Grandpa's Photos

No worries—Mia lands on her feet, haha

Alpine Days parade

5 Minutes til Vomitous Mass

You wouldn't think anything remarkable about this photo (except for the remarkably beautiful baby girl), but I took this because I never see her, head down, resting on the counter like this.

And five minutes later I found out why.

1st Day of School, 2011

MK the Senior. Judging from her expression, this photo-on-the-first-day-of-school routine is getting old. haha
Wearing a dress for Game Day.

 Mia the Frosh.

Digging the photo-on-the-first-day-of-school routine :)

Getty the 6th grader.
He could NOT be happier with Mrs. D. thankyouthankyou thankyouthankyou... (And she was over the top that he was Mia's brother. Getty was so proud.)

That's the tv remote in his hand. I pried him away from our "Good Luck Charlie" fix while we wait for carpool.
The red bandage covers his wart farm removal, phase 3.

Cy as 3rd grader. Mr. P—also a winner.
I coached Cy to laugh for this photo for a more natural smile. This is him thinking of what's so funny...

This is Cy's face when it comes to him.

I Survived the Five

MK posted this banner on Mrs. M's classroom whiteboard to congratulate her on her first day back to school for surviving last year's Chemistry class with all five of these rowdies...

The Five even happened to knock at Mrs. M's residence by a fluke during the summer, asking for donations for the soccer fundraiser. She slammed the door in shock—they'd tracked her down!! Kim doubled-over and just about peed her pants laughing so hard.

Poor Mrs. M :)

End-of-Summer Report (aka Nothing to Report)

• Sleeping in. Every day. Til all three lil ones get done with cartoons and come stand at the edge of my bed and stare at me. (The older three share in the joy of the super sleep-in.)
• Answering random questions from Mia like, "Do we have olive oil?" at 11:40 at night.
• Going to bed after 1 a.m. so I have one hour of personal space.
• Texting MK after midnight, "You're late. Hurry on home. HURRY. Don't speed. HURRY. Don't speed. @#!!*@#*#!?! arrrrghhh."
• Grounding MK for curfew violation.
• Ungrounding MK for scoring goals in pre-season games. (Rob's idea :)
• Emptying the dishwasher twice a day and still running out of cups.
• Doing the kids' dinner dishes because they're at practice again.
• Running through every sprinkler on my route, because it's almost noon and 80 degrees before I can get away from chores and needs in the kitchen.
• Scheduling all possible dental-cleaning and wart-freezing doctor appointments before school starts.
• Giving back-to-school haircuts. Getty wanted a mullet. (Okay... I talked him into one.) He said it's his "favorite haircut ever." Love that boy.
• Experimenting with washing my hair every other day. Not working. Takes just as long to doctor it as it does to wash and dry it. And, yes, I'm sure I care too much. It's a Briner-female tradition. (Jen has been rehabilitated and just gets on with her life :)
•  Making some room in my heart for scouting (not a Briner-family tradition) as I watch Getty become a fishing, backpacking, knot-tying patrol leader who eats dehydrated ice cream and loves every minute of it.
• Birthday partying, shopping, hiding, wrapping, floating balloons around the house from June through August, and eating donuts for breakfast. (Five of eight birthdays are during summer break.)
• Remembering that we were going to do "brainquest" study for an hour every day. (I think we did it for four days in June.)
• Thinking of enrolling Elle in disobedience school. (Dumped Tang all over the kitchen floor, sprayed the entire contents of a new Febreze bottle onto a chair, and scattered every article of new school clothing in several shopping bags. That was 25 minutes of yesterday.)
• Back-to-school shopping.
• Deciding that Mia likes skater clothes, while MK likes florals.
• Deciding that I get to pick out the boys' clothes until they get married.
• Driving Cy's soccer carpool.
• Driving Mia's cheer carpool.
• Driving Getty's football carpool.
• Keeping track of when to drive which carpool.
• Coordinating two new school carpools.
• Drawing up a master list of carpools.
• Reading "Emma."
• Finished reading "The Help."
• Saw "The Help."
• Could use some help.
• Help is on it's way.
School starts Tuesday :)

MSP

With Getty's 12th birthday came his introduction to the family MSP, the Matched Savings Plan. I got this from "The Parenting Breakthrough" by Merrilee Boyack. When the kids turn 11 or 12, they start contributing monthly to their mission/education/marriage fund. For every dollar our kids add to their MSP fund, we match it. This is the author's schedule:

Age 11: $8 a month, $8 match, $192 principal saved
Age 12: $16 a month, $16 match, $384 principal saved
Age 13: $25 a month, $25 match, $600 principal saved
Age 14: $37 a month, $37 match, $888 principal saved
Age 15: $50 a month, $50 match, $1,200 principal saved
Age 16: $70 a month, $70 match, $1,680 principal saved
Age 17: $100 a month, $100 match, $2,400 principal saved
Age 18: $160 a month, $160 match, $3,840 principal saved

TOTAL PRINCIPAL SAVED: $11,184
add interest earned: $1,000
TOTAL AMOUNT SAVED: $12,184

Quoting the author, "What's amazing is what this plan does. Just think about it. Your kids will be making a multiyear commitment to saving. They will be committing every month: 'I'm going on a mission and to college.' Or 'I'm saving for college and a temple marriage.' The value of that recurring commitment cannot be overstressed. It is a fantastic lesson. It teaches them about saving, about investing, about dedication, and about budgeting...."

She anticipates the day when your sixteen-year-old says, "That's my money, and I want to buy a car." You say, "Half of that money is ours [they forget about that part], and it has been set aside for a mission and education. It is dedicated to that and to your future. If you choose not to use it for those things, then we will use it to support another missionary or donate it to needy children in Africa for their education." Whoa. I'm good with that.

We started M&M on the schedule at age 12. So far, they have grouched about it occasionally but paid in every month. I emphasize to them, "You're paying yourself all that money. We're just keeping track of it for you. And Mom and Dad pay you as much as you pay yourself. It's free money." We try to be as flexible as possible—they can use their clothing budget temporarily or pay a month or so late, etc.

I broke the news gently to Getty the day after his 12th birthday, predicting stormy weather, but instead he got out the kids' accounting book right away and started figuring and asking me if he could pay ahead a few months. He's full of surprises, that one.

Pfff...

I dropped Cy off at Luke's house, and his mom told me, "Luke says all the girls like Cy, so I asked him, 'How do you know?' Luke said, 'Because they tell him. Like today, Meagan told Cy, "You're cute. I like you," but Cy said, "Pfff, I like Luke."'" hahahaha

That's my boy. The girlie's will just have to wait til you're all grown and your momma can begin to cope with the idea of sharing you ;)

Quidditch!

 

Cam's 6!

Dad was at scout camp with Getty, so you wanted to open presents in the morning before swimming lessons.

Your brothers were dying when they laid eyes on your giant teddy. Good thing they had enough money saved up that they could beg me to run to Costco to get them each one of their own.

 Enjoying Dad's hammock

Elle has already "ordered" one for her birthday in the fall.

Even M&M snuggled with them and lamented that we had "neglected" to provide them with proper giant teddies in their day.

Getty's Deacon Ordination

You became a deacon today! You were so cute up on the stand with the Bishop, smiling from ear to ear. I was bursting :)

After the meetings, Dad conferred on you the Aaronic priesthood, surrounded by your grandpa's and the Bishop.

Grandma Marie looking elegant in her English church hat

After church, beef roast with your grandparents.

We cleared the dining room table, and then we all played the candy bar game. Wish I'd gotten a pic of Cy's triumphant final roll of the dice :) Pretty sure an NFL touchdown celebration would pale in comparison. haha