The Day Tayler Lost an Arm in the Civil War

5th grade at our elementary used to be a pretty cool ordeal.  They were extremely hands on in learning about the pilgrims and founding fathers and history of our nation.

The recreated the pilgrim's excursion across the ocean for them.

And held a civil war where each student drew a wound that they needed to wear the day of.

Turns out on Tayler's turn, she had lost an arm due to a cannon ball explosion.

I don't think they realized what kind of mom they were dealing with on this one, but we had some fun with it.

Tayler thought it was awesome.

It's too bad they quit being so hands on with this.  My five oldest got to participate in the unique learning experience, but by the time Cali got there they weren't doing it that way any more.

In Which I Got Very Behind and Now Do a Catch Up Post

As it tends to go, I got a little overwhelmed with life.

It's been a harder semester with both math 1050 and Spanish, plus working full time, and also trying not to slack as a mother and a wife altogether.

Which didn't happen, but after a slap of reality I pulled it back together and realized where my priorities need to be, even while working and going to school.

No other success can make up for failure in the home.

I don't want to fail in my home.

As it is, the blog got set to the side for a few weeks.

And now I get to show all the incredibly random things that have kept us hopping.

Like Cali's birthday party at Hollywood Connections.

Where Grandma Julie gave Cali some ice cream cones for part of her birthday present, and we then used them to back the cupcakes in and top with ice cream on sundae toppings.  

Our local grocery store had a week where they invited schools to decorate check stands and come in and do...

Well...

This:





...all through the entire store.  Over and over.

The walking around behind the mascot, not the rapping.

Though the rapping was quite good.

A few months ago I saw a groupon for Harlem Globetrotters tickets, and as the Harlem Globetrotters have been on my bucket list since I was a kid, I jumped at the chance to go.

For "bring your parent to school day" we decided to just join the girls for lunch.  We showed up with Panda Express and Subway cookies and hung out with them at the Middle School for that part of their day.

It would have been helpful if they'd all have the same lunch, but what do you?  The Man helped me study Spanish flashcards in between lunches.

A random pic of the girls tromping into church on a windy day.

As it turns out, we have all six kids going to the orthodontist.

I'm not sure how this happened since none of their parents ever had the need for orthodontia, but *sigh* I guess that doesn't matter.

The orthodontist (who is awesome by the way, if you need one hit him up here and tell him we sent you) checked out these three, thought he was done, and then was shocked when he realized the rest of his chairs were also filled with our kids.

The orthodontist has become a family outing.

I think that brings me up to date on all the little goings on.

I have a really fun roadtrip post to do, and I still have the 10k run post to do, complete with a discount run.  It has inflatable jump houses in it!  The run, not the post.  We also need to plan our Very Merry Unbirthday Tea Party for our Disneyside Home Party ( a HUGE thanks to Disney for the fun swag for that one!).

But first, a Spanish test tonight.

Then we'll get on with the rest of it.

Cello

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Halloween has come and gone but I still have one thing to post about it.

Tayler decided she wanted to take orchestra lessons through her school, and being inspired by her sister, Casidee, decided she wanted to learn to play the violin.

I, however, being inspired by the Piano Guys, convinced her that the way to go would be with the cello.



And Tayler agreed.

So it begins.  With "Mary Had a Little Lamb" in concert.  And this Halloween song where they all wrote their own solo parts, to get a feel for the different ways their instruments work.



I hope my girls stick with their instruments.  I think music is such an inspiring outlet.  One day I hope to learn to play the cello myself.

Until then, I'll live vicariously through them.

And this one for kicks because it was hilarious.

Dream A Little Dream.

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This year Tayler decided she wanted to try her hand at the Reflections contest at school.

The theme this year is "Believe, Dream, Inspire."

She created this piece and called it "Dream a Little Dream."

Tayler sat down and thought long and hard about the theme and this was what she decided it meant to her.  She drew the dance scene on paper, and the recreated it with modeling clay.

I love her interpretation of those three simple words, "believe, dream, inspire."

Because when you think about it, those three words really aren't simple.  They're profound.  They hold so much hope, desire, and drive in our lives.

Those three words are things we should never stop doing.

So often I doubt myself.

I'm not good at that...
I'm good at that but not good enough to...
I like this but it's not good enough for other people...

It's a plague that I can't get away from.

I looked at Tayler's finished piece and it actually spoke to me.

Believe it.
Dream it.
Inspire it.

I need to.

I can.

I will.

First Day of 2013-14.

The first day of school.

Again.

Officially.

For everyone this time.

Our three middle schoolers:

We are so in trouble.

Frying pans, who knew?

If you understand that reference and why I went there, bonus points to you.

Casidee is ruling the school as an 8th grader this year.

(for more on Jay's first day go here, for Brynn's go here).
Our elementary crew:

We have two fifth graders and a third grader this year.

Cali's already killing me with her eclectic style.

And it's only the first day.

She revamped her outfit five times until we finally settled on this.

Tayler and Sean get to be on Student Council this year.  They had their first meeting about their responsibilities before school this morning.

We got a letter saying they had to earn money for their student council shirts and sweatshirts.

Tayler was all over it and has already earned her money.

Sean was like, "why would I earn money for that when I could earn money for a video game instead?"

Which is typical behavior for both of them.  We'll see if Sean changes his mind as everyone else has shirts, but I don't know that he will.  That boy is comfortable in his own opinions.  Which is not a bad thing.

And so it begins.

The school year of 2013-14.

Valentine's Day. And Tayler's New Name.

Happy Valentine's Day?

I decided long ago that the way to enjoy Valentine's Day is to not expect anything from it.  Valentine's Day and I get along quite nicely since I've picked up that mantra.

The Man and I don't make a big deal of it together.  One year we exchanged cards... a day late.
Another year we managed to exchange cards on the actual day, but neither of us signed them.

This year?
I found a pack of chocolate tools while I was at the store getting the kids' stuff for school so I grabbed it.  I left it out for him to find this morning with a note that had something to do with the word "nail."

(Keeping it PG here on the blog.)

(Because my kids actually read it.)

(Yikes.)

And I wore this shirt to the gym and to my yoga class in his honor:

The Man has one that says "This Guy Loves His Wife" but he never wears it. ;)  If it interests you can find them to order here.

We left a note for the kids telling them we loved them and set out a bunch of icebreaker strawberry duos.

{pic source}

They're kind of a big deal around our house lately so I thought it would be a fun surprise for them to each get one of their own.

Judging by the fact that I had a plethora of missed calls from them by the time I got of my class this morning, I'd say it was a success.

Jayme has a school dance that we're going to show up at and take pictures at (like we did for Casidee last year, here) and The Man and I will go to lunch.

Probably Taco Bell.

He likes that place.

And then we'll end the day with our annual Valentine's Family Dinner by Candlelight.

Lighting a bunch of candles on the table and turning out the lights for dinner makes me a cool mom.

I guess I should plan a menu for this event...

Crazy thing:

Last night Cali was cleaning out her closet and found this:

Tayler's teacher gave this to her at the end of her Kindergarten year.

It was almost shocking to see how the girl has changed.  She's covered in freckles now.  And I thought hair was supposed to get darker as you grew, not lighter?

 Also, apparently her teacher decided to rename her.

What crazy things are you doing with your family or special someone today?