In case you need a reference...

Nanny McPhee

Napoleon Dynamite

Nanny McPhee and Napoleon Dynamite

When Savannah came home yesterday, I noticed something wrong with her mouth as she was talking to me. She proudly showed off her loose tooth. It looked like Nanny McPhee's scraggle tooth, but I didn't say anything so as to not hurt her feelings. When Jessy came home, I told her to show dad what was different about her. Jessy immediately said, "You look like Nanny McPhee!!" I about died laughing! It's gotten worse today, it still hasn't come out, and tomorrow are her school pictures!! Jessy tried to pull it out tonight, but he couldn't do it like Grandpa did it, so she just may have her scraggle tooth for this year's pictures.


We also have our resident Napoleon continuing to dress himself and amuse his mother (and probably all those who drive past our yard). Not only does he put on his boots with every outfit, but he found his "mailman helmet" today, and has taken up wearing that again. He's quite a sight, out there digging in the dirt with his get-up! We love our Hunter!

Seven years later and still going strong

For anyone who has never witnessed a Savannah tantrum, either as an infant or as she has gracefully matured, here's a small taste. She had toned down by this time, but we thought we'd preserve a memory or two for posterity.

Game On!!

Collin had his first soccer game yesterday – and he was on cloud nine the entire day … with the small exception that he was so disappointed he couldn’t play another game the same day. His game was at 8:30 in the morning and he just couldn’t wait … good thing he didn’t have to wait until the afternoon! Mom and Nathan came up and spent the night to catch his early morning debut and it wasn’t a disappointment! The ‘White Sharks’ as they have labeled themselves (and as evident by the color of their uniforms – Collin wanted to be called the white crocodiles but he was out voted --) were pitted against the Red Dragons in a ‘classic’ match. The fields are set up so that there are two PVC goals on each end of the field which is about 30 yards long and 15 yards across. Collin was just excited by the fact they didn’t have to use cones for the goals (unlike practice!) They play 3 v 3 with 6-minute quarters and a break long enough to change the players out. Collin started on the sideline (the whoas of being the coaches son) but we were quickly down 4-0 by the first quarter because the other team had quite the bruiser who literally threw elbows and ran kids over! The kids fought back though and Collin scored two goals! They were running all over the place. It doesn’t take much to knock the boys over, and they are overly dramatic in their response to a little kick in the shins or running into each other. All in all it’s hilarious to watch. Collin’s teammate Cooper added one more goal in the second half and the game ended up a 7-3 loss for our team. If there was any disappointment about losing, it didn’t show long once the koolaid drinks and fruit roll-ups came out of the bag. That is, of course, except for Collin. As we were walking back to the car, Collin asked if we lost. I told him that the other team scored more goals than we did, so yes, we didn’t win. Collin thought about it for a moment and then responded, “Dad, I don’t like to lose.” … in a somber tone. The he added, “I’m going to go tell my friend Carson that we had our first game today … and lost!” I responded with, “Why don’t you tell him you had your first game and had fun.” He thought about it for a second and then said, “I’ll tell him that later.” Not sure where he gets his competitiveness from … not that he ever had a chance between Kelli and I. We did have a lot of fun and look forward to many more games and fun. Just another funny saying from one of the boys -- at practice on Wednesday I was trying to teach them to pass. One of the boys picked up a weed (obviously wasn't pay too much attention to the important task at hand) and turned to me and said, "My Mom has these kinds of flowers in her yard!" Yes, many more fun days on the 'pitch'.

And one tired boy as a result!

And the race is on ...

Kelli has been the diligent one in making sure that there has been some level of continuity since moving into our home here in Ogden. Between spending heaps of time trying to get the yard looking semi-descent, unpacking boxes and rearranging furniture, rooms, kids, … and finishing the triathlon training, it’s been more than a hectic last couple of weeks and months. Now that the yard is somewhat in order and the triathlon has finished, attention has turned to finishing our basement. We bought this home with a reasonably sized basement that is mostly unfinished. It’s good in the sense that we get to put it together how we’d like, bad in the sense that we have to put it together J So we’ve spent a lot of time just trying to figure out how much of it we can do on our own and how much we need to bid out. All in all we’re hoping to have it done before the baby gets here … but we’ll see what happens!

Anyway, there have been a couple of recent happening with the kids which just can’t be left undocumented. Hunter has been the most hilarious of late. We had some neighbors give us their little battery-operated jeep which Hunter just can’t get enough of. He is just tall enough to be able to push the ‘gas’ pedal. He cranks the steering wheel to one side and will literally just go around in circles for a half hour … or until the battery dies. The other day Kelli went outside and was trying to tell him to come inside and get some lunch or something. He stopped his jeep just long enough to look at her blankly for a second … and then respond, “Hey Mom! Close the door! You’re letting flies in the house!” His level of manipulation at this age is approaching his older sister! Then tonight we were out running some errands and Hunter was in the back in his car seat. He was trying to get her attention and got a little flustered when he couldn’t. Then he finally broke out with, “Mom, hey Mom, ding ding, hey Mom!” Ok, so those are cute and funny, but he’s also been increasing his vocabulary in areas which aren’t so good. He’s exploring his d’s and a’s and m’s and n’s … generally putting them together in that order. Kelli has tried to get the kids not to make a big deal of it and hopefully he’ll just pass through this phase without letting it stick. In the store tonight he did start shouting out, ‘darnet, darnet’ so at least he’s becoming slightly more ‘clean’ with his language.

In other news, Collin had his first soccer practice last Saturday. Kelli and I are the default coaches since they had enough kids sign up late they just set up a whole new team. It’s going to be 3 v 3, which should be quite entertaining. I thought we would do hour practices, but after 15 minutes the kids were just plain tuckered out so maybe we’ll go back to 30-minuters. We also did our first BYU football game over the weekend. Uncle Chris (affectionately known among his niece and nephews as ‘King Chris’ – yes, they have been brainwashed!) set up a monster tailgate party complete with generator and 2 TVs so we could all watch the Utah/Michigan game. It was quite hot, but the kids were so excited to finally be able to go to the game after waiting so long for it to come. Collin is an avid fan (so avid in fact that when his Aunt Jenny gave him a U of Utah doll, he promptly told her he didn’t want it and to go throw it outside!) I could only laugh when after BYU’s first score, they started to play the BYU fight song and there were Kelli and Grandpa Whetstone just staring at Collin as they were singing the song and making sure he got all of the actions in. If there was any hope ever left that he might have a tint of red left in him … I knew at that moment he was gone forever. Alas, at least we can look forward to an entertaining college football season!

Well, that’s about it for now. We are thoroughly enjoying being back home and closer to family. There are moments of panic and anxiety on whether we made the right decision, but there is also a quiet sense of peace that things are in order and will work out. We wish everyone the best out there and looking forward to hearing from you if you have a free moment. Cheers!

Back to School!

Well, Savannah started school this week and it has been great for everyone!! She was so nervous and excited for her first day that she was sick to her stomach Monday morning. All the neighbors had a potluck breakfast for the first day of school and she could only eat half of a Creamie (who brings popsicles for breakfast?), and a sip of hot chocolate before she headed across the street to wait for the bus. The bus finally arrived and she got on and happily waved to Hunter and I (Collin was off with his buddy Carson). She loves the bus (she's the face in the metal-framed emergency exit window)!! These first three days have been half-days, but she thinks she knows it all now. I forgot to tell her to make sure to get on the right bus the first day, but she is starting to think ahead and told me that she remembered the bus driver, so she got on the right bus. She is excited to have a long day because they have THREE recesses. I have been told that it is "so cool" that her class has their own lunch table in the lunch room--in fact everything about lunch is pretty cool. Hot lunch, American style doesn't exist in Australian schools, so she thinks everything is amazing. Yesterday, I asked how her sloppy joe was, and she said, "They gave me a chicken sandwich and it was DEEE-licious! It was a giant chicken nugget on a bun! And they gave me two drinks--I chose chocolate milk and an orange slushie." What?? Chocolate milk days were special when I was in school and where were those orange slushies? She has been as happy as can be, and the dynamics of our home sure change with one less bored child around. Collin can't wait to start his preschool next Tuesday--we're headed to back-to-school night for him tonight.
While Savannah's away...the boys have been busy riding around in the Jeep. Last week the neighbor/primary president called to see if I would substitute for the 12-year-old class in primary. Then she asked, "And do you think you would want the Jeep? I've only charged it once or twice in the past three years until you guys moved in and now I charge it once a week." How could I pass that up?? Every time we go to Walmart, the kids have to go by the bike/electric toy vehicle section and take a look. Hunter bawled every time we had to leave it because he wanted to look at the tractor a "teeny bit longer." I certainly wasn't about to shell out $200-300 for one, since I thought they'd get sick of it quickly, and I wasn't looking forward to them asking for one for Christmas. But now that they've got one, they are out on it everyday. The first day, Savannah took charge and drove the boys around. Then when she went to her friend's house, Collin thought he could drive it (Jessy was out mowing the lawn and supposedly supervising this). I was doing dishes when I heard some yelling and looked out the window to see Collin trying to push and lift the Jeep while Hunter was patiently sitting inside. They had the left side wheels off the pavement and were high centered on the sidewalk! We've now set some rules, like stay on the grass, so our yard has turned into a racetrack. Hunter thinks he can drive it, but he can only barely reach the pedal so it jerks forward a few inches and stops. It's pretty fun for them and they are definitely using it well--thanks, neighbors!!!

The first week of school is always tiring, but I thought this was funny. Yesterday I woke up when my cell phone alarm went off--in the kitchen. I thought for sure the kids would wake up with it, too, since they were usually up well before that. Well, Savannah didn't get up until 7:10 (this is major sleeping in for her), Hunter got up at 8:00 (also big time sleeping in), and Collin rolled out of bed when the school bus pulled up at 8:15 (not so much of a surprise). I didn't catch Savannah sleeping, but thought the boys were pretty funny in their sleep poses. You can see that Hunter invaded our bed last night for the first time in a long time. He wanted a drink of water out of a certain water bottle and had a hard time settling back down to sleep.

Catching up

Well, lots has happened since we last updated the blog, but I doubt I'll remember everything. So, I'll give a brief rundown. We've been unpacking, gardening, visiting, and really enjoying our time here so far. We particularly enjoyed a few things, like dinner at Grandma Whetstone's house--it reminded me and Jessy why we decided to move closer to family, and the kids thought it was great (they also thought a visit to grandma's meant spending the night!). We hope Grandpa's knee gets better soon. We also met Grandma and Grandpa Jones up at Porcupine Reservoir for an outing on the boat. Lots of fun!!

Jessy competed in a half-ironman on Saturday, August 9 (sorry, no pictures). Because it was at Utah Lake and started at 6:45 am, we stayed over at Angie and Robert's house for the night. We got up early and headed over to the lake...along with about 2 trillion mosquitoes! Luckily, they dispersed with the sun coming up, so the kids and I ventured out of the car to watch Jessy. Jenny, Nathan, and Grandma Jones also made it, so we were able to watch his swim (1.2 miles...plus 200 meters, thanks to the organizers' GPS mistake), see him off on his 52-mile bike ride, and then see him a couple of times on his 13.1 mile run. We were able to go to the beach and play at the park and eat snacks during the 6 hours during the race, and it was quite fun, except for the bee sting Hunter got. Jessy didn't fare so well. He drank too much on the bike ride (it was overcast and he didn't need quite as much hydration as he thought), so he was sick and puked twice on the run. He said that after he got rid of it all, he felt much better and finished well. Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Jones even made it just in time to see him, with Savannah and Collin, cross the finish line. I'm not sure I liked this race so much, but I was proud of him for having the motivation to train (he was up early every day practicing one or more of the three events), and actually going through with it. And I'm very glad he didn't die.

I had a doctor appointment Aug 11 and the doctor is now certain, along with the ultrasound tech, that the baby is a boy. So, that leaves finding a name. And that's where we are. Thirty-one weeks into it and no name. Fortunately, this pregnancy has been pretty smooth. Unfortunately, the third trimester aches and pains are settling in. At least with this one (unlike some previous pregnancies), my back has held up pretty well. It makes a big difference. I'm also excited to have some cooler weather soon, as most of this pregnancy has been in the heat.

Last weekend we had a fun time at our house. Robyn and Jacob and crew came up Friday to spend the weekend, and Grandma and Grandpa Jones and Jenny joined on Saturday. Jessy and Jacob took 5 of the kids fishing at Pineview Saturday morning and they all survived, including the fish. Then on Sunday most of the rest of our families came up to celebrate Savannah's 7th birthday. (I'm going to let her give most of the details on her blog--click here or see link to right.) It was so nice to have everyone here and the birthday party was great. Angie's cake was awesome!

Yesterday we went to Back-to-School Night to meet Savannah's teacher and walk around the school a bit. Mrs. Shaw seems very nice and well-organized for the upcoming year. Savannah is excited to start on Monday, and particularly excited to take the bus to school.

The kids are ready to start school, I think. We enrolled Savannah in tumbling and a cheerleading clinic, and she continues to progress well in piano lessons. She loves to go to her friends' houses and has been good about doing her chores first thing so that she can play ASAP. She had a mega-sleepover with her friend, Emma, from Albuquerque (who now lives about 1/2 hour away). They slept over here for two nights after sleeping over there for 2 nights. Collin starts preschool on September 2, and soccer starts sometime shortly thereafter. He loves playing with his buddy, Carson, and they are two peas in a pod. Hunter...well, there's no kindy here, but he likes it when the kids go away. He did go to the potty once, when I caught him squatting after getting out of the shower. He likes to "do a little, tiny wee wee" whenever his diaper is off (before or after bathing). He also does well to ride his bike in circles on the patio (Collin gets dizzy after a few minutes, but sometimes Hunter is out there for an hour or more), and play in the dirt. He is the first to really care about what he is wearing, and his outfit of choice is usually finished off with some snow boots I found while unpacking.