September Zoo trip with friends

 It is kind of funny that they let you swim in this fountain area around the entrance to the zoo. It looks kind of gross and unsafe but I can smell chlorine so that is good enough for me. It is especially nice in the really hot part of summer because the kids can just wear their swimsuits and it keeps them cool as we walk around. There are also fountains to run through at a different area of the zoo.

Isn't Taylor adorable!! Oh and I got her swimsuit for 37 cents. Crazy huh!

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Catch up & 4 new posts below

It is time to get caught up with my blogging and for some reason I have found it easier to do tons of posts at once and only update once a month. My goal is to do better but be prepared for a lot of catching up the next couple of days. 5 posts today!! Here is a quick update of the Lau family:

Glen: Is busy as always but enjoying work. He now is working at the VA which is pretty crazy because they wayyyy over book their days. It seems like Glen doesn't have time to eat or go to the bathroom because he is seeing so many patients in the clinic on top of consults and getting in on surgeries and such. Glen's big in-service exam is this Saturday; it is really the only test he has each year but if he doesn't get a certain score they won't let him have his third week of vacation for the year. LAME...I know. But when does one study when you work crazy hours? Say a little prayer for him on Saturday morning!! Glen teaches the 12 year old Sunday School class at church and enjoys that.

Me: I seem to be consumed with my way too long to do list and all the other activities the kids and I have going on. I did finish my Christmas shopping weeks ago which feels so great! I teach our little co-op preschool the end of November and am also trying to plan Matthew's birthday party. Really, all I think about these days is meeting our sweet little boy who I am sure will not be super little....or at least it feels like it. 20 more days and Marty will be here. Glen's Mom is coming the first week of December and my parents come the next week. I am very grateful for all of the help! I feel so blessed this pregnancy has really been great for the most part. I was so worried before getting pregnant about all my health issues. At this stage of course I am not super comfortable but really I can't complain. I feel pretty good and still exercise at the gym some and things seem to be going smoothly.

Matthew: Is loving school and his friends but still loves coming home to play with his sister. He is enjoying learning to read but mostly talks about his classes like PE, music, and art. He is such a good boy and his teacher is just always telling me how she loves him and how good and sweet he is. She says that regardless of how crazy the kids might be sometimes she can always look at Matthew and know he is listening. He sure is good at muting me out though sometimes :) Somedays it seems him and Taylor only fight but overall they are so happy to see each other. Matthew turns 6 on November 21st and luckily he is off of school that day so it should be fun. Matthew finished soccer a few weeks back and really enjoyed it. He had to get a tooth pulled yesterday because a few months ago he hit his mouth on the wood floor and it slowly died and get infected so the tooth had to go. I am so thankful for Matthew and that he still loves to cuddle with his Mom.

Taylor: Is a firecracker and so very silly and we just love her. She can be a handful but is so fun. It has been fun being at home with just her but I do think she gets bored sometimes and can't wait for Matthew to get home. She loves her twice a week preschool and is really smart. She could do Matthew's homework and read some of his little books he brings home. She loves to sing and dance and pretend and loves her friends. She is very excited for her baby brother to come and has to kiss my belly in public a lot! Her and Matthew both get so excited when their Dad comes home. They get so excited that they can't even contain it. The other week Glen showed up to church right before the kids were going to go up for the primary program and Taylor says DADDY!!! She really doesn't have volume control; she is always loud. She is very affectionate and we love her!

Ram Run

Matthew's school had a fundraiser where the kids were supposed to get pledges for each lap that they ran. We didn't really do the fundraiser (oops...I dislike asking people for money). All the kids ran regardless and all the kindergarten classes went together; I believe there are 5 kindergarten classes. They ran around the parking lot and a lot of us parents stood waiting to put rubberbands around their wrists each time they went around to keep track. Matthew got 17 rubberbands and it was so fun to watch these kids. The ram is the schools mascot and each class has different colored shirts. Matthew had so much fun and was so proud of his rubberbands!

Bartlett Festival

Our town has a festival every fall and we went this year for the first time. Glen had the weekend off and we first went to Matthew's soccer game. The festival was a lot of fun and the kids loved the petting zoo, bounce houses, looking at old cars, listening to a band play, watching cloggers, and eating a funnel cake. I love when we can find something free and fun to do.

Of course Taylor was a fan of the pink fire truck!

Matthew breaking a board with a little karate action

Patterson Fall Fest- October

 One of the Doctors that Glen works with has a fall party every year that is very family oriented compared to the other parties that the program has. The weather was in the 80's just a few days before but it got cold and rainy real quick. They were going to have pony rides, hay rides, and a petting zoo at their home but it rained to much. We still had a nice dinner and the rain calmed down a little so Matthew and Glen could go fishing. Dr. Patterson has a huge property and stocks his own pond with fish although we were unsuccessful in catching any. The night ended with ice cream so the kids were happy!!

Playgroup and kid book club

I do not bring my camera around with me enough but was I did remember it a few times recently. We went to the fire station a few weeks ago and at the end the sirens went off and we were able to see the firemen hurry in the trucks and take off. Perfect timing!! Our group is a lot smaller without all the kids who went to kindergarten this year and some of the older ones who were around in the summertime. I feel so blessed to have such good friends and such a great ward here in Bartlett. I have such talented friends who have filled our weeks with fun things to do. My friend Marie started a kid book club where we do some sort of craft, read books, and eat. After she had a baby we all took turns each month hosting and it has been a lot of fun. My friend Alicia started a Friday Field trip and has the whole year all planned out which makes it so nice. And my friend Lindsay started stART which is story + art. She reads a story and then has so many awesome art projects for the kids to do. Each time the things we have done have been so cool. I am also in an adult book club which I love. Last night we stayed up talking until after 1 AM! It is just so nice to get together with the girls for a few hours without our kids!

Dixon Gardens

Kid book club in October. The kids didn't have school this day so it was a big group.

Taylor turns 4

Taylor turned 4 on September 26th. I was telling Glen that in a way it does seem that long ago that she was born because it feels like she has been with us forever. I am not sure what we would do without her. Taylor is definately lively, a non stop talker, funny, and sweet. She sure loves pink and all things girly but really keeps up with her brother and the boys and enjoys playing whatever they are playing. I usually steer away from too much pink but Taylor had seen this bike and wanted it for a long time. I decided to let her have her pink bike and am happy I did. Thanks to the grandparents for their great gifts; Taylor loved it all!!

Molly dolly was her birthday present when she turned 2 and she now actually plays with her a lot. I am glad the doll gets some use now.

I love these two pictures even though the one is super blurry. We left the bike unwrapped in the living room and when she woke up she was very surprised.

Taylor went to preschool the morning of her birthday and had a fun time. I brought cupcakes for them to have and they sang to her. That evening we had our friends the Haucks over for dinner and cake. It was a fun day and we sure love our Taylor Buggy!!

Progress

 We had a great and very productive weekend. We got a storm on Friday that cooled the 100 degree temps we have been having down to the low 80's and it was fabulous!! We did spend quite a bit of the day on Saturday moving furniture to different rooms in the house. I wasn't expecting us to get that much done. The kids and I did quite a bit on Friday and Saturday we had Glen to help. The upstairs now has a mini office space along with our playroom and so far the kids love it up there and have been playing school. I can't even tell you how fun it was for me to get out the crib again and begin to set up Marty's room. I love looking at the cute bumper pads and quilt and things that my Mom and I made (mostly my Mom). I love it just as much as I did when Matthew was using it all. Now we just need to get a little bookshelf in the room and put some things on the walls. I have a few ideas but if anyone has any great and CHEAP ideas let me know!! The brown curtains were left by our landlords in the house and I would kind of like to switch them with some blue ones we have sitting around but these are really nice and keep out the light so well that I think we will deal with the brown.

Those blue bins are full of Matthew's old clothes and I am going to wait a few months before I sort through them and wash them. But they are there and waiting for their new owner. Almost six years later some of them are not my favorites but I am very grateful I have them and that it works out with the seasons and everything. Matthew and Marty's birthdays will only be around 2 weeks apart so it works out great. The kids art work with the clothespins will be moved upstairs probably. I hope everyone had a great weekend!! Glen and I also were able to go on a date on Saturday which was awesome!

Baby Marty and his room!

Yep, that is right.........our child has a name!! I always like to name our babies early so I can think about them with their name. I also am too indecisive to wait until the hospital so it takes a lot of the stress away for me by doing it early. We are all very excited to meet this little guy in just 3 months; I have a feeling it is going to go by fast! Taylor especially loves baby Marty and is always talking to him, singing to him, and has to kiss and hug him every night before she goes to bed along with Glen and I. She will put blankets on my belly for him so he can be warm and always asks him if he likes whatever it is that I just ate. She is silly and I love her. I am excited to get Marty's room put together but it is going to take some rearranging. I have never been able to have a room for just a baby so it will be fun. It won't be fancy so don't go expecting this amazing nursery. As fun as that would be we don't really have money to be spending on nursery decor. So what is now our office/craft/always a mess room will become the baby's room. Taylor and I started taking everything off the bookshelves this morning; now where are we going to put all of this stuff?? We carried our folding table upstairs and I guess we will try to fit some of it up there. Glen has the weekend off so he can help move all of this stuff around. Our changing table and rocking chair are both upstairs and need to come down so he has a lot of work to do!! It will be a slow process getting it all done but something I have been wanting to start for a long time.

Laughter

 Well school has been going now for about 3 weeks and we are slowly getting into a new routine. Matthew is just loving it and I am so happy for him. The thing I miss the most is hearing laughter from my two sweet kids when they are playing. It is quieter without Matthew although Taylor talks my ear off as she is doing the pretend thing alone these days which is quite funny. I am so happy when Matthew comes home though to hear their little voices talking to each other and laughing hard.....like the deep belly kind. Nothing is better than that!! The other day they put this outfit together for Taylor. I had to go in their room to see what was so funny. I am always saying to Taylor "you crack me up," and she will say back to me, "No..you crack me up" and then we laugh and it is funny :)

I bet she is thinking here "this is just so funny"

Today it started raining on our way home from getting Matthew so when we got home they wanted to get out our umbrellas and ended up making a little house complete with a snack of course. Two hours later they are still out there. I love when the simplest of things and being outdoors can hold kids attention for so long.

He is off!!!!

School started on August 6th here but the Kindergarten kids only went one day that week. Matthew's first day was on August 9th so this will be his first full week of school starting today. He is very excited about school and I am excited for him too although I am also a little sad. I am not sure what Taylor and I will do without him. I really feel the worst for Taylor because she honestly played with Matthew all day; they rarely did anything by themselves. I am sure we will adjust and it will be fun having some time with just Taylor. She started our litttle co-op preschool today and we are doing it twice a week this year so that will be fun for her.
          We walk Matthew to school which is so fun and I feel so lucky that we live close enough to do that. The kids were so cute on Matthew's first day; they didn't seem sad at all but couldn't stop hugging each other. As we walked to school Matthew stopped multiple times to say "I just want to hug you one more time." Matthew's teacher is Mrs. Bowens and she seems so nice and fun! I have heard great things about her from neighbors and other people. We had a parent meeting the next day where we got to talk to the teacher and ask her questions. I only teared up on the walk home after dropping Matthew off although I had bigger tears the night before while talking to Glen after the kids were in bed. I love this boy!!  After school Matthew had so much to tell me. He got a little toy for behaving and I asked if the whole class got one he said that he was the only one. Given they split the kids up over the week so only 6 kids went on Matthew's day. I was very proud of him!! It made me feel so good when he told me that he already has a friend, "his name is Connor and we played police at recess." He is going to do great and have so much fun this year!

I peaked at the kids during the prayer and Taylor was laying on Matthew's lap. Of course I made them stay like that after the prayer so I could take a picture. So sweet!

On our way

Getting all of his supplies out with his teacher Mrs. Bowens