After many tries, we finally got out on the boat for the first time this season. Since it was still early June the water wasn't bath water yet and I have been turned into somewhat of a wimp when it comes to lake water so I didn't get in. But Matt and the kids had a great time.
That is Hayden out on the "tube." She really liked it. She would smile and laugh and wave at us.
Hayden has mixed emotions on the boat. She likes it at times and screams her head off at other times. We may not be doing as much boating this season as we did the last.
Dade and Meg - Meagan is due is August and looking super cute.
This boy always loves the boat and was ready to hit the water and water sports right away.
While Dad was out wakeboarding, Hayden just stood there the whole time waving at him.
Hayden just loves music and dances whenever she hears it, even if it's from a commercial.
This is Hayden right after getting back in from the boat after being on the tube:
This last weekend, the boys (Matt and Carter) went up North with Matt's Mom and Dad to see his brother Cory run a half marathon. Since Hayden doesn't love the car and I'm not feeling the best, we decided that Hayden and I would stay and have a girl's weekend. It was really quite fun.
To start off, I reached up on the top shelf to get my container full of oatmeal down for my breakfast and the lid wasn't on super tight and it spilled over and went EVERYWHERE!! Hayden loved it! I think she thought I made the mess just for her. She went in there right away and started playing with it like it was a pile of sand. After a bit I tried to clean it up and it was not an easy task cause with every bit of sweeping I would do, Hayden would get in there and mess it up. Plus, the oatmeal was everywhere, in every nook and cranny. After I finished sweeping, I got the vacum out the get every last piece I could.
On Sunday, something remarkable happened! After several attempts to french braid Hayden's hair, I FINALLY succeeded!! It didn't turn out exactly how I wanted, but it was braided and that's all that mattered! I was so proud of us. And yes, we use many tactics to do her hair: in this photo it's the unplugged phone charger and water, mostly it's toothbrushes, sometimes hair brushes.
Saturday evening, I got the hose out to water our flowers. After I watered a section, I turned my back to water another part and didn't see Hayden get to the mud and try it out. I don't think she liked it because when I looked back at her she had mud all down her chin and all over her hands. I put the hose down to run over and get her to gently rinse her off with the hose, but she got to it before i did and right away starting soaking herself and drinking out of it. It was too funny, so I couldn't stop her I had to just watch and laugh.
Earlier in the day, we headed off to Costco. She was such a good girl! She really was great the whole time. I think she knew that she had me all to herself. We laughed a good deal of the weekend. She is just such a funny girl.
She also had to show off her Team Uncle Cory t-shirt she was wearing! We may not have been up there see him run his race, but we were supporting him back at home.
So we finished up our soccer season - let's just say it was a learning experience. The picture above was our team. They all are Carter's friends either from church or from the neighborhood.
Our awesome coach and neighbor Chad helping Carter learn how to be a "goalie" though we didn't have technical goalie that could use their hands, but we did have a kid in the back playing defense.
This was a common scene on the field. Carter is orally fixated and chomps on his shirts like crazy even during a soccer game.
Once again, Carter got a hold of the camera one morning and snapped some pics:
On Carter's last day of preschool he had an awards ceremony and then a short program. Carter received the "Biggest Helper" award along with a certificate of a year of preschool completion.
It was very sweet to see his teacher, Ms. Noelle, present him his award. With each student she had come up she would present the award and tell about why that child received that award and what is special about that student. Carter has had his ups and downs this year in preschool having to do with his strong will and few other things. He definitely hasn't been the easiest kid in the class. But Ms. Noelle has worked so hard at making it a good experience for Carter and helping him work through things. As she talked about Carter, it was so touching to me to see her get emotional and to see the love she has for my child. I am so grateful to her for her time and care that she gave to my child. You can see her talk about Carter in the video below. And if the video is shaking, it's because I was totally crying during it. Carter has overcome so much this past year!
The first day of preschool, Carter started making this book at school. This is a picture of him on his first day of school (so funny that he is wearing the exact same shirt on the last day of school, another little girl had her exact outfit on, too). I didn't realize that he still had so much of his baby fat left in his cheeks. He looks so cute and so much younger than he does now. It's crazy because I thought he looked so grown up then. I think he looks so grown up now, and in a year I will probably look back at pictures and think about how young he looks. He's my oldest, but he will always be my baby, too.
These are his two sweet teachers: Ms. Noelle and Ms. Tracey.
At Carter's preschool he not only has his regular class, but he also has Spanish class and music class. For their short end of the year program, his class sang several songs in Spanish and then they sang several songs from their music class. I am posting a video of his class singing Carter's favorite song. At first, Carter is a little more timid, but he starts getting into it towards the end.
I know that we are well past March, but as a common thing on this blog I usually go back and recap months to get in all the things I may have missed on my other blogs. (Plus I am missing my USB cord to hook my camera to my computer so while I am waiting to find that I might as well get caught up.)
We started off the month by going to an indoor community pool with Grandma, Carter, Hayden, Dade, Aunt Meagan and of course myself though I am starting to realize you would never know I was a part of any of these activities because I am always behind the camera. I should probably change this. Someday i might forget what I looked like at this time of my life and maybe I'd want to remember, who knows?
Carter's beautiful preschool artwork. I am sure you can tell, this was a highly themed Valentine's time.
Usually Hayden is a fairly tidy eater, but this time she apparently wanted to get down and dirty.
We had BYU March Madness at our house. We were proud of our Cougs for getting as far as they did (Sweet Sixteen).
A regular activity for us is chillin at Grandma's with our buddy Dade. You can see in the corner my Gospel Doctrine manual underneath my scriptures. This was shortly after I was called to be the Gospel Doctrine teacher in our ward. I teach every week. I NEVER thought this would be a calling I'd get. It was right up there with scariest/hardest calling in the church. And at first I really felt that way. But through Heavenly Father's help, I have become more comfortable and am starting to enjoy the learning and growing that comes with that calling.
I feel truly blessed to have ended up on the street we ended up on. We are surrounded by the cutest kids that I admire. Here our little neighbor boy is taking Hayden for a ride. Man, it was hard not to see in to the future with this one and see little Hayden going off in the car with her first date.
Here's Carter the storm trooper, driving probably not so safely on a buddy's "fourwheeler."
This was at a Birthday party for a boy from preschool at Chucke Cheeses. I thought this picture was hilarious to look at each facial expression.
Hayden: Yipee, the bike trailer!! Carter: This girl is crazy!!
I made my mom's super yummy baked potato soup and thought it looked so pretty i should take a picture.
For a Family Home Evening we made some spring flowers. It was Grandma karen's Birthday and we wanted to send her some, plus take some around to some pretty special ladies around here, too.
One morning, i gave Hayden a couple blackberries, some fruit loops and a banana to eat for breakfast. I was going to run up to take a quick shower while she was strapped in. i told Carter if she started to fuss give her some more fruit loops. I came down after showering, Carter had given her the whole container of blackberries that she has smashed everywhere. You can't tell too well by the picture, but she and the chair were stained purple.
Below are some videos from March as well:
Carter has always loved his music:
The other day I was watching videos of Carter when he was little. It was so fun and crazy to remember him when he was so young: his sounds he made, his mannerisms, his pudginess. When i watched this video back of Hayden I could just imagine the future nostalgia:
Same idea behind this video and plus Carter trying to sing to his sister and hearing Hayden's laugh brings me so much happiness:
Yesterday, was Carter's Preschool Egg Hunt - or should I say it was the running of the bulls. Kids were running around like crazy! But with the amount of kids there were I was quite surprised by the calmness of it. They each knew they were to get only 20 and none of them whined or complained about it. (Sometimes I wish I had teacher status with my child, if his teacher says something it's law - no whining, no questioning.)
They made these Easter Bunny baskets that are just melt my heart ADORABLE!! And holding on to the milk carton handle made them really sturdy for the kids to run around with.
You can just picture: On your marks, get set, go!!!
Last Wednesday, April 13th, Carter's preschool went on a fieldtrip to a Firestation just a few blocks away from his school. Hayden and I decided to come along. Here we are walking to the station. His teacher Ms. Noelle is leading the way.
Here's the crew with Fire Chief Walker.
The huge pliers are the jaws of life. It was quite funny because as soon as Chief Walker opened this comparment a little boy yelled out, Those are the Jaws of Life!! I was quite impressed that a little boy would know so much. He must have been really into rescue vehicles. Also, I was impressed by the size of those bad boys.
Carter coming out of the Ambulance they toured. What a sweet boy he can be. This particular day he was so lovey dovey. He kept giving kisses to me and Hayden and even a few to his shocked classmates.
And here is his whole class. What cuties.
He kept wanting me to take pictures of him so here he is in front of a replica of the Liberty Bell.
That is Hayden out on the "tube." She really liked it. She would smile and laugh and wave at us.
Hayden has mixed emotions on the boat. She likes it at times and screams her head off at other times. We may not be doing as much boating this season as we did the last.
Dade and Meg - Meagan is due is August and looking super cute.
This boy always loves the boat and was ready to hit the water and water sports right away.
While Dad was out wakeboarding, Hayden just stood there the whole time waving at him.
