The long awaited trophy

Sydney had her last soccer game on Saturday along with a party where they received trophies. Sydney had been anxiously awaiting this trophy for weeks. After the party, Sheldon was driving Sydney and her trophy to the last game and from the back seat he hears her say ....."Hey! This trophy has boobs!!" Poor Sheldon, he is so outnumbered by his girls.

Cleaning 101

My girls are always asking if they can help me clean and usually I give them the simple and quick chores like picking up shoes, Avery's toys, etc. I recently had a friend clue me in that my kids were capable of much more and that I should enlist their help while they were still eager to do it.

So today my girls learned the art of cleaning toilets, mopping floors, folding laundry, etc. To my surprise, they loved it! Yes, Taylor was angry when we walked on her freshly vacuumed carpet lines (she takes after her mother on that one) and yes, Sydney lost focus about every 5 minutes, but we actually had a lot of fun. Next, I sang out my bedroom window and all of the nearby wildlife came and finished the housework. :) Whatever, I wish. My girls were definitely capable of more than I have been giving them to do and I wish that I could bottle their desire to clean and spray it on them in their teenage years.

It took longer to get the rubber gloves on Sydney than it did for her to clean the bathroom.

Thief for Hire

I keep reading about my friends having to hide the candy bags from their kids, but can I hire someone to come and hide the candy from me? I think I have eaten more Milky Ways and Whoppers in the last 2 days than I have all year long. Please help!!

Halloween Happenings

Every year Halloween sneaks up on me and I never do the things that I want to do with my kids. I always vow that the following year I will make their costumes, make Gingerbread Haunted Houses, pick our pumpkins at the orchard and not at the grocery store, etc. None of that happened this year, but there is always next year!

This year Sydney wanted to be Captain Hook to my chagrin, but she changed her mind after a boy in her class decided that is what he wanted to be too. She quickly changed her mind and said that she didn't want it to look like they "were married." She finally decided to be a leopard somewhere out of the blue. Taylor has wanted to be an Indian princess since she saw an $80 costume in a magazine. Avery had no choice in the matter, but it was very obvious what her costume should be.

I am too cheap to spend $30-$40 for each kid's costume at the stores and so we ventured to the Deseret Industries this year. Some may say "gross", but there is something totally exciting about only spending $7 total for my kids costumes!! They were nothing great, but my kids loved them. Here are some pics from school parties and Halloween night.



She Devil Avery


Avery tried to make an escape every time the doorbell rang with Trick or Treaters.


Sydney really thought she was a jungle cat.

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Taylor and her friend Zoe


Not an $80 costume, but an Indian none the less. I am still trying to convince her to wear her costume and serve our Thanksgiving dinner. ;)


Great Grandma and her girls

My absolute favorite costume in Syd's class. She kept posing for me!!

Temporarily out of order

I have been getting some comments from friendsabout my blog being completely outdated. I am posting a temporary sign to say my blog is temporarily out of order. Its operator currently has laundry issues, a one year old who is rocking her world, and a horribly neglected house. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and the Orme blog will be back in operating order in a couple of days. :)

My Little Honeybee

I finally gave in this fall and signed Sydney up for soccer. Don't get me wrong, I am a fan of the sport, but just not in Vegas. I have always pitied the poor soccer moms sitting out in the 100 degree weather watching their red faced children huff and puff back and forth on the fields and now I am one of them. Fortunately, the season goes until November and we will get some better weather soon.

However, RED FACED and all, Sydney is LOVING soccer and is so determined to get better each week! She keeps asking Sheldon to take her out and practice. Here are some pics from today's game.

Syd loves playing goalie. I'll have to pad her with Charmin.



Here's Sydney staring down the other team. :)



Here is Sydney's display of good sportsmanship when the other team scores.

Bucket O' Drink

This past Saturday was a little busier for us than usual with Syd's soccer, church callings, baptisms and birthay parties. By noon, I was needing a soda to give me a little pick me up. Sheldon was out running some errands so I asked him to bring me home a drink. I was on the phone with my sister when Sheldon casually came up the stairs and handed me my "bucket o' drink" complete with a handle. He handed it to me and walked off like it was normal for someone to drink soda out of a half gallon bucket! When I laughed and asked him why the bucket, he warned me to never tell a drive thru at KFC that you want the largest drink they have. I wonder if they use these same buckets for their family meals. Even though I am a confesssed sodaholic, I didn't put a dent in this thing.

Happy 1st Birthday Avery!

Avery is one year old today!! I have no idea where the year went! I am a little sad about how fast she is growing up since she is my finale. Avery's not walking yet, but I know it will be in the next month or so. I am not looking forward to that stage since I have stairs all over my house. She is my first baby who likes to terrorize our dog, empty all of my cupboards, point her finger at me when I tell her no and then go back to what she was doing.....Wait, I'm sure my older girls did these things. See what a 5 year gap between kids can make you forget! Avery is definitely a handful, but we can't get enough of her. Happy 1st Birthday, Avery! We love you!

Little House on the Prairie

Sheldon and the girls have finally found a show that they all love to watch.....Little House on the Prairie! Sheldon says the show makes him reminiscent of how women used to be. :) I told him when he starts acting like Charles Ingalls, I'll start acting like Carolyn and bake him a pie.

My girls hurry and do their homework and watch the clock for Sheldon to get home so they can pop some popcorn and watch one of the 120 episodes we have recorded of Little House on the Prairie (we set our DVR to record one automatically every time it's on). Don't get me wrong, my girls love Hannah Montana and Camp Rock, but Little House has become one of their favorites. Sheldon makes the girls tell him what lesson was taught each episode and I have actually used some of the episodes to teach Taylor how to get along with a boy in her class. (Taylor has a boy equivalent to Nellie Olsen in her class)

Anyway, I am so glad that my kids have abandoned Spongebob and embraced Laura Ingalls that I thought I would blog about it. Cable does have some perks, I guess.

Back to School

Here are some of the pics I quickly snapped this morning as we frantically jumped in my car to beat the school bell. Taylor started 3rd grade and Sydney started her first day of Kindergarten.

What next?

I figure I brought this upon myself by trying to ban the color pink from her baby shower. Taylor thinks a little bit of pink makes everyone look better (even Sheldon in his pink tie). I've put up with the competitive fashion shows/contests that she and her friends put on with all of the clothes from her closet and the fact that every outfit she picks out is completely pink with a lot of bling on it. However, I 'm left wondering what's next when I find my daughter sleeping on the couch wearing a sleeping mask that SHE saved her money to buy. What next? Facial masks and lavender spray misted upon her pillow? The sleeping mask has freaked me out a couple of times when I walk into her room at night.

All Dressed In White

Taylor is getting baptized this Saturday!! I took a quick picture of her in her dress today in the park. We had to keep scattering the ducks away from us. I was a nervous wreck trying to keep Taylor clean so I wouldn't have to make a mad dash for the dry cleaners. The Ice Cream man happened to stop right by us while taking the pictures (imagine that!) and Taylor asked me for a snow cone. YEAH RIGHT!! A snow cone in her white dress! Didn't happen. We hope to see you on Saturday!

Ewww!

Today I took Sydney and Avery to our ward playgroup which was a guided tour of the animals (mostly reptiles) at Petco. I have really tried to be good and not pass down my opinions or fears to my kids so that they can form their own, but when they started pulling out the tarantulas and snakes, I was done. In fact, I couldn't even take a picture of the nasty tarantula climbing on the lady because I was too scared to get that close, honestly. It's probably a good thing I only have girls as I could never do the pet frogs and snakes. I wouldn't be able to sleep!

However, Sydney had a great time and was proud of herself for touching the lizard and frogs. She really liked the ferrets. I kept Avery in her stroller because she would either smack or try to eat the animals. Her two favorite past times.

Even though I was not about to touch anything, I do have to say that we have an awesome playgroup coordinator. This summer has been packed with fun activities for my kids.

Gone Fishing

Taylor asked Sheldon to chaperone her last field trip for the school year today. I was a little shocked when Sheldon took the day off and said that it sounded fun. (I didn't clue him in that chaperoning field trips is far from "fun") Taylor's class along with 3 other second grade classes went to Floyd Lamb State Park and were taught how to fish by the park rangers. I think Taylor was more excited about Sheldon riding the bus with her than any other part of the field trip.

Before they left, I reminded Sheldon to behave himself and not hurt any of the boys who have been teasing Taylor throughout the year. I had this strange vision of Sheldon casually squeezing the back of their necks while walking beside them. I also asked him to take some pics for me. He wasn't to keen on the idea of having to carry around a camera, but he humored me. I was so excited to get some pics of he and Taylor fishing or eating the sack lunches that I packed for them. Here are the pics that Sheldon brought home for me. He won.....I won't ask him to take pics again.



No idea who this boy is.......



I'm sure this kid's parents would be proud, but I have no idea who he is or who they are.......



Nope, no clue who this is......


I think Taylor is the least visible in this picture....


AHA!! One picture of Taylor!

Little Miss Avery

I have had a couple people ask why there were no pics of Avery on my blog. Good question....here is one and there will be plenty more.