August has come and gone!

Brinley and Natalie wanted to do the photo-booth at Flip N' Out, so I did the photography for them :)  Cute girls!

After 9 weeks of being in San Fransisco Ryan finally came home! We were SO excited to go pick him up from the airport!

Marlee was so cute, I loved seeing her happy face :)

Welcome Home Daddy!

 

Helping Dad with the suitcases!

Fort in our cupboard :)

Came downstairs after showering to find the kids "cleaning" out the pantry for me.

Marlee didn't like watermelon the first few times she tried it... and with watermelon being my favorite food, naturally I was concerned. Fortunately after a few more tries she loves it as much as I do, and ate half this bowl :)

We got to go to the YMCA pool with the Knudsens and had such a fun time!! Brinley passed the swim test and had fun jumping off the diving board. Casen loved following Aaron around.

Brinley, Marlee and I had a pizza picnic outside while Casen was at a Superhero party! Marlee had fun mixing her pizza and breadsticks into her water cup... and yes, proceeded to drink it!

Casen had a blast at Graham's super hero party and was so excited to have an all boy night! He's had a lot of girls around him lately!

Cutest superhero gang ever! Thanks to Michelle for such a fun party!

After destroying our street they finally re-paved it! Yay! The kids had fun watching the re-paving machine.

Two monkeys in the back yard!

Yet another thing broke at our house! I had a knock on the door one Saturday morning and Dale Mary our neighbor said I had a "water problem".  We had to turn the main outdoor water off and spend the next few weeks watering the grass with the hose!

A few months ago Marlee started folding her arms any time we would say "pray" or "prayer". She knows the bedtime routine pretty well... jammies, brush teeth, etc... scriptures, and prayers. One night after scriptures right as I was saying it was time for prayers and I look to find this... little 18 month old Marlee KNEELING down with her arms folded... heart melter.

More of the cupboard fort. Brinley and Casen split up, and this is Brinley reading in her newly decorated fort.

I bought Ryan tickets to Garth Brookes for his birthday over 6 months ago, and the day finally came! Picking up our tickets was a wreck... long story :) But we finally made it in 10 minutes into the show.

The show was AMAZING! Garth was hilarious and his voice is incredible. It was great getting to go with the Jolleys. We grabbed dinner at Maggianos before and dessert at Applebee's after. It was fun chatting and catching up with them!

Marlee walking in high heels for the first time and loving it! She was seriously so cute running around! Sadly she fell a few minutes later and conked her little head.

I had been craving fruit pizza and finally had a chance to make it when we had the missionaries over for dinner!

After playing for an afternoon we walked our friends outside to find it pouring! Just too irresistible to stay out of! The kids had a blast playing in the rain... made me miss being a kid :)

Marlee loves her big sister and wants to do everything she does. Naturally she had learned to love coloring just like Brinley.

Isaiah turned 7 and we all got to go to his birthday party! We hadn't seen them for a while so it was fun to spend some time with them!

Brinley started first grade on the 27th of August! Seriously can't believe my baby girl is in all day school now! Here she is ready to go on the first say of school!

We forgot her backpack for the pic, dang it! Brinley choose her own outfit and two braids for her hair.... ofcourse!


Brinley was excited for the first day of school, but came home saying it was the "worst day ever."  She is in an integrated classroom and an autistic girl sat by her... she was pulling her shirt, hitting her and tearing up her papers. So sad to start the first day of school like that. She felt unsafe and insecure without me there and had serious anxiety afterwards. The rest of the week was so tolling on both of us 30-45 minutes of tears, comforting, bribing, encouraging, reassuring, etc. to to and get her into class. Thursday I left the school in tears, literally not knowing what to do. A lady in the front office who used to go to church with us stopped me on my way out and I told her the issues we were having. She (Monique) offered to help by letting me drop Brinley off to her and then she would take her to class. That day Monique talked to Brinley at recess and let her know she was my friend and that she loved and cared about her. That day when I picked her up Brinley was happy as can be and told me that she had met my friend who would always be at lunch and recess with her. She said "She said she loves me! I don't know why she loves me, but she does!" It was just what Brinley needed, someone to make her feel special and loved at school when she was having such a hard time. The whole 2nd week I had a hard time getting Brinley to school, but once there she would give me a hug and go to class with Monique. I literally don't know what I would have done with out her help. Brinley's favorite teacher is Mr. DeRose, the art teacher. He knew about Brinley having a hard time (I think the whole school knew about my break down!) and so he tried to make Brinley feel extra special too.... he gave her his "special" plush cow and told Brinley it was his when he was little and he wanted her to have it since she was his favorite student :) It made her feel so good and so special, and again can't say how much that means. It has been 2 very hard weeks, but I am grateful for the help and support from people!  Things are going much better now and she has fun with her friends in the class. Hopefully we can get Brinley going to class on her own soon.