So much to do

 There is so much to get done everyday with the house, with outside, with the kids, with all the activities and groups we belong to ....it can get kinda crazy!  For the most part I think I handle it well, and other times it can really get to be overwhelming....and I can start feeling discouraged.

We have 5 acres that I would love to cultivate and water till it turns green, and get an adorable red barn, and then put white fencing around the whole thing and in sections where we could rotate grazing for the animals.  I would love to be able to organize it and make it beautiful so that it would be dreamy to look at.  However,  due to lack of water, money, and time I can't make it what I want it to be.  I hope one day we can....we all must dream right?

 Here was my corn when it was looking amazing!! Then the hot weather came, I backed off the water and I never could get it to come back.  We had success with our potatoes though!  Having a new baby around really slowed me down and I have to keep reminding myself of that.  I will be more engaged in the backyard next year.

For now he is a wonderful reason not to go outside and work.  He is so special and I can't put into words how much I already love him.  Wonderful, wonderful is what he is.

P90X

 She is such a little sweet thing... She was copying mommy in these photos.

 Mike and I started the P90X workout deal a few weeks back (which we are totally sucking at right now but I have every intention to "bring it" when I can get more disciplined again)

I wanted to do the before and after pictures of me for this program.  Little Mo just sat and watched  me pose and then decided to copy .  She went into her room, dressed in her swim suit,  and then came out to have Dad take pictures of her too!

I love my Morgan....

Don't Mess

 They mean business!  Don't even mess with them....

Dad has turned them onto Flashpoint (a TV series)  so they are little SWAT's in the making here.

Cub Scouts

 This little looker is my new little cub scout.  One of the  many joys of turning 8 is entering into the cub scout program.  I have been excited for this because back in Fernley I was a wolf den leader over the 8 year old boys and I always tried to imagine my boys at that age. Here we are with one of them.

 This was his first pack meeting and he already earned his bobcat!  This is him giving me a pin. Moms get recognized too.

 This pack was the rain gutter regatta (sp).  I have never put together a boat before so I thought I had done a great job with him, until it fell apart in the water.  He was pretty upset with me and was right in telling me I had done it wrong but I was sure that he was wrong...oops!  Thank goodness a friend came to the rescue with an extra boat so he could continue to compete!

 This is intense stuff.. I think next year I will take it way more serious.  Look at their cute little faces putting everything they have into it.

 Morgan was able to play with her best little bud Brinley.  These two together is so adorable!

 Carson managed to keep entertained by climbing a tree.  Look at that big boy.  He is not far behind Cole.

 I was able to thoroughly enjoy a ice cream sandwich that Tater just sat and drooled over..poor little guy.  Maybe I should have given him a bite!

 Mike took all these pictures and just got great shots of the kids that have to be posted because they are so beautiful!

Boy oh boy is this Carson a looker or what?!  He is so handsome and just special.  I need to do a post on that cute space between his teeth.  We have a story to go along with that one!

1st Day of School

Here is Morgan on her first day of preschool!  She was pretty confident about starting school.  She is going to the same place Carson did.  We are really happy with it. 

 Another cute pose she did for the camera! (Yes, that backpack is as big as she is)

 Here is the boys first day.  Carson is going into 1st grade and Cole into 3rd.

Carson told me he was pretty nervous about starting school but now that we are a few weeks into it he seems to really like it.  Cole is enjoying it too.  He wasn't scared at all ... I think he was so ready to start up again.

And mom couldn't be more happy they are all off and going!

My Tater Tot

 This is Tatum around four months in these shots.  He is so wonderful! I can't believe how happy he makes me just by looking at him!  I want to make sure I have shots of him and I together.

 Tatum Jacob Pressley is already an amazing little person.  He is so mellow and puts up with a lot from all of us around here.  Still he is quick on his smiles for everyone and just oozes baby adorableness!

Tatum does not like to eat his baby food right now.  We are struggling a little with getting him to eat big people food.

I am trying to savor these fast, special, baby moments with him..he may very well be my last and I want to milk it.  I want to remember how soft his little fat baby hands feel when I kiss them...I want to remember his little face he makes when he wants to chew on things..and I especially want to remember how he looks in my eyes and just gives me a look that melts my heart.  

I used to be very strict with sleep schedules and with him I just can't bear to let him cry...I don't know if I have just mellowed out, or if I don't have the energy to listen to them cry, or if its because he never crys and I feel bad to hear it when he does...but whatever the reason he is running the show a little around here with when he goes to sleep.  For example, last night I put him down around 7:45 and he woke up and started crying an hour later.  I let him cry for a little bit but then couldn't take it so I went in and laid down with him.  That's all he wanted....he didn't want to nurse he just wanted to snuggle with me.....I LOVE that!

I am going to baby the baby!

Hello School

Wow, I made it through the summer! I really didn't know if I was going to... I was white knuckling it there for the last few weeks.  Sometimes I feel bad that I am not like a lot of other mothers out there that mourn when there children go back to school.  I hope to have that happen one day, but for me at my time in life right now, the first day of school is my reprieve, my salvation, my vacation....my time to get back into all my wonderful routines!  Most especially, I have time in the mornings where it is quiet and I can actually start up my relationship with Heavenly Father again.  Oh how I have missed Him and that time!

Summer was nice and I have many pictures to post of all the great things we did but I am not sad to see it go.  I am so excited for all the wonderful holidays coming up and the fall weather which I hope we will be seeing soon.  Its nice to feel excited and recharged.

The kids are doing great.  I really struggled with Cole over the summer but I think we are going to turn a corner..I am changing some things up with how I deal with him and I believe with him going to school is helping with his attitude.  He is such a smart little guy he needs to be challenged and I wasn't providing that for him here.

Carson is now gone all day.  He is such a tender little guy... he came home yesterday saying he got into a name calling fight with some kid at school and after he walked away he said he started to cry!  Talk about heart break to hear that.  My first inclination is to get the name of the kid and go call him names...but will that be teaching Carson anything or do me "spiritually" any good? No.  These are the kinds of things that I had to deal with and he will have to deal with too....this is life and life is HARD sometimes... I hope instead of wanting to rescue in these situations I can teach VALUES and show how to cope with these situations healthy.  I knew he might struggle a little just because he is so sensitive.  I know he is going to do great though and make some wonderful friends..its just getting through these rough patches.

Morgan is starting kindergarten soon!  I don't know if she is excited or not. I think I may have to wait to see how she does with that first day.  I think she will love it!  It has been so fun to just have the two little ones home.  Morgan is my little bud and she is sooooo girly.  I love hearing her play by herself in her room with all her ponies and play makeup and jewelry all out around her.  She is the most talkative little kid I have ever had.  She can talk and play by herself for hours...really.  And the super funny thing is when she is playing she talks in this high pitched mommy voice...it is so funny to listen too.

And Tate dog is perfect still.  I usually have kids in their own room by 4 months but I just can't do it with him.  He is in a bassinet in our bedroom and I think will stay there for awhile longer.  (Plus if I move him I worry that Morgan will be all over him and waking him up constantly! They will have to share a room.)  He is rolling over front to back and back to front.  Not crawling or getting up on his knees yet.  Still has the biggest, cutest, come hug and kiss me to death smile.

Michael is doing wonderful.  We both have started the P90X deal and that is really fun to do together.  Today will make 6 days.  I am so glad he is doing it with me or i would have quit.  I love doing things together and he is a wonderful man.  He has been so good to me....I had a bit of a metal break down a little while ago (I said this summer was tough) so he let me go off on my own for a few days while he took the boys and they went and did something fun too.

I still have much to write but this is a quick snapshot of our life right now.