The tooth fairy paid us a visit

Grant lost his first tooth last night.  

At first he said he'd just go to bed and pull it out another day, but he just couldn't fall asleep and was so occupied by that tooth.  Keith was at meetings and I spent a good 2 hours with Grant trying to get him brave enough to open his mouth and pull that tooth.  At one point I had dental floss tied around it and then I chickened out and couldn't pull it.  So, I called in back up.  Keith's parents came over and after trying to persuade him to let us get that tooth, I slipped that floss over his tooth again and just as I got it tight Grandma Jackson pulled that floss and POP!  Out came that tooth.  We were all very excited.  Grant was surprised to find out that it didn't even hurt.

 The tooth fairy came!

 This boy took his cute smile to school today, excited to tell his friends and teacher all about it.

Back to School

How is it that Grant is back to school already?  I feel like we were just getting the hang of summer!

On Tuesday night we had a back to school feast.  Barbecued chicken, corn on the cob, bread, rice pilaf, and watermelon were served.  We ate and then shared a few stories about being a good friend and talked about how Grant can be a good friend at school.

 Dinosaurs and other creatures sat among our centerpiece.  

 Keith gave a Father's blessing to each of us and then we hurried to get these kids to bed early.  We have not been good at going to bed on time all summer long, so it's been something we're working harder on this week.

 All of you who are super close to your schools and get to walk are soooo lucky.  We drove.  And even though we went early, we were still parking down the road.  Brett, Camille, and I walked Grant to where his class lines up and then to his classroom.  Grant got situated and we said a quick goodbye.  He has a friend from church in his class so that's fun to already know someone.

 Picking him up from school was an even crazier rush of people.  Luckily my friend watched Camille and Brett for me while I went to get Grant.  Grant likes Kindergarten so far and his teacher seems nice.  He had P.E. today.  Can't wait to hear how it went!

Another weekend at the cabin

We took our little family up to Keith's parent's cabin again this past weekend.  It was just our family there this time.  I think we'd liked to have stayed there for another week.  It was so nice to be away from everyday life and to enjoy a couple good rain storms.  

 On Sunday afternoon we decided to drive to a pretty spot about 30 minutes away and go on a little walk.  Well, right before we got there it started raining really hard.  So we waited in the car to see if it would clear up.  Brett had fallen asleep on the drive there, so Keith took Grant out for a few minutes, while the rain was softer, and they went for a quick walk.  They came back soaked.  Ha!  

Here's Camille pretending to drive while we waited in the rain.

 Fuzzy caterpillars by the cabin.

 I think one of my favorite things about going to the cabin is that the boys can play outside most of the day and get dirty and tired.  They worked on building a fort up the hill from the cabin.

 We went over to Snowflake for some Pioneer Day festivities.  We were so tired from staying up late two nights in a row and missed the parade, but we checked out the car show and craft fair.  We got lunch at Sonic and took it to one of the church buildings and ate in the shade of one of the big old trees there.  We got the boys these cute green chairs when we stopped by the hardware store.  And of course Camille needed a pink one.  She actually was able to sit up in it quite well.

 Here's the boys in one of the big old trees.  

The boys liked getting a close up look at the fancy trucks at the car show.

Keith also played in a golf tournament in Snowflake with a friend of ours.  I told him that if he was going to go play golf on our family vacation that he'd better win or it wouldn't be worth it.  And they did win, so that's good.  :)

These days

I've been reading the sequel to These is My Words.  The first book is amazing and this one is great too. 

 Keith and I played in a couples golf tournament.  It was a hot, hot, hot day, but we started early and I kept my wet bandana around my neck and it really helped cool me off.

 Camille has a new game she plays with the light streaming in from the windows.  I remember this fascinating my boys at this age also.

 Not too long from now this gummy smile will have teeth popping out of it.

 Stink face!

 Keith and the boys doing Yoga.

 I'm so glad this boys still takes naps.

 Grant with his creations.  The one on the left is a machine to plant seeds, water them, and fertilize them all at once.  This boy is so creative!

 Our zucchini plants are still producing.  Our beets aren't getting much bigger than this.  I think I'm going to just pick them all and cook them up.  

 Our citrus trees are doing well.  We just have to keep the boys from picking the unripe fruit.

 I tried doing a little photo shoot, but I couldn't get this girl to smile at all.

 Since Keith made a spot for the barbecue on the shady side of the house we've been grilling a lot more this summer.

4th of July 2014

 Looking patriotic the Sunday before the 4th.

 We spent the 4th of July weekend up at Keith's parent's cabin.  We went to the parade in town and watched the fireworks from our secret spot.  :)

 Keith's sister and her cute family were there too.

 As well as Keith's parents.

 Grant got to raise the flag.

 Practicing his swing.

 Helping move pavers for Grandpa.

 More golf.

 My cute niece with her dad.

 Mr. G

 Wild bunnies running around.

 Hello handsome!

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A little target practice.

 Check out the bug on that flower in the middle.

 My sis-in-law with her cutie-pie.

 Sandbox time.

 The kids had so much fun with this slide on the last day.  

 They all got thoroughly dirty and tired.

After playing, we bathed the kids and put them in their PJ's, had a yummy roast beef dinner and then cleaned up the cabin before we headed home.  The drive home was dark with lots of rain and fog.  It was really neat, but kind of eerie.  The kids slept the whole way home.

An unusually cool morning

 This morning is unusually cool for the middle of July.  The sky has a beautiful overcast.  The boys actually played out back for a while!  I love it when they can play outside.  They get along so much better out there instead of cooped up inside where they seem to just pick on each other all day.

Little Miss Camille stayed inside to roll and army crawl around.  She can get across the room really well on her own.  Love those lips!