Kindergarten

For over 5 years I have known this day was coming, yet it has always been so far away. The last year as it grew nearer and nearer, it started to get harder to ignore. Well, today it happened, my baby went off to Kindergarten, with out me, and I cried.

I knew I would, but I am pretty sure its a law that all moms cry so I don't feel bad. And my good friend Stacy cried too, and it was her second time sending off a child. (check out Stacy at 3 men and a little lady)

This morning he decided to sleep in for like the third time in his life, so I had to go wake him up around 7:30-yeah, for my kids, thats sleeping in. I rubbed his hand and whispered, "Hayden, wake up honey." nothing, so, "Hayden, you gotta get up and have some breakfast." nothing, "Hayden, you don't want to be late for your first day of school do you?" Oh my gosh! He jumped up, eyes popped wide open and said, "is it time to go now?"

He was excited to get to wear his new clothes and shoes, especially his Mariners shirt. As Sage lounged on our bed watching Disney channel, the normal early morning routine, Hayden sorta nervously paced around his room. He asked me to spike his hair like the lady did who cut his hair yesterday at the cool "haircut store."

Breakfast was yogurt which him and Sage traded bites. Marlee was busy celebrating her 4 month birthday by chewing on her toes.

At 8:20, we headed out. On the way to school, I started to tell him that I would want a full report when I picked him up, including of course, his favorite part of the day. Part way through this, I lost it. Tears started to roll and I felt like I had swallowed something much to large for my throat. He didn't care though, he was busy telling Sage something about his blue balloon. Marlee was still engrossed in her toes.

I managed to get myself together as we parked. All the other moms and kids were there already. We weren't late, but barely had time to snap a few pictures. Then it happened. The bell rang. The door opened and he was gone. My baby went to Kindergarted, and I didn't even get a proper goodbye. more tears. There were other moms looking a little startled by the disappearing act that just occured. I took my girls back to the car to cry some more. Then we got on with our morning. Sage wanted to get home in time for Dora. She was so excited because Hayden wasn't going to fight her about watching Dora. And, "We are all girls now!" Marlee on the other hand, was very grumpy the whole time Hayden was at school. Took a short nap and was fussy until we went to get her brother.

When the door opened and he came out, he couldn't get out all the events of the day fast enough. He had had a great time. "Mom, we read a story about a gingerbread man, then we made gingerbread men and mine had red spicy candy on it, but when we went back to get them, there was a note and the gingerbread men were gone, so we went to find them and there was flour on the floor, and so we went to the library and they weren't there, and we went to music, and we sang a song, a hello song, but the gingerbread men weren't there either, so we went to PE, MOM, DO YOU KNOW WHAT PE IS??? We got to run around the edge of the PE room. Oh, and we had recess and there are three slides and me and Parker played tag, and he is a really fast runner. .." He kept on going for a long time without pausing for anything more than a quick breath.

What a guy! I wasn't really too worried about how he would do, but he did great and can't wait until he goes back with the whole class next week. I have had a few moments throughout the day, but I think next week will be much easier.

Hayen and his teacher

Visitors

We had Jamie, Kyle and Avery here for the weekend. A weekend is never long enough. The kids played and played and we had a nice visit with Jamie and Kyle. Heath was soooo excited that we got to take the boat out for a few hours on Saturday. With Marlee being so little this summer, we have mostly watched longingly from the shore while all the other boats played. I will say that it may be the only boat ride of the year for me and Marlee, because the lifejacket is just a cruel torture device. Her arms have to be straight out from her sides and she can't move her head at all. Poor thing!

Cheese! Sage was a little ticked that she had to wear her "old" life jacket. She has a new pink one, but we had taken it out for something a few weeks ago and forgot to put it back. A mistake that will not be repeated! Sage's hat flew off during Hayden's ride on the tube, she had huge tears and even though we retrieved it, she was still so upset about it. With her life jacket off, Marlee didn't think that boating was too bad. Too bad the boat wasn't moving.


Hayden rode the tube with Kyle, just as he did last year. I am pretty sure he associates riding the tube with Kyle. He probably would not ride with anyone else. Kyle is a good sport and listens while Hayden chats his ear off the whole time while the boat barely moves. Sage shocked us with wanting a ride. I volunteered to ride with her and it was really fun. She held on tight and kept saying, "Avery, look at me; I'm back here!" Then she would tell me that we needed to catch up to the boat.
Avery driving the boat Heath's turn

Jamie has great pictures and more details on her blog: All Things Avery. It was a really fun weekend. So sad to see it end.
OH!
Did I mention that Auntie Kim surprised us last week with a visit? She made it just in time for dinner. She was passing through and decided to check up on us. I was supposed to keep it a secret from the kids so she could surprise them. When I put out an extra place setting for dinner, Hayden asked why. I told him we were having a mystery guest. He was certain it was going to be Heath's boss, who he has been wanting to invite over for quite awhile. Well the surprise was going to be really great, but when Kim called from the store just down the street to see if we needed anything, I ended the call with, "see ya in a few minutes Kim!" Hayden was at my side so there went the element of surprise! Oh well, we still had a really nice visit.
Visitors to come? Hoping for Auntie Shelly, and maybe Grandma F. We would certainly welcome any other friends and family interested...

Pre K graduation

Hayden and his teacher, Miss Amber

Last night was Hayden's Pre-K graduation. He has gone to the daycare where I work for a few years, but stopped when Marlee was born. For the last 2 years he was in their preschool program soI had terrible guilt about pulling him so close to the end of the year. I sorta felt like he got no closure either since we pulled him the day the baby was born. It was so close to the end of the year, seemed sorta silly to drive so far for just a month or so.

We were tickled to be included in the graduation. Last night we show up and several of the boys yelled, "Hayden!" and came and gave him a hug and they ran off to visit. I noticed that this was happening all over the courtyard. Their teacher, Miss Amber seemed to be on the verge of tears and just kept hugging kids. It was soooo sweet. As the program went on, the kids were much more interested in catching up with each other that they hardly noticed the crowd of camera toting adults staring at them and trying to shush them.

It was a really fun night for our whole family. Sage loves miss Amber and she got to see her beloved, miss Sherri, the "Lunch lady." I loved that I got to visit with the other kids parents, who are also my co-workers and friends that I haven't seen since May. Turns out that all but 4 or 5 of the 28 kids had left early in the summer and had not seen each other for a couple of months. It was a darling reunion. We found out that three of them will be in Hayden's kindergarten class.

I was so proud of Hayden, and can't believe he is moving on to kindergarten in less than a week. He is extremely excited and his teacher assured me that he is so ready, but its very hard for me to send my little boy off to school. Tears will be shed, but not likely by Hayden.

Our Trip

Last week, I packed up the kids and headed to Idaho for one last vacation before my Hayden starts kindergarten. With my three kids. Just me. Yes, I know, CRAZY! The drive is 8 hours in theory, but we can’t do it in less than 12, and that is when we have Heath with us.
Well, it really wasn’t so bad. We stayed in Boise on the way to and from Grandma and Grandpa’s house. It was sort of a little adventure. If you ever find yourself needing a room in Boise, I highly recommend the Springhill Suites by Marriott downtown! Good times and we even got little green apples at the front desk. (PF Changs is only 3 miles away and they have a to-go desk)
So our trip, it was way fun. The kids were just tickled to get to hang with the cousins and visit with grandma and grandpa. Hayden and Sage played until they dropped at night. It was great! Marlee on the other hand, is always afraid she will miss out on something at grandma and grandpas house and like last time, refused to nap much. On our second night there, Sage had completely worn herself out after skipping a nap, and fell asleep for the night about 6:00. The cousins had gone home. It was a beautiful evening, the farmer across the field was harvesting his hay crop. Hayden and Grandpa sat on the porch and talked all about it. Hayden was sure the combine (“car bind”) was Frank from Cars. After a lengthy discussion, Grandpa and Hayden ventured across the big cow pasture and got an up-close look at Frank.
They took a 4-wheeler ride through the neighborhood when the hay was all cut, and Grandpa even let Hayden ride in front and “drive.” It was really fun to see them interact. This was of course Hayden’s favorite part of the trip.
On Saturday, Uncle Will took all the boys fishing. Marlee decided to catch up on her lost sleep, so me and Sage got to go shopping just the two of us for a few hours. We went to Aunt Gretchen’s salon where Sage got a hair cut. What a big girl! She adores her Aunt and thought it was pretty great to sit in the special chair; she didn’t make a fuss once about having her hair combed, didn’t mind the hair dryer, or even the curling iron! In fact she quite enjoyed it. Especially when Gretchen put a curl in and made her hair stick straight up. She said she looked like a duck! This was Sage’s favorite part of the trip.
Saturday night was a great night for ice cream. We all drove out to the Dairy for heaping scoops of some very tasty ice cream. They had a new calf and foal, lots of cows, and some chickens there. Marlee loved being outside looking at the animals and watching the kids. It is quite the hopping place so there was lots of coming and going. This baby had a permanent grin on her face. She kept a close eye on everybody’s ice cream cones, I am quite sure she was hoping someone would share. Even though nobody did, I am certain this was Marlee’s favorite part of the trip.
My favorite part? Well, I love to watch the kids play so hard with the cousins. I would say doing chalk outlines with the kids one morning. Grayson and Sage really got into it. We talked about how the police use chalk outlines for dead bodies. Grayson thought that was great. The kids really wanted to trace Grandma and Great Grandma D. Grandpa was a good sport and let them trace him. Grayson made warriors out of his and my outlines. When we were all done, Grayson wanted me to write, “Everybody died.”
Other highlights: our picnic at the park, going to see Great Grandma, reading the Chinese Zodiac at Hunan, Uncle Will holding a sleeping Marlee, while I enjoyed my dinner at Bajio, swimming at the club-both times! Making snow cones at grandmas, and buying them at the snow shack in Gretchens neighborhood. Playing the M&M game with grandma and grandpa
Still fun, but what were we thinking: Taking the kids to the mall, taking the kids to Craigo’s.
It was a wonderful trip, and sorta hard to come home.

Sisters

The friendship between these two is starting to blossom. They are still a long way from developing that special connection only sisters can, but someday--hopefully someday soon, they will be each others best friends.

3 months

Our little Marlee turned 3 mnths over a week ago. Wow, how her personality has blossomed in the past month. I love to hear her calling me on the baby monitor because when I go to get her I get the best greetings. She has the biggest grins and seems so pleased that somebody stopped in to join in on her fun.

Month 3 proved that indeed, Marlee will commit to a schedule. We are so pleased with this, as now we can manipulate it as need be. Comes in handy for trips, dinners out or anything else we want to do away from home. She is a champ sleeper now, even puts her self to sleep. Not sure how I have managed to get such good sleepers, but its wonderful and I will not question it at all.

Marlee has been so patient and easy going as she has had to have a bit of alone time this month as I focused on the potty training of the big sis. This baby is very understanding and agreeable to anything. She is an amazing little traveler; she grins and coos to her brother and sister in the car as we run errands or cross the state. What a great baby!

Fun highlights of the month:

Fourth of July in Idaho, meeting cousins

Trip to Seattle, first Mariners game

Moving into her own room, sleeping in the crib

Trying out the front pack

Discovered her love for ceiling fans

She is growing so fast, we have measured her to be over 25" and about 14# now. Her hair is beginning to thin. Will she go blonde like the others??? Her eyes get bluer each day. We have discovered a birthmark, Heath spent days trying to scrub it off because he thought it was dirt.

Mariners Game

We took in a M's game last weekend. Hayden, Sage and Marlee all sported Mariners shirts, and the big kids had foam fingers and caps to complete the look. Hayden had a Rauuuul cap, but was mostly all about Ichiro. My mom, Mike, Aunt Marie, and Uncle George were all responsible for a very enjoyable day at the ball park. Great seats, great company, who could ask for more? Hayden had a great time looking at players through Mikes binoculars, even though we were behind home plate and already had a pretty good view.

With the rally fries phenomenon, we had to take part. We made them each a little sign to hold. Unfortunately, the game was not televised, so we were pretty sure Mike Blowers wouldn't be sending snacks our way, but Mom and Mike made sure the kids got a bucket of fries each. Don't tell the kids, they are still pretty proud that they won the rally fries that day.

Heath got them cotton candy, blue for Hayden, and what else but pink for Sage. She shocked us by announcing that it was yucky and wouldn't eat it. What kid does not like cotton candy??? The chocolate covered strawberries Marie brought over were fantastic! Best ballpark food I have ever had. Yum.

Marlee slept through several innings, and even Sage crawled up on her daddy's lap and fell asleep for a bit.

M's beat Oakland 4-3.

Wee Little Designs

My incredibly talented sister has started an online business. She makes birth announcements, party invitations, "just moved" cards, christmas cards or pretty much any occasion that you might want. Take a look. If you look real close, you may see a familliar face or two.

This is an announcement she created for us. Gorgeous!

She helped me put a link on my blog so its really easy to get to. Please check it out.