august and september recap

Haven't you missed this sweet little face? 

 Once again, I am behind on blogging.  I know I won't remember a lot of the details of the past month or so, but I'll try my best to hit some highlights.  The three boys are signed up for soccer again this fall.  We probably should have signed Liv up, but I couldn't wrap my head around getting to four different games in one morning (three is tough).  Rob is coaching both Burke and Tosh, and there is already plenty of overlap.  Liv loves wearing hear cleats around.  It's probably pretty obvious that Liv picks out her own outfits for the most part.  This is a rather awesome combo:

So our upstairs A/C unit went out in August.  The hallway (coolest part) showed that it was 86 degrees, and the bedrooms had to have been at least 10 degrees more.  We all ended up sleeping downstairs in sleeping bags until it was fixed.  It was a real bummer to have to drop $5000 on a new unit (ouch!!!), but it's definitely a necessity here!  

Tosh showing off his new 'firecracker' shirt.  That ain't no lie!

 Liv looks so grown up here (she wore these lens-less glasses around for much of the day):

Trying out this fun hand-me-down from her cousin:

September 3rd marked one year since Grandpa Pete passed away.  We sure miss him!  I love this photo of Rog hiking with the boys the last time he was here visiting.

Liv is really getting into drawing and coloring.  I love her masterpieces!

Our kids were sick with colds the tail end of August.  Liv's cold turned into an ear infection and it was miserable trying to get her to drink her medication.  I tried ALL sorts of things, and finally mixing it with a bit of pink lemonade was the winner.  I did a follow up with the ENT and it looks like she will need tubes again if she gets another ear infection.  Bummer!  :(

Tosh's cold hit his lungs (per usual) and he ended up home from school for three days and on the nebulizer for about a week.

 One of Rob's lesser-known talents:

 'Moses' showed up one Sunday with a friendly reminder to keep the Sabbath Day holy:

Don't all moms wear a mumu on Sunday afternoon?  Mine did.  It's a tradition I must pass on.

I spent a big chunk of time last week bottling peaches and pears:

I did it with a friend and I think I counted 54 bottles of pears alone.  You're welcome, kids.  :)

I had to get a photo of Tosh in this "Danger Live Wire" shirt the other night (bad photo with flash).   He is a bit of a live wire, but he comes by it honestly...

Here I am wearing my shirt back in 1979:

 (I know I'm upside down, but don't I look like Liv???)

Tosh is such a great and fun kid.  It's taking some work trying to figure him out, and how to help him best succeed.  He's such a bright boy, but is a bit of a challenge at times.  At his parent/teacher conference, Tosh's teacher told me, "In my 16 years of teaching, I have never had a child like Tosh..."  Well, I'll just leave it at that.

Love, love this 'original' kid of mine!

What can I say; his mother is a bit odd.

Liv and I made a 'frosty' stop during some errands last week.  I really enjoy hanging out with this girl.  I had a moment this week when I got really sad thinking about her going to all-day school next year.   I'm so thankful for this sweet little girl in my life.

We were at the soccer fields from 7:45 until 1:15 on Saturday--long morning!  We came home and hit the pool (which has cooled off quite a bit, finally).  Cute kiddos!

Liv helped me make yummy sugar cookie bars (WAY easier than individual sugar cookies) on Sunday afternoon.  Rob took this photo and now I'm realizing that I've posted a ton of photos of myself in this entry.

I am teaching "Art Masterpiece" in both Tosh and Hewitt's classes, and just finished writing the primary program for sacrament meeting.  Liv has started a ballet class, and Rob has switched from indoor soccer to his outdoor co-ed team.  It sure seems like there is always a lot going on and I am just trying to keep it together.  I'm so happy that it's officially Fall and that the temps are coming down out of the 100s.  That is truly something to celebrate!