This Can't Be Comfortable!

Any ideas on how to persuade a 3 year old that he really does want to change his socks?

Harvest Time

I decided to show the picture of yummy veggies from our garden rather than talk about the BYU-AF game. It was not nearly as exciting!

(Halftime pic I stole from their blog.)

But, we were so glad to have some of our friends from Utah come visit for the game! It was great to see them. Our kids had a blast with theirs-always a good thing!

Yay for gardens & fun friends & fanily who could come to the game.

Our Toothless Wonders

On Tuesday (8/31), Joseph lost his 2nd tooth! He was just wiggling it & it popped right out. Needless to say, he was super excited!

Then today, I went to pick up the kids from school & there was my Lexie, with a huge gaping hole in her smile. She lost her tooth during lunch & was also so excited about it all! Today was also fun because I got a surprise phone call from Lexie's 1st grade teacher telling me about what a wonderful, in-tune with the Spirit, little girl she is & that just made my day, too. She really is awesome! It's always nice to hear good things about your kids!

I can't believe how different they look to me now-what happened to my little kids? My little Toothless Wonders!

Andrew's Big Day

Not only is today Andrew's first day of school, but it's also his 3rd birthday! Hooray!

We weren't sure what kind of cake to make him since he's really into robots right now, as well as trains, so we decided on the train for him. Gratefully, he really liked it!

He was thrilled with all of the fun presents he got & had lots of fun with his cousins & friends who came over. We're glad they were all able to come & help us eat this huge cake!


Some of Andrew's favorites right now are:
Food: Grapes
Song: The Train Song or The Duck Song
Color: Yellow
Animal: Butterfly (This changes by the minute.)
Toy: Trains
Things to do: Pretend to be "a big red, yellow, blue, or green, happy robot", or puppy, or kitty, or daddy, or dolphin, or train, or basically anything he thinks of & make you call him that thing. He will not answer to "Andrew" while he is in character. Help Mommy with anything. Follow Lexie & Joseph around & sleep wherever they are sleeping. Give hugs, kisses, & tickles to Rick (& everyone for that matter) before they leave. Color!

We sure love our Andrew boy. He's been a handful at times, but we've learned a lot because of him & are so grateful for him & the fun & joy he brings into our home. It would not be the same without him!

The Boys' First Day of School

It's hard to believe that today has finally come. I am so not ready for summer to be over. But, alas, it is & the boys started school today!

Here is Joseph all ready for Kindergarten. This boy is beyond ready & pretty excited. If you ask him what about school he's most excited about he'd say, "Learning new things."

And here's Andrew, ready to start Preschool! We went with taking him to the school preschool for this year to help work on his speech & sensory stuffs. He's so small compared to the other kids in his class, but hopefully, he'll make some good friends.

The cute brothers ready for school.

Here's Joseph getting ready to head into school & Andrew got in his line as well, ready to follow Brother anywhere!

We're glad they are so excited for the school year & we hope it's an awesome one for everyone!

Joseph Lost His First Tooth

Joseph went in after snack to brush a full set of teeth & he came out with one less! He was a little surprised because it didn't hurt at all! (Lexie told him it hurts when you lose a tooth.) Here's to his new, still cute as ever, smile!

2nd Grade

Lexie was "freaked out" about starting 2nd grade! (Yes, those were her words.) But, she did end up having a pretty fun day.

It certainly helped that she got to see her friend before school started & they made a date to play at recess.

We think she'll have a pretty great year.

(But this will be a tough week for Mama. She is not ready for summer to be over!)

Speech-less

Today was Andrew's last day of speech (well, with Miss Kathy coming to our home for therapy). His progress has been amazing! He's gone from a vocabulary of about 10-15 words to saying 6 & 7 word sentences.

We're really going to miss our fun Friday mornings with Miss Kathy, Andrew just loves her so much! We are looking forward to seeing all of the progress Andrew will make this year.

Our First Family Campout

After all of the fun stories Joseph would tell Lexie about camping-she was dying to go (as was Joseph). We promised the kids we would take them camping this summer & sadly, we noticed that our summer was quickly coming to a close. So, we quickly reserved a site up at Rocky Mountain National Park one day & were camping the next. We loved it! The kids played in the river, threw rocks for a long time, loved climbing around huge boulders, enjoyed sitting by the fire & making s'mores, liked seeing deer (we even had one run right though our campsite), chipmunks, birds, big horned sheep, liked falling asleep in the tent listening to the rain & so much more!

The next morning we hiked up the Alluvial Fan. In 1982 the dam up at Lawn Lake broke & the ensuing flood brought down a bunch of boulders & created a fun natural playground & then continued on & flooded the town of Estes Park.

On the way home, Lexie got a little carsick. So, we gave her a bag in case she needed to throw up. Not only was it practical, it served as a lovely accessory!

We definitely need to go camping more often!

Coloring Robots

Andrew surprised us by drawing a group of robot friends while the rest of us were eating dinner (he doesn't last too long at the dinner table). We've never seen him draw anything other than simple shapes & scribbles, so we were shocked to see that he could draw a basic body shape.

We know it's not a masterpiece, but he is only 2 still.

Singing In the Rain

Oh what fun was had playing out in the rain for a good hour! (Despite Joseph's face at this moment.)

Who Needs Pockets?