Another one bites the dust!

Far less dramatic this time! It fell out at school while playing a game  of soccer with Jackson at recess. He yelled for everyone to "pause the game" because his sister's tooth fell out and then helped her to the principles office to get a bag to hold her tooth until she made it home. He's a great big brother!

She was very excited to share the news when I picked her up from Kindergarten that day!

The tooth fairy is becoming familiar with our address :)

It's great to be 4!

Eli celebrated his 4th birthday yesterday. His request was to get a happy meal, but then he thought of Jackson and Zoey not getting a happy meal, and per usual Eli's personality, asked if we could all get a happy meal so that they wouldn't feel left out. 

He's so thoughtful and sharing, one of his best and strongest inherent personality traits. So we had a family picnic and got Jackson out of school early to join us. It was fun, and worth the extra dough to buy 4 happy meals instead of one :) It was a beautiful fall day! I'm glad we got to enjoy it. 

 Of course Eli can't have a normal face shot when looking at the camera, another part of his crazy personality that I love.

 We had grandma Gray over for dinner. Eli's request was corn on the cob and Salmon. Then we busted open a piñata, which was more drama that it should have been! Kids were worried they wouldn't get prizes fast enough, Jackson got hit by a swinging stick, Zoey cried because she hit Jackson.....it was too much.


 Eli asked for a monster truck cake....

 And we had a family party, which was only going to be a small function with the grandparents, but Elmo and Judy wanted to combine parties and celebrate Elmo's birthday with us (it's on the 28th). Of course we said yes, 2 parties in 1... so it turned into a much larger affair. It was great to have family. It was cray to have us all together in our small house though! Eli had fun with his cousins.

Summer Storms

I've always enjoyed summer thunderstorms. I like listening to rain and thunder and watching the lightning. We had a cool storm blow through one evening and were graced with a beautiful rainbow. It was just the right timing of light to see it before the sun went down for the day.

 Thunderstorms create this energy in the kids, they go crazy with excitement. All but Calvin. We've found that he's super scared of thunder and becomes a leach when they roll around, as you can see in the photo, he's even afraid to look around.

Play time!

We've had a few hard weeks of school. Getting back into routine is nice, but the school work-load has been an adjustment for the kids. Although they enjoy their teachers and classes, we've struggled with the amount of homework they are required to do. Play time is very important too! It was time for a break!

This Saturday, Brian went on a huge mountain bike ride with Bob Barnes and Eldon Greenwood. While he was gone, we chose to explore a new playground for us.

This one is located on Traverse mountain called Eagle Summit. The kids LOVED it! The favorite thing was the "spider web"

Isaac always with thumb in mouth....

 Eli always making some fun face....

 

 Jackson the big kids doing daring things! 

 Sweet Calvin :)

Sassy Zoey :)

9 months!

Well.... he's been out of the womb now as long as he was in the womb! Life is going good. He pulling himself up to stand on anything that will support him. He crawls fast, and I may soon miss the sounds of the slap slap slap his hands make on the wood floor! This could be the last of them!

I love his chubby legs and hands, his slobbery smiles (which he graces my arm with zurburs), and his babbling ma ma ma ma ma. He's happy, sleeps good, eats great and growing just as he should!

Still sucks his thumb, still no teeth, and still flaps like a bird when he gets excited!

I'm so glad Isaac is part of the family!

Lost!

We love the tooth fairy at our house right now! She's getting really familiar with our address. Zoey lost her first tooth this morning! We're so happy for her! I'm loving her new smile. And her tongue is having a good time playing with the new hole!

There was wailing. There were tears. There was drama that only a little girl can bring. The darn thing was hanging by a strand. Food had to be soft, it had to be cut...she cried when she bit into things...drama, drama, drama. After a bowl of oatmeal and tears over her tooth hurting, it was decided that it was time to take it out and move on with life!

We all but sat on top of her to get the tooth out! The root was starting to damage her gums from all the wiggling she was doing with it and it was causing her more pain than pulling the tooth itself had been. But she was so scared that it would hurt that she was willing to live with the constant gum pain over the unknown. I wedged my thumb in her mouth so she would keep it open, and with my other hand I pinched the tooth and it popped right out!

After the ordeal, it was giggling and smiles as she realized it didn't hurt. AND now she's anticipating the arrival of the tooth fairy! She couldn't be more excited, and she's so happy that it didn't hurt! We sang the "Brave" song from Sarah Bareilles.

She had to bring it to school to show her little friend Penny and her teacher. An exciting morning before going to school! Hopefully the next tooth won't be so dramatic :)

2014 Family Pictures

Brian did an awesome job with our family pictures this year! It looks like it should be so easy...just to get one shot with everybody looking! Our family picture turned out wonderful, but it's been photo shopped! Head swaps, body swaps, corrections....

On top of that there are outfits to coordinate, a location to pick, time of day that works well for kids and light, settings on the camera, etc, etc, etc. Family Pictures are so much work. The behind the scenes work was hours and hours of this stuff. Brian is a special man to put up with it! ha ha!

Our family changes so fast, we have to update our wall hanging regularly. We don't have a recent one with Isaac so it was time to  update again! This is one reason I haven't paid to have a professional do it! Maybe in the future when the picture can stay up for a few years, I might be more willing to fork out the dough :)

This year, we chose Utah Lake to capture a different style and scene than what we've done in the past. The light was perfect for the photo shoot, but as soon as the sun went down, the mosquitoes came out in force! We got eaten alive! The poor kids had so many bites all over their bodies (and we were wearing bug spray)! I am still wearing pants to hide my bite marks and it's been a week! We ran out of time to capture a beach scene picture with Isaac, so we settled for the froth yard... 

oh well! It'll work :)

First Day of School

I always worry about how the kids do at school and if they are enjoying their teacher, classmates, etc. I hope people are nice to them and vice versa. It's always a great experience to listen to their back to school blessings. We had a special one on one time with each child as we talked about their concerns and Brian gave them a blessing. It was very special. Eli giggled through his and afterwords we asked "What does it feel like?" and he said "A tickle. I could feel it start in my head and go all the way to my heart. " We knew he felt the Spirit. It was neat.

Jackson is starting 2nd grade and Zoey is starting kindergarten! 

They both got into John Hancock charter school this year! We are super excited for them. It was an unexpected change for us, but we welcome it. I think they will really enjoy their experience there, although it'll be a bit of a challenge at first. They are teaching a year ahead of the public school system, so Jackson is learning 3rd grade material and Zoey will be expected to know 1st grade stuff by the end of the year. They are well prepared for it. They are smart kiddos and we have been learning at home all summer long!

They wear uniforms. I think they look nice, but Zoey wishes she could look "cute." Zoey picked a Hello Kitty Backpack, Jackson is using his ninja turtle backpack again, but he's excited about his new lunchbox (he purchased it from "mom store" this summer and has an ice pack to keep his food cold)! 

Eli started Pre-School Musical. He has been looking forward to this day for a long time! He wishes he could go every day! He's very social and enjoys the school experience. 

 I can't believe I have 3 kids in some form of school! Twice a week I only have 2 kids at home until noon. Usually Isaac is sleeping, so it's a nice chance to get some one on one time with Calvin. He hasn't had that experience yet. It's nice for the both of us!

Hidden Gem

Utah Lake has a bad rep for being dirty and stinky....and it can be. BUT most of the time it's really rather nice. We recently found a nice beach that has always been there in our own backyard by the Lindon boat harbor.... and it's very underused! We have had fun swimming there a couple of times this summer. Grandma Gray joined us on this trip! I usually get the are-you-kidding-me? "look" when I invite others to join us...

 

 It's perfect for several reasons: it's free, it's shallow, it's warm, it's close, and it's not crowded with people! For us...the lake has beat the pool this summer on favorite places to swim.  But shhh! Don't tell anyone our secret! It's very kid friendly and we love it!

Summer Fun

On top of our usual daily routine of morning chores, devotionals, school work, journal writing, and quiet time, we tried to have a little fun each day. Something to look forward to and let the summer boredoms pass. I have to say, we had a pretty kick-butt summer! Jackson said "Let's stop having fun everyday. Let's just do something fun once or twice  a week so Summer will slow down and last longer!" I wish it worked that way! It went way too fast. 

Mondays :
Mom store Monday: the kids could buy cheap trinkets, toys, school clothes, etc. with the tickets they earned from doing chores throughout the week.
Make something Monday: We also tried to incorporate a craft. We made masks, colored salt-art jars, pet rocks, jelly fish, pine cone bird feeders, airplanes, spiders, snakes, owls...all kinds of stuff!

 Tuesdays:
Take a trip Tuesdays: We went on outings to swim lessons, the park, feeding the fish up the canyon, picnics, feeding the ducks, kids summer clubs with friends, the movie theater to watch "How to train Your Dragon2", and Grandma's house to visit Bruno. Grandma helped on special outings when I needed extra hands and was a great help plus fun  to be with!

Wednesdays:

Wet and Wild Wednesdays: We played in the sprinklers, had water gun fights, slip-n-slide parties, visited splash pads, Lindon pool on free swim day, and Utah Lake, and sometimes we just played in the water whenever we felt like it...like boating in Boise and other times for fun. 

Thursdays:
Thinking Thursdays: We had fun with science projects like creating "snot", volcanoes, play dough, silly puddy, and Coke and Mentos explosions. We also learned about whatever the kids had questions about like how to make gum, how to build a boat, who is Helen Keller, Why does the Earth look flat when it's really round, is Pluto a planet....they had tons of questions and we found the answers! It was fun to light the fire of their curiosity.

Fridays:
Fabulous Fun Fridays! This was always looked forward to! We did special things like PJ parties with a rented movie, friends over for a pizza party, neighborhood kickball, went out to lunch for happy meals, checked out free local events. Lots of fun stuff. It was a great summer!