This week..

— Cal sat next to Travis in front of the projector screen.. holding his own cream soda in a coozie.. and asked “Can you get Peppa on this thing?”

— there has also been a lot of random “I don’t like puppies anymore” from Callum as he remembers that the service dog in training at the Farmer’s Market scarfed his cookie off his stroller snack tray.

— we celebrated T’s birthday! He opened a pair of roller blades, a new suit, and a new family game as his presents from us. His birthday treat were homemade chocolate chip cookies one day and a chocolate mousse brownie another day.

— we realized that Elle will be out of town for both her “Halloween dance recital” and also her Sunday church program. Whoops! She’s still shy with performances so she isn’t totally heartbroken.

— we realized we had 2 rotten window frames so we’re playing the schedule-the-quotes game and mentally deleting future vacation dreams while we wait to hear the damage $$

— Callum told me at bedtime “some day I’m going to be tall enough to drive a car.. like a real car. I’m going to need something other than my jeep.. something with a roof..” He’s really thinking these things through!

— Elle rocked her parent teacher conferences and her teacher thanked us for “giving her such a doll to treat”. Elle continues to excel - especially in math. She’s a wonderful student!

xo,

Krista

This week.. month?

— we’ve been busy with all the FALL things. We’ve enjoyed multiple pumpkin patches and lots of popcorn. Cal enjoyed the train and tractors best where Elle loves the jumping pads and corn pits. We took family photos outdoors (and finally had a year with moderate temperatures!).

— Elle is checking off lots of events with this school year - pictures, field trip, and this week is conferences. She is still participating in both dance and gymnastics (though we slimmed down our dance night by one class). Cal enjoys tagging along or getting extra 1:1 time at home with Mom or Dad. 

— our days seem to fluctuate from being a really nice stage of our family (kids that can play together, outings with minimal diaper bag) and other days are a total GRIND. There is more attitude and meltdowns than ever. Some nights they eat wonderful and other times they snack and sneak treats. This weekend used to be one of mine & T’s favorite of the year- church is on TV with a worldwide conference. This year.. still anything but spiritual as the kids couldn’t keep themselves safe or entertained together for more than 3 minutes. We didn’t expect them to enjoy it with us.. but we were too optimistic that this year would be peaceful again!

— we are looking forward to some fun things later this year - a weekend getaway to Nebraska City to somewhat unplug from normal life. And then a big December trip to Disney with grandparents to go all-in on the Christmas spirit!

xo,

Krista

 

This week…

— I’m going to ensure I don’t miss blogging! The biggest highlights that come to mind? Elle started first grade! She is completely smitten with a Disney movie series called Descendants and asked that I play “Rotten to the Core” on the way to school. Ha! She’s in dance and gymnastics for her after school activities. She builds with duplo blocks nearly every night or laughs until tears with her brother.

— Callum has also learned the Descendants sound tracks. He sings “what’s my name? What’s my name? Say it louuuudeeerrrr.” at least daily. He was highly impressioned by the bull fighting we saw at the State Fair and now runs in circles around the living room and then jumps and straddles a chair or couch like the guys did on the arena fence/gates. Sometimes he will even convince Elle to be the bull chasing him!

— we are still talking about our Labor Day trip to visit Nana in Pittsburgh. The kids are troopers with the travel. They loved every minute wrestling in Nana’s living room (that we were not allowed in when we were kids!), riding her stair lift, and exploring the Carnegie Melon Natural History Museum. We also were able to visit the Pittsburgh Temple open house and ran into a friend from Grand Island!

xo,

Krista

 

This week I’ll remember..

— how Saturday I felt like I would never survive this stage of our family with the constant noise, the kids impressive ability to trash everyone room in our house with their precious, creative set ups, and lack of hunger at meals but constant snacking and requests for ice cream. Then, Sunday was a totally different vibe. Well, not totally.. Cal did throw his shoes into the aisle at church… twice. And Spider-Man and ghost spider Lego action figures shared Cal’s bread and water. But the remainder of the day the kids played together non-stop with only the occasional tattle over small injuries that were cured instantly. 

— how Cal can now rival his sister in his ability to speak. We were reading a book last night and there was constant commentary “oh yes! I love this part! Watch this Mom! The truck is going to get stuck in the mud! Oh no!” Or he saw a character sitting on another’s shoulder’s and Cal was instantly recapping to me the time he was on Pap pap’s shoulders to watch the excavator. Cal walked me through every moment of that memory “but I can’t remember mom, were you there? Pap pap talked to the guy.. but I don’t remember what he said. But the excavator was in the dirt.. and I don’t know how he lifted that front part? Maybe with a button like my jeep?” This kid has the best little mind and problem solving skills! I can’t think of an exact story but he is quick to find solutions!

— that Elle is still fascinated by snakes. She continues to watch this YouTube channel of a young, female herpetologist but now she is carrying around bracelets pretending to hold their head with her hand in a glove and telling us all about them. It’s especially funny because T dislikes no animal/creature more than snakes. 

— the mess we made making giant chocolate chunk cookies together and how magical it is to have a home full of laughter and family and clouds of flour flying out of the mixer.

xo,

Krista