Almost two months, seriously?

Okay, so I TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY fell off of the blogging bandwagon when school started. I am not sure exactly why, but for some reason this fall has rocked my world. Seriously, I feel like my head is spinning. I will go into my theories on why this is later, but without further ado here is a photo summary of the past two months....

Owen started 2nd Grade! He has two fabulous teachers who job-share...Mrs. BrumbleMrs. Riemer

Kate started preschool...she was SO happy!
Owen turned 8!
He got his first BB gun. Are we crazy?
We had a Mommy/Daddy/Boys date watching Star Wars on the lawn....
And of course, he had a Star Wars birthday party.
Gracie remains spunky and funny as ever....
Davis started kindergarten!
Here he is with his teacher, Mr. Courtney. Yay for a male teacher. Davis thinks the world of him.

Red day at Tinkerbell preschool...Soccer was here again. Something really has clicked for Owen and he is suddenly super aggressive, which is fun to watch on the soccer field (not so fun when he and Davis are wrestling).
Davis was a machine this season. Sometimes I am pretty sure he was playing rugby and not soccer. Thank goodness he can move out of kinder-soccer in the Spring...he is so ready and excited to play at the next level.
Owen started cub scouts. I think he is adorable in his uniform. I am sure he would be mortified that I am saying this. He spent a few hours for 4 Saturdays selling popcorn in front of local stores to help earn money for his pack.

Owen was baptized. This really should be a post all of it's own. It was a great experience for him with so many friends who came to show their support and Grandma Nila, Nana, and Papa all here. It was the perfect day.


I am so proud of the boy that Owen is. He has such a strong desire to be good.

Jed was able to go out hunting and backpacking with friends. Oh how he loves the outdoors.
Rainbow day at the preschool...this girl sure gets into the themes!
And finally the school had it's Run-Walk fundraiser. Davis ran the most laps in his class (7--almost 2 miles), so of course Owen had to do the same (he ran 9). Way to go boys!



Whew! There you have our September and October in a nutshell.

Summer Wrap-Up...

Today is the first day of school for Owen, I can hardly believe the summer is over....I am crying and cheering simultaneously. Is this normal? Anyway, here is a wrap-up of how we ended our summer...


Our friend, Miss Jenny, hosted a Messy Party! Imagine this, the kids (I'd say about 30 of them) got to run around and move from one MESSY activity to the next and nobody told them to clean up or mind their manners...heaven.Gracie's favorite was the colored whipped cream.

Davis doesn't typically like to get messy (this was him after digging for pennies in the sand), but for chocolate...
he will do anything! That's my boy!
Owen on the other hand was game for all of it!
And of course there had to be a giant pool of bubbles...and a whipped cream slip 'n slide.
Thank you Miss Jenny for a SUPER FUN party and for having the mess at your house. :)

We also went camping with some friends....


I love that these girls are FINALLY starting to play together.
Owen and Davis got to check "fishing with Mr. Shae and Aiden" off of their Summer Bucket List.
Davis caught the first fish. It was so exciting. Let's face it, there are few things that he gets to do first. Yay Davis!
All the little girls loved the lake too.

The things Kate says

Okay Auntie Kristin (my sister-in-law is a speech pathologist), this one is for you...

I often think of Kate as being older than she really is, which I think is why I sometimes get frustrated with her tantrums and sassy attitude, so today I decided to really pay attention to the things that she says and the way that she says them. She really is pretty dang cute. Here are a few "Kateisms" for your enjoyment...

store=stir (Are we going to the stir today Mommy?)

sidewalk chalk=hopscotch (no matter how many times I explain that hopscotch is a game and sidewalk chalk is what we use to make the game, she still calls it "hopscotch")

nail polish=paint nolish

lipstick=lipstip

Kate just told me that she thinks it's funny that she has a bug in her name, since her name is "Katerbug". I am starting to worry, she does realize that her real name is not "Katerbug", right?

Gotta love this spunky and DETERMINED little girl. Let her be little just a little longer, please. I am not ready for her to grow up!

An Understandible Mistake, Right?

Okay, back me up on this one...from behind these tubes look similar enough, right? Well, below is what I thought I was putting on my toothbrush, but...this is actually what I started to brush my teeth with---YUCK!!!! Note to self, diaper cream does NOT taste good, nor does it wash out of a toothbrush very easily. I was actually in a really bad mood when I did this too (hard to imagine I know). I think that the kids were grateful for my mistake because I started laughing (in between the spitting) so hard I could barely stop. I hope to never repeat this mistake!

Joseph and the Amazing...Production

Last weekend we went to see a local production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. I remembered the music from my college days because my roommate loved show (and most other musicals--miss you Kelli!), but I myself had never seen the show. I think I can speak for our whole family when I say that we LOVED it! The Johnsons came along with us and were equally as impressed. Owen's teacher, Mrs. Smith, had told us months ago about the production. Her daughter was one of the narrators and is Kate's new idol. Seriously. Kate was dancing in and out of her seat. I hope to always remember how she looked...focused expression on her face, watching and imitating every move that Gabi made. She could have cared less that there were people sitting all around her. As an added bonus our friend Blake was also in the show. So fun to see him in action as well.
Fun friends...thanks for joining us Beth and Shae!
We borrowed the soundtrack from Beth and Shae and the kids have been listening to it ever since. Kate and Gracie (who wasn't even there mind you) dress up and dance around the family room while Kate sings at the top of her lungs. Even I wake up in the night with, "Jacob, Jacob and sons..." running through my head over and over again.

Below Davis is demonstrating his signature dance move.
And now for an added treat Kate will show you a little something that she learned from this life-changing experience. I took this video after we got home from the show.

Things that have made me laugh recently...

Gracie--Need I say more? I was working in the yard and this is how she came out to tell me something. So funny. I laugh just thinking about it!

She also came crying to me this week after hitting her head on the counter. I asked her what happened and she said, "The counter attacked me!" Can you tell she has older brothers?

Davis-- Just for "fun" he wanted to compare how much we weigh (sounds like fun, right?). He was thrilled that he weighed more than 50 lbs...then it was my turn. I got on the scale and he yells, "Wow Mom! You weigh twelve hundred pounds!" I can tell we still have a ways to go with number reading.

This Week...

Last Sunday Jed sent the kids on a treasure hunt

(he made a map and everything).
They had to...
twirl around fifteen times without falling down.... play leapfrog on the front lawn...go through the jungle while watching out for tigers...take a trip down the twisty slide...
And then finally they reached the treasure...
The blackberries are finally RIPE! Yum!

In other news this week...
Davis' sunflower has bloomed! Yeah!
Isn't nature amazing?My respect for working mothers has recently increased. One of Jed's assistants quit to go back to school, so I have been recruited to work at the office several times this month. I dusted off my scrubs and name tag and have found that I am a very rusty assistant in some areas, but other things have come right back to me. I am glad that Jed and Tyler are being careful about who they hire (it is better to wait for the right person), but I will admit that I will be happy when they are done with the hiring process. I am sure that the ladies at the office would agree with me. They are all working hard to pick up the slack.Finally, we have one monster fort in the boys room. I love watching their imaginations going wild as they make fort building plans. Let's be honest though, the clean freak in me is always happy to see them come down...As of today it is still up, but I am coping with the mess (you know that it is now not only filled with blankets, but by 600 books and 2 million Legos)....just shut the door and walk away I tell myself, they are making memories.