Just had to post these pictures. On Friday we were playing downstairs. Amy had recently woken up from her nap. She sat down next to Timothy and then gave him a big hug! So sweet!
Just had to post these pictures. On Friday we were playing downstairs. Amy had recently woken up from her nap. She sat down next to Timothy and then gave him a big hug! So sweet!

Friday Aaron and I got to go on a date. We left the kids with friends and grabbed some frozen yogurt and shopped for books. We also had a lot of time to talk about all sorts of things, especially about what kind of practice we are looking for Aaron to join next year. He has 3 interviews set up starting next month. It's exciting and crazy.

Saturday was a busy day. Aaron got the boys up early to go fishing. They got a couple of nibbles, but didn't reel anything in. While they were gone Amy and I went to the semi-annual library booksale. We missed it in the Spring, and Aaron went last fall without me (since Amy was still very young). I've found that getting there about 30 minutes early is just right. You don't have to wait in line too long, but you get there before the line gets really long. I grabbed about 25 items - 20 of them books. I could have gotten so much more, but time and money are limited. Amy was very tired, and the paperback section was so crowded I couldn't get in there to find anything for David. I hope he'll be happy with the picture books I found.

We all worked in the yard for a while before lunch, and then Aaron did some work while I played with the kids and helped David write his talk for Primary. Then Aaron took David home teaching with him, and to the library after that. They got home in time for me to head over to the church for a Relief Society dinner and Broadcast. While I enjoyed my evening, Aaron had the boys help him move the firewood into the garage (so it doesn't get soaked when it starts raining for the next few months). Then they built a fire in the fireplace. This was the first time Amy had experienced this. She was too little to notice last time. She was intrigued by the fire, and Aaron took this picture:
It was a good evening for us all. Aaron is on call today, and things went well at church. Amy didn't take a nap at church, but wasn't really cranky either. The boys were well behaved, and David gave a talk in Primary. He spoke really quickly and I think it lasted 45 seconds :). So that about sums up our weekend. We have another busy week ahead of us.

One last thing: I LOVE fall!!! The leaves are already changing colors - mostly because of the lack of rain this summer. It is just beautiful. I have leaves on my lawn, and I'm actually looking forward to raking them! I might rethink that when they all come down at once;) And the BYU Cougars showed up to play and beat Colorado State, much better than last week's showing, but still not their best. Here's hoping they do better this week (nothing personal Aggie fans).

August/September birthdays

I haven't updated my birthday list since July! I'm sure to miss someone now! The only August birthday I can think of (remember this is just siblings, spouses, parents, grandparents) is my brother Mike - who is currently serving a mission in Georgia and can't read my blog. But I'll wish him a very belated birthday anyway. On August 12th he turned 20 years old! No longer a teenager! He is doing great work in Georgia, and it is great to get his weekly emails and occasional hand written letters from him - I think the frequency depends on how often I write to him. When Mike returns from Georgia he will continue his studies at BYU. I think he's still majoring in Chemistry, and maybe law school after that??? He really could do just about anything he wants to. He's sweet, a talented trumpet and French Horn player, and quite witty! Happy Belated birthday Mike!

Now on to September. I already mentioned the birthdays in our home (Amy and Aaron). In addition to that we have Brittany who turned 11 on the 12th. She is Aaron's youngest sibling. She is doing great things at school. She reads a ton and loves to play all kinds of sports. School is going well also. She is great with kids. She loves taking care of her nieces and nephews, and playing with them too. Brittany is growing up so quickly. Happy Birthday Brittany!

The 23rd was Aaron's oldest sibling's birthday. Daralee celebrated her birthday a few days ago, and I don't think we ever called her. Sorry Daralee! She is a fabulous mom of 5 brilliant children. She seems to have endless energy for all of the activities that her family does. I love her positive attitude and she is great example to me. Happy Birthday Daralee.

And lastly Aaron's Dad's birthday was yesterday. He is such a great example of hard work and dedication. He is a great father and works hard to provide for his family. He is soft spoken and loves his family. I am grateful to have such a wonderful Father-in-law. Happy Birthday Dad!
So until next month...

Enter to win!

My fabulous former roommate makes really cute stuff - skirts, aprons etc. She is having a giveaway drawing on her boutique blog. If you sign up to "follow" her blog you can enter the drawing. Tell her I sent you :)

Yougurt, teeth and more

Short story: Last night I went to curriculum night for David's class. We had just finished dinner when I left. Amy hadn't eaten much so Aaron fed her some yogurt. She loves yogurt, and really likes to feed her self. So she made quite a mess. Aaron took some pictures.

She seems pretty pleased with herself

Then she did this:

Amy has cut three teeth this week. None of which I noticed until they were out pretty far. Obviously they had broken through at least a day prior. She has been quite fussy. There are several things she does now that I haven't documented, some cute, some not so cute. She can say "ball". She loves dogs, and makes a panting/sniffing sounds when she sees one, or a picture of one. She uses the "more" sign to say that she wants something, not just more of something. Last week the "please" sign finally caught on. She looks like she's wiping her hands on her shirt though ;).

She has started a growling sound. It's pretty funny. It's not a mad sound, just a silly sound. Now that she is walking like a pro she no longer wants to sit on my lap, or be held or carried for very long. However, she doesn't want to wander around without me either. She now grabs my finger and leads me where she wants to go. I have to go with her. If she wants to go down the stairs she will walk me over to the gate and and says "da" which I think means "down". And then try to put her leg over the gate. If we are going down she wants to go by herself - holding on to my finger. She wants to go facing forward, even though she knows how to crawl down backward. She puts one leg down, then slides down to sit on the step and scoots forward and stands up on the next step. Needless to say the process is very slow, and it's not something I can let her do by herself. And if I were to pick her up and carry her down the stairs she would scream and flail her arms.

Speaking of little tantrums she throws them every once in a while. They don't usually last long. This morning after her nap I couldn't figure out what she wanted so I put her on the floor to let her cry, and she fell back asleep for another hour!
Hey, I got some blogging in. Well she didn't wake up until noon, and then wouldn't eat lunch. Today was a" come and play" day, where they invited parents to play with their kindergarteners at lunch recess. I was a little late because I was trying to get Amy to eat something. It was fun to see Timothy play at recess. He really wanted me to chase him, but I couldn't run carrying Amy. So I chased him, jogging slightly. He's pretty quick.

I just put Amy down for another nap -I hope she sleeps a little before we have to pick up David. Now I'm going to play with Timothy.

3 quick things

• Timothy is a little accident prone. David gets losts of bruises, but Timothy seems to get the bleeding injuries. He has skinned both knees in the last 2 days. This morning shut his finger in the bedroom door. Later he was attempting to put his backpack on while walking up the driveway and ran into a tree - head first. Then as we continued our walk to school he tripped on something (his own 2 feet?) and got another gash on his knee. No band-aid needed for the finger, or forehead, but the knee was bleeding.
  
• Amy now does the motions to Pat-a-cake. Before she only clapped. Now she rolls her hands - just rotates her wrists, and puts her hands up for "throw it in the oven". Pretty cute!
• I forgot to mention that Amy cut tooth #5 on Sunday. I didn't see it until Monday morning. No wonder she was so fussy at church.
  

Welcome Fall!

Some pics of the kids before bed tonight

This is how Amy kneels down for prayer

She's folding her arms, and Timothy is being silly as usual. I think he needs some new pjs ;)

David loves to carry Amy around

He thought I was going taking a picture of Amy

I haven't done an update in a while. We haven't done anything really exciting. Mostly school, and playing at home. We are enjoying an Indian summer, which around here means very little rain and 75 degrees! It was 87 today - which was actually bearable because the house didn't get hot. It was cold overnight and it cooled down quickly. It got up to 74 in the house. It was hot in the sun, but the shade was nice.

We have loved walking to school. Well, I have loved it. The kids tend to complain, but oh well. It's nice exercise for me, and Amy likes riding in the stroller. We walk every morning unless I have to go somewhere immediately after they go to school. Which isn't often since Amy usually naps around 9:30 or 10:00.

It's been nice enough to spend some time at the park. It rained on Saturday, but we still went to the locks and to the tide pools. We didn't take any pictures. The tide wasn't as low as we have hoped. We watched the second half of the UW game - it was awesome!! And then listened to the first half of the BYU game - that's all I could stomach. We watched some kids Saturday night - part of a babysitting swap for date night. I love doing that. The kids had a lot of fun. And of course no one wanted them to leave - except their parents of course. Olivia even called out to David, "hurry up get in the van." They are so silly.

School seems to be going pretty well. It's amazing how different 2nd grade is from 1st grade. They are expected to be more responsible. And so far David is being more responsible. There was a misprint on their first homework assignment, the teacher told them the correct information and David remembered it, and told me, even 3 days later.

It almost feels like Timothy hasn't really started school yet. That is because his teacher has been sick for over a week. In 10 days he has had 6 different teachers. I know Mrs. M* is a really good teacher, and I know she is really wishing she could be teaching right now. We just keep praying that her fever will go away so she can come back. At least now they have a more permanent sub that will be here until she returns. Timothy still doesn't want to come home when I pick him up, but he doesn't give me a hard time about it. I felt bad that he was missing library time, which is right after lunch recess once a week. So I signed up to volunteer in the library during his class library time, so he can stay for an extra half-hour. I still have to talk the principal about possibly having him stay longer. But for now I'm fine with picking him up early.

Aaron is done with his Advocacy month and is in the PICU now. Very sick kids. At least it's Q5!!! I'm not sure if I mentioned that Aaron has a new calling. He is working with the Weblos in the scouting program. I think he'll really enjoy it. He hasn't had a scouting calling for about 10 years. Of course that means that every Wednesday that he isn't working he will be at scouts.

We've got something every night this week, but that seems pretty normal now. I'm kind of glad I don't have the kids in after school activities. I can't imagine how busy we would be. I do hope to get them involved in sports, but now is just not a good time. I love fall and I am looking forward to all the upcoming events!

Upset

Today was the day for upsets - I could have done with one less :( There's nothing else to say.