Happy birthday a month late, Zack! Poor thing, I still feel guilty for having him so close to Christmas. He definitely helps us make the day his own, though! We try to completely forget about Christmas for his one big day & solely focus on him. This year he chose to go to Famous Daves & Nickelcade. We took the whole family & had a great day together. I especially had fun during Nickelcade, since while they were all glued to the video games for 2 hours I strolled the streets & did some window shopping. They didn't miss me at all! We had a family birthday dinner about a week before his birthday. He had asked, begged, for a guitar and a radio control car. Easy enough, so we got him both, and ended up returning both. The guitar had a broken string and the RC car had something wrong with it, so we took the easy road & combined the money from the returned gifts so Jeremy could take him to pick out his own present. He picked out a double edge light saber thingy, which he enjoyed for about 20 minutes before becoming bored with it. He's never really been into toys. I swear he was born with the mind of a 14 year old, he talks like one, sasses like one, plays like one. When I picked the kids up after school today I couldn't find him anywhere. I had long since collected Lance, Brody & Jace, so we started driving around looking for Zack. I finally spotted him at the schoolyard basketball court, shooting hoops with about 15 6th graders as if it was the most natural thing in the world. I had to explain to him that although he thinks he's big, he's still small & a 7-year-old cannot go wandering off wherever & whenever they please.

Zack is currently playing basketball & indoor soccer & LOVES both. He gets so excited for every game & practice. I love watching him, it is so much fun to see his passion. I am so proud of his abilities. Can't wait for him to start football this fall!

Despite his "maturity" in most areas, I like to think he is still a mama's boy. I volunteer as the library helper for his school class. The kids are usually getting lined up in the classroom when I arrive to take them down to the library & every time I walk in Zack's face lights up & he runs over to give me a huge hug. It absolutely melts my heart. I hope he never outgrows that part!

Side Note: First lost tooth, right before he turned 7. Don't know what took him so long. And it still needed prodding via string & doorknob. He was brave!

Dear Dad, please do not go out of town anymore. Mom feels way too justified to take us out for junk food when you're not here. She's determined to not even use the microwave until you get home.

Corben purposefully shuts his eyes everytime someone points a camera at him. Well Corben, hope this is better.

Next we went to visit great-grandma and also got to see grandpa Greg while we were there. We were able to knock out our week's requirements of cookies and candy while we were there.

Then we went down the street and watched the Christmas parade. For once, we thought a parade was too short! That pleased Mom because it made for less whining!

As we drove home from the parade Lance said, "I wish Dad would've been there," and all the kids agreed.

We ended our 13 year tradition of trick-or-treating in Kaysville this year. Missed seeing Gayla. The kids have been phasing it out as they get older & this year they all insisted we go in our neighborhood. Jeremy started a Halloween tradition last year (stolen from his old friend). He puts a movie on in the garage and grills hot dogs to give to friends/neighbors who come trick-or-treating. He's loved doing it and a lot of the neighbors get a kick out of it. The kids also loved it when they got done with trick-or-treating. They never last very long, which was a good thing this year since I'm trying so hard to diet & I usually steal over half their candy.

Brody is dressed as a Power Ranger, though unless you're a hardcore fan you can't tell what he is because he wouldn't wear a mask or let me come within 10 feet of him while holding Halloween make-up. Jace is, of course, Spongebob. This costume has served us well. Glad Kira bought it for our exclusive use.

Zack was changing his mind about costumes until the night before, and this is what he decided on. He kept saying he was a dead zombie & I kept lecturing him not to say dead zombie, as zombies are already dead. I just don't want my kids to sound unintelligent. Corben had the great idea that he could go as a living zombie, no costume required.

Lance was pretty much the best Frankenstein I've ever seen. He's got the perfect tall lanky body, and he was a champ with getting the make-up on. Usually they're such squirmy worms that it's all smeared, but he is one patient kid.

This was hilarious. Trev & a bunch of his friends dressed as evil looking clowns. Trev went one step further & brought his unicycle to school & rode it in the school costume parade! It was so funny. His uni skills are aMAzing.

No picture of Corben because despite the fact that he completely disobeyed my insistence that he is too old to trick-or-trick & went anyway, to make matters worse he didn't even wear a costume! What a geek. And he wouldn't even share his candy with me. Jeremy finally found it hidden in his school backpack which I was then forced to accidentally rip in my struggle to get it from him to get some candy.

I don't know why (fear of my kids with knives, I guess), but I really loathe pumpkin carving. I loved that Jeremy was walking on thin ice with me just in time for pumpkin carving night. He INSISTED I take a nice long bath while he supervised the carving. I missed the whole thing! Yay! The kids did a great job. Their pumpkins looked awesome & we had delicious seasoned pumpkin seeds for days.

My cuties on the first day of school

Better late than never, I need to write about my baby Ainge turning 14 last Sunday. Unbelievable, especially because of all my kids, I remember his baby years the most. Obviously we went through a lot together at the time, but I just cannot believe it has been that long. Corben's birthday present request wasn't quite as quirky this year as in years past; he wanted a guitar. Luckily I have Jeremy to rely on for things like this and he is the one who researched & ultimately ordered it. I wouldn't have had the first clue where to get a guitar or even what to look for. Corben can't be completely unquirky, of course, as I also got him the Mario (yep, of Nintendo) t-shirt he has been begging for for weeks.

I'm so proud & impressed with Corben's talents. He's never had any lessons to speak of but he is constantly working at teaching himself how to play different musical instruments, and he has an AMAZING singing voice. He is in the advanced choir at school this year, which his school counselor told me is a big compliment for an 8th grader. He has even written several songs. One of them Jeremy and I were so impressed with that we played it for anyone who showed up at our house. When Gifford & Shirelle came over & heard it, Gifford was so sure that Corben had plagiarized the song that we had to get on the internet for several minutes googling the lyrics to make sure they didn't show up anywhere. It was pretty funny.

Corben remains, by far, my most obedient child. I NEVER have to ask him twice to do anything. He is very sweet & loving, in his own special way (i.e. doesn't like to show ANY emotion). He is very smart and makes mediocre grades at school, but this is after NO effort is made on his part (now that's talent!). And I know it's only a matter of time before this current phase ends and he lets me cut his hair!

I'm so thankful for Corben & for the young man he is turning into, and for fighting against all the challenges that were thrown his way as a child to come out a better person for it. Love you Bud!

We continued our Pioneer Day tradition this year of waking up in the middle of the night (3:30 a.m.) to run in the Deseret News 10k race in SLC. Jeremy impressed me by registering for it as well, but then we realized he would be gone to scout camp. So this year it was Kira, Dave, my dad, Denny, & me. It's so curious how despite all the hideous factors of doing this race (getting up in the middle of the night, running, etc.), I always look back on it with joy & excitement, & know I'll do it again next year. It makes me feel so good to accomplish something that ten years ago I never would've thought possible, & it's even better doing it with my awesome family. I'm especially proud of my dad. At 58 years old & having spent part of the past year recovering from cancer, he completed the whole race. It was a neat sight watching him jog toward the finish line. Of course Denny, having never run 6 miles in his whole life & doing the race on a whim, left us all in the dust.

Of course with Jeremy & the big boys gone, it was a fun treat to scrounge up a babysitter, let alone one who would be willing to come over in the middle of the night. At the last minute I had the thought that maybe they could spend the night at Rob's house. Luckily he & Alisha are so laid back & generous that even with the last minute notice they gladly agreed. And I had Cami on stand-by all morning in case I didn't make it to pick the kids up in time. I didn't, since my dad couldn't get off the bus (ha ha!), so Cami went & grabbed them and had them all fed by the time I picked them up. Where would I be without my awesome family?

Many lessons learned this Mother's Day. First and foremost is to stop having ANY expectations from my kids, then maybe I won't be disappointed. I was telling everyone today, I don't know if their fighting was actually worse today, or if it just seemed that way because I foolishly expected them to behave better. Jeremy, on the other hand, has definitely made some progress from years past. Instead of spending money we don't have on a lame present I may or may not like, he spent the last two days taking care of the kids and doing everything around the house so I could sit around and be lazy all weekend. Bless his heart, it doesn't come easy. One of his big responsibilities was Sunday dinner with Steffensens and Denny. I had requested that he grill and make his delicious homemade ice cream and brownies to go with it. Well, the ribs were delicious, but when he went to make the brownies he found that, SHOCK! Brownies need eggs! And we were out of eggs! I told Kira that I secretly like when stuff like that happens because it proves how lost our husbands would be without us.

I got so many gifts from the kids: chocolate, bubble bath, a Tinkerbell puzzle (thanks, Jace!), some cooking stuff, and several cards and crafts they made in school. I was very spoiled! I've got to single out Corben, though. He is the only one who didn't even attempt to buy or make me a gift, but he is the only one of the kids who made an effort to try and help around the house and make our home a little more harmonious by getting along with his brothers, and I am so grateful for that. I think that's the gift any mom would prefer.

I'm going to repeat what my sister said today. I'm so grateful I've been blessed with these wonderful children so Mother's Day can be a happy time about me and my kids, and not a sad day where all I can do is miss my beautiful mom. Mother's Days were so hard the first few years after she died, but slowly they have turned around and now I have tender memories and thoughts about her throughout the day, but not the devastation I had before. I only hope my kids remember me with such fondness as I remember my mom.