I Guess It's Official....

We got the preschool year kicked off yesterday with our little Orientation Open House. The preschool kids came to check out their new preschool, meet the other students, and meet their teacher. A lot of work went into putting the preschool together - we've done things throughout the last year, but it has pretty much consumed the last two weeks of my life! I was a little nervous meeting everyone and giving my little spiel in front of the parents. While the kids did a preschool room treasure hunt and decorated their "homework" folders, I talked to the parents. And you know what? It went really well! After everyone left, I felt like I was walking on air. I'm relieved, I'm excited, and I feel like everything will work out and be okay. I can't wait! The first day is next week! Yay!

Funny Kids

Some funny things my girls said today....

After a long ride in the car, Kasidee said, "My panties are sweating." Stifling my laugh, I said, "Oh, that must mean it's a hot day." She replied, "No, my carseat is sweating on my panties!"

After school today Kiera said, "Ugh! I've got an annoying song stuck in my head!" Makenna said, "What is it? Sing to me." Kiera replied, "No, I don't want to sing it out loud because then it will be REALLY stuck in my head." Makenna thought for a moment and said, seriously, "Okay, plug your ears and then sing it. That way, I can hear it but you won't."

Flying High

We LOVE to go on walks around here. We can go in any direction, wind up in lots of neighborhoods or parks or streams, and have so many fun adventures. Yesterday evening the girls begged to walk to their school and play on the playground - I guess 3 recesses each day just doesn't give them enough time to play! So as we were heading out the door, the 3 girls each had an airplane in their hand, and they gave Quentin and me airplanes to play with on our way. At first I felt silly and just held mine in my hand as I walked. But seeing the girls zoom ahead and run with their planes in the air made me realize how quickly childhood goes. In not too many years, I'm sure Kiera will think the things her little sisters do is dumb and the three of them will be off doing their own things. I love that they enjoy being together and doing the same things (for the most part). So it didn't take much for Quentin and me to get into it and join the girls at the refueling stations (electrical boxes) and tackle obstacles (like flying through pine trees). What a good reminder to not worry about what other people think and just have fun!

First Day

Well, we got the morning of the first day of school over with. The girls have been so excited for weeks, but then Kiera woke up this morning with a "jungle" in her tummy. Neither Kiera nor Makenna could even eat a bite of breakfast. We joined the "parade" of parents and kids walking to school, found their classrooms, said hi to teachers and friends, and they walked to their desks. Kasidee and I roamed the halls for a bit and kept peeking in at Kiera and Makenna - they looked like they were already having fun. Kiera was a little more nervous about today, and I think it really helped that, as soon as Kiera walked in her classroom door, her good friend Kendra ran over and gave her a big hug. All is well, I think.

As Kasidee and I were walking home, I said to her, "Well, Kasidee, I guess it's just you and me for awhile." And then I choked up! I miss having all my girls home with me! But I know Kiera and Makenna are having fun, and this will give me a chance to spend some time alone with Kasidee and also get stuff done without so many interruptions. As we left, we noticed about a dozen moms hanging out by the playground. They were talking and dabbing their eyes. And about a minute after that, I had a friend drive by, roll her window down, and start cheering as she drove away. I laughed and thought maybe I'm in between those two groups. I'm crying and cheering all at once today. And I bet my girls are doing the same.

Last Day

School starts tomorrow. It just seems too early to me. We need at least another week or two of freedom and relaxing, fun days. But at the same time, I'm looking forward to having a better schedule. I sure will miss my girls though.

Anyway, to "celebrate," we took the girls and 2 of their cousins to the Rec Center on Saturday. They all love swimming and it wasn't as crowded as I thought. It was nice to relax and spend some time together. Check out some of the fun:

Getting Ready

Even though I've had a year to think about and plan for our preschool, I'm starting to feel the crunch. My preschool partner and I have done a LOT this past year in preparing, but now that we're starting to get the room set up and purchase the last-minute supplies, we're realizing there's still a lot to do! Good thing we still have 3 weeks!

Our preschool budget is pretty small, and we've been able to get a lot of things from different sources way cheap or even free - which is great! I gave a fresh coat of paint to some of our old shelves and tables - what a difference!

OLD AND UGLY....


STILL OLD BUT PRETTIER (My camera makes this look gray, but it's actually a pretty sage green color)....

Lagoon

I've been playing catch-up with my blog lately, and I forgot to post these pics because they were on my old camera. On August 5, we joined Corbin, Nikki and their kids for their Stake Lagoon Day. The girls had never been able to ride all of the rides before, so they had a blast! We stayed from 11:00 to 10:00 - whew!

New Cousin!

My cousin Aaron and his wife Lisa welcomed their second baby boy, Jake, into their lives on August 8 - right in between Makenna and Kasidee's birthdays! We went to meet Jake and visit them yesterday. What a little cutie! The girls couldn't get enough of holding Jake and looking at him. I guess if we ever feel like we need a baby, we'll just visit Jake and get our "baby fix" from him! Congrats, Aaron and Lisa!

Baker Family Reunion

Quentin's mom's family had a reunion in the Salt Lake area from August 7 to 11. We had relatives from California, Minnesota, Florida, and Washington. It was good to get everyone together again and have some fun.

Let's see...what did we do? We had a picnic and played at a park, had everyone over to our house for a family picture slideshow (we crammed over 35 people into our tiny theater room!), went for a long walk and picnic on Lagoon Trail (about half of the group did the Alpine Slide in Park City instead), had another potluck at a park and played volleyball and did bubbles, went swimming at Raging Waters (the girls and I opted out of that - they seemed tired and I thought 7 hours of swimming would do them in!), hiked Timpanogos Cave, browsed at Cabela's, and got together for yummy pizza at Ogden Pizzeria. Wow - it was a fun week, and so good to see everyone again!

THE WHOLE GANG

QUENTIN'S MOM AND HER SIBLINGS

TIMPANOGOS CAVE

COUSINS....

Happy #3 Kasidee!

Kasidee turned 3 on August 9! I usually wait until my girls are 5 to have a "friend party" for them, but after seeing Makenna's friend party a couple days before, Kasidee kept talking about her friend party and who she wanted to invite. Since we were in the middle of the Baker reunion, I decided to keep it simple and invite a couple of friends from the neighborhood over for a cupcake that morning. Not a real party, but enough of a celebration to satisfy Kasidee! We had Minnie Mouse cupcakes, and we even gave her Minnie Mouse ears to wear. Our Kasidee continues to amaze us - she is so fun and smart and sweet. We love you Kasidee!




A cute new dress...

It's hard to get a picture of these 2 cousins together - but aren't they cute?

Happy #6 Makenna!

Makenna turned 6 on August 7! A couple of days before, she walked into the kitchen with a sad face and said, "I don't want to turn 6. I like being 5." Oh, how I wish I could keep her 5 forever! Kiera and I convinced her that, even though 5 is a fun age, 6 will be fun too. I think she's okay with it now!

Makenna had a "few" friends over for a party the day before her real birthday....


Makenna loves monkeys (she especially likes that monkey starts with the letter M, just like her name does) and wanted a monkey party. For the party, she and her friends first went on a monkey hunt (they searched for jungle animals that were hidden in the trees in our backyard). The jungle animals were actually tiny 3-D puzzles that they then put together. After that, the kids colored a jungle animal mask, then we did a monkey pinata. I've never been a fan of the hitting pinatas, so I was excited to find a "pull the string" monkey pinata. Everyone grabbed a string and pulled....



....only one string was supposed to open the secret trap, but apparently I got a dud. It didn't open at all! So we busted open the bottom and scattered the candy and prizes. Then we divided it up equally so everyone was happy!

Kiera liked wearing the monkey head!


Then we had monkey cupcakes and opened presents.
(I can't figure out why this pic is sideways)



What a fun party! We just love Makenna so much and are so lucky to have her in our family. She's spunky, silly, sweet. Our little monkey!

We saved the presents from us for the next day, her real birthday. How fun to open presents two days in a row!

Summer Succotash

Okay, every once in awhile I get in a "chef" mood and feel like posting pics of our dinners. I wanted to capture this one because it was just so dang good! I'm a big fan of succotash (zucchini, corn, lima beans) because it tastes like Fall. Tonight I made an "expanded" version of succotash and added lots of produce I had on hand (thanks, Ben and Jen!) So I guess technically it's not succotash anymore, maybe a goulash of some sort, but whatever you call it, it's good!! Potatoes, onions, tomatoes, zucchini, summer squash, lima beans, corn, green peppers, and a dash of Chicken Seasoning (don't worry, my fellow vegetarians - there's no chicken in it - just spices that taste a little like Cajun seasoning). Mmmmm. Late summer/early fall is the best time for cooking!

Time Out

We've been so busy the last couple of weeks with camping, a day at Lagoon, 2 birthday parties, and we're currently in the middle of a 5-day family reunion (I'll do a post on that later.) We've been staying up late, getting up early, and just going, going, going all day. The girls and I decided to take a break from all the activities today and catch up/relax so we can be ready for a full day of activity tomorrow! When I glanced at the clock at 2:00 this afternoon and realized the house was still messy with cupcake crumbs and greasy fingerprinted windows from yesterday, my first thought was to bark a reminder to the girls to please stop goofing around and clean up your messes, for crying out loud! But before I began barking, I stopped to listen. All 3 girls were playing with Makenna and Kasidee's birthday gifts. They had set up a My Little Pony town and were having a blast playing together. "Hi! My name is Rainbow Pony. Do you want to come out and play? We're having a tea party!" "Oh, that would be lovely! It's nice to meet you - my name is Sparkles Pony." "Isn't it a beautiful day out? What a wonderful day for friends!"

Hmmm.... I stood there at the kitchen sink, hands still dripping with sudsy water as tears filled my eyes. I cried and sniffed silently, so the girls wouldn't hear me, but my shoulders shook as I realized how precious this time is. Don't you wish you could just stop time for a moment and hold onto it forever? I had been so preoccupied with straightening up the house and putting away birthday party/gift messes that I almost missed and messed up a tender moment between sisters. I love, love, love having all of my girls home with me. I want to relish these last days before school starts and schedules begin and they are gone....

Camping

Last weekend we went camping! We haven't been for two years and have really missed it - last winter I started almost craving it!! We joined the Johnson family up at Sheep Creek Lake near Flaming Gorge. My uncle and aunt go up every year and invite the family to join them. It's so fun to get away, enjoy nature, and relax with family.

Amid all the relaxing (reading, naps, etc.) we stayed busy:

ENJOYING NATURE


PLAYING IN THE LAKE (My cousin Ben "dared" the kids to dunk their heads in the water - if they did, he bought them a candy bar)




GOING FISHING (the girls were horrified to discover that the fish get holes in their mouths from the fishing line, but they still had fun - they assumed that the fish would be thrown back into the lake, and we didn't tell them otherwise!)



SHOOTING BB GUNS (Kiera joined the boys for hours - she even nailed a bottle cap!)


GEOCACHING (We only found 1 of the 3 we attempted, and there wasn't really even a treasure, but it was still fun)


VISITING THE NEARBY RED CANYON LODGE, FEEDING THE DUCKS AND FISH, CHECKING OUT A FLAMING GORGE OVERLOOK, AND HAVING DINNER AT THE RESTAURANT



LAUNCHING WATER BOTTLE ROCKETS


QUICK, IT'S A GAME - CAN YOU SPOT THE POP BOTTLE IN THE TREE?


SITTING AROUND THE CAMPFIRE, TELLING STORIES, ROASTING MARSHMALLOWS, AND MAKING AWESOME LIGHT SHOWS IN THE DARK




HAVING FUN WITH COUSINS





FLAT TRAILER TIRE ON THE WAY HOME - WE WERE SO BLESSED THAT IT HAPPENED ON A STRAIGHT PART OF THE CANYON AND WE WERE SAFE!

HANGING OUT AT THE REST STOP AFTER FIXING THE FLAT TIRE