1st Day of Kindergarten!!!

Well that thing I have been dreading for 33 months finally happened. Blakeslie is officially in school. She is so excited and happy - it is mom who is dragging her feet. I'm not sad about her going to school necessarily, she LOVES to learn and thrives on any new knowledge. I'm just dreading the schedule. Do you understand what this will do to my traveling?!!!

We had so much fun leading up to the big day. We went on a lot of mother daughter dates for new clothes and supplies. We took advantage of being able to stay up late and the day before we went to Kangaroo Zoo.

Blakes had her Kindergarten assessment where she got to meet her new teacher. She is absolutely in love with her and her class pets Pepper and Paprika.

The first day was very exciting. She couldn't wait to get there and loved every second. Afterward, I got a sitter for Mayzie so I could take Bean to ice cream. We had a great time and I loved hearing about every detail.

Mayzie's 2nd B-day

Mayzie loved her Mickey Mouse Birthday Party! She loved getting dressed for the occasion and the kids were all really cute and fun. We colored and made mouse stamps. Then we entered "The Clubhouse" using the magic words. We played find Pluto's bones, Pin the dot on Minnie's Bow, and Mouse- Mouse- Mickey! It was a great time! The highlight was the gift Lynna gave her which was a jewelry box full of all kinds of jewelry. Mayzie has inherited my Mom's gene for loving jewelry - so this was the most perfect gift for her and she has loved it more than I can explain. Mayzie's cute cousins decorated her room before we got home from Boise - she thought that was the coolest thing ever!

Boise

We spent the last 2 weeks of our summer vacation in Boise. Chip joined us on the weekends and flew to Chicago in between. We had so much fun playing in the pool and just hanging out with Nana and Papa.

We went to the Water Park twice. Blakeslie was in HEAVEN playing with her little friend Cody. Mayzie wasn't loving it quite as much and only made it a couple of hours before Papa came and rescued her.

We celebrated Mayzie's birthday while we were there. She loved all the attention and presents. After she opened the My Little Pony Baby she didn't want to open anything else.

Mayzie finally made friends with Nana's dragon - she even invited it to her party.

Big News!

First there was The Bean.....

Then there was Corn.........

Now it is time to pick a new veggie for our family!

We are thrilled that we are expecting a baby in February. I am 12 weeks and haven't been nearly as sick as I was with Blakeslie or Mayzie. The girls are very excited. Blakeslie can't figure out where the baby is because my "tummy isn't fat." Mayzie is obsessed with anything Baby so she just walks around saying, "tiny baby" anytime the subject comes up.

T-ball

I can’t believe I almost forgot to post about Blakeslie’s T-ball Début. I got so behind and did the Mega July post that I forgot to put T-ball in there because she actually finished her season in June.

She loved playing! I’m not sure I would say she was a star athlete, but she really had fun. She had a cute little friend on the team and they were inseparable. They would play the same position in the outfield. The coach would be assigning where the kids were going out to play and he would say, “Ok, where are we going to put the twins?” as they stood there holding hands all ready to go. She was a pretty good hitter and connected most of the time when the coach would pitch to them (I’m not sure why he insisted on doing this – we did sign up for T-ball, but I guess it was good for her.) Her fielding was a little lacking considering she preferred to play in the dirt, practice cartwheels, and visit with Haley than catch and throw the ball. It was a great season – looking forward to many more!

July......the Blur

July was awesome! It just flew by and was definitely filled with alot of parades.

The 4th

We had a great 4th of July weekend. We visited the Freedom Festival and saw the sights – the highlight being the frozen bananas. On the 4th we went to the Park City parade with the cousins and then to Stadium of Fire. Mayzie was not a huge fan of the fireworks, but overall it was a great celebration!

Yosemite 6th-12th

Our annual trip to YMR was a hit. The girls loved playing in the jeep, at the lake and hanging with their cousins. Can’t beat good food, family, and fun!

Steel Days Parade and Carnival 17th & 18th

The Steel days are always a good time. The kids loved the parade and Blakeslie loved even the “big” rides at the carnival. However, they had to stop the caterpillar rollercoaster to get Mayzie off because she was not a fan.

Pioneer Day 24th

We headed down to Fairview for the Parade and Derby on the 24th. Blakeslie’s favorite part is the Children’s Parade – she thought she was so cool riding her bike and throwing candy. The big parade is so awesome – there was so much candy the kids stopped chasing after it. Chip and Bean have gotten better every year in their water fight with the fire truck – but I’m not sure they win.

The Derby was everything we hoped for and more. For the first time in all my attending years they had a Champion’s Challenge. They invited all the old winners to come back and had a round of just champions. They gave the most aggressive driver an extra $1000. It was by far the craziest heat I had ever seen. We had a lot of first timers with us and I think they all enjoyed the show and atmosphere.

Highland Fling- 29th

We had fun at the Highland City Fling. Blakeslie did a fun run and then both girls participated in the Children’s parade. Poor Mayzie and I got stuck directing the kids with the fun run and so she missed playing at the splash pad and getting her picture in the parade (Dad and Bean had the camera.) They both loved it all and we will go back to the splash pad – it was definitely a good time.

Dance Recital

Saturday was Bean’s Dance Recital. After a very long week of pictures, practices, and dress rehearsals I was definitely ready to have the dance season over. Blakeslie loved every second of being dolled up and loved performing with her friends on stage. Her two cousins also performed and were very adorable. You gotta love little girls and dance recitals! Mayzie enjoyed the entire performance. She hardly moved on my lap and clapped and cheered for each group.

Beauty and the Beast

Bean and I went to see Beauty and the Beast at the Scera Outdoor Theater. It was so great and very well done. She loved every second of it. We were lucky that it didn’t rain on us. Most of the other nights had been rained out, but we had a beautiful night. Blakeslie got a real kick out of the fact that the show started at her bed time. We got home even later because after the show she had to meet everyone to get pictures and autographs.

Boise

We spent our first week of summer at home in Boise. Nothing beats going home. My poor parents.....we totally unload at their house, you can hardly see the floor in any room. They are so good to us. I love going home to just relax and hang out. We had fun swimming and playing and when the girls were asleep I scrapbooked. What could be better?

My parents didn’t get their pool open in time for us to come so we went to their club a couple of times. We had the pool to ourselves because the local kids hadn’t gotten out of school yet – pretty fun!
My Mom has this dragon statue in her backyard that was just Mayzie’s size. She was absolutely terrified of it, but had to walk by it to get to the playhouse. She would stand and eyeball if for quite awhile before daring to walk in front of it.
I took the girls to the Zoo one day and met my very dear, old friend - Andrea. We had a great time catching up and the girls loved playing with her 3 boys and 2 nieces.
The girls disappeared one morning and I found them hiding in the upstairs playroom corner. Don’t you love what flies when you are at Nana and Papas! I'm not sure which one was the ringleader?!

The beginning of one era and the end of another

Mayzie is starting the “I can do everything by myself” stage. I’m not going to lie sometimes it is very annoying like when it is time to get into the car seat or when we are changing a diaper. However, sometimes it is just stinkin’ funny - like this day when she wouldn’t let me help her get dressed. She fought me to get her shorts on so I finally conceded (notice the belt is in the back, she got them on backwards.) She wouldn’t let me put a shirt on her so for half the morning she was half-nakey. At some point she went into her closet and pulled out this dress. Since, it had a zipper she couldn’t get it down over her shoulders so she sported the “shawl” look and was very proud of herself. Oh, the joy of having a headstrong toddler!

The end of Preschool...
Blakeslie had her preschool graduation last week. She just loved every second of school and soaked up everything Ms. Barbara would give her. Graduation was so cute. They slowly proceeded in to the “Graduation March” and then had lots of songs and showed us all the things they had been working on all year. Blakeslie was in charge of showing the calendar. She even got a diploma and we ended with lots of treats! I’m so excited for her- she talks about Kindergarten everyday. However, I told Chip at her next graduation I’m going to be hysterical. I just know I’m going to blink and we will be at High School Graduation. I wish so much time could just slow down.

May Catch-up

Blakeslie said the only good thing about all the rainy days was wearing her raincoat.

Music Class
While Blakeslie has been at dance class I have been taking Mayzie to a Kindermusik class. It has been so much fun just having something for the two of us to do together. She thinks she is such a big girl and her favorite part is saying “hi” and “bye” into the microphone.

Cinco de Mayo
We had the cousins over for a little Cinco de Mayo party. (I really wanted an excuse to get a piñata.) We had fun eating Mexican food, playing games and busting up the piñata!

Mother’s Day Tea
This is my favorite part of preschool all year. Blakeslie made me the cutest card and crafts, they put on a program, and then we had cupcakes and “tea.”

What could be better?!

April Catch-up

We went to the Beach House for a couple of weeks in April and had a great time. We all loved the sun and heat. We missed a huge snowstorm at home that dumped 8 inches of snow.

We celebrated Easter and took advantage of being able to have a hunt outside – hurray! Blakeslie may have found more eggs, but Mayzie definitely ate more.

My parents came for part of the time and while they were there we saw more of San Diego than in all my previous trips combined. We had a great time exploring the coast and going to the Zoo and Old Town.

I think I’m going to let Blakeslie become the family photographer from now on. When Blakeslie has the camera Mayzie smiles!