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.  :)

2012 Week 30

A couple of Tyler's favorite obsessions right now - his DS (handheld video game thing) and his basket full of stuffed animals.  You can find him with one or the other 75% of the time.  This particular morning I found him like this first thing in the morning - a nice lazy summer morning indulgence.

Audrey and the kids came to visit and we had a great weekend of fun.  Friday afternoon was pool time.

Followed by showers/baths for all.  The little ones got bubbles in the big tub so even bath time was big group fun.  Not sure why, but the boys were making tough guy faces and poses the whole time

Then in preparation for watching the opening ceremonies of the Olypics on TV we all made our own Olympic Bingo cards

And Olympic ring cupcakes (root beer flavored cupcakes!  mmmm)

Then had a great time watching the opening ceremonies.  The boys got too wild and crazy and eventually had to be put to bed, but the girls were really into it.  Too bad it lasted hours and hours - we could barely keep our eyes open to finally see the USA team announced (around 11:00).  Then we had to get to bed because the next day was a full day of fun at the beach.

The kids got to try out Maddie and Isabelle's boogie boards and loved them.  They have already put in requests for boards of their own.  I have to admit that I liked them too - it made it a lot easier to have the kids out in the deeper water with us, which is where they want to be most of the time.

Audrey also had a pop up tent, which was great, even though the day was overcast and not as horribly hot as it could have been.  It proved to be a great spot to hang out in between boughts of playing in the water.  The kids also kept busy playing in the sand. And they even found some super tiny clams (or some sort of sea creature in a shell) which they kept in a bucket for a while.

Lillian wasn't too happy when we first got to the beach (tired from a restless night, plus she didn't seem to be a fan of the ocean waves) but the beach is too fun a place not to be happy.  She really liked the sand, and as you can see - teasing Tyler was a lot of fun too!

Tyler couldn't get enough of the boogie board.  That kid has no fear and loves the water, even when it's rough and takes him under.  At one point he scared us for a few minutes as Sam was out in the water and he headed out to swim with him but when I saw Sam a few minutes later, Ty was nowhere in sight.  We quickly searched the beach and found down the way a little bit - phew!

By the time the high tide started lapping at our stuff, we were all tired and covered in sand so we packed up, hosed off as best we could and headed home.  Lily fell asleep almost as soon as we got her in the car, and Kaitlyn and Isabelle ended up napping for part of the ride home too.  Too sandy and unpresentable for eating out, we grabbed pizza on the way home for dinner.  Then spent the rest of the night watching some more of the Olympics.

We were sad that the Mouton's couldn't stay longer - we always have SO much fun.  But we also get completely worn out, so Sunday was spent recovering :)  We went down to a neighbor's bday party at the pool, which would have been more fun if we weren't sick of being in the sun and the water, and were probably one of the first to leave the party (after 2 hours of it - that's plenty, right?)

2012 Week 29

Just summer:

bike rides and walks around the neighborhood.  swimming (of course)

and a big trip to the library with the whole family (yes, even Sam got himself a book!).  The kids particularly love the library, especially now have their own library cards.