Keeping Up With the Joneses

This is what sick day looks like around our house. Myles and baby elmo are playing elmo games on pbskids.org. Mason is playing scribblenauts on his ds. Mommy is chasing a whining, snotty baby around the house praying for nap time.

Nice rock, huh? On Saturday Marshall hiked for a while to find it and take a picture. Why? Well. . . almost 7 years ago something very special happened on that rock. It is where Marshall proposed! What a great memory. What a great rock.

Grandma Delta offered to take the kids this weekend since Myles and Max had the hugest tantrums ever seen when she left last week. However, we had 3 tickets to the BYU Football Game and I really wanted to take Mason. I thought it would be a hard sell to get Mason to stay home, but when I told him he could have mommy and daddy to himself he said "that would be splendid! I'd love to stay with you guys!" So on Friday afternoon I met Deb in Nephi and gave her Max and Myles and on the way back to Provo I spontaneously stopped at the Red Barn in Santaquin and bought a huge box of apples. I don't know what I was thinking. They just looked so good, and were such a good deal in comparison to the smaller bags. I had no idea how many apples were in those boxes! Friday night the three of us went out for dinner (wow it is easier without a 3 year old and 1 year old!) and then watched The Apple Dumpling Gang. Mason loved it, and especially loved the popcorn and exclaimed "I...

Max (who for some reason we all call Macky ) is all of a sudden a big boy. Like, overnight. All of a sudden he has a little personality, sense of humor, and is involved in everything we do. He is SUCH a grandma's boy. I don't know how Grandma Delta gets these kids wrapped around her little finger so young, but he is absolutely in love with her. Last Saturday she was here and said "alright, well I'd better get going." Max toddled over, grabbed her purse and keys off the table, dragged her purse to the door, and would NOT let go of her keys. He insisted on going with her. When she picked him up he gripped her shirt and would not let go until we pried his little fists apart and pulled him away. When she left he proceeded to throw a full-blown tantrum (which is actually hilarious to watch). Such a big boy!

Since I posted asking for suggestions for paint colors, I've had a lot of requests for pictures. I'm not sure these pictures capture the colors very well, but I love the way it turned out. Kitchen Dining Living Room Family Room Family Room Dining Room (with I had moved those decorations) Dining Room (haven't put dishes back in the china cabinet yet) No pictures of the kitchen yet because I was in the middle of cooking. But it is the same color as the family room and I like it. No pictures of the office because it is filled with all the pictures and decorating items I am getting rid of. Any takers? But the room is a pretty green that goes well with the other colors. The entry way, hallway, and both stairways are pained a pretty "latte" color. My next big step is window coverings. I've looked in probably a dozen stores and haven't found quite what I'm looking for. I think I have to go with a valence for the family room because the kids play in th...

The colors up at South Fork canyon were so beautiful on our picnic there Saturday night, that we went up after church today to take a few pictures. We learned that it is worth hiring a photographer just because they are better at getting the kids to stay still. But we got a few good shots and still had a good time. They still need to be edited, but here is a sneak peak.

Mason is starting to really love soccer. He gets really into the game. And he looks cute doing it :)

Our family has the best weekends. I look forward to Saturdays all week. In the past, yard work and cleaning have consumed our Saturdays and we always felt rushed and stressed. Over the last few months we have made an effort to make sure all of our work gets done during the week so that Saturdays are just for family fun. . .and we've been successful! On Friday night Mason got to be the chef and made us all personal pizzas. Then we had a movie night, and even Max joined in. He was such a big boy sitting on the couch with his brothers eating popcorn and watching the movie! I had an early morning Saturday with Max waking up at 5 am with teething problems, so by 8 am I was ready to get out of the house. I woke Marshall up and had him watch Max and Mason while I took Myles with me to run some errands, and on the way I drove by a garage sale and saw this ride-on kid's truck. We've been wanting to get a car/truck that Mason and Myles can drive together but didn't want to spen...

Myles' grandma Delta found this shirt for Myles. It says "This is my time-out shirt. I wear it all day long." It is just so perfect for Myles. He is such a handful sometimes and tries so hard to be good but just breaks down a lot and makes mistakes. He balances it out with being so sweet and cuddly, but he does spend a lot of time in time-out. On Saturday night Myles went to Delta to spend some time with grandma and for the first couple hours we were amazed with how quiet and peaceful the house was with just Mason and Max home. And then it started getting too quiet. And boring. Myles just adds so much fun and laughter and excitement to our family I can hardly stand him being away. Luckily he'll come home today and the fun will continue.

My little boy is growing up! Today Myles starts preschool with Miss Julie and is so excited. He woke up this morning ready to go and was dissapointed to hear he had to wait until after lunch. When he went to the open house on Friday he went right up to Miss Julie and said "Hi, I'm Myles. M-Y-L-E-S. Myles." This kid is ready to learn!

Myles started his soccer lessons last night and was very excited. It is amazing to me that sometimes he can act absolutely crazy at home and then with other people or in organized events, is totally obedient. He listened to his coach, did what was asked, and tried hard. He was really hot towards the end and gave up and just collapsed on the grass, but I couldn't blame him. After Myles' soccer practice, we had a quick picnic dinner on the field, and then went to Mason's soccer game. I can't believe the improvement Mason is making. The first game, he pretty much just stood or sat in the middle of the field and couldn't care less about the game. The second game, he would stand up and watch the ball, but would rarely run or try to participate. Last night, he was awesome! He ran with the ball up and down the field, cheered like crazy, and was right in the middle of things. He thinks it is more funny to pretend to kick the ball and fall than to actually kick it, but when...

Mason is absolutely thrilled about starting kindergarten today. He chose his special back-to-school breakfast to be pancakes with chocolate chips and looked through all his school supplies. He is so lucky to have 9 kids from our ward/neighborhood in his class, including a few of his best friends. At the beginning of the summer, Mason had a little pre -kindergarten assessment and the kindergarten teachers were very concerned that he wouldn't be ready for kindergarten. It is pretty normal for kids with a traumatic brain injury to have a year of what I call "dozy- ness " and Mason just kind of dozed through preschool last year. His scores were really low and they recommended keeping him in preschool another year before starting kindergarten. We thought about it and decided to send him to an AMAZING reading teacher for the summer ( joyfullyread .com ) who worked with him twice a week. Then we decided just to start him in kindergarten and see how it goes. Well, at his readin...