Rolling

The beginning of this week was strictly damage control from last week (Paul being gone and Liam's birthday). Then Paul had to work a bunch and the rest of us hung out mostly at home.

Gavin - Is rolling over, from back to front, pretty much every time I put him down now. He supposedly rolled to his back twice, but I didn't personally witness it so am in denial.

I put him in one of Liam's old outfits and wanted to see if they looked the same. I was really surprised at how different they look (but still obviously brothers), and how chubby Liam was!

Liam - Is in denial about growing up:

And he has a new game to further postpone bedtime. We call it "Where's Liam?"

Jenna - has been working for a couple weeks now on her "Style Notebook". She has filled it with "fashions" she sees on her dolls and in books, and designed some herself. These are my favorites:

She hasn't been assigned any actual homework yet (I'm not complaining) but she had her first project this week: to dress up as one of America's symbols and give a presentation about it to the class. She chose the Statue of Liberty!

Paul and Kali - are super tired. September and October are Paul's busiest months, and we're both feeling it. But we're trying not to complain, and get as much rest as we can. Good Night!

Liam's 2nd

Paul was in Provo on Liam's actual birthday, so we decided to hold off on his cake and presents until he got back. But we still had fun that day:

As soon as Jenna got home from school, we went to the Bounce 'n Play. This place has everything a little kid could want: bounce houses, slides, a ball pit, carousel, books, puzzles, toys, a coloring / painting wall, playhouses, and even a koi pond! We spent hours there.

I made him a cookie cake so that we could sing and he could blow out a candle. He thought the candle was just about the best thing ever, and got to blow it out like 5 times!

Then Monday, after Paul got home, we got pizza and a movie (Rio 2) while Paul finished wrapping his presents and I finished his cake (it's been a super busy month).

We realized at the last minute that we didn't bring our wrapping paper in the move, so we used leftover packing paper. He certainly didn't care.

He was so funny opening his presents. He just went for it unprompted and kept saying "Woah!" the whole time! Here's the video if you're interested. It's pretty cute!



Then we sang some more, blew out the candles a couple dozen more times, and ate a ton of cake!

As you can tell, he loves the Monsters movies right now :)
We played with his new toys for a bit and called it a day!

It seriously seems like just yesterday I was putting up pictures of his first birthday. It's been a crazy year, and Liam has helped make it so much fun!

Sans Paul

Paul was pretty much MIA this week. The only night he was home for dinner was Tuesday, and that was the day we signed up for our ward's 40-day fast. So, I didn't have to make dinner all week (the kids and I eat simple when Paul's away), which is actually the silver lining for this week (I don't love cooking).

Speaking of the fast, since the kids and I aren't skipping meals right now, we decided to fast from technology. Jenna was a good sport about it, and we got to play and get a lot done!
We also did our Family Home Evening Tuesday night. It was Jenna's turn for the lesson, and she insisted on doing it all on her own. Her topic was "family" and she gave each of us a drawing assignment: Paul drew pictures of himself at work and with his family, I drew something that was hard to do (cleaning) and something that was easy to do (sleeping), Jenna got to draw something pretty (flower) and something fun (kicking a ball), and Liam was assigned to do "scribble-scrabbles" which he did perfectly.

Paul was in Provo Thursday through Sunday. He'll travel with the team once a season to check out other schools' operations, and he made sure this year it was to the BYU game.
He got to visit work friends, eat some chicken hearts (Tucanos), check out the old stomping grounds, enjoy the game, and even try his famous Brat Tail.

Since Paul was wearing his UVA attire, tons of BYU fans were telling him "Welcome to Provo!"
So polite. Love that place!

I think I handled things pretty well while Paul was gone. The good: We went out for Liam's birthday (more on that coming soon), went to the Primary activity, and even made it to church on time. The bad: Liam and Gavin took turns keeping me up all Friday night, and Liam decided to be very unruly for the second half of Sacrament Meeting.

Pictures from our week:

Oh, and this happened:

He's my first kid to try to suck his thumb. I'm not sure how I feel about this...

Gavin: three months

This three month-old is so fun! Right after a good nap or diaper change or feeding (basically all the time) Gavin will smile and giggle and chat with us while his arms and legs go nuts!

He still wants to be held a lot, but now prefers to be facing outward, so he can watch whatever is going on.

His eyes are still blue, but I think they're starting to get more gray. I guess my dark eyes are too dominant for Paul's beautiful blue ones :(

He is eating twice a night, which makes me a little more tired, but he goes right back to sleep so I shouldn't complain.

And last night he rolled from his stomach to his back! It was probably just a fluke, but he's also not far from rolling the other way.

That's our boy! I could just sit and watch him all day long :)

success!

Monday - Jenna made us Jello for our FHE treat. It was the first time they've had Jello, and they literally licked the bowl clean!

Tuesday - We went in the morning to the doctor for Jenna's check-up. Found out our tall girl is in the 76% for height. Girlfriend is going to pass me up soon!

In the afternoon, we got a visit from a friend from our BYU days, Rachel, and her adorable girls! They were good sports to put up with Liam's bullying, but otherwise we had a great time! It inspired Jenna to want to invite more girls over :)

Wednesday was a busy day. While Jenna was at school, I took the boys to play group at the park and then to the grocery store. I put them in the double stroller, then got one of those small half-carts and pulled it around. I thought it worked great, but I must have looked nuts because lots of people stopped to tell me I had my "hands full". On our way to the car, one lady even stopped her car and rolled down her window to tell me she had 3 kids, so understood me! Sheesh, it's only 2 kids, people! I bet I'd never get this reaction in Utah ;)

We picked up Jenna from school and went to her piano lesson. Then we had about an hour to kill, so we stopped by the library. Jenna read books, Gavin just hung out in the stroller, and Liam spent 20 minutes moving all the movies to an empty shelf and back again.

After the library, we met Paul at work where we got to see Sesame Street Live! Jenna was dancing around having the time of her life, Liam enjoyed the popcorn and the music, and Gavin slept the whole time!

Thursday night we put the big kids to bed and enjoyed Gavin's very first BYU football game!

Friday and Saturday - Paul worked 15 and 16 hour days, with only 4 hours of sleep between them! Then, he got up early on Sunday to be with the kids and get them ready so I could finish writing my talk for Sacrament Meeting and lesson for Sunday School. And to top it all off, my talk was on service in the home! What a great example Paul is to us!

Speaking of my talk, I think it went pretty well. I wasn't as nervous as I usually am, and I even got my first laugh from the congregation :) Success!

let's start anew

For the past year or so I've kind of slacked on recording our little everyday happenings, probably because they're not very glamorous. But I've been thinking about how I want to remember these details, and I know I won't unless I document them.
So, I want to start doing a weekly update, and hope saying it here will keep me accountable.

To start off, here's a quick update on all of us:

Gavin - Started to giggle! And he has found his hands, which has provided endless entertainment for us all. He watches them cross his field of vision like he doesn't trust those things. Hilarious!

Liam - Has moved to his big boy bed. Right before we moved, someone had given us the top half of a bunk bed. It has rails all the way around, so it is perfect for moving out of the crib!

I did not pick out his decor. I think Paul is too excited to have sons...

Jenna - Began piano lessons! She was a little nervous to start, but her teacher is so sweet and she had a lot of fun. I'm really looking forward to her first recital in December!

Kali - FINALLY got a second vehicle! We have survived 7 1/2 years with only one car by purposefully living close to work, school, library, parks, stores, and friends (not all at the same time), but now I am absolutely thrilled to be able to get out of the house at any time! And I love my brand new Odyssey!

Paul - Created his second signature concessions item (his first was the Brat Tail at BYU) and was interviewed on the news about it! His Virginia Burger looks delicious and will definitely clog your arteries. So... perfect concessions food!