More... and more... and more... Catching up!

So... the past few days have been busy as usual! Friday was a "terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day" for Braeden. He was just pushing the limits as far as he could go! I was so sad because after a while I gave him three chances before taking away the priviledge of going to the Husky Hoedown at Lexi's school. It is their PTA festival/fundraiser for the fall... lots of games, lots of junk, dancing, cake walks, etc! Damian got home just in time to keep him and Ella, who was still sick, while Lexi and I went over for a while! It totally broke my heart to leave him screaming at the top of his lungs to go, but I'm trying not to make a liar out of myself, and follow through with the things I say I'm going to do. He ended up going to bed at 7:40. Poor guy. Lexi was super nice and won him a candy and a black bracelet to match the pink one she got for herself. She ended up spending most of the time skipping the lines for the games and dancing to the DJ's music and playing on the playground with her friends! At least she's not quite at the stage where she's totally snotty and greedy. It always makes me a little irritated when I see kids leaving with 5 or 6 cakes stacked so high they can't even carry them, while others don't even get one. I think their parents should cut them off... BUT... that's MY personal pet peeve.
Then Saturday was filled with more fun of digging weeds out of the back lawn, and we're not sure that there is really ANY grass back there at all, but Damian was hard at work pulling out the long dandelion roots. Lexi had a birthday party for one of the girls in her school class. The had a "rockin' good time" with guitars, music, CD cookies, etc. all to the theme of Hannah Montana!
Sunday was pretty regular. Ella taking her clothes off, trying to get into the toilet, shaking her head and her "no-no" finger as she starts to unroll the toilet paper roll... you get the idea? And this all while we're trying to get Lexi and Braeden to watch a few talks during General Conference! Ha! Just kidding, but through the course of the day, we do a lot of chasing our kids around! We did manage to get them all down for a short nap in the afternoon.
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were the usual rat race to get everything done... school, sports and dance, play dates, school, taxi... etc. Wednesday was National Walk to School Day, so we tried a little of that! What I mean is... we drove across the super busy street by our house and parked the van on the very first street past there, then hiked up the hill, waited for the crossing guard, and went the rest of the way to school! I hate to admit it, but we were actually a minute or two late. The bell was ringing just before we got to the gate! Sad, but true! And they were pooped out by the time we got there! But it was fun... sort of! :)
Braeden was the "Super Duper" in his class yesterday, and Lexi got a "Super Blue" card at school today! Things are looking up around here! Well behaved kids! Yay! Then after school yesterday we spent 4 1/2 hours outside in the cul-de-sac with all our neighbors... playing until.. and BEYOND when the Gator's battery DIED!! Fortunately they do other things, but there are 4 or 5 little power cars around here! We have a lot of fun with our friends and neighbors!
And today... more of the same. At some point I really need to go to the grocery store! Food... who needs it anyway???
__________________________________________
Below are some catch-up pictures... obviously:

This is Damian getting ready with his body armor to go on one of THE hikes. Fun!
Happy Birthday, Daddy! August 29th he turned 31!! And though he had to work, we had a special surprise waiting for him when he got home! I let the kids do most of the work... well, you'll see!
Mmmmm.... Yummy chocolate cake with LOTS of frosting and LOTS of candles! Isn't it decorated so well??
Lexi here is putting more frosting in her mouth than she is onto the cake. I have to admit that they get this stuff from me. I LOVE frosting, cookie dough, batter, anything like that... and they've taken OVER on all the stuff I love. Darn kids... I hardly ever get to clean the brownie bowl anymore!

It's good that Nick is strong... and patient!
I really need to do a day where I just catch up on all the funnies that my kids... and others, say! Above is what they call a "DOG PIE!" instead of a dog PILE! Lovely! Is that like a cow pie?? Poor Nick!
Aunt Gail in mid-flip with Braeden!
Ella enjoying one her first tastes of sweet, green grass!
Whoa, Lexi... what happened?? We had lots of fun on Grandma and Grandpa Linda's front lawn one day while we were there in July/August...!

Ronni holding Connor, Lexi, and Colleen holding Ella at one of Ryne's baseball games in Cedar!
Braeden was so happy that one of the boys let him borrow a ball to toss around!
Ryne and Ryan... like father, like son: hands on their hips!
Braeden playing catch with Grandma Pam. They were having a very good time!

Gail, Caroline, Braeden and Lexi shelling pecans that had been sent by Great-Grandma and Grandpa Autrey from their owncrop in Georgia!
Ella at the Green Show at the Shakespearean Festival!
They're such good buds a lot of the time, but I tell you... they FIGHT like cats and dogs... and sometimes worse!
And notice how much fun we're having?? What's wrong with this picture??
And we took a day and went to the public library for storytime, and then read books and played with puzzles afterward! Notice the stroller... I'm surprised it's not on it's last leg... literally! It was mine when I was little, and then I think Colleen told me she used it for all of her kids, too!