August 2012

I am almost a full year behind, but I am NOT a quitter, so here comes August...of last year!

My littlest man hit 8 months.  I am having a hard time watching him grow up!  I want him to stay a baby forever.  Unfortunately for me, that doesn't seem to be a part of his plan.  What's with the shiner?  Well, this little guy took a header out of his car seat in a store.  Mom of the year moment!  I felt SO bad.  I actually ended up taking him to the ER because of the aftermath, but he is just fine!  He is not a big smiler, so any time I can get a picture of the tiniest grin I am absolutely thrilled!

We FINALLY got rid of the PEPTO pink room!  I have been ready to repaint this room since the day we moved it.  Unfortunately my girls were young enough that pink walls and a princess border were their dream come true.  At six and eight years old they finally gave in and agreed that they were ready for a more "grown up" look.  I don't know if it is really more "grown up" or not, but most importantly it is not PINK!  (Excuse the messy bedroom in the before and in the after shots...I didn't make it beautiful, but you get the idea.)

 It was our FHE activity one night to take down the border.  It was kind of a pain, especially when we realized that the people who had done it before had kind of made a mess of the wall, but it was DONE!

Finally time to paint.  Want to know the best way to paint?  Ask someone else to do it!  This lovely lady was SO forgiving of our chaos and so willing to make it right!  I am SO grateful!

I know the video doesn't do justice to Vanessa's wonderful work since all the furniture is still in the middle of the room and there are drop cloths everywhere, but it gives you an idea.  Since I am posting almost a year too late, that will have to do.

The kids have been curious lately about rocks, gems, geodes, and such.  We thought it would be fun to give them a chance to see a geode for themselves.  We bought a kit and let the kids break them open.  They were so excited and it was such a cool little science lesson!  They all had a blast.  (Nearly a year later I may or may not have regretted this...wait until I do my June 2013 post for the end of that story. ;) )

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!  My beautiful girls started first and third grade at the end of the month.  Tori is an old pro at this, but I LOVE that she still wants me to walk her to class, and stand with her in line!  I still think of her as my little princess, and I probably always will, so it's nice for this overly sentimental mom to still have those few moments to squeeze my little ones and remind them that they are still my babies.  

This year was a first for us with Liz.  Her teacher "looped" with the class, so her whole kindergarten class stayed together and the teacher went with them up to first grade.  We haven't ever done that before, and we weren't sure how we felt about it.  Looking back I can say it was a gift from Heaven!  Liza is a truly tender heart, and this couldn't have been more perfect for her.  She loves Ms. Katie, and so do I.  We are so lucky we got her for two years, and so thankfully for how much she understood and helped my little angel as she hesitated, and even cried a little on this first day of school.  She is such a little love bug!

 We also have an amazing blessing of having our best friends and cousins at the same school.  Tori and Lil have been inseparable since we moved to Colorado almost nine years ago!  Liz and Soph have been in the same class for four years in a row now both in church and in school.  They are only three weeks apart in age.  Since I didn't grow up knowing my cousins very well I truly feel like this is another amazing gift!

We had a couple of other firsts this month (in addition to school and black eyes) including:  a trip to the Denver Mint!  SO cool to see how our country makes money and hear about some history too!

a lost tooth

and the Colorado Springs mining museum and Garden of the Gods!