Preschool with the Girls!

So my sister Emily recently moved down to Layton (just 15 minutes away!) so we decided it would be the perfect opportunity for us to do a little preschool together with our girls this year & we've all had a BLAST!  We trade off who's house we do it at & what letter to focus on each time, but mostly the kids just think that they are having FUN!  A few of the fun things we've got pictured here are the girls making letter "B's" out of bread, writing letters in shaving cream, making a colorful rainbow by sorting multi-colored buttons & wearing some rabbit hats.  What fun!

The thing that I've been MOST impressed with though, is how well Bailey seems to fit in with the other girls, even though she's a year & a half younger...  She definitely can't WRITE quite as well, but she is learning quite a few letters already & has already memorized how to spell Kimberly's name (now I guess we need to start working on HER name!).  What a smart girl she is & what fun we've had with our favorite cousin, Rachel Belle!

Miscellaneous Pictures of LOVE...

A Day at the Zoo

The weekend after school started, my Aunt Jeanie invited us to go to the Zoo with their family.  Her kids are about the same age as MY kids, so we were happy to tag along!

The kids LOVED the Carousel of course & I was impressed with their unique assortment of animals that the kids could pick to ride on... Definitely perfect for being at a Zoo!

The Zoo's new Arctic Area (Rocky Shores) was pretty cool to see... We got to watch a show where the trainers had the seals do cool tricks, which was fun!  We also got to watch an Elephant Show while we were there!

And then, of course, we had to check out the new Splash Pad that just opened there... It was different than I was imagining (not really too much shooting water), but it was the PERFECT way to cool off on a hot summer day, EVEN if you hadn't thought to bring your kid's swimming suit along on your trip to the Zoo.

The kids literally had to LAY DOWN in the water, in order to feel like they were getting as wet as they had hoped for! 

As me & the kids were taking a lunch break, we noticed a beautiful Peacock across the fence & of course had to throw a few pieces of our sandwich bread to him to get him to come a little closer... SO fun to see nature up so close!  Thanks again Jeanie for inviting us!

Skyler's 1st Day of School!

So Skyler started his first week of 1st Grade this last week & he's LOVING it!  I'm SO glad that he still thinks school is COOL, because there's already some kids his age that were dreading going back...  Our biggest adventure with his schooling this year is that he's now going to a new Charter School in our area called "Voyage Academy."  When it was first announced & everyone in the neighborhood was talking about it, I wasn't really sure WHAT I thought about Charter Schools, but after going to parent meetings & doing a little research, I learned that not all Charter Schools are the same...

There's one Charter School around here who's focus is on ART & another who's focus is HISTORY.  And while both of those are great subjects to study, I'm not sure that they are subjects that need any EXTRA emphasis than any other.  So what intrigued me about THIS Charter School was that it's emphasis is not a certain subject, but a different way of teaching called "Expeditionary Learning."  And the more I've learned about it, the more I like it...  Basically, it focuses on more hands on learning & teaches more of the WHY we need to know things in the real world.  I also really LOVE his new principal (some people switched to the Charter School JUST because of the principal!) & I'm learning to also enjoy the concept of uniforms, although there's obviously several pros & cons.  Overall though, what really helped us make our decision about whether we should send Skyler to the Charter School or not though, was by praying about it & feeling that indeed, this is what was best for OUR family's needs.  We certainly don't have any problems with Public Schools or anything like that, but we felt like this would give Skyler the best schooling we could for right now.  And so far so good!  We're excited to see what else this year will bring for him!

I was worried that the girls would really miss Skyler this week once he was off at school all day, but they actually have become even BETTER friends with each other in the meantime!  Kimberly has really seemed to enjoy her new role as the LEADER, instead of just the follower & always has SOME great idea for her & Bailey to go off & play :)  It's actually pretty cute to see how much they love each other, which is AWESOME, because Miss Kimberly still has another 2 years before starting school herself!  So yay for sisters close enough in age to be good friends!!!

A GREAT Birthday, EVEN as a Mommy!!!

So I have to admit that most of my Birthdays as a Mom have been pretty disappointing... I wake-up expecting the day to be all about ME, with exciting surprises & pampering waiting for me around every corner, and soon am struck with the disappointing reality that my husband still has to go to work, my children still cry, fight, have poopy diapers, & need to be dressed & fed, and I stubbornly feel annoyed when I think of all the household chores that I shouldn't have to do for at least ONE day of the year because, of course, IT'S MY BIRTHDAY! 

And so LAST year was my first year of deciding that if I wanted my Birthday as a stay-at-home-mom to be anything exciting, then I'd have to come up with some plans MYSELF... My plans were simple, but they gave me something to look forward to for the day & didn't leave me feeling so disappointed in how my Birthday had turned out.  So I decided to do the same this year & it REALLY was GREAT!

We started off the day by dropping Skyler off at school & then the girl's & I stopped by the store to spend a gift-card I received for my Birthday (always fun spending free money, right!).  Then we treated ourselves to breakfast at Denny's, since they offer a free "Grand Slam" on your Birthday if you show them your Driver's License, so me & the girls just shared that & had fun doing something out of the norm!  Then we decided to head to the mall & go up and down the escalators & play at the little indoor playground at the mall for a little while.  Nothing too exciting, but it was something DIFFERENT than our everyday routine, which made it fun!  Then, after picking Skyler up at school, we watched a movie that I'd borrowed from the Library beforehand with just me & the kids (and a few special snacks of course!).  During the movie I got a text from Laron that said, "Hey, I am just leaving to rush home to my wife who is having a birthday today!"  He was only able to get off a 1/2 an hour early, but it was sweet to know that he was thinking about me at least!

When Laron got home, he showed up with some beautiful flowers (which is always a pleasant surprise!) & then he got busy making me a "cake" (which was actually a dessert my family calls Pull-Aparts, but it was close-enough!) which I don't remember him ever doing for me before, so I appreciated his kind, thoughtful gesture!  I suppose that even as an adult, I still enjoy blowing out the candles!!!  :)

As the cake was cooking, I could hear Laron outside planning SOMETHING extra special with the kids, so I decided to peek out the window, just for a moment, to see what they were up to... It looked like maybe a scavenger hunt of some sort!  Wow, Laron was going all out this year!  Pretty soon the kids came rushing in, announcing that they had a "Treasure Map" for me that I had to follow to get some presents.  Most of them could hardly contain their excitement as they followed me around from one place on the map to another!  Skyler even requested that maybe we could do this for HIS birthday next year!  And even though the kids raced ahead of me & showed me where a few of the presents were hidden before I even got there, it was super cute to see their excitement about being involved in the process... Precious memories!  :)  After that, it was time for me to go out to eat with 2 of my sister-in-laws, Natalie & Diana, while Laron watched the kids at home.  It's not often that I get to go hang out with other women without the kids, so it was a special treat to get away for a few hours & just chat & eat good food!  Better yet, I came home to find Laron doing the dishes for me & all the kids in bed, so it was the perfect way to end a fabulous day...

So back-tracking a little bit if I can, a few weeks before my Birthday, I had asked Laron if instead of BUYING me a Birthday Present, if he would instead consider using the money & buying wood to build us some shelves in the shed...  It's a project that I've been hinting at ever since we moved into our house, but one that I could tell Laron didn't really want to tackle.  But luckily, asking for that for my Birthday seemed to be just the excuse he needed & he did a FABULOUS job!  He started the week before & even was able to have them all done & loaded up by the day before my Birthday!  Actually, when I walked in the shed after they were all officially completed, Laron had all the kids sing me "Happy Birthday" right there in the shed, which was precious!  And oh how I love them!  It definitely isn't the typical thing to get for a Birthday, but with a new baby coming in just 3 more months, I'm feeling a little more anxious about getting our house more organized & taking better care of all the STUFF that we already seem to have so much of!  So thanks a bunch Laron for all your hard work at giving me an AMAZING birthday present that we'll be able to enjoy for years to come!

The other super cute & fabulous surprise of my Birthday this year was that it was the first year that my KIDS were actually old enough to really comprehend that it was my Birthday & to even care... The night before, I had reminded Skyler that it was my Birthday the next day & he immediately started pacing the living room floor, trying to come up with an idea of what to give me for my Birthday.  After a while of not coming up with any great ideas, I finally tried helping him out by suggesting that maybe he could DO something for me, like help me with the dishes or brushing my hair or something.  But then suddenly, he had an idea... he was going to wake up in the middle of the night & leave a trail of colored magnets leading from my bedroom door to the couch to where my present would be waiting for me (maybe the extra little efforts I've made for THEIR birthdays in the past, were finally paying off!).  I talked him out of the "waking up in the middle of the night" part, but then he rushed off to consult with Kimberly about what special presents they could come up with to give me for my Birthday.  After a few minutes they came back upstairs, wanting to know if they could borrow some wrapping paper, but I talked them into just using one of my gift bags instead.  After working hard making a trail from my room to the couch & leaving one present there, they each came into my room, holding a small little present, carefully wrapped in a little doll blanket & started singing me "Happy Birthday"!  They insisted that I open these presents tonight, but that I had to wait until morning for the other present.  Although I knew that their presents would be full of random little trinkets, I was quite touched by the precious treasures that they choose to give to me... Skyler gave me his highly-valued "gas card" that Laron had given him one time after getting a new one & that he loved to carry around in his pocket & pull out for me to use any time we showed up at the gas-station.  Kimberly gave me her princess-sticker-book & excitedly informed me that I could even DRAW on the pages if I wanted to!  And Bailey's present held an old Valentine's card that Skyler had been holding onto that inside held a single coin from each of the kids' banks (and money is DEFINITELY a very prized-possession to them!), which they informed me I could use to buy whatever present I wanted with it!  All in all, I could tell that they'd not just wrapped me up a bunch of junk, but REAL TREASURES in their mind... The BEST they had to offer, which melted my heart!!!

The next morning, I was surprised how much I was anticipating opening their final present to me.  Partially because I knew this would probably be the only present I would be opening on my Birthday, but also partially because I knew that it too would be a gift of genuine, childlike love.  (If only us adults could give such thoughtful gifts!)  Their final present ended up being a blue feather that Kimberly had found at the park just the day before & had been excited to dip the end in paint & try to write with, just like we'd done another time.  But instead she chose to give it to me, her mother, so that I could enjoy the excitement of it instead.  How precious it feels to be loved by a child!  These were indeed, priceless presents, but THEY are certainly my favorite "pearls of great price" & I am SO thankful that I was able to share my special day with THEM! 

 So yes, even as a Mom, or maybe especially because I was a Mom, this was probably one of my most memorable Birthdays ever!

Skyler's 3rd Loose Tooth!

So Skyler lost his 3rd tooth this afternoon!  It's been BARELY hanging on for a few weeks, but he just couldn't seem to get the last of it loose... That is, until his sister Kimberly & him were playing around on the floor this afternoon & she accidentally kicked him in the mouth, leaving his tooth all bloody & barely dangling.  At first he was pretty upset about being kicked in the mouth from his sister, but after easily pulling his tooth from the remains, he gave Kimberly a big hug & told her thank-you & made plans with her to help kick out his NEXT few loose-teeth when they come along too... We'll see how THAT goes, but congrats on finally getting that tooth out of there buddy!!! :)