Trent's new favorite thing is to walk behind his little push-toy. He is also crawling more and getting himself into everything!
After a very busy two days, I'm looking forward to this weekend. Tonight Marie arrives from Boise... she's also bringing our friend, Colleen and her 3 boys along! We have a fun-filled day planned for tomorrow and, it'll be great to have my girlfriends here (too bad Mere couldn't come too but, her BSU game is of higher priority than me! LOL)

Trent Crawling

Trent is beginning to crawel!

Pumpkin Carving

On Sunday afternoon our friend, Sandy, invited all the kids (and parents) from church over to their house for a fun-filled time of pumpkin carving! It was a beautiful fall day to do it and, we enjoyed hot cider and bbq'd lunch too. Adorable Josiah

All the kids and their carved pumpkins

Edna, carving her first pumpkin.... and, Piper, mad at me for taking her picture :)

Precious, also carving her first pumpkin!

Tys and his pumpkin, holding the scooper was as far as he got. He didn't like the pumpkin guts!

Tys and Katie's pumpkin... Precious and I ended up carving theirs... Katie did draw the face on hers.

The four babies: Josiah (liking the dirt!) Sydney, Trent and Will

Me, having fun with the slimy pumpkin guts

Being a mean mommy and teasing Tys with them :)

Jakob wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty!

Katie liked eating her black frosted cupcake more than touching those slimy guts! It took me two days to get her black dyed fingers and face clean!

Trent had fun hanging out in his walker

Afterwards the kids got to play in the big sand box; this is Katie and her friend Jolena

Nevada Sunset

A view of last night's sunset from our kitchen window... it makes doing the dishes a blessing instead of a chore!!

Trent 10 months

Trent turns 10 months old tomorrow! He is finally getting the hang of crawling... having already been passed up by his 3 other friends, Josiah, Sydney and Will, weeks ago!! Just these last couple of days he's been using his knees to push himself forward; between that and rolling or, scooting on his back, he's getting himself around the house at a faster pace. This also means he is beginning to get into things! Yesterday I caught him eating the paper cover of a VHS (note: those movies sitting at floor level are going to have to be moved) And, he loves pushing the chairs around in the kitchen. His life has recently expanded to a whole new world and it's exciting to see his face as he reaches his goal! At his checkup he weighed 21.5 lbs; even though he hasn't gained much weight lately he's growing in length.. he is now wearing size 18mos clothes.

Trent is still loving food and eats all meals with us. Also, this last week he began using a bottle full-time and seems happy with it. For me this is a good thing because once I stopped nursing he began sleeping through the night!!

Our week

This week has really flown by and we're already heading into the weekend... Casey is working nights the next 4 days so it'll be a low-key weekend for us (I'm not complaining!) I was happy to get lots of things accomplished this last week: the month of May scrapbooked for Trent's first year baby book and the boys' old clothes put away and winter clothes brought out. Here is what our week looked like:
Monday ~ clean house and pick up after having friends over from church on Sunday evening. I also taught Katie and Jakob their school in the morning. Jakob is doing awesome at learning how to write his letters; Katie is also doing well but is also very concerned when "snack time" is!
Tuesday ~ We spent the day in Elko with my parents. Mom and I took the kids to story/art time at the library; which they love! The boys' had doctor appointments in the afternoon and poor Tys had to get a shot :( Tys weighs 33 lbs and Trent is 21.5 lbs. We also did some shopping and made it home by 5. Just in time to eat dinner and head to women's Bible study.
Wednesday ~ I finished putting the groceries away from the day before and worked on things around the house.. taught school to Katie and Jakob
Thursday ~ Taught Wesley school in the morning; had my friend, Lisa, and her two kids over for dinner last night. Katie and Tys are quickly becoming good friends with Taylor and Dalton! I made a big dinner of bbq pork, garlic mashed potatoes, rolls, salad, corn and tiramasu cheesecake... I spent the whole day smelling that bbq pork!
Everyday, except Tuesday, I woke up early (6:30) and headed to the gym. Now that Trent is officially not nursing, it's a lot easier for me to go the gym in the early mornings and not have to worry about when he'll wake up. It's been great doing the cardio and weights again!
Cowboy Tys

Princess Katie (she's wearing her "fiesta Dora dress")

The kids playing last night

family pictures

On Friday night my brother, Jake, arrived from Boise and stayed with us for the weekend. As always, it's never a dull moment when he's around! On Saturday the guys all went shooting while Mom and I took the kids to the town's harvest party. Then, in the late afternoon we did family pictures at Judy and Ken's house (amazingly, the kids were smiling AND looking at the camera.. maybe it had to do with the four funny people behind the camera!) That night Jake bbq'd his speciality steaks for us, Joe, my parents and Judy and Ken.... Here are a few pictures that were taken... ya'll will have to wait for our Christmas card to see our family photo :)

What can I say, they're Kappa Sig brothers...

BSU

Katie got to wear her new BSU cheerleading outfit for the harvest party in town today! She even practiced her cheer "GO BRONCOS" and waved her pom-poms around that Uncle Jake just gave her.

Tys and Trent also got new footballs from Uncle Jake and, wore their jerseys for the party

Tys ready for some football!!

Trent looking ever so sweet!

My friend, Lisa, and her two kids met us downtown... Dalton's costume fit him perfect! He is a cowboy through and through! And, Katie always has lots of fun with her friend, Taylor.

My mom and Trent relaxing outside the coffee shop... it's been such beautiful weather here lately!!

Daisy

Our little puppy, Daisy, is longer a little puppy! She is actually growing to be quite big and has been deemed an "outside dog" (partly because I've been too busy to house break her) She has a great time hanging out with Jesse and Diesel outside and, playing with the kids. Unlike Jesse was as a puppy, Daisy Duke is VERY active (putting it nicely!) She likes to chew on things and is most often seen running off with my dad's work gloves, the kids' toys or sticks... but, we love her and she adds excitement to our family (like we needed more "excitement" ha ha) She is also becoming a good watch dog and likes to ride around in Casey's pickup.

After not having the internet all this week, we are now back online!
It's been another busy week so, it flew by quickly... my mom and I continue to school Wesley in the mornings, Mon-Thurs., and this week I began teaching Jakob and Katie Pre-K on the days that my mom is teaching Wesley. It was lots of fun and it's so exciting to see them learn new things! Katie and Jakob learned how to write "I" and "A" and are learning their numbers. Also, this week Trent was sick with a fever and cold. After a couple of grumpy days, he's doing much better now! The weather has been SO beautiful the last 2 days... the kids and I have been getting outside in the afternoons to play. I feel the need to take advantage of this sunny weather before winter comes!! ALSO, this week I joined our local gym and got three workouts in!!! Mom and I have been going in the early mornings, before the kids wake up, and that was been working out great. I haven't been to an actual gym since we left Idaho and wasn't sure how well I'd do (I imagined myself falling off the treadmill or, dying from a heartache!) but, it's been going well and my back is holding up. Trent has a new love for his sister's kitchen set! He gets SO happy when I put him there to play and he gets right to work banging the pots and dishes :)

Chef Tys was also cooking up a storm one day this week... Katie was doing errands with Nana or, else she would've been right there too.

I am looking forward to having my little brother arrive tonight and staying with us for the weekend. And, tonight we're having a "game night" at our house... I spent the day baking yummy desserts :)

Games

On Wednesday night the kids and I had a "game night". They had never played Dominoes before and thought it was so fun to make train tracks with them! When they were bored with that, Katie created a game using the dominoes as her money (quarters) and I had exchange my Dominoes for things that I wanted. After Dominoes, Katie got out her tea set and we had a little tea party!

Note: Katie's wearing her new "Big Sister" pj's ~ she loves them so much that she's worn them every night since I bought them in CA.!! I do get them washed during the day when she doesn't notice :)

Trent 9 months

Trent is now 9 1/2 months old and growing bigger everyday! He isn't officially crawling but, can scoot around on his belly or, roll.... basically whatever it takes to get himself where he wants. The other day I left him in the living room and soon heard a banging noise. I went to check on him and found him in the utility room, moving the leg of a chair so that it'd bang against a wall! He has 7 teeth now (4 on top, 3 on the bottom) and loves to eat. So far he'll eat anything we give him... I'm not sure how much he weighs but he's wearing size 18 months clothes. Trent also knows how to clap his hands now and claps whenever he's really excited about something.. I'm also teaching him to wave "bye bye". Trent wearing his BSU outfit from Mere... minus the pants that have BRONCOS written across the bottom! This is my favorite "outfit" for him :)

Trent loves to get into the dishwasher! To keep him busy, I put something he can play with inside and let him pull it out... put it back. It keeps him entertained for a VERY long time!!

Fall

Fall is definitely here! We've been waking up to cold mornings and even a little snow on Mt Louis. I love harvest time... from the yummy veggies in our garden to the baked goods that come from the veggies! While visiting our friends pumpkin patch in California last month, we were able to bring home two pumpkins that are popular for baking. Yesterday my mom cut this one up, steamed it and pureed it.

It came out looking just like the canned puree... only this was a more vibrant orange color and SO much better :)

We enjoyed homemade pumpkin pie for dessert last night

And, pumpkin chocolate chip muffins for breakfast this morning! I got this recipe from one of Mom H's cookbooks and it's so yummy :) Casey doesn't like choc. in his muffins so I bake his first before adding in the chips...

Pumpkin Chip Muffins

4 eggs

2 c. sugar

1 (16oz) can pumpkin (or, 2 cups homemade puree pumpkin)

1 1/2 c. oil

3 c. flour

2 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. salt

1 c. or more chocolate chips

In large mixing bowl beat eggs, sugar, pumpkin and oil until smooth. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Add to pumpkin mixture. Mix well. Fold in choc. chips. Fill paper-lined muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 16-20 minutes or until muffins test done. Make 24 muffins