You are my sunshine. . .

This little man was probably one of the craziest two-year-olds in the history of two-year-olds.  I didn't know how I was going to survive him!  I felt like in spite of my best efforts to prevent having a very spoiled youngest child, he was going to grow up and be just that!

Turns out I was wrong!  He has grown in to an amazing little boy (he hates it when I call him "little", but I can't seem to stop!)  He is just HAPPY!  He is friendly and sweet and kind and smart and handsome. . .  With some of the struggles our family faces, he truly is just a ray of sunshine to me.  A real blessing!  Nathan turned eight on April 16 and was so excited to be baptized and start scouts.

Nathan's first day at scouts.  He looked at himself in the side mirror on the way and said, "I do look good in this uniform!"

Sam was able to baptize Nathan.  Now Sam doesn't always think Nathan is the sweetest thing in the world, so a brief second there I did wonder if Nathan would make it out of the water :-)

Celebrating with his favorite ice cream cake and best buddies.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year. . .

We had the prettiest little "serving wench"!

Starts out with the Madrigal Dinner! This was Katie's first, and Sam's second. It is WORK! Katie came up to me in tears and said, "I hate Christmas!!" The hard work definitely pays off though! I love the sweet Christmas spirit the Madrigal dinner brings.

Nathan got to perform with the Back Flip Bandits

Next up was Matt's 4th grade program, in which he
 played an elf with a little bit of attitude (not a stretch!).

Then some more band and choir concerts. . .

Cute Little Drummer Boy

A super fun ward Christmas Luau. . .

Nathan's 2nd Grade Progam. . . he LOVES to sing, and got to sing a little solo in one of the songs.

Someone must have told Nathan to stand still with his hands by his side,
because he stayed like this the whole time!

A personal visit from Santa. . .

North Pole Experience on Christmas Eve. . .

Fun times with family. . .

Reading "The Night Before Christmas"

A small minute of peace and quiet. . .2 a.m.
The tree was so pretty, but totally dead by this point!

Can you spot all five?

A Note About Now

I'm trying to go back and catch up on some old times, but thought I'd write a little post about now.  DJ got his tonsils out on Tuesday.  He's not feeling so great right now, but he's been a real trooper!  I loved staying home with him today.  Loved it!

Nathan just finished his soccer season.  He had a GREAT coach, and had so much fun.  He scored a goal a few games back, and it kind of lit a fire under him- so he scored a goal in all the rest of the games, too.  Nathan loves soccer, and gymnastics, and baseball, and can't wait to try football and basketball.  And I thought I'd get through motherhood without having an athlete in the bunch!!

Sam on the far right, and Katie's head just peeking over the banner.  They marched in the parade and lived to tell! I told them the only way out of marching is to get popular so you will be elected homecoming royalty.  Yes, I did march all four years in high school :-)

Matthew on the RVIS float.  He has a fabulous teacher this year.  He loves her, and she has really built up his confidence.

DJ and his buddy Caleb at the Snowflake Temple

Rusty was gone on a fire assignment to Texas- Sam raided his closet, found his dad's mission suit, and wore it to church- looked pretty handsome, I must say! Sam is the only priest in our ward, so he gets to bless the sacrament every Sunday and always does a very sweet job.

Cute boys having an end of summer picnic.

Katie is going to KILL me for adding this picture, but the whole world needs to see how gorgeous her hair is!  Katie ALWAYS wears a ponytail.  Always.  This picture is a rare thing indeed!

1st day of school.  Sam was already gone to early morning show choir.  DJ ditched (long story!), Katie- freshman, Nathan- 2nd grade, Matthew- 4th grade

Just turn your head to look at this one- or come back later when I have time to fix it!!  I got a phone call from the cub scout day camp leader that Matt had fallen off the monkey bars and was pretty upset.  I rushed down, and my friend Amy Bigelow (yes, there are two of us in this little town) was taking good care of him.  I knew right away that his wrist was broken.  He spent three weeks in a long cast and 2 in a short cast, and now he's good as new.  He also came out of it able to write beautifully with his left hand.

One of my favorite kindergarten buddies playing "teacher".  I could say so much about my job and some of the things that go on there, but I will stick with the positives:  I have 36 adorable kindergarten students to love.  I love teaching, I love my kindergarten team (even though I am lost without Mrs. Benson- another long story).  I'm glad I've met so many new families who take such good care of their sweet little kids!

Sam and Katie had their Fall concert on Monday night.  I never cease to be amazed at the way their choir director brings out the talents of these kids!