Updates on the Kids

It's been awhile since I've updated on the little things my kids are doing lately, so here we go. I've got the most material on Elizabeth this time...

Elizabeth:

-She has continued her use of big or uncommon words. Example 1: We were walking into a store the other day and she yells back to Natalie, "Stop lagging behind!" Example 2: She was wearing her Sunday dress which has an empire waist and a full skirt, the kind of dress she used to love since it "foofs" out but this time she was upset. She was pushing down on the top of the skirt part saying, "I don't like this! It's so... plump!" I really don't use either of those words in normal conversation. Promise. I have no idea where she learns these.

-She has started her second year of soccer. She said she wanted to play again. So far, she seems excited to go to practice but we'll see how long it lasts. Natalie is very upset that she missed the cut-off and can't play this year. After the first practice, Natalie was talking about how she can't wait to play when she's 4 and Elizabeth said, kind of to herself, "I don't know what's so fun about soccer. It's just running to faraway trees." I guess the runs in practice are not her favorite part.

-The other day, I overheard Elizabeth singing during her quiet time. As I listened more closely, I discovered that she was setting the words of the book she was reading (The Berenstain Bear's and Too Much Junk Food) to music. It was quite hilarious and I snuck up to the door with the camera in an attempt to get it on video but sadly you can't hear her very well. I really am sad about that because I didn't even get a chance to properly laugh while it was happening since I had to be stealthy so she would keep doing it. Anyway, she is definitely her father's daughter. :)

-The other night I went in to her room after they had fallen asleep and I discovered her asleep like this:

Pretty impressive...

Natalie:

-She was eating a good ol' Costco hot dog when she said to me, "I love mustard more than anything else in the whole world... Except, my family." Then she gives me this smile like she's so proud of herself for saying such a sweet thing about her family. Wow, talk about real love. We even rank above mustard... :)

-Did I mention that she really wants to play soccer? At Elizabeth's practice the other night, Natalie, Nate and I were playing a little bit ourselves. Then she would say, "Tell me it's time for a water break, Mom" and I would actually have to say "Water break!" and then she would run over and sit and take a drink.

-She LOVES skirts and dresses right now and wears one as often as she can. Both of the girls were in heaven when they saw what Daddy brought them back from Africa:

Day dresses!
(that's what we call dresses that are OK to wear on days other than Sunday)

They wear them all of the time. When Natalie saw hers, she said that it was "fashionable" and "elegant". We have Fancy Nancy to thank for teaching her those words.

Nathaniel:

-He has become quite the ham when the camera comes out and gives me these cheesy grins:

-He LOVES to brush his teeth. He will scream if you take his toothbrush away from him.

-He also loves to drum/bang on anything. He loves when Daddy lets him drum on the little djembe we have:...and shake the aslatua:

Look at that huge mouth!
(If you are wondering what an aslatua is, go here)

I forgot that I haven't finished blogging about the summer until I finish Joe's trip to Ghana! So that will be my next post, as soon as I can get my hands on his laptop for long enough to finish uploading his pictures from there.

Birthday Time

Joe celebrated his 29th birthday while we were in Utah, too. It ended up being a pretty big celebration since Tom and Lorna and posterity all came into town to take family pictures that weekend. Joe got to go golfing with his dad and brothers--probably the best birthday present he could get. He also got an iphone, which he loves, and makes us all learn world capitals and French while we're in the car, now. :)

We had a birthday dinner after golfing for all the August birthdays: Joe, Kennedy, Tom and Joelle:

Sunday, we took the family pictures. Here are some pictures Tom took in between photo shoots.

I love these ones and couldn't narrow them down.
My handsome boys:

Pulling on Daddy's ear:
Me and the boy

Lizzie and James

There's a sneak peek. I'll post some more of our family another time.

Whew. And now I think I'm done with our summer.

Visits

Being in Utah for an extended amount of time meant we got to visit a lot of family and friends we hadn't seen in awhile. I don't have pictures from all of them but I do have a few.

One highlight for me was visiting my Grandma Allen. It was wonderful to talk with her. The girls loved feeding the ducks at this pond at the care facility where she is staying.

I love these pictures:

He cozied right up to her.

We also spent a weekend with Tom and Lorna. The kids loved seeing James, Sam and Lily again.

I'd forgotten their bathing suits so they swam in shirts...

While we were there, I decided it was about time I rode on a motorcycle. Tom was kind enough to oblige...

It was a lot of fun! Kind of terrifying at times, but a lot of fun! About half-way through I even worked up the courage to let go of Tom and just hold on to the strap. Anyway, it is definitely a fun way to travel.

We also got to see Jordan and Luci, our good buddies from Wymount days. Man we miss the days of walking 5 feet to go hang out and play Mario Kart or Settlers. :)

Our kids played together really well and it was cute to watch. Here's the only picture I got of them watching a video:

I love Jax sucking his thumb with his finger in his nose.
He was so tired and fell asleep in that chair only a few minutes after this.

Living with Family

Our 6 week long experiment in living with family went really well (from our perspective... :). This would not have been the case if Jon and Jaime weren't so easy to get along with, but they are, so it was a lot of fun. Of course it's hard not being in your own house but there were a lot of perks, too. It was nice to tag team a little bit with watching the kids: taking trips to the store alone, exercising on our own (or together when the guys were home), having some help with the kids while you cook dinner, etc. Jaime helped motivate me to actually exercise. We jogged, swam laps, did yoga. It was great fun. My favorite parts were staying up late talking to Jon and Jaime, and having someone to chat and eat dinner with on nights when Joe got home late.

The kids loved playing together.

They loved being outside on the playset:

...eating outside when we'd let them:

...and going on walks:

Sidenote: Once, during all the playing outside, Elizabeth got a pretty bad mosquito bite on her forehead.

One morning she woke up looking like this:

Jon said that it reminded him of this guy:

I thought that was harsh at the time but after finding the picture I can see how he thought that... :)

Anyway, the kids also had fun taking swim lessons together. I loved that the lessons were so cheap there!

Elizabeth and Joelle are in goggles:

Randon (at left) and Natalie going around on a tube:

(I love how Natalie and that other boy totally look like they are about to fall out)

I thought this was a cute one of Randon:

The graduates enjoying their suckers:

One night we made pizza and decided to let the kids make their own. I was pretty amazed by their creativity:

Randon's:

Lizzie's:

Natalie's:

Joelle's:

I hope they all remember the fun they had this summer.
I know I will. We love you guys!

Allen Reunion

We headed straight from there to the Allen reunion up by Tahoe. So, that meant we still didn't have our camera. I do have a few pictures from my dad's camera when we took pictures one night. (In our defense, we didn't know that pictures were going to be taken. Joe and I hadn't even showered!)

The whole crew
(minus the Wisconsin Allens--we missed you guys!)

We had fun seeing everyone, even though once again our kids were sick--mostly just Natalie. Man, writing about these trips makes me remember those weeks. I'm sure glad she is over that bug, or whatever it was.

Atkinder 2010

Next up in our summer of fun was the Atkinder reunion with Joe's dad and his cousins on that side. It was up by Brian head resort and man was it gorgeous up there. The cabin was awesome, too. Too bad our kids were sick so we didn't really get to enjoy much of it. Oh well, it was still fun.

The kids loved playing with their cousins. These cute pictures are all courtesy of Lori. Thanks again!

For an activity one night, we had a little dance party. The girls had been looking forward to it SO much but Natalie was sick that day. We came out to watch but Natalie just had to be a part of the action. She'd go out and dance until you could see her get this sick look on her face then she'd come sit by me and the barf bucket. Then we'd do it again. Poor girl. After a few minutes of this, I took her up to bed. Here she is dancing with Joelle:

After I left, Jaime got these ones of Elizabeth and James waltzing:

Now she's trying to find a way to marry James. :)

Thanks for the pictures, everyone (since we forgot our camera).