The Lovely Everyday Stuff

Jack asked me in the car last night, "can Wyatt marry Avery?"  

  So cute.  The boys and I were driving to a Harvest Festival and they were discussing how they want to live on their own farms one day.  And if living on a farm wasn't enough, they plan on being zoo keepers in their spare time.  

  Speaking of marriage, we were so excited to hear that Aunt JJ is engaged to Mr. Jeff!  Congratulations to you both.  We love you very much! 

They got engaged at the beginning of September.  Their engagement news is definitely not "everyday stuff" - it is pretty amazing, memorable, one-of-a-kind stuff!!

It just fit in with the boys marriage conversation last night.

Back to our everyday stuff:   Avery showing me her new moccasins.

Fascinated with all that a cell phone can do (me too!)

    My friend Lisa G. just sent a box of amazing clothes for Avery.  Here she is looking pretty stylish -  
    ready for a trip to Walmart!

Thank you for the clothes G family!

 She convinced me at Walmart that she needed to ride on the back of the cart like her brothers do.

We have lots of terms of endearment for her:  pumpkin, itty bitty, little mama, baby, cutie pie, button...here is our little one peeking out of a tent while shopping with Geoff.

    And looking sly trying to sneak something out of Wyatt's lunch box.

    Almost TWO years old...birthday post coming up!

RENO

We had quite a crazy week in September.  I flew to Denver overnight to meet my dad for a work meeting.  Geoff caught the flu while I was gone...ugh.  I returned home and we left a day and a half later to drive to Reno.  Geoff had a work trip and we went with him and another family in our squadron.  We got to our hotel room late and finally got everyone to bed between 9-10, then I woke up at midnight and got sick...all night.  I was so worried the kids would get sick.  Geoff missed the first day of his course and took the kids to a safari/zoo, the pool, to the casinos with Katie and her kids.  Luckily I felt well enough the next day for him to go to his course and Katie, the kids, and I spent about five hours in a very fun store called Scheels.  It is this crazy large store/museum/carousel/hunting/outdoor gear/restaurant all-in-one.

Katie and the kids ready for their turn on the carousel.

I love that when they were waiting, Tyler got so excited he just hugged Jack.

 The next day we went back with Geoff and he even had trouble getting out of the store.  Wyatt was kind enough to try on some clothes for him.  :)

Tulelake Fair

Mid-September we drove to CA to meet our friends at the fair.  You would think Avery had been going to the fair her whole life.  She was all about it.  

Katie and Tori on the merry-go-round.

Jack and Avery excited for the ride to start.And Wyatt, not very excited at that moment.  

After the merry-go-round, Avery and I rode on a bumpy, flying car ride.  Then we went to this much more age-appropriate ride for her and they wouldn't let her on.  The man simply said "she can't go on this ride.  She is not 30" tall."  Avery turned around and had the "I am crying so hard but not making any noise" face.  She knew exactly what he meant.  Poor thing.  I guess the previous ride was an "unregulated ride".  Great.  Here she is, watching everyone else on the ride without her.

Tyler and Tori rocked the big slide.

We moved to the train ride Avery could go on.  Here she is riding with Wyatt.  It was hot that day so we had a whole crew of kids with pink cheeks.

 We took a break for lunch and to look at the exhibits.

Back to the rides!  I love that Tori and Bella are throwing their hands up on this Gator ride and the boys are just serious.  They would look serious/bored on each ride then get off each ride and say "I love it!  I want to do it again." 

Tyler and Jack.

Fun day!

Itty Bitty Helper

  Grammy and Grandpa flew home, Geoff returned to work, and the boys were in school so the house     

  was suddenly quiet and empty.  Avery and I got busy with some yard work.  She really wanted to     

  help water the plants and vegetables that day.  

    She was quite serious about it.

    Busy

    Busy

    Busy

    Back and forth, back and forth.

    Serious.  Hard.  Work.

A week or so later she helped me pick some more tomatoes.  She has her container ready!

Thank you little helper!

First Day-First Grade

I wish I could say I captured a ton of awesome first day pictures of the boys.  But it just didn't happen.  We were rushing, the sun came up just as the boys came out to get pics in our front yard (and then forget about it).  So these three pics are the best I could get.   If the boys have to look at the sun and squint they are miserable.  Then I try to move somewhere else outside and have troubles with that.  These were the best three I could get.  I wish I could get a do-over.  

Let's be honest, both boys look like they are in utter pain here.  

They have a good class and a great teacher.  Unfortunately their teacher is gone until almost Christmas on maternity leave.  Not sure what class sizes are running everywhere else, but their class has one teacher and 25 kids.  Have a great first day of school Jack and Wyatt!

September

The summer disappeared.  September disappeared.  School started, schedules started, Grammy and Grandpa came for a visit, Papap and Grandma came for a visit, I went to Portland one weekend, Denver one weekend, we went to Reno for four days, and Avery and Geoff celebrated birthdays-there was just a lot going on!   I have to back-up some after neglecting the blog for almost two months!
We really enjoyed our little garden this summer.  The plants are so much bigger now then even when I took these pictures but the recent 30 degree weather at night is doing them in.  

   Wyatt is helping me pick some tomatoes.

Grandpa and Grammy arrived at the tail end of August/beginning of September.

We went to the lake one day.

    We took the dogs and they loved it.  

   We rented a pedal boat and the kids really loved that.

 

    Avery is very fond of any activity involving her life jacket.  Life jacket=fun!

 We went to Crater Lake to do some more exploring and hiking.

We went to a couple of waterfalls.  Wyatt had a boat with him - he was excited about making a stream for it to go down the rocks.

    And then...(I love the drama Avery is creating in this photo), as if she is saying "stop!  hold everything!

   school started.