July: Grayson Turns 10!

 Whew, we finally made it to the end of July. July ends with Grayson's birthday. 

This kid is something special. He is just goodness. He is kind, helpful and funny. He can learning anything he sets his mind to! After the fair last year, he got a bit of spending money to buy a whip. He pulls it out every now and then. He is getting really good at it! He is very excited to go to 4th grade here in Texas. He also enjoyed the super fun astronaut costume. 

He requested a stacked cake this year. That was a first for me and I'd like more tips on how to get better! Also, every Pinterest ad LIES about how simple and easy drip frosting can be. LIES. He was happy with the end result and that's all that matters. 

He had his hopes and dreams set on this HUGE Lego pirate ship. It's expensive and I luckily found a good deal and he was so happy! He also love the Calvin and Hobbes books. I found a good deal on those, too. He's pretty lucky that we "knew" just what to get him, too. He also got a digital camera. I wish blogger could show videos because they are HILARIOUS! The camera has a green screen function and my kids have active imaginations. 

He is always willing to do hard things. He is the first to say sorry, the first to help and is always up for learning something new. I can barely keep him in clothes and shoes because he's growing so fast! We can't wait to see what 4th grade has in store for our Grayson boy! 

Until next time...

July: In the Middle

In the middle of July, we met lots of people. We have been invited to a few different homes of members in our ward. Each time has been a blast! We've had cake, a 4th of July BBQ and more than one swim invite. It's humbling to watch the Lord take care of our family and surround us with those we need as we've moved away from our family. Tyler is now serving with the YM in our ward. I was called to be Nolan's primary teacher. The next week, they asked me to switch to Primary Singing Leader. I've never been the singing leader, but THEY. MOVE. MOUNTAINS. I'm intimidated in hoping that I can share the Spirit of primary music with these kiddos, while still having lots of fun. Tyler's intimidated as well, only because, I'm OCD and tend to go a little a lot overboard. 

Papaw looked and got a job in the Arlington area and they are  moving to Texas! We will be about an hour away from them. While they are waiting for their house to sell, they are renting a house in Grand Prairie and Alamo the English Mastiff needed a refugee camp. Tyler and I agreed. One weekend they came to build him a kennel in the back yard. A few weekends later we took in Alamo the refugee as they settled into their rental house. It was hot and it took a little more than suggestion to convince they take a break and drink some water. Papaw even jumped in the pool to cool off! Afterword, they kindly shoved us out the door and told us to go to a movie. We got to see the newest Thor. 

I'm not sure who needed the nap more? Nolan drew a cute message to greet Nana, Papaw and Kendra back to Texas! 

We were invited to swim and they just had a beautiful view of Eagle Mountain Lake. I could resist taking the picture. We swim every day. So much so that Lyla can now swim without a floatie. As long as she has goggles she can swim the length of the pool. We have been working on helping her learn to pause to take a breath and start swimming again. 

Nolan got brave and started doing front flips of the diving ledge at a ward members house. Grayson was willing to do them off the ledge under the waterfall, but didn't want any pictures. 

We are mostly moved in and so the kids have been getting less devices and we are back to mom school. One day they did these sticker by number pages and it was quiet. For like an hour. They are my new favorite kids distraction tool! One day I needed to be on the computer for more than a bit and they quietly played with kinetic sand. I can't believe school starts in about a month. 

Here in Texas, school starts at 7:30 and the bus will stop by our place around 6:45. Lyla will be going to all day Kindergarten. To stay that we are on the morning routine struggle bus, is an understatement. We are doomed. We have spent June and July weaning Lyla off of naps. This is how its going. Wish us luck. 

Until next time...

July: Nolan Turns 8!

 We always kick of July with a birthday! Nolan had a big one this year. He turned 8! In August he gets baptized and we are excited for him to make that choice. 

He wanted a sports ball cake this year and it turned our pretty good! Doing each cupcake separately took a long time! Soccer balls are also very difficult to get the geometry jussssttt right. He got spoiled! He got Pokémon cards that were everywhere until we organized them all. He also got an outdoor adventurer kit and a new Texas shirt. We as a family got him a watch he's been begging for and some Heely's I got a good deal on. His face when he opened the shoes was very cute! He learned very quickly how to use them. He's a pro at rolling around in them everywhere we go. He was very impressed that everyone just "knew" what to get him that would make him happy! 

We took a family trip to the Dallas Temple, where we took some nice pictures of Nolan to celebrate him choosing to get baptized. The best picture of all was the one he took with his Daddy. He is Tyler's mini-me through and through. From looks to brains, they have it all! He is smart, creative and FULL of energy. He has a wonderful singing voice (ONE DAY HE WILL LOVE IT!) and it pretty athletic. He is observant; always watching and planning ahead. He will be capable of anything he dreams if Tyler and I can keep his energy pointed in the right direction. 

 

We met a boy in Nolan's Primary class that was one day older than him! This boy ALSO plays the piano (a first for us, we haven't met a boy who plays yet!). I'm SURE they're supposed to be friends. They haven't decided yet. They invited us over for cake and we had a nice time getting to know new people in our ward. They also had lots of Lego and a fun Astronaut costume.  

We got some really cute pictures of this boy! Even though we had to blurt our fart and poop more times than I can count. He also has his Daddy's fake smile. He's been working this summer on a piano duet with me at his baptsim!

We sure love our Nolie Polie!

Until next time...