A little fall of rain

This years monsoon season was not that great. It mostly felt like a big tease. It would get cloudy and you would think it would rain but then it would just sprinkle or...nothing. But there were a few times it did rain and we were always sure to be out for it.

"1,2,3, ahhhhhh"

We even played with Shady in the rain.

This one was from me and Russ sitting on the front porch watching it rain after the kids were in bed.

Fun at Grandma's

Since we were all suffering from sickness I actually took my kids to the doctor and after we went swimming out at my moms because my doctor is way out by her house.

Joseph was cracking me up in his getup.

Afterwards my mom pulled out a mini s'more kit and made some with the kids. They loved it.

Teddy Grahams, mini marshmallows, a chocolate chip and a candle. It's always fun at Grandmas house. 

Dinner for Baby 9/24

Connie wanted to throw me a little sort of shower but since I already have all the baby girl stuff that I need I said just a dinner to celebrate and they all chipped in and gave us money to get a new car seat since that is pretty much the only thing we don't have. And of course people brought other gifts anyway even though I told them not to. And Connie did more than she was supposed to. She was only supposed to reserve a place and invite the friends but I show up to this...

Baby Cakes is the name she has been calling this little baby and her baby cakes were so yummy. All the treats were and I left feeling grateful for all the wonderful friends I have in my life.

More Chickens

On July 3rd our friends that had given us our other chickens decided to give us the rest of theirs because they were in Tuscon during the week and it was getting too hard to take care of them. Getting all the chickens was quite an ordeal. Some escaped the yard and Russ was up of the fence trying to get them. It was so hot trying to round them up but we eventually got them all...except one. 

A few days later Rusty and Natali found that it was stuck under their coup and had been without food or water but was still alive. When they brought it over it quickly became a favorite of Williams and was named Shadey.

The kids love gathering and cooking with the eggs. Here is Gracie helping me make quiche.

And they really love selling their eggs and making money. Joseph doesn't usually get paid but sometimes we give him some money so he doesn't feel left out.

 There was a hen with 8 chicks so we put them in the coup and let all the older chickens roam around the yard. We really like our chickens. Russ loves them.

He once was blind but now he sees! 9/13

For a very long time Russ went back and forth about whether or not to get Lasik eye surgery. He finally made up his mind to do it. We all went with him the day that he got it done in early September.

This was him sleeping after he got home. He was pretty out of it.

Look at that handsome mug without glasses. It took getting used to his face without them but now looking back at pictures with glasses looks funny to me.

One of Russ favorite perks is that he can now wear sunglasses and he sure loves them.

I am really glad he was able to get this done, I can't imagine what it would be like to not be able to see and now he can! 

Growing baby 9/9

This little baby is growing. I took the picture above before church and posted it on instagram but later realized (with the help of my brother Kent) that it wasn't a very realistic picture and that in real life I looked much bigger so I had Connie take another picture of me (below).

On the 9th after having a birthday dinner for my mom at Joe's Farm Grill we hurried to an ultrasound so we could see this little girls face. She had her face turned back most the time but if I pushed on my belly we could see her.

Lips!

Cheeks!

Smile!

It made us very excited to meet this little girl.

Growing Joe 9/7

We decided to put Joe in the toddler bed we had down in the basement since he was already climbing out of his crib. He was pretty excited. 

Joseph also decided he wanted to be a big boy and go on the potty. I did't want to do this before the baby came because I know that he will most likely just regress but he just started going on the potty so I went along with it. Here we are in the library. I have to leave the stall because he always tells me, "you can leave me alone." 

It has been nice not having to change diapers and he hasn't had too many really messy accidents but he is not 100%. It is pretty frustrating so I just put him in diapers most the time and a lot of the time he will still go on the potty but in the event that he has an accident I am not stressed out. 

His biggest problem is when we are not home. He doesn't want to have to tell me he needs to go to the potty he just wants to go by himself so he will just go in his pants.