GG's great grandkids

Some pages from GG's book:

Great Grandma's 80th birthday

Amidst Alex's September travels, I was able to sneak away to Texas for a weekend to celebrate my grandma's 80th birthday.  (Thanks to friends who helped watch our kids on Friday before Alex got home and on Saturday during soccer!  I left on Friday afternoon, Alex got home Friday evening, I returned Monday night, and Alex left again Tuesday morning... whew!)

We decided the party theme should be cows & western, considering GG loves cows and where she lives now (the "cowboy capital of the world").  GG grew up raising cattle and she also worked for the National Cattleman's Association.  It seemed only appropriate to make a cow cake for the occasion.  

I got in late Friday night and made the cake at my sister's house that night.  It looked really good when I first made it.  When I looked at it in the morning, one whole side had separated/fallen off.  I tried to prop up the side with rolled up foil as best that I could.  Then we had to transport it in the car for about 45 minutes - longest car ride ever... seems like every time we hit a bump in the road more pieces would fall off the edge.  I had to just take off one side when we got there.  The rest was still in pretty good shape.  Hopefully GG liked it.  I know that Eli loved it!  :)  

My mom and sisters had everything all decorated really cute, with pictures of GG when she was young, pictures of her grandkids and greats, cow balloons, and western stuff.  I toted along a few paper plate cows that the boys made.

One of my September projects was making a book for GG of all of her great grandkids (110 pages=no time for blogging...)  GG has 16 great grandkids!

Most of the kids had to stay home, but Evie got to come with Alison.  Noah and Eli are the lucky ones that live close to GG.  Alison had a super cute cow costume for Evie to wear - cutest little cow ever!

The party was just a small family one, but it turned out just right.  GG's three kids were all there - Doug, my mom, and Gary (along with his wife Quin).  All of my sisters were there (and Audrey's husband Sam) - of my siblings, just missing my brother Mike, who wasn't able to make it (missed you Mike!).  We are grateful that Alex, Daniel, and Micah were able to stay home and watch the kids.  

It was fun to watch Eli conduct "Happy Birthday."  And it was fun to have cake & ice cream for lunch!

                                                                                      Some were all worn out after the party...

We were lucky to make it through the party - GG had to go to the ER in the evening.  Her leg was infected, and she was in a lot of pain.  She was in the hospital the rest of the weekend (and still not at home now).  She has been undergoing chemo treatments and trying to get stronger.  She's a fighter!  I am glad we were able to be there to celebrate - I loved seeing the surprise on her face when I walked in to give her a hug!  She didn't know we were all coming.  Just wish the weekend had ended on a better note, with more time to spend with GG.  It was a tender mercy to be able to celebrate her birthday with her that afternoon.  We love you GG!

I finally got to meet Evelyn (Evie), who was born in March.  She is a pretty smily baby!

Enjoyed my time with family - just wish I could have stayed longer!

Soccer...

I forgot about soccer in the last post!  Soccer season started the end of August, and we still have a few games left.  Alex and I are coaching Owen's U-6 team.  Alex is the head coach, but when he was traveling, I did practice.  Busy, but fun stuff.  Thanks to those that watched the other kids on those days so I could coach!

Pictures later, hopefully.

On to September...

I'm slowly getting caught up on the blog...

September was a busy month.  Alex was gone half of it, which always makes things more challenging. Add a puppy into the mix, a special birthday party, race training, and Savannah... :) 

The dog has been pretty tough, since she needs a lot of attention and training - neither of which I have been able to give her.  She jumps all over the kids, especially Weston and Savannah, so I can't send them in the back yard without being right there with them.  She also got sprayed by a skunk (luckily when Alex was here) and she has pooped in her cage a few times.  The boys already mostly lost interest, so the poor dog hasn't gotten much attention.  They still like her though, so they claim.  

As if picture taking wasn't already hard enough... 

Ah...Savannah and Weston.  Becoming quite a pair.  Savannah also requires a lot of attention.  She is in a stage of getting into everything (lots of messes).  She loves my shoes, but she often gets frustrated if they're not working right for her.  She likes to wear hats too.  Both Savannah and Weston like dressing up.  Weston is now playing well with Legos - he often disappears to the Lego room.

So, I have been training for a half marathon - actually for over a year now, since I wasn't ready last year.  With Alex being gone, I didn't want to lose all my training.  So I did my best at still getting out there and running... with buddies.  I even got them all out there a couple of mornings, even the dog.  The dog doesn't run well - too distracted - but the boys think it's fun.  It is hilarious to see the dog running the boys!  Savannah and Weston tolerated some longer runs during the day - although they required snacks and stoppage time... and Weston likes to ask questions.  "Where are we going?" "Are you going to run faster?"  "Can we go this way?"  "Why is that man naked?" (to the man without a shirt on...)  They both are very friendly with people, saying "hi" to everyone we pass.

I had a special weekend trip to Texas - Savannah decided to climb out of the crib right before I left.  She slept in the pack 'n play while I was gone, but when we got back, we transitioned to a mattress on the floor.  The crib came down, probably not to go back up again.  It's weird not having a crib, since we have had someone in it for about the last 10 years.  We don't want to risk them falling and getting hurt while climbing out of the crib, so this was Savannah's ticket out.  She has done surprisingly well in her big girl bed.  

Sometimes she rolls off onto the floor... 

                                                                           Oops.  

first day of school

I wasn't quite ready for school to start again... I needed a little more time to get organized and ready for the morning routine.  But I did throw together something a little festive for their first day.  Owen was pretty much ready to go to school last year, but with a December birthday he wasn't quite old enough.  He was ready and excited to go this year. 

Weston and Savannah watching them go... 

 

This is how Weston felt about his brothers going to school...

He wanted to go too.  But he got over it pretty quickly when I said he could watch a video.  

Happy 30th to Alison!

 While I was in TX, I collected a bunch of pictures of Alison.  When I got home, I had about a week to put together a scrapbook for Alison's 30th birthday, with pictures from each year.  The pages were really simple, but I think Alison (and her kids) still enjoyed it.  I ended up doing about 67 or so 8.5 x 11 pages (more than I originally planned - but I couldn't fit all the important pictures in 1 page per year).  Anyway, I scanned all of the pages when I was done (not as good quality as the originals).  Here are some of them:

Cover pages of two 3-ring binders

young child

Teenager

Mission

 Wedding

Her 3 kiddos

After I finished the regular pages, I thought it would be fun to find some pictures of her with nieces and nephews.  

The most time consuming part of this project was finding, organizing, and scanning the pre-digital pictures and trying to put together a timeline.  It was a little difficult without Alison's input.  I may have guessed wrong on some of them.  (I never did find a picture from when Audrey and Alison played on the Wildfire soccer team together, with Dad as coach - that was probably the biggest injustice of her teenage years...)

Hopefully she can fix or add to what I put together.  It was fun to try to capture her 30 years - she is really amazing and has accomplished so many things!  I admire her - especially her dedication to the gospel of Jesus Christ and to being a great wife and mother.   And she is a great Auntie Ali!

Happy birthday Alison!