Jason's baptism

Along with his 8th birthday came Jason's opportunity to be baptized.  He was really excited about it.

My parents and Jared's came, and Jared's sister, Amy.  We had a great weekend together. 

The meeting was really nice, with friends and family together.  When Jason came up out of the water, Allie exclaimed "Whoa!!" which made us all laugh.

We are so proud of Jason.  He is such a good, sweet boy, and we love him so much.

A few good pictures

I love this picture! 

 I think she looks like a minion in this one.  Or maybe just a little nerd.

 I thought she might like some chocolate pudding.  She did.  It actually looked much, much worse by the time she was done with it.  I learned that babies and chocolate pudding aren't really a good mix.

Apparently I forgot that I had already learned that lesson 6 years ago.

Jason's Best Birthday Ever

My kids look forward to their 8th birthday because it's the one time they get to have a big party with friends.  Usually we just have a little family party.  I really hate doing kids parties, that's why we do it that way.

There are a lot of kids in our neighborhood, and they all play together.  So inviting just a few of them wasn't really an option.  So with all those kids, and his friends from school, there were going to be 21 kids.  Insane, I know.  I kept telling myself it's his only party, and it's just for an hour and a half.  It became my mantra in the days leading up to the party.



I wasn't insane enough to put a stick in the hands of all those kids, so the boys did their own pinata on Jason's actual birthday, which was Wednesday (we did the party on Friday). 

 And we had cake that day, too.

 At the big party we had colorful cupcakes and icecream.  Allie wandered aound trying to jam candles into everyone's cupcakes.

 We played 3 games: musical "papers" (no chairs, that would have been impossible, since we only own 5), a game where the kids stood on a chair and tried to drop Q-tips into a jar, and a fishing game, which was a huge hit.  It's always the favorite thing at little carnivals, that's why I decided to do it.  I wish I'd taken  more pictures, but I was too busy running the show.

Instead of a pinata, I got the idea from Pinterest to fill balloons with candy and little toys, and let each kid take turns picking one and popping it with a pin.  They loved it!  And there were no blindfolded kids swinging sticks around, which is always a good thing. 
The party was Insane Chaos.  Joey and his friend Albeny were lifesavers, I couldn't have done it without them.  All the kids had a blast, and Jason said it was the best birthday EVER. 

New Pictures

You may have noticed our new picture at the top, now with Allie in it.

Thanks to my wonderful friend, Katie, we have beautiful family pictures again:

 Thirteen years

 Handsome boys.

 Allie wasn't very cooperative.

 But cute, nonetheless.

Beautiful, aren't they?  Thanks so much, Katie!! 

opinions

 This girl is getting opinions.  My mom gave her these little shoes that squeak when she walks and she brings them to me all the time so I can put them on her.  They're her favorite.  Today I pulled out this raincoat that my sister loaned me and Allie stuck her arms out so I could put it on her (which she's never done before) and would not take it off all day.   Even when she played in this little pool and got the sleeves soggy wet, she wouldn't take it off.  When I would start to undo it she'd throw a fit, crying and swinging her arms at me and grabbing the coat.  It seems she's turning kind of bratty; she moved a little bit closer to 2 today.

Something new, at least

Okay, enough of "School's Over."  I need to revitalize this blog, it's getting a little stale.  The problem is I don't have much to say at the moment.  So maybe some pictures? 

 Eating rocks. YUMM!

Jason teasing his sister by putting grass on her head.

Something feels weird up there . . .

We took a trip to Idaho last weekend and had a great time with my family. 

There was a huge hail storm which was really cool.  And yummy; the kids gathered it and ate it.

The best part was bringing home salamanders.  While we were there we had 3 in a container, which escaped during the night into the house (Milissa was not happy about that, and who can blame her, eh?).  So we got 2 more, then found the three fugitives.They are really smelly, and eat nasty slugs and worms, so I'm not sure how long they'll be staying.

 Allie wasn't always thrilled about Grandma.  She has no idea what she's missing out on.  It won't be long before she knows grandma is way more awesome than mom.

It was a good vacation.
Hmm.  Idaho.  That seems like a nice place to live . . .

Summer is Over

Is it just me, or was this the shortest summer on record?

It makes up for last summer, which was the LONGEST.
This was the summer we waited and worried about Jared's job. We didn't do a whole lot else, besides takin' it easy, but it was still a blast. Next summer I'm doing a bucket list, so we get more fun packed in.

We spent a lot of time at Seven Peaks.  Only it wasn't until the very end of the summer that the boys agreed to try out some slides, and discovered they loved them. 

We spent a lot of time in the lazy river, wave pool and kid's pool.




This is what we named "The Water Jumpy Thingy."  I got the idea from Five Real Moms.  You duct tape two shower curtain liners together and fill it with water, and literally chill out on it.  Very cool.  Only I forgot about it and killed a big patch of grass.  Oops!



We watched baseball games

Tyler learned how to ride a bike (sometimes with the handlebars backwards, as shown here).  At the beginning of the summer we didn't have much hope for him.  He had absolutely no balance.  But he stuck with it, and was SO proud of himself when he finally took off.

Now he and Dougie can ride around together.He also lost his first tooth on his first day of first grade. 

Back to school!  So far, so good.  They all say their teachers are nice, which is the most important thing, if I recall correctly.  They have friends in their classes and a good time at recess, so their lives are good.  I am enjoying my very long and quiet days with just Allie and me.  Unfortunately I'm already out of bon bons, and I can't stand Soaps anymore, so I'll just have to get my house clean, play with my baby and sew some fun projects.  It's a hard life, I know.