Fall Part 1

I try not to discriminate against any one season, and I am pretty sure that at the beginning of each season I proudly exclaim to my family, "Yay it's _______, my favorite season"!!! But truly, I adore fall.  I love everything fall...pumpkins (and any dessert that it can be put into), leaves, colors, back to school, jackets, open windows, the smells...oh I simply love it all! The welcoming of fall was different for me this year. Summer was very hard for us, hard is putting it mildly.  I am not ready to write about anything yet, but fall was exactly what I needed to pull me and my family out of a very hard experience. I loved this quote by Lauren DeStefano  "Fall has always been my favorite season. The time when everything bursts with its last beauty, as if nature had been saving up all year for the grand finale."   Fall also brings around crazy schedules!!!

Aurianna decided after attending a basketball camp at Fairfield Union in May that she wanted to change schools. Many of her soccer teammates attend there and she really liked the school and the smaller feel of it. She open enrolled and was accepted. We went in to meet with the school counselor a couple weeks before school started so that we could get a tour and get her schedule. We sat in his office to begin with so that I could fill out some paperwork and he could ask Aurianna some questions. He had her fill out a paper all about herself. It was a simple task, but two things happened in just those few moments that really show so much about who Aurianna is! When she finished and the councilor was reading it, Aurianna leaned over to me and said, "Mom, you know I love you right?" And I said , "of course." She said, " it asked me who I go to when I need help on things and I put Dad, but I come to you a lot too Mom and I love you." I chuckled when this happened and my heart swelled with the love that Aurianna and Tad have for each other. This is something that I dreamed of my entire life, that my daughters would have a father that they could be daddy's little girl.  I quickly wiped away the tears in my eyes as the councilor started asking her questions. He looked up at her and said, "It says here that you want to be a special education teacher. I don't think that I have ever met a seventh grader that knew that they wanted to be that. Can you tell me why?" She explained that last year she had some opportunities to get to know some of the kids in her school with special needs and that she found that she loved helping them and that they became wonderful friends to her and she knew that that was something that she wanted to do with her life. She had told Tad and I this during the year, but when I turned to look at the counsilor that I noticed wasn't saying anything, he was crying. He said that this subject was dear to his heart and that he could tell that she was an amazing young lady and would do amazing things in her life.  

  This councilor has turned out to be pretty amazing himself. He took it upon himself to talk to the special education teacher at the school and let her know that during Aurianna's free period that she would like to help. How cool is that?! She loves those days that she gets to help! She is loving her new school! She loves her classes and her teachers and she loves her friends there! I love the small town feel to the school and of course that she loves it makes it better for all of us! Aside from school Aurianna is heavy duty into soccer season right now! She has practice Mon-Thursday most weeks and then games all weekend. She has had two tournaments so far. Practice is, well, I don't think that I would last ten minutes! Her couch is an ex army helicopter pilot...go ahead, next time a helicopter flies over head, ask her what it is...she can tell you; if they don't get it right during practice they have to run! She loves it though and she is doing so well! She is amazing out on that field and I love watching her with the ball at her feet! She is also starting to train with Tad in the mornings for basketball try outs that come up in November! Aurianna is also working hard on her Young Women Personal Progress. Right now she is working on her ten hour project on Family History! She is having a lot of fun on familysearch.org. This is her Uncle's calling in his ward, so he is giving her some tips and then also has a lot of names for her to take to the next temple trip! 

1st day of school!

1st day of school!

Livia is loving fourth grade this year. She was sad to leave her Miss Allen, but she is really enjoying her new teacher! She is excited to move over next year to Fairfield Union and be in middle school with her sister! She is shining in school, as always and we get notes and texts every other day from someone that she has helped in some way or another. This girl has the biggest heart and just wants everyone to be happy. She reminds us every day that she is almost ten. I would be totally ok if it started going in the opposite direction once they started going in the double digits! But we are having a blast planning her party and that puts a big smile on her face! She is in her second year of travel soccer and LOVING it!!! She is on a new team this year and it has been awesome! Last year her team won...a lot, but she wasn't having fun. Her team is doing great, but even better is that her coaches are awesome and the girls on her team all get a long so well! She loves going to practice and even attends Trey's practice on the nights that she doesn't have her own! She loves to cook, read and do art. My mom explained her so wonderfully this morning when she said that Livia just loves to be doing something all the time. Last night as I was singing to her, she was coloring. Do you remember those pictures that you would draw with the continuous line and then fill in all of the spaces with a different color? That is what she is working on right now! I used to love those!!! It is fun to see what she is creating! She is reading a ton as usual...I can't even keep up with her and the books that she is flying through! I am so proud of her and the amazing girl that she is! 

Trey....Trey is 8 and I think that my sister-in-law Katie said it best over the summer...emotional 8. Love this kid through and through...and yes, he very much has me wrapped around every one of his adorable little fingers, but I tell ya...some days! Everything has to match and in no way can anything be embarrassing!  He got Miss Allen for third grade (Yay...the crowd go's wild!!!)! He has loved having her and he is doing AMAZING this year! He has gotten 100% on all of his spelling tests this year and is doing fabulous in math! He is even enjoying reading more which is so awesome to see because he wasn't really having it last year! He loves going to school and of course loves hanging out with his buddies playing flag football and kickball! Trey is in his first year of travel soccer and it has been awesome! His coach is great and Trey has had a great time so far! It looks as though he is going to take after his oldest sister and play Left Mid! He thinks this is pretty cool and takes every opportunity for Aurianna to show him what she knows! She loves this of course! Trey was able to start Scouts this last week! He is so excited...seriously, beyond excited!!! It isn't like in Utah where it is part of the ward so that was a little tricky. We lucked out to have some fabulous friends the Smiths! Their grandfather offered to have Scout's for our boys every week! I can't tell you what a blessing this is to us right now! Trey asks me every day if he get's to go to Scout's...it is pretty awesome!!!

1st day of school!

Ok...I know this is just the three oldest ones, but I kind of wanted to make a post all on it's own for the younger two! It has been an exciting fall for them also with lots of changes and all kinds of fun! The older three alone keep our evenings going from one thing to another...I will have to do a "day in the Thornton house" by times and who is going where. Sometimes I dread it, I won't lie...but I know that one day I am going to miss it like crazy, so I am just embracing it and trying to LOVE it!!! Fall part 2 will be on its way!