I'm thinking of becoming a Momtographer

The kids and I went on a hike to Spirit Mound today, and I brought our new camera to play with.

I love fall in the Midwest.

First Day of School

Camille started Kindergarten a week ago, and Owen started preschool on Tuesday.

Camille was so excited that she forgot to be scared, which was good. She has been brave enough to walk into the school by herself when I drop her off.

 Owen was so excited to go to preschool, but he broke his toe (we think) the day before his first day, so that put a damper on it. I had to carry him in to school, but he managed to hobble around on the side of his foot.

I have loved having a few free hours to get stuff done with just Emily home. My kitchen hasn't been so clean since spring!

A trip in numbers and pictures

3 hours between stops on this trip, both for the nursing baby and the not-very-well-toilet-trained boy

13 throw-ups

4 hours the kids spent one afternoon in the pool at Brian's parents' house

89 motorcycles Owen counted on the road between Lusk, WY, and Edgemont, SD

4,500 tomato plants at Dad's house

4 side-of-the-road potty stops (3 times were #2)

2,640 miles driven

24 pound banana squash that Dad sent with us

A sweet sight

Dinosaur Park in Ogden

Not Dad's tractor; this was the Owyhee county fair

Owen is a wild boy

This is Dad's tractor

Barf boy. Holding the barf bowl like this helped a lot.

Craters of the Moon. Too bad we didn't have more time to explore it

More things happened

 Camille graduated preschool. I didn't realize preschool graduation was such a big thing. Also, I didn't give the teacher any sort of present. She doesn't seem the kind of person to expect this, but I know from my friend who taught the 4-5 year-olds at a daycare that they all gave her a gift card at the end of the year. Is that a thing?

We roadtripped to Fondy. It was nice to go and visit Ben, but it was a lot of driving for not being there very long. 

Having a minivan was awesome. It was way more comfortable and convenient than the SUV, plus we got 25 mpg. 

Emily did well on the trip, although feeding a baby in a car is hot and gross for both parties. She was still happy when she got attention and time out of the car seat. 

Camille turned 5. She chose those hard sugar decal things for her cake, and surprisingly, they weren't as gross as I remembered them being.

I got a trail-a-bike at a yard sale last fall. Camille was a nervous wreck about it, but Brian needed to drop her off at her summer program one day while I was taking another kid to the doctor. With a bribe of a new Barbie, we got her to get on the bike. They successfully made it without any mishap, and now Camille wants to go everywhere Daddy goes on his bike.

The kids always gang up on Emily. Poor girl. Also poor goopy eye.

We did the little hike overlooking the Missouri River. It was good except for when Camille was afraid we were going to get eaten by a bear and thought the trail was haunted.

When I went to practice the organ one evening, the sun was beaming and it was just so pretty. South Dakota has awesome sunsets.

We go to free lunch almost every day. It's our routine. And the kids LOVE "shopping" on Fridays. Look at this loot. This year they are including a meat option each week. Unfortunately my kids sometimes pick hot dogs over 2.5 pounds of free range boneless skinless chicken thighs.

 

I'm not giving up on blogging

But I may only blog once a month or less. Lots of things happened.

For General Conference, I brought out the thing I made before, plus I tried the treat associated with words thing. It worked for about one talk. The cheetos were a terrible idea.

Easter

Owen's birthday

One layer of the cake fell apart, so I made them into cake ball footballs. Yum.

He got a baseball bat, little glove, and a kids camp chair. He has loved all of them and they were all inexpensive. Win win.

We have been enjoying the nice weather.

After running through the speinkler, Camille's hair was AWESOME.

This was the only picture I got of Emily's blessing day. :( I might put her back in the dress just to take a picture.