Featured Family

Note from Mom and Dad:

We were honored to be the featured family at the annual Family Star (our school) fundraising event this year. Last month, a film crew captured our morning school drop-off routine and also came to our house one night to get at-home footage. We went to a fancy gala last Friday night where the final video was played.

The teachers you'll see:

Minnie - One of Tess' teachers in Primary
Mindy - Tess' lead teacher (the one reading the books to her class in some of the clips)
Maria - John's lead teacher (she's in the scenes where he's dumping the sink of water and peeling oranges)

Words cannot express how much we love these women.

3 years, 11 months & 1 year, 8 months

Monthly picture time!

Having trouble understanding that the other chair is already occupied.

Ahhh...the whole porch to himself!

Time flies when you're having fun. And we've been having a lot of fun lately. Gymnastics started two weeks ago. John and I are in the same class and we love it. For 45 minutes each Saturday morning, we jump, tumble, skip, and swing. After last Saturday, Dad said he needed a nap after trying to keep up with both of us.

My physical therapy has been going really well lately. Gymnastics helps, of course, but I've also been enjoying running and jumping quite a bit lately. My physical therapist told us to cancel our next couple monthly appointments and that we can see her in December!

Sunday School has started up again this month, too. There are 4 or 5 kids in class each week and I love it. I especially enjoy the snacks!

John has seemed to grow noticeably by the day this past month. He's literally reaching new heights and can almost turn a door knob. Dad and I caught him climbing the furniture the other day to try to get the remote off the mantle. The good news is that he can almost explain himself now. He's talking quite a bit, but we just can't understand all of it.

The same little boy also loves any sort of vehicle. He'll wave to just about anything: Buses, trucks, airplanes, minivans, whatever. We were waiting for the bus earlier this week and the poor kid just about passed out with excitement while sitting on the bench watching all the traffic.

John's appetite hasn't wavered either. He'll still eat just about anything. Even if it's not his favorite food, he'll save it until it's the only thing left on his plate and then still eat it.

No major excitement planned for the coming month. Of course we've got a 4th birthday next month followed by Halloween, but we'll save those topics until next month!

Monthly questions asked by Dad:

What would you like to be when you grow up? Bumblebee!

What would John like to be when he grows up? A ladybug

Who is your best friend? Aubrey

Who is John's best friend? Sinaya (From his class. She actually held John's hand while walking to his classroom this morning!)

What is your favorite activity at school? Doing sounds

What is your favorite sport to play? Soccer

What is your favorite sport to watch? Soccer

What is John's favorite word? Stop or roar (like a grizzly)

What is your favorite song to sing? ABCD

What is your favorite song that Dad sings? None

Construction

For over a year now, the property next to school has been under construction. The work moved indoors a few months ago, but we were surprised with some outdoor excitement last week during drop-off. Dad cut us off after about 5 minutes, but we were ready to spend the day at the fence!

Waffles

Framed

Looking through a Lego tower...

Ball game

Baseball game this past Saturday!

This is John's way of smiling lately!

Testing all available laps.

Three young girls who have had plenty of sugar.
One little boy up past his bedtime.

He's quick

Dad was giving me a bath last week. He turned around to check on John and found this:

So proud of himself.

Random Saturday

We found ourselves over at the National Western complex on Saturday morning and Dad decided to go see if the doors to the Event Center were unlocked. We were in for a pleasant surprise. There was a free horse show taking place and we were some of the only spectators!

My face doesn't reflect it in today's pictures, but I was super excited. John loved it, as well.

Before the excitement.

Tractor!

Relaxing.

Watching a horse get some exercise.

Watching riders practice.

Tackle

Table top

Dad and I were cooking dinner at the stove top last week and we noticed things had become a bit too quite in the other room. Dad asked me to be careful by the hot stove and went to find the little brother...

Top of the dining room table playing with the computer.

Labor Day

Mom was out of town on a girls' weekend so Dad let us choose whatever we wanted to do on Labor Day. We voted for the Science Museum! But on the way to the museum I asked from the backseat, "Do you think there's a playground at the museum?" So we re-routed to a playground with the intention of continuing to the museum. The playground was huge and after 90 minutes we decided to scrap the museum plans for another time (we were also just there last week!).

One kid having a blast on the big kid swings.

I am ready to be done now.

Bonus stop on the way home!
(John was snoozing in his car seat at this point)

Another bonus stop on the way home: McDonald's water!

Art museum return trip

A return trip to the Denver Art Museum has been on our agenda for a few weeks now. We made our way down there on Sunday and still didn't get to see everything. Guess we'll have to go back again soon!

Bus trip

I've been bothering Dad a few times a week lately about maybe taking a bus to school. Last week he walked to school to collect us so that we could take the bus home!

Waiting (and keeping an eye out) for the bus!

Expert bus passenger.

This is awesome!

The little brother didn't do well with all of the stopping.
He kept trying to stand up at each bus stop, but did better after we transferred to a less-crowded bus.

Safety

We are required to hold hands while crossing the parking lot at school. Lately, we've been removing Dad from the equation!

We need to write these things down

We haven't posted one of these in a while. A sampling of somewhat funny things I've said recently!

File this one under the heading of My Dad Talks Too Much About Trees. "I was brushing my teeth the other night and inside the medicine cabinet I saw some of Mom's make-up and face cleaning supplies, so I asked Dad, "Why does Mom have all those cottonwood balls?" [cotton balls]
_______

Random question while out on a walk the other night: "Why do dogs smell each other's butts?"
_______

We stop at McDonald's about once a week to get a soda for Dad (and sometimes Mom) and waters for the kids. We rarely actually go into the restaurant. While waiting in the drive-thru a few weeks ago, I asked in a surprised voice, "Dad, do they have lunch here?!" And that was the magic question that triggered Mom and Dad to admit that, indeed, there is food at McDonald's.
_______

Three months ago we got a new neighbor next door. She's about 65 and single. I guess that struck me as strange because I asked Dad, "When is Annette going to get a dad?"
_______

While getting ready for bed recently, Dad was telling me that it would probably be a good day to wear pants the following day. I told him I wanted a tank top and shorts. He said, "Nope! Because I know the weather for tomorrow." I replied, "No you don't! The phone knows the weather!"

[We often ask Siri for the forecast]

_______

On the way to school earlier this week:
John: "Uh! Ahh!"
Tess: "What is it John?"
John: "Ahh!"
Tess: "Well is it a bird or a tree?"
John: "Ahh!"
Tess: "A bird? Or a tree?"
John: "Ahh!"
Tess: "Ooooh! That's neat."