My Boys

Now that Caitlyn is in school all day the boys spend a lot of time playing together.  I love this picture of them, they are both so cute!  Everyone says that Wyatt looks just like Jonah.  Jonah loves to hear that.  If he hears someone say that they look alike he will stick his face next to Wyatt's so they can compare. 

They love to chase after cars.  Jonah will send his car down the hall and they will both race to see who gets it first.  Wyatt loves it and Jonah loves to hear him laugh.

We get lots of Michigan clothes handed down from my nephews.  Jonah loves to wear them and wanted Wyatt in his Michigan clothes too so I could take a picture of them.  I guess I have my kids trained on picture taking because they always want their pictures taken.

I love this picture of the boys before church this morning.  Keith has been getting up with Wyatt every morning this weekend.  He usually wakes up before the rest of us and I told him I would get him so he could sleep, but he told me he likes to have some time alone with him to play.  He is such an amazing Dad.

Here is another example of how great he is.  On Wednesday morning we woke up to find treats for all of us along with this note.  Keith told us how much he loves all of us and he appreciates our support while he is busy with work and school.  He picked out treats for each of us and wrote us each a little paragraph telling us why he picked them and what he loves about us.  The kids were so excited and yes we all ate our treats for breakfast!  We are all so lucky to have him.

On Friday we were able to go to the aviary with some good friends.  Jonah had fun playing with them and looking at all of the birds. He really liked playing in this tree house. 

Caitlyn made it through her first week of school.  She had a tough day on Thursday.  I guess she is having a hard time adjusting to the long day.  I guess I was naive and thought if we could make it through the first day we would be okay.  I guess it will take a little more getting used to for all of us.  She loves to come home and play and ride her bike after school.  She was excited to go to our ward picnic on Saturday.  They loved the treasure hunt and Caitlyn was excited that she got to read one of the clues.

Jonah insisted on wearing his soccer uniform to the picnic.  We had a rough game yesterday.  Jonah was off his game a little and wasn't being very aggressive.  He still did great and had fun and managed to get one goal so he was happy.  Jonah was really excited when he found a clue in the treasure hunt, unfortunately it was a clue we had already read. 

Wyatt has been a little clingy with Keith and I lately.  I have to admit that I kind of like it.  He will lay his head on my shoulder and give me kisses, it is so sweet.  I like to see him be independent, but I'm glad he still wants his mom sometimes.

Jonah is looking so old lately.  He looked so handsome for church today.  He has had fun playing with his friends while Caitlyn is at school.  He loves to be outside riding his bike and all of the neighborhood kids usually end up in our front yard every afternoon.  The kids love it.  He begs to play video games whenever we aren't outside, but he is usually a good sport about doing his chores and reading before he plays.  Keith also started school this week so we have been trying to make the most of the little time that we have had together this week.  We all like to go swimming in the evening.  The water is getting pretty cool, so we don't stay in too long, but it fun to be able to play with the kids in the pool. 

13 Months

Time continues to pass quickly and it has already been a month since Wyatt's first birthday.  He has sure been a handful these last few days.  He is so easy going and so good, but wow can he find trouble and make a mess like you wouldn't believe.  This is his newest trick.  He has been trying to climb onto the couch, but can't quite reach.  He realized that he can climb on the chair.

Then he dives onto the couch, crawls across the couch.

Then he is at his real destination the end table.  He loves to play with the remotes and I always put them up here so he can't reach them.

He also loves to pull all of the tissues out of the box.  He will seriously do this over and over all day.  I take him down and put him next to a toy and the next thing I know he is on the table again.  I guess I send him mixed messages when I tell him no and then take pictures of him doing it.

This is his other new trick.  He is constantly climbing in this desk  It drives me crazy.  All day long I'm pulling him off of something he shouldn't be on and all day long he is letting me know he is not happy about it. It is hard to get mad with a cute face like that though.

He also loves to play with the TV.  He is constantly turning it on and off.  I say, "no, no Wyatt."  He looks at me shakes his finger to say no, so he knows he shouldn't be doing it, and then flashes me this adorable smile and goes right back to doing it.  Little stinker!

He was laughing while he was playing peek-a-boo with Keith and I the other night.  I love listening to kids laugh, there is nothing cuter.

Wyatt is finally walking.  He is still crawling about half the time, but he always tries to walk to get where he wants to be and once he falls down he will just crawl the rest of the way.  He had a lot of fun showing off his new skills the other night for Keith and I when Caitlyn and Jonah were in bed.

 

I love when they first start walking and they have to keep their hands up for balance.  The other day he walked from the car to the school holding hands with me and Jonah and he loved that.  He was not very happy when I picked him up, he wanted to keep walking. 

Wyatt says "ma ma and da da," although I don't think he really knows what he is saying.  He is down to one nap most days.  He loves to play wrestle.  If anyone lays on the floor he will go over to them and scream and jump on top of them.  He loves playing peek-a-boo, and patt-a-cake.  He is pretty social and loves to show off for people.  He is getting more clingy with me and Keith.  His new game is to hand stuff to people. He will hand me anything he can find just so I can give it back to him.  Caitlyn and Jonah are so excited with all of the new things he can do.  We all love watching him grow up!

First Grade

Caitlyn was so excited to get everything ready for school on Sunday night. She helped me pack her lunch. She was a little nervous and seemed to calm down a lot after Keith gave her a blessing.  It also gave me a lot of comfort.  I'm so grateful to know that our Heavenly Father loves Caitlyn and will watch over her when I can't.

Monday morning Catilyn woke up so excited to go to school.  She was running around the house telling me to hurry and she would be waiting in the car.

She wanted to take a picture with Keith because it was his first day of school again also.

I can't believe how grown up she is looking. I still can't believe she is in first grade.

Caitlyn started at a new school this year.  We applied to some charter schools and she ended up getting into one of them, but we just didn't get feel good about it.  It was so hard to turn down, but we felt very strongly that it wasn't right for her. Caitlyn made a really good friend in Kindergarten that told us about another school and we applied for a permit.  It isn't a charter, but it is supposed to be a great school.   We found out a few days before school that she got in and we felt great about it.  She was disappointed that she wasn't in the same class as her friend, but she was so great about having a good attitude.  This school is huge, she even has her own locker.

We met her teacher a few times before school and I love her.  She is awesome with teaching philosophies that I just love.  Caitlyn was all smiles until we pulled up to the school on Monday.  All of the sudden she got really nervous and said her stomach hurt.  I took her in the class and she looked terrified.  She was nervous about not knowing any of the kids.  It was so hard to leave her looking so nervous.  I had a hard day because I was worried about her all day.  When I picked her up from school she was all smiles and said she loved it.  We have all had better days now that we know she loves school.  I still miss her, but I know she is happy and that makes all the difference.

Last week of summer (continued)

Thursday night some friends invited us up to the canyon for dinner and smores.  The kids were so excited to go.  I thought I was doing so well, I had everything packed and ready to go and we even left on time to follow our friends up there.  We got about five minutes from home and Keith asked if I brought the hot dogs, nope!  I brought everything except for that.  We had to make a quick stop at a store and then we were on our way again.

The boys got right to work on a fort to fight the bad guys.  Jonah was in heaven playing with others boys and sticks and rocks.  It doesn't get much better than that for him.

The girls helped the boys with the fort for a little while and then they moved on to other things.  Of course Caitlyn, who never has to go to the bathroom had to go twice while we were up there.  Yuck!

These two always have fun together.  They crack me up to listen to them.  They are always planning play dates or their latest project, a dance.  Caitlyn keeps telling me about it and what I need to make for it, but doesn't seem to worried about when it will actually happen.

Wyatt loved sitting in these little chairs.  He thought he was pretty big to have his own chair.

I love this picture.  What handsome boys! 

Jonah was excited to roast his own marshmallows. 

We all love the smores!

It was a great night with great company!

On Friday night we had a neighborhood barbecue.  The kids had a great time on the slip and slide.

Keith and I sat around and visited all night and hardly saw the kids.  They were happy running around with all of the other kids.  Wyatt was awesome and just hung out by us and played with chairs and cups.  He always makes things so easy on us.  I keep wishing he would walk and then I wonder why because then I will just be chasing him around. 

Jonah likes to show off his tough muscles any chance he gets.  Luckily Baylee was okay with it!  Today Keith and I painted our sheds.  We almost put it off to just play, but figured we better get it done before he goes back to school.  I got stung by a bee three times.  Twice on the same hand, my hand is killing me.  At least our painting (at least outside) projects are out of the way for now.  It has been a fun week.  I'm really not looking forward to school starting, but it will be nice to slow down a little.

Last week of summer

I can't believe this is the last week of summer before Caitlyn goes back to school.  This summer went by so fast.  On Monday we met my sisters at IKEA and then hung out with them all day.  It was a lot of fun.  I'm so sad that we won't be getting together with Amarie every week now that she and Caitlyn will be in school all day.  Jonah and Caitlyn just started dancing outside of IKEA when they heard some music.  It was pretty cute.

Tuesday we had some good friends over to swim.  I love these boys, they are so cute and well behaved.  Even Wyatt had a little friend since he and Trey are only a few days apart.  I couldn't get a picture of them together to save my life, but oh well.  I'm secretly hoping that Caitlyn and Evan get married some day.

On Wednesday we had some more good friends over to swim.  I have been meaning to have them over all summer, but we have been so busy that it has just never happened.  The kids all had a great time and I had fun visiting and catching up.

Wyatt doesn't love the cold water, so he spent his time at the water table.  He was happy there.  I have been swimming every day when I put him down for a nap.  It is great because I play with Caitlyn and Jonah for a while in the pool and then they want to get out and dry off and I get to swim on my own for a while.  It feels so good!

Wyatt is still crawling to get around.  He walks here and there, but crawls most of the time.  He has enjoyed being outside this week.  He always just goes with the flow.

No post would be complete without a pose from Caitlyn!

On Thursday we had some more good friends over to swim.  Caitlyn had a blast playing with her friend and they are always really good to let Jonah play with them.  I had a great afternoon visiting and then I got in some swimming time. 

Caitlyn and Jonah had fun putting Wyatt's sunglasses on him when he woke up from his nap. 

Today Jonah had another soccer game.  He did great and had so much fun.  It was a really good game.  Usually at this age the games consist of one or two kids making one goal after another, but this game was pretty evenly matched.  All of the kids were really good and we had a close game.  Jonah played hard and was happy that he got a few goals.  I love watching his face after he gets a goal, he has a huge smile and looks around to catch every one's eye as he runs down the field.  I love watching him play.

This week

This week has been a little tough getting back to life after our fun vacation.  Catilyn and Jonah have been fighting a lot.  I have to keep them busy so they won't fight with each other.  I get a little depressed after vacations.  I don't like going back to real life and having Keith go back to work. I decided we better stay busy this week so we would all be happy!

We spent a lot of time playing with cousins and friends.  The kids had fun swimming when we were home.

They love to jump off the ladder.  I'm still amazed at how well they both do in the water. 

I love this shot of Caitlyn.  On Friday we went to the water slides.  Keith was able to go and we had a great time.  Mel and the kids met us up there and the kids had fun going around with their cousins.  Mel was great and took Wyatt so Keith and I could go by ourselves for a while.  Later they all went home and we stayed  and had pizza and swam some more.  We all went down the slides over and over, even Wyatt would go down with me.  He didn't show a lot of emotion, but he didn't cry, so he must have been okay with it.  I didn't take my camera because I didn't want to stress taking pictures, I just wanted to have fun.  It was such a fun day.  I love summer.  I wish it could last a little longer. Keith and I even got to go on a date that night.  It was a great day.

Here is Jonah's superman jump.  He wanted to make sure that I got a picture of this.

On Saturday Keith and I painted the deck.  The kids friends came over to play and they all had fun swimming all afternoon.  It worked out great because the kids were happy and occupied while we painted.

Jonah loves to play outside.  I love to be able to send him to the back yard to burn off all of that energy he has. 

I had to stop painting when Wyatt woke up since he needs a little more supervision than the other two.  We went outside to be with everyone else.  We had the seat of our porch swing on the grass and he had a great time playing on there and climbing around.

Poor Keith worked out in the hot sun for so long yesterday.  The deck looks great, now we just have to paint the sheds next weekend.  We really are not project people, I would much rather play!

Wyatt loves to do "so big" right now.  He also loves to give five and clap.  He has started cleaning toys up.  It is so cute, he loves to put things in boxes so he will just start cleaning them up sometimes.  He also loves to give people things.  He wants to share all his food with me and hand me all of his toys.  He loves his new toy vacuum.  The other morning Keith was sleeping and he kept pushing the button that plays music so I would push it to turn it off and he would just keep turning it back on.  This went on for a few minutes.  He was not going to back down. 

I just love that cute little face!  Today he sat and laughed and played by himself all through Sunday School at church.  It was so cute.  I'm so glad he is such a good natured little boy.