first half of September

We decided to celebrate Christian's birthday with our families on Sunday, Sept 6th. He finally decided on a Nemo cake, so I enlisted his and Faith's help creating this masterpiece:
The kids did a great job with the blue frosting and rock border! Christian did the sparkly blue sprinkles by himself and helped me place the rock candy "sea anemones" or "coral" or whatever it looks like that's sea-ish.

Unfortunately, Tony's mom and Zach got sick, so we ended up just celebrating at my mom & dad's. It was also unfortunate that we didn't know that Sarah's family was at Bear Lake and Joy's was at the cabin that weekend :( We still had a great dinner and Christian ripped into the presents from my mom before Tammy even got there.

Tam brought with her an awesome party spread, true to form!

(Buddy's wearing his police dress up from my mom.) Lots of great gifts from Tammy & Grandma Braegger.

Then it was time for cake and ice cream!

For a Labor Day outing, on the 7th we went to feed the ducks. We hit up two different duck ponds, and there were no ducks to be found! Don't know if they got their fill earlier in the day because other people had the same idea and didn't laze around half the day, or if there was some sort of duck convention going on in Salt Lake, but it truly did bite.

Since that was a bust, we went to Olive Garden and had a great dinner with my birthday gift cards instead, so it was a pretty great day after all. We probably could have come up with something else fun to do at the pond, but instead of that well known, tired cliche, my new favorite saying is, "Unless life also gives you water and sugar, your lemonade's gonna suck."

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These are from the 10th, the first time I volunteered in Faith's classroom. Instead of playing with the toys, Christian went to all the centers with his big sis.

One of the centers that day was reading a book and taking an AR test on it. Faith is racking up those points this year!

Buddy was an absolute angel the entire time, until centers were over and the class went to another classroom for computers. He started out quiet with just a few tears flowing down his cheeks, but before I finished getting instruction from the teacher, it had turned into a loud, choking, full-blown sob session. That kid just loves and misses his sister during the day now!

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Luckily, the next day he started preschool to take his mind off of Faith for a bit. His teacher is incredible! ;) That first day at Clever Sprouts was a bit lonely, since he was the only student, but I still went all out and gave him the full two hours of learning and fun. In this picture, Buddy's modeling the "Kissing Hand" necklace he made.

Later that day, both kids went into the dentist's for a cleaning and checkup. They love the giant aquarium with "Nemo" and "Dory" fish, and also the lizard that's in a adjoining aquarium.

This time Christian had his first teeth x-rays. Last time they tried to get them, but he was too scared. Only at the very end when we were leaving did he throw a fit because he didn't get "pictures of his teeth!" On this visit he sat still like a statue and chomped the mouth piece like an alligator, what a big boy!

Faith has been doing great in soccer. She has been really getting in there and kicking the ball!

Yet another craft on the 12th, drums. Kind of unusual for a woodworking craft, I thought, but the kids loved them.

Every time I get the pictures off my camera and onto my computer, I have a ton that Christian took. Usually they're just close ups of the wall or of people's bums, but sometimes they're pretty good. I've posted quite a few in the past, and here's another gem. He took a pic of how much he weighs! Don't think I'll be following his example any time soon, but I loved his :)

And lastly, when we were leaving the school on the 17th we kept hearing a helicopter, but couldn't see where it was at first. Then we finally found it--stringing the power line for the new towers they built! Just after we got home, it was pulling the line across the street from our house. (It's the little dot just above the center house's roof.)

I'd never have thought that they would attach the new power lines that way!!

last half of August

I have been so busy the last month and a half with volunteering in Faith's class, PTA stuff (I'm the membership chair and have been spending 10-20 hours a week doing advertising, data entry, and a contest trying to get people to join PTA), running my new preschool, and of course being a homemaker, wife and mom, that I've hardly even been on the computer except for working on those things!!!! I need to update my blog because it's my journal, but be forewarned that this post will just have choppy, short explanations for the pictures. Now that my PTA contest has ended, I should start having a little bit more time on my hands (I hope).

August 15th we planned a fun day at the Davis County fair. We started out at Sam's Club for a lunch of free samples and dessert of triple berry sundaes. I love that when we just buy one, but ask them to split it into two cups, you end up getting almost two full sundaes :)
At the fair, the bunnies were a big hit.

We also liked checking out the chickens,

especially the crazy chickens with 80's rock band hair.

We saw lots of John Deere tractors.

The main attraction for us was the giant petting zoo. Of course they had goats,

but they also had cows (even giant Texas Longhorns) and unusual animals from all over the world like this crazy looking, long haired bovine.

It was a fun, nearly free day and the weather was beautiful.

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A few weeks ago, Tony got himself a Nerf machine gun to defend himself in fights with the kids.

(they got guns for Christmas).

Somehow both kids inherited the "eating Granny Smith apples with salt is delicious" gene from their dad.

On August 18th I went to the Social Security office to change my name. For the last 17 years my last name has legally been "Bragger" and I was finally annoyed enough to get it changed. I just didn't notice the misspelling on my SS card after I changed it to my married name, and nobody else did either until we started e-filing our taxes to the IRS a few years ago and their computer said my name and social security card number didn't match. Anyway, I thought maybe I could correct it online these days, and after that approach failed, I called in. I told them that since it was their fault (I had spelled it correctly on the form and it was also correct on my marriage license) they should change it over the phone. The guy said that if I had called within 90 days of getting it changed then they would have, but since it had been so long that I would have to "just run into the Social Security office and show them your driver's license" to get it corrected.

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Well, guess what? When I stepped into the office, there were about fifty people waiting in the room!!! I ended up having to wait for over an hour just to get up to the window to show them my license. Since when is that "running in"???!!?????? Anyway, they kids got extremely bored and started running around. A giant security guard told me that they don't like kids running in and out like that, but I was so wound up and irate at that point that, instead of rounding them up, I just screamed out the door, "You guys better cut that out or this police man's gonna take you to jail!" Then I scuzzed that guy off, royally. I know, not one of my better moments, but I'm usually the most patient, polite person in a waiting room. Just this time I'd been lied to about how long it would take (or I would never have even taken the kids) and I was only there to correct THEIR mistake.

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Didn't I say I was only going to offer short clips of commentary this time? Well, I guess I'm unable to do that through an entire post, hehe. Anyhoo, after the crazy security guard debacle, Christian started getting tired and I snuck a pic of him snuggling up to Faith and laying his head on her shoulder. (By the way, the darkness on his shirt is water from the water fountain just outside the room. That's where he and Faith kept running to.)

Of course, when he saw the camera come out, he had to start making faces.

And getting silly again!

August 22nd the kids made a school bus for the Lowe's craft. If you're interested, sign up HERE. (you're welcome, Jenn)

Then we went to Zeppe's to get an Itallian water ice. It's like a slush that's the consistency of ice cream--so yummy! Zeppe's is located right across main street from Hobby Lobby in Layton.

They were having a photo contest, so I submitted this one:

August 24th was Faith's first day of 2nd grade. She had me so her bangs special, over to the side that day. I'm glad that was the last time she asked for that :)

The next night was "Back to School" and in addition to manning my section of the PTA table for part of the night, I also got to see Faith's classroom. I signed up to help with centers (where the class of 29 breaks into five groups and does activities that would be hard to do with them all together) and now go in for an hour & a half every week.

On the 26th, we went to Joy & Jordan's for a night of "Jokes and Juggling" because it was J week for Sierra. First the kids played on the swingset,
but Faith got stung by a wasp on her ankle and needed to go inside to be consoled by grandma.

Soon, she was fairly recovered and the excitement began! Here's Eric doing some impressive juggling.

And here are some quick samples of the kids' jokes:

Because we didn't get Faith's welcome letter from her teacher (guess it got lost in the mail), I was a little late getting her supplies. Here Faith's showing how I wrote her name in micro-tip sharpie on each and every colored pencil and marker, and then wrapped clear packing tape around so it won't wear off (thanks for the idea, Sarah!).

The new attraction to playing on our bed is that Faith figured out how to tie our sheets into a hammok. What will they come up with next?

Christian's third birthday was September 1st! As soon as Tony got home, he ripped into his presents from us. Here's lots of playdough and accessories.

The big one is like a tee ball set, but the ball hangs down instead of sitting on a tee.

Then we had dinner of his choice: spaghetti and corn on the cob.

We were doing a fancy cake at the grandparents' on Sunday, but I asked him what cake or treat he would like for his actual birthday. He said he wanted "kispy treats, and wif chocolate on a top." Not sure where he got this idea since we'd never done that before, but they were good!

Lots more of his continued birthday celebration coming up next post.

Saltwater Taffy

Saltwater Taffy

2 cups sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup water
1 & 1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbs. margerine or butter
1/4 tsp. vanilla, peppermint extract, or other flavoring
few drops food coloring (optional)

Butter a 9x13 baking dish and set aside. Butter the sides of a heavy 2-quart saucepan. In saucepan combine sugar, corn syrup, water and salt. Cook and stir over medium-high heat to boiling. Clip on candy thermometer and cook over medium heat without stirring to 265 degrees (about 40 min.). Remove from heat and stir in margerine, flavoring and coloring. Pour into prepared pan and cool for about 15 minutes or till easy to handle.

Butter hands. Divide candy into 6-8 pieces, then twist and pull each piece until it turns a lighter, creamy color (about 10 min.). Stretch into a rope shape and, with buttered scissors, snip taffy into bite size pieces. Wrap in clear plastic wrap or waxed paper.

H is for Horses

On August 11th we met up with Ann & Natalie and the gang in South Ogden for a little McDonalds food picnic and water park fun. Faith got right into it and ran around like a crazed woman, trying to get splashed, sprayed or dumped on by every water feature!

Christian was far more reserved, but he finally understood that the whole point was to get wet, not to avoid the water. It was so much fun! I wish there was a park like this closer to home (hint, hint, Kaysville city!).

That night we went over to Joy & Jordan's for some "H week" festivities. Right behind their house are fields and a barn, and just south of that is where their neighbor keeps his horses. The kids loved feeding them. (The horses are wearing special masks to keep the flies out of their eyes.)



















The neighbor told Joy to make sure and see the horses across the way, as well. There were two miniature horses with foals!























They were so tiny and fuzzy. I'm sure you can only imagine how hard it was to drag Buddy away from them!

After we had so much fun visiting with the horses, we went back to Joy & Jordan's and made sushi (California rolls, to be precise). Faith had been asking for it ever since Joy made it the first time and we were so lucky that she shared it again!