Deker's 1st day of Preschool

Actually, if I am being completely honest, this was his 2nd day of preschool. 

I started a Preschool Co-op (Joy school) with Deker.  There are 7 kids in the co-op and each mom takes a turn teaching.  We meet once a week and Deker seems to really like it so far.  The first week was last week (Sept. 6).  I was the first one to teach and in the process of getting everything ready, I forgot to take a picture of him.  So, I made sure to do it this week before heading out the door.  Unfortunately, the battery on the camera was dying, so this is all I got. 

Bauer was wanting to get in the picture as well, so I was able to get one of both of them. 

Hair Raising?

My three boys were in desperate need of a hair cut.  But for some reason, it took forever to finally get around to cutting their hair.  One evening, we decided to comb out Deker and Keagan's curly hair.  This is the afro's they ended up with.

Thank goodness I finally cut their hair yesterday.  It made such a difference that even the neighbor kids noticed.  Also, Bauer got his first haircut as well because it was getting pretty scraggly in certain spots.

This morning, we went to DI to donate some things.  We decided to wander into the store for a little bit.  Bauer was in the shopping cart and got really excited sitting by a bunch of stuffed animals.  I got him out to see what it was he was looking at.  He grabbed this Winnie the Pooh bear off the shelf and wouldn't let it go.  After seeing how much he loved it, we couldn't resist buying it for him, good thing it was only $1.50.  I was able to get a picture of him with it this evening.  How could anyone resist such a face. 

Hot Air Balloons

This past weekend was the Spirit of Boise Balloon Classic.  On Saturday, I braved the early morning, cold and crowd and took the boys.  We met up with our friends the Coburn's which was very fun. 
The night before, I made breakfast burritos so that we could have a picnic breakfast while waiting for the balloons to start inflating and launching. 

The boys were so cold. 

While we were walking around after breakfast we saw this Ball and Keagan wanted a pictures.  It is actually for the Idaho Lottery, but we won't tell Keagan what that is.

Me and my boys.  Deker was so cold and not very happy, but once the sun came up, he perked right up and started having lots of fun.  He was still pretty cold on this picture which is why the grumpy face.

At one point I noticed that Bauer had a stick.  I looked around and didn't see any other.  Leave it up to my kids to find the only stick in the entire area. Our friends, took much better pictures.  If you want to see more of the balloons, you can find their blog here.

There is a stream running through the park and when we got to the van to leave, the boys wanted to see the ducks. 

Little Bauer.

Deker is saying "Come to me Ducks, Come to me Ducks."

Keagan's 1st day of Kindergarten

Today was Keagan's first day of School.  It is crazy that he is old enough to be in school.  Keagan has been so excited about starting school and he did Amazing.  We took him to school to help him find his classroom and meet his teacher.  He went right in, put up his backpack, found his seat and promptly told us "bye".  When we picked him up after, he was all smiles and said that he really loved it.  He is looking forward to riding the bus to school tomorrow. 

While he was at school, Deker and I made him a giant Chocolate Chip Cookie.  He was pretty excited and enjoyed sharing with with everybody after lunch. 

Decorating

Last week, Andrew's parents came and took all three boys with them to Idaho Falls for the week.  I decided that the perfect thing for me to do is finally decorate the living room and kitchen which included making curtains and pillows.  I absolutely love how it turned out.   

Our Crazy August

The last couple of weeks have been very busy, but very fun weeks. It all started out on Thursday, August 4, with my cousin Amanda stopping by here and staying with us for a few days on her way to Southern Utah to go back to College.  While she was here, we went to the Discovery Center.  As always, the highlight is the Shopping Center. This was the first time that Bauer actually really played in it and he LOVED it. 

One night, we were upstairs playing and Deker decided that he needed to put a "few" tools into his tool belt.  When I saw what he had done, here is what he looked like.  I am didn't know he could put that many tools in that little tool belt.

After Andrew got home and after Amanda left on Saturday morning, we drove up to Baker City, Oregon to visit with our good friends, Dan & Angela Kolilis.  We had so much fun that I didn't get the camera out very much.  On Saturday afternoon we went Huckleberry picking, those were so delicious.  After that we went back to see the house they are remodeling and their beautiful property.  We then went over to Angela's parents house and had dinner. 

On Sunday, after church and lunch, the boys got to go on Tractor rides.  Angela's parents own a ranch and they have a few different tractors.  Here is Keagan and Deker riding on a backhoe with Dan and Angela.  

 Dan, Keagan and Deker on the backhoe.

These next two pictures are of Deker on a tractor with Angela's brother, Drew. 

Deker driving the tractor.

Keagan's turn to drive the tractor with Drew.

Angela's parents had this really cool horse swing made out of tires in their orchard which the boys loved.

How many people can you get on a 4-wheeler?  Dan, Angela, Lucas, Keagan and Deker.  We had so much fun and can't wait to go back.  Thank you, Dan & Angela and Angela's family for the wonderful time!

On Monday morning, we  had to hurry and get all three boys unpacked, clothes washed and packed again because Andrew's mom was driving over to take them to Idaho Falls for the week.  Here are the boys anxiously waiting her arrival.  From the sound of it, they had a lot of fun. While all three boys were gone, I did lots of sewing which I will do another post on later.  Thank you Mark & Kathy!

On Friday, I met them all in Twin Falls and brought the boys back home.  On Saturday, we spent the day at Eagle Island State Park for Andrew's company picnic/party.  That evening, we got the van loaded up with all our camping supplies so that after church on Sunday we could go up camping. 

We headed up to Grandjean, Idaho which has natural hot water spring.  As we were heading out, we had to return a redbox.  We pulled into two places that we thought should have a redbox, but they didn't.  We finally found success at the third.  Then after all three boys were asleep, we realized that we didn't have cash or a checkbook to pay for the campsite, so we had to pull into a gas station along the way to get cash.

A little later Keagan woke up and about 15 minutes later told us he needed to throw-up.  Andrew pulls over gets him out of the van (which wakes up the other 2 boys).  He didn't throw-up, so we get back in the van.  Fifteen minutes later, Keagan says "I need to throw up" but proceeds to do just that before we can stop.  We get him out and cleaned up.  Then 15 minutes later, Deker has to pee.  Then 15 minutes later, Bauer messes his Diaper.  But, we finally made it to our campsite. 

We had a wonderful time, complete with lots of digging by the three boys.  We took trips each day to the hotsprings.  On Tuesday, we headed home.  There are no pictures of all this, because we forgot the camera at home. 

Our trip home was just at adventurous which started with the van not starting when we tried to leave our campsite Tuesday morning.  Then we had more adventures with a false alarm from Deker throwing up (We were smarter this time and had both boys go to the bathroom while we were stopped) and then Deker throwing up all over himself.  (Any advise on how to deal with kids who get carsick would be greatly appreciated!)  We had told the boys that we were going to go fishing, but with all of the craziness, we just didn't have time, but we promised them we would go on Saturday.

On Friday, I took the boys to the zoo which is always a fun thing to do.  This trip, Bauer was actually interested in seeing all the animals which was fun to watch.

Every morning since Tuesday, Keagan would ask what day was today and then would count down the days until we could go fishing.  So this morning, after Andrew got home from work, we packed a picnic lunch and went fishing.  We didn't catch anything, but it is fun to try. 

And that concludes our crazy and fun adventures that has kept us super busy this week. Now I need to brace myself for my first child starting Kindergarten.  Let's hope there aren't too many tears shed by me that day.  

Misc. Happenings

Mowing the Lawn...This is a picture that I took last year of Andrew, Keagan and Deker Mowing the lawn.

This is what they look like this year.  Bauer didn't want to be left out and so he had to join in the mowing train.   

While I was on vacation, Andrew got a lot of projects done.  This is one of them.  Four or five years ago we saw a trash can holder and I fell in love with it.  Well, Andrew finally was able to get it done.  I LOVE how it turned out. 

I saw this idea here.  So one night I grabbed some small toys and froze them in water.  The boys had so much fun.  I can't wait to do it again.

Keagan learned how to ride his bike without training wheels.  He absolutely loves it.  Thanks to my sister, Vera, giving me a bike, we can now go riding on the greenbelt as soon as we get a bike trailer.