Elliot, Junebug!

So Elliot is growing and changing daily, I can't keep up. I love this age, the "mocking bird" age, where everything you say get's repeated back to you in baby form. So here are a few of Elliot's new things. -she loves her toothbrush and toothpaste, one cannot be without the other. "teef"
-All day long I hear, "dincess" translation: Princess. She is in love with Disney Princess'. She carries around a DVD and hit's my leg. "mamma, mamma, mamma, dincess" with a big smile.
-she's just learned how to fold her arms. So she likes to fold them during the day and say mini-prayers. She folds her arms, squints her eyes, mummbles, then shouts, "AMEM!"
-Oh my favorite new thing is her Kisses. She sticks her lips out so far, and she won't stop kissing her Daddy. KISS.
-

De jevu-is that how you spell it?

The kids didn't have school today so we headed to the...BEACH!! I know we've been a lot but, where else would we go? It was pretty cold, but the kids loved it and we got to hit the outlet mall before we got there. Children's Place had tons of 2.99 shirts, so we stocked up for next summer. I have never been good at shopping ahead of time. I worry about the sizes being right, and I just love seeing what new comes out. But 2.99, you can't pass that up. Then we went and picked up Mike's new car. It's a 2001 Volvo wagon. It's nice, I wish we could all fit in it. I guess we could throw Miles in the back.

Here's Miles, Caleigh, and their friend Emma all excited for their first day.

Back to School

So yesterday was the first day for the Twinners. And my camera is broken!!! So Sad, I think it's all the beach pictures. I think there is sand in my camera. So my friend took back to school pics for me and as soon as I get them I will show them off.

So we are still a one car family (not for long) and so my friend Mary took the twins to school yesterday. THANKS MARY. They love their new teachers and the new school. They have already made some new friends. Miles said he went to the playground at recess and heard some kids talking about starwars and he joined in their fun. I can just picture him walking around the playground with his ear sticking out listening to everyone's games, before he decided on starwars. So Fun

Oh, and Griffin picked the new background, he is so excited about kindergarten. He starts next Tuesday.

10 years and still counting...

Today is Mike and my anniversary. 10 YEARS, can you believe it! So I though it would be appropriate for me to share what I LOVE about this great guy. (these are not in order of importance).

-Mike is so intelligent, and he never makes me feel stupid. Most of you know I am not the smartest cookie, but Mike is always teaching me and answering my questions.
-Mike is such a hard worker (stop laughing family) he could never build me a house, or tear apart our car and put it back together, but how many people do you know who can work 40 hours a week, go to school full time, and fit in family time. And he makes it look easy!
-Mike has so many hidden talents that he shares with me and the kids.
-He is so fun to hang out with, We still laugh our heads off when were together.
-Mike never says anything bad about me. Even when we are fighting or upset with each other, I know Mike never complains to anyone about me, unless he is joking. I really like that.
-Mike is so creative and is romantic in a non traditional way. One time while we were at his parents he snuck off and called our home answering machine and left me a message. I've never heard of someone doing that, so cute! The song on my play list is another cute moment. He is always sending me songs from youtube. This one, he sent telling me it made him think of me. It's one of my favorites now.
Okay, I could go on forever, and Mike is probably dying of embarrassment as he reads this, but, I love this man, and I am glad I get to be with him for Eternity. "Thanks Mike for the last 10 years, thanks for sticking around all this time."

The Last week of Summer

What a crazy summer! Moving to New Hampshire, the beach, the church history tours, Ben & Jerry's, new friends, new food, the cabin, and all the fun adventures, this summer has certainly been full. Still I can't believe it is over and school will be starting in one week. The kids are really excited and Griffin is especially excited to start kindergarten. He is going to be in the same class as Ethan one of his new friends. I am so thankful for that, it makes such a difference to have a familiar face. So, farewell summer, we are now looking forward to Fall, my favorite season.

Berry Pickin Fun

We had some fun picking blueberries today. I have never picked blueberries before and it was so easy and fun. The kids loved it, except Miles picked about 10 and then told me he was done. But Griffin didn't want to quit, he said he wanted to have lots of Muffins so he was going to pick lots of berries. We have some wonderful friends who think to include us, and we just love them. Thanks Oliver's and Titus's. It was a fun day! And the muffins turned out perfect!

And then we headed to Harvard University

Our next stop was Harvard. Most of you know Mike's Dad attended Harvard. We actually toured Harvard yard (I think that's what it's called) which is the original campus. The buildings are amazing, and you just feel smart walking around. We even spied some Ivy-League looking students with the polo and sweater tied around there shoulders. Very cool!

Do you think people rub this John Harvard's shoes for good luck? They are looking pretty worn.

The best Furniture store.

The second day we had Tracy here we headed towards Boston to Redding, MA. There is a furniture store that we had heard about called Jordan's. The furniture store is HUGE, and in the same building they have BeanTown. Everything is made of Jelly Belly's Jellybeans. The sculptures were awesome and the little candy shop was even made of Jellybeans. The kids had a great time. Miles making rug-angels. He really like this rug.

Even the table tops had designs made from jellybeans. Crazy!
Yep, more jellybeans!

A visit from Aunt Tracy

At the New Hampshire History Musuem.
At the end of the Musuem they have a play store set up for the kids to play in, they loved it and were really good.

Mike's sister Tracy was interviewing for a job in Rhode Island this week and so she came to stay with us for a few days. It was so nice to have family here, and we had so much fun. The first day we went to Concord, NH and walked around the city and went to the Musuem there. Downtown was great with some fun shops. The kids liked the Musuem we went to.

The Boston Temple

The kids got the opportunity to go to the Boston Temple last Saturday. I guess the primary does it every year. Since we are still a 1 car family, and Mike had to work, we had some great friends take the kids for us. Thanks guys! The kids had so much fun and said the Temple was beautiful. They also loved the fact they made it to Boston before Mom and Dad did.
Michael, Griff, Miles, and Ethan.

Thanks You's!!!

So Mike is enjoying dispatching for Stafford County and it is much less stressful than Ada County was. But, he has a wonderful trainer that made the girls some bracelets. They are so cute and Caleigh and Elliot feel so spoiled. Elliot's has a little bead on hers that says "smile." She walked around all morning, see, see, see. Holding her wrist out to me. So cute!!!

No...not more beach pictures

Don't worry, the beach pictures will end soon enough. School starts soon and our chances to get to the beach will become non-existent. But, Caleigh has expanded her artistic abilities to include sand sculpting. Here is her first creation. A mermaid. She has a crown on her head and long hair, and I just love that her arms and hands are almost the length of her body. Good Job Caleigh!

I just wanted to include a photo of Elliot in a swimsuit, proof that we don't just let her swim in the ocean with nothing on. Of course it was cloudy and a little cold this day, so she has a jacket on.

Drumroll please...

Hey friends and fam, just wanted to let you guys know, Mike and I received callings today at church. Mike was made Ward Mission Leader and I was put in as 2nd counselor in Primary. Mike is really excited he got a calling that seems to work well with his schedule and I am just glad to be back in Primary. Although, it was fun being a grown-up for a while going to Relief Society. Anyway, we love our little ward and hope to help it grow a little with our service. What a great church we belong to, we always get opportunities to grow and learn more about ourselves.

Plan A, B and C

So last night around 6:30pm it started to rain, nothing unusual. The drops seem bigger here, but I could be wrong. So about 10 minutes into the rain, starts the lightening and thunder. Again, they seem brighter and louder here. But the fun all started when the power went out. About ten minutes after it went out one of the kids happen to look in the garage and noticed that the garage door was open and water was streaming into our garage. I couldn't believe it, we had about an inch of water making it's way to the back of our garage. Our neighborhood is on a little hill and we live at the bottom. Because it's a new neighborhood the draining system isn't quite up and running. So the water was just draining down into our drive-way (which slopes downward towards our house). Which because of the open door meant into our garage! I got the garage door down manually and went in search of my cell phone to call Mike. He said the owner had said whenever there is a power surge or outage the door opens on it's own. If one of my sweet children hadn't found it then we would have had much more water and damage done. Luckily no damage occurred.

So long story short, the funny point of this whole thing, while I am running around freaking out trying to call Mike, but I can't find the number, and trying to get Elliot to bed so I could take care of the pool now in my garage, my three "big" kids were doing their own thing. They all got their rain boots on in case the house flooded and coats in case the thunder took off the roof(their words, not mine). They also came up with plans of action. Plan A-go to Emily's (our new friends in the neighborhood) Plan B- Keep Elliot safe. and Plan-C live in a flood. After all the drama was over I found the piece of paper that Caleigh wrote all the plans on. I asked them who had come up with the plans. They all had and Caleigh had written them down. Maybe it was the release of stress, but I couldn't stop laughing, I love these kids. I wouldn't want anyone else beside me in a crisis. When we first found the water in the garage; Caleigh said to me, "Mom, you should have picked a better place to live." then when it was over and they were out splashing in the water, she said. "I love this place!"

Oh, and the power came back on at midnight. What a night!

Our One Month Anniversery

So it has been one month since we have arrived in New Hampshire. We celebrated with "Whoopi Pies" I guess they come from Maine. Well, I guess I should say, we don't have them in Idaho. They come in a few different flavors, and in the fall they have Pumkin ones, yumm! So we thought they would be a fun way to celebrate our one month anniversary.

Birthday Fun

This is all the photos from the twin's bday. I totally forgot the camera during cake and ice cream, and I was pretty boring about having a party. But we did buy a slip-n-slide for the kids to play on. Our new friends the Titus came over and then neighborhood kids showed up to play. This twins had a great time. Caleigh got all littlest pet shop toys, except one bouncy ball making kit. (which I would recommend to any Mom, it's $5 at Walmart and so easy to do). Miles got lot of action figure toys, and a Pokemon trading card game (I hope he doesn't get obsessed). They both got new bikes. They are getting so Big, I just love them both and am so glad I get to be their Mom.