Cherish our little ones

Today has been a very devastating day for our country as a whole. Such a violent attack on elementary children makes me physically sick to my stomach. Although I don't know anyone from the victims that died today in the school shooting I can't help but put myself in those parents places who I can only imagine felt complete horror, anger, sorrow, grief, despair, helplessness and so many other horrible feelings. I think everyone does that. It's instinct. Having a Kindergartner myself, and that being the main target in the shooting today makes it that much more gut-wrenching.

Who would ever thinks that when you send your kids to school that they would be a part of such a hateful act of violence? Especially in Elementary!!! Never crossed my mind. I already think of all the other ways they could somehow be hurt/lost and those cause me enough anxiety! This just adds to the list. All I wanted to do was pick up Stella from school (since I had Tristan in the car when I finally heard about it) and just snuggle with them. Keep them close.

This to me is just another sad reminder how fragile life is. There are NO GUARANTEE'S. I want to love more. Love on a deeper level. Be more patient. Be more kind. Have greater empathy for my kids. Really listen to them. Really listen. Let them shine for who they are. Not who I want/or think they should be. Show more affection. Make sure that they know how loved, valuable  and irreplaceable they are in our little family and in the world.

My heart is aching tonight for these families. God bless all those who lost their lives, all those who have lost a loved one, and all those who are trying to put together the pieces and make sense of such a horrific day.

Give Thanks

I have to say I love Thanksgiving! To me it is the holiday that allows you focus on all the good in your life before everyone gets caught up in the material things. Myself included. Last year we wrote what we were thankful for each day and had it in a frame. This year we did the same thing. Only we weren't as good about writing on it everyday. However, here is our list!

We had an amazing holiday with both of our families. We ate too much, laughed a lot, and spent time with the ones we love most! It was great! 

He & She

The past few months Tristan has been completely OBSESSED with football! To say the least. Every single day the first thing T says to Bill is "When can we play football?" He can't wait to play next year when he is finally old enough. He will start Jr. Jazz next week which we are very excited for. I think he will do great! He was obsessed with b-ball a few months ago until his focus shifted. He is very competitive, determined, and athletic. I love to watch him and see the pride on his face when he feels he has done a good job! Bill decided to splurge and get him this little football outfit while we were at Scheels. He looks so handsome in it I had to blog about it! (It already has grass stains and holes in the knees!)

Stella had a big moment this past week. She decided to donate her hair to Locks of Love and had 10 inches of hair cut off! This all came after weeks months of frustration (on my part). I am trying to get her to be more self-sufficient. She won't brush or wash her hair because it takes too much effort. Laziness which I can't stand. These are things of everyday life that need to be done and it's not optional. Maybe for some but not in this house. So Bill was literally seconds away from taking scissors to her hair - since Stella was all for it - before I finally gave in and said if we are going to do this we will take her somewhere to actually get it done! 

I have only taken her one other time to the salon to get her haircut. I had tears in my eyes and Bill said, "Well if you're gonna cry about it we don't have to!" I only agreed to it because I knew it would be fun her to do something so wonderful, it would cause more peace and time in the mornings, and Stella is more than her hair! She is caring, kind, free-spirited and generous. It was fun to see how happy she was after getting it cut! I am proud of her.

Halloween

It has been a month since my last post! I figure I had better blog about Halloween before Thanksgiving next week!! Can you even believe we are one week away. Crazy. Halloween was a lot of fun as always! The kids said it was "The best Halloween EVER!!!" I don't quite know why because they quit trick-or-treating way before I would have called it quits. Tristan was Spiderman and Stella - Spidergirl. Very into the whole superhero thing this year. 

We had our usual Halloween soup dinner before trick-or-treating with the Eichelberger's and the Mower's. The kids were so excited they could hardly contain it! This has always been one of my favorite holidays. So fun!

A little pumpkin carvin

The finished product (bad picture)

School parade

Yum!!! (don't you love her eyes!?)

The King. I always knew he had superpowers!

Web-shooting

October Outings

I have been HORRIBLE about taking pictures lately! Grrrrrrrr. Here are a few from the past few weeks. This is what we've been up to this month!

Fall T-Ball. Tristan had fun, but he is super excited for basketball and football next year. 

They boy is seriously obsessed!

My fabulous sister did the breast cancer walk with me. It was cold and early, but we try to do it every year in honor of our grandma who is a 2-time survivor!

I can't believe I forgot to bring spare clothes to change into because I look a little homely here, but this is Nicole Curtis who I met at the Home and Decorating Expo. She has a show on the DIY Network and I LOVE her! I was pretty excited to talk with her!

I signed up to do the bulletin board for Tristan's class. What do you think of my 3D art?

This was my handsome date today! We went on a little mommy/son date and he wanted to go bowling. Stella and Bill went to Jumpin' Jacks and had a blast! Wish I had a picture of them.

I am helping with the Great Artist Program again. This year I get to teach both kids classes which I am really excited for. This was Tristan's first project. Pretty cool 'eh?

One of my little helpers getting lunch ready for some football watching! Yummy. Cute girl.

Fish Lake

This past weekend we went to Fish Lake. It's hunting season you know. Bill somehow talked Stella into wanting to go instead of staying home and doing our girls weekend plans. To be quite honest I wasn't really looking forward to it since I knew he would be hunting most of the time and I would be stuck without a car or anything to do for hours at a time. Luckily it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be! Stella and I got some time alone to paint our nails, watch movies and go for walks. The weather was perfect and the leaves were yellow and beautiful! It's my favorite time to be in the mountains! 

Tristan went hunting with Bill, but they didn't get anything. Calder got a little buck and was pretty excited about that! We got in a short 4-wheeling ride and the kids did a little shooting on the way home. We also stopped to see Shaun and his family for a few hours. It was great to see them even for a short time! It was a beautiful, relaxing weekend!

Back to School

 Ah, back to school. Sigh. I am the only one in this little family that did NOT go back to school! Bill is taking a finance class at SLCC and is loving it. It's Mon., Wed., and Fri. Each time he comes home he goes through our statements and figures out what else we could be doing better. I have often said he should have been a financial adviser. It's something that clicks with him. He gets numbers and money.

Stella started 3rd grade with Mrs. R. Olson. Her first day she was pretty nervous. It helped having the open house at school so she could see that there were quite a few of her friends from last year in her class already.  Bill and I walked her to where her class lines up, kissed her goodbye and off she went! When I called her from work later that day to see how her day was she said, "It was AWESOME!!!" She went on and on about her day which is very rare for her. I was glad to hear she had such a great first day.

Tristan started Kindergarten with Mrs. Morris after Labor Day. He was not nervous at all. At least not until we got to the school. He looked a little apprehensive as they were waiting to go in with their teacher. Which in turn made me that much sadder. It hit me as I was ironing his shirt the day before for his first day of school how sad I was going to be! I got a little nostalgic I have to admit. Watching him nervously enter the school building Bill and I looked at each other with some pretty pouty looks on our faces. Even Bill said it was harder this time around because he is our last to go to school! I didn't want to be that mom that cries when they drop those kids off, but I came pretty dang close!

He enthusiastically told me that he "loves Kindergarten!" so that makes me happy. Now if we can just get him to be a little quieter in class...Oh well. And so it starts. Again.

End of Summer

Less than one week left of summer vacation. At least it is for Stella. Tristan still has 2 weeks since they don't start Kindergarten testing until next week. I am looking forward to meeting both of their teachers and seeing where their classes will be! Stella is getting a little nervous and I don't think Tristan has even given school a second thought. I don't worry about him other than he can't not talk and ask a million questions! A real quick update (mostly for myself so I don't forget the rest of our summer).

We had a nice evening at Silver Lake with Emily, Cole and their boys. We even got to see a moose family! Yay!!!

The kiddo's started swim lessons. This is their second week of swim. They have both improved greatly in just the past week and a half! It's amazing to watch them! Bill and I love to just sit and watch their progress. Tristan was so timid at first and wouldn't even put his face under water and now he won't stop! And Stella I call my water baby. She has always loved swimming.

Stella Bella got glasses today. She is super excited! It's weird to see her with glasses on. She looks pretty cute though. She kept saying "Everything is so much clearer!" while we were at the store today! Maybe math will make more sense to her this year! (Unless she's anything like me. Then it will NEVER make sense!)

We went to the Sweet's Candy Shop today. The kids have been obsessed with Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and so have Melissa's kids. She was kind enough to arrange for a tour! The kids thought it was pretty cool. No Oompa-Loompa's though. We left with our own little bags of delicious taffy! Yum.

I just love this picture of Stella and Emma. They are so sweet. I had to take a picture of them reading together and snacking while their brothers were being boys racing up and down the sidewalks. 

Boys and Girls are so different.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

These past few weeks have been so much fun! We have crammed as much summer fun into them as we could! My poor kids were exhausted. After our amazing trip to Yellowstone we took the kids to Lagoon. They had been working around the house to earn "Lagoon Dollars" and they had finally earned enough. They had so much fun! Tristan would have gone on every ride had he been tall enough. Stella gets more cautious as she gets older (much like her mother) but she did love the rides she actually went on. We stayed til the park was just about shut down. It was a long and fun day!

That same week we went to the zoo for Bill's work party. It was pretty cool because we got to stay after it was closed to the public. Our favorite was the bears. They were so much fun to watch! The polar bear just swam laps for about 45 minutes. We watched for probably 30. And the sibling bears were extra feisty after their nap! They have so much personality. Tristan said at bed time to himself, "Dads work party was awesome." It was.

 No trip to the zoo is complete without a train ride!

 Off we go

 Bill's work hired a face-painter.Here is our pretty peacock.

 Seriously how cute is this tiger face on T?

 Posing

 Luckily they do not measure up to the Ape species

Even the bear will pose for our family picture. She's so cute I wanted to take her home!

The next day we went to Utah lake and did some boating with my parents, Emily, Cole & Dylan. We have yet to get them out on the boat with us so it was fun! My parents got taken for a pretty wild ride and then it was Bill and Cole's turn. That was great. I was nice and didn't flip them off the tube. Tristan has a new fear of water, but was brave enough to try swimming in the lake with us a couple of times. Hopefully he can work through it. We had a lot of fun with them!

What do you really think Dyl?

We like to hang tough!

This was the only time Emily was actually in the seated position. 

The rest of the time she was flying in the air!

Our co-captain

We still have a few more short weeks of summer left. I am so not ready for it to end yet! I have really enjoyed having both my kids home and having no set schedule. Hopefully we can fit a few more fun summer things in (including swim lessons next week) before they go back to school. Things that won't break the bank preferably!

It was so hot we needed a ride to cool down on.

Yummy (expensive) ice cream

So much fun at Lagoon!!!