Camping in the rain

Katie and I were talking last weekend and we decided it would be fun to go camping this weekend. We made our list and checked the weather forecast, made our reservation, talked to Craig and we were all set. Then the weather changed and we were stuck camping in the rain (or being out the $30 we paid, since you can't reserve the site for one night you have to do two. What Mormon has two nights in a row to camp without taking vacation days??????). Anyhow we decided to go ahead with our plans and it went surprisingly well. I could have done without Katie walking in the lake in her only pair of shoes and then refusing to wear them (she spent alot of time sitting in a camping chair) and I really could have done without super whiny, crybaby Taylor in the morning, but other than that it was picture perfect (well, as perfect as the weather would permit!). We invited some friends of ours along and it was fun. We left Friday afternoon around 3:30pm and got up there around 5pm. Craig and David set up camp while I made a fire! I was super impressed that I made it so seamlessly in the rain no less! I ROCK! Instant light coals at the bottom, kindling, newspaper then a teepee of split logs over the top! I guess I really am a camp director! We had foil dinners, hot dogs and brats for dinner. Then we walked down to the lake to throw in rocks. Then we came back up to the sight to make s'mores and cocoa. The kids went down really well. Taylor did wake up a couple times at night and yelled "yes" in his sleep for some reason. I slept well except the need to visit the restroom way too often(I had forgotten I was prego when I planned all of this). In the morning I rolled up the sleeping pads and sleeping bags and craig made fantastic pancakes on our campstove. Then we broke camp and cleaned up just as it started to rain again. We got back in time to clean up, eat lunch and take a nap before soccer. It was a fun weekend!

Happy Cows make better milk (or so they say)

Last Thursday afternoon Katie, Taylor, myself and some friends of ours from Katie's classroom toured a local creamery. It's called Happy Cow creamery. They have developed a system where they keep green grass in the pasture 12 months out of the year for the cows to graze on and this makes the cows happy because they like to eat grass the best and so their milk is better. They call it "12 Aprils" and have different grass planted each season so it stays green year-round. Pretty cool. Pretty great milk too and cheese. It was a fun little tour. Taylor really like riding on the tractor.

HELP! We lost our NARBLES! (Our exciting weekend)

This weekend was super eventful as you can tell by the pictures. Craig ran the BMW race on Friday night but didn't want a cheering section so Katie, Taylor and I went swimming. Saturday morning was spent looking for Katie's tooth that she refuses to give the Tooth Fairy and Taylor's "narbles" which actually were marbles, but they have yet to resurface. After the tooth/narble search, Katie had a soccer game (which they won, probably because they have such a great coach) and then we went down town to "Art in the Park". It was such a nice, cool, beautiful day. A bunch of local artists set up booths at the baseball field and we walked around down there and let the kids get their faces painted. Saturday night Craig chaperoned the youth dance and I painted my fingernails (after taking the kids to the park). Sunday Craig stayed home from church with Taylor because Taylor was still sick. Katie gave a great talk on praying to Heavenly Father in primary! That night Craig went to the Priesthood meeting and the kids and I went for a walk. That sums up our fun! (Mom, you can see in the video our clearance tables from Target and how the living room is shaping up!).

SHE DID IT!!!

Well, it finally happened! Katie finally lost her first tooth, thanks to Craig's persistent yanking. It came out last night right before she got in the bathtub(which is why she's naked in the video. Thanks to Ya-ya for the cute little tooth fairy box and poem that Katie is reading. Taylor is convinced that he has a loose tooth now too. The Tooth Fairy tried to come last night but Katie slept with her tooth in her hand so that the Fairy couldn't have it. She says maybe on Saturday the Fairy can have it.

Katie as goalie

Katie and Craig had their second game of the season on Saturday. It went really well. It was still really hot and humid (high 90's and lots of humidity), but the kids did a lot better during this game. It was actually even pretty fun to watch. As you can tell from the pictures, Taylor was dying to be out on the field. I'm about ready to get a dog crate for him to sit in while we're there! "Off the field Taylor! You need to stay off the field, Little Man!". His time will come.
They did well though and Katie stopped some potential goals (even though the first pic of her as goalie, she looks like Frankenstein). The second pic is her throwing the ball back into the game. We won the game 2-0, so hurray for us, even though they don't officially keep score. It's another hot day today for soccer practice, but I'm hoping for a cool down sometime this week. We'll see if it comes through for us!

Katie's First loose tooth

This is a great depiction of what our house is like every evening after dinner now that Katie has her first loose tooth. She asks Craig to pull it or he asks her if he can see her loose tooth (so funny). I really thought he was gonna get it out last night. It's pretty loose now! You can see the new tooth coming in already behind the baby one that's loose. This is just the beginning. It's gonna be a long road for Taylor, he thinks he has a loose tooth already. That's going to be a long 3 years.

Cr-Egg's Big Day!

Yesterday was Craiggle's big day! It was really fun! We got to go out to lunch (sans les bebes) and then we had a blowout birthday bash at dinner time with balloons and party hats, dinner and ice cream cake! He loves all the presents we got him (thanks to everybody who chipped in for the nano). He was still playing with it all when I got home last night from Enrichment. That's a great sign! I think he went running this morning to try it out. I love to see him so happy! We also got him season 4 of the office!

Taylor's First day of School!!!

Today was Taylor's first day of preschool! Craig and I dropped him off this morning and took this pic right before we went in for his first day. He gets to go Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 9am-1pm. It worked out great because I had a dr. appt today and it's also Craig's birthday, so Craig and I got to go to lunch!! How great is that!? Weekly lunch dates! I'm so excited! Taylor had lots of fun at his school!

Apple Festival and parade!

For Labor Day we went up to Hendersonville, NC with Casey and Christina Eichorn (fellow Buckeyes)to the Apple Festival and parade! It was really fun. We got there around 12:30 and got some great "fair food". The best find of the day was the apple beinets. YUM YUM YUMMY YUM! Like indian fry bread, but with apples inside and covered in powered sugar! We came home with apple butter and fresh apples to make apple pie and apple crisp and apple muffins. I need to learn how to can so I can make and can mom's apple sauce! The parade was fun and before the parade we ran into the "burger king" handing out coupons! wow, huh? I wonder how long it takes his beard to not be hot pink anymore! The man with the 'stache' was near us while we were watching the parade. I think he was local, what do you think? Loved the dancing cop video! Good times were had by all (even though Taylor cried way too much! We almost sold him so we could buy more fair food). Our new stroller was a hit too! It's a Joovy caboose with a place for a kid to sit or stand on the back! Oh, I attached a picture of me in all my prego glory, just for you megan!

So cute!

I came in from my shower the other day to find Katie reading a book to Taylor on the couch! so cute! You gotta love moments like this. Sorry that the pic is blurry, I was carrying laundry too I think. It was a one-handed pic. Too bad since it's so cute!

And the rain came down....all week!

(Sorry that I forgot about the video not working in portrait). We were lucky enough to get a week of rain from hurricane fay last week. Here's the result (in our "sandbox"). Luckily, we had already emptied out the sand and washed it out, and we hadn't bought new sand yet! I guess we're still in a severe drought, but I'm sure the rain didn't make it worse. It was nice for a change, even though it never cooled off.