End of Summer Update

Well, it's time for another update. So much has happened since the last time I wrote. September has gone, and October is cruising along. We are enjoying watching the leaves change colors all around us. It's fun to look across all the trees and spot red, orange, yellow, green, and brown. Many are falling. We've had fun with the Shop Vac on the back deck to help blow off the leaves that fall from the backyard trees. These trees are so pretty behind our house, but our backyard neighbor informed us that once the leaves are gone, they can see anything and everything through our windows. We'd better watch out!

School is in full swing! The kids are enjoying their teachers and classmates. They like walking to and from school each day. We have had a bit of rain, so they have also had fun being dropped off at the "Kiss and Ride." Our oldest is enjoying learning how to play the violin. The practicing is hard, but she plugs along. She also has been going to a volleyball clinic (which mom has been coaching). It's their time away to play together. She's learned bumping, setting and serving. I think she likes serving the best (and she wants to learn how to serve overhand).
Our son is liking Cub Scouts. He earned his Bobcat award at the last pack meeting. We have another one coming up this week, and he enjoys doing things with boys his age. He has also had fun playing soccer. His team is the Asteroids. He likes having dad coach. They are improving each week. His favorite part of soccer is hitting the ball with his head!
The middle one likes soccer, too. She has three sets of twins on her team. It keeps things interesting! We just hope the coach can tell them apart! He should, one set is his! She also likes walking to school with a boy in her class. The two of them have had playdates, and were just chosen from the classmates to go to some extra meetings (I think it's some sort of class representative thing)!
Our two year old keeps things interesting. We've decided that she is too big to wear a diaper, so we are officially potty training! She likes the idea of treats and stickers when she goes on the potty, but actually getting her to sit on the potty is turning out to be tricky! We'll see what we have to bribe her with! She's also transitioning to no naps. She stays up too late at night when she has a nap. So, we are trying to keep her up during the day, so she can go to bed early at night. That works fine until we're going somewhere in the car. She always falls asleep. She is also turning into quite the little singer. She sings many songs that we sing to her at bedtime. She also has been coming up with her own words. They are hilarious! "The baaaby is cryyyyyyiiiiiinnnng all the tiiiiiiiiime!"
The baby is such a sweetie! Except when she wakes up in the middle of the night and she's ready to play. It happens often and we're going to have to let her cry it out. She has a playpen downstairs for such occassions. She loves to open cupboards and pull everything out. She also puts everything in her mouth (her favorite being toilet paper!) She would rather be outside than any other place. She loves going on walks, which is good for me (so I can get in shape!)
I just had a birthday celebration. J surprised me with a Columbus Day BBQ, which he invited over 75 people to! We had a great time and it was beautiful weather. He cooked dutch oven chicken and potatoes and cobbler for dessert!
I also enjoyed a great trip to Utah. My cousin got married and it was so nice to be able to go and witness that, as well as see some family members that I haven't seen in a while. My great brother and his wife let me stay with them and their cute kids! We had fun reading books, picking pumpkins, going on walks, shopping, eating out, and playing the Wii. I was also able to see J's sister and spend a couple hours with her. I miss my family so much. It's hard to live far away from them all.
J competed in a triathlon. He's been training for quite a while. He gets up early and swims, bikes, or runs. He has been very dedicated. I think it payed off and he enjoyed the whole experience. Now he wants me to join him! I don't think so! Well, maybe someday!
We had a fun time at the kids school Fall Festival with games, food and all kinds of fun things to do. The girls loved coloring and decorating pumpkins, while the rest of us played games and helped run some of them.
As you can see, fall has been a great season for us. We wish it could last a while longer!

Our baby is 1!

Today we celebrated our baby's first birthday! What a fun day complete with cake, presents, swimming, friends and family. You can see by the above picture that she is a very happy baby. She cruises around the house on her two feet and hardly ever crawls. She claps, waves good-bye and is getting her shrieking down pretty good! She loves her brother and sisters and mom and dad, too. She brings a smile to everyone she meets. We all love her so much.

Summer in Virginia

We are entering our last week of summer here in Virginia. The kids head back to school next week, and boy are they excited. From the moment we arrived to our new home, they were asking when school started. We officially registered them in their new school, which is a short walk away. We've been buying school supplies and making sure they have backpacks, shoes, and clothes to help them through. We're excited for them to meet some new friends and continue their learning adventures.

We've enjoyed seeing some of the sights in our new state. The nation's capital, Washington D.C., has been amazing. We've enjoyed seeing the monuments and getting back to nature in many of our area parks. Some of our favorites are Burke Lake Park and Hidden Pond Park. We also enjoyed a super hot day at Mount Vernon. We liked learning about our first President, George Washington. We even saw some cute black piglets! It was so hot, though, and we'll have to go back and enjoy a cooler day another time.

We had a fun time driving out to the country last Saturday to go peach picking. We were given peck bags and we filled 4 of them. Then we came home and made peach cobbler, peach jam, and we froze some and canned some. What a lot of work, but we'll enjoy the fruits of our labors for a long time to come.

Another great thing that happened this summer was the 8th birthday of our son, A.J. He was also baptized. Tami's mom and sister flew out and so did Jeremy's parents. It was a special time for him as he made an important decision to follow Jesus Christ. I think he'll always remember that special day.

Spring Update

So much has happened around here. I'll try and be brief as I update ya'll. (I'm picking up a little southern drawl!)

During the last month:

We had a wonderful Easter and General Conference weekend!

Enjoyed some International Culture and Food at the ACSC International Night

Doctor appointments (to get our package ready for the Attache job)(the picture above was included in the package)

Tami was training for a 5K (which was cancelled because of rain:)

BBQ Block parties

Garage Sale

Jeremy's poison ivy episode (that lasted about a month:(

Jeremy conducted an Eagle Scout Court of Honor for 2 of his scouts!

Our dryer was broken (while we waited a week for it to get fixed, we are thankful for kind neighbors who let us use their dryers)

All the kids had field trips to the ZOO!

Olivia's Birthday! (big bouncy house party for her kindergarten class and neighborhood friends!)

Trip to Mexico Beach, FL for Jeremy's Duathalon(run, bike, run)

Torrie (Grannie) came to visit and babysit the kids while Jeremy and Tami went on an

interview and house hunting trip to DC

We found a house in Springfield, VA to rent for the next two years. If you want our address, email us so we can give it to you!

Read first 2 books in the Hunger Games Trilogy (the 3rd book comes out in August!)

So, as you can see, life has been super busy for us. We are busy now with the end of school stuff and parties, etc. The kids are doing so well in school. We are thankful for their teachers and all the hard work this year.

We are also getting ready to pack up and move this summer. We have enjoyed Alabama and all the friends we've made here. Many of our friends are also moving this summer, so we are all in for a change. We know we'll make some great new friends, and we're excited for the upcoming adventures.

Hoppin' down the Bunny Trail!

We're trying to get ready for Easter around here. I wasn't sure whether to get the girls Easter dresses this year, or not. Easter is this Sunday, but it's also General Conference. So, we can watch from the comfort of our own home, without having to get dressed up! As much as we like to do this, we find that it's easier for the kids to pay attention and be reverent when we are sitting in the chapel. So, should I buy Easter dresses? I also would love to have the girls all in matching dresses, but it seems like a challenge to find all the right sizes. I guess I should learn how to sew so I can make them in whatever size, pattern, and color I want! I sure do miss our tailor in China who made whatever we wanted, even without a pattern!

We are also going to have an Easter Egg hunt and BBQ with our neighbors tomorrow evening. The weather has been warming up so nicely and it stays lighter a little longer now. Perfect ingredients for a Spring Get Together, don't you think?

Our ward primary had an Easter Egg Hunt last Saturday. Elizabeth invited her friend from school. Everyone had fun finding the eggs, and eating the candy. They had some fun games in the gym for the kids to play, too. Instead of a cake walk, they had paper eggs on the ground with numbers on them. As the music played, the kids walked around the circle. When the music stopped, they called out a number. The winner got a cute carrot. I wish I had taken a picture of them, but they were the triangular cake decorating frosting bags with orange cheese puffs in them tied with a green ribbon. Super cute! I'm going to have to remember that for future easter or spring favors! Maybe I'll make some for our party tomorrow night! Then I can take a picture of them for you to see.

Thanks for hopping by! Hop back over to see final pictures of the easter baskets, as well as pictures from our Spring Get Together!

Baby is growing!

Happy 142nd month anniversary! Here's an old picture that you might remember! Has it really been almost 12 years? Time flies when you're having fun!


I guess we'll give a little update on everyone else while we're at it!

EV is growing up!

Tomorrow, our sweet baby will be 7 months old! Where does the time go? She is such a joy. She always has a quick smile to give you, and loves the attention that the kids give her. She sits on her own and is starting to maneuver herself all over the floor. She looks like she's trying to army crawl with her elbows and knees. It won't be long before we are chasing after her! We love this sweet baby!

And speaking of growing up, Ash is doing just that. She gave her first FHE lesson tonight. She helped read a story about the first Easter. She was so cute repeating the words after mommy. I think she liked it, but it got a little long, and she was done reading before the story was over. OL was right there to help her finish.

OL is turning into quite the reader. She is doing great with the scriptures that we read every morning. We just have to make sure that she gets to bed around 7:30pm, so that she's not too tired when we wake her up at 6am. If she's had enough sleep, she is a much happier person in the morning! She also enjoys reading books that she brings home from the library.

AJ is enjoying the warmer weather. Everyday after school, he asks if he can play outside with his friends. He enjoys sports, especially our family soccer games in the backyard. Friday night we were playing, and he wanted to be against everyone else in the family. He thought he could take us on! It ended up being a close game and I think we all had fun.

EB is enjoying piano, reading, and school. She is in the middle of testing right now. I think she enjoys it, although they put a lot of stress on the students to do well. She continues to be a big helper around the house, and loves being a big sister.

We went around the dinner table tonight and shared things that happened today that made us happy. It was a great insight into everyone's day. I think we'll be doing it every night!