LONG family update

Get ready for a LONG one - it's been awhile since I've done an update blog.

September is about over and we've had a long and busy month getting back into a schedule. Emily's gone ALL DAY now to first grade and I still miss her when she's gone! It's still weird. But she's LOVING it and is doing really well. I've been volunteering every Monday and it's fun to see her doing centers and meeting all her classmates. Jill noticed that she's on level H in her independent reading level and told me that first graders are "supposed" to start on level C. We started reading chapter books together on the first day of school. So far we're into our 4th or 5th Junie B. Jone's book. They're cute and it's funny how the books we've read fit perfect into Emily's life - 1st day of 1st grade, tooth fairy, eating school lunch, etc. Emily realized that it's Pizza Day every Tuesday, so last week she begged for lunch money and had fun buying her first school lunch. I've been meaning to go and eat with her, but every day just has been so crazy so far! Friday I went to watch her at her Jump-a-Thon fundraiser. She jumped rope better than I thought she could. She would jump one jump at a time, and pull her pants back up after each jump! (She's still working on all her gross motor skills, but we are very excited that she's now learned how to pump on a swing!!)Here's Emily ready for her school picture. Emily and Ella figured out how raisins are made and wanted to try it out themselves. They each set out grapes on the back porch and checked on them everyday. Here's Emily with her end result!

We finished fall soccer season. (Hooray!!) Ella's coach bought the team trophies and she LOVED it! Of course, that made Emily jealous. So we found another soccer trophy at DI and made a label for Emily.
Ella's been having fun and doing well at preschool. So far we've had an "All Aboard" train unit...
and a "Big Top" and "Circus" theme!Last Thursday we had Parent Day and performed all our "Brilliant" feats for our parents!! Here's Paige watching Natalia sort circus pictures into different shaped circus rings.For a treat, I rented a cotton candy machine. It was a big hit and was enjoyed by all! After school I dragged it to the front yard and sold cones to the neighbor kids for 50 cents. You wouldn't believe the hoards of kids I had swarmed around me! When Steve drove home I still was swamped and he was impressed!! He wanted to go into business with me. I met a lot of neighbor kids I've never seen before. Emily wanted to go with her friend to two neighbor friends to tell them about it. I thought that was fine until later that night I found out they started knocking on ALL the neighbor's houses!! Not so sure about that, but it turned out ok and she did do a good job finding customers for me! I also brought out some flower clips to sell and sold a few of those as well. I ended up paying for the machine and making about $20 profit. (Which wasn't really my goal, but was an extra bonus!)
Steve came home from lunch to be Ella's parent. She loved attention from him and didn't want him to leave when it was time!
Poor Ella already missed a day of school - strep again!! That's twice this year! Luckily she's old enough to turn on a movie and stay upstairs by herself during preschool. Poor thing!!!
Ella was SUPER excited that I finally signed her up for a dance class. She had a hard time waiting for the first class and now is having a super hard time waiting for the next class! She loved it and looked so cute!! I only watched her for the last 10 minutes, but she'd already learned the dance and looked adorable. I think she might be one of the older kids in the class - she was one of the tallest, and she paid much better attention than most of the other girls! Here's Ella ready for church last week!
Ella's super smart at puzzles. Last week she got out this puzzle for the first time and worked and worked until she got it together all by herself!! I found a Nemo one at a yard sale yesterday and she enjoyed putting that one together today!
Eden's still learning to get around. She'll get up on her hands and knees, but then can't figure out what to do next. So she's still utilizing the army crawl.

Here she is enduring another windy soccer game!So far she's a very good eater. She's eaten any kind of baby food we've given her. I tried an ounce of formula again yesterday and was very happy that she didn't spend the evening throwing up. Maybe she's ready to start tolerating it. This is a picture after feeding her. Steve was playing with our new camera!! Our old one was giving us a little trouble and I found a good sale on a new one. I'm sure I'll see it cheaper during the holiday season, but oh well!

Ella SURE loves her little sister. Eden is not always so sure of her boisterous older sister though!

Here's Emily loving her baby sister! Enduring another outing!

She loves being able to get into things though!

She's been VERY clingy lately. She does well until early afternoon and then she's pretty much cranky until bedtime. Then she doesn't sleep well. She's up every few hours to eat and cuddle. Guess I'll have to toughen her up sometime, but for now it's easier to coddle her!

Here's some cute pics of the girls together lately.

Rub a Dub Dub...3 Girls in a Tub!

Are they smart or what!??

Enjoying the new playdough I made.

Dancing around in the Hanna Montana leotards.

Here's the girls at a Fairy class at Macey's!! They loved making their own wings and finding fairy surprises around the store!

Steve's been super busy as well lately. He's working on studying for his claim's adjuster license. Hopefully he'll be a full-fledged claim's adjuster soon. He's also gotten back into his Mego customizing hobby since it was announced that Mattel is going to start making action figures in the Mego scale! So he's been hunting for just the right fabric, molding and painting heads and sewing up the costumes!!!! He likes working on his hobby again.
He finished building us a computer DVR (like a Tivo). We've been using it for a couple of weeks now and it seems to work great!! So now we have no monthly cable or satellite expenses! Really once you have a DVR, you can't go back!

He's also been working on a Honey-do item each Saturday. Last Saturday he installed another filter in the water filter and recaulked the kitchen sink! It sure looked great!! (And now it's finally off my list after 5 or so years!)
Yesterday he replaced the weather stripping on the bottom of the front door and installed a peep-hole. (We've gotten way too many solicitors lately!)It's amazing how some projects take way longer than planned and some take shorter. It ended up taking him 3 trips to the hardware store for the right weather stripping - and removing the door 4 times. But then installing the peep hole literally took 3 minutes!! That will be nice to have.

We enjoyed getting together with the family last Sunday for Dave and Jill's bday. Here's Emily at Jills bday.
Tanna inserts candles into the cake Lynn made.

We also got invited over to our neighbor's party for both their girls yesterday. They are a Hispanic family and they really throw a party! They invited our whole family, served a yummy party, had 2 pinatas and gave a huge bag of art supplies for the party favors. It was fun to get together with several neighbor families. I think they're taking the missionary discussions, so it's good to get together. Emily at the pinata.
Ella at the pinata - looks like she's got something in for that mouse!

I've just been busy mommying, wifing, couponing, and teaching. I thought I was a pretty good deal seeker when it came to shopping. Turns out I've got MILES to go!! There are hard-core couponers around here! I went to a class the other day and am trying to implement some of those ideas. Sure takes a lot of time, but that's because I'm just a beginner. I'll tell you one thing though. If you ever buy a bunch of cases at a caselot sale and then see the prices cheaper the next week at another store, and then see the prices cheaper the next week at YET another store, just try to ignore it. (Buying, loading, unloading, putting away, re-loading in the car, returning, buying, loading, unloading, putting away, re-loading in the car, returning, buying, loading, unloading and putting away for the THIRD time is a HUGE pain in the rear!!!!!!!) I still have a few scars to show for it! Then last Friday I spent the ENTIRE day, preparing for shopping, shopping and putting things away. Then unfortunately as I cleaned the fridge, prepared the snack boxes for next week and cooked this weekend, I realized things I missed and need to go back for tomorrow!!

Steve and I celebrated our 8th anniversary Friday night! I was exhausted after a terrible shopping day and fell asleep right as Steve came home early for our date!! He was sweet enough to get the girls ready and take them to Jill's and then come home and wake me up. Eden's had a bunch of rough nights lately too. We went to dinner and then a play at the Covey Center for the Arts in Provo. It was called, "I Do, I do." It was in a small theater and just 2 people performed the entire play! It was very cute and showed the progression from a young married couple to raising kids, having marriage problems, marrying off the kids, learning to figure out who they were, growing old and leaving their house.

I've had fun making more and more flower clips. I made a bunch of money at a neighbor's yard sale and it just gives me the impetus to continue. That and getting lots of compliments on my girls hair!!

And to end it off, here's some Asp-isms for the month.
**I made a chicken dish for Sunday dinner and Emily said, "I don't want any chicken syrup!" I was confused until she went and pulled some BBQ sauce out of the pantry!

**Ella says thing the cutest way! She still always says "Her" instead of "she." She starts a lot of words with "Be" instead of the regular sound - "Bectoria" (Victoria). She calls an ambulance a "Alienz".

**I brought the Hula hoops downstairs for preschool and the girls started fighting over the "Holy Hoops!"

**Yesterday while yard saling, we saw a bunch of fancy hunting knives for sale. I told Ella we didn't need them because we don't hunt. She said, "Yeah, except for HUNTING for toys!!"

**Because Ella loves to cut with me, she sits down Sunday mornings and "cuts coupons" with me. She usually cuts out all the toys she wants from the Toys R Us ad. Then she puts them in her purse (along with her cell phone and keys) and takes it shopping with us. However, she doesn't understand why I won't buy them for her..."But Mom, I have a COUPON for it!!"

**Emily was mad that I made her put down her Otter Pop to help set the table. I told her it wasn't the end of the world!! Then when she went to pick it up later, she picked it up upside down and the juice leaked out. She got upset and yelled, "NOW it's the end of the world!!"