first day of preschool

1. Isaac and Luke both started preschool last week. Some ladies in my ward decided to do a co-op preschool and I was invited to participate. Apparently they haven't observed my boys very closely in church, otherwise I'm not sure I would have received the call. So, we all take turns "teaching" 7 rambunctious preschoolers (I'm sure mine create 85% of the chaos). My first turn to teach will be next Tuesday, so I'm anxious/nervous/oddly excited to see how it goes.

My boys have absolutely loved it. It's pretty much the only social interaction Luke gets, other than cousins and nursery, so he's way stoked. Isaac asked him if he liked going to school with him and Luke replied, "Yes. I liked making apples and worms." That was something they did their first day.

I also signed Isaac up for a different preschool on 2 other days of the week and he has really enjoyed that as well. He is old enough to start kindergarten, but where his birthday is in August, I decided it would probably be better for him to be one of the older kids, instead of the youngest. So, going to both preschools keeps him busy, which we both need.

2. I was so excited. I actually had 2 good sized melons growing. I had never had melons before, so it was a new and thrilling experience. They were both about the size of an orange. Then, Luke picked them and now I am back to having no melons... it was good while it lasted.

*Did you pick up on the innuendo... I'm HILARIOUS! Seriously though, that's a true story and I may have overreacted with how upset I was with him, but I was so disappointed. I thought I was going to end up with a couple of descent melons. But, like most of my garden's harvest, they didn't get the chance to reach full maturity.

3. Speaking of the Luke monster, I would like to take this moment to apologize to him in advance for whatever unfortunate nickname he ends up with. His name is easy to mess around with and we (mostly Adam) have come up with some pretty lame names: Lukester, Lukers, Dukers, Luke Duke, Lukle, Dukle, Dukle Monster, Little Man, Turd Butt (said in the most loving way, not in anger... so it's okay). I use to wonder how people ended up with such stupid nicknames, but now I know... they must have had lame parents like the Lukester.

4. I have found a great way to make my workouts more challenging:

The boys love to workout with me. Isaac notices his muscles getting bigger every time he does... I wonder why I'm not getting as good of results as him. Luke mostly tries to create obstacles for me. We like to play 'Try to do this move without crushing your 3 year old'.

5. I won the "Best Pie" award at our ward's fall party. And, I am feeling pretty cool now. Had I known receiving awards was so fulfilling, I would have tried to accomplish much more in my life. For now, I will bask in my glory and await the next competition (this is my 3rd award/3rd entry - for those of you who may not have already heard me brag). Okay, I'm done tooting my own horn.

asa speaks

1. We took Grandma Loveridge for a ride in the Ranger. She had requested a nice scenic ride through the country in which she worked this summer, but with Adam behind the wheel, she had much more of an adventure. I'm pretty sure we were in some sort of race. We must have been in the lead, because I didn't see any other racers the entire time. But, it was nice to get out and spend a little time together before summer is over.

Look at Luke's hair

Asa loved the ride

2. So, Adam was telling me about some ATV that kept having problems and that neither him nor the dealer could figure out what was wrong with it. Isaac, overhearing our conversation, replies, "But, daddy, you can fix anything."

3. Another Isaac moment: After church on Sunday, Isaac kept saying that he liked how fast church went by. And, I kept trying to convince him that it was just as long as any other week. Then, he said, "It was fast Sunday this week, not the slow Sunday like the other weeks."

4. Asa has finally said his first word. He has been making sounds or mimicing sounds for a while now, but hasn't pointed at something and identified it... until now. And, his first word is (drum role, please), "I-ya". For "Isaac".

This is Asa's smile lately. I guess he wants to show off his chompers.

5. Now, for a reoccurring phenomenon that has me marveling every time it happens. Luke can spontaneously produce a poop whenever it is convenient for him. Usually, this is before naptime/bedtime. It is his way of buying 5-10 more minutes before going to bed. I can almost always count on hearing, "I need to go poo-oop", coming from underneath his door within five minutes of closing it. This may seem like an odd thing to record, but I truly find it impressive (and a little annoying) that he has that sort of control over his bowels.

cruel mom award

1. Have you ever made your child cry, and laughed about it? Well, I did. The other night Isaac was taking a bath, when I heard him over exaggerate (shocking) the fact that Luke bumped his eye and he told Luke 'not to do that because it would poke his eye out'. So, I decided to have some fun.
Me in an overly concerned voice: "Isaac, your eyeball is really gone!"
Isaac in his laughing, with an undertone of concern voice: "No, it's not."
Me: "Yes it is. But, at least you have another one so you can still see."
Isaac, with more concern than laughter: "It's not gone. I don't want it to be gone." (Also, feeling to check if he still has his eyes... which makes the fact that he believed me even funnier)
Me, trying not to laugh: "It really is bud, but it will be okay."
Isaac, with actual tears now: "I don't want my eyeball to be gone!"
Me, laughing, but starting to feel bad, decided to let him know that I was only joking.
I'm such a jerk.

2. So, I have recently started to the P90X workout videos (to be said in a hard core voice, while creating an 'X' with your arms). I have never been so sore in my life! Which is a good sign that if I actually stick with it, I will see results, right? The one thing I'm not going to do though, is take the 'before' picture that they recommend... I am not taking the chance of that somehow making it onto the internet for the world to see.

My kids can do better pull-ups than I can.

3. Isaac's cousins gave him some fake tattoos a little while ago. After applying them, he asked if they would stay on him forever. I told him that they would ware off after taking a couple of baths. So, he asks, "So, uncle Mark doesn't take baths?" Uncle Mark has real tattoos.

4. We took the boys to Moab for a short camping trip (one night). We had a great time (although, Adam is realizing how much work is involved with camping as a parent). We hiked to Delicate Arch the first day, set up camp near Slick Rock, roasted some weenies and marshmallows, played on some rock hills, and hiked Mill Creek the second day. Isaac really didn't want to leave, which he kept repeating the whole way home. He also kept asking if we could come back with his friend, Logan, and he would tell him about the poison ivy and to stay away from it (he was a bit over cautious about not touching the poison ivy... almost paralyzing at times).

Notice Luke's footwear. I had asked Isaac to put all of our shoes into a bag. Adam, not knowing that Isaac was responsible for the shoes - so not checking, put them into the truck. Me, thinking that Adam had checked Isaac's work, didn't worry about it. There were only two shoes that didn't make it into the bag, which wasn't discovered until getting to the trailhead of the hike... at least we had a right and a left.

Asa loved the tent, because he wasn't confined to a backpack or bouncer.

Just a bit worn out.

5. We took the boys to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point ($2 Tuesdays = one enormous crowd). We met up with Grandma Pulley, Dani, and her girls. The boys were so excited to go, for they have never been to a dinosaur museum before (what?!). Isaac, kept asking me, in his playful/scared voice if he was going to be scared.

asa's first birthday

It's amazing how fast a whole year can go by once you have children. I can't believe it has already been a year since Asa was born. Maybe it seemed to go by quicker because he has been my easiest baby... or, maybe I've been a little more distracted. Even though he is only one, he still has quite a personality, so here are a few things about Asa:

- Like I mentioned, he has been my easiest baby. Not that he was one of those 'so easy that it's easy to forget they are there' babies that some people are blessed with. He had some eating issues like my other babies (but, not nearly as bad), he was easy to get to sleep, but not on his own, so it took longer to get him sleep trained (my other two are thumb suckers... I found out just how nice that really is), but my favorite thing about him as an infant, compared to my other two, was that he didn't have that late evening fussy period... that earned him the favorite baby award. Oh, another thing that has been nice, is that he's not obsessed with cords and outlets like my other two were. I'll take banging pots and pans over electrical obsessions any day.

- So, at first I thought Asa was going to be a calm/peaceful child. I had paid my dues with the other two and he was a pretty good baby, so it seemed like my break was coming. But, as time goes on he shows me that he may be almost as intense as Isaac and Luke. I'm not sure how much of it has been learned from those two as examples, but I'm pretty sure a lot of it is just who he is.

- Asa is a big screamer - making car rides loads of fun. It doesn't help that his brother's seem to encourage this behavior by having screaming contests with him - they think it's hilarious.

- So far, Asa hasn't experienced much stranger anxiety - he's willing to go to pretty much anyone. But, he still prefers me, so my self esteem is still going strong.

- He is very lovey/cuddly, but squirmy at the same time. He's not one to sit on a lap.

- He HATES missing an open door opportunity. Every time he sees/hears a door shut before he has made it through, he suffers major disappointment. Usually, by collapsing on the floor and crying until consoled.

Birthday morning

Asa got to play in cake, not once, but twice - once with the Pulleys and once with the Loveridges

Asa and Sophie. They are only 5 days apart.

One of 4 cakes I made for his birthday. 2 for the Pulley gathering, and 2 for the Loveridge gathering... we have large families.

Asa and Grandma Loveridge

Luke and Kade

Isaac and the ladies.

stewart falls

Last week my neighbor, Sarah, and I hiked to Stewart Falls with our kids. The hike is about 5 miles round trip, so I new this might push the limit a bit for them (Luke especially). But, I figured the reward of getting to a waterfall would make it worth it to them. I was so impressed with how well they did! There were no tears and only minimal whining. I ended up carrying Luke a few times, but not as much as I had anticipated. They loved playing at the waterfall and Asa loved eating rocks. I was so proud of them for doing so well, while keeping a pretty cool attitude the whole time.

Luke and Sarah

I'm glad Luke is my little monkey. It made it much easier to carry him when required.

Asa was quite content to sit here and eat the rocks.

Asa had it easy.

The waterfall was the motivation on the way there, and playing on the cement water tank was the motivation for the way back.