BACK TO PRESCHOOL!

Gage went back to preschool on Tuesday, September 8th. He was so excited and kept shouting, "First day of school!! First day of school!!". He said he made lots of friends, earned funny money (which they use to buy treasures at the end of the month), and tickled the girls. I told him he probably shouldn't do that and he couldn't understand why. He said it made them laugh. Hmmm....I tried not to make too much of it.....yet!

IT'S RAINING!!

We have been getting some nice rain lately. At the first sign of rain, Gage and Bella raced upstairs to get their rain boots. (Why we even have rain boots, I'm not sure.)

Bella is so fashion-forward. She is always playing dress-up and puts together these crazy outfits. She is usually either in her underwear or in some new dress-up outfit.

Gage is so loving to his sisters (sometimes). He pulled Bella into his lap and starting singing her a lullaby.

Paisley is already a little jokester. She is always coming over to me and blowing raspberries on my leg or my tummy and then laughs. I always cringe for fear that she'll bite me - but she hasn't yet. She will get my attention and then walk around with her eyes closed, which of course makes her fall. And then she just giggles and does it again. I love when I sit in the rocking chair with her. She immediately nuzzles into me, whether she's tired or not.

Some noteable things:

*Gage just gave his first talk in Primary on "The Prophets Teach Me To Strengthen My Family". We printed off some pictures and laminated them and Gage memorized his talk in just a few minutes. He has a really good memory. He would practice it and every time he got to the part where he said, "My favorite song is Follow the Prophet", he'd stop and ask me if the kids were going to laugh at him when he said that. I assured him they wouldn't. He did a great job and was so proud of himself. He told me that as he was sitting up at the front awaiting his turn, he was getting nervous. So he said a little prayer to ask for help and felt much better. He gave his talk just as he did at home, no nerves, and smiling the whole time. The chorister invited him up to lead everyone in "Follow the Prophet" afterwards. He loved it!

*Gage asked how can Aunt Courtney and I be sisters? We don’t live together and we’re grown-ups?

*Gage got on the phone yesterday to call his imaginary friend, Rescuer. As it turns out, Rescuer wants Gage to go on a date with one of his girlfriends, and wonders which one Gage wants.Gage paces the floor (as he always does when he’s on the phone), and can’t decide if it’s going to be Carlee, Eliza, or Allison, or maybe McKenna. He decides that Eliza and McKenna are too young, and it must be one of the older girls. I decided that I need to have a talk with Rescuer the next time he calls to inform him that Gage will not be going on a date until he is 27.

*Bella points to people and characters on TV or in real life that are appealing to her and yells excitedly, "That's me! That's me!"

When Bella gets excited about doing something fun she shouts, "I can’t believe it!!"

GREAT ADVENTURES

We got this great World Map at Costco, thanks to some friends of mine who told me about this awesome find. I hung it in the hallway at the top of the stairs, which is just at the kids' eye-level. They are always looking at it and asking questions. I decided that each week we would pick a place and learn as much as we can about it. Our first stop was India, of course. We got some books from the library and had so much fun reading about it and looking at all the pictures. It was neat to actually see some of the places and things that my parents have described. Gage kept saying, "Grandma and Papa did that! Grandma and Papa went there!" It was fun. I can't wait to see where our next adventure is!

PRAYER ROCKS

I had a prayer rock when I was little and decided to make some use of Gage's rock collection. We picked out two rocks and had fun painting them and putting stickers on them. I told Gage and Bella about my prayer rock when I was a little girl and they couldn't wait for the paint to dry so they could use them. I explained that they were to put the rocks under their pillows to remind them to say their prayers before going to bed. Then they place the rocks on the ground so when they wake in the morning and step on them, it reminds them to say their morning prayers. We have been doing this for about three weeks and it works! They are so proud of their rocks.