Crazy for Kindergarten

Brooke has always been my super social-bug. All summer it's been a constant battle of wanting to play with friends vs. just staying home. I think by August, we were both more than ready for school to start!

Brooke showing off her chalk-art (sun, fairy, rainbow, ladybug, smiley faces and grass) 

 On the first day, it was cold and overcast in the morning, then for a minute the sun came out so we hurried and did some pictures outside.

 Porter sure was going to miss his buddy while Brooke was at school.

 As we were getting ready to head to the bus stop, it started to downpour. I grabbed Brooke's only waterproof jacket with a hood (her winter coat) and put the kids in the car and drove to the bus stop. When the bus pulled up, I hopped out with Brooke and we ran to the bus. When I got back to the car, Porter was in tears because he didn't get to give Brooke a hug before she left. I wasn't emotional about her leaving for school until then. I followed the bus to school to watch Brooke get off and made sure she made it inside okay.

It's been weird thinking about Brooke at school and wondering what she's doing. We've all adjusted to the school schedule and Brooke loves her teacher and going there. I have a tough time getting information out of her about what she did during the day besides recess, but hopefully that will get better.

Brooke had to fill out a booklet that she'll share with the class to introduce herself and here are some of her answers:

Favorite Color: Purple and Pink

Favorite Movie: Despicable Me 2 and Frozen

Favorite Food: Macaroni and Cheese

If I had some wishes, I'd wish for: 1) a wand 2) a baby kitten

I like to: go camping, spend time with my family and friends

When I grow up I want to be: a mommy

I'm special because: I'm such a big helper

 Porter and I have been spending lots of one on one time together and he's been loving that too.

End of Summer?

With all the cooler weather we've been having, I keep thinking it's the end of summer.  We'll go a few days wearing our long pants and shirts then of course it starts to heat up again and out come the shirts and shorts. As much as I look forward to fall (my favorite time of year) I am dreading keeping these two indoors during the long, dark winter months. So, we've been making the best of the heat and going outside to play whenever we can.

Porter loves hats. Blake finally adjusted one of his old hats so Porter could wear it all the time.

 Brooke is getting so good at balancing on her scooter!

 Eating a fresh tomato from our garden

 We've loved our summer harvest. Grilled veggies are our favorite.

Flooding

Thanks to El Nino, our valley has seen its fair share of flooding. Don't get me wrong, I have loved the cooler/rainy days and we definitely need the moisture, but you can't help but feel terrible for people who have flooding problems. This neighborhood is not too far from ours. Actually, we looked at and almost considered buying the house you can see on the left. 

Blake spent an entire afternoon/night helping the people in this neighborhood sandbag and protect their homes. He didn't get home until almost midnight. Unfortunately, with all the rain, the flooding went on for several days. 

Family Photo Shoot

Photos taken by the photographer at Blake's work picnic in early August. It's always amazing to see the equipment they use and know that Blake operates everything up there. He works hard for our family and I'm so proud of all he's accomplished! 

 Porter loved all these big trucks! You can barely see him in this photo sitting in the driver's seat.

Crazy for Baby

For some reason these last two pregnancies have been full of extras. With Porter, he only had a 2 vessel umbilical cord so I went back in at 33 weeks for another ultrasound to make sure everything was developing properly (it was). It was so fun to see him on the ultra sound screen again.

With this baby, they found protein and blood in my last urine sample and the doctor was worried about possible kidney stones so in I went at 26 weeks for an ultra sound to check my kidneys and the baby's progress. Then, yesterday, at almost 30 weeks,  Blake and I went in for the clinic's complimentary 3D ultrasound. It's been really fun to get to see this baby a few extra times before it makes the big debut in (hopefully) 10 weeks!

The baby's face was pushed into the placenta most of the time and also had hands blocking the face...so if the images seem bumpy or like there are holes in parts of the face, it's because the tech was trying to erase everything except a good image of the baby's face. I love getting to see the baby when it's further along and actually starting to looke like, well, a baby! Definitely makes it seem more real and gets me excited for round 3 of this!

These are the days

Early in the morning I hear the squeak of a bedroom door opening. Little feet pad into my bedroom and I can barely see a blonde head reaching above the height of the mattress. I close my eyes and pretend to be asleep. I hear the grunt of a little body trying to climb up on the bed. Finally he makes it, climbs under the covers, lays his head on the pillow right next to mine and says, "Morning!" I open my eyes and laugh and snuggle close to him. We lay there and snuggle and laugh until he finally says, "eat now". Sister usually joins us in the morning too. She'll climb on the other side of me or will take Porter downstairs to get something to eat while I get a few more minutes of rest before the day begins. This has been how our day has begun for the last month or so. I look forward to every morning when Porter climbs in bed with me and Brooke pokes her sleepy head and crazy hair into my room. 

Today as I was laying there trying to wake up, I heard Brooke say to Porter, "We're going to be best buddies and not throw any more fits." (Can I get a hallelujah?!) 

The other morning, Blake was helping grate zucchini from our garden so I could make bread. We told the kids to go upstairs and play. After a while it was very quiet up there so I went to investigate. I found them in Porter's closet reading books together.

 Then Mr. P on his bike. He was making me laugh so hard wearing the helmet on his head.

We also love when Porter talks about hummingbirds. He pronounces it "yummy-terd"

These are the days I want to remember.

Scouting

Blake drew a once in a lifetime buck tag for this fall. He's really excited and has been antsy to get out to the area and start scouting. We went on a family drive a couple weeks ago to check it out.

 Blake got to play with his new spotting scope.

 Just driving around, we saw so many deer from the side of the road.

Later, Blake took the camper and Brooke and headed back out for three days of scouting. They took the four-wheeler and had a blast just going for rides and spotting deer. Besides deer, they also saw buffalo, coyotes, and even two bears! I'm so jealous they saw bears. I've always wanted to see a bear in the wild.

Hopefully Blake will get his dream deer this fall. Everyone pray that he gets his deer early in the hunt because his hunt is only a week before I'm due.