18 Months

Zander turned 18 months old on the 10th of October. It is funny how life works--Zander has been the baby and that is how I have thought of him, and then gradually, right under my nose, he has grown up! He has so much personality! He makes me laugh every day with the new things that he comes up with. He loves to do whatever Haylie is doing. We have started letting him do the same bedtime routine as Haylie so as soon and you even mention brushing teeth he drops what he is doing and heads for the bathroom. He also will drop everything when you mention feeding the fish, another bedtime ritual. It is amazing how much he understands about the world around him. He has a ball popper that blows balls up in the air that he is completely obsessed with. He will push the button to turn it on over and over again and then, just like his mechanically minded dad, he looks in this hole and that, stops the ball here and there, just trying to figure out how everything works. He literally shakes with excitement while it is running. He loves anything involving a ball or a vehicle, including motorcycles, or "cycles" and he calls them to his dad's delight. Here are some shots of Zander doing some big boy things. What a cutie pie he his! Lately Haylie has been the subject of most of my posts so this one is just for the Z man!

Playing Play-doh.

Eating Breakfast. We recently put the high chair in storage and now he sits in the booster seat at the table. (Haylie took this picture)
He climbs up on the slide on Haylie's bed. This time it was to see the fishy.

Joining in the family tradition of popcorn and movie night.

New Friends

One of the biggest reasons that we hated to leave Boise was having to leave behind so many wonderful friends. The biggest thing that I have learned through the experience of moving is that Heavenly Father has a plan for us, and when we are obedient He will provide for us. This time he provided in the form of a family in our ward, the Bohmans. Just when I was ready to back up and go back home, a knock came on our door. It was Bonnie (the mom) with a plate of cookies. It turned out she has a girl named Haylee, just a few months younger than our Haylie and a boy named Max who is just one month younger than Zander. As we have gotten to know each other have learned many other similar interests the biggest of which is that we both love volleyball. We have been trying to find people to play with. They probably don't know it but they have been a huge blessing to me.
In Boise we were in a babysitting swapping group that allowed us to go out a couple times a month and watch kids on other weeks. We started the same kind of thing with the Bohman's and it has been great. We even combined the kids last week and got a babysitter so we could go out together and get to know each other better. Here are some pictures of the kids playing on the first night we watched them. They have a great time together.

Zander and Max in the sandbox.

The big sisters helping in the sandbox

Haylie and Haylee taking their horses for a ride.

Matching names and bikes!

Preschool

Haylie started preschool on September 8th at the Munchkin Manor Preschool. She spent the whole summer telling me that she didn't want to go to preschool or that she wasn't big enough. I could tell her resolve was weakening though as we bought her backpack and got the paperwork in the mail telling us what session she would be in. When the day finally came she was so excited she could hardly contain herself. She was rubbing her hands together and saying, "I am so excited to go to school!" So far she loves it. She already knew all the letters and the sounds they make before she started but she is excited to be learning the sign language for each letter. Here are some shots of her on the first day before we left for school. The picture above is in front of the shool.