Soccer Season!

Fall soccer season has started. Nate is once again is the coach of Ty's soccer team! Go Coach! He's not only the best coach but he's also just the best dad! On Saturday he and Ty had a day of being together one-on-one, I took the other kids with me to Portland. Ty and Nate were at the store when Ty said to his dad, "Daddy you are the best dad to ever walk the plank!" Isn't that pretty cute? (Ty loves pirates by the way!)

Daddy's little soccer boy!

The next MVP soccer player!

We thought Mara wanted to play soccer also. She has been so excited to play since Ty was playing soccer and wants to do everything Ty does. She is a good little soccer player and loves to kick the ball. So we took her over to the first 3&4 year old soccer game on Saturday with her little cute soccer shirt on and when she got there she started to cry and decided it wasn't for her! She kept saying "I'm too little to play!" I guess we will wait a year and try again in the spring!
Here is our soccer boy! Go Ty Go! He did great on Saturday. He scored one goal! Way to go Ty! We are proud of you!

Mara Lew's New Do!

I decided it was time to give Mara a little hair trimmy-trim! So Friday I got out my scissors and cut away! I didn't take too much off, just enough to give her hair a lift! As you can tell from the photo she was not thrilled with the idea of a hair cut!

Once we turned on her favorite movie: Bambi she was all smiles and just fine about getting her hair cut!

Doesn't she look marvelous?
Too bad it was so sunny! She couldn't help squint her eyes! But what a little doll! She's our little beauty!

back 2 school night

Last week we attended Ty's back to school BBQ night. It was a lot of fun to tour Ty's school, talk to his teacher and see his classroom. Ty's been a kindergartner now for two weeks and loves it! I'm so glad he is doing so well in his class. He likes his teacher and is enjoying meeting new friends. It's fun to hear his stories after school of the events of the day. I just wish I could be a fly on the wall and watch him in action and see what really goes on in the life of Ty while I'm not there!

Eight is great! Unless....

Caleb turned eight months old! He would be great except for a double ear infection! Yikes! This weekend he was running a fever of 102 and I was constantly giving him Tylenol. First thing Monday morning I called the doctor and got him in. Sure enough two bright red ears. He was given a shot of antibiotics and more to take home. Poor little boy! No wonder he was fussy and sad all weekend! It's great to have our happy little boy back! Caleb really is a funny little guy! He loves to laugh and he often cracks himself up and just starts chuckling!
Caleb has started to crawl, yes he is! He goes a little ways and then lays down on his tummy! He also slides around backwards all over the hardwood floors on his tummy!

My big boy and little boy! Caleb sure wasn't feeling well for the photo!

There is a funny story about these pictures. Caleb loves to hold things in his mouth and play with toys. Sometimes it's a sock, sometimes a toy, in this photo it just so happens to be a doll hat! Yes, he is playing with dolls in these photos, ooops! It's hilarious to see him holding these things in his mouth just like a little doggy!!

He's home!

Welcome home daddy! Yay! We are so glad our daddy came home from fighting a fire! Nate arrived home on Sunday afternoon. He had quite the adventure and he had a very interesting story to tell us about being on the front fire line. As you can see from the photo he grew a beard while he was away. As soon as Mara saw him she gave him a funny look rubbed his face and said "Daddy wash it off!" It's wonderful to be a family again and grateful daddy was safe and protected as he was away! We love you daddy!

K is for Kindergarten!!

Last week we had a meeting with Ty's Kindergarten teacher Ms. Swisher. I must admit from the first meeting I wasn't exactly thrilled. I was super nervous with how Ty would do, because of his shyness and the fact he wouldn't even look at her or talk to her!I had really high expectations and didn't feel like they were met. But I actually think Ty will be just fine and Ms. Swisher will be awesome!

Here are the photos of last week's meeting:

One sad little boy!

Ty in front of his portable classroom.

What kind of face is that?

What a big boy!

A few days ago Ty broke out with a huge rash all over his body. Hives from head to toe. I thought for sure it was nerves from being so worried about Kindergarten. Before Nate left on his fire I made sure he gave Ty a father's blessing to help him with his first day of school. Thank goodness for prayers and priesthood because Ty did it! He survived his first day of Kindergarten and LOVED it! Yay! All morning he sang a little song that went something like this: "I get to go to school today! I'm so excited to go to school! I get to go everyday!" I was so glad to hear him so excited about going but wasn't sure what was going to happen once we got there! I love that I can walk Ty to school! It's just right around the corner!

Ty was very excited to see his friend Kennedy. I too was glad to see my friend Jaclyn and it made the drop-off a lot easier! I felt like crying and thought the tears might start rolling, but with a friend right there it was smooth sailing! Ty walked right in his classroom and hung up his backpack just like that! It was great! I am so proud of him. Way to go Ty!

Mara wanted to stay at school too and was quite disappointed to find out she had to take a nap while Ty got to play at school! But I must admit that the afternoon break with Ty in school and Mara and Caleb sleeping is actually pretty nice! I will be able to get many things done in the afternoon! Today I mowed the law, planted grass seeds, and baked cookies!

I was so happy to see Ty when he walked out the door of his school! I actually started to cry then with tears of joy of seeing my boy! I asked him how school was and he said, "It was GREAT!" Oh isn't that wonderful?! I know this is going to be a great year for Ty. He said he read a story, sang a song, and helped a girl reach something that she couldn't get! He said he was the tallest in his class! That's my boy! He is going to be a great helper and meet lots of new friends. I asked him what his favorite part about school was and he said "Recess! But I didn't get to play with the dinosaurs!" I'm sure there will be plenty of indoor recess days that will allow him to play with the dinosaurs!

My favorite part of the day was eating hot gingersnap cookies with Ty and hearing all about his day! I love you buddy! Congrats on your first day of school!

Bye-Bye Daddy!

We arrived back home from Utah on Tuesday. What a LONG two day drive in the car! I would definitely drive it straight in one day if I had to again! But it was so good to be back with Nate. Oh how we all missed him! He said Caleb changed the most in the 23 days we were gone. He now calls Caleb "lots of fun" because he is such a fun little boy and was all smiles for his daddy when he saw him. We spent three days with our daddy. Friday night the weather was perfect for a BBQ. We enjoyed good family time together. It was so nice to relax and be with each other. Saturday morning Nate invited Ty on his morning jog. Ty rode his bike for three miles while Nate jogged. We were eating our breakfast together when the phone rings. It was not a call I was anticipating: Nate was called out on a fire. He was given one hour to get out the door. He already had his bags packed and ready knowing that any moment he could be called out on a fire. So he kissed us good-bye and left for California to help battle the fires on the front line down near the Nevada border. He will be gone two weeks. TWO WEEKS! Yikes. Lucky for us we have a super wonderful mom and grandma who just can't stand being away from her grandkids and will use any excuse she can to come visit who arrives tomorrow to come take care of us! Thanks Mimi! Keep Nate in your prayers. I hope he is well and safe. He called tonight and said he didn't arrive until after midnight and woke up around 5am to fight the fires. He was pretty dog-tired! Poor guy! Good luck Nate. We miss you and hope all is well.

Total Recap

Our trip was awesome! It's sad it has come to and end. The party is over! But the memories will live on! We had so many fun things to do, we kept the kiddos busy every minute! We loved seeing our family and friends. I've barely made a dent in my pictures on my blog so here we go on our total recap of our adventures!

BLAST OFF!!
One of the fun things we did was shoot off bottle rockets with Scott and Lorisa. Their ingenios minds made this flying bottle rocket hooked up to a air pump. In fact one of the rockets we shot off went up in the pine tree and got stuck: never to be seen again!

Here the kids are watching uncle Scott shoot off the rocket.

Mimi and Mara trying to find the bottle rocket high in the tree!

Caleb thought the blast off was so cool dude!

Dress Up!
Thank you Grandma Lewis, Trish, and Chelsie for the fun dress up clothes! The kids really have enjoyed playing dress up with their new clothes. Ty calls him self "Super Saver" and "Mr. Strong Man" when he is in his costume. Mimi and I used this to our advantage when we needed his help around the house! For example "Ya, if you are so strong let's see you carry the laundry basket upstairs! Oh ya if you were really so strong you could bring in the garbage can!" Ty loved to prove his strength by completing these tasks! Mara loved dressing up like a fairy, a princess, little mermaid, and a ballerina! So fun!
Tea Party!
When the kids were all dressed up in their fancy dress up clothes they felt like having a tea party with Mara's new tea set: Thanks Aunt Beanie! It's perfect! We set out a blanket in the front room and set out the tea set and we all had a tea party and picnic lunch in the living room! Ty said, "This is the best lunch ever!" It doesn't take a lot sometimes! Even Caleb had a fun time at the tea party:

Playing in the Dirt
There is something about boys playing in the dirt! I don't really understand it but boys love to get all dirty by playing in the dirt! Ty really enjoyed Mimi's dirt pile. He used the big trucks to move the dirt and make a road. He buried treasure and other objects! Ty got so dirty we had to spray him off with the hose, but that gave us another idea: sprinklers!

Sprinklers!
We loved the hot weather in Utah, it actually felt like summer: everyday it was sunny blue skies! It was wonderful. The kids had a fun time running through the sprinklers and filling up their buckets with water. Then Ty would dump the cold water all over his head! I couldn't believe it--he thought it was hilarious, I thought it looked cold!

Building Blocks:
Ty and Mimi worked hard building towers with blocks. I'm very impressed with their efforts and creations!
Popcorn!
Our trip wouldn't have been complete without a movie and popcorn with popcorn papa!

Swimin' in the sink!
Caleb wanted to cool off too--so we put him in the kitchen sink! He loved splashing and chewing on his wooden spoon!