August recap

We're glad to have Dad (Grandpa) out here in Utah right now, and it's been fun to see him a couple times this week.  He even got Great Grandma Sweeny to come down for dinner and Rook last night!  Alexa is confused as to why Grandma is not here with Grandpa, but loves playing with him all the same.  She was also very excited that he came here on an airplane and that we got to pick him up from the airport.

Big news is that Alexa now sleeps in a bunk bed!  And she is the best daughter in the world!!  I was really nervous to take her out of the crib because it helps us maintain control for going to bed on time and taking good naps.  Oh, and because I've heard horror stories from so many parents!  But she is amazing!  We talked to her about staying on her pillow and there's been one morning in the last 6 weeks that she was out of bed after a nap or in the morning--and it was because she was standing at the edge of her bed quietly reading a book.  One time.  I was also really worried that she would fall out in her sleep because she's a spazzy sleeper, but when the bed rail we bought didn't work with the mattress we have, and the pool noodle trick on Pinterest didn't work (delete that pin if you have it -- totally doesn't work!), we just crossed our fingers and went for it.  She does love to play with her blinds, but stays in bed like a champ.

She looks so little in her huge new bed!  Her animals all sleep on top.  I found these polka dot full sheets at DI for $1 and did a sewing experiment to turn them into fitted twin sheets.  It worked!

Kyle was in between semesters for two weeks in August so we had a mini stay-cation from school and it was wonderful!! We went to the splash pad, the county fair, ate lunch together as a family, and were just together more in general...loved it.

holding bunnies at the fair

she was begging us to ride the ponies for days after the fair

That awesome little Alexa girl keeps making us laugh with all of her fun conversations these days.  Here are some I'll share with you.

--Answered her purple phone this week "Hello, I'm with Jenny and Kyle."
--"How was at work?" (she asks me every single day when I get home and it's so stinking cute! And she always calls it "at work."  And runs up to give me a hug when I walk in the door so she can ask me.)
--"Good job drinking, mommy!" (when I got a drink of water this afternoon)
--"You're so strong, dad!" (while he's working out)
--"Oww! Geez! What did you do that for?!" (Today when she ran into Tyler's swing and it came back and hit her in the head. Kyle was dying.)
--"Holy freak!"(repeating Kyle)
--"Good to see you! Have a nice day!" (what she says to everyone when we're leaving, or when someone is leaving our house)
--We've been talking about Jesus while we wait for the sacrament on Sunday, and she just said today, "Jesus loves dogs; and Jesus loves to play with toys; and Jesus made yummy flowers for me; and Jesus made sheep, horsies, and cows for me."  So random and fantastic.

Kyle put her to bed in one of my t-shirts.  Such a cutie

She has started to be so creative and imaginative these past few months--it's fun to listen and watch her go.  She tells stories to her animals and toys and is enthralled to play with them and make up things.  She'll read her favorite books to them word for word because we've read them to her so many times.  I was so impressed the first time she did it!  It's fascinating how kids' imaginations just come naturally.  Here she is being a "cowboy" with her construction hat that needed a pink flower on it :)

She is doing great at praying and has even said a couple of prayers by herself!  She helped her bunny say the Family Home Evening prayer last week and it was adorable.  She folded his stubby little arms and said thank you that we could finish dinner all gone and that we could play.  Then she had to change his diaper because he had a poo poo :).  Bunny and puppy frequently need diaper changes and have to go down for naps.

She has started closing her eyes for prayers and always looks like this :)

She now counts to 20 in English and usually about 7 in Spanish.  We've started watching a Disney movie in Spanish once a week and it's been fun.  We are also trying to use more Spanish vocab at meals and such.  We've also been working on getting her to identify her letters.  She knows the entire ABC song and recognizes some of the letters but is silly about pointing them out when we ask.

She looks like a Sweeny!

first ponytail!

So. Cute.  I love that smile.

Riding shotgun with me this week for two blocks through our neighborhood--she was in Alexa heaven

Alexa is a great big sister and loves to help out around the house by putting her dishes in the sink, putting her laundry away, etc.  I'm not joking when I say we have the best daughter in the world.  Here she is feeding Tyler breakfast (she begged!) while I was exercising.  Granted, I had to hose him down afterwards, but it was totally worth it.

Tyler continues to melt us with his smile and awesome personality.  He's a great baby.  Just turned 7 months old today!  He's really scooting around the room these days--mostly army crawling, but he does get up into crawling position all the time to hang out and rock back and forth.  We have to laugh because he often scoots his way off the carpet and onto the hardwood floor, but because he drools so much he gets stuck on the slippery hardwood and can't keep scooting and cries.  I can't help but crack up that he's trapped in a puddle of his own drool and therefore crying.  It happens frequently and makes me smile every time.

That's not where I left you!!

Beard Boy here has been eating solid food so much better lately.  He's now downing lots of mush at every meal.

He's been sleeping better lately, but he's still banished to the downstairs bathroom for now.  We'll probably move him back in with Alexa soon.  His chosen bedtime is 6:30pm and he sleeps until like 8am (*usually), and then often goes back to sleep until like 10:30 instead of taking a morning nap.  We tried to keep him up later, but by like 6:15 every night he gets cranky and will conk out if I nurse him.  6:30 it is, crazy boy.

We've started trying to go to this big field next to our house on Sundays to let Roxy run around and hang out as a family.  It's been really, really nice to get out of the house and just be together in the beautiful weather.  I love it!

Hi, Tyler.

Tyler has the most adorable little laugh.  I used him as a weight for a tricep exercise a couple weeks ago and he giggled the whole time.  And here's a video of him giggling with Kyle today--

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1kV3A6mEds

Lastly, Kyle and Todd (thank you!) built this entire awning yesterday!  Roofing and all.  I was seriously impressed.  Kyle has been wanting to do this for a while because we have a false drain in the patio that freezes and floods the house in the winter, so he's hoping to discourage that by not having the snow melt down there and freeze over the drain this winter.  They did an awesome job.