Little Miss

This little girl is growing up right before our eyes. She is at that age where she is learning constantly and surprising us with things she picks up on. Most of it is absolutely adorable! Some of it, I am not exactly excited about. For example, that little stool shown above...that is her new favorite "toy". She takes it out of the bathroom, and we hear her pushing it throughout the house to whatever location she desires. She uses it to reach the light switches, which she then turns off and on incessantly. She also uses it to reach door knobs to unlock them. Most recently, she has used it to reach the ledge where we keep the key to our master bedroom (which we have to keep locked, because she sneaks in there and climbs on the counters, turns on the faucet, uses Dave's toothbrush, etc). I have caught her a couple times trying to unlock our door using the key. Last week, she broke a vase trying to search for said key. She's a smart one, and we are in trouble!

Some of her favorite things to say lately, "Mama! Otch!" ("Mama, watch!"). I hear this one about 75 times a day. If I don't immediately turn to watch her (you know, because I'm driving or something!), she will scream "MAMA! OTCH!", repeated continuously until I turn to look at her. I have to admit though, it makes me smile every time. Besides being a handful, she is also a big sweetie! She loves to give hugs and kisses. Another cute thing she does is to wave goodbye to us and say "Bye! See ya!" before climbing into the cabinet by the front door. She still loves shoes, and is often seen wearing anyone's shoes but her own. Her favorites? Collin's flip flops or my brown wedges. She is talking up a storm lately too. I couldn't even count how many words she knows now. She's such a little goofball, and I adore her! I am looking forward to some one-on-one time with her now that the other kids are in school.

1st Day of Preschool

Collin had his 1st day back at school today. Although this is his second year of preschool, he has a new teacher Miss Leah. He had never met her before, but he had no problems when we got there. He found his two buddies, Matthew and Ethan, already there and went right over to join them in doing worksheets. I think he's going to have a great year!

1st Day of School 2011

Brynn started her 1st day of 1st grade last week. I will probably say this each year about whatever grade she is starting, but I can't believe I have a 1st grader! It really seems like she was just a baby. She definitely isn't a baby though! When I took her shopping for her school supplies and some clothes, she knew exactly what she wanted. She immediately chose a Hello Kitty shirt and a skirt for her 1st day of school outfit. She also insisted that Eden needed a matching outfit too. They did look adorable! (Collin doesn't start preschool for another week, so he will get his own post then.)
This past summer was alot of fun, but very busy. We were out of town quite a bit, but we still managed to check off everything on our summer bucket list (actually we did most of it by the beginning of July).

Weekend at the Cabin

We were lucky to spend this past Wednesday through Sunday with my parents at their cabin up north. Some of the highlights of the trip were:

*the perfect weather, complete with an occasional rain
*that Brynn and Collin had more freedom to play outside and did so pretty happily for hours a day. They found a caterpillar one day that they were completely fascinated by for at least an hour.
*watching the kids play in the rain and get excited about getting to use umbrellas
*getting to finish the long book I recently started reading (The Forgotten Garden--thanks for the recommendation Katie!)
*eating yummy food at our favorite restaurants there
*my dad rocking Eden to bed each night
*relaxing on the hammock (or climbing if you were Brynn and Collin)
*playing Uno with Brynn
*watching Eden walk around the edge of the patio planter with the help of my mom
*feeding ducks at the lake
*having control of the remote control (it was nice to catch a bit of HGTV and a little less Sponge Bob)
*eating our lunches on the porch
*watching the birds and squirrels from the window
*knowing that my kids are creating memories at the same place I have lots of good memories of

Family Visit

In July, my brother Brian and his family came to visit. Brian was only able to stay for a couple days, but my sister-in-law Natacha and their 2 cute girls Micaela and Camille were able to stay for a week and a half. We had so much fun with them! Our kids all had so much fun playing with their cousins, and having sleepovers, etc. Natacha and the girls stayed at our house for a few days while they were in town, and Micaela lost a tooth while they were here. She was concerned that the tooth fairy wouldn't find her, so Brynn let her borrow her tooth fairy pillow and wrote a note for her. "Dear toothfary, This tooth belogs to Makala. This is the tooth." Brynn helped her put the tooth in the pillow and then they put it on a chair outside of Brynn's bedroom, so the tooth fairy wouldn't miss it. I am happy to report that it worked, and Micaela woke up the next morning to a little something from the tooth fairy.

Family Reunion in Prescott

In June, we also went to a family reunion with my mom's side of the family. She is the oldest of her 9 siblings who each have children of their own (and some of those children also have kids), so it was quite a crowd. Although most of them live nearby, it was fun to get away and spend so much time with them.

One of the days was spent at the lake, where we had a delicious picnic lunch. Brynn obviously approved!

David, Robbie, and Chelsea

My dad, Uncle Norman, and Uncle Dennis

Dave and his beloved iphone ;)

A gopher also made an appearance. Collin and Brynn were both fascinated and cautious. I loved how they held hands while they watched for it to poke up out of its hole.

Eden ate up all the attention she got.

B & C loved climbing the rocks at the lake.

And we even took a little kayak ride on the lake

We also spent alot of time at my Aunt and Uncle's house. The kids, as usual, were drawn to my mom. Here she is with Mailey and Eden.

Collin participated in a rotating game of ping pong. He did pretty good too!