Love of Reading

Tate is REALLY starting to love reading! (He CHOSE to read this little 3 page book 15 times in a row this afternoon). I am amazed at the progress that he's made since school has started. Go Tate, WOOHOO!

Baby #1

The first of the three new babies (Miriam Belle) was born this morning at 7:45ish weighing 5 pounds 14 ounces. She's tiny and beautiful, and I'm happy to have a new neice. Congrats Carrie & Jonathan!

Look for babies #2 and #3 (Andrea & Aaron's and Christina & Joseph's) coming up in the next few weeks...

Canyon Lake

Bryan and the scouts in our ward camped at Canyon Lake last night and went boating this morning. Well one of the leaders in our ward left to go home early (and forgot that he had taken the keys to Bryan's truck with him). So Bryan drove back into town with another leader, retrieved his truck key... and took Tate and I back to Canyon Lake to play for a while and get the truck. Worked out great for us:) Tate and Bryan enjoyed swimming together and I enjoyed getting somewhat of a tan while taking pictures of them. I'm not a huge fan of just swimming in lake water (yuck). But give me a Jet Ski, and that's a different story. I'll be right out there in the water.

Cousin Sleep Over

Last night Bryan had a scout camp out. Did I fail to mention that he got called as a deacon's quorum adviser and assistant scout master in our ward? Well he did. So to make the most of his time away, we had a cousins sleep over (with the oldest 6 cousins in my family) at our house. These kids are very close in age (3-7) and they have lots of fun together. Sometimes (well almost all the time) it gets extremely crazy and loud when they are all together and everyone tries to hush them down. But last night, since it was just me and them (no babies and no adults trying to visit)... I allowed them to be noisy and fully enjoy the time together.

This morning I took advantage of having little girls around by doing their hair nice and pretty (something I LOVE doing BTW). They ALL wanted hearts, and they all were somewhat picky (I want pom poms, I want my hair down with only a little up, etc). Emma's turned out the cutest in my opinion. Want a close up?

I copied some hairstyles that I found of THIS blog. So yes, doing their hair was awesome...

But do you know what was even more awesome?
As we were all watching BOLT last night, Lily turned to me and asked (out of the blue) if I'd like a foot massage. I was awe struck to say the least! Of course I'd like one!!! So her and Emma each took a foot, covered them in lotion and massaged away... And it was heaven for me.

That's it, I think we should do cousin sleep overs more often.

Coach Bryan

Soccer season has begun, and Tate couldn't be happier with who his new coach is... Daddy!!! Before practice, Tate walked around to all the parents and introduced himself (and his Dad). He told them all what a great soccer coach his Daddy will be for their children. (I think we have a young salesman here).
The first practice was a huge success! Our team colors are red & black, and the children voted on the team name of "Hot Kickers". We're all excited for a great season!!!

July 2009-Collage

Just catching up on my monthly collages... It's really fun remembering the year this way!

June 2009 Collage

Tate's Officially a Whole Hand Full!

Last night was a rough night for Tate. After I had tucked him into bed, he cried for probably 10 minutes straight... He was devastated because in the morning he would be five, which meant that he would never be four again-EVER. He kept his four fingers up and between tears shouted (4, 4, 4). He told me again and again that he didn't want to grow up and that he wanted to go live in Never Land. He fell asleep crying, yet woke up happy (very happy).

Here's a picture of Mr. Tate first thing this morning (holding Hissy) in front of his wrapped bedroom door (I know that I've said it a million times before, but I LOVE this tradition). I made him a little felt crown out of scraps late last night (because every child needs a birthday crown). We had a little cousins party this afternoon at Dianna and Keith's house (which included swimming, playing cat and mouse, pin the tail on the donkey, presents, and cake). Yeah for simple parties! Tate had a great time, and as far as I can tell... He's now glad to be 5!

Here's something funny that Tate said yesterday that I've got to write down even though it doesn't have anything at all to do with this post...

"What the... {long pause}
Mom is it HECK or BECK?"

Bryan's Bubbles

Bryan has this AMAZING yet completely DISGUSTING talent of blowing spit bubbles. I caught him doing this while relaxing on the couch and I had to take a picture.
{Now I hope he doesn't kill me for posting it}

Party, Party, Party

I spoke to soon when I wrote my last post about lots of parties... We had another party Sunday with my family (to celebrate Rebecca and Tate's birthdays) and then another on Monday with Bryan's family (to celebrate Dianna, Jon, and Tate's birthdays). And since Tate's birthday is tomorrow (August 26th), we're most likely going to be partying some more!

Party Day

We went to two parties today... One was for our friends Jeremy and Gretchen who just adopted 3 little boys! Congrats to them. I forgot to bring my camera to the party, but they had some fun activities for the kids- including a big water slide and trying to eat a doughnut on a string.
The second party we went to was for baby Autumn's first birthday! I can't believe she is already a year old. The party was at Espee Park (which has a splash pad). So yes, Tate had plenty of water fun today! Autumn was so sweet. She actually fell asleep at her own party.
While Autumn was asleep, Faith opened up her presents and the kids had a pinata. Like all the other kids... as soon as the pinata broke open, Tate started gathering up candy as fast as he could. But not having anywhere to put his candy, he began stuffing the underwear of his swimsuit. I don't think that anyone else noticed where he was putting his candy, but I thought it was hilarious although I insisted that he take it out... Ha/ha.
Happy Birthday Autumn! We love you!!!

Fun Stuff

I made these HOME BLOCKS at enrichment Thursday night, and I think they turned out cute! When I got home, I asked Bryan what he thought of them... He very honestly stated that he doesn't think that they match the rest of our home decor (in other words he doesn't approve of the green). But you see... that's what I like about them. I've been trying to incorporate some green into our family room and this is just the first of it. Obviously when I picked out the paper I had no idea that he didn't like green:)

We've been married 8 1/2 years and would you believe that I've NEVER owned a key rack. Here's my attempt at making one. I kind of went to town with the blue ink-oops. Notice the green buttons?

Lots of Kids & Adjusting to School

My SIL Carrie was in the hospital this whole last week (since Thursday night)... Her pregnancy has been totally rough with plenty of surprises. My Mother watched her kids for the first several days and then she came down with a bad cold-so I took them Tuesday and Wednesday. It actually worked out great! Tate was more than happy to have kids to play with. Peter and Tate got along really well and had lots of fun together. In the picture above Peter was teaching Tate how to do "donut socks".

Benjamin was a little challenging at times, but I got him on a sleeping schedule right away which helped a ton. Here he is just waking up from a nap. Lily and Emma had school, so we didn't see too much of them (Just one afternoon).

It's been a week since he started, but I'm still adjusting to school life for Tate... He's been riding the bus there and back (and he absolutely LOVES his newly found independence).

But... I have an embarrassing confession to make.

There hasn't been a single day this week when I haven't followed Tate's bus to school just so that I could peek on him to make sure he made it to his class without getting lost. I know... Just call me an overly protective mother:)

When I woke up this morning, I told myself that today was the day that I was going to let him do it alone (no following the bus, or peeking allowed). But then Tate forgot his backpack, so I HAD to go down to the school to give it to him... Ahhh. I guess tomorrow will be THE DAY-for reals.

Missionary Map

For FHE tonight we had our lesson on missionaries. I made this map for Tate's bedroom to go along with his new bedroom theme of "Imagine Me a Missionary". It's a fabric map (that I found on Ebay) stapled to a really light weight board (similar to homosote or sound board material) that I found at Lowe's. I plan on screwing it up on the wall above his bunk bed.

In Bryan & my immediate families, we have 12 people who have served (or who are serving) missions. So I printed up a little picture of each of them (stating their name and where they served). Then we tried to locate on the map where it was and we pinned their pictures up with tacks. Most of them were very straight forward... But I'm not sure that we got Keith's right (He served in a little island called Neue-close to Tonga). I'm not even sure if I'm spelling Neue right... Maybe I'll have to have him teach me how to spell it and show me where it is:) Anyways, it was a fun family night lesson. Tate's already talking about his mission and wondering where he will serve someday!

Carob Cake

I've been EXPERIMENTING with carob powder lately... For those of you who aren't familiar with carob-it can be used as a subsitute for chocolate. Growing up, My Mom used it all the time. She made carob brownies and hot carob drink.
After church today, Bryan and Tate were eating their chocolate chip cookies and I was jealous... So I made some carob cake for me:) It turned out super good. The recipe I had called for sugar, so I just used honey instead. I also added a couple tablespoons of Peanut Butter to the frosting which made it extra yummy in my opinion.

Cheating With Project 365 Again

I totally didn't even take any pictures yesterday... Oops. I'll just post some of our family from the wedding.

James & Julie's Wedding

James and Julie got married yesterday! They make the most ADORABLE couple. Don't you agree? I had LOTS of fun "going around" taking some candid shots. It's definitely my preference over being the designated photographer. I'm all about NO PRESSURE...

It's been a WHOLE week...

Since I've last had sugar! That might not seem like a huge accomplishment for some, but for me it's a big deal. My goal is to stay off of it for at least a year. I'm doing a little experiment of which I'm not going to attempt to explain on the blog. If my theory is correct, then I might explain more later.
I'm not sure how well I'd be holding up if it weren't for sugar free candy. This stuff is good!

Mesa AZ Temple Paintings FOR SALE by Thomas Manning

It's time for my Mother to buy some more pills again... We've got to combate that cancer! So in an attempt to help out (even a little) I've set up some PAYPAL "BUY NOW" buttons for my brother Thomas' beautiful MESA AZ TEMPLE PAINTINGS.

100% of the proceeds will go towards her cancer treatment.

Okay, so there are two different paintings to choose from:

This one is called the Mesa AZ Temple at Moonlight

and this is called the Mesa AZ Temple at Sunset

To purchase a print or canvas-check out my sidebar or you can purchase it from my Mom's Blog. We also have larger sizes available. Email me with questions {onesmartchicken at gmail dot com} Please help me spread the word.

First Day of Kindergarten

{When the sun is in Tate's eyes, He usually does the whole "fingers holding his eyes open" kind of picture. Gotta love it}

Here's the Verdict:
Today was REALLY good! Bryan and I both drove Tate to school (just for his first day, tomorrow he will ride the bus). I purposely wore my sunglasses (even though it wasn't that sunny) to hide my eyes just in case I would break down crying (which I didn't BTW). On the way there I had the jitters. I was so nervous it wasn' t even funny. And then there was Tate in the backseat... totally happy! He had no nervousness in his whole body. When we got there, Bryan was ready to drop him off at the curb (OBVIOUSLY a man thing-no offense), but I INSISTED on waiting to make sure that he found his teacher okay. When the whistle blew, Tate confidently walked up to her and stood in line. I gave him a hug, choked back a tear (I was NOT going to allow myself to cry in front of everyone), and proceeded to walk away. But I just couldn't bring myself to leave so soon. So I rounded a corner, caught up with his class, and followed closely behind. Finally, when I watched him walk through his Kindergarten classroom, I ALMOST cried again (this time feeling more happy for him than sad for me).
Just like everyone said it would, the time passed more quickly than I expected. And before I knew it, it was time to pick Tate up. But when I got there, he insisted on riding the bus home... So I drove to the bus stop and waited for what seemed like forever (I imagine the first day takes longer than normal for the buses). When he finally arrived, his SMILE said it all. Tate LOVES Kindergarten already.

Celebrating HIS Last Day of Summer!

This morning was "Meet your Teacher" at Tate's school. Kind of crazy, but his teacher has our same last name. I believe that she is Bryan's Dad's 1st cousins' wife. So that's kind of cool. Tate is SUPER excited about starting Kindergarten! He's not scared at all. Which is GOOD... I wish that I can say that I felt the same way. But if you think about it-Tate is my first child, but for the time being he is also my last. So I am experiencing the emotions that a Mom feels when she sends her first child to school. (sadness, happiness, nervousness, not knowing what to expect...), But to some degree I am also feeling many of the same emotions that a Mom feels when she sends her last child to school (loneliness but at the same time somewhat excited yet not knowing what to do with myself sort of feeling). Yes... I think that pretty much sums up how I'm feeling right now. (I'll just pretend that you ALL wanted to hear the deep thoughts and feelings of Maria-J/K).

So what did we do today to celebrate Tate's last day of Summer? We hung out at the pool all afternoon. 3 full hours of fun, play, and sun. Tate and his best friend Logan (they look like twins) squirted water guns, showed off their swimming skills, and got ALL wrinkly (with raisin fingers as I call them). FUN/FUN/FUN.

Well, tomorrow's the BIG day. Wish us luck.

Growing Up

Just LOOK at Tate's new trick. He's pretty much mastered tying his own shoes! It's one more way that he's becoming more independent, (which is good and bad). It makes me happy to know that he is learning and progressing, but what happened to my baby?
Tate's starting Kindergarten on Wednesday, and I never thought that I would be the type of mom that would cry over it. But I was wrong. What was I thinking? I've always been the emotional type. Last night I had my first cry just thinking about him getting older (old enough for Kindergarten). The reality is that "My baby is growing up", and life will never be the same.

False Alarm

As most of you know... My sister and 2 sister in laws are all expecting babies (Due in September) within a week or two of each other. As much as I'd LOVE to be expecting as well, I'm grateful (in a way) that I will be healthy and able to help out with what I can. Yesterday Christina and Carrie BOTH ended up in the hospital (at different times) with false alarms. So while they were there, we had fun with Carrie's kids. Sunday afternoons/evenings are always memorable, usually including some good old rough play and almost always some singing around the piano. Yesterday was no different. The children rolled, danced and sang along to songs that I played on the piano. The picture of the day is of them doing "Choo Choo The Big Train is Coming Round the Track".

The kids also played on the stairs... Peter beat EVERYONE! He made it down in 3 seconds. Oh my goodness, this video TOTALLY cracks me up!!!! I dare you to watch this without smiling.

No Sprinklers for Tate

When Tate woke up SUPER EARLY this morning, I suggested going to play in the sprinklers at the retention basin across the street. He didn't seem interested at first, but I finally managed to convince him to get his swim suit on. But when we got there... Tate absolutely WOULD NOT go play in the sprinklers. I couldn't even MAKE him. Tate is NOT and has never been a sprinkler kid. In his own words he said, "Mom If I want to get wet-I'll just go swimming".

Decorating Phase

I've been changing things around a little at the house...
I bought this cute MINATURE RECLINER for Tate at Goodwill for $8 and I love it (maybe even more than he does). It's new home is in the little NOOK at the top of the stairs. OH HOW I LOVE THIS NOOK!!!

It has become such a perfect play room. (Sorry my camera won't zoom out for better pictures). Also I made some cute blue CURTAINS for this area of our house out of a tablecloth. It really helps to keep the heat out-yeah!

One of the walls in the EXTRA bedroom also got a makeover. I used THIS tutorial that I had found about how to make a picture cluster without making a million holes in your wall. It REALLY helped a lot!
And now for Tate's bedroom, I had this idea of decorating his room with the theme of "Imagine me a Missionary". So I started by BORROWING Bryan's old ties and hanging them from the curtains.

Hmmmm. Okay I'm not sure if they should stay. I think that if I decorate the rest of the room it might look cute, but then again it might just look strange. What do you think? Should they stay-YES OR NO. I need opinions here...