Hadley's first day of 1st Grade

First of all, I just want to make it clear that you cannot have enough pictures of the first day of school. I am really struggling with this new chapter of life. 1st grade, really? Not only am I not old enough to have a first grader, but I am not ready to have her gone all day. This is huge, she is now going to be gone all day forever. I sure wish I would have treasured our time together a little more because now I will not have as much time with her. I kept telling her that it was okay if she didn't want to go. She is the youngest in the class anyway, she could repeat Kindergarten. But she was determined and really didn't care at all about leaving me all day. In fact she would have been fine walking herself and not even having me there. As much as I am proud of her confidence, all I wanted was just a little hint that she needed me. Well, that wasn't going to happen. Even after school I said to her, "tell me the truth, and it is okay to tell me....did you miss me?" She gave me a blank stare, so again I asked "did you miss me?" She finally said, "well yeah mom but I was fine." She is so independent. I am so proud of her. She really can do anything. I am glad that she feels like she can do things without me, but it is really hard to let go. I still need her!! I held it together pretty well though, while we were at the school anyway. There was at least one tear but I quickly bucked up and saved it until I got home. Then the flood gates opened and it was one of the longest days of my life. School lasts a long time! Thank goodness for off track time. I think that is the only thing getting me through this. It will be an interesting year with her learning Chinese, I do fear at times that we signed up for more than we bargained for. After leaving orientation, I was feeling really thankful that it was her and not me. Then I realized, we are kind of in this together and really started wondering if we made the right choice. Chinese is a hard language. But I do think it will be good for everyone involved in the long run. We love you Hadley and are so very proud of the sweet girl you have become. Please don't forget about your mother!!

Beautiful

Gotta get the side view

Cambria, Hadley, and Maddy

Ready for 1st grade

Hadley and Ryan
These 2 cute girls have been in the same class since they were 3. This is the first year they are not together and they never will be again, through elementary anyway cause Ryan is not in the Chinese program. I am kind of sad! We love Ryan. I have pictures of these two from preschool, now they are both toothless and starting 1st grade. They are beautiful! I hope they continue their friendship.

24th of July Weekend

We decided to head back up to the cabin again with Hailee and Ryan. We went to the beach, tried to go to the Minnetonka cave...that didn't work out so well, they were to busy again, and took a drive to Jackson Hole Wyoming. It was a great adventure. We accomplished our goals, taking a picture under the antlers and getting the kids a souvenir. Not to mention the quality time we got to spend in the car with each other and the screaming babies! We decided to all ride together to save on gas, the only problem was Hailee's van only has 8 seats and we had 9 people. So Tyler and Ryan came up with the great idea to put a camp chair in the back and that is where Ty rode to Jackson. It was hilarious, not very safe, but hilarious. Hailee and Ryan even took a turn in the chair. I couldn't because I get car sick, but I heard it was pretty comfortable. We had a great time and even have the pictures to prove it!

Brae and Haddy

My cute little chubby chuncher!

I could eat her cheeks!

Fun on the Wave Runners

My Haddy

I can't get enough of her

Lexi loves to swim in the lake

Lexi with her best friend Carter

Ty loves his girls

My 3 favorite girls

j

Yep, this is where Ty rode to Jackson

Poor Brae is just along for the ride, if she wants to or not

Cute kids

The coveted picture under the antlers

Just Some Random Things

Hadley lost another tooth! It had been loose forever so she was stoked when it finally came out. She loves the visits from the tooth fairy. I can't remember if I wrote about this or not, but a while ago she asked me if I was the tooth fairy. What am I suppose to say to that? The only thing I could come up with was "why are you asking me that?"  She just said "answer the question" so I said " I wish I was the tooth fairy, that would be awesome!" I think I bought at least a few more months.

So then about a week later, Lexi decided to get it over with and knock Hadley's other tooth out making her "toothleth" I really am not sure what happened. All I heard was, "we didn't even do anything" but there was a lot of blood and a lot of crying. I guess Lexi stood up with enough force to jam the bridge of her nose into Hadley's tooth. It did leave a cut on Lexi's nose..I didn't get a picture. I couldn't even look at Hadley I was so grossed out. Her tooth was so bloody and loose. I really did feel bad for her, it looked like it hurt. But it held on through the night until morning came and she took a bite of a pancake. She immediately started crying and there was blood everywhere, again very hard to look at. She ran to the bathroom then came out with her tooth in her hand. She said " that feels much better" Her gums were all brown and bruised but it did look better. She was just happy to loose another tooth and she accepts all the teasing with a smile!

Then there's my Brae. She is always getting under the table and getting herself stuck! She is crazy, this girl never stops. But she is so freaking cute I had to take some pictures!

I just LOVE this baby!!!!

Lexi Turns 4!!

My sweet little Lexi is now 4 years old! I cannot believe it! She is already excited to turn 5 and go to Kindergarten. I am no where near ready for that, to be honest I am having a hard enough time with 4.  4 is big, it is a whole different ball game. She is really a little girl now, her face looks older, she is using bigger words, and I swear she is taller! She is constantly telling me what 4 year olds can do. She is such a sweetheart! I honestly don't know what we'd do without her. She is very loud and squeaky and LOVES to talk. Seriously, the girl does not stop talking. She is especially loud in the car where there is no escape! Although at times we do wish for some peace and quiet, we love listening to our Rella. She can carry on some interesting conversations. She is seriously freaking cute with her white hair and mischievous smile. She loves to dance, and I love watching her shake it! The girl was born to dance, it is the best thing that has ever happened to her....well that and candy. She is definitely a sugar baby! She asks for candy everyday, no joke, like at least 3 times a day. She is very sweet from all the sugar she eats. She is always telling me she loves me and she hates any sort of conflict. She loves to play with Hadley and bug the heck out of Brae. She loves Brae and every other baby a little too much! She is always asking to play with a friend and is very excited to start 4 year old preschool. We love her so much and feel very blessed to have her in our family.

We had a friend party for Lexi the day before her birthday so that we could go to Seven Peaks on her birthday. We were there for 7 1/2 hours! We had a blast. Lexi was such a little dare devil! She loves going down the slides, especially with her dad cause they go so fast, end up backwards and sometimes tip over! She loves it!

Kendyl and Lexi loved playing on the swings

Lexi and her friend Sophia. Lexi told me months before her birthday that she had to invite Sophia to her party

Lexi enjoying the Slip N Slide

Hadley was such a good sport at the party! We could tell she felt a little out of place because she thought she was so much older than every one else.

Lexi gearing up for some Pin the Tail on the Donkey!

Lexi and her friends

We had to step inside cause the wind kept blowing out the candles

I freaking LOVE this picture!! This was at Seven Peaks

Enjoying some lunch

Kresta and Kaitlyn joined us for the fun

Lexi with her best friend Kayla

Baby Brae was there too, she had a big day!

Our Little Lover

My sweet little Brae is such a little lover. She absolutely loves to gives kisses to EVERYBODY. She gives kisses when she is happy, sad, stressed out, upset, it doesn't matter. Especially if she thinks someone else is upset. She is such a sweetheart, I just love her! She really loves to kiss her dad. She loves her dad, she gets so excited when he gets home and greets him with an open mouth kiss. Although, she greets everyone the same way, her dad is pretty special to her.

4th of July

I cannot believe the 4th of July has come and gone. As usual, we went up to Bear Lake to enjoy the holiday. And enjoy it we did! We went to the pool, hung out at the lake, roasted marshmallows and hot dogs, ate smores, played at the cabin, went on Rhino rides, did sparklers and pop-its, then on the 4th we went to none other than the Paris Idaho parade. The kids love that parade cause they get a ton of candy. Then we went home and struggled with the idea of fighting the crowds to see fireworks. Our neighbors behind us invited us to watch the fireworks they bought. The kids enjoyed it even though we lit them before it got dark cause we all wanted to get the kids to bed. We came in from that, got the kids ready for bed and the booms started. So we went outside in the back yard and let the kids watch the fireworks for a minute, then we put them to bed. I came upstairs and looked out the front door and there were fireworks everywhere. I felt guilty so I went and got the kids out of bed and we watched an amazing firework show right from our front porch. I sure am glad we decided not to fight the crowds, with the new firework laws this year, I thought our show was just as good as any and the kids didn't know the difference. It was great! Now we are all trying to recover from all the fun and late nights we had.