All About Zack

Zack starts his second year of preschool this week and we get to meet his new teacher tomorrow. One of the things we are supposed to bring with us, is a paper All About Me. I had Zack sit down with me and fill this out. I let him write his name on the top, all by himself. Then I asked him the questions and he told me what to write for everything else. (I would have loved to let him write it all, but the boxes were too small.)

After we were done filling it out, he was not done with the paper. On the front, it asks us to tape a picture. Zack wanted to draw his picture, so I told him to do it on the back. He drew himself, then wrote his name again. Then he drew Dad and Mom and wrote their names. Finally he realized he missed his sister, so he drew Lexi and wrote her name. I only had to help him a little with the spelling. I love to see how smart he is getting!

Redecorating

I got a beautiful new piece of art to put in my house. My sister Britta hosted a class where we got to make our own temple pictures. We painted the frame pieces, glued the picture onto a backing, glazed the picture, stapled the frame together, and then attached the picture to the back of the frame. It turned out sooooo beautiful! I've been wanting a good temple picture to put up in the house and this was a great opportunity to get a good quality for a really great price. I had a great time putting this together for myself. It was also fun because I got to do this along with my sisters. Ranna and I were working together to staple the frames, and we joked about how many projects we've done together over the years. We make a great team, and we had so much fun!

After I got this home, I realized I would need to redecorate the living room in order to find a place on my wall to put it. Where the temple is now, I used to have my family pictures. I moved the family pictures to a wall on the other side of the living room.

In order to make room on this wall, I needed to move the lamp that was there to the other corner. The other corner had a CD rack and the drum set for our Guitar Hero. I cleaned out the coat closet and put the drum set and guitars in there. They fit so well even with my vacuum. Then I boxed up the CD's, which we already have all downloaded onto the computer, and we took the rack to the DI. This cleaned out my corner perfectly. I now had a place to put all my lovely pictures. I am so happy with my new walls! Now I just need to get my new family pictures printed, and it will be perfect.

Family Collages

Along with our family pictures every year we like to do a few collages. One of the family and one of each of the kids. Since my sister, Britta, did our pictures this year, we asked her if she would be willing to do our collages as well. She loves to do digital scrapbooking, so this was a fun project for her. We are so grateful she was willing to do this for us!

Thanks Britta!!!

Father's Day

I have been meaning to get Aaron a grill for quite a while now. We enjoy cooking on a grill, especially during the hot summer months when we don't want to heat up the house. This year for Father's Day we went down to the store and let him pick out the one he wanted.

Dad got a new toy, that I am benefiting a lot from as well, and the kids got one too.

Aaron cut out a door and two windows for them. They played with this for a few weeks, until it wore out enough to throw it away. The simple pleasures childhood brings.

Flashback Friday - Zack Loves Me

When I was about 6 months pregnant with Lexi, Aaron recorded this little video for me. It was on his phone, so the quality isn't that great, but he did this so he could send it to me at work. It was a really good pick-me-up for the day.

I still keep this little darling on my phone so I can refer to it anytime I'm having a rough day. Who can resist that cute little voice, "I love you very much, Mommy!"? Sometimes just knowing that we are loved by those around us can help us more than we realize.

Family Pictures

Every year around our anniversary, Aaron and I like to update the family pictures. We wanted to get some outdoor photos this time, and to save money and the stress of finding a professional photographer, we decided to ask my sister Britta to take them for us. She's been taking some Photoshop classes to help her with her digital scrapbooking and it's really paying off, and she's starting to be a better photographer from it as well!

We planned on Wheeler Farm for the pictures. We had to reschedule twice. The first time because I ordered the wrong size for Zack's shirt, and had to send it back. The second because it was rainy and crappy out, and for outdoor pictures I wanted it to be sunny and green and beautiful. This week it most definitely was sunny and green and beautiful!

My other wonderful sister Charlene and her friend Buffy came along to help keep the kidlets entertained and smiling for the pictures. It's a good thing we brought them along, because we needed all the help we could get. Despite having two naps Lexi was distressed at the slightest things. She had a rough time sitting still for anything but her personal shots. If anyone tried to touch her, especially Zack, she freaked out. This made things quite difficult to get a good shot of the kids together. But Britta did a fabulous job with what we had!

Whenever I look at Zack in pictures, I wonder when he could possibly have grown up. What a little stud! He is going to be one heartbreaker when he gets older.

When Britta got home she started downloading the pictures onto her computer, she had over 900 shots! After deleting all the crying, screaming or otherwise bad shots, she was down to 205. I've only put a selection of my favorites here, but I am so grateful to her for getting so many wonderful pictures to just have for our albums.

Thank you Britta! You did an AMAZING job! (And I can't wait to see the edited versions.)

And thank you Charlene and Buffy! We really couldn't have done so well without you.

Our New Member of the Family

After months of anticipation we were finally able to bring our new little one home. He has blonde hair and deep brown eyes. He has already shown a love for his brother and sister, and is very affectionate. He loves to cuddle and sleeps A LOT.
We're pretty excited about this bouncy new bundle, all the way down to his furry tail.

Welcome to the family, Bolt!