Bee Bushes

We were only gone on my family reunion 1 week but when we got back these bushes had taken over our outside steps. They're pretty bushes but we've never stayed late enough in August to see them bloom. And bloom they do! Poor Isaac- they're twice as high as he is.
And with all those blossoms, came hundreds of BEES! I'm not exagerating at all. HUNDREDS! They were literally swarming all over the side yard and they stayed for several weeks until all the blossoms were gone. But amazingly my kids were more interested in them than afraid and they never got stung once.

Done with school FOREVER!!!

Taylor officially passed the BAR a few weeks ago. Poor guy, they sent his letter to our DC address and all his friends kept calling saying they'd received their letters and he couldn't find his. Of course the BAR office wouldn't answer calls or return them for 4 days either so he was left in limbo. But yes, he passed! And the letter finally got to him 4 days later. Congratulations!

Things have settled into a normal routine around here (of course we're about to mess that nice routine up with a new baby). We've appreciated all the extra time in the evenings and on weekends that he has to spend with us. Here's just a few of the fun things we get to do together.

Neighborhood block party. They go a little crazy and this year the theme was Chinese New Year- even though it was August so we hung out with lots of neighbors and played games. They even got a Dragon to parade around and entertain everyone.

We volunteered to supervise the bounce house for an hour knowing our kids would be happy to get to stay inside that whole time. And they did. You can barely see Isaac perched at the top of the slide. Luckily he wasn't scared cause there's no way I could have gotten in to get him out.
And lots of evenings the Wii gets included as part of our entertainment. Here's 3 generations playing Mario Cart. Ethan is actually really good now and often beats Taylor and I. Scary how quickly they get good at electronic things.

The Children's Museum

When Ethan was little and I was often bored out of my brain being at home with just him, I ventured out a lot and found lots of playgroups and activities to do. Isaac has benefitted from that and been dragged along to a lot of places. Unfortunately our ward here has no playgroup. Ethan and Isaac got along really well this summer and were happy most of the time to just play in the backyard or go shopping with me. But since Ethan has started preschool, Isaac has become friend-less in the mornings and is often very bored. So in an effort to try and get him some more stimulation we tried out the Children's Museum at the Gateway and fell in love.
The entrance has this amazing ball area with chutes and tubes with air where the kids can load up the balls and send them flying around the room. Isaac was sold at this point- A place with balls- cool, I'm there!

Ethan loves the little grocery store.

I'm excited for next month when Walmart is supposed to re-do the little store and put in new little shopping carts and food and checkout machines that actually beap. Should be fun.

Isaac never passes up the chance to climb up on the fake horse. Aunt Jess was nice enough to come along so I didn't have to chase both boys from place to place.

It's interesting to see the differences between the 2 boys and their ages. Ethan gets more out of each experience. Here he's using levers and pulleys and building things. Isaac is happy just to carry the blocks around and send them down the slide.

And they both love this weird helicopter that does nothing but make the right sound. Seriously, no moving, no shaking, just noise and they love it.

Ethan also gets into the role-playing more. He loves delivering the mail- and eggs- since he's a farmer on his tractor.

My dad was in town last weekend and came along with us. Of course Isaac had to climb up on the horse again. Anyone notice a climbing pattern?

Does he look like he's into the dressing up/roll playing stage yet? Absolutely not! I try to take Isaac at least once a week while Ethan is in school, we'll see how that goes with the new baby.

Nights with REAL

Taylor's youngest sibling Barbara played soccer all throughout high school and though I never saw her play in a game I have to say thank you to her. Because of her passion for soccer, her mom decided to get season tickets when a professional soccer team settled in Salt Lake a few years ago. We've gotten to tag along several times and it's always a blast.
This is actually an acurate picture of how Ethan watches the games. He's completely immersed and intense throughout the whole thing- always has been. Even as a 1 year old he'd sit on our laps and watch the whole game following the ball back and forth. Isaac is not nearly as entertained. He's happy to go but he wants to walk around and climb on people and barely even glances at the game to notice that something is going on.

Last year they finished the new soccer stadium so they don't have to play on a football field anymore. It's beautiful and a lot of fun.

Because Taylor was studying for the BAR most of the summer I got to go along with his parents and Ethan more often. L to R Grams, Ethan, Grandpa. If you've noticed the red jerseys the boys keep wearing, it's because REAL Salt Lake (yep, weird team name) are red with blue and yellow accents. I've come to the conclusion that buying souvenirs on vacations is often a waste, but soccer jerseys actually get worn so our Christmas trip to Portugal was great and luckily their country team is red.

And sometimes when Taylor's parents were out of town, we got to take all the tickets to the game. So one night in July Isaac and I met up with my brother Jeff, sister Kristina and her husband Fred and their baby Evan. Taylor and Ethan went to see Up so don't feel too bad for them. Tragically REAL was only so-so this year and probably won't be going to any playoffs, but they were lots of fun to watch. Can't wait for next summer!

Swimming

It may have been a blessing in disguise that our computer was down so long and I couldn't focus on all the blogs I'm behind on. Thankfully we're 5 days ahead of schedule (baby due date) on finishing everything else we wanted to get done so I have a little extra time to catch up on blogs.
Every time my family moved when I was growing up, my parents would take off for a weekend to go look for and buy a home. They let us all make requests but of course they made the final decision. I always begged for a pool and they tell me that every time they went there was a house with a pool that was in the final 3 but they never ended up picking it. Tragic. Amazingly I married into a swimming family where all the kids grew up swimming competitively or playing water polo and they even have a pool in the backyard. Yeah! Can it get any better than that? I don't even have to take care of it!
Ethan has always loved the pool and has never had any fear of it.

Does Isaac look like he agrees? Absolutely not. For whatever reason Isaac is a complete daredevil on land. He climbs out of his crib, climbs on top of tables and couches and anything else that looks like a challenge to him and he has lots of bumps and bruises to prove it. We just assumed he'd love the water and be jumping in every chance he got. Instead, for no explainable reason, the water absolutely terrifies him. He love baths, but the pool, even the hot tub that's smaller and less deep, just freaks him out.

Even riding on Taylor and being carried around the pool brings on tears and screaming and as you can see, begging to get out of the pool. He's happy to walk around the outside though and help Oscar bring his ball.

The only thing Taylor was able to convince him to do was jump in to him but if you let him land in the water at all instead of just catching him he goes nuts and won't do it anymore.

Only the buttons on the side of the hot tub hold any appeal for him. Oh well, we'll try again next summer.

Ethan is the polar opposite of this so we put him in some swimming classes this summer. He loved every minute of it and was pretty funny to watch. He's so skinny- poor thing- that even at noon in 100 temperatures, when the teacher would have them stand on the side with their arms in the air to practice how to dive in, you could see him shaking like a leaf from across the pool. No complaints of course from him.

As a reward they let the kids jump off the diving board at the end of the class. Ethan instantly fell in love with this and now has lots of motivation to learn to swim without floaties so he can jump by himself.

He made some good progress learning to kick off the wall, dive in, and stroke instead of doggy paddle, but he still doesn't get the whole "it-would-be-good-to-pick-up-my-head-and-breathe" concept. Instead he'll swim underwater literally forever until he can reach the side. Oh well, something to work on next year.

We Love our Backyard

I have to admit that there are several reasons I'm overjoyed not to be going back to DC. One of the major ones is humidity. We love summers in Utah because even though it often gets above 100, it's still pleasant if you're in the shade and it always cools off as soon as the sun dips behind the mountains. DC was always hard to return to since it stays toasty hot through September and much of October.
We're loving the 80 degree days and no humidity and also having a shady backyard to play in. And there's a few benefits to living so close to Grams- the boys have a dog to play with without the hassle of actually caring for a dog and there's lots of toys and sports equipment left from Taylor's siblings.
Sorry most of the pictures are from a down angle, but honestly it's so nice to send the boys outside to play and I can stay inside and get some things done. It's been nice enough to leave the porch door open and just listen to them play.
One of my big worries about living in Utah was having no trees. I grew up moving all over the midwest and east coast and I love trees. Luckily this neighborhood is old enough that there are amazing trees and fabulous shade for the entire morning and even until about 4 in the afternoon. Ethan is happy playing soccer for hours.
Of course he prefers a little competition and Grams is happy to oblige. Since we went to several professional soccer games this summer, he has figured out the game a little more- okay maybe only a little more. He has started issuing "yellow" and "red" cards to Grams and others that play with him for offenses such as kicking the ball into him or running too fast.
Isaac tries to get in on the games but isn't quite fast enough. He's pretty happy just to kick a beach ball though.

Lunar-oriented or just plain Looney?

When we went to the hospital to have Ethan, we were surprised to see how full it was. They even put me in a triage room first before deciding I really was in labor and therefore really could occupy one of their precious rooms. One of the nurses made the comment in passing that it was a full moon and it had been crazy for the past few days. We didn't put too much stock in this comment but did think it was a little funny. I really hadn't thought about that again until the night Isaac was born. Taylor's parents were in town for Christmas and I was feeling fine so we all decided to go for a walk around the White House Elipse to see the Christmas trees from each state. It was a beautiful walk but I did notice that the moon was very full that night and Taylor and I both had a good laugh. So today when I was reading the paper and checking the projected weather for the week, the lunar calendar caught my eye and guess what? The next full moon is set to start to hit at exactly 6:11 am on Sunday October 4th. So we'll see how looney I am this time. Ethan was exactly 1 1/2 days after the exact full moon. Isaac was exactly 5 1/2 hours after it hit and this baby is dead on in his projection right now. Tragically I'm now in Utah so hopefully every other mormon mom (all 5 million of them or so) out there won't decide to go into labor with me the same Conference/Full Moon Sunday when every doctor is busy. Can't wait! Here's a link so you can check how "looney" you are!
http://www.moonphases.info/full_moon_calendar_dates.html

Ethan Preschool Update

Ethan's first day of preschool.

Still no pictures but I thought you deserved an update on Ethan and his daily happenings. Ethan has always been a very social person. He loves everyone and everything and is hardly ever unhappy except when it's time to leave an activity he is enjoying. He's a very curious child and since I'm used to being a 1st grade teacher it has just come natural to teach him things. So when we were looking for a preschool this year I wasn't worried about him learning much. He's basically ready for Kindergarten (so are most kids who sit through 2 hours of Primary each week and therefore already know how to sit in a chair and raise their hands). He knows his letters and numbers and can read an analog clock and sound out most 3 letter words. He writes his name and has all capital and most lower case letters down. So really I thought- what was he going to learn in preschool that he couldn't easily learn here with me at home.
Taylor's mom is a principal of a Charter School here in Utah so she helped us explore the alternative education opportunities around us. We found a Spanish Immersion Preschool just 10 minutes from our house that was actually set up by one of the professors I had at BYU. It's been going for over 10 years now and I love their teaching strategies and philosophies. Basically it's full immersion. So from day 1 (August 31st) Ethan showed up at his preschool and hasn't heard a single word of English from his teachers. It's in a little house and each room is set up to teach different things. He rotates between rooms and between 3 different teachers- all native Spanish speakers from different countries so he hears all their accents. He plays dress up and does games and acting in one room, then moves to another to do arts and crafts, then another for singing time and dancing, then on to the kitchen for making and eating snacks, and finally outside to play. There's one more but I can't remember now.
Taylor was more skeptical that he would actually be picking up words and phrasing but amazingly he is. It really comes naturally since everything in his preschool world is visual as well as auditory. They're basically never saying words without holding up a picture or pointing to something just becasue that's naturally what you'd do in a preschool anyways. Everything is very hands-on. For example if they're going to color a picture they ask him which color paper he'd like while holding up several to choose from (all of this is in Spanish of course). Being totally lost he just sits there so they shake the papers a little and ask him again pointing to the different colors. He points at the red (his favorite) so they give it to him and say this one is Red and repeat it several times. All of the kids wear little token bags around their necks and whenever they speak in Spanish they get a token that they can exchange at the end of the morning for small toys (think Chuck E. Cheese prizes). This is major incentive for Ethan to talk.
So far his favorite part of every day is their snack. They do some pretty creative things and the kids get to help with the cooking as well as the eating. Today he made a mummy out of a hot dog and bread dough wrapped around it. In art class he colored, cut, and glued a mummy onto a stick all the while talking about mummies (who knows why they're teaching this now instead of in October but Ethan loves it). Last week everything was butterflies and catterpillars.
Honestly I could care less if he learns much Spanish or not. He's loving being there and as a bonus he's picking up some Spanish. He's surprised us the past few weeks by suddenly speaking words and phrasing. One evening we were in the car and heard him tell Isaac "excelente" over and over. When we asked him what it meant he said "I don't know, maybe good job.". So really he is understanding things even if he doesn't see the blatant English cognate there. His most frequently used words are Hola, Adios, Amigos, Rojo, Excelente, Rico, Sabes Que, Mariposa, Elefante, 1-10 numbers, and Si.
One of the cutest parts of this experience has been that almost every day when we pick him up, he bounces out of the house and hands Isaac a little toy or puts a silly plastic ring on his finger and says "I picked this out for Isaac because I knew he'd like it". Isaac honestly could care less but I love that it comes so naturally to Ethan to be looking out for his little brother even when he's not around. Isaac is really cute too. Whenever I say "let's go get Ethan from school" he goes running for the door and stands there and points until I open it up. He can't wait to have him back.
We'll keep you updated but for now it's a success!

Long Time No Post

Sorry about that. Let's just say life has gotten overly busy here. After the week of sickies we flew for a week-long reunion with my family in the backwoods of Pennsylvania. The highlights included 11 grandkids under age 8, 2 nursing mothers, 2 pregnant mothers (7 1/2 and 6 1/2 months), 9 other adults, 2 mice and only 5 bedrooms. Needless to say a little chaos. I promise more detailed stories once we find our camera cord but just to give you something to water your mouth... Isaac slept UNDER his pack and play and spent the whole week drop-kicking EVERYTHING. Seriously EVERYTHING. Ethan had his first white-water rafting trip and also learned to sing the most annoying song in the world (thanks Nathan).
It was really weird coming back to Utah since for the past 5 summers we have left Utah the middle of August, attended my family reunion somewhere back east and then gone back to school at GW. For whatever reason I've been going through packing/cleaning withdrawal the last week and have been taking it out on our house here. Honestly. We got back late Sunday night and Monday as I was doing the laundry I couldn't stop myself from tearing the house apart room by room because one thing needed fixing and I might as well pull everthing out to deep clean and reorganize our stuff. It's still not all put back together but it's getting there. Taylor's had a good laugh. I even got all frustrated that I didn't know exactly what number and size of baby clothes I have so I made up a notebook and spent a day detailing every piece of boys clothes size newborn on up to 4T. Even I will admit that's bordering on obsessive compulsive. Blame it on my nesting instincts.
Ethan started preschool Monday and I've been working on getting all the last boxes unpacked and the last errands run before the baby comes. Tragically lots of things I've been procrastinating and for good reason. I spent this morning at the Utah DMV trying to get a new license (might I add that I love having my picture taken while I'm 8 months pregnant and I get to keep it and carry it around with me for the next 10 years). The highlight of that experience was having to take a written exam (seriously I've had a drivers license for over 15 years and had different licenses in Illinois, New York, Maryland, and DC and only ever had to take a written exam when I was 16 but I guess driving in Utah is much more intense so I need to prove I know everything still) with Isaac next to me in his stroller throwing his toys out the whole time and babbling to himself while I tried to breath through my mouth so I wouldn't smell the guy next to me who had not had a shower in several days and then being told by the proctor that I'd have to leave if I couldn't keep my child quiet because his babbling was distracting others. REALLY? His babbling is distracting? Let's talk about distracting to a pregnant woman.
Shall I reveal some of the enlightening and very worthwhile questions I had to answer? Maybe just 2 for your enjoyment. 1. Must a person hold a valid Utah license to drive a tractor on a Utah road or highway? Surprisingly- the answer is no! And my all time favorite for must-know-information-so-you-can-be-a-safe-driver-in-Utah.... 2. During what time of day do most accidents occur on the road? Taylor guessed wrong although his answer of evening makes a lot a sense with rush hour and people out partying- wait this is Utah. Answer: 2-5pm. Amazingly I got a perfect score- of course I should mention that it was open book and I know how to read. So that adventure was not the highlight of my day but finding a grocery store with free daycare was. Can we say fabulous? I got to shop in peace without having to listen to anyone beg for anything and didn't have to pick up one single thing that Isaac grabbed from behind him and threw out while laughing. And they got to play with toys and get a sticker when I picked them up. Yeah for some parts of Utah at least.
More stories and pictures to come.