Preschool graduation

May 19

Here we are at Kate's preschool "graduation" (she's going to preschool again in the fall, so I'm not sure what she's graduating from... but lets not get sidetracked).  What a fun morning.  I had mentioned that she would be having a little program to the Big kids and Amy and Emily both wanted to come.  Matt started his morning a little late so he could be there for most of it.  It was so fun.  This Little Lady of ours has loved preschool, as predicted, and was excited that we were there for her program. 

Emily met us at the preschool house and Matt picked up Amy at Oakridge Jr. High.  What a great picture this is of these sisters.  I love, and am so grateful, for Amy and Emily's interest and involvement in the lives of the Littles. 

This is Clara.  She and Kate became friends early on.  She is a little more quiet and shy than Kate, very sweet and polite. She invited Happy (all the kids at preschool, including the teacher, called Kate "Happy" since that is what she called herself) over for a play date after a a month or two.  I ended up really enjoying talking to her mom, Amy.  We got together several times throughout the year.  It was great to see them playing together.  Clara's family has chickens and Kate LOVED going over there to watch and hold them.  I'd sure love them to stay friends!

Here she is with her teacher, Miss Julia. 

This is  most of her class (a few kids weren't there quite yet). 

 

They sang a lot of songs, such as the Alphabet song, Itsy Bitsy Spider, and If You're Happy and You Know It.  There was one song that they sang that used the word "peep" in it and Kate had the funniest smirk on her face and looked around at the other kids to see if they noticed as well.  Amy, Emily, and I all laughed because we knew just what she was thinking.

 

 

Grant Dahmer and Naomi Barrington were two other kids from our ward that went to the preschool, too.  We three moms had been asking each other what they were going to do for preschool and Whitney Barrington found this one, so we all signed up.  It's been fun to see Whitney and Mindy frequently, even if it's just a hello as we are dropping off/picking up kids.  We did go to breakfast twice because we all had babies (I also had Daniel, but he would hang out with Grandma Kay) so we could enjoy an extra chance to chat and laugh.

T

It was a good experience to have Kate in preschool.  I'm sure she'll want to go to preschool in the fall so I've started looking into different options.  She is a good girl and I love her little being.  So enjoyed watching her sing today. 

The MGB is in!

May 13

Well... it's in.  The MGB is in it's new home.  It was actually quite exciting to push her up the driveway into the garage and wonder what the next few months (months... let's hope it's not parked here for years) will bring.  I made Tyler climb into the driver's seat to prove that he would indeed be able to drive this thing once they had it running.  He grinned when he slid right in without a problem.  Fits like a glove. They basically have to take the whole thing apart before they can start putting her back together again.  They are hoping to be done by the first snowfall so that mom can park in her spot during the winter.  Let the games begin!

Tyler's been here...

May 13

I came home from running some errands and found this on the counter.  I smiled as I thought, "Tyler's been here."  A bag of chips half empty and a plate with 4 corndog sticks.  Sorry we missed him.  Glad he got something to eat.  Sure like that kid!

An MGB is born (err... REborn! Actually, it will hopefull be reborn...)

May 12, 2016

Matt and Tyler have been looking for a project, something to work on together.  They decided a car might be just the thing.  I watched Matt peruse through the classified ads and periodically show me a car that he thought looked interesting.  I don't know that I really understood what they were looking for, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't this...

Matt found a 1969 MGB for sale that included several thousand dollars worth of parts to go with it (the man had intended on restoring it himself but never got around to it).  There were no pictures of the car itself, but after Matt talked to the owner and to Tyler we decided to head up to Bountiful to take a look.  We drove up there with a trailer to put the car on (just in case).  In my mind I was expecting to see a little car with some rust and some dents, maybe a broken headlight and some mechanical problems that they would learn how to fix.  I was not expecting to see a car that looked like they just dragged it out of a junk yard.  Yet that is what I thought when the owner opened the garage door.  I thought for sure that this was more of a project than Matt and Tyler were expecting to jump into.  But several minutes later, during a moment when it was just Tyler and I standing together, I asked him "Is this what you were expecting?  Or does this seem totally overwhelming?"  With a slight shrug of the shoulder and a little smile, he said, "Nah.  We can do it."  And with that I shifted gears and tried to see the potential of this car like these two boys did.

 

From Matt.   "It's a good thing I love my son.  I can't wait to ride down the road with him driving this car. 

    

On a side note, we picked Tyler up right after baseball (as evidenced by his face paint) and with Oliver (we left the other two kiddos at home with Grandma) we headed up to look at the car.  We hadn't eaten and it took a while to look at the car, agree to buy it, and then get it onto the trailer and secured.  The wife of the couple selling it heard me saying we'd need to stop and get some food and offered, several times, to take us to their current home (they were selling the one we were at) and make us some dinner.  I politely refused several times, but when they realized they needed to give us the title, which was at the current home, she insisted on just throwing something together.  We drove a few blocks away and arrived at their amazing home with an incredible view of the Salt Lake Valley.  I was nervous with Oliver crawling around their immaculate home with all kinds of antiques and breakables.  They couldn't have been nicer, "throwing" together a delicious Mexican meal, and telling us more about their family.  I'm sure there will be posts in the future about the progress of this car.  If anyone was going to jump into a project like this it would be Matt and Tyler is all in for the ride! 

Tyler's Prom - 2016

April 23

They look good, don't they!  Tyler took Addie prom and we were excited to see them as they headed out the door.  It's crazy to think of him being a senior next year and then off into adulthood!  He reported that they had a great day date (though I can't remember what he said they did).  "Have a great time!  Be good!" we said as they left.  "We will!" they responded. 

Naughty! Naughty!!

May 6

Deep breaths!  It's been a long few weeks/months.  Just kinda worn out from tantrums and the busyness of Littles "helping" or naughtiness.  This time, however, I had to laugh so I wouldn't be grouchy.  I was going to work on a little project that required some paint.  I left the paint on the table while I grabbed something in the garage.  I was gone 3 - 4 minutes.  This is what I found when I came back.  Daniel was in mid-stroke with the sponge brush when I gasped.  He smiled proudly for a brief moment until he comprehended my not-so-proud expression.  At that point he dropped the paint brush and ran to the front room to hid next to the couch.  It was acrylic paint and still wet so it came up quite easily. 

About an hour later I came into the kitchen and Daniel immediately dropped a spoon and ran.  I know what that means.  I found this glass of water with an entire (sample size) container of formula poured in and around.  This is at least the third time this has happened.  Sigh. 

Little boys

These two little boys are quite the pair.  As Oliver gets bigger and as Daniel gets more 2 the dynamic is changing a bit, but happily (oooh, so happily) they seem to like each other.  And I'll tell you something else... their Mama likes them a lot, too!  These are a bunch of pictures from my phone.  They are all taken within a few weeks of each other.  And apparently I like to take pictures of them when they are wearing overalls (they do look darling in, if you ask me and especially if you ask Grandma Kay).  Here they are... little boys.

Daniel trying out Grandma Kay's glasses.  She got a kick out this picture.

Oliver Mac.