New Tricks

In the last few weeks Brinley has learned how to do all sorts of new tricks!

First was this one:

She grabs both of her feet and pulls them up and out as far as she can. Now she is starting to pull them to her mouth.

And she's working on this:

trying to sit up. She pulls her head and shoulders off the ground.

Last night she started doing this:

push ups on her big toes. Yes, she's got her whole body off the ground! And in doing so, she pushes herself backwards. She'll keep going until she backs into something and gets stuck. But usually she goes until she finds something to play with. Like a cleat.

Back to School

Another school year has begun! We went down last week and met the boys' teachers. So far we all seem to like them both. Tristan is now in 4th grade, and he'll be in Mr. Lee's class. Jasen is going into 2nd grade, and he'll be in Ms. Sneddon's class. I am happy that their classrooms are in the same pod. I like knowing that they are close to each other. Plus it's handy for when I go to the school to visit!

Library

So today was a rare day for us. I had absolutely nothing on my to-do list all day until football practice in the evening. Whatever will we do with ourselves? We decided to head to the library. Tristan and Jasen picked out some books, and Hunter got his very own library card! He was so excited! As soon as he got his card, he picked out the first 3 books he saw to check out. And then he sat right down at a table to read while he waited for the rest of us to finish picking our books. After we got done there, we hit the Smoothie King for some smoothies. The older boys had received coupons for free smoothies from school during the last school year, and they even had an extra one for Hunter. So each boy got his own free smoothie, and they were so happy. It was a great way to spend a morning!

Hunter with is new library card

Happy Birthday

Happy 29th Birthday Cahl! We love you old man!!!

Swimming Lessons

After we got back from Idaho in July, the boys began swimming lessons. Even though we don't have a pool, swimming lessons are something that we have had the boys doing every summer for the last 5 years. I just really believe that no matter how often you swim, you should know how. Lessons here are given in 2 week sessions. I was able to sign Tristan and Jasen up for 3 sessions (6 weeks) and Hunter up for 2 sessions (4 weeks).

Tristan has been in lessons every year since he was 4. Tristan started in level 3, and he passed after the first session. Since lessons only go to level 4, and they don't offer level 4 at our pool, we decided that he could be done with lessons now. He really is a good swimmer, and I don't worry too much about him.

Jasen has been in lessons since he was 3. This year Jasen started in level 2. He passed level 2 after the second session. So his last session was in level 3, and he also passed that! I do feel pretty confident in his abilities, but I think maybe next year he'll do level 3 one more time just as a reminder course.






Hunter has never been in lessons before. So he started in the very beginner class- preschool level 1, which is for 3-5 year olds who have never had any lessons before. Hunter loves the water, but before lessons he was also pretty skittish in the pool. He always wore floaties, and never liked to come off the steps. Now, after lessons, he's doing great. He loves to hold onto the side of the pool and kick, blow bubbles in the water, wade out and get a ring. After 2 sessions, Hunter passed! I am so proud of him! He is much more comfortable in the water, and even lets us hold him to float and practice his kicks and arms. So swimming lessons are done for us this summer. But it was fun and the boys all did great! I am proud of each one of them for passing their classes.

Football Party

Tristan and Jasen 's end-of-season football party was today. It was so nice to get together with everyone and hang out for a bit. Then of course came the trophies! Coach always gives a little speech about each kid before he gives them their trophy, and the boys were both stoked.

About Jasen he said that he had made a ton of progress during the last season, and he was so proud of hard Jasen plays for being on of the smallest kids on the team. And he mentioned how Jasen was the only kid to use a double leg takedown to tackle someone!

About Tristan he said that he was one of the best players on the peewee team, that he was a great teammate. Always helping the younger kids, and doing a great job where ever they needed him. As a midget player, coach said that Tristan showed a lot of heart for being one of the smaller kids on the team. But that he really stepped up and showed what a good player and team assest he is.

Cereal

Today we gave baby B a little rice cereal for the first time. I think she liked it. She made the most sour face every time the spoon went in, but then she would start pushing it around with her tongue and smiling.

Hot Tub

So Cahl found this really awesome hot tub on craigslist- for free. Yes, FREE! It is 8x11 feet, and it took a crane to get it out of the guys backyard and into ours. Luckily we know a guy with a crane! It is older, and needed a little work, but we got it up and running in a few days. We still need to repaint it, and get it moved to where we want it permanently, but so far everyone has been loving it!

School Awards

Today was the boys' end-of-the-school-year award ceremony.

Once again, Jasen made the straight A Honor Roll! We are so incredibly proud of him. He has had straight A's all year long, in fact, he has had them for 2 straight years! His teacher, Ms. Elwell, has just been wonderful. She has always encouraged him to go so far ahead because she knows he can. And he has truly excelled in school. His grade levels are all well above average. He is reading and writing at a significantly higher level, and surpassed all the goals she has set for him throughout the year. In fact, he passed the 1000 sight words, and is already 200 into the sight phrases. He was so proud to have his picture taken with the principal and vice principal, and hung up in the hallway Sight Words Superstars gallery. The best thing about Jasen, is that he is just so happy to learn. He loves school and it really shows.

Jasen at the Sight Word Superstar gallery

with his picture

Jasen

Tristan received the Citizenship Award, and we are so proud of him as well. He has worked very hard this year at his school work, and has made progress in raising his grades. He still has a ways to go, but his goal for next year is to be on the A-B honor roll, and I am pretty confident that he can do it if he stays dedicated. Once we got him into a better class this year, he made serious progress as well. Tristan does better with a stricter, more structured environment, and that is exactly what Ms Schrader gave him. She also went above and beyond with him, by sending home extra phonics packets for him to do, and helping get him into an after school tutoring program. Doing that, along with his spelling words and sight words every night really helped bring his grades up. I can see the difference just when I am doing his homework with him. And it's so great to see him getting excited about doing his homework, because he knows he can do well if he puts out the effort. Now he takes books to his room and I can hear him reading out loud, and he's doing such a good job.

Tristan

D is for Diva

Yep, I said it. My daughter is already a diva! Brinley is right about 4 months old now, and she is so fun. She is such a happy baby- but only if she has things her way! She is a diaper snob, a diaper rash cream snob, a formula snob, and a nipple snob. She only uses regular Huggies diapers- the other kinds give her a rash. She only uses Burt's Bees rash cream- it is also the kind I used for Hunter because it works so well. Since I was only able to breast feed her for 5 weeks, she is on formula. And she only drinks milk based formula- goat's milk and soy formula make her constipated. And she only takes a certain kind of bottle nipple- which I had to find on ebay! And no binkies. She's never been a binky fan, and absolutely knows the difference. Oh yes, we are in for trouble with this one! She knows what she likes and that's that! But we sure love her anyway.


Here are some of the things she's doing now:


She loves to sleep in her swing, just like Hunter did. She takes all her naps during the day in her swing, but she sleeps in her own bed all night.


She sleeps pretty well at night. She goes for about 5 hours the first stretch, and then after she has a new bottle, she'll sleep another 5 hours or so till we get up.


She loves to kick her legs. She kicks them down so hard, but she's always so happy when she does. She'll also kick like that when she's really tired in her bed, as she's going to sleep.


She loves loves loves to dance! And she loves to be sung to.


She talks all the time. She'll talk to anyone who'll listen, including checkers at the grocery store!


She can roll over both ways. She rolls back to front mostly. She can roll front to back too, but she doesn't do it very often. She did it once and scared herself so bad she hasn't done it again since! It was pretty cute!


She is SO chubby! Her cheeks are so big, she looks like a chipmunk! And she has rolls on top of rolls on her legs! We weighed her a few weeks ago and she was 14 pounds!


She loves to be outside. Especially if there is a breeze. She gets so happy when the wind is blowing her hair. A lot of times I blow in it, and she smiles so big.


We got her a Bumbo chair a few weeks ago, and she loves to sit in it. I think she'll be starting cereal soon, because she likes to sit with us at the table and have little tastes of everything.


The other day I caught her sucking her thumb. So cute!


She loves the bath! She gets so excited when she hears the water, and she kicks and splashes so much.



Her hair is starting to fill in, but she still has the funniest bald spot in the back!

Family Fun Day

We decided to take the kids out for Family Fun Day one Saturday last month. We had been wanting to take them to the Atomic Testing Museum for quite a while, so when I found some super cheap tickets online, I jumped on them. The museum basically chronicles the test site- why and when it was made, what they did out there, some things anyway! ;) and stuff like that. Cahl's grandpa Del worked out at the test site for many many years, as well as Cahl's mom, dad, and an uncle at various times. The boys were really excited to go, and it was really neat to see what Grandpa did. During the building of the museum, people could buy a sponsorship brick, and grandpa and Cahl's uncle both bought one, so the boys were also pretty excited to find those. You're not allowed to take any photos inside, so we were pretty relieved to find that the bricks are outside!

The boys sitting around Grandpa's brick

Grandpa's brick

Uncle Dan's brick

After the museum, we went to lunch and then on to miniature golf! There is a place here that is indoor, and all under black lights. So it's pretty cool. I was hoping the pictures would show how it looked with the lights, but they just came out regular. We didn't keep score, but the boys all had a great time!

After mini golf, we hit the bowling lanes! We played 2 rounds, and we all had a lot of fun. Well, except Tristan who pouted because we wouldn't let him bowl with bumpers up. And he did just fine without them! Jasen did amazing! He bowls both right and left handed, and he came in second place! Hunter had a grand time! This was his first time bowling, and Cahl helped him use the little ramp thing, and he also insisted on doing it without a few times. Personally, I like to think of bowling like golf- the lower your score the better. So in my book I rocked!! But of course, I lost miserably! But I don't mind. As long as your having fun right??

Wow! I actually hit one!!

Cahl helping Hunter

Check out Jasen's form! Pro in training!

Tristan