Nasty...

Yesterday I went to take my parent's dog out. I had flip flops on, the dog (on a leash) in one hand, and was hold Ava (who was barefoot), in my arms. The dog goes nuts when we take him out, and loves chasing lizards and other things. As we are walking back to the house Ava starts giggling and saying "Look, Lizard!" pointing towards the garden gate. And the dog is pulling me so hard to go over and eat it.  I look over and it is not a lizard, but is a HUGE scorpion! I have never seen one this big. I pick up some big rocks and chuck them at the thing. I hit it a few times but it just wasn't dying. Then it runs right in front of us and hides under a rock.

I ran and put Ava and the dog back in the house, grabbed a pick axe and head back out. I told Tyler it was huge, but he probably thought I was exaggerating...

Anyway I saw which rock it went under so I used the pick to flip it over. There it was in defense mode. I used the flat part of the axe to cut it in half then hit it again to make sure it was dead. I knew the guys wouldn't believe me about how big it was so I used the axe to scoop it up and lay it out on the concrete. I had to measure it too...yeah it was 4 inches long. So gross.

Ahhh, desert living...

Big Girl Bed

In a previous post I mentioned Ava was in a big girl bed. Well, here it is! We are pretty boring with the white sheets, but hey they clean easily and everything matches them.

For about a week she has fallen asleep in her bed without me barricading her in, so we are making progress. Once we get that down I am hoping she will start napping in her bed so I can put the play pen away for good.

The kids currently share a room, and this bed fits the space perfectly. We really like it alot. We especially like that we didn't have to buy it~so a special thanks to my aunt for buying really nice baby stuff to hand down to us....

Riding The Bus

(Nathan's Cute School)

Nathan made it through the 1st week of school! Woo Hoo!
Here are some more pics from his first day:

So Tyler & I have had the Kris Kross song, "I Missed The Bus" in our heads for the past few days. I know you guys know the song.  I feel so old.

Anyway the reason behind the song being stuck in our heads is that Nathan decided he wanted to ride the bus to and from school. We took him the first day, and said he could try it out for this first week. He LOVES riding the bus. The driver is really nice and saved the front seat for him and a friend in his class- they ride with all the big kids in the morning so I was a little nervous.

I got all choked up as I watched him get on the bus this morning (Tyler took him yesterday because I was running late). It was just so weird to see my baby going off into the world without me. They grow up too fast.

First Day of School!

Today was Nathan's first day of school....I felt like it was mine- I couldn't sleep last night, and I was so nervous this morning I wanted to throw up. Luckily Nathan didn't have any jitters. He got up a little early and wanted to get going. We got all ready and he looked so grown up, then he turned around and his backpack looked so huge on him, and that made me feel better.

When I took him outside for some pictures this was the first thing he did:

His teacher told all the parents to write the child's name on the outside of the backpacks and coats. I was like - I am not taking a Sharpie to his brand new backpack (or coat), so I made this instead:

I think it turned out really cute.

We got to school just as the first bell rang, and he ran to line up by the other kids. He got a little teary eyed as they started walking in, and I almost lost it. He gave me a hug, and kept waving and saying "Bye, Daddy. Bye Mommy." I can't believe he is in school right now! Tyler was tall enough to peek in the window and said he was sitting on the rug with the other kids when we left. I sure hope he has fun.


I am so anxious to hear how it went. I think I will go make him some cookies while we wait...

Nathan's Birthday!

On Sunday our little buddy, Nathan turned 5! I still remember being pregnant with him, and the shock we were in when they put him on the scale (9 lbs 3 oz), but I mostly remember how happy I was. He brings me so much joy. He is such an amazing boy. Not only is is so smart and funny, and outgoing, he is also such a good example, so polite, and sweet, and well behaved. We are so lucky!

He has been wanting a Star Wars party since his birthday last year. I wanted to be sure and go all out. He said to me, on Saturday while I was getting things ready," Mommy, it was a good idea to have my party on Saturday so we can keep the Sabbath Day holy." So cute.

I made a Death Star pinata like a month ago. My mom has made a few pinatas, and I wanted to make sure she would be here in case I messed up. It went really well. I was up to my elbows in paper mache a few nights but to see his face when it was done was so worth it.

He invited his entire primary class and his favorite cousins. We had pizza and "galaxy" fruit, games, TIE fighter cupcakes, the pinata, presents galore (THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYONE!), AND Darth Vader even came by and let all the jedis lightsaber him. This was a big hit. They were all thinking he was coming out the back door and were looking through the glass (I started the theme song and most of the kids knew what it meant), Tyler- I mean Vader, tricked them all by coming up from the outside basement stairs. The kids raced over, Nathan grabbed his lightsaber and went to town. Tyler did an amazing job, and I was so glad he was willing to dress up- he was awesome, and luckily he didn't get injured too badly.

On Sunday (his real Bday) he could not wait to go to Primary to be sung to. He got to start his morning with chocolate chip pancakes, and loved them. We also had special lunch and dinner. When I asked him what he wanted for dessert a while ago he said Duncan Hines (brownies), and mint ice cream. He has been brain washed by TV and thinks that Duncan Hines are the only way to go. Personally, not my fav, but that is what he wanted!

We love you Nathan!

HELP!

Can someone PLEASE help me???

That last post I did seriously took me 3 hours.

The first time I typed all my text then added my pics. They were all messed up. It kept moving my text to the sides of the pictures and it looked awful.

The second time I uploaded all the pics in reverse order and then tried to type. I couldn't even get the cursor between the pics (even though there was spacing)

The third time I copied and pasted all my text to a word document so I wouldn't have to retype it but then it made the font and colors different- even though I didn't touch anything.

I finally uploaded my pics in reverse, then typed starting from the bottom of my post . I still had to press enter 1000000 times to get it looking right. It looks ok now, but I am so bugged!

What am I doing wrong? What browsers do you use to blog? Is anyone else having this problem?

I want to post about Nathan's birthday but this last one was so hard! I need some help before I try again.

Thanks!!!!

Long Over Due

Let's face it- I am a terrible blogger. There have been things I have been wanting to update, but we have just been busy with so many other things. Oh, and my parents dog pulled our laptop onto the floor scratching the hard drive. We replaced it and then it just crashed again last week (not because of the dog this time). Anyway losing all your pics kind of puts a damper on blogging. Here is a recap:

May

That was too long ago. Ava started Nursery and hated it. I had to stay with her for over 2 months. It caused so many issues and now she is super clingy. She also got a big girl bed! Our crib was recalled so we were forced to make the switch. She loves her bed, just not so much for napping. She enjoys the freedom and we are glad we don't have to go get her out of a crib when she cries.

Nathan got signed up for school and is so excited. Lots of swimming and playing this month!

June

Again, I can't remember. The kids had dentist appointment....They both did really well and had no cavities! I can't even find any pictures from June, so I really am not sure what was going on. Lots of swimming went on I am sure. Since I can't remember, here is a picture of the best blueberry muffins ever. I made them from scratch, A recipe may come some time in the future.

July

Birthdays for me and Tyler, family reunions, and swim lessons!!!

Nathan started his first session of swim. We were not sure how it would go. He loves the water, just hates when it gets in his face. He has had lessons before so we thought Level 2 would be a good place for him to start. The first day he wouldn't do much, and the teacher suggested putting him in Level 1. Are you kidding me?!? All they do is blow bubbles and the kids are like 2 years old! I told the teacher, who looked VERY much like Jacob from Twilight ( you should have heard all the girls while they watched him), to just encourage him and be firm. I knew that he knew how to do the stuff and was just nervous. It was his first time swimming without any kind of floaty. The first few days were a little rough, so we took over Shay and Maria's pool, to give him extra practice. Then one day we were all just floating there when I look down and Nathan was all the way under water swimming- like really swimming! We were all amazed! Since then he has turned into a fish. We are so proud of him!

She wanted to swim too!

Since we are in the basement we are always finding lizards in the window well. My Dad usually gets them out, but one week he forgot. Next thing we know there is a snake in there and no lizards. Look close and you can see some lizard bumps in the snake- we had my brother catch it.

August

Nathan finished his 2nd session of swim! He is anxious to start up again in the fall. Ava started going to Nursery with little or no tears. We started getting ready for Nathan's PARTY- hopefully I will blog about that- if blogger will cooperate (someone PLEASE help me, it is giving my all sorts of grief) We all got food poisoning, a few days before Nathan's party, and the night before my interview at the hospital. I guess I wasn't meant to get that jobNathan also had his Kidergarten Assessment! The teacher showed him a list of words and asked if he could read any of them. He said, "I know ALL these words," then she asked him to do something else and he said,"Pshh, that is EASY!" Tyler and I were laughing so hard!

Oh, and Tyler got a JOB! We are so excited even though he hasn't started yet. He will be an online tutor for Stevens Henager College. Woo Hoo!

Yeah, we grew that...