It's been a while...

It's been way too long.  Life has been busy - soccer, Relief Society, my history class and 5 kiddos have really eaten up my time.  But today I vow to update, and use this as an excuse to post our new family pictures.  These are not necessarily in chronological order...

Halloween came and went.  We had Reyoldo (the soccer player), but to make it less like what Jake looks like everyday in his soccer gear, we made him a zombie.  We also had Effie Trinket from the Hunger Games.  I must say that Abby's costume was the best to put together.  Hannah was Katniss Everdeen from Hunger Games, but her costume didn't turn out quite how we wanted, but she was still awesome.  Annie was a little princess and sassy at that.  And finally we had our traditional baby pumpkin.  Claire hated the costume so bad that we didn't even get a pic with her little hat on.  Oh well.  The kids trick or treated hard and brought in quite a load.

   We went to Slide Rock during October break ( a few days after General Conference).  We wanted to see something we haven't gotten a chance to see or do before.  They kids swore that they'd go in the water and not be sissies.  And, lo and behold, they touched the water and were immediately turned off.  They were all good sports and went down the slide at least once, some even went twice, except Claire and I.  We held down the fort and stayed warm and dry.

On our hike out there was an older man struggling to hike out.  His daughter was helping him, but it was still too hard going up those rocks and steps.  Jeremy took notice and immediately started helping this woman help her dad out.  When the kids and I got out, Jake asked where Dad was and I told him what he was doing. Jake's response, "Dad observed then served!"  It melted my heart.  I was so proud that Jake had payed attention to the conference talks enough to quote one and proud that his dad is a living example of service to his kids.  Way to go boys!

Jeremy aced his Grand Canyon hike - day 1.  His cruised south to north.  He had enough in the tank to trek across that big hole the next day.  Plans changed for day 2 as he, Matt and my dad decided to extend the hike a bit due to the full moon and perfect weather (oh and my dad's dehydration issues).  They spent an extra night at the bottom of the Canyon admiring the gorgeous moon light reflecting off the canyon walls.  My dad got rehydrated and flown out and Jeremy and Matt finished the hike Sunday morning.  Really though, we're grateful that my dad is okay and very grateful for the priesthood power that Jeremy and Matt honor.

I have been cruising along quite busy.  My history class is a lot more time intensive than I thought.  But the work has been paying off as I'm currently getting a 98% in the class.  And my new calling as RS pres is very busy at times and not so much at others. I hear that once I finally get the hang of it I'll get released, so I'm trying really hard to figure things out.

Abby has become quite the little soccer player.  She is very technical and an great defender.  In fact she got to play goalie toward the end of the season and was so aggressive and reacted well.  I think only a few goals got scored on her.  She was selected to the All-star team for an end of the season game and now wants to play Select like her big brother Jake.  We'll have to think about that time committment before we decide.  She is also cruising through her reading levels and I'm so proud of her.

A few Sundays ago, Hannah was asking me questions "How do yous spell Jesus?  How do you spell church?"  Stuff like that.  I didn't think much of it until she showed me what she had written.  I'm so glad I took a picture of it because for the life of me, I can't find it in any of the notebooks kicking around the house.  I'm proud of her little testimony and I hope I can be so bold as to proclaim my love of Christ to those around me.

After a few years of not growing, we finally got Annie diagnosed.  She has hypothyroidism or Hashimoto's.  Her poor little thyroid was just not working right.  Her levels that should have been around the 1-5 range were about 1000.  Her other number should have been around 4 and it was at 1.6.  One is the T4 the other is TSH, and I can't remember which is which.  She is now on a little pill for the rest of her life and she should start growing again.  Her endocrinologist said that as far as autoimmune diseases, that is the one you want.  We'll take it and get her better now!  It's funny because I always tell my kids that they can't grow or get any older and that they have to stay little.  I take that back.  I'll give anything to see her get bigger!

Sweet little Claire is growing way too fast (though I don't want her to stop, I just want time to freeze for a while).  I swear I just had her.  She is the joy of our entire family.  She has begun to crawl and nothing is safe anymore, especially since everything goes straight to her mouth.  She has also learned to pull up on things and gets herself up and is stuck because she hasn't quite learned how to get down.  Ironically, we can't get her to sit for anything.  She stiffens up and either lays down or stands up.  She simply doesn't want to sit.  She is the busiest little girl I have ever seen.  She is a little obsessed with her hands.  We tease her that she's either milking cows or conducting music all the time.  The kids all fight over who gets to hold her and I don't blame them.  Sometimes I throw around my motherly authority and take her for myself.  

So that is our family in a nutshell lately.  And I vow now to update more regularly (well maybe after my class ends).

Happy Thanksgiving! I have so much to be thankful for!

The full swing of things

          We are in the full swing of things here in PV.  School is going well for the kids.  We're over halfway through the first 9 weeks.  The kids are doing well in school - keeping our fingers crossed for honor rolls for all of them.  Annie is taking part in two different Mommy Schools.  She's making new friends and looks forward to her days away.  It is good that she finally had new friends.  Jake, Abby and Hannah are making new friends at school as well.
           Claire is growing well and big. She's got 2 teeth now and is rolling all over the place.  She tries to scoot, but really, she just rolls to her side, bunches up and lunges forward for what she wants, which is usually paper, a shoe or Jeremy's watch.
           Jeremy is ready for the Grand Canyon.  The big tri-rim hike is next week.  I'm sure he'll do great.  He's been training hard - jogging a few times a week with major hills, then P90X'ing the other days.  He's super duper busy at work now too, which is good and bad.  Good job security, bad obviously because at times we don't see him much.
              I just registered for an online History class. I'm worried  about having to do so much textbook reading, and not getting a teacher's lecture, but I'm excited to learn a little more about US History - make my dad proud.
              The girls are all still in gymnastics.  Abby just got moved up to Advanced Hotshots, one step away from Pre-team and just two steps away from Team.  Annie just got moved up to Girls Novice because her coach is impressed with how strong she is.  Hannah is still in Girls 1 and can now climb to the top of the rope and can do the splits amazingly.  They all work so hard and love it!
            Soccer has also started.  Our Saturday's are spent at the soccer field, and there's no place I'd rather be.  I'm a very proud soccer mom!  Jeremy is coaching Abby and Hannah together.  They are the "Scorpions".  Dangerous sounding, huh?  It's Hannah's first time playing and she's having a great time, learning a lot and improving bunches each time we see her play.  She's playing with girls much older than her, but she's trying and the number of cartwheels are lessening each week.  Abby is a little more technical.  She's a great defender and doesn't let many balls pass her.  The more these girls play the better and more natural looking they get, as well as more aggressive.  Jake is playing "Select" soccer with the Yavapai Roughriders (not to be confused with the Yavapai College Roughriders) .  It is the competitive, traveling team.  We've gone back to back weeks to Flagstaff to watch him play, and are looking forward to a home game finally next Saturday.  He's still the ringer and it's fun to watch him score.  He's learned how to do a front hand spring and he throws one in the mix each game after he scores a goal.  Each game he plays some defense and some forward.  I'm so proud of his choice to not play ball on Sunday.  We're getting more and more pressure from the other parents from the team to have him play.  As Jeremy and I allow ourselves to get muddled and justify him playing, he stays firm and says NO to playing on the Sabbath.  He is truly a great example to his mom.
          That's our life nowadays.  We are going non-stop from the time the kids get home from school until bedtime.
I have no pictures to accompany this post, maybe I'll take some this week and do a "Week in the life of the Platt family" post or something like that.

All About Me

(It's a self-portrait taken today in my new shirt from Dy)

So I realized that I never posted an "All About Me" post.  I did each of the other people in my family and intended to do me, but didn't.  So since it's my birthday and I'm being extra self-absorbed today, I thought I'd get it in writing some of my favorites, such as....

color - pink
food - Matta's chimichangas (chicken w/ green sauce, sour cream and guacamole), steak, nachos and pizza
child - just kidding, they're all my favorites
number - 9
animal - tiger
restaurant - Mattas, Murphy's, The Keg and Olive Garden
dessert - rootbeer floats, cake, cookies, brownies, anything really as long as it doesn't have nuts, raisins, coconut or cooked fruit.
team - Yankees, UofA
smell - rain, fresh cut grass, Home Depot, roses, clean laundry, Dairy Queen freezers (makes me nostalgic) and clean kids
least favorite smell - rotting potatoes, rotting clams and outside on clothes
TV show - Big Bang Theory (I've only seen the re-runs), Psych and anything not on Disney Channel, except Good Luck Charlie, that one's pretty funny
sport to play - indoor volleyball
sport to watch- sand volleyball, indoor volleyball and anything my kids are playing
my secret dream job - a grocery store clerk.  I don't know why, but I always wanted to be one, I guess it is because my dad knew them all at Bashas' and they were so friendly.
book - this month it's These is my Words
politician - none of them, they're all a bunch of scoundrels
vacation - so far was Disneyland, but I also love camping, the beach and all family reunions
what makes me smile - listening to my kids all get along and support each other

Annie Part II

Another Annie-ism...
Today Annie, Claire and I went to Walmart. On our way, we talked about stop lights.  The pattern is green, yellow, red.  We talked about when to stop vs. when to go.  It occupied our whole trip.  Annie was very interested.
On our way home it started to rain on us.  We passed through a yellow light and I told Annie how we went because we wouldn't have time to stop.  Annie says, "Aaah, Mom we're talking about that again?"
     I said, "We don't have to talk about that.  Do you think it's raining in PV like it is here? It looks pretty blue over our house."  
So Annie says, "Do we have to talk about the rain?  What if we don't talk about anything at all?"
OK then, sheesh!  Man, she put me in my place.  I need to come up with more entertaining material.
Then she tells me we can talk as long as it's not boring.
After a bit of silence Annie then asks, "Is caffeine good for you?"  No I answered.  "Is rain good for you?"  Yes I answered, but thinking how interesting it is that we can talk about the rain if it's on her terms, but on my terms, it's boring.
Then she went on to tell me how rain is good for everyone even her dollies.
Is that a glimpse into life 10 years from now?

The Short and Long of It

Annie is one of a kind.  She is feisty, sweet, temperamental, creative, smart, beautiful... I could go on.

Annie has quit growing it seems.  She is being passed up big time by her younger girl cousins, but we're monitoring her and hopefully she's gonna hit a spurt soon.

So in the theme of short, here are some of Annie's own little contractions:

hanitizer = hand sanitizer

sparage = spare room/storage room

goffleball = golf ball sized whiffle ball

KaPanda = Kungu Fu Panda

They make sense, right?

Tonight Annie asked me if I wanted to hold her little sister (her doll with marker all over her face).  I said sure and asked her what her name is.  Her response, "Lily, but people like to call her Lilliana."  Oh, that is a  long nickname, I'm thinking.  Then I asked her how old she is.  Her answer, "Zero and a half" So I'm wondering how old that is - is that 6 months?  I'm really not quite sure.

Annie is my girl and I love her to pieces!

Back to School 2012

Monday, Aug 6th the kids started back to school.  It's their second year at Granville Elementary.  We love the school and I'm excited for the year and their new teachers and classes.  It was a lot less stressful starting school this year compared to last year when we had lived in PV for a day and a half.

The kids had a fashion show the night before for Drew, Cyndi, Jeremy and me to show off their new clothes, shoes and backpacks.

Annie needed to be in a picture.  I'll be pre-schooling her at home again this year unless something better comes up.

Jake's:  5th grade - Mrs. Fulfer (though they switch for all classes)
Abby:  3rd Grade - Mr. Blundell
Hannah:  1st Grade - Mrs. Jack

The Beach

Last week we headed to Cali for our last summer vacation of the year.  We met up with the Ricedorff's, Joe and Cassie, and Brittney and Randy in Irvine.  It was such a delightful time.  The weather was perfect and we enjoyed some long days at the beach.  My favorite was boogie boarding with Abby.  On Ab's command  "This One!" we caught a wave that we rode all the way in.  It was so awesome - I usually don't catch them so well, but there were many, many attempts.

So here is the vacation in pictures - lots of them...and in no particular order...

Jay, Abby and Jake by their hole protecting their clams

 Kar and Jer

 Hannah - aka Bethany

 A self protrait of Karrie and Claire

 Cassie and Joe - is Cassie nursing under there or just chilly and wrapped up?

 Abby waiting for the car

 Jake's stupid clam.  A few days after getting home, his room started to reek so bad, I thought an animal had died and threw up rotten potatoes.  But alas it was just this clam that had died and the slimy thing inside was rotting.

Abby filling a bucket 

Jake and Jack laying down trying to divert the water to save their day's work of building the hole and walling it up.  It eventually came down.

 Jeremy.  Poor guy got a striped sunburn from the spray on sunblock. After that, we all used the really creamy stuff that lathered on very white

 Claire at the beach - she stayed in the shade most of the time

 The 5 Little Mermaids - Annie, Hannah, Kate, Kendal, Keelie

  Then later just 2 Little Mermaids - Hannah and Annie

Joe, Cassie, Hadlie and Keelie

 Abby and Jay up to their necks in sand

 Karrie and Abby - a self portrait at the top of the Newport Ferris Wheel

Hannah, Annie and Karrie - the rest of the self-portrait at the top of the ferris wheel

 Kate, Keelie and Annie 

Our Family looking over the water at Balboa Island with Newport Fun Zone in the back ground.

Volleyball

 Look at that form - knees bent, arms straight, thumbs next to each other, wrist down.

Future olympians, I tell ya.

 I love my kids' imaginations.   They decided to play volleyball in the basement.   They made their own knee pads with blue hospital rags.  They took off the couch cushions to be the net which would make it almost volley-tennis. (Janna and I dominating in VT is for a whole other post).  Anyway, they played for days and days.  Eventually the knee pads got tossed and they just played with the cushions/net.  Then finally one day, the ball popped and it ended. 

 I've never wanted to pressure my girls to be volleyball players, but secretly I would love it so much!

24th in St. Johns

I took the kids up to St. Johns for the Pioneer Days celebration.  Jeremy couldn't get that week off, so I went solo.  I played in the volleyball tournament with the same gals from 2 years ago (Gaylene Williams, and the Burdick Sisters), plus Lanae Wahl (?).  We were awesome if I do say so myself.  We won the CO-ED tournament with our team of only girls.  It was so much fun!
Koe and Jarred came up for the last part of the week and the kids played all day long in the jungle.  They picked berries, created a fortress, cut down trees.  They lived it up.
We had a great campfire circle - though shortened by the rain.  The rain continued with tons of lightening and thunder all night long.  It was so incredible.
 
The weekend was capped off with the best St. Johns parade I've ever been to.  The theme was "Pioneers and Patriots"  The commentators were so funny and kinda politically incorrect.  There were some good floats, but the 2 that got to me were one right after another.  1 - The statue of Joe McCarthy (from SJ) came through the parade.  He was photographed in Iraq giving candy to a child.  That picture soon became famous and now, years after he was killed in combat, a statue was made depicting the picture.  The statue was coming to rest in St. Johns.  2.  The next float was a trailer of flags, simple yet so profound.  Each of the 88 flags on it represented fallen servicemen and women from Apache County since 1900.  Though I'm not from St. Johns, I was so proud of that little patriotic town.    The parade ended in usual fashion with the fire truck soaking all the kids - a tradition lost on most communities now.

The soaked kiddos with their bags of loot- Oliver, Jake, Annie, Simon, Hannah, Abby

Pictures of Bugsy, Gee, Claire

My baby is growing way too fast.  We're all relishing her.  She can now roll over, though I thought she never would because she is never put down.  She is a chatterbox.  Her favorite word was gee (like geese, not gee whiz).  So Abby thought we should change her name to GeeGee.  Well as soon as we started calling her GeeGee, she stopped saying that and now just babbles away non-stop sometimes.  

We still call her Bugsy - like the hamster on Bedtime Stories.  "Those eyes would be big on a cow!" - Skeeter Bronson (Adam Sandler)  

Anyway, I love her guts and here are some pictures from the past few months of my sweet, sweet Claire...

 Hannah with Claire

Hannah and Claire again, in St. Johns

 Cyndi and Claire in St. Johns

big grins 

Meet Bugsy, our newest child.  She's got "bowling balls for eyes"

I love, love, love her 

Claire with her Daddy after his jog.  Nobody else will get near him after he jogs 'cause he's so sweaty 

Hannah again.  She loves her little sister

Jake cuddled Claire to sleep while watching a ball game.  He is the best big brother a baby could get.  He and Hannah fight to hold her the most.

All smiles after church.  

Then she got hungry and decided to eat the newspaper.  Claire is a very oral baby - everything has always gone into her mouth.  Today it was her fist, Hannah's chip, Jake's nose, my church blouse (that word is for you Mom) the newspaper, and rice cereal.