Kyle Walks!

Kyle finally started walking today!  He is so cute doing it and has the biggest grin on his face every time he takes steps.  After many failed attempts to get Kyle's first steps on camera I finally got this low quality clip.  At least its something.

Swimming Lessons

Caden and Eric had their first round of swimming lessons at the rec center this summer.  Caden had an amazing teacher and had a fantastic experience.  Eric was much more timid and it took the majority of the 8 lessons before he was comfortable enough to venture into the water with his class without mom right there.  At the end of the two weeks the teachers fill out a 'report card' detailing the students' progress.  I wanted to share the comments from the boys' teachers.

"Caden is very brave in the water.  He is so anxious to swim that he often wanders off doing ice cream scoops.  Caden can jump in from the wall and swim back efficiently.  He can improve by practicing controlled arm and leg motion on front crawl - this will come with age and practice.  - Tate"
Translation: Caden loved being in the water, but didn't love stopping to listen to instruction from the teacher.  He can swim about 1.5 feet by flailing about, but still doesn't float on his back or front.

"Eric was such a good student.  I liked how big he made his ice cream scoops and how big he made his kicks.  He should work on being more comfortable with his face in the water.  - Amanda"
Translation: Eric was cute and clung to the teacher while she taught.  When he got brave enough to do something, he went all the way and made the actions as big as possible.  He cried every time his face got splashed.

Caden begs to go swimming every day.  Eric would be content sitting on the side and never getting in the water.  Kyle was pretty mad I hadn't enrolled him in a class and kept trying to get into the pool.

Making Memories

We were cleaning out the garage and found this fun trampoline tent we had inherited a while back.  We set it up to check the condition and the kids were in heaven.

While the Cats Away....

... the mice will play.  Caden is undoubtedly the king of the Wii at our house, so when he went to a friend's house to play the other two grabbed the controllers and took a spin on Mario Kart.

Gardening

Kyle being oh so helpful.

Cozy Coupe Fun

Seeking Shade

The boys setting up shop under the truck shell.

Kyle's First Birthday!

The pictures pretty much sum it up - Kyle opened the presents and the brothers ran off with them.  Caden helped me make muffins for him and we lit a candle (which the brothers helpfully blew out for him) and sang happy birthday.  It was a nice, low key celebration.  I thought for sure he'd be walking by his birthday because he is so close, but he still just stands, looks around tentatively, then sits down.

Wahoo!

It took me longer to get the training wheels off than it did for Caden to figure out how to ride without them.  Don't worry, mom, I put his helmet on him right after I took this video.

Family Date Night

We thought it would be fun to have a family outing in lieu of our regular date night, so we loaded up the kids and went to the motocross races out at Rocky Mountain Raceway.  Ryan found us a fantastic spot to sit up on a hill right next to the finish line.  The kids loved the first race.  Then Eric started having an asthma attack.  We tried everything we could think of from having him breathe through his shirt, to trying to get upwind of the dust and exhaust, but in the end decided I should just take the younger two boys home to get Eric some medicine and Ryan would stay with Caden.  As I was leaving with Eric the kids were starting their race and Caden was fascinated by the idea that someone close to his age would get to ride a motorcycle. 

I didn't make it out of the parking lot before Ryan was calling me to say Caden was sick.  So I went back to get them.  By the time we got to my parents house to pick up Ryan's car Caden had vomited all over himself and his carseat (but not in the hat we had told him to use, yes, finding ourselves lacking a bowl we encouraged our child to take the hat off his head and try to catch the vomit in that).  So I stayed in Murray to clean the mess up and ride out the reaction with Caden while Ryan took the younger two home to give Eric a breathing treatment and put Kyle in bed. 

This family outing gets mixed reviews.  Its a fail since we spent basically no time together as a family and I wasn't prepared with the medicine Eric needed.  But the kids loved every second of the races they saw, and it was such a fun atmosphere I think we just may be crazy enough to try another event at Rocky Mountain Raceway.

This is the Place

We had our annual trip to This is the Place state park on free day.  This year we were joined by some friends and Grandma and Grandpa Dodds.  The kids loved the small train, the big train, the boat, panning for gold, the petting zoo area, the blacksmith, and playing the pioneer games (which Caden was naturally good at).  We didn't make it inside any buildings this year, but I'm hoping we'll get more of the pioneer experience one of these years. 

98... 99... 100!

This morning Caden learned to count to 100.  He is so thrilled with himself.  He proclaimed, "I love to learn!  I want to do it every day!"  He really wanted to learn to count to 182, but lost interest at about 150.  I've thought for a while that he could figure out the pattern to get from 20 to 100 if I just sat down with him and taught him, and this morning presented the perfect opportunity.  Its little moments like these that make motherhood so meaningful.