School First's

 Zane's first day of Co-op preschool.

 Happy Decorations

GOOOOOOoooooo PRESCHOOL! YAY!!!

The color was RED. Here he is with friend Max

 Doing the ladybug song with the bug he made out of paper plates. So cute. Sorry you cant see the front

 Playing RED light GREEN light.

Gotta love the backpack and the Croc sneakers that he insists wearing socks with

I was talking to my Mum Sunday night and Zane got on the phone and told her HE was riding the bus the next day, he had a backpack and wanted pancakes. Hmm.. He really was so mad he didnt get on the bus with Brody Monday morn. I should have clarified I guess. He was happy to have his own school to go too on Tuesday but still asks me at least 5 times a day where Brody is. Pretty sweet.

 And hes off! my big kindergardner.

 Of course in Crocs, with a magical batman keychain present from Mum and Dad that morning, We told him it had powers to make him brave, make good choices and not feel sad. He loved it.

 I almost lost it when he turned around and gave this cute wave.

After he got off the bus, playing and waiting for the bell to ring to go inside


Brody's highlights of the first day were the bus ride, recess, lunch, a girl got a nose bleed and they have snack time. Awesome.

Baby Update

Still a girl. Still no name- my votes are Indie or Harper and Dev refuses. Big time refuses. Im a bit mad about it.  Still dont have a crib or the nursery ready or the perfect outfit to bring her home in.

Failed my glucose test. WHY!?! I didnt with the boys. And my blood pressure and iron are low. REALLY LOW, like Im only half alive and im starting to feel like that. I go in on Thursday for the 3 hour glucose test and some other tests to see what the heck is going on,

Baby however is wonderful and moving and growing and im SO excited to meet her and experience what its like to be a Mama to a girl. I think I might be totally out of my element now that Im pretty much a pro at this boy thing.

Speaking of boys, potty training has officially started, today, and hasnt gone quite as well as I was wishing. Brody was easy, Zane likes his diapers, doesnt really care about cute big boy underwear, tells me he went potty in the "other potty" has no interest in stickers, rewards or prizes and thinks potty training is for suckers. He didnt say that but I can tell. Tomorrow we are taking the naked approach and not leaving the house. Wish us luck.

Kitchen Loves

I love to cook.. most days. Here are some things Im a HUGE fan of and would never want to go without again. Oh, and Christmas is coming, Im already making lists, these are awesome stocking stuffers if you have a cooker in your house :)

Scored these super cute corn on the cob holders at TJMAXX. Work great.

Latest Pampered chef buy- I use them for rolls, biscuits, mini tarts, individual meat loaf, eggs benedict, endless options.

Snatched up these at the cooking store in ParkCity. Great for buffet style serving

Sushi Veggie cutters- but I seem to use them more for cheese and fruit platters. Stack up 2 or 3 varieties of cheese with a cute pick and it looks wonderful on a platter. Also works so nice for  fruit kabobs

Olive Oil spritzer. Say goodbye to PAM. Great little gadget

This was in my stocking a few Christmas's ago- thanks Mum! And I LOVE IT! Its a pickle fork that wraps its cute self around any size of pickles (or whatever you want) I leave it on until the pickles are gone. Love it especially for BBQ do it yourself burger decorating

Another Pampered Chef buy, can split down into 2 tiers. Makes you want to throw a food party

Slowly swapping out all my spoons and such for silicone- I think it makes a huge difference!! Easier to use, easier to clean, doesnt scratch my pans and comes in great colors. I love the chef'n brand

Oh wow. I really really cant live without these. No parchment paper, no pam, no pan prepping and it makes things bake SO nice. Especially love it for rolls and roasted veggies.

Vanilla Bean Paste. You wont ever go back to regular vanilla and its much easier to use and store then actual vanilla bean. Ive tried a few and the Madagascar brand is my fave. 

I call them chunker scissors, mostly use them for cutting green onion into nice small chunks, but have also used them for parsley, cilantro and celery.

Ninja cookie cutters. Brings a whole new meaning to food fights. I cut up the boys sandwiches or use them for pancakes- then they have wars and get their heads bitten off. Its lovely really :)

SUMMR RECAP

So the whole point of me doing a blog was to replace a journal and keep up with our happenings and hopefully to encourage more picture taking on my part.. I feel like ive failed miserably. Oops. Summer is nearly over, so here Im brain storming with the kids to try and remember what we have done. (In a total random order)

Hogle Zoo- dinosaurs, spray guns

Hiking Bridal Veil Falls

7 Peaks Water Park

Bear Lake

4 Wheeling
Train Tunnel

Bad Lands

Bike rides
Spray Parks in Highland and Ogden
Snail Farm
Craw Fishing

Fishing

Bowling
River Walk at the Bear River
Trip to Canada
Lots of trips to the park
Waterton
More 4 Wheeling
Splash Park in Butte MT
Sleeping in the tent
Petting Zoo

Cars 2

Picking fresh corn and beans and apricots

Sleeping at hotels, swimming anytime and the waffle makers.

Visits from all Grandma's and Grandpa's
Fireworks
Mecham Reunion in BearLake- fun with cousins
Fair

Outerlimits

Smurfs Movie

Summer bedtime has been 10pm. Oops

Snowcones

Miller Reunion on the DeerBorn in MT-caught fish, 4 wheeling, river rafting
Saw a giant bull snake.
Fire pit in backyard done! Smores anytime
Water Balloons
Potion Making
Snake, bug and bee catching
Plane ride to Boise
Carnival
Boating, tube rides, getting thrown off was especially great

Park City Mountain resort- Alpine slides and coaster, merry go-round, Bungee Jumper

Swimming with friends
Riding the TRAX all over SLC, going up to the library roof, playing at the gateway, build a bear, ice cream

It really has been a great summer, I am slowly getting more excited for school, Brody is BORED when we arent doing something all the time, I get asked by both kids multiple times a day what we are doing.

My door bell rings A LOT! thanks to our new social network of 6 and under, I have tried to establish some guidelines for proper doorbell etiquett, like you only ring once, you have a mximum of 5 rings a day, no ringing before 9am or after 8pm. These are NOT being followed. Im getting just a tad grouchy about it. It makes me miss our Pocatello house with no neighbors. I sometimes go to bed and dream of living on a farm with NO doorbell.

With school approaching we have been school shopping, one day I told Brody he needed to come with me because he was big enough to pick out what he wanted. We left the store with Mario t shirts, all things Star Wars and Batman and Star Wars light up shoes. Hmm.. after that shopping trip I decided to finish up solo :)

The school open house was last night, We met Brody's teacher who is disney quality lovey and super happy- all things kindergarden. Should be good.

Hello

I like posting pics of my kids and really anything but pics of me. Somewhat because Im always the one taking pics (if picture taking is actually going on) AND because im just not loving myself in pics these days. Already working up motivation for post baby workouts and figuring out how to lose the chub.. already dreading it. Not my favorite things to do. Anyways, heres a pic of me and sweet Zane at my newest neices' baby blessing.

So me and my SIL are due within weeks of eachother, both with girls, and at the blessing there was a SIL from my BIL's side of the fam (did you get all that) who is due right around us, and she was sporting this cute little belly, like a big breakfast belly and was chatting about how she just completed a triathalon. WOW. I was totally impressed, but not enough to actually think that running and biking while 6 months prego sounded like fun. I will never be THAT girl. Im good with it.

Ive slacked at this blogging stuff, so a real quick update:

Summer has so far consisted of:
Trip to Canada to be in Canadian BFF's wedding.
Lots of extra fun while there, and was even there to celebrate Canada Day!!!!

Fam reunion in BearLake with Mechams. Wonderful! So good to see everyone and to play at the beach and take fam pics and just enjoy eachother. Devs fam is HUGE- do you have a huge fam? Check out the BearLake Hermitage next time you need a place to all stay. Its actually in Paris ID but was great and we all fit with room to roam. Only downer was getting SO HOT at night. I was extra wimpy.

Im right in the middle of begging E town to build me a splash park, ok its not just for me but I think I want it the most. Stay tuned.. We will see what happens.

We have had lots of backyard fun with friends, a POP party, BBQ's- the summer standards. Im in a bit of a panic because summer is coming to an end and I still have at least 50 things I really want to do. I better bust a move.

The Parents are coming in the morn so Im sure I will check off lots of things from my summer list during their stay.

Confession: I havent 'cooked' dinner in 2 nights. Im ok with it. Im actually having a bit of an internal tantrum because I cook and then the kids are like ' I want peaches and cottage cheese and toast' So why the heck did I cook! and make a big mess in the process?? So Ill resume tomorrow when company is here and its worth it. Tonight was peaches, snap peas, cheesy crisps and carrot sticks, and lunch meat ham rolled up.  You missed out. As for my darling husband, he has worked SO much and so long and really does deserve a nice cooked meal, but he hasnt complained about the weird suppers so tomorrow will just seem extra yummy right?

ADVENTURE DAY!!!

One day my kids will come to learn that adventure day means Mum and her crazy friend are going to load up the kids and drive off to the unknown.. Its GREAT! This was actually adventure #2 but of course I didnt have my camera for the first one (a trip to an old train tunnel) Adventure day today was going on a hunt for these cool 'clay hills' or badlands, we found them! But had a tricky time actually figuring out how to get down to them instead of the road above, in our search we did come to a long forgotten ranch so we parked and started the adventure.

Our picnic location had a little stream, with a built in SHOE CLEANER according to the kids, they would go to one side and send their shoes floating through the other and they would come out magically clean. Oh they were SO impressed.

Waiting for the magic...

Great pass time for the lil guys- sent them on a secret mission to fill up their juice bottles with rocks. Mission accomplished

Alas! We found the way to the badlands! Brave kids wasted no time working their way to the top.

We will have to another day here, we promised caves and didnt really find any. Next time...

Name Our Baby! Because we are having issues!

Want to share your most favorite baby girl name with me and risk me stealing it?? Because Im sad this baby doesnt have a name, right now I call her Kicker or Sleep Stealer, thats not very nice. Dev and I are NOT agreeing. In fact we arent even close. So I really am asking for suggestions. Something you have heard and love, something you made up in your head, your husbands Ex girlfriend with a cute name that you will never use because its his ex, Im taking all suggestions.

Also, I think my last post scared some of you. So I will clarify. I trust YOUR judgment, just not mine yet. I just dont know what im doing :) You all do.