Halle's special day

Every year before the kids go back to school they get to go on a "daddy daughter/son day." This year was officially her first year to go. Clay has been trying to take her for like 3 weeks, but she didn't want to go...it was really sad, because she didn't want to go alone with him. I think she thought it was going to be boring. Little did she know what he had in store for her! He took her to Build A Bear, and she made this cute little bear, then her bought her some cute little clothes, and shoes to go with it. Then he took her out to eat where ever she wanted...which ended up being Purple Turtle! Kylee and Clay went and got her new soccer cleats, and went out to eat, and then Cayden and Clay went and saw the animated Star Wars movie...They had a blast! (Well at least Cayden did!) I forgot to take pictures of the other kids, but here are a couple of Halle.

She loves this bear, and undresses it and sleeps with it every night!

This is the first day that she rode the bus to school...patiently waiting on the bus that was 25 minutes late!!! Her backpack is like 2 times her size!

She was making shadows on the driveway, and I though this was sweet...she said it means "I love you", and it also looks like a deer?!?! Oh to be 5 again!

Football, Soccer & Horse Riding, Oh My!!!

Last weekend we were really busy with activities for the kids, here are some of the highlights!

Cayden had his first football game last Saturday, and I have to say it was so much fun watching him play. He played the whole game with the exception of 4 or 5 plays. He is the fastest one on the team by miles, and he is also the tallest. He was in HOG HEAVEN!

He is # 28, if you click on the picture, you can see him better. He had a great sack this play, only I wasn't quick enough to get it!

Halle had her 1st soccer game, she was cute to watch, because she is EXTREMELY scared of the ball. She jogged the whole time, only she would stay about 2 steps behind the "pack" of kids. There were a couple times that she had a wide open shot, and she would turn and run behind all of the other kids. The real reason that I posted this picture rather than one of her running, is because she was so sweaty that her undies kept hiking up her little bum. This is what she was doing the WHOLE time! She had a serious wedgie! But, she was cute none the less! Unfortunately Clay and I don't think that she is going to follow in her big sisters footsteps and be a big soccer star! She can always grow up to be a princess, hopefully we get the wedgie under control before then!

Kylee had her big horse show on Saturday, and she did awesome. She is such a natural, and she loves it more than anything she does...I think even soccer! She is in a class with 3 other girls and they are all 15 and up! She is amazing, and fun to watch. Don't mind the ugly cowboy boots, when Clay went to buy her new boots, this is the only pair that they had in her size...nice!

Halle is feeding this horse some hay, and when he took it out of her hand, it nearly scared the pee out of her!

Halle's 1st day of Kindergarten...

Here is my baby, going to school! I didn't do too bad today, now last night was rough. I started to cry last night when I said my prayers, and somehow got through it. I then got up to use the bathroom at 2 am, and couldn't stop crying. I knew it would be hard, but man it was worse than I thought.

Now for the good news and pictures! She was so excited, she woke up at 7:15, that is WAY early for Halle! She couldn't eat a bite of breakfast (I am not quite sure where she got her nerves from?!?), got dresses, make her bed, did her jobs, got her hair done, and was ready to leave by 8:15. We still had 3 hours to kill! She was so excited, but then would start to think about it, and completely freak out!

Here are a few pictures from today, I think I took 30 or so, here are some cute ones.

Standing in front of the flower bed like the big kids did, all ready for school!
Here she is in front of the door to her class room, she couldn't see, because the sun was blaring right into her eyes!

Here is her teacher Mrs. Wolfe, she is in our ward, so that has helped with her at least "knowing" her teacher.

Getting ready for show & tell, they were supposed to bring something that started with the first letter in their name. She brought her cute "cow-girl" hat.

Here is proof that she rode the bus home with Kylee. I followed behind the bus, to make sure she was ok, well, I was ok!

She had a great first day of school, she was starving, and a little overwhelmed when she got home, but all in all it was good!

Halle 101

Where did she go, and why didn't I enjoy her more?

I am going to miss this child so much when she starts Kindergarten on Monday. I keep trying to not think about it. She reminds me daily how much she is going to miss me, and how much I am going to miss her. She tells me hourly that she loves me, and asks if I love her.

we have some funny conversations about school, and things like that. Here is an example of one today:



Halle: "Mom, my heart is going to miss you while I am at school."

Me: "Mine is to Hal, I don't know what I am going to do with out you."

Halle: "But, I still love you mom!"

Me: "I still love you too Hal."

Halle: "You love the kids too, huh!" (like she isn't one of "the kids")

Me: "Yep, I love you all!"

Halle: "Mom, can my heart come off, or is it stuck to me?"

Me: "It is inside your chest, inside your bones, and underneath your skin."

Halle: "Oh, so it can't come off?"

Me: "Nope!"



I am not quite sure where that came from, the whole heart come off thing, but she says funny things!



Please, all of my blogging friends, (I guess that would just be my family, but it sounded so cool to say!) don't call me on Monday, and ask me how I am doing. I probably won't answer the phone, and if I do, you might not hear anything but sobbing!



T-2.5 days

Pool Fun!

For family night on Monday, Doug & Carey invited the whole fam damily down to their house for a little back to school/end of summer swim. We had a fun time, saying it was only the second time my kids swam this year! I have a sever phobia of public pools, and my children's mouths...call me crazy! We had a little bbq, and then the kids all swam, oh yeah, and Chris swam too! There had to be at least 1 adult to the 9 kids! Thanks Chris!

Halle & Abby, so cute together!

Kylee doing her "cannon ball", we really need to work on her form before the next olympics! I am not anticipating their coach contacting us any time soon for recruiting her, but she has fun anyway!

Here is Jaxson, Mason, Camden, and Cayden all attacking Chris with their water guns...Chris was smart enough to grab some protection!

Thanks Doug & Carey for the hospitality!

Liberty Land...who thunk?

Obviously I have a lot of catching up to do, so here was our last "adventure" we had of the summer. I took the kids to "Liberty Land", you can see it right off the freeway in Lehi. Clay says that it won't stay in business for more than 1 year, and with the sight of how busy it was, he is probably right, but the kids had a BLAST!

It is a little amusement park, with a roller coaster, bumper boats, rock climbing, miniature golfing, ferris wheel...you get the idea. The kids had so much fun, and if I would have been smart enough and bought unlimited passes, we could have spent the whole day there!

Cayden getting ready for the race track

Kylee & Halle trying to figure out the bumper boats

Halle on the airplane ride...yes, she is the only person on it!

The roller coaster, Halle even went on it, and LOVED it! Kids after my own heart...Clay hates them!

Notice...not another person there! There was 1 other family that came as we were leaving!

What a fun day to end the summer vacation!

First Day of School - 2008

Here they are...

Cayden, doing his "not fake" smile! What a stallion! We are growing his hair out, so he can spike it up! He looks so cute I think!
Kylee witha big scab on her head, beacuse Cayden's toenails attacked her while they were wrestling the night before...lovely! Notice the fish on her shoes...she and her friends have named them!

Here is Halle waiting for her "assessment" with her Kindergarten teacher.

Ok, so I am a little late! Their first day of school was on Monday, and it was a crazy day! The kids were moved to the early schedule this year, this was because Halle's teacher only teaches that hour, and because of all of the extra curricular (sp?) activities, it is much easier for them to get home by 2:30. That way they have time to come home, wind down, do homework, and then go to soccer, football, dance...etc. Last year they would get home from school, and have to be places in 10 minutes. It is much harder for me and them, because they have to be on the bus by 7:20, that means...6:30 am they wake up!!!!!!

The early schedule has turned out to be a pretty good thing. It really sucks for me, because by the time I get Halle to school, I will have about 2 "whole" hours until they get home, and the madness begins.

Here is to the first & last year that all of my kids will be in the same school together! Kylee & Cayden will never be in the same school again, and once Cayden moves on to 7th grade, he and Halle won't either...!!! SAD DAY!

Sunday Grains of Gratitude...

(Just a warning...it is mushy...!)

I am going to try (notice I said try) to post things that I am grateful for each week. I feel like I get stuck in this rut of wishing things could be a certain way, or wishing I had certain things, or could go certain places. Then, when I stand back and look at what I DO have, I realize how blessed I truly am.

This week I am grateful for my kids. I am so lucky to be their mom, lucky in more ways than you'll ever know. They are such miracles, and such great kids. School starts in 1 week, and I know in a way I love it when school starts, because we get back into a routine, and things seem to run much smoother, but I don't want school to start. Life is flying by at a pace I don't like ;). My kids are getting so old, my baby is starting Kindergarten next week, and I can't even think about it without a few tears...

I am grateful for our health, we have had a few rough rounds in our lives, but for the time being we are all healthy, and happy. My SIL just found out that her best friend has colon cancer, and by the time they found it, it has spread to her lymphnodes(sp?). She is in pretty bad shape, and don't know the prognosis yet. She is a mother to 4 kids, and has been married for like 25 years. Her marriage hasn't been doing very well, and they were kind of thinking about getting divorced. Now, everything has changed.

It just makes you want to enjoy every day like it was your last.

I found this poem, or saying the other day, and have really tried to reflect on it the last week. I haven't done well at all, but really I am going to make a conservative effort to be a better mother, wife, sister, daughter, and friend.

We always focus on the first, the first word, first kiss, first day of school...What if you knew it was your last... Last kiss... Last hug... Last I Love You!... Last laugh... Last time to tuck them in... Last time to read to them... Last time to hold them tight... Last time to hold their hand... Last time to see them smile... Last time to take in every detail of them.. Last time to brush your hand through their soft hair... Last time to play.. Last time to say how proud they make you... Last time to forgive or ask for forgiveness... Last time to pray... Last time to say goodbye...How would we live if we knew it was our last. What would be our focus, it is always good to be reminded that any day can be our last, or our child's last, or our spouse or other loved ones last. We should always live as if it truly were our last, and then we can live knowing we have no reason to worry about regrets! I really need to think about this more. Sometimes I get stuck. I get lost in the journey of life and forget to be in the moment of today! Because tomorrow is not a guarantee.

Sorry about the sentimentalness (if that is a word) of this post, but I have had some big impressions that I need to prioritize my life, and the things I "need" to do. I need to love, and enjoy my kids and husband, because you never know when it will be your last.

I am grateful that Kylee got to play in a soccer tournatment this last weekend. They played pretty well, the team that won the tournament only beat Kylee's team 2-1. I am proud of her, and the time and effort that she puts into soccer.

I am grateful that Cayden is having so much fun with football. He has his first scrimmage this Tuesday, and he can hardly wait! He is so cute about it, and I think he loves that there isn't any sibling rivalry with football (if you catch my drift!) He is such a good kid, and I am proud of him for his dedication in football.

I am grateful that Halle is so easy going with most things. She is a trooper, as far as the soccer games go, and as long as we bring plenty of toys and snacks...she is good! I am grateful that she is my little buddy...she loves to do ANYTHING that I do. I am really going to miss that when she starts school.

I am grateful for the rich life that I lead, not necessarily monitary objects, but the blessings that I have.

Until next week...if you can stand to read another one like this...;)

Cute Feet, and Football...

Ok, new toe nails calls for a picture. They are so CUTE!!! Jessi, Kylee, Halle, and I made the big trek to Spanish Fork. We had Meg to our toenails again, and might I say...SO CUTE!!! I went last, because I couldn't make up my stinking mind! Halle got cute watermelons on hers, Jessi did my favorite, I was going to copy her, until Kylee told me I copy EVERYTHING that Jessi does...

So what did I do...I copied KYLEE!!! Anyway, they are so cute, and I have already had a million compliments on them!

SO FREAKING CUTE!!!

The next part of this post is about Cayden, and his new found football career. He is so dang cute, I can hardly stand it. When he gets all decked out in his pads, helmet and mouth guard...I just melt! His coach's are big fat jerks, and I can't even go watch, because I want to punch them in the face. They are those guys who are completely living out their lives through their 3rd grade sons. Total LOSERS! Cayden isn't too fond of them, but I am trying to think positively. He loves it!!!

Here he is in his football stance!

Getting ready to run!

Look how cute he looks...I mean look how TOUGH he looks!

What a STUD!!!!!!!

Our lives are now completely consumed with soccer, football, and more soccer (Halle is starting next week ;)) Fun times at the Parke home!!!

The FUN PARKE!!!

We have had an event filled week, thus the lack of updates! This last week we went to the Highland Fling, our cities summer celebration. We went to the parade that morning, and then Kylee's soccer team was doing a fundraiser there. Needless to say, we spent 14 hours there!!! I have never ached like I did on Sunday morning.

Kylee was a trooper, and hung out with her team, sold watermelon & soda's. It wasn't a huge success, but they had a blast doing it! She even saw the cute boy that she has a crush on!!! Oh to be that age, and have cute crushes! She is growing up so fast!

Here are some pictures of the grand event!

Some of the girls at the booth!

Every year the fire trucks come and squirt the kids off for 20 minutes...Cayden was totally up for it!

Watching the fireworks...it looks like kylee has something on her rear, but it is just a speck on the picture...;)

I love this kid...here he is watching the fireworks!