close enough to the end of August

Here's what we've been up to the last 4 weeks or so:

At the end of July we bought a washer. Ours decided to break, and no amount of fixing was able to fix it.

Kate looked super adorable with her "glass slippers" and matching headband for church. She insisted on a picture. I was happy to oblige. Also, I was really sick and skipping church that day. I got a nasty cold that lasted for like 3 weeks. Yuck. Apparently, coughing + pregnancy = vomit.

Nate and Gray after church. They were lying the exact same way while watching a soccer game, but then moved when I went to take a picture.

That is a good look for you, Babe.

Snack time! On this particular occasion I killed two birds with one snack. We had graham cracker and cream cheese fruit pizzas, and since the kids assembled the goods themselves, it took a long time. Snack? Check. Time consuming activity? Check. Win.

Colin's letters. He was very proud and asked for a picture. Since this was the first time he had shown any interest in letters other than C-O-L-I-N, I was happy to oblige. Now he loves writing everything. Thanks two days of kindergarten!

Carn. We froze corn. I'm sure it will be appreciated in the months to come. It's still too soon for me to be excited about it though. (The corn comes from my neighbors' corn patch. I pay $20 and get 2 loooong rows of corn to care for/harvest. It's a great deal. My neighbors are great.)

Playing in the sprinklers. With PVC pipe. And some old yogurt containers.

Colin and Gray were asleep, so Kate got to have some special Kate and Mom Time. She requested having her nails painted. She's such a girl. I didn't even have any nail polish for her. I had to borrow some from my sister. This is Kate's happy face.

Gray getting all up in my grill. (Do people still say that? I'm old.)

Another trip to the splash pad! The kids still love it, but it is getting to be less and less fun for me as I get more and more large.

Felt monsters! Someday my kids will appreciate these more. I cut all the shapes out free hand, just trying to come up with something monster-y. There are tons of eyes/mouths/teeth/etc. We've played with them a couple of times. I think I have the most fun with them.

Birthday Doughnuts! I've started surprising the kids in the morning on their birthdays with doughnuts. It's not a real breakfast, but it sure is fun. After all these birthdays it starting to not be much of a surprise anymore.

Gray with his birthday balloon featuring Mouse.

My mom tied it to the back of his pants so he couldn't lose it.

I made Gray a Lego cake. It was not pleasant to frost. I guess I should have just bucked up and made some buttercream so it would look nice. But it was hot and I was tired and no one eats these cakes anyway, so Western Family crap frosting it was. Oh well. Gray knew what it was supposed to be.

I guess someone does eat the cake. (Not Hannah though.) Gray looks like he just devoured a Smurf.

The day after Gray's birthdays is our anniversary. My sister/MIL watched the kids and Nate took the day off so we could hang out together. We went to the Jordan River Temple and did a session. That's the temple where we were married 9 years ago. Then we ate lunch and went to Ikea. I know, that's everybody's dream date. It's okay to be jealous. The best part was having the kids gone overnight so we could have uninterrupted sleep. I miss that.

Beans! Our garden doth overfloweth with beans. I'm consistently getting 2 of those laundry buckets heaped over when we pick, which is twice a week. Good thing MIL Tia is around to help! I wouldn't be able to do it without her. I've lost count of how many quarts we've canned. Just trust me that it is a lot.

Colin's Lego creation. His designs are getting more and more complicated. And they can do amazing things, like shoot cannons and blast off and cure cancer and whatever. I confess I have a hard time paying attention to all the special features sometimes.

I needed a shirt to wear. Mine were dirty. I was just going out to the garden. I grabbed the first shirt from Nate's side of the closet I could find. This was it. It was not a good look for me.

Gray playing happily with one of his birthday presents. He loves his "ABC's."

I have no words.

Kate used the ABC magnets from Gray's present to spell some words on the magnadoodle. She was supposed to be lying down for Quiet Time, but it was hard to be upset with her when this is what she was doing.

My brothers in-laws had a yard sale, and his daughter Maggie came to play with us for a while. Can you even see the baby in this picture? The kids adore her. And they smother her with their love.

After a little nap she was all smiles on my bed. She pretty darn cute, even if she is a carbon copy of my brother Grant.

The boys in their birthday suits.

Another harvest. I canned tomatoes yesterday. I'm not a fan. I think from now on I'll just eat them fresh thanks.

Nate's work had a company party Saturday night. It started out a little rainy, but eventually cleared up. The kids had a great time, what with the face painting and the bouncy houses/blow up toy things. I had a less fun time what with trying to force everyone to eat something and keep track of all the shoes and listen to strangers tell me about my current pregnant condition. Nate smoked like 30 pounds of pork for the occasion, and it was a big hit.

Another Sunday afternoon dress up session. Yeah, I married that. And I would do it again.

Gray looks like a pretty little gypsy.

I really liked Gray's ensemble—viking fur cape, flouncy skirt, and pink sparkly moon boots.

Kate was a cowboy princess.

Nate was a good sport.

Colin was a super photo bomber.

Kate made a great Batman.

Flynn Rider was lying around pantsless. So I helped him out and styled him in some classy hot pink culots. Did anyone else's mother make them wear culots when they were little? The kids got really mad at me for this. Apparently it's not okay for Flynn Rider to wear pink pants. Lesson learned.

The hair behind the mask is my favorite part of this picture.

An American Coach in London

This is too good not to share. I've watched this at least 10 times already.

 

Kate the Cheerleader

Our neighbor/volunteer nanny, Mary, is a cheerleader for Maple Mountain High School. (She's going to be a sophomore this year.) MMHS had some kind of mini cheer camp, and Mary asked if Kate wanted to go. I said I was sure she would, but since she currently had a nasty ear infection, she probably wouldn't be up to it. Then the day the camp started Mary's mom called and asked again if Kate wanted to go. She said that it was a fundraiser and she would have to pay the money eventually anyway, so she just went ahead and paid for Kate to go. She even offered to drive Kate to and from the high school. Since Kate was feeling better I said sure. So Kate went to cheer camp, just like a big girl. It was 2.5 hours long for 3 days. Saturday afternoon they had a performance after the class part. I laughed until I cried watching Kate. It was so funny. She was the only one just standing there during the cheer and not doing anything. Then she would do a move every now and again during the dance. Apparently I was so busy laughing/crying that I didn't notice that my phone wasn't recording. I thought I had taped the whole thing, and it turns out I only taped 2 seconds. I was so mad! I really wanted to be able to show that video to her when she got older. (Nate said it was her first and last cheer performance.) Anyway, a week or two later Kate just starts chanting this cheer in her room. I had no idea she had actually learned it! She and the boys do it all the time now. Hilarious.

I knew there were other pictures!

I found my camera and the pictures I knew had to be somewhere. The first part is Colin's graduation from preschool (May 13), then his birthday party/family gift opening (June 29/30).

Colin and his two neighbor friends Ben and Kali'i. They were way more interested in snacks than in pictures.

Opening his presents from Mom and Dad Saturday morning after birthday doughnuts.

Indiana Jones hat and whip, Harry Potter broomstick, and a real tape measure and tool belt.

He had no idea that ribbon was stuck to his bum. But Gray noticed and insisted that he get a turn to wear it too.

These are some of the masks and capes I made for the party favors. (And when I say I made them, I mean I came up with the idea and did some of the work, but mostly my mom is awesome and sewed everything together.)

The other superhero game that I came up with on the fly. The kids drew pictures of villains (which turned out to just be pictures of who-even-knows-what) and then used the water guns to squirt their pictures.

Opening presents.

Reading the card. It must have been very serious and heartfelt.

Then on Sunday the aunts/uncles/cousins/grandparents came over for cake and ice cream. Colin opened even more presents. Sheesh.

The candy was a big hit. Too bad Dad ended up eating most of it. Colin was always so excited when Nate would share candy with him. I made sure to point out that it was Colin's birthday candy that Nate was sharing.

July

I feel like there should be more pictures, but I can't find my camera. So all of these pictures are from my phone.

Just another impromptu tea party. You know that's how we roll.

Gray loves to dress up. And he loves to carry as much random junk as possible.

We made some sidewalk chalk paint. It was a big hit. It kept the kids occupied while I snuck out to the garden.

Colin is getting better and better at writing his letters, especially in his name. I wish I could convince him to use lowercase letters too, but he thinks he knows better than me.

Friends! Hazel and Emmeline came to play one day.

My sister was getting rid of a huge box of shoes. Gray took a shine to these sassy blue heels.

Kate looked pretty good in them too.

Colin reading books to the little kids. It's so nice when the cooperate and play together. And I love that Colin can read to them and give me a break for a few minutes!

Another classic Gray ensemble. Every wizard princess needs a gun. And one glove.

Kate and Colin took these pictures of me and the kids. They did a pretty good job of keeping people in the picture. Too bad I didn't have my hair done or any makeup on.

A bath in mom's tub in the middle of the day?! What the what?! Those are some lucky kids.

Pioneer Day parade. I kind of forgot to take pictures. I love Mapleton's parade. It's short, they throw candy, and it's short. The kids were dancing to the music here. Gray was more sedate in his dancing than Kate was.

July was a pretty busy month for us, in as much as we are ever busy. We had family in town, lots of birthday celebrations, 4th of July, 24th of July, trips to Seven Peaks and the splash pad, and a bazillion doctor appointments. The kids had eye/ear infections, and I had pregnancy. Gestational diabetes reared it's ugly head again, necessitating more trips to the doctor/hospital than usual. Plus my low-lying placenta means extra ultrasounds and threats of a c-section. Plus I had a nasty cold for 2 weeks. Good times!