Today was Raine’s birthday party with some of her friends. We held it at the newly revamped playground in our neighborhood — the equipment is all new and they just finished the pavilions over the picnic tables, it is really nice. The kids played and ate cupcakes, it was a lot of fun!

“Mmmm, cupcakes!”
In this photo: Raine, Cade Walker, Elyse Staheli, Zade Brown, Alicia Brown, Ashley Walker, Boston Walker, Kaiden Bond, Alysha Bond, William Staheli.

“Cheese!”
In this photo: Raine, Zade, Cade, Elyse.

Admiring the present that Boston and Cade decorated. (Kaiden is in the background.)

Making sidewalk art with Carter, Cade, and Kaiden.

Carter still has his obsession with balloons.

I caught Carter just long enough to get a photo . . . he’s always on the go these days.

Swinging with Elyse.

Discussing life with Zade.

Raine had been waiting for this day for over two months, and it finally arrived with as much fan-fare as we could muster. Daddy took the day off work so we could celebrate. We started the morning with some of the chocolate muffins that Raine took to school to share with her class. We lit the candles, sang happy birthday (twice), and Raine blew them out.

Next, we got ready to head to the zoo. But before we left, Raine got to open one of her presents so she could take it with her.

Yep, her very own bag of Nibs. Daddy received a bag for his birthday and you could see the longing in her face . . . she wanted a bag of her own. So she was thrilled to finally be the proud owner of a large bag of Nibs. She ate them whenever she wanted to eat them and was fantastic at sharing with everyone (a little too fantastic at sharing with Carter in fact).

At the zoo we fed the birds, a favorite activity that Raine has passed on to Carter.

Raine showing me how to stand like a flamingo.

Raine riding the carousel.

Carter collecting acorns.

Raine in front of the giraffes.

I love this photo, it so accurately depicts what happens when you try to take too many photos of your kids. Just look at Raine’s face, priceless.

After the zoo, we opened a couple more presents.

This fur-real pet barks and walks around, and is as close to a real dog as we will ever own. Raine LOVED it and named it Sydney, a name she came up with all on her own.

Raine also received a purse, which she immediately loaded with all of her “necessities.” Raine loves to put stuff in stuff — puzzle pieces in tupperware, blocks in serving bowls, my makeup in her block sorter, etc. Her hoarding is quite extreme at times, so I have no doubt that this purse will remain well filled.

Next we were off to Panera Bread, Raine’s favorite restaurant.

The reason this is Raine’s favorite restaurant is that they have giant M&M cookies (or “nem-n-nem cookies” as she calls them).

Raine ate that whole cookie by herself — a first, and definitely a last. Why a last? Carter, can you show us why cookies should only be eaten in moderation?

Yes, that’s right! (I love the “belly stage” and Carter just entered it. He lifts up his shirt and points to his belly button all the time. I could just eat him up!!)

After dinner, a little sibling hug and kiss (yep, that’s how Carter kisses, it is a very wet, messy affair) . . .

. . . turned into a full-on tickle war.

After a bath, Raine opened the rest of her presents.

She jammed on her new guitar . . .

. . . then read the new books that Grandma gave her and went to bed. It was a fun, fun day!

Each night before bed, we read “Book of Mormon Stories” to Raine. Tonight we were reading “Lehi’s Dream” (as we are every night because Raine always wants to read the same chapter, over and over; it used to be Nephi building the ship, now it is Lehi’s dream, in a week or two it will be something else). As I read, the following conversation took place.

Momma, reading: “Lehi saw many people in his dream. . .”
Raine, interrupting: “No, it’s Nephi’s dream.”
Momma: “Well, this one is Lehi’s, but yeah technically they both saw it.”
Raine, not impressed in the least with technicalities: “No this one is Nephi’s.”
Momma, sensing that I am not going to win this argument but willing to give it one more try: “No it’s Lehi’s dream, see” (pointing to the photo)

“That is Lehi and he is eating the fruit.”

“And there is Nephi here, Lehi wants him to eat the fruit.”
Raine: “No, it’s Nephi’s.”
Momma, having recognized defeat and now trying to change the subject: “See everyone eating the fruit, are you going to eat the fruit?” (Please say yes, please say yes!)
As soon as those words came out of my mouth, I regretted them. All I could think about was Elder Bednar’s talk on how our conversations with our children can indicate spiritual problems, i.e. if she says ‘no’ then the writing is on the wall . . . she will fall away from the straight and narrow before she even enters kindergarten and all will be lost, I will have failed as a parent. It was one of those irrational thoughts that flash through a parent’s mind and even though you don’t actually believe the thought, it is disturbing nonetheless.
Raine: “No, I don’t want to eat the fruit.”
I knew it, good-bye iron rod.
Momma, trying to change her three-year-old mind: “But it’s really yummy; see, all the people are eating it.”
Raine: “I don’t want to eat fruit.”
Momma, pointing out how Nephi was eating it and he was the good guy. Then to reaffirm my point I asked: “Who’s the good guy?”
Raine: “Lemuel.”
Momma: “What!?!” (didn’t see that coming.) “No, Laman and Lemuel are the bad guys, Nephi is the good guy. Remember?”
Raine, finally revealing what was really going on on that three-year-old brain: “Did Laman and Lemuel just need to go potty first? And then they will eat the fruit?”
Momma, having completely given up on this gospel discussion: “I don’t know, do you think they just need to go potty first?”
Raine: “Yes. They will just go over to that building ’cause that’s where the potties are and then they will come back and eat the fruit.”

Momma: “Oh?”
Raine: “Yeah, but that is a big step.” (pointing to the river) “They will have to watch out for that big step.”
Momma, satisfied that we could at least agree on one point: “Yep, they will definitely have to watch out there.”

So there you have it, an alternate interpretation of what Lehi’s dream REALLY meant with regard to Laman and Lemuel.

We have random conversations like this all the time but I am never in a position to record them, so I’m glad that I got this one down. Although, a written rendition doesn’t do it justice because you can’t hear her sweet little voice with its three-year-old New-England accent.

School has FINALLY started again! Raine’s first day was Thursday, September 1. She was so excited! Her teachers are Ms. Lenise and Ms. Lori. Almost all of the kids in her class were in her class last year, including her good friend Karsyn, so it has been fun for her to jump right in.

Raine loves structured activities, so school is a great place for her. This year she is attending two days a week, like she did last year. It is frequent enough that she is comfortable with the routine and people but not so frequent that I feel like I never see her.

Carter is only attending on Tuesday so his first day was the 6th. His teachers are Ms. Rae Jean and Ms. Heather (she was Raine’s teacher for the past two years so we were very excited to find out that Carter will be with her this year).

Carter is a bit of a momma’s boy. He clung on for dear life when I dropped him off and shed a few token tears as she carried him away. But he was done before I even finished signing him in so I knew he would be fine — and he was.

——————————————-
Now a note about Momma: A few months ago I decided to increase my “attorney activities” by taking on more cases and joining some legal associations. I was invited to join the Mahon Inn of Court, which has monthly dinner meetings and other social events. It draws the best and brightest attorneys and judges in the area and provides mentoring and social opportunities. I feel a little out of my league with all the big-firm attorneys but I think I have been holding my own so far. It is a fabulous opportunity for me to meet and learn from the best and I really enjoy it.

These past three weeks have been a perfect storm of events that have kept me beyond busy. These were the biggest time consumers: (1) the placement in one of my cases blew-up so I had several unexpected hearings and had to visit various new placements; (2) a lady from the Ward had her child removed by CPS so I represented her until she was able to obtain a court-appointed attorney; and (3) I was just sustained as the 2nd Counselor in the Primary, my first real Primary calling EVER! I have no idea what I am doing because the only Primary calling that I have ever held was as the assistant secretary for six months in Pittsburgh. I was in charge of the bulletin board — I didn’t even interact with the kids — so leading Sharing Time and actually teaching the kids is a new experience for me. And I will be honest, I’m really not a kid person. I love my own kids and have tons of fun with them, but other people’s kids . . . well, they’re a bit foreign. Needless to say, this will be a huge learning experience for me.

Despite all the craziness, we still managed to take a couple trips to the zoo — on the days that we weren’t breaking the all-time heat record. (Seriously Mother Nature, 107* in mid-September is a bit extreme, don’t you think? Did you miss the memo that it is now autumn, the season of playing outside? Give my poor yard a break!)

This has been a LONG, HOT summer — to say the least. Since the pool closed, we needed something new to keep us occupied. I had seen an ad for this aquarium in Grapevine and decided it was a good time to try it out — we have to make the most of Raine’s last few weeks of being two and getting in for free.

It was a blast! Since this was the first week of school, there was hardly anyone there so the kids could run around and see everything without running into anyone. Our favorite part of the aquarium was the 360* tunnel through the big tank.

Carter had a hard time walking on that glass floor, it was hilarious to watch.

The aquarium had all sorts of bubbles that the kids could climb into and see into the middle of the fish tank. Here is Raine saying ‘hi’ to a stingray.

And one of the tropical fish tanks.

Almost all of the tanks had glass down to within a couple inches of the floor so Carter didn’t need any help to see. He felt like such a big kid running from tank to tank and looking inside.

Raine loved the “petting” area. She had no fear of sticking her hand in there and touching anything the worker brought up . . . including this nasty looking little guy.

Carter wasn’t so sure at first, but after watching Raine touch sea stars, crabs, and who knows what else, he eventually worked up the courage to touch one too.

Raine is such a sweet big sister to Carter.

She helps him out and teaches him whatever she knows.

I’m not saying that she never steals his toys or gets mad at him when he touches her stuff, but at moments like this I know these two are going to grow up to be great friends. And it makes my momma-heart smile!

Raine earned a ticket to the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus for reading more than 25 hours in the library summer reading club, and Saturday was the big performance.

There were a lot of really neat acts. I don’t know what this one was called, but it was fun to watch these guys doing flips on these narrow, springy boards.

The tigers were fun to watch just because they are tigers.

Raine’s favorite part of the show was the elephants. All I heard through the other acts was, “Where are the elephants? When are the elephants coming?” Luckily, the elephants did not disappoint.

I really liked this trampoline act. The costumes made it look like fireworks when a whole bunch of them started jumping at the same time.

Carter was more interested in taking a nap than watching the circus — thank heavens for ear muffs!

After the show, we went back-stage to the animal open house. Raine really liked seeing the elephants one more time.

Carter enjoyed seeing them for the first time!

We celebrated Daddy’s 34th “birs-day” on Friday with a family outing to the water park (of course). I made arrangements for a friend of ours to meet us at the pool and watch the kids while Daddy and I rode the big slides — like the water roller coaster that we had been dying to ride. After that, Daddy belonged to Raine. She took him up and down the “big kid” slides for over an hour. They had so much fun.

After showers and naps, we took him to Panera Bread.

Then home to open presents.

Raine made him some crafts out of foamies — her current favorite activity.

Happy Birthday Daddy! We really love you.

Here is Raine’s rendition of “Happy Birthday!”

Aunt Sarah and Uncle Dallin are visiting us in Cowtown this weekend and we have been doing as much as possible with them despite the scorching heat. Saturday morning we headed over to the water park and rode slides until we were too tired to ride any more.

That evening we drove down to Benbrook Farms for a law school alumni picnic. Raine was so excited to ride a horse that we decided to brave the heat just so she could do it. I’ll be honest, I really didn’t think that she would actually ride one. I thought she would chicken out once we got up close. But she didn’t. As we stood in line, she kept asking which horsey was going to be hers. Then when it was her turn she walked right up to that great big horse and let me lift her onto its back. I thought for sure she would want down once it started moving, but she didn’t. And when I asked her if she was done riding after a couple rounds, she emphatically told me no.

I walked her around that arena until I was too dog-hot to stand it any more. She loved every minute of it.

Then we joined everyone else in front of the mist-fan and drank as much water as possible.

We definitely initiated Aunt Sarah and Uncle Dallin to the heat today. They sure are going to appreciate Logan when they get home. But Raine had the time of her life, so it was worth it!

Here are his stats:
Weight: 22 lb. 4 oz. = 50%-ile
Height: 31.25 in. = <90%-ile

He is still “long and lean” according to the doctor. Although, she couldn’t resist squeezing his thunder-thighs a few extra times as she examined him!

On another developmental note, Carter cut his first molar about a month ago and so is well on his way to having a whole mouth full of teeth.

On Friday, we celebrated Carter’s 1st birthday with friends at NRH2O water park.

“Hey, somebody stole my shirt.”

“Mmmmm, good cupcake; don’t you think George?”

Left side: Ashley, Cade (hidden), and Boston Walker; Aaron and Natalie Guerrero
Right side: Cloe Guerrero, Raine, Ophelia (hidden) and Katya Kinzler, Emma Guerrero (hidden)

Carter had lots of help opening his presents.

“Hey, blocks!”

“Hmmm, I wonder how you get these animals out of the tube?”

The official high was 107*, to say it was hot doesn’t even begin to describe it. This crayon that was left on the table shows how we felt if we were out of the water for more than a few minutes.

Carter fell asleep while DJ and Raine were at the wave pool. In order to avoid him ending up like the crayon, I packed him with half-frozen capri sun pouches and fanned him with a gift bag.