The End of Summer

 These are just all the rest of the pictures that I have from the summer-mostly random stuff. First, I had to get a picture of Grant participating in his very favorite activity in the world. What is it with kids and water? Grant especially likes a sink full of dishes. Splash pad? Nope. Baths? Eh. Swimming? Okay. But give him a sink full of dirty dishes, and you can't pull him away.

 I think these pictures are from when Meili made Easy Bake Oven treats, and we were taking pictures of the sprinkles all over their faces.

 Grant came up with this one on his own. But it was good timing, because my sister-in-law Kami was due to have her baby any second. So we sent the pictures to her to wish her good luck!

We tried all summer to plan our annual camping trip with my roommate from college, Hope. We finally had a weekend that magically worked for everyone... and then Josh's brothers decided they needed to do the bees that weekend. I decided that since the trip was already planned, I was not just going to sit home, so I packed up the kids and we just went and visited the Hansens at their new house.

 We got to Afton Friday evening and spent the next 24 hours just relaxing, chatting, putting off all responsibility, and the kids enjoyed playing together-including building this fort...

 ...Playing Twister....

 ...And watching movies. I love seeing Meili get bigger and watching her making friends and starting to figure out her way in the world. The weekend may not have turned out as planned, but we managed to enjoy ourselves, and it's always fun to catch up!

 Grant came across this hat that my Grandma made him, and I didn't know he could get any cuter. But apparently there is no limit to the irresistability of this boy. Heaven help his mother!

 I believe that in this picture he's yelling "Go Aggies!"

 And on this one, he's on the line, getting ready to make the big play!

Love that boy!

Meili had her second 1st day of preschool. I wish I was one of those parents that said, "I can't believe she's so big! Just stay little forever!" But to be quite honest, she really seems like she should be in kindergarten to me. She's ready, I'm ready, and she would love it. But one more year hanging with this sweet girl isn't the worst thing in the world. I asked her what she wants to be when she grows up because she doesn't really talk about it at this point. So I gave her some ideas, and when she heard Dr. (like Doc McStuffins) for animals (as in horses), she liked that idea the best. I can't see that happening, but for now, I think that would be a great career path. But first she said that she wanted to be a mom. (And that's obviously the best thing in the world to be.) She's super excited about preschool. When I asked her what she likes about preschool she said," I like that I got a Frozen backpack. (You can thank procrastination for that one. Usually I don't go for "character" stuff-blankets, swimsuits, shoes, backpacks, etc. But I thought we could use her old backpack again this year until the night before, which meant that her selection was limited to whatever was on sale at Walmart. And she is over the moon excited.) I like that I have two teachers this year instead of one. I like the toys at preschool. And I met a new friend named Brookley." Her teacher has a castle room in her house! (Which pretty much won Meili over.)

I'm okay with Meili getting older as long as she stays sweet, and she promises to always be my best friend, and she continues to love school and be excited about life and believe everything I tell her :) Deal?

As for this boy... I haven't done updates for awhile, so here goes:
-He has moved on from his obsession with balls and now it is all about cars and trucks. It will never cease to amaze me that boys are born boys and girls are born girls. We never encouraged Meili to like pink or dresses, and we never pushed Grant with balls or trucks. It's in his DNA. 
-He is starting to notice colors. For a long time everything was blue, and now he switches between blue and yellow. And a lot of things are yellow blue.
-I think he talks a lot and can say quite a bit. But I don't know if I just know what he's trying to say. He's to the age that he will repeat most anything.
-He's not quite as interested in eating as he once was, but since it's the second time around for me, it doesn't stress me out one bit.
-He loves treats and suckers, and is very determined when he wants to be. He will not be distracted if he has his mind on something. 
-It took a long time for his canines to come through, but I think we're finally at the end of teething. Good riddance!
-He copies everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, that Meili does. Thank goodness that she is a good influence most of the time. In fact, from her, he picked up saying, "Watch!" and then performing a trick.
-We used to have this conversation regularly with Meili: She liked watching Winnie the Pooh, so she would come to me and say, "Pooh?" (Meaning that she wanted to watch Pooh.) And I would say, "No Pooh." She would come back with "Pigdone?" (Piglet) "No Piglet." And we would go through all the characters until she would finally realize that we truly were not going to watch Pooh. We're in that same stage with Grant, except with him it's Mickey. "Diddy?" "No Mickey." "Plu-o?" "No Pluto." "Minnie?" "No Minnie?" "Daw?" "No Donald." Oh these determined children!
-He loves for us to smell his feet and tell him how stinky he is, and he thinks it's so funny when he says, "Stinky Diaper!"
-He's such a happy, crazy, little boy who is so full of life!