Saturday is a Special Day....

Today I bottled 28 quarts of pears with a friend.  And LOST four!  Four. Quarts. Of. Pears.  painful...
The fruit flies, which appear every year during canning season, have really blossomed today.  I went from having a few irritating flies here and there to a full swarm take over of my kitchen.

Those small black dots represent a small sampling of the fruit fly family reunion happening in my kitchen right now.

Roy was gone today.  He walked to the temple with the youth of our church.  They walked pretty near 26 miles.  Perhaps some of you remember when I did that last year.  Roy kept saying, "I knew I couldn't wash out.  Not after you did it last year."  Yeah, and it turned out I was pregnant at the time!  He made it -although it wasn't pretty.  A was laughing at daddy "walking like a baby".  Yeah, we're all full of sympathy up in here.

The kids had a great day.  D took off to a friend's house with instructions to return if his mom said no. I didn't see him for 5 hours.  K and A did their chores then had friends over to play.  Much fun was had by all.  It may take some time to recover the room from all the fun that was had.

Baby C man spent time playing, sleeping, eating, rolling and such baby things.  Just another day for him!

Rain Gutter Regatta

D's first rain gutter regatta at cub scouts was tonight.  The boys made their boats at scouts last week.  D brought his home and asked to paint it.  Apparently he understood how I work because he took matters into his own hands and colored his boat himself . . . . .with washable markers.

D was also awarded his Wolf merit badge and 3 arrow points.  In no small part, thanks to his grandmas for helping him while he was in Utah this summer.  All year since he turned 8 I've thought, "We need to work on scouts but we've got time."  Then, the night before he left for Utah, I was dozing off and jerked awake with a realization that we were out of time!  He would be a bear in little over a month!  Fortunately he had more done that I thought.  And the rest he worked on with his grandmas.  So he did it!  This year I vow to do better at working on his scout stuff.  Starting next month.

Proudly holding up his awards in a baggie.  He had to "fish" for them.

The boys and their boats.

 The girls got to make little pool noodle boats to race each other.  They thought it was pretty fun too!

Reading with big brother D

First Day of Preschool

A is going to preschool this year.  She is the first of any of our kids to go to preschool.  D had no preschooling.  K was part of a co-operative preschool with three other families.  I did the same co-operative preschool with A and three of her friends last year.  This year as I was trying to find people to do co-op preschool with, I wasn't finding the interest.  All of the friends we did it with last year would be attending preschools so they weren't an option.  I was praying for help in finding people who would be a good fit and interested in trading teaching days.  I just kept having a name come to me but I was hesitant to call because I knew her son was going to some preschool somewhere.  Finally I went ahead and called Wendy though.  She referred me to a woman in her ward to has a small preschool in her home.  It is nothing official, not licensed or anything.  She doesn't charge.  She is a retired teacher with many grandchildren in the area.  She started this preschool for them but accepts others who are interested.  A class has 5 kids in it.  Fortunately she knew 3 of them before starting but not very well.

A has been super excited to go to Miss Pam's Preschool, as she calls it.  When people ask A if she's in school she tells them she goes to "Miss Pam's".

She was a bit nervous today.  We visited Pam's house once before school started but this was different.  I was actually going to leave her here today!  I stayed with her for a few minutes to get her started on her first coloring picture.  Once she was coloring, I gave her a kiss and told her good-bye.  She was great.  A gets nervous about new things but she doesn't usually cry or throw a fit.  She just gets really reserved.
When I came back to pick her up she was happy.  She wasn't real chatty but hopefully as she gets more comfortable she'll talk more.

Updated September 12, 2013
Today was the second day of preschool. I was the first one to arrive to pick up my child.  The kids hadn't had time to go outside to play yet.  So when she saw me she was really disappointed.  She told me I was mean because I came to pick her up.  Me thinks she likes preschool!

Happy Birthday D!

That's right -- homemade ice cream cake.  Boo-yeah!

My first baby turned 9 years old today.  It is hard to believe he is that old and yet it seems as if he has always been a part of my life.  We are so lucky to have him in our family, and lucky that he's the big brother of all the rest of our brood.  D is a great big brother.  He is so kind and helpful  - oh my goodness the helpfulness of that kid!  He is so good to do what I ask when I ask him to do it (usually, I mean he is a kid).

He loves to read.  His favorite books right now are the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.  He also loves Boxcar Children, Garfield, Roald Dahl, National Geographic for Kids (anything they put out).
His favorite food is peanut butter and honey sandwiches.  He makes them himself now because he's so big!  I guess if a guy can fly in an airplane by himself he's big enough to make his own sandwich.  He also loves anything chocolate but doesn't care too much for caramel.
Right now his life's ambition is to become an architect.  This is a change in the last year or so.  He has spent all his life until now wanting to be a train engineer.  He's gotten into Lego's and building things.
He says his favorite part of school is recess.  That may be true but I think he really likes school.  Science, math and reading are what he really enjoys doing.  Writing, not so much.
He's a good artist and dances.  For some reason he doesn't care too much for singing.  I don't know if it is his age or what but we can't get him to sing.  We are a pretty sing-y family so this seems strange to me.  Perhaps it is a private rebellion.
D told his dad that lately he's felt drawn to learning about the Revolutionary War and Colonial times.  Thing is, when D is drawn to learn about something, he will do it of his own accord.  He is a lot like Roy in that Roy was interested in history at a young age.
D is a good bike rider and trampoline jumper.  He is creative in his play and likes to create treasure hunts and obstacle courses for his sisters and friends.
Roy and I are just so proud of this wonderful, intelligent, creative, funny, loving boy we call D-man.

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school for my "bigs".  K is off for her first day of all day school -- first grade!  And D is headed back to school for third grade.  This is a big year for him too because he's had the same teacher for the last two years, or basically for as long as he can remember.

I think the point of her smile is to show off her lack of teeth!
Also, she found this shirt hiding in my sewing pile.  It is a 4T.
I planned on using it to make a pillow.

K and her girly friends from the neighborhood.  There's only one friend missing.
Imagine our house when they all come to play! No wonder D wants to hide in his room with a book! 

Such a good looking young man.  This camera angle is funny on this but he is getting so tall.  He's only a head shorter than me.  Also, this is the only new school shirt he got this year, but it is a fun one!

Next week A starts preschool so I'll post her picture then.  Happy back to school-ing everyone!

Baby C: 6 months

• 6 month check up this month:
• 26.88 inches long, 61st percentile
• 13 lb 10.5 oz, 0 percentile
• "He looks great but he is small.  Start him on solids and let him eat as much as he wants."
• Started solids this month.  So far he's had peaches, oatmeal and green beans.  Peaches was his first food. I let him suck/gum off a fresh peach when we went peach picking with friends.  He loved it and didn't want me to take it away.

• Really figured out rolling this month.  It's still funny to come back and find he's not where I left him.  The kids all get a big kick and exclaim every time he rolls over.
• Left him for the first time with a babysitter this month for a couple hours while Roy and I went out to dinner.  He was good but so happy to see me when I got back.  I could tell he missed me because he was wiggling all over the place.  He kept looking up and me and grinning

•  He is sleeping through the night fairly consistently -- enough so that I feel picked on when I  have to get up with him.
• So happy all the time.  He smiles and squeals and squeaks.  He wiggles and kicks and flaps.  He arches his back when he's laying down so much that only the top of his head and his heels touch the floor.
• He sleeps with 2 binkys.  One for his mouth and one for his hand so he won't grab the binky out of his mouth.  He is really fidgety when he's falling asleep.  He also sleeps with a baby afghan that he likes to stick his fingers through and  clench in his hands.
• He is getting very coordinated with his hands.  He can find his own binky and put it in, reach for toys, grab faces, pull hair, play with toys, etc.

Trying to reach the camera