Little Ballerina

Kenzie is the one in the middle -- no skirt

Mackenzie started ballet last Thursday and I think she loves it. She looked so cute in her little tights, leotard, and ballet shoes with her hair back in a bun. Last week it was very difficult to really peek in and look at her because I had two boys with me. I was exhausted after class last week and I didn't even dance. Mackenzie is in class with three little cousins, Audrey, Jill, and Reece. That makes it fun for her but I think it complicates things a bit for the moms until we start carpooling. Audrey and Reece have big brothers, Jack and Garrett, and they are best buddies with Grant. I don't know if that takes any more explaining... 2- 5 year old boys and 1- 6 year old boy in a dance studio?!

But that's not all. In addition to that I have a 1 year old that doesn't walk yet but LOVES to explore and get into things. He doesn't want to be held anymore. He wants to crawl or walk along chairs, furniture, etc. We did take a little break to go walk around the Farmer's Market. Ballet class is only 45 minutes so it's not really worth the drive home and back. And if parking wasn't so crazy I would have considered it. This Thursday, however, was the last week of Farmer's Market for the summer, so thank goodness parking will be available again. This week worked out very nicely because Talmage was able to come right after his soccer game and take our boys home so I could stay and peek in on Kenzie a little more. It was so much easier to watch! Last week I had my camera but didn't take very many good pictures; hard to hold a camera steady while holding a squirmy little boy. Kenzie tries really hard and sits very still and quietly when waiting for her turn across the floor.

Teacher Leslie

Teacher Lauren

It's hard to believe I'm taking my own little girl to dance. Valley Oak School of Dance is the same dance studio I went to as a young girl and danced with for 12 years. Teacher Leslie was my teacher since I started. There was a bit of reminissing as I walked out of the studio with my little dancer. The class after Mackenzie's is the advanced ballet with the oldest girls dancing pointe. Those girls look so young! It doesn't seem that long ago that I was in their shoes, yet it feels like forever. I so enjoyed my years of dancing. My senior year I helped teach a few classes just like Kenzie's "Teacher Lauren." The memories... Those little girls are so cute and say and do the funniest things.

Kenzie and her cousin Jill

Earlier in the day before Kenzie's ballet class, I asked her to tell me her 3 favorite things to do. This is what she said.

1. Play
2. Ballet
3. Get Rocks

She actually added get married at the end, but I'll let her add that to her list when she's about 25. On a side note, she did tell a little boy her age that she's going to marry him. It left him speechless (and I'm sure very confused). She also tells me that she's going to be Minnie Mouse when she grows up. I would be okay with that. She'll probably be short enough. As far as getting rocks...I'm not sure where that comes from? She is a little girly but she likes to play in the dirt and collect rocks. Every time we're at the ranch she comes home with a few. That's my little ballerina.

A very small portion of her rock collection. Yes, just normal, find-in-the-driveway rocks.

**By the way...I almost didn't post any pictures when I saw how BLURRY they were. I can take pictures that aren't blurry but just not while holding a little boy. My dinky little camera doesn't help either.

Back to School

Back to school already. Grant loves school so he was excited to go back. I admit I was dreading it just a bit because of the transportation delima. Grant rode the bus home from school most days last year. I know it wasn't good of me to complain but I wished the bus could just drop him off in front of our house. It had to drive right in front of our house to circle the park to end up at the bus stop anyway. Most days I had to wake Tyler up from his naps...never fun to wake a peacefully sleeping baby.
Well this year, there is no bus transportation for kids within city limits. Makes sense...I know and I agree with it, however, I don't love it. I would rather take away buses than teachers. There are a LOT of kids that go to school and a LOT of cars that drive to drop them off and pick them up. I really shouldn't complain... It's wonderful that he has a great school to go to. So....first day of school. He was happy. He was excited. He met his wonderful teacher, Mrs. Harris. He has two friends from his class last year, Max and Ernesto. He is excited about his own desk. He thinks it's so fun to play on the big playground. It's a little weird having him gone all day. That hasn't been as exhausting for him as I anticipated. He's adjusted very well. I called my parents after Grant's first day of school and told them I just dropped off my First Grader for his first day of ALL day school. My dad replied that he had just sent his Twelfth Grader off to school...his last kid to send off for his last year of school. (Quickly I felt I wasn't going to get much sympathy for taking my first grader)I didn't hear much about his first day of school -- he doesn't divulge much information no matter how many questions I ask. I did hear that he chased some girls at recess. That was surprising! but it made me smile. Grant is such a shy and reserved boy that I didn't know he had that in him. Way to go Grant. Well...as always, this year will fly by and before we know it Summer will be here again. Talmage is convinced that Kenzie will start Kindergarten next Fall but I'm a little hesitant. I'm not ready for my kids to grow up so fast. Kenzie is so close to the deadline for starting school. Her birthday is November 8th and the cutoff is December 1st. My sister Brittany and I both have November birthdays. We started school early and seemed to turn out okay -- But my mom wishes she would have started us later. Why make kids grow up so fast? We'll see what happens.

Our Summer

Highlights of our summer. As always...it went by too fast but we had a lot of fun!!

• Swimming -- And the kids have no tan lines to prove it :: they just don't get color!
  
• Grass in the backyard -- Nice to have it GREEN
• County Fair -- Talmage's students did well and we all had a great time.
• Jelly Belly Factory -- Love free jelly bellys!
  
• Disneyland -- Kids had fun :: We had fun
  
• Tyler and Grant's birthdays -- What cute, good boys we have
  
• Jenn and kids visit -- So fun to play with cousins!
  
• Pinecrest -- Talmage's lone hike around the lake :: Yummy ice cream cones :: Party boat
  
• Santa Cruz -- Loved $.75 hot dogs, rides, drinks, cotton candy! And finally had a deep fried twinkie!
  
• Library reading program -- I love that my kids love to read
  
• Summer movie festival -- I love free movies!
  
• National Night Out at the park -- Conveniently located right across the street
• G&G Allen, Taylor & Shalie visit -- Columbia, Fun Works, Camping in the backyard, Farmer's Market, Chocolate Cake, Swimming... So much fun! We love having visitors
  

Grant's birthday party

I've never really had a birthday party for Grant. Maybe when he turned 3 we had a little family gathering with cake and ice cream and party hats (because that's all he said he wanted for his birthday--the party hats). Grant has gone to A LOT of birthday parties this year and has always had SO MUCH fun. Back in April he started making his own invitations. He only had to ask how to spell a few words and names but he did the rest. In fact, I didn't even know what he was doing until he had about 3 invitations all done. That was when I decided I should have a birthday party for him. I'm not one of those naturally creative people so being that Grant's birthday is in the middle of July it's perfect for a swim party and water games. Grant helped me plan his party and make his new invitations (although I think his original ones looked much better than mine). I always feel a little awkward about inviting people over and having parties--which is why I've never really done it before. BUT we pulled it off and had a great time. Grant was very worried when we got to my grandparents' house and we were the first ones there. He asked what happened and where everyone was. We explained that since it was his party we needed to be the first ones there. Thank goodness we have a lot of cousins close by and that they were in town because ALL of the other friends he invited were on vacation with their families--Middle of July=Family vacations! An extra special treat was that Mason and Kennedy (my sister's kids) were here visiting from Utah. Grant had a lot of fun.

We played a few games on the front lawn before breaking the Pinata. That was a TOUGH pinata! Then everyone enjoyed swimming. It was a HOT day...close to 100 if not hotter. Then of course time for cake and ice cream and opening presents. Thank you everyone for the gifts. Grant has had a BLAST playing with his new things. He woke up around 5:00 Sunday morning to play with his toys before church...what a kid!

Disneyland

Highlights
::Being together as a family
::Staying at a close hotel...thanks MOM and DAD
::Seeing the excitement in the kids' faces
::It's a Small World ride was OPEN (Kenzie was absolutely PLEASED)
::Tyler LOVED the rides and characters
::Grant celebrated his 6th Birthday
::Fireworks were spectacular
::Talmage reached a new high score on the Buzz Lightyear ride...see picture below
::Had fun swimming in the hotel Pool
::1:1 Ratio for kids and adults (My mom, sister Jenn and her two kids, and sister Cortney were there). Especially nice that each kid had a stroller
::Tyler took surprisingly good naps in his stroller
::Packed extra food to save $$
::Kenzie went on more rides than just Small World...she said the Woody ride and Carousel were her other favorites...although it took A LOT of coaxing to go on the Woody ride. She cried and refused to go the first two times we got up to the front of the line.
::We were able to go to the "Company D" Store for Disney employees and get our souvenirs for WAY cheaper.
::Talmage and I got a night out to the park by ourselves!
::Grant went down the "big slide" at the hotel pool because he's a "strong swimmer"
::Got to feed the fish in the Koi Pond at the hotel
::We had a WONDERFUL time!!Not so highlights
::The crowds...although we expected them in the middle of july
::The HEAT and HUMIDITY?!
::An unfortunate "protein spill" from a passenger seated RIGHT NEXT to Talmage on the Monorail--glad the kids and I were in another location--sorry Talmage!
::We didn't get to ride everything...Splash Mountain, Indiana Jones, Peter Pan, Mr. Toad, The Train, Space Mountain--Didn't even go into ToonTown
::The night out with Talmage, the crowds were worse than during the day...Indiana Jones broke down when we were in line...Space Mountain line had a 45 minute wait at 11:55pm?!
::A few of us ended up getting colds :(

Happy Birthday Grant

Grant is a very special part of our family.

He is sensitive
He is thoughtful.
He is smart.
He is shy.
He is kind.
He is helpful.
He is sweet.
He is happy (and grumpy).
He is a friend.
He makes us laugh.

When I was looking back at pictures it was hard for me to believe that time goes by so quickly. I don't remember much about life without Grant. I also have a hard time remembering how easy life was having only Grant. I feel like I've heard my mom say...I wish I could go back and do it again. I would write more things down so I could hopefully remember more.
Grant is such a good helper and sweet boy. It really is hard to believe he's 6!

Our little 1 year old

Hard to believe Tyler is already 1. I know it's hard for many other people to believe as well because he's still so little (5th percentile) but our little firecracker has turned 1. We seemed to have a bit of a rough start with Tyler but he is such a happy and funny little boy. He makes us all laugh.Notable things about Tyler:
His unique crawl
His head shake and nod
He LOVES to eat
He thinks it's funny when people are sleeping
His eye blinks
He loves "Round-About," "Pat-a-Cake," and playing with his brother and sister
He swims his arms around when he sees something he wants
He LOVES playing in the water...bathtub or pool
He has incredibly BLUE eyes and light hair

We absolutely love Tyler and are so glad he is part of our family. Happy Birthday Tyler!