August 2010, pt. 2

I guess now would be a good time to mention that it was shortly before we went to Wyoming last summer that I found out I was pregnant. Which is why I've both gotten more behind and wanted to catch up on this blog. My other two pregnancies were a piece of cake. This one has been a little different. It was great up until the third trimester, but recently I've had problems with high blood pressure and general pain in "that" area (round ligaments, apparently). Right now my BP is borderline and as long as it doesn't jump back up and stay up, our 3rd boy will be joining us on March 29th. Hooray and yikes!

Here are the boys in front of my tomatoes when they were still kind of standing. The plants themselves were ginormous this year!

This was my thriving squash.

And this, my zucchini. It never got any bigger. I didn't think it was possible to kill zucchini, or at least not have it overtake the surrounding area. Somehow I managed to grow everything but zucchini.

This is Owen on his first day of preschool. This social, outgoing, talkative kid had a bit of a hard time adjusting, but he loves it. And I hear from his teacher, Miss Janae, that he is finally just coming out of his shell in class and talking in more than a whisper, being a little more rowdy, etc. That's the Owen I know.

It wouldn't be summer without a trip to Hogle Zoo! A few of the highlights were ...

the baby elephant ...

the giraffes (including the part where Owen was "that kid" who lost his flip-flop inside the giraffe enclosure; luckily it was just the outer perimeter and we were assured that it happens all the time) ...

this ginormous bird (and all of the birds who grazed the tops of our heads during the bird show) ...

the carousel ...

and the orangutans (who performed especially well when one of their handlers came over by us and talked to them and such).

We also visited the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point.

This is Evan on his first day of Kindergarten. It was a bittersweet day.

Here are the two of them before we took Evan to school.

Here's Evan with two other Kindergartners from our cul-de-sac.

And here is his class lining up to go inside on that first day (the only decent picture I got of Mrs. Bunting).

I'm fat, fat, fat...

Okay, we have to pause all the catching up for a quick look at the present. Owen's new favorite thing to do is play with Photobooth on Casey's laptop. We find random new pictures and videos on there almost every day. Here is one of his particularly hilarious videos:

July 2010

Last 4th of July (well, 3rd, since the 4th was on Sunday) I took the kids to see the hot air balloons again. This time we went extra early so we wouldn't miss the filling-up and lift-off of the balloons. Well, we got to see them filled, but they were not able to lift off because of (apparent) windy conditions. Can you tell they rolled right out of bed for this picture? :)

I still can't figure out why they couldn't lift off, but what do I know. It was still fun to see them.

This was my favorite balloon, of course. That is my kind of Coke bottle! Just the right size!

We also did a little fishing that weekend. The kids loved it. As you can see they caught some pretty big fish! :)

I caught one about the same size and Evan was kind enough to take him off the hook and release him for me (I don't do that).

We also went to my cousin's house and hung out with her family and my other cousin's family and their friends. Here is a picture of all the cute kids! It was lots of fun!

Of course July involved a lot of sprinkler and/or pool days.

Evan liked the sprinkler high ...

Owen liked the sprinkler low (if he liked it at all).

Owen turned 3 in July! Evan and I went to Macey's and picked up this AWESOME balloon for him (although I think maybe it was a little bit more for me). I love how huge it is compared to him! We also grabbed a little cake, which Owen had to have for breakfast.

Owen loved his new real golf club from dad.

And his awesome old-school Little People (only bigger now) from Mama and Pata Jones.

We had all the cousins, aunts and uncles and grandparents from Casey's side of the family over to celebrate with us. Aunt Anahi made amazing and delicious Batman cupcakes.

(By the way ... can you tell Owen went through a cheesy grin phase around that time of the year? This one is a great smile compared to most. I do think the really cheesy ones are pretty cute, too, though.)

We set up a Batman pinata in the studio. It was great fun for all the kids!

As I mentioned before, Evan had another round of swim lessons. This time it was with my dear friend Jennifer's kids. We used to be next-door neighbors so it was great to see her so often again. It was so much fun just sitting and chatting while they swam each day. And Evan was doing amazing things in the water by the time he was done. I included a video of him jumping off the diving board!

May 2010

Wow, two weeks in a row! That has to be some kind of record. Here is what was going on last May ... not too much. Or maybe it was a lot and we were so busy we didn't keep track of it.

Owen went through a phase where he was falling asleep during dinner quite often. It was hilarious. I even have video from this particular night to see if I could get the snoring on record. I don't know how he sleeps so soundly in that chair!

The big highlight of the month was Evan's graduation from his second year at the Nae-borhood Preschool. Here we are at the graduation ceremony.

He was much more involved this year. He actually sang the songs (sometimes), did the actions, etc. He even burst out talking to us very loudly a couple times. I'm not sure where that came from. It's not the Evan I'm familiar with.


This is the part where he got to play the 5th little pig who cried, "Wee, wee, wee!" all the way home.

Accepting his graduation certificate.

Evan and Miss Janae. We love her to death! Owen is currently in his first year at her preschool.

And some day when Owen is older, this picture will probably come back to haunt him. His Auntie Kake got him dolled up in her jewelry and hair clip and sadly, he makes an adorable girl. I guess it's only fitting; he's been mistaken for a girl a lot more often lately.

Way Back When Evan Turned 5

The lucky kid had 2 parties since his aunts couldn't come the first night. He got a lot of fun things, thanks to sweet friends and family.

That is the Lego cake I made. It's no masterpiece. That's what's great about a 5-year-old boy: it's blue and it's a Lego brick and that's all that matters.

Here is one of many large snowstorms we had this past winter. I spent a lot of time shoveling this year. I had to get a picture of Owen in this hat. It was a little small, but so hilarious.

The boys made a snowman.

Owen was very entertained throwing snowballs at me through the door. That's the best way to get hit by a snowball.

November 2009 in 3 Pictures

Thanksgiving dinner at our house ... yummmm!

The resemblance is uncanny!

Owen discovered his love of scissors (which Evan didn't even know existed until preschool).

October 2009 in 6 Pictures

Okay. I have to catch up. Have to! I have a new camera now, which I would like to start using and blogging with. So as hard as it is, I'm picking 1 picture per event for the last, oh, 6 months or so. (How pathetic is that?) And then I will try ever so hard to be good at keeping track of life as we go along. Here we go:

Last October we ...

~finished landscaping our yard, which involved lots of concrete, a new fence in the front (including gates to keep the kids contained), and plants and trees.

~made our 2nd (or 3rd?) annual trip to Hee Haw Farms (which was a lot lamer than year(s) past).

~watched Evan's preschool Halloween parade (cute and hilarious, as usual).

~carved pumpkins (with a Disney theme this year).

~dressed up and went trick-or-treating.

~found Owen the morning after Halloween eating the nerds off the floor that Evan had snuck up to his room and spilled all over (such a refined child).