The Riot Zone

Nate's work paid for everyone to go to the Riot Zone last Saturday night. We had a ton of fun! Nate's going to have Lasik surgery in October, so he had a dilation exam, which he had to wear his glasses for three days before. He doesn't love being seen in his glasses. I think he looks cute and very smart so I took lots of pictures.

This is Nate pulling really hard on the tug-of-war. He had no idea that this is what he was up against on the other side:

We didn't know who the girls were but obviously they thought Bre needed help. Ha-ha!

(Bre in green car/Kenzi and Caroline in other) (Katelyn and Nikosha on blow-up slide)

(Nikosha driving the kids go-carts) (Katelyn and Bre on rocket)

(This is me rock climbing. Apparently Nate thought it was great so he took lots of pictures. I used the one fartherst away for two reasons: It looks like I'm up higher and I don't look so unattractive with those interesting little "bum holders" on. Obviously, I'm not huge into rock climbing since I'm sure bum holders is not the right term.)

Fun at the Fair & Kenzi's Dance

For some reason I always dread going to the fair. I don't know if it's the hundreds of people there or how expensive it is or all the walking the kids have to do (which turns into complaining and/or carrying them) or what. But everytime I go I have a blast and am so glad we went. This year was the same thing: Just a ton of fun!!! We went on Friday night and it was pretty busy, which means we also got to see a lot of people we knew. The fair food is what I go for. If I had tons of money, and I wouldn't gain a ton of weight, I would stay at the fair all week eating all that food. (I think Kyler was jealous that he didn't get any fair food.)

Kenzi started dance class this week. She will be three this Wednesday so she misses the deadline to start pre-school. And if you know Kenzi, you know she is actually two going on 15. She is just smart as a whip and never stops talking, so I am soooo excited she gets to have "her own" little thing this year: dance class. She is so opposite from my other girls that are always so shy when they're trying new things. Kenzi's the one right up in the front telling the teacher about her whole life.

Katelyn's First Day of Pre-School

It wasn't technically Katelyn's first day of pre-school. It was just her first day this year. She went to pre-school last year too, but this is a new school for her. She went to two summer camps that her teachers put on this summer so she got to know them already. I think they are just wonderful, sweet people!

Most people say their little pre-schoolers look so little when they start school, but not Katelyn. I think she looks very old to be in pre-school. She's excited to be able to go to school with one of her friends from our old neighborhood. He wasn't there on Tuesday with her, but they will go together on Thursdays.

(Katelyn and Kenzi in the car before pre-school)

Because of some kind of city code, we aren't allowed to park right by the pre-school (it's in an old house made into a pre-school), so we park right down the street and they walk to school every day with their teachers holding onto this rope you see in the picture.

She's going to have an awesome year because she is so easy going and gets along with everyone!

Suzy Homemaker

I'm so excited after moving and finishing two houses to finally get to do things that I never particularly enjoyed before. I look forward now to doing laundry and dishes and vaccuuming. (I thought about taking pictures of those things, but I figure you have enough of your own to see. Ha-ha!)

The other day I went with some friends and my sister to go pick raspberries. We took all of our kids so it was a little chaotic, but a lot of fun. It's just a huge raspberry patch where you can pay to pick your own berries. It was $1.50 for a little green carton. I think that's a pretty good price, but I'm not very good with remembering numbers and prices. This is the third year I've been and my family LOVES the homemade raspberry jam. So that's what I did last week. Then over the weekend we found a good deal on some strawberries ($9 for a flat, which has 8 packages in each one), so Nate talked me into getting 3 flats of strawberries. So I started making Strawberry freezer jam today until I ran out of pectin, so I'll finish up tomorrow. I make it sound like I just whip up jam like it's nothing, but I just learned how to make it last year from a friend and that's really the only thing I know how to can. Actually, my sister and I canned peaches last year too. Now I'm hooked on home-canned peaches! They are the best!

I finally decided to do a little decorating in my new house. I'm not

very good at it, though. I have a wonderful mother-in-law who helps me buy and put together the beautiful decorations, but then when I try to put them somewhere it always looks a little "off" to me. Some peope just have that "decorating touch" that I don't have, but you can decide for yourself:

And this is a picture of my baby, Kyler. He's growing up so fast. It's kind of a funny picture because he was actually crying and stopped for just a second to see what I was doing with the camera.

Kyler and Nate

When I first saw this picture of Roman and Nate (Nate's the baby), I thought Kyler looked exactly like him, but then when I put their pictures side-by-side, I didn't think they looked quite as much alike. What do you think?

(Roman and Nate 1978) (Kenzi and Kyler 2008)

I just think all these kids are pretty darn cute!!

First Day of School

Well, today was Nikosha's first day of school at her new school. She has to go to a totally different school than everyone in our neighborhood because the two schools that everyone else are going to are full. Kind of crazy, huh?!! She's handled it like a champ, though. Doesn't she look all grown up in her pictures? What happened to my baby girl? Our friend, Aniko, had us save all of our Capri Suns this summer and made Nikosha a lunch box out of them. Nikosha loves it! Thanks, Aniko!

Katelyn will be in pre-school again this year because she misses the deadline since she has an October birthday, but she doesn't start until the Tuesday after Labor Day. The girls' new thing to do to keep from going to sleep at night is to say that their stomachs hurt and they are sick, so since I'm not the nicest, most compassionate mother when I want my kids to go to bed, so I can go to bed, I just give them a bowl and tell them if they need to throw up to throw up in the bowl. So, this is how we found Katelyn sleeping one night:

I'm much more compassionate after they're all asleep so I did at least remove the bowl so she could sleep a little better.

My crazy life

I thought I'd write a quick update on our crazy life. We got mostly moved into our new house that still has a lot of stuff to finish and a ton of unpacking to do, but right now we're busy finishing the basement on the old house and all the other stuff that has to be fixed. We have about 2 weeks worth of stuff to have done by Thursday morning. Whoa if I think of it like that then why the heck am I on the computer right now? I'm actually typing one-handed right now while I feed Kyler. I have to do this before I pack the computer up because I don't know when we'll be getting the internet again. I wanted to show everyone these cute pictures we had taken at Sam's club. I don't love me in the picture because my dress was very "special."

Well, Kyler got done eating so I gotta run go get boxing and get cleaning this house. I hope everyone comes to visit us at our new house. You don't even have to call, just drop by.