Taking advantage of the time

Okay so here's the thing, a lot of pictures have been taken the past couple months of various things we have done, but I haven't had time to post them. Well today my kids are sick so we stayed home from church. I decided what a great time to work on my genealogy aka blogging. So here are some miscellaneous pictures.

At preschool Taylor was learning about nursery rhymes and so she was to dress up as one of the characters. We decided to have her be Mary. I didn't have much notice but this is what I scrounged up.

I made her hook out of a corn dog box, cheesy I know.

Natalie was showing her age and was being a bit of a stinker and would get mad if she wasn't in the picture. She also had to have her own hook, I quickly made one for her with the scraps. Her face in this picture makes me chuckle.

Nathan was the Super Sun student in his class. He was very excited. We made a poster with information about him and he got to bring a bag with a few items that told more about him. On Friday the 3rd of September Nathan was able to present his poster and items. The girls and I were able to visit his classroom for the presentation. Afterwards all the kids in his class said something nice about Nathan and it was typed onto a certificate that was laminated for him to keep. The majority of the compliments were that he is funny and nice and a good friend. I would have to agree.

Over labor day weekend we went to Eagar . The biggest reason we went was so Preston and his brother and Brother-In-Laws could finishing reroofing his Dad's barn. This project was halfway done 4th of July weekend of 2008. Finally it worked out that the majority of the boys could be there to finish it. Here Preston is trying to look studly posing on the roof with his drill.

We also had a fun and relaxing time with family. The weather was great. Here is Natalie with her Grandpa S chilling out.Nana pushing Natalie on the T Swing. Natalie was not a huge fan of it but Nathan and Taylor sure are.

On Labor Day we all went out in the woods to have a picnic. This is half of the cousins that were there.

Natalie relaxing with Nana. Shortly after this picture Natalie took a nap in Nana's arms. Natalie had a fever that day and was pretty low key most of the day.
A random picture that Taylor asked me to take of her playing with a couple of her dolls. The doll on the right is named Julie. When I was a little girl I would play with this doll at my grandparents house so my Grandma named it Julie. After my Grandma passed away my Grandpa gave me the doll and now my girls play with it.

Our ward had a primary talent show where the kids could either perform or display their talent. Nathan brought his snowboard and some pictures of him snowboarding to display.

Nathan and Taylor also sang a primary song together.
Nathan received all his awards from scout day camp at the pack meeting in August.

The activity at the pack meeting was an egg drop. The boys were to design a container that was no bigger then 6" by 6" and that could hold the egg without it breaking when dropped. This was the lowest level it was dropped from. If you survived that round he went to the top of the ladder and then the last round he stepped on the container.

Checking his egg after the first drop to see if it passed.

Nathan made it through all 3 rounds without his egg breaking. He was so excited and happy that it worked, although he did want to throw an egg at the ground and watch it shatter. This is a couple of the scouts that also lasted through all 3 rounds
I took the girls and Sadie to the mall playground recently. It is what you do when there is a constant heat advisory and the kids get bored at home. I had one lady ask how old my twin girls were. It is not the first time that I have had Sadie or her brother Hayden or both with me and people think they are all mine because of them all being blondes.

The kids earned baseball tickets through the summer reading program. So in August we all went to the game. As you can see we were in the nose bleeds but what do you expect from free tickets. We had a good time and they even won so all the better.

The game started at 5 and since we only paid $10 for all of us to get into the game we splurged for the first time and bought dinner there. This is Natalie before dinner.
After dinner with ranch, ketchup and who knows what else all over her.

A few weeks ago Nathan's school had skate night so we went. This was Taylor's first time on skates, she did okay.

This is really what she looked like most of the time. I think she had a major wedgie from Preston holding onto her pants to keep her up. Her stomach muscles were sore when it was all said and done.

This was Nathan's 3rd time skating and by the end he was getting more comfortable with it. Although he did have a big blister.

Natalie had fun standing by the wall and cheering for Nathan and Taylor as they passed by.

Nathan and his friend Sydney on the left of the picture. This is the first year that Sydney hasn't been in his class and he is still a little bummed about it. They are really good friends and it is fun to watch them interact at school events and when I have gone on field trips with them. But IN NO WAY can you refer to Sydney as Nathan's girlfriend just as a girl that is his really good friend. I am very happy to have it that way for a lot more years. I enjoy that he doesn't think of girls that way.

Nathan and Cameron. They are good friends and have been in the same class the past 3 years.

They all did a dance at the end of the skate party but I can't for the life of me remember what it is called. Part of it goes ,stomp, stomp, now slide to the left and they clap a bunch of times, if anyone knows the name please tell me.

Thanks for reading this long post. I think I have caught up for now. TTFN

Not an ODD one in the bunch!!

At least numerically speaking :-) Natalie turned 2 this past Wednesday so we now are all even ages. 2 4 8 32 and 34. I am pretty much a numbers freak so to me things like the following are exciting. I am going to document on this blog that I was once of sound mind (opinions to yourself please :-) That way when I am old and senile I have proof that I did have legitimate brain function. The kids ages make up the equation: 2 x 4=8 And all of our ages make up one big math equation:4x8=32+2=34 I know what some of you are thinking but some of you may be impressed with my number skills. :-) Anyhow, now to the main subject of this post.

Natalie turning 2. Preston had a court of honor the night of Natalie's birthday and I was in charge of a Mia Maid class activity so the main festivities had to wait until today. We did try to make her actual day a little special too. That afternoon I took the kids to Paradise Bakery to get cookies. Natalie got a sugar cookie with sprinkles baked in. I thought it was an appropriate birthday cookie.



For dinner we went as a family to McDonald's. Here is Natalie enjoying her ranch I mean chicken nuggets.

Playing on the play area.

Our 3 cute kids posing for a picture.

Today was party time. Natalie right before opening her presents.

Taylor was very willing to "help" open presents. Taylor actually asked a couple of months ago if she could help Natalie open her presents. I was quite surprised that she remembered for that long.

It took quite a while for Natalie to open presents. She kept stopping to put on dress up shoes or give a piece of tissue paper to everyone. I would tell her who the present was from and then she would deliver the gift to the person that gave it to her. It was funny.

She even got a pony for her birthday!! So if she asks for one when she gets older I can tell her that we have already bought her one.

Blowing out the candles.

Some of her cousins that came for the celebration.

The aftermath of the cupcake that had bright pink frosting.

Natalie had a great birthday. We are appreciative of all the family that made the trip to celebrate with us. Natalie is such a blessing to our family. We love her very much. She has quite the funny personality already and often brings a smile to the face of anyone she comes in contact with. Happy 2nd Birthday sweet little Natalie.

Natalie's first Ponytail

So anyone that has seen my kids before the age of 2 or 3 knows that they are hair follicly challenged. Okay I know follicly is probably not a word but oh well. Anyways my kids lack hair for the first couple years of life and when it does finally come in it is really white. Because of this fact no matter how much I girl up Taylor and Natalie during their first 2 years they are often mistaken for boys. I think hair is the only thing strangers use to determine gender. Okay now for the topic at hand. Every time I do Taylor's hair Natalie always says "my turn" and sits in front of me until I brush her hair too. The other day I attempted a ponytail with her mullet. That is the other thing my kids grow hair on the top and the sides very last so they are business in front and a party in the back. So here is the proof that Natalie does indeed have hair.
Funny side note is I have a picture of me when I was probably about Natalie's age where I have the same hairdo.

Back to our regularly scheduled program

AKA: School - We had a good summer but it went by REALLY FAST!!! It is nice to have a schedule but I do miss the nonstructure a little too.

Nathan started back a couple weeks ago and it is hard to believe he is in 3rd GRADE. I must have been really young when I gave birth to him. :) This year Nathan's teacher is on exchange from England. She will teach Nathan the whole year while the teacher from Nathan's school is teaching in England. I hope it is a good experience for all involved. Nathan likes to mimic her accent already. He does pretty good too.

His shirt says: If it wasn't for ME there would be no awesoME. Nathan was very excited to wear this shirt. In my opinion he is really starting to look and act a lot older.

Taylor started preschool yesterday. This is her Teacher Mrs. P. at the Preschool Open House.

Taylor on her official first day. Love the skirt. Taylor is also growing up. While doing her hair I had the thought that next year I will be doing her hair to go to KINDERGARTEN! Hardly seems possible.

Natalie had to get in on the picture taking action. She kept saying "My Turn" I guess she is trying to keep the wall from falling down in this picture. I have a feeling that Natalie will be in Preschool sooner than I am ready for. Time is just going far too quickly.