Sleepover Hangover

Kaylee attended her first sleepover Friday night. This is how we found her in her room about 5:00 PM on Saturday.

Green Day

Can you tell what Ashlyn was playing with in the bathroom last night?

1st Grade Spelling

I love to watch my children learn new things. I love to observe the process of experimentation and figuring it all out. So far this school year, my favorite thing is watching Ashlyn's attempts at spelling.

Dofin = dolphin
Trdrl = turtle
lopsdr = lobster
peesu = pizza

And here's the paper she did about what it means to be a good citizen:

A good citizen is kind to people who feel lonely.

P.S. I think that drawing on the bottom may be a thumbs-up. (?)

Brazos Valley Fair

First off, the correct pronunciation of "Brazos" is braz (like brat, but with a z) - us. Yes, we live in Texas, and they say things in a strange way sometimes.

Anyway, on to the fair!

We decided to check out this particular fair because a picture Ashlyn painted in school last Spring was entered in a youth art contest, and was slated to be displayed at the fair because it won 1st place for her age division.

Here's Ash posing with her picture.

And here's a close-up of the award-winning art!

We watched a few pig races which, honestly, weren't too thrilling.
We also saw some dogs doing tricks, which were much more impressive, but I don't have any pictures, so you get the pigs.

There was a carnival at the fair, but the tickets were pretty pricey, so we only let the kids go on 2 rides each. Brenna's first choice was this GREEN bus.

Kaylee and Ashlyn both chose the swings first. It was seriously worth the $$ just to hear their squeals as they went around and around. :)

Ashlyn's 2nd choice was this beast. She and Russ went on something similar at a fair last Fall and it was her FAVORITE. It's a little too much spinning for Russ, but he's a good Dad, so he went with her anyway.

And Kaylee's 2nd pick was the kiddie coaster.
If you enlarge the pic you can see what a great fact she's making - loving it!!!

Brenna had a hard time choosing her final ride, and finally decided she only wanted to go on 1, so Ashlyn got her extra ticket.

And here's McKell, who wins the prize for suffering through the heat of the fair without being old enough to really enjoy any of it.

Holiday Weekend

We had a super fun weekend!

There are several community pools in the area we had not previously visited, so we decided to try one out on Saturday. We showed up right at noon when the pool opened, which, conveniently, was the same time the Texas A&M football game started. So, the pool was pretty empty (HUGE Aggie football fans around here). Sweet!

Brenna and McKell spent almost all their time in the baby pool. There was a little tadpole slide Brenna was too afraid to try, but that McKell LOVED.

Kaylee & Ashlyn had fun trying to get across the slippery lily pads.

Ashlyn found out she could get really far by flopping from one pad to the other on her belly (she always jumped off once she got to the logs in the middle though because they were HOT!)

The pool also had two big twisty slides that both older girls were tall enough for.

And a little log slide that they enjoyed. We will definitely be visiting this pool again next summer!

This has nothing to do with the swimming pool, but Ashlyn and McKell have started playing this darling game in the car where they'll touch their little feet together. Such sweet sisters!

Monday we were thrilled to have some friends from our BYU days come up from Houston for a visit. Russ knew Jud from his Chemical Engineering program, and then they ended up in Boise for a Micron internship the same summer we were there. The last time we saw them they had 1 baby boy and we had 1 baby girl. Now they have 4 boys and we have 4 girls. :)

The girls are always a little tentative about playing with BOYS they've never met before, but clearly, they found a way to have a GREAT time together. 

We always like to get in some Just Dance when we have friends over.

The kids were all cheering on their respective Dads during this dance off.

The trampoline was the star of the day. Two of the little boys would go out to jump, come in for a drink, go back out to jump, come back in for a drink, etc. etc. etc. 

We had so much fun eating a talking and playing and catching up! Hooray for friends! And hooray for holidays!!!

Back to School

The girls (except for McKell) went back to school on Monday. Hooray!

They were all super excited and each of them had a great week. :)

Here are the classic back-to-school pictures (meet the teacher night and first day):

I LOVED the teacher Brenna had last year and am still really, really, really sad she decided to retire. Hopefully she'll do well with her new teacher, Mrs. Rogers.

Ashlyn (1st Grade) is in Mrs. Wilder's class. This is the teacher Ashlyn was hoping for and I have only heard wonderful things about her. I think Ash will have a great year.

Kaylee (3rd Grade) is in Mrs. Sommer's class. This is also the teacher Kaylee was hoping for. She was new to the school last year, but this year she's the veteran in 3rd grade since the other 3 teachers are brand new. Mrs. Sommer is Kaylee's homeroom teacher, but halfway through the day the students switch teachers, so Kaylee has Mrs. Rhame in the afternoons.

Miss Brenna is riding the bus to preschool this year, so she actually leaves the earliest. (I'm still picking her up at the end of the day - which for her is around 11:00 AM.)

I can hardly stand to have this one growing up so quickly!

Don't you love the shoes Ashlyn picked out this year? Bright and fun, just like her!

Hopefully this doesn't make me a terrible mother, but I am so glad everyone is back in school! They are all really thriving with a more set schedule and being back in a classroom environment. Kaylee doesn't get bored any more, Ashlyn doesn't get in trouble nearly as often, Brenna whines less (probably due to the fact that she's getting better naps now that the house is quiet in the afternoon), and McKell is napping better as well. I like that I can get all the pressing stuff (showering, doing dishes, prepping dinner, cleaning) done while kiddos are napping, and when they're awake and/or home from school I feel like I can focus more on THEM.

Baby had a Birthday

McKell turned ONE last Wednesday - August 21st! CRAZY!!!

The night before her birthday I pulled out a music table Brenna was given when she was about that age (McKell doesn't care if I re-gift, right?) so she'd have something new to play with when she woke up. It was a big hit (possibly with all 4 of the girls).

After dinner that night we did the rest of her presents. Her sisters may have *helped* open all of them.

We waited until Friday night to do the real birthday party. We invited over some friends to play and share cake and ice cream with us. Counting our family I think we had 8 adults and 12 kiddos.

Here's the cake I made for her. I've done a teddy bear for each of the girls when they turned 1, but all the cakes have been slightly different and unique.

I made extra cupcakes since I knew we had a crowd coming over.

Here's McKell with her "best friend" Parker. Obviously babies don't really have best friends, but Parker is just a few months older than McKell and they see each other a lot. It's always fun to watch them interact.

And here are the cake pictures . . .

I'm pretty sure she wins the prize in our family for messiest baby. :)

And here's what remained of the bear after McKell had finished with it.

I am very thankful for this little gal. I was just telling Russ the other night how much my attachment to and affection for her has been growing lately. Of course you always love your children, but I feel like now her fun little personality is really emerging and I am falling in love with her because of who she is and not just because she's my child.