Here's What We've Been Up To

The biggest development in the last few weeks is....

Braden is now potty trained! 

Hurray!

He wasn't showing any signs that he was ready so I wasn't sure if I should even try. Whenever I asked him if he wanted to try sitting on the potty he would scream and yell "No!" But he is 3 now so I decided to give it a try anyway and he did so well! We went to the dollar store and bought lots of prizes and he had it down in about a week. It's been great. And I think he looks pretty cute in his buzz lightyear underwear.

Paul built some shelves for the garage. It looks much more organized now. He has been figuring out a lot of things being a new home owner. It can be stressful, but fun too. The shelves were fun anyway! 

We got to see some family in Payson for the DeHart reunion. I love whenever we get to spend time with family. I love how much Paul and the kids love it too. Family is good for the soul.

Susie started a little tumbling class at the community center once a week. She is really loving it! I think its been great for her, nice and low key, but also teaching her some good things. 

Oh these two! So cute! Clark loves Susie. She can always make him smile. And Susie loves to hold Clark. She is very helpful with him. She will sit and entertain him when I'm making dinner, etc. I think they look so much a like. Susie has grown up so much lately. She told me she "likes" a boy in her class. She said "today he looked at me twice mom!" So it's getting pretty serious haha! She told me when she gets bigger she wants to "marry Dad, or maybe JP." I told her they were already taken so she would need to find someone else. She is working on reading everyday and learning her sight words. She loves to come home and tell us all she learned that day. 

I got to do another sprint triathlon in Sand Hollow Lake. My friend Vonessa from Flagstaff met me there and that was fun. It's always more fun to do races with a friend! 

Braden looks forward to preschool playgroup every week. He wishes it was more often. I think maybe just for the treasure box though! We have class on Mondays. I really love having a little teaching outlet and spending that time with Braden. He is doing a great job working on letters. Today Paul took him to the Halloween costume store and he loved it so much he said "I want to take Hazel here!" (Hazel is a girl in his class). 

Clark is 8 months old this week. He has two little teeth. He loves  to eat baby food and graham crackers but isn't too excited about trying any thing else. Most of the time when I give him a new food he dislikes the texture and spits it out. He gets pretty excited about eating time though. He goes to bed around 7 and wakes up around 6. He takes 2 naps a day. He is learning to squirm his way around the floor to get to what he wants. He can sit on his own for a little while before falling over. He gets about 7,000 kisses a day. We love this little baby! 

We had a fun day yesterda. Paul and I try to take the kids out for a one on one date once a month. I took Susie this month and she wanted to go bowling. That kid loves bowling. We had a fun time together. Later that night for FHE, we went to Jensen Park and fished for a little while. We caught a little fish and Susie was so excited to reel it in! 

Back to School!

Here is some fun we've had before school started.. We love to play Pie Face. It cracks me up every time! We also love walks, and bike rides, and playing at the parks near by. 

We had a parent day at Kindergarten before the first official day. We went on a scavenger hunt around her classroom, colored a picture, and made a Susanna necklace with letters. It was pretty exciting. Her classroom is so cute and we love her teacher. 

She couldn't wait for the first day. Every day she would say "three more days!" and then "two more days!" The night before her first day we read "The Night Before Kindergarten" together. The next morning she was up and bright eyed. Her teacher gave her magic sprinkles for her cereal to help with first day nerves. Mm! 

She looks so adorable in her uniform! We wore our best friend necklaces and I told her that she was going to make new friends at school, but to remember that I'll always be her best friend. 

I really thought I was just as excited as Susie and all ready to say goodbye but when the time came to leave her I couldn't keep the tears in! I held it together pretty well until I got back to the car. She is so grown up and I will miss her at home. I'm thankful we have a year of half-day kindergarten. 

 I picked her up and asked her all about her first day. She told me about recess and about the bench you can sit on if you don't have anyone to play with. She says if you see someone on the bench you go and get them and play with them. I'm thinking, oh what a cute idea. Then she tells me that she didn't have anyone to play with so we went and sat on the bench. She waited and waited she says but no one came to play with her. And then recess ended. How sad! She didn't seem too upset by it though so we just moved right along. She sits at a table of all boys (I'm the only girl at my table mom!) I asked her how she felt about that and she said, "a little stressed out!" Funny girl. She had a great time and she loves going everyday. We got her a few gallons and a donut for after school. We also made her favorite dinner, chicken pot pie, later that night. 

She looks so cute each day in her uniform. Fridays are dress down days. Susie also had a half birthday last week. She is 5 1/2 now! We made a half cake to celebrate. It was on Sunday and when we got home from church she said, "mom no one wished me a happy half birthday at church..?" I had to explain to her that most people don't celebrate half birthdays, we just like to because it's fun and silly and a good reason to make cake!

We also started a preschool playgroup for Braden! It is a mommy and me class so it is low key and fun and the kids get lots of play time. I'm really excited that we will have something structured for him, even though he isn't quite ready for a formal class. We have some nice little girls coming and I'm excited for a year of preschool! 

Braden had a bad asthma attack a few weeks ago. He woke up and his breathing got worse and worse. I took him and and they gave him a nebulizer treatment. I gave him treatments at home with our own nebulizer but they weren't helping him very much by the end of the day. They gave me an oral steroid medication to give him to stimulate his lungs but he couldn't keep it down. He just threw it up. We decided to go back to see the doctor again and they gave him a shot of the steroid. It helped right away. I put him in bed with us for the night (yay for king sized beds) and he slept and breathed well.

And of course there's Clark. He is 7 months old now! He has been working on getting two teeth for about a month and they are finally here! He has a goobery eye and gets an upset tummy here and there. I'm trying to figure out if there is a food he doesn't like. For the most part, he sleeps well and is a happy smiley baby. I can't believe how big he is getting! He is almost sitting up by himself and loves to roll around the floor. 

Life with 3 is busy and good and joyful! 

I still think Susie and Clark look so much alike! The middle one is Susie. 

Bear Lake

We went to visit Uncle Todd and Aunt Jen in Montpelier and go to Bear Lake as our last hurrah before school started. We had fun stopping at Gosner's on the way up, hiking to Bloomington Lake, and playing in the sand and water at Bear Lake. It's such a beautiful place and we are lucky to have family close by.