Luke and Leia

We did finally end up getting some costume pics of the babes.  (These are for you, Lisa!)  We decided to go with Luke and Leia 1) because we may only be able to choose their costumes for another year or two and 2) Sam has some good Luke hair going on this fall.  

Sportin' the do

Are we supposed to be excited about this?

What *is* Aunt Katie doing?

You have one too?  That's awesome

Ruthie's saber-phone

Fall

Jeremy and I have decided the weather here is as consistently gorgeous as Des Moines' weather was terrible.  We've had a lovely, looooong fall.  The temperatures are just starting to dip into the 30's at night, but we're still in the high 60's by afternoon.  The winds are often strong in the valley, so we get great clouds and some breathtaking sunsets.  

These were taken at the Las Vegas temple, across the valley from us.  Never a more stark contrast between Zion and Babylon - the temple site overlooks the strip.  

James is enrolled in a neighborhood preschool with his cute little cousin Ella.  I love to listen and watch them play together.  The other day, I overheard this:

James:  "Ella, yo my bes fwend"

Ella: "You're my best friend too!"

J:  "I love you Ella"

E: "I love you too!"

J:  "I gone mawy you"

E:  "I'm going to marry you too!"

Then they gave each other hugs.  They're exactly the same age and I'm so glad they're buddies!  We'll address the cousin - marriage issue later :)

We went trick or treating with cousins in grandma and grandpa's neighborhood.  The babes were Luke and Leia!  Scotty was a self-invented "Hallween Hero" who saves candy from villains, and James was a Star Wars something-or-other.  

Scotty and James designed and carved their pumpkins with less supervision than ever this year.  Scotty's is second from the left, James' is far right. 

The babies learned some new tricks this fall.  Ruthie often carries things around in her mouth like a puppy.  Here it looks like she's got some mad balloon skillz

 Two things here:  they found a favorite hide-out in the kitchen.  Only problem is all that stuff mom and dad put in it.  Both babies also put their hand up to their ear and say "ohhh?" anytime we say "hi" "hello" (like I did to take the pic).  I know that's a pretty common baby thing, but it never fails to melt me!

Partners in crime

More mischief, and Sammy's first cheeser

And here's Ruthie's typically crazy hair.  She usually manages to keep her clippies in for 2.5 seconds.  Then the rest of the day she looks like this:

 And finally, one of the rare pictures of the babies together, ready for church one Sunday morning.

September babies

The babes are 1!  September 1st was a momentous day.  Everyone told us all we had to survive the first year.  A hazy zombie-like feeling washes over me every time I think about our lives a year ago.  Many days I really didn't think we were going to make it.  Yet here we are.  We've learned so much!  More on that another day.  

Birthday Sam

Birthday Ruth

Jer captured a little twins moment.  Funny thing about this particular tiff:  it didn't end how it usually does...

 Sammy won, and the princess almost ALWAYS wins!  She looks dainty, but this girl can fight!

Cake time! 

Our other September baby turned 7.  Unbelievable.  Our litte baby is a handsome boy.  He asked for a swim party this year, hence the shirtless pics.
Still as delightful as his infant and toddler self, and ever-more helpful, curious, and imaginative.  He designed his cake this year:

...the boys examining one of the new Hero Factory sets - predictably, all Scotty asked for were Legos!

Happy Birthday to our 3 September babies!

Last hurrahs of summer

By August, I was feeling a little guilty for doing absolutely nothing with the boys all summer except let their aunts take them to swim lessons.  So I went Pinterest crazy and we had a week-long camp mom.  We all had a blast!  Here are a few of our favorite activities: 

baking soda - vinegar balloons

                            

 playdough BRAAAAAAINS

 shaving cream paint mural with cousin Henry

 Sumo wrestling

 baking soda - vinegar fizzy painting

 spontaneous GQ photo shoot

 James' "tough guy" pose

 and dino claws

This was all during babies' naps, which they were kindly taking twice a day.

Two things I never want to forget about the babes...  Sammy did this to ALL of his jammies!  Every last pair.  Even before they were too small -- somehow he'd just work his toes out the end.

And Ruthie-lou, every single time we plopped her in the stroller, would immediately fling her legs up over the stroller bar, lounge-style.  

Labor Day weekend we had the super duper experience of going to my freshman year roommate Jodi's wedding.  It was lovely!  And quite romantic -- Jeremy and my anniversary month, attending a the sealing of an amazing couple in "our" temple, Salt Lake.  Congrats again, Jodi and Tom!

Later that day we tried some family photos.  Ha!  Not a single one turned out, but I have to giggle when I see the attempts.  (Yes, these were the best we got!)

Individual shots were more successful.  I do have to give credit for most of these to Jer.  Can't you tell his princess is looking at him?  I wonder sometimes if the kids are so excited to get some individual attention they can't help but perform:

 eyebrows higher!

 puppy Ruthie

puppy Sam

 chubby finger point, elbow dimple

fuzzy shot together, par for the course now that they're mobile:

"I'm pretty hot stuff, you know"

 and goofy

 and proud of my first tooth gap

I'm just plain silly

And finally, the official end to summer.  Scotty started 1st grade!  His face says it all -- he loves it!  It's December already and I still feel like the school day without him is too long, but really school was made for this boy.  I don't know if I ever wrote about this or not, but last year (Kindergarten), he got a stomach bug in the middle of the night one night.  The very first thing he said post-barf, in a sob: "I don't want to miss schoooooool!" So Scotty.