Giggles

I took this video in the beginning on September, so it's a little old, but I've been meaning to post it and decided "better late than never" was true in this case. Connor definitely doesn't lay still that long anymore, especially not on his back, but his brothers are always making him laugh. I've really loved watching the interactions between the boys and Connor. Hope it makes you smile! Enjoy your day!

Fall Photo Shoot

Our tree out front is so pretty this year, we thought it would be fun to take pictures of the boys in the tree. Here are some of the shots I got.

For obvious reasons :-) I didn't put Connor up in the tree, but I didn't want to leave him out of this post. Our tree has lost all of its leaves now, but I'm hoping to get some cute pictures of him in a pile of leaves when we rake the yard this weekend (if the leaves are dry by then!). He's pretty cute all on his own, though!

I took a lot more, but I only have a few minutes and wanted to put up a quick post. I've actually taken nearly 300 pictures in October, and I will be putting more up here, but most of them will probably go to my Picasa web album. I'll let you know when I get that done.

Need Opinions

Hi everyone! I am taking a poll and would love to get your input. Our camera started acting weird this week, so it looks like we will be purchasing a new one in the near future. If any of you have one that you just love or have any suggestions, please add a comment to this post. We obviously know a bit about digital cameras and I know of several things that I already want, but I would still love to hear from any of you. Thanks!

I will be posting more pictures and videos later this week. Our camera may be acting weird but luckily it is still working, and I've taken a lot of fun pics over the last few days.

Stay tuned ...

Cute Conversations

I never know what is going to come out of the kids' mouths.

Today I was cleaning up in Grayson's room and he came in and asked:
"Mom, do you know how to say 'Fiddlie-I-Oh' in Spanish?"
ME: "No, how do you say it?"
Grayson: "Fiddlie-I-Oh in Spanish."
Then he walks out of the room without even a smirk! And no one put him up to it!

Yesterday, as we are getting ready to take the kids to a friends' house who so kindly offered to watch them while we were at a church dinner:
ME: "Benjamin, are you going to be a happier kid at their house? All I've heard this afternoon is pouting and whining and a very grumpy Benjamin."
Benjamin: "Yeah, that's all I've heard too. From me." (He was quick to point out that he wasn't talking about someone else.)

A few weeks ago we had a funeral to attend, and decided it would be good for the older boys to go. On the way there, we reminded them of the behavior we expected from them and they were great the whole time. After we got home, Bry was repeating some of the stories he had heard.
Me: "Bry, I'm so glad that you were listening to the talks."
Bry: "There wasn't anything else to do!"
At least he's honest!! (And thanks for letting me know how to get you to listen at church.)

This doesn't have to do with my kids, but it does involve Rehn and I loved it. This weekend marks one year of Rehn being Bishop in our ward, and apparently people are getting used to that. My good friend's little girl, Lucy (see previous post), really likes Rehn. A couple of years ago, I babysat her during the week for about 4 months and she always called him "Len." Well in the last few months, she has started calling him "the bishop." I guess that's good, but I miss hearing "Len." Anyway, we were at a party today and "Len" was talking to her mom and Lucy was standing there too. Her mom started teasing Rehn about something, and Lucy looks up, taps her mom in chastisement and gives her a look to say "I can't believe you would talk to the bishop like that!" Times have changed!

Random shots

This was the first sign of fall we saw from our tree. It was so pretty to look up and see this one patch of color with a clear blue sky in the background. The rest of the tree is changing now and it is gorgeous! I'll try to put some pictures up soon.

This is Grayson with one of his good friends, Lucy. Looks are deceiving, but she is only about a year older than him. And I'm sure you won't believe it, but I didn't pose them for this picture. I just told them to go stand by each other. We love it when Lucy comes over to play. They are so cute playing together.

And here are all of the boys together. I probably shouldn't have stopped to take this picture, since we were running late for church. But I knew they wouldn't look as good if I waited until after church. I just couldn't resist. They were sad I didn't take the time to take a picture with each of them holding Connor.

Entertaining Connor

I was hearing this while I was in the kitchen washing dishes after dinner and I had to come in and take a video of it. I love the look on Connor's face. He's trying to figure out what in the world these crazy brothers are doing.

And here's a different view ... the singing and dancing are awesome!! I think we heard this song at least 15 times that night.

Summer Time Fun ... part 3

It feels like summer has been over for a long time, but the calendar says that today is actually the last day of summer. Either way, I thought it was about time that I posted the third and final installment of "Summer Time Fun." There were lots of memories made this summer, but I think for this post I will stick to those included in the collage. You can probably tell that this is all about SWIMMING! My boys LOVE to swim! Lucky for me, Minneaplis has a lot of wading pools and community pools (most of which are free).
There are a wide variety of experiences to be had depending on where we go. One pool we go to has no water features and is only about 1 1/2 feet deep, but the boys often request this one. I think they like that it is the same depth everywhere. Then there is the one with a 10 ft. rock in the center with water spraying in all directions from it (sorry no pics of that one this year). They also love the Splash Pad, which has no standing water but arches, fountains and sprays all over. We also have one a few blocks from our house (the one with the mushroom waterfall in the middle). The kids really liked this one because the workers (not lifeguards) there are often their Tball coaches and they usually had water fights with them. And it was great to be able to run up there on the spur of the moment.
This year we also made our first trip to the Crystal Cove pool; it is the community pool for our neighboring city. The kids have been dying to go there because we often drive by and they've been taunted by the water slides they could see but had never been on. So I finally broke down and paid to go. The first time was so fun, we ended up going a second day. And I've told the kids we will probably get a season pass next year, so we can go all the time. They are very excited! Both Bryant and Benjamin can go down the big waterslides by themselves and there is a little slide for Grayson. It's also great, because so many friends from church or school have passes so you usually have someone you know there to play with. Even Connor got to play in the water at the Crystal Cove and he thought it was great.
The other nice thing about most of these pools is that they usually have a fun park right beside them. So after swimming for a while the kids could go over and swing, slide, run and climb.
I guess that about sums up August ... lots of swimming and playing at parks. We even made it back to the Chutes and Ladders park during the last week before school started. I didn't take pictures this time, but this is a cool aerial shot (just scroll down a little to see). Hope you enjoyed reading about our summer fun ... and hope it tempts you to come visit us in MN! We love to have visitors!