really slacker mom? Hey! She is still getting privat piano lessons that I am serious about. If she likes cello, great! If she doesn't, no skin off my back! (Although, there might be some off hers -- I'm telling you, that thing is BIG!) :)

The weather turned COLD this week! On Wednesday we had rain (cold rain) and snow in the mountains. Brrrr. I don't like it, naturally. However, the cold means the first leaves are starting to fall which means the girls and other neighborhood kids have created their hotel once more at the house across the street. They use the leaves to outline the rooms in the hotel which also has a jail for when people break the rules (such as walking through walls -- a big problem in such a hotel, let me assure you). They have been having a great time.

Mariah's last soccer game was this week -- on Wednesday -- when it was so cold! I watched from the car. :) I am so supportive! She had a lot of fun this season and she learned a lot. Fortunately, this team picture was taken on a warmer day!

The twins are still loving kindergarten. They react to it in very different ways, though. The other day when they came home I asked Calianne, "How was school?" "Good!" she replied. "What did you do?" I asked. "I don't know. I can't remember." Then Cheyenne started demanding my attention. Before I could say anything, she said, "Mom! Guess what we did today? We got to pretend like we were parent dinosaurs and we had to get the right number of food for the right number of eggs!" "Wow!" I said, "How fun! Cali, do you remember feeding the baby dinosaurs?" Cali looked thoughtfully at the ceiling then back at me, "I remember having dinosaur treats. . ." "Guess what else?" Cheyenne asked. "We learned how to make face sandwiches!" Cali went on happily swinging her legs ignoring us while she ate her bread and Cheyenne smiled proudly to herself while she put her backpack away. Calianne is the one who always speeds boldly through her homework and Cheyenne crafts each letter with care and deliberation. They are an endless source of fascination to me.

Guess who won America's Got Talent? Kevin Skinner! Funny, huh? Kevin says that his web pages used to come up first when you googled his name, but now he can't find himself until page six! Funny, huh? But, he says his booksales went way up about ten days ago and he wonders if it's because people searched for his name at Amazon and found his book instead of the singer for whom they were searching. It's a small world, huh?

Week of September 21 - September 27

Brookside Elementary had its annual carnival this past Thursday afternoon. Doesn't it look fun?

I sent the kids while I made dinner. They even brought the camera! Can I tell you that having older kids to help with younger kids is THE BEST! Here are Cali and Cheyenne having fun on a bouncy/slide thingy:

Megan, Sarah, and Mariah had a great time, too. In fact, you could say, they had a ball!

Friday, there was no school. Yeah! So we went back to Payson Lake! Look! It's just like last year, isn't it?

It was a beautiful day and we caught five fish. Here is Megan doing her reenactment of George Washington:

Savannah, found a nice reading spot and Bethany did some exploring:

We did a lot of lake gazing . . .

And I had to make kids stop so I could take cute pictures on the path around the lake . . .

That Friday was also Sarah's birthday! She turned twelve years old! To which she exclaims, "Finally!!!!" She so wanted to start the Young Women program at church and be out of Primary. I guess her anticipation of it completely wiped me clean of any sadness I might have felt at having my daughter grow up so much. The truth is, she already grew up that much and her age has finally caught up with her. We went over to Grandma Gazdik's house that night and had a lovely birthday dinner, opened presents, and had cake and ice cream. Isn't she a lovely twelve year old?

Saturday was a pretty busy day for us, as well. Mariah had a soccer game in the morning. Then Kevin, Savannah, Mariah, and I, headed out to Provo Canyon for a 5K race. It was a really small one, and, consequently, I ran a very real danger of coming in last, last, last. My triumph for the day is that in the last mile I passed four people and saved myself from ignominy. Hurrah! Kevin and Savannah ran together and came in just under 25 minutes. Mariah ran it in 29 minutes. What a trooper! Can you believe she played in an hour long soccer game and then went and ran 3 miles? What kind of parents do that to a kid?? She had a hard time walking today. But guess what? She never gives up. She wouldn't have had it any other way.

I went to the Relief Society broadcast last night at the church. That was really nice. It was nice just to sit and watch something without interruptions! Although, I wouldn't trade my seven interruptions for anything.