At the River with Friends

 We have gone to the river many times this summer, sometimes 3 or 4 times a week.  We wanted to get one last time in and when school was let out early because of the heat, we figured that was a good excuse to go get cooled off with our friends, the Morgans.

 The girls loved playing on top of the waterfall, collecting mud balls.

 Jerikka and Clarissa are like two peas on a pod, they are only like two weeks apart in age and have almost identical personalities.

 Jerikka proudly wearing a HUGE fishing spider.

A close-up of the fishing spider with egg sack on her abdomen.

Court of Honor

 As a family, we attended the Boy Scout Court of Honor for Troop 703, here is Jared with several of other members of the troop all looking sharp in their uniforms.

 Jared has worked hard this summer and his efforts have paid off.  He earned 7 more merit badges to add to the 9 that he already has. He earned Weather, Communications, Theater, First Aid, Environmental Science, Nature, and Personal Fitness.  For Communications he had to attend a city council meeting, among other requirements.  For Theater he participated in several theatrical productions including a week long theater summer camp.  He said that First Aid was one of his favorite merit badges to earn.  He earned Environmental Science, Weather, and Nature at Scout Camp this year and for Personal Fitness, he had to run the mile several times as well as the other requirements. We are proud of his hard work and the good character that he exhibits as a Boy Scout.

Jared with his Scoutmaster, Mike Turpin.

Three Months

 Just to prove that Seth isn't quite over the colicky stage yet.

August 4, 9 weeks old

 Seth is chewing on cousin Teresa's hand at the beach.

August 8, 10 weeks old

 At Virginia Beach with Mom and Aunt Jolene

August 8

 Don't let that impish smile fool you. Seth cried at least half of the time we were in the car on our vacation, which we figured was about 700 miles and 12 hours of crying!

August 9

 At Nag's Head Beach at the Outer Banks

August 9

At Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

 At the Washington D.C. LDS Temple

August 11

 Snuggling with Aunt Kara

August 12

 Sitting up in the Bumbo seat to play dolls with his sissies, Seth just loves this invention that makes it so that he can be a big kid with everyone else.

August 14, 11 weeks old

 He loves to hug his burp cloths (which are always nearby because he spits up so much), so the girls decided to give him some lovies to hug instead.  Unfortunately then he just spit up on the lovies so we gave him back the burp cloths and we just call them lovies.

August 18

 Seth's first laugh was on the evening of August 16th and Grandma and Grandpa Mattson were here to hear it.  This picture of him laughing was taken on August 27th.

 He loves to be held up to sitting or standing position and is not content to just lie back, he first supported his weight on his legs on August 12th, this picture of him sitting forward was taken on August 28, 3 months old.

 Jared often takes Seth out on the porch to rock to let me get things done around the house.  Seth loves this quality brother time.

August 28

 He won't take a pacifier at all anymore, but he loves to suck on his fists.

August 28

 3 months old!

What a strong boy!

A Pretty Pink Makeover

This is what the girls' room looked like a couple of years ago.

This is what the girls' room looks like now.

Before

After

 This was our inspiration. These dots were selling for $45.

 I bought coordinating scrapbook paper for $3 and a jar of Modge Podge for $8, we borrowed a circle cutter and voila! The girls love their new pink room.

 I also used some of the scrapbook paper and a garage sale find frame to put together this coordinating picture frame for above the window.

Lost Teeth

 Amber lost her first tooth on August 1.  It was only loose for 2 days and then she let Daddy pull it out.

Two days later on August 3rd, she told me her second tooth was loose in the morning and then when Chris came home for lunch, she went in the bathroom and pulled out the tooth all by herself.  We were surprised because the other kids make a big deal out of loose teeth for weeks before they ever come out and they usually don't pull out their own teeth. 

Our little girl is growing up!