Last Week Before School Starts

We managed to pack in quite a bit in the last couple weeks before school starts tomorrow. I can't believe that time of the year is here, but we've had a great summer!
Cole and Sadie hoola hooping

Jayda and Kelsey

Yummy picnic at the park!

Sadie double hoola hooping!

The kids

The kids

Kiddos playing in the hurricane rain.

Last week Kelsey wouldn't let go of this purse... when it came to nap time, she wouldn't let go...hence, the purse in the bed. :)

Wait... A 5.8?!?!

I was sitting at my computer this afternoon while the older two kids were engaged in an activity in the basement and the youngest two kids were napping. All of a sudden, there was shaking. At first I thought it might be a huge truck going past our house. Then, the massive shaking continued and I sat there... to stunned to even move. An earthquake!?!?! Why, yes it was! 5.8 to be exact. I haven't felt an earthquake since we lived in CA. Needless to say, my heart took several minutes to get back to a normal speed. Afterward, a friend called to ask how we were. She said she had taken her kids to sit in the bathtub. Goodness! I didn't even think about that. I was too scared to even move... just sat there praying for the shaking to stop before things started falling.... falling off the walls, trees falling on my house, my house falling over.... you get the picture. I'm grateful to say that all is well.

New item on the calendar for Saturday... "Go through 72 hour kits".

Update: I talked to my Mom tonight. As some of you know, my parents are serving a mission at the DC Temple... they were working there today when the earthquake happened. Things were shaking, that's for sure. While we were talking, we decided that if you were going to die, holding hands with your spouse while working in the temple would be the way to go. :) Mom also said that four of the six spires on the temple are no longer pointed, as 5 to 6 feet of the points are now gone. Glad that no more damage than that occurred there...

Kelsey Jane

I had so many cute pictures of Kelsey, I had to do a post just for her! We love this girl! She is so fun, cute, giggly and happy. Kelsey likes to run, doesn't like to do stairs, loves her siblings, is a Daddy's girl, loves baths but not the pool, will sit and look at books for a half-hour at a time and she adores Fig Newtons. :)
Loves being a big girl on the little chairs

Peek a boo through the rails

LOVES looking at books

Pretty in her Sunday dress!

Carries her baby doll everywhere!

Morning at the Park!

This morning we went to Clemyjontri Park. The kids always have a ball there. Maddie came with us... her first time at that park and we all had a great time. You can tell, from the rosy cheeks, that it was a hot day. Since it is Sadie's V.I.P week (more about that later) I let the kids go on the carousel, which we haven't done there before. Fun!!
Cole

Static on the slide

Maddie and Jayda

Race!

Kelsey and Sadie

Airplane ride!

Kelsey Jane!

Twins?

Nope. Just Sisters.
Can you guess who is who?

Finally-The Tooth Fairy gets to come for a visit!!

We've had some drama at our house the last couple of weeks. Sadie has had a loose tooth for a long time. She didn't like to wiggle it because "it hurts". Then, 2 weeks ago, I noticed that her new tooth was growing behind the one that hadn't come out yet! Yikes! This is exactly what happened with Cole's first tooth. So, we told her to wiggle it like crazy! Again, she wasn't really motivated. I tried to scare her by telling her she would have to go to the dentist and get it yanked out... I told her if the tooth didn't come out, she would have this second snaggle tooth and it would look freaky. :) She didn't care. It just didn't matter if the tooth came out or not. This is SO opposite of Cole's experience. We told him to wiggle his tooth like crazy because his next one was already coming in and it was out in 1 day! Bart has tried to pull it out several times, using his fingers, gauze, tweezers, etc. He just couldn't get a good grip on it. I told him he needed to follow my Dad's example and use needle nose pliers. So, today I headed to the local hardware store and bought two different kinds. Good thing I did... it was the second pair that worked. Bart clamped on, Sadie jerked back because she was scared and said it hurt and Bart was left holding her tooth in the pliers. So, in essence, Sadie pulled her own tooth out. It was major celebration after so much drama, crying and freaking out that has happened around here the last few weeks. I think Sadie deserves something special from the Tooth Fairy! :)

Some Pics

The girls ready for ballet class.

Cute Jayda

G&G Randall with the kids (they drove cross-country to start their 1 year mission serving in the DC Temple!)

Picture of Kelsey taken by Jayda

Picture of Jayda...taken by Jayda :)

Pickin' Peaches

I went back and forth about going to pick peaches this year. My kitchen is still a disaster, so I knew I couldn't make anything from the peaches... but, in the end, decided it was worth the drive/hassle just to be able to eat all the fresh peaches we wanted and to continue the tradition with our kids. So, off we went to pick peaches and tomatoes (who doesn't love a tomato/miracle whip on white bread sandwich!). Our awesome friend, Maddie, came along for the fun and was a huge help! We had a great time, in spite of the heat and humidity. We ended the morning with some ice cream, which helped cool us off.
Cole letting Kelsey have a bite of his ice cream

Big bites of tomato!

Kelsey... enjoying her ride and her tomato

The kiddos

Cole helping Kelsey feed the goat

The whole gang! (you can't see the kids faces very well sticking out of the signs)