Our living room is complete!

My hubby, my nephew, and my brother in law drove approximately 5 hrs this morning (leaving at 6:30 am) to get this for me:

Our very own piano! Nikki and I are both excited to learn how to play. Garrett might even want to when he's ready also. It's kind of neat because this piano used to belong to my mom and she is a very talented pianist. I hope I have some of her talent in me. When my parents got divorced the piano stayed with my dad and then ended up going to our family cabin. It was rarely being used up there so when I was talking to my grandma about how I'd like to get my daughter in piano lessons she offered for me to have this piano. It was now just a matter of making the trip to get it and waiting for my hubby to get home so he could make the trip. After double checking to make sure it was still okay to have the piano my hubby made the trip this morning to finally retrieve it. I am so excited to have it!!

Birthday celebrations and Pumpkin patch

Wednesday was Garrett's 4th birthday but we decided to have his party on Friday. I wanted to do something for him on his actual birthday so I woke him up to a waffle with a candle and his sister and I singing "Happy Birthday" to him.

He just woke up so he wasn't used to the bright lights from the camera.


The next day we went to the pumpkin patch where they also had several other activities for the kids.

The corn box (like a sand box).

The hayride to the pumpkin patch.

The pumpkins we picked.

The straw bale maze.

The tractor tire playground.

The barrel train ride. I also got to ride so that I could hold Jack since all of the seat belts were broken.

The rotating swings! Jack had a hard time figuring out if he liked this ride or not.

Nikki loved it!

Garrett too! The operator let Nikki and Garrett ride for about 15 min or so because it was a slow day and didn't have much customers. So glad we went when we did. Made it more worth it!

And at last, enjoying popcorn and mini donuts! I've been looking forward to those donuts all year. Actually, 2 years because we didn't get to go last year.


And now "Come inside for a Batman Birthday Party!"

He was trying to pose like Batman on the picture behind him.

Our first activity was coloring some Batman pictures.

Daddy helping Garrett "Batman" to fly.

Our next activity was the "Gone fishing" game. All of the kids there enjoyed fishing for toy prizes.

Our last game was "Pin the bat on Batman" and here they are waiting in line for their turn. We used the Batman sign on the front door for this game. We just brought it inside and lowered it so they could reach it.

And now time for the cake and singing! Thanks so much to my sister who practically made the whole cake. In fact, the only thing I did was fill in the yellow and black frosting. She did everything else and I think it turned out great!

He loved all the gifts he received which were: a homemade Buzz Lightyear pillow & matching cape, a folder with Toy Story coloring pages and a framed picture of Buzz from his grandparents. A Batman action figure from his aunt and uncle. An electronic Buzz Lightyear game from his other grandparents. A BSU football from his friend. And a Buzz rocket ship toy, Spiderman puzzle, Spiderman book, jeans and a Batman glow in the dark shirt from us.

I think he really enjoyed his birthday this year and I had fun doing everything for him. But I'm glad the stress of it is over now.

This and That

I knew I wasn't going to be as good about blog posting after Curtis returned home but there are several things that I wanted to post about this last month that I'm finally getting to. It's been a fun month!

My sister in law Jeanie came to visit last weekend and fixed Nikki's hair up pretty.

This is her princess hair. She did this Monday night during the BSU game at my in-law's home.

I had never done a braid like this so Jeanie had showed me how to do it but it wasn't until several days later (today) that I finally had time to try it out for Nikki to wear to school.

After starting over about 5 times or so I finally got it. It doesn't look exactly like how Jeanie did it but I think it turned out pretty good and I was getting frustrated too. Now all I need are some of those big cute flower clips/bows. I'm going to have to learn how to make some. I also need someone to teach me how to do some more cute hairstyles.

Labor Day weekend we spent up in the mountains again and Saturday night we enjoyed cooking tinfoil dinners and then roasting marshmallows for smores. Jack is enjoying his marshmallow.

Eating smores can make you act silly.

Curtis roasted some perfectly brown marshmallows and my cousin Alivia enjoyed every bite of it. We just had to get a picture of a perfect smore.

Curtis and Nikki had a little fun in the water Saturday afternoon. It was too cold for me or the boys.

Saturday morning we went on a beautiful hike up at Ponderosa State Park. This is the same hike we did last year except we went a lot further this time. We hiked about 1 1/2 to 2 miles and Garrett almost walked the entire distance. We're so proud of him!

These are the marsh lands. So beautiful!

Nikki and I started this art project at my mother in law's house over a month ago and we finally finished it last week. It's a dragonfly mobile. Now to hang it in her room.

Ready for church.

We finally did some thrift shopping and got the boys some proper church clothes. We actually already had this tie. Anyone recognize it? It's from Nikki's costume the year we did the "Harry Potter" theme for Halloween. Guess that means he's in Gryffindor!

And after a month of having a loose tooth it finally came out a couple of weeks ago! And now the other bottom one is loose too. This is Nikki's first lost tooth and yes, the tooth fairy came. The funny thing is that Nikki wanted the tooth to look very clean so she could get more money from the fairy. So we bleached it. It definitely looked a lot better after it was bleached. Whiter than my teeth, ha ha.

And August 18th was Nikki's first day of school and her first year going all day every day. She loves it. I love it too because now I drop her off at school and go straight to the Rec Center to workout with my sister. Nikki was too old for the playcenter so I had to wait to go back until after school started.

Since He's Been Home!!!

Curtis has made it safely home and of course we've been very busy since then. So I've posted A LOT of photos for you to see what's been happening since he's been home.

Nikki waiting to give her Daddy some welcome home balloons.

Yay, we're a family again!

This picture was actually taken a week after Curtis got home and by then half the sign had fallen down so we had him hold it up for the picture.

Daddy brought gifts for the kids from Iraq. Nikki got some very pretty flip flops.

And Garrett got some awesome Spiderman crocs. Jack also got some blue crocs but doesn't really like to wear them yet.

The next day we had our first visitors since Curtis's arrival. Here are a niece, a nephew, and our kids all breaking Curtis in getting a horsey ride.

A week ago Monday we were invited over to my in laws so the kids could play on an inflatable water slide. Nikki loved it!

Garrett just liked the pool part.

I was tired so I thought I'd lay on the floor for a minute. Next thing I know Jack is jumping on me, followed by Garrett and then Nikki. Shouldn't this be Daddy they are jumping on, not mommy? ha ha

Time for some bowling! Slowly but surely that ball made it to the pins. Go Garrett!

Go Nikki!

We took a trip to the store to buy an incentive toy for Garrett to get potty trained. He only gets to play with it when he actually goes on the potty. We set the timer and then it goes back on the plant shelf where he can't reach it. He's done it a few times but it's not working as well as we hoped. We've sinced changed him over to pull ups to hopefully help as well.

Time for haircuts! All 3 kids got a cut and two of them for the first time. We're showing you how long Jack's hair was getting in back and on top.

Ah, much better.

Yep, this is the first time I've ever put scissors to Nikki's hair and she's 6 1/2 years old. I was afraid to do it myself but I finally decided she at least needed a trim to even things up. She can get a professional cut later.

Jack's already learning to wrestle. "Pinned yah Daddy!"

Time for an outing to McDonald's. I hardly ever went out to eat while Curtis was gone so this was a treat for the kids. We had also tried taking them to the park before this but it was too hot outside anyway.

Can't tell he's having fun can you? Thumbs up!

Curtis's brother rented a jet ski for the day so we went out to the lake. Here's Garrett and Curtis getting ready to take off.

Nikki's cousin, Curtis, and Nikki after getting back from their ride.

Jack hung out at the beach and enjoyed his nice cold bottled water.

Here are a few pictures from the open house we had for Curtis. These are his parents.

Curtis is talking to our neighbors and then his grandma is sitting in the rocking chair.

Jack's having a good time with his aunt and grandma.

A few days ago on Monday my Dad came home for a vacation from Iraq. So nice to have all the family home from Iraq for a little while. Dad will still have to go back.

Like father, like son. My dad and brother unexpectedly wore the exact same shirt. They swear it wasn't planned, ha ha.

How can you not have an airplane toy at the airport?

After the airport it was off to Carl's Jr. We had already eaten before we came so our kids spent the whole time playing while the adults talked.

Now we are just busy getting our office rearranged, cleaned, and setup to do business as Curtis will be running his own plumbing business. We also took a break to go see "Prince of Persia" at the cheap theater on Tuesday night. I love that movie! And I LOVE having my husband home!!!!!