Update

Hi Everyone.

It feels like forever since I've journaled about our lives. I have lots of time in 5 minute increments. It's when a project is going to take longer then 5 minutes that I have a problem. I'm coming to terms with it. I realize my life will not always be with my small children. And honestly, I think I will miss it a lot. I love these people. We have been enjoying the beautiful weather here. September's been so great. We have done lots of walks, bike rides, trips to the high school track to play, soccer games and practices, jumping on the trampoline, swinging, and just laying in the grass. It's great. We've also made lots of zuchinni desserts thanks to our garden. Yum!

Ashley is doing great in school now. She is starting to learn and she is adjusting to the long days away from home. She loves art, lunch, and recess. She's learned how to ride her bike without training wheels and is loving the independence. She's so fast now. She was quite the drama queen learning, but she is proud of herself now that she can do it. She lost another tooth. She is great at soccer and loves to run after the ball. She gets nervous when she gets to the ball and kind of stands there. She's not as aggressive as last year. She's getting better each game, but I have to kind of temper myself. I keep yelling into the field for her to go kick the ball. And then I get embarrassed that I'm one of those crazy moms. I forgot the camera, so I will post soccer pictures later. She is also doing fantastic at gymnastics, which she loves. I love that she is maintaining flexibility and strength. She can do 4 pull-ups in a row and climb to the top of the rope with no help. She can almost land her cartwheel on the balance beam (we're hoping this week) - once she can do that she gets to move to the twice a week advanced class. Right now she's once a week. She has huge blisters on her hands, which she is extremely proud of, and they have to tape her hands (like a REAL gymnast, mom), before her class. She's doing great. I hope she sticks with it long enough to learn some tumbling skills. She can almost land a back handspring. She is having to balance her fear with trying new things. A lifetime skill, I think.

Katelyn is doing well too. She loves Miss Amy's pre-school and has made some good friends there. She could have a different playdate twice a day all week long there are so many kids her age that want to play. She loves to just stay at home with me. She will tolerate playdates at our house and is getting braver at going to other homes. I'm teaching her to read and she's doing so well. She can identify most of the letters and their sounds and she can sound out almost any 3 letter word and some bigger words. She is great at writing too. She loves to make books. I love starfall.com for this. She is really into computer games and the Nintendo DS making her daddy proud. She also is great at soccer and scored a goal this week. Her best neighbor friend Melanie is playing with her. They run around holding hands. She is much less fearful in gymnastics then Ashley, but can't do as many skills still. She also can do 4 pull-ups. I'm impressed with my girls for this because I can only do 3. And that's really hard for me.

Justin is all boy. He loves to watch trains on you tube, drive his cars, ride in other people's cars, talk about motorcycles with Hans, and look for construction vehicles outside. He still is in touch with his girly side since he loves to have his toenails painted and carry a pink purse with his food in it to the park. He calls his friends endlessly asking if he can come play. I'm grateful that people love him so much and indulge him in this. He's a great friend. He just loves to be going. Anywhere. He doesn't like to be stuck. He is officially 2 1/2 as of yesterday. My handsome boy. I'm going to miss him when he grows up.

Mia is almost 1. Wow! She is such a cute little gal with her 6 teeth. She says Hi to everyone and she says it over and over until she gets a response. She waves her hands while she says it. She also likes to drop things and say uh oh. She is walking along furniture and can stand alone, but she has no interest in walking. She is learning to go down the stairs. I'm excited for this to be completely learned. She is weaning herself to one nap and, sigh, she stopped nursing about 2 weeks ago. She was done. Now she is costing a fortune in formula, but I'm nervous to start her on milk. We found out a month ago that she is allergic to penicillin. Hans is. That's his fault. The milk is my fault.

We took a trip up Pikes Peak yesterday and let the kids play at the resevoir up there. It's so beautiful. I love the mountains. Check out the beautiful picture of Pikes Peak. It's chilly up there. Justin stayed wrapped up in the blanket and the girls dug for worms. I hiked the incline on Thursday and felt grateful to be able to do this kind of stuff and have it so accessible. Saturday I rode a long ride with some friends from church. It's nice to be outside doing stuff. I decided that I am happy so long as I am planning stuff. It's easy to get discouraged with so many small children. I sometimes feel like I can't really do anything. But I think I'm coming out of that funk. Hopefully.

Hans' office is doing well. He's averaged about 70 new patients a month since the practice opened. We're coming up on the year mark for that as well. His stress level is still high. Now he is constantly scheming about getting out of debt within 10 years. Completely. I hope we can. He has been golfing twice in the last week, played basketball, ultimate frisbee, and went to the U v Air Force game on Saturday. Plenty of recreation. We're enjoying the rest of the nice weather while we can.

Enjoy the many pictures!

I kind of hated it

Working the hoochie shorts and pink shirt

Me Dying

Don't let me fool you, I'm not happy

I did the labor day half marathon. I hated every mile of it. Not a single mile did I enjoy. The best part of the race was driving to the start line with Diana and Kim. That was enjoyable. I like those girls. Then waiting in the line to go to the bathroom pre-race and realizing the stalls had no doors. Seriously? They still do that? Then lining up and starting. It was all over after that. I was under-trained. I had trained well for a 9 mile race. Unfortunately I still had 4 to complete after that. Miles 6-9 were okay since I had tons of people yelling at me (the race went out and back) that I was 2nd. I had no idea since I was running solo. Then at mile 10 I had about 10 guys pass me. At mile 11 a girl passed me. Grrrr. Couldn't pull it out. I ended up taking 3rd for women. Pretty awesome. I feel like I came in second since the woman who came in first didn't really look like a woman. Should they have a whole separate category for women on steroids? I think so...I did come home with a nicely engraved beer mug to prove my victory. Anyone want to come party with me?

What we'll miss...

That's me smiling my cheesy smile cause I just love summer so much:) We love swimming at the pool, going to the park, being outside with friends, watching movies, playing on the patio, and eating popsicles. It's awesome. It's not entirely over, but it's kind of chilly now and we have busted out the jackets and put away the sunscreen. So sad. Now we are so busy with school schedules. Ashley goes every single day. And Katelyn goes twice a week from 11:30 to 2. And we have soccer five times a week (3 for Ash, 2 for Kate) and gymnastics twice a week. Not to mention playdates, carpool, and getting everything settled. I am still working on figuring out Ashley's teacher and getting that situation better. Just occupies a lot of my time and thoughts. I am teaching Katelyn to read, which she is so great at. And I am teaching her to be at least one level of the house away from me for an extended period of time. She likes to be in my personal space at every moment. Justin is loving playdates with friends. There are lots of 2 1/2-3 1/2 year old kids in the ward. And he is so social. He calls someone everyday. He called Melanie yesterday to ask her if she wanted to come in his rocket. And he called Grandma to ask her if she would buy him a car. At Walmart. Big like Mommy's car. Good luck Grandma. I feel like with coordinating everything I do a lot of waiting. Waiting to drop someone off, for someone to nap, for soccer to be done, for someone to wake-up. Lots of waiting. I am getting more used to it. I am reading Count of Monte Cristo. It's really, really good. And I think I will go join the YMCA next week now that my running races are over and I'm too fairweather to go run in the cold. No thanks. I am shedding a tear for summer. Maybe we will move to Austin after all.

School Days

School has started. Sigh. No more lazy days of summer. At least for Ashley anyway. It has taken some serious getting used to. It has occupied all our time, thoughts, and conversation.

1st grade is an adjustment for us all.

Please oh please TCA - take care of my Ashley!