Like father...

like son.
Talmage has always been very logical and orderly, a lot like his father (in the way they think). I have never really thought of teaching Talmage chess because I figured he was too young. I also don't enjoy strategy games because I'm a sore loser so I haven't played in a long time. I think I've gotten better with my emotions, but it's still not my favorite thing.


Recenty our babysitter (thanks Rebecca) introduced him to chess and he really enjoys it. Lucky for me Daddy gets to play with him. Daddy is also really good with him about looking for other pieces that could kill his piece and helping him along. Talmage would play every day if he had time :). It's funny to me to see how individual each child is in their interests :). I'm grateful that Jeff is willing to play with him and has the patience to teach him!

Outside fun

My kids have really been enjoying being outside lately. With all the rain we had recently our grass is even green again :). I'm glad that Sandra and Grant have been getting along so well with Talmage in school. Here they are standing on the swings together.


If you couldn't tell, they are being super heros with their blankets. They both like to swing and slide to get the blankets to look like they are flying. She likes to go slowly, but will go fast if I encourage her. Then she needs claps, me to say "good job" and hugs.


Here is the our little Mhari out playing in the grass. She and Cody love to be outside too so during the morning we have some outside time. Doesn't she look so happy (and dirty)!

Starting School

The day has finally come to start school. I'm not sure that the two boys smiles have the same enthusiasm, but I guess that may be expected. Jeff officially started school last week and was busy with school stuff weeks before that. He is starting his first year of law school so this is a big transition for our family. He likes it and is keeping up thus far on his classes. That is a good thing since we hear that the first year is the killer year!


Here is our first born so excited to start school this morning! Talmage has been counting down the days and was very fast about getting ready to go. He likes his class and teacher and has a friend from church in another class that he played with on the playground. After school he said that his favorite day is a school day. I sware he was made for school!


I told him to give me a big "I love kindergarten smile" and here it is! Jeff dropped him off and walked him into class and I picked him up (thanks again Maria for the help). It was so fun to see him in class raising his hand, sitting on the rug, and following instructions. Yes it's only the first day and I'm sure he won't love every minute of school, but so far so good :)!


His teacher had a goodie bag and a certificate for all of the kids in his class for doing such a great job on their first day! We are so happy for Talmage and look forward to many more days, months, and years of good school experiences :).

Getting help

So Mhari has been growing and discovering and accomplishing new things. That is always fun and sometimes scary. She recently discovered that she can stand up with the step stools and then try to climb to reach the trash. Fun times. She did not accomplish her goal, but...


Cody (the boy we babysit) did and was such a great teacher that Sandra almost made it. I had the kids take the stools out of the kitchen. I just know she is going to grow up way to fast and it doesn't help having someone a little older around to help lead the way :).


I was making dinner the other night, or some such Mommy job, and Mhari was unhappy because she had run out of food. I asked Sandra to give her some more cheerios for me. When I looked over (a few minutes later) she was feeding her the rest of the applesauce that was still waiting. What a good sister to help out. It was pretty funny that I just had to take some pictures. I was pretty surprised at how good she was doing too. I'm sure Mhari didn't mind the extra help either :).

Ladies and Gentlemen...

We went to the circus last night as a family and it was so fun! The only complaint was at the beginning when the kids weren't used to how loud it was. Talmage at the end said he loved every part of it. The kids are now playing circus at home. I'm a little worried about some of the things they may have learned from the circus... like trying to do flips or walking on tight ropes :). So far so good though. 

They asked when we are going to go again. It is a special event thing and I think that is difficult to explain to kids, let alone doing fun things that cost money. We were able to get the kids tickets through the library reading program so we just had to purchase our adult tickets. We even parked at Jeff's school which was just down the street so that was free. It was a fun and relatively cheap family night. Here are some of the photos from the event. Just in case you wanted to feel like you went to the circus too :)!

 

Life...

So my little brother's wife had their baby last night! I was happy to hear the news. I tend to have large babies (Mhari was 10 lbs) as do my sisters, but I don't think any of us can compare to Joe and his kids! They had a baby boy and named him Joseph Arnold and he was 9 lbs 4 oz and 24 1/4 inches long! I had to verify that it was really 24 inches! How does a baby get that long? Crazy.
Well, here's my little one growing up so fast. Yes she stands up in the crib now. This photo was taken a week or so ago. She is almost always sanding when I come to get her now.


On more fun baby news... she is 8 months old now! I was trying to wake her up for church on Sunday so I took her picture. She still didn't wake up, but sleeping babies are so cute I had to share the photo :).


So we had a swim FHE with some friends last Monday night. Let's just say that Jeff isn't the swimming type. This is what he wore to the pool. I was laughing and had to take a picture. He didn't think he looked funny. He did have his swim suit on under his pants in case he had to get into the water. He did not get in though.


So for my birthday my friend got me a gift certificate to get a hair cut and high lights. Well, it's been a few months and I finally got it done. No, you can't tell I have high lights in the photo, but they are there. I would've gone more dramatic, but I'm not going to be keeping up on them so I wanted something that would grow out well. I tend to do my hair about like this when it is short, but there are only so many style options with thin hair. I think I like it. It is better than my thin long strands I used to have anyway.
So life is just moving along. I started babysitting this week for a lady in the ward so we have another little one around to keep us busy (he's almost 1). Otherwise we are gearing up for Jeff to start orientation tomorrow for school and then Talmage starts in another week and a half. I'm sure I'll have more fun things to post, but that's our life at this point :)

Window...

So I went upstairs to check on Talmage during quiet time today and I noticed something in the window. I was wondering what it was... hmmm, stickers, bugs, .....


Thankfully no, but it was lots of little animals. I know I've posted about his animal craze before, but this was something new and surprising even for him :). I was impressed how many he got up there and how well they are balanced (and in families too). The ones laying down are taking a nap, in case you were wondering.


Kids really are too funny. It's fun to see his little mind work. (I know they aren't the greatest photos, but there's not much to do when its' a picture of blinds in a window).

Garden Surprise!

So I was out watering and weeding the other day and I found a hidden surprise. Underneath the cucumber leaves was this huge cucumber. I hadn't seen it growing or anything, just bam there it was. I know from the picture it is hard to see how large it actually is so....


I took this photo to give you a size comparison. This one was seriously as large as one from the grocery store, if not bigger! I'm sure that I'm not the best gardener, but it felt good to grow something that I could actually eat (and was not a puny little sample of a vegetable)!


Isn't it so pretty cut up! It sure was good and Talmage and Grant liked it too. Maybe our garden has more surprises in store. I sure was grateful for this one though!