Garrett goes to Preschool

I am so grateful that the good people of the school district decided that Garrett did indeed need preschool. He gets to go 3 mornings a week and best of all he gets to ride on one of the little buses!!! He did great yesterday on his first day. He wanted a Kung Fu Panda shirt and today he rode the bus to and from school. He looks so little when he's looking out the window waving goodbye to me, Talmage and Spencer. His teacher Ms. Haynes is from Britian and has a great accent. I told her I'd be waiting for the day that Garrett came home with an British accent. She said she wouldn't be surprised. This is going to be a really fun year for him. Right now his class is very small on 4 students, but we are all hoping for more as the months go by.

Daddy takes us on a picnic up the mountain

Michael had been promising Talmage all summer that he would take him hiking. So this weekend finally he did kinda. We drove up the very bumpy and rocky Mt. Elden Rd. until we found a clearing so we could stop and eat. Then we drove up some more to the top of Mt. Elden. Talmage was unhappy because we had said that he wouldn't be hiking because it was sprinkling, but then it stopped and they went up the mountain to the towers. They couldn't go up inside, but at least they got to get up there. Michael said Talmage ran up entire road to the top without being out of breath or anything. He and Ammon were a little out of breath. Garrett did great too. Spencer and I stayed in the suburban. We all got what we wanted. Talmage got to hike, Garrett got to be outside, Spencer got to walk around in some shoes, Ammon spent time with his Dad & Mom, Mom got new family pictures and Dad got to take his family on an outing all together.

Star Wars: the Clone Wars

The boys had been very excited about the Star Wars- The Clone Wars cartoon movie to come out. Michael & I had debated on who would be taking them. We didn't have anyone to watch the little ones and Michael said that since I was the bigger Star Wars fan I could take the boys. We headed off early thinking that it would be busy. Boy we were wrong. After hearing the 3 grown men in front of us, none of them had anyone with them, ask for Star Wars, I jokingly told the ticket guy I wanted 3 tickets to "the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2". He almost punched it in until I said just kidding...Star Wars. I thought I was funny. We got drinks and popcorn, Talmage loves popcorn and headed to the theater. There were about 5 people in there ALL MEN. I was feeling all the testosterone you can imagine. In the end there was probably only 15 females in the whole theater. Kinda funny. At least one of my friends from church showed up with her 2 girls and 2 boys. So there was more female power in there. We all really liked the movie and told Daddy he needed to take Garrett. I'm glad we had the time together. A mom and her boys.

First day of School!!

Ammon was pretty excited to start 2nd grade. He's got all his buddies in his class, with the exception of Dylan and Olivia. But he still sees them at recess. We were excited that his room is right next to Talmage's. He still has his mohawk which we've had to gel up for both days. Monday starts his first full week as a 2nd grader. He picked out an Indiana Jones shirt for his first day of school. It has 1 skull on it. I couldn't let him get the one with a bunch. It was creepy for a 7 year old. But the one he ended up with is cool.

Talmage's first 2 days of school were a bit different. On Thursday it was just a come see the class and go home. On Friday, he stayed for the full day, well at least until 1pm because they have early release on Fridays. Monday will be his first FULL day of Kindergarten. For his preview he wore Speed Racer, but for the 1st day he picked Kung Fu Panda to go with his backpack. He was so excited about going to school on Friday, even if he wouldn't admit it. By 6:10am when Michael woke me up saying I think Talmage is dressed for school. I replied that was impossible because he didn't have his shirt. It was in the laundry room in a basket of unfold red clothes. Michael asked what color it was, I said red. Michael said he's wearing a red shirt. Sure enough, by the time I walked out of our bedroom he had on his shirt, new underware, shorts, shoes and backpack. He'd made his bed and said his prayers. All he needed was his lunch box and breakfast and he was ready to roll. He was asking me a 7:00 when we were leaving for school. School doesn't start till 8:30 so we had some time. He was really cute. But by the time we picked him up he was tired, not wanting to talk about school and cranky. Needless to say he fell asleep in the car and slept for another 2 hours when we got home. Even tonight we had all his clothes picked out and next to his bed on top of his new Transformer tennis shoes. I just hope he keeps up this attitude in the mornings, but maybe gets up a little later.

Thank you Leslie C.!!

Leslie & I met at church here in Flagstaff years ago. They recommended us to Dr.Lin. (my OB and greatest doctor next to Dr. Teodori) Thanks to Dr. Lin they had Shaun ...and about a year and a half later we had Ammon...Then they had Tera...both of our babies had heart conditions. We've both had our stuggles with that...and are grateful for blessings from above. For love and support from family and friends. We had Talmage, they had Ryan. We had Garrett and Spencer...they have Bryce. Leslie is a great inspiration to me. And always great to get emails and Christmas cards. Recently I read her blog...she'd gone to buy 'Breaking Dawn' by Stephanie Meyer. I had just read a story about the books in Entertainment Weekly and it had sparked my interest...I saw that Leslie loved the books and I thought what the heck lets join the craziness. I love vampire stories. So needless to say my wonderful husband bought me all four books. I started the 1st one, "Twilight" and hardly wanted to put it down but the sleep got the best of me. Can't wait to pick it back up when the boys head off to school and Spencer is napping!! Thanks for that Leslie. And finally thanks for the cool Cutest Blog on the Block link from your blog. Now mine is really going to be styling. Good night all. Tomorrow is Ammon's 1st day of 2nd grade and Talmage goes for a Kindergarden preview then Friday all day Kindergarden for my Talmage. (well at least until 1pm on Fridays...early release)

Daddy puts the boys to bed

It's amazing how strong Michael's back is. He's got 150 pounds on his back. They boys love this time of night. Except for the going into their beds and going to sleep! Good night boys...

Talmage's 5th Birthday

I can hardly believe that 5 years ago I got a baby that looks just like me. Talmage was my most painful labor of all the boys. But when you look at this face with his sparkling hazel eyes it's hard to not love him. He's got the most energy of all the boys so I daily try to find ways for him to use it for good. Turning 5 was a great day for him. He opened a couple of presents in the morning, went swimming, hit Chuck E. Cheese for lunch and fun, came home. Daddy was there, we opened more presents, ate dinner, Grandma King came over and we had birthday cake. All in all I think he had a great fun day.