Monday, October 31, 2016

August

Oh August, you were almost 2 months away! We started off the month by going to have dinner with our friends Jessica and Cole in their newish house in Tooele. They have a daughter that is just one month older than Gabe. She had a bumbo. We put Gabe in the Bumbo to see if he was ready for our off brand one at home. Looks like he's ready!
In August, Gabe couldn't get enough of toys dangling in front of him like this. He loved it! And we tried to make this playmat less girly by putting his cars blanket over the mat. 

 Michael's school had their library open once a week all summer. Here's what Michael checked out one week:
 Michael read most of those books in the week we were able to have them checked out. He's read as many as 10 chapter books in one week.

Here are Rachel's "girl books".
We sadly didn't make it to the chapter books, but she enjoyed checking them out anyway. 

On the 4th of August, we had our Primary Summer Splash Bash 
 All the kids loved the giant slip and slide that we set up on the hill in our neighborhood park. It was pretty awesome. We had a few dads there to help out, and they ended up staying to help man the slip and slide, even though their kids had moved to the next station because it was that fun.
 Gabe trying out our version of the Bumbo: The Super Seat:
 We're so glad we bought this one with Rachel.
 We also bought a microwave for downstairs. It became kind of essential when we moved our TV downstairs. That cupboard next to the microwave on the left is stocked with microwave popcorn and regular popcorn, sugar, oil, and salt so we can pop our stir-crazy popcorn down there too. (Yes, I bought a salt shaker and a small bottle of oil specifically to go down there.) I'm so glad Brian is a big popcorn eater too. We're raising (at least) 4th generation popcorn lovers at our house.  
 Michael has been our gardener this year. It's a good thing he likes pulling weeds!
 For awhile there in August, I was on the hunt for a dog. I know, I think I must have lost my mind. We met this sweet little dog one day. Her owners couldn't take care of her anymore and dropped her off at the Humane Society. We could tell she had the sweetest soul, and we might have taken her home if she wasn't such a big-time shedder. We felt so guilty walking her back into her kennel, and we weren't the ones who dropped her off.
 We didn't get a dog. You don't have to worry about taking me in to see a doctor and get my head examined.

Since we have cupboards downstairs now, I moved all my craft and sewing stuff down into them. Rachel found these patterns I bought several years back when I was planning to make doll clothes and barbie clothes for my niece. Rachel carried these around for a few days, telling me which clothes she wanted me to make. Maybe for Christmas, Sweet Pea. Maybe.
 Gabe and I like to take selfies together. It's how I feel better about how bad I've been lately about pulling out the camera.
 Brian, Michael, and I laid installed the flooring in my studio! Yay!
  
 Happy Dance: 
And Brian got the trim up too. I'm so excited to have it basically done now!
 I decided to make a multi-page book/birthday card for Aunt Lorie where everyone at her party could write her a note, so we busted out my scrapbook supplies and the kids helped me. It was our first crafting session on our newly refinished table, so Brian had to take a picture to commemorate the event:

  
 Gabe turned 4 months old in August.
 And got our sink and counter tops installed (after a little bit of a headache with our counter top guy). All's well that ends well though. Brian hooked up the faucet, drain, and water. He was pretty nervous about it. He still is, even though we haven't had any problems.
And we put the sink to good use right away:
 We took a few walks, but not too many because of my hip. Gabe really enjoyed them:
We tried teaching Gabe peek-a-boo. He hasn't figured it out yet.
 Our HOA threw another awesome end of summer party, complete with these ginormous ball things:
 And our peach tree produced all this wonderful goodness:
 We busted out the high chair that Adobe got us for Gabe. He loves being a part of things in the kitchen, and we love this chair. It makes us wonder why we didn't buy one with Rachel.

 This is one of my favorite pictures of this girl. I just love her:
 Lea, Skyler, Rachel, and I had a mommy and me date at the Provo Beach Resort. They had a ton of fun, and Lea and I had lots of time to chat as well. It's trickier to do these things now that both Skyler and Rachel are in preschool, but on different days.
 Gabe had this tendency to fall asleep during his last feeding before bed, so this is how he rocked his pajamas until after the feeding was over.
 Notice in this picture that despite the extra precaution of keeping his legs out and thus colder, he still conked out. I felt bad for him and let him take a power nap in the blanket with me.
 Michael cracks us up. Here's one of his little Michaelism:
 We'll be so sad when Michael doesn't need Monkey everyday.

This is how Gabe rocks it at Michael's soccer games:
 Gabe loves his toes:
 Michael loves imitating Gabe:
 One of those rare evening walks:
 End of day Daddy hugs/whatever you call this:
 When Rachel and I went to the fabric store together, she spotted this Ariel print. I liked the color, it wasn't too in-you-face, it was on clearance, and I knew it wouldn't take much effort to make her a dress. We came home, and I whipped this little beauty up:
 One seam; two straps. That was it.
And we have one girl who LOVES this little dress.

And the next day was September...

First Grade

This August, Michael started 1st Grade!!! We can't believe it. 

Of course, he was so excited and ready to go, but I stressed about how we would do lunches and brainstormed ideas.  (Apparently one of his friends told his mom that Michael always had great lunches and why couldn't he have grapes like Michael, and I took that as high praise.)
I told Michael that he would need to find a gang of friends to ride home from school with since two days out of the week, I teach lessons and wouldn't be able to go get him. I suggested our next door neighbors because they've always looked out for him. Apparently, he told their mom, "I need to find a gang of kids to ride home with and my mom said Hunter would be good." She laughed and told me about it. He was excited to ride his bike to school and ride home with our neighbor's boy. 

The first day of school, we walked up with him while he rode. We got him a bike lock and watched him lock it to the rack. He practiced lots before school. 

 And then he was ready. Thankfully, he posed for a picture
 before joining his schoolmates for the welcome party tunnel:

He didn't look back, and I cried a little on the way home.

Tea with Belle

In August, Lea, Rachel, and I went to tea with Belle and then watched Lehi City's production of Beauty and the Beast. It's the second community musical that Lea and I went to this summer (the first was Fiddler on the Roof), and I'm thinking we need to make this a regular thing. 

 This was Rachel's first play. She did pretty good, and she loved getting to meet Belle. 

  

She treated her program like a treasure. As I'm writing this, I'm kind of wishing I hadn't thrown it away. I love this little girly-girl of mine. Thanks for going with us Lea. I'm looking forward to more girls' days like this in the coming years.