Kissable Cheeks

Oh, I love him so much.

Elle

We had Kindergarten Orientation for Miss Elle today. She is getting older! Her 5th birthday is in just a couple of weeks.

Lauren is Creating Worlds

Today at school I made a Globe. I got Play Dough and made a Yellow ball and then got some red dough and made it flat. I put the flat piece of red dough around the yellow ball. And then I got some orange dough and made it flat. I put the flat piece of orange dough around the red and yellow ball. Then I got some blue play dough and flattened it out very thin like a piece of paper. Then I put it around the orange, red, and yellow ball. Then I got some green play dough. I made it into shapes of continents, and put them on the blue to look like Earth.

The Yellow is the Inner Core of the Earth. The Red is the Outer Core. The Orange is the Mantle. The Blue is the crust and oceans. The Green is the land.

It was fun, so I came home and made another one. Science is fun!

Time for a Change

Our blog's title is a little outdated.... It's time for a change. Any ideas?!

Halloween 2009

Phew!! Halloween is over for another year! We were very busy this past week with Halloween parties and activities. The girls both had to wear their costumes to five different events.... so we are lucky their costumes lasted through trick or treating Halloween night.

Lauren decided early on that she wanted to be Little Red Riding Hood. In order to find the best costume, we had to go to several stores and finally purchased one "online." Elle found her costume at the first costume shop we entered.... she was very happy with her cowgirl costume! I'm surprised we didn't have a princess or fairy this year.

Cameron (at age 1 month) was given a skeleton onesie from my sister Julie, which was a perfect costume for the little guy. He is growing like crazy, so I'm happy he was able to fit into the onesie..... it may not fit next week based on his growth spurts!

Halloween day we visited the kids' Great Grandma Leak and Great Aunt Margaret before trick-or-treating. She handed out dollar bills to the girls (and a $10 to me!)..... they were super-excited. This is always a special treat.

We also fit in carving a pumpkin and decorating the outside of house to make the decor a little more spooky. Brandon took the girls' trick-or-treating and I stayed home with Cameron to answer the door for our visitors. We had a slow but constant stream of trick-or-treaters.

The girls ended up with an INCREDIBLE amount of candy this year. Lauren is one to save her candy and slowly eat it over the next few months.... but I'll have to keep an eye on Elle. While she is very generous and shares her candy with all (yea!) she also has a sweet tooth like me..... so her candy may be gone in a few days.

We hope you all had a happy Halloween...... on to Thanksgiving and Christmas!!!!

Our New Baby Boy

Our baby boy was born on 9/30/09 at 12:57 pm. He weighs 8 lbs 11 oz and is 22 inches long.

Happy Pioneer Day

Not only did we attend most of the Pioneer Day parade in Salt Lake City on the 24th, but we attended the Butlerville Days festivities. Cottonwood Heights was originally called Butlerville - back in the days - so we had our own town activities to attend. Here are a couple of "Wanted" posters the girls completed, which I LOVE.

(You have to love Elle's tummy and belly button)

Fourth of July

The fourth of July included driving up to Logan the night before.  We were able to go to the town's Fireworks show at the USU stadium.  While the events leading up to the fireworks were somewhat disappointing, the fireworks were amazing and lasted forever!  

The next morning we drove up to the North Odgen parade to see our cousins.  Fun times with family.

Our Pet Quail

One day this summer, the neighborhood kids found a baby quail that appeared to have been abandoned and hurt.  So the kids found a box, filled it will leaves, strawberries, sticks, a water dish, a plate of birdseed, and named the bird, "Limps." However, the bird didn't thrive, and it was left up to me (for some reason) to help this bird.  I made several calls to vets in the area and was told the only place we could take the bird was to a wildlife station near Ogden. 

And since I was not going to drive to Ogden, we called Grandpa Bond for some advise.  For as long as I can remember, he has always been the go-to person with an abandoned animal question..... And he told the girls what we had thought all along..... if the bird didn't get better and fly away, the bird would probably die.  

So, sadly after a day of watching and over-mothering the bird, the bird finally passed on.  A nice grave was prepared in the neighbor's backyard, and the girls were able to learn a valuable lesson about death and create great memories. 

I think right now, there is a container of grass-hoppers on my front porch.  On to the next adventure!

We are Gardners (Kind of)

When we bought our home, we were lucky enough to get a spot of land in the backyard for a garden.  The previous owners had had a very successful garden the previous summer, but because we bought the home right at the end of spring, no gardening (or clean-up from the previous year) had been done.  The spot was left with old corn husks, weeds, and old sprinkler pipes.  

Thanks to my parents and Brandon's parents, we finally were able to put in a few vegetables this year.  My dad cleaned out most of the old plants, and Brandon's parents actually bought a small rototiller that we could carry down into our backyard (our backyard is tiered into three sections by large boulders... not ideal).  His parents were in town one evening and we accomplished planting several tomato plants, a watermelon, zucchini, cucumber, and basil.

While it looks like slugs are enjoying the plants right now (beware, slug killer is on the way), we are excited to see if we can actually grow something this summer!