September

Such a beautiful valley!  Had to pull over one day and snap a photo.

This month should be entitled "September Sickness."  I always thought the cold/flu season was in the early months of winter, but this year, back to school time proved otherwise.  About two weeks into the school year I came down with something fierce.  Started with an aching body and joints and left me completely exhausted and in bed.  I remember the morning of the first day I had scarce the energy to get the kids breakfast or make their lunches and had to lie down on the kitchen floor.  The flu turned into a cold which turned into walking pneumonia.  It took 2 weeks to get over that bugger (thank you once again to Ally who prescribed me a different antibiotic that finally did the trick).  The cough sure lasted a while, but 3 weeks afterward I was finally back to the gym and feeling more like myself again.  Combine sick mom with a double ear ache for Amelie, a fever and exhaustion for Ella, and a stomach bug for Dax, runny nose and cold for Josh, and that would complete our September Sickness.  I'm banking on that being our run for the winter-sickness run......but I'm guessing time will prove me otherwise.

Although I was feeling pretty miserable, I still had to drag my butt out of the house and attend Swiss days.  I cranked the dayquil and immodium, and off we went to see the booths, listen to the fabulous music, and smell the delicious food.

Riding the shuttle bus to the center of town

Nana Trish, Grandpa Scott and Aunt Lisa came up for their first Swiss days experience! The especially liked the Master Yodeler

The amazing thing about Swiss Days is not all the knick-knack crap sold in all the booths, but the amazing volunteers that make it all possible! Here are Josh and Abe, putting their time in wiping off the honey/jam table, and selling cheese, fruit and salad at the Fruit booth. Josh loved working so much, they had a hard time getting him to leave.  (like seriously, he wouldn't leave) He even rode the shuttle back later that evening to see if he could help some more.

The kiddos were all able to choose a toy from Swiss Days.  Dax and Amelie picked wooden swords, Ella a shield, and Josh opted for a book.  Here are the three painting there new treasures.

Daxton's finished product.  He used a tupperware lid for his shield, and wrote "Daxton Nite Guy."  Haha

Joshua

Football is going great for Josh.  He plays defensive end and has a knack for getting through the line and making excellent sacks and tackles.  I still cringe when I see him get tackled or flung around, but the boy loves it and it makes him happy.  He's been practicing 4 days a week from 4:45-6:45, the 5th day being game day.  I always ask him to flex his muscles for me (this little kid is ripped!) but true to his genetic Eggertz genes, that only makes  him red in the face with embarrassment.

All piled into dad's car to head to Gandpa's cabin.

Grandpa likes to show the kids funny videos at the cabin.  This one involved a cat falling into water, or something.  About 3 seconds after I took this picture, the kids were all rolling with laughter.

Daxton

Dax had a great month.  He was baptized this month on his birthday, September 28th.  It was such an awesome day full of family, love, and the Spirit of God.  Dax has always been my sweet little boy, but after his baptism he literally seems to glow.  He's trying really hard to make good decisions and be a good boy.  One of the things that moved me the most that day was seeing my handsome husband standing in the font with my little boy.  I was completely enveloped with gratitude that Cam is a worthy priesthood holder, and because of that, he was able to bring our son one step closer on the path to returning to God again.  I felt so grateful to have family take time out of their day to make the drive and spend that time with us, in support of Dax.  It was a wonderful day!

Jack and Kenny spent the night and came with us on baptism day.  So fun!

Grandpa Glen and Grandma Holly

We are so blessed to have family that came to enjoy this special day with us!  

Since Dax has only had one birthday party during his 8 years of existence, we decided to throw another this year.  So on the Friday before his big day, we hosted a "Mario Skate" party (yes, this was Daxton's idea).  We held it at the local skate park, had the kids skate with mustaches on, and had a Mario cake and party favors.  It was a huge success, and despite the freezing temperatures and torrential rain earlier that day, the sun decided to shine for the duration of the party and made for a great time!

Josh with the Ballstaedt crew: Sam and Jude

Ella in the bowl on her pink scooter

Jack-a-moe

Amelie is obviously a true skater.  Just look at those pants! (and those pink-princess undies!)

I Sure love this boy!!

Ella

Ella is in the dual-immersion class this year.  Half of the day is taught in English, the other half solely in Spanish.  Her teacher, Senorita Ferrer, is from Spain.  There were 4,000 applicants for her job, so she is definitely the cream of the crop.  I was so worried about Ella's first day of school since her first morning of all-day school would be entirely in Spanish, but as she hopped off the bus and I asked her how it went, her happy reply was, "Mom, it was amazing."  A month later she is singing songs in Spanish, reciting the days of the week and months of the year, and counting to 40.  Her teacher even comments at how great her accent is (even if it does contain that Spanish lisp. haha)

Dax taught Ella how to play chess, and the next day she literally wiped the floor with me.  Ella's brain is geared for games like these.  Try playing the game "matching" with her sometime, she's incredible to watch (as she mercilessly beats you)

Raspberry fingers!

Ella drew this for me.  It's a game where I needed to find all 10 missing hearts.

Amelie

Amelie started Preschool this month at Sunshine circle.  She LOVES it.  I have never started my kids in preschool before 4 years of age, but this girl was begging to go to school.  Her teacher, Miss Cammee, is one of the sweetest ladies I've ever met.  I often wonder if those preschool teachers take "sweetness" pills. Perhaps they get them from Canada and if so, I need to get my hands on some of those.

Amelie was also my amazing sidekick when I was sick.  She was SO good.  Once the kids left for school I would climb back in bed to sleep, and Amelie would watch a show, or play with the toys I had set up in my room. She was a sweet girl in helping mom to "feel better."

Before you mention it, I realize I have oodles of pictures of Amelie.  In my defense, we spend ALL day together, lots of time to capture a photo, or two......or twenty.  Plus, she's just so stinkin cute!

Her new hair cut at the salon.....

And her new hair cut she gave herself at home.  I noticed she had cut her own hair, but the cut hair wasn't left in the usual spots: bathroom sink or the trash can.  I asked her where she put the hair and she quickly ran to her room and retrieved it from under her pillow. Clever girl.

Amelie and Joey, or "the twins" as we often refer to them. She asks to play with him EVERY day of the week.

Here is an outfit she picked out one day, complete with bicycle helmet.  I think her pose for the camera completes the ensemble.

Amelie and I started a project this month of refinishing our kitchen table and chairs.  Amelie was a great little helper, and stained each seat.

Here's a couple pictures of Amelie with all the kitties. (only two are ours.  Our neighbors each have one.  The calico on the right in the picture below is Spots and Stripes sister.)

Cameron

Things I love about Cam, in no particular order:
His sense of humor
His sense of style (which admittedly is lacking, but I love that he doesn't really care)
His intelligence
His father figure role
His "you can do hard things" attitude
His love for the outdoors
His love for his kids and myself
His never-waivering testimony of the Gospel
His butt
His love for good food
His love for learning and knowledge

This month Cam decided to do sign up for the "Tour of Heber", a bike ride up, down and all around the Heber Valley.  He didn't make a big deal about it, so I figured it was just a quick little ride, 30 miles tops.  The night before the race I asked him to fill me in on the details. Turns out it's a 100 mile ride.  Ha ha.  Go figure.  He did great and gained an even greater love for this valley we live in.

Cindy

Stinkin tooth fairy.  She always seems to leave the kids money in random spots in and around the kids bed.  When the kids wake up and there is no money, for reasons unbeknownst to me, I always go back up to "double check" and lo and behold, there's the money! The kids now know to check not only under their pillow, but also in their pillowcase, behind their head board, under their bed, in between the mattress and box springs, and so on and so forth. If only that silly tooth fairy could get it right the first time!

Amelie and I made some ninja costumes one day.  This girl loves to play pretend!

Farmer's market raspberries.  The woman I bought them from said that her son picked them that morning at 5:30 am.  She said they were so ripe, he just had to shake the bushes and they would fall off.  Delicious.  My intent was to make some jam, but we ended up eating them all before I had the chance!

Also bought some peaches.  Made some peach freezer jam and froze some peaches so we can have peach pie in the winter! Yum!

September, and I'm already sporting the beanie and puffy coat.  Sigh.

Having breakfast with the cousins!