When I'm four years old...

Andrew has many goals as a 4-year-old. Some things he has told us:

When I'm four years old, I can get dressed all by myself...(still putting both legs in one side of his pants)
When I'm four years old, I won't be scared of anything...(not holding our breath on that one)
When I'm four years old, I will use my inside voice at school...(I was at his class today, and this one is not likely)

But, he did make it to the age of four, which we feel pretty good about.

Some things about this crazy guy:

He is THE loudest kid I've ever known. Justin blames it on my side of the family...I take that as a personal affront, but I don't honestly have a lot of evidence to the contrary.
He laughs ALL the time. Seriously, if anyone needs a boost, just talk to this guy. He will make you feel like a million bucks.
He is very, very, very smart. Which I'm also claiming comes from my side. (wink)
He is quick to be feisty, but also quick to apologize.
He takes great care of his brother.
He likes to cook, paint, and play games. He would prefer to do all those activities every day. Multiple times.
He has about 1,000 friends. He had a very difficult time narrowing down his birthday party list. Even after telling him he could only invite friends from church, he still wanted to invite his babysitter, the bishop, and his Primary teachers. And the siblings of all the kids he did invite. So, having 12 four-year-olds seemed manageable.

We love you, Droopers! You make our family life awesome.

Twosie

Many updates are pending, but to kick things off...

Henry is two! We are glad to see this little man grow up. He is cute and sweet and naughty (our kids seem to be following a trend), and we adore him. He loves cars, trucks, tractors, helicopters, airplanes, pretty much anything with an engine. He's very easy to please. He sleeps with a Lightning McQueen car in each hand. He is still my little buddy and doesn't go many places without me (or Justin), but can occasionally be persuaded to venture if Andrew does something with him. He loves Little Einsteins (probably too much) and can identify some letters and count to 5. And he sleeps through the night, which we feel has likely been his greatest accomplishment of the year. We went camping with some friends on his birthday, and it was very fun to be able to celebrate with them! Henry knew exactly what to do with his candle.

We love you, little man!

SugarFest 2011

BEFORE

DURING (note: Henry is retrieving his own candy...Mom strategic error #1)

AFTER (sugar literally coursing through his veins)

The costumes were a HUGE success in my mind. Cheap (t-shirts, like $2 each and paint), easy to make, low maintenance, and a 3-year-old who could not have been happier. He said to me this morning, "Hey Mom, let's pretend like we're the Angry Birds family again."

Eu-tawh

We just got back from a two week trip to Utah. And I took pictures!

FAMILY TIME:

Henry and Kimball on the longboard. Did my heart stop watching my baby ride down the sidewalk with an 11 year old? No. I was totally cool with it {gasp}.

It snowed while we were there. Wow, Utah. Wow.

Henry's relationship with his cousins is complicated. They love him, he loves them somewhere deep in his heart.

Cole got a new suit. He looked very dapper.

My mom got to come home for the funeral. Not gonna lie, it was kind of awesome to see her. Missed my dad, and I'm so glad they are on a mission, but...wow. I miss them.

Nanna with Lucy and Eddie. Did I get a picture with my mom and my children? No. {boo, hiss, says Justin}

In Grandma Doris's unfinished kitchen, she let the grandbabies make Halloween gingerbread houses. So fun.

New nephew, Emmett. Sweetest baby EVER. He is so, SO cute (really, this picture doesn't even get the half of it).

One of the days, I took my mom to the doc (yay for U.S. healthcare!!) and Henry and I played in the waiting room. This kid was AMAZING. This was after two restaurants, a salon and a mall. And no nap. He was so good. Not so good since we've returned, so I'm just kind of reminiscing to the good old days.

GRANDPA'S FUNERAL:

 

 

Grandpa's casket.

My grandpa fought in the South Pacific in WWII. He was an amazing man. Probably couldn't say that enough.

My cousin, Justin. One of the Marines in my family. This will be an image etched into my memory.

Pallbearer's flowers. Because Grandpa lived such a long, full life, his funeral was a sweet experience for me. So glad I could be there.

MISSION REUNION:

Justin and I had planned to come to Utah for the weekend of Justin's 10 year mission reunion. Since I was already here, we got to participate fully in all the festivities. It started with a night at the Lion House Pantry and a session at the Salt Lake Temple. Amazing.

A lot of our really good friends come from Justin's mission service. Here we are with the Gibbs, the Cooks and the Peays. It was really fun to be able to listen to those who served together talk about their missions, and I was really glad that I already knew a lot of the wives. There was no shortage of talking. :)

Sister Clark made an awesome quilt with a tie from each of the missionaries that had served with them and the sisters' names embroidered around the edges. Justin's tie was, of course, the brightest tie on the quilt. That boy loves the limelight. :)

One of the parts of the reunion was a faux preparation day where they had lunch, bounce houses, face painting and balloon animals for the kids. Andrew is kind of upset in the photo because he was crying (not wanting to leave) and his shark started to run...He really loved that shark. 

It's Autumntime...

Surprise!! We're still here.

First day of school...This boy was EXCITED!! He loves his teacher, class, friends, everything.

This guy, on the other hand...not thrilled about Brudder going to school. The first few weeks we spent a lot of time sitting by the door and looking out the window.

Nothing says school like the cutest shoes you've ever seen for little boys. These kids are rockin' the Sambas these days.

Only year of his life (hopefully) where him and Dad are going to school at the same time...

Struggling to coordinate the funny faces here. Come on, fellas...

Hot dog picnic...The school is so awesome and fun, but I'm pretty sure hot dogs aren't supposed to be the color of cement. I think I decided to be vegetarian right then and there. :)

Got the "old gang" together (minus Seth or Jane) for a little playdate. These three amigos CRACK ME UP! They were having too much fun to even look at me.

We ran a race. It was fun. Justin did AWESOME! He's a natural runner and I'm so impressed with him. He totally rocked it and ran faster than he planned. What a star!

Was this the day I threw the sandboxes away? Yes...Yes it was.

Just enjoying some produce. These boys are gross little monsters, but for some reason, I just can't get enough of their antics. I love that they are best friends.

In other news...I took the GRE and discovered Pinterest in September, so it was pretty much a bum month for me. Justin has been traveling to California every other week, still working for the company that he interned with. They offered and we accepted, so we'll be moving to the Sacramento area in December. We are glad and grateful and very, very excited that we got a good offer in a place where it doesn't snow! :) And of course, to live closer to family and (hopefully) not have scorpions in our house.

Coming up...long, unplanned trip to Utah. And hopefully some more charming and witty comments from yours truly. ;)

Home again, home again, jiggity jog

I don't know about you, but that little nursery rhyme kind of freaks me out.

Anyway, we are. Home again, that is. We LOVED our time in California. It was a really good summer for us in so many ways. We loved seeing Justin more, we loved the summer of fresh fruit gluttony, we loved the runner-friendly town we lived in, and we loved that Henry seems to be on the upswing of his 18 month funk we call his life. Now we are back in Texas, and although it is a little warm, we couldn't be more pleased to be home, going back to school (Justin and Andrew) and back with all the wonderful friends we have here.

  On our way back to Tejas, we spent some time in Utah. It was super fun. For more comprehensive pictures, you can look at Katie's blog. Hopefully the speedo pictures don't make you feel uncomfortable. Or hopefully they do? :)



Girl cousins. I think it's been more than 20 years since we have been together with everyone. It was way fun.



Grandma and Grandpa



Andrew and some of HIS girl cousins. He loved all the attention. He was totally in demand to fulfill all prince/daddy/garbage man duties in the many games of pretend.



SoCal4evr

In July, we went to Southern California. I love it there and wish we could live there. Maybe someday. But for now...some pictures to tide us over.

No, it's not Disneyland. It's the SD Zoo. One of my favorite places. We saw a cheetah on a leash, just taking a walk with a zookeeper...that was really cool. After that, Andrew said, "I want a cheetah for a pet." Sure thing, kiddo. We also got an amazing view of the polar bear swimming (and a 50-year-old woman laughing at the polar bear like she was on some kind of narcotic) and an up close view of the lions taking a nap.



Team Mom! We even have matching shirts. So nerdy, but we really didn't plan it. I wish people would mistake us as twins, but we don't really look alike. :)

 

At President and Sister Clark's house. They were super generous and great hosts. And they have a zipline in their backyard. Pretty fantastic.





Building a castle. The boys LOVE the beach.



And Henry loves the camera. Remember when we thought he was going to be a toothless wonder? This summer has been fruitful for his mouth.



Until next time, my friends.

And I don't like how this is becoming a tradition in my posts, but all the things I DIDN'T take pictures of:

• Fun barbecue at Pres. and Sis. Clark's house with them reminiscing about their mission...including some awesome pictures of Justin wearing a little boy's shirt...wow.
• Hanging with the Dockendorfs and the Clarks. Such cool people.
• Seeing Hna. Pidwerbecki and new husband and eating an omelet the size of my second child.
• The boys and I driving for 9 hours and everyone still staying relatively happy!! (it really was a miracle)
• Chatting with Camille ALL DAY LONG. We should really live by each other. :)
• Pointing out every road that I've ever traveled with Molly and her family to Justin, who sincerely tried to look interested.
• Getting sunburned on one arm because we were stuck in L.A. traffic for two hours.