Howdy Partner!

It's cowboy day at preschool...finally! Olivia has been asking me for two weeks when she can dress up and today I was happy to tell her it was time. I can see why she was so excited...she's the cutest little cow girl I've ever seen!

Off-Track Fun

September is usually my favorite month to be off-track (out of school for 3 weeks), because the weather is usually nice and so we can somewhat prolong our summer. However, this year it was freezing, so we had to find something to do indoors. We decided to go to Classic Skating and each take a friend. Landon took Payton, and Emma took Caitlyn. They had a great time!

My Stoner Child

I picked my sweet four-year old up from preschool today, and we had the following conversation:

Olivia: "Mom, don't you wanna talk about my day?"

Mom: "Of course, tell me all about it!"

Olivia: "I bonked heads with Olivia L. and I cried. BUT...it was an accident".

Mom: "I'm sorry you got hurt today, so are you okay now?"

Olivia: "Yup, I'm fine. I decided to be high at recess, so that made me feel so happy."

Mom (a few seconds after choking on my apple): "Um...you decided to be high at recess? What do you mean by that?"

Olivia: "All my friends are brave and like to be high. I don't like it 'cuz it scares me. But today I finally was brave and got SOoooo high!!!"

Mom: "Okay...so...can you PLEASE explain to mommy what it means to be high?"

Olivia: "Well...I don't really it too much 'cuz it- it scares me. But today I got brave and tried it. I let Sam push me so, so, so high, and now I love the swings!!! I think I'll let Sam push me really high every time!

Mom:  (After a sigh of relief and deciding this was a good educational opportunity)..."Yes, yes you are so brave. But Olivia...please don't ever do anything you aren't comfortable with just because all your friends are doing it. You are strong, and brave, and a great friend. You never do something that makes you sad or scares you...okay...you just tell Mommy if that happens and I'll help you...okay?!!!"

Olivia: "Oh, Mommy...I have something to tell you!!!"

Mom: "What?!!!"

Olivia: "Addie picked her nose today!!"

...and...

we're back...

The Dreaded Laundromat

Our washer broke and it took me a week to get someone to look at it and then another week for the part. I was tempted to just go buy all new clothes and towels just to avoid the laundromat, but I decided it would be a good learning experience for the kids. Well, not really, but they were off-track, so I had to drag them along. They were amazed with the number of washer and dryers there, and wondered why anyone would want to own their own when they can just come here and get it all done at once.

Then they saw the answer.

Gotta pack some heat at the laundromat.

Never know who's going to try to take your comforter
(and no, he's not a cop).

The kids were good, as usual, and kept themselves busy, but I think this was a good "one time" event. 

Swimming Lessons

I wanted to make sure the kids kept busy while they were off track, so I put them in Swimming Lessons. They've had lessons before, but this is more advanced, since they learned diving techniques and new strokes. They both did great and Landon is looking forward to trying out for the Swim Team.

Mother & Son Having Some Fun

I wanted to spend some one on one time with my little man, so we decided to go to an arcade. It was fun to see such a big smile on his face and watch him have a good time.

But then, I started to look around and found a bunch of my childhood games, and thus, turned into a child. 

We both had fun, but I'm sure he would just tell you

 it was more embarrassing than fun. 

What?!!

Well, at least I had fun!

What the?

I woke up to a bruise the size of a baseball on the back of my leg. I do bruise really easily, but I knew I didn't do anything that would have caused a bruise like this. After reading and researching, I determined it was a burst blood vessel. I was concerned that it might be a deep vein, so I went to the doctor. Luckily, he said it was just a surface vein.

Somehow the word "just" doesn't make bursting a vein sound any less scary. It's definitely something I need to look out for in the future, and it turns out we have quite the family history of vein issues. However, I got a chance to speak with a lot of my family members about our family history and I got a lot of information (even though a bit scary) that I never would have known had I not had this happen, so something good definitely came out of it!

Tour Of Utah

The last time we watched the Tour of Utah, it was from a Walgreens in Draper. I think it's safe to say that being invited to a private booth to watch it in Park City is a big improvement. Jeremy had a great time with his colleagues watching the competitors (some were his old team mates) come into the finish line.

First Day of Pre-Kindergarten!

Dancing in the Rain

My neighbors had been planning to host an outdoor wedding for several months, and spent every day making their yard absolutely immaculate. It was a beautiful August day and they spent the day setting up. All the guests arrived and the kids and I were just sitting out on the porch people watching, when suddenly, seriously out of no where, it starting raining.

But not just raining.

Pouring!

It caught us so off guard, the kids were already wet, so I just let them play in the rain.

But I felt SO bad about the wedding!

Wednesday

Is there anything cuter than little four-year hands and stubby fingers? 

Well, maybe the face that begged me to paint her nails sparkly pink.

And then begged me to take her to the Library...or as she says, "Libary"

She is reading so well now!

This girl is growing up so fast and I love spending every minute I can with her.

Orbital What?

On Tuesday, Olivia was trying to avoid Landon's remote controlled car, and ended up tripping over her feet and landing directly ON the car. She had a bit of a goose egg, but as you can see from yesterday's post, she was happy as a clam (but you can see the goose egg on the picture).

I was really surprised to wake up this morning to her eyes and forehead swollen. I was concerned that she may have had some sort of head injury, so I took her right to the doctor.

Turns out she has Orbital Cellulitis which is basically just a skin infection. I'm so grateful it wasn't something more serious. I'm also grateful that no matter how miserable this girl is, she is still always smiling!

I told her she needed to rest and stay inside until the swelling went down. Last night she came into my room and asked me if the swallowing had gone down yet. She cracks me up. 

Girls Day Out

Landon had Scout Camp all day today, so the girls and I decided to do what girls do best...shopping and pampering :)

Emma has been begging me to get bangs for over a year, so I finally gave in. This girl could be bald and would still be the most beautiful girl in the world.

Before

After

We gave Olivia a bit of a trim, but I think she really just wanted her hair done up in Princess Buns and sparkles. I don't blame her- she looks pretty stinkin' cute!

Afterwards, we went to Justice to buy Emma new school clothes and a backpack. 

So fun to have a day out with my favorite girls!

Dance 'n Bowl

It's been raining off and on all week. We've had to leave the park, quit a bike ride, and some days just stay inside. This morning the kids asked what we were going to do today, and I told them we'd have to do something inside since it was going to rain again today. Olivia shouted out, "Let's go bowling!!"

Random, but a great idea. We headed to Fat Cats and had such a great time just laughing, dancing, and spending time together.

Olivia cracked me up so much that I had to get it on video. On every turn, she would casually walk over with her ball, then SLOWLY roll it down, and then RUN all the way back, and dance until her ball hit a pin (which was a good 20 seconds). That girl definitely marches to the beat of her own drum. 

Such a fun day, I can't believe the kids go back to school next week. We are trying to jam in as much as possible in these three weeks, that's for sure!

Landon's Challenge

Two days ago, Landon asked if he could go to the new Harry Potter movie. I told him that since he hadn't seen any of the other movies, it wouldn't make sense to him. I asked if he would be interested in reading the books, and after each book he could watch the corresponding movie. He was super excited for my challenge, and off we went to the Library to get The Sorcerers Stone. This morning he woke up telling me he had finished it and was ready for the movie. I forget how fast that kid can read. Thank goodness for instant video rentals- he had the movie playing within five minutes of asking. Remember when we actually had to drive to a video store and cross our fingers that the movie we wanted was in stock. My kids will never even know what a video store is! Anyway, he is now onto the second book. At this rate, the movie will probably still be in the theater when he finishes the last book. That's my boy!

Summer Lovin'...Having a Blast...

This pretty much sums up our summer so far...

4th Grade Program

Today was Landon's program. Apparently only 4th and 6th grades have an end-of-year program. I'm still learning all the nuances of our new school...like that the program would be 90 minutes long, and so one should make sure one feeds the 4-year old, or have her go potty, or at least bring something to keep her entertained.

Lessoned learned.
(look at all the kids laying on the floor
this was about 60 min in).

They had been learning about Utah all year and practicing for this program. They dressed up like Pioneers and each had speaking parts as well as playing the Recorder. 

 

This is his music teacher, who really put her heart and soul into this program. 

Imagine her devastation when during this dance, the music stopped and she said, 

"Oh, no, the machine ate my tape!"

All of us 'old folks' started laughing, and all of the 'young whippersnappers' had no idea what a tape was.

I was actually surprised she had a machine that would play tapes. I bet that same tape was used for the last 20 years of 4th grade programs. 

Rest in Peace Old Trusty.

Rest in Peace.

There's my handsome boy Young Man.

They did a great job. I'm SO proud of Landon and all he accomplished this year!