The waterfall and camping

Ugh. I am so far behind here. Someday I will get caught up. I believe this post is for September. I put together an ice cream themed preschool and we invited over a friend, Macie, to do it with us. We did ice cream worksheets, made ice cream and played ice cream shoppe with playdough. The kids loved it.   Jack and Char had dentist appointments at a glorified pediatric dentist. They thought it was the funnest thing ever. Toys, prizes, and TV. They ask to go back. Char is transitioning out of naps and its made our days tricky. Sometimes to get her to nap I would snuggle her. I had a great find at the DI and got myself some rollerblades. I was so excited that I rollerbladed around my neighborhood that night in the dark. It's my secret passion. We did some swimming at the pirate ship pool at the rec center. The kids thought it was pretty cool. We love to find nearby hikes. Our favorite is a little waterfall that is just up the mountain by our house. We've done it a few times. I finally gave in and gave Holden a haircut. He's as handsome as ever. We took the kids to the ogden temple open house. Neither of us had been to an open house and it was really neat. Char thought we were in Elsa's Ice castle. I think Jack was old enough that it made a good impression on him. Holden had a blow out as usual. Afterward we went the Treehouse museum to play. We also had a little campfire at Mueller Park up Bountiful canyon. A very fun spot. 

Holden is growing and goodbye Craigory

Still trying to catch up here.  As our summer winded down and fall began, Jack started soccer.  He loved it and was such a good little player.  Our coaches were pretty relaxed which I loved and we didn't win a lot of games, but I appreciated the non competitiveness of our team and the kids just had fun.  Charlotte was jealous and always wanted to play.  I see that we will be starting things sooner with Char than we did with Jack since she has a big brother to watch doing things and always wants to participate.  Holden is growing fast and tried baby food at four months.  To my surprise he wasn't a fan at first.  I just assumed since he was so chunky that he would love food but that wasn't the case.  It took him a good month to warm up to it.  And our dear Craigory died.  We got him from the animal shelter about 10 months ago and he always seemed just a tad off.  Generally a happy frisky cat but he got colds a lot and sneezed often.  One weekend after coming back from visiting Gunnison we came home to find Craigory not looking so well.  We kept an eye on him but he wasn't eating or drinking.  I made an appointment at the vet and by the time we got him in he didn't look well at all.  I had a feeling this was the end.  So we took him and soon I got a phone call telling me he needed serious help.  Hospitalization, x-rays, feeding tubes, etc all for the cost of about $800.  Ugh, what do you do!?  Feeling terrible but knowing that even after all this, he may not make it.  I asked my other options.  The vet suggested we just start with an X-ray and blood samples.  I said ok.  Soon I got another call back and Craigory didn't make it through the x-ray.  Poor kitty.  It was more money to cremate him so we picked him and took him out West to bury him.  We had a little funeral for him and while we were out driving on the dirt roads, we realized we got a flat tire.  Craigory was perhaps cursing us.  The most interesting thing about this whole experience was explaining this all to Jack and Char.  Soooo many questions from Jack.  Craigory has been dead for about 4 months now and they still talk about him daily and ask me questions.  A good learning experience for us all.  Jack tells me he hopes Craigory is a kitten when he is resurrected.  

playing store

This boy and his blow outs.

Brotherly bonding time.

Big jumps from this soccer boy.

Char wanted her picture too.

Jack and his buddy Bobby.

Poor Craigory.  The day he died.  He looks sad.

At his funeral.  They don't look sad yet.  It sinks in later.  For Charlotte like three months later.

Flat tire.  Thanks Craigory.

The biggest smiles.

Jack made a dinosaur museum.

Reading time!

Trying solids!

Play time fun with the laminator.

In his station.

Char isn't so sure about spider swinging.

I scored this wagon at the DI for $15.  I had to fight off some people but I got it.

Sweet chunk after his shots.