More Excitement

Jake has had some exciting things happen lately. School started a week ago and he is already having good things happen at school. His teacher has a special award called the super bee. It is given to a student that is behaving, treating others kindly and doing his work. He gets to bring the super bee home for the night. He was so excited and of course we were too and so proud. We think he is one of our super bees.

Jake also had soccer start. This year he is in the U-8 league which means they are supposed to know mostly what they are doing and the field is 3 times bigger than last years field. Jeff's cousin Stacy is coaching them and doing a great job. She has some challenges ahead but they have only had time for one practice so I think the best is yet to come. He got tired fast, having to run so much but he got to play goalie in the second quarter and he did good. We hope he keeps having fun with it.

Also our other big news is we finally have some babies interested in walking a bit. They are getting better everyday. They tend to walk better and more often when I have the camera put away but we managed to get a few steps that Alex took on camera the other day. Usually when the camera comes out, the babies head right for it and forget everything else that is going on. Having a bit of footage is a rare treat. I am exciting about the walking but a bit nervous. They already get into everything, can you imagine how bad it can get.

Jeff and Jake are in Michigan this weekend for the big football game so we will post pictures of that when they get back.

It is that time of year again.....

when life gets a bit crazier and alot more interesting. With the beginning of school, life brings on another new set of challenges. Things are going good and our routine is beginning to get into full swing. My mother in law is still my saint and watches the babies and Zach(2days a week because of preschool) while I work for 3 hours in the morning. I still have the wonderful chance to teach part time and I enjoy every minute of it. It definitely doesn't get any easier but just more adventurous every year. Jake is now in 1st grade and loving it. I think he likes being at school a full day but Zach is definitely having brother withdraws. Jake has lots of new kids in this class but he is meeting new people and learning tons. His teacher seems really nice and she loves teaching, which helps. He is so smart and works hard at his reading. I can't believe how he improves everyday. Zach is in Pre-school for 3 days a week this year. He goes to Mrs. Julie's Take Flight school. She is wonderful and does tons of fun things with the kids but they also are learning so much it is crazy. He came home the first day and said my teacher is so,so,so, so, so, so nice. I hope I got the right amount of so's in there. I am happy that he is having fun. Here are pictures from right before leaving for the first day.

We also went to the Utah Utes Fan fest last Saturday. The kids loved it. Basically they open the stadium and have all the different sports teams come and set up booths. You can get autographs and pictures and then they have tons of things you can play with. For example the ski team had a snow pile made and the kids could take tobagon rides down the hill. The golf team had greens set up so you could hit the golf ball. They had those blow up things to jump on and much much more. It was so hot but it really was fun. My sister in law was my personal photographer but we didn't get the pictures downloaded before she went home so I will post some good pictures next time. Then we went to the cabin for the night and that was nice. The boys love the cabin. We haven't been able to go much this year but hopefully next year we can go more. It is always nice to relax and enjoy the cool weather. Also Zach had his first soccer game tonight. We are so proud. It is his first time being in organized city league sports and I was quite impressed. He is quite an aggressive little thing. I don't know if that is good or bad. I had to leave half way through the game to go to Jake's back to school night, (our first child activity conflict how scary) but Jeff got some great pictures and videos.

Jake has his first soccer game on Thursday. He is in the upper league now so we are anxious to see how he does. We will post pictures of him next time also. We are still loving life and can't wait to see what comes next.

Musicians and Much more

We have had a ton of fun activities since we got back from vacation but we definitely are ready for school to start. Shortly after coming back from our vacation we decided to go bowling as a family activity. We had a great time and the boys loved it. Jake got very excited and Zach couldn't believe it when he actually knocked down pins. We had a blast.

We also passed the time by having family over and playing guitar hero on the side of the house. We borrowed Jeff's dad's projector, inspired by my brothers parties in Indiana, and played until late in the night. We probably drove the neighborhood crazy but we had fun. Hopefully we will get to do this again before winter comes.

It has been a hot summer which makes it hard to convince the kids to go outside and play but there has been some nice days and the babies have finally decided that grass is alright. It took a while to convince them but now they love it.

We also have some new musicians in our home. The twins have discovered the recorder and love to listen to themselves play it. They giggle and get such a kick out of it. Of course we all sit around and listen to them so I am sure they love the attention they get from doing it. They are really starting to get their personalities. It is very exciting.

Zach also got our wonderful laughing machine(Alex) going the other night again. It was so funny how much he was giggling. Alex has been sick lately so it was nice to see him have a little life in him, even if it was only for a few minutes.

And lastly, we have been trying to get the older boys back on the schedule of going to bed earlier to prepare for the beginning of school. Well the attempt has been in vain but the best part about the struggle is seeing them in the morning and how tired they must be. They definitely can sleep through anything as witnessed in the following picture.