September '11

I can't believe that I still have Summer stuff on my blog, and it's the dead of Winter.  Time to catch up!  September means School, and I have 3 in school this year!  They all started on the same day:  the day after Labor day.  Everyone was excited.  Erin is in 4th grade this year.

Devin (going into 1st grade) bumped his head right before this picture!  Then we rushed him right out the door to school!  Oops!

Colin was excited, but nervous to start preschool.  When I left him he cried.  But once he discovered how fun it was, he never cried again.

We also went to the Utah State Fair.  After doing several things as a family, we let the kids each choose 1 ride to go on. 

Erin chose this bungee bouncer.  She loved it! 

They all loved the animals!

Also in September, Erin got her Brown Belt!  Only one more belt left!

September 15th was Colin's 4th Birthday!  He's getting so big!  I decided that this year it would be fun for him to have his first friend party!  He invited 4 friends, and they had a great time!

Then later on when John got home, we celebrated again with more cake and ice cream!

On September 17th, John ran the marathon that he had been training for all summer!  His goal was to do it in 4 hours.  He did pretty well!  He did it in 4 hours 15 minutes!  An excellent time for his very first marathon ever!

Devin has started losing his baby teeth!  He lost the first one in August and the second one in September.

And what did the tooth fairy do with his 2 teeth?  She passed them on to Sean!  (Sean really got his first 2 teeth in July, but it was kind of cute that he had the 2 teeth that Devin was missing)  :-)

Here's my cut Sean at 10 months old!  At this point he was doing an army crawl, pulling to stand, clapping, mimicking everything, and just being a cutie (when he wasn't teething).

June

In June we were busy with Soccer! (It started in May) Devin loves to play Soccer! And this year John surprised us all by volunteering to be his coach! I think they both really enjoyed it! At least it made us be on time to every game!

John ran his half marathon in June too. His goal was to run it in less than 2 hours. and he did just that! he ran it in 1 hour 50 minutes! Way to go John!

At 6 months old (in June), Sean is getting big. he sits up really well and is a fun little boy!

He's even starting to grab onto the swing! It's time to pack away all the little baby toys!

We also took the kids swimming at a new pool in our area. It was Sean's first time, and he loved it. There was no water shyness at all!

At the end of the month, Erin got her red belt 2nd degree, and John got his Brown belts. I think we're well protected at our house!

Colin's 2!!!

September 15th, 2009I can't believe the day would come when my BABY is 2 years old! We had a quiet little family birthday with dinner, cake and presents.

Colin's favorite presents are this car that you shake to rev. the engine, and then set it down and it goes by itself, and his new Elmo.

Elmo was actually a hand-me-down that Devin decided to give to Colin for his birthday (with a little help). He helped me program it to say "Hi, Colin! Let's Play!" It sings songs and talks about Colin's favorite colors and foods and everything. For days after his birthday, Colin insisted on taking Elmo and his car everywhere we went!

It just so happened that Karate fell on Colin's birthday, so we spent a little of the evening at Karate Graduation. Erin and John are now Green belts! For those of you wondering how many that is, the order is: White, Yellow, Orange, Purple, Green, Blue, Red, Brown, and Black. They are half way to their goal of becoming Black belts together! Way to go guys!

Happy 4th of July!

We went to Delta for the 4th of July this year. On Friday, I decorated the kids' bikes up and then they were in the kids parade!

Erin shot off so fast that I didn't see much of her. Devin went fast at first, but when he went past the grand stand with all the people clapping he started to wave! He smiled and waved at all the people, and the more they clapped and laughed and waved back, the more he waved. It was so cute! What a little show man he is! After the parade, we stayed at the park to watch my Mom play in the Delta Orchestra. The kids loved the music.

At the Parade Saturday morning, Colin sat comfortably on Grandma and Grandpa's laps in the shade while Erin and Devin did all the hard work of collecting candy. They got a ton of Candy!!!!

After the parade we played at the park on those blow up toys and slides. It was so hot, though that we didn't stay long. Later we set up a pool in the back yard and they all cooled off.

We had an awesome BBQ and then we drove home. My sister Mindy Blessed her Baby Zack on Sunday. I forgot my Camera though, so this will have to do until I get some pictures from someone in my family.

This week I signed the kids up for swimming lessons. Erin didn't want to because "I already know how to swim Mom!", but now she's glad to be in lessons.

Devin is loving the lessons! He's like a fish!

By the way, I forgot to post that John and Erin got their purple belts! I'm so proud of them. They have to test on their moves, but also on sparring. At first Erin didn't like sparring, cause the boys would hurt her, but all of a sudden she's so good! In fact, her Sensei called to see if she would come early on graduation day to spar with someone who still needed to test. She gave him a run for his money!

Karate

Erin has been loving her Karate class. When Erin earned her Yellow belt a couple of months ago, John decided that he should have earned one too. He took her to all of her classes, and he quizzed her on all her moves. Why shouldn't he get one too. So this time, John decided to join. Their teacher allowed John to test for his Yellow belt and his Orange belt on the same day, so he received them both at once. And Erin worked really hard to learn all her Orange belt moves. We are so proud of her! Don't they look dashing in their outfits!

Karate

Well, for the past few weeks Erin has been learning Karate. Tonight was her test and she passed! She will be receiving her yellow belt next Tuesday. Hurray for her! We were a little worried about a week ago, but a good solid week of drilling and practicing has really paid off. I think John and I should earn a Yellow belt too!

Devin has been taking a speech class every Tuesday. He goes for 45 minutes and He loves every minute of it! I try to give him a quiet time before class, so that he's rested up, but last week he came home so tired. He fell asleep in the middle of his snack! He must be doing hard labor in that class ;-)