County Fair

September 28th

Here in Prescott Valley we have a  ton of little carnivals that come throughout the year and every time we drive pass them the boys beg and beg to go and check out the rides.  We usually come up with some excuse as to why we can't make it to the carnival, but we always remind them that maybe next time it will work out.  

So this year we decided that we would make a night of it and enjoy the lights and smells of our local county fair.  Andy, Bekah and their kids joined us and the kids had fun experiencing the magic together.  

The place was crazy crowded. Every time we moved we bumped into someone.  And maneuvering our stroller through the thick crowd was almost impossible.  The lines for the kiddie rides were reasonable so the kids didn't get too antsy waiting.

When the last of our tickets were all used up we headed back to the food carts and enjoyed some funnel cake and then called it a night.  All in all it was fun especially for the kids.  It never ceases to amaze me how much work goes into having a fun outing with our boys.  Both Nathan and Bracken had at least one tizzy fit at some point during the evening and we were constantly reminding them to stay close, hold our hands and stay in line.  But I think in their eyes it was a magical evening which means it was a success.

Baby Cereal

I finally fed Marco his first little taste of baby rice cereal.  I'm not sure why I waited so long, mostly I just didn't take the time to bother with it.  But Marco has been VERY interested in our food and drinks lately so I knew he was more than ready to give it a try.

I introduced him to the creamy, bland goodness during lunch one afternoon.  He was excited for his first spoonful, but after a few more tastes his face looked a little worried. 

Pass the water please!?!

After a couple of days I started adding in baby food puree for more flavor and then he was sold on the whole food concept.  This baby loves him some mashed bananas!

6 Months Old

My little cutie pie is 6 months old already!!!!!!

He is still as sweet as ever, giving gigantic grins and smiles to everyone he meets.  

Marco has found his feet and he is enthralled with them.  The minute he lays down on his back he grabs for his feet which makes diaper changes a bit more challenging.  

Marco is a sitting pro now and has finally started rolling from back to tummy or tummy to back.  Twice he has rolled enough times to travel several feet, but I guess he figures rolling isn't worth the effort to get from point A to point B because he uses it sparingly.

His dark chocolate eyes are so rich and dreamy that I regularly get lost in them.

I can't get enough of my little Marquito!

Family Celebration

Bracky waited patiently all Tuesday to finally have his birthday dinner, cake pops, and PRESENTS!

Grandma and Grandpa Kleinman joined us for burgers and hot dogs.  After dinner we sang Happy Birthday to Bracken, he blew out his candles and then attacked the pile of gifts with the help of Nathan.

Bracky turns 3!

September 10th

Our little Brack Brack is 3 years old!

His birthday fell on a Monday which is one of the evenings that Curtis works.  I like to celebrate birthdays on their actual day as much as possible so we hoped to celebrate during Curtis's office hours and have a birthday lunch celebration at Texas Road House (Cowboy restaurant to Bracken) but we had to skip to plan B because Curtis needed to the time to finish up a big project. Sooo....

Marco and I busted out balloons galore to make the house more festive and...

I let Bracken open one present so he wouldn't have to wait another whole day for his birthday family dinner which we decided to postpone till Tuesday evening.  I wanted to make his birthday feel special even if the celebration had to wait another day.  Bracken loved his birthday decorations and played with the balloons all day long.  And every time someone wished him happy birthday he would wish them a happy birthday too!  

We decided to enjoy a trip to our local zoo.  Bracken loves animals and he soaked in every moment of our stroll around the zoo.  

At the last moment I decided to go ahead with our plan A and take the boys to the Cowboy Restaurant all by myself! I may have been crazy but it actually turned out OK.  Towards the end Marco was starting to get a little tired and when he's tired he shrieks, loudly.  The booth behind us had 2 mature couples enjoying dinner, and after several high pitched squeals one of the gentlemen mumbled "Get that kid a cracker!"  I was embarrassed but his sweet wife pointed out to him that I was by myself with 3 little boys and he needed to give me a break! 

When I tucked Bracken into bed later that night I asked him if it was a good birthday and he said "YES!"

Mission accomplished!

Stake Center Dedication

September 8th

Curtis and I were involved in the open house for our growing Prescott Valley Stake brand spankin' new stake center.  Curtis was on hand from 1:30 till 6:30 for any Spanish translating needs and I was involved with the musical entertainment.  The open house was a really involved venue.  They had amazing presentations throughout the tours and awesome displays with wonderful information in the cultural hall.  The feeling and energy in the atmosphere was amazing and we felt really grateful to have been a part of this little bit of PV history.

September 9th

Sunday evening we packed up our kids and headed for the dedication service.  I accompanied the choir musical numbers and had to be there early for the last rehearsal, which left Curtis alone to handle our 3 boys.  He did his best to keep them occupied, entertained and quiet and luckily another family jumped in to help him with the older kids while he bounced a fussy Marco.  Curtis survived the meeting, but barely.

As for me, I had my biggest piano playing blooper EVER!  A small mens choir sang a beautiful song that had challenging accompaniment.  I practiced A LOT in preparation for this song and just as we came up on a key change that lead into an acapella section I turned 2 pages instead of 1 and I flubbed the key change so badly that the poor men singers did NOT get their key change!  I could have died!!!  I didn't know what to do!  Halfway through the verse I had to join back in with the choir but now there were singing in a different key than I was playing.  It was a mess.  I came in when I was supposed to and prayed that things would right themselves out somehow.  The men floundered around for a few measures but eventually they adjusted and we finished the last page of the song with everyone back on track.  I was too devastated to cry, luckily, but I was so disgusted with myself I went home and moped.  Curtis tried to cheer me up but in the end a good nights sleep was all that could cure me of my self loathing.  It was pathetic and I'll never forget it.

Snails

A friend of ours gave us some lettuce from his garden.  While I was washing it I discovered a few little stowaways.  Two slimey snails!  The boys were thrilled to observe them for the day so we kept them in cups with a leaf of lettuce and watched them do their thing.

Bracky was so enthralled with his snail he carried around his little friend all afternoon.  I encouraged them to stay outside as much as possible just in case the little critters got away.  

We sat them outside by our flower pots for the night but when the morning rolled around we found they had crawled out of the cups and away.  I explained to them that the snails were happier out in nature.  Nathan was cool with it but Bracken mourned his loss till his mid morning show.

Thank you snails for an afternoon of discovery.