My big boy Alex.

It's funny how fast time goes. I feel like Alex was just a little baby, and now he's such a big boy. He'll be 2 in less than two months!

I am so proud of Alex, though. The last few months, he's really developed a lot. He has a lot of big accomplishments. I'm very proud of the fact that he knows just about ALL the letters in the alphabet! I got some Sesame Street books about letters and colors. He's known his colors for a long time now, at least 5 months, if not more. But he didn't know his letters. Well, he knew a few. The very first letter he ever learned was B. I had a different alphabet book and he learned it there. One day we were at Winco, by the dairy section, and suddenly, he starts saying, B! B! B! I was trying to figure out what he was looking at. I looked up and saw the big 'ol BEER sign on the wall. He recognized the B!

Anyways, so Anna was a little prodigy child and actually taught herself the alphabet from a really great toy I got for 50 cents. So I know you're not supposed to compare your kids and their learning/development, but I felt that Alex needed to learn his letters, since Anna did it right before she turned two. So, he really liked the Sesame street book about letters and we read that a lot to him. That's what really spurred his learning. About a month ago, he really started pointing out different letters. We'd be at a stoplight and he'd look out the window  and call out a letter he recognized.

Here, he is playing with an alphabet puzzle. This is where I realized he really knew more letters than I was aware of. He'd pick up a piece and say the letter. I was very surprised, since in the past we'd point out letters, but he wouldn't really respond. Kids do that, they really are observing and learning, but just not telling you! Haha.

He and Anna really like to color. He likes for me to get a marker or crayon and write out letters. He'll say the letter, and I'll write it on the paper he's coloring on! It's really cute.

His other BIG accomplishment is speaking! The last few weeks, he's just exploded with two word phrases. His first one was "yellow bus." We were coming home from dropping Anna off at preschool and we usually see a few buses on the way there or back. I pointed one out, and he just said, "yellow bus!" And ever since then, he's just kept it up. He'll say things like read book, Anna's preschool, runny nose (he was sick this week), doggy park, ride bike, etc. He's getting really good at it. And last week, he had his first THREE word phrase. Ironically, it was "two yellow bus." Haha. We were coming back from preschool again, and we saw two yellow buses next to each other. I said that, and before I knew it, he was saying a 3 letter sentence.

I should add, that he also knows some of his shapes-sqaure, triangle, pentagon, and I think circle.

I just love this little guy!

Anna likes to play games on my phone, Alex decided to join her.

Alex, eating some bread, while watching a show on the couch. He pulled these pillows up around him!

He's getting better with his coloring. He's starting to actually color specific parts of a picture, instead of just scribbling all over it (however, he'll still eat crayons once in a while).

A Little Preschooler

 Well, it has happened. This cute, adorable, little baby has gone from this:

To this:

A Preschooler!

 I told her we needed to take a picture, and she responds, I want to be a zombie! I told her we could do one silly picture and one nice picture. Haha.

And of course, Alex wanted to have his picture taken. 

Anna started preschool last week. She goes everyday in the afternoon. She loves preschool! She didn't have any problems about me leaving, which I knew she wouldn't. This little girl has gone to the gym since she was 6 months old and is very used to us leaving her for an hour or so. 

She went and sat at the little table and instantly started making a tower out of some little blocks they had. I don't know if she even noticed I left. I said goodbye, but it didn't seem like she was paying attention. 

The only down side, is she gets kind of tired and cranky in the late afternoon/evening time. 

I drop her off, then come home and put Alex down for his nap. I then have to wake up him (which I hate doing, but gotta do it) and go pick her up. She's used to having down time and watching shows during his nap. So it's a long day for her, but she does have a lot of fun.

She's in a great preschool, the main teacher is great, very loving and very child oriented. I think she's going to have a great year. I just can't believe she's big enough to go to preschool!

Here are Anna and Alex riding in our neighbors little police car. They had a blast!

We had some gift cards and went out to dinner last week. I got a high chair for Alex, and Anna insisted she wanted one, even though I said she could sit at the table with us.

We went and got cupcakes afterward. She was so excited to get a cupcake!

Anna's hair is actually very curly. This is it, right after a shower. It's so thin and wispy, that it's hard to look nice.

Anna is ever improving her art skills. This is a train she drew, all by herself!

Summer Reflections

I can't believe it's already September. It sure doesn't feel like it, since it's still in the 90's around here. This past summer, has been quite the summer. I feel like it's been a real eye opener for me, in terms of life, family, relationships and I guess, really, my ideology of life.

My summer started off normal enough. Dan got done with work at the end of May, we hung out for a week or so, then headed out to Utah. We were there for about a week and a half, when I got a phone call from my mom, that my older brother had been shot in the head. It was quite shocking news. She didn't know what was going to happen to him. He was in the ICU on life support. I prayed really hard, that everything would be okay. After a couple of days, my other brother called me, and said things weren't looking good. And that basically, I need to come up to WA asap, if I wanted to say goodbye.

Luckily, my sister and 3rd brother live in Utah, and we were able to all get on the same flight to WA. I'm not going to give all the details, but man was it hard to see my brother for the first time. His head was all bandaged up, a machine was making his lungs breathe, which looked very abnormal, his right side was completely numb. It was a tough 3 days, trying to figure things out, decide if we should keep him on life support, etc. 

Plus, I was able to get a better glimpse of his life. He's struggled with drug use since he was about 15. The last year or two, he's been doing really well. He was working for my brother's company, going to church, had a calling, etc. Things seemed good for him. While I was in WA, I found out more information about his past and really his personal thoughts about his life and struggles. He was unhappy. He was still addicted to drugs, though it was an off and on again kind of thing. It really opened my eyes about how I viewed life and the gospel together. Just because you go to church, doesn't mean your life is great. Just because you have a calling, doesn't mean your testimony is solid. Writing this out, makes me go, duh, of course it doesn't. But I think we still think it does, in a way. I thought he was okay, I thought he was over drugs, I thought he had finally done it.

My brother is doing much better by the way. We really thought he was going to die, but he's actually walking now, and learning to use his right side. He still can't really talk, but he's making some progress.

Anyways, this experience just kind of changed the way I look at things. Things aren't exactly black and white anymore. More like differing shades of gray. It's not easy to say, if you do this, then you'll be happy. If you do that, things will work out. I guess I thought that way, and now I don't, at least to some degree. Everyone is different and so is their situation.

Then, a few weeks after I got back from WA, a close friend of mine told me that they didn't feel the church was true anymore and was even doubting the existence of God! That took me by surprise.

Then a month after that, another friend told me she was getting divorced because her husband was addicted to pornography and had been for years.

Then, last week a family member of mine, told me they and their wife, of 13 years were getting divorced. They have 4 kids.

I don't know, it just seems so much has happened to people I care about the last few months. You always hear of things like this happening and it makes you said, but it's never really happened to people I know personally.

I just feel like my ideology on life has been changed. It's hard to explain. Things that were a constant, aren't anymore. I know no one is immune to the challenges of life, but I sure wish they were. I obviously can't make choices for others, but it makes me sad and kind of shakes me when negative consequences occur to people I care about. 

I guess I'm done rambling. Here's to a Happy Fall!!!