Meek Family Christmas Card

Merry Christmas from the Meeks 2008
Dear Family and Friends,
We hope this letter or e-mail ( or blog post) finds you well and in good spirits for the holidays. This year we tried to “simplify” our Christmas in an effort to enjoy this special season more fully. In some things we have succeeded, in having a Mom and Me Bake Sale to help the kids earn money to buy Christmas presents I signed myself up for a LOT of extra work. One of the things we cut was Christmas cards. Most of you will receive our letter via e-mail and only a favorite few (grandparents) or those without e-mail will receive a letter. We love you all dearly and hope that your will forgive us. If you so desire, print our letter and attached picture out and add us to the collection on your fridge or mantle.

This year, 2008, brought many wonderful changes to the Meek household. Leah joined our family in June and is such a delight. She is smart and beautiful and has 4 teeth with 2 on the way. Her arrival spurred many other changes as well. Donalee became a true soccer mom with the purchase of our “new to us” minivan. Kris worked all summer to finish a new room in the basement for Abi, all pink, purple and ballerinas, so that Leah could have Abi’s room. Donalee quit her job at the hospital to become a full time stay at home mom and most days loves it. Abi and Tal are becoming even better helpers and more loving big sister and brother.

Talmage is 5 and started Kindergarten this year. He has enjoyed making new friends and his teacher. Tal played soccer this spring and was on the Aquatic Center Jr Swim Team this summer. He loves to play outside with his friends, is learning to read, is a Lego maniac, and 110% boy. Mom spends most of her day trying to keep up with him. Tal is also learning to play the piano and shows a sharp mind and a real love for music. He loves to entertain Leah and make her laugh and smile.

Abiela is 7 and in the 2nd grade. She adores her teacher and is becoming a little bookworm. We can usually find her curled up on the couch with a book and has the highest Accelerated Reading point total in her class. Abi also played soccer this spring and swam on the Jr Swim Team this summer. She was quite the little scrapper in soccer and can swim a full 25 yards now. Abi’s first love is ballet and she still dances twice a week. This December she danced in the Nutcracker as a Toy Soldier and a Licorice princess. Abi is also learning to play the piano and it is so fun to hear her practice. She is a wonderful helper, especially as “chef”, and her chatty nature is always good company.

Kris is excelling in his legal profession at Hopkins Roden. He is the prosecuting attorney for 2 surrounding communities, serves as Secretary for the Idaho Falls Inns of Court, is President Elect of his Civitan group, and also serves as the Elder’s Quorum President in our ward. In his spare time he is a wonderful husband and father, loving to play games and do special things with mom and the kids. Kris has the magic touch with Leah to put her to sleep. In his spare time, Ha Ha, he loves a round of golf or playing a little basketball. Kris also co-authors a legal blog called The Idaho Law Bulletin at http://www.theidaholawbulletin.blogspot.com/.

Donalee is busy just trying to keep everyone fed, clothed and relatively clean (No small task). I also serve on the PTO Board at Abi’s and Tal’s school and on the Enrichment Board in our ward. I steal minutes away once in a while to blog, scrapbook, exercise, and sleep. I do love to blog about my family and you can read more about us at http://www.meekfamilycircus.blogspot.com/.

We wish you all the merriest Christmas and joy in the New Year.
Love, Kris, Donalee, Abi, Tal and Leah

Motherhood ( and the accompanying crushing guilt)

I must apologize.

My last post was never meant to imply that I am a super mom ( which I am sooooooo NOT) or to make anyother mom feel badly about themselves. My blog is my sorry excuse for a journal, because I am TERRIBLE about keeping a journal. I only wanted to record for myself what life is like right now with Leah at 6 months. These moments are so fleeting and I just want to remember.

And so please accept my profound apology. If you look closely at my little schedule, everything is "ish". Because mom's know that everything must be flexible. If you can't get yourself out of bed, you feed your kids cold cereal and send them with money for lunch ( and then the crushing guilt of not making a hot breakfast and being frugal with cold lunches.) More often than not that morning nap doesn't work out just right so you skip the excercise and you plop your baby in front of the TV to watch Baby Einstein while you take a shower ( more crushing guilt). If you visit my house, I hope I have enough toys and shoes picked up that you don't trip and break your leg, but please don't let your baby crawl around my table or she will find tasty leftover snacks. (Don't even glance at my baseboards or windows - more crushing guilt.) You try to be good about your diet to lose those baby pounds because you gained more than the recommended 25-35 pounds this time and your husband commented more than once, but you just love cookies in the afternoon. And then when you do lose a few pounds, of course it comes off the one place you were happy to gain a little cup size and then your husband comments again. ( More crushing guilt.) You feel like you run around all day shopping, cleaning, cooking, washing, doing this and that when you should play with, read with, love your children more ( more crushing guilt.) Sometimes your family eats microwave burritos or sandwiches or pancakes for dinner ( more crushing guilt) but they really like it and you don't hear the complaints about the vegetables you strive to help them eat ( more crushing guilt). There is never enough time for all of the things you want to do, and most days everyone is lucky to be fed, clothed, and relatively clean. Then you fall into bed at night too tired to love your husband as often or as well as he needs ( more crushing guilt.)

Did I get it just about right? Not to mention I'm blogging while I should be ironing the 12+ shirts lined up across the canopy rod of our bed. ( More crushing guilt.) But somehow we muddle through, learning and growing and getting a little bit better day by day. With each new child and challenge we rise up to meet it, we lengthen the cords of our tents, we open our hearts, we modify our schedules and hopefully our expectations, we learn and glean from other mothers and friends, and we just keep "pressing forward with that perfect brightness of hope " (2 Ne 31:20) trusting that in the end our efforts will be magnified and that we will be found adequate to mee the task.

Life as we know it .....

It's so hard to believe that our little Leah, or Lulu, is 6 months old. Time has just flown by since she was born. (Or that may just be my perception due to chronic lack of sleep.) She is such a joy and a delight in our family. Leah is becoming a very happy and well loved baby. We have a nice little schedule down during the day and once in a while, mom even gets a little house cleaned.

7:00 ish - We wake up. Leah is normally in bed snuggling with me at this point, so when I get up, so does she. She hangs out in her Bumbo while I make breakfast, pack lunches and get Abi and Tal off to school and Kris off to work.

8:00 ish - Leah has her breakfast of cereal, usually oatmeal. She has to have her own spoon to hold or those fast little hands grab at everything. Then she gets cleaned up and either has a bath or just gets dressed. I carry her about as we pick up the house for a minute.

9:00 ish - Mom nurses Leah and then she takes her morning nap. It's normally only 45 min - 1 hour so I have to move fast to possibly excercise and get my shower in.

10:00 ish - We do our chores. Whether its cleaning, shopping, baking or bills, Leah is right there with mom ( normally being carried about) but she will sit in her Bumbo for a little while at a time. Mom better pay attention to Leah though or she throws a fit.

11:30 Tal comes home from Kindergarten and we have lunch. Leah gets an arrowroot biscuit while Mom and Tal eat. Then Leah has her fruit: bananas, pears, peaches or applesauce. Yummy!!! Did I mention it ends up all over her face?

1:00 We read books with Tal. I should say - Tal reads, Mom reads, Leah likes to chew the corners of her book. Then we have a little tummy time and practice stand ups and sitting by herself. By now she's tired so she will nurse again and then go down for a little nap. (She's a little snacker when it comes to nursing throughout the day as well.) Mom tries to grab 20 minutes of sleep quite often as well while Tal gets to watch a show. Then we do more chores, play with Tal, computer time or one of the myriad of things that need doing.

3:00 Abi comes home from school - snacks all around. Then its pushing through homework and piano practicing. Tal likes to play outside with his friends who all have afternoon Kindergarten so he misses them. Mon and Wed, Abi has ballet from 4:30- 6:00.

5:00ish- Leah needs another nap. This one is quick, maybe 30 minutes while mom makes dinner.

6:00 Dad gets home and we can eat. Leah gets another arrowroot biscuit and then a vegetable - hopefully mom remembered to cook some, otherwise she gets another fruit.

8:00 Bedtime for Abi and Tal. Leah gets rice cereal, Yummy Yummy. We read stories and sing them songs. Then comes Leah's favorite part of the day - I lay her out on a blanket on the couch and strip her down to her onesie ( with a diaper under her) to kick and play. I lotion her down and massage her arms, legs and belly, then give her raspberries on the tummy. She laughs and squeals and loves to chew on her toes. Then I zip her into her little sleep sack and we rock and nurse before bedtime about 9:00.

I wish I could say she slept through the night. Once or twice she slept until 5:00 and I woke up in a panic. But she's cutting her top 2 teeth now and we have had a week plus of waking 4-5 + times a night. ( See I really need the nap too.) I'd be happy if we could get back to our previous usual of waking 2 times a night. But those little teeth should be through soon and sleep will improve. Even still, nothing can compare to snuggling my little Lulu and getting sweet open mouthed kisses on the cheek.

Our big, little girl, Abi, is becoming quite the ballerina. This past weekend she danced in the Nutcracker with Idaho Ballet Theatre. She was a soldier this year and a licorice princess. She is graceful and beautiful and almost has her splits to the floor. But on stage, she still looks so little to me. She'll always be my little girl.

Getting Into the Christmas Spirit

I have to admit. I am a Christmas nut. I would be at home in Whooville. I LOVE Christmas. But the past few years I have started dreading all of the work and mess and stuff that goes along with Christmas. I've found myself bogged down by "having to do" this and that, scrambling to finish homemade presents the night before, feeling pressured to make all the traditional treats and then on Christmas Day feeling let down because I never got to enjoy my Christmas. So this year I changed my mindset. SIMPLIFY. Here is your fair warning : I am not doing cards this year. We will be sending an e-mail. A favorite few (grandparents etc.) will be getting a family picture. I made neighbor gifts in August. I have only 1 homemade present this year. Most of our presents are already bought. I play Christmas music and try to read Christmas stories with my kids. And we made this fun little advent calendar. I got the idea from Jenni - see the side bar. We placed little slips of paper in the pockets that have little things we want to do this Christmas. A few ideas are : hot chocolate and candy canes, video tape us singing a Christmas song, take a treat to a neighbor, cut out paper snowflakes.

Also to get us into the spirit we love to decorate for Christmas. We put up all of our decorations on Friday after Thanksgiving. Then on Saturday we went to Civitan park in downtown to help the Civitans string lights on their trees. Elementary schools then make decorations for them.

A special visitor stopped by. Abi and Tal got to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas and chatted with him for a minute.

Santa held Leah for me while Kris and I decorated another tree. I thought she would be scared as she is developing some stranger anxiety, even with members of our extended family. But she was fascinated with his beard and cuddled right in.

So Priceless.

Tom the Thankful Turkey

Every year for Family Home Evening we make a Thankful Turkey. It's nice to remember all of the many blessings which we enjoy. Here are the results for this year:

Jesus and the Church

The Scriptures

My Family

House

Sky and clouds

Health

Indoor Plumbing

Forced Air Heat

Daddy's Job

Music

Grass and Plants

Pets

America and books

Clothes

Cars

Food especially cookies

Lights

Water

The Priesthood

Leah

Horses

TV

Our Body

The American Flag

We all have sooooo much. Happy Thanksgiving.

10 Things I Love About Talmage

1. Your love of marshmallows and sticky popcorn- you must be my child.
2. Your busy little nature and creative mind.
3. How great you are getting at reading and writing - I love all of the notes you leave me.
4. Your amazing singing voice.
5. How caring, careful and loving you are with Leah.
6. That you love to help make cookies.
7. Hearing you play the piano.
8. Your love of plants and dirt and worms.
9. The cars and rocks and treasures that I find in your pockets.
10. Hugs and kisses from you.

10 Things I Love About Abi

1. Your nearly ever present jack-o' lantern smile and the cheerful personality that goes along with it.
2. How graceful you are when you dance.
3. How you love to be my helper "chef" in the kitchen.
4. Your empathetic nature especially for your brother and sister.
5. How you save and savor your candy so that you have Halloween candy until Easter.
6. Your love of reading and of learning new things.
7. You are a chatty little girl and such good company.
8. How you can plan and plan and plan fun activities for our family.
9. Hearing you play the piano - I'm proud of you for working so hard.
10. Hugs and Kisses from my big girl.

Pics of Abi's new room. Just perfect for our ballerina princess.

Now I just hope that you can keep it this clean.

Little Lulu

Once again I am neglecting my housework to post. Our home is in a bit of an upheaval as we move everyone around. We FINALLY finished Abi's room in the basement on Saturday and so moved Abi 's bed into her new room that night. Last night Kris set up Leah's crib in her new room, Abi's old room, and so she moved from her cradle in our room to her new room. Today we are moving Abi's toys and odds and ends to her room and the rest Leah's stuff into her room. Abi also gave her toy organizer to Tal so that moved to his closet and Leah inherited Tal's toy box. So we are doing the shuffle. Below is a picture of Abi's new room. My handsome husband worked sooooo hard. He dug the hole for the egress window, (we had A-Core cut it out), put the new window and well in place, scraped off the old terrible texture, re-drywalled the exterior wall, taped and textured the whole room, cased and trimmed the window, primed and painted the room and trim, and hung the blinds. I put up the ballet slippers border:) Great job Honey. Abi is quite thrilled with her new room. Once we get it cleaned up, I'll post some more pics.

Little Leah or Lulu as we call her turned 5 months last week. Time is flying by soooo fast. This is a pic of her in her Halloween kitty outfit from Nana Meek. Her 4 month Dr's appt was a little late but she is growing and growing. She is 25 1/2 inches and 11 lb 15 oz. She is 75% for height and 5% for weight. Long and skinny, who would have guessed in this family (Mom not included). She is such a delightful baby now. Her two teeth are in well and she loves to eat rice cereal and little bites of bread at lunch off mom's sandwich.

She loves to play games like patty cake, and peek a boo, and play with her toys, especially her zebra rattle and linking rings. But her favorite game is pulling up to a stand on the couch. She just grins because she is so big.

She loves us to sing songs to her and is getting better about riding in the car. She will be content for 10-15 minutes now as long as she's not tired. Leah is sleeping better at night as well. There have even been a few nights recently that she slept until 5:00 am before waking to nurse. She ends up in bed with us about 5:00 in the morning, she wants to be carried around to be in the middle of what everyone is doing, and she thinks that she is the cutest ever and we should all pay attention to her all the time. Lulu sure is spoiled but I think that means well loved.

Trick or Treat

I am stealing a few minutes of "Me Time" to post on my blog - while nursing a baby. We had a really fun Halloween this year. I was so glad to be able to enjoy it this year and join in the fun rather than being pukey and miserable like a year ago. Kris wanted to do a family theme for our costumes this year. Originally we were playing on the ambulance chasing lawyer but Abi and Tal revolted and so we were left with Mommy and Leah being the "Wambulance" (Leah is the light and siren), Kris - the ambulance chaser, Abi - a rock star, and Tal - Ironman. We celebrated at several parties. We went to the kids' Halloween carnival, had a blast at Kris's Civitan Halloween Hootenanny which they put on for the disabled in the community, and then had a Trunk or Treat and carnival at our ward building on Halloween. All were so much fun.

Abi had a lot of fun putting her costume together. She especially loved getting to spray her hair pink. Tal was so in love with his Ironman costume that he wore it nearly every day since we bought it, until I had to put an end to it for the sake of the costume.

Here we are at our Trunk or Treat. Leah does have a little reflector sewn onto her hat for our light. Fortunately she doesn't wail like a siren much anymore.

Kris totally rocked it with this Dracula pumpkin for Abi. I carved an Ironman for Tal but it is not nearly as cool and we didn't get a good pic of it.

Crazy Hair Day

Need I say any more?!! Abi and Tal really got into "Crazy Hair Day" for their school. I am the Spirit Day Coordinator for the PTO and it is really fun to come up with fun days and pass out the treats. Imagine my suprise to be walking by my plant one day and see this little guy hanging there. Bet you can't guess who did that. Tal is such a creative little guy, sometimes I have to just smile and hug him.

Leah at 4 months

OK, I know that I blog a lot about Leah. But I was so excited to get her pictures taken and share them with everyone. She is such a cute little muffin and we love her so much.
She still wouldn't quite give up one of her smiles for the photographer. She is a little particular about who she likes. She loves mommy, Yeah me, daddy is OK too, Talmage and Abi are Ok to entertain her for a few minutes and grandmas and grandpa are allright as long as they hold her so that she can look out and see other people. My neighbor Ranay and sister Kalene also seem to have the magic touch with her. But when she's fussy, I'm the one she wants. That makes me happy that she knows and loves me, but sometimes my tired arms wish someone else could hold her.
This one is my favorite because it comes the closest to what she looks like when she is happy. Mom looks a little silly, but it is all about Leah. With Abi and Tal I also had my picture taken with them and I love remembering us like that. I got the idea for a picture of my mom and me when I was a baby.
I was tickling her to make her smile and the photographer snapped this one.
Kris was sure that the moment Leah could eat cereal she would sleep through the night. WRONG. She still gets up 2-3 times a night to nurse. And she doesn't like to nurse in bed like my other babies. Oh no, I have to get up out of my warm bed and go into the feezing cold living room to sit in the rocking chair. She is sooooooo spoiled. She does seem to like her cereal though and gets it all over her face, her hands, her outfits. I'm sorry that you can't tell but her eyes are the prettiest blue, like Tal's, and her hair has lightened to a strawberry blonde. She also cut 2 teeth over the past week. The first tooth took me by total suprise because she's too little to have teeth. Kris however likes to rub it in that he thought she was teething 2 weeks earlier and I discredited him saying, "Oh no, she's too young." She is very attentitive and interested in what is going on around the house but she wants me to hold her and carry her around all day. Again Kalene, thank you for the usage of the front pack and the Bumbo seat. She loves to stand on my lap and be "Soooo Big." Leah also likes to play with her zebra rattle and a washcloth puppet.

Letterboxing - a treasure hunt

Letterboxing - a quirky, fun hobby; the low-tech cousin of geocaching; a treasure hunt

For those of you unaquainted with letterboxing , it is a treasure hunt of sorts where clues to hidden letterboxes are posted online. Then you follow the clues to the letterbox where you "stamp in" to the log book and in turn use the stamp inside the letterbox to stamp your own logbook, a passport of sorts. I read about letterboxing in Family Fun at the library and it sounded like the perfect fit for our family - getting outdoors, a treasure hunt where often you have to use a compass (hooray for husbands who were avid Boy Scouts) , and inexpensive. A quick look on www.letterboxing.org showed several sites in SE Idaho and 5 in Idaho Falls. Abi and Tal were out of school on Friday so we picked Kris up for lunch and went to find our first letterbox. This one was called "Just Across the Bridge" and was a quick and easy find. The logbook was full of stamps from as far away as California and South Carolina. According to the website there are over 22,000 sites in the US. Our first experience was so fun, we will be doing more of this again for sure.

The Stay at Home Mom

For those of you who missed the subtle change to my profile, about a month ago I became a full time stay at home mom. OK so I was on maternity leave for 3 months prior to that, but effective August 24th I resigned from my position as staff RN. WOW, what a big change!!! I have been a nurse for the past 11 years, my career was such a defining part of who I was that I was afraid that I would be losing a part of myself if I left nursing for a while. It wasn't the money or the security I clung to, but rather the title that I could define myself by. I thought that I would feel a little lost, but to be honest I am WAY to busy to even notice. It's really nice not to have to juggle child care and meals and laundry days and getting my kids from place to place. And I realize more and more how important it is for me to be at home with my kids. They get busier and busier the older they get and I am really cherishing the time I have with little Leah.

Fall is also such a busy time for putting up food for winter. Below are some pictures of Tal helping me to make apple rings and slices. He is a great helper.

We made 5 dryers full of apple rings and slices, several dryers of apricot roll-ups, canned peaches, pears, cherries, apricots and salsa, froze strawberries, raspberries, beans, corn, and peaches, and still have carrots and diced tomatoes to can. Below is a picture of my square-foot garden. This is my second year and it is the perfect size for us. We have enough to eat and a little to share without to much work. We grew radishes, carrots, 2 kinds of peas, lettuces, swiss chard, bok choy, yellow wax beans, green onions, red peppers, jalapeno peppers, crook neck squash and lots of tomatoes. In addition we also have a strawberry patch and a raspberry patch.

I haven't got to spend as much time in my gardens as I like this year, but I am growing something even more important than plants - children of God. I love you little Meeks :)

Leah at 3 months

Little Leah is growing up so fast. Again I was trying to coax out one of her sweet smiles, but with no luck. Her favorite times are bath time and at night when I strip her down to her onsie and let her kick with her diaper off. Then we get lots of smiles and coos, but I'm not going to post those pics of her. (She would curse me when a teenager.) This nifty seat is called a Bumbo and my awesome sister, Kalene, bought it for her. Thanks, sis :) Leah likes to sit up in it where she can see the action. She will watch me make meals or do the dishes. But we have to move fast because she only likes it for about 20 minutes. Then she can really set up a wail. Leah is a very opinionated baby, she is a Meek after all. And if she isn't getting exactly what she wants she will let you know, very loudly. Leah LOVES to be held and carried around. Thank goodness for the front pack my sister lent me. She also likes to play "So Big" games where we hold her arms and pull up to a sitting position or where we help her stand. She does NOT like to be on her tummy though. And she HATES to ride in the car. She will scream an entire care ride. Luckily the grandparents are only 15-25 minutes away because anything longer would drive mom completely insane. I'm only partially there now. I don't even have to put her in her seat, simply going into the garage and opening the door of the van will set her off and the wailing begins. She takes about 3 naps a day and we are slowly working into a general schedule. I wish I could say that she is sleeping through the night but unfortunately her ear infection really set her back and she is playing catch up on her feedings. We are back to every 2 to 2 1/2 hours through the night. I'm getting pretty worn down so I hope that she will chub up quick . Kris calls her Leah Lou or Lou Lou. When she's happy she really is a cutie and we are so glad to have her.

Fife Family Mini-Reunion

Dear Readers,
My blog is also my journal because frankly I am not good at writing in a journal but I do love posting pics of my family and what we do. So this record will have to suffice. I apologize that I often wax long on the goings on ( is that even a real phrase) of my family but hey, it's MY blog.

I'm also feeling a bit lonely tonight because my handsome husband and awesome older kids are up camping in Tendoi at the Hayes family reunion but I had to stay home with little Leah who has an ear infection. I just got Leah down to sleep so I'm stealing a few minutes to post about our Fife Family Mini-Reunion. We have to call it a mini-reunion because Mallory and Jared, 2 of my siblings, couldn't make it because they were still working their summer jobs at a resort just outside of Zions National Park.

August 15th and 16th we gathered at Nana and Papa Fife's home in Lewisville for a weekend of fun, family and food. We started out by making tie dyed t-shirts for all of the grandchildren, seven of them now. Even little Leah got a onsie. Kris also joined in the fun and made himself a tee. We donned each of the non-baby kids in aprons and rubber gloves and let them go wild, with a little supervision. Then Kalene helped us make marshmallow shooters. How cool is that. Kris shot a marshmallow at Talmage and he started to cry. So then he shot one at close range at me to see if it really hurt. Sure enough, it stung a bit. So we had to make the rule that they could only shoot them out into the grass or at the cows. (They were happy to do this as one of the heifers was in heat and bellering up a storm.)


Then for dinner we roasted hot dogs and brats over the Chimea (sp?). Ooooh tasty. Then we set up the tents for sleeping. The five older kids - Gabby, Abi, Sterling, Talmage, and Kirsten - all slept in one tent. Papa Fife slept in his own tent next door. After the tents were set up we used the Howell's projector to show a movie on the side of the house. I made sticky carmel popcorn and provided Red vines for the show. We watched "The Spiderwick Chronicles" and they loved it. By then the kids were so tuckered out they went right to sleep in their sleeping bags in the tent. All other grownups slept inside in nice, warm beds.

Nana and Papa made breakfast the next morning. There is Papa working the grill. After everyone got dressed in their new matching tie dye shirts we played everyone's favorite game, BINGO!!! The kids love it because Nana buys awesome prizes for them to win. She bought out Big Lots and the Dollar Store this year.

Then we filled at least 200 water balloons and headed for Rigby Lake. We enjoyed making sand castles and playing in the water. Water ballon volleyball was a favorite but then it got out of hand and turned into an all out water ballon fight for a few minutes. When all grandchildren we crying we went back to volleyball.


After one last dinner we had my birthday cake, raspberry cheesecake - Thanks mom. Then we loaded up our exhausted children and headed home. We took a lot of fun memories and a little lake sand with us.

First Day of School

Abi and Tal started school today. Abi is in the 2nd grade and Tal goes to Kindergarten in the morning. Both were so excited. I had just a twinge of sadness as I dropped them off, but no tears. I'm actually really excited to not have to take 3 kids to the store anymore :) They both had a great day and have told me bits and pieces about their new classes. We have a family tradition of going out for ice cream on the first day of school so we should hear lots more tonight.

Fun for Four Dollars

My husband Kris is an avid golfer, well at least he would be if we had more money in the entertainment category of our budget. I enjoy golfing, as long as we don't keep score, but haven't had the chance to go since before Abi was born. But a few Saturdays ago we took our kids out to Sage Lakes to let them hit a bucket of balls out on the driving range.


Kris was a great teacher, helping Abi and Tal line up their shot and work on their pendelum swing. I love this pic because Tal is always trying to be just like his Dad.
Then Abi and Tal got to try their hand at the putting green. (Loser has to buy ice cream. JK) That used to be the rule with Kris and I but this time dad bought the soda to go with our hamburgers for dinner.

Leah at 2 months

Our little Leah is growing in leaps and bounds. She is 9 lbs 12 oz now and 23 1/2 inches long. One of her favorite times is bathtime. She loves to kick and splash in the tub. She also has the cutest smiles and will grin at you when you talk to her. ( No the date is not correct on my thought calendar. I've been a little preoccupied.)
Here are my girls first thing in the morning. Abi is such a great helper and loves little Leah. Abi was holding Leah so that I could make breakfast.
I was trying to catch one of her cute smiles but no luck. She's still a little sweetie though and we love her to pieces.