First day of school....again!

School is underway and I now have a second grader and a kindergartner. It seems kind of weird. Mostly because they seem so big to me!

And poor little Emmie is now stuck at home alone with me. Poor girl, I see much errand running in her future.

The first days of school have gone pretty well. Owen seems to be having fun in kindergarten. His class is full of several friends and so I think school has been a big party for him thus far. Ainsley is in a 2-3 class this year (thanks to budget cuts). I think she'll do well but it might take some getting used to for her. She struggled a bit with finding friends during recesses, and then I explained that the second graders go to lunch a little while after she does. So she's going to have to be brave and try hard to make friends with the few other second grade girls in her class. She had a bummer second day of school, but I'm hoping she's worked out the problems and that she'll have a good year and make new friends too.

.....................Update............
I worry that I make Ainsley seem like she has a hard time with friends at school. I think it's more accurate that I stress out when she has a rough time (which is to be expected with all kids) and I dwell on it and fret about it. I am most likely the one that has a harder time watching Ainsley face any opposition that she has dealing with it.

After talking to her about the schedule at school and breaking the news to her that her best friend won't be able to play with her all the time, we made a plan for her to get to know the girls in her class better. And in only one day it worked. She has very sweet girls in her class. I guess that's the silver lining of being put in a combo class, they don't take the trouble makers. She came home yesterday all smiles. She had been able to play with girls in her class and still got some time to play with her best friends too. We set up a play date for her and I'm just hoping this transition goes smoothly. It must be intimidating to be in a class with the majority of the kids being a year older than you.

Ainsley is such a leader and has such a spunk about her. She is resilient and kind and others are just drawn to her. I found it interesting that the girl in her class that was new to the school sought Ainsley out and asked her to play. Ains really is an amazing little girl!

Yummy

Today I gave the kids a Creamie and sent them outside. Unsupervised. I put Emmie in a bib. A lot of good that did.

This Summer's Last Hurrah

We headed up to Cascade for our last excursion of the summer. Like I've mentioned before, we're lucky and have friends who have parents who have cabins. And we were lucky enough to be invited back to the Stellmon's cabin, this time during the summer instead of the winter. Cascade is beautiful. And the cabin was right on Horsethief Reservoir.

It took our family over 3 hours to make the 2 hour drive. We spent some quality time in a Chevron parking lot, exploring a pioneer cemetery, and then some time on the side of the road because our kids are incredibly whiny....and/or carsick. but eventually we made it. Friday night we wandered around the cabin and hung out a bit.And then we crammed our fun into Saturday, because we were leaving late Saturday night. The kids fished all morning. They caught 3 fish: Slimy, Slippery, and Pee Wee. They only kept and ate Slimy. We're hoping that next summer Slippery and Pee Wee will be large enough for consumption.

I think it's ironic how Ainsley is the brave one when it comes to touching fish. Owen would gently tough the side. Although I didn't even want to do that.

The kids played in the water on some cool float toys. The water off the dock wasn't that deep so the adults just hung out on the dock with the babies. But the kids sure had fun!

And just before we had to head home we fit in a bit of bow shooting (I'm sure there is a technical term for that that I'm unaware of). John has a surprisingly good shot. He got a bulls eye on his 3rd shot.!

And then we drove home. And we were exhausted. Which means we had fun. Thanks Stellmon's!

Random Bits of Summer

Not sure why but I love this picture of Ains.

Emmie looking super cute one Sunday morning.

S'mores. We've had plenty of stickiness in the backyard this year.

Swimming.

And more swimming....Emmie learned to blow bubbles on this day.


And just in case you couldn't tell what this was, it's a parade...duh.

Emmie and Her Big Girl Bed

Emmie recently graduated from her crib to her big girl bed. Not because I was ready for her too, but because it was time. It had just become apparent that Owen and Ainsley sharing a room was not working anymore, and we felt it needed to be done before school started so that Ainsley could get a good nights sleep and we could fight all of our battles now rather than have to wait until Christmas break.

I was a bit sad about it. Mostly I was sad when I listed our crib on craigslist and it sold. I wasn't here when the buyers came to pick it up. I was hoping it would go to a cute young couple, but when I asked John for a description he would just say that they very well could live in a trailer park. At least the girl that bought it was really nice and really grateful. She even emailed me after she got it home and thanked me again for the beautiful crib.

I teared up a bit that the crib was gone. Maybe because it was my way of admitting that I was done having babies. And while I love babies, and miss having a baby, I'm also kind of ready for the next phase of having older kids.

Ains and Emmie are now sharing a room. And it kind of shocked me how great Emmie was about the transition. The most trouble she has given us was not wanting to go to her bed a couple of times and coming out of her room a few times before going to sleep. She's been great about napping too. It still cracks me up when she shows up in my room in the morning. I was kind of expecting her to have a period of time where she stayed in her bed and called for me like she did when she woke up in her crib. Not Emmie! The very first morning she was in my room at 7:30 with a bright and happy, "Hi!" And as sad as I was about my baby losing a little of her babiness, Ainsley was 20 times sadder than me. She even made us take a picture of her in the crib, recreating a picture taken of her as a baby...........

Ains had a rough week because there was so much cleaning and sorting going on as we were switching the kids rooms around. There was more than one tear shed over more than one random scrap of paper. I swear one day she will be on the show hoarders.

Owen is 5!

Owen turned 5 clear back on the 8th....and I'm finally posting about it! He got to have his first friend birthday this year. The theme of pirates was chosen and the fun began. Once again I outdid myself with the decorations.....mostly because my mom just happened to have a bunch of pirate decorations that made our back yard look particularly cool. But I do make a mean cupcake.

We started off the the ever popular hot dog lunch.

Then moved onto games. The biggest hit of the party was my water balloon (cannon ball) target launch. The kids got to throw water balloons when I yelled "fire" at targets hung on the fence. Then they took turns being the targets themselves. I think we could have just done this for an hour and the party would have been a success.

He's got the pirate look down.

He also got to have a little family party that night. Cousins came over for more cupcakes and ice cream and, of course, presents. He did quite well this year. He's got Lego's and transformers to spare and even got a scooter.

Owen is quite the little guy and it was fun to watch him have a day all to himself. Unfortunately he's the middle child and the only boy, so sometimes he gets the short end of the stick around here.

So here's a little about Owen...

He's always hungry.

He has a sweet tooth....a huge one.

He's the most independent person I know.

He's a daddy's boy.

He loves wii.

He once attacked a kid in defence of his sister (and was rewarded for it).

He is hilarious.

He will be the youngest in his kindergarten class this year...but he's already reading and I have a feeling he will be a math whiz.

He loves broccoli.

His favorite food is macaroni and cheese with ketchup and hot dogs in it.

He loves to swim.

He self taught himself to do flips on the trampoline and into the swimming pool.

He has a stain on the shoulder of every shirt he owns because he uses it as a napkin.

He rode his bike without training wheels when he was 4.

He is adorable!

Welch Family Weekend

Always a good time.

Also........

Also while we were camping Owen learned how to do this.

He has since perfected his skills. He's pretty awesome.