September 16-30

Here's my husband holding my sister's son during his first birthday party.

In September it was my birthday, too -- my thirtieth! That morning the kids slept in, which is always nice. I picked up my brother from the clinic where he has his blood drawn regularly. He has bipolar disorder and doesn't drive; my mom drops him off on her way to work. The girls were happy to have him watch a Rugrats episode with them (see photo). He really loves his nieces and nephews. He had asked me to take him to F.Y.E., so I did that and then drove him home to our mom's house. 

 

The other good things were my spur-of-the-moment decision to explore the big downtown library with the girls, my workout some time after that, and hearing Shboogoo tell people it was her mommy's birthday..In the evening my mom babysat while my husband and I had a delicious dinner at a Mexican restaurant he had not been to before (I went there once, ten or eleven years ago). A few days later my family went to a buffet restaurant with my sister's family and our mom and brother. It was to celebrate two birthdays: mine and my brother-in-law's are a day apart. My mom gave me a CD I wanted, my sister gave me a cute maternity shirt, my dad and step-mom gave me money, and my husband gave me new scriptures (the others were the only set I had ever had and they were actually falling apart!).

The man who offered to take our picture was kind of impatient, so we didn't have him take another. :)

 

Shboogoo made this tower and wanted me to take a picture of it -- a picture without people. In the background you can see part of the organizer we got at Costco; I love it.

At the park. The little one did NOT want to swing because she hated sand getting her shoes. Luckily she had a sucker from the bank.

There was an event at the library to teach about owls. I'm really glad we went. I was proud of Shboogoo for going up to one of the ladies afterward, like a few other children did, to ask a question about owls. I'm happy that she isn't shy like I was at that age.

That creation on the table was a birthday cake because we were having a party for the two bears.

Two sisters (the older one hid from the camera) were at our place along with my friend who is their mom. Then the girl in stripes knocked on our door and wanted to play. After I took this picture yet another friend from the neighborhood came over. They had not all played together at the same time before.

On September 30th we really enjoyed my husband's LDS mission reunion (the first one we had been to in seven years), while our kids enjoyed sleeping over at Grandma's house. Life is good!

September 1-15

Both of our girls love to play with this friend who lives right above us. There's something special about toys that aren't your own.

 

The way L walked over this was funny. The girls and I like to walk by the creek to look for the ducks. One day I asked L if we should go home. She said, "No go home. Ducks. Baby ducks."

 

This is my favorite tree near our home.

Nursery on Sept. 4 -- this must have been at the very end, since it doesn't look like any other toys were out. We have fun watching our daughter play, clean up, listen to the songs, etc. (nursery is our calling in the ward). 

That same Sunday, the day before Labor Day, some of us had dinner at my dad and step-mom's house. (There are 7 kids but only my younger sister and I and our little families came over.) We celebrated our brother's 13th birthday a little early.

Labor Day with my in-laws at Lava Hot Springs (we didn't take pictures of us four adults):

Some of our favorite friends came over and had dinner with us.

We love these fountains, where we had a play date with three other moms in the ward (not pictured). Their kids are each two or younger, and weren't all over the place like my four-and-a-half-year-old was, but I still got to chat with the moms.

I got this infant car seat at a yard sale for $20. That same week we found all the things below at Kid to Kid. I love premie / 5-8 pound clothing. It's just so tiny! Our babies have needed it because they have been about 6 pounds at birth. Maybe this baby will be about

the same size. (My husband was so cute the other day; he said, "I wanna meet her.")

Playing Metroid.

She did something she shouldn't have, so we made her clean it.

See my earrings at the bottom? She likes to hang things from lamps. 

On our way to play with another friend.

I made laundry soap (see instructions HERE), and it will save us a lot of money. The only thing we didn't already have was the Borax.