Did you know...

that Nina is fascinated with worms? Also, she is showing interest in a career as a trial lawyer. How do I know this? Well it's really just a hunch. This morning as she was getting dressed, she was acting a little silly. She was kicking and dancing as she was getting clothes out of her dresser when she accidentally hit her hand on the drawer and banged her toes on the bottom of the dresser. As she was crying she yelled, "You stupid dresser, now you owe me lots of money!" So really, I'm just taking a shot in the dark about the whole trial lawyer career.


that Donovan started Cub Scouts? (he has since learned how to properly put on his necktie)


that Howie learned to tie his shoes and ride a bike with no training wheels? We still need a picture of him on his bike though.

Seeing things in a new light

My parents bought this light fixture as a house warming present way back in March. The missionaries serving in our ward installed it for us on Labor Day.



Matt was sad to see this beauty leave. Seriously.

Anyone recognize him?

Here's a clue:



What a difference a haircut makes.

Harvesting sunflower seeds

Back in the spring we planted the sunflower seeds that Rachelle gave us. It seemed like forever, but a couple of weeks ago these giant sunflowers finally bloomed. We had 3 that grew about 8 feet, the rest were maybe 5 feet tall. On Friday night, the kids had some friends over and we were all hanging out in the backyard. Matt and I were looking for seeds in the flowers that were dying...



...and then you all know Nina:










I guess we could be faulted for not specifying that we only get the seeds from the dead flowers. We no longer have big, tall and pretty sunflowers in the backyard, but the kids loved the seeds.

A note to the tooth fairy

Dear Tooth Fairy,
Please add Howie to your list of toothless clients.

The First Day of School

And it was exactly how I dreamed it would be. (Okay, so it wasn't even close)

I woke up at 6 so I could get a little exercise in, shower and get dressed, and have a nice healthy breakfast to start the kids off right. (Actually, I slept until 6:50, didn't exercise or shower, and the kids had cereal - Cocoa Pebbles)

The kids showered the night before in order to make for a smoother morning, plus everyone would be nice and clean. (Or I was tired of the whining over the dinner I made so the kids went to bed without showers; the boys had time to take a quick one in the morning, but Nina and Cameron looked pretty orphany)

I took these super cute pictures of the kids that we would all look at for years to come, remembering fondly the first day at our new school, we're probably going to frame them. (Except that this is how they turned out):




We casually walked to school, the kids told me how lucky they felt to have a mom who was there to walk them to school each morning. (I don't know how many times I said "hurry up", "come on guys", or "we're going to be late", but it was a lot. And Nina told me I wasn't the boss of any of them)

We get there with enough time to find the places where the kids will line up. I take a few pictures of the kids with some of their classmates as they anxiously stand in line. I watched them walk into the school with a smile, I'm so excited for them. (We get there when the first bell rings, I think that we'll have enough time to get Donovan to his line before we find Howie's. But Donovan's teacher has already led his class in the building so I push him toward the door and tell him to try to find his classroom. If he gets lost, just as someone. Then we run to Howie's line to find that they too have already gone inside. Why were their teachers so quick to get the kids in their classrooms??? I think about leaving Nina and Cameron outside while I run in and get Howie to his room, but then I remember that Nina is not to be trusted, so I unload my purse, camera, keys and Cameron from the stroller and take Howie in. We get him in the room pretty much last.)

Nina, Cameron and I walked back home talking about the fun activities we'll do when we get there. (Nina told me to stop bossing her around)

We come in and I work with Cameron on his physical therapy stuff. I'm sure I'll have him walking by the end of the week. Then I teach Nina the first letter of the alphabet. In just 26 days, she'll know all her letters, and will probably be reading short books. (I sit Cameron down by some toys and Nina puts a movie on. Lucky for me, Michael came by and watched them so I could go for a run.)

The pick up was a little bit better. I left earlier so I had time to let Nina walk at her leisure. We waited outside for Howie and then walked around and met Donovan by his playground. We did walk home and talk about the day, and I got a slightly better picture.