Good bye to summer

We are so excited for Fall to be here! Summer is fun and all, but the crispness of fall, with its excitement of coming holidays and perfect outside weather is what I'm all about! Jennifer turns 3 next month and Damian turned 1 in July. Sean also had a birthday in August and he and I had an awesome date night at Rathbun's Steak House- it was really, really good. Nothing in the house has broken (that we're aware of, anyway), so that's pretty awesome!

Damian grew some molars, as in all of them at the same time, and he's a pretty good eater. We've worked on his manners- not throwing food on the floor- and most of the time he does a fairly good job. He walks more than he crawls now, which I'm still getting used to. When he crawls on the wood floor its very noisy, so I can hear him coming, but when he walks he'll just suddenly be in the kitchen with me and he's definitely scared me more than once! When he hears the neighbor's dog barking he'll start barking, too. It's a very breathy, deep, whoo, whoo. His favorite things probably are saying hi to Daddy when he comes home, watching cars, the garbage truck, mail truck and street sweeper through the window, and playing outside. A funny habit he has is to carry stuff around in his mouth. I thought it was mainly for when he was crawling so he could transport stuff with him, but he still does it now that he's walking. He also is starting to help around the house- whenever the diaper wipes are within reach, he'll grab one, put it in his mouth, and look for a table or chair that he'll start to wipe off. He also is all about the dishwasher when I'm loading or unloading it. He'll hand me all the plastic plates, one by one for me to put away. He's at such a fun age!

Jennifer has really increased her verbal skills- it's so fun to hear what she's thinking and to talk with her. At night sometimes we'll stay in bed with her longer and talk about the day. She really enjoys coloring and is getting to be pretty good. She really loves learning. I printed out a bunch of letter worksheets and she loves trying to find the letters, or trying to trace them. When we do chalk outside she wants to draw letters and some of them she can draw on her own. She's also starting to really play with other kids- she'll look forward to friends coming over to play and she'll hold their hands or give hugs. When we read scriptures at night she likes to repeat some of the words and phrases that we say in a loud, epic sort of voice. Her new trike is a definite favorite and she's working really hard at learning how to pedal the wheels. It's hard for her to reach them, so mostly she'll just push her feet on the ground. Music is really fun for her and she'll request different songs for me to sing- her top favorites are probably "Jesus wants me for a sun beam" and "I am a child of God." For a two year old she's very patient and kind. I'm having a hard time believing that she's turning three in a few weeks!

Sean is, of course, staying busy with work, hobbies, and church. For his birthday I let him choose between two different car receivers and new speakers. He opted to go with the nicer package that didn't include installation, so he had some fun working through the craziness of that. He's also been advocating for me to use this organizing app called Evernote, so we've had some fun playing around with that. He's also been learning more about how to code an app for the Appstore. Work has been a little crazy, but that's probably just normal! He also built me a bench to go over the fireplace hearth that I'm going to upholster so the kids won't get hurt from the hearth. He's getting pretty handy:) He's still day dreaming about renovating the basement himself, but I think we'll probably have someone else do stuff like framing and Sean can spackle and paint- he's done some research into renting a profession paint sprayers, which sounds like it'd be pretty awesome! He's been so awesome to help out even more around the house since I've been feeling so sick. He loves playing with Jennifer and Damian and is a wonderful Daddy:)

I'm of course staying busy with kids and church stuff. I got released from the compassionate service calling in the Relief Society and now teach the Laurels. It's been fun so far and I've enjoyed learning the new Come Follow Me program. I've also joined a book club that I think will be really engaging and fun. I finally got the guts to go to one of the monthly Days for Girls meeting (non-profit that makes feminine hygiene kits so that girls in Africa can actually leave their house when they're menstruating) and it was great. I'm definitely the youngest by about 30 or so years, but it was an awesome group of ladies and I'm excited to get to know them better:) I'll definitely need to step up my sewing skills, too. I'm really happy to be able to stay home with the kids and I love that I get to be the one showing them all the cool things about life while they're so young. Sometimes its hard, but everything has hard parts to it- I'm sure Sean's work is boring or annoying sometimes, too. Also, I'm 18 weeks pregnant, and we're so excited to meet baby girl Holder in February:) I know it'll be crazy, but I'm sure the kids will be good friends and Sean and I really feel like it's what God wanted. I've definitely had some troubles with this pregnancy, which is why we waited a while to tell people, but I think everything will probably be ok. I can already feel her moving around so much- I'm excited to see what kind of person she is!

Now, for the easiest way for us to see what we've been up to- pictures:)

Springtime flying kites with Omi on the turf field

Helping great-grandma with laundry

Ginger cookies!

I actually bought lipstick for once and this happened within a few days...

Getting trees and stumps taken out after a scary frost brought some big (10-15 foot) pine boughs sliding down our roof and then to the ground

At the SEC Gymnastics championships

Daddy comforts- it's a lot of sitting for a little baby

Yay, Aunt Miranda!

Fun with Nana Chris

A favorite past time

She always looks this cool.

Playing in the grass at Omi's- Damian's first grass time

His first dish washer chewing/helping session

Uncle Jason visited for Easter- Jennifer got stuck...

A soon-to-be Pinterest fail of dying Easter eggs in shaving cream mixed with food coloring

The hunt is on.

Found one!

Easter dinner

This was inevitable.

Stake conference- had to go in the hall and Daddy helped this happen

At the jump place

Not planned, but definitely coordinated for church

At Grandma Gloria's house

When Daddy makes breakfast:)

At the Renaissance Festival- with a turkey leg

After face paint

Eating funnel cake in the proper way (aka, getting powdered sugar on your face)

Who says you can't grate strawberries?

Doing her button art craft

Watching the rain

A super secret hide-out

Super cool

Secretly stole nail polish and actually managed to do a good job- she had done her left hand by the time I found her

Almost got the pattern down

At a law networking gathering

By the lake

Mommy definitely went through a faux-hawk stage.

snuggles

After getting in trouble... :(

Rocking the muscle shirt onesie

Jennifer burrito

Tired at the zoo

There's a lion somewhere up there...

This is how you should fall asleep in the car.

Extreme puzzling

Food necklace- on the way to Fort Lauderdale

View from Mo and Grandma's room

About to get on the boat.

On the way to dinner

Sisters! After an awesome dinner.

FHE- she's such angel;)

Cousins playing together (aka sort of noticing the other exists)

Kate visited after the beach

Night picture

Night picture

Grandma Gloria with baby Luke

He loves music!

Heard him crying- he got stuck like this!

First hair cut for the chia pet.

She made a table with chairs and lunch

Omi got completely soaked

Birthday boy!

Not sure what he's supposed to do.

He liked this part.

Grandma and Grandpa June and John got something for her, too:)

Post chocolate cupcake- it was definitely not his favorite experience

Playing with Grandma Gloria after a bath to wash off the frosting

Don't want to stop the party!

(It's not a video) He can already open doors- this is at his 12 month check up. Aaah!

They came and put in new cables in the neighborhood- right after the sod was taking- doh!

He and his family have been hanging out like this all summer- I came this close to buying an air soft gun.

Sean's dad sang with 2 other guys the national anthem at the Brave's alumni game

Drawing with Grandpa John while he babysat

Jennifer told him the story and he wrote it down.

About 14 weeks

Jennifer decided to draw mommy and daddy- and she drew it from this angle- upside down

Helping Daddy rake leaves

Trying out Jennifer's backpack. It got stuck.

Sweeping the driveway.

This is how she writes her name- "J H". I told her the J needed a tail, haha.

Sean found a rainbow on the way home from work.

I crafted! Love this quote.

Sean went to a GA tech football game:)

Some oldies but goodies that I found:

Grandma Gloria made the newspaper!