First Day Of School!!!

Summer has officially ended and school has begun.  Kaitlynn started second grade and Jack became a kindergartner.  How did my kids get so old?

They woke up bright and EARLY.  They were dressed and ready by 6:15.  

 There was lots and lots of begging to go outside and wait in the bus line.  We made them wait to go outside until 7:45.  The bus comes at 8:10...  They were first in line.

 I have a cute picture of Kaitlynn standing on the porch on her first day. So I wanted to get the same one of Jack.   I guess the sun wasn't so bright two years ago.  He wasn't having it.

 I tried to get one of them by the tree.  Jack was more concerned about getting in the bus line.  

 Finally I let them go.  

 They were so eager to get their back packs in line and save their spots.  

 BUS!!! when the bus comes around the corner all the children yell and run to get in line.  It is really fun to watch.  Jack got a little nervous at this point but he did it. 

He was the first one to lead the kids onto the bus for the new school year.  

 Meanwhile we spent the day mudding and taping the basement in our attempts to finish it.  It was good for me to stay busy all day. I was so anxious for Jack. 

 The night before school started we all went to Back to School Night where Olivia fell in love with school.  She was so disappointed in the morning when she found out that she didn't get to ride the bus and play with teachers.  So she played school with Hannah.  

All my nerves for Jack were unwarranted.  In his words "School is Awesome!" so lets hope it stays awesome all year long!

Seven!

I am going to attempt to document our lives.  Hopefully I can get it all down.   May eleventh my baby turned 7.  How!?  She is beautiful and kind.  We are so very lucky to have her.  Luckier still to have her as our first born.  She sets a high standard and good example for her siblings.  

First thing in morning on their birthdays, the kids get to choose one gift to open then have to wait for the rest.  Here is kaitlynn with her gift.  Her little sister was super excited for the gift too.

Until she realized it wasn't for her.

So before Kaitlynn even put on her birthday princess crown she shared it with Olivia.  

Finally getting a turn with her own gift.

Birthday breakfast.

She made breakfast for everyone.  Pancakes and scrambled eggs are her favorite.

Another one of her favorites is Little Caesars bread sticks.  She doesn't like the pizza but she can down a whole bag of crazy bread.  So we picked up pizza and headed to penguin park for lunch.

Our gift to her was a camera.  It turns out that you can buy a real camera way cheaper than you can buy a kid play camera.

This gift was from grandpa Hylton of course.  She has spent many hours pouring over this book.

Feats of strength at the park.

Did you know May 11th is national train day?  Yeah, we didn't either.  We stumbled upon this fun on our way home. Not far from us there is a little park that has a train you can ride around a field for fifty cents.  We decided to go do this only to find out that it was national train day and the park was filled with bounce houses, face painting and live entertainment.  Super fun.  Kaitlynn felt like it was a giant party just for her!

Riding the train.

So after a fun day of parks, pizzas and parties we headed home for cake and ice cream.  Unfortunately  I only have video of that event. I love watching her grow up.  She is truly a blessing to our home and each year shows us that more and more.

Someone wants to be bigger

Hannah started a little trick this week.  Anything she can pull herself up on she will.  I love how happy she is with herself.  Look at that beautiful smile!

Crawling... kind of

So a few weeks ago Michael and Jessie post on their blog that their sweet little girls were rolling over.  I turned and looked at Hannah and told her not to get any ideas! A week later she was a professional roller.  It's always exciting to watch your children grow and develop but a little sad at the same.  I am not ready to see some of her small babyness go.  Anyway, since she mastered the rolling she was no longer satisfied with hanging out.  She wants to be on the go!  This video is a little old she gets around a bit faster now.  I will excitedly cheer  her on but inside I begging her to stay small just a little longer.

Hannah's Sleepy Laugh

When Hannah gets really tired she gets giggly.  That is what happened today while I was putting her down for her nap.  Love this sweet little girl.

Happy Easter

This Easter Ryan and I didn't do a very good job planning things out.  I think it was because Easter came ridiculously early this year.   So our children didn't receive Easter baskets and they survived.  It was kind of nice not to worry about it, mostly because we forgot.  Luckily grandparents didn't forget Easter.  We received fun packages from both sets.  Thank you!  

This was a hard project for one little boy.  He is not the most patient person and thought dying the eggs was sooo boring.  

These three enjoyed the festivities though.

 Hannah spent her time attacking the bag of jelly beans.

 Ryan got very creative with his eggs to help Jack get a bit more excited about the whole thing.  Ryan made a pirate Jack egg.  Super fun.  Unfortunately I only have video of the finished project and I don't know how to load video on here without Ryan's help.

 After Hannah lost the battle with the bag of jelly beans she hung out in the bouncer by us.

 Grandma Hylton sent this little paint set for Kaitlynn.  I don't know if Kaitlynn ever did an egg.  She was very absorbed with this project.

 Eventually Jack got into the decorating spirit.

 Proud of her work.

 Olivia didn't need any persuasion.  She loved making a mess, which is why she lost her shirt privileges.

 Her hands looked like this for a few days.

 A very bright Easter Bunny.

After we cleaned up the kitchen we went to bed without realizing that neither of us had put the colored in the fridge. They had just been left on the drying rack. So sad to throw away a carton of eggs!  Fail.

 Easter Sunday was nice. The meaning of Easter was a little overshadowed for me this year because I was released from my calling as Primary President.  I have been in primary since we very first moved here.  It was my last time being with the children in that role.  I still feel a little emotional about it but, I am excited for a new calling.  I have to admit I was sad to hear camp director was taken.  So would have loved that one!  Also compassionate service leader.  Oh well as long as I am not the new Gospel Doctrine teacher or Webloes leader I will be just fine.  

 Enjoying the spoils of the hunt.

 We did a hunt with some friends in the neighborhood but to keep it fair since there was a huge discrepancy in age, each child was only allowed ten eggs.  This also helped in limiting the amount of candy they could get.  Olivia is getting really good at counting but you may notice that she only collected nine instead of ten.  Her mean parents decided not to correct the mistake.

 Bright sun.

 Happy Hannah.  The poor thing really struggles with a rashy face.  She is like her momma and drools a lot!  It's hard to keep her face dry.

 Love me a little boy in shorts and boots on the wrong feet!

 This is the best of a million pictures I tried to take of these three friends.

 This picture cracks me up.  I guess Ryan took a picture right as Ansley and I were talking about our skirts and showing off our waistbands.