Fall Leaves

We had a fun trip up the canyon so I could see the fall leaves and the boys could play in them. They were so cute. Tucker kept saying that the leaves were so beautiful :), and Clay brought home a whole hoodie pocket full of them. Luka loved being able to roam around and explore. Tucker and Clay piled leaves on the car and Tucker said now it was an "Autumn-mobile." (Only Tucker would come up with a pun like that) The boys picked some wild flowers for me (one of the joys of being a mother to little boys) and I took a picture of my favorite leaf that I found, even though I wished I could bring home a sack full to dump on my front porch. Fall just seems to blow new life into me. The world becomes so amazingly beautiful for a few weeks. It's like an early Christmas present from God. Somehow it always makes me want to buy an old farmhouse with views of mountains and fields of wheat. Watch my corn pop up in rows -ya know? :)

Visiting Ananda

Luka and I went to visit Ananda last week. It was fun to see Luka get so excited about the ducks. I felt really old though watching all the BYU students walkng around us. It was very obvious that I was older than all of them.

Sigh...

So as I was getting Luka's bottle for bed tonight, she took to her favorite past time (as you can probably tell from the pictures) and climbed up on the oven drawer. Except this time, while I had my back turned, she managed to open the second drawer up next to the oven and climb in . "Here Mom, do you need a dishcloth?" "No? How about a banana?" I really REALLY hoped that she would be my calm quiet child (and she is a very good baby) but she is crazy! She spends her entire day trying to climb EVERYTHING. She has a real talent for it. It helps to be fast, determined and reckless (a trait she seems to share with her big brother). So really -sigh... what's a mother to do?

A Happy Birthday Weekend

Luka Climbs Again

Sorry it is turned sideways. Apparently I'm not smart enough to figure out how to rotate a video. But Luka is climbing everything! It is all she wants to do all day. She figured out that she could climb onto the chairs today and I assume it is only a matter of time before she ends up on the table. I guess we're going to have to tie all the chair legs together again like we did with Clay. I still don't know how to keep her off of the fireplace. And she's always so proud of herself!

Luka's First Birthday

A party, gifts, and cake -what more could a girl want?

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.