Is it Fall yet?

David and I were talking tonight how we're so ready for Fall, especially for Fall meals!  That's it, regardless of the high temps, I'm making chili this week. 

There hasn't been much going on around here other than the normal everyday hustle and bustle.  I have neglected to mention that I am teaching preschool again.  It kind of happened at the last minute and  I have a full class!  We've been in school for a month now and it's going well.  I have 7 boys plus Natalie so it can get a bit crazy and exhausting.  Natalie is a huge flirt and loves all the attention.  It's a little worrisome.  And Anna is handling it the best she can, which isn't great most of the time. :) It's just 2 days a week and that is perfect. 

Cyrena has been spending a lot of time with David lately, which thrills her.  David took her to a Diamondbacks game last week.  The McKay's came as well so Cyrena had a friend.  They had a great time. 

Then last Friday David took Cyrena and Natalie to our local high school football game (we live about 2 minutes away).  It was a rematch of last year's State Championship game so that was fun for them to see.  Our high school is really good and some priests in our ward on are it, so lots of ward members were there.

One morning I came out of the shower and found Anna like this.  She usually just sits up and plays but she must've given up on me! 

Two Funnies:

1.  Cyrena is always trying to delay bedtime, it's a bad habit of hers that we are constantly trying to break.  One night she came out and asked for a drink of water.  We told her to go ahead.  Then she proceeds to tell us very very dramatically with wide eyes and dramatic facial expressions:

"Before bed you have to make sure your tummy is REEEEEALLY full so that you can survive through the night because you can't eat AAAAANYthing all night long."

2.  A few weeks ago, David and I went for our temple recommend interviews at the stake offices.  The stake president took David into his office first and when David came out, I went in.  The girls were just sitting in the foyer right outside the office.  

When my interview was finished, I came out and said "ok girls, are you ready?"

Natalie said, "yep" and marched right into the stake president's office and sat herself down in a chair.  He sweetly indulged her and proceeded to 'interview' her.  

"Do you listen to your mommy and daddy?" "mmm-hhmm" (nodding)

"Do you like to go to church?"  "mmm-hmm" (nodding)

"Are you nice to your sisters?"  "mmm-hmm" (nodding)

"Do you love Jesus?"  "mmm-hmm" (nodding)

"Well I think you're a great little girl, thanks for talking with me!"  "ok, it's Cyrena's turn!"

Of course Cyrena knew what was going on and that she didn't need an interview.  David and I were cracking up, it was something we'll never forget!

Cyrena's Brain

In this picture Cyrena is leading the girls in some jumping jacks.  I'm pretty sure they think they got to 200, what a feat! :)

Oh our girl is one of a kind.  Cyrena is the kind of kid that will tell you anything and everything that is going through her mind.  She's going to be an easy teenager in that regard. We won't have to wonder what's going on in her life. 

I've been meaning to write this post for months now.  I want to record some funny things she says and does that show how truly unique she is.  Here goes:

1.  When I expressed how much I was going to miss her while she was at Kindergarten ALL DAY she told me not to worry because she promises to give me BIG hugs and BIG kisses before she left and then again when she gets home.  So far, she's kept her promise.

2.  She asked me one day "why we don't have air holes in our house- how are we breathing??"  This one stumped me a bit.  I tried to explain about vents, oxygen but it wasn't satisfying her.  I told her we have windows and doors but she's smart enough to know we don't open those while it's 115 outside.  I told her to ask her dad.

3.  Another question was "How did Heavenly Father get to be in charge of Heaven?" This girl is a thinker.

4.  One day this summer she said she "figured something out." She told me that in Bambi, his dad is in charge of getting food and shelter for his family.  And other animal dad's hunt for food to feed their family.  In our family, our dad goes to work so we can buy food for our family and have a house to live in.  She was so proud of her reasoning!  She "figures things out" all the time.

5.  One night we were playing around after dinner.  Natalie was sorting color cards and Cyrena was doing an addition game with David.  She's getting really efficient with addition, number sense and number conservation.  I told her this and she said, "yeah, I'm pretty mathy huh?"

6.  A couple of weeks ago I was alone in the car with Cyrena.  She was talking nonstop as usual.  She told me how lucky she is that she gets to dance with her dad.  She said one of her kindergarten friends has just a dad and no mom, his mom had died.  I told her that was really sad and she said she would be so sad if she didn't get to be with me anymore.  I told her that's why we need to pray everyday and thank Heavenly Father for the chance to be together.  She got excited and said/sang "That's like 'Families can be together forever.'.."  Then she continued talking about how lucky we are and how it would be hard to be apart but at least we know we can be together forever.  It was very sweet.  

7.  The girls watch a movie every Friday night.  Recently it's been a fight over who picks the movie.  One night David said for them to pick a number between 1 and 10 and the closest person would get to pick the movie.  I didn't think they would really understand.  Cyrena picked 5 and Natalie picked 3.  David said the number was 3 so Natalie got to pick.  Of course Cyrena threw a fit and then there was this whole sister moment where Natalie was sweet and told her not to cry and that Cyrena could pick.  They hugged and then Cyrena gave in and let Natalie pick.  It was quite the drama with hugs and kisses and tears all around.  Anyway, the next day Cyrena was still thinking about it and said "but Mom, 5 is really between 1 and 10"  After listening to her and following her logic I realized she thought that she was supposed to say the number that was exactly between 1 and 10-which would be 5.  That's my logical, literal, black and white girl-she is just like me!

We just love this girl and can't imagine life without her incessant chatter.  She is loving all day kindergarten.  She gets on the bus at 8:10 and then the bus brings her home at 3:30.  It's a long day, but she's handling it well.  

Her teacher met with me last week to come up with some ways to 'enrich' her.  She tested on a 2nd grade independent/3rd grade instructional reading level.  For right now they're having her do some second grade reading work and we'll see how that goes.  So far it seems easy for her. They haven't tested math yet.  I'm not worried about her being bored because she loves everything about school and I know we can continue to challenge her at home. 

Teeth and Hair

It feels like awhile since I've posted and there are things I need to catch up on.

 One day I noticed Anna had a tooth about to pop through.  The next day there it was.

 

And a couple of days later there was tooth #2!  She did well, I barely noticed she was teething.  She's in such a fun stage right now, her personality is shining through.  She's a fun-loving gal. :)

Most mornings, Natalie's hair looks like this.  That's a huge messy rat's nest in the back.  Not fun to comb through.

 So I decided it was time to get it shaped.  She'd never had her haircut before.  I asked a Laurel in our ward who is going to hair school to cut it.  Natalie was so excited, she wanted her to make her look like "Belle."  She basically just evened up the back and now it is so much easier to comb through!  I felt comfortable cutting Cyrena's hair since it has such texture it can hide mistakes.  Natalie's hair is fine and thin so I knew any mistakes I made would show!  And I'm happy to say her ends are still curling beautifully!

On Saturday (I was fighting a head cold) we met up with Ashley and Logan to see the premiere of "The Lion King 3D".  It was fun even though I just wanted to be horizontal.  I just love that movie though.  Ashley had won free tickets and it was kind of a big event in a fun large theater...Radio Disney people were there! :)

The beginning of the end

Cyrena had a great first week of school. Thankfully it was a short week-just Wed-Fri.  She loved every minute of it and didn't come home as tired as I thought she would be.  :)  The only tears were Friday night at bedtime when she was so exhausted that she said she didn't want to go back.  Luckily I had just signed up to volunteer for Monday (today) so that soothed her. 

I didn't cry at all the day of, I think I got it all out the night before.  I did eat lunch with her on Wed and Fri.  Those all-day kindergarteners have a hard time eating lunch without a lot of help.  They all need extra hands to open water bottles, food containers, lunchboxes, string cheese packages, etc.  There is a lot of training that goes on those first few days: walking in a line, where to put their lunchbox before recess, where to line up after recess, etc.  That brings back some memories, but I always got kids after they were pretty well trained by the k &1st grade teachers!! 

Cyrena loves to sleep in.  Many summer days she didn't get up until 8:30 so I've had to wake her each morning and she has a hard time getting going.  Her bus has come early twice (like 8 minutes early!) and because of that we almost missed it once so now she has extra motivation to get ready in the morning--wouldn't want to miss that 5 minute bus ride!

I think the hardest thing about sending kids to school is that now they are out of your complete control and at the mercy of others.  I know Cyrena is strong and luckily she tells us everything but I still worry about what she's being exposed to and the worldly 'noise' around her.  It makes me want to be even more stalwart in my efforts as a mother.  

On another note, yesterday Cyrena was able to participate in a Stake Children's choir.  They've been practicing for about 6 weeks and performed for the general session yesterday.  She did a wonderful job and actually sat still through the 2 hours of speakers!

Ready for her first day with her friend, Robyn.  I am so glad they are in the same class.  I think it's made the transition that much easier.  

Last glimpse.  They wanted parents to say good-bye at the gate outside.  We barely got a wave from Cyrena as she was happily chatting with Robyn as they walked in. 

Summer Days

Summer Days are ending tomorrow!  Ahh, how did I get old enough to have a kindergartener?  She's excited, I'm melancholy, we'll both make it through tomorrow I'm sure.  The tears already started during dinner when David cheerfully announced "Cyrena, in 13 hours you'll be on the bus!"  She looked at me, teared up and said "I'm going to miss you."  That's all it took to get me going.  This from the girl who hasn't acted sad one BIT this entire time.  I think it's hitting her now.  David had to jump in and save the day.  My tears continued during David's father's blessing for Cyrena.  David asked if he needs to take the day off tomorrow to comfort me. :)  It's the ending of an era, Cyrena and I have made a great team these last 5 1/2 years. 

I did want to capture what our summer days have looked like.  I'm a bit of a homebody and my kids are happy to oblige, especially with it being so hot outside.  We'll have the occasional outing or playdate but for the most part we stay close to home.  

The mornings start out a bit lazy...lay around in pj's and play for a bit

 Then a leisurely breakfast where we eat great food and explore the newspaper

 We dress and do hair then complete some chores

 THEN it's dancing time!  The girls turn on the Disney station on Pandora and the floor is theirs.  They do this every single day.

 While Anna does a lot of this...laughing and learning how to sit up

 Occasionally we'll do a fun activity, like decorating cupcakes.

 These turned out quite tasty as you can imagine!  It was all purple sprinkles for Natalie-her favorite color.

We also enjoy lots of books, the girls are great about reading together most of the time

And of course when Dad gets home it's pandemonium as we all scramble for his undivided attention.

And there you have it, it's not much but it's what we do and what we like.   And now it's coming to an end...sob!

July Staycation

We took a 'staycation' a couple weekends ago. We used one of those Living Social deals (my sis-in-law gave us the heads up-thanks Shay!) and headed to a resort called the Arizona Grand.  It is a very nice hotel with a large water park.  

We spent about 2 hours at the water park and after 5 times around the lazy river we realized our kids are a little young to really enjoy a water park.  However, they loved the lazy river since it was right up their alley.  Later we had pizza, watched a movie, the older girls and I went swimming at the pool near our room, then we headed to bed.  

The next morning we ate a great breakfast (including an omelet bar where David took copious notes as always).  Afterward David took the older girls swimming while Anna napped then we headed out.  It was a quick trip but also so much fun.  We definitely want to make this a tradition every summer.  

Utah Trip Part 2-with Daddy

After a week apart we were MORE than ready to see daddy.  It was a very happy reunion when we met up in at my parent's 2nd home in Hurricane for the 4th of July weekend. 

The first day we headed to a local family fun center where we played all morning.  Our kids had never done anything like this so it was very exciting.  Bumper boats, mini golf, go-carts, arcade and kiddie carts.

Natalie had a hard time steering her car so David had to help.  Cyrena went around and around independently.  

You can tell by her face that she loved doing this with her dad.

We went to see The Little Mermaid at the Tuacahn theater.  Cyrena loves going to plays so this was fun for her.  It's a large outdoor amphitheater and it doesn't start until dusk--8:45!  We didn't make it home until midnight. 

My parents home is close to "Grandpa's Fishing Hole"  We didn't catch anything.  But we sure had fun. I don't remember the last time I've gone fishing.  David and I had a lot of laughs at my casting abilities.  I finally got it though.  Cyrena got really good at it also.  There were some older men and women there who shared some live bait with us and also let Cyrena reel in one of the fish they caught.

Grandpa has an ipod touch--fancy! :)  We don't have anything like that so Cyrena was a bit obsessed. Grandpa and Cyrena worked together to pass several levels of Angry Birds.

The girls lived in this pool in the yard

Check out those thighs!

 On the 4th we rented a wave runner and headed to one of the reservoirs that's about 5 minutes from my parents house.   I hadn't been on one in years and it was SO fun.   Everyone had a great time.  It was nice and calm and not too crowded.  The girls loved every minute of it and they each got several rides.  At the end I took both of them with me and we had some crazy girl time with lots of screaming!!

Building sand castles with plastic cups and spoons...that's how we roll.

Grandma was nice enough to hold and shade Anna so I could have fun

Take a bite, you know you want to

That night we BBQ'd and had a small fireworks show (the $10 pack from Wal-mart)

Natalie got burned by the sparklers-ouch.  She also discovered these light-up singing Belle shoes at grandma's and she was done for.  She rarely took them off.

One of the teeny-tiny fireworks in the pack

The girl loves to light the fireworks, she did a great job!

We came home exhausted and penniless but we are so grateful for the awesome memories we made!  Thanks to my parents for their generosity and for all the good times with family!

My dad also took some great pictures.  He'll be sending me a cd soon so I'll post some more.