Our Kindergartner

It's official, she is a kindergartner.  I love it!  She helps me out before school, we eat lunch together every day, and hang out until it is time to go home!  I love, love, love having my sweet Alyse with me every day!  I was afraid it would be too much to stay all day, that she would hate doing the same thing int he afternoon.   (You see my amazing principal allows us to keep our own kiddos here all day and they just repeat the afternoon session, this way she goes to Mrs. Fonnesbeck in the morning and comes to my class after lunch!)  But she has handled it all with ease.  She loves school!  I love having her at school.  It has gotten me very excited for the day when all of my kidlets will be in the school building with me.  I do hate leaving them everyday!  Here are some pictures of our first day!

{growing up}

My babies are growing up.  We were playing the park after the rain storm this week (I am LOVING all of these summer rainstorms, they make living in the hot, dry, desert bearable) and I couldn't believe how grown up my kidlets have become, there are just moments when it hits me... I guess when we are together every day, all day, I just don't see those gradual changes.  I had to run back to the house for the camera, I needed pictures of them RIGHT THEN!  Alyse is starting kindergarten and Thatch is starting pre-school this fall (in like 2 weeks, EEEK!)  We have been busy back to school shopping, I can't wait to show you their adorable backpacks! (another post) until then here are a few current pics of my babies, if I can still call them that!?!

{happy birthday utah}

Happy Birthday Utah!  Our primary was in the city parade to celebrate Pioneer Day!  My kiddos were super excited to toss some candy!  It was a fun morning with our friends!

{flash flooding}

Lucky for us the water near our house was draining.  The flash flood provided a much welcomed break from the insane summer heat and we thoroughly enjoyed the storm.  However many were not so lucky and are still dealing with the aftermath today!  From fires to floods what a summer!

Maggie and Thatcher were super scared of the thunder at first and spent most of the storm cuddled together in the garage while Alyse and I played in the rain... I adore my sweet kiddos.

 

{summer lovin'}

Despite the fact that living in St. George during the summer is HOTTER THAN HADES, we are having a blast... (thus the summer lovin' title.... anywhooo...)

The kids just finished swimming lessons, Thatch will be repeating level 1, again!  Alyse was a regular fish and passed onto to level 2 advanced, she is thrilled.  They both had great teachers this year and loved, loved, loved going to the pool everyday!  Maggie however wasn't too thrilled with having to sit on the sidelines and watch.  That is until she made friends with baby Annie (who is only a few months younger than she is) and was able to spend her time waiting for Al and T chasing Annie around and feeding her fruit snacks.  Luckily Annie's mom taught with me a few years ago (before Annie was born) and was fine with the whole arrangement.  Thanks Annie!

On another note I came outside to see the sweetest moment yesterday... Maggie wanted to swing, I was not about to push her in my bare feet ummm not so much, so I ran inside to grab some shoes.  While I am gone my little man decides to help a sister out!  He got her on the swing started to push her.  I came out and ran right back in for the camera, look at his sweet face!  He is so very proud of himself (Maggie looks somewhat scared for her life, with good cause I am sure.) just look at Thatch! He is such a sweetie!  I love how he stopped the swing to help her down, love.

 

And guess who thinks she is big enough for the potty???

We had a fun sleepover on the trampoline, just these two monkeys and me!  (suffice it to say we were all VERY tired the next day but it was a lot of fun and to my surprise they both made it all night, I was sure one of them would get scared... nope!)

Oh and SOMEONE turned 4!!!!  He was so excited for his birthday!  We had Happy Meals, a shark cake, shark squirters, balloons, presents, and we went to the movie Brave.  (He planned out the whole day!  He has been looking through the Oriental Trading Magazine for months trying to decide what he wanted for his birthday decorations, it was a very serious process.)  His favorite present: Legos!  Thanks Grandma Peg!  We sure do love this little guy and are so proud of him!  The day after his birthday we got to repeat the whole process again with our sweet friends the Terry's.  Their daughter Summer shares a birthday with Thatch and their daughter Alyssa's is two days later so we went right in between the special days and had a little get together for the 3 kiddlets!  They each had their own special spot on the cake to blow out their own candles... too cute!  Little man was all about celebrating his birthday again, no complaints. haha.

Now that we are midway through July guess what I am up to???

Yep.  I had to move rooms this year and so I have spent WAY TOO MANY hours here with all 3 kiddos (so helpful I might add) and my staple gun!  I will be forced to take a couple weeks off due to the tile in my hallway being cleaned and I have so many house projects to tackle before August is here and summer is officially OVER!  Eeek!  Better get moving!

In the past month...

 Our Aly girl graduated from pre-school!  We will miss Miss Kami, she is done teaching this year and it makes me so sad that Thatcher and Maggie will not be in her class.

We have enjoyed summer, especially playing with our friends!  The other day we went to Tonaquint Park to feed the ducks!

 The kids had a BLAST!

 After the car wash the other day I took the kidlets to the park, yes... I took Thatch and Mags to the car wash in princess getup and a cowboy vest!  Then we went to the TOwn Square splash pad before heading home for lunch and naps.

 

 But the MOST exciting happening in the past month....

Alyse lost her very first TOOTH!  We pulled out the sewing machine today and made this cute little tooth pillow (with a pocket in the back for storing teeth and tooth fairy surprises) if you know me, you know I DO NOT SEW so this was BIG!  

I was off to lunch bunch with some friends and came home to my Aly girl super excited about loosing a tooth!  I was in SHOCK, it hadn't even been wiggly.... I deal with wiggly teeth on a DAILY basis peeps, I watch my kinder kids wiggle and jiggle those teeth for days!!!!  She on the other hand isn't even sure when she lost it, she just suddenly realized that there was a hole in her mouth, and it was bleeding!  We cannot find the tooth, we have searched the house, she probably swallowed it!  How crazy is that~! 

My baby is growing up!

 

{easter fun}

It was so great to have Russ' family down for Easter!  We started our festivities with the annual Ivins' City Egg Hunt.  They do such a great job!  After that we headed out to Grandma Peg's where Aunt Julia had planned a great egg hunt and bubble blowin' part-ay!

We had a delicious Easter feast and then headed over to the Arts Festival (how great is it that it is just a short walk from Grandma's, no stress about parking!)  We let the kids ride the carousel and play in the water.  It was a "Perfect Day" According to Thatch and Ethan on the walk back!  They are so cute together!  I love that Thatch has a cousin just 2 months older they really seem to enjoy being together!

Sunday started SUPER early with some kiddos VERY excited about the Easter Bunny and his possible arrival?!  

We got ready for church, the choir sang (Russ does such a good job conducting the choir) and we headed back to Peg's for lunch and a little more time with the cousins.  

{dear easter bunny}

Aly girl wrote a letter to the Easter Bunny.  She asked him for Squinkies.  Luckily the Easter Bunny got it just in time, but I have to say I kinda hate Squinkies.  Could they make them just a tad smaller, cause in one day we have already lost half of them! haha!  However when my Aly girl is over there sounding out words, I kinda have to make sure she gets some Squinkies!

{soccer season}

Tuesday and Thursday nights have now been dedicated to a life on the field.  My kiddos are growing up and I LOVE it, but I HATE it!  It kills me to see them getting so big!  Alyse and Thatcher are both big enough to play soccer this year and so every Tuesday and Thursday we haul ourselves and all our soccer gear to the park! 
Alyse is loving soccer and has the best attitude.  She runs off the field saying "I tried my very BEST!" and is happy to cheer on her team and the other team! 
Thatch however would rather watch the entire game from the sidelines, he is a little hesitant to be out on the field in that group of kids all chasing after the same ball.  He and Maggie and I get in some good quality time cheering on the rest of his team!

We'll see if that changes by the end of the season. 

{...}

High winds=Maggie &Thatch on my floor!  How cute are they?

My little man at the park, such a cutie!

And while T hangs out by himself my girls are of course running around together, they are best friends, love it!

Carousel Anyone?

Birthday Party with the GG's

Duck pond and park day with Sadie