Big Kids

This week Evie started school, and Sammy has been potty training.  I can't believe how big all my kids are getting! 

Evie on the 1st day of Kindergarten

Truman and Sam doing an "underwear boys" dance
to celebrate wearing the same underwear together.

As a side note, I think it's kind of funny how you can see the mess in our house in most of our pictures these days.  That's not to say we don't try to keep it somewhat clean, but I think at four kids, I have been WAY outnumbered, and it only stays clean for about five minutes at a time.  Guess we need to start trying to schedule picture-taking around that!

Meanwhile, I'm feeling pretty good about myself for not being too self-conscious at this stage of life.  After all, "Trying to clean while children are still growing is like trying to shovel snow while it's still snowing."

The Yard: Before and After

This is  the best Before shot we could find!

 

After: with a new swing set from Grandma and Grandpa Borup.

And a meal grown entirely in our garden!
(... except the chicken.)

We hauled like three truckloads of trash out of our yard-- pavers, trash wood, and the remains of a pond that the previous owners decided to just fill in with grass when it stopped working (leaving all the stone, plastic lining, etc.  Michael worked really hard, and I'm proud of him-- our yard is great!

End of Summer

We have had a busy few weeks taking vacations and getting ready for school to start.

We went to Boise, where the kids had a blast just playing outside in Grandma Borup's yard, dressing up, visiting with Grandma and Grandpa, and playing at Grandpa's water party he set up for them again this year.  The highlight of Andrew's weekend I think was when he got to wrestle a goat and ride it rodeo style at Michael's aunt Joyce's house.  He really impressed Michael's 11- and 13-year-old cousins, and I think he was pretty proud.  I wish we'd had a camera at the time to take pictures!

Andrew wore that knight helmet
the whole weekend!

Grandma reading bedtime stories to the kids. They loved it!  The only
trouble was finding a place for all three to sit-- I have that problem too.

Grandma and Grandpa Borup gave us their swing set to take home and set up in our newly sodded yard, and the kids have practically lived on that thing since we put it up!


A couple weeks after that we took a camping trip with Michael's brothers to the Albert Moser campground in Preston.  Lots of fun with cousins, and it was such a good time relaxing and not really having to have a whole lot of structure. (In general I like structure, but it also creates a kind of pressure to accomplish things for me that it's nice to escape temporarily.)

Truman and cousins on the hammock-- they spent hours there.

Andrew shooting a slingshot.  Love his focus!

Dirty Evie having lunch.

The kids were so creative about finding things to do, and I was so impressed that this is the kind of life I want for my family in general-- simple, few electronics, lots of outdoor time to be wild, active, and creative.  Our dream is to own some land in the country where our kids can build forts, raise chickens, and explore the outdoors freely.