Claire's B-Day - 9 Years Old!

Last year in the single digits for this lady! She and Genevieve combined b-day parties again this year at Mema's (not sure how long that tradition will last, but for now it's pretty fun). It is a very satisfying experience to give Claire a gift - she has the best reactions and seems to genuinely love everything she gets. This year she asked for an MC2 science kit that her cousin McKinley also has. You do experiment and make fun projects with it. I am all for encouraging her to like science since usually she just wants to read and work on writing projects.

Claire was meant to be our first born - she is such a good kid, and a good example. I expect a lot from her- I think that happens to the oldest of a big family. I sometimes forget she's only nine when she actually acts her age. 

She told me that she wants to be a mom and a teacher. Or maybe a librarian. She loves wearing a pair of fake glasses - she and I share an envy for glasses. 

She asked for a trip to Ikea for her birthday - we hadn't been to the new Las Vegas store yet, and she wanted a date with mom. When we went to leave, Penelope threw a colossal fit because she wanted to go on the girls date too. Claire let her come, even though I told her she didn't have to take her sister. You would have thought we'd walked into Disneyland with all the oohs and aaahs they made inside Ikea. It was a pretty fun trip - plus the food was good too! 

Catching Up

Matt and I went to a mini retreat with the bishopric up at Mt. Charleston - it was so nice to get out of the heat and away from the city. 

I found an old high school basketball shirt looking for Halloween costumes in storage - and guess what? It fit!! 

Dress Like a Pirate Day at Krispy Kreme - and you KNOW we had the pirate costumes on hand! 

Another soccer season - Miles ends up playing goalie a lot, which stresses me out! But he likes it, though he is really good as a forward too.

I've been doing a lot of recruiting for my office - going to different college campuses. We had a fun green screen with different backdrops - the T Rex was my favorite.

Penelope's First Day of Preschool

Penelope was very excited until she wasn't... getting through the gate was tough, but she has been happy to go to school most days. She is in a four-day a week class at the kids' school so she likes that they get all picked up together.

Here is her first day! She loves her stuffed animals and wanted to bring a backpack full, but I convinced her that the plush emojis on her backpack would count.

Kid Quotes

We were all watching a movie at home and out of the blue, Miles looks over at me and says, "Mom, that haircut makes you look younger. A lot younger!" I said, "You are my new favorite child Miles!" 

When we went to Baby Everett's blessing, we stayed in a hotel in Cedar City. We hung out with Becky and my parents most of the day and went to the hotel right at bedtime. As we were walking in from the parking lot, Claire says, with disdain in her voice, "How many stars is this??" Spoiled much?  

Penelope was eating goldfish crackers on the way home from church. She said, "Mom, they are golden and they are cracky. That's why they are called goldfish crackers." 

I asked Miles where he put his blanket. He said, "I put it in the wetter."  "Where?" I asked, very confused... "The wetter! You know, next to the dryer." Ahh, makes perfect sense. 

I asked Miles, "Are you going to be taller than your sister someday?" He said, "I don't know. But I grow a little bit every hour."

Penelope had her preschool assessment recently, which included a vocabulary/speech test where the teacher showed her a series of pictures and asked what was in each one. She showed P a photo of the pyramids. Penelope said, "Pyramids... My grandma has pyramid gum, it's minty!" I am guessing she is mixing up pyramid with spearmint. :) 

Penelope had made a little cave on the couch with all the cushions and when the other kids were encroaching on her territory she said, "Get away from my habitat!" 

Still Working on It!

This and That

 A quick stop in to see Baby Everett in Cedar City after doing a presentation at SUU

Craig Ranch Park before the temps climb up for the day

Watching the turtles swimming in the pond

Fun trip with all four kids to the dentist... it was rough! 

51s baseball game with Matt's office

Penelope cut her bangs... just in time to meet her new preschool teacher

Tepa and I matchy-matchy at work - we even went to a UNLV recruiting event together like this

Mr. Dreamy at McDonalds for a lazy Saturday morning

Parade of the My Little Ponies