Winding down and Matthewisms

With summer coming to a close we did some field trips to enjoy our time. We went to the zoo and the weather was perfect.

He is such a curious boy. This time he wanted me to read the signs to him and we both learned some new things. We also got to see them feed a turtle (my pictures didn't turn out :( ) some fish and a rat.

There was a free day at the botanic gardens. I was a little bummed because I didn't realize the children's garden was open. But we were on our way home because Rachel was done. Maybe one of these days I will actually pay and we'll go see it.

I decided some day I want to come here (this is the secret garden area) with a good book and a healthy snack and enjoy it more thoroughly.

We went to the splash park at Southlands and he likes this one much better. In fact we went back again today and will probably try to go back one more time before Labor Day.

Another round of funny things from Matthew-
* "Mom I want to be a cricket so I can see things better."
* "I'm sad to go to preschool because I will miss Rachel's cuteness." (Seriously, he has to be the cutest big brother ever.)
* Speaking of "seriously", when he was playing the other day I heard him say "Seriously!" and "Honestly!" when he was frustrated . . . . hmmm . . . I don't have any idea where he heard those from . . . . .
* He calls a rhinoceros "rhinocesaurus" and it is so cute that I haven't wanted to correct him yet.
* He does this funny run in place before running because he says it helps him build up speed.

P.S.

I forgot to write about a scare that I had a couple of weeks ago. I get up one morning to feed the baby then went to check on Mathew. It's probably about 6 o'clock. I go into Matthew's room and he's not there. Panicking just a little I walk through the house to see if he got up and was playing. I can't find him anywhere. Heart is racing more. I start calling his name, to which he doesn't respond. Now I'm pretty freaked out so I go get Brian and start going through the house again. I go back to his room and find him underneath his bed, asleep, with blankets all around him. I wake him up and ask him what he is doing. Half asleep, he tells me he wanted to play hide and seek with me. . . . we had a discussion about making sure mommy knows we are playing hide and seek before he hides.

3 months and Matthew's view

So instead of folding laundry I'm blogging . . . . oh well, the laundry will be there tomorrow.

Here are Rachel's 3 month photos.
I couldn't decide which one I liked best.
She is wearing a shirt Matthew picked out for her :)
On a happy note, Nana and Papa will be home before we take the 4 month photo!
(11 more days to be exact)

Aunt Jessica is helping make her smile.
Pretty much if you look at her and smile, she will smile back.

We were at the condo a couple of weekends ago.
Here is the view from the balcony.

One day after church. Going to church is hard work! Aren't they cute?!

Matthew took the rest of these photos. Enjoy!

Ward Campout 2010 and Clear Lake

This is kind of picture loaded so sorry about that. Sometimes it's easier to let pictures do the talking than getting this brain to think of the right words and how to spell them. :S

Enjoying smores

Our bestest and littlest camper. She did awesome!

Trying to get Matthew to settle down (make him be quiet) and go to sleep.
I think he finally did around 11.

I didn't do quite the good job on this photo. I was noticing how most of the tents were blue, green and gray. Any guesses on which one is ours?

The kids went on a sensory walk and came back to color/draw.

K, this picture cracks me up. Brian was busy packing and I needed to get some sunscreen on the boy. I laid Rachel down for just a second on a pile of sleeping bags and pillows so I could use both my hands. She was out like a light!

Playing with the bean bags.

This year he was brave enough to go on the slide of death with some help.

After the campout we headed up to Clear Lake for the boys to do some fishing.
It was a beautiful day and the scenery in Colorado is stunning.

Here is Matthew casting. I think he does pretty awesome. Brian and I were taking video at the same time, but he had a better angle so I'm posting his version.

Rachel and I found a nice spot in the shade.

Splash Park and Sleeping

At our local splash park

I laid her down and she looked so adorable all cuddled up I had to take a picture.

Matthew says the darndest things

I have been straining my memory trying to remember the funny things he's said lately. I need to write them down so I can stop working so hard on remembering!

* "If I had a jet pack I wouldn't have to walk up the stairs any more."
* I was getting ready for church, putting some blush on. He asks me what I'm doing and why. I tell him I'm putting it on so I can look pretty for church. A slight pause before he asks-"so you're not pretty if you don't have it on?"
* We had the missionaries over for dinner a while ago and he tells them all about the pharisees and Passover dinner. The missionaries were stunned! (for the record he saw that while watching the New Testament scripture stories, I wish I could take credit for teaching it to him, but sadly I cannot.)
* "My fries are freaking hot!"
* Brian says to Matthew-"Can you open a bag of cute and dump it all out?" Matthew says-"I already opened it."

Until next time America . . . .

Odds n ends

I did a little photo shoot with Miss Rachel later on her blessing day with her beautiful dress and the blanket that I spent so many hours working on.

She was getting tired and did better with the pacifier. She posed by herself too :)

Matthew's talent at the primary talent show was painting. He loves to paint as long as he doesn't get it on his fingers.

I bought a bumbo off of Craig's list. She does really well in it and it makes my life much easier.

We planted some sunflowers at Matthew's request.
These are a couple of my attempts at being a good photographer.