The Littlest had a birthday

We celebrated this cute little peanut's birthday last Tuesday.  We started the day off early with a favorite board game.  Anyone else sooo bored with Candyland?  She doesn't last too long anyway.  We usually make it half-way up the board and she gets distracted; pulling out all of the cards with sweets on them and hoarding them.  Krispy Kreme after that, presents, playing at a friends house, and a willing mother to play with whatever game/activity her little heart desired.

She did get more for her birthday than tacky princess dress-up stuff, but honestly that's what she was most excited about!  

We had a laid-back party with her friends and their families in the park- cake made by Ross, and ice cream.  When we asked her what kind of cake she wanted she said only, "Pink!"  Yes, but what do you want on the inside? Chocolate? Vanilla? "Pink!"    

We made her birthday crown together.  Throughout the evening Leah would spout "I'm the birthday girl!" "I'm the birthday girl!"  She loved all of the attention. 

Leah has a sweetness about her that I can't put in words.  She is the first to say sorry (out of all of us).  When I am upset she does her best to make me feel better, whether it's a kiss on the cheek, a back scratch, or a "it's o-tay mommy, it's not a big deal!" with a little shrug of her shoulders.  She loves anything to do with babies (baby dolls, baby animals, baby anything) and bats her little eyelashes when she's holding them tightly to her face.  

She loves to talk to people, and is very confident and assertive (although maybe not understandable) when answering questions.  She still loves to snuggle, and ends up in our bed most nights.  I have mixed feelings about that.  

On our way home from her party she opened a little gift that had a couple of dollars in it.  Ethan was really upset that he didn't get any dollars either-- he was pretty irrational-- it was late.  Leah held on to her dollars for a while in the car, kind of contemplative.  Ethan still cried.  As we pulled into the house she handed him her dollars and said, "here Ethan, you tan hab dem."  She may or may not have asked for them back a few days later, but still!  (I should note that Ethan was a very good brother all day-- genuinely happy and excited for her and everything birthday related.)

I love this girl a whole lot.

I'm loving this weather

Thank goodness it has started to cool down!  I was getting so sick of the heat.  I hope this weather sticks around for a while.  We got to the park early and had the whole place to ourselves for a while.  It was lovely.

Can you spy Ethan in the 3rd photo down on the right?  

All photos taken with my iphone and processed with VSCO CAM

My firstborn

Favorite quote from this kid lately: "Mom, aren't there so many beautiful colors in this world?"  

A whole lotta Leah

It's been a while since I've picked up my camera around the house!  I don't know what the deal is.  But I'm glad I dusted it off and took these pictures of the magic that is this little 2 (almost 3!) year old girl with gold hair.  The thing that got her smiling the widest: "Say Booger!"  Also of course she is sans clothes.  In her own words, "See look! No pants!"

First Day of School!

School has started for two cute boys!  

It took us a long time to decide about what to do (or do anything at all)

 with preschool for Ethan this year.  In the end, I am so happy with where we ended up; it's a peer modeling program with the school district-- only about 8 kids in the class.  His teacher is darling, and he really really loves going.  It's Monday-Thursday for 2 hours a week.  Leah can NOT WAIT for her turn to go to preschool. She asks me pretty much every day when she gets to go.  

And this guy (my brother Will, with a very low quality iphone picture on the left):

Started at BYU this week!  I never shared how he helped me out so much this summer.  I wanted to go out to my dear friend Katy's wedding in Utah, and didn't want to drive alone-- so he came along, just to keep me company!  He also did a lot of manual labor at the wedding set- up.  What a guy.

Good luck! Love you!    

In other news, I just got called to be in the YW presidency and I'm super excited!  The girls in our ward are awesome (so far :)) and I'm looking forward to working with them. 

A new bathroom!

So excited!  Our bathroom has needed a remodel since day 1.  But when the mold under the linoleum started that's when we knew we probably shouldn't wait any longer.  Ross tore out our bathroom back in May? April? can't remember. When they had a city-wide trash pick-up.  He just piled it all on the curb and they picked it up for free-- which was great except then we had a bathroom that was an empty shell for a long time.  Ross worked on it every available weekend he had, and the in the last couple of weeks has spent every available minute he had getting it done.  

He ripped mostly everything down to the studs, re-wired the light fixtures, added a new light to the shower, tiled the entire shower and floor, BUILT the whole vanity from scratch, added a new storage cabinet in the wall above the sink, installed all the sink plumbing, re-seated the toilet... And did all the other odds and ends that make up a finished bathroom.  My small contribution was painting the walls. He is pretty dang awesome!  

I still need to pick out a shower curtain and do a few things here and there, but other than that we have a fully functional bathroom! Yay!

BEFORE: 

AFTER:

T-Ball

One of the fun summer activities we've done this year is T-ball.  These kids were so hilarious to watch!  Most of them played in the dirt the whole time.   Or growled at each other from across the field, because their team name was T-REX!  As you can see by these pictures, Ethan was serious business.  Despite the crazy crazy heat, we all had a great time, and he did SO well!