Incoming!!

 David's frog book came in. It looks great!! The pictures are crisp and clear, and it is even cooler because David wrote it and designed it all himself. In the process he earned several Cub Scout belt-loops and passed off a couple of Tiger electives. Belt loops: Communicating, Pet Care, Computers, Photography, and Reading and Writing. Wahoo! And he is half-way to his Tiger cub rank. He's pretty excited, our first pack meeting for the new year is next Thursday.

We brought in quite the haul from the garden today. Tons of carrots, a few tomatoes, a couple cucumbers, a wimpy watermelon, and two potatoes. The cucumbers are done. The pumpkin keeps putting out flowers but at this point I don't think it is actually going to do anything. We've got a couple more watermelons on the vine, TONS of green tomatoes, and a whole other square foot of carrots. By the way, nothing beats the flavor of a home-grown carrot. They are so good that store-bought carrots taste like paper in comparison. Really, they do. Our kale is getting huge, the onions are getting tall, my eggplant randomly grew two feet over two weeks and has five or six flowers. Hopefully that means we'll get more eggplants. That would be nice. Next week the weather is going to only hit highs in the mid-70's. I think I'll plant some more peas and a bunch of lettuce then we'll call it a year.

And Jonathan and I were released from our callings a few weeks ago. It has been a month and we still don't have callings. I've given up and am going to go volunteer in Primary since I'm pretty sure that is where they are going to stick me anyway. Why prolong the inevitable, right?

End of Summer Party

Our stake hosts an end-of-summer bash every year. We haven't made it out before but decided we'd definitely go this year.

The kids had a blast! There was so much to do, and some yummy treats to eat. Of course the kids hit the dessert table first.

But we all got our fill of hot dogs, sloppy joes, and nachos.

Andi about died when she saw the pony. When we told her she could ride the pony she was so excited!

His name is Oscar, and he is actually a horse! A pony sized horse. We all got a chuckle out of that.

Peter had a grand time, too. He climbed all over the place and made the biggest fuss over the snow cone ice (minus the stuff, we just had plain snow cones).

David climbed a few places, too.

Andi decided she wanted her face painted.

She told Brother Cohen she wanted a very big butterfly on her face. A pink and a purple one.

He obliged.

Last photo of the little besties! We're sure going to miss Melia around here!

David then begged us to let him sit in the dunk tank. Didn't take long for him to get dunked!

He enjoyed it!

Then Andi got a balloon parrot that I inherited somehow.

And Jonathan fell asleep in the car. :)

Poor guy. It was a long day. The evening was great, we'll go back next year. This summer has really come to a close quickly. I feel like it barely started! Oh well. Time flies when you're having fun!

Party

 Andi went to a little friend's birthday party last Saturday. It was a lot of fun, and it gave me a chance to see how she interacted with other kids her same age. Still definitely delayed, but she is playing so much better with other children!

 They played on the playground, painted masks, and had yummy treats.

Andi did NOT like me taking her picture.

She did, however, really like the PB&J and goldfish crackers they served.

 After the party we went and picked up a couple of friends for the kids to play with. The Y-family is moving and they were SO incredibly busy getting the house into list-able condition (they've got six kids) we had not been able to settle a time to play one last time and say good-bye. So I just decided we'd get the kids and have a play date at our house.

Andi and Melia have been best friends this last year. They pitch fits in nursery if they don't get to sit together, they are always playing together, and when Melia introduced Andi to her grandmother a couple months ago Melia said "This is my best friend, Andi."

This move is going to be hardest on Andi, I think , who does not play with other kids the way she plays with Melia. Watching these two play right after I'd watched her play with a bunch of other kids I realized how close these two have gotten. I am really glad we're doing pre-school with Andi this year because it will give her the opportunity to get to know the other kids at church in a way that she has not before. I also think it will really help her with her speech development (we only have four sessions left with Ms. Olga!!!!).

Surgery

The morning started at 4:30 a.m. I got up, got ready, ate breakfast (Jonathan made it or I would not have eaten), then got Peter. We were out the door at 5:00 and arrived at the hospital to get him check in and registered. After that it was a waiting game until about 7:00 when they took us back and got the pre-op stuff rolling for his frenulectomy, x-rays, and dental repairs.

Despite the fact he was really hungry and tired, Peter played well and was really happy the whole time he got prodded and measured and weighed. He was happy to inspect everything, and play with everyone.

They took him back and I went back to the waiting room and... well.... waited. Since I knew this would be a longer surgery than Andi's, and I knew that just sitting there would make me crazy, I brought along some crocheting to keep myself focused and occupied. It worked. I didn't get anxious until I saw the doctor and he told me I had to wait until I could see Peter.

 I was so happy to finally get him back in my arms! He looked like he'd seen better days, but he was really excited to nurse. And for the first time ever it was completely pain free!! He wasn't using his neck muscles to suck, and it was a breeze.

The anesthesia was hard on him. He was super cranky and disoriented. He kept tipping over randomly, so I had to keep a pretty good hold on him. Sucking his fingers was difficult, so he was upset about that. We got home and he went down for a nap. Once up he was very happy to see everyone and play. I'm worried about his stitches, but I'm watching them. I'm afraid he may have busted them out of the incision on his lip...

So here is the crochet project I worked on during Peter's surgery:

I turned around and made another one in pink for Andi. Super easy and fast, I love it! And cute to boot! :)

And now, proof that my kids eat their veggies:

They are chowing down on kale chips. Andi shocked a lady at Meijer today by downing a slice of cucumber. I explained that we really only ever have veggies around, they are always asking for seconds of their salads. I get that my kids are weird, though. They ate that entire pan of kale chips in about five minutes. Weird, I know.

Wednesday

Morning bike ride.

We went 5.5 miles.

David was tired by the end.

Andi and Peter liked riding in their trailer.

After lunch we picked up our car. They had a fun Go-Cart in the shop.

Kids were excited to try it out.

We got home. Peter was exhausted.

I taught a quick piano lesson then went to the awards ceremony for the library's Summer Reading Program.

Andi was so proud of herself.
David, too.

And they got lots of fun things as prizes.

The best part is the ice cream they give out at the ceremony.

After dinner we went and picked pears.

The kids enjoyed it for about thirty seconds.

Then Andi and Peter ran off to the slide and playground our friends have in their backyard.

Little while late it was just me and Jonathan collecting pears.

We got two bags. We'll be making lots of canned pears, jellies, and preserves. Yum.

Teeth

 David had his dentist appointment yesterday. He got a clean bill of health, no cavities. I tried to give him a high five but he said, "Mom, I don't do that."

He did enjoy the cool prizes he got for being such a good patient. A sticky-footed bug that is kinda cool, and a bunch of stickers.

We did learn that David has ground his teeth down something fierce. His canines are flat across the top, and he's ground a big groove into the top one on the right that his lower tooth fits into. Dr. Martin recommended an appliance that will space David's teeth out and discourage him from grinding. He also recommended getting David's tongue-tie clipped because it is causing crowding issues in his bottom teeth. So I'm off to find someone that can take care of that for me since he cannot..... yay...... not.

Andi has her appointment next month. She was all upset about not having a new toothbrush tonight and said she needed to go to the dentist, too. Ha!

Made water kefir a few days ago and my first brew was a success! Everyone enjoyed having "soda" with dinner last night, and I was glad to have be able to add some extra probiotic goodies to our diet. The milk kefir has been a weird one to get used to, personally. It has a very yeasty flavor that was totally unexpected. Turns out it is normal for kefir to have that, store-bough kefir is just processed differently so it has less of the probiotics and no yeast flavor. So I'm enjoying the fresh milk kefir, it just was different than expected. But the water kefirs are a smashing success! We had a ginger/lemon one last night, I'm making cranberry for tonight. Yum! Now if my kombucha SKOBY would just get here....

Walk in the park