Eileen's First Day of Preshcool

Yesterday was Eileen's first day of preschool!!!! She had lots of fun. When we went to drop her off, she was so excited to be there. She ran up the walkway to the house and turned briefly to wave good bye and then was perfectly happy to be rid of me. Anna was not so happy about it. As we left she was very upset at me about leaving Eileen. She kept screaming "No Leave Lene!!" The two younger kids and I went to Wal-Mart to do our grocery shopping, then headed home. The 3 of us hardly knew what to do with our selves with out Eileen there. I got some dishes done and played with the younger kids, then picked Eileen up at noon. She looked so grown-up coming out of preschool. She did such a good job and Sister Thomas said the kids all got along really well together. Eileen very excitedly told me how she had gotten a snack outside and had climbed something that was "kinda hard to climb, but not so hard." She also had fun playing shadow tag. Mommy loved looking at her work in her binder, and seeing her so excited. On the way home she asked if she was going to preschool tomorrow. I told her that she only went on Tuesday's and Thursdays. She sadly asked why only tuesdays and thursdays. I told her that those were the only days that we had preschool but when she went to Kindergarten she could go everyday. That seemed to satisfy her. Congrats to my big girl on her next big milestone!

Ummm...Update, I guess?

So the last few weeks have been kinda busy for us. Dan has been gone alot for work and his calling with the young men. I have been keeping myself busy with play dates and activities with the kids and in my "spare time" doing some graphic design and getting ready for a marathon. And while all these activities have been fun, they have also seemed to come one on top of the other, so none have really gotten posted. :( We took a trip to the zoo, we have had friends over to visit, and had fun at the park. Beside all this, school has started back up for Dan, Eileen is getting ready to start preshool next week, and Aaron is getting more and more mobile.
Dan made a big decision to start his Masters this year. He has found an all-online Masters program that will be starting in October. So he needs to take his GRE this September. It's funny to be because this decision seemed to come so fast, but since it's an online program, our life isn't going to change as much as Dan's brother Steve who is also starting his Masters program this fall and who sold his house and moved his whole family out to Utah to do it. Life will be a little busier, but for the most part, our daily lives won't be that different.
This morning I added a mile to my distance run. I ran 7 miles this morning and can still walk...sorta... :P Anyway, I figure I'm getting there slowly but surely.
Now for the fun part! This morning (yes after I ran 7 miles) we went out on the boat with our friends the Hatches. We had a blast and spent the morning on clear water under a clear sky. We brought the tube along with us and the kids all took a turn being pulled (at idle speed) in the tube with a parent. By the time we got home we were all exhaused!! You would think that we would then all take nice naps...no such luck. The kids slept just enough on the way home to not want to sleep for naps, so of course mommy and daddy didn't get much sleep either :( Oh well, we should all sleep well tonight. And speaking of which...I'm off to bed...it's late. :)

Am I Crazy?!?!?!?

Yes, I am... Let me explain. I have recently signed up for a half marathon. Having never run more than 3 consecutive miles before, I decided that this was a better idea than a full marathon. Why does this make me crazy, after all people run marathons and half marathons all the time? Well for starters, you have this whole not having run anything longer than a 5k before. Next you have the fact that this will be run less than a year after the birth of Aaron. Finally, there's that minor point...I'm not a runner!!!! So here I am attempting to make a good, if exhausting start to the new year. Dan has also signed up, but for the full marathon, and my sister Sandi and her husband Jon are also doing the marathon. My dad is going to walk the half. So this has become a family affair, and really I'm looking forward to the challenge. I went out last weekend for my first "long distance" (for me anyway) training run of 6 miles and the only part of me that died were my feet (courtesy of the quarter sized blister) So I'm feeling optimistic about this whole thing, but really when all is said and done, I can't help but wonder... Am I Crazy!!!!

Primary Fun!!

So Eileen got to go to a Primary activity today. They had a water balloon Olympics! Eileen was so excited to go, but when she found out that Anna was staying home since she isn't in primary yet, she got very sad and told us (in her best pouty voice and face) that she was going to miss her. :( It was soo sweet! This didn't prevent her from having a blast there. Daddy dropped her off and then mommy came early to pick her up and get a few pictures of our little Olympic athlete! Here she is in her water balloon spoon carry! She almost made it without dropping it! (Can you tell that I had as much fun cheering her on as she had doing it!) The last event for her group was the balloon circle toss (pass-it's not like 4 year olds can throw and catch balloons!) Anyway, she did great, and had a great time. It was so funny to watch her just enjoy being part of the action. Finally the games ended and all the kids gathered and got York Peppermint Patty Medals for all their hard work. After the medals were given, a closing prayer was said, and the Bishop was pelted with water balloons. The kids got otter pops and went home sticky, wet, tired and happy!!

Turkey Cheeses

Today we went up to Witicha Falls, TX to meet my sister and her husband to celebrate his, and my dad's birthdays. We drove up and met there around 2:30 at Chuck E. Cheese for pizza, cake, presents, and games, games games. Eileen was very confused as to where we were going. She couldn't understand the idea of meeting in the middle. She thought if we were going to see Sandi, then we must be going to Sandi's house. We finally got her to understand that we were just going to meet her at Chuck E. Cheese. She promptly told us "Oh I like turkey cheeses!!" With Anna emphatically nodding her agreement. So we went and had a grand old time! It was packed, but since the kids hardly cared what they did, we never really had to wait for anything. Really, when you are 2 and 3 years old, how much better can life get than this day. She got pizza at Chuck E Cheese for lunch surrounded by Grandma and Grandpa, and Aunt Sandi and Uncle Jon. She got to play games, cheat at skee ball, pick a rubber snake prize, watch movies in the car, listen to music, eat cake, take home a balloon, and had Macaroni and Cheese for dinner (all we had in the fridge...) Some highlights were when Dan taught Eileen how to cheat at Skee Ball, she LOVED this game until mommy told her she should probably not do that anymore because it was cheating....I know I'm so mean :( Anna's was in heaven. She loved everything and wanted to keep doing it over and over. But one of her favorites was a (fake) pony ride, where you pretend to ride a pony in a race. Kinda like a car racing game, but on a horse. She rode it over and over. All in all it was an enjoyable day, even for the adults. No kids hurt of maimed, no parents lost it. And the car ride, wasn't bad. We might even do a car trip again some day...maybe... :) Of course a favorite for both was the Bob the builder ride. I think that was partially because it played the song too, not that you could really hear it over the background noise.

Teeth... Lots of Teeth...

So one might be inclined to wonder if this post (like the other posts that have talked about teeth recently) is about Aaron getting MORE teeth. Well while it's true that Aaron is now up to a grand total of 4 teeth, that he likes to chew on everything with, this post is about different teeth. This post is about Eileen and Anna's teeth. The teeth in these pictures belong to two sweet little accident prone girls. You will notice that Eileen's two front teeth are dead that the one on the right is chipped. This was the result of an accident when she was about 18 months old. She tried to jump out of a kiddie swing before I was ready to catch her. She did a face plant and chipped her tooth on the rock gravel. Anna recently decided on a trip to Walmart that, like with everything else, she had to be just like her sister. So while running around Walmart, yelling and getting out energy, she slipped, fell and did a face plant chipping the front tooth on the left. She cried for a minute or two and spit out a bit of her tooth for mommy, then went on her way. The only problem now will be when she realizes that she messed up and didn't chip the same tooth as Eileen. But then again, maybe she won't realize it, since it's a mirror image. :) I sure hope Aaron doesn't follow suit, it would be nice to have one child make it through their childhood with their teeth in tact...

Aaron Crawling

Yep the title is right, Aaron has started crawling. It's still not a very efficient way for him to get around, but he does use it when he sees something that he wants to get. He also had his 4th tooth pop through his poor little gums on Sunday. I can't believe how fast he's growing! It's funny because you can hear Eileen in the background telling us to take his picture, not realizing that we were filming him all along. She is so intent on making sure Mommy and Daddy do everything right!

6 wonderful years

Yesterday was our anniversary. Thursday night Dan asked me if we were doing anything on Saturday. I said that I didn't think so. A couple minutes later he says "We'd better be doing something on Saturday" and I said why?...oh my goodness, is it August already!!!! So somewhat belatedly we excitedly got ready for our anniversary. We got a sitter (my mom) and made plans, and found gifts. So the day of, Dan and the kids made me homemade biscuits for breakfast and Eileen kept asking what a "versery" was. While the kids napped Dan made a much needed quick run to the grocery store and came back 2 1/2 hours later and locked me in the computer room. I hear pounding and banging for awhile and (with a suspicion of what he was doing) sat patiently. The kids got up from naps and told Daddy that all his banging had woken them up. :) So I was finally released to see my gift. Dan had taken the most recent pictures of our kids and framed them for our wall, and hung them! He knew I had been wanting to do that for awhile but just hadn't gotten to it, so he went and picked out the frames (and did a beautiful job of it) and did it for me! My sweet thoughtful husband can even pull it off with only 2 days notice. That night, we went and got pedicures and then to the Studio Movie Grill and saw "Dark Knight" So here we are, 6 years, 3 kids, and countless happy memories later. And I wouldn't trade any of it for anything.

Which Jane Austen Heroine Are You

Hehe I couldn't resist, I love Jane Austen! - Go figure, Dan wouldn't take this one... :)

Take the Quiz here!

Teeth and Melons

Hee hee, so today was full of discoveries for me. This morning I looked in Aaron's mouth and found a new tooth. He now has a grand total of 3 teeth! 2 on the bottom and one on the top. y second discovery came this evening when I went out to water the garden. I discovered that our first cantaloupe had finally reached ripe-ness. I leaned over to look at something, and caught a delicious scent coming from our largest and first melon. So we picked it, brought it inside and cut it up. So our garden this year hasn't been a total failure!!! We got some produce! I'd tell you how good it was, but...well I don't actually like cantaloupe, but Dan says that it's good, and I'm sure I'll hear how great it is from the kids tomorrow. :)

Happy Pioneer Day!

Ok so I realize that it isn't exactly pioneer day yet... but our ward had a pioneer day breakfast this weekend and it seemed silly to wait 4 more days to post on it, especially since we probably wont actually do anything on the actual day. :) But anyway we had a blast. So much so that Eileen has been talking about going back to the sprinkler park ever since. She even asked if she could have breakfast there again. So the ward gathered near a sprinkler park and brought all their favorite breakfast foods, so the table was covered with cinnamon rolls, sweet breads, pastries, muffins, and a little big of fruit. Not the most healthy breakfast, but hey what's the fun in life if you can't have junk for breakfast once in a while! Anna LOVED the water. I was afraid that she was going to refuse to go in the water at all, or just get totally scared by the spraying water or the millions of kids (in addition to our group there were like 3 other groups doing birthdays.) Instead she spent most of her time there, not even fussing when she got knocked over! Eileen on the other hand hardly went in the water at all. She preferred the play ground. We had a little mishap when she was playing in a rocking thing and managed to wack herself in the mouth and get a bloody lip. But I've come to expect this kind of thing from her. It seems like we rarely make it very long without Eileen getting a bloody face of some sort! Despite a rough part, she had enough fun to want to go back again. Aaron had fun, he would squeal when I took him near the water and he got splashed. He enjoyed himself so much that before we left (around 11:30) he had tired him self out so much that he actually fell asleep on my shoulder. (BTW this picture of Eileen is her shaking her backside with a wedgie for the camera...don't ask, we don't know) We also had a fun Sunday, we had the Hatches over for dinner and a game of Settlers of Catan. We all had a fun time playing and letting the kids run amok! Aaron, after watching Dane crawl around him in circles, decided that he could do that too, and quickly found his way up on all fours and sat there rocking for a bit. I was so excited!! Am I silly for getting this excited over stuff like this even on my third? Every new achievement is just as exciting with him as it was with Anna and Eileen. Oh well, I'm a dork, and I know it!

Eileen's First Real Haircut

So we have trimmed Eileen's hair before (mostly just her bangs because they were "in her eyes") but this is the first time she has been taken in to get a hair cut at a hair cutting place. We took her to Master Cuts because, as she said, she really needed a hair cut. So while I got Aaron's picture taken, Dan, Eileen and Anna went to get Eileen's hair cut. She was so excited to her her hair cut, and did a great job sitting still for the lady to cut her hair. After, as they headed back to pick up me and Aaron, they stopped at a makeup counter at J.C. Penny's and got "sparkly eyes" So now she has an adorable cut, and is still very excited about having cute hair. :)

6 Months, 16 lbs and 26 inches

That's right, my little boy is 6 months old. As we braved the perils of the photography studio to capture his 6 month old self for posterity, we saw a 1 month old baby boy in for his pictures too. I can't believe how far he's come. The rate of growth is amazing!! But from 6 lbs to 16 lbs in 6 months is only part of his growth! He has learned so many things. He has learned to sit up on his own, to roll over, to spread his arms when he wants me to pick him up, to work for something out of reach, and to eat all that messy solid (sorta) food. Any way, the doctor has proclaimed him healthy and developing well. My favorite part is playing with him. He is so easily amused and lights up like fireworks on the fourth of July at almost any little thing. A couple of days ago we went to the pool and Aaron LOVED it. So here is my handsome boy charming everyone in the pool.

The 4th of July

WOO HOO Happy 4th of July... ok so we are seriously boring. But really how much can you do with 3 small kids who go to bed before it's dark and don't like loud noises. So on the 4th of July, we did nothing more than enjoy having Dan home all day and talk a bit about how grateful we are to live in this country, and how grateful we are to the Lord for directing the formation of this wonderful nation where we are allowed to worship Him in the way we see fit, and how grateful we are for those men and women who protect these freedoms that we enjoy. Saturday, we had the Walkers over for dinner and had fun stringing red white and blue beads and playing the Wii, but all in all, we were very boring this holiday!

The Big 2

I can hardly believe that Anna is 2. She has gotten so big and watching her grow has been so fun. We took her to get 2 year old portraits at J.C. Penny's. Anna was a bit cranky in the stdio. She just did not want to let go of me. Even 4 stuffed animals, her doll, her blanket and a book couldn't distract. Only Daddy had the magic touch, and could distract her long enough for them to get a picture if her happy without mommy. Anyway, here are some of the fruits of that session. We also took her in to get her 2 year check up. She was only in the 10th percentile for her weight, but we figure that was, in part, a reflection of the nearly a full week spent without eating while she was sick. She was found to be healthy and happy and progressing well. She happily sang 'the wheels on the bus' for the doctor while he examined her. Then she had her vaccination shot and didn't even cry. I was especially amazed after the extreme dislike she had shown for getting poked and doctors and nurses at the hospital that she did SOOO well. We are proud of our little girl and the way she is growing up. What a sweetie we have been blessed with!