My Footballers

Went to church last night so we could stay home this morning to watch football. The boys love wearing their football shirts and they love watching football with Dad!

Go Cougs! ~ Go Hawks!

*note: Ashton's teeth look weird because he just an animal cracker before I took this picture.

Jordan TEN months.

Check out this next picture. Ashton is wearing the same outfit that Jordan is wearing above, but Ashton is half as old, but twice the size of Jordan.

Ashton a few days shy of FIVE months. Kevin 2-1/2 yrs.

Jordan 10 months

Little Jordan has hit the 10 month mark! Well, on the 10th of September he did. I guess you could call this his "silver" birthday. They say your "golden" birthday is when you turn the year that matches your birth day. Which could mean that at 10 weeks it was his "bronze" birthday :) Either way, this is WAY to close to a 1 YEAR birthday for my liking! Here are some things he has been up to lately:

*Cruising the furniture, walls, cupboards or anything he can hold on to.
*Walking all over the house pushing his walker.
*Standing without support for 2-3 seconds.
*Climbing the stairs.
*Eating half finger foods (garden burgers, peas, cooked carrots etc.) and half baby food.
*Babbling lots of baby talk but no clear words.
*Started his first playgroup and now has two girlfriends his age.
*Takes one nap (because I make him wait until the big boys go down so they will all have a long nap at the same time - a morning nap ruins that)
*Cries every time I leave him with other people, but soon realizes that its not so bad.
*Nurses 4-5 times a day.
*Smiles at everyone. He is quite the flirt and is very social.
*Is easy going and happy most all the time except when hungry or tired.
*Wears size 2 diapers.
*Wears size 6-9 months clothes (and a few 3-6 month still).






I left the room and when I came back this is where I found Jordan. His colorful jammies almost blend in with all the toys! He climbed up on the open drawer to get on top.


Yes, those are my birth control pills. No, I do not plan on having another baby anytime soon. :)

School Rules!

I sent my oldest child to kindergarten today. Its kind of weird to think we have officially started the 'school years'. Kevin had three years of preschool before he started kindergarten, so he was definitely ready! He had no problem today going to a new school, new class with a new teacher and I'm so glad. I wasn't worried, I could tell he was going to be fine with it. He loves to learn. I can tell by his actions and questions and because he told me so! He will go going to school five mornings a week. This is the perfect schedule for him so I am very happy they had that option in his school district. I am not ready for him to go to school all day and I don't think kindergartens should be expected to go all day. They are too young. I know Kevin is a rare case, but he still takes a two hour nap everyday! All the surrounding districts have started a crazy new schedule of 2 full days one week, 3 full days the next. At some schools they tell you whether your child will go in the morning or afternoon. We got a boundary exception for Kevin to go to Franklin which is only one minute farther away then the school in our boundaries. Franklin is half the size of the other school, which was my first motivation for him to attend here, and also they start and end a half hour before Ashton at preschool. This allows me to drop-off and pick-up everyone on time. Im going to miss both boys being at the same school and only have to do one drop-off and pick-up. In a couple years they will be in the same school again. Franklin is also a very new building which is an added bonus.

The school had an ice cream social the night before school started and the first few pictures are from that...

Go Patriots!

I didn't understand what he was doing here with his arms, I just thought he was being silly. When we were walking back to the car he asked me if I knew what it was he was doing with his arms. I didn't. He said is was the cross that Jesus died on. :)

The first day of kindergarten!

Kevin's teacher Mrs. Wallen. She is nine months pregnant and was in the hospital just this last weekend! She is due early October. Hopefully Kevin will get a few weeks with her, then she will be gone until January. She is very sweet, I think we are going to like her. Kevin remembers her name because it reminds him of WALL-E (the robot).

Looking for his name on a honey pot on the outside of his classroom window.

The principle told us not to go into the classroom, so I used my super zoom on my camera and got a blurry shot of Kevin all the way through his classroom out the other side looking for his name on a cubby to put his backpack in.

This summer we practiced some writing and reading to get ready for school. Here Kevin has just wrote out his ABC's in lower case letters. He sat down and did A to Z in one sitting without any help.

Jeremy's wonderful cousin Niki gave Kevin this great set of books which help kids learn to read. There are ten books and each one gets harder. When he can read the whole thing by himself, then he gets a special sticker to put in the back of the book. Here is a video of Kevin reading book one. It was pretty exciting when he read this the first time all by himself! He is only a couple words away from reading the second book.

12 going on 13

"My" girl Jessica will be turning 13 in 49 days! Jessica is my niece, my older sister's daughter. She was the first grandchild on my side of the family. There is something special about the first. The fact that she was a little part of me was so amazing! Being far from having my own children, I didn't know what a special connection that was, to have a child that is in some small way, a part of you. I loved (and still do) being with her. When I was away at college when she was a toddler I missed her more then anyone (sorry Mom and Dad) and could hardly wait to see her when I came home. I would always stop at her house first thing. I can picture it so clearly in my mind...opening the door to her house and she would come running at me in just her diaper, so excited to see her Aunt Jenny and I so excited to see her. I LOVED that she was as excited to see me as I was of her. Even after being away for months at a time. My younger sister has since added another girl to my life with her baby Talea, who will be 1 year in only 12 days! I so wish they lived closer so she and I could also run into each others arms whenever we saw each other.

(5 years old)

Jeremy has been out of town for a couple weeks and I finally had Jessica come over and stay with me. It was great timing because I was fighting a cold and low on energy. She is such a great help! She changes diapers, feeds the baby, makes PB & J for the big boys, breaks up fights, and watches them all while I run to the bank. She came for two nights, but it ended up being four nights because I just didn't want to let her go. We watched the Hanna Montana Movie and High School Musical 3 and put on facial masks. So fun to be young again.

(10 years old)

Jessica is about ready to start 7th grade! Holy Cow. My sister gives me the pleasure of taking her back-to-school shopping every year. Which of course I love any chance I get to pick out girl clothes, or anything girly for that matter. There is short supply of that around my house with a house full of boys. She is all about Miley Cyrus, skinny jeans and the peace sign these days. I see her style evolve every year and its not always what I want her to pick out, but fun just the same. I asked her if she was excited for school and her answer was typical of most kids her age, "No." But after we went shopping she said, "Im excited for school now! Then I can wear my new clothes!" Success.

Here is "our" 12 going on 13 year old in her new school clothes...

The Big Boys

Now that we have a baby boy in the house, I've been referring to the older two as the Big Boys. And big they are at 5 and 3 years old. Kevin is in 5T or XS boys clothes now. I'm hoping he will stay in the 'toddler' size awhile because I've realized that the 'big boy' sizes are twice as much $$ ! What's up with that? Ashton fits into 3T, but really is ready for 4T already! Usually when Kevin grows out of his clothes I put them away for a year until Ashton is ready for them, but now I just move them from Kevin's closet rod right up to Ashton's. Jordan on the other hand is not even close to wearing the clothes Ashton wore at his age. Ashton was much bigger and Jordan is a little squirt.

I bought these cute, really soft shirts at Target the other day for $5.99. I thought the boys looked cute in their coordinating shirts. Sometimes I match them like twins (even though Jeremy doesn't really like it when I do that). I get all their clothes at Target, Old Navy, the Fred Meyer clearance racks or consignment shops. I just found Kevin some cute long sleeve shirts for school at Old Navy for $5! The nice thing about buying Kevin new clothes is that I know at least one, but probably BOTH of his brothers will also wear them. I can't bring myself to spend a lot of money on a single clothing item. I love Old Navy kids jeans, but why spend at least $12.50 for one pair when you can get a pair at Target for $6.99? Some people probably say the quality isn't there but ours have made it through two boys so far. I love a great deal!

Without further ado, here are my handsome Big Boys...

One Down, One to Go

Our middle child, the middle of three boys (I myself being the middle of three GIRLS) started his second year of preschool this week. Last year Ashton was in the 2 yr. olds 'Rainbow' class for two mornings a week. This year he is in the 3-4 yr. old 'Sunshine' class, four mornings a week. He is following in his big brothers footsteps. Asthon will always be the youngest in his class with his birthday being in June. He has always been excited about going to school and running right into his class. If I'm not careful I wont even get a hug and kiss! He is usually shy at first, but warms up pretty quickly. I am glad he is able to experience all the fun and learning at preschool which will also better prepare him for kindergarten. Speaking of, Kevin will be starting kindergarten next week! One down, one to go!

Ashton James. 3 years.