1st Day of Kindergarten

Tuesday was Allie's first real day of Kindergarten. This was the day she'd been waiting for. She was so excited in the morning that I had a hard time getting her to focus and get ready. Our little princess picked out her clothes herself in our back to school shopping. Unfortunately her shoes on Sunday gave her huge blisters that popped and made her feet very sore. Monday her shoes just hurt her feet more; so she had to wear socks. It really bugged me, but what are you going to do when flip flops aren't allowed.

Allie and Mrs. Engler.

Kindergarten Tea

Monday Allie and I went to her Kindergarten Tea to meet her new teacher. Allie found out she sits next to one of her friends, a talkative friend. I hope this won't be a problem.

Happy to get to work marking off all the things we found around the room.

Is Xanthan Gum Important?

I am looking for a new bread recipe that is less crumbly and more airy. I am going to try several recipes and see if I can find a good one. Sunday I started a recipe and soon realized I was out of xanthan gum. While most people don't even know what it is, it is in almost all gluten free cooking. I thought about calling a friend to borrow some, but then decided to just see how important xanthan gum really is. Well, you can see for yourself.

At least the girls still liked eating it.

First Shoes

Since Miss Caitlyn is growing like a weed. I decided to try some shoes on her again. Her feet are so little, but these shoes finally fit-when tightened all the way. Can you see the shoes through her kicking feet? There you go.

Ward Social

Saturday night our Elder's Quorum held a Ward Dessert Social with Minute To Win It games. It was a lot of fun. The girls went around trying out all the games. Nate and I mostly visited with people, and Caitlyn enjoyed a bottle instead of the cookies, cupcakes, pies, desserts, ice cream, water, and lemonade available. We didn't get very many pictures, but here are a few.
Kayla completed junk in the trunk in only a few seconds as the ping pong balls quickly flew from her kleenex box. Allie also bounced her balls out extremely fast. They both were the first finished in their groups.

Allie caught the ping pong balls in the cups in this game. Daddy helped with the tossing of the balls.

Two Months Old

Caitlyn is already 2 months old. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. Too bad we can't slow this time down and speed up the pregnancy time. That's not asking too much is it?

This month Caitlyn has learned to smile. She had just started smiling when she got sick and her smile went away. We were so happy to have it come back. We can all be found trying all sorts of goofy things in hopes of seeing that cute smile.

Caitlyn still likes to eat every 4 hours. At night she's starting to go more like 5 hours. She is also a very slow eater. It takes about a hour for a feeding, so no wonder I feel like that's all I ever do. Caitlyn eats about 4 1/2 ounces at a time. She loves to cuddle, but she's learning to be more independent-slowly. Caitlyn's favorite place, other than being held, is laying on her bear under the ceiling fan in the family room. She loves watching the blades turn. We are so grateful to have her in our family. She is definitely worth all the work.

Caitlyn also has mastered the pouty lip.

2 Month Checkup

Allie and I took Caitlyn to her two month checkup this week. Caitlyn has gotten so big we were anxious to get her measurements.
She is now 12 pounds 3 ounces and in the 70th percentile.
She is 22 inches long and in the 50th percentile.
Her head is 15 1/4 inches around and in the 30th percentile.
I wasn't too worried about the 2 month immunizations based on experience. Boy was I wrong. Caitlyn just screamed and screamed. It was heartbreaking. Poor Allie couldn't stand to see her sister hurting and joined in the crying. All I could do was wrap my arms around my two sweet girls and try and comfort them. Next time I think we'll go while Allie is at school.

Kayla's First Day of 3rd Grade

Did you catch that? Kayla is a 3rd grader.

So far Kayla is loving school this year. Her teacher Mrs. Mogensen seems to be great. Mrs. Mogensen has a compromised immune system. As a result she is super fussy about making sure the kids in her class wash and sanitize all the time. I'm pretty happy about that hoping it will teach Kayla some good habits and keep her from bringing germs home to the rest of us. We're happy that Kayla is having such a good time and look forward to her learning lots again this year.

Miles/Garbett Family Gathering

August 20th was the annual Miles/Garbett picnic. My parents were in charge this year, and it was held at the park by the Booth Barn in Pocatello. We had a yummy lunch of sandwiches, salads, sides, and desserts of course. There was lots of visiting and game playing too.

Dishing up plates. Collin and Angie with Shawn and Dad in the background.
Left side Tyler, Angie, Clayton, Lucy, and Deacon. Right side, Me, Caitlyn, Kayla, Jason, Ashley, and Collin.

Cory and Angie

David and Ashley

My parents set up a pool for the little kids which was a great idea. They kids had a great time playing which left more time for adults to visit. Cassius (sp?), Eliza (under water), Tyler, Jason, and Deacon

Tyler, Jason, Allie, Lydia, and Kayla

Camille, Micah, and Deena

Kathy and Byron

Grandma Miles and Shawn

Dad and Mom

Allie

Clayton and Nathan playing Frisbee with the kids

We played Minute to Win It. It was a lot of fun. Thanks for Deena for setting it all up.

Kathy trying to get all the gumballs from the top bottles into the bottom bottles.

Kayla trying to get all the M&M's divided into their matching container following a pattern.

Byron stacking dice on a tongue compressor balanced in his mouth.

Nathan-Just a great picture.

Dad stacking 5 blocks on a balancing plate on his head. He did this super fast!

Byron and Clayton alternating stacking nuts trying to get them 5 or 6 high.

Me attempting to pull 240 kleenex from each of the two boxes. Way harder than you'd think.

Shawn arranging cards in order.

Nate blowing a deck of cards from a pizza pan leaving only the 4 kings.

Evelyn trying to blow a ping pong ball in each of the three horseshoes.

Camille threading 10 needles of varying sizes.

Mom and Dad shocked that the toothbrush they were sliding on a string slid into the cup in less than 10 maybe 5 seconds.

3 Baby Girls

Before leaving town we ran over to say hello to the Hulse family. Surprisingly enough everybody was there except Terra's family, but they even got in on the visiting thru skype.
Here are 3 of the 4 baby girls. Sarah-almost 1, Caitlyn-8 weeks, and Lily-6 months.

Happy 10th Anniversary

I can hardly believe that I've been married to my dear sweet husband for 10 years. It feels like so much longer. Not really. I wish time would slow down. It feels like we just got married and yet here we have an 81/2 year old who is growing up way too fast. We have a 5 1/2 year old and an 8 week old. Crazy! I am so happy to be married to my very best friend. He is truly my soul mate, and I don't know what I would do without Nathan. I love you honey!!!!

To celebrate we decided to splurge and spend the night at a hotel. Of course we couldn't leave Caitlyn for more than an hour or two without going into withdrawal, so she came too. And look how happy she was to be at the hotel.

Caitlyn enjoyed the oversized bed.

She was full of smiles, but we had a hard time catching them with the camera.
Caitlyn enjoyed washing up in the humongous tub.