Almost crawling.

Rory is getting very close to crawling!

She gets up on her knees all the time, but just can't seem to figure out the next step.

It won't be long now.

Jam anyone?

I have been on a jam kick for quite some time now.  Some of those jars came out pretty good, some on the other hand are more like syrup...way too runny!  But whatever.  I'll keep working on it.  So yeah, lots of jam...and cobblers!  Lots and lots of cobbler!

But pretty soon it's going to be all about applesauce and apple pies because those apples are coming in fast and furious!

Sundance Sundays

Look who's back in town!

 My little brother, Jeffy, is back for the school year.  He and Jen arrived on Friday so we all got to hang out this weekend.

They joined us at our neighborhood block party Saturday night...oh, what a riot that party was!  There was a climbing wall, bounce house, dunk tank, face painting, and a cotton candy machine for the kids and very little supervision (except for the climbing wall...that was highly supervised...I think anyway.)  So yeah, complete craziness!  And I don't think I saw one kid without a massive amount of cotton candy with them at all times...my kids included!  I don't even want to think about how much cotton candy they probably ate!  We all had a good time and ate tons of food!  Except at one point Haley got very upset that boys were rough housing in the bounce house.  She just kept yelling out, "They're hurting each other in there!!!"  We tried to explain that's just how boys play...weird as it may be.

Sunday I enjoyed my bike ride up the canyon in the morning, church and then our usual Sundance Sunday.  Jeff and Jen joined us again and treated the girls to suckers.  The weather was a bit rainy, but that didn't stop us!

The end of a love affair.

This here is one of my favorite mugs.  You can probably tell since it looks a bit banged up.  Just wanted to share that it's been about 3 1/2 weeks since that whole no coffee thing.  Sometimes when I open my pantry to get something I see my coffee maker sitting in there...looking very alone...I feel a bit sad.  This has been like a end of a relationship...a love affair.  I know, it's silly...but it's true.  You may be thinking, "Why don't you just get rid of the coffee maker?"  I say, "No way!"  First off, I spent a pretty penny for that coffee maker...it's a darn good coffee maker!!  Secondly, we have friends and family who drink it and it would be nice to be able to offer it to them when they stay here.

So anyway, after the first week of quitting was over I actually started feeling pretty good.  And now, I really don't miss the caffeine at all...but I STILL miss the ritual.

Confession: Today I opened the the bag of coffee grounds that we still have in the cupboard and inhaled...very deeply in fact.  It smelled so good.

Haley's Hair Cut

Haley has had long hair for a long long time...and she LOVED her long hair!  We all did!  However, now that she showers and washes her hair by herself (isn't that wonderful when kids can start doing that themselves) it was just too long for her to manage.  She sometimes would come out of the shower with big globs of conditioner still left in.  And combing, oh my, it was a process!  

We were talking about Locks of Love and she decided that she would cut her hair and donate it!  

She was VERY nervous when it was getting off.

 But she was all smiles after!

She loves moving her head back and forth and feeling her hair swing around.

And it's SO much easier for her to manage on her own now!

First Day of School 2012

My third and first graders.

I cannot even tell you how excited these two were for the first day of school!

They were up at 6:30 and pretty much ready to go by 7:00!  Only an hour and twenty minutes before we had to leave...sheesh!  They kept asking, "Is it time go yet?!!"

Do you think that will last?

After Haley had her hair cut, it seemed as though she grew 5 inches...she seems so much taller and older!

I absolutely love it!  And more importantly...so does she!

Morgan is so thrilled to have Haley's old teacher for first grade.

But I think she's really most excited to be able to have lunch at school this year!

Piper was feeling very left out...she had to go get a backpack too and have her picture taken as well!

 

So, it's been just me and the two little ones today.  Now, all I have to do is orchestrate nap times so that both babies are sleeping at the same time!  That would be nice!

Weekend Review

Look who started to sit up this weekend!

She can also scoot and roll everywhere!

It's a whole new world for her now, and she's loving it!

 This is a very typical expression of Rory...she's a nose wrinkler.  She gets that from my side of the family...my dad and I are classic nose wrinklers.  Although we have a lot more wrinkles when we squish our noses than Rory does.

We have been squeezing in the activities these past few days before school starts tomorrow.  The girls hit up the swim park three days in a row!  We also went out for Pizza Pie Saturday night.  Sunday we spent the evening at Sundance while the kids ran around...at one point they had nearly a dozen kids running around with them!

In other news, Haley got a haircut today!  And it was more than a trim...she went short!  If you know Haley then you will know that this is a VERY big deal!  That's my little teaser...you will have to wait for pictures!

It's time.

I'm sooooo ready for school to start again.  Call me terrible, but it's true.  There comes a time when everyone is just plain sick of being around each other constantly.  Haley and Morgan are either playing super well or they're at each other's throats...and it seems they're at each other's throats more and more.  And their latest...fighting over who gets to play with Piper.  "Piper is playing with ME!!!  NOT YOU!!"  And then the screaming begins!  It's driving me crazy!  I feel like I'm just referring all day long!

So yeah...school...it will be good for these girls...and me.  Although, I'm not ready for the homework wars again.

4 more days I'll have a first and third grader...wow.