Catching Up

Hey!  Are you still there?  Not sure if anyone is reading this blog anymore, but I just kicked myself in the pants because I'm SO behind on this and the end of the year is approaching when I will need to print off this blog for our traditional memory book.  

So, I'll start at the very beginning...a very good place to start.  Deep breaths.  Here goes.

Most of these were still in the summer.

 The kids love to make card houses with their dad on the weekends.  It's a fun Sunday activity.

 Natalie was so excited to finally lose her first tooth!  And the tooth fairy remembered to come!  Hallelujah!

 We spent most every weekend at Cliff's Amusement park with our season passes.  It was way too much fun.  We will definitely buy the passes again.

 The kids loved the water park, except for how cold the water was.

 Our apple trees produced!  We jumped the gun picking some the first time because the kids were a little over eager, but we learned some patience and then got to enjoy the perfectly ripe ones later.  Fresh apples are the best!  It reminded me of Utah and working at the Red Barn.

 I took the kids swimming quite a few times over the summer so they could practice the skills they were learning at lessons.  Jane was good the first time and then decided that she didn't like to swim, so I spent most of the other times on the sidelines with her crying.

 But I got to watch these cute kids having fun and playing so well together.

 Rob set up the tent in the living room a few of the weekends and the kids enjoyed "camping".  Jane was still a bit too small, so I had her sleep in her bed.

 We had some really great rainstorms this summer, so the kids of course had to run and splash in the puddles.  It's a rarity here.

 Just wearing brother's dress-ups.

 The kids were really good about doing chores over the summer.  I cracked that whip!  Now's a different story.  School seems to throw a big wrench into chore-doing.

 We went to meet Natalie's teacher a few days before school started.

 Natalie and I matched on purpose one Sunday and had to get a photo.

 This was Natalie's first day of school.  Jane had to get in on the picture.  She was a little shy and worried at first, but she is loving it now.  Her teacher is great and she has some nice friends.

 The kids helped me make giant cookies for our first day of school tradition.  They helped me eat them too, thankfully.  In fact, they did that part a little too well.  I would have liked a little more. :)

 Natalie got her first pet, a sweet leopard gecko.  He lasted for a few months and then passed away this past week.  She was absolutely heartbroken, and cried all day, on and off.  She has always had a soft spot for animals.  Her daddy took her out the next day and got another one.  This time we are determined to keep it alive.  The first one was sickly after we first got him and didn't ever eat much.  They picked a nice fat one this time, so hopefully it will survive.

 Blake asked me to make him a Jack Skellington mask the one day, so I whipped this baby out with some scrap material.

 I took an old lady who I visit teach to the dr. one day and we ended up having to wait for 3 hours in the office.  These kiddos were so good for about 2 hours of it, and then they had enough.

 Luckily there were a few things to keep their attention.

I ran the Color Run 5k.  Rob had taken the other 2 kids camping, because he'd had it planned for months, so I went ahead and pushed Jane.  She was SO good, even with color powder flying everywhere.

 It was a fun race.

Here's the kids camping with Rob.  They met some of our friends there, who used to live here in Albuquerque and moved to Farmington, NM.  They had a great time.