A Little Vacation

Some how these past few weeks have felt CRAZY!!! I thought I would have so much time once Gracie started school, but I realize how fast the days are going by. Deven has been busy busy busy as usual. It was fun to have Labor Day Off with him. We headed over to Bellows Beach for some boogie boarding. It was a lot of fun. I got stung by a Man of War (jelly fish). It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, but my leg burned for about 1/2 hour. That night we had dinner with some friends in the ward. It was fun to hang out with the Broach's. This past weekend was a whirlwind. As usual we had way to much going on, but it was all worth it. On Friday night we went to the North Shore with some friends. I guess you could say it was kind of a goodbye night for our neighbor and good friends the Prestcotts. I can't believe the time has come for them to go. The crazy thing is they will hopefully be back here before we move. It was so nice to order Tia food, watch the sun set, let the kids roast marshmallows, and then hunt for crabs. (Of course Gracie was freaking out, she isn't a big fan of crabs). The next morning we had a primary activity day. This is one we put a lot of time into. We sent all the kids on missions. It turned out really nice. After that the kids and I headed up to Turtle Bay to meet Deven. He had a radiology retreat up there and it gave us the opportunity to go spend the night. I know we live in paradise, but for that night it was wonderful. Our hotel room over looked the ocean. We swam in the pool, spent time on the beach. Enjoyed a nice dinner down on the beach, they set a table up for us on the sand. We got to put the kids to bed and then Deven and I stayed up way to late out on the balcony talking and enjoying the sound of the ocean. It was a much needed get away. Now it is back to reality and as Monday came and went I would give anything for just one more relaxing day. Oh well, life is still great.
This is our view from our balcony.
Gracie was having way to much fun out there. She was begging to stay another night, but all good things must come to an end.
Down at the beach on Turtle Bay
Deven and Dylan just a chillin (LOL).
Me and the kids getting ready to head down to dinner.
Up on the North Shore, roasting marshmallows.
The boys passed out, temporarily that is. Poor Deven he gets so tired he can fall asleep anywhere.
The boys again enjoying the sun set.
Hey what can I say, we start them early at our house.
Gracie and some of the kids playing in the waves.
This was out at Bellows beach, Gracie is getting quite good on the boogie board.

Kids, kids, kids....

Well there is nothing too exciting to report lately. I just can't believe how busy I feel. I thought I would have so much time once Gracie started school, but the days just seem to fly by. I just thought I would post a quick update on our life. Gracie has always had quite the imagination, but lately we can't seem to tell what is the truth and what is a "story." She says she just loves to trick people but she can be quite convincing. We found a 6" long centipede in the house the other day, it freaked me out, of course I saved it to show Gracie, I thought she would like to see it. Well she decided she was going to tell all of her school friends she got bit by it. She found an old mosquito bite on her leg and was telling everyone she got bit. Well she even told her friend Cordon's mom that she got bit by it. Chantell was convinced. She said "wow Gracie, that must have really hurt." Gracie looked right at her and without hesitation said "yeah it did". I found this all out as I was talking to Chantell the next day. I said no she never got bit by a centipede. She tells me all sorts of stories about things that happen at school. She even told her Aunt Shirece that she was shopping at Costco on Sunday and that I couldn't talk to her because I was checking out. I finally have to say to her well can you show me who that is cause I should probably talk to them. At first she will say "well you don't know them, or they don't live by us." I have to keep pushing it and then she will finally say. OK mom I just made that up it didn't happen. Deven and I decided it was time for the story of the boy who cried wolf. Did it help, I guess we will see this week huh. Gracie has also learned to throw away whatever she doesn't eat in her lunch at school before she comes home. I always like to look in her lunch box to see what she was eating and not eating before she started to eat all the treats at home. Well she got smart and decided she was just going to throw away whatever she didn't eat so she didn't have to tell me what she ate or didn't. I swear we are going to have to put a GPS tracker on this one. We love you Gracie, you keep life interesting.

Dylan is just getting so big. Look at those chunky cheeks. You should see his thighs. If you remember Gracie as a baby he has caught up. He is just as chunky. He is a pretty happy little guy. He loves lots and lots of attention. I even put him in a front pack when I am cleaning so I can get a few things done sometimes. He hates to be left alone. He would love to be talked to and held all day long if he could. Sometimes I get overwhelmed when I get nothing done, but how can I resist those big chubby cheeks and that smile. Gracie is turning into such a big helper. Last Friday there was no school and Gracie woke up early as usual. Dylan was up as well, but was just going back to sleep. I lay ed him down in his bouncer and asked Gracie if she would keep an eye on him while he slept. I told her she could watch a cartoon and to just come wake me up when he woke back up. About 1/2 hour later I heard him downstairs and I just lay ed in bed listening. I kept thinking for sure Gracie would be up to get me, she is usually there with the first peep he makes. So I finally decided I had better get up and head downstairs. When I got down there Gracie was bouncing him and trying to keep him quiet. I couldn't believe it. I said thank you Gracie that is so nice of you to try to keep him quiet so I could sleep. She got a really big smile on her face, but it was the mischievous smile. I looked over at the table and Gracie had gotten into the pudding. She hadn't had time to clean up the mess and so she was trying to keep him quiet until she could throw away the evidence and wipe off the table. Hey I guess you take what you can get right. I got a nice morning nap.

Gracie Starts School !!!

Well it's official, Gracie has started school. After a long anticipated summer and even a long week of orientation her first official day started today. This means she got to ride the bus for the first time. Of course I was the embarrassing mom taking as many pictures as I could. Gracie was OK with it because her friends mom's were there as well taking pictures. We woke up early so she could catch the bus at 6:50 a.m. (early I know). But it was easy to wake up this morning she was so excited. She goes to Wheeler Elementary. They have to wear t-shirt uniforms Monday through Thursday and then Friday is Aloha Friday so they can wear whatever they want. Gracie had a half day on Wednesday and she had a ton of fun, but they didn't get to ride the bus. I was so excited for her, I know she is ready for school and she will do well.
Gracie getting on the bus for the first time.
Gracie sitting by one of her friends on the bus. (Yes I asked if I could take a picture, the bus driver let me)
The bus drops them off at school about 7;15, but they can not go into their classrooms until 7:50. Here all the schools have doors that open to the outside, there are no halls like I was use to. So they offer them breakfast before school starts. We decided this was a good thing it gives her something to do while waiting for school to start. Plus we don't have to worry about eating before school. So yes on the first day I followed the bus to school just to make sure she knew what to do when she got off the bus, and to help her figure out where to go and get breakfast. I am glad I went. They said there would be people there to help, but there was not enough help for all the kids that were there.
Now it's time for school to start so it's off to her classroom, where Mrs. Scott is her teacher. I won't see her again until 2:30 p.m. It is a long day for the kids, but I think she will enjoy it.
This is Gracie on her half day of school. That is one of her many "fancy" Wheeler Elementary" T-shirts. At least it makes picking out clothes easy.

Gracie with her lunch box. She has decided to take a lunch some days and some days eat at school. We look ahead and see what she will and what she won't eat so we know when to send a lunch and when she can eat there.

Growing Up

Lately I have been thinking about how fast these kids are growing up. I was packing up all of Dylan's 0-3 mth clothes and couldn't help feeling a bit sentimental (I hope thats the right word). Dylan and Gracie are both changing so much. We had some fun this past week getting Gracie ready for school. This included a dental visit. We were so excited no cavities. But we also found out she has already gotten one of her 6 year molars in. The dentist said she should be losing her bottom teeth with in the next 4-6 months. Gracie was so excited to hear that. She has been asking me for a long time when she was going to lose a tooth, now we know. After all that excitement we headed over to the mall to do a little school shopping. Of course I let Gracie pick out her own clothes. If I didn't she would never wear them. She was making me laugh as she tried things on and had a very strong opinion of what she liked and didn't like. We ended the trip with a pretzel and a drink. Dylan on the other hand just wants to be involved in everything. He loves laying next to Gracie at night time and he likes to hear the bedtime stories as well. He loves lots of attention. He laughed for the first time this weekend. It was such a cute squeel. It made all of us laugh. Dylan is 3 1/2 months old. He is quite smiley and for the most part a very good little baby. He loves to be held and talked to, but more than ever he loves to talk back. He tells us all kinds of stories. He loves to held facing forward so he can take everything in. He also loves being outside and going on walks. He loves his stuffed toys for some reason he likes to snuggle them and chew on them when he is falling a sleep. He even grunts if you try to take them away sometimes. We decided to stop on the way home from church today and take a few pictures. After all they grow up way to fast.




Dylan 3 1/2 mths old.

SMILE

Well another crazy week has come and gone. Deven is still as busy as ever, but that is ok we just look forward to the weekends. Gracie and I are managing to stay busy ourselves. We bought a big blow up pool for the backyard. It took us 3 hours to blow it up with a bike pump. I wanted to give up but Gracie said "no mom we can't quit, we have to keep going." Bless her heart she kept right on pumping. The sad part is by the time we got it pumped up it was 5:00 and she didn't last very long cause it was starting to rain and she got cold. So the next day we were going to get in it earlier. Only to discover it needed more air. I was not about to re pump it with a bike pump, so I convinced her wait until we could go to the store and buy a more efficient pump. Hopefully we can get some pictures this next week of a working pool. We love the weekends and try to cram way too much in. We got up early on Saturday and headed to he beach, both Deven and I enjoyed a little surfing. I am going to get a picure one of these times. Gracie had a birthday party that afternoon and then Deven and I managed to get a date. We left Gracie at a friends house and we headed up to Haleiwa Joes. Our friends gave us a gift card for our birthdays and Christmas but we had not had a chance to use it yet. The food was so great and the atmosphere was wonderful. The restaurant overlooks the ocean on the North shore. We enjoyed a nice quiet, relaxing evening. Our little Dylan is becoming quite a smiler. Gracie is really good at getting him smile. She almost got him to laugh once. I dread the beginning of anther long week, but we have a lot to do. We are busy getting Gracie ready for school. She starts testing and orientation the last week of July. Her first full day of school is August 4th.
Dylan came with us on our date. So this is Deven and Dylan as we were outside waiting for our table.
Gracie got Dylan to smile. She was being so silly. It made my night. This had been a particularly a long day and I was about to loose it when Gracie had Dylan smiling and laughing instead of crying.
This is Dylan's favorite toy. Despite all of my efforts, I was determined to have a baby that took a Binky. Well he has no desire for one. He would rather suck on his hand or blanket, but just recently discovered this toy and he loves to suck on it's nose. I love how he snuggles it and just chews away at.

Weekend Fun

Can I just say what a week. Deven has started radiology so that was suppose to mean great hours and less stress... right... WRONG!!! I don't know who is more exhausted this week. He has been leaving at 4:30 every morning and getting home around 7:30. Did I mention he has to find time to study on his own on top of this. He has tests and quizzes every week. (I thought we were done with school). This past week Gracie was sick and Dylan had to get immunizations. That left me with two adorable but needy kids. So we had to hunker down and didn't get to leave the house much. So the weekend came, Deven got up early to get his studying all done and then he was going to finish fixing our leaky bathroom faucet. Why is it that every home repair always takes longer than anticipated. Well 5 hours later and about 10 trips to City Mill and Walmart I have a working faucet again. It was late but we all needed to get out of the house. We went and got some dinner and headed to North Shore for some beach fun. We all enjoyed it!!! On a positive note my little guy is not so little anymore. At 3 mths he weighs 13lbs 13 oz. and is 25 inches long. He is in the 75% for height and about the 50th% for weight. We are just loving him and love watching his personality start to come out.
Gracie had to take her baby to beach as well. She had it in the water with a diaper until the diaper got water logged and we had to get rid of it. She has become such a great big sister it is fun to see her interact with Dylan more and more.
Deven is sure he is going to raise a boy who loves the beach. So far he is doing a good job. We made him a sand chair and he seemed to like it.
Deven and kids in the water.

4th of July Weekend

We hope everyone had a great 4th of July. We took advantage of the festivities on Schofield Base this year. They had a carnival and booths set up. We let Gracie ride some rides and play some games. We of course had to have shaved ice to cool us off in the hot sun, but it was a fun day for the whole family. Deven was lucky enough to get Thursday, Friday, and Saturday off so we had a fun weekend. On Friday morning we had our neighbor come over and watch the kids while Deven and I went on a date. He took me surfing. I survived no shark bites to report (anyone who knows me knows that was my biggest fear). I promised him I would try and to be honest I had a ton of fun. It was a great date. He came out with me and for the first little while he would push me when the wave would come so I could catch them, but by the end he made me paddle by myself. It was quite the workout, but a lot of fun. I don't have any pictures cause there was no one to take any, but I am sure we will go again. Deven had to spend part of the weekend fixing a leaky bathroom faucet, but we still managed to go to the beach with friends and of course what is the 4th without a BBQ.
Gracie waiting for the fireworks to start. It actually got chilly at night. It was a refreshing change. It is always fun to put on jackets or cuddle in blankets.
Dylan and I waiting for the fireworks. We weren't sure how he would handle all the noise, but he just wanted to take it all in. He was awake and alert for most of it.
Gracie and I sharing a shaved ice at the festivities. Shaved ice is quite a tradition in our family. We get them quite often. (May be cause it is always hot here)
Dylan was a trooper but he passed out during the carnival.
Gracie on the rides.
Happy 4th of July. We always feel a sense of patriotism around the 4th. It is hard not to being part of the military. We enjoyed the base celebration and the tributes to the soldiers out there.
Deven had lots of time to spend with the kids this weekend and both of them loved it. Gracie and Dylan loved to get bounced on daddy's knee. Gracie thought it was so funny because it was making Dylan make funny noises. The laughter was contagious.
Gracie is becoming such a great big sister. Dylan was crying Thursday morning so Gracie went and got him a toy that made noise. She turned it on and gave it to him. It calmed him down and the toy kept him occupied for the next little while.
I just had to throw this picture in here. Dylan has started to love bath time. He loves to kick in the water and he is always so happy and cuddly when he gets out. He started to smile at 2 months, but we just can't get enough of that grin.
On a side note. Deven finished up his intern year. They made a big deal out of it, he had a graduation ceremony and everything. We were in Utah when it happend, but someone else took pictures and hopefully they will email them to us so we can post them. Deven is now officially in radiology. He is now a R2. We are so proud of him and excited for him.