Dental Advisors

Ryder's life kept me busy today. He had gymnastics and then a play date with his BFF Shelton. It was weird not to be around him so much!

Tonight I was able to join Brad for his monthly dental meeting. A pretty awesome and famous dental advisors came and spoke to the group. Brad listens to all of his podcasts and was excited to meet him. We learned a lot about how to take better care of our financial situation. It was a good night!

Big Brother Kade

Ever since Tenley and Ryder have moved downstairs Ryder requests that Kade read them a book and that Kade be the one to tuck him in. He loves Kade a lot. I always wanted a big protective brother when I was young. My 3 littlest kids got pretty lucky with their big brother Kade.

Weekends

It’s been nice to be home for the weekend so much lately. Kade had a birthday party to go to and  Brad and I got more projects done around the house while Tenley and Ryder played together. We moved them downstairs with Kade. They don’t have bunk beds now so they made forts under their beds. They play together so well when it’s just the two of them.

Brad and I went on a little date tonight and Kade watched the kids for us. They had fun and even little Luke was a good boy.

Luke is Mr. Curious lately. He is in to EVERYTHING! If I say no and take something away from him he doesn’t care too much. He just moves in to something else. He’s such a sweetheart when he’s not teething! A few days ago he played with the kids most of the morning and then came and laid his head on my lap so I put him down for a nap and he fell asleep without a fuss! It was so sweet. After a few weeks of teething, this sweet version of Luke is much appreciated!

Brad's Popcorn

I was craving some family time tonight so we turned on America's Got Talent and Brad made us popcorn. It was the perfect night.

Kade's Name Tag

I got to meet the kids’ teachers tonight and hear about the great year ahead for them. I love our school and their teachers. I’m so excited for them!

Kade loves his Dad so much that he just has to add his middle name to his name tag!

Co-op Preschool

Ryder had a little preschool group this morning. He learned about bears and had fun with his friends. Luke and I enjoyed the time running errands.

It was pretty hot and windy all day but it cooled off this evening and the wind stopped so we went for a walk. It was gorgeous!

Ninja Class

I put Ryder in a Ninja gymnastics class and his first day was today. He loved it! He was really good at all the things that the teacher asked him to do. The highlight was getting to run up the warped wall. I can’t wait to watch ninja warrior with him again now. I’m so glad I was able to get him involved in something!

Family Hikes

Monday holidays are amazing! Knowing that there is no where to be early Monday morning makes Sunday evenings that much more enjoyable. 

We took the kids on a three mile hike today in the Highwoods. We haven’t been in this area before and it was really beautiful. The kids did great on the hike, were supportive and patient with each other and didn’t complain! It was pretty amazing.

Sundaes on Sunday

For dessert tonight we had ice cream sundaes to celebrate the fact that we don’t have anywhere to be tomorrow! And until I wrote this post I didn’t realize what a fun and delicious tradition it would be to have sundaes every Sunday night! We may have just started a new trend...

Star Gazing

With the older kids gone at school all week, Saturday family time seems much more special. Sleeping in, a big breakfast, and a long bike ride we’re my favorite parts of the day. We also got a lot of chores and yard work done. Tonight was supposed to be an ideal night to see the northern lights. We planned to head north away from the city lights just before dark, but then Brad had an emergency patient. The kids and I had a picnic dinner at his office while we waited for him to finish, then we headed north. The stars were gorgeous and we spent a lot of time looking at them and teaching the kids about the constellations. It’s amazing the questions they get when looking at the night sky though, I.e. How far away is space? What is a star? Does Heavenly Father have a Heavenly Father? How did He create the Earth? It was fun to discuss different things with them but it also made our heads hurt. Lol. We didn’t see the northern lights so we had to head home. A one year old awake at 10 PM is no fun!

After I got the three little kids in bed, Brad and Kade decided to drive out again to give seeing the northern lights another shot. They actually saw them! And they saw a meteor. They had a fun night!

Friday’s with Brad

We had a productive first Friday with the kids in school. I always thinks it’s silly to have to send my kids to school on Friday when Brad is home, but I try and enjoy the quieter time with him as well. We ran a lot of errands today and got a lot done which was nice. We even found an açaí food truck and it was delicious! 

Ryder and I still got some soccer playing in and he is rocking his drop kids. His activeness can be exhausting but it’s adorable at the same time.

Drool in the Pool and Football

The local water park allowed dogs in to come and swim tonight so we had to take Keena. There were a lot of dogs there and most of them were just running around. We did get Keen in the pool a few times. He’s getting better and better at swimming.

Football season has begun! We let the kids stay up past bedtime to watch a little bit of the BYU vs Utah game. Tenley is probably the least excited about football season, but she still enjoyed watching the game tonight.

Back to School

Kade started 4th grade today and Tenley started 2nd! They both love their teachers and had so much fun with playing with all of their friends again. Tenley’s favorite part about school was art class and Kade’s favorite part was recess and gym.

Ryder and I are starting preschool together. I have loved doing preschool with my older kids and I’m so excited to be starting with Ryder. He did a great job on the reading and writing lesson. We also counted and did our alphabet which he knows already. We finished all that I had planned in about an hour and then spent the rest of our time playing soccer together outside. Ryder is such a funny, cute, active boy! It’s really nice to have one on one time with him like that while Luke is napping. 

It’s nice to be back into a learning routine! I hope this year goes well for all of us.

Waddles

There is nothing much cuter than watching Luke walk around with his hand in the air and his fluffy hair bouncing up and down. He is walking around everywhere now! He walks from one end of the room to the other and back again, almost like he's just trying to get in some practice. I love it!

We had a great last day together before school starts tomorrow. We played outside a lot in this beautiful weather! And we failed at getting the kids to bed early. Hopefully they can manage tomorrow!

Barbies

Tenley convinced Ryder to play barbies with her the other day and he actually enjoyed it! I think he liked the attention and time with his sister more than anything. And Tenley really liked having someone to play girl toys with.

A Restful Sunday

I didn’t have any meetings to rush off to this morning so I was able to sleep in and cuddle with my kids in bed once they woke up. And I was able to come straight home with them after church. As much as I miss the youth, it was definitely nice to have more family time!