Day of Service

Last Saturday was the Regional Day of Service.  Daddy and I were our ward's representatives and we put a lot of time into getting ready for the day.  Needless to say we are glad it's over!  It turned out well.  Our ward was in charge of 3 seperate projects.  We could only attend one so I only have pictures of one!  This was the largest project with about 60 people.  We loaded up the kids, Grandma H joined us and Jennifer and Ryan joined us! 

 

 Our task was to clear out black berry bushes to make room for some new planting.  Unfortunately we weren't dressed quite right to be wading in among blackberries and stinging nettles... OUCH! Here's most of the crew, a few more people came in after we got out instructions.   See Kayda and Dillon listening so attentively!

 Carson wanted to MOVE!  I spent the first hour chasing after him.  He kept running back to the walking trail.  He didn't really want to hang out around anybody.  After the first hour Grandma H took over.  He seemed to enjoy his time with her for sure!

 Dillon, Kayda and Leone.  This seems like a "My tool is cooler than yours" moment.

 Ryan and Dillon were IN there ready to cut everything.  They were so serious!

 

 Here's my runner!

 

 Eventually Kayda lost interest and found this hill to go play on.

 

 After 3 hours of work it was time to head to the picnic.  Carson fell asleep on the way.  Unfortunately he didn't sleep for very long.

 

Carson was having a great time with the hula hoop.  The only problem was when he was running along like this and tripped.  Needless to say he couldn't get his hands out there to catch himself... total faceplant.  It was a great day.  We were glad to be out there with everyone!

Dillon's Preschool Open House

Today was Dillon's preschool open house, not that we NEEDED to go since he knows the school and Miss Brenda and Miss Donna already.  But he is so excited to go to preschool and misses big sister so we took the chance to go!  Preschool doesn't start until the 10th which is kind of sad, he is ready for it to start again.  This year the enrollment is down, hopefully it will stay that way! 

 

 The apples each have a kid's name on them.

 

 Dillon wasted no time, he said "hi" to Miss Brenda and Miss Donna, gave Miss Donna a hug and then took off for the toys.  He didn't even stop when some kids he knew came.  He just kept on doing his thing!

 

 Carson's ready for preschool too!  He was SO interested in all the toys he was in heaven.  Though at one point he was walking out the door... 

 

We look forward to preschool starting, well Dillon does.  It will be pretty empty in the house with two kids gone.  I know they were both gone yesterday but I think it feels a lot longer since Kayda is gone all day to kindergarten.

No More Training Wheels

Since we got home from our last camping trip it has been in Kayda's and Dillon's heads to practice riding their bikes without training wheels.  So we FINALLY had an evening with time to do it.  Daddy, Dillon and Carson were off choosing a movie for movie night and Kayda and I had finished a couple of chores so I decide "Might as well go out and get the training wheels off."  Then I decide "Well, it won't hurt to let Kayda practice a little before Daddy gets back."  So she gets her tennis shoes on, climbs on the bike and I explain to her how to choose which foot to push with and which foot to start pedalling with.  So I'm holding onto her sides a bit and then she starts, I'm jogging a long beside her and within 5 feet I am NOT holding onto her at all and she makes it all the way down the driveway, a good 30 feet.  WHAT!?!  Last time we tried was at Taidnapam and she was NOWHERE close to being able to do it.  So I'm thinking "Where did this come from?!"  We try again.  Off she goes no problem!  So I started working with her on turning and talking to her about how to stop, you know use your brakes and when you start to tip put a foot down.  Holy Cow!  I am SO surprised. 

At this point Daddy still isn't home yet so we go inside and make some phone calls (thanks Grandmas for being SO excited for her).   She told Grandma H that she "Surprised herself!". When Daddy gets home Kayda and I have a secret.  I tell Daddy "I got the training wheels off so lets practice a bit before it gets too dark."  So he gets all ready to help her and she takes off again...SURPRISE DADDY she can ride her bike without training wheels... magically.  Seriously it was like she threw a switch!

So once she has shown off for Daddy we get Dillon on his (I'd already taken off his training wheels too).  He gets on there and is a little wobbly with Daddy jogging beside him holding onto his sides.  "Pedal faster Dillon" so he does.  Next thing you know he's making it 10-15 feet without help and stopping without help!  He still needs to learn how to turn and how to start but WAY TO GO!!!  So we now have TWO resident training wheel-free kiddos!  We are so excited for them!

Of course I have no pictures because I really didn't expect tonight to be that "Magic night".  I figured there would be a few more trial runs than this.

Kayda's First Day of Kindergarten!!!

Thursday my sweet little girl took a big step to growing up.  She's off to all day kindergarten.  She is away from home SEVEN hours Monday through Friday.  School is only six hours but she is a bus rider so it is more time.  Makes me want to pick her up and drop her off, the only problem with that is the bus is a HUGE hit with her.  She thinks it is SO neat!

 

 We bought an alarm clock for Kayda, may as well start teaching her young, she'll be using it for the rest of her life after all.  This picture is JUST before the alarm clock went off.  She did so well, she immediately got up, switched it off and then stayed out of bed just like I told her she needed to.  She came and snuggled in my lap for a minute while she got her bearings and then we were getting dressed, eating breakfast, and out to take pictures. 

 Not that you can really see us...  Daddy drove ahead (because we were chasing the school bus to school in the car after she was picked up) and we walked down.  We got there about 15 minutes early waiting, and waiting and waiting.  Fortunately there is a field nearby and Dillon and Carson wandered around there for a bit while Daddy and Mommy took turns having special time with Kayda before she left.

As soon as the bus started to drive we raced into the car and drove after it.  We parked and Daddy ran off to see her get off the bus (he didn't quite make it) while I got Dillon and Carson out. 

 

 Here she is fresh off the bus. 

 

 We followed her to class, saw her find her seat and get settled.  We gave our final goodbyes and left. 

Once we dropped Daddy off at home to grab the other car Dillon, Carson and I spent the morning getting the things they needed for soccer and for Kayda's dance class, at the library and then as a special treat for my at home boys we grabbed McDonalds.  That killed enough of the day that Carson went down for a nap and Dillon and I got some special time reading the library books and doing puzzles. 

 FINALLY it was time to go get Kayda from the bus.  We only had to wait about 5 minutes this time because I figured out the timing better.  Dillon was SO excited.  He asked me about 5 times if it was time to go get Kayda yet.  He definitely misses his big sister. 

 Yay!!! She's home!!!  If you could see in the window you would see the bus driver trying to teach her how to cross.  She couldn't really understand her accent so Mommy had to go across and get her, which is why I have no pictures of her getting off the bus. 

...and then we were walking, which is why this is the only picture I have post-bus.  I asked her how kindergarten was and she said "Great" and then proceeded to tell me the following stories:

• At second recess Kayda really wanted Mrs. T because there was a recess teacher she didn't like.  So Kayda went to the doors but they were locked or jammed or something and she couldn't get in (she didn't realize she HAD to stay outside for recess).  So she chose to just sit...and then she started crying.  (Mommy's heart is breaking about now)
• Mrs. T had to leave during third recess and the principal came in to watch them
• Nobody wanted to be her friend except for one girl and Kayda didn't want to be HER friend (turned out the girl as Kayda put it had "dark skin".  Levi (a boy from church she knew going in) was playing with other kids.  This all led to a big discussion about sometimes playing things OTHER people want to play, how skin on the outside doesn't matter and that she could be the nicest, funnest person inside, how Kayda should try to be friends with everybody and she had to choose to have fun even if she didn't get to do what SHE wanted to do.  We also went over the recess rules and such and I recommended that she try to be Vivian's (another girl from church but in a class behind Kayda there) friend since they would be doing ballet together and were in the same kindergarten class. 

Needless to say, day two seemed to go MUCH better for her.  She came home and told me that Vivian is her BEST friend (which she did with Kenzie last year and it made the year much easier for her).  Turns out Mrs. T's Dad had a stroke so Mrs. B was substituting.  Mrs. B happens to be in our ward so Kayda go to see bother her and Vivian at the ward campout Friday night. 

Dillon's second day was a little more high maintenance, you know... because I have to do the maintenance, within 15 minutes of getting back from the bus stop I realized I would NOT be able to keep him entertained (between being exhausted and having a crabby one year old).  So I was making phone calls to find something to do.  We headed off to the park with Chandra, Addison, Brandon, and Jayden.  We at lunch there and then headed to Baba's to visit.  I left Baba with just enough time to drive to the bus stop and pick up Kayda.  We only had to wait about 3 or 4 minutes.  SO glad that day two seemed MUCH better than day one!  I miss my little girl, Dillon misses her, as soon as she is in the house they are playing side by side and have NO desire to be apart. 

Kayda's Kindergarten Curricular Night

We got home from Lake Chelan, got everyone washed and dressed in nice clean clothes, then raced off to grab dinner and get to Grandma and Papa H's in time to get to curricular night.... Crazy...  Kayda is SO excited to start kindergarden!  We had all of her supplies packed into her back pack and she got to bring it to her classroom today.  She has a friend from church (Levi) in her class and he is actually sitting right across from her! 

Meet Mrs. T.  Yes that's all we're going to call her on the blog but we were excited to be in her class.  She knows Grandma G from when Uncle Justin went to elementary school!  I can't believe my sweet girl starts kindergarden on Thursday!!!

Lake Chelan

 We headed off for our last camping trip of the summer on Saturday, we came home on Tuesday.  We actually lucked out big time!  We met a couple (Rene and Jennifer) during Kayda's t-ball.  Their son Ryan played on Kayda's team and they have a little boy (Ethan) as well.  Well, I spent many a game talking to one or the other of them and decided that I really enjoyed their company so I invited them to come to Lake Chelan with us.  They decided to be brave and came along!  It was FANTASTIC.  I am so excited to have another family to go camping with, not that I don't enjoy camping with our extended family but this was totally different and lots of fun!  The kids got along great and even better the adults got along great!  The nice thing about Lake Chelan (you must overlook the no fires and no dogs rules) is that most everything is within walking distance..the swimming area, a pretty good park, miniature golf, go carts, the burger place, even the main shopping strip (though we drove to that because we had some children that were getting tired).

 

 The kids got a fair amount of bike riding in.  Carson decided that he liked to ride in his stroller and would occassionally walk over to it and point at it (which is his way of telling us what he wants).  Ryan is the boy on the right in the green shirt. Even though he and Kayda played t-ball together Ryan is actually closer to Dillon's age and the two boys had a BLAST together. 

 Each of the kids got these little ninja swords, Dillon quickly figured out how to get the advantage by extending the reach.

 The lake water is beautifully clear, the only problem is the beach is pea gravel, the perfect size to be annoying to walk on and constantly get stuck between your toes.  The kids had no complaints though.  They had a great time in it, throwing it, digging in it, piling it up, burying drift wood, pushing it around...

 Ryan and DIllon had fun swimming, though they could touch bottom where they were.  Their favorite thing was to chase a little inflatable pirate ship some other kids had.

 Kayda saw this drift wood, went and dragged it over to be near the towels and hung out with it for quite a while.  You'd think it was a favorite pet or something the way she's sitting with it.

 Kayda has developed a new favorite game.  She likes to take things that people want/need.  In this particular instance it was Daddy's flipflops (which she also took at Maryhill State Park).   There is another "game" she decided to play which I'll explain a little later.

 There's that pirate ship with Dillon chasing along behind.

 

 Happy to be swimming with Daddy!

 

 The kids had a great time at the park, Carson LOVES to explore and is a great climber now. 

 Dillon's face cracked me up in this picture!  Sorry for the blurriness in this and a few other pictures.  It was that twilight time of day where cameras just don't seem to do well.

 Carson LOVED going down this slide on his tummy!

 

 Kayda, Dillon and Ryan decided that it was hilarious to swing in the baby swings. 

 

 We set up the chairs in a circle so we could visit more easily.  Normally there would be a fire in the middle but this campground doesn't allow them.  So we teased Kayda and said "Go get two pieces of wood and start a fire."  We didn't have to show her how, she went and get to pieces of wood and get to work.  No, she didn't get any sparks.

 Since no fires were allowed and smores are an essential component of camping we used the stove.  Jennifer was trying her luck with it.  It is actually pretty difficult to roast marshmellows over a propane stove.

 Our "campfire circle"

 

 Breakfast!  These kids wanted to do everything together.

 

 Ryan decided to play with Carson and he LOVED it. 

 

 And here is Kayda's other game.  It's the "pop into a picture unexpectedly" game.  Course she's super cute so the picture turned out good whether it was of her or the other kids.

 Sneaking more things, in this case it was the table cloth clips.

 

 "Ryan the balls over there!"

 

 "Got it Carson!"

 

 While Rene was attempting to put Ethan down for a nap we hit the miniature golf course.  I started out trying to keep score and deal with Carson, shortly there after Carson was in the stroller and I was keeping score.... then it became quite impossible to keep score, you'll see why...

 He hung out happily in his stroller with his crackers and water for almost the entire time!

 This was about the 9th hole I believe, we stopped trying to keep any sense of order so they were all going to take their first stroke at once.  Little did we know this would cause a new game to be invented. 

 Ready....set.....

 GO!!!

 Introducing Minature Golf-Hockey.  They would hit the ball and run along with it to hit it again as soon as it stopped or slowed down enough.  It was actually pretty entertaining to watch!

 Pause for a picture in front of the lake!

 

 GO!!!

 

 Once mini golf-hockey was over we HAD to do go carts.  Carson sat in his stroller and watcher (happily for most of it) while we all raced.  So... no pictures, sad.

 Later that day at the swim area the kids wanted to be buried.  This was a great time for Carson to attack Dillon.  He thought it was hilarious that Dillon's legs were gone and kept poking Dillon's stomach.

 

 Playing with Carson in the swing.

 

 ...and on the slide. Kayda was sad that she "didn't have a girl to play with" so she hung out with Mommy and Carson.  She is a great big sis.

 

 Gnomes!!!

In all that chaos I didn't get a single picture of Ethan!!! Sad... I think he was asleep most of the time I was taking pictures or not next to my kidlets.  I'll have to make sure I get one next year!  It was a great trip with friends!