Lots of words- No Pictures

Hi!! If you want to see a picture of our beautiful GREEN backyard- let me know and I'll email it!! It's so Amazing!! We started this project in January- cutting down the hill, putting up a retaining wall, hauling rocks to cover the dirt on the hill, putting up the slide, building a rock path, digging trenches (JD's hands bled because the ground is so hard here), putting sprinklers in, leveling, shoveling and hauling away more and more rocks, and FINALLY YESTERDAY--LAYING SOD!! They delivered the sod at 4am. When Tyson saw it at 6:30am- He went straight out there with the wheelbarrow and got to work hauling top soil! The whole day was the culmination of all our hard work. We had a sod laying party- so it only took 2 1/2 hours to complete! We are so excited!

One big thing that I'm glad to be done with for the year is the Primary Program. As much as I tell myself not to be nervous- I still stress! It turns out wonderful every year and I still stress. During the last song- I don't know if I was touched by the Spirit because it was precious and sweet...Or if I was crying tears of joy to be done with it!

What else are we doing? Homework- the kids work so hard! There are nights Jordyn spends hours on homework. She's going for GOLD though and it takes a lot of effort and time!
Ty has 36 kids in his class! Wow! That teacher is a saint!

We put Luke and Joey in separate classes this year. They seem to be thriving. The only hardship on me is when they get invited to separate birthday parties. I want to call every mom and ask if they can please invite my other son too! When they cry I want to cry too. But, I guess it's better to learn in 1st grade than later in life!!

Cade gets excited for my Preschoolers to come. He does a lot of what they do! The other day, when I was reading off what each Preschoolers job was- Cade was very offended and said "Mama what's my job?" I quickly thought of something for him to do. Cade is now 3- so he shouldn't be throwing anymore 2 year old tantrums right? This child could break glass with his scream- it's mostly at his older brothers. It's a good thing he's so stinking cute.

JD is working a ton. He got released from YM and put into Nursery! I didn't even know that was going to happen, but I'm happy about it. He misses YM's, but also enjoys the nursery. He's such a great guy. He really helps me be a better person- I can't believe how much I learn from him! Stuff I never even knew I wanted to know about emotional responsibility, self awareness, and personal honesty. Sometimes I put my hands over my ears and tune it out- so I don't have to change. But, when I'm ready to listen I always find the new knowledge to be empowering!

As we were getting ready for church today- he had printed out a picture for Nursery (you know the one) of a frowny face that you can turn over and smile that frown away. I guess I was kind of grumping around this morning and he kept holding the picture right in front of me as I walked by. When I got in the car- he had it staring at me as I sat down- I finally realized that I WAS being grumpy and I finally broke down and laughed and laughed! Thanks for turning my frown around JD.