Here I am! My laptop died even though it wasn’t even very old. So I’m testing out the whole blogging thing on Pace’s “Transformer Prime” tablet that he uses for work. Maybe he’ll have to purchase one of these things for us! Here are a few photos for now.
… Which kids are Chase & Charlotte in this picture?? Haha!
Fair skin, blonde hair, & blue eyes all around! I guess that’s not too rare in this state of Utah. 
The resemblances crack me up every time we get together with this brother & sister duo.
Chase is playing Mini Mites Hockey this winter.
Too cute!… I mean… fierce, rough, & tough!
But don’t worry, he’s not all tough guy these days. He has a special tenderness in his heart for this little tiny sister. He rocked her to sleep in the rocking chair for her nap yesterday morning.
Chase cares about Caroline a lot. Any moment that she starts crying, he tells me anxiously that I need to pick her up! Otherwise, he takes the initiative because he can’t stand to hear her cry for more than one second.
Chase brought this drawing home from his church class a couple weeks ago, & it made my heart melt.
Cute sisters
Chase is such a great big brother to Caroline! He loves to carry her around & make her smile. (He’s wearing his karate uniform in the photo above. He’s loving those karate lessons!)
There are some shining moments when Chase & Charlotte get along well & play together these days, but most of the time, they fight! SO MUCH arguing, screaming, & crying lately… At least everyone gets along with Caroline! I’m so thankful that they adore their baby sister.
Showing us the mints in their mouths! Funny little story about that: They were both sucking on the mints for a long time, so the mints were getting tiny. Chase said, “Mine’s mini.” Charlotte quickly said, “Mine’s Daisy.” Haha! I loved it.
Chase is at school. I just realized that he had made Charlotte’s bed & his own before we left to run errands this morning. I hadn’t asked him to do so, but he did it. He can be such a sweet boy.
Note the sheet hanging down from underneath the comforter of Charlotte’s bed. No, I did not fix it, even though the “OCD voice” in my head urged me to.
Here’s Chase’s bed. I think of it as more of a “loft” because I had to balance up high to take this picture! Chase loves his cozy minky pillowcase & blanket. I had my friend Sarah make them for him for his birthday last April, & he doesn’t sleep with anything else!
Also, last night at dinner, Chase & Charlotte were following Pace’s lead by thanking me profusely for the “delicious dinner” I’d made. I am thankful to have a thankful family, & I’m also thankful for golden moments like that when you feel like you’re doing something right!
Our city has a new library! The old one was tiny and falling apart and, frankly, disgusting. I didn’t really love taking my kids there for Story Time because it was so crowded & brown water was dripping through the ceilings (besides the fact that people would bring their green snotty-nosed, coughing kids to Story Time, even though they were clearly sick). But I do have fond memories of practically tearing that place apart, with kids in tow, to finally find the coveted city Medallion which ended up scoring us some great prizes last summer. So, I guess the old library was alright!
The first thing Chase & Charlotte wanted to do when we visited our new library was play in the manmade water feature out front. It has steps up to it that kids can easily climb, so I think it was okay for them to splash in the water & slide down the edges of the little waterfall. With things like this, I just let the kids go for it & wait for someone to come out & yell at us if it’s not OK.
Charlotte didn’t even mind her bum getting wet as she slid down, that’s how much fun she was having.
Side note: Charlotte doesn’t like to get dressed in the morning. I let her choose what she wants to wear, but lately, she gets mad about her long sleeves or tights having “bumps” in them. On this particular morning she was bawling her eyes out about this red shirt having “bumps” in the sleeves. When she looked down & saw that tears had dripped on the front of her shirt, she started to cry even harder, saying, "Now we need to change my shirt because it has my cries on it!” I didn’t understand what she said so I asked, “What??” and she said pointing to her wet cheeks, “My wittle tears got on my shirt so we need to change it.” I laughed (despite my frustration with her) and reassured her that the tears on her shirt would dry soon, especially if she stopped crying!
Inside the library, we checked out the children’s section where they have cute little shelves & chairs & computers. The kids pored over some literature for a while (actually, they were Batman comic books).
We climbed to the top floor so we could look out at the creek and the city.
I lugged Caroline around in the car seat the whole time so she would stay asleep (shoulda brought the stroller for her)!
Right after this, we had to go pick up Chase’s carpool friend & take them to kindergarten. When we got to the friend’s house, I told Chase I’d go up to the door to get him so Chase wouldn’t have to get out & do it. But Chase responded, “No, that’s OK. You have to carry the baby around all the time, so I can do it.” And with that, he hopped out of the car to go get his friend. WoW! Sometimes Chase can be so considerate & helpful.
Chase recently finished a great soccer season with his team, The Tigers.
Chase has definitely found “his sport!” He LOVES playing soccer, it’s a great outlet for him, and he’s good at it too. I’m bragging, yes. We were proud to watch him do his thing out there. If only the soccer season were longer than 1 stinkin’ month! (next few photos courtesy of Rachel)
In other news, Chase recently carved a zucchini guy that sat on our porch for a few days to greet visitors.
I definitely let all our zucchini get out-of-control large. I thought it was kinda cool, until my Mom said that you’re supposed to pick zucchini when it’s small so it will taste good, & so the plant can put its energy into making more zucchini rather than sustaining the big ones. Lesson learned! (But at least we’ve enjoyed tons of zucchini, delicious tomatoes, and even some bell peppers, mint, & thyme from our garden.)
Below are just a couple pics of Chase from when we were at the Museum of Ancient Life (with GG & Charlotte). He looks like such a little angel. Haha!
So, here’s our Kindergarten Boy. First day of school today.
There’s no denying that our kindergartener, Chase, is full of energy, opinions, & curiosity.
Just this morning, he:
Showered & got dressed, made some things with his Legos, scarfed down a banana because I made him eat SOMETHING, listened to a story, made a few paper crafts (a butterfly for me, some boats, & even the Eiffel Tower), did a couple chores, did a science experiment from a box to explore acids vs. bases, had a neighbor friend over to play, watched a TV show on Benjamin Franklin, and did his own music experiment with glasses & varying amounts of water (pictured below). THIS WAS ALL BEFORE LUNCHTIME at 11:30 am! Whew.
There never has been & never will be any stopping this guy!
But when it came down to it, Chase was a little apprehensive about his first day of school today.
In the car, I told him that it’s normal to feel nervous about something we don’t know about yet, & that he’d probably feel better once we walked him to his class. We said a prayer together in the car. He was still a little hesitant before entering the classroom, however, & didn’t want any pictures taken. But I quickly took a couple of his faux smiley face.
Chase was just fine after walking inside, seeing Mrs. Miner’s friendly face, finding his name tag, & sitting at a table with his friend Vaughn (who was on his soccer team last year).
I’m SO excited that he’s in school now. Personally, I loved elementary school & all my fun teachers, and I hope he will, too. We’re all ready for Chase to be back in school!
(They look so cute & I am so…. pregnant. 2 WEEKS LEFT!)
Very fun day. At the same time, as I said goodbye to Chase, my voice caught a little & I was feeling a tiny bit emotional. Probably pregnancy hormones, as usual… But seriously, I didn’t know why I felt the least bit weird leaving him, since we already did a year of Joy School AND preschool to gear up for the real thing! And kindergarten is only 2 1/2 hours per day, anyway!
But I guess part of me was thinking, Oh my, he’s getting older. And here we go on the slippery slope of SCHOOL! No turning back! & we’ll be doing this every day! And he’ll be graduating from elementary school before we know it…
Well, here’s to enjoying the journey!
Chase did Charlotte’s hair the other morning. She sat so patiently. I had to get out the camera for this one.
His technique was to thoroughly drench her hair with the spray bottle (not only before, but also during & after the styling of her hair).
So, what do you think of it??
Tonight we enjoyed some homemade watermelon popsicles in our backyard with Jessica (my sis) & her husband, Casey.
Summertime at its best! (Especially with the kids in pajamas even though it practically looks like it’s still noon outside!)
Chase saw the idea for these “Whatta Melon Pops” in a Disney Family Fun magazine during one of my dr. appointments a couple weeks ago & was dying to make them. I found the recipe online, & we finally made the popsicles today.
Chase is always thrilled when we do projects, crafts, or recipes… Especially anything that was his own brilliant idea!
…And here are a couple of cheesy family pics. Jess made me get in some of the pictures, too. 
We love summertime!