Brett had a back to school night so we got to go see his classroom and desk. The night started with a 15 minute session with the principal in the gym, it was long and Sean and I both felt like he said nothing! But is was fun for Brett to show us his classroom and learn more about the classroom procedures.
Lizzie loves sitting on our fireplace hearth! I remember Brett and Alana sitting on a window seal in our home in Albuquerque at around this same age =) Its just the right size and Lizzie always seems so pleased to be sitting there!
It has been a lot of fun the last few weeks to watch Alana and Lizzie figure out more how to play with each other. Part of it is that they dynamic is so different with Brett away for school and part of it is that Lizzie is getting bigger and more willing to play along with Alana. Brett is a scheduled get up and go guy, so its sometimes nice to just hang out at home with the girls since they are less stressed about always "doing" something.
Alana helped me make some chocolate chip zucchini bread the other day. Then she helped me wash dishes. She is such a fun kitchen helper!
Brett came home with this on the back of one of his assignments and I thought it was awesome art! I asked him why they were so sad and he said they weren't sad, they were mad because Mario and Kirby were having a battle!
Sean had 13? 24 hour shifts during his residency and he just finishedthem the last Monday in August. To celebrate my mom and dad brought balloons and new BBQ tools for Sean. The kids were of course really excited about the balloons!
One morning Alana, Lizzie, and I went to the aquarium. It was fun to spend so long looking at the sting rays! When we were in the shark tunnel a guy proposed to a girl. Two scuba divers came down with a banner that said "Will you Marry Me Kaityn?" so cute and so fun to watch!
More sitting on the hearth:
One morning I was getting everyone into the car to get Brett to school, I had just started a load of laundry and figured it'd be good to toss Bear in. I was wrong. It was a horrible horrible idea!
The face of pure joy when Bear was finally clean and dry!
The first weekend in September we drove up to Boise for Kaity's baptism. We left as soon as Sean finished work on Friday night and ended up arriving about 11 PM. We had a fun filled Saturday! I took pictures of Jared's extended family, then Brett, Alana, Kaity and Lizzie all played at Sam's house. The baptism was at 3 and it was a really nice experience. All 3 of our kids loved watching Kaity. Her toe popped up so she had to be immersed twice =)
After the baptism we had pork tacos back at Sam and Jared's house, then we went over to enjoy the neighborhood pool. It was COLD! Brett did great at learning the doggy paddle, and Alana and Lizzie had a great time playing in the shallow end with me.
Alana got used to Lily the puppy and had a lot of fun with cousin Kaity! Alana slept half the night with Kaity on Saturday night.
On Sunday morning we got up and went to church with Sam and Jared. Then we came home and let the kids play for awhile before we headed back home to Utah. We stopped to get gas and the girls picked a lolipop and Brett got a slushie.
Alana practiced writing her name with Aunt Sam. That very clear Alana in pink is all her! Proud Momma right here!
After we got home from Idaho, all the kids had a bath then Brett went out to play with friends for a bit and Alana and Lizzie jumped on the trampoline.
Last Wednesday, Brett woke up feeling really bad. He couldn't even walk down the stairs and stayed on the couch all day. He only got up about 3 times to use the bathroom and held his head the whole time. Even with tylonol he still had a fever of 100! Poor guy!!
Alana has become super passionate about coloring lately!! She is covering all our walls with her beautiful artwork! She spends at least 1 hour every day coloring!
Last Thursday was my mom's birthday. Sean had moonlighting set up at foothill family clinic so he needed to head there right after work, but the kids and I got to celebrate with Grandma and Grandpa. I made some honey lime enchiladas and got a cake. At the end of the evening we went to have cake and Brett was starting to feel pretty crummy again, his fever had returned and he wasn't expecting the cake to have raspberry jam as the filling. He threw the biggest fit and I was worried that my mom would have her feelings hurt, luckily she just thought it was funny and tried not to laugh =) Its always hard when you are disappointed by a piece of cake!
He made this awesome magna tile house for his snake to help him feel better! It took him a long time to stop falling apart, but this seemed to help him focus on something else.
The next night was Friday and Sean had been so busy all week. On Wednesday he had an interview with a practice in Orem called Grandview and then he helped the med students at the U with a suturing workshop. Then Thursday he was moonlighting and writing notes till midnight. Friday he was excited to be with his kids! I suggested we go to Build A Bear for national teddy bear day, they were selling bears for $5.50. The kids loved this idea and so we went over, we were there for two hours! The kids were remarkably well behaved and we all had fun, but poor Sean was so tired! Since he had just moonlighted and earned a good chunk of change he said its way more worth it to go when its not busy and pay full price!
We all ran and got different snacks and brought them back to the line.
We tried to get Lizzie to be interested, but she just kept waving at the bear and insisting on having her own bear =)
On Saturday morning, Alana had her first soccer game ever! It was so fun to see her in her cute socks and see Sean out on the field with her going through the drills!
Lizzie loved being outside and kept sneaking onto the field to try to get to Alana.
Brett had organization day for his soccer where we met some of his team mates and got his jersey.
Our dear friends the Saffrons came over and watched our kids while we went to a matinee showing of Wickeder at the Desert Star Playhouse to celebrate Mom Z's birthday. The show was very very funny!! They also serve you food while the show is going which is a lot of fun! Sean and I had a quesadilla and a piece of lava cake, mmm!
We came home and visited with the Saffrons for a bit and watched baby Afton play piano, then we packed up the van and headed down to Orem to Mom and Dad P's new house.
We stopped at Dairy Queen and got some take out to take to them for dinner. We helped move some boxes around and tried to help with odds and ends and putting the bedroom furniture together downstairs. The kids had so much fun playing in all the fun cubbies and hidey holes!
On Sunday I really didn't want to go to church. I just wanted to stay home by myself and sleep and be alone. It would feel weird not to go so I got all ready and got the kids and me to Sacrament meeting. Sean had ward council and then choir practice so he had to go early. I don't always get a lot from the talk in sacrament but that day I heard exactly what I needed to hear. People have to make the right decision because its what they want and not because they are forced. I have been feeling so frustrated with Brett and Alana arguing all the time and had been considering what kind of crazy punishment I could come up with to MAKE them get along. It kind of clicked for me that I can't MAKE them do anything and what they really need is for me to teach and explain 1.6 million times why its important to be kind. Someday they will understand why being kind to your siblings is important and then they will do it because they want to. That makes it sound like they are really hateful to each other and thats not at all true, they are really nice and helpful to each other a lot of the time. I think their age difference is just at a hard spot right now. Alana is still a preschooler and Brett is most definitely a grade schooler. After Sacrament meeting I still wanted to go home and considered it so that Lizzie could get a nap, but I realized if I wanted to go home then thats exactly why I should stay. I feel like Heavenly Father understood my heart that day and he poured out an extra portion of His Spirit to help me understand how much I need to be at church. Sunday School and Relief Society were wonderful! Also, a very funny thing happened in Sunday School. Sean and I attend the Gospel Principles class because thats where we always like to go and in this particular ward, its where all the younger families go and it turns into a junior nursery. Lizzie had bonked her head and had to leave for a min. When she came back with Sean walking behind her, she pulled up her dress to reveal that she had gotten one side of her diaper undone. She then wiggled it down till it was dangling around her ankle and then she kicked it off. The door is at the front of the classroom and we were all staring and laughing. Sean didn't really even get what was going on at first because he was behind her. I ran over and scooped her up and took her to get a clean diaper on (luckily the one she took off in front of the class was just wet!) We are also lucky that everyone in that class is super laid back and very fun! After church Sean played piano, the kids played with friends, we made rolls, had Mom and Dad P over for some stew and then sacked out to watch a fun BYU tv show called Tricked. I loved my rare snuggle moment with Brett!
On Monday the girls and I tried a new library class which wasn't great so we played with the toys at the library for awhile then went to check out the sales at a closing children's store. The sale prices were more than what I pay at walmart or target! I did get Brett and Alana both a Halloween shirt (Brett even wore his Halloween shirt to school pictures today!) On Tuesday, we took Sean to the airport before we took Brett to school. He is at a conference in San Antonio. After dropping Brett off at school, the girls and I headed down to help Mom and Dad P with some unpacking. We moved around a lot of book cases, sorted some boxes, and got the toys out and into the closet under the stairs. Lizzie threw up all over one of their gliders, so she Christened the place nicely =( Rebecca and Lexi joined us in the afternoon and Alana was excited to play with her cousin!
We left in the afternoon to go get Brett from school then ran home for a quick dinner of eggs and pancakes before rushing off to his soccer game. He was so excited to be playing again and was super happy his team won! He has one boy from his class at school on his team and two boys he sees at recess sometimes because they are in 2nd grade.
Brett woke up this morning telling me he wanted something different and special. I didn't have much in the way of special breakfast this morning so I made him cinnamon sugar toast the way my mom and grandma used to make it for me. You take margarine and mix it with a ton of sugar and cinnamon to make a paste and then you spread it on the hot toast. Its amazing and addictive and Brett and Lizzie both enjoyed it a lot.
Everyday at work Sean has a noon conference where they eat lunch together and have some sort of teaching. One day recently they had one of the hospital chaplains come and talk with them about stress. She had them read a poem about a tree and then they used tree leaves and brushes to paint. He said it was really enjoyable and was really proud of his painting! These are all the residents paintings.
Sean and I drove out to a neighborhood called Independence in Bluffdale the other day to see if we liked it and might consider buying there. The answer was a for sure no on Sean's part since he likes more established neighborhoods and less wind. I like more established as well, although I think this place has a ton of potential! Anyway there was a street called White Rock Ln that made us think of White Rock NM where Sean grew up.
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