Could It Be...

Max peed on the potty last night and this afternoon. Sam wouldn't even go near the potty at this age. So I'm hoping that means Max will potty train before he is almost 4! Could be wishful thinking, but a girl can dream can't she?

Vacation Pages....

I have been remiss in posting about our recent vacation to California. I have done a few pages about some of our adventures. So I thought I would at least share those...

27 July...

Dear Evelyn,

I can hardly believe you are 6. It took us so long to get you here and now you are starting 1st grade. Not being able to have a baby seems like a lifetime ago. Before you came you had a talk with your brothers and made sure they were on board to follow you quickly. It seems like just yesterday we were on our way to the hospital to start our new journey as parents. Labor was long for the 2 of us, maybe that's when you were talking to the boys (and anyone else that hasn't come yet). Aunt Kimberly told Susu that she would call her as soon as she heard crying... it was mine she heard, not yours. Even now, writing this, the emotion of that moment when you were born comes back to me. Thank you for coming to our family. You are truly a joy to your dad and I.

Love, Mom

Happy Birthday Max!

Today you are 2! I can't hardly believe it. Where has the time gone? Right this moment you are in your room not taking your nap. Big boys don't take naps, just babies. Couldn't you stay a baby a little longer? You are growing up so fast and it is fun to watch. Just yesterday at the store, clear as day, you said, "Want apple juice." So apple juice we got. Happy Birthday Little Man!

Mad Riding Skills...

For Sam's birthday we got him a Big Wheel. One of the good, old big Big Wheels. We knew he wouldn't do a 2 wheeler without a fight. A month or so ago, one of the neighbor boys came over on their old little 2 wheeler. He is way too big for it and it was funny to see him on it. I asked him if Sam could give it a try... and away he went. If only we had known, we would have got that for his birthday instead of the Big Wheel. Knowing how Sam is about things, we knew we had to seize the opportunity and get him his own bike. So about a week ago, Rick took Sam to get a big boy bike!

New Front Yard...

Last summer we, well Rick, ripped everything (minus the tree in the corner bed and the burning bush in the bed in the middle of the yard) out of the beds in the front yard. They just needed help. On Monday Rick went and got new plants. So after I was done with work, he dug the holes and I planted. We ended up doing a lot of rose bushes, a row of lavender and a couple of euonymus. We think it came together nicely and hopefully everything will live!

199 Days...

That was our school year, 199 days. We started 1 August, 2008 and finished 27 May, 2009. Wow! There was good, bad and the ugly, but in all it was a good year. We were all learning something new. Evelyn as the student, me as the teacher. I am so proud of all that Evelyn has learned and accomplished. I know I wasn't always the nicest or easiest mom to deal with as we started this new adventure. We used K-12 for our curriculum and it was the perfect thing for us to start our homeschooling journey with. They sent us everything we would need. We would log in every day to look at our lesson plans and log our attendance. We really haven't stopped doing school. Evelyn does better when we keep at it, even just a little. I decided for 1st grade (that sounds weird, my baby is in 1st grade), we are going to do our own thing though. Now that I have a year under my belt, I decided I wanted to try out some different things. Thanks to some great friends (who's brain's I constantly pick) I found several different curriculum to try. The big box came a few weeks ago and Evelyn was eager to dig in. I got a few things for Sam too. I had never really done much with him, but when we were at my parents in February, I printed up some worksheets for him. He wrote his name like a champ after just showing him once. So he has started his handwriting book and math book. It should be a fun year.

Day Out with Thomas...

On Memorial Day, we took the kids up to Heber to ride Thomas the Train. They were so excited, especially Sam. He is our train loving boy. He can spend hours building tracks and driving his trains. There were several little activities that the kids could do, build with Legos, listen to a story, check out all the train stuff in the gift shop. There was also a family band and Max is our dancer. He can get down and boogey! We walked out of the gift shop, he heard the music and started to shimmey! I couldn't get the camera out fast enough to really catch him in the act, but here's what I did get.