October 2016

One of my great aunts had posted this online and I just had to archive it.

This is my Grandma and Grandpa Blacker with my aunt Teresa and my Dad, sometime around  1959. My brothers Nathan and Bryan both look like they could be my Grandpa in this picture right now.

More progress on our home! This pretty much consumes our life right now, with regular visits and lots of decisions to be made. Fortunately our builder is wonderful and things are going pretty smoothly.

 

 

The kids loved climbing on the boulders for the retaining wall.

Cole's kindergarten school picture

Lexi's preschool picture

Ballet continues! 

Painting is still a favorite pastime for these kiddos. 

For some reason our girls think it's so funny to zip themselves into the laundry hampers and camp out in there. Luckily it is mesh. This is Clara if you can't tell.

 

Cole and Lexi went to a birthday party at a gymnastics gym with a foam pit.

We need one of these in our home.

Halloween! Cole was Captain America, Lexi was Elsa and Clara was Ana. Clara has not been in a "smile for the camera" or "get anywhere near my siblings" mood this month.

September 2016

Fall in Colorado is absolutely GORGEOUS! It definitely makes up for the crazy springs we have here. We took advantage by driving to the top of Pike's Peak, enjoying all of the changing leaves on our way up, and stopping for a short hike around the reservoir on our way down. I was in Heaven.

We also took a walk around Garden of the Gods, which is never disappointing.

One very special thing we did during September was take the kids to the open house of the new Fort Collins LDS Temple. It was a bit of a drive and not exactly easy, but definitely worth it. One of the bedtime songs that we sing to the kids regularly is the primary song, "I love to see the temple", and now every time we sing it Clara declares, "We did it!". She knows that we went to the temple and that it was a special place. Never mind that she thinks every church building is a temple now. ;-)

I love this first picture because it epitomizes our family right now. Cole was being obnoxious by pretending he didn't hear us to look at the camera, Lexi had her stink face on and refused to smile, and Clara couldn't stop looking at the statue and proclaiming, "Jesus! Jesus!". And of course Mom and Dad are smiling through it all. We sure love our little bunch and are grateful they are ours forever.

Lexi started preschool for the first time this month, and she was practically bursting at the seams with excitement. She also learned how to pump herself on the swings (which at 3 years old is a big accomplishment). Sometimes I can't find her in the house and she snuck out the back door and is just swinging by herself. She is becoming independent way too fast for us! Her ballet and tumbling keep her a happy girl too.

In addition to starting preschool, Lexi also started taking a ballet class (according to her it's "ballalet"). She was nervous but very excited. At this point she's just loving being part of a class where she gets to dance to music and have fun.

Swinging and Tumbling are Lexi's other passions. She keeps us busy for sure! Definitely one of those people who just wants to be involved in and doing everything.

I finally finished Lexi's quilt! It only took me 3 years. ;-)
She loves it, and I think it turned out great.

More progress on our house! This month they finished the foundation and most of the framing.

The kids had a blast climbing all of the mountains of dirt they dug out for the foundation and we left absolutely covered in it every time we stopped by to take a look. They were devastated when the dirt was finally taken away.

Our little Elsa and Ana from Frozen, with their baby dolls, getting ready for Halloween.

August 2016

Cole officially started kindergarten in August. He was ecstatic to be able to take the bus to school and didn't look back once. He had a bit of a rough adjustment at first (including several calls from the Principal/Vice Principal's office and meetings with his teacher), but he got used to new rules and routines and loves school. His teacher, Mrs. King, is a true saint and genuinely loves Cole, which makes all the difference. He loves her too.

We celebrated Dave's 36th birthday this month. He holds his blessing in his arms.

Lexi has started to develop her own sense of style and loves dressing up.

Clara has also started to develop her own sense of style and loves getting into Mommy's lipstick.

Lexi helped with the scripture in primary. She was so excited to do it, as long as no one saw her.

Construction started on our house in August! The foundation was the big project and the kids loved watching/climbing on all of the tractors and earth moving equipment. Some heavy rain slowed things down a bit, but overall lots of good progress.

July 2016

July was filled with lots of outside summer days, beautiful weather, summer camp for Cole, and a plethora of stress for Dave and I while trying to close on our land and construction loan for our new house. For some reason banks like to make it maddening to get anything accomplished.

Lexi starts her first ballet (or "ballaleigh", as she refers to it) class this fall, and she could not wait to try on her new dance leotard.

Cole and Clara have a special bond and sure love each other. Every week this summer they ran out together to watch the garbage man and recycle man pick up our trash and to tell them thank you.

Despite our rental house, Cole and I managed to grow a small container garden. The zucchini were the only thing that really produced, but Cole was proud of the fruits of our labor. We saved the plants from the deadly hail multiple times, but there were still a handful of times that everything was pummeled and we finally gave up. There will be a greenhouse for our garden some day.

Notice the every-widening toothless smile on this happy kid. :)