September

Well, our first big event in September was Athena's new baby, Jacob's blessing day! I was very excited we were able to attend despite a dreadful run of strep throat/ear infection/fever that went through our house during those first few weeks of September. We just drove up for the afternoon that day to see the blessing and visit with family - a quick trip, but definitely worth it! I was so glad we didn't have to miss it, and the kids sure enjoy seeing everyone! Athena and Brennon have such a cute new baby boy - so very happy and excited for them!! :)

Next big event for September: Timothy's birthday!! He is a big two-year-old now!!! That one is just so hard for us to believe - the last two years ever since he's been born have been such a blur - he definitely made an entrance into our family - and how much gratitude just fills me when I look at the strong and healthy boy he has become! He is just our little smile and laugh maker!! So full of personality and happy-go-lucky sweetness all mixed up with his silly mischief and jokes... Such a funny guy! We don't know what we would do without our little Timothy! :) So on September 12, all children were awake bright and early to see Timothy open his presents before everyone had to leave for school. He was just loving all the attention. (The kids get so excited about decorating now - I let them do it this year - and we were all quite happy with that arrangement!) It just so happened, that that day Colette's preschool was at our house, so as far as Timothy was concerned he got to have 3 little playmates over for his birthday that day! He had a great time watching and being apart of all the preschool projects.... It also just so happened that it was Grandparents Day, and Samuel's class down at the school was having a little get-together. My mom & dad weren't able to go, so I went with the kids that afternoon, and we got to eat lunch with Sam at the cafeteria and go hang out with him in his class for awhile. Timothy loved it! So it was quite a fun and eventful day for him. Then of course his favorite dinner that evening - spaghetti! (As much of it gets in his mouth anyway).... And then the cake to top it all off afterward. All in all, I'd say he had a great birthday this year! :)

Preschool

Spaghetti Dinner

Next, of course, I got Timothy's 2-year-old pictures taken. He was very difficult to catch looking at me, of course, amidst all the distraction of being at the park. These were the good ones that we were able to get, and then that last one is an example of what the majority of all the pictures taken looked like.... :) That is his common look of astonishment whenever a "big truck" drives by - this little guy is just obsessed with trucks these days!! Cute boy! :)



Brielle & Samuel started soccer again this month! (Different age groups this year - so different teams with different practice and game times, of course - makes it a little more hectic running them back and forth every week).... But they are loving it! Especially Samuel - he just seems to think of and do nothing else these days - he is his Daddy.... I love what good exercise it is for them - especially with the school eliminating P.E. this year - and it's fun to go and watch their games. Brielle had a really exciting one at the end of the month! I'm going to try and upload the video if I can - she scored a goal!! She was so excited!! And then at the end of that very same game, she took quite a kick to the face by the ball - we were all so proud of her for sticking with it out there afterward even after getting hurt like that - she was so brave! Fun to watch their personalities out there on the field.... :)



I am just loving this only having two kids at home thing during the day!! Brielle & Samuel love school, and it gives me a chance to spend more one-on-one time with the other two at home during the day. Plus, more time for all the other many things that always need to be done around the house too, of course. Somehow it just really makes a difference. Colette & Timothy have really become buddies now - they've gotten really good about playing with eachother - of course they still have their troubles, but for the most part, it's fun to hear their little jabberings as they run about together.... :) I actually have a funny little tidbit about these two: Colette is always giggling at Timothy's jabberings and talking about how Timothy speaks Spanish! Whenever he actually says a word or two that she can understand, she says excitedly, "He can speak English now, Mommy!" Then, of course, as he goes back to his jabbering, she says, "Oh, he's speaking Spanish again...." That has definitely been entertaining to me - never had one of the kids refer to it that way before! :)



A couple goofy little pictures of Timothy here at the end. Crazy boy - he is definitely the two-year-old of the house - every time you turn around, he's getting into some type of mischief or another.... But never fails to have that enormous grin that is so hard to ever really be upset with.... :) He's a fun little guy - he was actually closing himself all the way up into the snack cupboard this particular day - trying to see if he could sneak some treats.... :)

Brielle's Soccer Goal

August

Okay, well just a word of warning – this is probably going to now be more information than anyone else ever wanted – but I’m going to start using this blog as my journal…. Still doing monthly updates – they just might be a little more detailed now…. :)


Anyway, big events from August:

We had our very first family camping trip!! It was so much fun! Jared’s family went camping on Mt. Graham every summer while he was growing up, and he has looked forward to taking the kids up there for a long time! We were even able to get the very same campsite at Hospital Flat that he remembers as a kid! It was an exciting adventure…. We were able to stay for two nights, and these kids just had a ball! They loved everything about it – collecting the firewood; making a list of every single bit of wildlife they saw; going exploring in the meadow & coming up with their own pretend “secret” trails; picking flowers; getting less and less scared of the outhouse-type bathrooms as they used them more; roasting our food on the fire; playing card games in the tent during a nice afternoon rain; going on a “grueling hike” (what a simple walk was considered by these kids who are not much experienced in hiking yet!) :); playing a family game of baseball; eating all the yummy snacks; getting to be all squished and cozy together at night in our bedrolls in the tent (even without the pillows that we somehow forgot to bring!); etc… It was just great! I love the way something so simple can turn into the fondest memories of childhood! We hope to make it a yearly tradition, if possible, from now on – such a great memory!



Colette had her 4th birthday!! How is possible that no matter how many birthdays these kids have, you still can’t help but say with each one – where in the world has the time gone! I just can’t believe our little Colette is already 4…. How she adores being the center of attention – she was in heaven having an entire day revolve around her! :) Just kept it simple – spending the day at home – opening her presents and playing – she got to pick her favorite meals and a cake out of our fun cake book (she chose the flower cart this year & wanted it her favorite color – purple). And then she wanted to go to Denny’s for dinner – our family’s new favorite restaurant because of the “Kids Eat Free” nights…. :) So she had a great day for her birthday, I think. We painted nails and got her new purse all organized with her pretend money, sunglasses, keys, and phone…. (She tells me she is exactly like me now with my purse!) :) She just LOVES accessories… And one of her favorite presents was a cute little pretend camera – they love to take pictures of eachother and see which Disney princess they are (whichever one pops up in the viewer). We were able to go out to dinner at Denny’s with my Mom & Dad and do the candles on the cake afterward and ice cream. So it was a fun and good day for her!



And I was able to get her 4-year-old pictures taken this month as well! This was her new birthday outfit – she wanted something purple and sparkly! :) Anyway, she’s a cute little poser for pictures – likes to be a little fashion model (although now starts the age of that forced, plastered on smile!) But we were able to get some good ones here. Our little 4-year-old!



More concrete-pouring at my Mom’s & Dad’s this month! They’ve got a whole sidewalk/racetrack looking setup back there now connecting all the concrete together! It’s awesome! The kids absolutely love riding their bikes back there – having races and seeing how fast they can go! It’s looking really good!



Back to School!! We’ve got two kids in school now!!! Craziness… I don’t know what to do with myself at home with only 2 kids – been a long time since I had that! Our big boy, Samuel, started Kindergarten this month!! So crazy…. And Brielle is now a big 2nd grader! They are both just loving it! They were both so excited the night before their first day, we were sending them back to their beds on a regular basis – they were coming in like every hour throughout the night, checking the clock in our room to see if it was time to get up yet. In fact, we finally realized that they had assigned Colette this job, and were waking her up all night, poor thing, to come in our room and check the clock! That got put to an end real quick! :) They now have their very own alarm clock in their room, so they don’t have to worry about not waking up in time for school in the mornings…. :) They are loving that. (Brielle especially is the one who was worried about it – she loves setting her new alarm every night now)…. So their first day of school was on Wednesday, August 10th. It was fun to get the reports when they got home. Samuel’s class had a “Pirate” treasure hunt! He was just thrilled! And he ended up being the one to find the treasure at the end – he could not stop talking about that – how it was him who found it! He was so proud…. :) And then also, he was quite excited and proud about being able to poke his own straw into his chocolate milk at lunch that first day! (He hadn’t been able to all summer when we would go to the free lunches at the school)…. So those were his exciting events for his first day of school! He is just loving Kindergarten! He was definitely ready for it – he’s been getting so bored here at home lately – now he is kept plenty busy – loves all the new friends he has made and getting to play soccer at recess every day! Brielle’s first comment after her first day of school was that 2nd grade has way too many rules. She was quick to tell Sam that he was lucky to be in Kindergarten where it was still fun! :) But she got to bring home an “All About Me” paper that first day to fill out all about herself, and she loves that kind of stuff. She sat right down and had a lot of fun getting to write all about herself and share that with the class. And she just loves getting to be with her friends every day – always been our little social butterfly. She has a lot of good girlfriends in her class this year, which is fun for her! Anyway, school is back in swing, and it’s great to be on a good schedule again, and hear every day about all the fun things the kids are learning. They’re good kids!



Well, Colette has ended up starting Preschool as well this month! A group of Moms that I know were starting up a little Mom-taught preschool together, and they were looking for one more who hopefully had a little girl, since they already had two boys and one girl. So they invited me to join, and although I wasn’t necessarily planning on doing Colette in preschool quite yet, I’m actually really excited about it now! She is absolutely loving it! It’s just once a week, and it gives her something to look forward to every week. I only have to do it once a month at my house, plus it’s only 3 extra kids, so that is definitely not so daunting. Anyway, she had her first day this month, and she was just so excited to get to be going to “school” too! She just loves it! I’m excited about it….


And one more to start school this month – our amazing Daddy & husband!! He has now officially started his first semester of the Nursing Program!! Phew! It’s going to be a job…. But he’s got himself a good study group of other students to work with, and he’s already doing awesome! He started on the 23rd of this month – it’s been overwhelming, but exciting to finally get it officially under way. I’m so proud of him! He’s going to make such an awesome nurse! :) He never ceases to amaze – our running joke around here ever since he got out of active duty is how many jobs can he hold down at the same time! Between being a full-time student, working nights at the nursing home, and going once a month to Albuquerque for his Reserves weekend right now…. That has actually calmed it down a bit from the 5 different jobs he was doing at the same time last Fall! Crazy guy! Don’t know how he does it…. But we are very thankful for him!(He is quite unhappy about the purple! Just can’t escape it, I guess – purple was his High School color too…. I told him he’s just destined for it!) :)







Well, Brielle got 7 teeth pulled out at the dentist this month!! She has had the exact same trouble with her teeth as her mom – the permanent ones have been coming in behind the baby teeth, instead of pushing them out – and then also, there is just not enough room in her mouth for all of her teeth to come in. So not only did she have the baby teeth pulled out that the permanent ones were coming in behind, she also had all 4 bicuspids pulled out as well, to help make room for all her new permanent teeth to move forward…. She was SO brave! When the dentist asked her after pulling out half, if she would rather wait and do the rest another day, or just get it over with right then, she said to just do it – she didn’t want to come back! I couldn’t believe how brave she was being about it! And once all the numbness wore off, she hasn’t once complained about it hurting at all – it’s been awesome! She put all 7 teeth under her pillow that night with a big long note that she wrote to the tooth fairy! And she was very excited to wake up to $4 under her pillow the next morning – just enough to order a book from the Scholastic Books form that she had been wanting to get! :)



Lastly, one fun little family activity that we happened to take pictures of from this month – Jared and the kids had the idea to make paper pirate ships one evening, and take them over to the canal next to our house and see how well they could float and which ones they could sink the fastest by throwing rocks at them! (Daddy is just a big kid, himself!) :) We had a lot of fun with it, actually – all decorating and designing our own individual boats…. And the kids just loved sinking them in the canal. I believe it was Sam’s boat that floated the best and withstood the peltings the longest, if I remember correctly…. :)Anyway, that’s about it for our big events from August! Onward & upward we go…. :)