Soccer

Four year old girls playing soccer should be a skit on Saturday Night Live. I don't think I have ever watched something more hilarious than Livia's practice yesterday. The poor coach! These little girls are so in their own little world. They focus for a couple seconds and then one will find a flower and they will all ditch their balls to go pick flowers or they will be heading for the goal and get sidetracked watching another kid and start up a conversation. My favorite was watching this little girl who was in my opinion convinced she should have been at ballet instead of soccer because all she wanted to do was twirl and spin on the grass. Too funny. I will be sure to take pictures at her game on Saturday. Her uniform swallows her whole. She definitely looks like a grape.

Tater Skater

All Tate wanted for his birthday was a skate board. The boys in our neighborhood ride them and he will sit and watch them in our front yard for hours at a time. He takes it so seriously that I couldn't help but get a few pictures of him. He gets on his gear and practices in the garage by copying what he has seen the big boys do. I have to admit he is pretty good- I was surprised at his coordination on that thing!

AAHHHHRRRRRRR!

Tate turned three and we celebrated his birthday this past weekend at Chad's parents house- it worked out great because his cousins were there. This birthday he really seemed to understand it was a party for him. He was so cute as a little pirate and the kids had a fun time searching for buried treasure and eating cake that turned everybody bright blue! Happy birthday my little boy- you are so much fun to have around. Your Dad and I get such a kick out of the things you say and do. You have such a great personality and you are so very loving to your family. We love how outgoing you are and how friendly you are to those around you. We love you so much Tater Salad!

fourth

My favorite is the picture of Chad's parents walking with the kids to the parade. We had such a great time in the white mountains for the fourth of July. First of all it was great to spend some time with Chad since he has been MIA for the past month with work. We relaxed and enjoyed family time together. The food was wonderful. Thanks Kellie for making the cutie pie flip flops for the girls- Livy won't stop wearing them! Thank you Andrea for letting us take over your home with our crazy bunch!

Summer is................

I want to go back to when it was just this simple- kids are so lucky........................................

deep conversations.............

Driving to the store yesterday with Livia:

Liv: Mom- do we have blood under all of our skin and that is all? (Tate just had a major fall and was bleeding like crazy- Livia was still processing it)
Me: yes Livia we have skin and blood and then bones all inside our body
Liv: Bones like the dinosaurs have?
Me: yup
Liv: why do we have bones in our body?
Me: because the bones are what holds are body up and creates our structure (I always begin to make things way to complicated in discussions like this)
Liv: So if we didn't have bones we would be like a water balloon full of blood?
Me: I guess we would (kind of impressed with her critical thinking skills)
Liv: How come I can fold my arms and bend my legs if there are bones in there?
Me: (Are you kidding me?) because our bones have joints in places that make it so we can bend certain parts of our body.
Liv: what do joids look like?
Me: I will have to find a picture for you when we get home- they are kind of hard for me to describe.
Liv: Where do we find pictures of joids- in a book about joids?
Me: Let's just have some time to be quiet and listen to this song on the radio.
Liv: K- I am so excited to see the joids book!

And Chad wonders why I am fried by the time he gets home! We have multiple conversations like this daily and I can't keep up! She is so curios about EVERYTHING right now.

Knife update: Chad said that Tate was watching him sharpen all of the knives the other day and wanted to help so bad- Chad explained that he couldn't because it was something only moms and dads could do- Tate just waited until moms and dads were nowhere in sight and tried it out anyway. That was four days before he actually had the knife incident. I can not leave the kid alone for a second. It was like he had been waiting for the right time to carry out his plan!

Loving this little munchkin!

I wonder if you can tell what Livia's favorite thing is to wear? I can't believe how big this little one is getting. Last night Livia and I went to Cocoa's for a dinner date. We shared secrets and a chocolate milkshake. Our conversation went like this:
Liv: mom I love you the mosterestest!
Me: I love you to. You are such a pretty little girl
Liv: Do you know how you could be pretty too?
Me: how?
Liv: You need to start wearing dresses more and put on pink makeup
Me: So do you think I am pretty?
Liv: you would be pretty if you wore a dress I think.

She is just as girlie as they come. She is playing soccer this summer and her team is called the Grapes! how cute is that? I will be sure to post pictures of her in her little uniform- right now all we have is her shin guards- which she wears around the house with her ballet slippers.

My hair will be grey very soon!

Warning: If you work for CPS please do not read or view this post- Thank you.

Yesterday I was upstairs painting Livy's toes when I called for Tate and had no answer. When this happens I know that he has either gone out the front door and is walking the neighborhood or he is doing something he knows is really bad. I call his name periodically when I am in the middle of something and he isn't around to keep continuous tabs on his whereabouts. I walked downstairs to find this- Love a duck!- he was sharpening the kitchen knives! How do things like this happen? I will tell you-all it takes is a mom who wasn't around and a kid that has recently learned the magical powers of a stool..................... Luckily there was no damage done and since my camera was on the kitchen counter I was able to capture one of the many incidents that occur on a daily basis with Tater Salad! Are all boys like this?

The new favorite toy...........

My dad recently bought this beast and Tate was literally shaking to see such a thing! (Yes, Tate did have a Mohawk- for just a day- it was a joke) Tate loved to move the dirt with his Papa and pretend like he was the one in control of the massive machine. Livia only wanted to watch from a safe distance.

in a nut shell......................

cheer leading camp- here we come!

Swimming at Grandma's house in New Mexico
Livy and Abbie with Great Grandma Sorensen
bedtime @ grammie camp
Taking Papa out for dinner looking "Fabulous!"

Tate just wants to always ride something and Livia just wants to be a bathing beauty!

Lake Powell Was a great time- we could fit everyone on the boat and the kids had a blast!

This summer has been way to fun! I even haven't been making time to post blogs because I tend to get overwhelmed with our crazy life! Chad loves his job and has really been putting in major hours lately. We started out the summer with a trip to Lake Powell with all of Chad's old roommates from college and their families. We had a wonderful time camping on the beach and I decided I am in fact glad we bought that big boat after all. Watching everyone ski and wake board is well worth it- Even Tate got up on the wake board with the help of our friend Travis. After that I took the kids to New Mexico to visit my family and while we were there, my parents took Livy and her cousin Zoey to Salt Lake (Livia calls it Swan Lake) She got to go to the dinosaur museum and visit with my mom's parents and sisters. She had a blast! Last week Livia went to her other Grandma's house for "Grammie Camp" where she went to cheer leading camp with her cousins, made crafts and played in the water. Her favorite part was when she and her cousins put on fancy dress ups and took Papa out for dinner. Tate and I hung out at home and I caught up on some projects around the house. All in all it has been a wonderful summer. I tried not to over- schedule the kids so they could just have time to run through the sprinklers and eat Popsicles. Here are some pictures of us on our summer adventures!

so so sweet..............

This is how Tate sings Popcorn popping on the apricot tree:

I looked out the window and what did I see

Popcorn popping and it's so so sweet

It wasn't really small

but it was all for me

That popcorn's popping and it's so so sweet

Couldn't you just squeeze his cheeks thinking about him singing this little tune?

Chad is trying to teach him the right words but I won't let him because- well- it is just so so sweet!