Love My Kids!

I want to write a few happy notes about my kids. I cannot believe Lance is going to be THREE next month. He is talking more and more clearly each day. He loves being outside. His favorite cereal is "Life". He loves building "tall" towers with Legos. He loves tractors, trucks, firetrucks, and buses. (Daddy took him for a ride on bus and the Trax train one day and, every few minutes, he said with a big smile, "Dad! We're on the BUS!") He loves the colors red and pink. At the grocery store, when he and Jace go to get a helium balloon, he asks for a pink balloon. How does that saying go? "Real men wear pink"? Also, there is a pink bike with training wheels outside that he just loves to ride. So I got Evan's bike out and he has enjoyed riding it since.
Kyle has begun his first steps about 2 weeks ago. He took 5 steps yesterday. GO KYLE!
Jace just finished reading the first Harry Potter book. He still loves catching bugs. Lately he has been more interested in praying mantises. He continues to feed his lizard, "Sandy" and clean her poop out, etc. He is also really good at mopping the kitchen floor! It makes me so happy to walk on that floor when he's done and know that he did that :) He just bought his first bow and arrow with his birthday money at Cabela's. (Do you think Dad had anything to do with that?) He is looking forward to practicing with it at the cabin this week.
Jared is going to enjoy his last week before school starts at the cabin with us. He's going to scout the deer before he shoots it with his bow and arrow on the first day of the hunt, Saturday. Optimistically, we will come home from the cabin with a deer and Jared will be ready to start school on Monday, the 20th. Then Jace begins the following week.
Yesterday we went to the Water, Fire, and Ice Festival in Kearns. (Swimming, Fireworks, Iceskating) It's quite an event. We had so much fun! They had platforms and diving boards, and a huge bucket that dumps a huge waterfall every 10 minutes or so - which Jace did ONE time. I joked that he had to do it again so I could get a picture, and he wasn't up for that. Lance ran back and forth between the water and his towel. Kyle actually waded in the water and took some steps!
I was amazed with their ice skating rink. It was used for some of the races in the Olympics, I believe. It had Olympic pictures all over the place. Jace also couldn't wait to try out the ice. So while Jared took Lance and Kyle to the silent auction, etc., Jace and I tried out our skills on the ice. I was so impressed with Jace! We talked about how to fall safely, and he did so well! He didn't even get discouraged from falling numerous times. He held my hand or to the side and just wanted to keep going. I asked him if he was okay on his own while I skated around the rink. Of course he was :) After I got back around to him, he had two friends with him that he'd just met. They were talking like old buddies as they skated along and held on to the side. I was so proud! We skated for quite a while and when I asked Jace if he wanted to go, even though he said his feet were cold or uncomfortable, he wanted to keep skating. I guess I was just amazed that he wanted to keep going even though he was having to work really hard to keep his balance.

Anyway, I just wanted to get these notes down because I'm just so happy with and proud of my kids!