My Little Man

Jeffrey is off the charts tall. Maybe it's because of all the peanut butter.  Doc said if he were to stay at this percentile until full height he would be 6'5".  I don't see that happening but it will be fun to see how it changes as he gets older.

He is busy. He understands so much and is starting to say more and more words.  He is obsessed with the Cascade, so he knows "soap".  He knows "show" and his favorite is Paw Patrol.  Foods he can say are bottle, water, cheese, cereal and he can ask for a spoon.  Of course he knows snack means to run to the kitchen but I haven't heard him say it yet. He can say KeKe for Kenzie and he calls all his sisters that same name, but he can say Brooklyn's name too.

Our little guy is an early riser.  He loves cars and tag and peek aboo (and he says it so cute), and most of all wrestling.  He loves the dog and she puts up with all sorts of him trying to ride her etc.  He loves to sing the clean up song and put things into a box.  Jeffrey is great at clapping and yelling "yay"!  He gives the best kisses and hugs and blows lots of kisses when you tell him to say night, night.  He loves to say hi and bye to people and one the cutest things he says is "see ya."

We love our super cute, fun little man.

B&D&A

Smith Cousins

We took a rare photo of all the Smith grandkids before Rick, Melissa and Katelyn headed up to Seattle for Rick to begin his PA program.  Not the best picture inside Blue Lemon but it will still be a fun one to look back on in a few years.

4th Frozen Birthday

Charlotte had such a fun, magical 4th birthday!

Elsa, Mackenzie, Olivia, Grace, Jade Chow, Dylan Gay, Char, Ava Sharp, Raegan, Brooklyn

Mackenzie thought of the words for this card and I thought it was so clever!

Charlotte also got to celebrate at school- show off her birthday mobile, share her favorite story book and bring donut holes.  Here she is with Miss Vicki and the birthday bear.

Breakfast in bed is a birthday tradition around here and Mackenzie and Brooklyn took care of everything this time around.  They even made cards for her tray.

She's already talking about her next birthday.

First Days 3rd, 1st, Winner 3's

Mackenzie starting 3rd grade in Mrs. Sorenson's class.  I can't believe I am old enough to have a 3rd grader.  And I can't believe what an awesome girl she is growing into.  I'm afraid to blink or she will be a teenager and I want to keep this sweetness as long as I can.

Brooklyn is starting 1st grade with Miss Neal.  She loves to do her hair in 2 braids every night so her hair is easy to brush out in the morning!

Charlotte is going to the Winner school and is in Miss Vicki's class.  She goes Tuesdays and Thursdays and every other day of the week she cries that it is not a school day.  She loves art and especially SNACKS!

A Quick Back to School Disneyland Trip

Back to Iowa

In Robert's quest to visit every division 1 football stadium in the country, Mackenzie got to go back to Iowa where she was born.  Brooklyn, Mackenzie and Robert saw Iowa vs. Iowa State, visited our old house, went to the Children's museum and had a fun trip to Des Moines.

Mackenzie got to choose whether she wanted to go by herself with just dad or have Brooklyn come along.  Of course she wanted Brooklyn to come along because they really have fun together, those two silly girls.

NYC (my first time)

The break down of the week went as follows: Monday travel day. Tuesday was a stroll around Central Park and trip to the top of Rockafeller Center.

My highlight of the trip was Tuesday night when we went to the evening session of the US Open.

Wednesday we did a little Times Square shopping before heading back to the US Open to wander around with our Day Pass.  We finished the night with a Mets game.

Thursday we enjoyed some shopping in Soho, went to a movie, and (barely) caught the Amtrak up to Hartford, Connecticut.  Let's just say my husband has much less anxiety about making it on time when we are traveling. Like this time when we had to stop for a hamburger on our way. Or the time we almost missed our flight to Paris because he had to change the light bulbs before we left.

The next day was game day but we had time during the day to take a drive to Mystic, a seaport town, where we got some seafood and souvenirs, oh and ice cream cones.  The game was a success with a good win BYU over the Huskies

Woohoo! Pool is done!

We had hoped to be done with our pool in time for the 4th of July but Labor Day was close enough.  I love this watercolor by Brooklyn.  I think it gives me permission to lay by the pool and relax while they swim!

Animal Adventures

Here are the cute kitties we had for 2 weeks for a fun summer adventure.  I pretty much knew getting into it that we wouldn't have them forever but Mackenzie needed that learning experience to realize how much money and time that cats really take.  Pouncer was Brooklyn's and Oreo was Mackenzie's.  They were so cute and fun but cleaning the litter box was less fun and paying for vet visits was also not so fun.

Also this summer the girls have been able to take some horse riding lessons around the corner with Jeannie.  They love it and so do I.  Waiting for their turns.

Jeannie, Ashley and Mackenzie