Another School Year!

It's that time again - Yay for school! My kids were very excited for the school year to start again! This year Sandra gets to go to Preschool at the kids school. She was very excited! She has the same teacher Grant had so that is nice too. Doesn't she look cute all ready to go!


Grant is our big 1st grader this year. He was ready to get back to school. He has the same teacher Talmage had last year. He really likes her so far and is enjoying his new class!

Talmage has moved on to 2nd grade! It's amazing to me that he's already that old. He has two teachers this year - one for English and the other for math & science. He has a lot of the same kids from last year in his class too. He was very happy about that :).

We are getting back into the school schedule and picking up kids in the afternoon. The house is much quieter during the day, but I think Mhari misses her siblings. She is pretending school and walking around with a backpack when the kids get home. Other than that she is very happy to be around me so much (my little shadow). She has really gotten attached since I was gone to the hospital to have the baby. She loves the baby and we have been getting out on morning walks since it's just me and 2 kids again :). I'm looking forward to seeing all the great stuff my kids will learn and enjoying them as the grow up. It sure does go by faster than I thought it would!

2 Months Old!! - baby overload :)

It's hard to believe that's it's been 2 months since our little baby joined our family. Clark has just been growing like crazy! At his check up he was 15 lbs 10 oz and 23 3/4 inches long! That is off the charts for his weight and top for height. Who would've thought this was my smallest newborn? He has passed all of his siblings for their 2 month stats! Seriously that amazes me!

Here's some fun pictures of Clark over the last month or so :).

July 12th - too cute


July 9th - Getting some love from Mhari

Aug 3rd - loving the baby swing!

August 5th - Tummy time :)

August 6th - such a beautiful smile! He's getting much better at smiling all the time these days. I'll try to get some more good pictures of his adorable smile :).

August 13th - look how long he is!

Aug 13th - he can follow the mobile on the swing really well now!

August 19th - so plump sleeping baby. I love his little baseball outfit - too cute!

August 22nd - 2 months old! Mommy loves me!

Aug 22nd - Daddy loves me too! Look how big he is in Daddy's arms.

Aug 22nd - sleeping with Daddy ;)

Clark has spent the last few days sleeping a lot. I think he was finishing adding those last few ounces before his big weigh in today :). He's a really good baby thus far and we really enjoy having him as part of our family. He's definitely not a little baby anymore... they grow too fast!

Boys + Dress up = ?!?

So what do you think? There are some clues that make it pretty obvious, however, they are an interesting sight.
With all the different pieces making up their outfit I'm surprised that they are just cowboys. They each have a gun (Talmage's is the horse and Grant's is the green thing strapped under his belt), Talmage also has a canteen and a flashlight. I must say, I'm not sure how the flashlight pertains to the cowboy look though Grant is showing off his new bokagon (traded with a friend).
I will say out of all of the items my favorite are Talmage's snow shoes... I mean, cowboy boots ;). Maybe this is a sign that they need better selection to dress up with. Then again, maybe it's great to see what their imaginations can come up with using the random stuff in the dress up box!

I have a great idea for Halloween now :).

Look what I found!

The other week the kids came inside and said that they had found a praying mantis. I was like, sure, of course that's what it is... you know, some little bug that they think looks like a praying mantis...


Nope, the real thing. It looked so cool I just had to take a few pictures :)

The kids had so much fun looking at it. We had to go somewhere and when we got back it was still there. At one point Grant said to Talmage that he wanted to hold it. Next thing Grant knew, it jumped onto Grant's shirt. He then petted it. I guess I should have hung around longer with the camera! It's cool to see God's creations up close and personal. Well, at least the ones that don't bite, sting, or are just plain gross ;).

Ward Game Night!

A few weeks ago the activities committee arranged a game night. It was more like a carnival :). There were lots of little games for the kids, face painting, balloons, and races. Everyone had a great time! There was even a free throw competition for the bigger "kids". Jeff did awesome at that! He made 8 out of 10! I don't think anyone even got close to him :).

Here is Sandra with her face paint and balloons. She asked the lady to make her a kitty. She did a great job! This was her first try to make a kitty too. Too awesome!



Clark got some love from the ladies with the face paint... see his little heart :).

Jeff and Mhari both ended up with kitty faces :).

Here is Talmage doing the ring toss.

Grant pinning the tail on the donkey.

Grant and Talmage's faces - t-rex, and race car!

3 legged race... Talmage and Grant did great!

Mhari got a sword balloon. She really loved playing swords with the boys!

It was kind of crazy, but tons of fun. The night ended with a pie eating contest and ice cream sundaes! I'm glad we went and the kids really enjoyed themselves!!

Wipeout!

We love the show Wipeout! Every week we watch it together as a family. I'm sure there's something strange about bonding while watching people get smacked in the face, but nobody gets hurt... maybe that's why it's so great :).

With our new found love the kids have started to create obstacle courses to play their own wipeout games :). It started outside with the playground, but recently moved inside to the toy room. Last Tuesday Grant was playing Wipeout when I hear a loud scream as he comes to find me. He had blood on his face and a hole in his head... he really wiped out! I guess it's not as fun when someone really gets hurt :(.

With the look of the wound I knew we needed to get medical attention. It looked like a little y shape, accept it poked in making it look more like a puncture wound. We ended up at the local ER and after a good 3 hours he was finally being stitched up. I really hoped they would glue it shut, but since it was more of a puncture wound she opted to sew it up. Fun times.

Grant did great and was her "best patient ever, including adults"! If the wait at the ER wasn't so long it wouldn't have been any big deal. We all survived and Grant now has his first stitches...

Oh, and yes, they are right in the middle of his forehead... yah that's awesome. Good thing he doesn't have school pictures for a month or two!

The tricky part now is keeping him from running around like crazy so he doesn't re injure it. Let's just say that he's a very active boy and I really hope we can last till it's healed before he hits his head again!

Maybe the kids will be done playing wipeout for a while.

That ain't no Bull

For Family Home Evening last week Daddy played "bull" and all of the kids (accept the baby) got turns to ride the bull! It was fun to watch. Let's just say that we've got some future bull riders here :).

Sandra perfected the koala bear hold. It was really effective :).



Tipping forward.

Down she goes!

Talmage's turn... not as good of a hold.

Slipping.

Oh, got stuck under the bull!

Mhari's turn... no grip action here!

Whoa, that didn't last long :)

Grant's turn... looking good!

Still holding on...

Slipping off.

Jeff was a great bull. He was nice and slow and the kids clung onto him as they slowly slipped off. It took a while before they were all done with their turns. It made for a fun western family night :)

Aspiring Dentist?!

Grant and Talmage were rough housing last week. I guess Grant was being an animal and Talmage was winning (however you "win") so Grant put Talmage's hand into his mouth to bite it (like an animal play fighting). Ya, this sounds better and better as I type it out :).

Then, since Talmage didn't want to get bitten, he pulled his hand out of Grant's mouth and took his tooth with it!
First - Yes, it was a baby tooth! Oh, and it was already loose. I took him into the dentist to be sure there was nothing wrong and the dentist said he was surprised Talmage didn't get a two fer, since the other tooth was loose too.
Now Grant looks a little like a jack-o-lantern, but the other tooth will be joining it in a few months (per the dentist) - maybe in time for Halloween :).
Once it was out and didn't hurt Grant was really happy that he "lost" another tooth. Oh, and yes, Talmage was jealous that Grant lost another tooth before him! Crazy kids! I just hope Talmage doesn't try to make this a real profession and start with his own teeth just to catch up with Grant!

Blessing Day

On Sunday July 25th Jeff gave Clark Jeffrey Williams a name and a blessing. Jeff's parents were in town and so Jeff's dad was able to participate as well as Bro Carter, Bro Hamblin, and Bishop Gee. Jeff did a very nice job. It was very sweet to hear Jeff, a worthy priesthood holder, bless his son.

It was a tiring morning before church...

Mhari got a nap with Daddy.

Sandra took a nap in time out ...

and I found Grant asleep in quiet time ...

by the time it was time for church everyone was awake so we got a family picture :)

Daddy and baby Clark

Talmage and Clark

Grant and Clark

Mhari and Clark

Clark is a sweet baby. He's growing so well! He is really starting to fill out.

He even opens his eyes sometimes :)

Daddy sleeps like a baby too... Clark must be related to him ;)

It was a nice Sunday and it was great to have Jeff's parents here to share it with.