Halloween 2014

We had a great Halloween season this year.  The kids wanted to be superheros this year.  Austin wanted to be Flash and Kensley just wanted to be a "girl super hero".  So I introduced her to Wonder Woman and she loved it. Costumes were easy to make this year too and that is always a plus!

They were so looking forward to trick or treating this year.  Luckily the weather was so nice and not that chilly.  Kensley was pretty shy at the doors but Austin knew what to say.  We got quite the load of candy!  During trick or treating, Kensley got some candy that was in a wrapper with the Frozen characters on it.  She would not put it in her bag bacause she wanted to hold it in her hand to make sure she could keep it.  Cute girlie. 

My sister Kayla and I ran the Haunted Half Marathon the week before Halloween.  We dressed up at Bat Girls and it was so fun to run it together.  It was a beautiful run down Provo Canyon. And to top it off we both beat our previous times.  Woo hoo!  Matthew and the kids came to watch us cross the finish line which was so nice to see at the end.  The kids loved watching all the different people in costumes running. :)

Other festivities included pumpkin painting.  Our kids don't really like to get involved in the carving process but they sure love to paint.  So they each painted a few different pumpkins.

Milestones

Both my kids have reached a big milestone recently.

First, Austin started kindergarten!  

He is a very young 5 year old and we debated holding him back another year but in the end decided to have him start this year.  I still have mixed feelings about it but I'm sure that is partly due to it being my oldest going off to school. We were both a ball of nerves that first day but he walked right in.  He did look back though and waved goodbye!

Silly faces. Kensley didn't want to miss out on first day of school pictures

 Everything went great that first day.  Then the second day...
On the first day I took him to school and picked him up from school but starting the second day he rides the bus.  Putting my 5 year old on a big bus and watching it drive away was a little gut wrenching for me that first day but i knew it would be fine.  Well I started walking to the bus stop from our house to pick him up and saw all the kids already walking home.  I had missed the bus.  It came 10 minutes early!  So i asked the other kids if they had seen Austin and no one had.  AHH! I didn't know if he was still on the bus, or maybe got on the wrong bus, or maybe got off at the wrong stop.  No idea.
I called the school and they said there were no students left at the school.  I called the bus transportation and they got in contact with all the bus drivers and they said all the buses were now empty. WHAT?!  Then where is my son?!  I called the police and explained the situation. They told me to stay home and sent an officer to my house.  They had to search the house first since 98% of the time a missing child is reported they are hiding in the house somewhere.  I assured them he was not home.  Then they got in contact with the school and the bus transportation and could confirm that he got on the right bus to come home. So they put a police officer at every stop the bus made and started searching.
Finally an officer radioed in that they had him  He apparently stayed on the bus the whole time and the driver didn't see him.  The driver looked up his stop, drove back and dropped him off at the correct stop.  An officer saw him get dropped off and drove him home.
It was the scariest 40 minutes of my life not knowing where my son was.  Austin just thought it was pretty cool that he got to drive home in a police car.
Now I am at that bus stop every day super early!

Kensley's milestone is that she is now potty-trained!

I was not looking forward to this part of parenting. We were not sure how it was going to go but she has far exceeded my expectations.  She has been doing great!  The first two days she had no idea what was going on and was pretty upset that her whole world was just turned upside down. But with princess panties, a sticker chart and gummy bears we are doing pretty good. She looks so grown up in underwear!  

Yay for kids doing awesome things!

Camping

We have been itching to go camping all summer and finally made it happen this Labor Day. Actually we went two different times!
The first time we went with Matthew's parents. They had last minute plans to go up into the Uintas right on the border of Utah and Wyoming.  It  was a small campground with little cabins and real bathrooms (woohoo!)  The cabins had heat too which was great since it was chilly the whole time we were there.

We went 4-wheeling up in the mountain trails. It was so pretty and super steep sometimes too.  We also had to ride through several huge mud puddles so we were pretty covered when we got back.

The kids had so much fun playing with sticks and rocks and just exploring.  It was so nice to be outside in nature.

 Found this huge pile of branches.  Austin and his cousin Aaron spend a good hour or so throwing sticks into the pile or pretending the pile was a bad guy/monster and fighting it with sticks :)

Kensley and Declan spend a good deal of time "fixing" the broken trees.

We also went canoeing.  I was worried that we would tip over but it was great!  The kids were excited and nervous to be riding in a boat.  They are the two little blobs in the middle of the canoe.  

Our second camping experience was a little more rugged.  Our ward was putting on the camp out.  We showed up and it's just an empty space for tents.  No facilities or anything.  Which is fine, but I was grateful it was only for one night!  We were also 1 of 4 families that came up to spend the night!

We love our ginormous tent!  

 After roasting smores and exploring the campsite with flashlights Austin asked "When are we going to bed?"  He thinks going to sleep in the tent is the best part about camping. So here we are reading books and putting kids to bed.  Not sure why Kensley is giving that face!

We only had three sleeping bags so we gave the kids 2 of them and Matthew and I slept on an air mattress and laid the third sleeping bag over both of us.  Bad idea.  We froze all night.  I checked the kids and they were both toasty warm curled up with blankets and sleeping bags.  Not us.  I fell asleep with numb toes, woke up about 20 times in the night with numb toes and got up in the morning with numb toes.  No amount of cuddling warmed us up either. Matthew got up about 6:30 to make a fire because he was so cold.  Needless to say Matthew and I slept horribly.  But both the kids slept all night. Next time, we will be sure to get enough sleeping bags for everyone!

We got in our camping itch and I'm so glad we did.  They kids love it and do really well and we love getting away too. 

Boys vs Girls

Looking back at the things we have done this summer, it's so funny how different boys and girls play. These are a few examples:

"Mom, look how tall (and symmetrical) my tower is!" 

 "Mom, my tower is for a princess to live in."

We decide to paint one day. Austin drives his cars through the paint to make tracks, while Kensley paints her nails.

At the beach: Kensley splashes around with her floatie pretending to swim

Austin is scooping and playing with construction trucks in the sand.

But other times they play just the same. Like when we went hiking and they both tried to pick the biggest rock to keep to put in my backpack to carry home.

 And when they play together at the park trying to climb up the slides together.

Both of these cute kids share a major sweet tooth. This summer's trend for us was popsicles.

And they are equally competitive when we race cars down our ridiculously steep sidewalks. 

For the most part they play pretty well together and I am so grateful for that! And I love when they help each other or share or think about what the other one might want.  It's also fun to look back at our summer at the things we have done.  I think I am dreading winter a little since I have never lived in real winter condition since having kids (minus the winter when Austin was a baby)  We were in AZ for three years and then in TX for last year's winter. So, I'm not really ready to be cooped up inside for months. So I'm just holding on to the warmth as long as possible!

Austin's Birthday

Austin turned 5 last month!  I can't believe I have a five year old.  He was so excited for his birthday and kept asking for weeks when it was coming.  We had such a great day celebrating.

 He choose donuts for his birthday breakfast. 

He opened a present from us in the morning to help hold him over since we were waiting to open presents later during his party.  He loves to build things so these were perfect for him.

For his party we rented a bounce house.  It was perfect! We were worried it wouldn't  fit in our little backyard behind our townhome but it fit just fine and the kids loved it!  It was definitely a hit. 

 Of course Austin loved opening presents and got a great assortment of toys.

I think his favorite was the remote control car.  Just look at that face!

 He picked rainbow chip birthday cake and blew out all the candles in one big blow

 We also had water balloons and water guns to play with which worked out great.  At the end of the day Austin said, "Mom, that was a good birthday."   Thanks buddy, glad to know it was a success. :)

At age 5 Austin is still very obsessed with cars.   He now has his favorites which include corvettes, mustangs, lamborghinis, and cameros.  Typical boy!  He also likes to find these cars driving when we are out and about.  One day he asked me "Why don't we see any lamborghinis driving?"  Haha.  He is also really into airplanes and like to build airplanes with legos. 

He also is becoming more independent and wants to do things by himself.  It's great since my natural reaction is to try and help him with everything.  It's good to see him want to do things all on his own.  He is very curious and asks questions all the time.  He loves to be silly and make people laugh.  I can definitely see him as a future class clown.   He also has become a really good helper with Kensley.  He will make sure she has toys or help her reach something and is really sweet with her.  I love to watch them play together.   He really is a great big brother!

4th of July

This year we went up to Idaho with my whole family to Island Park.  We had a couple cabins that we stayed in and had such a great weekend.  We went 4-wheeling, hiking, played games in the cabins, and played and went rafting on the river.  Jenna was also blessing baby James that Sunday in Rexburg so it was the perfect weekend to plan a family get together.

The first morning we went on a little hike up to Mesa Falls.  So pretty!

Mimi reading to the grandkids

Lovin on baby James

 Alyssa and Kayla on the 4-wheeler

 The boys found caterpillars!  

Papa took all the grandkids on the the 4-wheelers. Austin loved it!  Kensley not so much. 

 Papa playing Go Fish 

On the 4th we made s'mores around the campfire and lit up sparklers and glow sticks. It was so much fun and a perfect way to end the day.

And of course we had to do a family picture with everyone.

Sunday we all met back at Jenna's house and went to her church for James' blessing. 

A great holiday weekend!