new banner...

For all of those that read my blog in reader...I FINALLY got a new blog banner with all of the children on it...and actually saying 2012 instead of 2011.  Too bad in 3 short months it will no longer be up to date.  

Never mind that this is our second day of camping and we haven't showered.  I don't have a speck of makeup on and am suffering from pretty bad allergies.  Still....it is a picture of all of us.  All looking towards the camera.  Pretty darn cute.  (gotta love how happy Cortney looks)

Trampoline

I have a ton of pictures to catch up on.  Just random ones.

Here we have a fall afternoon of family trampoline time.  Cortney jumps with the kids all the time but I hardly do.  Too many years of bad neck and joints combined with all the abuse my body has been through having 4 kids.  I always forget how fun it is.  I would be in such good shape if I jumped as much as my kids did.  (well I would at least be in better shape than I am now.)

Don't mind the annoying net.  I think these are hilarious.

Trying to bounce the kids.  Cortney can bounce them so high but it is really hard. 

 I can't believe I can still walk after this pose.  Oliver did not want me to hurt myself....and was very concerned. 

Rob showing us how flexible he is.  

Family toe touches.   (I had to do the forward splits or we were going to kick each other) Gotta love henry's toe touch.  That is one of his main trampoline tricks.  He isn't quite as flexible as Rob. 

Bum war

(not to be confused with it's vulgar cousin butt war...ick)

It amazes me how high they get. 

haircut

I ran out of room on my blog.  Used all my picture space I guess.  So now I have to post under cortney.  So just so you know it is still me.

I shaved Theo's head after his 9 month appointment.  They told me that he might need a helmet but it was hard to tell with his hair.  I wanted to see how his head looked for myself.  Plus...it was growing over his ears and I can't stand that.  (I will shave it again for his follow up appointment in October)

 I love a shaved head.  I really do.  Thankfully since that is the look cortney sports 100% of the time. 

Look at him looking at Cortney.  What a cutie. 

Please excuse the food mess around him.  He is at that annoying stage of life where he is a mess all the time....because he is learning to eat.  (and because he isn't a first child)

Who knows what color his eyes are.  I thought they were going to be brown like Rob's but they are a greyish brownish.  

Theodore 9 months (one month late)

Back on the second day of school Theo turned 9 months.  As we all know Cortney was no where to be found so these cell phone pictures will have to do.  

 Theo...exactly 9 months

 Sometimes he likes to wake up after everyone has gone to sleep and watch the kardashians with his mommy. 

 Henry took this hilarious picture of me and the doctor looking at Theo...at his 9 month appointment.  Henry cried because he wasn't getting shots.  He wanted shots too. 

Theo's stats (my favorite part)

weight 17.53 lbs     14.27 percentile

length 27.5 inches  15.21 percentile

Head 17.5 inches    31.94 percentile

I can't believe how big he has gotten....although he is SOooo small compared to my other 9 month old babies.  I don't think they have ever been under the 60-70th percentile.  

Theo is army crawling around everywhere.  He is fast too.  I have to vacuum everyday because he puts any little tiny thing in his mouth.  It is terrifying.  He still isn't sitting up...the doctor thought that was weird but wasn't too worried about it.  We are working on it but if I try to sit him up he just lunges forward and crawls away.  It is hard when they learn things out of order because why sit when he can crawl.  He has an appointment in a couple of weeks to check on his progress (the doctor wanted to see him in 6 weeks).  The appointment is also to check on his head.  The doctor thinks he might need a helmet.  Another thing I was concerned about is Theo flicks things with his fingers.  He flicks every surface around.  He loves to crawl to someone and flick their foot or flick the wall or the phone or his face or my face.  It is strange.  I was afraid it would be a sign he had autism or something.  The doctor said he might just be an odd duck. hahaa.  I have a video of him flicking his bottle...but it is on cort's phone I will load it up sometime.  

Theo also loves loves to eat.  It is so awesome after Henry...henry never eats anything. I wrote on Henry's 9 month checkup that he would only eat sweet potatoes.  It is funny that Henry was picky even when he was little.  Theo will crawl anywhere to find food.  We had a dozen donuts in a box when we were at the park and he crawled over to them and just dug in.  It was a mess.  I love that he loves food.  

He is the smiliest baby ever.  He smiles and sticks his tongue out all day long.  On Sunday the 16th of September his third tooth finally broke through.  He is now so close to having the 4th come through.  So then he will have his front two, top and bottom.  He is such a joy to be around and he rarely cries. (only when he is tired)

**update...I just checked his mouth and tooth number 4 broke through over night!

He is still sleeping lots.  He will take a huge 3 hour nap and during the day and a couple 1 hour naps too.  He never wants to go to sleep though at night because I will put him down at 7 but he thinks it is a nap.  He will wake up at 9 and then crawl around for an hour before going back to bed at 10.  He sleeps through the night so well waking up for a bottle usually at 9 but sometime he will go until 11.  

He is a joy in our lives. 

The neighbor kids love to come over and hold him.  (there aren't a lot of babies around here as most of the families are older)  He loves it. 

I had to include this picture of Henry.  We were visiting my friend Sarah and Henry would not stop chasing the chickens.  Soon enough though he had caught one.  It was amazing.  Chickens are not easy to hold or catch.  He had gotten his pants wet on the slide so he had no pants (that is so henry) and then of course he has pen all over his legs   Love this boy.  He is the bomb.



Theodore Crawling from ashley boice on Vimeo.
This is Theo when he was just starting to crawl.


theo 9months from ashley boice on Vimeo.
Theo a couple of weeks later...trying to crawl on all 4s.

Please as usually ignore my ANNOYING voice.  Aggghhhh.  Mostly I am posting these for grandmas.

Reunion Part: End

Friday night I got together with all of my besties.  Amber, Laura, Missy and Tiff.  We were all in town accidentally.  I can't believe we were all there at the same time.  We haven't all seen each other since Feb. of 2009.  We went to Shari's at 9:00 once I was finished with reunion stuff.  It was SOOOO good to see them (I was so tired).  I can't believe we didn't get a picture.  We sat talking at Shari's for hours, then we drove around the town and screamed a little in the car.  I love those girls...with everything.


On Saturday at the reunion the boys woke up at 7:00 am to play golf.  We were all exhausted at this point.  I don't know how they got up to do it.  I could barely move.   The girls got together around 9 I think at peggy's to do a craft.  We made necklaces, and hair bows.  Man on earth.  It really made me feel like a mother of boys.  Most crafty things like that are really made for girls.  However, Rob and I crafted anyways.  He glued rhinestones on washers for a good hour.  It was pretty cute.

I got this one picture from craft time. 

We our looking at a picture of our Distinguished Woman Kendall. 

At noon we headed over to Grandma's house for pool time, vollyball, and lunch (pizza, and sno cones).

We also had swimming races.  I mostly sat around trying not to die of heat exhaustion.  Eventually I got in the pool because I was so hot. 

Me, Kristy, Asher, Robbie, and Hens

Vollyball  Kacey, Jared, Cortney, Aaron, Kyler, Corbin

I don't know how I managed to get in a swimsuit picture with the skinniest people ever.  hahaa. 

Peggy, Trevor, Me and Theodore, Kristy and Cortney (my cousin not my husband...ahhahaa)

I love sitting around with my family!  Mandy, Gail, Tom, Liam, Sam and Josie. 

Around 4 we ventured home to get changed for the AMAZING RACE.  Boy was it amazing!!! The David Earl family did such a great job planning it.

I now present the winning team to you....

Yup! My team won.

Brandon, Myca, Brad, Michael, Kim, Grandma, and Me!

I know this team came in second.  

Back row...Cortney, Dad Doug, Kyle, 

Alysha, Angie, Daishan 

I know this team came in DEAD LAST.  

Brandon, Mom Connie, Lindsay, Pat, KaeLynn and Cortney

McKayla, Aaron, Collin, Jeff, Kelsey (soon to be married to Brandon), Allie, and Cali

Joey, Samantha, Gail, Jordan, Mandy, Kendal, Corbin

Kylie, Tom, Britney, Jared, Julianna, Justin and Angelique

One of the Challenges was to answer FAMILY trivia questions.  If you got it right you got 5 sprays with the spray gun and you had to dissolve the alka seltzer on someone's forehead. 

Another challenge they had you hook in to the yellow rope and go over and under unraveling yourself. It was actually really hard and I scraped my knee up.  I was out of breath but so were the boys that were in shape.  

(I know it looks like I was playing on my phone but I was probably getting pictures or locations or something)

We also had an eating challenge.  You drew out a marble...if you got a red you had to eat.  If you got white you were safe. (I got white....pheeeww)  They had Sardines, Seaweed, Jalapeños, mollasses, LIVE FISH, Marshmallows, and saltines.  All without water.  

Then at Earl and Earl they had a million little tiny dixie cups filled with plain M&M's...you had to eat the m&Ms and see if you got a cup with and X on the bottom.  You couldn't spit them out.  OUR TEAM DIDN'T SPIT THEM OUT AT ALL...EVERYONE ELSE DID. It was brutal.  Every time in I would take 2 or 3 cups full.  The boys would all take 4...we all went in at least 4 times.  It was a lot of m&Ms and it was REALLY hard.  Grandma went in and was taking her time.  We were knocking on the window trying to rush her but sure enough she found the X. 

They also had a challenge where there were tons of old family pictures from the 40's to the 80's.  We had to guess the dates and then add them up.  We had grandma with us so we were pretty good at the dates. 

Then we went to the church and had to make 30 baskets (different parts of the court for different points)

Then over to the dance studio and we had to make up 10 8 counts I think.  We had to have a leap and a lift.  It was funny. 

Then we went over to the Amphitheater and we had to guess which babies belonged to which families using pictures from our blogs.  

They were really creative and fun.  I LOVED IT.  Of course winning always helps. 

 Love this of my dad. 

We ended back at Peggy's house and had dinner.  Flank steak and hotdogs and a million yummy sides.  

LOVE.  I love seeing my kids play with my cousin's kids. 

Henry is always wet. 

Dinner

I love Moses Lake.  I could sit on the lake all night. 

(my house is DIRECTLY across from my uncles.  In fact it is way faster by jet ski then by car....my uncle picked me up by jet ski a couple of times to babysit.  hahaa)

After dinner we had some musical numbers.  I know this makes any other person that isn't an EARL...say What???  We are performers what can I say.  

There was quite a bit of grumbling about the songs but they turned out awesome.  We had to make a parody of a popular song from the year our Earl parent graduated from highschool.  Honestly I loved this....so much.  All of the songs were funny...sentimental....awesome.  

Tom's family (gotta love their iphones....so Tom's family)

The Bates.  Of course they had props.  They sang a mix up of popular tv shows in honor of their mother. 

Jeff and Becky's family. 

Pat and Lori's group.  They did theirs acapella and it was awesome.  Hit me with your best shot. 

We sang California Girls by the Beach boys.  But instead of we wish they all could be california girls we sang, You wish you all could be kids of Douglas Earl.  Then of course we added in a verse of Katy Perry's California Girls and Justin did a rap during the snoop dog rap.  THANKFULLY Mike is young and knew how to make the music for us on the computer. hahaa. 

For some reason there was no picture of David and Peggy's fam. It was funny though.

Afterwards my dad got up and told us a little about our heritage and how awesome we are.  Then Pat got up and gave a heartfelt testimony of his tribute trip to my grandpa Earl....they RV'd across the united states going to church history sites.  Then my grandma got up and bore her testimony.  Then it was over.  Oliver came up to me and looked sad.  I asked him if he needed a hug...he said yes...then he laid on me and sobbed...he was really touched and had a great time.

At the very end they handed out Why I believe books.  Inside the books were written testimonies by almost everyone in our family.  They are spectacular.  I think it was a brilliant idea and I know I will cherish mine always.  

It was a fun reunion.  EXHAUSTING...I thought it was too packed with things to do....but I wouldn't change one thing.  EVERY second was totally wonderful. My kids were really convinced how awesome being an EARL really is.  

The shirts say

You might be an Earl if...

you always assume you are in charge

you have ever hidden pie under your bed (my personal fave)

you have a rational fear of pool basketball

You are over competitive despite your mediocrity

you seek a cash reward for family fun

you think you can dance

you consider scones a complete meal

you shush people at parties to make announcements

your last name got you out of a speeding ticket

you blame your questionable behavior on the "color code"

you know the difference between a horse and a mule

you've argued over the outcome of a game of candyland

you play by "cherry creek" rules

you are pretty sure that you know more than the teacher

Hahaa. 

Thanks for the memories peeps!

The first day of school

School started back in August.  This year we were starting at a new school.  One of the reasons we uprooted our whole lives and moved was for this very day.  We really wanted our kids to go to a new school.  We also thought it would be awesome for them to go to school with their cousins just like we got to when we were little.  Honestly I was a nervous wreck.  I really was so scared for my kids, scared that they had to be the "new kids".   I was scared to be the new mom....that the secretaries, teachers, and other parents don't know.  I hate change.  We were all pretty nervous this morning.  Cortney stopped by from his hunting to give the kids a little blessing before their big day. 

 Oliver.  3rd grade.  Mrs. Wheeler

 LOVE this one of both my boys. 

 Robert 1st grade Mrs. Johnson

 They are OBSESSED with these bright socks.  I finally had to shut them down and tell Rob he can only wear them 3 times a week.  

 Cali came with her kids so they could all walk together. 

They really are the best of friends.

 I love these pictures.  So many kids walking to school.  This is why we moved. 

Henry was ticked when they left. 

I didn't walk the kids over to the school because Theo was still sleeping.  But they knew where their classes were.  I thought they would be fine.  I was praying they could be okay.  Literally.   About 10 minutes after they left Cali decided to go back to the school to give Tyson a water bottle (he was suffering from a pretty bad concussion).  As she drove to the school she saw Rob wandering around the neighborhood in between my house and the school.  She pulled over and got him and he told her he was lost, and didn't know where his class was.  What an answer to my prayers for her to see him walking alone.  She took him to class (it was already started)...she explained to his teacher that he was lost and that it was his first day at this school.  The teacher gave him a huge hug and she said he instantly looked happier.  

So far having our kids in the same school has been amazing.  They are signed up in 4-H together.  Daily they see each other and Ty will hug Rob in the hall or Oli will say hi to Grace.  None of our kids are in the same grade but we have kids in kinder, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 6th.  Yesterday I was at the school helping Rob with something and as I walked through the halls i saw Ty, and Jack.  Then I saw Carolina come in from recess.  She was crying.  I kneeled down in the hall and hugged her.  I think she really need a mom right then...there I was.  I felt so grateful to have been right then in that place when she needed someone. 

The kids have been doing great so far in their classes.  Rob's teacher is AWESOME.   She is perfect for him.  He has had to sit at a desk by himself for a couple weeks.  He just got moved back with the class...but he has a hard time concentrating and not talking when he is sitting by friends (and everyone is a friend...)  sounds familiar.  haha.  I am going to be the room mom for his class.  Which worries me a little bit...but I guess I can do it.  He jump ropes by himself every recess.  He loves to jump rope.  We struggle a little with what he is supposed to wear...so we have started picking out all five days on sunday and then we don't deviate from the plan.  

Oliver's teacher is Mrs. Wheeler.  It is her first year teaching but she is older (has a missionary out).  So far she has been good.  Oliver said she is strict.  haha.  He is starting to make friends...and plays football with some of Ty's friends at recess sometimes.  He just started flag football with Jack and has a couple of friends from the ward on his team.  He is a good boy.  He is hating homework, but I think that is par for the course.  

There you have it the first day of school.