Happy Birthday Laura!

The little baby sister keeps getting older! 

This picture always confuses me because I have to figure out whose left arm is whose. It looks like I'm waving, but it's actually you! 

Braces!

Now that Nathan's bite is fixed, the orthodontist wants to make sure the rest of his teeth come in straight. This past week, they put braces on just his front 2 teeth. They will push his teeth together. Then, when his 2 lateral teeth want to come in, they will have enough room to slide right in. The hopes are that if there is enough space he won't need major braces on all his teeth when he's a teenager. So far, he said they hurt a little the first day and don't hurt a bit now! So much easier than that expander and headgear he had to wear for 6 months! 

Here is the before picture of his teeth. 

He needed a new glasses prescription, and this time, we got him the kind that turns dark outside. 

Fairy Gardens

Papa Ray and Kim came down to make fairy gardens with the kids. Elizabeth was SO excited. Look at her face!

Here she is going through all the fun little things Kim brought to put in the fairy garden. 

The fairy garden was in a wagon. First, Nathan filled it with dirt. 

Then, the kids got to work making it a fairy home! 

They put in the little bridge and used blue beads to make a river going underneath. Kim and Ray had brought lots of plants that they planted. The fairies have chairs to sit in and a little wheelbarrow. 

Here's the final product. 

Elizabeth made another tiny fairy garden with the stuff Nathan didn't want to use in the big fairy garden. 

They have been playing with these little fairy gardens all afternoon! Elizabeth moves the fairies around and makes them talk and play. Things are also getting moved around. 

Sunday Morning Fishing

Nathan's Duathlon

Nathan ran and biked in a duathlon today! 

He was number 208. 

Here's the start! His age group was the 9-12 so he was probably about the youngest kid there since he just turned 9 a month ago.  

Off they go! He's the little one in the blue shirt behind this Captain America kid. 

Here they are from behind. He's in back here. 

They ran one big lap around this field. He's the little one in the blue. He will end up passing the 2 girls in front of him and Captain America. He ran the whole lap and didn't stop 1 time! He really tried hard. I'm thinking the lap was probably somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 a mile? 

After a lap, they jumped on their bikes and pedaled down to the fire station and back. After the race, Nathan said this part was tricky because the road had so many potholes. 

Once they finished the biking portion, they ran the lap around again. Nathan never stopped! He just kept going and passed a few more people. 

Here he came through the finish line. 

All the kids got little medals. 

Drinking his water and smiling. He said he was really proud of how well he did since he never once stopped and he tried really hard. 

The winners were the 12 year olds. That was obvious! They were much bigger and had much bigger bikes. He probably beat around 6 people so that's pretty good. 

He wanted to stand on the podium and sing the National Anthem in front of the huge flag. I coudn't get the flag in the picture!

Elizabeth got up on the podium. He was not too pleased about this. She says that next year she is going to do the race too. They had a 5-8 year old category that just ran one lap and then just rode their bikes a short distance. 

Good job Nathan! He said he had a lot of fun and can't wait to do it again next year. 

Tree Climbing

Today at piano lessons, Elizabeth wanted to show me her tree climbing skills. She also picked up leaves for her fall leaf collection. 

Labor Day Pool Party

We had a pretty laid back Labor Day weekend. Jeremy had to work so the kids and I stayed around town. The weather was beautiful and perfect so they played outside a LOT. It was like 75 and sunny every day. 

On Monday, their swimming teachers had the end of the year "Swim Party." A lot of the other kids were there and there were snow cones! 

The kids and one of their swim teachers Miss Maddie. She is leaving for college in a few days. Good luck Miss Maddie! The kids wanted to take this picture in front of their chicken coop. 

The kids and their other swim teacher Miss Marissa. She is also heading to college with her sister in a few days. Thank you for all your hard work teaching the kids! 

Elizabeth executing a perfect "pencil" dive. 

Nathan jumped into the pool to get the ball from the tennis court. 

Elizabeth spent some time hanging out in the hot tub. 

Here is Nathan playing paddle ball on the tennis court with a few other Dads and some other boys.  He is in the blue swimsuit on the side with the Dads. He thought it was great fun when the ball was hit into the pool. He'd just run and jump in to grab the ball!

The kids got their end of the year certificates. Both kids have passed all the swimming lesson levels and know what there is to know. If we want, they can be done with swimming lessons. The teacher said they will offer another level next year that will focus on endurance swimming where they swim more laps and really focus on their strokes. I'm sure we will do a few weeks of that. They just love swimming!