A little of this and that

The weather is cooling off ever so slightly, so the kids have been in the backyard playing more. I love it when they get out and run around together instead of making messes and fighting inside. This week they caught a baby lizard. I'm afraid the poor thing probably didn't live long after the kids got done "playing" with it. 

Brandon had his field trip to CPK and loved it. Ate every bit of pizza (well, except the crust, which I uh....may or may not have helped him with). 

Got a shot of cute Audrey putting her sauce on.

But the most exciting thing about this field trip was that his best bud, Elijah, was there too. Elijah is in the three year old class and that makes Brandon very sad. But for a few select field trips this year, they will get to be together. And Brandon is already counting down until the next one.

Leah got a "Good Citizen" award at school today. Her teacher always tells me how helpful she is at school and in class and she comes in from recess almost every day with a "caught being good" ticket. Now to translate that to home life, and I'll be set. Just kidding. Leah is actually a really good helper around the house and is always the first one willing to play with Carter or help pick up toys (if there is the potential for getting a few marbles that is. Hey, I work better for rewards too, so I can't say I don't blame her.)

And this is my little smartie pants who has learned how to turn on light switches with Brandon's sword. He's not gonna let his height get in the way of things, that's for sure.

He's also getting good at hiding from me when nap time rolls around. I was at the computer uploading pictures and told Carter it was naptime in a few minutes. I turn around to this. I got a good laugh and was glad he stayed under it long enough for me to snap a photo of him. When I went up to him and tickled his toes, he started laughing hysterically and said, "one minute" (which means, NO NAP YET!). It was too too funny!

Girl Scout Week

This week was Girl Scout heavy. The girls met for their regular meeting on Tuesday. Then Friday night had a mother/daughter "s'more's night" and Saturday morning had a service project. That, along with Piano lessons, Activity Days, Band practice, ballet and regular ole school work, left my little Ashlyn quite tuckered out by Saturday. I felt really bad for her. She had a fun week, but even my go, go, go girl has her limits. Fortunately, there's just one more week of school and then the kids will be out for Fall Break (how'd that happen so fast?) and she'll have time to recharge.

On Tuesday at Girl Scouts the girls made matching tye dyed shirts for outings. I must say it was QUITE handy for us leaders/mom's. They fed us dinner of hot dogs and chips and then we gathered around a camp fire for songs, skits and marshmallow roasting. 

Jenn (our Leader), Kristina (Grace's mom) and me

Grace and Ashlyn with Abbie's head poking up in the back.

Ashlyn tried to roast her own marshmallow, but that fire was pretty darn hot, so I ended up doing it for her.

And of course us mom's needed a s'more too! Yum!

Bright and early the next morning was the River Rally clean up where we helped pick up trash along a three mile stretch of the dry river bed here in Canyon Country. The girls worked hard and we collected quite a bit of junk. It was amazing how much trash was really down there.

Hundreds of people were out there helping. Mostly looked like girl scout troops, boy scout troops and youth groups, but still. It made me glad to see all these people in the community coming out to volunteer and help take care of our little city.

The girls were paired in buddies, and my poor little Ashlyn was quite lost without Grace (who couldn't make it that morning). I felt bad for her. She's so shy and even after all these years of being in scouts, she still isn't really close with many of the other girls.

She got to be my little buddy though and that was fun for me! 

LOL

Plugged my phone into tonight and my pictures popped up to load onto my computer. I guess Carter was having a bit of fun snapping shots of me and my friends exercising at the Stake Center this morning. At least I was in unison with everyone. I can't say I always am. But anyhow, I got a good laugh out of it.

Had to stop and say hi to cute little squirmy Baylee who was trying to wiggle out of her mommy's arms. 

And here's the culprit. Kind of a funny angle of him. He looks like he as chipmunk cheeks. It must be his guilty mug shot.

And while I am talking exercise, I'm gonna put a plug in for my favorite spin studio "Spokes Indoor Cycling". They had their one year Anniversary this past Saturday and had free classes all day. I've been going almost as long as they've been open and I really love it. Usually only go to one class a week, but still. It's a good workout for sure! And I must toot my own horn and say I did two 50 min back to back classes and then a 30 min yoga stretch. Hey....it was free! Plus, I ate out two nights in a row. I needed some major calorie burning. And, I think that yoga stretch helped me a ton, otherwise I might have been super sore all weekend. 

Can you spot me in the back row there? Glad I'm not the one in the green shirt though. Better to have a side view. LOL!

Silly Boy

His clothes got wet from playing outside, so he had me take them off. I should have known that as soon as the clothes came off, that he would pull his diaper off too. Then he thought it would be fun to go for a swing. Nothing like being as free as a bird! 

I just love this little guy!

Chugging along

School is in full swing around here. We are getting into our routine and trying to get and stay organized. The staying part is always the challenge. Carter's favorite thing to do lately is pull games out of the cupboard and dump the pieces all over the floor. And I'm finding if I don't get all the things done that I need to before the girls get home from school, than it doesn't happen until after bed time (or the next day). 

My mornings with Carter are fun, but seem to go by pretty quickly. I spend some of the time exercising, some of it getting ready and some of it running errands or playing with friends. I really enjoy the moments though when I can get on the floor and play cars or blocks just me and my littlest guy. It doesn't happen as much as I would like, but I know he just loves it when I can give him one on one time. 

Brandon is developing his talents around here. Haha....I don't know how he figured out he could do this but he's been showing me a lot lately. I kept telling him it was cool, but not thinking much about it, until I tried it one day. Dang....it's not easy to balance a spoon on your nose. In fact, I could not do it. Neither could anyone else in our house. He must have the perfect shaped nose because he makes it look so easy. 

This first photo is a serving spoon, so it's big....and heavy. And he did it no problem. Pretty funny huh! And pretty awesome too!

Not much time for playdates anymore with school and after school activities, but I try to use my Friday afternoons for friends (if I have any energy left by then). Leah got to have Gracie over a couple of weeks ago. They had a blast together and didn't want the night to end.

This is my very first "Instagram" photo.  I like how you can make it all snazzy and cool looking. Brandon told me this was his version of "MetroMan". He was very proud of it and happy to pose for a photo op.

Carter found some fun boots to play in and of course my IPad is like his best friend. He's very protective of it too!

Went on a girls night a few weeks ago to celebrate Beth's Birthday and this is the only photo we got. Haha...I guess we were a bit excited for our pedicures. I should have taken a photo of all the amazingly delicious desserts we shared. YUM!

I came into the room where we have Activity Days at church and found one of the girls building a fort. She was sad we had to take it down to...ya know...USE the table and chairs, so I took a picture of it so she could always remember her art work. It's such a fun calling I have. I'm really enjoying being with the girls. They are so sweet and energetic. Plus it's fun to get to be there with Ashlyn too!

In some ways I miss the lazy days of summer, but I guess it's nice to have a constant rotation of seasons and change. Keeps life interesting that's for sure. We are getting more into a routine with the heavier load of homework Ashlyn has this school year. Plus, she starts band in a couple of weeks so I'm hoping with everything else she's doing too, that we can stay on top of it all. 

Labor Free Labor Day

Okay, so we've definitely been to the beach a lot this summer, but we couldn't pass up one more day there. Especially because Paul was off work for the Labor Day Holiday so he would actually get to join us. 

We met up with lots of wonderful friends and had a great time. It was little bit chilly at first, but not too bad. Once the clouds cleared, it was beautiful and the kids all had a great time playing together. 

I never get tired of this cuties adorable smile.

Yes, another picture I had to take of myself to prove I was indeed there.

Paul was determined to build an amazing sand castle. It got a pretty good start, but with all the kids "helping" it didn't turn into much.

Beth and cute little Cole

Brandon was very excited to find a golf ball in the sand.

It's looking pretty good huh! Well that's about all it turned out to be. A big mound with a moat around it.  

Ashlyn and a few friends made a smaller one next to Paul's. A volcano. It turned out pretty well.

But the tide was high, so it kind of got washed out.

Leah is my bathing beauty. Carter of course followed suit.

And when Leah leaned to the side, so did he. Hilarious!

Audrey joined in too. She's a bathing beauty in training! 

Then Dewy came in. Not a bathing beauty, but he sure is handsome.

Baylee on the other hand said, who needs a towel to lay on? The sand is MUCH better!

We were happy to find the beach not too crowded where we were. Definitely more people than normal, but we got there early and set up a good space and then didn't have to worry about it. We saw dolphins through the waves and jumping in the air, we relaxed, ate, chatted, and some even got on the boogie boards. 

After we got home, we figured no Labor Day holiday is complete without some BBQ'ing, so Paul fired up the grill for some Bratburgers. It was a good day.