Babies and Boo-Boos and Bubbas

Summer is winding down. I like it. First, I couldn't wait for it to come, now I am sick of the heat and am happy to see the first signs that fall will soon be upon us. Sadly, one of these signs is that the hummingbirds have stopped coming around. This is a tad depressing, but I know they will faithfully return for their free gift of red nectar late next spring. For now, I will be busy gathering our garden harvest. We have so many tomatoes, I don't know what to do with them! After I make salsa galore, I guess I will bottle them and then give the rest away! Let me know if anyone wants any tomatoes. (Or salsa for that matter!) And our pumpkin plant is some kinda freak on steroids. I was thinking I would be happy with a pumpkin or two, but the thing has taken over our garden and we will likely have dozens! Please come and get one in October if you are ever in the neighborhood.

Bubbas: Another reason I can feel summer coming to an end is that Drew started preschool last week. He absolutely loves it! He comes home telling me all sorts of things he has learned. It sounds like so much fun, I want to go to his school, too! His teacher is awesome; she reminds me a lot of my mom. Maybe that is why he likes school so much.

First day of school. I love the fake smile, awkward posture, and closed eyes. Classic picture!

Some kids cry and cling to their parents at the prospect of leaving. Not this kid! I could barely contain him long enough to take a few crappy pictures before he bolted off to catch the car pool with his friend's mom. I love that he is so independent. And it makes me a teensy bit sad at the same time.

Babies: I have been spending some time down in Cedar City; last week I spent the week there watching my brother's 4 kids (so there were 6 kids in all-wahoo!) and that was quite the dog pile! I love those kids like they were my own, and they are great kids, so we had a good time. I can tell you this much though- I doubt I will ever have more than 1 or 2 more kids. The chaos makes me nuts! But my mom came to help every day, and we made a fun party of it. Here are some awesome 'darndest things said by kids' moments from that week:

On Saturday we were bbqing some hot dogs and stuff, and I was being an awesome aunt and letting the kids have junk food and soda. As I was fixing Drew's plate with a hot dog and macaroni salad and some Cheetos, this is the exchange that took place:

Drew (looking at the plate of food): "Can I have some cooked carrots?"

Me: "No, sorry, baby- all we have are Cheetos. You will just have to eat those."

So he just takes his plate apathetically and goes outside to eat it. My mom and I were in tears laughing. What kid does that? Asks for veggies when handed a plate of artificial, processed junk food? My kid is so funny! I learn a lot from him. Way to go, Bubba!

Here's another funny one, by my 4 year old neice, Hannah. We were in the bathroom getting ready for church and we saw a bug in the bathtub.

Hannah: "Eww, look- a spider in the tub!"

Me: "No, that's not a spider, it's an insect. Spiders have eight legs; that one only has six. Other types of insects are ants, beetles, and potato bugs."

Hannah: "Oh, potato bugs are my favorite! I LOVE potato bugs!"

Me (teasing): "Well if you love them so much, why don't you marry them then?"

Hannah (dead serious, with a thoughtful look): "Well, they're kinda small...and they wouldn't have any clothes!"

I love it! Little kids are so funny sometimes. I love their innocence. What a crack up!

Boo-boos: Last Thursday night my mom came into town and as we were getting her settled in, Drew saw her pillows at the bottom of the stairs and, of course, he jumped six stairs to land on them. Great idea, right? Wrong. His teeth went almost all the way through his bottom lip. Blood started gushing everywhere, splattering all over the wall, carpet, me, etc. Fortunately, after applying some direct pressure, the bleeding didn't last too long. Unfortunately, his little friend happened to be over playing at the time. The look of terror on his face after seeing the carnage was pretty sad. When all was said and done, Drew was fine, although his lip looks like hamburger, and is amazingly swollen. It is getting better every day, but, poor kid!

Allie is doing awesome too. She is walking quite well now, and learning new words every day. It is nice having her start to be able to say what she wants now. I love her little sassy attitude. (She is definitely her mother's daughter...lol) She has a very different personality than her brother. This is challenging because what worked for him is clearly not going to work for her, so I might have to start from scratch here. It's worth it, though! We love our little girl.

We are getting ready for my first trip to Yellowstone ever. We are going the week after next, and I am looking forward to our first vacation in years (and I use the term "vacation" very loosely here; anyone who has ever gone anywhere with kids knows what I mean.) It will be nice to get away for a few days. We are staying in West Yellowstone at a hotel that is actually little individual cabins, so that should be cool. I am open to suggestions as to what to do & see while there. I really don't know that much about Yellowstone, except that it has geysers. And I am not sure what kind of weather to plan for. Anyone who has been there, please feel free to leave comments. Also, is Jackson Hole a worthwhile place to stop and check out? I have never been there either, but I have heard it is kind of touristy...what do you think?