Bye, Bye, August

After school the kids quickly did their homework so they could put a talent show on for us. We didn't have time for that before Rick headed off for Andrew's back to school night. So, while he was gone we got a few things done. First, Lexie and Joseph had to write their parts for the Primary Program. I thought they did a really good job. They wrote them all by themselves. It will be fun to see them say their parts. Andrew has his memorized already & says it a lot during the day. "I can follow God's plan by choosing the right." I love how his voice goes up on "right."

Joseph's says: "I've been asked to come up and speak on this primary program. (I'm going to try and get him to take this out. The problem with them writing their parts by themselves is they seem very protective of them.) I have followed the prophet by listening to General Conference. It was a great experience to listen to General Conference last time because it was my birthday on April second. I am grateful for a prophet who tells us what God wants us to know so we can be happy. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

Lexie's says: "I know that when I was baptized I was choosing the right. When I was being baptized I felt the Holy ghost. It was telling me that I was obeying God's commandments. I felt clean after I got out of the water. When I was confirmed I felt as if there was a blanket around my heart. I'm grateful I could be baptized and have the Holy Ghost with me."

It's awesome to see our kids grow in the gospel & watch their little testimonies grow. We sure love them.

Once they finished their parts we decided to play outside until Rick got home so we could do the talent show. There's nothing like riding bikes & scooters all dressed up. It was a good time.

Eliza loved banging on Andrew's helmet & would get so excited whenever one of the kids rode by her. She sure loves her siblings!

Once Rick got home we watched the talent show of hula hoop tricks, dancing, and songs. We noticed that whenever we sing "I Am a Child of God" Liza nods over and over & she did it tonight while Lexie sang "Families Can Be Together Forever". It's funny. On Sunday during all of the songs I noticed she would head bang a little but she would throw her arm around like she was conducting the music. I think we have a little music lover & we think that is great.

It's hard to believe that August is already over! Who knew a month could fly by as quickly as this one seems to have done. We sure love summer but are excited for the cooler temps of fall (but hopefully not that cool).

Obedience

Today Rick got to give a talk in church on obedience. (He did a great job!) We had lots of fun conversations about that topic this week. As I was trying to put Liza down for a nap this afternoon, my eyes caught this paper that has been taped to the wall since the summer of 2009 in the boys' room and it made me giggle. It was so fitting to notice after thinking and talking so much about obedience this week. Lexie & Joseph wrote these rules before she started 1st grade when they would play school. They are a pretty good list of rules.

Joseph says #13 is the most important. Lexie says #13 is her favorite. We couldn't agree more.

Also, on a side note, we're grateful for great neighbors. We have such a great neighbor out in Maryland who takes good place of our house out there. We were super nervous about hurricane Irene & the possibility of our basement flooding if the power went out. When Lexie was a baby there was hurricane Isabel when we were living in our apartment in DC. We went up to visit my sister for the weekend in CT & it was a good thing because power was out for a few days & it's just nicer to have power & such with a new baby. Well, during Isabel, the house we bought in Baltimore flooded a bit because the power went out & the sump pump couldn't work. So, we were a bit nervous about that happening again. Last night our neighbor, Lisa, called to see if we had a cell number for our renters so she could go over & plug our sump pump into her generator because again, the power went out. We're so grateful that she did that for us & prevented any possible flooding out there. Lisa is an angel. I don't know what we would do without her & her thoughtfulness for us.

The Game Station

A few weeks ago the kids spent most of a Saturday afternoon in the basement working on a surprise project. They planned a party & set up a Game Station with a box full of wadded up pieces of paper with games written on each of them.

Since then, we've periodically taken turns picking a piece of paper out the game station box to see what our family activity for the evening will be.

Thus far we've played Cadoo, Jenga (but a bug one), & Stare so far. Today we played Life.

We had a really good time with lots of giggles. Joseph was hilarious! He really got a kick out of the doctor career card. Good times!

Eliza had a great time playing with lots of different toys in the basement. She was particularly drawn to the kitchen with the baby doll in the high chair. She talked to the baby,

and then she even tried feeding the baby some soup. It was so nice of her & fun to see how she mimics things we do. She's such a good little helper.

We thoroughly enjoy watching our kids creativity & thoughtfulness. We're so glad they like to play games with the whole family. We can't wait to see what they come up with next.

All Tuckered Out

Why wouldn't she do this in her crib?

Little Notes

On Friday the kids asked Rick & I to stay upstairs until they finished getting breakfast ready for us. It was very cute. They worked hard at making breakfast & then setting the table & Joseph wrote us cute notes on our napkins. They made us smile.

Today at church, Joseph decided to pass Rick a note. Their exchange sure made us smile as well.

10 Months Old

Lexie thought it would be so fun to have all the girls dress similarly for church today in honor of Eliza being 10 months old. It's fun that Lexie loves to be "twinners" with everyone & even more fun to watch how much she loves her sister (& brothers).

Lexie is a wonderful big sister!

Building With Dad

Andrew was thrilled to get working on building & painting one of his birthday presents.

Days are always much more fun when dates with Dad are involved.

"My Rocket Ship Birthday!"

This little squirt woke up super excited to be FOUR! ("Just like Preston is 4." We heard that a lot today.)

He started the day off at Joy School & got a great Thomas the train book from Jen.

Then a quick lunch with mom & off to preschool with Dad. Then we got his rocket ship birthday cake decorated.

He was super excited to see it!

He spent most of the afternoon protecting his presents from Eliza. Whenever we came in the room holding her he would beg us not to put her down for fear she would take all of his presents and he would have nothing left.

We had a great time opening presents & then we had some friends over for cake. Andrew got lots of bug & safari stuff & after cake all of the kids all went out searching for bugs & had a grand time of it.

One thing I've never noticed any of our other kids do before is how Andrew opens presents. He opens one, leaves the mess, gets another and moves to a clean spot on the floor to open it. Then the process continues. Hence the floor looking like this. It was rather comical to watch. Rick also asked Andrew how it felt to be four & he replied with, "Happy! Happy just like Preston!"

Here he is before blowing out his candles while we sang to him.

Happy Birthday, Squirt! We hope that being 4 is as exciting and happy as your birthday was! We love you the most & you love us the most! Hey, we're twinners! Jinx!

Feasting Upon the Word

About a week and a half ago Lexie & I walked in and found Eliza eating Lexie's scriptures. Lexie, quick little whip, said, "Look, she's feasting upon the words of Christ. Great job, Eliza!" I just laughed! I didn't have the camera then & have waited for her to do it again (which she has) so I could snap a picture of it (which I have not been able to do-bummer).

But I do catch her often playing with them & thumbing through the scriptures & babbling to them. It's very cute.

Hopefully, she (& her siblings) will always have a hunger (& thirst) for the scriptures.

Andrew's Preschools

Andrew started Joy School today with Miss Jen & loved it! We love Joy School & we love her. She does such a great job with the kids! It's great that she lets me come and help in the class each week as well so I don't miss him too much.

Yesterday we also went to the Elementary School where Andrew has preschool to help with his speech & saw his classroom. It's the same as last year, so he was very confident heading into there. He'll start class there tomorrow.

We're a little (okay a lot) bit nervous about sending him to 2 preschools, but know we can change things if we need to with him if we see there's a problem. We really want him to have more help with his speech & really want him to have Miss Jen, so basically, he gets to have them both. He had an awesome day in class today & have no doubt he'll be able to keep it up.

First Day of School

After only 2 short months of summer the school year has begun! (sigh)

Lexie started 3rd grade today

and Joseph started 1st grade today!



Yesterday Lexie was nervous beyond belief (& a little bit today but more her cautious/observant self). Joseph on the other hand is my confident little guy who has been looking forward to first grade for what seems like forever surprised me by getting all nervous once we got in line to go into class. I needed to go find Andrew who ran off with a friend to play & said, "I've gotta run & find Andrew, are you going to be okay, Joseph?" Joseph got this sad look on his face & said, "No, I need to go home & spend all day long with you again." I was shocked!

Andrew & I had a fun afternoon though & Andrew got to play with his buddy & help me make brownies. They really enjoyed licking the beaters and being goofy.

Finally, the school day was over and the kiddos came home. :) They survived the day & had a blast in their classes. Joseph has Lexie's kindergarten teacher as his teacher so we are excited about getting to work with her again. And Lexie's teacher seems really nice as well. Here's hoping the rest of the school year goes as well.

Music to Our Ears

She loves to play on the piano & is often found here tinkering on the keys. She thinks it's so awesome that she makes the piano make the sound. It's awesome! We're excited for Lexie and Joseph to start taking lessons this fall & have lots more music in the house.

Monkeying Around

We went to the park this morning and had such a great time. Well, except Eliza. We put her in the swing and at first she tried to figure out what was going on...

and then, well, she didn't like it at all.

But, she really did have a great time at the park otherwise. The kids call this the "extracise park" and love to run and round & climb for their workout. Today I was shocked when Andrew "walked up" the poles. I had no idea he could do that (it was his first time trying & it was a success!)

Andrew just walks right up on his feet while Lexie and Joseph wrap their legs around the pole and climb up. It is so fun to watch!

And sure enough, he made it all the way to the top without any problems!

After lunch we played in the backyard. The kids like to play "brellachutte" with their umbrellas of course. They don't open them all of the way and when they jump off the porch the air pushes them all the way open. Too funny!

And here is Lexie posing with some beautiful flowers.

I love summertime & having the kids around. Monday is going to be a sad day when they head back to school.

Harvest Time

Here's our second harvest so far. Almost every day there are more yummy tomatoes to be found. The squash we had last week was so good. We're hoping for much more to come from this garden.

White Dresses

Lexie in her baptism dress with her blessing dress.

Lexie's Baptism

Today was Lexie's baptism! She got to share her baptism day with her friend, Kristin.

Lexie's baptism went really well. She was so excited about the ordinance & kept saying, "I can't wait to be baptized!"

Lexie says, "I'm so glad that I could be baptized. And that I could get the Holy Ghost. I felt the Spirit when I was confirmed. It made me feel warm & good. I was so glad that so much friends and family could come. My favorite part of my baptism was being baptized and confirmed."

Here are some of the presents she got from Grandma & Aunt Becca.

Her new scriptures from us.

With the cake for refreshments.

Here is the family before the baptism.

While we set up for the baptism, Lexie played lots with Liza.

I think Liza loved peek-a-boo tons!

Liza & Rick snuggling.

Lexie with her grandparents.

Lexie with Uncle Nathan. (Becca was busy helping us practice for the songs & I never got a pic of her family. :( )

Lexie in front of the font.

Kristin & Lexie.

Lexie & Daddy.

Lexie & her 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Q.

Jacob & Matthew trying on tutus. So beautiful.

Today was a very special day and we are so grateful for Lexie and her goodness and the wonderful decision she made to be baptized. We hope she will always remember the covenants she made today with her Heavenly Father and always remember the Spirit she felt. She has such an awesome spirit about her and teaches us so much about the gospel by her example. She is a wonderful big sister and teaches her siblings with love and patience and we love to see them interact. We love you so much, Lexie! We've been amazed at how well you have listened to the promptings of the spirit already in your life and have been touched as we've seen the effects of those promptings on others. We hope you will always listen to the spirit. We look forward to seeing you continue to make wonderful choices in your life and know you will do amazing things!