My Kid is a Pre-Schooler!

I have a Pre-Schooler... I can't believe it.
We have been working toward this for a while. I have been really nervous about it (weird dreams, making charts, lots of conversations), and well-- today went really smoothly.
Jake was so excited and brave about today. He marched right up to the front door (we are doing a co-op -think "Joy School"- deal with some other families in the hood) and he didn't even look back at me. It was a huge relief... and yes, I did cry all the way to the store with only Sarah in tow. I mean, this is big deal. From here on out, my life is different. Everything has changed. It's the weirdest feeling. Yet, I am really proud of Jakey today. We will work on the whole "joining in" thing, but he had a great day. He learned about the letter A and can't wait until next time.
Things are a-changin' around here. I'll just try my best to adjust.

Rainy Days and Mondays

No real explanation here... it rained and we walked and splashed in some puddles. It was a great Labor Day. 

Sunday Pancakes and Neighborhood Walks

Jake's actual birthday was on Sunday and since we are too lazy to wake up super early for a birthday breakfast, we had pancakes post-church (The Special Plate with candles and all!)

Sarah had to have a candle too... we went ahead and let her.

Here's a (poor) shot of the streamers that were up for a week straight.

Later on that evening we decided it had cooled down enough to take a little walk around the neighborhood and trail. Always a good decision.

I just love our view of Timpanogos.

Funny girl adjusting her flip-flops.

And if you squint (really hard) you can see Draper Temple. Pretty.

Jake turns FOUR

My baby boy is four years old. Man, I love this kid.
We've been planning a train party for a few months now and I think it turned out pretty cute. Of course, I failed to get pictures of the tracks we built through the house with electrical tape (thanks, Pinterest!) and I suck and didn't get a single picture of the food table or (and I'm seriously so sad about this...) a picture of all the cousins wearing their conductor hats and bandanas.
Oh well, Jakey was in heaven and lapped up all the attention.
Happy birthday, buddy.

Side note: Blaine and I were up late the night before taping up the floor and making tracks for our big boy. When Jake woke up and came into our room in the morning the conversation went something like this: 
Jake: Hey guys! I saw the tracks!
Me: What tracks? Who put tracks down in the house??
Jake: You builted them, Mommy! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

 The invite.

 Here's the birthday boy opening up some presents. Thanks again, Jen--for getting pictures for me. :)

 You know how there's usually one present that "takes the cake" each birthday or Christmas? Well, this was it. My mom bought Jakey the flying Lightning McQueen Hawk toy. He has seriously barely put it down since last Saturday.

 Checking out more toys.

 We laughed at how long it took Jake to see his new bike (which he helped pick out) but when he did, Jen caught the best reaction ever here.

 Big boy bike!

 Blowing out some candles.

 Even though these Lee kid pictures are so adorable, I'm still kicking myself for not getting the Carter kids before they left.

 Scarlett kills me... she never stopped smiling and posing.

And yes--Sarah is wearing no shirt, FOUR skirts, and one shoe. There was some princess dress wearing by the older girls and I guess Sarah thought four skirts was the best way to go.

 "All aboard!"

  Kaiya and Jake hamming it up for the camera.

 Sarah (with a shirt on, now) riding the trike.

 And there he is! Already a pro...

He just looks so big. I love this boy.

Baby Belly (#3)

I took this a couple weeks ago. I had some medium-sized plans of being better at documenting  myself this time around... bigger belly and (much) bigger ass.
Here we go. (I'm about fourteen weeks along as I type this. I'm guessing I was closer to ten or eleven weeks in this picture.)
Maybe I'll take another belly picture soon. Maybe not. It's harder than it looks. (Hence the face hidden behind the camera.)

Instagram Recap

 Rolling down the hill. (And not into traffic. I made sure.)

 All worn out from a day at the pool.

 Jakey--playing trains and fixing some lunch.

 My little lefty-artist.

 My little dainty girl.

 I'm so glad I finally read this. And the cover art is fantastic. (I love you, Ray.)

 Sarah became a little obsessed with Grandma Molly's neighbor's cats.

 She wouldn't stop... and these dang cats kept coming back for more.

 My favorite comment on this picture was from my friend, Jaana: "Kitty love meeeeeeeee!" lol

 Escaping for about five minutes up the tree.

 Self explanatory and sooooooo awesome.

A look at one of the many fires this summer. This one was right by our house (although this was taken on 126th). And this one had me pretty worried. It must have been all the falling ash and local news teams all over the neighborhood. I even packed up the kids just in case we had to evacuate in the middle of the night. Luckily, it was put out quickly and the bigger fire in the canyon was well-contained also. We love our fire-fighters!

 At the Herriman reservoir with Markelle and crew. (Although the water level was a little low due to all the fire-fighting.)

 At our pool with Castellanos. Love this little girl of mine.

 *sigh* The beginnings of our backyard make-over. Actually, can you call it a make-over if there was never anything to begin with? There will be more pictures of this, but nothing final until next summer. As in, 2013. Yikes.

 Future patio.

 Chandelier and ceiling at Capitol Theater. I love this building.

Really dark, crappy picture of me and the mister at Wicked (and the best night out I've had in forever! Seriously, I am still dreaming of my Filet Mignon at Flemings.)

Oh, Wicked! Seriously, sooooo amazing. We went a couple years ago too but our seats and our Elphaba were killer this time around. I just love this show.

 This is what bored looks like at our house.

 Sunday dinner rolls. Finally! I got 'em right thanks to Laurel.

Pretty rainstorm and a pretty rainbow. I love this weather.