Whole bunch of everything!

I've broken my rule of getting one post out every month. Oh well, can't beat myself up over it. I'll raid the kids Christmas candy instead... I've gathered up a whole bunch of pictures from the last few months and will let them do most of the talking. These don't include Christmas yet, I still need to gather all those pictures together. One project at a time!

First of all, Timmy started preschool this fall at Miss Launa's Little Learners, which is a fabulous musically oriented preschool. This is going to the first day.
Literally days before preschool started Timmy figured out how to read and is doing it well enough that it scares his teachers. Now if we can just get him to write and color... He earned his alphabet king crown for knowing the whole alphabet and all of the sounds the letters make.
We made it to the Utah State Fair with the kids and Tim got to ride a pony and go down the monster slide. Mikayla really liked the hands on farm for little kids.
Mikayla started nursery in October and is the tiniest one in there. She's in the red jumper dress in the far corner. Most of the time she likes it but lately she's been wanting Mommy or Daddy to stay with her. We hope that with the new schedule she won't be as tired and will be happier.
We went up the canyon for some fall fun in the leaves with the kids. They had a wonderful time but really, really, really, wanted to play in the freezing water.

Which brings us to Halloween. Mikayla thought that the pumpkin patch was a blast.
The cutest little fur balls ever! Neither of them liked the hoods so this is a rare shot. They LOVED trick or treating and thankfully got tired after only an hour.
Trick or Treating in action. Mikayla's outfit was much more insulated than Tim's so he looks like a cat burgler instead of Rintoo the Tiger. Mikayla was so gracious to go along for the ride even when Tim drove like a maniac. As long as she could have some candy she was willing to do anything.
And now the hodgepodge of really random shots in no particular order. I was so thrilled to see them "playing" together that I had to get a picture.
We spent lots of time at the park, here's Tim showing off his skills.
And our new favorite game "nigh nigh" where they snuggle in the bed together for a few minutes until one starts screaming.
The cousins all together, Alexis jumped out of the frame at the last minute or it would be all of them on my side. Kay just wants to be one of the big kids, or a kitty, depending on the day.

Planetarium fun - now you have proof that they are from Mars.

Typical game playing posture, this kid is going to have great abs!
Did I mention that we lived on the edge of a field? They don't mention this when you buy out here. "Oh by the way, in the fall you'll have drifts of tumbleweed up to 8ft high." This is only one of the several weed storms we got to deal with. Thank heavens they pack small into the green waste can!

September already?!?

How in the world did it get to be September already? Timmy started preschool last week and as far as I can tell he really likes it. It's strange for me to have to drop him off somewhere and trust that he'll be ok. I keep waiting for the phone call that they can't find him. We've finally discovered other toys than Thomas and other shows. Currently we are into Ni Hao, Kai Lan and are learning new words in Mandarin. Not that we will ever need them, but it makes the heart happy to hear your preschooler asking for watermelon in Chinese at the grocery store.

Kayla decided to be a walker in the last weeks which has it's perks and its drawbacks. She gets into everything and LOVES to climb. A few weeks ago I had to leave her in her high chair to help Tim go potty and when I returned she had climbed out of the chair, across the counter, an into the kitchen sink, which thankfully was clean and empty of dishes/knives/food funk. I've also found her sitting on the kitchen table, sitting on top of her high chair tray, and three tiers up in the wire toy shelf in the playroom. Joy. She's also talking tons and some of the words are starting to make sense. The cutest is her thank you, the most annoying is "me, me, MEEE" when she wants something. She loves to bother her brother and tries to smack him in the head whenever it's nearby. He's not thrilled.


Joe started his professional MBA program at the U a few weeks back and is really enjoying the classes. We miss him on the nights that he has to go bit have started a few fun traditions like Mommy and Timmy game time on the Wii.


And now what you have all been waiting for - PICS!

Too Sexy!

All by myself!

Timmy's idea of "helping" mom makes it impossible to level anything

Macey's grocery store has truck carts, the kids love them

"Can I help you?"

Someone gave me an oreo (it was grandpa, tee hee hee)

Grandpa Frank let Timmy play with his leatherman cutting the grass,
kept him busy for a whole hour!

Why haven't I thought of this earlier? Only lasted 5 minutes

then K jumped him like a cage fighter

Cousins at the Zoo

I think this is from the 4th of July - what a cutie!

Chillin in the pool

Moved in - Phew!

Here it is - Tah Dah!!! We moved in a few weeks ago and have most of the boxes taken care of (or stuffed into the basement... ) Our next task, parking in the garage! All it needs is a few hours of uninteruppted work to get there. I have lots of great plans for landscaping but the weather hasn't been cooperating this last entire MONTH. [and it seems everything cool I want to do costs a lot of $$$ :) ] I would write more but there is a little boy quite literally standing on my lap and trying to stare into my eyes. Makes the screen hard to see.Home Sweet Home


Tim and K helping unpack

K defeating the complex security system


Tim, you look a little uncomfortable...

Bathtime is Great!!!

One of these kids is not like the other...

Biggest lego fort ever!!!

K and Van at K's first birthday party

Tim stole my phone and snapped this pic

Hi. Still Here. Kindof...

Another month has slid past here in the basement. It will be 6 months this weekend. It is here that Kayla has learned to crawl and pull up to standing. The way we're going she'll learn to walk here also. Timmy finally learned to use the potty this last month.

They tell us that we might be able to move in to the new house sometime next month. I keep finding things that I am looking forward to that I've really missed here. Things like natural light through the windows, having a enclosed place for storing food, having a place to do projects, and having my treadmill back. I also hope that by not having Grandparents upstairs, Timmy will cut back on the perma whine/ tantrum cycle that occurs several times every day. Whenever he's bored, frustrated, hungry for sweets, or can hear them it starts. That keening whine/cry that just makes me cringe "I wanna go upstairs, upstairs, upstairs. Grandpa, Becky, Waaaaaa!!!" It has been a VERY long 6 months. It's hard to feel like a good mom when all you want to do is hide from your children.

Speaking of, here they are! These are the pictures for both Kayla's 1st birthday and Timmy's 3rd.

I'm still alive - I swear!

In the two months since the last post we decided on a house. We are building with Ivory Homes out in West Jordan (roughly 60th west and 80th south). They started digging the hole yesterday which is very exciting. If all the stars align correctly then we can expect to be able to move in sometime around June, earlier if we are lucky. It was a terrifically difficult decision to choose to build as opposed to buying one already on the market. With the market the way it is we bought ours at a huge savings - roughly what we would have saved by buying from someone dying to sell. This is what the house will look like structurally speaking - our finish will be a little different.Timmy had his 3rd birthday on the 30th of January. I find it hard to believe that I'm the mother to a three year old already. Here are some quick pics. I would write more but I find it fairly difficult to type with Tim climbing on my head and Kayla screeching at my feet.Adventures in cookingNotice that Tim is only interested in the computer display and not the DINOSAUR.Why buy toys when all you need is a box - and some cousins

Mikayla is a bundle of fun these days. She has mastered army crawling and gets around a little more than I'd like. Her current favorites include eating anything tiny off of the carpet, unscrewing the door stops, and borrowing toys from her brother.Fun with DaddyBuying a few minutes of peaceFinally finished Mikayla's birth cross stitch! Only took a year.