Reading

Zach LOVES to read.
He reads all of the time....


he will read anywhere....

sometimes in very odd places....

Baking Cookies

When both boys started school last month, I wasn't sure how Lily would react.

She has been used to having at least one of them with her for most of the day.

She does go to preschool two mornings a week,

and we have had her cousins over,

and she plays with the little girl across the street.....

but we can't have those people over here all the time.

I didn't have anything to worry about though.

Lily has discovered, that while she likes when her brothers get home,

she really likes getting to do things ALL BY HERSELF!! =)

She doesn't have to share any of the play dough and play dough toys.

She can ride any of the bikes or scooters in the garage.

She doesn't have to share the blocks.....

and no one knocks her buildings down.

Yes, things around here are pretty sweet for little Miss Lily.

Today though, she discovered something else she likes to do without her brothers' (sometimes not so helpful) help.

Making cookies with mommy!

She gets to pour in all of the ingredients.

She doesn't have to take turns stirring.

And she gets to crack the eggs!

This is what happens when you let a 3 year old crack an egg for the first time while taking pictures of her:
Let's take a closer look shall we?

She completely missed the bowl!!

I love that look on her face. =)

She got it on the second try.

Yeah!!

More fun things about baking without "The Brothers":

Pouring in the chocolate chips.......

....and getting all of the "tastes" to yourself! =)

Tasting is Lily's FAVORITE part.

So I would have to say that Lily is well adjusted to being at home by herself with just me.

;-)

Funny

We have some pretty interesting conversations around our house.
Some of them are not fit to put on a blog......
But some of them are pretty funny.
Mainly because they are said by our 7, 5, and 3 year olds.
Here are some of the funny things the kids have said lately.

Riley: I know your married mom, because he's here.
(pointing to Jeff as he said this.)

Riley: Never waste water......and never waste peanut butter.

Riley: Mom, you're the ice cream of my world!

Me: Who has the greatest mom??

Zach: Jesus.

Zach: Mom! Lily is bearing false witness against me!

(Zach will receive his First Reconciliation this year and they have been talking about it in class.)

Zach: Mom, since I have never sinned, do I need to sin before I make my first confession?

Riley: Yeehaw! Ride 'em cowboys!

Lily: Yeehaw! I'm ridin' a cowboy!

Riley: Mom is a lady.

Lily: She's not a lady, she's a mom.

Lily: I have to go to the bathroom.

(Out at the boys' soccer & football games)

Me: (taking Lily to the port-a-potty)

Go in here, I'll wait outside, come out when you are done.

Lily: (looking inside the port-a-potty)

I don't have to go that bad.

(and she didn't go the entire time we were out at the games.)

Lip Gloss Gone Wild

I think even Lily knew she had gone too far.......

I found her in the bathroom trying to wash this off:

This was after her first attempt at getting the purple lip gloss she smeared on her face off.

I reminded her it went on her LIPS.

She didn't need to cover her face......

Soccer!

We must not think we have enough to do.
Not only did we go to Riley's football game on Saturday,
but we watched Zach play his first soccer game of the season!
Our Saturdays are pretty full for the next month and a half! =)


Zach was a little nervous at the beginning of his game,
but once he calmed down, he got right in there & did great!!

He did such a good job getting in there & going after the ball!!

He ran fast and played hard!

All of his and his team's hard work paid off.

Zach's team won!!!

He was so excited!!

This is what Little Miss Lily was doing during all of the excitement:

She didn't really care about the games......

but she was really good for having to sit through two games. =)

We are so proud of both boys for doing such a great job in their first games!!

Flag Football

Riley had his first game in Flag Football yesterday!
When we asked him if he wanted to play soccer like Zach,
he said that he wanted to play football instead.
So, we signed him up for flag football.
He was really excited......
especially after we went to the Chief's game.
He kept saying, "This is what I'm gonna do!!"
When Jeff took him to his first practice,
Riley was very disappointed.
He ran up to Jeff crying, and said,
"This isn't the Chiefs! I thought I was playing for the Chiefs!"
Jeff explained to him that he had to work his way up to playing like that. ;-)
We talked him into staying with flag football.
Yesterday, he decided he loved it!
He got right out there & tried his hardest!!!

Here he is patiently taking his turn on the sideline.

Then he got back out again and played hard!

He was really good at getting the flags off of players on the other team.......

he just was a little too slow at doing it. =)

He would get their flag right after they passed the ball to someone else.

But, for his first game, and for only having one practice before,

Jeff & I think he did GREAT!!
His team won and he had fun playing.

He said he can't wait to do it again next weekend!

A New Addition......

to our front porch! ;-)


These adorable chairs, painted by my sister Amy, have sat on our front porch in the spring and summer for the past several years.
They were originally intended for Zach and Riley, hence the blue and green.


I have wanted to get another child Adirondack chair and paint it more girly colors for Lily for awhile now, but had not been able to find another one.
My brother & sister-in-law, Joe & Udrika, (I think probably more Udrika than Joe.....) took pity on Lily and found one in Texas!!
They gave it to us a while ago and I just now got around to painting it a really pretty lavender that Lily picked out this past weekend.
Then I asked Amy to paint a pink butterfly on it, also picked out by Lily.
Here is what came of all of Amy's hard work:

Isn't it adorable?!?!

Look at the eyes....I think they are SO cute!!

Lily loves it too!!

I usually take these chairs off of the porch in October so I can put up fall, and then winter things, and the chairs go into the garage until spring again.

Now that we have the deck though, I think I will just put them all out there, so the kids can enjoy them year-round!!

Thanks again Joe, Udrika, and Amy!!!!!

Lily's First Gymnastics Class

Lily had her first gymnastics class this morning!!
They got to do all sorts of fun things.
Including trying out the balance beam!
The teacher held her hand the first few times.

But by the third time she could do it on her own!

Another fun thing they got to do was jump down this long trampoline.

They were supposed to jump into the foam blocks at the end,

but none of the girls wanted to do it.
They all had the teacher help them into it. =)

As I was looking at these pictures, I just have to wonder:

Who did that poor girl's hair?!?

I really do know how to put Lily's hair into a nice ponytail,

but someone forgot what time Lily's class was,

and was running really late....

She only missed a little bit.

She still had fun though!!

Look at that face!

At first she said she didn't want to go back.

But halfway home, she said,

"OK, I'll got back next week."

She likes to do things on her own terms......

So, she's ready to go back next week and learn more fun things.

And hopefully she will be on time..... =)

Really??

I can NOT believe that these guys are still alive!!

These are the same fish we got on Fun Night at the boys' school......way back in February!!
In the years before this, the fish always lasted a few days, one week tops.
Which I was secretly....okay not so secretly....happy about.
Even the kids have commented on how long these fish have lasted.
They must be miracle fish. =)