Library Time

The two oldest are away at school everyday and I'm finding opportunities to rediscover some of the "toddler" things we used to do, like walks in the stroller, I'm a Little Teacup, Barney, and Library Time. Now you would think library time is all about reading books, but we are dealing with 2 & 3 year olds, so there is also dancing, marching, singing, and instruments involved.
This week we even did a parade through the library!
I am really enjoying doing all the old things again with my new set o' kids!

I love this shot because of my little Sara, kickin' it up in the background (and I think the music may have stopped, cause she is the only one movin')!

We brought Aunt Shawna and our little coz Anthony along!

More dancing! No one ever called this girl 'shy'!

My Grandpa Sawyer

My Grandpa passed away last night.
I find much comfort in knowing that he is with Jesus today and he suffers no more.
My favorite thing about my Grandpa was the way he would sit quietly and just listen with a thoughtful smile on his face, his gentle demeanor, and the way he made you feel like you were the most important person in the room.
His best qualities live on in my dad, and maybe one of my kids will take after him. . .
He will be missed.

I don't think the leg is supposed to bend that direction. . .

Strollers: my new nemesis.
Maybe I told this story once. I can't remember. (Big surprise, as I've recently lost my mind!)
Anyway. Lately I've started a bad habit of leaving my strollers about town. Maybe I just have too many to keep track of, I don't know.
But I get Ben out, strap him in the car, get Sara, strap her in, holler at the kids to get in the car, don't hit the other car with the car door and buckle up, unload any mound of baggage that I happen to be carrying, and by the time I get back in the car, dig out my keys, Purell the children, start the AC, find the right track on the CD. . .well, sometimes I forget stuff.
Like my stroller.
The other day I was loading the children up for swim lessons and I was a bit annoyed that Joe had taken my stroller out of the car and set it out somewhere, and I had to go down to the basement and dig another one out (did I mention I have several?)
I finally get to the swim pool, do the reverse of loading up, and as the children run ahead of me I see my little blue stroller in a pitiful heap, set up under a tree. As I gently picked it up, I could see right away that the poor thing had been hit by a car and squished like a bug (remember children: that could happen to you! Stay out of the street!)
I'm sure whoever ran over my poor stroller had a heart attack assuming that a child was still strapped in there. . . .I feel very bad about that, but honestly, it was bound to happen as I've left it behind about 4 or 5 times in the last 6 months. . .

But that's not all. . .

This weekend I bought yet another stroller, and, as I explained to Joe, this was a double stroller, and not the kind of double stroller I already have, but one with big wheels for ease of movement and it can go cross-country and I will use it lots and lots! Plus, I bought it used and I know Joe loves a good deal!
So anyway, this morning, after I'd kissed the two oldest and sent them to school, I called up Shawna for a walk with my new double jogging stroller. As I was loading it in the car to take over to her house I noticed the tires were quite low on air. No biggie, I'm sure it would be fine.
Shawna suggested we get the air pumped down at the gas station about 1/2 mile away, pretty much all down hill. So off we trotted.
I was half way down the block and my lungs were already feeling tight and my calves were burning. By the time we got to the top of the little slope to start downhill, I was completely out of breath and feeling quite the wussy. But the tires were low and frankly, it has been awhile since I took a walk. . .
Then we started down D Street which is a fairly good slope, and I was still having to push that silly stroller. Who knew these tires could be such a problem! We finally arrived at the station and I pumped those babies tight full of air. Slight improvement. . .
We headed up Third (yes, there is a slight grade upward there!) and I actually had to stop and catch my breath!!! At this point, I was really starting to wonder about my heart health, and I was certainly becoming more than a little embarrassed about my extreme wussiness!
But it only got worse!
Finally as we reached screaming distance from the house, my finger ran over a button on the top of the handle and it popped! Apparently, the handbrake had been locked the whole time!
I'll tell you, craziness notwithstanding, I'm really just completely relieved that I am, in fact, able to walk my children around the block without calling in the EMTs.
I know Shawna was really starting to wonder. . .

Having a little snack, are we?

. . .sneaky little bugger!

5 p.m.

First grade is tough!

Chillin'

Poor Ben is being forced to give up his morning nap to fit the school schedule.
He did pretty well this morning, but fell asleep on the way home from lunch. I figure as long as I can keep the mornings busy for a week or so, he will be able to adjust.
But that may mean bedtime by 7. We'll miss 'im - sweet boy!

And Sara too!

Ben didn't make it to any of my first-day shots, but Sara took plenty of opportunity to ham it up for me!

Goofball!

She can do it all by herself!!!
We've already got her registered for preschool next year! It's hard to believe that one year from now, I'll be sending this little ball of energy up those preschool steps!
. . .getting melancholy!!!

And we're off. . .

Today was the first day of school!

I was so excited for Kayte and Will, but suprisingly a little less prepared than I was last year. Last night I was still dumping remnants of the backyard out of their backpacks so they'd be all ready for school supplies. And I had the kids try on their shoes to make sure they still fit before they ran off to bed. At 10 pm, I dug out Will's school tie and there was a big dribble of chocolate (?) down the front, so I did a quick hand-wash and hoped it would be dry by morning!

But other than that, we were ready to go!

We started out with French Toast and presents (Kayte got a crocheted coin purse in the shape of a flower, and Will got an ID wallet, complete with his Chief of Police identification!) bright and early, but we were still in a bit of a rush to make it out the door in time!

I took an embarrassing amount of photos this morning, and worse, I've posted almost half of them here. Bear with me, I just love school!

They've grown a lot over the summer!

Kayte still looks like my baby in this one!

Holding hands. . .they are still best buds!

Catching up with old friends! Jasper is his seatmate!

Love the classic shot!

That is a packed room!!!

(I failed to get a photo of Will with his new teacher - grandma! - but she is going to be a pretty busy lady at school this year!)

Sara brought her backpack along. But she didn't seem to wonder why she didn't get to go yet. . .phew!

The first grade room was very quiet and grown-up when we arrived. Everyone was reading the books laid out for them and everyone was a little bit shy still!

Readers!

We stayed for the assembly! Sara was just so happy to be there!

The first assembly for Will & Georgia!

Kayte's an old pro!

After I picked up Will, I waited around to take this shot of Kayte at lunch. I could tell she just wanted to be a grown-up about the whole thing, so I took a quick shot and left.
What a really wanted to do was scoop her up and take her home so I could hear all about her hi's and lo's. Maybe at dinnertime this year. . .

Family Resemblance

Handsome fellas!

Biddin' Adieu

Friday was the last official day of summer at this house and I told the kids that there would be no chores and they could each pick something they wanted to do that day. Kayte took the park, Will wanted to go to the pool.
So about 11 am, I packed up a picnic and all the pool gear and we headed to the park to get nice and hot before our dip in the water.

I love these guys!
I think the ham sandwiches were the highlight of the day. There was much ooh-ing and aah-ing over that little treat!

The old Safeway park wasn't good enough for this outing. . .we had to head over to the "purple" park (all parks are named after the color of their slides :).

After about 10 minutes in the pool and 10 minutes arranging their towels on the lounge chairs, they started to look a little bored. They have been going to the pool daily for four weeks straight of swim lessons and I think the excitement has worn off a bit.
So I packed up my little train and we headed home. . . .
We've packed in a lot of fun this summer and now our eyes are on the next new thing: School time!
Here we come!

Wrapping up summer. . .

I'm pretty desperate about living up these last couple days till school starts. . .so we packed up a little picnic and took it to play at the pool this evening. All this summer fun can be exhausting, but we want to take advantage of the time we have left.
We'll rest when school starts :)

Sara is not actually sitting here, she is just perched on her little feet so she can bounce around. She doesn't sit much. . .she is a very mobile, energetic little sprite. Funny to watch!

A mini-date at the pool.

One last thing. . .

From the day school got out in May, Kayte has been asking to have a tea party at our house, and I promised it would happen. Well, it is three days till school starts again and we finally did it! There are 4 new girls in 1st grade, so I thought it would be a good opportunity for everyone to get to know each other, so we had a back-to-school tea for all the 1st grade girls.

They are all very excited to start 1st grade!

Ahh. . .that's better.

I have to say, in retrospect, I'm really really thankful for the miracle that is WinCo. . .

Girls' Night

Kayte is always begging me to go to girls' night with me, so last night, Kelly and I took Ava and Kayte with us to Lewiston to do a little shopping and to enjoy a dinner out!
We wanted to go to Rooster's Landing and eat outside, but it was much too hot, so we headed to Tomato Bros. instead, which was perfect cause they let you draw on the tablecloth - that was a big hit!

They are getting to be a lot of fun!