First Day of School

I'm just trying to play catch up for a few posts so that I can print my blog book at Christmas and not have it be two pages long. :) This year August is in 2nd grade and her teacher is Ms. Staples. She really likes her teacher and her class this year. McKay, her best friend from next door, is in her class. The school sends out letters in the summer letting you know who your teacher is and McKay, having already received his, waited as we opened August's. Wow! It was like they had won the lottery. I absolutely love that they are friends. It will be sad when they each think the other one has cooties! When does that happen anyway?

Addison started kindergarten this year. I decided to send her in the morning, and it's working great. She does tell me on a regular basis how she hates getting up so early, but she's been a trooper about it. Her teacher is Mrs. Christensen and we love her too. Addison loves learning to read. She is my kid that has always loved books. As a toddler she would sit in her little rocking chair and look through books all afternoon. (oh why can't the twins be like that?) She is reading well already and asks her teacher for more books everyday.

This year I have been able to help out at the school more. My friend watches the twins for me on Wednesdays so I can help August's class with writing and then I take them with me on Fridays and help with Addie's class. It has been fun getting to know other moms and the girls' teachers better. I feel like I'm slowly getting my life back as the little girls mature. Hey, it's only been 3 years, not bad!

We are still working on the basement and it's coming along. I'm getting so excited! I'm sick of dusting upstairs everyday. Hopefully we can get it done in time for Christmas. (fingers crossed!) I'll try to post pictures of our progress soon.

Summer Catch Up

Well, well...here we are less than 24 hours away from the beginning of the school year and still no summer post. Time flies when you're having fun, or chasing twin toddlers! (that can actually be fun sometimes) We actually had a great summer, much better than last year, with a lot of family adventures and fun times. Here are some that made our highlight reel. They include, but are not limited to: Brandon's BD, a visit to Grandma & Grandpa's (handcart rides included), Bear Lake and Lagoon. My parents also came for a visit on my birthday and brought my Grandma with them. She had never seen our home in Idaho Falls so it was fun to show her around and spend time with her. Of course I have no pictures of that...why do I even have a camera? My Mom came for 5 days a couple of weeks ago and we had so much fun starting quilts for the girls new bedroom. I think we hit every fabric store in town at least twice. We also ended our summer with a trip to Lava. (Also no pictures of this event, please someone e-mail me some!) My parents and every one of my siblings and their families were there, except Reese who was working. It was great weather and the kids loved it.

We also had many fun visits with Brandon's sisters this summer. We saw April twice, we got a 3-week surprise visit from Becka, and we saw Penny and her boys more this summer than probably the last 3 summers combined! :) Luckily they have posted great pics of their visits, because yeah I stink with remembering the camera. We have also enjoyed many backyard BBQs with Brandon's parents and grandma. They really do have a great backyard. The twins had their 2 1/2 year photo shoot with Papa and Nana and the pics look great as always!!

Now I just need to post about a few of the messes the twins have made for me this summer so I can make them feel sorry for me when they're older. I won't go into a lot of detail, I think a few key words should paint the picture nicely.

1. Red fingernail polish & carpet (really, need I say more?)

2. Broken lightbulb on bed (have you ever seen the pieces of a shattered lightbulb? teeny-tiny)

3. Chocolate pudding and a fan (I'm not making this stuff up!)

Well that's it for our summer. We're looking forward to fall and starting up with our schedules again. August is in 2nd grade this year and Addison is starting kindergarten. Crazy! Both older girls are in fall soccer and will start dance again next week. We are still working on finishing the basement. We're in the mudding and taping stage. We're getting there! Right now we're looking forward to the FAIR! Yahoo! Bring on the funnel cakes!

May Days!

Isn't May just a crazy month when you have kids? Here are some pics of what we were up to. They include a dance recital, a visit from Aunt April, a preschool graduation, a field trip, another tooth lost, and a weekend retreat for our 10th anniversary, now just add some destructive duo episodes of smearing themselves with vaseline, then desitin for an encore, and completely obliterating five years of financial records on the computer and then you have some feel for life around our house! :) Hopefully I can play catch up and get our summer blogged before school starts. Let's be realistic here, probably not going to happen...

Avery & Aiden Update

Okay, to satisfy the twin mother in me who cringes when I here "the twins" I will do a short individual update and then them together. I mean they are identical twins, they actually do have a lot in common. :)

Avery is very funny and pretty sensitive. She loves to say "Nnnnnnnno" dragging out the word like that when we ask her a question. Usually something like, are you ready to take a bath, go to bed, get in your car seat? She likes to make us laugh with her goofy faces and games. Avery is a great eater and she recently discovered she likes salad. She has preferences about which clothes she wears and which car seat she uses. Her favorite phrase is, "No, I don't want to!"

Aiden gets my attention by screaming "Mommy!" at me all day while hitting me for effect. I recently read that Aiden means fiery one or little fire, and she is living up to her name. Aiden tries to stop Brandon from going to work in the morning by blocking the door and she must give August a hug goodbye as she leaves for school or she's extremely distressed. Aiden gives the sweetest kisses and great big hugs.

Okay, now for the pair of them...they refer to each other as "Sissy." Isn't that the cutest? I absolutely love it. It's Sissy this, and Sissy that all day long. Aiden can actually say Avery's name...Avey is how it usually comes out, but Sissy is by far her favorite way to refer to her sis. They also have started tattling on one another and are constantly summoning Brandon and I to come check out the latest way their sister has outraged them. They love coloring, anything Elmo, watching Sesame Street & Caillou, and they could watch the movie Up all day long if I let them. They are starting to play really well together during the day. It's fun to catch them sitting side by side in their room holding their baby dolls. They are talking a lot now. They were a little slow getting started, but now they can always get their point across. Over Easter my mom gave them their first real haircuts. They had that baby hair mullet going on, so we took care of that. They look so grown up, like little girls, not babies anymore. At nap time they still curl up on my lap with their blankies to fall asleep. I love it! They are so much fun and I can't imagine our family without them. I'm posting pictures of their nighttime ritual...totally destroying their bedroom. I started tying the closet door shut and that seems to help. They just want to play all night, I don't blame them, being twins that share a room is like having a sleepover with your best friend every night. :)

Addison Update

Addison turned 5 last month and is in preschool and dance lessons. She still loves to sit on her bed and look through books. She is very interested in reading and is pretty good at sounding out words and has some of the sight words figured out. She loves animals and said she'll be a veterinarian if she can take care of "nice" animals.

Last Saturday when I got out of the shower August informed me that she couldn't find Addison anywhere. Hmmm. We started yelling for her and looking in all her usual hiding places. In the meantime Brandon came home and Brooke came over. We sent August to the Finlaysons to see if she had gone over to play, and we kept looking everywhere else. Well, August came back crying saying that she wasn't there. At this point it had probably been 15 minutes of this. Brandon was heading out to cruise the neighborhood, and I looked behind the couch again. As I knelt on the couch I felt movement under the pillows and guess what...there was our sweet, adorable,severely in trouble, Addison! I wanted to kiss and spank her at the same time! The funniest thing was that August kept telling us the last place she saw Addie was on the couch. Well, that was accurate! Brandon made Addison apologize to August because she was really upset. While we were looking August kept walking through the house yelling (while sobbing), "Addison, please come out! You won't be in trouble." I can't believe she laid there so still and for so long, and that nothing we were saying compelled her to show herself! That's a good story to illustrate Addison's personality. She usually does what she wants, when she wants, regardless of the consequences! Sigh.

The other day Addison told me she wants to take guitar lessons. I think that would be cool, because I actually want to take lessons too! Maybe if I go to her lessons with her I can figure it out. She said that she won't complain about lessons like August always does. I thought that was funny. Does anyone know the right age for starting guitar lessons? Or a good teacher?

Addison's best friend is Anaya from next door. They are so funny together! They play dress up and like to make up songs and dances to perform for us.

Addie lost her first tooth on Sunday and that sort of blew our minds. Is she old enough for that to happen? Of course she is, but for some reason she is stuck in my mind at about 3 yrs. old. Nope, she'll start kindergarten in the fall. Yep, we're old!!