All I Want for Christmas are My 2 Front Teeth.

Zachary can now sing this Christmas song and mean it.  Yesterday, he fell on the stairs at the school playground.  I got a call to come and get him, and that he had knocked out one of his front teeth and the other was turned sideways.  We went to the dentist and she pulled it because he could not bite normally.  Thank goodness there was not other damage to his mouth, lips or face.  He must have fallen directly on the teeth and they took all the fall.  So Zachary now has a new smile.  Still as handsome as ever.

Taken right after I picked him up from school.  He just wanted to go home and rest.

After the tooth was pulled.

Family Visiting Us!

Usually in order to see family we have to get on a plane and head west, last week my parents, sister and her kids came to visit us.  I loved having them!  We spent time at the zoo, in Natchez looking at some of the antebellum homes, at the children's museum, in Vicksburg at the Military Park, and just playing at home.  My parents were able to go to lunch with the boys at school, which was exciting for them.  Wendy loved having a playmate, and in her pretend stories she is still the mom, but now I have a name, "girl Abbie."  Hyrum seemed to like having someone to push around, sorry Lincoln.  Here are some pictures from our adventures. Thanks for coming Mom, Dad, and Tammie.  Enjoy all the pictures.

The Children's Museum

  Here is everyone working on play-dough creations.  Everyone's turned out lovely.

Vicksburg

A couple of videos to enjoy

This video reminded me of my parents dog, Charlie.  When he could see the little dust particles in the air he would try to get them with his mouth.  Wendy saw some on Wednesday and called them bugs and tried to get them.  I thought she was a cutie.

Here are Hyrum and I playing the piano.  All my kids have liked to pound on the keys, but Hyrum really likes it.  He will climb up there and play, turning pages and entertaining himself quite nicely.

Sprinklers

What do you do at the end of September, well in Mississippi we play in the sprinklers.  The kids had a great time last week.  Eric and Zachary pretended the water was poison for a little while and they could not be touched by it or they lost one of their lives.  Wendy and Hyrum ran through the big sprinkler, but preferred to stay away from the rowdiness of their older brothers and play in the spray where the hoses were joined.  I rested in the hammock while I watched my kids play.  It was a wonderful afternoon.

Soccer Begins

Eric and Zachary had their first games of the fall soccer season today.  Both of them did a great job.  Zachary was much more aggressive than last year and actually kicked the ball a lot.  Of course half the time he was trying to take it away from his own teammate :}.  Eric's game was his first of his entire soccer career.  He did great!!  He even scored the first goal of the game and pumped his arms up and down shouting "yes, yes, yes!"  Soccer is such a fun sport.

Zachary's Birthday

Zachary had a good birthday.  At school he was the Student of the Week, so we made a poster and he got to share with the class all about himself.  He also was able to share a healthy snack, cheese sticks, with his classmates.  He had a Chase, his 'best friend,' over for the afternoon.  Chase brought him some Ninjago Legos, and he was able to open a couple Ninjago presents from the family as well.  Zachary, Eric, and Chase had a great time playing with all of them.  We then had cake and ice cream and watched a Ninjago episode.  (Can you tell that Zachary is into Ninjago lately?)  We saved some presents to open when Dad got home, but Zachary had a headache and fell asleep before they were opened.  It made the next morning that more exciting as his birthday celebration continued before he went to school.

Here is a little bit about the past year for Zachary.  He has really grown up physically and emotionally.  He loved Kindergarten, but often was a little too mischievous. This year he has always received a good behavior grade!!!  Zachary loves to be active and has a great mind for pretending.  He also is very curious and likes to ask the question why, and often digs a little deeper than many children his age.  We love Zachary and are amazed that he is already 7 years old!!!

Helping Hands

 Kyle had the opportunity to be part of the clean-up team sent from our stake down to Louisiana to help gut some of the housed flooded during Hurricane Isaac.  They left at 4:00am Saturday morning and returned Sunday evening around 7:00pm.  In between those hours the worked, slept, attended an early morning sacrament meeting, and worked some more.  Kyle says it was hard work, but a good experience.  Above he is modeling his "Helping Hands" t-shirt in front of one of the houses he worked in.
On the home front, we only had sacrament meeting, all the other meetings were canceled.  Wendy was quite distraught last week when she did not get to see her friends in nursery.  The boys were a bit confused, but got over it quickly.  I realized how much I miss Kyle when I was trying to help 4 children remain reverent without him.  This week the stake received another clean-up assignment, so again it is only sacrament meeting.  At least this time I will have Kyle to help :)