2012 Week 36

Just finishing up the long Labor Day weekend.  No real plans or Have Tos allowed us to spend plenty of time relaxing at home or at the pool.  Sam even had time to make homemade cinnamon rolls MMMMM.  We all overidulged that morning and had more than one for breakfast!

"No I can handle it!"  That's what Tyler said when Sam asked if he needed help finishing his second cinnamon roll.  In the end he didn't finish it, but he did eat all the icing off the top!

 Ahhh pool time.  Our neighborhood pool has saved us from many a hot and cranky free day at home.  We've gotten very good at quickly packing up the cooler and the bags, slathering on the sunscreen and spending a few hours in the water - sometimes enjoying the company of the neighbors but often getting the pool all to ourselves and enjoying that.
The kids absolutely love swimming and Tyler in particular has made huge improvements since the first of the year.  His latest accomplishment is swimming under water.  He takes a big deep breath, puffing out his cheeks, then under he goes!  He's actually faster at the under water part than he is with his doggie paddle across the top of the water.

You rarely catch Kaitlyn without her goggles because this girl LOVES to dive in the water, swim underwater, and have races across the pool with me as often as I will agree to it.  She's gotten pretty "tricky" lately attempting to "dive" backward or doing twists and turns or funny feet positions when she jumps.

Sam was in a particularly playful mood on Monday and was throwing the kids in the water and letting them stand on his shoulders. 

The long-awaited first day of Kindergarten arrived!  Tyler was so excited he woke up before 6:30 AM and we easily had him ready to go out the door, plus take the time for some decent "first day" photos and he still had enough time to clean up his toys (so the house was even clean on my first day having it all to myself)

I drove him to school on the first day - more for my own peace of mind than anything else.  Tyler had no problem finding his classroom and seemed to know exactly what he should be doing once he got there.  No hesitation, no fear - just confidant and fully ready to start the new school year.

I was a little sad all day knowing that my little guy is getting so grown up - but I didn't cry! ;)

He did great riding the bus home - and Kaitlyn did a great job as a big sister making sure he was where he needed to be and that he followed the rules on the bus.  And instead of being tired after his long day at school, he was hyper - and teasing!

2012 Week 35

First Day of School - woohoo!  Kaitlyn has been very excited (although she is old enough now to claim that she "doesn't really like" school) for school to start.  She had her outfit all picked out ahead of time (we made a special trip to the store to select one since we didn't do a big Back to School shopping day this year.  You should have seen how pleased she looked in the dressing room when she tried this particular outfit on. She was smiling and twirling and so happy - we both knew it was "the one") and woke up early all on her own.  She then had enough time to help with what has become our traditional first day of school breakfast - ABC shaped pancakes, or more specifically K and T pancakes.

 

I drove her to school and walked her to her classroom since we forgot to take all the school supplies to back to school night and it was too much to send on the bus.  Plus it gave me the opportunity to snap a fun photo of her at her desk :)  And Tyler had Kindergarten assessments first thing that morning as well.
When she got home, Kaitlyn said she had a good day and that she can already tell her teacher is "nicer than my last teacher."

Tyler, however was a bit lost without his sister.  He used to be really good about entertaining himself while she was at school but this week he has spent a lot of time following me around, wanting to be involved in whatever I'm doing, asking to watch TV, and talking my ear off :)

We did get in a bit of "trouble" from Kaitlyn for not being at the bus stop waiting for her after school.  So the next day we made a point to be there early.  And of course the bus was really late and it was raining and the umbrella I had grabbed was broken.  Needless to say, I told Kaitlyn that it wasn't worth it to meet her at the bus stop any more.

One of Kaitlyn's friends' from school has a new baby brother and I was lucky enough to meet him when we were all there for Kindergarten assessments for both of our 5 year old boys.  As it happens, I've been working on new products to sell for fall so I roped them into coming over for a newborn photo shoot.  It was a lot of fun and we ended up with some cute photos.

2012 Week 34

Kaitlyn is getting so big - very independant and capable.  We've been starting to let her do a lot more cooking around the house.  This week she did pancakes with very little help from me. 

It will take her a few more times before she's got it down on her own, but I think she did a very good job.

Since we got back from Utah, Tyler has been on a cowboy kick.  He wears his new cowboy boots and belt as often as he can, and a lot of times he'll put his hat on for part of the day too.  When we are out and about for groceries/errands he gets quite a few comments from people passing by - because he's just so dang cute!

The kids bicker, like brothers and sisters do.  But to the person (me!) that has to listen to it often, it seems like way too much.  After dealing with it for the 3rd time in less than half an hour I sent them both to time out, then to top it off I made them "hug it out" for another 5 minutes.  Typical of each of their personalities Tyler willingly did it with a smile while the little drama queen acted like it was going to kill her.  Hopefully this will get her to think twice before the next time she upsets her brother...scratch that, I hear him crying.  *sigh* Now what have they done? 

Family outing to Home Depot this weekend for supplies for drying racks.  This happens at least once a month.  I thought it was time to document it :)

With school starting on Monday, Sunday was the last official day of summer vacation (the idea is bittersweat).  To celebrate we went out to lunch at Texas Roadhouse before doing our weekly grocery shopping.  We packed a picnic dinner for the kids and spent a couple hours at the pool.  The kids were jumping in a lot this time around and Kaitlyn was happy that took one of her friends down there with us.  We finished up the day with brownies and ice cream.  Bring on the School Year!

2012 Week 33

The last few days of our visit to Utah were less about doing things and more about visiting with friends and family.  The kids spent all of Monday hanging out with Gma and Gpa while Sam and I headed down to the city where I had lunch with Alisha, we did some shopping, then met up with Darren and Kelly for dinner.  We made the comment on the way home about how nice it is to have long term relationships with such great people that when you do get together no matter how long it's been, it feels so comfortable and good.  The kids spent the night with the grandparents and we checked in with them before heading off to more lunch dates - a nice chat with Jacalyn for me and a final visit with his mom for Sam, then a final date at the movies since we hadn't worked in any time for that and we hadn't managed to see a movie by ourselves in months and months.  The kids of course had a great time with their grandparents, making cookies, a sewing project for Kate and Gma, and a shopping trip to the western store where Tyler got new cowboy boots and they both got fancy new belts.
Mom dropped us at the airport Wednesday morning and we headed home.  Again, it was a fairly smooth trip.  We did have a 2 1/2 hour delay on the second flight, but as the layover was originally way too short and we might have missed our connection if it hadn't been delayed, we didn't mind at all.  The airline gave us meal vouchers and we happily took our time eating dinner at Outback Steakhouse there at the airport.  Ty loved this kangaroo statue and insisted on having his photo taken with it before we went into the restaurant.

The rest of our week was spent recovering from the trip and trying to get ourselves back on our regular time schedule and normal routine.  Funny how it takes a couple days or more to get back on track after a vacation.

2012 Week 32

Monday and Tuesday of this week:  errands, cleaning, packing, errands, cleaning, packing

Wednesday 6:30AM:  hot fresh Krispy Kreme donuts on the way to the airport MMMMM

On the airplane and on our way to Utah!  The flight(s) went pretty much as smoothly as could be expected.  The first plane loaded a bit early then sat at the runway for 20 extra minutes.  They made up the time in the air and as luck would have it we got off at the same gate that our connecting flight was being boarded at - so no crazy running around the airport to make the connection.  Tyler fell asleep for an hour during the 2nd leg of the trip (more than 3 hours in the air).  And thanks to us giving them brand new video games for the flight, both kids were highly entertained by their DSi's the entire time.  In fact, after we landed the woman behind me tapped me on the shoulder and told me how great the kids had been.  Hearing that, the guy next to her said "I didn't even know there were kids sitting there!"  Gotta love it when my children are well-behaved.  It makes life so much easier.

Grandma Jackson met us at the airport and we met up with Colette and the boys for dinner in the city.  Gma J was lending us her car for the week so we split up at that point and we headed to Wyatt's house where we would be staying for the week.

Thursday was a down day.  We took the kids to Grandma and Grandpa's and then I was able to go visit a friend.  Sam did some visiting on his own, then picked me up and the two of us went out to lunch.  The rest of the day was spent hanging out with my parents, including the kids and I tagging along to do some irrigating with my dad.  The kids got to ride Dixie while we were out in the field as it's pretty far for those little legs to walk.

 

Friday's plans included the #1 thing on Kaitlyn's list - jumping off the high diving board at the rec center.  Colette and the boys, along with Lenore and her boys joined us at the pool, along with all the grandparents who had a lot of fun watching the kids.

Friday afternoon was spa time for the girls (myself, Kaitlyn and Mom, that is) while the boys went their separate ways - Tyler for some one on one with Gpa and Sam to hang out with his brothers.  Kaitlyn got her first official mani/pedi and though quiet the whole time, you could tell she loved it and felt very grown up and spoiled.  Kim also gave both of us a haircut (since good ones are not something I've been able to find yet in NC).  And we had a lot of fun chatting with Traci, Lori, and Kim the entire time.

Saturday we saddled up all the horses and Wyat and Grandpa took all of us up the mountain to "the spring" for a ride.  They've had a very very dry summer and you can really see that in the photos - but it was still very pretty views the whole time.

Grandma met us back in the field with a picnic lunch, which we had under the trees.

And the kids got to ride the horses some more.  Kaitlyn couldn't wait to have the horse to herself so she could trot.  She even got brave enough to try a canter a couple of times.

Sunday was family time with Sam's family.  We had brunch and grabbed a family photo before heading to the lake for lots and lots of fun.

Colette was nice enough to show up early and reserve a great spot for us on the shore, as well as letting us have fun on their boat all day long.  Tyler absolutely loved the tube and had a huge smile on his face the whole time.  Even when we were done with our turn and were letting everyone else take a turn, Tyler didn't want to get off the tube so he went for another ride with Czar and Orvil.

It took Kaitlyn a little while (and the eventual bribery with a cookie!) to get up the courage to try out the tube, but once she did she had a great time.

Such fun with the cousins!  Kaitlyn and JD, in particular, were quite a pair and had a blast spending so much time together.

After watching Dale waterski (the only one of us that knew how), Tyler was the only willing to try it out himself.  We were all surprised he jumped on it so quickly, but that is pretty typical of our little daredevil.  Dale went out with him in the water and gave him a little lesson.  He didn't get up, of course, but he gave it a good try and as you can see, he enjoyed it.

 

The main goal on family outings is usually to let the kids have as much fun as possible, but the guys (left to right:  Sam, Dale, Orvil) did get some time on the tube by themselves.  The ride wasn't wild enough for them, so they decided not to hold on.  One of bumped launched them all off the tube at the same time and I was lucky enough to grab this photo.  The kids couldn't quit laughing at the sight of all three of them flying off the tube.

We stayed at the lake until it started to get windy then finished up the day with dinner at Gma Jackson's.

2012 Week 31

Not much going on this week.  Pretty much just the regular routine plus prep work for vacation (woohooo VACATION!).  The kids are so excited.  They have Utah on the brain, including during lunchtime where they decided to cut their sandwiches into U shapes.  :)