Wicked Long Post...It's Been a Wicked Long Time!

It has been a super long time since I posted. I thought that I would just skip everything that happened and blog about Halloween, but I decided that since I haven't been very good about journaling for my kids that I am going to make my blog into books for them, and that will have to do for now. So this post is mostly for me, so I don't forgot some of the things that happened the last couple months.

On July 14th, Paul and I celebrated being married for 10 years. He was actually in Mexico on the 14th, but he gave me the coolest gift. Who knew he had it in him after 10 years? We ate out at Flemmings Stake House. Which is soooo GOOD.

Paul was gone for two weeks after that. Everyday while he was gone, he had a friend deliver a charm to a bracelet he gave me before he left. He individually picked each charm to represent something we had done together the past 10 years. It was really special and amazing. I love it! He also promised to take me anywhere in the world that I wanted to go. I've never been on a white sand beach with amazing green, blue water. (I've been to Hawaii, which was awesome, but I want some really amazing water.) So we are going to go to Tulum Mexico in November. Our room is right on the beach, so I'm very excited.

We've had an awesome 10 years. I am so blessed to be married to such an amazing guy. He really is perfect for me. I am excited for the next 10 years. =)

In August, my Grandpa Faucette passed away. So we took an unexpected trip down to Colorado. It was great to be together with my MANY Faucette cousins and remember all the great times we had with Grandpa. All of my grandparents have now passed away. Good thing I can share Paul's. =)
It was fun to be together as a family on our road trip. We got to steal Paul from Mexico for a couple extra days, and the kids were really good.
Hannah loved Colorado. I grew up in a very small farming community. She liked it a lot. She told me when she gets older, she is going to live there. (Her chances of living there are very unlikely.) But I am glad she liked it.
Madelyn got to meet her cousin that everyone says that she looks like. My cousin Rebecca's little Jillian.
Hannah had a lot of fun hanging out with all her cousins that she had never met before. It was fun to see her playing with my cousins' kids. It brought back memories of all of us playing when we were kids. It was really great to have some many generations together in one place.
Grandpa Faucette (my dad) likes to let the kids help him mow the lawn.
I really like this picture of my dad. I'll have to get a good one of my mom and post. The one I took of her turned out blurry.
Christina and Brian are enjoying their new house that they built in Logan. They were able to break away from work and make it.
Keri and Russell also made it. So did Donavan and Elise with their new baby.
Erica made it also. She was just barely pregnant and really sick. I'm glad she was able to make it.
Here are my cutie sisters with their hair all cute and perfect makeup. My excuse..3 kids..they had NO kids with them. =) At least that is what I tell myself. I had fun hanging out with them.
At the end of August, Paul's parents and Grandpa and Grandma Wheeler took a road trip to visit us before school started. It was really nice to see all of them.
The kids love when the grandparents come. We can never see them enough.

Picture with Grandpa and Grandma Oman.

Picture with Great Grandpa and Grandma Wheeler.

We are finally enjoying some cooler weather to play outside. So that is what we do. We play outside as much as possible while the weather is cooler and not humid. Hooray for winter in Texas. =)
Here is Hannah on her first day of school. She was so excited. She has been doing really good in school. Her teacher says that she catches on very quickly and is very kind and willing to help everyone around her.
Hannah was so excited to ride the bus. She has been anxiously waiting for two years. The day finally arrived.
She loved it just as much as she thought she would. Hannah is gone from 7:30 - 3:30. It is a long day. It took her about a week to not be grouchy in the evenings. She loves school. She never wants to miss a second of anything going on. I love that our neighborhood has so many kids that are the same age as my kids. We have a lot of fun with all the friends around after school.
Hannah has homework everyday after school. She is very good to eat her snack and then do her homework. She seems to enjoy it. Then we usually ride bikes, go to the park, or play with friends. Here is Hannah with her first completed homework assignment.
Hannah did ballet for a month. I had her signed up for Wednesday right after school. I think it was a little much for her to have to come right home after a long day, and then do ballet for an hour. I have learned that Hannah needs her down time. So instead of fighting her to do it, we decided to not schedule any structured activities after school this year. I think Hannah has decided that ballet may not be for her. She loves the dancing, but not the performing. Right now she likes gymnastics and soccer a lot more. Which I'm actually pretty happy about. =)
Hannah got to bring the class monkey home. She took him everywhere and then got to draw pictures and write in the Monkey's journal about his adventures with her.

Here is Hannah at soccer. It is indoors and really hard to get a good picture with the lighting they have. Funny story about soccer. Hannah loved her first practice and game. The next week, she only played half the time. I couldn't figure out what was wrong. The next week she was excited to go again, once we got there she looked at the field, turned around, and refused to go.

I was really confused, but started wondering if it was the male coach. Her first practice had been with a girl and a boy. In gymnastic, Hannah wouldn't go on any equipment that was being spotted by a male. Not matter how much she liked to do it.

So I thought I would give it a try, and I switched her to a female coach. Sure enough, she is back on the field loving it again. So she has an aversion to male coaches. Hopefully she out grows this one. But I'm glad that she is enjoying playing for now.
She is in the Lil' Kickers program. They practice for 1/2 hour and then play a game for 1/2 hour. I really like this format. I feel like she will learn more skills, before I just put her in a soccer league where they mostly play games.
Jacob is doing so well is school. He has been asking for two years, when he could go. He loves it. He is about a head taller than everyone else his age.

I am always a little nervous not knowing how my kids may behave in a new situation. I am so happy Jacob is doing good. Ms. Tammie says he is very good at answering all the questions, and is always the first to volunteer. Jacob likes to tell me everything that happens. He is a talkative guy. He also comes up with some creative stories once in a while. They are fun for a laugh, but makes me worry what made up stories he tries to pass off for truth at school.
Jake really likes to ride the tricycles around. He also likes to go on bear hunts at school.
Once in a while Jake will say he doesn't want to go because he already knows everything they have to teach him. Here he is having a bored moment at school I guess. =)
What Jake really would love to do all day, is build with his Trio Blocks. I can't tell you how many hours I have spent building things with him. One day it's towers, the next pod racers, the next castles, trains and the next creatures. The blocks are really fun, because you can build them into about anything you want. He really likes them.
Jacob is officially 4. He is now also officially heavier and taller than Hannah. She likes to remind him that he will always be younger, even if he isn't littler. When he saw his growth chart at the doctor, he asked why his dot wasn't on the colored part of the chart. The doctor said it was because he was taller than almost all 4 year olds his age. =) It is really fun for me having a big, little guy around.
Paul and I managed to take care of 12 kids by ourselves for 1 1/2 hours. It was a lot of fun. Jacob really liked his birthday party.
Jake is such a fun guy to have around. He is very independent and busy. He is so good with babies, and kind to everyone around him. I love his big solid hugs, and his willingness to be a good helper.
Jake has been playing flag football. I never knew how excited I would to watch one of my kids play football. He likes it. I think he'll like it even more when he can play more games.
This program has them run a lot of drills. Which I was kind of frustrated with at first, but I think it is good he learns how to stand in a line and do drills. Good discipline for a little guy. He still plays in the dirt a lot, but it has been fun watching him learn.
My favorite part is still watching little 4 year olds try and play football without knocking each tackling each other. =)

Madelyn is growing so fast. It has been a much faster 10 months than when I was pregnant with her. She is a tall girl for her age. She is 90% in height.

Madelyn can stand up in the middle of the room all by herself. She can even stand and dance. She isn't up for taking steps by herself yet. She still prefers crawling to get her from place to place.
Madelyn gives the best hugs. If she likes ya, she is so cuddly. I love her cuddles and hugs.
Madelyn keeps me entertained by performing all the tricks I ask her to do. Her repertoire consists of clapping, lifting her arms for hooray, kicking, waving hi and bye, talking on her pretend phone, and brushing her hair. She also loves to play catch with balls and dribble on my basketball. You know that I'm loving that.
Madelyn LOVES to be outside. She will bang on the back glass door and cry until I take her out. She is usually a pretty dirty little girl by the end of the day.
She is also working on her "don't you dare take that from me face." She is going to need it with Hannah and Jacob around.
Hannah and Jake now treat Madelyn like she is one of them. I have to remind them that she is still a baby, and to please be soft with her. Here is her "help me, mom face."

We have been really busy and having a lot of fun together.

We love when Paul is not working in Mexico. We really miss his fun personality and the strength he brings to our home. We are looking forward to having him home every other week now. =)

To sum it up...we've just been hanging out,

playing lots,

and enjoying life.

We are looking forward to our upcoming visitors the next couple months.

We can't wait to see you.