Life

Feels like life is moving by at a hyper super speedy pace.  With the start of school, soccer, dance, piano and new callings I feel like we are never slowing down.  But it's a good thing to be busy.  Audrey started dance a couple of weeks ago and it is her favorite thing.  She gets so excited and if I ever play music she shakes it like there's no tomorrow.  I am so happy to have found something that brings her so much joy.  She is still enjoying preschool though she has a couple of tired days here and there (one that involved telling her friends, "Don't follow me!  Stop looking at me!)  Overall she is doing great and has made some really great friends here so far.  I am so thankful for that.  It was hard leaving friends behind so it's made her transition a little bit easier.

 Mobility has brought on some bumps and bruises on our little Lily.  Somehow she and Julia have a unique ability of bruising their nostril.  If I wasn't so lazy I would go back in time and link the picture of when Julia bruised her nostril just like this when she was a wee one.  I find it fascinating.  At least it's just a bruised nostril and nothing more serious.  This little gal is as mobile as mobile can be and is getting into everything.  Her current favorite activities are climbing stairs (she fell down one or two and now when she gets up them she starts screaming like it just dawned on her that the risk of falling is pretty high) and eating shoes (gross).  She loves her pink blanket and whenever I drape it over my shoulder she'll snuggle into my neck.  It's the best.  She loves looking in mirrors like she's just discovered who she is.  I love this age of discovery.  I swear I can see her brain just soak everything in.  Her hair is getting long enough for a little sprig of a pony on top and she is getting curls in the back.  Cute as can be.

 These pictures are amusing to me because they are taken outside of Taco Time.  I miss so many restaurants in Columbus but the one thing they didn't have was Taco Time.  I don't know why it has tasted so good to us.  We have been there no less than five times since we moved here.

Julia is continuing to do great in school.  I am always amazed at how much she improves in everything as the school years starts.  She is making lots of new friends and has taken to everything like a fish to water.  I am so thankful this transition has been so easy for her.  She loves her teacher.  She is really enjoying piano (which makes me SO happy!) and is still enjoying soccer.  She comes home from school like they are having a starvation project there because she is SO hungry.  She loves eating school lunch (score!) and that is the first thing she reports to me when she gets home.  I still don't like the fact that she is at school more than she is home with me during the day but I feel so grateful that she is having a good day when she is gone.

 I don't usually post naked bum pictures but I just couldn't resist this one.  If you hadn't had your daily dose of cuteness and awesomeness today well...you're welcome.  Oh those fat rolls!

 We ventured around town and came to this little walk by the river.

 The river here is really quite pretty.  It was hot this day though.  And though these pictures make it appear we were frolicking happily and skipping with joy I am pretty sure we all had a breakdown when we left.  Breakdown as in kids whining, parents yelling, baby screaming kind of breakdown.  Don't you love how pictures hide all that stuff?

 It even has a fountain.  Fountains always make my kids spontaneously embrace.

 Today I decided to be super ambitious and walk to the park.  We live in the middle of nowhere and the park is pretty close, but it is down a busy road with no side walks.  I decided I was going to do it anyways.  I miss walking to the park and gosh dangit I was going to make it happen.  Well we made it about 3/4 of the way.  I figured the people driving down the road thought I was insane and pushing the stroller through the gravel was a bit difficult. So we turned around and decided to drive to the park. Once we finally got there we discovered that inmates from the prison were there doing the landscaping.  After spending 15 minutes describing what "inmates" were to Audrey and why we wanted to avoid them and why they probably didn't steal little children we settled on going to the lake rather than playing on the playground.

I don't know why we don't come here more.  I think it's very pretty.

 Audrey felt Lily was getting ripped off by not being in this picture.

 Oh here she is!  Eating animal crackers and grass.  There have been fires in the mountains nearby so it has been smoggy and gross here the past little bit.  I am ready for clear skies again so we can actually see the other side of the lake clearly.

Balls and Bags

Audrey officially started preschool and looked super cute doing it.  She was so excited about this dress.  

 They give her a bag to take and she has been having a great time.  They do all kinds of great activities and she is making some good friends.  She loves the recess time and all the fun science projects they do.  Though I must say when I ask her what I did I usually get this as a response, "I don't know mom!  Can I just have a snack?"

 She laid out her clothes the night before.

 Julia had her first soccer game.  She was really nervous which surprised me.  She told me she was nervous so she said a prayer before her game and that's why her team won.  Truth be told they don't keep score so we don't know if her team actually won or not but, I'm very glad it was a good experience for her.

 She played against a couple of good friends from her primary class.  They are such cute girls and she really enjoys them.  I just wish they were on the same team!

 Julia even made a goal believe or not!  Bryan missed the whole thing and when I told him, "Did you see her make a goal!?"  He said, "Well even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every once in a while."  RUDE!  All joking aside, she really did do great and we were both very proud of her.  Now we all have to prepare ourselves to practice twice a week and a game every Saturday.  Go Julia!

Meeks

The best part of moving back west is I get to make it to fun family things like Meeks.  We have a family reunion every labor day weekend and I was able to slip over for the weekend full of fun.  It had been four years since I have been able to go and I have only been twice in the past eight years.  I will admit being without Bryan made it a little exhausting but it was worth every minute.  The girls played until they dropped and made such fun memories with their cousins.  A great time was had by all.

My dad was super help to me the whole weekend.  He was a professional Lily-holder.  

 Audrey with Jenna and Hanky.

 Julia and Brooke.  They were inseparable the entire time.

 There was a little fishing going on up at the pond.

 The grandkids all sat together watching the fish be caught.  They are all becoming such great friends.  They also got to feed the fish a little bit until the fisherman discovered that assisted in their fish catching and stole all the food from the kids.  Why should the kids have all the fun?

 This sight warms my heart.  All of my brothers and dad doing what they love.

 We cut cattails in honor of Grandpa Sylvester.  He took Carli and me when we were little girls to cut cattails.  They always remind me of him.  Even after sixteen years or so we still miss him like crazy.

 Julia and Papa.  He was snoozing but wasn't left alone for long.

 These two girls are very attached to my mom.

 We got our craft on while we were there.  Julia was in her element and made lots of different things.

 Aunt Carli helped with the crafting.  We are excited that next year her little guy will be at Meeks with us.  I can't believe my little sister is going to be a mom soon.

 Grady boy is seriously the cutest thing on two legs.

 Aimei with Kiri.  Her twins are the most mellow and easy babies I have ever seen.  I have more work with my one than she does with her two.  They are so chill.

 The finished product.

 Do you see trouble?

 Lily walked around in the walker most of the time.  Her socks were completely black by the end of each day.  So gross.  Here she is barefoot.  Even better.

 Lily was pretty pooped by the end of the weekend.  We gave her corn on the cob and she made an enormous mess of it.

 The feast!  Even more delicious than I remember!

 Another little girl may have been pooped by the end of the weekend.

 Jody did a minute to win it that was hilarious.

 I got to stick my face in whipped cream which is always a treat.

 We had to leave a little early to head out the next day but before we did we stopped at the Labor Day parade in Evanston to watch Brooke dance.  It was filled with salt water taffy and rodeo queens.  It was fun to watch my old hometown in all their glory.

 Here's Brookie doing her dances.  She did a great job and we were so excited to watch her.

 After the parade.

So happy that I can be a little closer and be a part of these fun family traditions.  Here's to next year!