September

Here is a collection of all the pictures I have from my camera and Jared's phone for this month!

 Mackayla was looking through some old magazines, saw this idea, and went and made this fun construction zone activity with oatmeal. The kids all loved it and played with it for days. I even caught Jared playing with it when the kids weren't around. :)

 My hero! I had to take a picture of my brave man, risking his life, climbing up so high to spray outside my bedroom for spiders!

 Hanging out together, enjoying some apples.

 We had a problem with squash bugs in our garden this year and didn't get many pumpkins. We did manage to grow four of them though, so each kid got their own from the garden. Jacob's was the first one ready.

 Jumping on the trampoline

 Bradley and Jacob have been doing some extra work around the house to earn some money to buy a power ranger samuraizer toy.

 One week at church, during Sunday School, Jared was trying to keep Caitlin entertained and decided to draw Elmo on her hand. She was so excited about it. The problem, though, was that everyday afterwards, she somehow found a pen and drew all over herself. This time she was yelling "Look! Look! Elmo!" You can't see it, but she had scribbled on her hand and was so proud.

 Caitlin will sometimes hand me my iTouch, smile and say "Cheese!"

 I took this picture right before school on the school picture day.

 Then Caitlin wanted her picture taken too!

 Jacob and Caitlin wondering around Hobby Lobby with me.

 Helping Mom make dinner.

 Eating some lunch

All four of them enjoying some swinging

 Mackayla and Bradley have gymnastics at the same time. They are in different groups since its divided with girls and boys, but its fun to get to go watch them both at the same time. Here are some pictures Jared took with his phone.

 These two are always such good sports, waiting for gymnastics to get over. 

Here are pictures of the kids all helping to pick the peaches at the top of the second tree. 

 Jared sent me this picture of a pretty sunrise he took on his way out to work one morning.

The boys were keeping their money in a plastic container and Caitlin REALLY wanted to get into it. We finally gave her her own plastic container and filled it with some toys. She LOVED it! She spent so much time dumping the stuff out and putting it back in over and over again. It consumed a lot of her time for a few days.

The night of the BYU vs Utah game, the kids wanted to show me this:
"B"

"Y"

"U"

Bradley's pumpkin from the garden was ready

I think Jacob took this picture. The only reason it's making the cut is because it's the only picture I'm in from this whole month.

Enjoying a little Sunday evening show.

Helping Dad make cookies on Sunday afternoon.

Enjoying a little cookie dough

Pretty blue eyes!

The night before this, Jared had gone to a friend's house to watch the BYU game, so I decided to try to make a rag quilt. I wasn't sure what I'd do with it, but Caitlin very quickly claimed it!

For FHE one night we played a game of soccer. The kids vs the grown-ups. They were so excited that they won. This is their victory pose!

Caitlin loves sitting on Jacob (and wrestling, and hugging, and playing with him in general).

Caitlin always wants to be in this doll stroller, and then wants everyone to push her around the house. We've all taken many turns pushing her around the loop downstairs.

Getting a ride with Daddy

Mackayla's big event at the end of the month was her oral surgery to remove an extra-numerary tooth. She had to be put to sleep, have her front baby tooth cut out, and then the extra tooth bud above it so that the permanent tooth could come through. She was so brave! Jared came home from work for a little bit to take her in.  The appointment only lasted about 30 mins. I got Bradley to school, and then was home just in time to take care of her the rest of the day. This was her before picture.

She looked pretty rough when she got home. She had dried blood all around her mouth and it was puffy. Her gums were cut up pretty good. She was still pretty out of it because of the anesthesia. She could barely hold her head up, and kept saying she could see two of everything. She didn't like the way she felt, and was pretty emotional. I felt so bad for her. Even though she felt much better within a couple of hours, I pampered her pretty good the entire day!
Caitlin wanted to be in the chair with her.

She requested a smoothie as soon as she felt well enough to drink it.

Of course everyone had to have one.

When Mackayla left her chair, Caitlin took right over.

An after picture that night. She had quite the hole in her mouth!

What better way to get over surgery than with some roasted marshmallows and s'mores the next night! It was great! Jared and the three kids stayed out late telling stories.

Then they finished that night off with a sleepover!

Back to School!

Mackayla's first day of 2nd grade on August 20th! She looked beautiful, and was excited to go that day. She had met her teacher the night before, and she seemed really nice.

And a picture showing the new backpack.

Jared came back home to take Mackayla to her first day of school. He did that last year and she loved it.

One more picture.

Second Day ( she had her outfits all planned out for the first week of school)

Third day

Bradley's first day of Kindergarten on August 27th! The Kindergartners start a week later. He was super excited to go!

Jacob had his fist day of Willow Pond preschool that same morning. He was also super excited!

Here they all are! Thank goodness I still had Caitlin to keep my company!

Jared met us at the school to join us in sending Bradley off to class. Bradley did feel a bit ripped off though, because he didn't get to have Daddy drive him to school. He had a great first day of school and loved it. His favorite part was riding the bus home.

Jacob was so excited to go, but when Jared actually walked him in he got a little nervous and said "I actually don't want to stay here today."  After a few minutes Jared left. His teacher said he was only sad for a couple minutes, and then had a great time.

He was so happy when he came out of his school. He said, "I didn't want to stay at first, but it actually turned out to be good!"

Bradley's bus drops him off right on the corner of our house. There are a bunch of kindergartners that get off at this stop also. On the first day, a bunch of the parents were taking pictures of their kids getting off the bus.  Bradley wanted to know right away why I didn't take his picture like the other parents. I just told him I forgot my camera and would do it the next day. :) So, here he is getting off the bus on day two!

What a handsome school boy!

The girls doing the dishes for me.

One afternoon Bradley was shooting and shooting this gun. I finally asked him if his shooting finger was getting tired yet. He replied, "No! Boys' shooting fingers never get tired! I guess you wouldn't know that since you're a girl!" Then went right back to his shooting. I thought is was pretty funny.

Enjoying her swing

Picking peaches off of one of our tree. This was the smaller tree. We picked the other one a couple weeks later.

The boys were helping me wash all of the peaches the next afternoon. There were tons of them. We enjoyed pies, jam, peach ice cream and were able to freeze a lot too.

Caitlin loves putting on any piece of clothing she finds laying around. One morning I was putting away laundry and she ended up with two of Mackayla's underwear on around her waist and some other ones on too. She ended up falling asleep on the floor a short time later (which was VERY unusual) and I found her like this. :)

Jared got all invited to a Bees baseball game, through one of the trades they work with. We had a great time.

On August 31st we got to go to Murray for Sophie's birthday party. They only picture I have from that is of the kids and Papa playing with the neighbor's dog. Papa, Nini, and Great Grandma Jones were in town for Max's baby blessing the next day. It was fun weekend with family.

Papa and Nini came over to our house to hang out with us on Sunday night.

That Monday (Labor Day) we also got to celebrate Mitchell's Day. We got trees and planted them for a neighbor. We really loved having a chance to remember and honor Mitchell.