Jared's First Haircut, No, Not That Kind

Unfortunately, Jared learned last week that he can cut his own hair.

Equally unfortunate, I can't bring myself to cut his hair so short during the winter, so we are going to have to live with this for a while.

Prayers

Rosie has recently begun praying. She can say the second half of most of the lines by herself.

Dear Heavenly Father,
We thank thee for the day
We thank thee for the food
We ask thee to bless it

Becomes:
Fader
Thankee day
Thankee food
Bless it

It is adorable!
We are working on volume. Sometimes she whispers it, so her prayer is barely audible.


Jared's prayers have been interesting too. We have finally devised a way to keep his prayers from being mumbled into his folded arms. Don't tell him to lift his head up because he wants to bow it. So, you just have to remind him to keep his back straight.
Now that we can hear what he is saying, it is quite entertaining! He scolds his sister in prayer, "Help Rosie be more reverent and close her eyes and stop wiggling."For some reason his is always thankful for, "beds and walls and doors." He always prays for our safety in an unusual way, "Help Mom and Dad not to die." It is a bit creepy, but also sweet.

Project update: October

So, I've really been enjoying working on house projects.
My mom brought be this bench that she found at a garage sale. The varnish and stain was peeling off. It took a ton of work! Everytime the kids were out in the court biking, I was sanding. Finally I decided it was good enough and two coats of stain and two coats of varnish made it beautiful!

I love it!

I painted our front door (I also love our halloween monster). It was beige and just got lost on the front of our house. Ken is a bit hesitant about projects in general, so I did it while he was on business trip! It took me three tries (tips: you can't paint it on the hinges and you can't paint it on a hot humid day). Also, be sure that you don't paint it when you have family coming to stay (and maybe you forgot, a little) because it makes you look slightly irresponsible, especially when you have canvas stapled over your front door!
It was definitely worth it!

I also decided to make a few garlands for every occasion. Here is my felt fall garland:

Most recently, we (yup, Ken helped too!) painted a room. My sister is coming to live with us later this year, so we decided to change the lime green guest room (this is the before) to a elegant slate gray. Now she will be able to really sleep in there! We still have to fix the trim (the lime green is on every single edge of trim in the room), but it is nice being one step closer to having my sister here!

Our Little Dancer

Rosie shows off her great moves.

Jared's View of the World

Jared's First Day of Preschool!

He loves his teacher and likes the other kids, although I don't think he remembers any of their names.
The first day I dropped him off, I teared up as I drove away. It is the end of an era in a way. A time when it is just me and the kiddos and little else. Now I have to share him with other people.
I do love that I get a massive, enthusiastic hug when I pick him up!

Mormon Night at the Cove!

The members of our stake were all invited to a baseball game at the minor league stadium.

 Do you see the missionaries in the background?

 The Silverhawks won, we avoided paying for 8 dollar nachos, and the kids loved the time together (also the soda)

Family Reunion Family photos