It was only rough for me. AnDee thought it was great. She woke up an hour early this morning because she was SO excited she couldn't sleep anymore. Christmas??? No. Preschool!! The girl has been dying to go to preschool and it finally happened today. We walked there together, she walked right in the door and in to her room and didn't even look back. Me? Oh I made it ALL the way down the stairs before I burst in to tears, buckled Pep in to the stroller and walked away as fast as I could so the other more emotionally stable parents couldn't see what a wreck I was. I decided to walk it off and it only took me another half hour or so to get myself under control. Im happy for her. She is ecstatic and I love that, it just terrifies me that she is old enough to do things like that on her own. She is only 3 so we will have two years of preschool. Im sure I will be writing a similar post when she goes to kindergarten. Its just so darn hard to let her grow up! ;)
Here she is all ready for her very first day of school (and of course Pep too cause he has to do everything sissy does... even wear one of her shoes?)

When I went to pick her up, I of course asked her what she did while she was at school. These were her words (and I quote) "Um... we just watched a movie and played and I didn't learn nothin"

Awesome.

Now on to something that doesn't make me want to cry. We have been doing a lot of yard work lately. Trying to get things greened back up and in order for next spring. Pep wants to do EVERYTHING Daddy is doing. Daddy's solution to this? Put him on his shoulders. He has done everything from fix the sprinkler heads to tilling the garden on Dads shoulders and he is quite content to stay up there for as long as the job takes. He loves it... not quite as much as driving the riding lawn mower but its still love regardless.

 Yes... Buggy is following them with no pants on, the girl has this weird no pants policy. I hope she grows out of it.
Look at how that boy just wraps himself around his dads head and hangs on.... like a champ.

We have had a ton of rainbows here lately. This is probably the best thing since ice cream in Buggy's world. She is such a little hippie... dancing around and singing awesome songs about rainbows.... all with no pants on. Love her. I too have enjoyed the rainbows. So pretty and such a good opportunity for teaching about Heavenly Father's promises and of course Noah and the Ark.  

So Crazy

Let me take a moment to explain to you why I have been MIA from the blogging world. I'm 13 weeks pregnant. Normally I wouldn't be telling you this but it got leaked out on Facebook (of the devil) against my will and so pretty much everyone knows anyway. I'm sick. I keep thinking that the morning sickness wouldn't be half as bad if I could just get some sleep but my hips are causing major problems already. I don't know if you remember my post about my hip being dislocated but what it boils down to is that it hurts and I don't sleep much. Plus we have some other crazy stuff going on. We signed on our knew house last weds. Got the keys thursday night and started moving in about an hour later. The packing, unpacking, and cleaning is going to be the end of me... Or my children?.. I'm not sure which. The move has definitely triggered some naughtiness and I'm about at my end with it. That being said... I LOVE MY NEW HOUSE! (pics to come) I love the space. Both the literal space and the emotional space. Our new ward seems awesome and the neighbors we have met are awesome. Hopefully we can get AnDee enrolled in the preschool accross the street. That would make life a little easier.
The last crazy thing? (well at least the last big one. I can't even name all the little things that are making life crazy) Andrew has a brain tumor. Now don't go freaking out. It's not cancerous nor is it life threatening. It does however, make him fairly miserable. It has been the cause of all the headaches, the unexplained weight gain, the upsets stomachs, the hives, and the extreme fatigue ALL the time. It's on his pituitary gland which is the gland that controls all your hormones. He's pretty uncomfortable 100% of the time and has been for going on 4 years now. The good news is that a couple weeks ago they gave us his  surgery date. September 12th. We are so excited but it's super scary. Brain surgery is always scary I think.
Life is nuts. I'm so behind on my blogging that I think I might forget what needs to be caught up on and just start fresh. But that will all have to wait until the house is in order and I don't have to do my blogging on my phone. This is ridiculous.

The new game

The picture is awful I know, but this is AnDee's new game.

The name of the game? How many ways can we find to jump over Pep. He is still living so I guess the game will go on?

AnDee Lew

I feel like I have been REALLY slacking with keeping up to date with my kids and what's new with them and so... A little update.

This little miss is a riot. Seriously so much fun... And funny too. She keeps me laughing.  She has been 3 for two months now and boy what a different world 3 has been so far.  She is bossy. Really bossy. I often hear her telling her brother that if he doesn't do what she says she will spank him or "if you don't listen to me, I'm not gonna play with you anymore!"...yes those words are already common in my household. But when she decides she is going to be a good girl, (which is more common than not) she is a REALLY good girl. She is sweet, especially with her brother. She is helpful and considerate and is amazing at listening and following directions. Her favorite things to do right now are drawing with sidewalk chalk. (In the last week she has learned to write the letters A, B, C and D. If I'm being totally honest she could be reading and writing by now. But we have a conflict, for whatever reason she doesn't like learning from mom. With other people she spouts off things like she is some kind of genius (seriously) but the second mom enters the room she plays dumb. Probably the most frustrating thing ever. Which is why we are hoping she will start preschool this fall.) She loves to draw flowers butterflies and stick people. She still loves her "jumpoline" and figured out about a month ago how to do a front flip (I don't think I even attempted a front flip until I was about 5) she is still climbing anything and everything she can find and her favorite place this summer has been the water park.  She has really taken off with swimming this summer. She has also mastered her balance bike and can even ride down big hills and turn corners with it so I think we are just about ready to graduate to a peddle bike. She likes to listen to every word people say and correct them when they say something naughty. She has also become a master at finding excuses to get out of bed at night "every night I hear her call from her room for me. When I poke my head in its always"mom, I need to tell you a secret" or "mom, I have a very important question for you"... But after that she really struggles with what to say next. She has attached herself to the bunny I slept with as a kid (and by kid I mean well in to adulthood... Even after marriage) and sleeps with it every night. And although it's ok for her to be bossy and maybe even a little mean with her brother.. If anyone else (including me) so much as looks at him wrong she becomes his personal body guard. She has also become a collector of things. Anything and everything she finds goes in to her "collection"  No one should have as many rocks in their house as I currently do.
She says THE best prayers and I cannot believe how much she knows about the gospel. She loves President Monson and she just earned some money and is so excited to pay her tithing so they can use it to "build temples"
She's the best. Seriously I couldn't ask for more.

Xavi Boy

This kid is a pure joy. He is mellow and forgiving and although he has learned to squeal (like a little girl) when his sister gets too close or tries to take something from him, for the most part he doesn't complain. He is really starting to expand his vocabulary and loves the animal noises, especially moo which he pronounces "boo" and his cute little voice cracks every time he hollers it. He loves to dance and sing at the TOP of his lungs (something he and his sister love to do together) He is all boy and loves sticks and rocks and mud. He likes to ride his dogs and help feed the chickens. He loves bugs, especially ants because he can squish them between his fingers. You pretty much can't find him without a rock or a stick in his hand. He is a tease and loves to take things from his sister just to make her scream (and then he laughs at her) or wait until you are about ready to sit down and then jump in your seat right before you do. He loves pushing his sisters baby strollers around but mostly he loves ramming them in to things (including me or the dogs) He is in constant search of airplanes and helicopters ("cop cops") when outside. He loves to pull all of my pots and pans out and drag them across the kitchen floor just so he can hear the awful noise they make. He loves water and finds it hilarious when he gets sprayed in the face. He is obsessed with his bottle but absolutely will not even consider a binki. Gayle is is favorite person and when ever he sees her he yells her name as loud as he can (even in church) he wants to do everything his sister does and I find him in some pretty precarious positions when he tries to follow her sometimes. When he gets tired he will find a bottle and a blanket and crawl up in my lap all on his own. He eats a lot of sand and chalk. Swinging is bliss for him. He loves ice cream but pulls the most awful faces while eating it. He thinks folding his arms during prayers is funny for some reason and laugh just about every time. He loves his tricycle and his car and will just sit on/in them for crazy amounts of time. I can't keep shoes on him for more than 30 seconds but often find him walking around the yard saying "ow ow ow". He loves the car but hates his car seat. He really doesn't have much interest in tv yet which we are totally ok with. He likes to jump on the jumpoline but can only get one leg off the ground when he does. He knows exactly where Poppy's stash of M&Ms is and heads straight for it every time he gets the chance. He loves to rough house with his dad. Although he loves to rough house with his dad, he is often a very sweet mamas boy (which mom loves) He is really struggling with the concept of sharing but we are working on it. We love him. I have no doubt that he will be a peacemaker in our home.

Flaming Gorge 2012

As you have probably gathered from previous posts (or just from talking to me) we LOVE Flaming Gorge. For me there is something magical (for lack of a better word) about it. Some of my very best memories were made there. I honest could live there (ok maybe not in the winter months 10 feet of snow might be too much for me)
I was a bad mom this year... hardly took any pictures. Luckily Andrew got a few with his phone. We got to spend time with Nanny and Poppy and some of the cousins. It literally took AnDee a week to recover from the sleep deprivation. But she had SO MUCH fun! Dave and Dyl came with too and Dyl didn't even get a attacked by a bear this time!
About half way through the week the kids got a bath. AnDee just wanted in and out so she could get back to playing but Pep could have stayed in there all night I think.

 AnDee caught a salmon out of Matt Warner. She didn't care that it was a salmon but I thought it was pretty neat.

 This kid could spend days on the bike or four wheelers.

 Pep looked like a red neck most of the trip. With his awesome hair cut and all the plaid. It was awesome. (his new favorite thing is to lift his shirt up and flash his belly button to everyone)

 I was spoiled and my sis offered to watch my kids while we went in the cave. I haven't been down in in years so I was super excited. We spent about 4 hours down there. LOVE IT. Although the belly crawling just wasn't as much fun as it used to be...

 The dam

 Dave had told us that he "could not" catch a fish. It had been ten years since he had hooked one and it just wasn't going to happen. So I made a bet with him that he would catch one on this trip. Guess who Dave owes $100?

My family was nice enough to watch my kids for a while so we could take a ride. We rode to the top of "The ridge". Poor Dyl rode the pit bike the whole way. He was in so much pain afterword. So funny.                                            

 These were the only naps Buggy would get. The moments we were in the car for long enough to sleep. tired kids.

 He would just wear this helmet around camp. I guess his head is so big he couldn't really tell the difference?

 Every time someone would catch a fish Pep would come running (and screaming with excitement) and stand right in front of it and do a little happy fish dance. He loved loved loved the fishing.

Cant wait until our next flaming gorge trip. Its always a blast. I start missing it the second we start packing up to come home.

The 4th

The 4th is a very close contender for my favorite holiday. Every 4th of my childhood was spent up at Flaming Gorge having the time of my life with family and friends. It has gotten a little crowded up there over the holiday though so my family has decided to push the trip back a week or two for the last few years. This means we get to spend Independence Day (Also Poppy's birthday) at home. It is a blast. We had almost all the cousins there. We ate lots of good food. Played games (in which only one chicken was killed this year... by cousin Jonas. He has a  skill for killing them... or maybe we should call it "loving" them to death?) We had balloons and fireworks and birthday cake! SO. FUN. I like to tell all the kids that the fireworks are for Poppy's birthday... and most of them believe me. I mean if anyone deserves a firework show for their birthday, its my dad.

I know.. Im missing over half the grandkids. But lets be honest, tracking down 21 of them would be quite the task.