Princess Lydia, or should I say "Queen"

This picture really says it all when it comes to our Little Lydie! She rules the roost around here and lets everyone know whose boss! Seth and I were saying the other day that we may need to send this one to some type of military school. She is high spirited and knows what she wants! She is also sweet and loving and very defensive of her family. She protects her little brother Mitch.

Lydia loves horses, horses, and more horses! She loves any movie with horses in it. Her favorites are Spirit, and Black Beauty. She has loved horses for over a year, so I don't think this is a fad and I'm afraid that one day we may end up owning a horse!! Or at least Lydia might figure out a way to get one!!

Lydia loves to sing! She knows all the songs from the "Spirit" soundtrack and we play them in the car and she sings every word. They even asked her in Primary what her favorite song was and she said, "The Spirit Song." She was quite put out when they ended up asking someone else for a different song. (I'm guessing we need to play more primary/church music for her here at home.)

She is growing up fast! Yesterday in the car on the way home from Jason's T-ball game Lydia must have been too cold from the air conditioning blowing on her because she said, "Dad, could you lose the air??!!" We Love this kid, she is a hoot!

Ashley's Art

Here is my Ashley with her Art at "Vail Pride Day." She was very proud of her Paisley Art.

Our little Ashley is such a pleasure to have around. She is definitely the compassionate peace maker in our family. She is always willing to help someone else and I rely on her easy going ways to keep me grounded. She is a happy kid who has so many friends she can't even count them! She loves people and animals and maybe someday she can have a pet (maybe, the jury is still out on pets at our house).

Ashley loves to swim and try new things. She's always willing to ask questions and talk to people. She also loves to see what I am blogging about and what is going on on all of your blogs. She likes to be "in the know."

Eleven Year Old Scouts

Seth would be upset to see his handiwork posted on my blog, but I've got to give a shout out to him, he really does some cool stuff around this house and here is one of his projects.

Seth recently was called to be an Eleven Year Old Scout leader and that really is right up his alley, even though he would never admit it. He decided to build this cool monkey bridge with the boys a few months ago and it really was a hit. He built it in our back yard and then took it down and had the boys build it one night for scouts. My kids loved it as well, and it was in our yard for about a month and we had all kinds of kids from the neighborhood over to check it out. Very fun!

Seth is quite the handyman and can fix or build anything. He just came up to me a minute ago and told me he just fixed the ear thermometer that was broken. How does he do this?? I have no idea, but it works now and he just saved me about $50 for a new one.

Mitchell Update

I use this blog as a family journal of sorts, so I'm busy adding a few tidbits of information for posterity's sake.

Our Mitchell is now 15 months and he's had a rough month or so. He got pretty sick about a month ago. He had a bad cold and pink eye and learned to love me and did not want to be separated from me for about two weeks. Then, the poor kid has started cutting those big molars in the back of his mouth and they HURT. So Mitchell and I have become inseparable. I have never had a kid that had such a hard time teething (I know I've been spoiled), so this is new territory for me.

Mitch is still doing his funny little crawl. He steps with his right foot and then drags his left leg on the ground to get around. He's really fast now! He is starting to cruise around the furniture and walk in between the couches, so we're hoping in the next month he'll be walking. That will surely cut down on this kid's frustration level. Walk Mitchell!! Be Free!!

It has been so fun to have him with the other kids being a little older. They love to play and cuddle him and help take care of him. Last week when I dropped off Mandy at piano lessons, Mitchell started crying when he saw her leave the car and walk into the piano teacher's house. Mitch is always so excited when the kids come home and flaps his arms wildly!

The Beloved Trophy!

I'm a little late with this post because Jason was finished with his soccer season in February, but better late than never.

This kid will do just about anything for a trophy! He will even play in freezing wind. The winter soccer season in Arizona was MUCH, MUCH, colder than I had predicted. And we found out that the wind blows a LOT here in Vail, AZ.

Jason loves soccer and he loves that trophy. All his special things are placed in a little shrine in his closet and he doesn't like anyone to touch or look at them. But occasionally, I come into his room and find him looking or holding this odd little bobble head trophy.

Jason is a fast kid, so any sport that allows him to run around like crazy for about an hour is a very good thing. And as a parent, I just love to watch him run with that big fat smile on his face. Love IT!

He loves trophies so much, I think we will just get him a giant Trophy for Christmas with his name engraved on it with the saying, "Best Smiler In the Marks Family." That should make him happy for the rest of his life.

Jason's funny saying

"Mom, can I have one of these Chinese Mystery Cookies?" said Jason. Mom replied, "Sure, bud."

Mom made a mental note to write this one down so she wouldn't forget all the funny little things her six year old says.

Mandy's San Diego Trip

Every year the 5th grade a Ocotillo Ridge Elementary gets to go do San Diego. They get to be revolutionary war sailors on the "Californian" (replica war ship). They also get to go out on a boat in the bay and see all different types of wildlife. Kinda fun to get to do these extra activities with kids in her class.

This was Mandy's first trip away from home and she did great! They had to get her up in the middle of the night to do "night watch," she said it was easy and all they did was teach her how to tie knots. She LOVED the wildlife boat the next day, especially the seals. They saw seals, dolphins, crab, turtles, and lobsters. So glad she had a great time!

Everyone here at home missed her very much, even though it was only one night. Jason was crying when he woke up the morning she left because the bus had to leave before his usual wake up time. Ashley didn't want to sleep alone in her room, and they all wanted to stay up to greet her the night she got home. It made us feel good as parents that the kids actually love each other because most of the time we wonder. So I'll take this little moment into my heart and remember that they really do love each other, because I will need that reminder!