attack of the bees!

there is never a dull moment around here---last night the kids were playing outside and julia comes running in and screams, "the yellow jackets are attacking the boys!!!" jack was right behind her screaming at the top of his lungs and poor adam was just in a standstill on the grass hill with bees swarming all around him---aaron jetted out to adam while i was frantically trying to get all the freaky creatures off of jack--there were three still stuck to his head, which in turn made for more screaming as they flew around the house---for several minutes i'm pretty sure everyone in our house was screaming! so, after a lot of screaming and many tears--we realized that jack and adam had each been stung four times---it was not a fun two hours for that benadryl to really kick in! jack's poor ear was all red---but, they finally fell asleep and they seemed to be a lot better today, but i have declared it a stay inside day!

Apologies for tags & Why I love this season....

First things first, I have not neglected checking everyone else's blogs on a daily basis, but I have neglected keeping my own up to date! I have had two different tags on my do to list, but I am just really bad at getting to those, so heres a summarized version:
1-the first one was for julia to answer questions about me & bless her sweet heart, all of her answers revolved around the theme that all i do and am good at is cooking and/or cleaning---little does she know that i hate to clean---well, actually i think shes picked up on that by now! anyway, i was kinda depressed by this and committed to finding opportunities to show her more of my talents and hobbies, etc. i won't bore you with details, but i have thought of a lot of ideas and i am excited to try to be better in this area.
2-the next tag was a lot about where i've been (travel) and where i'd rather be now---and my first response is, why would i rather be anywhere than grace, idaho???!!! just kidding, i love my home and i have enjoyed having more "at home" days lately. to sum up---places i've lived: long beach, california (unitl i was 12), draper, utah, nauvoo, il (for four months), provo & orem, utah, salt lake city, utah, lehi, utah and now grace, idaho----
places that i'd like to go: boston and surrounding area, back to new york--i still think about all the fun things i would love to still see and do there and any relaxing resort!

Now, on to why i love this season, fall time (it is already feeling very much like fall here, but no changing colors yet)
1-i love when it is just cool outside, just enough to feel crisp and clean air---also, because it's not hot---i don't like the heat...
2-love that life gets into more of a routine
3-love crock pot meals & soups---soup is my favorite dinner to make--i have lots of different recipes i love!
4-love cute sweaters & just all the fun clothes related to cooler weather---i feel more dressed up and put together in fall/winter clothes
5-we can get the kids to bed at a reasonable hour!

And now, here some of the latest pictures:Luke has graduated from the Boppy to the Bumbo! This is his first reaction to it--like what are you doing to me, mom, but he loves it now.



This little handsome guy has become my second skin in the last couple of weeks! He is also is the hording things around stage, he is usually carrying two to three small stuffed animals, a blanket and a sippy cup! He currently takes up the majority of my energy, but he also melts me with those eyes and eyelashes!
And look at these cute school kids! Julia latest thing is when I ask her something simple, she gives me this huge, long descriptive answer, like she wore a sweater the other day to school and i asked her if she got too hot in it and she said, "i wasn't hot, i was hotter than hot, like lava coming out of a volcano" and it went on longer than that! And then Jack piped in, "I wish I could be a volcano!"
The mornings continue to be long for poor Jack waiting and waiting for that darn bus! He continues to love school!

And I will leave you with this one last picture....I predict major payback for this when Luke gets a little older--the joys of older and creative siblings:

Back to School....

Julia woke up bright and early and was ready to go with her backpack looking bigger than her and looking absolutely darling!
I am a little nervous for her very long day---she leaves at 7:30 and gets home at 4:20---ridiculous 4 day school week! But, I know she will love it, she has a great teacher this year, Mr. Sotutu---I am so proud of her and am so excited for her to have a great 2nd grade year! I just love my sweet Julia!

It would be a major understatement to say that Jack was excited for school to start. He was showered, dressed and ready by 8:00---the bus wasn't coming to get him until 12:15!
He came downstairs, feeling like hot stuff and said, "are you ready to take my picture?"
So, there he was, waiting....
He would alternate looking at the side window, he sat on the front porch for over an hour waiting, we started taking silly pictures while we waited and he waited some more....



And then the time finally came---only ten more minutes until he was off into the big world of kindergarden---I of course frantically tried to make sure I had taught him everything he needed to know---you know the basics: use your good manners, raise your hand if you want to say something, don't tuck your shirt into your underwear, i love you and i'm so proud of you!
And he was off---just like that, no turning back, he's off! I love him so much! (and he looked so dang cute too!)Now to these two little guys wondering what's going on---Adam waved and said, "OOOOh, bye Gack" and of course he will be so excited to see his "Ju Ju" when she gets home.
Luke is just chillin wondering where all the noise has gone, he'll quickly remember that Adam makes enough noise for everyone!

this just makes me happy...

Luke is becoming more and more smiley everyday---it's so cute! It definitely makes up for the fussy times---he's growing and changing everyday and we just love him!

Ok, I know that I typically use my blog just for cute pictures of the kids, etc., but I cannot resist commenting on this! I saw this and I just laughed--why? Because how could it be possible that pegging your jeans could be cute again??--seriously, some things are meant to stay in the past, the junior high past! The most hilarious thing is that these jeans are said to be over $300 jeans---but, just think we could all join in the trend and just borrow our husband's jeans and peg the bottoms!
I told Aaron that I am so not ready to embrace this and he said he was and that he loved the days of pegged pants--so, if you see him at the next family party with pegged jeans, just remember he's being fashion forward!

Well, I have to admit-I am not a summer person, I don't like the heat and I get really excited for fall this time of year. I took Julia and Jack school shopping yesterday and I have to say I still get really excited to buy school supplies, just like I did when I was little. It somehow brings me back to the days of walking to Target with my sister, Cricket, with two dollars and buying spiral notebooks and pens and then a soft pretzel for lunch---back then you could buy all that for $2!
So, we got all their stuff, some really cute clothes (another thing that I get more excited about than they do!) and we went to see Kung Fu Panda and out to pizza. It was really fun to have a day with just Julia and Jack and just be able to hang out with them and joke around with all their silliness. Thanks to Aaron for staying home with Adam and Luke.
Then today we had Aaron's work party & I can only explain this annual event as a kid's dream come true. There is unlimited snow cones, cotton candy, ice cream truck with all different kids of ice cream treats, games, etc. I loved watching Jack go on the rock wall in making it look effortless for a five year old and Adam go flying down the huge blow up slide without blinking an eye and Julia was so good to keep up with Adam and Luke was happily asleep for this whole event!

It was so much fun to have family come up for Luke's blessing. The kids had a blast playing with cousins and it was just so fun to hang out, eat and talk with everyone. Luke is such a great little guy and it's so much fun to see him smiling and making fun little baby noises!



The Caribou County Fair is the huge event for the first week of August every year here in Grace. Well, Julia and Jack wanted to ride their bikes in the kids' parade really bad. So, I got them a bag of candy to throw out to people and we got there all ready to go and the funniest part of it is that I'm pretty sure every child in Grace is in the parade, leaving only a few people to actual watch the parade! The whole thing is only about 3 floats and then just a bunch of kids on bikes and scooters!