Fall Soccer 2012

Do you remember Spring soccer? There were were a lot of tears, but there was a girl who kept asking to play soccer.   I wasn't sure if we should sign her up.  I was pretty set on not signing her up, then at the last minute I caved in because I wanted Anna to have the chance to play with other kids from our ward, and Anna said that if she played soccer this time, she promised she wouldn't cry. :)
From the first game this season it was like night and day.  No tears, nothing but smiles.  I was so glad!
When the season came to the end, I realized that I didn't have hardly any pictures.  Why?  Because we were having fun just watching the game.  Here is a short video of a few games.  The kids are so cute!!!

We are so glad that Anna got out there and that she was chasing the ball around.  Last season she ran away from the ball most of the time.  We even started giving her a chocolate chip for every time she kicked the ball.  I think the most chips she got in a game was eight.  Not bad.  I loved watching her go after the ball.

The tricky part of this season was that the team that Anna was on, The Blue Cheetahs, didn't have a lot of kids that wanted to play.  Most games there were five kids who wanted to play, and at least four  kids who didn't show up, or who were in tears.  That means that the four or five kids who did play ended up playing the whole game.  That made for some pretty tired 3 and 4 year olds by the end of the game.  There was quite a bit of this at the end of each game.  Yes, this is our whole team (who wanted to play) out on the field in the middle of playing time just sitting on the grass.  They were so tired!

It was a great season!  We can't wait until Spring soccer! We love playing with our soccer friends.

And here is one cute picture of Nicholas.  He does a great job cheering for Anna.

We Made It!!! Preschool

Growing up there are two things that I wanted to do. 1. Be a second grade teacher.  2. Be a really good mom.  I was lucky enough to teach second grade for six years.  At one point I was offered a job to be the District Elementary Math Coordinator, but I turned it down because I wanted to be a teacher that teaches kids, not teachers.  I knew I would miss my little friends way too much.  As much as I loved teaching I knew that I didn't want to teach forever.  As luck would have it, Prince Charming (Devin) showed up, we got married, and after almost two years of marriage we were blessed with Anna.  The day we heard Anna's heartbeat for the first time was the day I turned in my teaching resignation papers.  I was done with goal #1.  Now on to #2--be a really good mom.
If I said the last four years of being a mom were easy I would be lying.  It has been hard, way hard.  Now don't get me wrong.  I wouldn't trade Anna and Nicholas for anything.  But being a "really good mom" has not come easily to me.  I would tease Devin that I felt like I needed 4 years of schooling, several student teaching experiences, and a year long internship in motherhood.  THEN I think I would feel more prepared.  I often wondered why something I wanted so much was so difficult and challenging to me.  Teaching was second nature.  Motherhood was such a stretch.
A few months ago I had a huge epiphany. It was shortly after we bought our van and I was at soccer practice with Anna.  I was talking with a friend and we came to the conclusion that we had finally made it.  We had the van, we were driving the kids to soccer practice, this was what being a mother was all about.  That is when I realized that being a mom for me was very different that many girls.  Being a mom really never had anything to do with babies. (Sorry all you baby lovers out there, don't hate me.)  I laugh when people ask me if I am "baby hungry" and I without even blinking say, "NO!"  My dream of being a mom doesn't have anything to do with changing diapers, staying up all night with a crying baby, or trying to feed someone mushed up food that I wouldn't touch with a forty foot pole.  My dream of being a mom is the mini van full of carpool friends, it is taking my kids to swimming lesson, dance lessons, preschool, and soccer practice.  It is going to story time and falling in love with the library and books with my kids.  It is spending hours and hours reading with my kids in all of our favorite reading places inside and outside our house.  It is teaching my children to work hard and to do their part.  It is swelling with pride as I watch my little girl get up and sing with the primary kids and hearing all about what she learned in primary.  It is teaching my kids, helping them learn to read and write.  It is playing with my kids, Legos, dolls, cars, kitchen, puzzles, you name it, we play together.  It is running races along side my kids.  It is going for hikes and camping trips as a family.  And most importantly it is just sitting down and talking with my kids.  I LOVE just talking with them about anything and everything.  My list could go on and on.  I am sure you can see the common theme, all of these things are not done with a baby.  My vision of motherhood, what I always dreamed about is toddler and older.  And as Anna quickly approaches her 4th birthday I laugh, I guess I have finally earned my four year degree in motherhood.  It took us four years to get here.  It was worth it!!!  And I am loving it.
 So another one of those big mommy dream things is sending my kids to school and being one of those awesome moms that gives their teacher all the support and help they need.   My neighbor found the most wonderful preschool, my dream preschool.  Anna was very excited to start school.  The big day came and we took our first "First Day of School" picture.

Anna already knew a few of the kids in her preschool.   Here they are on the first day(minus Caden another boy in our ward). Korver, Anna, and Liz...oh and that cute little Nicholas who now gets to spend some quality time with mom several days a week.

It has been wonderful!  I love hearing about her day at school.  I love listening to the songs and stories. I love the little papers she colors and projects she brings home.  I love the Book Orders.  She really is doing well.  They have learned cute little rhymes for each letter of the alphabet that they have studied so far.  Anna says them so much that even Nicholas is starting to randomly say things like, "M the moose munches, mmm, mmm, mmm."
Last week they learned a cute little song about five little mice.  Here is just a portion of the song.

So yeah for preschool!  Yeah for being a mom!  I really do love being a mom.  Perhaps I just needed some time to grow up in motherhood and my kids needed some time to grow up too.

State Fair 2012

We love the State Fair! Devin was able to take half the day off so we could head up to the State Fair early.  The kids were so excited.  There are so many fun things to see and do, and best of all they get to see Pam.  We love Devin's aunt Pam.  The kids were so happy to just walk around holding Pam's hands.  They sure love her.
Our first important stop was at the little Farm Country for kids. Nicholas loved feeding the pigs.

Devin gave his yearly how to milk a cow lesson.

They picked some apples.

Planted some seeds.  This year both kids picked carrots to plant.

Too bad real carrots don't grow this fast!

After all that hard work the kids took a short break.

Then it was time to fill up the tractors with gas and go for a ride.

Time to take care of the sheep.  I am so excited for them to go out to California to see my Grandpa's REAL sheep in a few weeks.

They had a great time. They look so cute!

Maybe they will be future farmers. :)

We had a good talk about taking turns doing fun things.  So after we did something fun for the kids, it was Mommy's turn to pick.  Off to the quilts!  My sister-in-law Marthe had two quilts this year.  I love this one.  It is amazing!  Her quilt is the one in back that says, "Never Forget."  The picture doesn't show very well, but it is made up of tons of little squares.  And yes that is a blue ribbon hanging on her quilt.

After the quilts the kids got to choose again.  We were off to see the animals.  We looked at lots of sheep, cows, horses, pigs, goats, chickens, and the favorite was the bunnies.

Next it was Daddy's turn to pick.  We looked at the tractors of course.

And rode the wiggle cars.

Then it was Pam's turn to pick.  A miracle happened this year.  Our kids actually looked at all the photos without freaking out or melting down.  It is so much fun to look at all the pictures.  Nicholas loved being with Pam.  He just wanted her to hold him the whole time. 

As we were walking to dinner we past a booth that was set up by the Marines.  If you did a certain amount of pull ups or just hung from the bar for a set amount of time you won a prize.  I do pull ups most every day.  I don't do a lot.  I have found that cold turkey I can't do very many, but after a good hard run I can do six.  Weird.  So I knew that I wouldn't be able to do very many, but I gave it a try. I am sure that there are many people who can do more pull ups that me, but I got a free hat, that is all that matters.

We have gotten smart over the years when it comes to food at the fair.  Rather than paying an arm and a leg for the food, we just bring sandwiches.  Then we can get a yummy fair treat later.
Once we ate our dinner it was Anna and Nicholas's turn to pick again.  We were off to the horses.
Our kids LOVE riding horses.

I am glad that the kids get a really nice long ride at the fair.  It is a long enough ride that I always find myself saying, "Ok, are we done yet?"

After the horses it was time for Mommy and Daddy to pick.  We were off to the big yellow slide.
Anna went on the slide last year and loved it.  We were not sure how Nicholas would take it.  He had a great time.  We even went down the slide twice.  We discovered that the boys go much faster than the girls.  Perhaps it has to do with the fact that they weight much more than the girls.

We then broke with tradition and got ice cream sundaes instead of funnel cake.  We were able to enjoy our sundaes while watching the diving show.  It reminded me a little bit of the movie Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken.  Too bad there weren't any horses jumping into the tank, that would have been really cool.  Even though there weren't any horses, the divers were really fun to watch.

Anna and Nicholas were amazed and sat there with their eyes glued on the divers the whole time.

Too bad I didn't get a picture of the two funny old ladies sitting behind us.  The were so funny to listen to as the were worried about the divers.

The fair this year was wonderful!!!  Our kids had a great time.  Not a single melt down!!!  We are so glad that we get to go to the fair every year with Pam.  Our kids love her and the fair is such a fun place to go with Pam.

See you next year Utah State Fair!

Mobile Moments August

The Baldwin family had tons of fun in the month of August.
Nicholas and I had a fun time checking out the new JoAnn store in American Fork.  Yeah for not having to drive to Orem to go to JoAnns!

Anna and Nicholas like to play trains.  This is one of those games that usually ends in tears. I will let you guess what usually ends up happening.

To change up our afternoon reading time I brought out my Big Books.  Anna thought they were great.  Funny that the books are as big as she is.

Anna was playing store one day and just had to stop.  "Mommy, I can't go to the store without making a list."  Not a lot of window shopping going around at our house.  You get what is on the list and get out of there.

Quilt class has begun again.  Here are the blocks for the first month.

Nicholas loves trains.  He could play with Anna's Geo Trax all day long.

Nicholas is a fashion boy.  He really does have an opinion when it comes to what he wears each day.  He is really into shoes.  Whenever he gets a chance he likes to try on shoes.  He likes Anna's church shoes the best.

Daddy's shoes are not too bad either.

Here is a view of our sad little garden. Our beans did great.  You can see the thick wall of beans.  The rest of the garden well,...there is always next year.

We bought a new dresser set to match our bed.  Anna and Nicholas loved helping Devin put them together.

I am really impressed at how well Nicholas can use a screw driver.  Who knew?!  It must be a boy thing.

Devin likes to make these marshmallow, graham cracker, chocolate chip treats for the kids. Nicholas loves to eat them and makes a complete mess of himself in the process.

Anna and Nicholas like playing with their humidifiers.  The lids make great hats.

Anna really enjoys making cards.  I was really impressed that she wrote Happy Birthday all by herself. Way to go Anna!

The kids found my bucket of clothes pins.  Very fun!

While I was putting Nicholas down for his nap Anna decided that she needed to organize her alphabet books, they were all mixed up on the shelf and it was driving her nuts.  She did a great job putting them in order.

The kids like sitting in our chairs.  The chairs are quite comfortable.  Add a blanket and I bet it is even cozier.

Anna was a great helper with pinning the pattern for her Halloween costume.

It is getting cooler in the mornings, so it was time for new sweaters.  Nicholas loves putting his hood on.

We bought the kids new clothes for the winter.  The clothes look so big. I know by next fall they will be too small.  

At our Stake Yard Sale / Swap thing we scored some new puzzles for Anna.  She is getting really good at the more complex puzzles.

Our beans were amazing this year.  This is just what I picked off of one side of our fence.

Part one of Anna's Halloween costume done!  (Just the pants)

Anna woke up one morning and decided that she really wasn't ready to wake up, so she went back to sleep under Devin's desk.

Nicholas loves music and he loves to play the piano.  He is such a cute little piano man.

I pulled all my empty jars out, organized them, and inventoried how much food we have left from canning last year.  Pulled the good old Ball Blue Book out.  Ready to can like crazy for the next few months.

Devin watched the kids so I could go to Education Week.  Seriously it is my favorite thing to do!

Here come the beans!

Nicholas really enjoys doing puzzles.  He is so patient, much more so than a cute little girl in our house.

I got "marked" for the triathlon. I am glad that it didn't take too much scrubbing to get the numbers off after the race.

After getting dressed one day, Nicholas decided that he wanted to put his PJs back on.  It was quite challenging, mostly because he didn't take his other clothes off first.

Nicholas loves to cook.  Put him in an apron, give him some kitchen toys, and he is good for quite a while.

The cucumbers decided to join the harvest party with the beans.

To celebrate the first day of school...for everyone else...we went to the Splash Park with the Curtis family.  We love spending time with them.  Anna and Korver love playing together.  They are pretty cute together. :) Funny that Korver is a month older than Anna and at least a whole head taller.  They had a great time playing in the water and floating things down the river.

 Nicholas was in heaven!!!  He ran all over and had a great time.  This was the only picture I took of him because he was moving so fast I couldn't keep up with him.  I am excited to go to the Splash Park more next year.  I need to be less of a chicken taking my kids places.  They really have so much fun.

What do you notice that is strange about this plate?  How about all the lima beans?  Yes, Anna still loves lima beans and we happily give her all the lima beans from our plates and Nicholas doesn't mind giving up his either.

We went to the library and this was as far as the kids made it when we got home.  In the door, take your shoes off, and just sit down and start looking at books.  I sure do love having two cute little book worms in the house.

We finally took Anna to get her first real hair cut.  My neighbor Cami did a great job.  She let Anna watch Dora (which I never do because I think Dora is...well, I don't like Dora).  Anna was totally glued.  The trim looks great.  I really love Anna's long hair.

I don't know who was more excited for Anna's Preschool Open House. Anna had a great time meeting her teachers and seeing her classroom.  I had a wonderful time visiting with her teachers and well...let me tell you it is wonderful to finally be on the flip-side of the teaching world.  I LOVE IT!!!!

Orangesoda had a Lazy Ironman contest over the summer.  You just needed to do all the distances for an ironman over the course of the whole summer.  Because I was training for the triathlon this challenge was easy.  I am happy to say that I was the first female to earn the Lazy Ironman.  But most importantly, I beat Devin, Mahon, and Lance.  :)

I think Legos and Babysitter are synonyms.  I love watching Anna and Nicholas play Legos together.  They build some pretty amazing things.

Here Nicholas is again with his trains.  He loves Thomas, Percy, James, and all of Thomas's friends.

Nicholas isn't the only one who likes Thomas and Friends.  Anna decided that she could do her job faster if James helped her.  Who knew trains could be "really useful engines" by helping unload the dishwasher.

And then there were peaches, LOTS of peaches!

We have entered the wonderful world of Play Doh...that is until Nicholas thinks he should eat some.  At some point he will learn that Play Doh is not food.

And more cucumbers.

I cleaned out our bathroom closet one afternoon while Anna was playing at a friends house.  A clean closet does me about as much good as a Diet Coke or chocolate for some ladies.

Anna really likes her new jacket and hat.

One of Anna and Nicholas's jobs lately has been to pick up peaches.  This is a two part job.  They have to watch out the window all day to see if there are any peaches on the ground and then they have to run outside and pick them up.  We seriously do this at least three times a day.

August was great!  Now on to September's adventures.