Mom School

At the beginning of the summer I decided to do alphabet crafts to introduce the alphabet to Peyton and make sure Corbyn was ready for kindergarten. We called it mom school and for the most part, the kids looked forward to it. My friend, Emily, asked If I could do a post about where I got my ideas and what is in my school supply box, so Emily this is for you!

Most weeks we did 2 letters. I tried to get everything cut out and ready Monday night, so we could do them anytime that fit with our schedule during the week. I only did the crafts found here because when I did joy school for Corbyn I learned you can spend A LOT of time searching Pinterest for the perfect letter craft! These crafts are great because they all have patterns which makes the prep work quick and easy (and with a new baby I was all about that).

I posted pictures from our crafts on my Instagram and everyone probably got sick of seeing them there, but it kept me motivated to finish the whole alphabet!

As far as supplies go, I already had most of the supplies we needed from when I did joy school and other projects. Most of them are pretty basic and you'll probably find you already have most of what you need. 

*Finger paints

*Cheap paper plates

*Brushes

*Markers

*Crayons

*Child scissors

*Glue sticks - lots and lots of glue sticks!

*Contact paper (only used for letter B, but good to have on hand for other crafts)

*Tissue paper (I just used scraps from my wrapping paper box)

*Googly eyes

*Paper (in assorted colors)

*Stickers

*Buttons (you could always substitute a round sticker or cut a circle out of paper)

*Cotton balls

I found that having white card stock was good for when the craft required painting. For the other colors, I have a variety of card stock and regular printer paper. You definitely need black and brown because you will use those a lot. I keep all my scraps (unless they are really small) to use for other letters/projects. For the letter Q, you'll need some scraps of patterned paper - just dig into that scrapbook stash you have from when scrapbooking was popular.

Occasionally I did buy things - like Fruit Loop cereal for the letter R or star stickers for the letter N. I didn't mind spending a few dollars here and there, but I'm sure you could always find a substitute if you didn't want to buy something.

I didn't always do the projects exactly like she did. I didn't use actual egg shells for the letter E and I didn't have my kids paint with spaghetti for the letter S. For the letter J, Corbyn had made jellyfish in his preschool and he insisted that we had to use crate paper streamers because that's how they did it. For the letter V, I didn't plan ahead and buy vegetables to paint with, so I used some flower cookie cutters we had and that worked fine.

A lot of the crafts are just glueing down paper - sometimes my kids got sick of that, so if I could think of another way to do it, I would do it that way just to shake it up a bit. Like for the letter U, we used fish stickers I had from joy school instead of glueing down cut-out shapes to make fish. 

Just have fun with it! And if you're a perfectionist like me, do your best to let them do the crafts on their own!

Five on Friday

1. We had a BBQ at my Uncle Kevin's house on Monday for Labor Day. It was fun to get together with the Riries. We enjoyed good food, good company, and a tramp to jump on. It was the perfect way to end a pretty great summer.

2. For the BBQ I made S'mores Cookie Bars. These bars are something special and I kind of feel like I should be apologizing for not mentioning them before now. I first made them for our picnic on the 24th of July and this was my third time making them. (Yes, that's 3 times in less than 2 months!) They come together quickly, are pretty fail proof, and are incredibly moist and delicious!

3. On Tuesday I had an appointment to give blood at BYU. I showed up only to find that their computers were down and the blood drive was canceled until they could get them back up. After waiting around for awhile, I gave up and headed to the BYUBookstore to buy us our game-day football shirts. While I was there I happened to see a rack with baby football jerseys and I just couldn't say no!

4. On Wednesday while Corbyn was at kindergarten, I hit up the case lot sale at Macey's with my two little helpers. I filled up the cart with cans and then balanced this 55 gallon water jug on top. We've been talking about buying one for a long time, so it was about time we finally did!   

5. Logan has been working hard to learn how to crawl this week. He gets up on his hands and knees, but can't quite figure out how to go forward. He ends up going backwards and I keep finding him stuck under tables and in corners.

Routines

I'm the kind of person that really thrives with a routine. Summer is great, but I love that school gives a little more structure to our days. The past few weeks I've been waiting for everything to start, so we can really get into our routine for this school year. The last thing to start was Peyton's preschool and that finally happened last week. 

On Tuesday we went to meet her teacher, Ms. Dixie, and tour her classroom.

And on Thursday I dropped her off for her first day! She was so excited to go!

Her preschool is at Corbyn's Elementary, but she goes in the morning and he goes in the afternoon. I have to pick her up at the time Corbyn's class starts, but he wants to take the bus anyway. So on Tuesday and Thursday I get Corbyn on the bus and then get in the car and drive to pick Peyton up (at the same place the bus is taking Corbyn). It's a little ridiculous, but it works! It's fun to see Corbyn and Rhys hop off the bus together and run into the school. I can hardly believe how grown up that makes him seem! And also the fact that he has homework and has to read every night. We blinked and suddenly he's a big kid!

Our date night swap fell apart this summer with the Goodrich's moving, the Howard's being in Arizona, and the Wood's having a baby. Hopefully we'll be able to get it started up again soon, but in the meantime we've fallen into the routine of having a date night at home after putting the kids to bed Friday night. Last Friday night we watched McFarland USA while I painted this shelf for our bedroom and Rog worked on fellowship stuff. We got it hung up on Monday and I literally get excited to see it every time I walk into our room!

Saturday was the first BYU football game of the season. We watched it at my parents' house and it was such an exciting game! I don't think we've had such an exciting finish to a game since the famous 4th and 18 against Utah in 2007. What a way to start the season! (Bummer about Taysom getting injured and being out for the season again, but at least it looks like Mangum is going to be able to step up and take his place.)

Rest of August

The week before Glenwood Springs was a busy one. It was Rog's last week of his internship and also the week we switched out our queen mattress for a king. (We did it that week because my parents decided they wanted to replace the mattress in their guest bedroom before Jared and Cailey came and they said they would buy our mattress from us since we just bought it in January.)

I thought I was going to be hiking with Logan, so I took him on a few practice walks in the carrier.

It was our 2nd and final week of swim lessons. Peyton and I got to go on the slide on Thursday.

And then on Friday she got to play in the shallow part of the pool and "dive" for Starbursts.

Friday Corbyn got to jump off the diving board (with help from one of the teachers).

And go down the slide.

The clasp on Peyton's swim suit broke, so I had to order her a new one. They were all on clearance on oldnavy.com, so I ended up getting her 2 new suits (see above) and I got Corbyn Spider-Man swim shorts. He's always had a swim shirt, so he was a little hesitant to wear just the shorts. (They didn't have a matching Spider-Man swim shirt in his size.)

I also worked my tail off to get Logan's quilt finished.

After we got home from Colorado, we got to spend a few more days with Diana, Blake, and Skyler. (Instead of going home after Glenwood Springs, they went to Spanish Fork while Jason went on a camping trip with a friend.) We went with them to Seven Peaks on the last full day it was open for the summer (other than Saturdays). It was pretty packed, but we still had fun. I found a shaded spot in the kiddie pool and let Logan hang out in his tube for a long time. He had the best time splashing and playing! We left at lunch time and ordered a couple pizzas. We ended up eating in a parking lot because it was the only shade we could find!

Cute Skyler saw the older kids dipping their pizza in the garlic sauce, so she joined in.

The Howards got back from Arizona, so our kids have been in heaven playing with Rhys and Calla every chance they get!

When I took Corbyn to meet his teacher (Mrs. Chidester), he was excited that her classroom was decorated with owls. The teacher next door has a cowboy theme and apparently he doesn't like cowboys. Rhys is in his class and a lot of other kids from our ward as well.

Peyton started dance! She's in the Preschool class at Lifehouse Performing Arts Academy in Salem. (It's a bit of a drive, but the studio came highly recommended and has the right "feel" I was looking for.)

No exaggeration, I've been looking forward to this day since we found out she was a girl!

Rog took the kids to the dentist and was a little jealous that they get to play video games during their appointment.

We went raspberry picking at The Raspberry Patch in Payson.

It was a warm morning, but thankfully there was a nice breeze that kept us from melting. After awhile we took a break from our picking to have a picnic lunch. 

We ended up with 6 1/2 pounds of raspberries! I spent the next week making every raspberry recipe I could find to use them up. I canned 10 half-pint jars of raspberry jam and made Raspberry Cheesecake Truffles, Raspberry-Lemon Honey Butter, Raspberry Crisp, and Raspberry Cream Pie. (All very good, but that raspberry crisp was the stuff dreams are made of. I'm going to have to make it again as soon as I can get my hands on some more raspberries.) It was a good thing my mom was out of town that week because she's allergic to raspberries!

That week I was feeling pretty adventurous in the kitchen and tried out a new recipe (mostly from Pinterest) almost every day. I made Easy Burrito Bowls, Baked Denver Omelet, Chicken Parmesan Stuffed Shells, Tandoori Style Chicken with Indian Rice (from OBB Savoring the Seasons Cookbook), and Sour Cream Muffins. (All very good which is not always the case with recipes found on Pinterest.) 

We were watching my parent's garden while they were gone (on a cruise to Alaska with Jared and Cailey), but we only made it up there a couple of times to pick. Each time we found cucumbers the size of Logan! 

Corbyn started soccer. His team is terrible (they've scored zero goals in 4 games), but he doesn't really seem to mind. He's just happy Rhys is on his team. (Rhys' dad is the coach and Rog is the assistant coach.)

The next day he started Kindergarten! He has been enjoying it so far and especially loves riding the bus with Rhys.

That same day Rog started his semester up at the U. He's taking a light load this semester (1 regular class, 1 online class, and 1 class that only lasts 6 weeks starting in October) while he applies and interviews for fellowships.

With that light load, his schedule is more flexible and he's around part of the day which means I can sometimes do things like go to the grocery store with only one kid (the easy one who just sits like a big kid and sucks on toys) and stop for Happy Hour at Sonic on the way home.

I can also go running in the morning while Rog is home with the kids and Rog can join us on morning walks. This particular walk he dared me and Peyton to run through the sprinklers. Sometimes it's fun to act like a kid again!

Peyton has officially entered the princess phase which means her princess dresses are finally getting some good use. (And of course I'm loving it!)

The last Saturday in August we went to Rocky's birthday party and did a million errands on the way home. These 3 were troopers, so I made them snow cones as a reward when we got home. (Logan was a trooper too, but sadly for him, he can't have snow cones yet.)

And that was our August!

5 Months

Maybe someday I'll get my act together and post these monthly updates in a little more timely manner. Or not... But I feel like the important thing is that I post them - no matter how ridiculously late I am, so I will be able to look back on them later. 

 Logan turned 5 months on August 18th.

Logan at 5 months:

*Rolls all the time, but only from his back to his tummy. He still hasn't figured out how to roll back over and most of the time he gets pretty upset after being stuck on his tummy for a few minutes.

*Sits up like a pro and loves it.

*Spits up a lot when he's sitting up.

*Sticks out his tongue when he's happy.

*Loves to splash in the bath.

*Is always getting his feet stuck in the bars of his crib when he rolls over.

*Doesn't like being put in his car seat, but calms down pretty quickly when the car gets moving.

*Is such a smiley, happy little guy!

Logan's 5th month in pictures...

Still sucks on anything and everything like it's his job.

He looks too big sitting in this little chair. (Peyton was there to make sure he didn't fall.)

Those eyes and those thighs!

Splish splash he was taking a bath.

Peek-a-boo! Where's Logan?! Rolled over holding the blanket and ended up like this. And of course I had to get a picture before saving him!

Corbyn and Peyton think he looks like a gorilla when he's sitting up. 

There is something so stinking adorable about a sleeping baby when they learn to roll and can sleep on their tummy!

I love being this little boy's mom!

Blowing spit bubbles - one of the things he does best.

We can't get enough of this cutie!