15-month check-up

Alina had her 15 month check-up with the doctor on Tuesday. She remains in the 50th percentile for weight and is now in the 100 percentile for height. Tall and skinny like her daddy. Her doctor thinks her hernia seems to be improving, too. She and Sam both received 4 shots each, so I had some unhappy kids for a few moments. Sam calmed down pretty quickly with the promise of a sticker awaiting him, and Alina just needed me to hold her :)

Jelly

We have a crabapple tree in our front yard that was annoying me last Fall because of all the crabapples that dropped to the ground. I had thought that you couldn't eat the fruit (unless you wanted an upset stomach). What's the point in having a fruit tree if you can't eat the fruit? I recently discovered, though, that you CAN use the fruit for crabapple jelly. So, this Fall, I spent a couple afternoons outside picking crabapples. Another afternoon cleaning and cutting the crabapples and extracting the juice. At this very moment, I am boiling the crabapple juice on my stove waiting for it to reach the gel point. I hope it turns out tasty for all the work involved. Here's a picture of the apple and grape jellies I have already made in the past month.
And here's the crabapple jelly. Isn't it pretty? Red. I just barely took it out of the hot water bath.

Painting on Weekends

We spent nearly every weekend this past summer going up to JD's parents' mountain property to help with the building of their cabin. During the month of September, we painted and painted and painted.

I love the look on Alina's face.

We spent many afternoons at the park this Fall. I would pack a lunch or snacks. Then we'd go pick up Danny from school and head to the park.

My rockstars

We borrowed RockBand from JD's parents for a little while. Danny and Sam enjoyed releasing their inner rock star.

Sam's Haircut

I finally buckled down and tortured myself (and Sam) by cutting his hair. Here are the after and before pictures taken the same day. I had to change his shirt after the cut, because hair covered his shirt. He didn't want to take it off during the cut. I like to style his hair now with a little gel to make a mohawk (like in the above pictures).

What happened to Fall?

When I got up this morning, it was snowing! There was already a 2-inch blanket of snow covering our lawn and sidewalk. A total surprise. It was supposed to be dry today--it rained Monday and Tuesday. I'm not ready for winter yet. I better go shovel.

Welcome back Pumpkins! Pumpkin pie, pumpkin cake, pumpkin bread, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin cream cheese roll, pumpkin dinner rolls, pumpkin pie, and lest I forget, pumpkin pie. On halloween night, I had my first piece of pumpkin pie since last year. Oh, the joy! We scarfed down 6 dozen homemade pumpkin chocolate chip cookies within 1 week! I have a pumpkin cake recipe begging to be made. Guess I'll have to kick it up a notch at the gym!

Birthdays!

We just celebrated a couple of birthdays this past month: JD and Sam. Sam is now 3 years old, but if you ask him, he'll adamantly tell you he is 2, and he's "not a big boy, I'm just Sam". He's my rough and tumble, destructive monster. Yet he is so sweet with Alina, who adores him. He loves to play with cars, trucks, trains, dinosaurs, play-doh, blocks, dogs, dirt. He especially likes to take things apart then ask me to fix them. He is obsessed with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Transformers are not far behind. He's definitely been the easiest of my children, starting right from the beginning. I think for that reason, he is not given as much attention as the other two--he doesn't demand it like they do. Sorry, Sam!! Lately, he has been wanting to help me in the kitchen with the cooking. He stirs and dumps in ingredients. He vacuumed the playroom all by himself. He'd love to eat pb sandwiches for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. (Too bad he can't!)

Eight Fantastic Years

JD and I recently celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary on August 12th. We didn't have a babysitter for that day, so we took all our kids to dinner with us, and then we went to Cold Stone Creamery for ice cream. Very romantic!! Ha ha! With three young kids, one of whom is still a baby monstrously attached to mommy, I'll take any outing I can get!
We did go out on a date the previous Friday without the kids, so I count that as an anniversary date. (Even though JD's siblings and parents were there too.) We attended a Brian Regan comedy show at Thanksgiving Point. It was hilarious. I had a stomach ache from all the laughing.
I love you, JD! You're my best friend, you make me laugh every day and make me a better person. I'm extremely lucky and blessed to have you!

Mario what??

Maybe some of you have noticed I had put a game called Mario Rampage on the sidebar (now at the bottom) of this blog. When I chose to put this game there, I just thought it would be something my kids would be interested in. They like Mario from Nintendo. I didn't test or play the game at all before adding it to our blog. Last night, I was showing JD some of my new posts. He noticed the game, and I suggested he try playing it. I was shocked! Mario carries a shotgun and blasts away the enemies, who splatter red blood all over when they are hit. This was not what I expected. I suppose the title of the game should have clued me in a little bit. Mario on a rampage. Not suitable for 3- and 5-year olds!

All Caught Up

OK, I think I am all caught up posting the major events of our summer for which we had pictures. You'll probably notice a general trend in my posting. Feast or famine. I usually wait until the camera video card is completely full before I upload the pictures to the computer. At that point, I can post pictures to this blog. There are still several videos I would like to upload, but I plan to do those later. (Danny's singing program from preschool, Alina's birthday cake and song, Alina playing with a balloon, Sam dancing, etc.)
We had a fun labor day weekend, but I didn't ever get out the camera. We went to a Sheepdog Festival in Soldier Hollow near Heber. The kids enjoyed watching the dogs herd sheep and ducks. They particularly liked the splash dog jumping contest. I'd try to explain it, but I am too sleep-deprived right now for my brain to function properly. When I can think better, I'll come back to this posting to edit and add an explanation.

Sprinkler Time

My kids decided to play in the sprinkler while I was watering the lawn. Danny was out there, too, but I couldn't get a picture of him. Sometimes he gets in moods when he doesn't want me to take his picture. The boys got soaked. Alina just poked at it. Pictures taken September 4th.

First Day of Kindergarten

Danny's first day of kindergarten was on August 25th. He attends the morning session at Challenger. This is him in his uniform that morning. He's all smiles here, but that changed when I took him to school. He hasn't been thrilled with the idea of going to school every weekday. Sorry, kid. It's a long, long road ahead. His ideal day would consist of playing games and, uh..., playing games! Since he has such a great love for playing games, I use it as a motivation for him to do his homework, chores, and whatever else I can think of that he needs to do.

Top of Utah Half Marathon

I ran the Top of Utah half marathon near Logan on August 23rd. It was a scenic route, and the temperature was perfect. I would recommend this race to anyone who runs. I met my goal of completing two half marathon races this year! Yippee. (I trained for 3 of them. There are pictures posted in April from the first half marathon race I did this year.) I put this picture of Alina instead of one of me, because I looked like a DORK in all the pictures with me in it after running the race. (Sweaty, red face.) Alina was waiting for me at the finish line as well as JD and my Aunt Karren with whom we stayed during the weekend. (Thanks Karren!) Alina's holding two essential items: some food (given out after the race) and her puppy dog that we call "Wolfie". (She loves that stuffed puppy. Thanks Grandma Weber for getting it for us.)

Primary Activity

Just a fun morning of games with the ward primary. Pictures taken August 22.

Electrical Engineering Work Party

We spent a lovely evening in park in the Big Cottonwood Canyon for JD's work department family dinner party. Danny and Sam were delighted with the giant bubble wands. Sam later took a "bath" in the buckets of bubble soap. He reached in his arms to his shoulders then proceeded to spread the soap all over his legs and rear-end to wipe off the soap from his arms. He then started playing in the dirt, so it stuck all over him. I don't have picture of him at that point, but I wish I did have one. This picture of Sam was taken before the bubbles.
The boys helped JD with a little competition, too. The employees had been asked to create a contraption using a mousetrap and other materials to see who could send a ping pong ball flying through the air the furthest. Danny helped JD create theirs, and they ended up getting a 3rd place prize! Not bad for a 5-year old.

Fun with Paint

I have a couple ideas how Alina got this purple paint dot on her nose. Was it Sam or Danny? The boys created their masterpieces while Alina watched (and ate her lunch). Pictures taken August 18th.

Alina's 1st Birthday

My baby girl turned one on August 5th. She's grown so much in the past three months, putting on nearly 6 pounds, which is fine, because she was only in the 25th percentile for weight at 9 months old. This 6 pounds puts her into the 90th percentile. She's also in the 99th percentile for height. She's not walking yet. To be honest, I don't mind that. I know I'll have my hands full when she does start walking. For now, she is content to scoot around on her bum. It's a very slow method for getting around. (Again, fine with me. It's easier to keep track of where she is. I hope I don't sound like a lazy mom, but most of you know what it's like once your baby is walking.) She is a good girl most of the time. She does seem to get frustrated occasionally at Danny and Sam when they are in her face too much or in her way. She's even bitten them!! Luckily, her teeth did not break skin. Speaking of teeth, she now has 7 of them with one more starting to poke through on the top. She only had 2 bottom teeth as of 2 months ago, so it seems they've all come in at once. The pictures were taken on her birthday. Her Aunt Angie is holding her in one of them and helping her open a present in the video. I made from scratch a double layer round carrot cake (sans nuts) for her birthday cake. It had a cream cheese frosting which I had added a little bit of orange juice and zest. Very tasty! I didn't decorate it, though, so I feel a little bad about that. Even so, I think she liked the taste of the cake. She also liked eating her birthday dinner. I'd like to post a video of us singing "Happy Birthday" to her while she is looking at her cake, but the video would take forever to upload.