FINALLY!!

I slack these days. Here are some random pictures...some very recent...some not so recent.

The boys favorite place to play...our front room.

Handsome Jake ready for church.

Look who I found climbing in the closet!

How many monkeys can fit in the closet??

5 buddies...Owen, Ty, Jake, Luke, and Boston (with Mr. Potato Head's glasses on!)

Crazy BOYS!!

Star Wars cake I made for Chuy's 6th birthday (our neighbor boy)

Giant cupcake cake

The teeny tiny lizard we found in our house.

Jake loves to hide in the linen closet.

Playin' outside in the sprinklers

The "pregnant" bear. The blue thing is Cookie Monster stuffed under the bear's shirt!

Curt and the boys went to Lowe's one Saturday morning to build these little dune buggies. They had so much fun! Greg, Chuy, Emily, and Abbi went, too.

One of the boys' favorite past times...wrestling!!

**This morning the boys were playing with their cars and I heard Ty say to Luke...

"Ok! See you later! I'm goin' to Cow-ni-fornia!"

I was cracking up! A few minutes later I heard Luke tell Ty...

"Well my guy is older than yours, Ty. Mine is 69."

Who pretends to be an old, I mean, "mature" age like that?? So funny!

Ty's First Day of Preschool

Ty started preschool on Monday the 18th! He was SUPER excited...all dressed and ready to go before 7am! Preschool starts at 9! We decided to send him to Tammy Farnsworth's preschool this year and we know Ty is going to have such a fun year with her. She is Jake's nursery teacher at church, so she knows our wild boys pretty well.

Ty has 3 of his friends from church in his preschool class, too. 2 of them are pictured above and I've heard the combination of Ty, Zaidy, and Boston is deadly! Good luck, Tammy!!

Ty said his favorite part of his first day at school was picking out his lizard from the treasure box. Although today he has been sad because now we can't find it!

Luke

Another lost tooth=another dollar from the tooth fairy!! He has 2 more teeth that are getting pretty loose, too. It's funny listening to him talk with his front tooth missing!

The other day, Luke was in his room listening to the demo songs on his electronic drum set. We could hear him singing something...we weren't quite sure what. So Curt and I tip-toed to his bedroom door (with the video camera in hand) to get in closer range. Luke, with his mock vibrato voice, was singing a song about vegetables and candy that he made up! IT WAS HILARIOUS!! When he realized that we were watching he got really embarrassed, and then started laughing along with us! Curt then gave him the idea to write down his song so he wouldn't forget it. The picture above is what he had written so far.

Luke, after trying and trying since last school year, was SO EXCITED on Friday when he FINALLY made a noise with his arm pit! He calls it his "musical arts" for some reason. I really wish he hadn't learned that yet, but he has seriously been so happy that he can now do it. And he does it ALL. THE. TIME. It brings back memories of my brother Marcus (insert eye roll).

First Grader!

Luke started first grade on Monday the 28th! He has been so excited for school to start. We switched him to a new school this year. It is brand new and pretty much across the street from us. His teacher is Mrs. Boyd, who we've heard great things about, so that is a relief.

Luke has 3 kids in his class this year that were in Kindergarten with him. He was excited about that. Hopefully this will be a great school year for him!

Luke's Visit From the Tooth Fairy!!

Luke FINALLY lost his first tooth yesterday! The tooth fairy left $1 under his pillow last night! Luke was pretty excited, but, for some reason, thought for sure he would get a 5 dollar bill instead. Crazy kid.

In Their Own Words...

Ty was in the middle of saying a prayer before our lunch the other day. He stops and in the cutest voice says to me..

"Do you want me to bwess (bless) you so you don't have to do wadiason (radiation) anymore?"

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I took Luke with me to the grocery store so that we could have some one on one time. After we got back home, I asked him if he could help me carry some of the bags inside. He said...

"Uhhh...it's ok. Grown ups can do it by themselves......even if they have cancer."

I just stared at him, not quite sure HOW I should respond. After staring him down for about 30 seconds, he finally caved and said "OK.".

Jake's Famous Looks

July 4th at the Cabin

We spent 4th of July at the cabin in Snowflake, AZ. It was warm there, but at least a good 10 degrees cooler than the Phoenix area. Evenings were soooo nice because it actually cools off there once the sun goes down!

We didn't get to do the usual campfire and roasting marshmallows because of the restrictions out here, so that was a bummer. But everyone seemed to have a good time regardless.

Between the boys taking turns throwing up, and Jake's bad diarrhea, Curt and I were wondering if we should just load up the kids and head home early. We decided to stick it out and we're glad we did. I LOVE being so secluded, with no distractions...no deadlines...no appointments...no job where Curt is gone all day...
We have what we need right there...the most important thing. Our family.

Curt and I took lots of walks with the boys, making new trails, and discovering new things on the property. There were a lot of rabbits around and Jake and Ty had fun chasing them!

We had fun playing games with Grandpa and Grandma, and the boys also loved painting rocks with Grandma's help. Jake just couldn't keep his paintbrush (with paint on it!) out of his mouth! Rides on the 4wheeler are always a hit with the kids. Luke was sooo excited because Daddy let him steer and push the gas!

We didn't end up seeing any fireworks, but no one was too torn up about it. Maybe next year we will do some little ones of our own. On the drive home, Curt wanted to go through Showlow, which added an extra 45 minutes or so, but it was a nice drive. We love the scenery outside of Showlow. It's beautiful!