fall

With the start of school, I'm always a bit excited for some extra free time once the kids go back to school.  However, with fall, I always mourn the loss of Justin as college football season starts.  That guy could watch any game thats on and be interested.  Seriously, any game.  So with football in session, this has been flying in front of my house, and I've been trying to hold back my eye roll (you all know how hard that is for me!) The good news is the flag also alternates with USC, and that, I'm ok with.

 We got to go to a couple concerts this month, we went to Fun, Imagine Dragons and Justin and Rob got to go see Mumford and Sons, and had amazing tickets!!

 Since it's still warm we made a few stops out for frozen yogurt!  We finally found a dessert place we all can enjoy!  Kade can be a bit particular in his food choices, so while the rest of us fill up on yogurt with toppings, he simply loads his cup with brownies!  Everyone's happy!

You know, these yogurt places have fun poppy music playing, and once you've downed some yogurt and sugary toppings, things can get interesting pretty quick:

Yup, yogurt dancing at it's best!

 The twins came home to these awesome new chairs I found on clearance!  You can probably guess who called dibs on Vader.

One of Justin's patients gave him race tickets again, so this time he took Crew and Kade.  I tell ya, all those years of watching the movie Cars has really paid off!  

Walking around, they look so big in this picture!

At the raceway.

These guys were all signed up for Running Club this fall!  Every time we go I'm still a little amazed at the fact that kids will run for 45 minutes with the sole promise of a dum dum sucker at the end!  Amazing!

So far fall has started off quite busy, and it doesn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon! 

november

Well baseball ended so we're off to the next thing!  Brody has been asking to start piano lessons and here he is practicing his daily assignment!  His teacher is great and he's loving it!  His little mathematically perfectionist mind is wrapping right around all there is to know about piano!  I knew this would be right up his alley.  Currently he's two months in and still excited about it!  

I met these two in San Francisco!  We missed Katelin and Wendy, and hope we can catch everyone soon!  We took a chilly bus tour of the city:

 went over the golden gate bridge:

 Ate some delicious food on the pier

 and being that we're our mother's daughters, we sought out Ghirardelli and quickly fell in love!

We did some lots of eating, talking and shopping, it was a great break!

I came home and got these:

Yup, braces.  A nearly full mouth of brackets!  Thankfully they're free and I'm on a fast track- like about 6 months.  So far they're really sore and I still can't bit into stuff.  But they're just for a short time and soon I won't have to be self-conscious of my smile when I tell people my husband is a dentist.  

The following week was the twins' thanksgiving feast at preschool.  

Here's Crew, he came as a Native American (or Indian as he called it) named "Kicking Bear."  Aptly named!

Kade came as a pilgrim.  He was excited there was applesauce to eat- or else he could have left the feast feeling pretty hungry.

Despite being in separate classes, the feast is for all the kids at once so I tried my best to get both my pilgrim and indian together for a pic:

For actual Thanksgiving we went up to Rob and Jana's and had quite the feast.  This year I'm thankful for soft mashed potatoes that don't make my teeth hurt- and naturally for Justin and the boys! 

halloween

This was definitely a Star Wars Halloween!  It started off with with the costume parade at preschool, which is always so fun to watch! 

 Here's Crew with one of his teachers:

And here's Kade with both his teachers:

That afternoon I helped in this guy's class party:

Where he made one of my favorite preschool hats ever!

That night we met at a friend's house for dinner and trick or treating.  The dad's took the kids out to get candy and the mom's stayed home and passed it out, it was great!

Here's the official pic of the boys' costumes:

Crew is Obi Wan Kenobi (with a Jedi robe made by Justin!), Kade is Darth Vader (who else?) and Brody is X-wing pilot Luke Skywalker (a little specific, but glad I was able to find the costume!)

It's funny, Kade is loving this costume!!  That little guy thinks Vader is the coolest being to exist in this galaxy since the point of existence! No seriously, at bedtime he prefers to have us hum Darth Vaders theme music, and thats what makes him snuggle in his bed with a smile on his face!  Justin got him a little remote breathing box so he sounds like Vader and that kid is in heaven!  I love seeing that sweet little guy soo happy!

And finally ending up at home and sorting the loot!  I used to love this part as a kid.  

I love Halloween with these little guys!

baseball ready

Well this season we thought we'd try something new and give baseball a whirl.  It was a little crazy as naturally both teams wanted to practice at the same time on different sides of town, but we made it through the (possibly one and only) season!  

Here's Brody on game day:

 Brody's coach was great, you can tell he's definitely in the zone!  His team was the Dodgers, so that was easy enough to cheer for.  He's in the age group to get a couple slow coach-pitched balls, and if all else fails, they hit off the tee.  Hitting-wise he usually got a hit off the coaches pitch.  Catching-wise... well, I think we can agree he has some great talents in other areas.  Here they are saying their pledge before the game:

and a little in game action:

The twins were on the Cubs and were in a tee-ball league.

All in all, it was on ok season for the twins, they had a couple great coaches who were really patient and encouraging, not an easy task with a bunch of 4 year olds.  These two always seem to get a bit wild when nearby one another, but once we consistently kept them on opposite sides of the field they did much better.  And for the in game action: 

 Here's Kade running home:

 And Crew catching a grounder:

I would have to say that I did love the way the coaches yell to the outfield "get baseball ready!"  And then all the kids (including those tiny little 4 year olds) all immediately move their hands to their knees like this:

so cute!
As always it was great to try something new for a season, but I sure can't wait to get back to swimming in the spring!  

first day

The first day of school is here!  I love all the nervous excitement that accompanies the first day of school!  Brody was more than ready to go back- that kids loves school!  I told him I'd wake him up and when I walked in his room- he was wide awake staring at the clock, waiting for "wake up" time!  

On his way to first grade!

 Here he is with his teacher Mrs. Cook

 Crew and Kade started preschool a week later, I opted for separate classes again, that just works best for us.  Ironically Crew has a set of twin boys in his class.  I asked him if they look alike and he said, very matter-of-factly, "no, they're different."  Huh.  Sometimes I think maybe it's easier for kids to tell the difference!

As you can tell they're also pretty excited to get back in the swing of things!

As for me, it nice to get back a little quiet time.  But sure enough, each day I end up counting down until I need to pick them up!  As much as I love the quiet, I miss these guys more!

august

I feel like it's so hard to get outside during the summer months.  It's a terrible irony for the kids, you're finally free from school to play all day and it's just too dang hot to play outside.  We've tried to do a couple bike rides when justin gets home from work, and I just was to publicly declare that I totally get the easier ride between the two of us!  Brody's wee-ride can pedal with me:

The twins are more dead weight... and a lot of it!  But justin's a trooper and doesn't really complain- well, except when they reach out the trailer and try to grab his tire.  we don't endorse that.

We also hit the parks later and try not to get bitten by mosquitos (west nile anyone?)

The boys all finished their swim sessions.  I really love watching swim lessons.  I know I loved lessons as a kid, and the boys are the same, they did great!  

The twins can each swim the width of the pool and can swim out from coming down the big slides.  Brody has been able to swim the length for a while and started working on breaststroke this session.  They all try so hard, it's just so fun to watch!

on justin's day off we went to legoland discovery.  i would love to take the boys to legoland in san diego, but this will have to do for now.  luckily they were having a star wars exhibit, so they we're super excited, and we spent most of our time "admiring the possibilities!"

Crew trying to work the death star (surprise, surprise)

darth kader marveling at darth vader

brody by the x-wing.  that kid is longing to get and build an x-wing.  lucky for him, about an hour later he got to use his birthday money to get one.  it was like christmas morning!

 These two long to be Han and Chewy.  And they make pretty awesome wookie noises!

We did more swimming at the pools.

We hit up the kids summer movie series at the the theatre.

Before school started we made a trip to the dentist office.  All three were cavity free!!  They definitely were not whine free!  I'm sure they whine more because it's dad so they can.  Brody got this fake mustache in the reward box, i don't think he's a fan.

I'm relieved to say we made it through summer!  I'm also 100% ready for school to start!  I should also mention that i'm 1000% (yes dad, i know that's not a real percentage) ready for cooler weather!

july

well needless to really say, july, in texas, is really hot!  so we've spent a little time trying to stay cool:

the twins belated birthday gift was a fort building kit, which has really come in handy for afternoon activities!

justin and i celebrated our 9th anniversary!  we pretty much called costa rica our celebration but we also made sure to have a date night closer to our special day!

Brody turned 6!  He's been waiting to turn six since last September, so we're glad his big day finally came!

engrossed in the new star wars paper airplane book

celebrating with cake!

Brody had another semi-annual eye checkup.  His dr totally tricked me, he said "well after checking him his eyes can see perfectly at 20/20."  I was shocked since he has an astigmatism.  Then, noticing my surprise, he continues "well, with the help of his glass of course."  Oh, right.  I felt a little dumb for not realizing that initially!

Anywho, just minor changes to his prescription and some fresh glasses on order!
CrewKade had their 4 year old check up.  They each got 4 shots in their legs.  It still makes me cryto hold those little guys down!  Kade was such a champ.  He didn't even cry!  His lips trembled and he took some deep breaths but he totally toughed it out.  Crew, on the other hand, totally lost it.  He was screaming and crying.  Not fun for any of the involved parties.  Luckily they took him to get a popsicle after so that calmed him down.  The nurse warned me they might want to rest today since their legs will be sore.  But here they were right after we got home:

Oh yea, those are definitely their "i just want to rest" faces.

And finally, Brody got the Y wing for his birthday, and after about 4 -uninterrupted- hours of building it was finished, he was so excited!

That's our July in a nut shell.  We're moving on to August, and trying to stay cool!