Firsts

We've had a lot of firsts around here lately.

Carter

- had his first football practice ever!

After much debate we decided to have him play with the local Upward league. They are Christian based sports group and we have been beyond thrilled with the coaches and the organization. We also like that they keep the teams small allowing the boys to really learn the game, try all the different positions and get lots of playing time. It may be premature but I think Carter may have found "his" sport. He's quite good at football even though he's never played before. He is SO excited for his first game and has been wearing his uniform around the house all weekend.

- is really, truly being challenged in school for the first time ever! I am so happy to see him have to put in serious effort in his homework and schoolwork. His teacher and the gifted team at his new school have been FABULOUS in keeping him challenged. The math curriculum at the school is excellent and really keeping him on his toes!

Makenna

-had her first dance class of the year this past week. She is taking at a new studio and had a great time in her class. She will be starting 2nd dance class this week with a bunch of her church friends who are taking from a teen in our stake who has a studio out of her home. She is thrilled to be dancing again after taking most of the summer off!

- is doing great in school and her reading is really taking off. She is loving school though she still struggles to wake up most mornings. She loves her little group of friends and has gotten VERY into the Silly Bandz craze since school started!

(Unfortunately I did not take a pic of Kenna before her dance class last week but here she is baking with Allen yesterday - her all time favorite past time)

Addison

- is using the big girl potty regularly and rarely has accidents any more. Unfortunately, she has not gotten #2 down yet, despite many bribes and threats. I have resorted to making her take a cold shower when she poops her pants, which she hates, so I'm hoping it works out soon. (And I know I'm not the first mom with this problem so if you have any tips/tricks - send them my way!)

- started her dance and tumbling classes these last couple weeks. She is as cute as a button and LOVES going to her classes. She especially loves tumbling because several of her friends from church are in her class with her and she loves her teacher Miss Jacque. Seriously, I could eat this child alive, every second of her life!We're staying SUPER busy between all our extra curricular activities, homework and volunteering in the kids' classrooms!

STAY TUNED: We have our LAST ultrasound for our LAST baby on Wednesday. I can hardly wait for our big news!!!

Labor Day Weekend

Allen's mom came from AZ for a VERY quick trip over Labor Day weekend. Quick as in about 36 hours is what she spent in ABQ with us. We packed a lot in and the kids were thrilled to pieces to have grandma here, even for a short visit.

Carter came up with this idea to create fake injuries and pretend like they were dead when she arrived. It was very interesting and creative and FUNNY. I couldn't resist a picture.


Sunday evening we had a nice dinner together, played lots, had a tea party and took a long walk to collect rocks.

Monday morning Allen's mom made and played Play Doh with the kids (for a long time), had another tea party and made Jello Jigglers. She's always so good about doing fun things with the kids.

Late in the morning we headed into Old Town to do some shopping, exploring and have lunch. Allen's mom quickly made friends with an older hispanic man in one of the shops who took pictures for us and make a restaurant recommendation. Carter and Makenna chose a scorpion sucker as their souvenir. It was disgusting but they thought they were the greatest things ever.

At lunch at Church Street Cafe - great ambiance, and pretty good food!

After Old Town Al and his mom took the kids for the last swim of the summer at the pool. We're so glad Grandma Frost was able to spend a short bit of her weekend with us and had a great time together!

Signs of Life

I am so happy to report that I am finally feeling back to my normal self. Well as normal as you can feel at 19 weeks pregnant anyway! I knew things were starting to get back to normal when the following happened:

Laundry getting washed, folded and put away on the same day! This didn't happen around here for months. I could get it washed and dried on my normal day (Monday) but it usually sat in baskets until Allen folded it for me (on about Thursday).

Meal planning and cooking! Yay! It feels great to be back in my kitchen and feeding my family healthy meals again. I'm especially enjoying all of the fall baking this year. Last year I was on my crazy strict diet and did virtually no baking all fall so I'm totally living it up this year! {And next year I'll have to be good again while I lose baby weight}Scrapbooking! I'm so happy to have enough energy to be getting back into a few hobbies. I scrapped TWELVE pages this week and am happily completely caught up on my kids' school scrapbooks! Next up is getting my 365 blog updated this weekend.This fall is shaping up to be INSANELY busy. My bestie (Mindy) is getting married in two weeks so we are making a QUICK trip to Utah for her wedding. We are thrilled to pieces for her and love her fiance Erik.

The very next weekend Allen and I will be boarding this:

And heading to places like this:

(One of our ports - St. Maarten, Virgin Islands) as an early 10 year anniversary trip. We are so excited but I have A LOT to do to get ready for my parents to come and care for my kiddos that week.

We also have all of our traditional fall activities - apple picking, state fair, pumpkin patch, balloon fiesta - to squeeze in to the remaining weekends. Carter starts football this week and the girls have started their dance and gymnastics classes. I have some decorating and sewing projects up my sleeve (including DARLING Halloween costumes - yes, I am a glutton for punishment!!) and am pulling out my fall decor bins to start decorating around here this weekend!

Ok, that's about it from around here! I'll be back with more soon!

Isotopes Game

This summer my big kids participated in a summer reading program that is done by a local restaurant and the minor league baseball team in ABQ. They were so excited when they earned their tickets to an Isotopes baseball game. Because of pregnancy and vacationing we ended up going to one of the last games of the season last weekend.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous - slightly cool and breezy and we even got rained on a tiny bit at one point. We all had a great time but the kids especially loved being in the park. The kids split a bag of cotton candy and Al and I shared some kettle corn. There was also a fun park/play area for the kids that they had fun in. I think Carter's favorite activity was playing baseball with a bunch of other little boys on the grass near us.

{Don't ask, she would only let me take pics of her eating her cotton candy}

We will definitely try to hit a couple of games next summer and will participate in the reading program again. It was a great end of summer activity for us!

First Day of School

The day after we returned from our PNW vacation, the kids started school! We pulled in at about 9:00 p.m., fed everyone, showered everyone and had them in bed by about 9:30. It was a late night, making the first school morning a little rocky. The kids rallied and were really excited to start at their new school.

We decided this summer to send the kids to a local charter school that about 20 families in our ward attend. We had heard such wonderful things about it that we decided to apply and were excited to be accepted. The only downfall of the school is that is about a 30 minute drive each way, with no bussing option. Luckily we are able to carpool with a friend/neighbor making the drive slightly less painful each day.

We had a VERY quick photo taking session before school that morning.

(Kenna has to wear tennis shoes every day which is really putting a cramp in her/my style- LOL. I got her a few pair of the cutest tennies we could find)

After school we had our traditional visit from the Back to School fairy who brought Makenna a pair of roller skates (she is obsessed) and Carter a Tech Deck set. We also had an apple themed snack (sliced apples and delicious toffee dip). The kids had a great first day!

I really can't believe I have two kids in school full time now. It has changed the dynamics of our home a lot. I miss the big kids a ton, especially Makenna who seems so little to be in school all day (don't worry, I felt the same way when Carter went off to Kindy). But both kids are loving school and really thriving there. I must say I am loving my one-on-one time with Addison every day. She is at the most charming age right now and she is flourishing with all the attention she is getting! We are starting most of our extra curricular activities in the next week and I am so glad we've had these first couple of weeks of school to get settled into a routine and to remind the kids that life is not all fun and games when school is in session.

I must admit that after the first two weeks of making the drive to the school that I was about to throw in the towel. I mean, we weren't unhappy in our previous school and I just wasn't sure it was worth it. Then, last Thursday Allen and I attended the school curriculum night and we were completely BLOWN AWAY by the amazing curriculum the school offers. Carter's teacher was particularly impressive and I walked out of there knowing we made the right decision for our kids. I also love that we have every Friday off of school. The kids will have field trips and are supposed to use part of the day to work on their monthly projects but it's been totally dreamy having a 3 day weekend every week!

Just for fun, here are my BTS jars. I needed something to fill the jars with after the 4th of July and decided on a BTS theme, which I've never done before. I love it!! I made the wreath out of brown lunch sacks and love how it turned out (all for about $1). Next year I hope to add some cute ABC/ 123 embellishments on it too.

Family Reunion

We drove to Vancouver, WA (across the river from Portland) to my sister's house on August 1. We had a family reunion scheduled the 2nd week of August but I decided if we were making the LONG drive that I wanted to stay for two full weeks. Allen flew home the next morning so he could spend the week working.

The first week was full of a lot of hanging out for the kids. My kids absolutely adore all of their cousins and they had a fabulous time getting to spend so much time with their Baldwin cousins over two weeks. The weather was up and down during the time we were there (welcome to the PNW, right?) but it didn't stop the kids from swimming the pool every day (in 60 degree weather a couple times).

Mason also taught them that if you put dish soap on the trampoline with a bit of water, you get LOTS of bubbles. They went through and entire bottle of soap over a few days doing this.

We were able to celebrate Maddie's 5th birthday with a fun ice cream themed party. Unfortunately she was sick on her bday but we were happy to celebrate with her anyway.

The kids had LOTS of late nights:


Lots of craft projects (completely organized by the older kids - loved it!):

Tons of yummy treats (and food):


Dress up and pretend play (my little nieces were so good about playing with the younger kids. I loved hearing them direct them in "Little house on the Prairie" and school)

On one of the warm days we went and played in the Hood river for the day. The kids had a ball swimming, digging in the sand and having mud wars. We were hoping to squeeze in one more river day but the weather never really cooperated again.
My sister and I were able to squeeze in a Girls Night Out too. We had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, shopped for a couple of hours and then saw the Broadway production of South Pacific in downtown Portland one night. It was so much fun getting to spend a few child free hours together.

There was also a lot of pickup basketball played, walks with blackberry picking (yum!), video game playing (by the boys) and going to the movies.

The second week, the rest of my family joined in the fun. Allen flew back on Saturday morning. My mom and dad drove up with Parker and Bailey and then Teresa, Steve and Christina flew up a couple days later.

The first day we were together we drove up to Mount St. Helen's for the day. The drive was absolutely gorgeous and we loved learning about the volcano and the day it erupted in 1980. Unfortunately, it was totally cloudy and we were unable to see the volcano at all. It was a bummer but we just had to laugh about it (like I said, welcome to the PNW!). We had a picnic lunch in the balmy 50 degree weather and then headed back home.

That afternoon the kids filled up a bunch of water balloons for a water fight and we came out to find the girls looking like this:
It was too funny to not take a picture of!

We headed off to the beach for a few days and had the best time. We stayed in this same beach house 5 years ago (I was pregnant with Makenna at the time!) and we were excited to stay there again. The house is right on the water and is big enough to accommodate us all. On the way to the beach we made a stop in downtown Portland to go to Voodoo donuts. It's a very famous shop that has been featured on lots of Food Network shows and boasts being on the top 10 best donut list for the country. We waited for an hour in line just to get in the store. We were a bit skeptical while standing in line but they were the YUMMIEST donuts ever. They had a huge variety and our favorite was the maple donut with bacon on top. I know it sounds disgusting but it was SO good. We also had a bubblegum donut (makenna), an M&M donut (carter), a mango donut, a peanut butter/oreo donut and a couple others. They were so good!



Our trips to the OR coast always include the same activities. Trips to the tidepools:

Sitting in the hot tub:

Then running down to the beach and jumping in the FREEZING water:

And then running back to the hot tub. Addie was not too happy about being left standing on the beach while everyone jumped in. The water was about 52 degrees on this day and I could barely stand to get my feet wet, let alone jump in. Of course Allen had to get in on the fun as he feels he always has to get in ocean when he has the opportunity (crazy!)

There was lots of game playing:

Spoiling of Addie (who was beloved by everyone and fought over by the cousins):

My mom brought lots of craft projects that kept the kids occupied for hours at time. We took walks on the beach and had fun finding sea creatures everywhere.

On the way home from the beach we always stop at Tillamook cheese factory for the tour, cheese sampling and their amazing ice cream:

(Carter's interesting outfit is due to the fact that he jumped in the ocean full clothed right before we were leaving. I was completely out of clothes for him so he wore dirty jeans and a pj top for the rest of the day. I was not too amused at the time but it was actually funny).

The day after returning from the beach we made the epic 24 hour drive home in just two days. It was pretty brutal and I'm not sure we've ever been more tired in our lives. We had to make it home in order to start school the following morning. The kids actually missed the first week of school so we were pretty desperate to make it home in time for the 2nd week.

We had a wonderful time being together with my family. A special thanks to the Jackson's for hosting our big group and to my mom and dad for all their organization of the events.