Carter's Preschool

Carter's preschool had picture day a few weeks ago. There are 7 girls and 3 boys in his class - I guess that works for him since he's used to girls out numbering boys.

My Allie girl, I love taking pictures of her almost as much as she loves having her picture taken! Carter's first day of preschool. I can't believe that I have all 4 kids in school at one time (even if its only for 2 hours, 3 days a week). I can't believe that he is big enough for school and I dread the day that I can't pick him up and squeeze him! I thought that I would get so much done while he was at school but now I find that I am busier than ever and I don't know where my time is going, augh! The girls first day of school. They all get on the bus together and then come home together in the afternoon. I love that they have each other! Crazy Faces (I should also mention here that I basically took the whole summer off of fixing hair. It just wasn't my thing and I didn't take the time to do it. They were still clean kids, just not fixed-up kids.) Introducing -Noodle the Doodle- Sometimes I like having a dog, other times I wonder what I was thinking! It's hard to be the mom that doesn't want a dog when the whole rest of the family wants a dog so bad. I am really taking one for the team with this dog! He is very well behaved and I'm not allergic to him so those are both pro's but he likes to follow me around the house after the kids go to bed and I wish he understood me when I tell him, "This is my alone time!!!!" Noodle is a labradoodle, he was born in May, he loves the river just as much as the rest of the family and yes, he is way bigger than I thought he would be!

The Boise River

One of our favorite things here is the river and now we wonder how we ever lived without a river close. We go to this spot a lot because it has a pretty shallow spot that the girls can float around on tubes safely and then a place to play in the sand or build a dam or read a book. We also see little water snakes and tiny fish. A great way to spend a summer day!

Bear World - Rexburg Idaho

We had a blast at this place. You could drive your car around a little forest and see the bears, wolves, deer, and other animals right out your car window. Susan was there just a few years ago and it was pretty cheap. We went and it is now $75 per car and it only takes about 10 minutes to drive through but we decided it was worth it because we had crammed about 11 of us in my van. So we drove through 3 times and laughed a little harder each time and then we spent a lot of time in the little petting zoo and on kiddie rides. We had so much fun.

Yellowstone

The kids and I took a little mini-vacation with some of my family. My niece Katie was performing in the opera at BYU-Idaho and so we drove the 4+ hours to watch her. While we were there we drove up into yellowstone. For kids yellowstone is kind of just a day in the car, they kept asking when are we going to be there and I would say, "we are there!" It was still a lot of fun! This is most of our group by a pretty waterfall above Jenny's Lake A boat ride around Jenny's lake We stopped at some "hotpots" and they stunk like sulfer. There was all this mist coming up off the ground and it really was pretty gross, but everyone else was walking around taking pictures so we followed suit. Notice the buffalo in the background. Carter didn't want to be in this picture but I had Hanna hold him there and told him he would thank me for it one day :) I'm sure there will come a time when he wonders if he saw a buffalo when he was in Yellowstone and now I have the picture to prove he did! As a side note: Old Faithful went off while we were eating lunch about a mile away and we saw the steam shooting up in the air. The traffic was so bad that we decided that was good enough because we didn't want to wait another 90 minutes for it to go off again. Now I'm thinking maybe we are pary poopers!

Camping

We went camping with both of our extended families this summer and had so much fun. I took my camera on one trip and not the other :( These pictures are with the Melling family, we went up Beaver mountain and the highlight for the kids was this little lake that had canoes, lifejackets and ores. They took at least 10 laps each day. There are 25 grandkids in the Melling family so here are some random shots of those that were there the one time I got my camera out.

Sara's Baptism

Allie's 6th Birthday

I know, its been awhile since I've blogged! So here are some pictures to catch up. I'm not even going to promise to do better because I know myself too well :) She is growing out of being a princess but not when she saw this dress. It was just too tempting. It's hard to be the only boy at a girl party, good thing Carter had his truck for company Allie on the slip-n-slide Allie wanted a ball cake like the one she had for her 3rd birthday (that works for me because it was one I threw together in about 2 minutes, not hard to duplicate) Allie's BFF Kelsie! The two of them are so funny together.

Allie's teeth

Allie lost her first tooth (bottom front) about a week ago and she was so excited. The one right by it came out a day or two later and the tooth fairy came again. Now she lost one top front tooth today and she looks so cute. Every time she comes up talking to me I can't help but smile. I love a 6-year-old grin! This tooth has been loose for a few weeks (maybe even months) but she keeps saying that she wont pull it out until her birthday (which is Saturday). Today she was eating a cucumber (whole- just like you would eat a carrot) and it popped out. She was laughing so hard. I had to post these pictures right away because she looks so old and different, but I didn't want to post them before all of the other things I've been meaning to post this month. So these teeth are responsible for my spending the whole night blogging (8 new posts) and Hanna making dinner and Scott doing the dishes. Thanks teeth! I love you Allie!

Soccer

Both Hanna and Sara have been playing spring soccer. Hanna's team is the yellow jackets and Sara's is the green eagles (Sara wanted green grasshoppers but the team voted her down). They have learned a lot and its been fun! Last game is Saturday and I've only taken the camera one time so the top two pictures are Sara and the bottom two Hanna.

Sara's Birthday

Sara had a week long birthday extravaganza! On her birthday she had a dance recital and soccer game and grandparents visiting so we couldn't have her party but we had frog cupcakes. She asked for a frog habitat for her birthday and she got it with 2 real live tree frogs. Then on Monday she had her "school birthday" so I made another batch of frog cupcakes (as per her request). Then the next Saturday we had a friend birthday party and she requested a fish cake (We were running late so I spent about 20 minutes on it...again, not my best work). We had friends over to play outside and then went swimming then back to the house for cake and ice cream. I thought I had it all planned out but we were running late after swimming because I didn't realize that it would take 6 - 8 year old girls 30 minutes to get ready after swimming. I thought at 8 years old they could put on their clothes and call it good, no need for hair-drying. Finally at the 30 minute point I told them that we had to go or their parents would be waiting at our house to pick them up. The girls all had a blast. I am so grateful for this girl. She is so spunky and fun and she always keeps me on my toes. She was at a friends house the other day and each of the 3 other kids asked at different times, "why is it so quiet?" Sara keeps us all entertained and she rarely complains that she is bored because she is so good at finding something fun to do, creating a new game or reinventing an old one. She is a great older sister to Carter and Allie and includes them in her fun, and she is a great younger sister to Hanna and I am happy that they are each others best-friend. I am so blessed to be her mom!