Back to School

The boys headed back to school the 8th of August. When we first moved here I wondered why on earth do these desert people go back to school in the middle of summer. I have to admit after three summers here I am one of those desert people who relish the thought of the kids being back in school. What on earth are you going to do with your kids for another month of insane heat???? Two months is ok, three not so much!

Matthew started Kindergarten and loves feeling like he is one of the big kids now. He had to wear the same thing as Brandon on the first day. If the kids wear shorts they have to wear uniform shorts and shirts, if they wear pants they can wear what they want. Neither one has any sort of desire to wear pants, I honestly don't blame them.

They have been a bit tired at night- getting used to being gone most of the day. Kindergarten is still half day here, in some of the public schools they have the option of doing a full day. I'm not a proponent of all day kindergarten- I may be in a small minority on this point. So I am glad Matthew is only going in the morning.

Andrew has been slightly disappointed that he hasn't been able to go to school. He will be starting a preschool after Labor Day which a lady in our church does in her home. Matthew went to Miss Angie's and we think the world of her. So Andrew is very much looking forward to going. When we went to get the other two folders for school he was insistant that he needed one for his school too.

New York

We spent two fun weeks out in NY the end of July. The whole family was able to be there for a few days all together. We really had a fun time being together again. The last time we were together was March 06. Dad's 60th birthday is the end of Aug, since I wouldn't be able to fly back at that time, we moved the celebration up one month, so we could all be there.

Brian came home after the first week and the boys and I stayed for another. We spent our days playing either at the Atlantic Ocean side of Long Island- where the boys love the big waves, or the Long Island Sound ( north shore, 10 min from my parents house). On our last day we had hit the jackpot with some inflatable rafts and nets to catch crabs in. When the tide is out you can walk quite a distance out from the beach with the water being close to a foot deep. We caught some hermit crabs, sand crabs, and one large crab about a foot wide. It was a great break from the heat at home!

Brandon's 8th Birthday

(New York)

Do you remember having that one favorite outfit when you were younger... you wore it everyday... you wanted to sleep in it... your mom could barely pry it off you to get it in the wash... Brandon has now acqiured one such outfit from his birthday- Jen and Cam got him a pair of orange shorts ( I don't even know if they meant for it to go with the jersey) and we got him a Steve Nash jersery. He really got into basketball this past year.

(AZ)

We celebrated Brandon's birthday before we left for NY with a few friends and then again on the real day in NY. He wanted a chocolate party- everything had to be about chocolate. The boys made chocolates- we had some very creative masterpieces filled with sprinkles, swirls of different colors, m &m's etc... chocolate milk, chocolate cake, all prizes from games had to be chocolate... we had a lot of fun and I'll admit we enjoyed eating all the concoctions over the next few days.

The best birthday present

The few days we were home between trips were filled with Dr. appt's and birthdays. During my routine Dr. appt, the doctor referred me to a maternal/fetal specialist to do an additional ultrasound because the MRI in June had been inconclusive to whether the placenta previa and turned into placenta accreta. This new ultrasound showed no evidence of accreta and no placenta previa!! Generally with patients who have had prior C-sections, placenta previa doesn't go away, so they were suprised. What a great relief and blessing. It had been a long three months of not doing anything. Now I feel like we can handle the last two months and I feel like I have my life back.

Teuscher Reunion

Please excuse the complete random nature of these pictures.. I have had a dickens of a time trying to get them to load and be in the right order ( anyone who feels proficient I would love some pointers!) I finally gave up and figured you could generally figure out what the pictures were of......

Over the past few years there have always been reasons to get the Teuscher family together, with Eric and Emily's wedding two years ago those events ended. With everyone scattered across the country getting everyone together is a bit difficult--- so the first " Teuscher reunion" was held this July in Bear Lake, ID. We all had a wonderful time- and thuroughly enjoyed the lake. The boys liked the jet ski's and the hobie cat (catamaran). Brian tried his hand at wake boarding, and we even convinced Brandon to give it a shot. There were plenty of cousins to play with so there was never a dull moment. Matthew really enjoyed riding the hobie with Brian- there is something about the breeze and the feeling of floating on the water.

On our way up to Bear Lake we stopped in Provo for a night. We hiked the Y with the boys- we did make it to the top, the incline was a litttle steeper than we remembered it. Matthew charged up the trail, we were amazed at his stamina. The Utah valley has grown so much since we were last there.

Our trip home we stopped at Zions for a day. Neither Brian or I had ever been there. We hiked the end of the Narrows trail ( where you hike through the water) The boys thought the water part was great( so did we), but the mile on the paved path took a little more prodding. It was a HOT day, so the water felt extremely refreshing- this was a great summer hike. Some sweet lady gave me her walking stick, which made all the difference- my balance isn't quite at peak performance now!

Summer's Here!

Our typical July weather came in with a bang this last week, a few weeks early. 110 degrees+! We have season passes to the water parks and even with applying the sunscreen to the kids every two hours, they all came home with red cheeks and sunburned eyes this week. The sun is SO hot. The pool water already feels like bath water when you get in ( which is more typical to find towards the middle of July). It is supposed to be 105 by 10am this morning. We are just grateful our A/C works!

I think Andrew realizes it is better to be IN the water than OUT now. The past month when we have been at the pool he prefers to stand on the stairs filling and emptying buckets of water. The last two days he has glued himself to a little ring and has been jumping off the sides, kicking out in the deep end with the rest of us, and really enjoying swimming.

Happy Fathers Day

We woke up to ants in the kitchen and ended the day with a clogged kitchen sink- Happy Father's Day Brian! (He was a good sport throughout the day, and even grilled the flank steak)

Colorado Trip

We spent a long weekend in Denver with our friends the MacDougalls. Saturday we drove down to Garden of the Gods, in Colorado Springs. Garden of the Gods is an area in the foothills of Pikes Peak with towering red sandstone rock formations. We found a short hike to take the kids on and enjoyed lunch on the rocks. The views of Pikes Peak and the surrounding foothills were magnificent. We soaked up the cooler weather and enjoyed being outdoors for longer than the quick run from the car to our various errand stops.

The kids enjoyed playing with Isabelle and Grady- they kept themselves happily occupied for four days. Tom's tubs of Legos made the boys eyes widden like saucers. Isabelle coundn't understand how and why the boys could wake up and start playing with Lego's first thing in the morning.

We spent one day at the Denver Children's Museum- much to our suprise we spent most of the day there. Brandon's favorite area was the "Home Depot"/Inventor area. Tubs with peices of wood, various sized lids, plastic bottles, pipe cleaners and other building materials were available to the kids to build with. Each work area came equipped with a saw, screwdriver, pliers, etc... and the kids could use their imagination to build. Matthew and Andrew really enjoyed the grocery store/restaurant. Miniature shopping carts, rows of canned goods and plastic produce complete with a check out register kept them happily occupied.

The rain was drizzling when we got in the car, by the time we were home it was coming down strong. They wanted to go play in the rain- so we said sure- it's not often my kids get to enjoy playing in the rain. Andrew loved standing in the gutter and having the water hit up to his knees. They were happily soaked and wanted hot chocolate to warm up when they came inside. I loved seeing their excited faces as they played. It was one of those priceless childhood moments- there were no cares in the world and they were truely having fun.

Camping Trip

We headed to the mountains the afternoon of Brandon's last day of school. It is so nice to breathe fresh cool air. Our friends went up the weekend before and staked a tent out in a wonderful open area surrounded by hundreds of tall pines, so we had a great place to spend a few days. The boys were a great help loading and unloading the car and helping to set up camp. They are really learning to pick the slack when asked, knowing I can't help with much now. Brandon has been especially sensitive to help when asked.

The kids enjoyed running, running, running, finding huge sticks, pine cones etc... They were so content to be outside without dripping from sweat, or feeling like they had heat exhaustion! Roasting marshmallows has become a huge hit of Andrew's- he gets them nice and warm and then eats them right off the stick. I don't even want to know how many he had in his stomach when he went to bed, but they were all over his clothes, face, hands etc... but he was in a state of pure bliss. And Matthew loved to get his on fire!

We upgraded the boys sleeping bags- so when we woke up to temps in the 30's- everyone was toasty warm. Especially me in my mummy bag- me, belly and Andrew. Andrew couldn't stay warm, so around 5am needed to snuggle. I kept telling myself at least it wasn't midnight when it happened! The kids had fun shooting BB guns and arrows in the morning. I love watching Andrew put his face down to line up his shots- he basically lays his head down on the barrel of the gun. We got home Saturday evening to a handful of calls on the answering machine from various Primary Teachers saying they wouldn't be there on Sunday and they didn't have a sub.... we should have stayed camping!

Preschool Program

Matthew's preschool class gave the parents a fun program on the last day of school. His teacher, Miss Angie, got the class 2/3 of the way through the year after his first teacher got a full time teaching position. She has done wonders with the kids in three months. The kids gave us a run down of their typical day- all in rhyming prose, sang a few songs and then were delighted when it was time to have refreshments! Apparently the children were supposed to wear their nicest outfit ( I didn't realize this) and was wondering why Matthew was dressed from head to toe in camo, including the flip flops! I really don't care what they wear, except it needs to be clean and I don't have to dress them. I asked him about his clothing later- and he replied that he thought that by matching his shirt and shorts exactly- that would be his best outfit. Matthew is excited and ready for kindergarten- the summer can not go by fast enough for him. The rest of us are fine to let it go by leisurely.