A Good Place

Do you ever have times when you sit back and say to yourself, "Life is really good right now."  The month of September has been a great one for the Turek household. My sister Elizabeth came to visit and my sister Rachel has moved in to live with us.  Our boys are growing rapidly right before our eyes.  Work for Matt has been reasonable.  We are excited that we are in our last year of residency and are enjoying the "what's next" conversations.  My house is clean, my boys are happy, and my calling at church is going really well.  The only thing I could complain about is that life is really expensive right now.  I feel like food prices have gone through the roof and I am WAY over-budget but we are blessed to have the money to deal with it so no legitimate complaint there either.

The boys love having another adult around.

There has been a lot of dressing up on Joshua's part. He has quite an active imagination. Nathan still loves music and loves dancing all of the time.

We had fun mixing colors and doing some science experiments.

My heart overflows on a daily basis as I watch the love between these two brothers.

Joshua plays soccer every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday and really enjoys it!  As unbiased as I can be as his mom, he is actually pretty good as well.

Rachel stayed home with Nathan one night and we took Joshua to see the San Antonio Scorpions.  We had free tickets so it was even more appealing.  He was so excited that we were going to stay out past his bedtime!  He insisted he would need his new lantern since we would be out in the dark.

Joshua loved the night time adventure with cookies and both mom and dad focusing on just him.  As we were leaving, we asked him his opinion of the game.  He was impressed with how hard they could kick the ball but he said that he was better because he scored two goals in his game that day and they did not score any goals.

Nathan continues to be very mischievous and find ways to test the limits in the house.  He is so cute while doing it though that he is just easy to smile at and love.

He folds his arms now anytime we say that it is time for prayers.

He has started walking some.  He still prefers his scoot crawl and his regular crawl as that is the safest and fastest way for him to travel.  He is blurry but I love the expressions on Matt and Joshua's faces.  We are all such Nathan cheerleaders.

I wanted to document this scar on my arm.  I have people try to wipe it off or ask me about it on a regular basis.  This is from a scratch Nathan gave me almost 6 months ago.  Joshua caused a c-section scar and Nathan gave me an arm scar.  ;-)

I am amazed at how old Joshua is now. He made this pizza all on his own. Earlier that day he mopped the floors and actually did a good job at both tasks.  Why is my little boy growing up so fast?  I hate it and love it at the same time.

Nathan was happy to reorganize as Joshua made pizza.

Nathan is obsessed with shoes. He does not like to wear his own but loves to try to put his feet in everyone else's shoes.

Matt and I went on a date to see The Piano Guys.  It was an early birthday present from my in-laws to me.  It was a very fun night and the show was wonderful.  The Tobin Center is a cool building and the acoustics were fantastic.  

Matt washed his car before our date and really made me feel special.  The handsome man beside me was definitely the best part of the night.  

Now, there is a week left in this month.  We have plans to attend the temple together, another soccer game, running as we prepare for our race, and the broadcast just for women.  I see just more reasons to smile and say, "Life is good."

First Soccer Game

Today Joshua had his first soccer game.  Matt turned on "Eye of the Tiger" for a little pregame excitement.  Joshua was dancing around the van and this is his serious soccer face.

Ready for fun!

Hanging with his teammates.  The kiddos had a long time to kill since we were supposed to arrive an hour early for pictures.

Team photo time. 

This sweet member of our team wasn't having it.  Her mom got to join in to make the picture happen.

Joshua loved playing but it was a little confusing out there for them all.   

Joshua cried but he wasn't alone in that adventure.  I think all the kids had a brief moment.  It was 90 degrees and we were out there for over 2 hours.  One time he was crying because he had a little place on his hand that hurt, then he was too hot and had to be threatened/bribed to resume playing, and then he was tripped and had to be carried off of the field by his coach.  I had to run over to the coach side because he was in complete meltdown mode.  

Yeah, good times.  :-) 

This was his excited face after every goal.  He scored 4 goals and 3 of those were in the correct goal.  

Nathan was naked by the end and got to have a snow cone at half time.  

I took a video to record Joshua's thoughts on his first game but it was accidentally deleted.  :-( 

To summarize, he loves soccer.  He thinks he is great at it.  He was proud that he scored 4 goals and thinks that all 4 goals were in the right spot.  (We aren't telling him any different for this week.)  He is fast and he had fun!  

Long Weekend Fun and "School"

Loves his bath and he needs one everyday..

Loves the rocking chair.  This chair was mine when I was a little girl.  It is neat that it is still around for my boys to enjoy.

Joshua at the same age in the same chair.

Joshua really enjoys doing "school" at home with me.  He was having a great time making words with these eggs.  

Which one is the big brother?  Having two boys sure has changed the dynamic from the days of just Joshua hanging out with the adults.  

Joshua really wanted a football.  We are trying to teach him that new things should be earned sometimes.  He worked for two hours straight doing extra jobs.  He was really proud of himself for earning this ball.

This was confiscated from Joshua and he was quite pleased with himself.

Joshua is playing soccer for the first time.  It is our first adventure with team sports.  

Nathan approves of the swings at the field where we practice.  He does not like just sitting on the side watching the kids practice.  

This kid is seriously a huge help at home.  He makes his own food, he vacuums, and does basically anything else asked of him.  He even sits in sacrament meeting at church alone and listens to the speakers without any toys or quiet activities.  Who is this old soul in a child's body?

We have fun everyday with Roxy.  Here the kiddos were enjoying some painting.

Matt had Labor Day off!  GASP!  Joshua comes into our room and announces that since Dad is home they needed to make pancakes.  (This has become a Sunday or Saturday tradition for these two depending on the weekend.)  After discussing making pancakes, Joshua decided it should be a "P" day.  He came up with quite a list.  We shrugged our shoulders and said, "Why not?"  We had a picnic, watched Planes, ate "plane" pancakes.  Later, he at a pbj sandwich.  Dinner was pizza!  He insisted on lots of playing and of course a popsicle to cool off.  He was a little annoyed when we decided to go to the store.  He was adamant that store did not start with P!  

Love this family of mine!