Visit from Mom and Bradley

Long story short: I married a great man.

Bradley needed a boy's trip and David stepped up to the plate. They went fly fishing down in Provo for the weekend. It was an awesome trip.

I got the bonus of having my mom all weekend, which started with a nice trip to the Brigham City temple with Kevin and Vicki, Thursday night. Four weeks in a row now, and it feels so good. On Friday morning, I had to make a quick trip to the InstaCare for an X-ray of Eloise's arm. Someone tugged too hard on her arm during ring-around the rosies, giving her nurse-maid's elbow. I only know how to pop their wrist, but this time he popped it back up at the elbow and she instantly felt better. 

And then we got to work. My mom = three of me. In one day we painted my entire dining room, put a second coat on my little hallway, and wall-papered half of our accent wall back in the dining room. Turns out, wall-papering SUCKS.

But...it's looking amazing. Worth it.

This soccer Saturday was a much better outcome. Hazel even scored a goal! Edison sat in this chair and clapped whenever we cheered for Hazel. He took it all very seriously. We all got ice cream, thanks to Hazel.

30 weeks! Time is really flying.

"I'm a planet."

Working on our art cabinet for the dining room...

Every week, she kills me in her leotards.  I told her she was "squishy and cute" and she said, "I'm not squishy and cute, I'm Eloise!"

Saturday games. David is being very patient.

September 9th - 12th

While Charlotte was at Joy School I took these two on a long walk around our beautiful neighborhood. I love that we've lived here long enough to know the block around our house so well.

From my journal: Eloise loves to say prayers and insists on saying them at every meal--something we're working on. She typically prays for help to "eat the licorices all" or to get treats and she stops to  "shhhh!" anyone who makes a peep, usually Edison or one of her sisters insisting on giving her new things to say. She'll also say with a made face, "Be quiet!" and she ends in the name of THE Jesus Christ, Amen. She will only allow me to do pigtails in her hair and she typically pulls them out by the end of the day. She carries around her favorite toys/dolls with her throughout the day and gets so mad if Edison comes near them which he always does.

One of my favorite spots is the Wattis house on Eccles Ave. I always have to take off my shoes and step onto their grass. It is the softest grass I've ever felt! And Edison found a flower.

Edison loves to tease Eloise and will run up and hit her or steal her toy which will set her off into a fit of screaming, but most of the time he'll run up and return the toy because I think he's a little afraid of her. Or maybe he just loves the thrill of it all. He has also learned how to fold his arms for prayer, which is the cutest thing ever. He also puts his hand up in the air when we do our family motto.

A new way of spying on Mom in the bathroom during a little "date" at Great Harvest.

Kicking baby!

One of our Joy School moms is down in Layton, so I decided to make the most of our time together at a nearby park that had a pond full of ducks and geese. Edison wasn't too sure about those geese.

(needs to be rotated)

Today when I picked up Hazel at school today, we came to the car in tears. Turns out, she had lost a tooth at school! Her 2nd tooth, right next to the first one she lost on the bottom. She had gone to the front desk to ask for a tooth necklace, just like the ones in Fancy Nancy, but she couldn't see over the counter, so she came out in tears. I parked, we walked in, and I was secretly afraid that they didn't really have these necklaces and that it was just from the book, but turns out, they did! She got one, and we went home happy.

There's the lost tooth! The empty space up top is the dead tooth coming out piece by piece.

Also, tomorrow is picture day, so we put curlers in. What a charmed life these girls live:)

This one got curlers too since we didn't do it for the first day of Joy School. 

Then she got really grumpy.

My new office space! Who wouldn't want to sit down here and be more organized??

September 3rd - 8th

Notes from my journal on Tuesday, Sept 3rd: Great day because David and I are a team and that makes all the difference. I took Charlotte, Ellie, and Ed on a walk to look for H words. I love being home with my little ones. Those are the days I will miss the most. Ellie held onto rollie pollies the entire time while Charlotte drew pics of the H words we found. Ed enjoyed the ride inside his pink push car. We had "honey snacks" (Ritz crackers + honey) with hot chocolate and marshmallows. I gave Ellie a "hard to do" activity with pom-pons and tongs with a cupcake tin. I started "Mommy Reading Camp" with Charlotte and had Snuggle time with Hazel before bed. Good, good day.

Quote from Charlotte: "Yellow flowers are bees favorite because they match their bums."

Where did she learn to pop that hip like that?

On Wednesday we started Joy School! I love teaching the first week and this is my 3rd year teaching it, so I'm quite familiar with the lessons. Our kids are great and we all had a good time. I love having a fenced in backyard! Especially now with our new table out there, it feels so nice. 

Charlotte, in her pretty new outfit for Joy School.

Our new Joy School group this year! I'm so excited.

I had to capture this moment after gymnastics. Me, my belly, my two year old and my one year old. There are so many challenges in this season of life, but when I stop and look down at these tiny hands and soft cheeks, I feel so blessed to be right in the middle of this season of babies. 

P.S. Isn't Eloise so yummy in her leotard?? Those fuzzy pudgy shoulders of hers.

Wednesdays are crazy. Soccer practice after gymnastics. Glad we can all be there as a family.

Thursday, I did initiatories for my Leonard names at the temple. Third week in a row for my goal!

Game day! It was rough for this new coach. Hazel's team played a comp team and so we didn't score once. Then it just got worse at Charlotte's game because we only seem to have one little girl who will go after the ball, and it isn't the coach's daughter... We have a lot of parental support though which is nice. Overall, we survived.

Ah Sunday. That's a cute bunch of kids.

28 Weeks.

I had a doctor's appt this week and my baby is growing right on schedule. I feel her regularly and she typically gets the hiccups around 8pm every night. And yes, I'm feeling quite certain, although I don't know for sure, that this is a little lady in there. It's Jane.

Labor Day

Labor Day! I begged David to take half the day off with us and he agreed! He worked the first half of the day and I declared it "Surprise Day." I got surprises out of the surprise box for each of the kids and we had an activity time on the Letter H, making crazy hair on paper. It was fun to have Hazel with us again. Then we took off with our Dad for Temple Square in Salt Lake!

Because it was Surprise Day, David played along and surprised us big time with tickets to this awesome event at the Leonardo called, "101 Inventions that Changed the World." Such a good surprise.

One of the big 101 inventions were Legos!

Sweet Edison did NOT want to say goodbye to this Lego car.

Then we walked around the beautiful temple. Strange to think just eight years ago David and I were married here. Now look at our family!

Thinking about wishes...

All in all, a grand day. I love my family.