Climbing Runs in the Family

Luka loves to climb on everything she can. She likes to stand on the stool and look at the 'pish' in the laundry room, and has taken to climbing the fireplace a couple times a day just to make sure it still makes me come running.

Kindergarten!

First day of Kindergarten and I can't decide if Tucker was more excited or nervous (I nearly cried of course). I think that he was annoyed that I was trying to get pictures; he just wanted to go to school already! :) Boy, what a big step. of course he is more than ready for it, but it is still hard to send him off to school. It's just the beginning. I'm so proud of him. Tomorrow he gets to ride the bus (and I'll be a nervous wreck).

Summer Outings With Cousins

It's been really fun for the kids to hang out with their cousins this summer. I love the way Tucker calls Boston 'Boss Boss' and how Clay is surprisingly protective of Boston. Jack and Luka just stare at each other and Luka swipes his toys because she can right now (not much longer and Jack will be mobile and take them back). They kids always get excited to have a cousin day and can't understand why we don't just spend the entire day, breakfast to bedtime, together. It's been fun.

Soccer

Well I'm officially a soccer Mom. Our Tuesdays and Thursdays are pretty busy now, but will be super crazy in a few weeks when I run Clay to preschool, pick him up, take Tuck to Kindergarten, pick him up, and then go to soccer practice or games. Just in Lehi city there are approximately 28 different teams of K/1st grade soccer teams like Tuck's, each team has about 12 little boys and girls on it. Lehi has it's problems but they have a great rec program. Tuck loves his soccer games and it is actually pretty fun to watch. He bends his knees and kind of crab walks side to side. I think it is just his way of being excited to play but it looks like he is doing defense - it's really cute. I hope to get a better picture of him in his soccer stuff - it's really fun. You dress up your little girls in tutu's and princessy stuff and it is cute. With little boys it is fun when they finally get to wear the athletic uniforms and gear and they look so grown up. I love going to Tuck's soccer games.

Where is Luka? Has anyone seen Luk. . . Oh, there she is.

A year goes by so fast and yet a year ago seems like forever

I guess I'm feeling nostalgic which is probably Tucker's fault. Having him go to Kindergarten in tough! He has grown up so fast. And when I think about our family a year ago, I can't believe how much has changed. Of course we now have Luka, we live in a different house, my stomach (and other things) are much flatter now. A year ago I was miserable being pregnant but was looking forward to a baby shower that ended up being more fun than I had even anticipated. And I made the Lightning McQueen car (sponsored by evenflo instead of Rusteze) for the boys in an effort to make them feel less left out with all the attention on the baby. Now it is harder to go anywhere with three kids- three kids to get dressed, fed, in the car, out of the car, keep happy at the store, three opinions to listen to in the car (yes, babies do have opinions about stuff). And it is more work - more kids to put to sleep at bedtime, more food to make, more messes to clean up, more laundry to do, more trips to the doctor etc. However, all that being said, I think I'll keep them all. :) I also get to have three times the jokes ('Knock , knock' 'Who's there?' 'Poop!' lots and lots of giggling then 'Poop who?' 'Don't Cry' -for the record I know that isn't how it goes but I like Clay's version, it's pretty funny too), three times the hugs and kisses (Luka's loves are nice, but little boy hugs are pretty great when you know they probably won't always do that), three times the company (I still panic when I do go to the store alone, I don't even know what to do ), three times the 'help', etc. They are a handful, but they're mine and I sure love them.

Oh Sappy Day..

As my little sis gets ready to go to college soon I can't help but think back nine years to when I went to USU and met Brett. What a couple of goofy kids (doesn't he look excited to go out with me?:). Love you babe!

Haircuts

Yesterday Tucker came in and started talking to us about something, just as natural as can be, and Brett said, "Don't you have something else you want to tell us?" I'm like, what are you talking about until I turned and looked and saw Tucker's hair (top picture). He gave himself a couple of good bald spots. Right before school! Clay's hair was getting long and Dad insisted he needed a haircut even though I could hardly bare to cut off his cute curls. So they both got haircuts last night. Tukcer still has a few spots on top you can see if you look hard but I wasn't going to shave his head a week before school :). I couldn't even be upset with Tuck, all I could think is at least he didn't cut Luka's hair (knock on wood), after all, I cut Bridget's hair all off when we were little.

LUKA'S FIRST STEPS!!

So I can't believe it happened! Luka took her first solo steps tonight. It was bedtime and they were getting to bed later than normal and she was grumpy, so while I was making her bottle she was clinging to my legs and walking in a circle around me. Well I guess something just clicked and she realized that she was balancing really well, and she kept testing herself letting go and just standing (she has done this maybe twice before - just standing by herself) I called Brett in and after a couple of trys (she is unbelievably determined when she puts her mind to something) she actually took a couple of steps before she fell. I have her trying and testing on DVD, but of course we ran out of disk right before she took her steps! All well, I'm sure I'll get plenty of video of her walking now. She tried it a couple more times, realized she was really tired and her legs were tired too, so it was off to bed. Then as we were reading scriptures with the boys it just hit me that I won't have any more 'babies first steps' because Luka is our last baby. Well I got all choked up and started crying and couldn't read. The boys were sleepy and hardly noticed and Brett said, "I thought you'd read a really powerful scripture and I missed it or something." Nope, just realized that my baby isn't a baby anymore and is heading straight into toddlerhood. :( Seriously, I'm getting teary again just typing this. I'm so weird! :) Hopefully it will take her a while to really start trying to walk, but if she is anything like her brothers, her crawling days are over.

Saturday is a Special Day

I'm stuck on primary songs lately I guess. Boy, another long Saturday. It turns out it takes 3 1/2 hours to stain a deck with two people helping instead of the 1-2 that we expected (after Brett spent 1 1/2 hours sanding it). It wouldn't seem so bad but our deck is tiny so it shouldn't have taken very long. Being 100 degrees didn't help (I'm a REDneck now!) We finally finished and were able to come inside and work on some projects. We are still working on the list of things we were going to finish before we moved into the house. Clay helped me make zucchini bread (which we eat like crazy every year until we are very, VERY tired of it). And Brett tried to put on some much needed child latches - with a lot of help. After our rough day yesterday, it was good to feel productive and spend time with the kids. Time for baths and bedtime! Yeah!

Cute and Crazy Clay

My little Clay has absolutely no sense of dangerous situations. His latest thing is to try and climb up as high as possible on the playset. Yes, I know it is normal for little boys to climb things but he is three and as reckless as can be. Boy I love the cute little stinker, but come on Clay, haven't we been to the ER enough?

In My Pretty Garden The Flowers are Naugty

Am I the only one who thought the second verse of the Primary song "In The Leafy Tree Tops" spoke of petals up to mischief? Our garden this year is really a miracle since we threw it in the ground before we had anything else including sprinklers in the yard. The soil is horrible, the weeds horrendous, but zucchini really will grow anywhere. We already have plans to expand next year and I can't wait to do it right next time. I love to grow stuff. My gardens are never very organized, I kind of like the chaos of plants growing amongst each other and still miraculously producing food for our family. The bottom picture is Tucker in our Sunflower Playhouse. It turned out well, but the boys ignore it mostly. I think Luka will like something like that when she is a little older. It takes a girl to appreciate the potential of a room walled by flowers.

For Bridget

So yesterday I had the two little neighbor boys over who are ages 3 and 5 just like Tucker and Clay (it's been great but 4 little boys get a little wild so one mom gets a break and the other gets to referee). Anyway, they were all playing out back when the older neighbor boy knocked on the back door and said, "There's a black widow out there and they are poking it with sticks." Okay - sure. So out I go to find out what is really going on and sure enough there is a black widow and all the little boys are poking it with hockey sticks and toy golf clubs. I about died. No one panic (I'm doing enough for everyone) I tell them to get me a rock and for heaven's sake STAND BACK! :) After being handed several rocks barely the size of the spider (um, yeah I am not trying to squish it with those) the little neighbor boy handed me a good sized rock and I smashed it. Wait- no I didn't! It ran away under some rocks and dirt and after some digging and more panic (there is no way I'm going to let a black widow roam around my back yard!) I was once again bailed out by the neighbor boy who pointed, "There it is!" I finally did squish it and immediatly brought the boys inside and fired off an email to Brett informing him that he needed to fix the spider problem asap. AND- long story short, I thought of Bridget who has been biten by a black widow and is possibly the only person who would have freaked out more and can understand just how brave I was :). Little boys are soooo fun.

Vacation Day 3

On the third day of our vacation we went to the Pioneer Festivities at the American West Heritage Center in Wellsville. We got to try on some pioneer hats, do some pioneer actvities like pan for gold, and we went for a wagon ride. It was really hot so we headed south and indoors and went to the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum. That was really crowded but a lot of fun and in air conditioning. Tuck is climbing on the rock wall there in the middle picture. After that we went to dinner at the Lion House Pantry and then went to Temple Square since Tucker is always asking us why we only go there at Christmas. (The boys weren't as cooperative in real life as they seem in the pictures - they were done with vacation fun. They were told to hug each other so we could remember we're a happy family right? :)) It was a good way to end the trip and we all headed home exhausted and ready for a bath. Now I'm ready for a vacation :).