late september

i took the boys to have lunch with eleanor and olive for subway day

(hazel was at GT)

 noah's last cross country meet

 i cut some bangs

 the girls did their school "fun run" 

it's a mile

 hazel and some of her best friends

 eleanor picked a ripe watermelon from the garden

taking 6 kids to costco on a saturday was a bad idea

jude ended up biting henry's back but at least they were cute matching

 sunday best with eleanor

 glad he still likes me even when i cut short bangs

 i took these two to the library to play and pick some books and movies

 i dropped the porta-crib at the DI trailer since jude climbs out every time we travel now

it's kind of the end of an era since i bought that before noah was born 

(and maybe set it up when i was only like 5 months pregnant...just to be ready)

 henry was sweet to come help me take care of our neighbor laura's yard

 fresh from the garden

 these two are so cute together

 lots of baths for these two who like to play in the dirt together

 helping himself to a couple raisins

all ready for preschool

 out on a bike ride to some swings and we found a kitty

when it was time to go jude said, "by meow, see you later"

back home for a backyard picnic

 pruning the pear tree

 much better

 pushing the stuffed kitty on the swing

 we are cutting our sugar way down in our family

but lucky for hazel right after i made the declaration, our neighbor laura brought over doughnuts

to thank me for mowing her yard

 all cozy after their bath

 cuties

 hazel was making a board game for school so olive made one, too for fun

and eleanor made this one

so cute

 painting before school today

 for better or worse, jude loves to copy henry

 just moving a bookshelf up the stairs

i like to keep busy while the kids are at school

i can't believe it's almost october

and more importantly that jude is almost two!

september so far

henry loved going to his preschool teacher (and my friend)'s 40th birthday party

he sat next to her the entire time and beamed

 cute boys working hard

 taco break

 date night to a movie

we got henry and eleanor their own beta fish

 olive decided last minute she doesn't like piano 

so we let eleanor take her place and she's pretty excited about it

 cafe rio

 low key labor day

 one last labor day hurrah at the pool before it closed

 so handsome

 olive loves helping jude

 4 years in our house!

 henry wanted to pose like this and have me send it to michael

one on one time with this boy 

 picture boy

 i love having friends to get me out of the house

 mail from grandma and grandpa kelly

 filling the tub fully dressed

 praying mantis before a family bike ride

 testing out the ice cream maker michael got me for my birthday

 puzzles

 henry drew his first person picture!

 hazel is a killer babysitter 

so as a reward we let her stay up watching a show and eating candy

 cool tower

 i made myself this little jumper

 drawings of me by henry and eleanor

 so independent

 lunch with friends at our house

 noah ran his guts out at this cross country meet 

he was near tears when it was over and we were so proud of him

michael took him out for cold stone as a reward

 always reading

 we finally got out the sixth stool for jude

 throwing so many fits lately

 pretty big cheering section for noah

homemade raspberry ice cream from fresh backyard raspberries was so good!

 cookie monster

 getting down from his chair after dinner

jude slipped down and so did his chair and it somehow knocked his tooth out

with the root! so we ran across the street to our neighbor/dentist friend

and he popped it back it

 it was crazy, we had no idea you could do that

but he said it should heal up nicely especially given his age and that he got it back in so quickly

so far it's healing well

 a little date night after we recovered from the trauma of jude's tooth

 we went to utah to see holden before he left on his mission this last weekend

and got a flat tire on the way there

 then we met ryan and alicia at ikea

 big fans of the pets

 we're going to miss holden but we're so proud of him for going

 i felt pretty honored to give him his mission haircut

here's the before

 and after

chris and his family stopped by for a visit

it was so nice to see them

 we rushed out sunday morning because michael's GI stuff was acting up 

but it was such a great visit

 he slept the whole way home when he wasn't in the bathroom

i think we made like 8 stops 

the result of sleeping in curlers

eleanor had a flat bike tire and insisted on being ridden to school in the trailer with the boys

it was a very tight squeeze

 henry was pulling them around like a train

 noah really sprinted at the end yesterday

 we might have accidentally/impulsively bought a car from a local online police auction 

it might have been a huge waste of money, we don't know yet. we're getting it checked out tomorrow

but it sure is pretty!

 such a grumpy gus these days

but i coaxed some smiles out of him

i'm so glad his tooth is holding on

 it's plum season! my favorite