Thursday, September 25, 2008

Saturday is a special day...

....it's the day Alec doesn't have to go to work! (well, he doesn't work on Sunday either, but ya know). So we have filled our Saturdays with little family adventures like,

the park...




Antelope Island, to show Flavio (Alec's co-worker from Brazil), the Great Salt Lake...



action shot of Nate's determined fast-walk--always the arms up for balance (much more funny live)


we also went to the zoo...


trying to escape his stroller at every chance


giant thumb





the children's museum...

Owen's favorite--the helicopter


Nathan's favorite--the magnetic PVC ball track


Abigail's favorite--the construction site

We also did Dinosaur Park one day and Lagoon on another, sans camera. (Just wanted to make sure, that as long as I have a blog, I get credit for all the fun things I've done lately. he he)

Sunday, September 14, 2008

First Day of Preschool



Owen had his first day of preschool last week, and he absolutely LOVES it! In order to get a reduced tuition, I volunteer in the classroom once a month. I chose the very first day of school to volunteer, imagining that that might be a good adjustment time for Owen. But, he really couldn't have cared less whether I was there or not, he was totally into checking out the toys and playing with his new "friends." He goes on Monday and Wednesday mornings for 2 1/2 hours. When we sent Abigail out the door for school on Thursday, he whined, "How come my school has to be a patterin {pattern}? Because I want to go everyday like Abby!" I have to admit, that sounded pretty good to me, too. When I went to the grocery store with just the baby the other day (who remains strapped into his seat, and doesn't beg to buy anything), there was one way to describe my feelings....pure bliss. But the little preschool break that we do get, will be nice for both of us I'm sure.

Owen's teacher had me fill out a little questionnaire about Owen's favorite things, and I thought I might share his answers....

What is your favorite food? spaghetti and broccoli
What is your favorite color? black, grey and green
What is your favorite animal? dog, wolf, tiger and dinosaurs
What is your favorite indoor activity? puzzles, blocks and trains
What is your favorite outdoor activity? slides, climbing and sand
What is your favorite book? Go Away, Big Green Monster
What is your favorite nursery rhyme? Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
What is your favorite song? Old MacDonald


Tuesday, August 26, 2008

First Day of 1st Grade





Friday, August 22, 2008

New Do

Yesterday Abigail and I had a mommy-daughter date. I'm hoping to make it a new Back-to-School tradition. First we went to the salon to have our hairs cut by our cute friend, Kristin, who used to be our neighbor and Abigail's Primary teacher, and whom Abigail adores. I think having Kristin do our hair aided in the confidence level remaining high for Abigail to cut her hair short. She had been saying for a week or so that she wanted to do something different and have it "short for once." I was pleased, since she doesn't like to have her hair brushed and it was getting rather nasty with the chlorine and summer sun build up. So she didn't chicken out! And look how cute she looks! (For Alec: you must act surprised when you get home, because she wants to see if you recognize her or if you think she is a neighbor or something.)For lunch after our haircuts Abigail picked "Subway: Eat Fresh" (this is what Abigail calls it, and she was so offended once when her cousin Matthew called it "Subway: Eat Gross"). As another side note, she always orders the Seafood Sensation (imitation crab meat) sandwich. They never know how to ring it up at the register because she gets it in a kids pack, and they don't have a button for that combination apparently. As we walked to the car after lunch, we decided that we had never actually been to lunch just the two of us.

To round out our little date, we went to the mall to find some new sneakers and an outfit for her first day of first grade. She picked out an adorable little knit dress with apples on it and a watch to match. I'm sure we'll have photos of it next week.

As we pulled into the garage after our date, I said the usual date things. "That was so much fun, we should definitely do it again." To which she replied, somewhat unenthusiastically, "Yeah, next year."

Poof!

I'm sick of the computer. It seems as though every time I sit down in front of it, time suddenly vanishes. The Internet has this mesmerizing mind control over me where I can't seem to remember why I sat down to look something up in the first place. How is it that I sat down at least 45 minutes ago to shop for socks for Abigail, and yet none of my open tabs would indicate this? I have my Gmail inbox up and Google Reader of course. But I also have tabs open for overstock.com (not to find socks, but a leather ottoman I've been desiring) and HGTV's website is open to an article on staging your home for sale (not that I'm moving, just for decorating info from a show I saw). Anyway, my question is this...does this happen to anyone else, or am I just simply absent-minded and hypnotized by the inviting glow of the computer screen?

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Newport Beach with the Walker Fam

Spending the week at Newport Beach with Alec's family last week was wonderful! Here are some highlights....

Alec's brother, Peter.

Alec's sister, Sarah.

The boys (Alec's Dad, brother-in-law Tyler, and Alec) staking out a prime spot in between the pool and kiddie pool for cribbage and other card games.


Abigail demonstrating the starfish.

Pops taking photos.

Owen hard at work.


Like father like son.

Flying kites.


Searching for shells with Grammy.
The Mud-Slinger.

We tried to get the kids out the wet sand for a photo, but Nate just kept crawling back to the water.


We had so much fun. Can't wait until next time! Thanks, Grammy and Pops!!

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Ode to Abigail

This post will require some participation from you. Okay, pretend with me that it is not August, and that it is still July, and I am still within the month of Abigail's birthday.

Alright, now that we are all in denial I would like to wish Abigail a happy 6th birthday!!

I can't believe it has been six years since I became a mother! Abigail really is a joy to have around. I may be slightly biased....but she is smart (just today she told me that too much salt is bad for your heart), funny (this afternoon she was walking around the driveway lifting my weights--not to try and be funny, but it was funny to me...wait, maybe she is just health conscious), considerate (tonight before bed she asked what job she could do first thing tomorrow to help me), obedient (most of the time she will say, "Yes, Mom!" when I ask her to do something), and many other things that you hope your children will be. I feel lucky to have her in my life and hope that the next year will be just as great as the last. We love you, Abigail!

These are her cute Fancy Nancy glasses and purse our regular babysitter gave her.

Alec's mom took her to Build-a-Bear for her birthday. She was thrilled, and picked out this bunny that she loves. The best part is, that before she went, she got on the Build-a-Bear website to do some pre-browsing. She had loaded up her cart with all the cute outfits she wanted. Then Grammy kindly explained that she could probably only pick one outfit and that she had a budget of $40. So Abigail busted out the calculator (which I didn't know she knew how to use), found outfits on sale, and maximized her spending power enabling her to get two outfits and some underpants for her bunny.

We had a "luncheon" on her birthday. I had to call it this and not a party, because I didn't want to do the whole party thing. But she was just as happy, and never would have known the difference. She got to pick two of her friends to invite over for lunch and to play. Beforehand we went to the dollar store and I let her pick out whatever plates and napkins, etc. she liked. I didn't care if they matched or not. It was so nice not to have the pressure of it being a party, that I think she and I both had more fun. We made English muffin pizzas for lunch and decorated cupcakes. Then I painted all their nails. Such cuties!




Later in the month we had the monthly birthday party at my Dad's house, celebrating all the July birthdays: Uncle Peter, and cousins Spencer and Lauren.


And finally, to round out her birthday month, she lost her first tooth!