school starts and other happenings

It's been a busy few weeks.

Talmage is still in potty training mode. He was totally dry for a week straight, but as soon as the prizes ran out he got much less dependable. It is very frustrating for me due to his age (he'll be 4 the end of October) and he has to be in underwear for preschool next month (which I am determined to send him)

Teagan lost another tooth this evening! I was brushing her teeth when her gums started bleeding, I was like, "Teagan! you need to do a better job brushing your teeth!" She looks in the mirror and yells, My tooth is gone!" After a frantic search we found her little tooth. She is very excited for the tooth fairy to visit tonight.

Tommy has started walking around! He is 17 months and just starting to do it by himself. We are so proud that he won't be crawling when he enters nursery next month.

We all got sick last week. Fever, cough, headache, throw up, the works. I'm glad it's over. I thought I was going to die.

Teagan started kindergarten! I went to Walmart and bought some shorts and shirts for her. When I showed them to her she said, "Mom! I still like dresses!" So I took her to the fabric store and let her pick out 5 different fabrics for some new dresses. She knows what she wants that's for sure. I am happy to say I like the dresses better than the shirts I picked out, but I was sewing like a mad woman for a week straight.

Boy oh Boy!

Another Brother for the munchkins, coming December 2009!

Summer is flying by!

We did a last minute camping trip with some friends for the 4th of July Weekend. They had a group campsite with an extra space so they called us Thursday to see if we wanted to come. You bet we did!

Talmage and Teagan decorating the 5 annual 4th of July cake.

Talmage with his swimming certificate. He didn't pass. He was more interested in playing with the water toys and swimming away from his teacher than learning how to swim. Maybe next year.

Teagan passed her swimming class with flying colors. She was the only one who wanted to go off the high dive when they were learning to jump off the regular diving board. The teacher let her do it a couple of times and she keeps asking when she can do it again.

Talmage in the pool swimming away from his teacher.

July has been so fun and busy! I'm getting tired of the 100 degree weather, but know that I have at least one more month to go. Yikes. We've gone to the pool almost everyday, which helps.

Camping at Lake Tahoe

This is our third year in Woodland, we only live 2 hours from Lake Tahoe and this is the first time we've been there. It was so beautiful! Trent took friday off and we went up to go camping. We stopped by the visitor center, went to some waterfalls, swam in the chilly water, had smores, played at the campground, went on one difficult hike and one nature hike. We were pretty tired by Saturday afternoon, but it was so great to be out in nature.

Talmage on our nature hike.

Trent and Teagan on our difficult hike.

Trent and Tommy taking a breather.

The views around the lake are incredible. This is just from the shore line, but when you drive around the lake you are so high up you look down and can see the whole lake.

June Vacations

I flew up to Seattle with the kids at the beginning of this month. we had so much fun visiting with Grandma and Grandpa Thomas. We roasted marshmellows, had a big family party, went swimming, visited a few parks, fed the duck at Bothell landing and played in the backyard.

Cousin Jacob feeding Tommy a graham cracker.

The kids playing the 3 little pigs at St. Edward's park.

Talmage swimming in Steve and Amy's pool.

Tommy like to swim too!

Teagan ready to go swimming in Woodland. We got a city pool pass for the summer and have gone almost everyday.

Painted our house

Our walls have been white since we moved in. It was so blah. I finally saved enough money for the paint and got enough courage to do it. Thanks to Cyndi for watching my kids and Lisa for her expert painting skills, I got it all done in one weekend. Here's a tour of the final product.
Hall way leading to the back of the house.

Front room

Kitchen area

More Kitchen

Family room area

Family room area

Summer is here!

Wow! May flew by. Trent plants his crops during May so he had to work every Saturday in May and long hours during the week. We didn't do much as a family. This Saturday was his first one off so we packed up the kiddos and went on a little road trip. First to a little water fall, then to a Gold Mine, next to Sutter's Mill, where gold was first discovered that inspired the gold rush in '49. Pretty cool.


The Gold bug mine in Placerville, CA. The kids thought they were actually going to find gold in the mine, they kept asking people we passed, "Where's all the gold?"

After our 15 minute hike through the gold mine.

The family in front of Bridal Veil Falls, CA.

Talmage being a scary monster.

Teagan's last day of Preschool.