Autumn - the years last lovliest smile

It has been really difficult keeping up with the blog lately. The computer is set up in my crafting/office room which also happens to be Evelyn's room. She has a crib set up to supposedly share a room with Breahna but with her waking so often at night it's easier to keep her close to us. She has never slept in her crib. The easiest time to blog is when a baby is sleeping. But it's difficult to use the computer when baby is sleeping next to it. It's quite the pickle.
We got back from Utah just in time for Kaleb to start school.

 He loves watching all the airplanes that fly over our house:

 Ready or not here I come 1st grade!

He looked so little getting on the bus with the big kids:
He rides the bus to and from school which is only a mile away (I'm so grateful for buses!)

Kaleb had a rough first day. He came home very upset, ran into my arms crying. Somehow he lost his backpack right off the bat. I think that's what triggered the whole day to be no good. Plus I'm sure a full 6 1/2 hours of school was a lot for him to handle. But, the next day he (well, his teacher) found his backpack. He came home happy. He's been pretty happy ever since.
September 2nd was a busy day. Not only did Kaleb start school but it was also Alexander's 5th birthday. He can't start kindergarten this year because the cut off is September 1st - yes, he missed the cut off by one day!
It was a quiet day for Alexander. He got to choose a special birthday dinner though. He excitedly shouted about a local pancake house he wanted to go to. Sadly, when we got there, they happened to be closed just that one day. He settled for a favorite pizzeria. We all got excited about the other place, so although we love this pizza place we were all a little disappointed.

 Alexander got his present from us. I saw this at a garage sale months ago and have been hiding it ever since. I was so excited to give it to him.
What's in the giant box?

 A Star Wars battleship! (I was ecstatic about my $15 find on a brand new $80 toy)

 there happened to be a guy there making balloon animals ... the kids were all excited about this:

We come to this place so often that certain servers know us and our menu choices before we even say anything. We get "our" table and they put in an order for cheese bread, 3 chocolate milks, a family size peperoni, and a medium peperoni, mushroom and green olive pizza.

 Alexander also got a special free birthday chocolate syrup desert crepe
The next day we spent hours exploring all the cool things his new spaceship could do.

 He got a card from grandma Scofield. He rips open the envelope, sees this card and shouts,
"grandma is getting me a dog!"
Nope buddy, sorry, it's just a birthday card.
(they are all excited to move because they know our next place we will for sure get a dog)

Happy Birthday! We sure do love you. He still loves Star Wars, guns, archery and pretty much any weapons. It doesn't matter if it's a round cracker, he declares it's a pistol. He is usually a very happy boy and likes to make sure no one is sad. He loves taking care of his sisters and especially making them laugh. He is very social and easily makes friends wherever he goes. Which is sometimes not good because he will talk to any stranger that looks his way. You can't walk by without him trying to tell you a long winded story. He loves playing computer games, I think because of the social interaction. This boy cannot play alone, he wants constant entertainment.
He's standing next to me now so I'll ask him a few questions:
Favorite color? Red, blue, and green
Favorite food? chocolate sandwich (Nutella)
Favorite movie? Star Wars
Favorite animal? A bear named Bernie!
Favorite toy? A lightsaber!
What do you like most about school? I like playing in the tool area (they have construction tools this week)
Favorite TV show? Team OomieZoomie! Well, and PBS Kids
Favorite Candy? Suckers
What's your favorite number? 5! I'm the oldest kid in the whole wide world! ...and he's still talking... and I love baby Evelyn and I love my numbers ... and still talking ...

...Breahna, where's your pants? ...
        ...puppy is wearing them! (and puppy had a diaper on too)

 We went for a drive one Sunday to see the leaves changing colors

And then it was Alexander's turn to start school. This is his 4th year of preschool, 2nd in the same program. He is with mostly 3 year olds and looks so big in class among all of them.

We asked him if he still wanted to go to school this year since he knew everything already.

"yeah, I really like school and I can be a big helper to all the kids"

 and before I knew it, it was just me and the girls home by ourselves in the morning:

The weather was still really pleasant outside so we enjoyed it as much as we could:

I would send Kaleb out back to play in our fully fenced yard and before I knew it, I would see him out front. How can he open the gate? How was he getting to the front?

Then one day, I figured it out: 

 And then this little girl was suddenly 7 months old...

she has a toothless grin and a happy personality.  She still managed to get around the house even though it was just by pulling and scooting herself ...

 ... but she was doing pushups so I knew in know time at all we would have a cruiser to chase after.

 I love having a backyard for the kids to play in!
We are working really hard to get the grass to be more grass and less poky weeds. It's better already but has a long way to go. Several places need to be completely reseeded.

Breahna is as 2 as she can be. She whines about every little thing and wants to be independent. She loves to try and dress herself; these are Evelyn's pants.

but we sure do love her and her funny personality. Whenever we are driving in the car and we come to a red light she says, "oooh" in the most disappointed voice, but when we make it through a green light she pumps her fist in the air and shouts, "yes!"
She's really good with knowing her colors and she counts;
"1 ... 3... 5"
Uh, you missed a couple numbers "1...3...5...17...19... 20!"

So, life goes on, one day at a time. We are now full swing into a school routine. We still love  our neighborhood and all our awesome neighbors. And we have a really great ward family.