Back to School, 3rd Grade & Kindergarten! ...and a day in Portland :)

The kids didn't start school until the last week in August and they were READY!  (so was Mom :) )  They get to walk to and from school with some neighbor kids and they think it's pretty cool :)  It's crazy how quickly time flys once they start Kindergarten - then all of the sudden they are in 3rd grade, crazy.

Laexin loves school and was excited to be a 3rd grader and have some of the same people in his class as last year.

Loa is super pumped to be going to school too - she's in a full day Spanish Immersion kindergarten class and can't wait to learn to speak spanish :)

This is how Linqy feels about school starting...

We even got lucky enough that LeGrand had a day off while the kids were in school their first week, so we celebrated :) Powells Books, Salt & Straw & some yummy food carts!  Thankfully Lytzi isn't old enough to tell on us yet ;)

Almost 2 months

It's true, poor baby number 4 just doesn't get as much fuss, pictures and attention as the first couple :)  But I have been trying to remember to take pictures - we sure love this happy, easy little guy and are so lucky to have him!

 Perfect little man!

 Smiles!

 Sitting up on the couch.  Sometimes he just looks like a concerned old man, ha ha!

 So sleepy!

I was trying to get some cute, before church shots, but he wasn't having it!

And...the rest of August.

After all the company left, then life got back to normal and sometimes it's just nice to have some uneventful days -

Lytzi LOVES to 'hold' her Linqy (as she calls him)

Playing together so nicely I had to snap a photo, cause really, how often does this happen?!?

 The many faces of Linq!

My sweet Visiting Teacher gave me lots of Rhubarb so I made some Strawberry Rhubarb jam which I remember eating all the time when I was a kid - so yummy!

Sometimes your 5 year old chooses her own outfit and you just roll with it...

Loa and I were out doing a little school shopping and she was way more into this target dog than picking out clothing ;) I just tried to enjoy it because I'm sure by next year it'll be different!

 This day the kids got a hold of the camera and were taking all sorts of pictures with baby brother!

And...a spilled milk mess brought to you by Laexin, I think he learned that pouring a brand new gallon of milk isn't that easy (I can't even do it without a mess half the time!), he also learned that cleaning it up isn't any fun :) 

1 month & 2 years!

We had Linq's 1 month check up along with Lytzi's 2 year.  Even with both LeGrand and I it still felt like a circus taking 4 kids into the doctors office.  Linq weighed just over 11 lbs and Lytzi is a chunk at 27 lbs.  Growing like weeds!  :)

Loa starts 'jump start' and other Shenanigans :)

 Kindergarten here in Vancouver is full day and they start all of the kindergarteners a few weeks before the first day of school to get them used to school - they only go about 3 hours a day and it helps the kids get ready for real school especially if they have any fears or anxiety.  Well, this lady was SO ready for school - and she thought it was pretty cool she got to start before Laexin :) 

 Grammie and Papa headed on the road (headed for a little trip down the coast) the same day Loa started Jump start (Monday August 3rd) and left the kids with these suckers - they call them their Papa suckers because he always brings them!

 This is what happens when you leave my creative Loa playing with perler beads - her and Laexin decided to make quite the mess and then they got to clean it up :)

 While Loa was at school the other kids and I would pass our time at the park, library and playing games at home! 

 Each day we would walk Loa to and from the school - often we would have to carry her scooter with us to pick her up so that she could ride it home along with Laexin who was usually on his :)

 Little Linq started showing off his smiles around month 1, and Lytzi can't help herself she always has her tiny little hands all over her brother :)

 We had a ward party at a park with this fun merry go round thing - of course 'Disneyland Dad' had to get in on the fun and spent most of his time pushing the kids around and around - they loved it!  Luckily he only lost children a couple of times and there were no major catastrophes :)  I did overhear some of the other parents warning their children not to get on - lol.  Apparently they though LeGrand's fun was too dangerous.

 Tubby time, wrapped up like a burrito then filled up with milk and he's out - this awesome little mister has been a great sleeper from the beginning --all of my kids have slept through the night by 6 weeks but this little guy has topped them all never sleeping less than 5 hours a night!

I couldn't resist another outing of berry picking.  There are SO many blackberries growing everywhere - they are really like weeds here so we took a Sunday afternoon, drove less than a mile from our house and picked our hearts out - I kept Lytzi in the car (because lets face it, it's easier to not have to chase her) and Loa and Laexin would bring her berries and she just ate and ate them and when she ran out she would yell for more :)  We brought our pickings home and made more blackberry freezer jam along with eating plenty of them!