Toilet Tragedy

Dear Jaida, this has nothing to do with this picture but I can't find any with just you because you won't let me take pictures of you anymore. :(  The other day you got up to get ready for school and I hear you kind of yell and then start crying in the bathroom. In the bathroom you are holding a wet shirt and crying that you were going to the bathroom and your shirt fell in. You were so sad and I had to stop myself from laughing where you could see me.  I washed the shirt and you wore it the next day, no worries! :)

Fun-Lover

Dear Fun-Lover, no one would ever guess that you just had a kidney stone removed or that you been on pain killers for four days now, or that you have a catheter bag strapped to your leg. Day one you wanted to walk around the grocery store waiting for your prescription, day two we were out yard sale-ing for hours and you wanted to go to a movie that night (I said no), day three you followed us down the side of the parade we were in and then played at the park for a few hours. That evening you started a fire and kept it going through the rainstorm so we could roast hotdogs and marshmallows, all of us under the tent thought you were crazy. Day four you finally took it easy and slept most the day (maybe because it was Sunday?). We'll see what Day five brings.
Forever Your Opposite,
Fun-Hater

Daddy's Little Girl

So Proud

Joey and Jaida came running in the house all excited that Jaida had helped Joey ride his bike. I didn't realize he was actually riding his bike by HIMSELF! Awesome! 4-years old and riding his bike by himself... Joey, you just need to inspire Kayla to do the same, bike rides will be so much more fun now - can't wait!

Oh, and he knows how to use his brake...

Fielding Kids

Dear kids, all I wanted was ONE family picture - well, kid family picture and this is what you gave me.  I think everyone wanted to be in the tree so everyone was mad that couldn't be in the tree.  The more I look at this picture, the more awesome it is, hahaha!

Flint & Steel Skills

Check out my awesome sparks!

Dear Monty, thank you for re-teaching me how to start a fire with flint and steel. I finally did it and it was awesome! We will definitely have to put a higher grade "steel" in our packs instead of the crappy one that comes with the flint.

Using the knife was so, so, so much easier to create the sparks.

And thank you Jaida for getting the fires going after we caught the cotton balls on fire with our awesome flint and steel skills!

Handmade Bubbles

Dear Kayla, how creative you are to come up with the idea of making bubbles using sudsy hands.  You guys had a blast!

Back To School Blues

Back to school blues and it's only the SECOND DAY!

Dear Kayla, you weren't even home from school for an hour yesterday when you started crying saying that you didn't want to go back to school. "It's so BOOOORRRRING!" You said your favorite part of the day was playing on the playground, but after about 20 million questions you told me that you played bingo with skittles!  That would have been my favorite part of the day. :) Going down to wake you up this morning reminded me why I loved summer and was not excited to send you back to school.  You even told me you wanted to be home schooled!  How do you know about home school?  I did let you wear your black hat and fur coat today - that made you happy. We just won't tell dad...

Dear Jaida, your first day of school was completely opposite of Kayla's. You said that the first day of school was, "BOSS!" Your teacher let you all get on his Harley with head gear and sun glasses and take a picture. You had three recesses, painted and played games.  I don't even want to talk to you about your school when Kayla is around... or maybe she needs to know how fun it can be??

Back To School!

Dear Jaida, you are SO excited to go to school this year.  You're a 5th Grader now, you'll be in the same class as Sidney and Mr. Greenalgh is your teacher.  You will do awesome this year. By the way, thank you for letting us cut your hair, it looks GREAT!

Dear Kayla, you were so nervous this morning. You only ate a couple bites of your malto meal and in the bathroom you told me your stomach hurt.  I said that you're just nervous and excited for school and that probably all the kids felt the same way. Your backpack weighed almost as much as you with everything you carried to school this morning. I hope you love your teacher and have an amazing 2nd Grade Year!

Kylan and the Kitty

Dear Kylan, you love this little kitty almost as much as you love little Keira.  I just hope the kitty survives you.

House, Office, Apartment, Club House

Jaida's apartment. The other kids had rooms on the floor.

Dear Jaida, all your houses, offices, stores, apartments and club houses are so much fun but so much fun to create and so much work to clean up.  The above picture was Monday's apartment creation and the picture below was Sunday's house creation.

Jaida's and Kayla's Houses

Big, Little Helper

Dear Kylan, last night while I was watching you feed the kitten I'm so glad I didn't yell at you for spilling the cat food all over the floor.  You were trying to be such a big helper. On your tip toes you grabbed the cat food bag off the counter, poured food into the dish, grabbed the kitty to bring her to the food and then put the bag back on the counter. For once I just sat quietly watching and you were so proud of yourself. :)

I'm Speechless

 Dear Jaida and Kayla, I walked out the back door and saw you two working in the chicken coop. I'm still in shock!  You were digging up all the mud and crap and putting it in the wheel barrow. You did this all on your own!  I'm still pretty speechless about the whole thing.  I asked you later why you weren't throwing up from the smell and you said that there was no smell...??

Great job, girls!

Road Paving is Exciting

Who knew paving the road would be so exciting?  All the kids on the block sat and watched the entire time. They waved at all the trucks and got someone to wave and honk.

I Can Dress Myself

Dear Kylan, I'm glad you're starting to dress yourself. We'll definitely have to keep practicing. :)

Miss Keira

Dear Miss Keira, I just had to post a picture of you because you are getting so big!  In all your pictures it looks like you have brown eyes, but nope, they are still blue.  You've really started smiling now and have cute little dimples. Right now I'd say you look the most like...Kylan?

The Ice Cream Cone

Dear Kayla, I had the funnest and funniest time writing your "ice cream cone" story last night.  We were drawing pictures for Great Grandma Vonna because she was in the hospital (broken hip), you started telling me a story about the picture you drew and I started writing!  You were so excited while telling me the story that in between telling me what was happening you would jump up and down and clap your hands saying, "Ooooh, this is so EXCITING! I can't wait for the ending!"  You even took your story to church and told it to your class.  I'll have to post the video of you telling it.

Face Plant

Dear Kylan, you were having so much fun rolling the water barrels up and down the driveway.  The last time you did it you were trying to stop the barrel but it was going too fast and you ended up face planting, skidding on your face and having your legs swing up over your back.  I have to admit that it looked really funny but hurt you pretty bad.  You fell asleep crying and when you woke up your face looked like this.

Surprise Picnic

Dear kids, when I got home from the store you surprised me with this awesome outdoor picnic! When I got out of my car you made me close my eyes and led me all the way through the house to the back deck. I got to eat cinnamon toast, hot dogs with ketchup, grapes and ice water. It was awesome!!  Kayla, you made an excellent waiter (making all of my wishes your commands). And Jaida, you would make a world class chef! It was really hot, but really fun, thanks guys!

p.s. When I pulled up in the car I'm pretty sure I saw Kayla peeing in the grass, in the FRONT YARD!

Random

I'm not sure if you can tell because I made all these pictures smaller, but they are all blurry.  I think it might be time for a new camera.

Dear Jaida, I have quite a few pictures of me when I was little, doing this exact thing.  By the way, you now have a guitar that Dusty gave you, a recorder that's driving me insane, you learned to play the violin and Misty taught you a song on the ukelele.  You are so musically lucky.  Now let's focus on ONE thing and get really good at it! :)

Dear Kayla, you bought this hat and fur jacket at a yard sale today for $3, what a steal!  You wore your fur jacket in 90 degree weather and loved it. There is a large brooch on the front and when you push it you become... invisible.

Awwww so cute.

Jaida has started eating!