THEY HAVE MY TOES!!

I found it....the ONE thing my kids inherited from me! Poor things....they have my toes. My pinky toes, specifically. I always thought my toes were normal until Rob pointed out that the bottom of my pinky toes come to a point instead of being flat or rounded. Courtney and Alyssa (my sisters) have them too, so it must be a LaDuke thing. I'm not sure about the others' toes. Some of the chub is melting off of Bella's feet, and lucky for her, I think she has my feet too. Those beautiful, flat, wide, all-the-same-length toes, Fred Flinstone feet!!

MO! MO! MO!

Up until two weeks ago, Bella never said the word "no." Usually, that is one of the first words a kid says because it is so easy to say (and probably because they hear it A LOT!) Bella had tons of other words and two and three word combinations. Well, she would always just say "yes" or "yeah" to everything and we actually said to each other, "Maybe she'll just be so happy and she won't say 'no' for a LONG time and she'll just be agreeable to everything." We knew better....we really did. But we really enjoyed living in the fantasy world for a while. And then it came....except we weren't entirely sure at first. She kept saying, "Mo! Mo! MO!" We figured out she meant "no". Now, she has corrected herself to saying, "No...NO...n-n-n-n-n-NO!" Too bad. It was good while it lasted!

RESCUER

Gage has an imaginary friend named, Rescuer. I have no idea how he came up with that name and when I ask him where he heard it he said, from his friend, Rescuer. In Gage's words: "Rescuer has only one sister, (whose name changes all the time). Rescuer lives in Snowflake normally, but he is in India right now. His sister is with him too. He has short yellow hair, he's four years old, the same height as me and he is a really great kid." To be continued......

Gage knows that there are certain words or phrases that he is not allowed to say so to get around them sometimes when he REALLY wants to say them, he'll just use a word that rhymes with it. For example, "That bufid (stupid) car won't work." Or, "He struck me with his sword and now I'm fled (dead)." He asked me if he could say, "What the heck?" and I said I didn't really like that so he says, "Ok, can I say fut fa neck instead?" Rob told him to just say, "What's the deal?" When I tell him it's time for bed, sometimes he'll say, "No, no, don't say bed....say it's time for med." Somehow he can swallow going to bed better if I don't actually call it "bed".

We ate dinner at Joe's Crabshack over in Tempe (right by our old house) with Alyssa and Trevor last night and we took the kids. We had so much fun. Gage was fascinated at Daddy's and Uncle Trevor's crab legs, but neither Gage nor Bella liked the meat. The waiters dance and sing and the kids REALLY liked that. We drove by our old house just to check it out and we marveled at how much the neighborhood had changed. Or maybe just our perspective changed? I'm not sure. We asked Gage if he remembered that house at all (knowing he wouldn't be able to remember it as he was 15 months old when we moved) and he said yes and started making up what it looked like. Such an imagination. We remembered his army crawl that he did, instead of a proper crawl, on our wood laminate flooring. We talked about the first and last time Gage climbed out of his crib and fell hard on the floor. It is a tri-level house and Rob and I were both downstairs while Gage was napping upstairs. We heard a loud THUD, followed by crying and we shot upstairs. Rob had a headstart but I jumped all six stairs (on the downstairs steps) and took two big jumps over nine stairs (on the upstairs steps) and left him in the dust. You can't stop a mama bear when her baby is in danger!! Mostly, we decided we are so grateful we moved to Gilbert and wished we had done so earlier.

The picture above is of Gage and Bella in their tent. They LOVE this tent and play in it all the time. The other one, Rob is being a goofball (that's not his actual smile).

GAGE'S FIRST DAY OF PRESCHOOL

Gage started preschool on Tuesday, September 3rd, at Kerri Robinson's house. He goes on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:00 to 11:30. He LOVES it and is already doing such fun things. For me, the best part is he is learning good manners, respecting his teacher and others, how to talk at an appropriate decibel (inside voice, whisper, etc.) - things like that. The worst part is that he isn't home. We miss him, Bella especially as she asks for him all day, and on days like today where he played with his friend and classmate, Reese, after school all day we really missed him. He came home and I had so many questions about his day and was so happy to see him. He just responded, "I don't remember" and "I'm really tired".

LABOR DAY WEEKEND

We had a great weekend with lots of activities. Friday night, Rob and I met our friends, Chris and Erna Ray, at the Tempe Improv to see Frank Caliendo. He was soooo funny and his whole act was clean. We went for ice cream after and had a fun time talking. Chris and I have known each other since before kindergarten and we grew up together. He married a really cool chic (fun, spiritual, hip) who lets him be himself. We have a lot of fun with them and wished they lived closer. We only get together about once every three months.

We got up early Saturday morning to go to Tucson to see the Tucson LaDukes. Addie invited everyone to come down to the waterpark and food after. Trevor and Alyssa rode down with us and we met Addie, Callie, Avery and Aaron at the waterpark. It was a blast and perfect for our little ones. Addie outdid herself on the food back at their new house (which is awesome). Cameron had to stay home studying, so we got to visit with him, and Courtney and Jim came over too. The kids all played while we chowed down. One of these days I'll figure out how to caption the pictures I post instead of just clumping them all in at the beginning. We had to leave Tucson early to go to the reception of Aubrey Brooksby (the niece of one of my oldest and dearest friends, which makes me feel REALLY old) out in Peoria. We talked Aaron into going with us too. Everyone was tired on our ride home, but especially Bella. She was snacking on pretzels and I turned around to check on all of them and she had her eyes closed and was still reaching into the bag and putting pretzels in her mouth while she's almost asleep. Only Bella...

Our main reason for going was to see my dear friend, Kathleen Ashton, who flew in from Alaska to attend. It was like a Phoenix West Stake reunion! We saw so many old friends, not to mention the entire Ashton clan. We also got to hang out with Chris and Erna again and our kids played and had so much fun together. I WISH I had taken my camera! But it was so dang hot in there and we all know I'm a sweater. Nothing better than seeing people you haven't seen in a long time and you have sweat all over your face and your hair is wet! But Kathleen said she was hot too....or maybe she's just a really good friend.

Monday, we went over to the Frosts to film our movie for Ward Movie Night. It was pretty funny and the kids got to swim. Bella has a new best friend - Amy Johansson - because she took her swimming.

Some funny things about the kids while I'm thinking of them:

Gage:

I took him and Paisley to the pediatrician for their wellness checkups. Bella tagged along. This was a nightmare. I got their early (by mistake) and ended up having to wait for 30 minutes past my appointment time (a total of 45 minutes) to be taken back. But not before I HAD to use their bathroom where I clogged and almost overflowed their toilet while I frantically looked for a plunger. I'm sure the office ladies, sitting right outside the bathroom door, were wondering WHAT was going on. Then I had to wait in the room for another 20 minutes for the doctor. Bella for sure had had it and Paisley was getting there. She was mostly tired and a little hungry. Gage and Paisley each had to get 4 shots!! Poor things. Paisley cried a little but recovered quickly. Gage....not so much. That kid screamed bloody murder. It was drama at full throttle. When I think of it now, it makes me chuckle, but at the time it was mortifying. So, Gage is still crying, Paisley is crying more loudly, and Bella is working on a little present for me in her diaper. So, I have to change her as quickly as possible, before they send in the paramedics for Gage's wounds, and she starts crying because she doesn't want me to change her. I can only laugh about it now....

Gage is 43 1/2" tall and he weighs 45lbs (95th percentile for both).

Paisley is 25" tall (75th percentile) and weighs 16lbs 14oz (you guessed it....95th percentile)

Bella:

Even in the middle of crying with tears streaming down, she says, "Bus...Bus" which means she wants you to sing Wheels on the Bus. (She has a lisp - wonder where she got that? - which is so darn cute).

Everytime she says "bye" to someone she follows it with "see ya".

Paisley:

I discovered today that she LOVES Pat-A-Cake, especially the "roll it" part. She laughed out loud. That was fun.

HAPPY 80TH BIRTHDAY, GRANDPA POWERS!

We had a surprise birthday party for Grandpa Powers' 80th Birthday here at our house on August 23rd (his actual birthday). We had a GREAT turnout with the whole family, cousins and friends. He thought he was just coming over to our house for dinner, so he was truly surprised. He was so touched and happy that everyone was there for him. We had delicious food from Joe's BBQ and an even more delicious chocolaty chocolate cake ever!! Grandpa Powers is an amazing man who has lived a very full life. Every time I go visit him, he'll tell me more stories of when he was a child, then teenager and all the way up until now. I am amazed at his memories of specific events and their details. I need to record him the next time for posterity. He tells me often that he is doing better with Una gone. He still misses her terribly and life hasn't turned out how he thought (he always expected to go first, being 6 1/2 years her senior). When Grandma was still with us, he used to say he wished he could live until Gage was 18 and he really planned on it. That would make him 94! I think now he has changed his mind. He was so worried when Grandma passd that he let her down in some way, but we all reassured him that she couldn't have asked for a better husband. I am so grateful to him for the example he set for his children on how to treat a woman, wife, and mother. He worshipped her and his whole life was dedicated to making her happy. He was such an example of selflessness and true, unconditional love. I have so much respect and love for him. He is adored by Gage and Bella and he likes them a little too!

PORTRAITS

We just had the kids pictures done. It's pretty much impossible to get all three of them smiling and looking at the camera at once. We tried to have Gage's individual pictures done without his glasses, but his eye was crossing badly. Everytime we tell him to use both eyes, he tilts his head to the side and has this goofy look on his face, but it doesn't help his eye. Poor kid....

Here are some of them.....