Girl Time

I have to say I am really enjoying having Shane in school.  Not that I don't miss him, or worry about him sometimes, but he is really loving it and I have seen so much growth in him already.  And it has been really fun to hear all about his day when he comes home.  One of the best parts though is getting to spend some more quality time with my girls.  We walk him to the bus stop in the mornings and then get to chill for a bit before deciding what to do with our day.   

We have fun doing simple things that Shane has gotten too big for, like playing at our little mall play place.

 It has been fun to watch their relationship with each other grow too, here they are playing "walk" where Marissa walks Sadie like a dog:)

Last week I took them to the zoo and as I was buckling Marissa in the car our conversation went like this:
Me: Marissa, you were really good today, thank you!
Marissa: Yeah, that's why my brother was not there.  Cause sometimes when he's there I do things to him.
Me: Oh yeah, why?
Marissa: Cause sometimes I don't like him.

I thought that was pretty self aware of her ha ha.  She does miss him and ask me several times when he's coming home, but also enjoys the extra attention.  And they play so nicely together when he comes home after being apart all day!

My Kindergartner!

Shane started Kindergarten yesterday!  He was cute to watch in the days that led up to it, he was super excited and wanted to do things to get ready, like practice his letters and numbers, and learn how to tie his shoes.  

 To my surprise, he can do it!  And I'm proud of myself for teaching him because he's a lefty so I really had to think it out!  I just hope his teacher doesn't hate me when his shoes keep coming untied...

 And three days before kindergarten started he even managed to lose his first tooth!  Talk about growing up too fast!

 The tooth fairy came

 Here he is ready for his first day!

The first day the parents brought their kindergartners to school and stayed with them for an hour

 we got to do some fun activities together and get him all settled.  He really wasn't sad one bit, just excited as you can tell:)

 I thought Marissa would miss him a lot but she seems to be doing just dandy with all the extra attention and getting to call the shots.  We had fun making cookies for Shane, and it has been fun to see how things are just naturally a little more girly with just us girls around.

 He rode home from school on the bus and I panicked for a second when all the neighbor kids had come out and he hadn't, but I think he got a little confused because the bus stop is on a different street than ours.  But he loves riding the bus and says he still wants to do it in the morning, even though it gets there at 7:15!  I was pretty proud of myself for getting him there this morning, seeing as he hasn't even been awake at that time for years!!

 We ate our cookies, made a celebratory splash pad trip, and then had pancakes for dinner per his request.  And got them to bed just after 7.  I've never been a "put my kids to bed at 7" kinda gal but am trying because we can't sleep in anymore!

This morning the reality of it all sunk in a little more.  This may be cheesy but I feel like I am entering a new stage of parenting!  Kindergarten here is all day, so it is definitely a big change but he seems to be doing really well so far and most importantly still loves it!  I miss him but it is good to get more time with the girls and the teacher part of me is so excited for him and all the fun things we will get to do and how much he will grow, it seems like he has already matured so much in 2 days!

Chutes and Ladders

Sadie is taking a semi regular nap these days so the big kids and I have been spending a little quality time together.  The favorite choice these days is Superhero Chutes and Ladders.  

 I tried to set the timer to include me in it, but that didn't turn out so well.

 Nor did the selfie...

It is a fun game made even more fun with super heroes, Shane gets some good work on counting, Marissa just places the spinner on a number and then finds that number somewhere on the board and puts her piece there.  And probably most important is learning how to lose- though I will say it is completely necessary for us to choose whether or not we want to go down the chutes:)

Impromptu campout

We got this tent for Josh's birthday and have had something going on pretty much every weekend this summer so we haven't used it yet.  So I figured before summer was over we might as well try it out in the backyard!  Can you tell the kids were a little excited?

 Shane asked me right before this picture, "are we gonna sleep in here til the cows come home??"  What?  I asked him where he heard that and he said that Lambie (from Doc McStuffins) always wants to cuddle til the cows come home.

 We roasted marshmallows on our propane stove and had Reese's smores, and then watched the Lego movie on our laptop in the tent.

I tried to get Sadie to sleep in the tent during the movie around 10 but that wasn't happening so I took her inside and she fell asleep 2 seconds later in her crib.  Josh slept inside with her while the big kids and I slept in the tent.  It was fun, but I think I may have gotten my fix of sleeping in tents with kids for awhile:)

BYU 50

BYU is having a fun promotion right now where they are counting down the 50 days to the first kickoff by dropping these boxes in all 50 states.  They have gone in alphabetical order and so a few weeks ago it was Indiana's turn.  Josh had heard about it and brushed it off thinking they would send it to Indy, but my dad being the superfan he is called me to let me know they would be dropping the box in Fort Wayne.  I thought what the heck, might as well try for it, so Josh got home from work and we headed out in the car and my dad watched twitter for us to see where they would be dropping it. They put it in Parkview field where our minor league baseball team plays so we headed over there apparently in record slow time (19 minutes) but still managed to be the first there so we got it!  We have often wished there were more members of our church here in Fort Wayne, but it turned out to be to our advantage this night!  The only other guy we saw there trying to get it was not an even a BYU fan, just a college football fan!  

 Inside was a jersey and a football signed by a bunch of the BYU greats, and some other little memorabilia.

We had a lot of fun getting it, and now we have plans for a "BYU room" when we get a house!  Thanks Dad!

First Things First

Sadie seems to like to do things backwards.  She wanted to climb the tallest ladders at the park before she could even walk, skip the sippie cup altogether and drink right out of a big one, and now she hardly says two words but she can use the potty?

A week or so ago I could see her pushing so I asked her if she was going poop and she started pointing to the bathroom and making her little grunt noise that lets me know she wants something, so I asked if she wanted to go potty and she ran right in there, got on the potty, and pooped, much to my surprise! I took this picture a few minutes later- after going potty she insisted on dressing herself and holding her cup without any intervention from me.

 She has put something in the potty about 10 times, and sat on it many more times, all of her accord- I am not pushing her to potty train and am sure it will fizzle out here pretty soon, and quite frankly I wouldn't be super sad if it did because it can be a little annoying!  But it has saved me a few diapers, and given me a few laughs too.  Here she is trying to push, probably listening to her sister too much:)

 

A Good Summer

I love summer!  I have tried to enjoy it as much as possible because I knew it would good by fast, and it has surely has!  We have one week til Shane starts kindergarten!  We've tried to spend as much time outside as we can, and it has really been pretty mild weather wise most of the time.

 We spent a fair amount of time playing baseball in the backyard,

 and obstacle courses were all the rage for awhile.

 We've of course spent lots of time at the zoo,

 and gone for many a walk around the lake, which got even more fun when the kids discovered throwing rocks into it.

 We spent a lot of time at the outdoor pool and splash pads, but didn't really document that at all- I think I was gun shy about bringing any electronics there after Josh's phone went kaputz when he forgot about it in his swimsuit pocket for an hour at the pool!  But the kids have made a lot of progress and had a lot of fun, and Shane can swim without a life jacket a lot more confidently now.  It doesn't get dark here til pretty late, and it has been nice to not really care too much about when the kids go to bed when we are out having fun, and to know they can sleep in in the morning.  (this picture was after the park after the evening baseball game)

I will miss that freedom next week, but I'm excited for this new adventure too!