Grandma and her Quails

My mom discovered last week that in the flower bed in front of her house, she has expectant parents.  Quails!  The mama quail is sitting on 9 little tiny eggs and on Sunday, it was time for grandma to show her fowl grandchildren to her human grandchildren.  After hunting down the nest, scaring off the mama, my mom attempted to hoist each grandchild (sans Elliott.  Okay, she just lifted Wyatt) over the flowers to see the eggs.

Before and after the quail hunt, it was picture time. Every few months, my mom wants a picture of her grand kids in their Sunday best. This Sunday was no exception, except that the middle children struggle to cooperate. Molly, Jack and Quinn won't hold still and Wyatt is too busy pulling faces and flashing gang signs to concentrate. Regardless, they are all cute kiddos and I love them lots and lots.

And, just look at how much these guys have grown up from just 11 months ago.

First day of school! First day of school!

Here is what Elliott says about the first day of first grade:

School was fun.

That's it.

Yesterday, the first day of first grade, was easy peasy.  The kid got out of bed and dressed and ate breakfast and made his lunch and got his shoes on and brushed his teeth and made his bed without a second of hesitation, grumbling, or orneriness.

Yeah, school!

The boys and I dropped him off.  He DID NOT want me to walk him to the first grade line-up spot because he can do it himself.  He found his teacher and turned into a big kid.

Wyatt and Quinn and I went with Haley and her kids to Scheels! while Elliott was at school and minus me panicking a little bit when it was time to pick him up because the pick up line was so long (but he was waiting patiently in the spot we picked - good boy!) and I was too nervous to wait in it so I was driving around like a crazy lady trying to find a space to park and get my big boy from school because I was so excited to see him (yes, read this run on sentence in once breath, kind of frantic!) and I found him.

And he was grinning from ear to ear.

He said that the Spanish wasn't too scary and that they didn't really do a lot.

He ate all his lunch and sat with his friend Levi.

His favorite part of the day was recess.

And, he figured out, and will tell anyone who will listen that, on short days he goes to school for five hours and on regular days, he goes to school for SEVEN HOURS!

I'm so proud of him.

And, just like his day started with a perfect kid, the evening ended pretty good too.  We met Grandma and Grandpa and Willie and Haley and James and Molly and Jack (Dad was at scout camp) at Mountain Mikes for our favorite pizza to celebrate the first day of school.

Then at home, when it was time to go to bed, this big kid of mine told me goodnight, climbed into his sleeping bag (clean sheet day didn't happen as planned), and drifted off to sleep.



The difference between the first day of kindergarten and the first day of first grade - huge difference!

And, Wyatt at Scheels, because we don't want him to feel left out.

Our last days of summer....

Elliott starts school tomorrow, July 26th.  He will be a first grader, in the dual language, Spanish Immersion program at his elementary school.  Today, he and I went to meet with his teachers and he starts his day, every day, with Spanish.

I am so excited and so nervous for him.  We both walked away from our teaching meeting with lots of questions and a little confused.  And, we forgot to look where the bathrooms are.  When you go to school all day, you need to know where the bathroom is.

First grade, can you believe it?  I remember the day this boy was born, the day I had to leave him at the hospital and the day I got to bring him home.  And now, he's six and a half and starting first grade.  I told him that I might cry tomorrow. He looked at me like I'm the biggest idiot he knows.

Since our "summer" was only three weeks long, we have tried to cram in a lot of stuff and this week has been no exception. 



We went for a walk around the lake and got mysterious bug bites all over our heads and arms and saw fish.



Elliott lost his fifth tooth and I made little tooth fairy monsters for the boys with my new sewing machine to celebrate.



We went with cousins to check out the floats for the Pioneer Day Parade, stand in long lines for balloon guns and then proceeded to pop our balloon guns. Oh, and Wyatt won a pack of gum in a ring toss game.



Side note: I do not EVER want to build a float.



The babies were not impressed with the floats!



Batting practice and bat eating practice with dad the night before he had to go to scout camp.





Pick nicking, nose picking, and so much swimming we sprouted gills for the 24th of July celebration.



Wrapping up the last days of summer in one of our favorite places, on the floor at grandma's house watching dumb cartoons with Uncle Willie. And, learning how to plank.

Third Annual Petersen Pioneer Day Extravaganza!

Yesterday was the third summer in a row Ross and I have hosted my extended family through my dad's side for a food fest and for the third time in a row the party and the food did not disappoint.  Ross and I decided to grill steaks for the whole crew, nearly 30 people, and everyone else brought so much delicious stuff that my giant island nearly ran out of room.

I hope everyone had a good time.  I had a good time.  My kids had a great time playing with all their cousins.  And, I'm real happy my mom convinced me to have the party in the evening instead of mid-day because it was so stinkin' hot that we would have all roasted at an afternoon party.

Speaking of roasted - we ended the evening making smores on the fire pit, in 80 degrees.  They were tasty.  They were fun.  Quinn didn't quite know what to do with his marshmallow.

Thanks to all that came.  I wish I would have remembered to take more pictures.

Cousin Camp at the Farm

On Friday, we decided to brave another one hundred degree day and head to the farm at Thanksgiving point because we knew it would only take us about 15 minutes (okay, maybe 45) to look at all the animals, ride the horse and the wagon and head to lunch.

Lunch.

The real reason we even decided to do an activity in the first place.  You see, food is pretty much the center of our lives.  And a good coke.  Yes, french fries and cokes.  So, we plowed our way through the heat and ended up at lunch.  Then, to Cabella's.  For the air conditioning, some wacky Asian tourist playing with pop-gun watching, and the air conditioning.

We pretty much could have skipped the farm and just wandered around Cabella's.  The kids wouldn't have known the difference between the dead and stuffed and the alive and frozen because it's hot.

Anyway, it was fun.  We were happy to have Uncle Willie tag along as the unofficial older children nanny (he got lunch out of it so I hope it was worth the trip).  And, there isn't anything better for me than hanging out with my sister and brother for the afternoon.

And, there was a chicken that didn't have any feathers.  That was pretty freaky.

in a nutshell....

Ross got a new to him truck. Since we sold Shavy Jones he's been looking and looking. He sold his truck and found a new one in the same week. Lucky guy. It's got 4 doors and doesn't feel like we are riding in a semi. Also, Quinn likes it.

I'm pretty sure that my children never pay attention at church. I'm pretty sure that most the time I don't manage to pay too much attention at church. But, last week, one of the speakers said, "Nauvoo" and Wyatt turned to me and said, "Mom, that guy said Naboo!" as excited as could be. Who knOO they talked about Star Wars at church.

Last week we met one of my cousins and her kids for a couple of hours at the West Valley City pool. We had a great afternoon and a lot of fun. Auntie Haley volunteered to avoid her bathing suit and stay home with the little boys while I took the other kids. It was a good day.

After dinner and swimming on Wednesday night at my grandpa's I had to run to the post office in Magna. Magna may have the most beautiful sunsets.

On Thursday, just before the morning doldrums set in, we decided to trek to the local 7-11. I didn't realize until we started walking and looked at my phone that it was nearly 100 degrees outside. We got our slurpees, stopped quickly at the park, found a tiny pine cone and got home as quickly as we could. Holly hot, batman. The first thing the boys did when we got home was take off their undershirts and me? I had to change too. Even with a dry shirt, sweat was still dripping down my back for a good 30 minutes later.

Grandma Camp

My mom has always taken a little bit of time off of work in July.  This year, she's decided to host the big grand kids for a few activities.  She is calling it "Grandma Camp".  My boys have been talking about Grandma Camp for weeks and their Maiden Voyage activity was last week - a trip to the DUP (Daughters of the Utah Pioneers) Museum to see the two headed lamb, a trip to the Disney store for a bunch of crap, and lunch at Liberty Park.  That trip was without moms.  My boys came home wild and exhausted and ready to just move in with Grandma.

Yesterday was activity two of Grandma Camp.  First, we got a flyer in the "mail" (e-mail) giving us our marching orders.  This activity involved all the kiddos and their moms.  The boys were so excited.

 

We met at the designated time and place, did some car seat and booster change-ups and headed up the canyon to Silver Lake at Brighton.  It was a beautiful day and a good 10 degrees cooler up in the mountains.  We walked around the lake, saw some critters and butterflies and beautiful blue dragonflies.    We saw some fish jump, got bit by mosquitoes and had a picnic with a chipmunk in the shade.  The big kids struggled with so many flies and bugs, leading us into a great discussion about why real camping is dumb and our picnic lunch food may not be the kind of stuff others would pack (donuts and diet cokes, anyone?) but it was so much fun.

It was a great way to spend the day and I was glad that Quinn and I got to tag along.

Quinner :: 10 months

Well baby boy, all I have to say is that we survived another month.  Barely.

Not really barely but I did just a little while ago send this text to your dad:

You know how I said the other day that there was 
something fluttering in the window?  

Well, it was a moth and 
Quinn just found it and put it in his mouth!

You see little brother, you shove everything into your mouth and it's getting old.  Erasers, carpet, rocks, bugs, dirt, paper (lots of paper) are just a few of the recent things I've fished out.  It's really driving me crazy and hopefully, it will stop soon.

However, you are good at shoving food into your mouth, too and seem to be moving away from baby food all together.  I mean, you weigh 27 pounds (and are 31.5 inches long) and so you must be eating something, right?  Lately you've tried and liked: grapes, watermelon (love watermelon), avocado, rice, pasta, french fries, chicken to name just a few.  You're getting pretty good at eating what we eat, and haven't found too many things that you don't enjoy.  Oh, except a granola bar.  I gave that to you last week and you weren't a fan.

Lately, you are just on the go.  In a two day period you figured out how to walk along furniture, hold our hands and walk, and go up the stairs.  Now, you've got no idea how to go down the stairs, but you've made it up three so far.  In fact, if I cannot find you, you are either under the table putting food cooties in your mouth OR on the stairs.

Or, if you know the dishwasher or a cupboard is open, that's your target.  In fact, dad was loading the dishwasher on Saturday night and literally in a second, you were on top of the door hanging out, trying to get your hands onto, well, anything!

Naps are going well.  You are happy almost all the time.  You wave bye-bye and hello, stare at strangers, and are starting to dance to music.  You like to take things out and put them back into containers, love the bathtub and LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the swimming pool.  It's like you were born to be in the water.

You can make the sound of a panting puppy and even though we've been working on other sounds and blowing kisses, you only do puppy.  But, you're good enough that even when you see a puppy in a book, you do the sound.  You are your own Pavlov's dog.

It's so hard to believe that you are almost one year old.  Time has gone by so quickly little buddy and before I know it, you'll be going to school, then a mission, then to infinity and beyond.

I love you baby boy.  Keep being cute.

Summertime.....and the livin' is easy....

It's summer.

It's hot.

Elliott's last day of kindergarten was July 1.  He starts first grade on July 25.  Summer vacation isn't what it used to be.  He had a good break at the end of May and we were able to do some fun stuff.  We've also been trying to squeeze in some fun and cousin time when he hasn't been in school and the next two weeks are going to be as full as they can be with swimming and adventuring and crashing hard at night.

But, we've done some good stuff so far.

We built long overdue Christmas presents and started coloring away. They will take us the rest of the summer to finish.

We hosted scout camp in our back yard.  It was loud and crazy and the boys had so much fun.  There were about 15 scouts, a few leaders, and lots of late night talking.  But, the big boys got to sleep outside with their dad in their tent and minus a bloody nose for Elliott in the middle of the night, they slept great.

We've spent a lot of time hanging out with Uncle Willie. It's awesome. The best summer these boys of mine will ever have because of that.

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Last week, we had a cousin trip to the aquarium. Of course, we met for lunch at Crown Burgers and dad joined us. Then we headed to see jellyfish and sting rays and we got to see the little caimen crocodile things get fed, which was very interesting.

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The boys are definitely keeping me on my toes, always demanding projects and food, and activities. I'm doing my best to keep up and crash hard at night just like them so we must be doing something right.

And, perhaps most amazing of the summer so far is the basketball hoop. When the boys were so sad when we sold Shavy Jones we promised them a hoop to fill the void. The story of the hoops purchase is worth of another day, but it's finally at our house and the boys are loving it.

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