1st BIG day!

So he is gone as of 15 minutes ago. I had to BEG him for a goodby hug. He was SOOOOOOO excited! Today is Tracen's first day of KINDERGARTEN! So here I sit. The house, believe it or not, is very quiet because my other two boys are still asleep. How lucky is that? Unfortunately that just gives me time to think. How DO I feel about my oldest baby heading off to the BIG SCHOOL? Well, actually, like most moms probably, I have a few mixed emotions about it. Thanks to Tracen, I have never really fretted about him doing new things. Nursery was a breeze. Tracen never cried. He just went happily in every week. Singing lessons, soccer, pre-school... he never looked back and he did so well. Tracen LOVES to learn, is very sociable and will talk to me about everything he is doing. So as he heads off on this new little adventure, I know he will be fine. TERRIFIC actually. BUT, it is such a BIG school, with BIG kids, where they go outside on the BIG playground AND... there is NO FENCE! For some reason that just weirds me out! That is my BIGGEST concern. I don't want to think TOO much about what I think could happen. Maybe the REAL issue is the "loss of control" I feel. I am turning "my control" (what little I have) over to someone else and... well... maybe the whole NO FENCE thing is just too wide open for me. I just have to remind myself that the school is "planning" to put up a fence soon. Like everyone else, I guess I will just have to TRUST Tracen's cute LITTLE (I mean that very literally) kindergarten teacher Mrs. Ewing. She will be GREAT! Tracen will be GREAT! And yes, I will be GREAT! Well, the others are stirring. Time to get backt o reality. Time to "keep control" of the other two inside our FENCED backyard. (OK, I think I am being a bit dramatic- time to losen the "apron string" -eh?)

Mommies = Superheroes?

So I am cleaning up the kitchen after breakfast this morning and the boys, including Tate, (I wish my camera batteries would not have been dead) were playing with trucks and cars on the kitchen floor. I had noticed that they had designated a certain car as the "mommy" and a truck as the "daddy". There were also multiple toys such as spiderman, a ninja turtle, and batman and robin that were playing the part of "the children". As I was wiping down the counter, I over heard Tracen say, "Yes, we will go together to church tomorrow, but today I must go to work and you need to stay home with the children to protect them from the bad guys. See you later. I love you." WOW! They are so observant! Then I suddenly became quite contemplative about my role as a mom. My job really is to stay at home and protect my babies from all the bad guys in this world. What a huge responsibility we have as mothers. Seriously, how can we possibly do this? My friend Paula had posted a little blurp on her blog where she wondered when she would be getting her super powers to help her in this awesome role as mom. I think I left her some comment saying we all will get our superpowers someday. Just like all the great superheroes out there (think Spiderman and Superman)it sometimes takes us a while to figure out what those powers are and how to use them. So I guess, until then, we will have a few moments of glory and a lot of spectacular crashes. Thanks to my crazy boys and my sidekick, no... superhero partner hubby for always believing in me in this super battle of good vs. evil.

No Longer a Lump!

It is finally official. TATE IS MOVING! He is no longer a lump in the middle of the floor! For many, you may not think this is that amazing, but for our family it is HUGE! Tate is the first of our boys to crawl! Tracen and Tyler NEVER did. Instead they both went straight to walking at 8 and 10 months. So we are pretty excited. Here is a little video clip of Tate's first time crawling. Nothing like a little bribery. He has been crawling for about a week now, and so he is now MUCH faster and is pulling himself up to furniture and walking around it. I wouldn't be surprised if by the time I write the next post he is walking across the room. (That could be a while so he has plenty of time.) ENJOY!

Swim, Swim, Swim...

So today was the last day of swimming lessons! Hooray! The boys really enjoyed them but to be honest I am thrilled to have them over. We had them at the Surf-n-Swim in Layton so they could be with their cousins (which none of them ended up in the same class). I am happy with everything they learned, but am even more happy to not have to drive to Layton every day. To practice their new swimming techniques, we have been spending much time at the Roy Aquatic Center. I think it is such a great place. My boys love it and I love that I can see them from almost anywhere there. Here are some cute pictures and a little "Dance Video" from some of our latest outings. Enjoy!
The Jacobs boys and Hatch girls.
Tate and Lexi- CHEESE! Cookie anyone?
Not sure what they are doing...
Just groovin...

Happy 4th of July!

Yes, I am officially 13 days LATE! But, it is because we have had so much fun lately that it has taken me so long to post about it. And... it has taken me almost an entire week to even write this. So here we go.

On the 3rd of July, my family has an awesome tradition! We all go to my parent's house for a BBQ (this year we had Hobo Dinners/tin foil dinners/ whatever you call them--YUM) Then we do fireworks and play games. My parents had created an AWESOME relay race for couples this year. Too bad I did not video tape it. Too funny and very fun. The grand kids also have tons of fun riding around the yard on the mini 4-wheeler. (This I actually have video of.) Then we all set up our air mattresses, sleeping bags and pillows out on the back lawn and settle down for a great movie on the projector screen and sleep over out under the stars! Unfortunately, I did not get any pictures of the set up this year. Then we wake to a scrumptious breakfast and we all head off for our 4th of July celebrations. I think this is such a fun tradition. Thanks Mom and Dad for always hosting.

This year on the 4th Dan and I were feeling a bit LAZY (hence going to sleep around 3am) so we just hung out and visited with my parents and siblings for the first portion of the day. It is always so nice to just sit and visit. We then headed to the OTHER Jacob's family and let the boys play in the pool for the afternoon. That evening we spent with the Kemp family. They are always so kind to let us join them for their festivities and the fireworks were GREAT!

On the 5th, the Kemps had us come up to Pineview for a little water skiing/ wake boarding/ knee boarding etc... I must admit that my body was a bit achy from the slalom skiing I OBVIOUSLY only get to do once a year. Dan, Tracen and Tyler had fun on the knee board. (the boys thought that was pretty fun). Thanks again Kemp family!

So HAPPY 4TH OF JULY! Hope y'all had great ones too.