First Grade Ya'll

Corbin started first grade this week. He is gone all day. It's too long but he seems to handle it just fine so far. He hasn't complained about how long he is gone at school or about anything. I think he will complain more this week when he has to start doing reading for 20 minutes a day and doing daily homework. I do think that is a little ridiculous, but hopefully he will be able to handle it okay. I may have to have a reward system or something because he is not a big fan of reading or homework. He has two teachers. Mrs. Saville teaches the first of the week and Mrs. Leonard teaches the second half. I've heard great things about Mrs. Saville so that's good. Mrs. Leonard is new to Summerwind but she seems nice. I don't get a lot out of Corbin when I ask him about school but when I ask him how his day was he usually says, "good, really good." So that's good!

I haven't gotten into a groove or a routine with the girls yet. I am still kind of in summer mode and not really ready to have a routine yet. I will start figuring out some preschool activities and things like that soon enough. We just hung out this week mostly. We did sneak in one more trip to the pool with Anna and Lexi.

Scott started his school program and so far he is loving it. He is taking 4 classes Monday through Wednesday. He's almost more stressed because he likes it so much and so now he has to figure out how he is going to make it all work. I'm just excited that he really likes it. I think he will make a really good counselor.

Ryan just turned 10 months he's a cutie pie. He is finally weaned and he is just on cow's milk now. He hardly ever spits up anymore. It's wonderful! I don't know if it was my milk that made him barf like crazy or if getting older has helped him stop. Either way, hallelujah. That was seriously annoying!

Kid Quotes:
Gabby:
Me: "Oh shade I love ya." G:"You mean you love the trees, because they're the ones that make the shade." Yes that's what I mean. Ha.
Piper speaking with Gabby: 'Now can I spin around with you now?"
"Mom, I need a drink of daddy's water cause I am dying."

First day of First Grade

Corbin is a crazy climbing monkey. We were outside playing and he disappeared and boom he was on the roof. This kid!

These girls can be pretty cute together sometimes.

Nana, this is another Gabby present for you. She colored her own wrapping paper and wrapped and tied her own ribbon. She wanted to mail this 2 days after we already mailed your package. (I hid it so she will stop asking me to mail it, I will try to bring it down with us the next time we come down).

Halloween things! Kids got a Halloween package from Nana. So fun!

Scott needed a home for all of his movies so we moved the treadmill into the garage and he bought another bookshelf. He loves his office so, so much now! (Do you like that retro chair? I bought it at the DI for $3. I can't decide whether or not to spray paint it or just leave it). 

Lovin' it!

End of Summer Vacation

This week I tried to do something fun everyday. We went swimming with cousins, we went to the river with friends and without friends, and we went park hopping. I can't believe summer is over. I cannot believe I have to take Corbin to school tomorrow. I wonder if I will be able to sleep in anticipation for him. I could never sleep the night before the first day of school and I had to plan out my outfit forever. Corbin's excited to go back to school. We will see how he does being gone all day. That's a long time man. It's going to be an adjustment for all of us I'm sure. I'm kind of not ready for the rigor of a school routine but that's ok.

Scott is starting school tomorrow. He's decided to go back to school to get a degree in counseling. It's mostly at night and it's part time. Hopefully he will be able to juggle school, work, family, and church responsibilities.

On Friday night our new friends the Hunters invited us over for dinner and games. It was tons of fun and our kids did great! We were there until 11:30 pm. Holy smokes talk about a late night. I put Ryan down in a pack n play but the other kids were up and happy the whole time. We had some amazing squash soup and played Quiddler and Settlers of Catan. They might come over here tonight for a rematch. Maybe not though it is the night before school starts.

I finally finished my dresser project. I found it in the DI one day. It was meant to be because I never shop at DI, it's my least favorite thrift store for some reason. Anyway I was taking some items to the DI one day and decided to pop in. I'm glad I did because I have been looking for such a dresser for quite awhile. I took a picture and went home and discussed it with Scott and went back and bought it. I wanted to make sure he would be okay with me getting rid of our entertainment center and using a dresser instead. He's being a good sport because he's pretty sad that all of his movies won't be on display anymore (I am not sad about that). We still haven't found a proper home for Scott's movies.This project took me a million hours. I researched, sanded, repaired, primed and painted. I took my sweet time because I've never painted anything with a brush before and I wanted to do a good job. I also had to wait while my friend's husband repaired the dresser drawers because they were broken. Before I started the project I definitely had to put on my patient pants. This took well over a month to complete.

Kid Quotes:
Corbin:
Me: "Corbin are you going to say the prayer? C:"No I don't really like to, you go ahead."
Corbin to Piper: "Do you like the Grinch? P:"No because he is really, really creepy."

Gabby to Piper: G:"Piper do you think I'm pretty?" P:"I'm pretty too."

Piper: "Haha, I tooted. Haha, that's a horrible sound."
"Mmm...I love bazonia." (lasagna)
Me: "Piper are you going to say the prayer?" P: "Yes, of course."
Piper: "Mmm...this is the best dinner ever!"

Before

After

Before

After

Summer Wrap Up

This past week I tried to do several summer activities as the school year is right around the corner. On Monday night we went as a family to the Meridian Pool. This is the first time we have gone there this year. It was pretty fun. It was kind of cold. The public pools around here have terrible hours. It's really annoying. We went at 7:00  and it just wasn't super hot or sunny so it was pretty cold. The kids didn't seem to mind. I talked Corbin into trying the high dive. He is super brave. He went right off and then wouldn't stop.

A brand new park was built really close to our house that has some really fun features and a splash pad. I took the kids there during the week and we went as a whole family on Saturday night. We also went and got $.50 cones from Arctic Circle one night and went and ate them at a park.

On Friday Scott and I went on a date. It's been forever! It was super fun. Scott planned it all out and he did such a good job. We went to Olive Garden and luckily we went so early we went right in. After that we headed downtown and biked the greenbelt. I LOVED it! I love biking the greenbelt downtown but we haven't even tried since Corbin was a baby I think. The weather was perfect and it was beautiful. We even discovered some fun lakes along the way that we didn't know about. One of them had docks and boat rentals. We will have to come back with the kids someday. It was super fun. Loved it. After that he picked out the movie at Redbox and it was The Book Thief. So good! It was a really fun date. Now that Ryan is a bit older we are going to make more efforts to go out for sure.

This week: operation squeeze in every last bit of summer as possible!

Corbin is such a climber!

The girls spent most of the time at the splash park picking "flowers" (clover).

Cute!

Some dude had his parrot at the park.

Ha. We washed our duvet cover and it is quite the process getting it back on.

One night Corbin and Gabby were not cleaning their room but Piper did her jobs so I took her to get an ice cream cone all by herself. She loved it!

A package arrived and the box has provided lots of entertainment.

Update

Having a bunch of little kids makes it pretty difficult to be spontaneous. Last weekend a couple in our ward invited us pretty last minute to go to a movie with them but there weren't any available babysitters. On Thursday I got the idea to go to the water park with Scott but of course I couldn't find a babysitter. Well at church today I found a sitter for this coming Friday. Score. It's not very spontaneous but hey it's still a date.

Scott went on a bro date with a dude in our ward whose wife and kids were out of town all week. They went to see Guardians of the Galaxy. He also ended up coming over on Friday night to watch a movie with Scott and I. On Saturday he and his wife came over to play games but we mostly ended up just swapping stories all night. It was fun. Scott and Cory are cut from the same cloth. It's pretty crazy. They are not only nerdy but they are nerdy about a lot of the same things. It's great. 

I took the kids to the river to play one morning and we also went as a whole family Friday night. The kids loved it. I even floated the river with Corbin a few times. Gabby spotted a garter snake and didn't even freak out. Ryan ate a lot of sand and sucked on tons of rocks. Piper just loved being at the river.

Well that's about it. My family is all going to Redfish lake this week and I am still going back and forth trying to decide whether or not to go. Probably not.

Scott just yanked one of Corbin's teeth out. He was so brave. He can't wait for the tooth fairy to come.

Corbin is such a climber. Scott tied the rope up there so Corbin could climb up the tree. Crazy little monkey.

Don't you love the dirt goatee. Oh crawling babies outside.

The kids one day thought it would be so funny to pretend to be babies and put on diapers. The only way this picture would be better is if Ryan was only in a diaper as well.

Dorks. Ha.

Gabby shared her first scripture today in Primary. She did great.

Maybe I Should Become a Nurse? Ha!

On Monday I took the kids swimming at the pool in Eagle with Anna and her kids and also with Anna's sister Melissa and her kids. I was glad they could go because I wanted to do something fun with the kids because I knew I would be gone most of the week.

On Tuesday morning Christy and I headed out for our trip to Utah. She was getting surgery in Ogden and needed a driver and nurse. We left really early because Gabe had heard there was bad construction which there wasn't. We got to Odgen 3 hours before her appointment. That left us enough time to be lost and drive around Ogden for 1 1/2 hours. No joke. Pathetic. I sent Scott a text telling him that Christy was just as bad with directions as I was. I have GPS on my phone but I didn't know what to type in...find I-15? I was pretty much a terrible wing man let's just say that. We were looking for somewhere to eat that whole time and after an hour and a half we were fed up with this driving around Ogden business. Luckily we found a restaurant named Zucca and we stopped. Fortunately after all that it was really good. We showed up at her appointment an hour early and they actually saw her right then. Great!

After her appointment we decided to drive down to a store in Provo that Christy and I both love. It's called Cozy. It has lots of cute inexpensive clothes. In addition to navigation drama we also had serious bank drama. Christy had to pay for her surgery right then and apparently her debit card has a $1500 spending limit per day. So she had to call the bank several times and try to visit ATM's to get money out. Frustrating. After Cozy Christy insisted that I have a J Dawg hotdog as an appetizer to dinner. We split one and it was good. When Scott and I lived in Provo our good friends Jed and Kate would always talk about J Dawgs so I was glad to finally partake. We then went to one of Christy's favorite restaurants Mimi's Cafe and it was good. I think it's a French restaurant? I don't know but I've always wondered about it and now I know. After that we headed back to Salt Lake to crash at Scott's parents house in Holladay. We arrived at their house around 8:30pm. We had been in the car driving and doing errands since 7:30 am. Phew! That was a little exhausting. We chatted with Scott's family for awhile and then Christy and I watched a thriller movie outside on the deck. You know because we didn't have a big enough day. It was good! If you like suspenseful sort of creepy movies you need to watch The House at the End of the Street.

The next day we slept in and went to her surgery. Luckily it was a really cool day for July and I just hung out and slept in the car during her surgery. When she got finished she looked great and felt great. Things went down hill quickly after that. She became very nauseous and threw up. The pain started to kick in and by the time we got to the house it was pretty bad. She went up to her room and took some of her medication and then I thought she went to sleep. I left her alone for a LONG time. I would check on her often and I thought she was still sleeping. Wrong! When I finally went in she explained that in fact she had been calling my name and was trapped and in too much pain to really move and it took her forever to get her pain pills open. Awesome! She was feeling pretty good then and we had a Call the Midwife marathon. By 11:30 pm she took her pain meds and she looked pretty good. I set out her pain pills and set her alarm for 3:30 am and 7:30 am to take her pills and went to bed. At 4:30 am I woke up to Christy standing in my doorway screaming my name and crying. I flew out of bed and went into help her. Apparently she was stuck in her bed and she couldn't move for the longest time. She had fallen into the middle of the bed and was in too much pain to reach for her pain meds. She tried to text me on her ipad but she couldn't remember my number. She wanted to throw something at the wall but she had nothing. What finally got her to muster enough courage to get up was the need to go to the bathroom. She somehow hobbled off the very high soft bed and made her way to the bathroom where she just had to sit on the  toilet for 15 minutes so she wouldn't pass out. It was after that that she came screaming at my door. She was in tons of pain and a bit hysterical after being trapped and alone. We decided to double her pain meds and I hung out with her until about 5:30 when the meds kicked in enough that she was able to crash. It was awful. I felt so bad. Duh I should have just set my alarm and given her pain meds every four hours. I just didn't think because she seemed pretty good before we went to bed. With double the pain meds she was able to be comfortable enough to ride in the car on the long drive home.

Luckily I had an audio book to keep my attention on the drive home because Christy slept most of the way. I listened to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society book. It's such a great audio book. In fact I just listened to it over our St. George vacation and I re listened to it again. The audio book has different readers read the different characters and they read with great expression. It's so good. I missed quite a few things the first time and I was going to read the book but decided that I would much rather just listen to it again.

I made it home about 4:30 pm on Thursday. Scott had bathed the kids right before I got home so they would be clean and fresh. The kids had a great time with daddy going on daily field trips and watching Spiderman and eating lots of treats. I asked Corbin and Gabby if they missed me while I was gone and they just sat quietly not knowing what to say. Ha. When I said I missed them they then said they missed me. So good of Scott to watch the kids so I could help Christy. All was in order when I got home and Scott said he only dropped Ryan on his head once. Ha! Babies are resilient aren't they?

It was also great of Scott's parents to let us stay at their house. They were great hosts and it was fun to visit with them and Scott's other siblings. I have great in laws what can I say?

Kid Quotes:
I was talking to Gabby who was freaking out about something and I said, "obviously I'm not leaving. Obviously I'm not going to leave you." Corbin piped in, "obviously daddy is here. I don't know what that word is." Ha.

Gabby: "Mom Corbin's dead for real. I'm sure."

Corbin asked me why I leave the garage door open sometimes. I said I didn't know. He then said that maybe the girls would get kidnapped. He then said that he wished I could get kidnapped because then he could play video games all the time and he wouldn't have to go to school. Ha! The best part was that he wasn't being mean or malicious in saying this it was very logical and to the point. Kids!

Ryan is pulling himself onto everything.

Gabby. She can't leave Ryan alone. 

These kids come up with crazy ideas.

So funny.

There is a tiny gap between the cupboard and the wall and Corbin decided to climb into it and temporarily got stuck. I had to take a picture before I helped him and he got out very quickly after that. He was freaking out and had a major meltdown that I took a picture and wanted me to delete it and said it wasn't funny and had a tantrum like I have never seen from him EVER. He flipped a cow. I'm sorry but that picture is funny. (Don't tell Corbin I posted it).