First grade & a 2nd birthday!

Isn't Christian absolutely adorable in this picture, looking so clueless? Don't worry, kid, I often feel that way during scripture study!

Now, lest you think that we are the kind of family who reads our scriptures every night, I want to assure you that we are not. We try hard to do it, and even get on kicks where we are reading every night for a few weeks or so, but alas, we aren't perfect, yet.

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I just wanted to point this out to "keep it real" because last time I posted about scripture reading, I had people thinking that we were the epitome of rightous behavior, a saintly family letting it's light shine down on the poor little sinners, grasping at whatever we may to keep from being translated. Just kidding, but I did have someone comment about how great it was that we had nightly family scripture study.

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Obviously, I'm putting pretty much just the good stuff here in the blog and bypassing entries like, "This day we never got off the couch, except to fix unhealthy snacks." That way we sound like way more awesome, fun and productive people than we actually are :D

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The one thing Tony & I have been doing every night is solving Sudoku puzzles from the newspaper. Tony usually beats me on the 1 & 2 star puzzles, and I usually win on the 3 & 4 stars, but not always. I highly recommend them, they're fun and exercise your brain! (My brain is size 2 & "Maxim" hot, in case you were wondering.) I even printed some beginner puzzles for Faith and she is catching on quick.

To completely change subjects, Christian's new favorite website is Cute Overload, and specifically the section titled, " Cats 'n' Racks™ " (title is clickable). It is a collection of cute little kitties nestled all snug as a bug in women's decolletage (e.g. cleavage - hence the "racks" <--This pic was lifted from their site). When I was looking at it the other day, after being directed there by Cake Wrecks, Christian started exclaiming, "Key!!! (kitty) Bubs!!! (I'm sure you can guess this one) Key!!!!!!! Bubs!!!!!!!!!!!! He loves seeing any kind of animal, but especially kittens & puppies, And having been weaned less than two months ago, I guess he's just experiencing a normal amount of withdrawl from "bubs".

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Faith's first day of First Grade was on August 25th. She was so excited!! She dressed up in some new clothes (some of her few new things which wouldn't be too warm) and got beautiful (I wish it was so easy, or actually even possible, for me to get beautiful like Faith ;) and was ready to go.
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She walked to the bus stop, (which is one entire house away--she has it sooooo rough!) with her brother, Crumpet & I trailing behind her. **Note Buddy's "bus stop attaire", which did not include shoes or pants. Fortunately for the neighborhood, mine included pants.
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The kids played some tag (although in this picture it looks more like a crazy tribal dance, or maybe moves from Saturday Night Fever) and waited for the bus.

Faith was so excited to ride the bus that she wouldn't let me drive her to school, even though all the other kids at our stop rode with their moms. We didn't know where her class would be, so I told her that Christian & I would follow the bus to school in our car and be there to help her find it.

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Unfortunately, there were no parking spaces within a block of the school, so by the time we hiked in, Faith was long gone. I found her class, but there was no Faith! Then I ran crazy all around the school, holding my 3 ton shoeless child, looking for her. Just before I went to the office to issue an Amber alert, I rechecked her classroom, and she was there! She said that she waited for awhile since there was nobody there to help her, and then a nice mom came up to her and asked if she needed assistance finding her classroom. I guess I must have passed them in the hall along the way, with the place being packed with kids, parents, and younger siblings and all. I'm just so glad that someone nice helped her!

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Later that morning, without his trusty sister/nanny, Christian got into the lotion and proceded to protect his entire body (and shirt) against fine lines and looking older. It's hard to tell with this pic being such a small size, but I purposely left his eyes red to convey his devil-licious nature. He actually isn't scowling, this is his new "smile" for the camera! He was quite proud and, like me, wanted to preserve this moment for posterity.

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Interesting observation: his shirt reads,

"Why I'm in TROUBLE .

1. won't share anything

2. won't give mommy a break

3. keep getting caught

4. won't take a nap

5. made a huge mess"

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Can you say "self-fulfilling prophesy"?

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Because taking Faith to the bus stop was such a big hit the day before, we decided to do it again on Tuesday! (Snaps for me--Christian was wearing pants that particular morning.) Faith's wearing a dress, which she is really into right now.

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These next three are from Wednesday. Standing with Faith are her friends Maura & Brooklynn.

The kids saw the bus coming and lined up. Good boy, Christain! Way to retrieve the newspaper!

Faith waved to her little bro, and they were off. I thought Christian would be upset each day, watching his sister go off to school without him. But he loves to see the kids & the bus and I guess that cuts the sting a little bit.

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And the next two are from Fri, the 29th. The kids at the bus stop love to pet and try to pick up Crumpet. For an old girl (13--that's supposedly 91 in dog years) and such a small dog she's amazingly tollerant. She does snap if she doesn't want to be messed with, but has only accidentally gotten skin between her teeth twice (both times with Faith when she was younger and much more of a dog terrorizer) and Crumpet looked more surprised about it than Faith did!

She even let Christian hold her this particular morning, will wonders never cease?

On Saturday, I went to Swiss Days (a huge outdoor craft fair) in Midway with Lana & Tammy. I didn't buy anything other than lunch and a few goodies from the bakery, but had a lot of fun just looking at the wares. Tammy bought these fish shaped cookies from the bakery for the kids.

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Monday, September 1st was Christian's 2nd birthday!! I made his cake, and he helped me clean up.

It was my first homemade

"shaped" birthday cake, ever. If you can't tell (and I couldn't blame you) it's Thomas the Tank Engine. Christian loves playing with his Thomas train set and sometimes watches the show. As I was making it, Faith kept saying, "that's not like Thomas" and "I think it needs _____" to which I replied, "I know, but I'M NOT SARAH!" My sister Sarah is the queen of exquisite birthday cakes and never ceases to amaze me. I lack the skill, effort, patience and dedication to even approach her level of ability. Still, I'm proud of my work!

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That evening, we went over to mom & dad's for BBQ ribs. My family gave Christian a bunch of fun gifts, including a book, foam disc shooter, lion play set, an outfit and the two toys in the following video that didn't come from the same person (dragon from mom, sword from Joy's family) but went well together: (make sure to turn your sound down as to not be anoyed by my disturbingly high pitched giggling)

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After that, we went over to Tony's parents'. Tammy went all out!! She loves party supplies and decorations in ways that are illeagal in some states, and boy do we appreciate her for it! Christain was awed by the balloon bouqet and immediately wanted to play with it. I thought he was hugging Thomas until I noticed that he seamed to be straining and then he said, "pop??!!!!" Don't worry, the mylar was too sturdy to succumb to a 2 year old's vice-like grip, and we are still enjoying the baloons to this day.

Again, with Christian's "smile for the picture" face . . . sigh. Anyway, they & Tammy gave him lots of great stuff, including several cute outfits, a big Thomas coloring set, and "Cranky" the crane and "Billy" the orange engine to go with his train.

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At home, we gave him a scooter, helmet & knee pads. Because Faith had outgrown her scooter, and her birthday is not as strategically placed for gifting warm weather play equipment, we gave her her birthday presents early also.

Last night, when we got home from getting Faith a soccer ball and shin guards (thank you soooo much, Tammy!), the kids got on their scooters

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and rode off into the sunset . . .

and Tony was jealous of Buddy's cool Thomas helmet.

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The end.

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p.s. .Several people have asked me where to post a comment. I'm just so excited that some of you were at least considering leaving comments! Thank you, past commenters, and those with good intentions!!

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It's right below this paragraph (at the end of each post) where it says "Posted by Emily" and the time and the # of comments. Just click on the word "comments", type whatever you want in the box, and then click on the circle next to Name/URL. Type your name in the name box and just don't worry about the URL box. Lastly, click "PUBLISH YOUR COMMENT". There, that wasn't too hard, was it? (Blogger users, please feel free to just use your Google/Blogger id like usual, this tut is just for those new to the process ;)