Phone Calls

One of the kids' favorite things to do lately is to call people on the phone. I think it is a great way to reinforce number recognition, and it is good for them to understand how to use the phone so I usually let them call someone when they ask. Ali "left a message" for Grandma Quillen one day (we're still working on that one...often the message is just them screaming, "There's no one there!"), and was so pleased to get a call back a few minutes later. She happened to answer the phone in my room and then spent about 10 minutes lounging on my bed happily chatting away. I couldn't help but feel like I was seeing a glimpse of our future.

Errand Buddy

You would think that Eli would get to do all sorts of fun things with me while Logan and Ali are at school, but sadly for him our one-on-one time often turns into let's-run-errands-while-there's-only-one-of-you time. And he doesn't do himself any favors by being such a great errand buddy. I need to be better about this. But in the meantime, I try to make unavoidable errands a little more fun by adding a treat or something fun to the mix, like getting to watch movies in the car on this one particular two-hour-round-trip errand.

Apple Picking

Aunt Amy and cousins Ethan and Emily invited us along to their yearly tradition of apple picking again this year. It was a crisp morning full of yummy apples and good company!

Monster Dsiplay

Out library has these display boxes that are always changing what they have in them, and they always have a sign on them that says "So-and-so's Collection of Whatever-it-is". So the other day, Logan asks if anyone can put something in there and wanted to know if we could. We asked the librarian, and sure enough, all you have to do is sign up! We singed up for September and they decided to show off the paper monsters we made earlier in the summer. So this month, if you happen to be at the Eola Library you will see "Ali, Logan and Eli's Monster Collection" in the Children's section. Pretty cool!

Ms. Eldredge

First grade is off to a good start. It is good to be back in the school routine again. And what does Ali do with her free time when she comes home from school? She plays school, of course. Almost every afternoon she invites Eli to "school" in her room where she, of course, is the teacher. I love going to her "class" because it gives me a glimpse of what her days at school are like!

Warrior Logan

Logan armed himself with all his various weaponry and then asked for me to take a picture. He looked so fierce!

Bed Buddies

I used to try and limit the number of stuffed animals the kids kept on their beds, but lately I have given up. As long as they know when we travel we only bring their loveys (who are still the undisputed favorites), I don't really care.

Summer Rain

What do you do when you're playing outside in the pool and sprinklers on a lovely summer day, and it starts raining with the sun still out? If you're my kids you cover up from head to toe (one must be in control of how wet one gets at all times, even when one is supposedly playing in the water) and keep playing!

Joy School

A couple of weeks ago Eli started Joy School again for the year. In his group this year are the same three boys from last year, as well as two new boys and one brave girl:) I thought this joyful picture of Eli was fitting for his first day of Joy School!

Piggy-Back Rides

This summer Ali was determined that she was big enough to give Eli piggy-back rides and kept wanting to try. Eli would only sometimes agree, because often the attempt was a fail, or a fall as the case really was. Keep in mind Eli only weighs about five pounds less than Ali! This picture makes me laugh because their faces capture how they each really felt about the piggy-back-rides:)

Magic Man

One day Logan made himself a magician's hat and put on quite a magic show for our enjoyment. Life with this creative boy is truly magical. 

Dean and Neil

Back in July I went to my parents house for a weekend to visit my sister and her new twins (who lived there for the summer). A big thank you to Jason, Lianna and JD who made it possible for me to skip out for a few days and just enjoy being an Auntie and sister and daughter.

It was so fun to meet these two little guys and see what a great mom my sister is. It sure brought back memories. In the spirit of full disclosure, I had two very strong and conflicting emotions upon hearing my sister was going to be living with my parents when her twins were newborns: I was SO HAPPY for her because every new mom should get as much help as possible, but especially twin moms; and SO JEALOUS that she got to live with our mom during that stage and I didn't. My twins are six. We survived. Years ago. But I still had that very real emotion, and honestly it was sometimes magnified while I was there and would look around at the five adults sitting around doting on those two sweet boys. But at the exact same moment I was so glad that was the way it was. Strange, but true.

Neil:

Neil, Dean:

Dean:

Dean, Neil:

My Grandparents made the trip out for a day while I was there, and I am so grateful they did. It made an already sweet weekend even sweeter!

Happy Birthday Dad!

 On August 11th we got to help Gary celebrate his birthday. Days leading up to the event Logan kept talking about how amazing it is that he is SO OLD:) We are so grateful this year to have them here to celebrate with us (they are hoping to move), and are so thankful that he is responding so well to his cancer treatments and expect that means we will be celebrating his birthday for many years to come! Thank you, Dad, for the wonderful man you are. We love you.

Summer School

Eli got to participate in our home summer school this summer, and loved it. He was always the one to remind me do to it, and would frequently say, "This is FUN!" as we worked. He enjoyed it so much he and I have kept it up (somewhat) since the kids went back to school. Here is one of his first attempts at his name. Can you tell how proud of himself he was?